Systematic quantitative analyses reveal the folk-zoological knowledge embedded in folktales

Abstract

Researchers have argued that folktales have the pedagogical function of transmitting adaptive information about the environment. Folk-zoological knowledge, such as the predator-prey relationship among wild animals or the relationships between wild and domesticated animals, is important knowledge for foraging and pastoral societies. Here, we analysed the descriptions of the 382 animal folktales listed in a worldwide tale type index (Aarne-Thompson-Uther type index) using natural language processing (NLP) and descriptive statistics. Our analyses suggested that first, the predator-prey relationship frequently appeared in a co-occurrent animal pair within a folktale (e.g., cat and mouse or wolf and pig), and second, the motif of ‘deception’, describing the antagonistic behaviour among animals, appeared relatively higher in ‘wild and domestic animals’ and ‘wild animals’ than in other types. Furthermore, the motif of ‘deception’ appeared more frequently in pairs, corresponding to the predator-prey relationship. These results corresponded with the hypothesis that the combination of animal characters and what happens in stories represent relationships in the real world. This study makes a new contribution by demonstrating that using a combination of quantitative methods and qualitative data to study folktales broadens our understanding of the evolutionary aspects of human cultures.