Study On The Tales Of The Singing Heart

The story of “The Singing Heart” is a type of folktales that is widely distributed in China.It has numerous variations and is very popular among the public.This type of folktales is circulated not only in the Han,but also in the Tibetan,Manchu,Mongolian,Hui,Miao,Xibe,Ewenki and other ethnic minorities.This type of folktales embodies Chinese unique spiritual value,mode of thinking,imagination and cultural awareness,so it has important academic research value.Compared with its research value,the academic community has not paid enough attention to this type of folktales.Firstly,there are few research achievements,which often only analyze one aspect of the type of folktales.Moreover,the textual materials on which these studies are based are not sufficient,especially the ancient texts of this type of folktales.Secondly,previous studies have identified this type of folktales as one subtype of AT780 “The Singing Bone”.But by comparing this type of folktales with AT780 folktale,it is not difficult to find significant differences between them.So we need to discuss and analyze the classification of this type of folktales.Finally,one of the most important characteristics of this type of folktales in contemporary times is that it is frequent combined with idioms,which greatly affects its spread,narrative structure and aesthetic value.Based on these,this article conducts a study on the story of “The Singing Heart”,which consists of four chapters:The first chapter is an overview of the story of “The Singing Heart”.The prototype of this type of folktales is the common love story in ancient China,in which the protagonist dies of lovesickness.Based on the prototype,this type of folktales is gradually developed and stereotyped by integrating with other storylines.This type of folktales is combined with the idiom “The heart will not die until it sees the Yellow River”in circulation,and idiomatic story has become its main form in contemporary times.This type of folktales has a wider range of dissemination and has been adapted into various forms of works.The combination with idiom also makes this type of folktales mainly distributed in the Yellow River basin and radiates to surrounding areas in contemporary times.The second chapter analyzes the narrative of the story of “The Singing Heart”.From the perspective of the composition of motifs,the main motifs in this type of folktales are love arising from music,lovesickness and “the singing heart”.From the perspective of the development of story,this type of folktales includes four plot units: love at first sight,hindered romance,immortality and tragic ending.Based on the analysis of the motifs and plots,a comparison is made between this type of folktales and AT780“The Singing Bone”.Finally,this chapter discusses the classification of this type of folktales.The third chapter introduces the variations of the story of “The Singing Heart”.By sorting out the plots,this type of folktales is divided into eight variants and four composite types.In the process of analyzing these variants and composite types,it is found that the evolution of this type of folktales mainly revolves around the nodes of the story,and the evolution includes three forms: attachment,absence and development of story nodes.The fourth chapter analyzes the artistic characteristics of the story of “The Singing Heart”.The reason why this type of folktales can be so touching is not only because it deeply expresses the people’s longing and pursuit for beautiful love and happy life,but also because of its unique artistic form.This chapter analyzes the language style,plot conception and narrative techniques of this type of folktales,and focuses on discussing the relationship between idiom and this type of folktales.