Gašper Križnik was an artisan and merchant from the village of Motnik, who got himself noted in history as a gifted and persistent collector of folklore in its original form in a period when that was rare. Fairy tales that he collected in the latter part of the 19th century were published in the work called Sveti Coprijan and are the core of this master's thesis.
Fairy tales in Križnik’s writings are presented as a folklore genre in a wider context (with the story being told live and written down simultaneously in a particular folklore event) and as a literary genre. The purpose of this master's thesis is to show common properties and some particularities in regards to Max Lüthi’s description, while observing, which fairy tale elements are constant and which are more interchangeable. My findings confirm the thesis set by Max Lüthi about the importance of form, as the sequence of events is highly compatible with what is expected of the genre. The same goes for space and time, while other elements allow for a more creative approach by the storyteller and are more susceptible for actualization. This is most obvious when psychologizing fairy tale characters. Because the fairy tales were observed and written down among people, the concept of a folklore event is also taken into account. A comparison of three variations of the same tale, written down by different writers in different time periods, shows us personal choices made by the storytellers and collectors when forming the tale. The context of time and space of telling and writing has significant influence on the content of the tale. Nowadays, because of our different lifestyle, it is most common to listen to live storytelling for both children and adults on special public events. The public library in Kamnik promotes and preserves tales from Motnik by organizing yearly fairytale festival and by publishing the tales.
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