English abstract
The study aims to analyze orally narraated Omani folktales, then collected and documented by the researcher in a village called Wadi Quri located in Sumail using the morphological approach developed by Vladimir Prop with an objective to introduce the Omani folktale, identify its role and influence in the community where it is told and indicate its importance as a genuine traditional creativity.
In the first chapter, the study discusses the definition of "tale" and the definitions of "folktale". It also explains the importance of the folktale and the role it plays. Then, the study defines the storyteller, their storytelling techniques and their role in preserving the folktale. The study then moves on to the literature of folktales including western, Arab and Omani literature so as to draw the importance of the current study, its contribution and how it differs from previous studies. The study proceeds to explain why the examined tales have been selected and and how they were written down. This chapter is concluded by examining the storyteller of the selected tales and the context in which the tales were narrated.
The structure of the Omani folktale is highlighted in the second chapter of the study. As the study follows his approach of analysis, a detailed discussion on Prop's Structure of Folktale is introduced herein. This chapter also discusses the content of the examined folktales, their main morals and their structural form. This chapter also contains the orally documented tales that were collected, organized and formatted along with an explanation of ambiguous parts in these tales.
The last chapter examines the functions and motifs of the examined folktales. In order to determine their importance in folktales, the terms "function" and "motif" are defined before an analysis of the examined folktales is introduced. The study then proceeds to provide and analysis of protagonists and how they interact in the examined folktales. A conclusion is drawn with the the study's results and recommendations; of which some are already mentioned above.
