Agnieszka Paterska-Kubacka, Bajka chińska i bajka europejska. Analiza porównawcza wybranych motywów

Książka zaprasza do niezwykłego świata bajkowych opowieści, które jednak nie są naiwnymi opowiastkami z morałem, ale wielowarstwowymi i wieloznacznymi utworami. Zawiera analizę porównawczą motywów występujących w bajkach chińskich i europejskich (w tym polskich) – czasu, miejsca, wędrówki, magicznych pomocników i przedmiotów, metamorfozy i snu.

Trudno o bardziej frapujący i niezwykły obiekt badawczy aniżeli bajka, otoczona aurą magii, ludowej mądrości i cudów, należy jednak mieć świadomość, jak niewiele wspólnego ma bajka jako obiekt badawczy z opowiastkami na dobranoc dla dzieci.

Agnieszka Paterska-Kubacka – od początku studiów związana z poznańską sinologią, gdzie od dwunastu lat pracuje, wykładając w teorii i praktyce literaturę chińską. W roku 2016 uzyskała stopień doktora literaturoznawstwa w dziedzinie klasycznej prozy chińskiej, która stanowi główny przedmiot jej zainteresowań i badań. Wielbicielka mitologii, nie tylko chińskiej. Z zamiłowania – nauczyciel.

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Z pozoru nietrudne pytanie, co jest, a co nie jest bajką, musi sobie postawić każdy badacz, który podjął wyzwanie opisania określonej grupy tekstów, podobnie jak autorzy niezliczonych antologii, próbujący ustalić kryteria doboru materiału. Współczesna nauka udziela coraz bardziej szczegółowej, a może raczej szczegółowych odpowiedzi, które nie zawsze są równoznaczne z odpowiedzią nam pytanie: co nazywa się (nazywano) bajką.

W znaczeniu „najszerszym i ponadgatunkowym” termin bajka funkcjonuje jako określenie grupy utworów kierowanych przede wszystkim do dzieci, a które można rozróżnić na „właściwe gatunki: bajeczka, bajka wierszem, bajka ludowa w opracowaniu artystycznym, baśń literacka”.

Ledwie powstała, już budziła kontrowersje. Jej dawniejsza, grecka nazwa — ainos — oznaczała krótką opowieść z ukrytym znaczeniem. Druga, częściej używana — mythos — zawiera w sobie także znaczenie legendy, mitu i innych fikcyjnych historii. Równolegle funkcjonowały określenia geograficzne, które niekoniecznie sugerowały pochodzenie samej bajki czy autora, ale prawdopodobnie typ bajki (np. frygijskie, libijskie).

Summary

It should be easy to say, what is fable. Everybody knows this word and everybody was told or read fables, when he/she was a child. Why is it so hard to define for scientists? It is not only, that different languages bring us so many words, describing fables: in English it can be fable, tale, fairy-tale or story; in Polish there are bajka, baśń, klechda. In Chinese there were at least ten different names using during ages, and althought most of them do not exist nowadays, there are still a few words in modern Chinese, which can be used to name the fable: yuyan, gushi, tonghua, shenhua.

Chinese tradition made the scientists even more confused by calling fable each and every work, which comprises fable: poetry, treaties, myths, books on history, geography.

Although Chinese and European fables grew up on completely different background, there can be a lot of similarities found between them, and the basic difference lies in details.

Vladimir Propp in his work The Russian Folktale wrote, that fable is a myth devoid of its sacrum. In primitive cultures first there was the rite, then appeared the story connected with this rite — myth. The moment of loosing religion meaning for myth was the beginning of fable. The basic forms of fable are related with ancient religious ideas. (Propp 2000: 142) We can assume, that all the pre-stories are similar. Human mind had the same structure all over the world, and this may be the reason, why all the stories of mankind are alike: they saw the same universe and found the very same explanations for its phenomena.

Is it possible, that the folks of China and Europe see the world the same way? Seven subject of fables was examined to find the answer.

Time is the first theme to be analyzed, and it is also the one, that composes the closest connection between Chinese and European fables. It arises from the construction: the less precise the time is, the more universal is the story. Both, the Chinese and European tradition, juggle with time equally: when there is nothing important happening — time runs away, when the action needs some circumstance to be stressed — moment lasts for ever.

Second part is devoted to the magic places in fable. It is almost impossible to find similar places in Chinese and European tales. The most important thing about places is not their position or how do they look like, but the function they serve. The hero must stop in some certain places (stops), to meet the helper, to find the magic object and/or to fulfill his task. All the stories use similar methods to present places: when the environment is supposed to be friendly for the hero, it should be also bright, warm and dry. Dangerous places may be dark, gloomy, cold and wet.

As the hero must stop on the way, first he/she has to start moving. Movement is the thing, which organizes the action in fable. Adventures usually take place outside, not at home. There are many different animals, vehicles or media, which hero uses to move, but they are important only as far as they bring him/her to destination.

He/she travels just to stop, because only there, at certain stops, he/she gets, what he/she needs to complete the mission.

At the stops heroes meet other characters, that influence their life or find objects, that are very useful. Usually, it seems as if it was a coincidence, but there is no coincidence in fables. Each person and every object have an important part to play and it is not possible, that hero could meet someone or find something, that he/she cannot use. There are numbers of persons and objects, that hero can meet or find. Almost each thing, that author can imagine, may appear in fable. It is not possible to analyze all of them. But they can be divided into some smaller groups, according to the functions they perform. And these functions are very similar in Chinese and European fables.

Metamorphosis is the second subject, which seems to connect both traditions closely. Since in fables everybody and everything can change into any thing, it is aimless to look for any regularities. However, after analyzing tens of fables it became obvious that the result (the shape) is not important. The more important thing is the purpose which the character achieves. And this is the point of connection for Chinese and European fables.

As for the dream or sleep, this theme is more often used by Chinese storytellers. Chinese dreams seem to be more colorful and eventful. Reader might get the impression, that this world of dream and death, the “other” world, is closer to he Chinese culture; that Chinese heroes very often need to go there (usually to help somebody). But the European fables show better the particular moment of falling asleep.

Then, it is true, that peoples living far away from one another, can see the world, the universe in a similar way. It is also evident, that there have to be some differences, resulting from cultural and environmental background. But generally, we can agree with Propp, that all the pre-stories are alike.