Archetypal Hero's Journey In Fairy Tales

Folklore is an important aspect of cultures around the world. Folklore is the traditional beliefs, myths, legends, and fairy tales spread via the word of mouth. Legends are based on historical facts or beings, but the characters or events are exaggerated. Myths are based on religion, they feature supernatural beings or creators, and they usually explain a natural phenomenon. Fairy Tales have a fantastic element, generally presenting magic, imaginary creatures, and good versus evil. Italian folklore is steeped in all categories of folklore, but the historical significance of legends has the greatest concentration. History is a value that is dear to family in Italy. The past is important to the bedrock of Italian folklore because history is believed

to be the center of a family’s existence. History is reflected in Italian folklore as legends are more prominent.
Folklore and oral tradition preserve the history and culture by passing down stories of the people through generations. Oral tradition in Italy has evolved to being shared in a close knit family environment. Strong ties in a family led to that family’s history, and the family history led to the culture. A community couldn’t advance and grow without stories of past experiences. Without oral tradition, culture would be at a standstill because there wouldn’t be any social advances. Italian culture would lose its historical significance, intelligence, and the element that helped influence the family bond would be damaged without folklore. The technological culture has evolved from telling stories around the campfire to spreading oral tradition via social media. Social media enables someone to interact with various cultures instead of a single culture. People spread stories on social media, therefore, social media is the advanced oral tradition.
The Trevi Fountain and the Ponte Vecchio Locks are two well-known legends. The “Trevi Fountain” is an aqueduct built around 19 B.C. to bring water to the ancient city of Rome. The legend declares that the Trevi Fountain, or Virgo Acqueduct, was originally named after a virgin girl that led thirsty Roman soldiers to the aqueduct. The “Ponte Vecchio Bridge” is the oldest surviving bridge in Florence. The Ponte Vecchio legend says that if a couple places a padlock in the Ponte Vecchio and throws the key into the Arno river, their love will be locked and will last forever. This tradition is said to have originally started as a locksmith intending to raise his revenues, but some Italians claim that young men in the military began this ritual as a promise of returning home to their loved ones after their service. The Trevi Fountain and the Ponte Vecchio Locks are encompassed in historical significance. However the rationale of the Trevi Fountain was based on necessity, while the Ponte Vecchio Padlocks were based on hope. The Trevi Fountain reflects the historical significance in the culture, whereas the Ponte Vecchio reflects the amourous essence. The value in the Trevi Fountain Legend shows the selflessness of a young girl to help others near her. The value in the Ponte Vecchio Padlocks exhibits the power of a promise. The Trevi Fountain was once a main source of water for Rome, but its history was based on the story that the source of the water was found by Roman soldiers with the help of a young girl, named the virgin lady which directly translates to Aqua Virgo. The Ponte Vecchio started out as a locksmith’s effort to raise his revenues, as it was past down, Italians believed love was only capable if they sealed their love in a lock, intertwined it with the bridge’s gate, and threw away the key.
Two common myths in Italian folklore is “the Story of Io” and “the Horse and the Olive”. In “The Story of Io”, the Roman God, Jupiter, once fell in love with a fair maiden named Io, but the queen who ruled alongside Jupiter, named Juno, hated Io, for Io threatened Juno’s rule. In a rage, Juno transformed Io into a cow and set a watchman named Argus who had 100 eyes. Jupiter called upon his friend, Mercury, to kill Argus and set the cow free. Juno saw Mercury kill her watchman and release Io, so Juno found a gadfly and ordered it to sting the cow so she could not sleep due to the pain. Finally, the cow laid down beside the Nile River at the same time Juno fell asleep in the clouds. Jupiter realized this was his time to save his fair maiden. He flew to Egypt and killed the gadfly and then transformed the cow into Io, the weak fair maiden. Jupiter flew back into the clouds before Juno awoke. Io married the King of Egypt and lived a long happy life. In “The Horse and the Olive”, a town slowly grew and one day, two strangers appeared in the village: Neptune, God of the Sea, and Athena, Goddess of Wisdom. Both rulers competed for the town’s name in exchange for protecting the town. The town doubted the rulers sincerity so Neptune gifted the town with a work animal, whereas Athena blessed them with a tree to serve as a hunger pacifier, shelter, and wealth. Neptune offered something the town will be unable to use as they did not have technological advances, but Athena’s present would be well used in the town. In the end, the town chose Athena as their protector and named the town Athens. Jupiter and Athena are both gods, but their abilities vary, as Jupiter is accountable for thunder, lightning, and storms, and Athena provides wisdom. In both myths, each folktale worshiped their god or goddess. In “The Story of Io”, Io and townspeople worshiped Jupiter and Juno, whereas in “The Horse and the Olive”, the civilians were devoted to only Athena, not Neptune. In Italian culture, “The Story of Io” reflects the effects of infidelity, whereas “The Horse and the Olive” reflects the underlying protection provided by the gods and goddesses of the universe. In “The Story of Io”, this myth strays away from a well known value, faithfulness in holy matrimony. This tale exhibits the consequences of acting on a whim of lust with someone who you are not bonded with. The value of family is shown in “The Horse and the Olive”, Athena shows the love, wisdom, and protection of a mother figure by gifting the town with an Olive tree, as the town’s well being was in her heart. Myths are extremely hard to verify because it is near impossible to find the origin of where the myth came from as each person the myth is spread through passes on a different interpretation. Civilians passed on stories by oral tradition, and in each generation, the story was altered and then passed on once more. People in pre-technological times have a hand in the belief that the gods walk among man because without technology, people were unable to verify or deny the ubiquitous rumor.
“The Bell of Atri” and “the White Wolf” are two major fairy tales. In “The Bell of Atri”, a bell was placed in the middle of the town square for if one has wronged then they ring the bell in hope for forgiveness from the council. As days went on, the bell was rung less and less. Until one day, there was a horse eating the hay that formed the rope, in turn ringing the bell. The council punished an old soldier for his blindness with greed because he refused to feed the horse as it would cost him money. In exchange for forgiveness, the old soldier has to spend half his money to pay for the horse’s barn, grazing pasture, food, and shelter. In “The White Wolf”, a King toured an unknown region in hopes to find a wreath of wildflowers for his youngest daughter per her request. The King searched for this wreath and eventually found it on around the neck of a white wolf. In exchange, the wolf receives the first thing that meets the King on his way back to his castle. The King met nothing until he reached the palace gates for the youngest daughter welcomed him home. The White Wolf came and collected the Princess will few difficulties of a mistaken identity. After a year, the Princess and Wolf attended the eldest sister’s marriage with rules that once the wolf whistled that the Princess must immediately leave with him. The Wolf and Princess returned home safely and then a year and a half, the Wolf and Princess returned to the castle for the second sister’s betrothment. After complications with departing, the wolf went to his home alone and the princess was left in the castle. The wolf waited for 2 weeks with hopes that the princess would return. The princess soon heard that the White Wolf was engaged with another princess. The princess was heartbroken and sought to find the White Wolf in hopes to change his mind, after calling on the wind, star, moon, and sun the princess finally found her way to the White Wolf during the wedding ceremony. The white wolf was in a predicament, to choose his first or second love, with the help of the guests, he chose the original princess. “The Bell of Atri” promoted justice for all, whereas “The White Wolf” encouraged people to believe in one’s choices. In “The Bell of Atri”, the townspeople seem very neighbouring, a trait most Italian families possess. In “The White Wolf”, the celebrations reflect an Italian’s lifestyle, carefree and exciting. In the Bell of Atri, the main values are justice for all and everyone is treated equal, and in the White Wolf, keeping promises and not giving up hope are the main values. People in pre-technology times believed that imaginary creatures and magic were real because they were simply unable to verify or deny the hearsay. The masses accepted these foolish beliefs as the people who spread them through oral tradition were deemed trustworthy.
An archetype is a classic example of a person or thing.The archetypal hero’s journey are stages, physically and mentally, that show the phases of trials and tribulations through all types of folklore.

The journey signifies the life of a notable person or animal. The basis of this is to help show the growth of a hero throughout his quest and portray the fate of the remarkable idol. The archetypal hero’s journey is important to folklore because in order to thoroughly understand the context in folklore stories, a backstory is needed. The hero’s journey helps the reader connect with the story by comprehending the hero’s emotions and actions before the lore took place. The journey relates the conflicts to the reader themselves. “The Horse and the Olive”, a myth, falls into 5 stages of the archetypal hero’s journey. In phase one, the “Ordinary World”, the background is shown as the growing or thriving village. In phase two, the “Call to Adventure”, Neptune and Athena arrive at the town and ask the town to choose between the gods in exchange for protecting the village. In phase three, the “Refusal of the Call”, the small city is unable to choose between Athena, the goddess of wisdom, or Neptune, the god of the sea. In phase six, the “Tests, Allies, and Enemies”, in effect of the town’s indecisiveness and doubt, Neptune and Athena are tested with the task of gifting the town. In phase nine, the “Reward”, Athena was awarded the town and it was named Athens.Greek and Italian folklore are very similar, so the rumored backstory of Athens is significant to Italians because Athens is Greece’s capital.There is not a story without a journey, therefore the story behind Athens becomes the journey of the Italians

themselves.
The legends are embraced in the historical significance in Italy, whereas the myths include people who worshiped their specific god or goddess. In the fairy tales, one encourages justice, whereas the other motivates confidence. Each lore found demonstrates selflessness, promises, faithfulness, wisdom, love, and equality. Universal values, such as, faithfulness, selflessness, and love, are shown in folklores all over the world to represent the liveliness of the cultures. The richness of the Italian culture will continue to be reflected in the folklore passed on through generations.