Narratiivsed piltmõistatused – mitme folkoorižanri piirinähtus
Narrative Droodles or Droodle Tales – a Border Case of Riddles and Narratives

Summary/Abstract: the article is based on the online database „Estonian droodles” (available at http://www.folklore.ee/Droodles, containing 7,200 droodles collected from 1963 up to this day), which includes a number of longer visual narrative riddles (about 400 text variants falling under 70 types, i.e. 70 different droodles). the question component of the so-called ’narrative droodles’, or ’droodle tales’, is a verbally transmitted tale visualised by means of a pictorial image. the performer of a droodle sketches the image during narration and the story ends with a punchline question. some variants of visual narrative riddles are built on a specific scene and plot, which may even resemble a miniature fairy tale. the extremely condensed plot centres on just one or two characters. the narrative droodles are not comparable to most fairy tales in length, but the fast pace of modern life seems to favour the use of such illustrated narrative riddles. Our analysis of the structure and function of narrative droodles of this kind has revealed some features in common with fairy tales.

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