Comparative Analysis Essay

Introduction

Folktales are the ones that are based in any culture and tradition. The story presented in the folktales represents the country and how things happen there. These tales are passed on to the next generation by the older generation. These tales have some lesson in them and this is the reason that the children are told about these tales. Every country has its own folktales which refer to its own style and tradition. In this paper, two folktales, The Nightingale and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves will be compared on the basis of the theme, the characters and the lesson learnt from it.

Comparison

The Nightingale is set in the Chinese culture and tradition. The Emperor of China is amused by a nightingale in this tale. At first, the emperor did not know that a nightingale existed in the woods near his palace; however, when he gets to know about it, he orders that the nightingale should be brought to him. As per his orders, the bird is brought to him, and he keeps it with him. Soon after, he is gifted with a mechanical bid that is covered in gold. The King starts ignoring the bird he had bought from the woods and it goes back to the woods. When the King gets ill, he realizes that the bird he had got from the woods had a beautiful soothing voice that will help him recover which this bird does not possess.

The theme of the tale is that materialistic things cannot replace the real things in the world. The importance of a person or animal cannot be compared or replaced with worldly things just as the King did in the story. On the other hand, the story of Ali Baba and Forty Thieves is based on greed and how ...