Dee L. Ashliman (born January 1, 1938), who writes professionally as D. L. Ashliman, is an American folklorist and writer. He is Professor Emeritus of German at the University of Pittsburgh [1] and is considered to be a leading expert on folklore and fairytales. [2] He has published a number of works on the genre.
Dee Ashliman was born on January 1, 1938, in Idaho Falls, Idaho, to Laurn Earl Ashliman and Elgarda Zobell Ashliman [3] He and his family moved to Rexburg when he was a baby. He was a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. His parents established a shoe store there, which was destroyed in 1976 by a flood caused by the Teton Dam collapse. [4] Ashliman married Patricia Taylor, a music instructor, [5] at the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple in August 1960. [6] They have three children. [7] He now lives and works in St. George, in southern Utah. [2]
Ashliman gained a B.A. from the University of Utah in 1963, and his M.A. and PhD at Rutgers in 1969; his post-graduate studies were carried out at the University of Göttingen in Germany. His doctoral dissertation was entitled "The American West in Nineteenth-century German Literature", [8]
Ashliman spent much of his working career at the University of Pittsburgh, where he was an associate professor of German from 1977 to 1986, the chair of the German department from 1994 to 1997, and remained a faculty member until May 2000, when he retired. [9] He also worked as a visiting professor at the University of Augsburg throughout the 1990s. [7] Since his retirement, he has volunteered as an instructor at the Institute for Continued Learning at Dixie State College in Utah, teaching folklore, mythology, and digital photography. [10] [11]
In his work on folklore, Ashliman primarily studies and writes on English-language folktales, and on Indo-European tales. His work on Folk and Fairy Tales: A Handbook, a reference guide to folklore, was described as "stand[ing] out for its brevity and an intersecting writing style". [12] His works include extensive cataloging and analysis of Grimms' Fairy Tales [13] and Aesop's Fables.
Ashliman maintains a website on folk and fairy tales through the University of Pittsburgh. [14] The site is considered to be "one of the most respected scholarly resources for folklore and fairytale researchers". [2] He serves on the advisory board of the Sussex Centre for Folklore, Fairy Tales and Fantasy based at the University of Chichester. [15]
"Snow-White and Rose-Red" is a German fairy tale. The best-known version is the one collected by the Brothers Grimm. An older, somewhat shorter version, "The Ungrateful Dwarf", was written by Caroline Stahl (1776–1837). Indeed, that appears to be the oldest variant; no previous oral version is known, although several have been collected since its publication in 1818. Oral versions are very limited regionally. The tale is of Aarne-Thompson type 426.
The Aarne–Thompson–Uther Index is a catalogue of folktale types used in folklore studies. The ATU Index is the product of a series of revisions and expansions by an international group of scholars: originally composed in German by Finnish folklorist Antti Aarne (1910), the index was translated into English, revised, and expanded by American folklorist Stith Thompson, and later further revised and expanded by German folklorist Hans-Jörg Uther (2004). The ATU Index, along with Thompson's Motif-Index of Folk-Literature (1932)—with which it is used in tandem—is an essential tool for folklorists.
"Cap-o'-Rushes" is an English fairy tale published by Joseph Jacobs in English Fairy Tales.
"Trusty John", "Faithful John", "Faithful Johannes", or "John the True" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales in 1819. Andrew Lang included it in The Blue Fairy Book.
"The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats" is a fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm and published in Grimm's Fairy Tales. It is of Aarne-Thompson type 123 "The Wolf and the Kids".
"The Hut in the Forest" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. Andrew Lang included it in The Pink Fairy Book (1897). It is Aarne-Thompson type 431.
The Lute Player, The Tsaritsa Harpist or The Tsaritsa who Played the Gusli, is a Russian fairy tale. It was published by Alexander Afanasyev in his collection Russian Fairy Tales, as number 338. Andrew Lang included it in The Violet Fairy Book (1901).
"The Four Skillful Brothers" is a German fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is Aarne-Thompson type 653.
"The Hazelnut Child" is a Bukovinian fairy tale collected by the Polish-German scholar Heinrich von Wlislocki (1856–1907) in Märchen Und Sagen Der Bukowinaer Und Siebenbûrger Armenier. Andrew Lang included it in The Yellow Fairy Book (1894) and Ruth Manning-Sanders included it in A Book of Dwarfs (1964).
The Little Bull-Calf is an English Romani fairy tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in More English Fairy Tales.
"Mossycoat" is a fairy tale published by Katherine M. Briggs and Ruth Tongue in Folktales of England. It appears in A Book of British Fairy Tales by Alan Garner. The story known by folklorists was collected by researcher T. W. Thompson from teller Taimi Boswell, a Romani, at Oswaldtwistle, Lancashire, January 9, 1915.
Little Catskin is an American fairy tale from Kentucky, collected by Marie Campbell in Tales from the Cloud Walking Country, listing her informant as Big Nelt.
Little Wildrose is a Romanian fairy tale. Andrew Lang included it in The Crimson Fairy Book.
The Spinning-Woman by the Spring or The Kind and the Unkind Girls is a widespread, traditional folk tale, known throughout Europe and in certain regions of Asia, including Indonesia. The tale is cataloged as AT 480 in the international Folktale catalog.
"Puss in Boots" is a European fairy tale about an anthropomorphic cat who uses trickery and deceit to gain power, wealth, and the hand in marriage of a princess for his penniless and low-born master.
How the Killing of the Old Men Was Stopped is a Serbian fairy tale that first appeared in Kazadzic, a journal of Serbian folklore, having been submitted by Mr. I. L. Szeckovic from Paracin. It is Aarne-Thompson type 981, "Wisdom of Hidden Old Man Saves Kingdom."
The Jew Among Thorns, also known as The Jew in the Brambles, is an antisemitic fairytale collected by the Brothers Grimm. It is a tale of Aarne–Thompson type 592. A similar antisemitic tale in the collection is The Good Bargain.
In folkloristics, "The Animal as Bridegroom" refers to a group of folk and fairy tales about a human woman marrying or being betrothed to an animal. The animal is revealed to be a human prince in disguise or under a curse. Most of these tales are grouped in the international system of Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index under type ATU 425, "The Search for the Lost Husband". Some subtypes exist in the international classification as independent stories, but they sometimes don't adhere to a fixed typing.
The Fire Boy is a Japanese folktale collected by scholar Seki Keigo. It tells of a boy expelled from home to another realm and, thanks to the efforts of a faithful horse, marries a lord's daughter.
The Golden Eggplant is a Japanese folktale, published by scholar Seki Keigo in Folktales of Japan. Scholars relate it to tale type ATU 707, "The Three Golden Children", of the international Aarne-Thompson-Uther Index.