Folktales question: Why do some tales have distinct local variants?

I'm retelling two folktales from the Northern European tradition; one the famous Norse story of Sigurd Fafnirsbane, his fight with the dragon, gaining of the hoard, awakening of Brynhild, and involvement with the Nibelung siblings, Gunnar and Gudrun.

The other is a Karelian-Finnish tale about the unlucky and supernaturally strong orphaned slave boy Kullervo, his mistreatment by his evil foster mother/mistress, the Maiden of Pohjola, his killing of her by a curse, and his seduction of his sister and suicide after taking revenge on his uncle by killing his uncle's entire family.

Why do most other tales eg Cinderella have distinctive local variants all around the world while others (eg Sigurd) don't?

True, there's a German version of the Sigurd legend, but why, for example, are there no American or Australian-influenced variants of Sigurd and the story of the Volsungs, even though German and Scandinavian immigrants, the national groups who preserved the oral tradition about him, were extremely numerous in both countries and the story was often told by descendants of Scandinavian immigrants for generations? For example, I go to a riding place here in my city, and one of the volunteers is descended from Swedish immigrants who settled in the rural areas of our state. She said that she'd heard the Sigurd story from members of her family, omitting the cannibalistic elements.

Also, a Swedish-Australian friend of mine recognised the story when I mentioned it to her. I'm assuming that Scandinavian and German-Americans also know it. But generally, the story isn't localised to America or Australia. It's more-or-less the same (Sigurd is still the son of a Swedish king, for instance, instead of say, a German or Swedish gold prospector's son in America during the 1849 gold rush, or a trapper's son in Appalachia.)

Same with the story of Kullervo. The Finns and Karelians settled in parts of America and Australia, taking the rune-songs of the Kalevala with them, so why are there no distinctive localised variants of those songs? When you look up Cinderella on Google, you come away with tons of different variants. But when you look up "Sigurd" or "Siegfried", you don't find any of that.

maybe it's because sigurd is an epic/high mythological hero? and therefore it seems strange to adapt his story to america/another place? i'm not a college student, do i'm not sure. i just seems that 'low' mythology stories like say little red riding hood are more easily adaptable to other places. something about being "standalone" or something.

Maybe it's to do with translation. I remember Cinderella's famous glass slipper was originally made of fur until a translation faux pas turned it into glass. Stuff gets lost or garbled in translation, and before you know it, another country is telling the whole story completely differently.

edited 17th Apr '13 9:37:07 PM by Alma

But then what about the story of Kullervo, which was originally a folk tale common in southern Finland and Karelia (the version in The Kalevala was based on a version from southern Karelia, around Lake Ladoga.)

@Alma: That's actually not true

edited 17th Apr '13 9:48:05 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Hm...

Some tales might be too specific to a country's history or culture to osmose into others, while others (Cinderella) can be "read" easily in other cultures because they are to do with themes that are more universal. Cinderella is about a girl seeking a better life and the affection of a prince; most countries, I would guess, have some variant of that story already and find it relatable.

edited 17th Apr '13 9:46:14 PM by Alma

still. even small areas have specific epics.

THIS: http://tagaloglang.com/Philippine-Literature/Filipino-Epics/biag-ni-lam-ang-buod.html

is an epic from a small northern region of my country. it has no other variants as far as i know.

@Alma: Kullervo's story is set in Karelia, but is essentially a moral tale telling of the consequences of bad treatment of orphans. The basic plot could be transferred anywhere in the world, with the superficial details being changed. For example, in an India-set retelling, bears could be changed to tigers which tear apart the evil mistress/foster mother. The hero becomes a shepherd instead of cowherd, sold for the additional reason that his uncle is too poor to care for him. The oat loaf with a stone baked into it becomes naan bread with a stone baked in it.

@Passerby: Where in the Philippines are you from?

edited 17th Apr '13 10:14:20 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

NCR, descended from northerners. grandmothers from tarlac and ilocos.

Oh.

Biag ni Lam-ang was a very weird epic, to be honest. XDD

Passerby: Oh, you're from the New California Republic?

@Rosvo: Is that what it stands for? Where did bowler-hat guy come from?

No, it was a joke.

I think he means the National Capital Region of Philippines. Which is infinitely more boring.

And, I recently acquired a bowler hat, and I wanted an avatar to signify it. I also had my signature and title in the same theme.

edited 18th Apr '13 4:46:59 AM by Rosvo1

I was joking.

edited 18th Apr '13 3:21:52 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Excuse me, calling the National Capital Region of my country boring is not very accurate and —

...actually yeah, yeah it is pretty boring, not to mention chaotic. Carry on. :P

Look, Bunnie. It might be nice, but it's not as exciting as the Mojave Wasteland.

...I thought it meant New California Republic as well.

[DELETED]

edited 18th Apr '13 6:52:13 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Why are male Cinderella tales less common than female ones?

Long-implanted perceptions of gender.

Hey, I saw the title and ignored everything else because there's something I want to talk about, that's me. Have you ever heard the story of the Caleuche?

Aren't there Ninety different versions of that one?

Whether or not a story gets a cultural adaptation most likely depends on, you know, culture.

There wouldn't be an American version of a Finnish warrior epic, for example, because America isn't a warrior culture, plus, many Americans don't know Finland exists.

There would be a version of Cinderella, however, because the story (well, the modern version) plays to a lot of the themes and values little American girls are raised on.

@Mukora: The key word is epic but the Kullervo story, as in the version before The Kalevala, wasn't originally an epic tale, but a folk tale from Ingria and southern Karelia.

edited 19th Apr '13 8:14:55 PM by MorwenEdhelwen

Actually, I found an analysis of folktales from the Ozark Mountains here. The second tale is called a variant of Beowulf by the author.

American culture isn't a warrior culture? What about all the Western movies where the White cowboy gunslinger kills the "savage" Indians?

edited 28th Apr '13 4:42:58 AM by MorwenEdhelwen