| Summary: | 碩士 === 臺東師範學院 === 兒童文學研究所 === 89 === This thesis researches the texts of the mythic nine-tribes in Taiwan. It studies the contents, genres, and developments of the nine-tribe myths, and moreover, examines the importance and significance of myths in Taiwan as material that can be used for children’s literature.
With personal concerns on Taiwan, I investigate whether the theories of Chinese myths or western myths can be adapted to the myths of the nine-tribes. Myths, with their unique story-type and contents, not only occupy an important field in adult literature, but also have become a significant literary genre and cannot be neglected in children’s literature. However, anyone who examines the books about myths, will find that the definitions of myths among publishers, writers, editors, scholars are not the same. The first step, therefore, in this thesis is to focus on making distinctions between myths, legends and folktales.
Chinese and western myths have developed in both traditional culture and literature. The second step in this thesis is to present a brief historical review of the concepts of myths in both the Chinese and Western world. Then, in Chapter Three, I analyze the texts of nine-tribe myths themselves. In the Chapter Four, I discuss the function and significance of myths for children. The importance of myths in childhood development is undeniable. Wordsworth, a famous poet of Romanticism, says that a child is the father of a man. From Wordsworth’s words, we can see the importance of childhood and nature. Likewise, by studying and publishing the myths of the nine-tribes, we can find out how the society outside of the tribes can learn how to be close to nature. Finally, I present some guidelines for editing based on children’s reading abilities and the psychology of learning.
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