Humour
in
Serbian Jocular
Folk
Stories1
1 Many Serbian folk stories belonging tooral Serbian literaturearenot of Serbian origin; anumberof them have been Serbianised (cf. Samardzija, 1994:177).
MILOSAV Z. CARKIC ( Belgrade )
0.0.The environment andthe specificliving conditions haveformedthepecu liarcharacter typeofthe common Serb, alwaysalert and cheerful, witty when it
comes to understanding varioussituationsand resourceful even in impossiblesi
tuations. Persevering in his ambitions and resourceful in realising them, the common Serb has developed his adaptabilitytonecessity and has sharpened his
senses inorderto deal with the suddenand the unexpected in hisceaseless strug gle for survival. The range ofhis skills corresponds to the range of situations wherein he cleverly pretends to be ignorant andnaive (even whensuperior spiri tually or in terms of experience) or not to understandeven what isperfectly clear
to him (for he doesnot want to understandwhatever is not in his interest). This
resourceful lack of understanding or ignorancehas become a means of securing and defending himself, because the common Serb found out long agothat hidden
knowledge saved him from trouble while openknowledge restricted him, tied him down, often got himaccusedofsomethingor otherandsenttojail. To him, humour is a means of “preserving the bitterness ofhis fate through laughter” (Koljevic 1968: 9). However, forthe commonSerb humour has been the only
meansof defending his endangered self from allsortsofoffences andstriving to
overcomethe wounds inflictedupon him bythe outerworld; he thus refused to sufferfrom the wounds, turningthem into motifs ofhishumorous pleasure, thus
proving his magnificentsuperiority over the real situationthat hedefied (Ristic
StylistykaX
1962: 362). In addition to this, forthe commonSerb humour has been “carefully chosen, gifted and witty word of astrongandversatileman... ahigh, low, cos mic game... a contest between destiny and man’s willpower” (Sekulic 1962:
366). In Serbian jocularfolk stories, humour is most often expressed in theform
of acomic situation, adynamic turn of events, the contentof a particular word used,and no less ofteninthe form of witty repartee, whichmakes it more profo
und and reflexive than usual.
0.1. In this paper, our attentionwill be focused primarily on the analysis of the
elements ofhumour in Serbian jocular folk literature2, solely in the form of
narrative prose (theSerbian jocularfolkstory). Eventhough elementsof humour
may be found in other forms3 offolk literature, for example, in lyric and epic
forms, they will not be considered here. Priority has been given to the prose
formsof folk narrationbecause, generallyspeaking,they are characterised by a
greater freedom of expression and humour has a more prominent role in them than in verse narrative forms4 and represents a source of diverse stylistic devices.
2 There alsoexist great Serbianhumorists inthesphere of artisticliterature: JovanSterijaPopovic,Simo Matavulj, Stevan Sremac, BranislavNusic and Radoje Domanovic belongthere first of all, but there are manyothersas well (cf. Hanzekovic, 1962: 357).
3 Thatthis is so is confirmed by the followingwords ofS.Samardzija: "‘Humourmay befound not only in folk storiesbutinthe entirefolkliterature” (Samardzija, 1986: 7). The following wordsof V. Durie testify tothefact thatthere are elements of humour in poetry: “A particular kind ofjocular and satirical poetryappeared relatively late, but it was inthe clan society period, sometime during theera ofbarba rism”(Durie, 1955: 96).
4 ’’While epic folkpoetrywaslimitedby its themes and verseform, andlyricpoetrywastiedto rituals, folk customsand melody, prosefolkliteraturehadmuch more freedom” (Samardzija, 1986:5).
1.0. In Serbian jocular folkstories the elementsof humourare usually linked to a particular typeofcharacter:a priest, amonk,anaga [master, esquire],a qadi
[judge], Era [inhabitant of Uzice, Serbia], ]osa [literally - beardless, a typical folk story character], Nasredin-khoja [a typical Muslim character; khoja - a priest],a Gypsy.In other formsof prosenarration humourisofa veryinnocuous form (particularlyin fairytalesand fables). Viewedfrom amoral-social standpo int, humourhas a twofold role:(1) to pointoutgeneral characterflaws and (2) to
emphasise the shortcomings of the sociallyprivileged group. In the case of the
former, the humour dealswithindividuals (liars, braggarts, thieves, misers, gul
lible people, tricksters, fools, layabouts, wives, daughters-in-law, mothers-in-law, sons-in-law),certain clans(especially innumerous storiesmade up in order
Humour in Serbian Jocular FolkStories MILOSAV Z. CARKIC
to mocksomething), an entirepeople,as inthe story “WhyBoors Are Beggars” (wherein Serbs, being boorish because they could not reach an agreement amongst themselves, are presentedin contrast tothe English, the French and ot herswho know what they want) or people generally, as in the story “How Man
Came to Be Eighty” (wherein man, having received his share of thirty years from God, takesa further twentyfroma donkey, twenty from a dog andten from a monkey). Inthecaseofthe former, thehumour is based on class struggle, on
deviations and shortcomings, and all thenegative phenomenaremain essentially
negative. In the case of the latter, the humour is based on the conflict between the exploiters and the exploited, the conflict between supernatural powers and man, wherein many negative phenomena (lies, trickery, laziness, theft, miserli
ness, cowardice, selfishness, frivolity, etc.) become positivewhen they have an
adverse effecton the strongerside in the conflict, whereasthe virtues ofbravery, endurance, fairness and nobility are ascribed totheweaker sidein the conflict.
Here, the humour ismanifested in the formof satiredirected againstthe class of
the masters, liberating the downtroddenfrom their inferiorposition3. From the
point ofview of aesthetics, humour in Serbian jocularfolk stories has various forms and values, most often manifesting itself in the form of: (1) a caricature,
(2)a riddle, (3) <2 misunderstanding, (4) tryingto outlie one’s opponent, (5) a witty practicaljoke, (6) an unexpected or impossible situation, (7) the paralle lism of oppositesand (8)puns. To singleoutindividual forms of humour is ma
inlya matter of scientificabstraction, forin Serbian jocular folk storieshumour most often functions as a combination ofseveral of the above forms.
1.1. Humourin the form ofacaricatureis rarely successful. As a caricature of
stupidity,it is almost always lowbrow. This is usually the form it takes in various mocking stories.Those are, forexample, “The storyabout a man whoset hisho
use on fireto burn downthemice that had pestered him... about aman who tried to chase the wind away withhiscap... or about aman who beat his head againsta
stone in order to take his revenge upon it” (Latkovic 1967: 128). There are nu
merous jocular storieswherein thestupidity and ignoranceof individuals and the
clans they belongto is soexcessiveas to produce a kind of repugnance. There are few successful examplesin this particular form of storytelling, such as the
5 This is not a characteristic ofjocularfolkstories only, it is manifested infolk tales as well in the form of “sympathy for the weak.In these talesthe unjustly persecuted get protection, the poorget riches, the sufferersgethappiness,theconqueredget compensation, the downtroddenturn victorious,themodest getthe glory,thosedeprivedoftheir rightsgetthe power” (Prodanovic 1951: 18).
4— Stylistyka
Stylistyka X
stories “The Inhabitants ofBorovica Jump into the Fog” (wherethe fallacy is counterbalanced by a symbol of deeper meaning,forthe inhabitantsof Borovica jump into the fog believing it is cotton) and “A Sinner and a Mad Confessor”
(wherein a miscalculation is deftly used to ridicule the Church regulations, the tendency of the underlings inthechurch hierarchy to follow rigidly therules laid
down by their superiors).But when a caricature of ignorance remains withinthe
limits of thenatural, as in the stories “Era in Church” (wherein Eranaivelywon ders whythereare no pegsin church, the way there arein every house, so that he could hanghis bag upon it), and “Mixed Soup” (wherein a hungry soldier talked a naiveold woman into giving himwhatever sheclaimed shedid not have: salt,
flour, lard - so he could prepare a bowl of mixed soup), or when ignorance is purposefully emphasised for effect, as in the story “Eras Watering a Willow- Tree” (wherein ignorant Eras, wishing to watera crooked willow-tree, drown,
only one of them survivingthe undertaking), or whena real prejudice getsexplo ited, as in the story “Erofrom the OtherWorld”6(wherein theresourceful Era tricks a Turkish woman,aTurk and amiller one after another), orwhen one gre
atly exaggerates in trying to outlie an opponent, as inthe story“Son-in-Lawand
Mother-in-Law” (wherein the lies of ason-in-laweventually turn against him)
-then the humour reaches the highest degree of artistic value.
6 M.Misailovic hasanalysed varioustypes of sociological and psychologicalmeanings of the Era-style of humour (Misailovic 1978: 255-272).
7 “The beginnings offolk riddles often show how much our people are fond of puns; based on similarities of certain words and phrases,be they phonemic or morphological,our folk often create new, non-notionalspoken forms whichservenoother purposethanto enhance the mystery of solving the riddle in question” (Knezevic1972: 35).
8 Repetition of certainwords and phraseswasone of thefavourite methods in classicalcomedy as well (cf. Bergson 1987: 81).
1.2. Humour inthe form of a riddle and indirect way of phrasing one’s messa ge,which cannot be unravelled without a certain amount ofeffort - is ofa par ticularly high quality. As examples of this type ofhumour,wemay offer the sto ries “APeasantin a Quadi’s Court”(whereina peasant, having been wronged by a qadi,explainsto the latter why common folkdonot fight outlaws: “Why, ef fendi,it is noteasy to overpower an outlaw; when aquiet,honest man meets one
on theroad, he bows and doffs his cap, like this, out offear, theway Ido to you, effendi.” The explanation, whichostensiblyshows the peasant’s respect towards
the qadi byrepeating the lexeme“effendi”[sir, master] twice , indirectlyconve
ys thathe is just as bad asan outlawthrough the deftly interposed phrase “the
7
Humour in Serbian Jocular Folk Stories MILOSAV 1. CARKIC
way I do to you”) and “You Shall Play” (wherein neighboursask a mansetting out on a journey to bring them variousthings but no-one offersanymoney. Only a child,having asked the man tobuyhim a flute, offers him a coin. The traveller,
instead ofgiving a detailed explanation to allthose present says tersely, indirect ly conveying his intentions: “You shall play”).
1.3. Humour in theform of sheer misunderstandingisrarely found in Serbian jocular folk stories, but when we do come across it, it proves to be of first-rate
quality. Misunderstandings arise due to various causes, the simplestone among
them being addressing a deaf person. More refined ones include: taking someone’s words literallyand answering them in unexpected ways,as inthesto
ry“A Herdsman Outwitted aPriest” (wherein a herdsman, even though heunde
rstooda priest’s veiled questionsonly too well, gave direct answers to them, thus
creatingconfusion). This form of humorous expression is also found inthe story “Nasradin-khoja and a Frenchman” (wherein a Frenchman and Nasradin-khoja exchanged information by way ofgestures,misunderstanding each other in the process but arriving at the correct solution inthe end). The humour in the story “Well, Now You’ve Had It, Fox” (wherein the chance wordsof a mendacious
fortune-teller, whoseintendedmeaning was entirely different, coincidewiththe emperor’s secret, thus saving the liarfrom a certain death) is different, both in termsofmeaningandstructure, from the types of humouratwork in thepreviou
sly mentioned stories.
1.4. Humour in the form oftrying tooutlie one'sopponent,to a greater extent than other types, contains elements ofother typesof humour, particularly carica ture, tricks, unexpected turns of phrase and the parallelism of opposites. It is mo
stly aboutattemptstohide one’s weak points, even trying topresent themas vir tues . What also characterises thistype ofhumour is the use of the fantastic , but with arationalising tendency, so that thefantastic should be represented as impossible, unbelievable, ridiculous. This type of humour is prominent in the story “Lying for a Bet”, whereinanaive, inexperienced childmanages tooutlie
the inveterateliar ]osa. Thehumour in the story “Lie withoutTruth” arisesoutof juxtaposingtwo true possibilities and one true impossibility, which appears as
notoriously untrue. Many other stories about attempts at outlying one’s oppo
9 10
9 N.Hartmann speaks at length of thistype of humour,verging on the comic(cf. Hartmann 1979: 486). 10 M.Risticrightly believesthat “humour mixes the real andthe fantastic. Thus every manifestation of
humour is actually a metaphor” (Ristic 1962:362).
Stylistyka X
nent are structured in asimilarway; beingofa more didactic bent,they rarelyre
ach artistic excellence.
1.5. Humour in theform ofpracticaljokes isfound inmanySerbian jocular folk stories. It is oftencombined with otherforms ofhumour. Practical jokesare
virtually inseparable from puns. The tricks in question are played upon one’s
peer(s), by underlings upon their superiors andthe other way round, by masters
upon their underlings, by the young upon their elders and the other way round,
bypeople uponsupernatural powers and the other way round.Tricksare played
for the sake of ajoke or for profit; it is doneboth nicelyand in arough sort of
way. Examples are manyand diverse. In some of them, thetrickin question is played at a stroke: by means ofawitty repartee, as in the stories “The Holy Ar
changel andan Old Woman” (wherein an old woman, who had married five ti mes, found the right answertotheArchangel’s question); “ItIs Worthft” (whe
rein one woman tricked anotherby eatingherred-pepper salad, which israther
more expensivethanbeans); “A Gypsy anda Melon” (wherein a Gypsyeffort lessly tricked a seller of melonsinto giving him oneas a gift forawell-told lie);
or by deftly exposing the collocutor’s liefor what it is, as inthe story “A Man from Baeva anda Greek” (wherein truth triumphs overlies and realityprovessu
perior to ajoke); or by means ofa sudden turnaround,as in the story “A Turk
Chased MarkoKraljevic” (wherein a blind manpandered to the vanity of a Turk
at first but eventually told thetruth,whichhardlymade the Turkfeel amused); or
bygiving false informationin order toforce the opponent into ahopeless posi tion,asin the story “Era and a Qadi”(whereinthe resourceful Era lied to the qadi
inorder to trick him into passing afairverdictfor the truth he said afterwards); or byasking for a part of something inorderto get thewhole,as in the story “A
Hadji,Guardianof the People”(wherein ahadji,asking for a lamb’s liver, actu allyasks forthe entire lamb); or by meansof an appropriate counterbalancing act, as in “A Dervish and aCook” (wherein a crafty Orthodox cook outwits a
mendacious, inconstantdervish); or bymeans of a shrewd stratagem, as inthe story “A Gypsyand the Emperor” (wherein a Gypsy proved totheemperorthat
he, too, was afraidofawoman, that is, the empress);“The Unfaithful One Shall Suffer” (wherein a badger outsmarted afox, otherwise famed for its cunning),
“It Is Good to HeedWhata Woman Says Sometimes” (wherein a man coaxes a
piece ofadvice out of an aga forthe purpose ofusing it against the aga to trick him). In other cases, as inthestories: “An OldMan OutwittedGiants” (wherein an old man repeatedly triumphs giants owing not tohis strength but to his wit);
“An ImmortalOldMan” (wherein an old man outwitted bothGod andSt Peter); “A Soldier and Death” (wherein asoldier outwitted bothGodand death, thus ea
Humour in Serbian Jocular FolkStories MILOSAV Z. CARKIC
rninghimself a placein heaven); “StSava and the Devil” (wherein St Sava alwa
ys managestooutwitthe Devil,so thatthe latter never againshows up together with a priest); “A Fox Took Revenge on aWolf’ (wherein a fox took revengeon
a wolf because the latter had devoured a colt it had set aside for itself); “A Girl
Outwittedthe Emperor”(wherein a girl was able to answer each questionposed by the emperor wisely, thus becoming the empress); “The King and a Herds man” (wherein a herdsman, speaking wisely, outwitted the King and married his
daughter). In all thesejocular stories many different situations arise, involving tricks of all sorts, aswellas very diversemanifestations of humour, “to the de
light ofthe narrator and for the enjoyment of the listeners and readers” (Durie 1969: 23).
1.6. Humour in the form ofthe unexpected is the mostpervasive type ofhu
mour in Serbian jocular folk stories. The unusual, unnatural,impossible orillo gical at first glance, but psychologicallyjustifiedall the same-thatis theessen tial characteristic of this type ofhumour. The psychological justificationiseither
explicit or implicit. Theformer ismore frequent and more necessary, for there aremany situations which would remain unclearwithout anexplanation. Such occurrences are encountered inthestory “Wherever Didthe English Queen Get
All That Money from?” (wherein a boy inside an empty grocery store grinds gems in a mortar made of bronze, an old man gives two coins to anyone who slapshim on thefacetwice, cries fortwo hours and laughs fora further two whi
le mending shoes, a man stands motionless in the desert withtwo lions on his shoulders). Detailed explanations, which are functional in this particular story,
wouldbe detrimental inmostother circumstances. But even brief explanations arenot ofthesametype: somehaveno other purpose than to providetheneces sary explication oftheunusual,as in the stories: “EvilWife Preserves HerHus band”(whereintwobrothers decide to leave the executionerof their father alive
becausehe has got anevil wife, thinking it would be a greater evil forhimtore main married to her than to be killed by them) and “I’m Helping You Joke” (wherein Ero, answering all the malicious remarks ofaTurk in the affirmative,
makes the latterangry); apartfromthis, other stories aim to achieve new effects, such as: “Ero and theEmperor” (wherein Ero gladly accepts when the emperor
startspeltinghim with figsbecausehad he brought quince, theway he had inten ded to,he wouldhave been dead already) and“Agaand a Serf’ (wherein an aga, not having received a presentfrom aWallach [non-Muslim], forces the latter to
count the hairs inhis horse’s tail,thinking the horsewould kill him). As hasbeen pointed outalready, both varieties canbe very successful in artistic terms. Ho wever, thecases whenthepsychological justification isimplicitrather than exp
Stylistyka X
licit, when the listener or the reader is forced to guess, aremoreinteresting and
certainlymore successful inartistic terms,such as the story entitled “Gypsy Pie” (whereina Gypsyslaps asmall Gypsy boy eating an imaginary pie), which does
appearabsurd until one remembers and takes intoconsideration how hungry a Gypsy can get- thenhis acts become logicalextensionsofhis psyche and appe
ar life-like and convincing. Naturally, the implicit psychological justification maybe more easilydiscernible than in thestories quoted above, as, forinstance,
in the stories “An Imp” (wherein aHoly Mount apprentice,havingseen young
girlsforthe first time, asks what sort of creaturesthey areanda priest tellshim that theyare devils; still, heproposes that theybuy them) and“Hail, Evil Wo man”(wherein a passer-by discovers an evil woman in agroup ofwomen sitting
together by greetingthem with the words: Hail, evil woman,for the onewho an swered them really wasevil). Hence these two categories, the explicit and the implicit psychological justification,are connected by various in-between nuan
ces, suchas thefollowing two differentmethods: a succession ofunexpected oc
currences or dwelling on a single situation of that sort.
1.7. Humour in the form ofparallelism of opposites representsoneof themost
effective and most important manifestationsofhumour. The humorouseffect is achieved in different ways. Sometimes it is done by juxtaposingone phenome
non to a succession of different phenomena that are somehow linked semantical
ly, as in the story “People Divide Women among Themselves” (where Turks,
Latins and others get as many women as they demand while monks and friars, being late, do notgetany,or better still: theygetthem all). Parallels are made be tween different structures - such as a parallel between the actsof two different
persons whose motives arethesamebut whose resultsare entirely different, as
in the story “A Christianand a Turk”(whereinamaster wants to fool hisservant
by explaining to him thatthe Moon is the Sun’s brother, to which the slave re torts that the anvil is ruddiness’brother);a parallel formed by twoentirely diffe rent acts of two persons, as in the story “He Who Has Builds, He Who Has not
Steals” (wherein a rich man, havingplaced a gilded door knocker on his front door, writesthe following words on thedoor: So does one whohas; a poor man,
havingstolen thedoor knocker, writes the following wordsunderneath: And so
does one who hasnot); a parallel wherein the attitude of two persons towards the
same act isjuxtaposed against that ofathird person, as in the story “Who Is a Man’s Greatest Enemy” (wherein a bitch is a man’s friend and his wife hisene
my). The most interesting formof parallelism of opposites is the one pertaining to one and the same person, as in the story “ThatWill Pass, Too” (wherein a
Humour in Serbian Jocular FolkStories MILOSAV Z. CARKIC
ve and beinga master are both transientstates: all things pass); the same person
may act inentirely different ways inthe same situation, as in the story “I Can
MakeOut” (wherein an old woman cannot see a godmother but can makeoutan uncle). One and the same person may actdifferently dependingonthe situation, changing his opinions and principles out of some interest or other, saying one thing and then somethingentirelydifferentthe very next moment, to great comic effect, as in the story “Era and a Qadi” mentioned above.
1.8. Humourin theform of puns, oftencombined with other typesof humour:
theunexpected, theparallelism of opposites etc., in mostcases reaches ahigh le velof expressive and artistic value.We encounter this kind of humourin thesto
ry “A Turk and aGypsy”(whereinthephrase: the horse islying about separately \pobaskariose in the original] means- its head, legs, tail have been severed,se parated [obaska - separately] from one another); in the story “People Believe and Do not Believe a Turk” (wherein one and the same phrase,vjera ti[by your faith], used in a very witty manner -has entirely different meanings ); in the
story “There’s Less and Less Cheese” [Slovo ize alisirca nize in the original]
(wherein a witty rhymeis used to great semantic effect); in the story “A Priest
Drowned forHe Would not Give His Hand” (where the generally logical phrase
“Give meyour hand,priest” ismasterly juxtaposed againstthe even more logi
cal, from the priestzs point ofview, “Here’s a hand,priest”); in the story “The
Vat Died”[Krepao kotao intheoriginal] (wherein the verbskotitise[to breed]
and krepati [to die] are used in a thoroughly original manner); in the story “A
Wolf and a She-Goat” (wherein theshe-goat’s wittily thought-up name, Patila, makes the following captivating pun possible: “IfI hadn’t suffered [patila], I wouldn’thave got right in the middle [u srijedu spratila]; in the story “A Goat FlayedAlive” [Jarac ‘ivoderac](wherein rhyming, rhythmical phrases are utte
red by the goatto great effect: “I’m a goat flayed alive,slaughteredbutstill ali
ve, salted but not enough, roasted but not enough,my teeth are sharp, they’ll snap you intwo like a thread” [Ja sam jarac zivoderac, ziv klan nedoklan, ziv so- Ijen nedosoljen, ziv pecen nedopecen, zubi su mi kao kolac, pregriscute kao ko-nac]y, in the story“St Savaand a Wolf’ (wherein themonks incantational phra
ses otrekoksiand otricaj si [variantsof renounce(evil)]are echoed by thewolfs
ovce kolji [slaughter sheep] and ovceklaj si [slaughter sheep for yourself] to
11
11 Bergson saysofthistypeof humourthat it is brought about by two different systemsof ideas crossing in the same sentence, thus creating an endless sourceof possibilities for comic effect (cf. Bergson 1987: 80).
Stylistyka X
considerable effect, created by the phonemic similarity of the utterances and the ir semanticdifference); in the story “GypsyWoman Called Mujo” (wherein the Gypsy woman calling Mujo to come backhome is actually warninghim to run
away: “O Mujo! The wood’s your mother, take tothehills, come back at once, the Jerries are looking for you”); inthestory “A WiseDaughter-in-Law” (whe
rein the cryptic sentence “What has passed this way has no offspring, leading what does not multiply,carryingwhatisnot sown”actually means: “Amonk has passedthisway, leadingamule, carrying salt.Monks produce no offspring, mu les do not multiply and salt is not sown.”), etc.
2.0. The comiceffect in Serbian jocular folk stories, aswe have shown, has
been achieved invarious ways: through unexpected turns ofphraseor event,wit
ty repartees, unexpectedcombinations, caricatures, crypticremarks, misunder standings, trying to outlie one’s opponent, the parallelismof opposites and puns.
To these common methodsof achieving the comic effectwe may add cases of
humour based onelements ofthe burlesque, as in the story“Marko Cheated of His Dinner” (wherein four monks divide fish amongst themselves; the fourth
monk, having received none, pours hot fish soup on the other three, saying: God’s mercy pours upon you), on unmaskingand travesty, as in the story “An
Old Woman Sent and Old Man to School” (wherein an old woman sent her hus band to school because she had heardthata poor man could become rich by at tending school regularly), on paradox, as in the story“Nasredin’s House Burned Down” (whereinNasredin burnedhis house in orderto get rid of mice). Examp les can befoundof stories wherethe humorous effect is achieved through a lack of point or denouement, as in thestories “Ifthe Load Falls off-Nothing”(whe
rein a man askedwhat the donkey he is leading is carrying answers wittily: ifthe
loadfalls off- nothing) and “Why DoYouAsk Me When You Know?” (where in a mandriving anoxcartloadedwith maize, whenasked what he isdriving,re
plies: Logs, whereupon his interlocutor, puzzled, asks: How come, it’s maize, not logs, and gets the reply: Why do you askmewhen you know?). In cases like these,whenthe story in question isvery close tobeing a mere joke, wenotea de cline in the qualityof the Serbianjocularfolkstory12. Thus Serbianjocular folk stories, along with the modernisation oftheirtopics,gradually turned into jokes,
becoming a new typeof oral literature and partofthevernacularofthecommon
peopleofSerbia. However,eventoday Serbianjokes retain elementsoftheSer
bian jocularstory. By wayof conclusion, eventhough the Serbianjocular story
Humour in Serbian Jocular FolkStories MILOSAV Z. CARKIC
is dying out in away, its humour preserves the spirit and the picture of times
gone by, remaining accessible to contemporary readers on accountofthe inter playbetween the unknown and theknown, the triumph of witoverthe rules, be
cause itgives them the opportunity to face reality and find out the truth about themselves, because it criticises thenormsand conventions ofsociety,exposing the entire systemof false values man hasestablished to hide his powerlessness. Despite everything, even todaythat humour canentertain, condemn sharply, ex pose toridicule andprovide anaesthetic experience and aestheticpleasure. It has
become a genetic element of the common Serbian folk.
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Durie V., 1969, Antologija narodnih pripovedaka [An Anthology of Folk Stories], Novi Sad - Beograd.
Hanzekovic M., 1962, O smijehu i smesnome [On Laughter and the Funny], Enciklopedija
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Hartmann N., 1979, Estetika [Aesthtetics], Beograd.
Knezevic M., 1972, Antologija govornih narodnih umotvorina [An Anthology of Oral Folk Creations], Beograd.
Koljevic S., 1968, Humor i mit [Humour and Myth], Beograd.
Latkovic V., 1967, Narodna knjizevnost I [Folk Literature I], Beograd.
Misailovic M., 1978, SocioIoka ipsiholoskaznacenja erskog humora [The Sociological and
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Prodanovic J. M., 1951, Antologija narodnih pripovedaka i ostalih proznih narodnih umot
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