おとぎ話という幻想の殺し方

英語の過去問に欧米の民俗学らしき文章を発見したので、復習を兼ねて抜粋。

Our early ancestors had little conception of the difference between human beings and the animal creation. To them all that had life was animated by a spirit, and the form of the enclosing body made little difference. Primitive man sees nothing impossible in the story that his tribe is descended from a beast or a bird; the lady in the fairy-tale who married a bear or a snake was doing nothing particular improbable.
As knowledge advanced, these animal husbands became enchanted men who regained their true shape at last, but this is a later modification to suit later ideas. The conception of "lower animals" is a modern notion based on the gradual recognition of the essential difference between man and the other inhabitants of this world. Early man saw them as creatures endowed with special gifts and obeying their own laws; often they appeared to him not less but more intelligent than himself. Our fairy-tales, with their helpful animals, talking-birds and wise reptiles, are fossilized remains of a period when animals took equal place with man and were sometimes messengers or servants of the hidden gods.
So today it may be seen that a great many of our superstitions about birds and animals are based on their supposed wisdom, cunning or magical powers rather than their inferiority in the scheme of things.

海外のおとぎ話は日本よりも"動物"という存在を重視しているようですね。日本は動物よりも災害や夜・闇・霊魂といった自然物を重視している様な気がします。
どちらにしろそれらが幻想になる過程というのはどこの地域でも変わらないのでしょう。

日本ではやはり鬼らがこの典型例でしょう。
羅生門の鬼や大江山の鬼等、人間側の英雄と渡り合った豪傑達はある程度の時代までは、英雄の武勇譚と共にその勇姿が語り継がれるが、いつの間にかおとぎ話の登場人物にされ、終いには『瘤取りじいさん』や節分に象徴されるようなデフォルメされたユーモラスな姿でしか語られなくなってしまう。

そうなったらそれはもう"fossilize=化石化"され、存在にとどめを刺されてしまうのです。

馬場あき子氏の『鬼の研究』がこういった話には非常に参考になります。

訳文は良い訳が思いついたら後々記事にします。
＞（http://d.hatena.ne.jp/Lamy_trp/20130126/1359211085）載せました。