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A pourquoi story [a] (French pronunciation: ⓘ; "pourquoi" meaning "why" in French) is a fictional narrative that explains why something is the way it is, for example why snakes have no legs or why tigers have striped coats. Many legends, origin myths and folk tales are pourquoi stories.
According to researcher Galina Kabakova, the fate of the children at the end of the tale is important to determine the origin of that particular variant (based on a geographical method): in the main Lithuanian versions, mother and children are transformed into trees, a motif that occurs in versions collected from the Belarus's border between ...
A notable example is the myth of the foundation of Rome—the tale of Romulus and Remus, which Virgil in turn broadens in his Aeneid with the odyssey of Aeneas and his razing of Lavinium, and his son Iulus's later relocation and rule of the famous twins' birthplace Alba Longa, and their descent from his royal line, thus fitting perfectly into ...
In science and philosophy, a just-so story is an untestable narrative explanation for a cultural practice, a biological trait, or behavior of humans or other animals. The pejorative [ 1 ] nature of the expression is an implicit criticism that reminds the listener of the fictional and unprovable nature of such an explanation.
"The Three Questions" is a 1903 short story by Russian author Leo Tolstoy as part of the collection What Men Live By, and Other Tales. The story takes the form of a parable, and it concerns a king who wants to find the answers to what he considers the three most important questions in life.
The two stories were joined into the single Osiris myth sometime before the writing of the Pyramid Texts. With this merging, the genealogy of the deities involved and the characterization of the Horus–Set conflict were altered so that Horus is the son and heir avenging Osiris's death.
Each story has its feet firmly planted in the real world, but serves as an epicenter for swirling fantasies. In one story, "The Lizzie Borden Jazz Babies," Sparks makes use of a tragic plot point that sets off many classic fairy tales – the untimely death of a protagonist's parent – and applies it to the father instead of the mother.
The answer to the second question came to him when he realized that the angel of death was looming over the nobleman who was making preparations for a year though he would not live till sunset; thus Michael smiled, realizing that what is not given to man is "to know his own needs."