The Unity of Nora Myths

Abstract

This article aims to consider the Nora legend in order to point out its unity through a synthesis of the story structure of the Nora legend that appears in the area around the Songkhla Lake Basin. The article examines six expressions by applying Vladimir Propp’s theory of story structure to consider the axis that determines the content, and the story of the legend of Nora. There is a view that story structure is constrained by rules that determine the content and flow of the story. It is comparable to the grammar of a language. The results of the study found that among the many differences in the legend of Nora, each expression reveals that three key story structures are shared: A nobleman receives a dance from a supernatural power. Noble people behaved so wrongly that they were sentenced to exile, and the protagonist communicates the meaning until he returns to the city. The case that makes it possible to understand that the Nora legends are different arises from the fact that each expression uses a method of substituting characters, changing the details of behavior and inserting, cutting, adjusting, and expanding various parts in the legend in order to integrate the storyteller’s thoughts and beliefs and transform them into their own expressions. Using the same story structure gives the Nora legend its unity. All expressions can still equally exist in contemporary society because they tell the same story. This study also found that the structure of the Nora legend was shared with other legends at both the local and court levels.