Immutable: The "Tiger and Frog" Story: Traditional Mönpa Storytelling
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Resource ID
93
Access
Open
Title
The "Tiger and Frog" Story: Traditional Mönpa Storytelling
Editor
Wulff, Mareike
Other contributor
Tsetanla (Storytelling)
Tashi Tshering (Participant)
Phurpala (Storytelling, Mönpa transcription, English translation, Editing)
Wulff, Mareike (Recording, Audiovisual Documentation)
Conrad, Agnes (Mönpa transcription, English translation, Editing)
Rinzin Lhamo (Mönpa transcription, English translation, Editing)
Publishing institution
Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin
Date of publication
20 February 2026
Terms of use
(CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Namensnennung + nicht kommerziell + keine Bearbeitung
Abstract
In this video, Tsetanla tells Phurpala and Mareike a traditional Mönpa folktale. Phurpala interacts with Tsetanla in the Mönpa language and explains the story to Mareike in English. The story is a fable-like narrative about how a little frog avoids being eaten by a majestic tiger by tricking it. The moral of the story is that even a small being like the frog is not helpless in the face of great danger when clever.
Tsetanla and Phurpala are members of the indigenous Mönpa community in Central Bhutan. They speak their native tongue, the endangered Black Mountain Mönpa language. Living close to the jungle, the Mönpa community is deeply connected to the wildlife of the forest and attributes divine qualities to tigers.
The recording of the storytelling serves as the basis for an illustrated children’s book, "Tiger and Frog", published by Riyang Books (https://www.riyangbooks.net) in Bhutan. The story in the book is written in Mönpa, with translations into Dzongkha - the national language of Bhutan - and an additional English translation.
The renowned Bhutanese artist Pema Tshering (also known as Tintin; https://www.pematshering.com) painted the artwork for the book. The publication is part of the educational materials requested by the Mönpa community to preserve and promote their language in a written form.
The complete video documentation of Mönpa folk stories told by Tsetanla, as part of the research project documenting Mönpa endangered language, can be watched and listened to in the ‘Endangered Languages Archive' (https://www.elararchive.org/uncategorized/SO_bad14bc6-5639-4456-9c6e-5f1d95e4ad0c/).
Keywords
Ethnography, Ethnographic Film, Anthropology, Bhutan, Endangered Language, Black Mountain Mönpa, Educational Materials, Community-Engaged Research, Science Communication, Linguistic heritage, Cultural heritage, Qualitative research methods
DDC
301 Soziologie und Anthropologie, 302 Soziale Interaktion, 303 Soziale Prozesse, 305 Personengruppen, 306 Kultur und Institutionen, 307 Gemeinschaften, 390 Bräuche, Etikette, Folklore, 495 Sprachen Ost- und Südostasiens, 609 Geschichte, geografische Behandlung, Biografien, 895 Literaturen Ost- und Südostasiens
Language
eng, ole
Publication type
MovingImage
File format
MP4
Publisher DOI
Information on project funding
Printing of Educational materials: Tribal Trust Foundation (https://tribaltrustfoundation.org)
Research was funded by ELDP (Endangered Languages Documentation Programme, eldp.net)
Geolocation
Jangbi, Langthil Gewog, Trongsa Dzongkhag, Bhutan Lat/Long: 27.3117927 / 90.4865575
Related resources
https://hdl.handle.net/2196/f6faebd8-c4df-4b9a-926a-05bba3dcd6f8