Tales and stories, in many minds are often assimilated to mere anecdotes or even worse to little more that "chatter". This first misconception needs to be countered. The best story-tellers among Rroma are capable - as the best playwrights - to create a many hour story on the spur of the moment, with many characters, an action and a plot. In this, these tales and stories are more akin to epics. Perhaps the best comparison would be the Middle-Ages troubadour who composed songs and epics such as - to name but the best known ones, the "Roman de la Rose" or the "Nibelungen Lied". Even the antique Homer was a story-teller, his stories later written down and handed down to us. Paramiča are generally divided in two kinds - pure fantasy such as novels or life stories, which are more personal or generally known historical episodes although often embellished. Such stories include the tales about the life and travails of families and groups - for example the tales about the reasons why Lovara migrated from Hungary, the stories of the bridge - widespread throughout the Balkan[1], or even the mythical pharaonic themes which are mostly found among Western and Northern European Rroma. The line between fantasy and real life is often blurry as certain beliefs such as the one of the Mule and Čoxane are considered as part fantasy and part reality.
This is not to say that these stories are all long and serious. On the contrary, many of them are not devoid of a subtle sense of humour and even frivolity and can even be downright lewd, in spite of certain traditional barriers in those matters. Many of these "light" tales could be advantageously compared to the stories told in Boccacio's Decameron.
To give but a few examples, the story of how the Rrom got the duck - or Crimean Rroma tale of the blacksmith who had the Devil as an apprentice are fairly representative of this category of stories. In the first one, a poor Rrom, employed by a stingy priest is asked to serve him a perfectly roasted duck. The priest, realising that the Rrom is hungry offers him a piece of the meal but warns him that anything he'll do to the duck will be done to him - break a wing, his arm will be broken, break the leg, his leg will be broken and so on. The Rrom outsmarts the priest with a trick, which if not of the very best taste is both smart and funny. In the second tale, the Rromano Blacksmith has the habit of saying that he'll blind the Devil whenever his work did not turn out to his expectations. The Devil then appears to the Rrom under the disguise of an apprentice and manages to put the Rrom into a difficult situation - he'll cut his neighbour's husband into pieces - out of which he'll need all his wits to emerge unscathed from.
The Devil is often found in stories, mostly in what one could call the "smart Rrom" category, namely, tales about Rroma who outwit Gadže (often priests), the Devil himself or even God. The tales mentioned above such as the one about the duck or the apprentice are typical of this type of stories.
Other themes of tales and stories also include the tradition based tales, the ones effectively handing down laws, rules and traditions. Tales such as the one about hospitality, where an old Rrom, not invited to sit and eat with the others, shames them into sharing their food with him or tales such as the one about a horse who is killed by a passing train and it's owner claim of a compensation as losses were shared by all and the subsequent judgement.
Many tales also have to do with death and mule - the ghosts. We have already described the importance of this belief among Rroma and it is reflected in the number of tales devoted to that subject. For example, the tale of two women who go palm reading in a house and in fact read the palms of ghosts, or the tale of the husband who comes back from the dead to take his wife with him.
Where and when does one hear those tales and stories? There are of course the long evenings where elder people tell them to children and adults alike, but there are also more subtle contexts such as a conversation where a story may be used to make one's point or to convince the other party of one's position. In the latter case, the stories are often shorter and adapted to present days. Prevalent and the best example of improvisations and creation are simply spontaneous spurs of story telling be it when seated at a table or working. Even simple toast can evolve into intricate poetic stories and many a Rrom will be judged by his ability in these occasions.
[1] See E. Marushiakova & V. Popov Eds. Studii Romani vol III & IV.