익산지역의 이야기꾼들이 구연한 설화자료에 나타나는 변이의 제양상을 살펴본 결과 다음의 사실을 확인할 수 있었다. 첫째, 화자들의 성향과 구연설화의 상관성이 주목될 수 있다. 둘째, 변이는 이야기의 축약이나 축소라는 소극적 형태로만 존재하는 것이 아니다. 유능한 화자를 통해 이야기의 내용이 풍부해지고 생동감이 부여되는 창조적인 변화도 대상이 된다. 셋째, 이야기판은 화자와 청자의 상호소통의 현장이므로 즉흥적이고 자의적인 개변의 가능성이 항상 존재한다. 넷째, 시차를 둔 연행에서 발견된 변이를 통해 확인되는 사항은 다음과 같다. ①구연이 거듭될수록 세부내용이 구체화되어 가는 양상을 볼 수 있다. ②구연이 거듭될수록 이야기의 자연스러운 흐름을 좇는 논리적 지향을 보여준다. ③화자의 가치관·세계관의 변모와 이야기 변이의 상관성을 보여주고 있다는 점이다. 대체로 이야기변이를 통해 확인된 세계관의 변모방향은 노년층의 입장을 대변하는 보수적 가치관을 강조하거나, 개종 등과 같이 종교적 신념체계의 변화에 따른 변모된 가치관의 개입으로 인한 변이 등이다.

The purpose of this study is to examine all the aspects of the variation in the storytelling of Lee Gangseok and Lee Byeonglyeol, the two storytellers from Iksan area who were subject to a number of on-the-spot interviews conducted by the researchers. The analysis of the aspects is based on: 1) temporal differences caused by the time when the stories are told; and 2) comparison with the cases where general types of narratives are transformed into specific versions that are likely to reveal the individual features of the storytellers. The variation factors which have resulted from this approach can be summarized as follows. First, correlation between the personal tendencies of the storytellers and the stories told should be noted. In the case of a story that the teller would rather avoid telling, a structural variation could result due to abridgement or confusion. Second, the variation does not merely take the negative forms of abridgement or reduction. But it also takes the form of creative change with the stories made content-rich and endowed with vividness by a glib storyteller. Thus the stories may well be reinterpreted and re-created by means of the storytellers' view of life, oral ability, characteristic expressions and so on. Third, the place of storytelling is one of mutual interaction between the speaker and the hearers, so that there always exists the possibility of arbitrary interruption. In relation to the situations of storytelling, meta-narration should be taken into consideration. In accordance with the relationship of speakers to hearers, the typological features of meta-narration could vary; for example, in the storytelling for children and adolescents the stories are prone to be told to help the hearers understand some folk custom or concepts in order to transmit the morals successfully. On the part of the speaker, the commentary at the end of the story functions as self-reflection via storytelling and as the speaker gets old the tendency is found far more often. Last, the researchers have come up with the following findings as a result of analyzing the variation in sequential storytelling: 1) with the storytelling repeated, there appeared more detailed contents; 2) with the storytelling repeated, the tellers tend to seek for a certain logical structure to fit into the natural flow of the story; 3) aspects of variation reveal the gradual change of the speaker's view of value and the changing worldview and there lie a strong correlation between variation and change of views. By and large, the change of worldview is headed toward the conservative standpoints of the elderly class. There is also a form of variation made by a changed view of value such as conversion or a newly obtained religious faith.