Author Archives: Leila Majlessi

Urashima Taro

This is a fisherman in old Japan. He is walking on the beach and sees a baby turtle being bullied by some youngsters. So he’s like “Scram scram get out of here”. And the turtle talks to him like “thank you so much. I’ll make sure to pay my gratitude”. And he goes about his day, and forgets about it. And one day he is approached by the baby turtle again, and the turtle says “hey if you want to hang out, you can hang out with my family and I, and we can show you a good time. You can ride on my back”. So the fisherman rides on the turtle’s back and goes deep into the ocean where there is eventually an underwater palace. And, it’s basically a kingdom of sea creatures and I believe their version of a princess. A sea human, basically. Because you can breathe underwater when you are with these people. And so they are having a good ol’ time, feasting it up, drinking, partying. And then he realizes “Oh i should probably head back it’s been way too long”. So he tells the person in charge, basically the queen, “Oh i should head back” and she goes “oh you don’t have to head go!”, but he says “no i have to go”. And she tells him “okay you can go but I have a gift for you” and she gives him a box. She tells him “whatever you do you can’t open this box. It’s a box that will protect you but you can’t open it”. He goes back and realizes that everything is different, the shoreline is different, the stores are different. He asks a kid “where is blah blah blah” and the kid says “What are you talking about”. The man realizes that he has been gone for 100s of years and becomes depressed realizing that everything around him was gone. So he decides to open the box and the woman comes out saying “told you not to open” and all the time that he has stolen catches up to him, and he becomes a mummified corpse. 

Context:

This performance was done when the speaker, a college student who grew up in Japan, was sharing Japanese fairy tales that they knew. When asked how the speaker knew of this, they explained that this tale is thousands of years old and is commonly known in Japan, as there have even been cartoons and adaptations of it. The speaker also makes a point that many Japanese stories are not about virtues or sins, but about contemplating random topics such as death or one’s role in society. 

Personal Thoughts:

This fairytale focuses a lot on the idea of how one should spend their life and the consequences of one’s decisions. The informant made a note that this specific fairytale was about how one should not waste their life away by partying, as they could miss their life. From this specific tale, one can gather that this story is trying to teach a specific lesson, having an ending that is about how not focusing on the life in front of you can ultimately destroy you in the end. Since this is a fairytale that is well-known by the folk community, it can be deduced that this fairytale is not only used to tell a story, but also to teach this specific lesson to youth, as with many fairytales from other folk communities.  

For another version of this fairytale, refer to: 

Ozaki, Yei Theodora. “The Story of Urashima Taro, The Fisher Lad”. Lit2Go. 

https://etc.usf.edu/lit2go/72/japanese-fairy-tales/4881/the-story-of-urashima-taro-the-fisher-lad/

Afikomen Ritual

In Jewish tradition, during Passover, um, there is like this big long dinner called a seder… One part of it, that is fun I guess, is the Afikomen, which is, at the beginning of dinner, you are supposed to take the middle piece of matzah and break it in half. And you eat one half of it now, and the other half becomes the Afikomen. So it usually comes in this fun cloth bag and the adults hide it, and the kids have to find it and ransom it back. People have gotten like, money from the Afikomen, and I always got like a dum dum lollipop. It’s kind of like the desert, there are other deserts, but the traditional dessert is the Afikomen once it’s found.

Context:

The informant is a college student discussing different family rituals that their family partakes in, leading them to bring up this specific tradition. The informant is explaining this ritual when discussing Passover, and how this is a common ritual that takes place during this time. 

Personal Thoughts:

This is an interesting ritual as it shows the overlap in folklore, since this is both a ritual and a game that takes place. From this, one can gather that this is not only a specific tradition to this family’s folk group, but also one that many folk groups take part in for Passover, as the informant discussed how this is a common ritual that many families participate in. As the informant mentioned, there are also variations to this ritual, children will get different prizes from the Afikomen. This is reflective of the multiplicity and variation of this specific ritual, and how when practiced by different families, or folk groups, that there may be different visions of this, allowing for the tradition to continue on. 

Screenwriting Champion Legend

Basically, the lore around screenwriting admissions is that after you get accepted into USC as a whole, they divide up the screenplay applications and give them to the more tenured professors. And out of every pile that these professors have to read, they pick one, maybe two applicants to fight for. And the professors duke it out to decide who gets in and the professor who picked you is called “Your Champion”. And part of the lore is that the screenwriters find out who is but time is ticking and I still haven’t found mine. 

Context:

The informant is a college student with a major in screenwriting. When discussing the experiences of being a screenwriting major, the informant is reminded of this specific piece of lore within the screenwriting cohort.

Personal Thoughts:

This particular legend demonstrates how folklore can exist within educational communities, and how folklore develops as time goes on. As the informant explained, this is a particular event that would happen during admissions, every year. And while there is no direct explanation of the Champion when students are admitted, students gradually become aware of this legend as they join the school, essentially indoctrinating them into this folk community. This not only allows for the folklore to live on every year as the story is passed on, but it also unifies this specific group as a folk community, since they are sharing this story together and continuing to pass it on as more people become a part of the folk community. 

Yo Mama Jokes

Yo mama so fat she has gravitational pull (laughs). 

Yo mama so old, her wrinkles have wrinkles. 

Context:

The informant is a college student explaining jokes that they know, bringing up a particular type of joke they would frequently do with their brother.  

Personal Thoughts:

This joke is an interesting piece of folklore as it is a part of a specific genre of jokes that have become very popular in folk communities, particularly Gen Z folk communities. While the jokes are typically short, they follow the same structure, using an insult as a way to be humorous. From this, one can also gather that there is particular importance placed on the mother, and by insulting one’s mother, that is a worse thing to do than insulting the recipient of the joke. Thus, by having this specific structure of joke, it is able to continue on in new ways, as people repeat the joke with new insults, allowing for multiplicity and variation. 

Electrician Ghost Story

So my uncle was at this bar, in like Philly, and he’s sitting there. My Dad and his brothers are so talkative, and they will just talk to strangers. And so my uncle introduces himself to the person next to him and they start talking and the guy says that he is an electrician. My uncle asks if he has any crazy stories from his job and the guy says “actually I do. I’ll never forget this day”. So the electrician begins to tell the story: “This old lady asks me to do work on this closet. And this guy comes into the room and I freak out because I thought just the old lady lived there. And I explain I’m there to do the electricity and the guy just leaves. And the old lady comes and I explain, oh your husband comes in, and the old lady says that she does not have a husband. I find a photo of the man and I explain that this is the man I saw, and the old lady says that’s her husband but he died ”. So the electrician freaked out and left. And my uncle goes “That’s so crazy, I’m also from rural pennsylvania, what area” and the electrician goes “Westchester” and my uncle goes “wait so am I, what street” because Westchester is a small area and he says the street and the house he was in and my uncle goes “Oh my god, I used to live there and my mom still lives there”. So supposedly, this electrician saw the ghost of my grandpa. 

Context:

The informant is a college student explaining different folklore from their family, diving into how their family has lore and traditions that are particular to their folk community. 

Personal Thoughts:

This particular ghost story shows how different folk groups can overlap, sharing similar lore. As the electrician shares this legend, the uncle is able to connect with him on being related to the ghost, allowing for lore to grow between them. This also demonstrates how folklore can live on in different folk groups, as both the uncle and the electrician are a part of other folk groups, and as this legend gets shared by both of them to their respective communities, this will allow the ghost story to continue to spread. And since they may have their own interpretations of it, more variations of the legend will come up, allowing for this legend to live on even more.