Author Archives: Nick Neal

The Pissing Boy – Brussels

Context: MG is my friend at school and let me know he thought he had a good addition to the folklore archives. He is from Ghent, Belgium and told me this story is popular for parents to tell their children as a cautionary tale.

Performance:
MG: I have a folktale to tell you about a boy named Manneken Pis. This is the Flemish way of saying “The Boy Who Pisses”. Its a little statue in the center of Brussels, very much also a tourist attraction… a niche tourist attraction, but a tourist attraction… of a little boy, it a little fountain and he just continues on pissing. And so that little statue’s got a story behind it, um its a very old statue – I’d have to look up, I don’t know exactly how old but its been around for a while. And so the story is that, um the… the mayor of Brussels put up that statue in Brussels and spread the story in the newspaper that it was a boy outside who was pissing outside, urinating outside in the city, like polluting the city streets, and a witch who wanders around the city, in the shadows of the city, turned him into stone because he was pissing ehhh publicly. And so now this is the eternal boy who pisses. And so he said boys if you don’t want to be turned into stone, if you don’t want to be caught by the wizard, or the sorceress, or whatever mystical force, then you can’t publicly urinate.
And so that became a folktale that was told because mothers would love it as well, they don’t want their little boys pissing publicly, so they would tell their boys at home don’t piss publicly or you will be turned into stone. And yeah, that is a Belgian folktale that has been told for hundreds of years.

Analysis:

This narrative tale is telling about Belgian attitudes towards treating the environment/city right. It is made clear that public urination is frowned upon, even to the extent where the supernatural gets involved in enforcing the societal norms of Belgium. This story also represents Belgian parenting attitudes well. Parents are willing to scare their children with fake stories of the supernatural in order to get their children to behave, which is a common folkloric practice.

The Hermit – Camp Story

Context: BM is my friend at school and he let me know that he had a good story from his summer camp to tell me. BM is from New York originally, but he has lived in Philadelphia for longer. The camp where he heard this story is located in Maine and it is an all boys camp. A common practice at this camp was for counselors to tell scary stories to the campers. This story is located at the camp’s central lake, in which there is an island where campers would take overnight trips.

Performance:

BM: So at my camp the campers would do an overnight at the island in the middle of the lake nearby. So when we went our counselors decided to tell us the story of the hermit on the island, and we were not prepared to say the least.

Basically I don’t know the word for word story but it goes a little like this: The Hermit (which is based off of a real hermit in Maine) was an old counselor at camp and he was a very disgruntled guy, he was a maintenance guy. Maintenance guys lived on the outskirts of camp and they were always grumpy kinda guys. This guy had some grudges against the kids, against the counselors, for whatever reason. One night decides to light some fireworks under one of the bunks, Bunk 13 (which no longer exists). It was a horrible move obviously, but thankfully only one kid was in there and he turned out to be OK, but [the Hermit] lit the fireworks and he lost his whole right hand cause he didn’t pull it away fast enough and he was in agony and everyone was running and the cops were coming, so he swims in the lake with one arm, and a half, and he makes it to the island. He chops some wood down, because he found an axe, and he built a house, and he made a life there. Sometimes there would be kids that would go on the island while water skiing, and he would go and he would take the kids. He lives on the island, Its his island, he doesn’t live on the house anymore but he’s got places to hide.

And then one of the counselors came from the darkness around the fire, pretended to be the Hermit, and gave us all a scare, nobody slept that night.

Analysis:

This narrative indicates the presence of nature and wilderness in the context of a rural Maine summer camp. Hermits and woodland peoples are common themes of stories, but are most scary when told in a scenario when the audience is also isolated. At the end of the story, it was a tradition for camp counselors to scare the campers by pretending to be the Hermit and running around the campfire. This story also is telling about American cultures idea of societal outsiders. Those who live outside the confines of what would be considered normal society are often demonized and made out to be evil.

The Puppy in the Basement

Context: KC is a friend of a friend who volunteered to share her story with me when she found out I was interested in hearing people’s stories. She heard this story at her summer camp, although she failed to tell me where it is located.

Performance:

KC: This story is called the puppy and the basement, I heard it from summer camp.

Mommy told me never to go in the basement, but I wanted to see what was making that noise. It sounded like a puppy, and I wanted to see the puppy, so I opened the basement door and tip toed down a bit. I didn’t see a puppy, and Mommy yanked me out of the basement and yelled at me. Mommy had never yelled at me before, and that made me sad and I cried. Then Mommy told me never to go in the basement again, and gave me a cookie. That made me feel better, so I didn’t ask why the boy in the basement was making noises like a puppy, or why he had no hands or feet.

Analysis:

This is a short story but it still reveals much about cultural ideas of the sick and twisted. The story plays upon the childhood innocence of the narrator and the presence of a puppy to subvert the listeners expectations of what would be normal to have in ones basement. Upon the reveal that the thing in the basement is actually a mutilated boy it becomes clear that the horror aspect of the story comes from the fact that a seemingly normal suburban home, common in American culture, could house something so deranged and sick.

Elephant Baseball Joke

Main Performance:

BH: What do you do to an elephant with three balls?

Me: What?

BH: You walk him and pitch to the rhino.

Me: *Chuckling* I don’t get it

BH: It’s a baseball joke.

Me: OH haha… that’s good I like it!

Context: The informant is from San Diego and remembers hearing this joke as a child from his dad. He also didn’t get it at first, so his Dad told it to him multiple times.

Thoughts/Analysis: This joke plays upon many themes that are present in both American and global culture. Firstly, the set up sets the expectation for the listener that the joke is going to be a dirty one, as any use of the word balls in the context of a joke is most likely going to mean testicles. The punchline, however, works because it subverts the expectation of what “balls” mean in the first place. Additionally, it conjures up the idea that an elephant is playing baseball, which is an absurd and silly idea. The joke also relies upon the listener to be a baseball fan, or at least have base level knowledge of the rules, in order to understand that a fourth ball would be a “walk”. One last thing about this joke is that it contains the idea that those on the same team would be animals from the same region, perhaps alluding to American tendencies to have communities of similar ethnic origin.

Rich Man and Poor Man Joke (As told in The Sopranos)

Main Performance:

BM: *Doing an impression of Tony Soprano* A rich man and a poor man, they got da same anniversary, so every yea they go out and get lunch afta they buy dheir wife dheir gifts. So, poor man says to da rich man: whadya get ya wife dis yea. Rich man says: I got her a Mercedes Benz, and I got her a Rolex. An the poor man says ok, and the rich man goes because if she doesn’t like the Rolex she could at least drive it back in a fuckin Mercedes. Rich man says to da poor man whad chu get ya wife dis yea. poor man says: I got her a pair of flip flops and a dildo, so if she don’t like the flip flops she can go fuck herself! (Misspellings intended to reflect phoentics)

Context: The informant is from Philadelphia and he heard this joke originally told on The Sopranos. He is clearly a big fan of the show and does an impression of Tony Soprano all the time.

Thoughts/Analysis: I am unsure if this joke has an origin before The Sopranos, but it still contains much about Italian American and East Coast Italian Mafia culture. The joke portrays two types of men within the community’s framework: those who are have the means to appease their wife, and those who do not. The characters who Tony is telling it to in the show find they joke funny because everyone in the room has been both of those men, coming from poor backgrounds and finding wealth through organized crime. The joke is also funny because the men get their wives seemingly odd pairs of gives, but have surprisingly logical and funny explanations for why.