Category Archives: Narrative

Water Babies of Pyramid Lake – Legend

Water Babies of Pyramid Lake

Text:

Long ago there was a Native American woman who had two children. She took her children down to the river to bathe them but they were dragged under the current. When she discovered her children’s death she took them to a burial sight to bury them. She cried so hard over her children’s grave that it filled with water and became pyramid lake. The woman then laid by the lake to watch her children where she turned to stone. To this day her babies can be heard in the lake and they drag unsuspecting victims down to drown them.

Context:

“I heard this story many times growing up as a kid and visiting the lake. Pyramid lake was on an Indian reservation so it always had some mysticism too it. I remember some of my uncles telling me the story while on a boat in the lake. After they told the story they threw me in to scare me. I guess I’m not much better than them now cause I use the story to scare my little cousins or brother whenever we visit.”

Analysis:

Pyramid Lake near Reno Nevada is often seen as a mysterious lake as it is a salt water lake with no outlets. The use of tears in the legend is used to describe why the lake is a salt water lake and its odd positioning without any outlets. The myth likely stems from the mysticism surrounding the Native American reservations that the lake lies on. Similar to the story of poltergeist and similar legends in which native Americans play a key role, the guilt of the actions taken by American settlers has led to stories of vengeful native spirits. Some state that the legend stems from the lake being used as a location where malformed native babies were drowned. All in all the legend of the pyramid lake water babies is another relic from the colonial Americans atrocities.

ETA Superstition

Nationality: Burmese

Primary Language: Burmese

Other Language(s): English, Chinese

Age: 19

Occupation: Student

Residence: Los Angeles, CA

Performance Date: 02/17/2024

A.N is 19 years old, and is currently a USC student who’s originally from Yangon, Myanmar. She is my current suite mate and has been a friend since middle school, since we are from the same hometown and school. I asked her if she has heard of or is familiar with any tabooistic vocabulary within our culture. 

“One superstition that I remember my mom saying is that we aren’t allowed to say the specific estimated time of arrival, or else we won’t get there on the time mentioned. I first heard that when I was a pre-teen and my family was on a road trip to Ngwe Saung. I asked my mom when we were arriving and she said that she wasn’t allowed to say. She did end up telling me that we can say a more vague description of the ETA, like “evening” but not something as specific as 5 p.m. I remember it clearly because as a kid, I believed it too. Eventually it became a superstition that I try to keep in mind whenever I am answering the same question if someone else were to ask me that.”

As a Burmese person, I can’t say I’ve heard of this tabooistic vocabulary or superstition but I don’t deny its possibility since we have a lot of other superstitions that are just as trivial and non-sensical. A.N states that she is not clear with what the reasoning behind this superstition is but I personally think that it might just be her mom not wanting to give an answer to her child who could start to complain or become impatient. On the other hand, it could be related to our culture of avoiding stating something important, in the chance we might ‘jinx’ ourself. It is our way of holding on to the hope that the outcome, in this situation the ETA, is something that we want it to be.

A Hindu Creation Story

Nationality: Indian, American

Primary Language: English

Other language(s): N/A

Age: 19 yrs

Occupation: Student

Residence: Frisco, Texas

Performance Date: 1/18/2024

Text:

“Nah I don’t really believe in god. My parents when I grew up told me about The Hymn of Creation from this Hindu scripture. Basically I grew up thinking that nobody knows how the universe came into being and that the idea of one singular being God is like, not as realistic as you would think. I mean the concept wasn’t drilled into my head at all or anything like that so that specific Hindu based ideal never really crossed my mind again but it did form my idea of God and creation.”

Context:

My informant, PL, is a friend of mine from my freshman year at USC from Frisco, Texas. I talked with him and a bunch of my friends about our beliefs in God after one of us asked that question randomly during a 2am walk outside of campus. We all gave our answers and PL gave his, saying he doesn’t believe anymore but did. I asked him to elaborate on this later in time and that is what he said.

Analysis:

In my research I found that this creation Myth is well known in Hindu culture. The Hymn of Creation is from the Rig Veda: the oldest and most sacred Hindu scripture, which concludes that, as PL said, nobody knows how the universe came into being, and even questions whether anyone or thing could know. This ideal was founded in between 1500 and 1000 BCE and explained that the God Indra, in particular, is the creator of This world. Scriptures say that “He separated heaven and earth, made them two … The act of creative violation and the power of keeping apart the pair so that they become Father Heaven and Mother Earth … is the test by which a creator god establishes his supremacy. … He is hero and artist in one.” It is concerned with cosmology and the origin of the world but not fully the universe. This well known Hindu creation story was seemingly passed down through generations is PL’s family, which is well versed in Hindu culture. I personally don’t know what to believe myself, but this creation story is one I’ve never heard of, and sounds very intricate and massive in Hindu mythology. 

The Legend of Zapatwayél Fernandes the III

Nationality: Indian, Chinese, American

Primary Language: English

Other language(s): N/A

Age: 19 yrs

Occupation: Student

Residence: Plano, Texas

Performance Date: 10/20/2023

Text:

“In short, I had a great great great grandfather named Zapatwayél Fernandes III, he was a legend in my family, from my Dad’s side. He told me that Zapatwayél III was an Indian born Portuguese man who grew up in New Zealand and attempted a military coup in 1900. Apparently this coup was supposed to stop New Zealand from aiding the British in The Second Boer war, where New Zealand sent troops like Zapatwayél to aid the British in taking over South African territories of the Cape Colony for money. My dad said that British officials created the war to gain control of the gold and diamond deposits. Zapatwayél nearly succeeded though, but he was shut down, in part by his wife, who turned out to be a traitor, working against Zapatwayél and for the British government, who murdered him in his sleep during a mission of his to further unite a clan to complete the coup. After his death, she was left with a decent sum of money from the British government in order to help raise his 5 children alone and keep quiet. It’s a pretty crazy story, but my dad ensures it’s real, but I don’t really know that and nor does my mom, so we chalk it up to legend.”

Context:

My informant, TF, is a friend of mine from my freshman year at USC from Plano, Texas who then moved in late childhood to LA. I talked with him about a legendary figure in his life in the first semester of freshman year after asking him about his ethnic heritage as he is a racially and ethnically mixed/diverse guy. Though when I asked him about this story, he was barely able to recall the full thing. So over the course of around 3 months, I asked him to keep track of this legend and ask his parents about it over Christmas break. And so after break TF came back and finally was able to tell me about the great Zapatwayél The Third, his Great Great Great Grandfather.

Analysis:

I did a ton of research on Zapatwayél and found nothing based on the name. However, when I looked up the Boer war, which was a real war that happened in New Zealand from 1899-1902, and the events described by TF in Zapatwayél’s military coup attempt, were real. There was a military struggle within New Zealand’s forces around 1901 not 1900, and not a coup, but an internal conflict between New Zealand’s military forces, so it could be possible that this was started by Zapatwayél, but I don’t know for sure, and I don’t know the reasoning behind it either. The information TF gave about the war itself was historically accurate, even the places, reasons for British intervention, but, Zapatwayél himself, seemingly could not be found or identified in historical records. Maybe he was covered up by the British and New Zealand government, who knows. I loved this story though. The fact that Zapatwayél is known as a legend on TF’s dad’s side of the family is cool to me. Truly, the fact that Zapatwayél could have been real, even having evidence to back up the coup and war, but not enough information to confirm his existence and influence in the Boer war, thus making it a legend, is fascinating. It’s cool to see how TF’s family history can be tied back to The Boer War, a real war in world history. It’s interesting to see that this legend is being passed down from father to son in TF’s generation.

The Land that Howls

Nationality: Ethiopian/Italian

Primary Language: English

Age: 21

Occupation: Student

Residence: Los Angeles

Date: 2/20/2024


Text:

“In Eritrea, there is a town named Nefasit, meaning the village of the wind nested in the mountain highlands. Because of its high elevation, the wind frequently picks up and due to the shape of the surrounding mountains will make a lot of loud sounds. They say that the sound comes from our ancestors reaching out to us, and that the tone of the sounds lets us know of their intention. 

When the wind howls, it is them warning us to stay vigilant as danger nears. And sometimes when the wind hits the mountains the right way it vibrates everything with a humming that sounds like music. This means that the ancestors are pleased with our decisions and that good fortune is upon us, usually in the form of a woman blessed with a child or a fruitful new season.”

Context: He recounts the story behind a region in his motherland Eritrea. This is a known story that he heard growing up through his family. He explained also how important nature is in the country of Eritrea and how they are very in tune with the land around them. Therefore they listen and take in signs that mother nature is trying to show them and use it as a vice to predict the future. 

Analysis: It was really charming learning how a piece of folklore was so interconnected to mother nature. A distinguished tie to nature is rare from my own community, so hearing another community’s strong acknowledgement to nature and how that ties into their traditions is very insightful. My interpretation of the story is that the people of that region are very in tune with their surroundings and have gone through centuries of receiving signs from their environment that indicate fortune or misfortune.