Tag Archives: folktale

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. 

Brer rabbit and tar baby

Text (folktale): 

“The story has three characters. The brer rabbit, brer fox, and tar baby. It tells the moral story of how resourcefulness can allow you to reach your goals.”

Context: 

My informant heard this story growing up as a child in Louisiana. It is an African-American folktale related to and a variation of the “Tortoise and the Hare” tale.

A: “This is the story of a sly fox and clever rabbit. The sly fox makes a tar baby figure, lays it in the path of bre’r rabbit, and hides behind a nearby bush. When the rabbit comes walking down the trail it gets stuck to the tar and can’t get free. The bre’r fox walks from behind the bush to see the effect of the trap he set, taunt, and contemplate how he wanted to kill bre’r rabbit. Bre’r rabbit begs and pleads to brer fox to do anything but throw him in the nearby briar patch. Bre’r fox hears this and decides to do exactly that. What he doesn’t know is that rabbits are brought up in dense thickets so he is accustomed to it and shouts “I was bred in a briar patch”. Being thrown in the briar patch ultimately allows him to escape from bre’r fox who is shocked and can’t really believe what had just happened.”

Q: “What do the names bre’r and tar baby mean or come from?”

A: “Bre’r is used a lot in African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) as another way to say brother or like acquaintance. In its original context, tar baby just represented a sticky situation that was harder to get out of the more you struggled but in other contexts it was interpreted as having negative racial connotations. In this story though, it refers to a black doll made of tar with a straw hat.”

Q: “Where did you hear this story?”

A: “Well these characters were part of James Harris’ “Uncle Remus” stories from the late 80s and my grandpa would read the stories to me and my siblings growing up. They would try to get across lessons like the the importance of community and resourcefulness, and the dangers of pride.”

Analysis:

This text is a folk tale or fable in my interpretation, specifically, a trickster tale. It is a variation of the commonly know fable “The Tortoise and the Hare” where the hare is over confident in his speed and takes a nap during the race meanwhile the tortoise takes its time moving steadily and wins the race. The rabbit and tar baby variation is more commonly heard in African American communities and is representative of the African American experience during times of slavery. The tar baby is a metaphor for the exploitation of African Americans by slave owners and the institution of slavery as a whole. It is a mild retelling for children of the “sticky situation” showing how it can be overcome through resourcefulness and intelligence. The brer rabbit symbolizes that ingenuity and resourcefulness of enslaved people as they used their creativity and astuteness to withstand and survive their oppressors. The fable is a form of trickster tales as the brer rabbit takes the role of the trickster as well as the fox. As Carroll describes, the trickster term is illustrative of a clever hero in a tale who uses their cunning ability and wits to achieve their end goal. The brer fox, the trickster “villain” of the variations of the brer rabbit and tar baby tale, is representative of a trickster who uses their sly nature to deceive others for their own personal gain often resulting in his own loss. In the variation from “The Tortoise and the Hare” tale, the moral of the story also adapts and is reflective of the cultural context from which it may have originated. As bre’r is a term stemming from AAVE, it implies a sense of African-American brotherhood making it clear the context and origin of the characters and story.

THE GREEDY BRAHMIN

Text

In the classic folktale “Greedy Brahmin” a Brahmin is asked to look after a wealthy man’s house while he is away. The Brahmin becomes greedy and steals some of the man’s possessions.  As he leaves the house with his stolen goods, he encounters a group of monkeys. The monkeys trick the Brahmin into thinking he should give them his possessions for a much greater reward. The greedy Brahmin agrees and throws his possessions into the river, only to realize too late that the monkeys have tricked him and he has lost everything.

Context

My informant is my uncle (BS) aged 65 years living in India. While growing up in the village, BS heard this from my grandparents and relatives. 

Interviewer : What does this story highlight?

Informant : “I believe the story of the greedy Brahmin highlights the dangers of greed and the importance of integrity. ”

Interviewer: What life lesson does this story teach us?

Informant: “First, it reminds us that the desire for material possessions can cloud our judgment and lead us to destruction. Next, the story emphasizes the importance of honesty and ethics in all aspects of life.”

Analysis

The Brahmin in the story becomes blinded by his desire for material possessions, leading him to steal from his wealthy employer.  His greed ultimately leads him to fall victim to the monkeys’ trickery, losing everything he has gained through dishonesty.

I believe the story emphasizes the importance of integrity and honesty, reminding us that these values are essential for leading a fulfilling and happy life.  It also highlights how greed can cloud our judgment, leading us down a path of destruction that can have far-reaching consequences.

The story of the greedy Brahmin teaches us that we should not let our desire for material possessions override our moral compass.  Instead, we should value honesty and integrity in all aspects of life, recognizing that true success and happiness come from leading an honest and virtuous life. The story serves as a reminder to prioritize our values over our desires and to live with integrity, even when no one is watching.

Story of Heungbu and Nolbu – Korean Folktale

1. Text

When asked for a folktale, the informant shared the story below:

Title: The Story of Heungbu and Nolbu

Heungbu and Nolbu were two brothers whose father was very rich, and they grew up in a well-off home. Once their father died, they had to split the fortune up, but the honest Heungbu was tricked by his older brother and Heungbu had to go become a farmer to support his family. Heungbu suffered through with threadbare clothing and lack of food, but one day, his wife told him they had finally run out of food completely and asked him to go beg his older brother for anything to eat. For the sake of his children, he went to his brother and begged him for food, only to get cruelly cast out into the yard, where his brother’s wife was cooking rice. He begged her for some of the rice she was cooking, but she only struck him with the rice paddle and told him to get out. Noticing that the rice from the paddle would stick to his cheek, he carefully picked off the grains and tucked them away, then asked her to hit him again. However, she noticed this, and washed the paddle clean in water before striking him over and over on the other side.

The rice he had managed to bring back still was able to feed his family for that day, and they kept going, until one day Heungbu’s wife told him that they had once again ran out of food. He went to the brother again, and the brother taunted him and offered him rice if he would get hit.

He agreed, and was paddled until he hobbled, but the brother did not give him any food. As he walked home in shame, he noticed a swallow with a broken leg and rescued it from a snake that was trying to eat it. He slowly nursed this swallow back to health, and once it healed it flew away and came back with the seed for a gourd.

He planted this seed in his garden, and to his shock, the gourds grew overnight into huge gourds half-split open already. He split open the first gourd and found a wealth of riches, overflowing and enough to keep his family rich for the rest of their lives. Then, he split open the second gourd and found beautiful clothing and fabric. The final gourd contained magical servants, who vowed to do their master’s bidding and who were beautiful and kind.

Their quick change in fortune reached the ears of Nolbu, the jealous older brother, who quickly pretend to act nice to his younger brother to learn the secret of success. Heungbu told him the story without any hesitation, and Nolbu vowed to do the same. However, instead of saving a bird from a snake, he instead trapped a swallow and broke its leg himself, “healing” it until it got better from the wound he had inflicted.

After the bird flew away, it brought back a gourd seed for Nolbu as well. However, this gourd quickly grew into three rotten-looking and foul smelling gourds, but Nolbu split them open anyways. The first gourd contained demons that berated him and his family and beat them until they cried. The second gourd contained a mass of debtors that seized his expensive things, leaving him destitute. The final gourd contained a massive flood of sewage and disgusting water that destroyed even his house, leaving him with nothing. He had to go beg his brother, Heungbu, to take the family in, because he had nothing left. The generous Heungbu took his older brother in, and was rewarded with happiness and good fortune for the rest of his life.

2. Context

This is a children’s folk tale from Korea that the informant learned at a young age from his Korean American parents. It is less personal since it is a common story that is told to children to teach them morals. The informant interprets the tale as a story to teach morals.

3. Analysis

This tale of Heungbu and Nolbu tells a story where honesty and kindness is rewarded with happiness and fortune whereas selfishness, jealousy and greed is punished with disaster and unfortune. This seems to be a common theme in popular East Asian folktales for children since there are similar tales in Japan like the “Rolling Rice ball” tale which tells the story of an old farmer who falls and drops his rice ball into a hole where mice live. He tries to look into the hole but he ends up falling in. The mice in the hole welcome him and thank the farmer for the rice. They make him mochi (rice cake) out of the rice and give them to the farmer. When the farmer leaves, the mice offer him a box filled with riches and treasures. After getting back, the farmer’s neighbor is jealous of the farmer and hears of the story. The farmer goes to the home and drops rice in it. The mice welcome him and thank him for the food and prepare mochi for him. When the neighbor leaves, he demands the box of riches and threatens the mice. The mice are angered and attack the farmer and do not let him leave the hole. The parallels between these two stories represent the context of very agriculture based economies in earlier Japanese and Korean civilization. These motifs of slightly anthropomorphic animals that repay or punish the farmers suggest the idea that “nature” rewards kindness and punishes evil therefore revealing the belief of the natural order and distinction between good and bad and a higher power like nature enforcing it. These beliefs persuade people to abide by these rules that are understood to be the “natural law” to be kind and not greedy. The punishments in the magical gourds represent the biggest fears of Korean farmers such as violence, debt, and natural disaster. In addition, these tales tie to the idea of Karma, where good deeds are rewarded and bad deeds do not go unpunished. This helps comfort people who are hurt by “bad” people to know that they will be punished and convince them to be “good” since good will be rewarded.

“The Honest Woodsman”: A folk tale

Text

My informant was particularly familiar with storytelling. They had this story prepared both in terms of content as well as delivery. Throughout the telling, they made gestures and motions to convey their thoughts.

“One sunny day, there was a woodsman. This woodsman was cutting down trees and collecting lumber so he could sell it to the people in his village. He was usually respected as a really honest man, and a really hardworking man. He was in this forest chopping down wood as per usual until he hit a particularly hard piece of wood. Out of shock, his hands let go and his axe flew back behind him into a river.”

The god Hermes saw this as the woodsman searched the river for his axe. Wanting to mess around for a little bit, Hermes decided to appear to him and say ‘Woodsman, I think I may have found your axe.’ He then showed the woodsman an axe made of solid gold. And Hermes said to him ‘Is this your axe?’ The woodsman said ‘No, that is not my axe.’ Hermes said ‘Oh, this must be a different axe’ and set it aside. Then he pulled out a silver axe, ‘Woodsman, is this your axe?’ And the woodsman said ‘No, that is not my axe.’ Hermes set that one to the side and showed him another one. ‘Is this your axe?’ He holds out a very plain, very battered axe with a wooden handle and iron tip. The woodsman says ‘Yes! That is my axe! I built it myself!’ Hermes, very impressed by his honestly, gave the woodsman all three axes for being such an honest person.”

The woodsman return to his village and shared the news. A competitor of the woodsman, a man who did not work so hard and was not known for being trustworthy, saw this and grew very jealous. The next day, this competitor went to a similar part of the woods and started cutting down trees behind pretending to drop his axe in the river behind him. So Hermes, seeing this again, appears and says ‘Hello, it seems you’ve lost your axe.’ The competitor said ‘Ah yes, I lost my axe! Do you, by any chance, know where it is?’ Hermes pulls out a golden axe and offers it to the competing woodsman. He asks, ‘Is this your axe?’ to which the competitor said ‘Yes, of course it is!'”

Hermes makes the golden axe disappear and actually takes the man’s own axe. The competitor said ‘That’s my own axe! I built it with my own hands and I use it for my livelihood. Hermes responded ‘A man who cannot be honest probably doesn’t make an honest living and should not make one at all.’ With that, Hermes leaves.”

The informant smiled. “The end.”

Context

RELATIONSHIP –
“I don’t know, it’s the story that’s stuck with me the most because when I was younger, I liked to read a lot of tales and fables. This is one that stuck out to me.”

WHERE THEY HEARD IT –
“I had a book of Aesop’s Fables, so it was probably in that book,” they said, a bit unsure. “But seeing as all stories are the same and storytelling is very repetitive in its behavior, I probably heard it– or something like it– in a church setting since I was raised in Catholicism. The first time I heard the story the way I heard it was probably in that book.”

INTERPRETATION –
“It’s a pretty simple story– it’s a story of ‘tell the truth and you’ll get good things out of it.’ It’s mainly giving a moral, but because of the Greeks, it’s probably also used as a way of saying ‘The Gods giveth, the Gods taketh away.'”

Analysis

“The Honest Woodsman”/”The Honest Woodcutter” story is one that I’ve come across in other cultures– specifically Japanese. I thought it was particularly interesting that the version I heard never had a competing woodsman who had an example made of them. In this version, I think it’s not only a lesson on being honest, but also a lesson on being a good person in general. This version makes sure to describe the competing woodsman as being not-hardworking, jealous, and greedy along with being dishonest. It’s this combination of negative traits that suggests there should be a punishment given to him as a moment of comeuppance.