Monthly Archives: May 2017

The Crow and the Pot

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Delhi
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: Hindi (urdu)
Language: English, French

“So, there’s a crow, and he’s really thirsty, and he’s flying around looking for water, and it’s a hot summer day.  So he comes across this pot, and because pots usually have water in them, he flies down to the pot.  So the crow finds water in the pot, but he can’t safely reach it, so he thinks about how he can get the water safely.  So he finds some pebbles around the pot and decides to start throwing them into the pot, slowly raising the water level of the pot until he can safely drink from it.”

ANALYSIS:

What I found really fascinating about this folk story wasn’t just the story itself, but the fact that the informant didn’t have anything to say regarding the moral or meaning behind the folk story.  This is a great example of folk stories being passed down but the meaning being lost from generation to generation.  The meaning that I took away from it as a listener is that intelligence should be valued just as highly as strength, because, in the end, the crow didn’t get to drink the water because of his strength but because of his intelligence.

For another version of this folk story, see Aesop’s Fables “The Crow and The Pitcher”.

 

There Was a King

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Delhi
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: Hindi (urdu)
Language: English, French

“Ek thaa raja.  Ek thee rani.  Dono margaye.  Khatam kahaani.”

That is a folk story in Hindi which roughly translates to:

“There was a king.  There was a queen.  They both died.  End of story.”

CONTEXT:

“When I was young I always wanted to hear a bedtime story before bed, but on nights when my parents didn’t feel like reading me a real one they would tell me that terrible story instead and then leave before I could ask for another one.  I hated it growing up, but now I do the same thing all the time to my little sister whenever she asks me for a bedtime story.”

ANALYSIS:

What I especially like about this piece of folklore is how quickly it was passed down from the parents to the informant and then from the informant to the little sister.  It shows a very clear lineage of the folklore, which is what folklore’s all about.  There’s also a very unique and self-aware sense of humor to this piece that I find really charming and wish I saw in more pieces of folklore today.

The Jackal and the Drum

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Delhi
Performance Date: April 27, 2017
Primary Language: Hindi (urdu)
Language: English, French

“So there’s this Panchatantra story my mother read me when I was younger about a Jackal.  So this Jackal was wondering this field looking for food when he heard this terrible and loud and scary noise.  The Jackal wanted to run away, and did for a little bit, until he realized that he should find the source of the noise before he decides if he should be scared of it.  So, the Jackal takes all the courage he has and approaches the source of the noise, and finds out it’s just some branches scraping against a drum.  And right next to the drum that the Jackal was so scared of was a ton of food and water for the Jackal that he never would have found if he had run.  My mother always told this story to encourage me to be more brave like the Jackal was, and I really appreciate her for doing that for me.”

ANALYSIS:

This is a great piece of folklore because the informant not only remembers the story extremely well, but also remembers the meaning behind the story.  I think the meaning behind the folklore is one of the most important parts of folklore, and whenever I see that an informant remembers only the folklore story but not the meaning or lesson behind it, it saddens me.  So, naturally, this piece of folklore really uplifted me because the informant took the lesson behind the folklore and really held onto it tightly, something I think that should be done more often.

The Monkey and the Wedge

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Delhi
Performance Date: April 27, 2017
Primary Language: Hindi (urdu)
Language: English, French

“So this is a classic Panchatantra story my mother would read to me as a kid.  So one day, a worker was cutting a big log in half, but when lunchtime came and he wasn’t finished cutting the log in half, he put a wedge between the two sides of the log so that it wouldn’t close up.  But then a monkey came down to the log to play, and once he got curious about the wedge, he pulled the wedge out of the log while he was between the two sides of the log that the worker was cutting, and now, with the wedge gone, the log closed up and crushed the monkey.  It’s kind of a dark story, because I think that would kill the monkey, but I don’t ever remember him dying in the story when I was growing up, so I don’t know what’s true and what isn’t.”

ANALYSIS:

This is a really interesting story because the informant is right: the log closing up would definitely kill the monkey, but because the informant was a child when his mother read it to him before bed, his mother most likely left out that part, as it would be hard for a child to fall asleep after hearing that.  I think this speaks to the inherent nature of folklore, that it has multiplicity and variation.  Folklore can go through countless adjustments as time wears on, and a mother adjusting a story for their child so it’s more kid-friendly is just one of the many ways folklore could undergo change.

Spa on New Year’s Eve

Nationality: Taiwanese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/17/17
Primary Language: English

Background: Iris Zhang is an 18-year-old student living in Los Angeles, CA. She is a student at USC. She was born in Diamond Bar and raised in Arcadia, California.

Original script: “Ever since i was young, my family and I have had this tradition of going to a Korean sauna on New Year’s Eve. It’s weird because most people have New Year’s Eve parties with their friends but my family spends the entire day together at a spa. My parents told me it’s because they want to wash away all the dirt of the past year and literally start fresh into a new year. It’s some sort of cleansing ritual for them and makes them feel good about starting the New Year off all sparkly clean ”

Background Information about the Piece by the informant: there are a couple of holidays that her family celebrates and insists on spending together: 4th of July, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and New Years. For each holiday, her family has an annual tradition to follow.

Thoughts about the piece: This superstition sounds like it’s a great way to bond with your family as well as start off the New Year clean. Aside from the symbolic sense, I feel like it must be nice to just go and bathe yourself one last time in the year with your family before the New Year starts. It seems to be a very important family tradition for Iris.