Monthly Archives: May 2018

Nezha

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 16, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: Mandarin

Folklore:

The next folktale is titled Nezha and is originally from China. The tale tells the story of a man names Nezha who was the son of a military commander. Before he was born his mother was pregnant with him for three years and three months. Immediately after birth Nezha was able to walk and talk having skipped infancy. As he was born under unusual circumstances his father believed he was a demon and attempted to murder him at birth but failed. One day Nezha and and his friends were playing by the ocean when the Underworld King kidnapped one of his friends. Enraged Nezha searched for his friend and fought with the Underworld King’s son severely injuring him. When the Underworld King hear of Nezha injuring his son he went to the emperor and threatened to dishonor Nezha’s family. To not bring dishonor to his family Nezha dismembered himself. Later his mother build a temple for Nezha, which became well known for granting miracles and wishes to its visitors.

Background & Context:

This story was collected in a casual lunch setting. The informant was a 21 year old junior at USC. She is ethnically Chinese but has grown up in New York her entire life. The way she found about this folktale was by watching a popular Chinese from several years ago, that is a remake of this traditional tale.

Final Thoughts:

I thought this story was interesting because it could be conveying a message about someone who might not fit into the standards set by society and be considered abnormal. Like Nezha someone could suffer discrimination from others only based on their differences from the norm. The story’s message  focuses on how someone who does not fit societal norms can be more severely punished for their mistakes than others and is consequently more likely to suffer from suicidal thoughts and depression. However an aspect I found interesting is how the informant originally heard about this folktale. As she learned about it through mass media. I think learning about folklore through media is unique and good way to teach the newer generation about old traditional folktales.  

 

Dragon Dream

Nationality: Korean American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: los ángeles, ca
Performance Date: April 22, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: korean

Folklore:

This is a true story when my informant’s mother was pregnant with him she didn’t tell his grandmother because she became pregnant out of wedlock. At the time his mother lived in the United States while his grandmother in South Korea. However one day out of the blue the grandmother calls his mother asking if anyone is pregnant or dead. As she had dreamed of a huge dragon which in Korean culture signifies that a huge event has happened. The grandmother had called asking because none of their relative in South Korea had anything significant happen to them, so the grandmother knew my informant’s mother was pregnant from a different country. She also had the same dream with a smaller dragon when his mother was pregnant with his younger brother.  

Background and Context:

The informant is a Korean American sophomore at USC. He was born and raised in Northern California but he lived in South Korea for six months right after highschool. I collected the folklore on a Wednesday night in a very casual setting. My informant learned this story when he was young from his parents. He believes this to be a true story.  

Final Thoughts:

I think this is one of the most interesting pieces of folklore I have collected because my informant completely believes it to be true and I find it very believable too. It is also interesting how the dragon can symbolize life or death two completely different aspects of life. What was also amusing was how the dragon in the dream changed sizes for the first born son vs the second born son. This is also a view into Korean culture as usually the first born sons birth is the biggest celebration for births.

 

Three Hatchets

Nationality: Korean American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: los ángeles, ca
Performance Date: April 22, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: korean

Folklore:

In Korea there was a boy who had a silver hatchet. One day he was working chopping down tree when he accidentally loses his grip on the hatchet and throws it into river. After he loses his silver hatchet a man comes out of river and and asks the boy one is your hatchet I’ll return it to you. Is it this gold hatchet, is it this silver hatchet or is it this copper hatchet? The man points to each hatchet one by one as he speaks. The boy lies and says the gold hatchet is the one he lost but the old man knows he’s lying and says because he lied and he is greedy he won’t receive any of the hatchets. He also tells the boy if he had spoken the truth he would have received all the hatchets.

Background and Context:

The informant is a Korean American sophomore at USC. He was born and raised in Northern California but he lived in South Korea for six months right after highschool. I collected the folklore on a Wednesday night in a very casual setting. My informant learned this story growing up as bedtime stories from his parents.

Final Thoughts:

I believe this story is used to teach people a lesson. As the moral of the story is not to steal or lie. This is the moral because in the story the boy lied to the river man and was punished by not getting his hatchet back, while he would have been rewarded with all three hatchets if he had told the truth. Overall this story is interesting and unique because instead of creating two parallels between two characters you have one character learning what his opposite actions could have caused.

 

Starcrossed Lovers

Nationality: Korean American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: los ángeles, ca
Performance Date: April 22, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: korean

Folklore:

This is korean story about two star crossed lovers. The star crossed lovers are a peasant boy and a princesses, who fell in love and married. The king the father of the princess decides to have the marriage annulled as he does not approve of the marriage because of their different social classes. and spectated then across the heavens. However the birds see the star crossed lovers and black birds help them reunite so build them a bridge out of their bodies that connects to two halves of heavens so the the lovers can can be reunited. The birds build a bridge once a year for the lovers.

Background and Context:

The informant is a Korean American sophomore at USC. He was born and raised in Northern California but he lived in South Korea for six months right after highschool. I collected the folklore on a Wednesday night in a very casual setting. My informant learned this story growing up as bedtime stories from his parents.

Final thoughts.

Final thoughts on this story is that there are a lot of stories similar to this story in East Asian cultures. I believe the message of this story is true love conquers all as the two lovers get over many difficulties. There are three main difficulties the lovers get over the first being their different social classes, the second being the disapproval of parents in the stories case the father and a long distance relationship which is only being to meet once a tear. All of the hardships the lovers  overcome are similar to ones couples today struggle with but at a extreme.

 

Korean: Origin of Man

Nationality: Korean American
Age: 20
Occupation: student
Residence: los ángeles, ca
Performance Date: April 18, 2018
Primary Language: English
Language: korean

Folklore:

This is Korean legend on the creation of man. In the beginning of time a tiger and bear wanted to become human so god put them in a deep cave. They both stayed in the cave for years without any food and as time passed they both started to freak out because they did not know why they were in cave. Eventually the bear decides to leave the cave and when he emerged he  was a man. As soon as he realized he was human he started wondering by himself looking for his best friend the tiger. In the end the tiger emerged from the cave as a woman.

Background and Context:

The informant is a Korean American sophomore at USC. He was born and raised in Northern California but he lived in South Korea for six months right after highschool. I collected the folklore on a Wednesday night in a very casual setting. My informant learned this story growing up as bedtime stories from his parents. While he does not believe in this creation story he still finds it interesting and relevant to his cultural heritage.

Final Thoughts:

My thoughts on this work was that it was new to me and interesting because I am Korean-American but I have never heard of this story before. I also found that the story contradicted itself slightly as the tiger and the bear wanted to be human but humans did not exist in the context of this story because it is a creation story on humans came to be. Otherwise I thought the story was interesting and unique because I have never heard stories similar to it.