Author Archives: Mistoura Bello

Urban Legend

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Nationality: Hatian-American
Occupation: Student
Residence: Edison, NJ
Performance Date: January 27, 2008
Primary Language: English

A woman stopped at a pay-at-the-pump gas station to get gas. Once she filled her gas tank and after paying at the pump and starting to leave, the voice of the attendant inside came over the speaker. He told her that something happened with her card and that she needed to come inside to pay. The lady was confused because the transaction showed complete and approved. She relayed that to him and was getting ready to leave but the attendant, once again, urged her to come in to pay or there’d be trouble. She proceeded to go inside and started arguing with the attendant about his threat. He told her to calm down and listen carefully: He said that while she was pumping gas, a guy slipped into the back seat of her car on the other side and the attendant had already called the police. She became frightened and looked out in time to see her car door open and the guy slip out. The report is that the new gang initiation thing is to bring back a woman and/or her car.. One way they are doing this is crawling under women’s cars while they’re pumping gas or at grocery stores in the nighttime The other way is slipping into unattended cars and kidnapping the women.

Please pass this on to other women, young and old alike. Be extra careful going to and from your car at night. If at all possible, don’t go alone!  This is real!!

The message:

1. ALWAYS lock your car doors, even if you’re gone for just a second!

2. Check underneath your car when approaching it for reentry, and check in the back before getting in.

3. Always be aware of your surroundings and of other individuals in your general vicinity, particularly at night!

Send this to everyone so your friends can take precaution.

AND GUYS…YOU TELL ANY WOMEN YOU KNOW ABOUT THIS Thanks,

Barbara Baker, Secretary Directorate of Training U.S. Army Military Police School.

THIS IS VERY SERIOUS … PLEASE DO NOT DELETE IT! PLEASE PASS IT ON!!

Makini sent this to me in an email.  She says that she did not really believe the email but felt that she should send it to her female friends just in case it were true.  This email follows the same format as several other emails that claim to enlighten readers about new gang initiation activities.  A close relative of this email claims that a new gang initiation is to drive around after dark with their headlights off and then kill anyone who gives them a courtesy flash.  Law enforcement officers who are asked about this often stress that gang initiations very rarely intentionally involve strangers.  More often the members are required to retaliate against opposing gangs, or they are “jumped in” by becoming victims of violence at the hands of their own gang.

Superstition

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Nationality: Black
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: North Carolina
Performance Date: April 20, 2008
Primary Language: English

“If your palm is itching, then you are going to receive money.”

Sierra does not remember exactly who she heard this superstition from.  She suspects that it might have been a friend.  She grew up in Wadesborough, NC.  When Sierra learned the superstition, her friend claimed that either palm itching means that the person will be receiving money.

Other versions of the superstition specify which palm must be itching for one to come into money.  In some cultures an itching right palm denotes that one will be receiving money, while an itching left palm indicates that one will be spending money on something soon.  In other cultures, the left hand must be itching for one to receive money, while the right hand itching indicates that one will be spending or losing money.

Another girl in the dorm who overheard the conversation stated that because the left palm is the passive, or receptive hand, the itching of the left hand indicates that new energy will be passing through it and money is going to be received.  The right hand is the active hand and as a result it would be used to give money.  Some versions of this superstition go as far as to state that scratching the palm will reverse one’s luck; therefore, one should not scratch the hand that indicates that money will be received, but he/she should continue to scratch the palm that indicates that money will be spent.  Other ways that one would use to counteract itching palms is to touch or rub a piece of wood to transfer his/her luck.

Legend

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Nationality: Black
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Baltimore, MD
Performance Date: April 21, 2008
Primary Language: English

Sleeping Ute Mountain resembles a sleeping Indian with his headdress on. He was a great warrior god who helped fight against white invaders, and during the battle his feet formed the mountains and valleys. He was wounded and fell asleep to help his wounds. He is still sleeping, but the blood from his wound became water and rain clouds come from his pockets. The changing of his blankets bring the seasons: dark green, yellow and red, and white.

Jackee heard the Sleepy Ute myth on a Navajo reservation in Utah which she visited as part of an alternative spring break trip.  The legend states that a great Ute warrior was wounded during battle while fighting the white invaders of the land.  He lay down to rest to help heal his wounds, and when he awakes he will continue his fight against them and take back the land that belongs to the Ute tribe.  A more complete version of the  legend can be found on various sites hosting Native American folklore.  This version can be found on a Ute website:

In the very old days, the Sleeping Ute Mountain was a Great Warrior God. He came to help fight against the Evil Ones who were causing much trouble. A tremendous battle between the Great Warrior God and the Evil Ones followed. As they stepped hard upon the earth and braced themselves to fight, their feet pushed the land into mountains and valleys. This is how the country of this region came to be as it is today. The Great Warrior God was hurt, so he lay down to rest and fell into a deep sleep. The blood from his wound turned into living water for all creatures to drink. When the fog or clouds settle over the Sleeping Warrior God, it is a sign that he is changing his blankets for the four seasons. When the Indians see the light green blanket over their “God”, they know it is spring. The dark green blanket is summer, the yellow and red one is fall, and the white one is winter.  The Indians believe that when the clouds gather on the highest peak, the Warrior God is pleased with his people and is letting rain clouds slip from his pockets. They also believe that the Great Warrior God will rise again to help them in the fight against their enemies.

Jackee says that the people she met at the reservation were mainly teenagers and that many of them believed the legend.  They told her that a time would come when the Ute awakens and they will reclaim the land that was stolen from them.  The sleeping Ute is still very much revered among the elder Ute as well as the younger generations.

Annotation:

Smith, L. Michael. “UTE.” 1998. 23 Apr. 2008<www.utemountainute.com/legends.htm>.

The Journal of American Folklore, Vol. 14, No. 55 (Oct. – Dec., 1901), pp. 252-28

Lullaby – Yoruba

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Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 47
Occupation: Financial Administrator
Residence: Diamond Bar, CA
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Yoruba, French, Urdu

Ronke nko O

O wa nle O

O sun jaburata si yara O

Ta lo ba wi

Ta lo na O

How is Ronke doing?

She is at home.

She is deeply asleep in the bedroom.

Who reprimanded her?

Who Spanked her?

This is a Yoruba lullaby that is sung to a crying child.  Abiola heard the song as a young child.  She is the oldest of six children, and she often heard the lullaby sung to her younger siblings.  She also has four children who she sang the song to when they were young.

The song asks about the condition of the crying child.  In this example the child’s name is Ronke.  The first line asks what is wrong with the child.  A more representative English translation is : What about Ronke? The next two lines state what the child should be doing.  The singer states that the child is at home in a deep sleep, which is the ultimate goal of the lullaby.  As there is typically no known reason for the child to be crying, the singer asks if anyone chastised the child or spanked her to make her cry.

The song has proven to be very effective.  Abiola not only remembers hearing it sung by many women as a child, and singing it to her own children as well as her youngest sister, but the song is still sung in her family, even by those who do not speak any other words of Yoruba.

Märchen – Yoruba

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Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 47
Occupation: Financial Administrator
Residence: Diamond Bar, CA
Performance Date: April 27, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Yoruba, French, Urdu

Ijapa Ati Aja

Ijapa ati Aja lo si oko oloko lati lo ji isu.  Aja mu isu ni won ba.  Ijapa se ojukokoro, o di apere ti okun.  Ko wa le gbe. O wa bere si korin si aja bayi:

Aja duro ra mi leru, Ferekufe

Bi O ba duro ra mi leru, Ferekufe

Ma Kigbe oloku a gbo, Ferekufe

A gbe wa de A gba wa ni isu, Ferekufe

The Tortoise and the Dog

The tortoise and the dog went to a farm to steal some yams.  The dog took a few yams while the tortoise took a basket full.  The dog left, but the tortoise could not carry his load.  He began to singing out loud for help thusly:

Dog, wait! Help me carry my load, Ferekufe

If you don’t wait to help me, Ferekufe

I will shout and the farmer will hear me, Ferekufe

He will capture us and take our yams, Ferekufe

Abiola learned this story when she was around eight years old.  When she went from Lagos city to visit her grandmother in the village.  At night in her grandmother’s compound, elders would sit the children down in a communal area and tell stories to them.  The stories were usually told in a call and return format.  This particular story has a refrain which is repeated throughout which the listeners can repeat.  The line “Ferekufe” holds no actual meaning other than to add a rhythm to the telling.

This story features the most popular character in Nigerian tales.  Ijapa is the tortoise.  He is the conniver in most Nigerian trickster tales.  The tortoise is always shown as conniving, greedy, and deceitful.  In this particular tale, the tortoise and his friend the dog decide to steal yams from a neighboring farmer.  The dog takes only as many yams as he can carry away, but the greedy tortoise takes a basket so full of yams that he can barely drag the basket behind him.  The word used to describe the tortoise’s greed “ojukokoro” literally translates to ant eyes.  It is an expression that denotes that ants often carry loads many times their size.  It is similar to the English saying that someone’s eyes are bigger than his or her stomach.

Abiola states that the story teaches on not to be greedy because even as the tortoise threatens his friend the dog that he will scream if the dog does not help him, one should be able to recognize that even if the tortoise attempts to call attention to the dog, he will only get himself caught first.  She says that one should take away from the story

that he/she cannot blackmail others to solve problems that one has created for him/herself.

Another version of this story can be found in a book compiled with Nigerian tales.

Annotation: Owomoyela, Oyekan. Yoruba Trikster Tales. University of Nebraska P, 1997. 83-86.