Author Archives: Sally Bailey

Mullah’s Oil

Nationality: Persian
Age: 83
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: 4 March 2017
Primary Language: Persian
Language: English

Informant: My friend’s grandfather is originally from Tehran, Iran. He moved to California as an adult but retold some of his favorite stories he heard from his parents as a child.

Original Script: “There was one about him carrying some oil into town. And he was in his house, thinking I’m going to go sell this, and I’m going to go buy this, and I’m gonna get that one and I’m going to do this one. He was just making plans, so this guy comes in, he says, ‘Hey Mullah!’ and he hits the thing, he says, ‘what is this?’ He says, ‘well if you hit it harder, nothing.’”

Context of the Performance: Over dinner, family members exchanged old folk stories they remember from Iran.

Thoughts about the Piece: This story was also well-received. It was told many times even in one dinner sitting, as many people around the table had slight variations of the tale. This version is my personal favorite.

Mullah’s Counting Error

Nationality: Persian
Age: 83
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: 4 March 2017
Primary Language: Persian
Language: English

Informant: My friend’s grandfather is originally from Tehran, Iran. He moved to California as an adult but retold some of his favorite stories he heard from his parents as a child.

Original Script: “Once Mullah has been counting the donkeys that he was carrying with himself, and he was sitting on a donkey and counting, there were nine. He said, “but I had ten!” He came down and counted, and there were ten. But then, when he sits on the donkey and he started counting, he came up with nine. He said, “this is very strange!” Then, this repeats some times, then he realizes that he’s counting wrong because, because of that.”

Context of the Performance: Over dinner, family members exchanged old folk stories they remember from Iran.

Thoughts about the Piece: This story got the most laughs at the dinner table. It is does not have any sort of moral but, like most Mullah stories, is told for the humor. I enjoyed listening to these tales.

Mullah Nasruddin

Nationality: Persian
Age: 83
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Irvine, California
Performance Date: 22 February 2017
Primary Language: Persian
Language: English

Informant: My friend’s grandfather is originally from Tehran, Iran. He moved to California as an adult but retold some of his favorite stories he heard from his parents as a child.

Original Script: “Mullah Nasruddin is a character who appears to be a joke but he tells the truth through satire and stuff like that. so, at times in some stories he’s hilarious, in some stories he’s an idiot, in some stories he’s wiser beyond belief. So it’s the same character but he goes through different iterations, so he’s definitely a folk character in Persian culture.”

Context of the Performance: Over dinner, family members exchanged old folk stories they remember from Iran.

Thoughts about the Piece: This is an introduction to the trickster character “Mullah Nasruddin”, who recurs in many Persian folktales. He is an interesting character in that he does not fit any universal archetype, but rather fills what ever character type the story needs, whether it be clever, dull, or anything in between.

Citation: for more Mullah Nasruddin tales, see Suresha, Ron Jackson. The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, Jests, and Donkey Tales of the Beloved Persian Folk Hero. Maple Shade, NJ: Lethe, 2011. Print.

Ava in the Civil War

Nationality: American
Age: 74
Occupation: N/A
Residence: Ava, IL
Performance Date: 15 March 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant: My grandmother told this story of the town she was born and raised in, and still lives today. She laughed through this whole story. She does not know how true it is, but she says it makes sense because the town straddled both sides during the Civil War.

Original Script: “Well I guess the most celebrated general from the Civil War is General Logan, you know the school’s named after him and the parks and… well. The story is, he tried to form a company from scratch to fight for the south, but he couldn’t get enough people to join. So he formed a company to fight for the north instead!”

Context of Performance: She told me and my sisters over breakfast one morning.

Thoughts about the Piece: This is a funny antidote describing the role a tiny town like Ava played during the war. I like hearing about the role such a rural, midwest area would have in the war between the states.

Jinn in the Bathhouse

Nationality: Persian
Age: 53
Occupation: N/A
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: 4 March 2017
Primary Language: Persian
Language: English

Informant: My friend’s mother tells stories about the Jinn, as her mother’s nanny originally told her, which were then passed down to Shiva. She says she does not know if Jinn exist, but there are certainly people in Iran who swear they are real. She has fun telling these stories because of their potential for belief.

Original Script: There is a story that this guy went to, before going to work they would go to public baths, it was normal, and this guy went to a public bath at five o’clock, five in the morning one day, Jinn’s hour. And the housekeeper, the bath-keeper, wasn’t there initially. So he just goes in, and he dips in the jacuzzi or whatever, the bathtub that they have, and usually someone comes and pours some water on you, and there’s this other person who comes and rubs you. And he says that as he approached him and poured water on him, he notices the feet, and the feet aren’t feet! Not human feet! And he looks up and he sees the other people that are there, none of them have human feet. And he gets scared and he runs out. Oh, they start singing and dancing for some reason, saying, “don’t be scared, we’re good!” And then he runs outside and sees the bath-keeper, the lady that’s there, and she says, “where are you going, where are you going?!” and he looks down, and she’s one of them too! So he just runs outside, butt naked. (SJ)

Context of the Performance: Over dinner, family members exchanged old folk stories they remember from Iran.
Thoughts about the Piece: I enjoyed this piece, as everyone around the table was invested and entertained by the story. It also provided insight to ways of the past while the story itself retains humor.