Author Archives: Sam Choi

Contemporary Legend – Fullerton, California

Nationality: Korean
Age: 31
Occupation: Pastor
Residence: Fullerton, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

“Cardboard Kids”

Origins

Pastor Arnold heard this legend from high school friends (in Fullerton). There is an actual house that is associated with this legend and he has passed by it several times.

Quoted from Pastor Arnold

“There was a track called Laguna Niguel in Fullerton. It was an affluent place where a lot of upper class people lived. There was a married couple that had a disabled child. The child lived in a wheelchair all his life. The child was unpopular, didn’t have friends. In an effort to get the child more friends, the parents threw their child a large birthday party and invited many people from school.”

“All the kids came to the party, but they ignored the kid. The child was despondent and left the party. He rolled in his wheelchair out near the lake and accidentally fell in and drowned. So, the parents blamed the kids that came. The parents, who were filled with anger, made cardboard cutouts of all the kids who came and posted them in the windows.”

Collector’s comments

This particular urban legend sounds a lot like the plot of several recent movies / shows in which an unpopular child dies or is killed and the blame falls upon the normal / popular children. Recently, there was an episode of the popular series Smallville in which there is a flashback to Lex Luthor’s childhood. The flashback eventually shows Lex Luthor savagely beating his “uncool” friend for wanting to tattle on three popular students and ruin Lex’s chances of becoming part of the in crowd. Again, the episode uses the common theme of an unpopular child (although Lex’s friend does not have any physical handicap) who dies at the hands of the popular kids.

Contemporary Legend – Fullerton, California

Nationality: Korean
Age: 31
Occupation: Pastor
Residence: Fullerton, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

“The Brea Bum”

Origins

Pastor Arnold learned of the Brea Bum during the earlier years of high school (in

Fullerton).

Quoted from Pastor Arnold

“When in high school, I went with some friends and was told about the Brea Bum. The story involves a man who was waiting outside of his work for his family (for his wife and 3 kids to pick him up). The wife and 3 kids never came. He was sitting outside looking at a newspaper. He waited all day and night. The next day, he got a newspaper and got a report that his wife and kids died in a car accident. So he stayed at the park bench and wouldn’t move because his family had passed away.”

“So now there are many stories attached to the Brea Bum. Some said he carried a 6 inch knife and threatened to stab people who came by. People said he was friends with druggies. Some of my more courageous friends actually approached him and talked with him and tried to evangelize to him. One night, a convoy of 5 cars filled with my friends went to Brea looking for the Brea Bum. They told me and a few others to stay in, while 6 actually went up to the Brea Bum. They slowly accosted the Brea Bum, speaking gently, hoping not to create any hostility. They eventually sat down next to him and talked. Suddenly, one of my friends screamed and the rest started running. From one person, I heard someone was shot. From another, I heard a friend got stabbed. Everyone jumped into the cars and sped off. A couple of my friends were crying.”

“Later I found out the Brea Bum is a statue (a statue of guy with a newspaper). High school juniors and seniors would use this to scare freshmen and sophomores.”

Collector’s Comments

Arnold’s experience sounds much like any other “initiation”, whether it is initiation into high school, college, or a fraternity / sorority. Whereas most fraternities that I have heard about on the USC campus typically force their new pledges to do a great deal of menial tasks (such as cleaning the house’s toilets, printing event flyers, etc), Pastor Arnold had an initiation that played off younger students’ fear of the unknown. The upperclassmen’s prank seems well thought of since 14, 15, and 16 year olds would probably show little skepticism and be easier to scare than college students.

Proverb – University of California Irvine, California

Nationality: Korean
Age: 31
Occupation: Pastor
Residence: Fullerton, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

“Hungry man is an angry man”

Origins

Pastor Arnold heard this quote from funny friends in college (UC Irvine).

Collector’s comments

It is dubious whether this is an actual African proverb or not, although Pastor Arnold asserts that it is. Most likely, Pastor Arnold heard this proverb from a hungry African-American friend and now labels this saying as an African proverb.

The proverb seems fitting for a college environment (especially in groups composed primarily of males) since college students often have trouble feeding and cooking for themselves.

I am currently a freshman living in an apartment just right off the main campus. Since I am not required to purchase a large meal plan, I too have had difficulty finding adequate and somewhat nutritious food. It seems that my roommates are not doing much better, often relying on instant ramen noodles, cookies, and starbursts for late night meals.

Proverb – Chinese

Nationality: Korean
Age: 31
Occupation: Pastor
Residence: Fullerton, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

(Pseudo) Proverb – Chinese

“Confusion says sleep with itchy butt wake up with smelly fingers”

Origins

Pastor Arnold heard this proverb from funny friends during college (UC Irvine).

Collector’s comments

Clearly this proverb is a parody of the Chinese philosopher Confucius’ actual teachings. Even during elementary and middle school, I vaguely remember hearing friends coming up with “proverbs” such as this. Often, my friends would even attempt a fake Chinese accent when saying their new proverb.

It is interesting to note Pastor Arnold and I have exclusively heard this proverb (and similar proverbs) from students (who should be engaging in serious studies yet are slyly mocking traditional wisdom) while Confucius’ Analects primarily emphasizes studying.

Folktale – Chinese

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Monterrey Park, CA
Performance Date: April 2007
Primary Language: English

Origins

Kenneth heard this folktale from his mom while he was still in elementary school

(in Monterrey Park).

Quoted from Kenneth

“There once was an old king who had no children. He wanted to find an heir to his throne so he summoned all the young boys in his kingdom who were under 10. He said to them, “I will give each of you a seed. After three months, whoever brings me back the most beautiful flower will become king.” ”

“So all the young boys left and diligently began working. However, there was one poor little boy who seemed to have trouble. He watered his seed and took care of it everyday but the seed would not grow. The poor boy noticed that all the other boys’ flowers were blossoming and growing everyday.”

“After the three months were over, the king summoned all the young boys again. The king examined many beautiful flowers but when he came up to the poor boy’s empty pot, he declared, “You are the winner. All the seeds were dead!” “

Collector’s comments

Clearly, this folktale is promoting honesty. Much like Aesop’s fables in western culture, this folktale aims to teach Chinese children to value honesty and integrity even when the rewards for being dishonest are great. Also like many of Aesop’s fables, this folktale focuses on emphasizing one specific character trait that the original “author” believes is important.

A specific western folktale (or fable) that emphasizes the value of honesty is “Mercury and the Woodman” from Aesop’s Fables. (cited below) Although the Chinese folktalk and the following fable have completely different stories and were created by two very different ethnicities, both aim to show the value of honesty and, to a extent, to show that there are no gains from dishonesty.

A Woodman was felling a tree on the bank of a river, when his axe,

glancing off the trunk, flew out of his hands and fell into the water.

As he stood by the water’s edge lamenting his loss, Mercury appeared

and asked him the reason for his grief. On learning what had happened,

out of pity for his distress, Mercury dived into the river and,

bringing up a golden axe, asked him if that was the one he had lost.

The Woodman replied that it was not, and Mercury then dived a second

time, and, bringing up a silver axe, asked if that was his. “No,

that is not mine either,” said the Woodman. Once more Mercury dived

into the river, and brought up the missing axe. The Woodman was

overjoyed at recovering his property, and thanked his benefactor

warmly; and the latter was so pleased with his honesty that he made

him a present of the other two axes. When the Woodman told the story

to his companions, one of these was filled with envy of his good

fortune and determined to try his luck for himself. So he went and

began to fell a tree at the edge of the river, and presently contrived

to let his axe drop into the water. Mercury appeared as before, and,

on learning that his axe had fallen in, he dived and brought up a

golden axe, as he had done on the previous occasion. Without waiting

to be asked whether it was his or not, the fellow cried, “That’s mine,

that’s mine,” and stretched out his hand eagerly for the prize: but

Mercury was so disgusted at his dishonesty that he not only declined

to give him the golden axe, but also refused to recover for him the

one he had let fall into the stream.

Source: http://www.aesopfables.com/cgi/aesop1.cgi?sel&MercuryandtheWoodman

Date of access: April 17th, 2007