Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

The Arkansas Traveler

Nationality: American
Age: 55
Occupation: interior decorater
Residence: Chatham, MA
Performance Date: 3/11/17
Primary Language: English

The interviewer’s comments are denoted through initials JK, while the interviewee’s responses are denoted through initials MB.

 

 

MB: The Arkansas Traveler is a story that we always knew growing up, and they have a song about it, I think it’s the state song….. And it’s about a traveler going through Arkansas and he comes upon a cabin and there’s an old squatter, they called him, that’s what they called him, a squatter, like an old hillbilly type, hayseed, and he’s fiddling on his porch and um.. So the traveler, the Arkansas traveler is tired and hungry, and he asks the guy “Can ya spear some water?”, and the guy says, Oh I ain’t got none.” And he keeps fiddling and fiddling all through the whole thing.  And he says, “Well do you have any food?” and the squatter says, “No, nothing in this cabin.”  But he keeps fiddling this whole time, just playing this little tune over and over again.  And then the guy says “Do you know if there’s an inn up ahead?”  and the squatter says, “Might be, I don’t know, never been there.”  You know, he’s a real hayseed.  The traveler says, “Well, do you think maybe I could spend the night with you?”  And the squatter’s like “Well there ain’t no room”  Oh, and it was raining this whole time, I forgot to mention, that’s a big point in the story haha.  So the squatter says, “There’s only one dry spot in the house and my wife and kid and me sleep there.”  And the traveler says, “Well why don’t you mend the roof?”  The the squatter goes “I’m not gonna mend the roof on a rainy day.” And all this time he’s fiddling, fiddling, fiddling.  Then the traveler says, “Well why don’t you mend it on a sunny day?  Go out on a nice pretty day and mend it.”  And the Fiddler says “The roof don’t leak on a pretty day”  So the traveler is just like exasperated and he goes “Why do you keep fiddling that same tune over and over again?”  And the fiddler is like, “I can’t figure out how to finish it.”  The traveler says “Well give me the fiddle” and takes the fiddle and he puts an end to it, you know, he fiddles it up, and he puts an end to it.  Then the squatter looks at him with just this huge smile, like thank you you’ve rescued me from this torture, he’s so happy that this guy has finished his song for him and now he’s let loose from this fiddle and he says, “Oh come on in!! You can have the dry spot!!”  He calls to his wife and says, “Make up some dinner!!” and calls to his son, “Grab some whiskey, we got us a visitor”  In other words, the last word is like, “You can have the dry spot”  cause remember it’s raining.  

 

JK: So the song the traveler completed for the Fiddler is the state song of Arkansas?

 

MB: I think it is the state song, its called “Arkansas Traveler” and that’s why the baseball team is called the “Travelers” (the AAA affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals– The Arkansas Travelers).

 

Conclusion:

I found this to be a very interesting story.  My mom is originally from Arkansas– the informant is one of her childhood friends– so I’ve visited the state every couple of years since I was born.  For me, it was especially interesting to hear how the Arkansas Travelers baseball team got their name.  I’ve been to a fair amount of their games and I’ve always wondered why they’re called the Travelers– I was just too lazy to look it up.

 

The Legend of Pecos Bill

Nationality: American
Age: 54
Occupation: lawyer
Residence: Burlington, MA
Performance Date: 3/13/17
Primary Language: English

The legend of Pecos Bill.  He was from– I think he was from… Kansas or Missouri or something?  Somewhere in the midwest, middle of the country  and he was famous for riding broncos.  He could ride any bronco you gave him.  He would just never fall off, incredible… So he was like, “Bring me your wildest creature and I can ride it.”  He could ride lions and tigers… and any bucking bronco, camels, anything crazy… he could ride anything.  He was just a huge cowboy, bronco rider.  And then somebody, then um, that area, Kansas and Arkansas and all that area– maybe that’s why I know this story– is, you know, famous for tornados, and cyclones, same thing.  And sure enough a cyclone came along, and it was gettin’ ready to wreck a town, and the townspeople said, “Hey Pecos Bill, can you ride that cyclone outta town?  Can you tame it and ride it out of town?”  And he said, “Well, I’ll give it a try, I’ve ridden everything else.”  And, um, so he hops on the cyclone, on the tornado, and it crashed him around and spun him around everywhere and everywhere… and he kept on it for miles and miles and days, ya know, a whole day of ridin’ it.  Um, and it was just nuts for him,  going all around in circles.  But he stayed on it, and, ya know, he had the tail and he’d whip the tail, ya know, how a cyclone is kinda triangular, like a cone.  And he’d whip the tail of it, tryna tame it and everything and he rode it all the way to…. Arizona.  Up in the sky, ride it all the way to Arizona, and it, um, finally just fell out in water.  All came down in water, and they say it rained really hard and, uh, it rained so hard it formed the Grand Canyon.  Rained so hard it drove it all the way down.  And then he fell off so hard that, um, he made… what is it?  Death Valley I think?  Or something like that.  I can’t remember, but that’s supposedly how those things were formed. Death Valley.  Which is the lowest part, you know, the lowest sea level, lowest part of the country I think.

 

Conclusion:

 

This story was told to me by my Aunt Susan.  It’s a classic folktale employing a legendary, mythic figure with supernatural abilities.  I like how the story ended with the explanation of how the Grand Canyon and Death Valley were formed.  It’s cool when stories seem to be relatively narrow and focused and then, at the end, open up to cover some part of general, well known history..

John Henry

Nationality: American
Age: 56
Occupation: financial executive
Residence: Winchester, MA
Performance Date: 3/17/17
Primary Language: English

 

“John Henry.  Back in the railroad days, railroads were king, and that’s how you would get around the country, and um, and ya know, so railroad workers were really celebrated and there’s this one huuuge guy who could, um, drive a railroad tie, ya know how you have to put the pins in the railroad tie?  His name was John Henry, and um, he was huge, and soo strong, and he could drive railroad ties faster than anybody– he was legendary for doing that.  And um, so, but with time, machinery caught up and technology and everything, and a steam driver was made and everybody was like, “Ohh nobody can beat John Henry.  So I don’t care what kinda machine you make, he is just amazing.”  And he was like, “I’m not gonna let any machine beat me.”  And so he, um, they had a contest, they brought the steam tie driver out, and they went right alongside each other, steam driver and John Henry, and um, it was crazzy, never seen anyone work as hard as John Henry.  And he, uh, just kept drivin’ em in with his huuge sledge hammer, just one after the other, he could do it in one hit, ya know just drive the whole tie down in one hit.  And he, uh, he beat the steam– he beat the contest, he beat the steam driver.  And I guess he was a real guy, but I guess it’s a legend that he beat the, uh, the machine, the steam driver.  But he worked so hard, sweated so much, put so much out of uh– just gave his whole self to beatin’ the steam driver that he, he had a heart attack.  Just too much for his heart.  And he died.  But everyone was so impressed cause he did beat him, he did beat the steam driver.  I think they made a statue, I always heard the story, I’m sure there’s books and things out there.”

 

 

Conclusion:

 

This was told to me by my dad’s buddy, Evan Rennie.  I had actually heard this story when I was young, but it was nice to get a refresher.  This tale follows the track of a typical legend.  The main figure possesses a mythic power (strength in this case) and is determined to succeed.  I thought John Henry’s death at the end of the tale presented an interesting twist.  If anything, his death helps grow the legend even more.  He went out doing what he loved to do: driving railroad ties.

 

St. Christopher

Nationality: American
Age: 53
Occupation: building contractor
Residence: Burlington, MA
Performance Date: 3/13/17
Primary Language: English

The interviewer’s comments are denoted through initials JK, while the interviewee’s responses are denoted through initials SC.

SC: A long, long time ago, there was a huuge man, like so strong, the strongest person that he knew and anybody knew.  And because he was so strong, he was saying he didn’t wanna serve anybody except the strongest person that he could find.  So he went to the King, and he’s like, “I have got these major gifts for you, look at me, I am the strongest person in the world.  I will do whatever, ya know, I wanna serve the mightiest master and I will do whatever I can do for you.  And, um, so he serves the King.  But then, um, he hears the King, like, um, the King talks about the the Devil, like, “Ohh, the Devil.”  He gets scared of the Devil, he’s worried about the Devil.  And, um, the big strong guy his name was Offero–

 

JK:  Offero? What?

 

SC: Offero, I think his name was Offero.  So Offero says, “Wait a minute, if you’re scared of the Devil then you’re not the mightiest of the mighty.  And I don’t need to be serving you, I wanna go serve  the Devil. I wanna serve Satan.”  So he goes and finds Satan and he serves Satan and they get into all sorts of terrible mischief and bad stuff, uh, he really liked it, so big, and brave and huge, and he says, “This is my calling to serve the mightiest in the world, so I’m here with Satan.”  And then there were walking along one day, and Satan takes a huge detour, and Satan never does anything except the most direct way cause he just walks on everybody and, ya know, he didn’t let anybody boss him around.  Offero notices that he’s taking this huge detour, needlessly, when there was no reason to do it– he took the long path and avoided the road when he could have just stayed on the road.  He asked Satan, “Well why did you do that?”  And he’s like, “Ohh, there’s something back there that makes me uneasy, I don’t like it, it’s like, there’s this cross back there, I’m uncomfortable with it, I don’t like it.”  So Offero says, “Wait a minute, I thought you were the mightiest in the world and there’s something you’re scared of?”  And he’s like, “Wellll, yea it just makes me uncomfortable.”  So the cross is like a symbol of Christ, or they call him the Prince of Peace… So Offero says, “Well, I’m gonna go search for this guy cause I’m huge and mighty and I only wanna serve the most powerful person in the world.  So Satan say, “Alllright.”  So Offero goes off and he’s lookin’, lookin’, lookin’, he has no idea where to find this Prince of Peace, and he asks everybody, and finally he asks an old hermit, and, um… the hermit says, “I don’t know him, but I know how you can serve him and maybe he’ll come to you.”  He takes him to this big river, which is always rushing with rapids, and it’s dangerous, but people always have to cross it, and he says, “Well, ya know, if you serve him this way and help people cross the river, he might make himself known to you.”  So Offero says, “Well he’s obviously the most powerful if Satan’s afraid of him, so ok, I’ll do it.”  He’s like, “If you can help people, a lot of people have died crossing this river.  If you can help people crossing this river, on your back, you know, you can help them get across safely, then that would be serving him.”  And Offero says “Ok.”  And he builds a hut, and he gets a staff, and he helps people across the river, he helps anybody who wants to go across the river, he puts them on his back and he helps them across the river.  This is a long time ago, before bridges.  And he does this for years and years, and you know, he’s like, “Gee, I don’t really know who I’m serving, but it’s nice here, and anyway, people are friendly to me, they like that I’m doing this, and so, I think I’m serving the most powerful person in the world, so ok.”  One night he’s tryna go to sleep, and there’s a terrible storm, and he thinks he can go to bed early cause it’s such a bad storm, nobody could possibly be crossing the river in such a torrential downfall in such wind and everything.  So, but he hears something that’s like, “Help me across the river.”  He hears this faint voice and Offero’s like, “Whattt, nobody could possibly be out in this weather, what is this about?”  So he tries to close his eyes, but then he hears it again, you know, just a faint call, so he goes to investigate and it’s just a little kid, a little child, standing by the river and needs help crossing.  He’s like, “Will you help me across the river?”  And Offero looks at the kid and he’s like, “Woww, well gee, I guess, I mean it’s just a little kid, and I can probably do this, ya know.  It’s terrible, terrible rain, but I can manage to get a little kid across.  Certainly he can’t do it on his own.”  So he puts the kid on his back and they start out across the river and it is just terrible, it is just the absolutely worst, hardest, most brutal crossing that Offero’s ever had.  He feels like it gets harder and harder with every step, like he’s got the whole weight of the world on him.  Just unbelievably– wasn’t even sure he could make it, but he just kept hanging onto the kid and crossing the river.  And he gets to the other side and um…. And he’s like, “Well here you are, safe and sound across the river.” And he says, “By the way, who are you and why’d you wanna cross the river at such a bad time of night.”  And um, he says, the kid, “Offero, can’t you tell who I am?  I’m the one you’ve been serving all these years.  And you have done a tremendous job serving me and I’m going to rename you– he goes I and Christ, the Prince of Peace and I am going to rename you, not Offero the bearer, which means the bearer, but I’m going to name you Christopher, the Christ bearer, because you carried me across the stream and you’ve been serving me and my people all these years.  So that’s why you see St. Christopher medals.  He’s a protector.  He keeps people safe, that’s why you get St. Christopher medals.  The medal always has St. Christopher on it with a staff carrying a child.”

Conclusion:


This story was told to me by my Uncle Steve.  It was very interesting to see the character development of Offero as the story progressed.  At first, he’s just a man that wants to serve the world’s greatest power.  He seems to need constant reinforcement that he is, in fact, working for the guy at the top of the totem pole.  However, when Offero starts living by the river, he is only going off the word of the hermit that he is serving the Prince of Peace.  He does this noble work for years before finally having his questions answered.  I especially enjoyed this recitation because it didn’t come off as overly religious, despite being about the rise of St. Christopher.

The Woman in Black

Nationality: American
Age: 56
Occupation: Financial executive
Residence: Boston, MA
Performance Date: 3/11/17
Primary Language: English

“Ok, so this is a story of Georges Island, an island out in Boston Harbor.  During the Civil War, they built a fort out there called Fort Warren.  And that’s where they held prisoners of the Civil War, so Confederate soldiers were held out there.  Um, so there was a soldier out there who wrote a letter to his wife that he was being held out there and she got the letter, she was from Georgia.  So she comes up and she wants to break him out of jail.  So she ends up staying in Hull, right, which is a town right on the water and one stormy night, she rows out there, dressed in men’s clothing, and she had cut her hair, so she looked like a prisoner.  So she broke into the prison and she was doing everything she could to break her husband out of jail.  And as she was doing it, she was captured, along with her husband, and as they were about to take her, she went to take the pistol of one of the guards, and as she was grabbing at the pistol from the the guard, the gun went off, and it killed her husband.  And then she was tried for trying to break him out of prison, and she was convicted, and she was gonna be put to death.  And they said, “So you have one request.  What is your request?”  And she said, “I don’t wanna die in men’s clothing.”  They said, “Ok, that’s reasonable.”  So the guards at the fort went around, but there were no women on this island, so all they could find was like this black material and black robes.  So they put her in the lack robes and then they executed.  And from that day on, when you go out to that island… people swear that there is the “Lady in Black” that everyone sees walking around by herself.  And the legend is that that’s this woman.”

 

Conclusion:

 

This story was told to me by my dad’s buddy, Stephen.  As a Boston native, I found the story to be very interesting.  Apparently it was based on true events.  It’s funny, as Stephen was reciting the tale, I recalled a short news clip from a Boston station that I’d seen several years ago.  The clip showed a shadowy figure donning black robes standing in heavy winds on an island in Boston harbor.  When Stephen, got to the end of the story, I put two and two together.  This was one of my favorite pieces of folklore that I collected.