Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Hairy Man Road

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: undergraduate student
Residence: Colorado, CA
Performance Date: 2017-3-18
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

 

Main piece:

Hairy man road is an actual road in Round Rock, Texas. There is a story that is circulated in the town that goes like this: “There was a little boy and his family was moving to Texas but he got separated from them somehow– maybe fell out of wagon– and he ends up living in woods but as he grows up he grows out of his clothes so because of adaptation he was just covered in hair from head to toe even his face was hairy. He was known as the hairy man of hairy man road and he didn’t know how to interact with people so he harassed everyone who came his way. One day he got run over by a car and his ghost lives there. People say they still see the ghost when they pass Hairy Man Road.”

There’s a Hairy Man Road festival in October and the hairiest men have a contest to see who’s the hairiest. The participants take off their shirts and there’s judges too. It’s held in the park across from the informant’s house and all ages show up for the event.

 

Informant also says she remembers being told that someone got hanged on the same road and you see his ghost too, which is a different story from the Hairy Man. There’s a lot of stories told to and from the residents about Hairy Man Road.

 

Background information (Why does the informant know or like this piece? Where or who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them?):

Informant grew up in Round Rock, Texas. She says she first heard the story in elementary school at a afterschool day care. A friend told her when everyone was sharing spooky stories. The road is actually spooky. She said it didn’t come to her mind that the festival remembering Hairy Man was weird to everyone else until she shared this with me.

Context (When or where would this be performed? Under what circumstance?):

It is a common stories told when sharing scary stories in Round Rock. Kids enjoy circulating the story to each other to scare each other. Because of the festival, the locals typically know the story already. When people drive by Hairy Man Road, a local might share to others if they are together in the car. It’s not really shared outside of the locals unless asked about. It’s not a secret, but it’s not common knowledge.

Personal Analysis:

I was surprised to hear about the legend of this road. I’ve never heard of it before, and I wouldn’t have if I didn’t ask a Round Rock local about their traditions. It’s interesting to hear and know about new small U.S. legends. I’m most shocked to find that a story that sounds fictional can become an annual festival. I’ve never experienced such a ridiculous and funny event before.

For another version of this proverb, see “The Legend of Hairy Man Road.” Weird Texas. Weirdus, n.d. Web. 25 Apr. 2017. http://weirdus.com/states/texas/bizarre_beasts/hairy_man_road/index.php

Anarkali

Nationality: Pakistani
Age: 20
Occupation: undergraduate student
Residence: Pakistan
Performance Date: 2017-3-18
Primary Language: English
Language: Urdu

Main piece:

The story is called Anarkali, which is the name of the main character girl. There is an emperor called Jehangir. When he was the prince and his dad was king, he had a court entertainment. The prince saw a beautiful dancer Anarkali but she was poor. The king ordered to have Anarkali buried alive in a wall as a sign to show others what happens if lower class tries to intermarry or associate with upper class. Now there’s a famous tomb.

 

Background information (Why does the informant know or like this piece? Where or who did they learn it from? What does it mean to them?):

Nobody knows if it’s a real story, but there’s a movie based on it. Apparently people broke the wall and found a skeleton. The moral of the story is that love is reserved for rich people and there should be no inter caste marriage because social class is important.

Context (When or where would this be performed? Under what circumstance?):

He watched the bollywood movie Mughal-e-Azam, but he also heard a similar version from his family growing up.

Personal Analysis:

This sounds very harsh. I could see how it could be adapted from a real story or at least fabricated and distributed so that the poor people will be too scared to think about marrying rich. It’s very different from children’s stories that are very G rated, because Anarkali’s punishment was so severe.

Butterfly Lovers

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 51
Occupation: Banker
Residence: China
Performance Date: May 16, 2017
Primary Language: Chinese

My mom shared the story of Butterfly Lovers, which is actually a well-known folktale in China. There is a beautiful violin concerto composed based on this story and that’s one of my mom’s favorite — hence why my mom sent me to learn to play violin. My mom says she always kinda knew what happened in the story but was never entirely sure until she watched a movie based on it. We interviewed in Chinese so the following is only rough translation of what she shared.

Story:

”

During the Jin Dynasty, there were two youngsters Liang and Zhu. Liang and Zhu were classmates, while Zhu disguised herself as a man. Zhu secretly loved Liang deeply, but for years, Liang never realized Zhu was a woman, and only viewed her as a best friend but nothing more. The day Zhu went back home, Liang was so reluctant to leave her that he walked her home for eighteen miles. On the way home, Zhu vaguely hinted her feelings to Liang, but Liang was too oblivious to understand. Defeated, Zhu told Liang that she had a sister who looked exactly alike, and encouraged him to visit and marry her. Liang said yes and they parted.

Liang went back and tried to gather the money for the proposal and wedding, but since he’s only a poor student, it took him a long time. By the time he finally came to visit Zhu, Zhu’s parent had already promised her to the governor’s son, Wencai Ma. Only by then he realized Zhu had no sister and Zhu was actually a girl. Liang and Zhu confessed their feelings to each other, cried and said goodbye. When they parted, they made a promise that even though they could not be married in this life, they shall be buried together after they die.

Soon after, Liang was appointed to be the mayor but died shortly out of sorrow. On the wedding day of Zhu, as a part of Chinese wedding tradition, Zhu got on the carriage and off to her husband’s place. However, when they passed by the grave of Liang, a storm came and they could not move any further. Zhu got off the carriage and came to the grave to mourn her love. Suddenly, the ground split in half. Zhu jumped into the ground to be buried with Liang together, and then the ground repaired. The storm stopped and rainbow appeared. Liang and Zhu turned into two butterflies, flew out from the grave and flew into the sky.

”

Thoughts:

This folktale is one of the most famous tales in China. I’d say its popularity would be like SnowWhite in Western countries. Since it’s such a wide spread story, there are countless TV shows and movies made out of it. Those versions did not differ much except there are always some original plot added. What my mom shared are majorly the plots that most version agreed. This is one of a few Chinese folklores that the story is evolved around the female protagonist instead of male — a story of how how the female making choices for her own life.

Japanese spirit

Nationality: American
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: U.S.
Performance Date: March 17, 2017
Primary Language: English

My friend who took Japanese Literature last semester contributed this story, since one of the chapters was all about Japanese folktales. This sad story is the first tale comes to her mind, but was only because she misunderstood the plot for the first time reading it and that cost her quite a lot points in midterm. She also was a bit unsatisfied that the man in the story did not receive enough punishment for what he did. 

Story:

”

One day, a poor man who lived in Capital learned that a friend he knew was appointed to be the governor of a province far away. He went to the friend and explained his situation, hoping he could get any job available. The friend did offer him a spot on court. This man has a young wife and they were so in love that were inseparable, even though they live in poverty. However, now the man decided to leave his wife for someone new, a richer one who would provide him for the trip and even come with him to the new job to take care of him. Throughout years, though the man missed his first wife dearly, he never went back to visit her until his friend’s term ended.

Upon arrival at the Capital, the man rushed to his old house, found the front gate open and directly went in. The house seemed to be old and ruined. It seemed like no one lived in there for a long time. Nevertheless, he found his wife lying in the house all alone, just like she was in the old days. She saw him came in and greeted him with joy but with no anger. The man told her how he missed her and how he would never leave her again. She looked extremely happy. They laid in each others arm and went to sleep.

In the morning, the sunlight woke the man up. In horror he found a corpse died long ago. In his arm it was not his wife but dried skin over dead bones. He bursted into neighbor’s house and demanded where’s the woman lived next door. The neighbor told him, ever since her husband left her, she was so hurt that she became very sick. Since she was too poor to have anyone take care of her, she quickly passed away, and there was no one there to collect her body. People are afraid to go near that house again because they thought it’s haunted. The man was in deep regret.

”

Thoughts:

I wonder how this story ties to the famous Japanese ghost story Hone-onna. It sounds a lot like Hone-onna’s origin, I’m not sure. Hone-onna means “bone-lady”. In the legend, Hone-onna disguises herself as a gorgeous lady but is actually a skeleton.  She seduces men but only to kill them later. How the story ends does not fit the characteristics of Hone-onma though.

The Story of Chunhyang

Nationality: Korean
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: House near campus
Performance Date: 4/24/2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

Informant SW is a USC student who went to high school in Hong Kong but his nationality is Korean, so he grew up hearing a lot of Korean folk stories and doing a lot of Korean traditions.

SW: “This is a love story okay thats like pretty well known in Korea. So once upon a time there was a guy called Mongryong who was walking around when he see this girl and instantly falls in love. The girl’s name was Chunhyang. So Mongryong finds out who this girl is and asks her mother for her hand in marriage. Her mother says yes, even though Chunhyang doesn’t want to, and they get married.

However, Mongryong’s father is a government official and has to leave to another city, so Mongryong has to follow him. Before leaving, Chunhyang gives Mongryong a ring as a token and reminder of love. After Mongryong leaves a guy called Pyon replaces his father. Pyon is a super greedy person and just drinks and parties every day. Eventually Mongryong places first in his exams and because a spy for the government to find corrupt government officials. Mongryong, in disguise, goes back to his hometown to see Pyon ruining his village. At Pyon’s birthday, Mongryong reveals himself and arrests Pyon. However, Chunhyang doesn’t believe that Mongryong is who he says he is. Mongryong shows Chunhyang the ring she gave him and she is shocked and then they live happily ever after.”

To me this story is very generic, I felt like I have heard this story a billion times. Love stories in Asia is always about a guy and girl falling in love but then they end up getting separated, then something bad befalls the girl and the guy comes back but the girl does not recognize him until he proves to her that he is who he says he is. I wouldn’t be surprised if there are other similar stories all across Asia and maybe even in Western society.