Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Dog Placebo in India

Nationality: Irish American
Age: 62
Occupation: Pastor
Residence: Plano, TX
Performance Date: April 19
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

There was this tour group of mostly Americans touring India in the early 60’s. And most of them were middle aged people, some retirees. And they um, they were going to see what the real rural villages were like. And when they got to one of the rural villages in Northwest india the people there were expecting the tour bus, and they put out food for the people on the bus. The people didn’t want to offend the villagers, but at the same time the figured the food was sitting out in hundred degree heat with no refridgeration. And so they watched a little boy sneak some of the food and give it to his dog, and the dog eagerly ate the whole thing, whatever the boy had in his hand. So the people surmised that if the dog ate the food, it should be alright. And so everyone chowed down, ate the food and enjoyed it. And about an hour and a half later, while they were sitting underneath in the shade of a tree digesting their meal and feeling good about life, the little boy came back into the village, crying that his dog had just died. The people looked at eachother, and all of a sudden they started feeling queasy, and a lot of them were saying “I told you so”. And then one of the people started throwing up. And soon several people were throwing up. And before too long, almost every member of the tour group was clutching their bellies with either vomiting or diarrhea or both. The tour bus operator actually got on the bus and drove the buss to the next village so he could notify the police who in turn notified the army. And within about another tow hours, the people were now deathly ill, all were sick, and the army came with medics and helicopters to the village, and started IVs and put some of the people on stretchers. And one of the doctors that was investigating was filling out a sheet about what happened- taking samples and everything. And the investigating officer asked where the dog was to the little boy. And the boy said the dog was about a mile down the road in a ditch. And the investigating officer asked him how it got in the ditch. And he said “That’s where the dog crawled to after he got hit by the car.”

 

This shows how powerful the mind is. Your mind can make a heaven or a hell out of circumstances. Nothing to do with facts. Or, it doesn’t necessarily. I first heard it in the early 60’s.

 

I think this is a combination of anxiety about India as more people started travelling there in the 60’s, and the counterculture belief that arose with the drug use and attitude of the 60’s that the mind can do anything. It reminds me a lot of the ‘Mexican Rat’ story in certain aspects.

The Legend of Saint Giong

Nationality: Vietnamese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Hanoi, Vietnam
Performance Date: April
Primary Language: Vietnamese
Language: English, Finnish

Although she is from Vietnam, my informant attends college in Finland. When I interviewed her, she was at USC for a semester abroad. Even though she has been living in Finland for the past few years, the folklore she is familiar with is very strongly influenced by her Vietnamese upbringing.

 

The following is a legend she recounted to me over dinner.

 

“A long time ago, there was an old married couple living in a small village. They were married for a long time but still did not have any children. The woman did not have pregnancies. One day the wife got up and went to the rice fields to work and then she saw a huge footprint on the ground. She was curious, and she tried to put her feet on the footprint to see how many times it was bigger than her foot, and then after that she came back home and she got pregnant the day after. Then 9 months were over, and nothing happened. After 12 months she gave birth to a boy. He was strong and grew quickly, but did not speak, laugh or cry. The parents did not know what to do, so the neighbors usually let their children come play with him, but he did not laugh or speak any words. When the boy was 3 years old, there was an invasion happening in the country, and they destroyed all the villages. The king sent someone, a messenger, to the village to call for help to go to the army. When the messenger came to the village and declared the king’s words, the little boy sat up and told his mother that he wanted to serve the country. The mother was surprised to hear her son’s first words. She invited the messenger to come to her house, and the little boy told him, “Come back to the king, and tell him to give me an iron horse, iron stick, and iron armor, and I’ll push the An invaders back to their homeland.” The messenger left for the capitol hurriedly, told the king about the little boy’s orders, and they prepared everything he wanted. So, since the messenger left the village, the boy ate too much, so that his parents didn’t have enough food for him. He grew so quickly that clothes that had just been worn for a short while became too tight. His neighbors, and all the people living nearby, brought rice and clothes to him. He grew with the help of the people around, and after some days he looked like a 20 year old man. So when the messenger came back to the village, the little boy had become a strong man. He wore the armor, took the stick and bowed his head to his parents and all of the people as a goodbye before riding the horse to go out to battle. He rushed into the aggressor, used the iron stick to beat them. His horse breathed fire to kill enemies. Suddenly, the iron stick was broken. He pulled out a clump of bamboo trees, and used it as a weapon to continue fighting. So the enemy was too scared and had to run away. After pushing the enemy back to their homeland as he had promised, the hero and his horse went to the top of a mountain named Soc. He bowed his head to say goodbye to his parents and village and all people again. After that he rode his horse to fly up to heaven, and nobody saw him again. The bamboo used in the battle now has special yellow stripes on its body as a mark of the fire which the horse blew when fighting against the enemy. Many ponds were left as marks of the horse feet. They use the name of the village he was born to call him Saint Giong.”

 

This legend has spurred the creation of a festival, which is held annually in the village of Giong, on the outskirts of Hanoi.  My informant has never been to this festival, but she has read about it in the news. Although a lot of tourists attend the Giong Festival, it still remains primarily for locals, in which they reenact the story of Saint Giong.

 

The primary message of this legend is one of self-sacrifice for the country. For a country that has been attacked by invaders multiple times in its history, this message is particularly poignant. The legend of Saint Giong is now taught in schools, and is an integral part of the Vietnamese identity. I think the Vietnamese government is using this legend to instill a sense of national pride in a shared hero, and thus and create national unity.

 

 

 

 

 

Chinese Legend about Jing Ke

Nationality: Taiwanese
Age: 19
Occupation: USC student, majoring in electrical engineering, minoring in computer science
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 7, 2012
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English, French

“This is an actual—I won’t say it’s history—it’s history-legend.

“Basically, during the Spring and Autumn period in China, around the time of—I think it was 250 to 300 BC, China was under a period of war. There was about a century of—just constant war and chaos. The country was divided into a lot of little states; in fact, there were so many of them that we barely have record of all of them. Slowly, these states started combining—conquering each other—and there were seven states left at the end of the spring and autumn period. And we call them the warring states; they were the seven warring states. Out of the seven, the strongest was called Qin, and it later became the Qin Dynasty, which had the world’s first emperor. But, since he was an emperor in an age where everybody was more or less free, people didn’t like him very much. So, there were numerous assassinating attempts at him, and one of the most famous ones was by this person called Jing Ke, who was a—he was a sort of a brave man, that’s how they describe him, but he didn’t have a position in the government. So, some of the officials in one of the seven states decided that we really needed to get rid of Qin, the Emperor Qin. So, one went to Jing Ke and said that ‘We need you to go and assassinate him.’ And he said, ‘Okay, but you have to provide for me.’ So, for three years, Jing Ke stayed in this official’s house, in his palace, they treated him well, they gave him whatever he wanted, they covered him with gold if he wanted it. And after three years, he said, ‘Okay, it’s time for me to fulfill my promise.’ But in order to get close to the emperor of Qin, who was very suspicious, I need something as a gift to give to him.” And, there was a defect general from the state of Qin who went to this country, and they went up to the general and said, ‘We need your head as an offering to the emperor of Qin to prove our loyalty, so we can get close to him.’ So, the general actually said, ‘Sure.’ I know it sounds very improbable, but he cut off his own head and put it in his own two hands and gave it to Jing Ke so he could bring it to the emperor. In addition to that, he brought with him a scroll with a map on it. And the map was of a certain part of the states he was in, and he was supposed to give the Qin Dynasty that state as a show of loyalty, basically. So Jing Ke went, he took the scroll and the head, he went up to the emperor of Qin, who was very happy—he didn’t like that defect general very much—and he wanted the man. So, he allowed him a reception, and he was allowed to see the emperor of Qin, which back then was a very difficult thing to do; he kept everybody away from him, even his most trusted generals and people. And, he presented the head, and then he unrolled the scroll, and as the scroll unrolled, the emperor became happier and happier because he saw the part of the land that he was supposed to get—it’s a very fat piece of land that he’s been wanting for a very long while. But, once he finished unrolling the scroll, at the end of the scroll was a dagger, and he picked up the dagger and attempted to stab the emperor Qin. But the emperor was a—he was himself a fighting man, so he managed to dodge the strike, and he tried to draw his sword, but he couldn’t, because it was stuck. And all of his people—his units, I guess, at that time—weren’t allowed to carry weapons in front of the emperor Qin. So, all of them were unarmed, and they can’t help the emperor, so the emperor had to be chased around the palace by an assassin with a dagger, until Jing Ke accidentally got his dagger stuck in one of the pillars. Back in those days the pillars were wooden and they were heavy. You know those Californian redwoods? They sort of looked like that, and they were painted bright red. And he got his dagger stuck in it, and he tried to grab onto the emperor of Qin, but the emperor of Qin let his sleeve get ripped off—to run away from him—and at last, when he managed to draw his sword, Jing Ke looked at him and said, ‘I failed. I’m going to give this one last ditch attempt,’ and he threw his dagger at him, which got stuck on the pillar behind the emperor of Qin, and didn’t kill him. And it is said that all of the strength of the emperor of Qin could not pull the dagger out of the pillar because he was that powerful. But, in any case, the assassination failed, but what we’re supposed to learn from this story is loyalty—you’re supposed to be loyal to your lord, even if it’s a death mission, a suicidal mission. You have to carry it out, and you have to live your last moment trying to carry it out. And if you make a promise, you always have to keep it. He spent three years being lavished in wealth, and he could have just run away, but since the lord put trust in him, he has to honor that trust. So that’s the story of Jing Ke, which is pretty famous, I think it’s actually recorded in the records of the Grand Historian, which is like the history book of ancient China.

“Within families with children, I know this is a story that parents often tell their children. So, I think most people heard it from word of mouth. I wouldn’t say a lot of people have read the records of the Grand Historian. It’s a dry book; basically, it’s written in ancient Chinese, which you can read, but it’s in nearly incomprehensible prose. You need, like, a translation on the other side. It’s even worse than reading Shakespeare. So, most people haven’t actually read it. I’ve actually read it, when I was in high school, but I would still consider it folklore because most people haven’t.

“The thing about the record of the Grand Historian is that it’s not only dedicated to kings and generals, as most historical books are—he had a specific section called “The Annals of Assassins,” which just talks about normal people who had done extraordinary, brave acts. And most of them were assassins, and Jing Ke was in it. So whether it’s history or legendary-history, well—we’re not quite sure.”

Q. Why do you think this story is so famous, as opposed to other stories?

A. Well, since China was an imperial state for three thousand—well, two thousand five hundred—years, you are always encouraged to be loyal to lords, governments, and royalty. Betrayal is something that you don’t want to instill in your general population. So, that’s probably one of the reasons why it was spread in the first place. And so, even though we’re no longer in an imperial state—I’m from Taiwan, which is a democracy—it’s still a story that people find to be very brave and heroic, and worth telling. Another fun thing about it is that it shows that kings and emperors aren’t supposed to treat their subjects badly. If their subjects do something for them, they’re supposed to reward them equally. If your subject gives you his life, you’re supposed to shower them with wealth and treat them well for the time they have to live. And I think all the common people—they like that kind of thinking. They want their kings and emperors, their people higher up, to respect them if they do something extraordinary.

Analysis: This story reflects the history of civil war in China; it makes sense that emperors and nobility would promulgate such a tale, as it encourages people to serve them wholeheartedly and zealously. Glorified long after his death, Jing Ke has become a folklorized historical figure. Viewed in a different light, however, the story could also be a double-edged sword, teaching people not to trust war lords—Jing Ke is basically sent on a death mission, so this story testifies to the reality that war lords tended not to place a very high value upon human life.

Story about Confucius

Nationality: Taiwanese
Age: 19
Occupation: USC student, majoring in electrical engineering, minoring in computer science
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Performance Date: April 7, 2012
Primary Language: Chinese
Language: English, French

Folklore Item: “Supposedly, Confucius taught that if you are a teacher, and if a student comes to you and can’t pay, if they give you a token of appreciation, then you have to teach them.”

Background and Context:

“Confucius had a book of sayings that his disciples wrote for him. We don’t actually know if he said all of them, or how authentic it is. But, when you talk about Confucianism, it is treated as canon. It’s just a collection of sayings that he supposedly said and what Confucianism is all about. It’s a bit like the New Testament, but since Confucius isn’t taken as God, it’s a bit different. He’s a philosopher, he is not a religious figure. That [the book of sayings] is something that our parents would make us memorize—they would recite them to us and make us recite them back, even before we could read. It was the official philosophy some two thousand years ago, and always has been until recent years. Confucianism was endorsed in the same way that Christianity was endorsed in the late Roman Empire.

“Basically, the philosophy of Confucius is that you’re supposed to be a gentleman, which is defined slightly differently from the Western gentleman definition. You’re supposed to be kind, to be forgiving, to be polite, to be prudent or frugal, and to allow others before yourself. And I was taught all the sayings as a child, but I can’t remember them anymore.

“We know that he was supposed to be a teacher who took in students for the price of a beef jerky. Dried beef wasn’t a unit of exchange, it was a symbol of exchange in ancient China. That was supposed to be the teaching philosophy of all teachers in China in all time: if a student comes and he wants to learn and he can pay for it, even if it’s just with a beef jerky, you’re supposed to take him in and teach him with all your heart. My mother happens to be a teacher. So, when she was teaching and there were students who could only pay half of the fee, I think every semester she took about three or four people just for free if they really couldn’t pay for it. She treated the Confucian philosophy as her personal philosophy. She told us that if you teach somebody and they can’t pay, if they can give a token of appreciation, you have to teach them. It was important that we learned from Confucius and treated Confucius with respect.”

Q. How do we know that Confucius taught students for free?

A. It’s been recorded in words—there have been books upon books written about Confucius, at his time and after his time. And people will say it’s true. Do we actually have archeological evidence? I don’t think so. I mean, it’s really hard to gather evidence for something as minute as what he took. But it really fits in with the Confucian philosophy, so even if it’s not true, we’re taught that it is. But it’s a good thing to do anyways—on principle, it’s true. If you’re going to teach, it means that you really want other people to know what you know.

Analysis: Confucius appears to have become a folklorized historical figure in China, since stories such as this anecdote are widely accepted, even though we do not know for sure whether they are entirely factual. This story also reveals the widespread influence of Confucian philosophy in China and Taiwan today—people such as the informant’s mother are deeply committed to living in accordance with Confucius’ philosophy, as well as raising their children within this philosophy.

The Legend of Vilnius

Nationality: Russian-Jewish
Age: 53
Occupation: Mathematician
Residence: Santa Barbara, California
Performance Date: March 11, 2012
Primary Language: Russian
Language: English, Hebrew

“This is a legend about the creation of Vilnius, and everybody who lives in Vilnius knows it. I think we even studied it at school. So the story goes that the grand duke, Duke Gediminas, who lived in the beginning of the fourteenth century, was hunting. At that time, the capital of Lithuania was in a city called Trakai, which is not far from Vilnius, it’s still there. So, the capital was there, and in the place where Vilnius stands was wilderness, and he was hunting there. And the hunt ran late, so he fell asleep. And when he slept, he had a dream. In this dream, he saw a wolf; he hunted wolves, so it’s natural that he would dream about wolves. The wolf was out of iron, and the wolf was howling. An iron wolf howled in his dream. When he woke up, he asked the main priest, ‘What does it mean?’  And the priest said, ‘If you will build a city on this hill, the city will be very strong and unconquerable.’ And that’s how he decided to build a new capital called Vilnius in these hills. And his castle was built on this hill, and when I was growing up in Vilnius in the 1960s and 70s, there were ruins, and there was only one guard tower left untouched. The rest of it was ruins, and there was a museum there. And that’s what you see usually in pictures of Vilnius, this tower.

“Gediminas builds his city, and in 1325, he sent a letter to the main cities in Western Europe, like Germany. This letter said, ‘I built a new city and I invite city-folk, artisans in particular, to come and live there.’ That’s because Lithuania is a small nation, and most of them were either peasants or they were in the army. So he didn’t have much of city population. So, he invited people from Western Europe, or Eastern Europe, to come and live in his new city, and that letter is preserved, and that’s how we know, and 1325 is considered to be the birthday of Vilnius.”

Q. Did he write down his dream?

A. I don’t think so. I don’t know anything about that. I don’t know how we know about his dream. I presume that, perhaps, somebody wrote it, but I don’t know. But everybody who is educated and grows up there knows this legend. And I have no idea, maybe he didn’t have a dream, maybe the legend appeared later to give Vilnius more significance, I simply do not know, it’s a legend.

Q. Is Gediminas considered to be one of the most important people in Lithuanian history?

A. Gediminas is definitely considered the most important Grand Duke of Lithuania, and he was killed in battle, by Germans, because German crusaders tried to conquer Lithuania. They didn’t succeed, but lots of Lithuanian grand dukes died in battles with Germans, and he was one of them.

Q. Is this legend meaningful or powerful for you personally?

A. Yes. It makes me feel proud that I am from Vilnius and there is a story associated, it makes me feel extremely good. It’s like part of my identity; I came from a place which is important, which has history. And we all know that it’s like in Rome—remember Rome, also, is associated with a wolf. And I think it’s important because Lithuanians are a small nation and they always were trapped between large nations. You have Russians from the east, you have Poles and you have Germans in the west, and so, I think they always tried to keep their identity.

Q. Do you remember when you first heard this?

A. No, I just grew up with it.

Q. When would this story be told?

A. I don’t know. I just know it. I don’t remember—maybe it was told to me at school.

Q. What do you think it says about Lithuanian culture or values?

A. Lithuanians are a very proud people, and it’s very important for them to keep their heritage, so that’s why we know these stories, because it’s very important to them. It’s very important to them that Lithuania was once between the Baltic Sea and the Black Sea—it’s a very tiny nation but had territory from one sea to another sea, a huge territory. They’re very, very proud of that.

Q. Did Lithuanians really resent Soviet rule?

A. They did resent Soviet rule. Before that, they were free for about twenty years—between 1920 and 1939—but before that, they were part of Tsarist Russia, as well. They had two rebellions against Tsarist Russia, which were very cruelly put down. They always were strong nationalists, very proud of their heritage, and wanting to have a separate state.

Analysis: This romantically-nationalistic legend has become a central aspect of Lithuanian identity; it unifies all Lithuanians by forming part of their common, national heritage. Interestingly, while throughout Europe, many stories that serve this same romantically-nationalistic function are the lore of peasantry, this particular legend is rooted in the story of a historical duke, who has been become a folklorized figure through the retelling of this tale.