Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Miss O’Leary’s Cow

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

One of the most important events in the city of Chicago’s history is the time it burned done in 1871. On October 8th the fire began and the fire started in Miss O’Leary’s barn and a reporter at the time jokingly said that the cow kicked down a lantern while O’Leary was milking it. This wasn’t true though as she was actually with her husband in bed when the fire started. Despite the fact that it was a joke and the reporter even admitted it was people still blamed O’Leary. According to this story this led her to have a miserable and lonely life. When she died she was said to have died with a broken heart because of all the blame laid at her feet. My informant first heard this story from his high school history teacher. This legend was taught near Chicago because of the personal connection to the event. He knows that there isn’t much truth to the whole story, but he still likes it as a result of it having a local connection.

This story is probably told in order to create a sense of identity of people in and around Chicago. It is similar to a formative myth because while it wasn’t about the founding of the city, it was almost totally rebuild except one building and it was the rebirth of the city.

The Windy City

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 4/25/2012
Primary Language: English
Language: None

One of the most common nick names for the city of Chicago is the windy city. There are many stories for how it came around, but my informant said there is one that he said he is partial to. He  told me the story of how Chicago is notorious for having lying and crooked politicians for almost all the history of the city. When Chicago started booming people gave it the name windy city because all its politicians did was blow hot air with their promises. The politicians words were as worthless as wind to the people after all the broken promises. He learned this story from his AP US history teacher.

This story is a formative myth for the identity of the city because the windy city is used very commonly to refer to Chicago. Part of the identity of the city is tied into the phrase windy city. This also expresses the dissatisfaction that the citizens had with their leaders in the past, but currently as the legend is told they hold a certain pride in how their politicians were so crooked or they wouldn’t retell the story. It was become part of the foundation of the city itself.

Red Envelopes

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/19/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

There was once a village that was terrorized by a monster at the same time every year. The monster targeted children. The townspeople could not defeat the monster and the monster would not leave them alone. One day, a young man with a red pouch went to battle the monster, but the monster ran from him. The man returned to the village, telling the townspeople that the monster was frightened by the color red. So, everyone in the village dressed their children in red. When the monster came to the village, it quickly fled, fearful of the color red. The villagers took the color red as a symbol of luck and gave the children red envelopes every year to ward away the monster and to bring good fortune to the child.

My informant has known this story as long as he can remember. His parents would tell it to he and his cousins around Chinese New Years. The monster described serves as a form of boogeyman, and the fact that the red envelopes given by the parents are needed to ward him away the monster allow for a form of black mail to make the children behave as the new year approaches, much as Santa does around Christmas time for Christians. It would be interesting to know if these traditions developed independently or if one inspired the other.

Moon Cakes

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/19/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

The world used to have 10 suns, but a man took arrows and shot them down until only one sun was left. He had a beautiful wife that wanted to become immortal. One day, the wife found her husband’s medicine and ate it, turning into an immortal fairy. She flew away to the moon where all the fairies lived and the woman brought a rabbit with her. Even though the husband was angry, he did not shoot down the moon because he loved his wife so much.

Whenever my informants family buys mooncakes (the Chinese sweet cakes that are consumed on/around Chinese New Year), there is a picture of a lady included in the package. Neither he nor his family is quite sure how this story relates to mooncakes, but they all agreed that the lady in the image is the lady from this story. He first heard this story from his mother when he asked about the picture. Unfortunately, my informant did not remember many of the details from this story, so it is difficult to analyze it without explanations for why she left her husband, however it is worthwhile to note that this story serves as an origin story for the rabbit on the moon visible if you turn your head to the right.

Bamboo Leaf and Rice

Nationality: Chinese American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/19/12
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

There was once an evil king that did not care about his people and did not listen to anyone. A kind governor tried to help the king, but the king would not listen. The governor was so distraught that he committed suicide by jumping off a cliff, into the sea. The people under the governor’s rule loved him immensely and they did not want the governor to be eaten by the fish in the sea, so they covered sweet rice with bamboo leaves in order to satisfy the appetite of the fish, so that their governor’s flesh would not be eaten.

My informant first heard this story from his parents on May 1st as a child, as it is tradition to eat bamboo leaves and rice on that day in honor of this event. The fact that the governor committed suicide out of shame due to failure and an unwillingness to continue to work for an evil king is an interesting moral lesson to teach to children through this legend. Respect for the elders and the dead is also features prominently in this story as it does in traditional Chinese culture and explains why the tradition is still practiced today.