Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Legend – Costa Rican

Nationality: Costa Rican
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: April 15, 2008
Primary Language: Spanish
Language: English

Legend-Costa Rica

La Cegua:

Muchas historias tiene, pero me atrajo la sencillez con que me contó Don Jesús Alvarado la suya, campesino de Quircot comunidad situada al este de la ciudad de Cartago, Costa Rica.

This is a story told by a famer of a Quircot community, near the town of Cartago, Costa Rica as told by mr jesus Alvarado.

Dice así:

It goes like this:

Los hombres trasnochadores y borrachos tenemos más probabilidad de topárnosla cuando venimos de la cantina pasando por trillos y cafetales.

The partying and drunk men are more likely to run into her when we come back from back from the small taverns neer the streams and coffee plantations.

Bella como el girasol, de curvas pronunciadas y grandes bustos, piernas torneadas como bizcocho de maíz, su cara por mi borrachera no se notaba muy bien.

Beautiful like the sunflower with pronounced curves and large breasts, legs are defined and soft, due to my drunkness her face is hard to see.

Al pasar junto a ella en mi caballo a las 11 de la noche, me pidió fuego para encender un cigarro, de inmediato saqué mis fósforos y al encender, miré su cara de yegua, con sus grandes dientes y sus ojos rojos y endemoniados, caí desmayado sobre mi caballo y duré 4 días con la lengua trabada.

Passing next to her on my horse near 11 in the evening, she asked for a light for her cigarette. I immediately took my matches and when lit, I was able to see her face, large teeth and red demonic eyes. I passed out on top of my horse and for four days I could not speak.

Performers Analysis: As a kid growing up in Costa Rica, La Cegua, along with La Llrona, is one of the more famous legends. I learned this particular one as a middle schooler when we were learning about native stories, histories and culture.

Essentially, the story warns that for the guys who go clubbing or party, they should be careful who they meet on the return home. One should never make a move on a girl if they cannot tell their face.

Collectors Analysis: La Cegua, like La Llrona that we discussed in class is a Latino legend. In terms of La Cegua, it is mostly found in Costa Rico, with a certain amount of variation in the country. La Ceguas fulfills the qualities of a legend because it invites discussion about beliefs, takes place in a real world setting, and overlaps with history. It can be considered a historical and local legend within Costa Rica.

Legend – University of Southern California

Nationality: English, German
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Berkley, CA
Performance Date: April 14, 2008
Primary Language: English

George Tirebiter

Some say that a stray dog named George Tirebiter shown in this photograph to the right actually served as a mascot for the University of Southern California.  Supposedly discovered by a student on the beach at Santa Monica, George was initially a feeble stray mutt.  The student’s mother nursed the poor dog back to health, and in no time it was running around campus with his new friends.  The lovable dog gained fame, happily chasing squirrels, licking students, and biting tires of the passing cars.  He became so popular that he was actually made a mascot of the university. He showed his true Trojan spirit when he bit UCLA’s mascot Joe Bruin.  This feisty trooper heroically gave his life in a tragic encounter with a much larger car.

My friend Grant told me that he had learned this story from a USC student tour guide during a visit to the school during the summer.  He also remembers his orientation counselor briefly mentioning George as they passed the statue and plaque dedicated to George on the South side of campus.  Raised in Berkeley, California, Grant had no idea whether the story he had been told was true, having no prior knowledge of the famed puppy.

Even though I had been following Trojan football since I was young, I had no recollection of little George.  I checked out the memorial constructed for George and it revealed a small amount of information; George was a legitimate Trojan mascot during the 1940’s and 1950’s.  The plaque notes his feisty character and records the incident where he bit the UCLA mascot on the nose.  It tells how he led the marching band and even had a 3.2 GPA after taking courses such as Chasing Cats 101 and Biting Tires 270.  However, they entire text of the plaque is written in whimsical, hearsay tone, even including the phrase “rumor has it.”

A story about George was published in the Daily Trojan, volume 135, number 23 on October 6, 1998.  The story began on page 1 and ended on page six.  This article includes more stories about George.  Apparently he was kidnapped by UCLA students and rescued by the Trojan Knights, a student organization at USC designed to protect the spirit of Troy.  The article mentions that there were actually four George Tirebiters, one at a time, each in succession of the previous ones.  The first two George Tirebiters were tragically killed in car accidents.  The article mentions a book about George, entitled Bite On by George Reichart.  However, I was not able to find any publishing information about this children’s book outside of the article.  Still, George’s legacy lives on and is immortalized by the striking, playful memorial dedicated to George on the South entrance to campus shown here.

Legend – Chinese

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 30, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, French

Folklore: Legend

Mom told me this story when I was five or six, when I was going to sleep. Wu Soong Da Hu (phonetics) He got really drunk at the inn and the innpeople told him there’s a tiger across the mountain. “You should wait until the next morning to wait for 20 people to get in a group.”

He got really drunk and didn’t listen, “stupid people they just want me to stay for an extra night so they get more revenue.”

So he crossed.

And the tiger appeared and his mind cleared up, and then he used his bare hands — I don’t remember — but he killed the tiger all by himself. He jumped on it and stuff.

He received an award from the governor for killing a ferocious animal that ate humans or something.

Analysis

He’s a hero. There are Chinese heroes who are really strong. When someone’s really strong, they’re sometimes referred to as Wu Soong. Like a hero you know, like Superman.

He’s just like a regular man who just killed a tiger. He probably didn’t kill it with his bare hands, probably with branches. Chinese people don’t trust anyone, they always want money, money, money. In the past, there was a lot of drama, everyone did whatever they could to survive and get better positions in the court. There was a lot of districts, a lot of corruption and stuff. Money gets you to places.

My Analysis:

This story deals with masculinity and also the fear of being taken advantage of. Money was something that most Chinese peasants did not have, and to have someone secretly manipulate you was intolerable. Tigers were also considered to be very beautiful and powerful in China, a symbol of ferocity and might.  To kill one would qualify your own strength and power.

Contemporary Legend – Beijing, China

Nationality: Chinese
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: March 30, 2008
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese, French

Folklore: Urban Legend

I learned it in China, in Beijing, the summer right before high school (maybe around 2002?). My friend (Yin Chao) told me while we were on the street, I hadn’t seen him in a while and I was visiting. We were talking about what changed after I left.

We were walking across the street and he said to be careful walking around because during that year there was a big scare of people poking needles into you. He told me a story. There as an old lady who needed help crossing the street and someone helped her and she stuck a needle in him and that person got stuck with AIDS.

So it was really scary. In downtown Beijing it’s really crowded so you can’t avoid being close to someone. He said it was fading away but he said there were cases in the newspaper for the past year or two.

Analysis

If one person has a disease, he’ll want you to have it too. He wants to feel balance in his heart, why does he have something and you don’t have it too. You know? He wants you to have it too. It’ll be fair if everyone has it. It’s human nature, basically.

He was warning me to be careful walking around in crowded places. I think Chinese people tend to spread a lot of rumors; they’re just like, maybe there’s like a couple cases they tend to amplify.

For the past century, the communist government has kept control of Chinese people through spreading fear. It could not even be true. I was in Beijing during the Tiananmen Square thing I was two and my mom said she heard gunshots. Maybe nothing happened. Maybe it was just one person shot someone. Maybe the government made a big fuss just to scare people. People said even in the suburbs they heard gunshots but that’s impossible, how can you hear gunshots hundreds of miles away? But that’s just what I heard. But SARS was true, but I don’t know. It’s probably true but people amplify the stories.

My Analysis

“Welcome to the World of AIDS” plays on the fears people have about homosexuality and about this deadly disease. In the 1980s, even up to the late 1990s, not much was known about the disease. People only knew that it could cause rapid death and that once you were infected, there was no cure.  So stories like people intentionally stabbing strangers magnified these fears. As David mentioned, because people walk very close to each other in crowded places in China, it is difficult to keep your distance and avoid touching someone.  This urban legend has also spread across the United States, and people began spreading rumors that you could catch AIDS from toilet seats or other unclean areas.  People just generally were not educated, and there was not much research at the time to support any academic views.

Contemporary Legend – Nevada

Nationality: Caucasian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Las Vegas, NV
Performance Date: March 12, 2008
Primary Language: English

“Supposedly Liberace’s Mansion is haunted by the ghost of the great Liberace himself.”

Wladziu Valentino Liberace was an American entertainer and pianist. One can tell from Robson using the word “supposedly” that he is skeptical about this urban legend. His high school held his senior prom in the mansion. He was a little apprehensive, but he never saw nor heard a ghost. Because of his experience, he does not think the mansion is actually haunted.

He read about this urban legend on multiple websites and he has heard it through the grapevine. This urban legend can also be found in the book Weird Nevada. According to Robson, everyone in Las Vegas and many people outside Nevada know that Liberace’s Mansion is haunted. He has heard from multiple people that it is a spooky place. This urban legend draws many ghost hunters to the mansion to prove or disprove Liberace’s presence. He thinks that people are perpetuating the urban legend because the mansion would not draw half as many tourists as it does now if the urban legend were not in existence. Even though he, in particular, does not believe in this urban legend, he is an active bearer and tells this urban legend to anyone interested in Liberace and to tourists who plan on visiting the mansion.

Even though Robson and his fellow high school classmates do not think Liberace Mansion is haunted, many people still do believe it is haunted. Urban legends make people unsure about their beliefs. People do not know whether or not they should believe in the supernatural. They think it sounds unlikely, but they still cannot help but at least slightly believe the ghost of Liberace is haunting the mansion.

Because Robson went there and did not hear or see a ghost, I think he is right and people are probably just perpetuating this urban legend for the sake of tourism. It is kind of disappointing because I always feel this thrill or chill when I hear urban legends. I enjoy hearing about them even though they scare me a little bit. It is almost like they are addicting. However, this one now seems fake and hollow, so now I am much less interested in it. If I told anyone about it, I would probably attach a “supposedly” to the beginning precisely like Robson did to convey my skepticism.

Annotation: Oesterle, Joe, Tim Cridland, Mark Moran, and Mark Sceurman. Weird Las Vegas and Nevada: Your Alternative Travel Guide to Sin City and the Silver State. New York, NY: Sterling Pub. Co, 2007.