Category Archives: Legends

Narratives about belief.

Reynard the fox

–Informant Info–

Nationality: French

Age: 39

Occupation: Housewife

Residence: Los Angeles, California

Date of Performance/Collection: 2022

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): French

(Notes-The informant will be referred to as TS and the interviewer as K)

Background info: TS is a mother of 3 who grew up in Nice, France, and moved to Los Angeles when she was in her 20s. She noted that this story was told to her only by her older family members while laughing, never by her mother or other children.

K: Ok, so can you tell me the name of the story, where you heard it, and the context of the performance? Like under what circumstances was it told.

TS: Yes, yes. It is called Reynard the fox, and it is a very very old story. I only ever heard it from my grandparents after they had too much wine *laughter* because it was a dirty story and didn’t teach any uh lessons like so many of uh…I don’t know the word in English…Legende? Uh, fable?

K: Yea, a fable, like a story that teaches you a lesson?

TS: Exactly! It was only really told in the uh house because it was dirty *laughter* it’s not something you tell your child at a dinner.

K: Ok, go ahead, and make sure you even tell the dirty parts *laughter*

TS: Ok ok, it goes that uh Reynard was a fox who had done many many horrible crimes, like robbing and rape and murder, and had done so many that the king lion himself wanted to punish Reynard. But Reynard was tricky. The king sent out his best hunters to bring Reynard in but Reynard had managed to uh…trick all of them and getaway.

K: Can you elaborate on that? Tricking the other characters?

TS: I’d love to! Bruin the bear is tricked because Reynard says there is honey inside a tree and he gets stuck. Tybalt (sometimes goes by a different name) the cat is tricked because Reynard sends him to a chicken coop owned by a priest, and gets locked inside by Reynard. Reynard alerts the priest, who beats Tybalt but Tybalt retaliates by biting one of the priest’s testicles off *laughter*. Eventually, Grimbert, a badger who is also Reynard’s cousin, manages to trap him. But when Reynard is brought before the king, he uh…throws everyone under the bus I think is the phrase?

K: Like sabatoges them?

TS: Yes! So Reynard does that to everyone that tried to capture him by saying they hid a treasure from the kind and only Reynard knows where to find it so the king frees him! But reynard flees. Later, he is found by Cuwart the hare, and Belyn the ram. He murders Cuwart, puts his head in a bag and gives it to Belyn, and tells him to uh bring the bag to the kind.

K: Good god

TS: Told you it was dirty *laughter*. So when Belyn does, she is executed by the king. By the time everyone uh understands they have been tricked again by Reynard, he has already fled and was never caught.

Interpretation:
This was a very interesting story to hear. I think most notably is how the informant said specifically it’s not like a traditional fable, as it doesn’t teach a lesson, but people still regarded it as such. It’s a very satirical story, and it’s meant to be a sort of social commentary mocking the aristocratic people of the time. There are so many different versions of the story, due mainly to its old age, that nearly everyone comments on a different thing in society. Many on the aristocratic people, some on food, some on the crime itself. It’s interesting how many variations there can be of the same story.

For another version of this story, see: Anonymous. (1982). Le Roman de Renart. Champion.

Sir Francis Drakes Drum

–Informant Info–

Nationality: British

Age: 20

Occupation: Student

Residence: Los Angeles, California

Date of Performance/Collection: 2022

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): N/A

(Notes-The informant will be referred to as JV and the interviewer as K)

Background info: JV is a student who was born in Britain and moved to the United States 2 years ago for college. He told me this story as we walked down the road due to a band playing drums nearby.

K: Lemme ask you a few questions before you get into it, dude! What’s the title, how do you know it, and whats the context of the performance?

JV: *laughter* yea, right, sorry, it’s called uh, I guess Sir Francis Drake’s drum, and you just kinda hear about it everywhere, from your mum to even like a history class or what have you. It’s kind of like uh…national pride? Like the cherry tree thing you blokes have going on. *laughter*

K: George Washington cutting down the cherry tree??

JV: Mmhm! *laughter*]

K: *laughter* Ok, ok tell the story already

JV: There honestly isn’t much to tell uh…Sir Francis Drake was this dude who was uh who had magic and could turn into a dragon, ergo the “drake” part of his name. He raided a bunch of Spanish ports and ya know, good ol English racism makes that a good thing. Anyways, he had this drum that he always brought with him on his like adventures I guess, and when he died the drum became like…a legend. Like, you you hit the drum SIr Francis Drake would come to England when it was in peril. Or sometimes the drum will hit itself when England is in danger *laughter*. There’s always tales about how during like war or something people have heard the drum being struck, and I guess we’ve always won.

K: Except during the American Revolution, how do they explain that

JV: *laughter* People conveniently ignore that

Interpretation:
I loved the way this was told to me. I thought it was interesting how much humor the informant was able to bring to something with apparent national pride, which h showed me that the newer generation of British citizens possibly doesn’t take this tale as seriously;y as previous ones. The idea of a magic dragon coming to aid Britain when needed also speaks volumes about what the English adhere to most. Dragons are a motif in most of the UK, especially wales, where one is on their flag. Magic is also a feature in most of their folklore so it makes sense that it would make an appearance in something like this. I wonder in what regions it is told in still, as JV is from a smaller town in the countryside and didn’t know all the details.

The Nine Maidens of Dundee

–Informant Info–

Nationality: Scottish

Age: 67

Occupation: Electrician

Residence: Los Angeles, California

Date of Performance/Collection: 2022

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s):

(Notes-The informant will be referred to DM as and the interviewer as K)

Background info: DM is the father of 4 from Scotland who moved to the United States when he was a young child. Both his parents are Scottish, which is how he knows of Scottish folklore like the one being spoken about. He told me this story at the grove over lunch.

K: So, what’s the name o the story, how do you know of it, and what’s the uh content for the performance? I mean like…under what circumstances is it like told?

DM: Ah it’s called the none maidens of Dundee. Everyone who grew up in my little-little town knows of it, as we be right outside Dundee. It’s just sort of told around, it’s not at any parades or nothing of the sort, it’s more sad or an explanation…no more of history about the town, somethin for tourists.

K: Ok cool so…whenever you’re ready to tell the story go ahead, however you wanna tell it works.

DM: Aye. A farmer had 9 beautiful, maiden daughters. He would send the oldest one out for water at a well every day but one day she did not return. So he sent the next eldest and so on and so forth. After all nine failed to return, he went to go see for himself and saw all nine of his daughters lay dead against the well, and wrapped around them was a giant dragon that looked like an uh…a snake. The farmer then fled to his neighbors and then all of them attempted to kill the dragon. He tried to escape but then young man named Martin *raises a fist and begins to stand up* HIT the dragon while everyone yelled: “strike martin, strike!”

K: Wow, did he manage to kill the dragon?

DM: Aye. The area was named “strike-martin” which would eventually change into “Strathmartine”.

Interpretation: This was super interesting and enlightening to what Scottland and Scottish people hold dear when it comes to morals and such. The farmer’s 9 daughters were killed, the farmer ran to get help and people helped him to the point where they killed the beast that killed his daughters. You could argue that anyone would run for help after seeing their daughters killed by the dragon, but the fact that people were so willing to help fight something that had the strength to kill 9 people is striking. It shows that Scotland teaches young children that helping people is essential, and is normally rewarded, as a part of the town was named after the man who killed the dragon.

Uncle Jake

–Informant Info–

Nationality: American

Age: 56

Occupation: Housewife

Residence: Los Angeles, California

Date of Performance/Collection: 2022

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): N/A

(Notes-The informant will be referred to as FB and the interviewer as K)

Background info: FB is a mother of 2 who grew up in Southern California, where this story takes place. She did not witness this story and was told by her grandmother. She told me this story multiple times throughout my life, but it was over dinner this time.

K: Wait, wait, uh… what’s the name of the story, where did you hear it, and when do you tell it?

FB: Uh well I guess I’d call it uh the Uncle Jake story uh I always heard it from my mom just randomly, mainly when I’d ask about it.

K: Ok! Whenever you wanna tell it go ahead.

FB: Yeah ok so uh Uncle Jake lived on an uh old apple orchard os he had hundreds of apples he had no use for. So he decided to go down to a local uh convent with a bunch of nuns with a truck bed full of apples. So he went down there and found a bunch of uh starving nuns who basically launched themselves on the apples. He asked them why they weren’t eating, worried something had happened, and they explained the church wanted them to uh wait for an action from God to get them to eat, and if no one came it was their time, meaning time to uh die. So Uncle Jake went down to the uh Bishops office, which was decked out in a bunch of gold, and asked him what was going on. The uh bishop said the same thing and said jake was uh God’s action, so Jake went ape shit and tore up his office as he should have. When he went back to the convent after, they were healthy and eating regularly.

Interpretation:
This was cool to hear about! The informant did note that she was unsure about how truthful it was, as some major plot points changed for whoever was telling it, but she liked it anyway, to the point where both my brother and her son were named after Uncle Jake. I will note my and her bias, which we agreed on. Neither of us is religious, so the retelling of this story from DS directly is much less focused on the religious part of it, and how this one man was incorrect, and more so focused on Uncle Jakes’s revenge and how the religion as a whole is incorrect. Hearing how she told it to me definitely follows that train of thought.

Marie Laveau

–Informant Info–

Nationality: American

Age: 87

Occupation: Unemployed

Residence: Los Angeles, California

Date of Performance/Collection: 2022

Primary Language: English

Other Language(s): French

(Notes-The informant will be referred to as JW and the interviewer as K)

Background info: JW is a father and grandfather who was born and raised in New Orleans, moving to Los Angeles to follow his son, whom he now resides with. I was told this story in the evening in a room that JM made “purposefully spooky”

K: So whats the name of the folklore, where did you hear it, and when is it like told?

JW: *laughter* Well miss, it’s a true story about a voodoo queen named Marie Laveau. Everyone just knows it, some say that’s part of her magic still at work, that no one can forget her. *laughter*

K: *laughter* Ok so, whenever you’re ready! Go into as much or as little detail as you want

JW: You sure miss? It gets gruesome

K: Part of the charm of folklore

JW: *laughter* you right you right. Miss Marie Laveau was a voodoo queen *stretches out the word queen for emphasis*. She could do anythin under our God-given sun, even make herself live twice as long *smiles*. She was-she was said to curse those who had wronged her in the most brutal ways. I remember when I was a boy an uh…one of my friends told me that his great somethin grandma was cursed by Miss Laveau. She had stolen something from her shop, so Miss Laveau stole somethin from her…*long pause* her right hand! The one that did the snatchin! *laughter*. That’s the kinda stuff she did, so everyone with half a mind was smart enough not to cross her. It’s said that to this day if you visit her grave, you can get a wish granted if you leave her somethin nice.

Interpretation:
It was really interesting to hear a more well-known bit of folklore be told from an original point of view. What I mean by that is JM is from New Orleans, and although Marie Laveau is known from more popular culture like American Horror Story, this telling was drastically different than the one in the aforementioned television show. I also thought it was important to note the joy in which this story was told to me. JM was laughing regularly as he told me the story, even the more grisly parts of it. He set up the room I was speaking to him in a traditionally scary way, but when it came to the story it was as if he couldn’t contain his joy. The story obviously had lost its scare factor as people get older. He notes being scared by the version his friend told him when he was younger but laughed telling me it.