Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

The Ballad of Squirmy the Worm

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 04/03/23
Primary Language: English

Text: 

*singing

“I was sittin’ on a fencepost mmmmm

Chewin’ my bubblegum mmmm

When along came Squirmy the Worm he was this big

*S holds up a distance between forefinger and thumb

and I said ‘hey charli what’s happening?’

and he said ‘I’m hungry!’

and I said ‘Squirmy you should eat some food!’

“I was sittin’ on a fencepost mmmmm

Chewin’ my bubblegum mmmm

When along came Squirmy the Worm and I said ‘hey squirmy what’s happening?’

And he was thiiiis big

*S holds up a further distance between her hands

and he said ‘I ate five flies!’

and I said ‘No way Squirmy!’

“I was sittin’ on a fencepost mmmmm

Chewin’ my bubblegum mmmm

When along came Squirmy the Worm and I said ‘hey squirmy what’s happening?’

And he was THIS big

*S holds her arms out wide

and he said ‘I ate ten flies!’

and I said ‘Wow Squirmy!’’

“I was sittin’ on a fencepost mmmmm

Chewin’ my bubblegum mmmm

When along came Squirmy the Worm 

He was this big

*S holds up a distance between forefinger and thumb

and I said “Squirmy! What happened?’

and he said ‘I ate one-hundred flies!’

and I said ‘Wow Squirmy!’’

“Basically it keeps going until Squirmy throws up at the end. We used to do it at summer camp and the camp counselors would just make it more and more ridiculous and make up different things for what he eats. I think they would add more when we were waiting around for stuff to take more time.”

Context: S grew up in Southern California, and explained that she went to different day camps each Summer, until she was about twelve. She says that at most camps they would sing a variation of “Squirmy the Worm.” S says the song was usually led by a camp counselor, but sung by everyone who knew the words. 

Analysis: The tune that S sings is different from the one in the video attached below, entitled “Herman the Worm,”  but much of the structure and lyrics of the songs are similar https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0-rg7EIt1x4. “Herman” or “Hermie the Worm” seems to be a semi-popular song at children’s summer camps. S’ version of Squirmy the Worm is at times spoken with animation more than sung by her, and is humorous in nature both with the aspect of the ridiculousness of the amount that Squirmy eats “one-hundred flies” and the punch line being that he “threw up.” As a result it could potentially be considered dually a ballad and a narrative joke. There’s also a lesson for children in Squirmy’s story: don’t be greedy and eat too much or there will be consequences. Camp songs and campfire songs for children gained popularity in the late 18th and early 19th century with the rise of the wilderness movement in which the Puritans believed it was their God-given responsibility to shape the American wilderness into “earthly paradise.” However, this song doesn’t include many mentions of nature, but it does have the singer interacting with a personified worm, giving the worm human characteristics of speech and feeling. This gives sympathy to one of nature’s smallest creatures and allows the children to feel a kinship with them, perhaps having once done something similar to Squirmy the Worm.

El CuCuy

Informant: TH; Interviewer’s Sister

“So our parents, uncles, aunts- the elders in our family I should say- they would often tell the younger kids: ‘El Cucuy te va llevar si no te portas bien’. I thought it was really funny to like see these kids freak the fuck out over an imaginary character.”

Interviewer asks: “Can you, in your own words, explain who the Cucuy is?”

“Yeah so in a nutshell, he’s like the LatinAmerican version of the boogie man. Legend has it that he waits in the closet of naughty children. Or even, like, under their beds, and he waits for children to misbehave so he can take them.”

Interviewer asks: “Where does he take them?”

“How should I know? He scared the shit outa me.” *interviewee lets out a chuckle*

Transliteration: “The Cucuy you is take is no you behave good”

Translation: “The Cucuy will take you is you misbehave”

My Interpretation: This was just a way to scare kids into behaving and staying away from trouble. My family used to tell my sisters and I all the time, and we sometimes still do to the younger ones. It’s funny, but it’s also a way to scare kids into behaving. The most productive manner? No. But it did the trick!

The Women in the Trees

Informant: TH; Interviewer’s Sister

“Dude, okay do u remember when-” *interviewee adjusts in their seat* “when we would go camping and our uncle [REDACTED] would tell us that story about the white trees?”

Interviewer, in fact, did not remember.

*interviewee gasps and smiles before cracking their knuckles*

“So this is how he would tell it:

There was a man and a boy alone in the woods, just sitting and waiting. The man was a drunk and the boy was his son. One night they get into a screaming match, right? And they, like, separate for a bit. The boy takes a walk and the man stays at the campsite- I think that’s what happens?”

*interviewee pauses to think*

“Yeah, anyway. They go their separate ways, and like the boy is walking and the man is drinking. The boy is on his merry little way when he gets stopped by a woman in a white dress. And like most people would assume, the boy thought she was lost. And so he leads her back to their campsite. Mind you, this lady hasn’t spoken a single word. She’s like just following him back.

And they get back to the man who is working on another handle. And he goes white as a ghost-” *interviewee uses their hands to rub their face*

“White. Pale. Anyway. The man says to the boy ‘Why do you have that poor woman?’ and the boy is like mad confused. He’s all like ‘I’m not tryna argue with you’ and so on. The man starts screaming going ‘let her go! let her go!’ and at this point the boy is mad and confused so he turns to look at the woman and her head is missing. As soon as he starts screaming, he lets go of the headless body, and like a shoe falls from the sky. The two look up and lo and behold: a bunch of women hanging by the neck in the trees. The man and the boy were never heard from again.”

My Interpretation:

I think it was another way to teach a family lesson. At the time our uncle said told this to my sister and I, we were constantly bickering and fighting. We are close in age, so we were constantly at each other’s neck. In my opinion, I think the story is essentially: treat your family right or you’ll die in bad standing. It’s a weird way to go about it but it worked!

The Banned Words

Nationality: China
Age: 47

Text:
从前有一位国王，他在一次事故中摔断了腿。他走路得样子非常滑稽，人们因为他走路样子而发笑，经常私下嘲笑他怪异的走路方式。为了避免被嘲笑，国王发布了一项皇家法令，禁止使用“腿”或“跛行”等词。起初，人们对这一奇怪的法令感到困惑，但很快他们找到新的词语来嘲笑国王。当国王禁用了一些词语，人们就找到同音字来绕过禁令。 国王变得越来越偏执，他认为每个人都在背后谈论他。所以他禁用了越来越多的字词，直到人们的日常交流都受到了阻碍。王国陷入了深深的沉默，但即使在一片沉默中，国王感觉被嘲笑了，因为沉默成为了每一个他禁用的词。


Translation:
Once upon a time, a king broke his leg in an accident. He walks in a funny way, and people laugh at him because of his way of walking. They often secretly mocked his strange way of walking. To avoid being ridiculed, the king issued a law prohibiting the use of words such as “leg” or “limp.” At first, people were puzzled by this strange law, but soon they found new words to make fun of the king. When the king banned some words, people substituted them with homophonic words. The king became increasingly angry, believing everyone was talking about him behind his back. So he banned more and more words until people could barely speak. The kingdom fell into a deep silence, but even in the silence, the king felt teased because silence became the words he banned.

Context: The informant read this story online when people were discussing the banned words on the website in a forum. The website bans bad words and substitutes them with the “*” sign, but people find homophonic characters to get around the censorship. Because some of the homophonic words are used daily, they influence people’s daily life, and many of the homophonic words become bad words. Thus, some people questioned the act of using homophonic characters to express bad meanings, and someone wrote this story to reflect the negative aspects of online censorship and how it affects people’s daily life.

Analysis: This story reflects the value of free speech and the negative consequences of censorship on the Chinese internet. The king’s ban on words led people to seek alternative ways to express themselves. This story is a modern fable as many societies struggle with issues of censorship and control over speech and expression. The use of homophonic characters in online communication to bypass censorship is a common phenomenon on the Chinese internet, as Chinese is a language that has a lot of homophonic characters and words. This story reflects the issue of censorship and serves as a cautionary tale about the unintended consequences of censorship.

The Ghosts of the Congress Plaza Hotel

Nationality: Puerto Rican
Age: 46

Context

MO is my mother. She grew up in Chicago, Illinois in the 70s. She was born to two Puerto Rican parents who came to America in their teenage years. Her father is from San Lorenzo, Puerto Rico, and her mother is from Moca, Puerto Rico. They go visit Puerto Rico every summer and have done so for decades. 

Text

DO: Chicago’s an old city, do you have any myths or legends that are specific to us?

MO: The old hotel over on Michigan Ave in downtown is apparently haunted. 

DO: The Congress?

MO: Yes. Apparently there’s a bunch of different ghost stories. The famous one is the story about the man with the peg leg. You know I love true crime so my favorite one is about the bellboy that’s a ghost. 

DO: Can you tell me about them?

MO: I think they called the famous ghost Peg Leg Johnny. He became an alcoholic after some accident where he lost his leg but then he did work at the hotel. Like maintenance stuff. People have said they’ve heard knocking on the door and then seen a man with a peg leg. The bellboy one is about a young kid who worked there and everyone loved him. Then one day he just went missing and nobody ever saw him again. Some people say they see him pushing the luggage carrier things and waving at people then he just disappears. Me and your dad actually have stayed in that hotel

DO: Really? What was your experience like? 

MO: Well we stayed there before we knew it was haunted. Your dad swears he did hear anything, but I heard people knocking on our door. I didn’t see anything thank God. After we stayed there we heard all the stories. 

Analysis:

All cities have folklore narratives that are unique to their major landmarks. The Congress Hotel in Chicago is no different. This massive hotel is hard to miss, seeing as it is on our most popular street downtown and is distinctive. The hotel has an old look to it which further encourages ghost stories to be told about it. After talking to more of my family each of them had their own ghost story that has been passed down by other Chicagoans. If you live in Chicago this hotel is pretty well known. These ghost stories bring Chicagoans together to talk about a landmark that they share as common knowledge.