Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

Scary Camp Story

Age: 22

Text:
“There once was an old man who lived in an old house, and he lived around no one else except for one other old neighbor. It was just an old man who lived there by himself, and this man became infatuated with the life of this old man who lived next to him. Infatuated. He was so intrigued by his life as a single old man that he couldn’t resist. So every night for a week, he went into the old man’s bedroom, snuck into his house, broke in. The old man had no idea, he couldn’t see, he couldn’t hear. He had bad senses, he’s an old man. He broke into his house and would just watch him sleep and try and figure out what he was thinking about. On the 8th night, he goes back to the old man’s house like usual, but he swears he sees the old man’s eyes open. So, instinctually, he grabs the pocket knife out of his pocket and stabs the old man in the heart. He’s panicking. He just killed a man and doesn’t know what he did. He was scared. So, he buries the old man under the floorboards in the old house. Eventually, the police came and asked him to go to the crime scene, as he’s the only one that lives around this old man. He works through the investigation, and nothing happens. He goes to sleep that night, but he’s awoken by a slow thumping. Boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom. The sound of the old man’s heart beating from under the floorboards. Boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom. Finally, he goes back. He looks under the floorboards. The old man’s still dead, but he can hear the boom-boom, boom-boom, boom-boom of his heart. This sound follows him for the rest of his life, and eventually, he tells the police that he killed the old man, and the police said, ‘We don’t know anything about this old man.’ He dreamed it all.”

Context:
A boy who grew up in Kansas City, Missouri and learned this ghost story when he was camping as an Eagle Scout.

Analysis:
This ghost story is interesting for a few reasons. I have often found that ghost stories that end with “It was a dream all along” are ones that are made up completely and didn’t know how to end it or, similarly, someone forgot the ending and changed it. I would be interested to see other versions of this tale and if they have a different ending or not. It’s also interesting that he learned it as a Boy Scout, potentially serving as a cautionary tale for invading privacy and lying.

Bloody Mary

Age: 22

Text:
As a younger sibling, my sister would always do things to try and scare me. But the one thing that I knew that she didn’t, as a mere four-year-old, was Bloody Mary. What you do is you go into one bathroom, and you spin someone around in the dark eight times, saying, “Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary, Bloody Mary.” Then you turn the lights on for a quick second so you can see the reflection of Bloody Mary in the mirror. I did it to my sister, and she screamed. She ran out of the bathroom while the lights were flickering on and off, and then you keep flicking them on and off. Then they believe that the Bloody Mary is actually trying to scare them.”

Context:
A boy from Kansas City, Missouri discussing how to scare people with the Bloody Mary legend that he learned at school.

Analysis:
He used a folkloric myth/legend/ghost story that he learned through his classmates to scare and prank his sister into thinking there was a demon ghost woman with a bloody face in their bathroom. You start by doing a ritual (turning the lights off, closing eyes, and spinning three times), making the person disoriented and confused when the light starts flickering. Children often see a woman because they are so scared and imagine it even though she’s not actually there.

The Donkey and the Tiger


Fable: The donkey and the tiger

Background on Informant:
My informant is my dad; he is in his 50’s he is a longshoreman who grew up in Torrance. He has shared many stories and sayings with me over the years. I asked him if he remembered any good fables that he used to tell me maybe. He said he heard this fable from his grandma, his mother drank heavily and would argue nonsense with my dad and my grandma told him this story so he wouldn’t mind her. He doesn’t know where she heard it.

Text:
Interviewer: So, do you have any fables that you may have heard or told over the years?

Informant: Sure, don’t you remember the one I would always tell you when you used to argue with your little brother. No, refresh my memory about the donkey and the tiger?

Interviewer: yes I do but please tell it to me again in you own words

Informant: So a donkey and a tiger are arguing. The donkey says the sky is green, and the tiger says the sky is not green it is clearly blue. The donkey says no you’re wrong its green, the tiger says fine lets go ask the king. They go to the lion king to settle the argument once and for all. Before anyone says a thing the lion says, if you waste my time you will be punished eager to prove the donkey wrong the Tiger agrees to the terms. The Tiger explains the argument to the lion, the tiger says anyone with eyes can see the sky is blue the donkey says, nooo its not blue, the sky is green, right my king? The lion says, “Yes, the sky is indeed green. The donkey walks away happy and triumphant. The confused tiger asks, my king surely you know the sky is blue why would you tell the donkey it is green. The lion says, You’re not being punished because you’re wrong. You’re being punished because you are a mighty and majestic tiger why are you wasting time arguing with a donkey, you should know better than to argue with a fool.

Interviewer: So why did you tell me that?

Informant: Because you were arguing with your little brother about something, and your little brother thinks he knows everything. Sometimes it’s not worth arguing, especially if the other person is stubborn and isn’t going to listen.

Analysis:
This fable functions to teach a moral lesson, which reflects what we learned in class about how folklore can provide guidance through storytelling. My dad used the story in a real-life situation while I was arguing with my little brother, showing how folklore can be used in a progressive way in everyday life. The lesson is that it is pointless to argue with someone who is unwilling to accept reason. Instead of directly telling me to stop arguing, he used a story to give indirect advice in a more memorable way and later he didn’t need to repeat the story he would just say “you are a tiger.” This example also reflects how folklore is passed down informally across generations, from his grandmother to him and then to me, reinforcing shared values and beliefs. This also shows how some fables travel all over the world. It also demonstrates multiplicity, as similar fables appear in different cultures, and the animals suggest its origin isn’t the U.S.

The Frog in the Well

CK: “So there’s a lot of folklore and children’s stories that I read when my mom was teaching me mandarin at home. There’s one that I like a lot and it’s pretty well known, like I feel like all Chinese people know it, it’s called: The Frog in the Well / The Frog at the Bottom of the Well. From what I remember, basically, there’s this frog and he lives a content life at the bottom of a well. He has company (fish and whatnot) and food and whatever you need to be comfortable. One day a turtle comes by the well and tells the frog that he should come out of the well and the frog is like ‘why would I do that lol my life is awesome and I have everything here I need, I have a beautiful view of the whole sky!’ 

Eventually, he’s convinced to hop out of the well and once he does he sees how vast the sky actually is. He realizes how much of the world he doesn’t know about and how much he hasn’t experienced. Yeah, moral of the story is about being open-minded, venturing out of your comfort zone, in general broadening your worldview, making the effort to learn, and discovering opportunities. 

There’s some idioms that come from it.  

井底之蛙 – jǐng dǐ zhī wā – “frog at bottom of well,” you might call someone this if they are close-minded

坐井观天 -zuò jǐng guān tiān – “gazing/looking at the sky while sitting in a well,” same use case as first one but the act of being close-minded

Oh, and a lot of Chinese idioms are 4 characters it’s like a whole thing.””

context: The informant is a Game designer who studied at USC and recently graduated as of 2025. She is a first generation Chinese American and grew up with a lot of Chinese traditions. Her family is from Southern China, and her parents put a lot of effort into teaching her about her culture’s food, language, rituals, etc.

Analysis: Looking at this children’s folktale through a functionalist lens, its meant to enforce a moral function within children. Its advice on how to go about life, and a warning to avoid being close minded. It also pushes children to get out of their comfort zone in order to gain new life experiences. This is further pushed through the multiple proverbs and idioms that come from this specific tale. the phrase “Frog at the Bottom of the Well” is also esoteric language between Chinese people, since they know the meaning behind the phrase due to most Chinese children growing up hearing this story.

Filipino Musical Folktale – Dip Dippo

Context:

My informant is a 18-year-old girl from Seattle, Washington. She is half Filipino and grew up learning about Filipino culture.

Text:

“One of my old, like, great grandpas from the Philippines told me a story about this guy who I’m pretty sure is like reincarnated into a drum, like a traditional drum. And he goes around and he’s like being used by the people and it’s bringing back all the memories of like, how important music is for like, the community and cultural celebrations. And it’s talking about just like how traditions are passed down through generations through music. He later wrote a short story, called Dip Dippo about it. But it was really cool.”

“Do you know where he learned it?,” I asked.

“I think that he was drawing on old Filipino folklore, but he told it to me as a children’s story in his own way.”

Analysis:

I noticed that as my informant was telling the story of this folktale, although she did remember the specifics of this tale, what she took away seems to be the core values of Filipino culture. This tale revolves around music, community, and culture. The tale builds off of the belief of reincarnation but adds in Filipino values. I think the story describes that, even after their loved ones have passed on, they can still connect with their spirit through music, building off of their community and culture.