Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

Teeny Tiny Lady

Text:

“Once there was a teeny tiny lady and she lived in a teeny tiny house outside a teeny tiny village and she lived with her teeny tiny dog and her teeny tiny cat. One day the teeny tiny lady decided to go to the teeny tiny village to market. On her way home she saw a teeny tiny bone in a teeny tiny field, so she picked up the teeny tiny bone and took it to her teeny tiny house. When she got home she made herself a teeny tiny supper and she sat down to eat it. She heard a noise from her teeny tiny cupboard, very quiet, barely a whisper, ‘give me my bone.’ She shook her head and didn’t pay it much attention and she finished eating her teeny tiny supper. Then she went to her teeny tiny bed and she went to sleep. When she was laying in her teeny tiny bed the teeny tiny lady heard a teeny tiny voice from her teeny tiny cupboard saying, ‘where’s my bone?’ The teeny tiny lady was afraid so she pulled up the teeny tiny blanket to her teeny tiny face. A little bit while later she heard the voice a little bit louder, ‘Where’s my bone?’ The teeny tiny lady covered her head with the blanket and she pushed herself all the way down into her teeny tiny bed. And then she laid there for a while, and then she heard very loudly coming from the cupboard, ‘I want my bone!’ Then the teeny tiny lady stuck her head out of the blanket and she said, ‘You can have it! Take it!’ And she covered her head back up and crouched down into her bed. In the morning she got up and she went to the cupboard and she opened the cupboard and the teeny tiny bone was gone.”

Background: 

The informant first heard this tale as a child during the 1960s from either her father or uncle, because it was so long ago she can’t remember which. She says that her family enjoyed listening to a show called “Fractured Fairy Tales” one of these tales being “Old Mother Hubbard”,

“Old mother Hubbard, she went to the cupboard, to get her poor dog a bone, and when she got there the cupboard was bare and so the poor dog had none.”

She says that she used to ask questions about the fairytales they heard. The tale was an explanation for why there was no bone in the cupboard because, why would she check the cupboard if she knew there was no bone? She clearly thought there was a bone in the cupboard? 

Analysis:

This tale is used to explain why Mother Hubbard went to check the cupboard and gives context as to why she would think there was a bone in the cupboard for her dog. The use of a tale to explain and give context to another tale is very interesting as one could consider it a sequel, or in this case a prequel. Which shows that tales giving context to folklore are also considered folklore. Of course, the tale itself can be told separately from “Old Mother Hubbard” and be used as a scary story to prevent children from picking things up from the side of the road or taking something that does not belong to them.

Witch’s House

Text: 

“There’s this little girl, she’s in the woods. And then she’s like exploring the woods and she finds this house and she wants to go into the house, but it’s not her house. And she smells something really nice coming from it. She goes in and she finds a wū pó (巫婆), like a witch,  and the witch is like, ‘Do you want some of these candies and cookies and deserts?’ And the little girl is like, ‘Of course I do.’ And she eats all of the food but while she’s munching on it the witch starts to eat her because she really likes to eat childrens bones.”

Background: 

The informant first heard this from her mom in Chinese when she was around seven years old. She describes it as “a mix of Snow White and Hansel and Gretel in the most messed up way.” She doesn’t remember the context of why she was told the story.

Analysis: 

The above tale greatly resembles the tale of Hansel and Gretel, two siblings getting lost in the woods and meeting a witch who likes to eat children. Though this tale doesn’t have a happy ending compared to Hansel and Gretel. While the story may be a little different, it still carries the same message. Don’t trust strangers. A message that has been important in many cultures and likely has multiple tales to express its importance. The ending is used to press the idea that interacting with people you don’t know can have extreme consequences and won’t always end happily.

Who’s going to sleep with me on this dark and stormy night?

It was a dark and stormy night, and this old lady was sitting on her porch, watching the storm come in. She goes, “who’s going to sleep with me on this dark and stormy night?” In the woods, she could hear someone reply, “I will.” So she scurries inside. Then she comes back out later on, smokes her pipe back outside, and asks again, “who’s going to sleep with me on this dark and stormy night?” She hears a little bit closer, “I will.” So she runs back inside. A little bit of time passes. She’s sitting in her family room, and she asks, “who’s going to sleep with me on this dark and stormy night?” Right outside her door, she hears, “I will.” So she runs upstairs and gets in bed. She asks again, “who’s going to sleep with me on this dark and stormy night?” Right outside her door, she hears “I will.” She hides under the covers, and then she hears footsteps walking towards her. One cover goes off… two covers go off… BOO!

Informant’s dad would tell this story to her. It was supposed to scare her. He would tell it often at bedtime. Her dad got it from his dad. She thought it was funny, but it didn’t scare her. She didn’t tell it to anyone else.

This tale is one that seems fairly specific to this person’s family, as she’s not exactly sure where it comes from and I can’t find it either. I think this tale is a great example of one to collect, because it provides a rich story and has a clear goal, of scaring the listener. My informant also provided a lot of context that makes sense for it, such as it being told to her at bedtime. I find it interesting that she never found the story scary, just funny. It makes me wonder if she was too old for it to be genuinely scary to her, and it would be better geared towards even younger children, or if the tale is just a little cheesy overall. Maybe a mix of both. I think this is great in terms of folklore because the informant told me about the specific ways it connected to her family and how her father enjoyed the story a lot and enjoyed telling it to her.

Tale – Shimchong: The Blind Man’s Daughter

Nationality: Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student

Text: 

This is the story about this kind daughter who lives with a blind dad then she hears this announcement that to whoever volunteers to be the live sacrifice to the ocean or the people who have to sail um they will 100 bags of rice to that family because they were too poor and the daughter wanted her dad to be able to survive have food to eat she volunteers to be the live sacrifice so they sail out and at the point where theres a tornado in the ocean the girl dives in to be the live sacrifice and the dad finds out later because suddenly he is gifted with 100 bags of rice but at that point she had already sailed off and jumped into the ocean but the girl jumped in and she sank down into the ocean kingdom the ocean king heard the story and he thought she was very nice for she was a very good daughter and her love for her dad like he thought it was big like he considered it big like he valued her doing so so he decided to send her back up so they put her into this giant lotus and sent her off to up to the surface where she was fund by other fisherman who brought her back to the land back to one of the nobles parties that day the dad was also at the party because in Korea when the nobles throw a party they often open up their front yard and all the food for the people in the village too so it was like a whole party like feast going on and her dad was invited to when the girl entered and when the dad heard her voice he recognized her and when he turned toward her voice he was suddenly able to see again so that’s a happy reunion and this girl falls in love with either the nobles son or something like that the point is they values her actions and sent her back up

Context: 

This was told by one of my friends who is from South Korea. She explained that this is a well-known fairy tale that everyone has known of from a young age. She liked this story when she was young because the book was “tiny [and] it was easy to carry around.” Looking back she says that it appears to be a “very brutal story for the girl” which she did not notice as a kid. 

Analysis: 

This story is a common fairy tale in Korea. It teaches kids from a young age the values of Korean culture. The overall message this story shows is that one should love their parents and make sacrifices for them. This is because even though it seems like a sacrifice at the time it will eventually work in favor of both parties. It also shows that people reward those who are considered good children. The ocean king rewarded the girl for her actions and allowed her to go back to her family.

Tale – Small Line

Nationality: Indian
Age: 19
Occupation: Student

Text: 

“The tale is one of the tales from Akbar and Birbal. Akbar was a mogul emperor; one of the biggest and most well-known mogul emperors of India. Birbal was a Hindu who was the minister in Akbar’s court and he was very well known for his wisdom and for being very wise. Akbar was often impressed by that and the other court ministers were often jealous of him, so one day, Akbar came into the court and he gave a puzzle to all his ministers by drawing a line. He said to make this line shorter without erasing any of it, and Birbal came forth when none of the other ministers could answer the riddle, and he drew another line, which was longer than the one Akbar drew. He was like, ‘now this line is shorter.’” 

Context: 

This story was told by my roommate. She is from India and she shared how this might seem like a “kind of silly tale” that presents “just a trick or just a puzzle” but a lot of messages that are conveyed within the culture can be seen in this tale.  This story is very well known in India and it kind of just celebrates the history of India and the wisdom that a lot of the ministers had. It overall shows how important being wise is in solving problems. She heard this tale when she used to go to elementary school in India. Her parents bought her this book of Akbar and Birbal tales and this was one of the tales in that book.

Analysis: 

In Indian culture wisdom and problem-solving is strongly valued. This story emphasizes thinking outside of the box and coming up with solutions that might not be obvious. This story shows that it is a very common fairy tale told to young children. This tale was more popular than ones like Cinderella as the lessons within this tale better represent the values of India. This tale also connects to one of the most powerful empires in India. It also consists of one of the most powerful kings and one of the smartest people. This story also gives people a touch of emotions.