Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

Haunted PED Basement

Nationality: United States of America
Age: 24
Residence: Los Angeles
Language: English

Text:

“Um so this was a story told to me by one of the designers um that I’ve worked with being a wardrobe supervisor. Um because everyone always jokes that um I’m sure both of you are aware but in case you’re not underneath the Bing, not the Bing, underneath PED there is a defunct pool that has been revamped to house all of the costumes for the School of Dramatic Arts. Um I hate it down there *laughs* and um it’s a running gag for all of SDA that it is haunted cause you know creepy pool everyone is like “Oh it’s haunted bla bla bla” *high-pitched whimsical tone* um so we were talking about it one time, I don’t remember which designer told me this, but we were talking about it and um they were like “no, it is legit haunted down there” and we were like “what are you talking about?” And they were talking about one time that they were down there pulling stuff for their show and they heard a voice and um so they turn around and there’s just a person standing there, looks like a student, uh a younger person, and I don’t remember what they said to them but they said something about “oh I’m lost” or “oh I need something” like a “I don’t know what I’m doing around here” and the designer is like “oh”—had never seen this person before—and was like “Oh I thought I was by myself, what show are you working on? What do you need help with?” And they kept not answering the question and suddenly the designer turned back and the person was gone. There was no trace of this person. Umm so I was like “Do we know someone who has died in SDA in recent years?” and he was like “I have no clue” so yeah. Yeah, apparently there is live “evidence” *makes finger quotes around evidence* or an actual report of someone seeing a ghost um in the pool. *laughs*

I’m the kind of person who has always believed in spirits because 1. I think it’s interesting and 2. I don’t know I think I feel shit sometimes, but I also know that theater kids are dramatic *laughs* guilty. But on the other other hand, this was a designer, not an actor so I am—not to hate on my fellow actors, but it did lend itself to a bit more credibility in my eyes that it came from not someone who enjoys being on stage. So I don’t know I think there is a possibility. I definitely would be interested into doing research into if anyone in the program has passed away, there definitely had to be somebody who passed away during their time in this school …I just hate going down there. I feel like it has bad vibes down there I don’t know if it’s just that you can’t see around the corners because of all the stacked clothes or what. I get weird vibes in spaces. There’s something about the space itself, it has classic horror movie vibes what with the old tiles of the pool and it’s musty and gross.

Context:

The informant is heavily involved in the USC School of Dramatic Arts and has spent countless hours working for SDA in PED (Physical Education Building). The informant was first told of the haunting by their boss, a designer for SDA. The informant has moderate belief in the haunting but is not thoroughly convinced.  

Analysis:

I am not going to judge the validity of the haunting. However, I am not surprised that a haunting was reported within the PED basement. People involved in theater, work late nights during show rehearsals, and often the stage crew and behind-the-scenes personnel are working on their own for mini-assignments. Because of these factors, there are many opportunities for people to be alone and tired, at night in an old building. Furthermore, theater shows will often try to foster a sense of community and a shared experience such as a haunted room could aid in building comradery.

Parable of the Drowning Man

GL is a USC student from the country of Georgia, and he shared a fable, or igavaraki he heard while growing up there:

AL.) So one of them, it’s uh, it’s about a man who was drowning in a river. So a river is carrying this man down and he’s asking God for help. Uh, so, he’s going down a river and suddenly he sees a branch. But he doesn’t grab onto the branch because God’s gonna save him, so he, like, keeps going down the river. And then he keeps going down the river and there’s, like, a fisherman and the fisherman reaches his hand out, and he’s like, “Grab my hand, I’m gonna save you.” But the guy’s like, “Nah, God’s gonna save me.” And then the guy keeps floating down the river. And then he sees a rock, but he doesn’t, like, grab the rock because God’s gonna save him. And he falls of the waterfall, hits the rocks, dies, and then in heaven he asks God, “Why didn’t you save me?” And God is like, “I tried to save you three times but you just don’t move your hand.” 

Me.) Yeah, so where’d you hear this?

AL.) Uh, it’s like a popular kind of like, in Georgia we have a thing called igavaraki, which is like, um, like a story with, like, a meaning attached to it.

Me.) Oh, so kind of like a fable.

AL.) Yeah, kind of like a fable type vibe. So, I don’t know, it’s been told by, like, sometimes teachers might tell you. My grandma told me this one, I think. 

Me.) Oh yeah that’s pretty funny.

AL.) I’ve heard it like two times, so…

I had never heard this growing up, so I was quite surprised to hear how common this story is. After a brief google search, this exact story, often called the Parable of the Drowning Man, shows up in several different versions. Versions online often have different ways for the drowning man to prevent himself from death, but none of them matched what AL shared with me. This seems to be an example of Oral Formulaic Theory, where the active bearer of the narrative doesn’t know the specifics of the story, but rather the general story beats. The informant seemed to be making up the objects the man could have grabbed on to as he was telling the story.

Story of Heungbu and Nolbu – Korean Folktale

Nationality: Korean American
Occupation: Student
Performance Date: 4/4/2023
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean

1. Text

When asked for a folktale, the informant shared the story below:

Title: The Story of Heungbu and Nolbu

Heungbu and Nolbu were two brothers whose father was very rich, and they grew up in a well-off home. Once their father died, they had to split the fortune up, but the honest Heungbu was tricked by his older brother and Heungbu had to go become a farmer to support his family. Heungbu suffered through with threadbare clothing and lack of food, but one day, his wife told him they had finally run out of food completely and asked him to go beg his older brother for anything to eat. For the sake of his children, he went to his brother and begged him for food, only to get cruelly cast out into the yard, where his brother’s wife was cooking rice. He begged her for some of the rice she was cooking, but she only struck him with the rice paddle and told him to get out. Noticing that the rice from the paddle would stick to his cheek, he carefully picked off the grains and tucked them away, then asked her to hit him again. However, she noticed this, and washed the paddle clean in water before striking him over and over on the other side.

The rice he had managed to bring back still was able to feed his family for that day, and they kept going, until one day Heungbu’s wife told him that they had once again ran out of food. He went to the brother again, and the brother taunted him and offered him rice if he would get hit.

He agreed, and was paddled until he hobbled, but the brother did not give him any food. As he walked home in shame, he noticed a swallow with a broken leg and rescued it from a snake that was trying to eat it. He slowly nursed this swallow back to health, and once it healed it flew away and came back with the seed for a gourd.

He planted this seed in his garden, and to his shock, the gourds grew overnight into huge gourds half-split open already. He split open the first gourd and found a wealth of riches, overflowing and enough to keep his family rich for the rest of their lives. Then, he split open the second gourd and found beautiful clothing and fabric. The final gourd contained magical servants, who vowed to do their master’s bidding and who were beautiful and kind.

Their quick change in fortune reached the ears of Nolbu, the jealous older brother, who quickly pretend to act nice to his younger brother to learn the secret of success. Heungbu told him the story without any hesitation, and Nolbu vowed to do the same. However, instead of saving a bird from a snake, he instead trapped a swallow and broke its leg himself, “healing” it until it got better from the wound he had inflicted.

After the bird flew away, it brought back a gourd seed for Nolbu as well. However, this gourd quickly grew into three rotten-looking and foul smelling gourds, but Nolbu split them open anyways. The first gourd contained demons that berated him and his family and beat them until they cried. The second gourd contained a mass of debtors that seized his expensive things, leaving him destitute. The final gourd contained a massive flood of sewage and disgusting water that destroyed even his house, leaving him with nothing. He had to go beg his brother, Heungbu, to take the family in, because he had nothing left. The generous Heungbu took his older brother in, and was rewarded with happiness and good fortune for the rest of his life.

2. Context

This is a children’s folk tale from Korea that the informant learned at a young age from his Korean American parents. It is less personal since it is a common story that is told to children to teach them morals. The informant interprets the tale as a story to teach morals.

3. Analysis

This tale of Heungbu and Nolbu tells a story where honesty and kindness is rewarded with happiness and fortune whereas selfishness, jealousy and greed is punished with disaster and unfortune. This seems to be a common theme in popular East Asian folktales for children since there are similar tales in Japan like the “Rolling Rice ball” tale which tells the story of an old farmer who falls and drops his rice ball into a hole where mice live. He tries to look into the hole but he ends up falling in. The mice in the hole welcome him and thank the farmer for the rice. They make him mochi (rice cake) out of the rice and give them to the farmer. When the farmer leaves, the mice offer him a box filled with riches and treasures. After getting back, the farmer’s neighbor is jealous of the farmer and hears of the story. The farmer goes to the home and drops rice in it. The mice welcome him and thank him for the food and prepare mochi for him. When the neighbor leaves, he demands the box of riches and threatens the mice. The mice are angered and attack the farmer and do not let him leave the hole. The parallels between these two stories represent the context of very agriculture based economies in earlier Japanese and Korean civilization. These motifs of slightly anthropomorphic animals that repay or punish the farmers suggest the idea that “nature” rewards kindness and punishes evil therefore revealing the belief of the natural order and distinction between good and bad and a higher power like nature enforcing it. These beliefs persuade people to abide by these rules that are understood to be the “natural law” to be kind and not greedy. The punishments in the magical gourds represent the biggest fears of Korean farmers such as violence, debt, and natural disaster. In addition, these tales tie to the idea of Karma, where good deeds are rewarded and bad deeds do not go unpunished. This helps comfort people who are hurt by “bad” people to know that they will be punished and convince them to be “good” since good will be rewarded.

The Green Ribbon

Nationality: United States
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: 4/5/23
Primary Language: English

Text:

My informant, from Fresno California, told me a scary story she heard as a kid.

“This is kind of like a ghost story. There was once a woman, right? And a man. And they entered into a relationship. And things were going really well between them. Things were going great. They were going on these little dates, you know? But the thing is, she always wore this little green ribbon around her neck. Right? And he’d be like, ‘Why do you wear that?’ and she’d be like ‘Don’t worry about it’. So he’s like ‘okay…’

“So they continue on having their relationship. They get married. They have many children. The children grow up. They go to college. They’re very successful. 

“And their relationship continues, and he’s like ‘Hey, you still haven’t taken off that green ribbon, it must be pretty dirty under there. You even shower with it on.’ She’s like ‘Don’t worry about it, it’s, you know, a fashion choice or whatever.’

“And then the years go on, they’re in retirement, they’re playing golf together, everything’s great. But still. He’s like “Hey, we’re like 80. And you still haven’t taken off that green ribbon. And it must be dingy by now, but it’s, like, in good quality’ And she’s like ‘Ah, you know, I just like wearing it, I guess.’

“And then she starts to get really sick. And it’s really sad. She’s bedridden. And he’s tending to her. And the doctor comes out to him from the bedroom, cause it’s like the doctor that visits the house. And he says to the husband, ‘Look, she has like 5 minutes.’ And he’s like ‘Oh, damn, okay.’  So he goes inside. He’s like ‘You know, I gotta ask you, in our final moments… First, I love you, but also, why are you wearing that thing?? Still? You’re dying!’ She’s like ‘all right. I’ll show you, okay?’ So she pulls off her green ribbon, and her head topples off. And that’s the end of the story.”

Context:

“I think I first heard that like in elementary school, I think around Halloween, one of the teachers told us that one. I’ve told it maybe a few times, I think I also told it in Highschool, it was around Halloween, and in my English class my teacher was like ‘hey, does anyone have any ghost stories?’ I think I used that one.”

Interpretation:

The informant took her time with the story, and was constantly checking in to see if I was still along for the ride. She also injected comedy whenever she could to try and keep it engaging. I think this approach is the result of telling this story in a larger setting, with many distractions (i.e., a classroom to other students.) This story has a ritual element to when it can be told: It’s a scary story, so it is told at Halloween, particularly at school. 

Close Your Eyes

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: student
Residence: USC
Performance Date: 4/3/23
Primary Language: English

Text: “There once was a little boy named H. He stayed up late every night and made his mother very angry by not going to bed on time. But one night, he wanted to try and keep his eyes open until morning, without getting a lick of sleep. But on that very morning, his eyes were shriveled up like raisins and he could no longer see. When his mother came in, she screamed. She told him, “Close your eyes forever.” After that, the boy never saw anything out of his eyes again. And you want to know why? Because your eyes need to be closed for a few hours while you sleep, in order for them to reset. Keeping them open for a long period of time and blinking to comfort them only goes so far. They need to be closed for hours in order to keep your eyes healthy.” – Informant’s mother

Context: This scary little tale was told to the informant when his mom would get mad at him for staying up too late. She used a tale in order to get him to go to sleep and used the scare tactic to make him want to sleep. As a 7 year old, this story scared him enough to stop staying up so late. The informant laughed when telling this tale because it is so stupid and probably made up by his mom. However, it worked.

Analysis: When I was little, my parents would tell me that if I don’t go to sleep, my nightmares will happen in real life in order to get me to go to sleep. Similar to this tale, they were both tactics used to improve our lives. Sleep is one of the most important things for a human and yet, a growing child. It teaches us a lesson that will help in the long run and actually made us both go to sleep. Although my version was more of a myth type and the informant’s was more of a tale, they both made us follow the rules set by our parents.