Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

The Woodland Spirit

Nationality: American
Age: 82
Occupation: Retired Writer
Residence: Philippines
Performance Date: 3/4/21
Primary Language: English

Story

Short Version: The informant encountered a malevolent woodland spirit. 

Long version: A few years ago, the informant was out wandering in woodlands a little outside of his property. He was wandering around trying to find a place to relieve himself. He found a clearing that seemed private enough and he did his business. As he was leaving the area, he suddenly felt an energy pick him up and drop him on his shoulder. He’s felt shoulder pain ever since. 

Informant’s View

“I’m certain that it was a woodland spirit. You know, I trespassed onto its property, I disrespected it by going pee, and it punished me. Or maybe not punished– it asserted its power over the land. I make sure I don’t go there anymore.”

Thoughts

This story reminds me of traditional warning tales: someone did something wrong, they were punished, and now they never do that thing again. It is even more interesting than a traditional warning tale, however, in that it weaves in elements of magic, too. There was no human force that hurt the informant, but rather a shapeless magical presence, similar to a ghost. Thus, the informant speaks not only of a warning tale, but also of magic folklore.

Tír Nan Óg – Tale

Nationality: Irish
Age: 59
Occupation: Court Investigator
Residence: San Jose
Performance Date: May 2, 2021
Primary Language: English

Transcript – Informant speaking
Mother: “In Ireland, there are a lot of folklore stories and there are always stories about Tír Nan Óg, the land, which basically in Irish means the land of the young, em, and the idea was that this guy, who was the son of Finn MaCool, em, fell in love with this lady from Tír Na nÓg, and was brought away to this land of eternal youth. And lived there happily for hundreds of years, em, and then kind of wanted to go back to Ireland, eh, and was sent back on a horse back to Ireland, but was told if he ever dismounted that he wouldn’t be able to come back to Tír Nan Óg again. Em, and he went back and everybody he knew had died, and he had an accident and fell off the horse and basically that was him back in Ireland. So… that was kind of one of the stories from Irish folklore.”

Background
This story came up in a call between me and my parents about irish folklore. Both of them are originally from Northern Ireland, hence their relation to the stories. I’m not entirely sure where specifically my mom learned about this one from.

Context
Again, as stated in previous pieces, it should be noted that the person speaking has a very thick Northern Irish Accent. Also, the pronunciation for Tír Nan Óg phonetically reads something like ‘Tier nan Oak.’

Thoughts
I thought this was interesting as it was very tragic. There’s a big element of loss within the story. The protagonist has everything in the beginning, but not only does he get separated from his lover, but he gets placed back in a world he doesn’t understand with all his friends gone. Irish history (especially modern history) is very violent in spite of the islands beauty, so I think the tragic relationships in their folklore is interesting.

THE SALMON OF KNOWLEDGE – Tale / myth

Nationality: Irish
Age: 59
Occupation: Court Investigator
Residence: San Jose
Performance Date: May 2 2021
Primary Language: English

Transcript – Informant speaking
Mother: “That was kind of one of the stories from Irish folklore. There were a lot about Finn MacCool, his dad. (reference previous story from informant) I just know one where there was supposed to be the salmon of knowledge, em and basically if you ate the salmon, you were supposed to have all the knowledge in the world. So it was claimed that Finn MacCool had managed to, had been a student of this… kind of sage, this storyteller who was very knowledgeable. And the storyteller was getting worried ’cause he’d given Finn MacCool pretty much all the information he knew. But it was supposed to be this Salmon, if you could catch the salmon and cook this salmon, whoever ate the salmon would have all the knowledge in the world. So the sage went out and managed to catch the salmon. But he asked Finn McCool to cook it for him, and, but not too eat it and not to do anything to it, just to cook it for him. And so apparently the story was that Finn MacCool, when he was cooking it, em, burned his finger and put his finger in the mouth and that was enough to give him all the knowledge of the salmon rather than the sage that he cooked the salmon for.”

Background
During a conversation between me and my parents about Irish folklore, my mother told me this story. It was directly after a different story (which has also been posted under the title of “Tír Nan Óg”) that was about Finn MacCool’s son. Finn MacCool, while a seemingly ridiculous name, holds a vast amount of importance in the culture. I barely ever hear anything about him, but my parents both grew up with many stories about him. In a way, he’s one of the biggest staples in Irish folk literature.

Context
This story was provided during a facetime with my folks. The speaker has a very thick Northern Irish accent. It should also be noted that in a
Scottish version, Finn is not living there as a pupil but just as a boy who had been forced out of his form. Link to this version below:
https://tracscotland.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/The-Salmon-of-Knowledge.pdf

Thoughts
This tale is interesting. While it’s still tragic (like the Tír Nan Óg tale) it’s only tragic for the sage, which means for us we likely respond to it by laughing. But like in the previous story, we do see that even though this tale had a more lighthearted ending, all of the characters were still largely at the mercy of fate and luck. In truth, MacCool eating the salmon was just as much of a happy accident as his son falling off his horse was. I found that very interesting. And while this might be a bit of a stereotypical conclusion, it does seem to point to a worldview very invested in luck.

CHILDREN OF LIR – Tale

Nationality: Irish
Age: 59
Occupation: Court Investigator
Residence: San Jose
Performance Date: May 2
Primary Language: English

Transcript – Informant speaking
Mother: “And then there were the children of Lir, L-I-R, em, and that’s basically, that Swan Lake, the Russian ballet is based on the story of the children of Lir. And that’s one of these kind of evil stepmother stories where I think there were four children and their mother died. The father remarried. I think it was supposed to be his wife, the mother’s sister, who had magical powers, and she was very jealous of the love between the father and the children. Em, so she turned them into Swans, em and they lived for hundreds of years, but… they were able to tell – even though they were Swans, they were still able to sing, and they were able to tell their father in song what had happened to them. So that didn’t do much for the relationship between the father and the stepmother. So they lived apparently for 300 years or something like that. So that’s kind of all I know about that one.”

Background
During a conversation between me and my parents about Irish folklore, my mother told me this story. This is a story that is part of their culture, however, i’m guessing by the way that my mom’s telling it that she likely heard it more from authored literature, or from a childrens book, than from actual folk talk. I also didn’t feel a very strong attachment to this piece in particular from either of them.

Context
My mom has a very thick northern irish accent which is palpable while speaking. Also, while I would love to give context on the Russian Ballet story, I… literally don’t remember anything about it.

Thoughts
What’s interesting is how familiar it feels to stuff like Hansel and Gretel, as well as other grim stories. But unlike the others, there does seem to be some tragic positivity. While the children don’t stop being swans, they live long and gain beautiful voices. Moreover, everything is set right in the end when the witch gets her comeuppance.

“KARIUS OG BAKTUS”

Nationality: Norwegian
Age: 50
Occupation: Stay-at-home-mom
Residence: Vail, Colorado
Performance Date: April 24, 2021
Primary Language: Norwegian
Language: English

MAIN PIECE: 

Informant: So… There’s these two cute little, I would almost call them little trolls. And they’re called Karius and Baktus. One has black hair, one has red hair. And they live in this little boy’s mouth… So it’s about a boy called Jens… And, it’s um… And he loooves white bread and sugar and syrup… And so… These two little trolls are kind of the, uh, the bacteria living in his mouth I guess… Or whatever is causing him to have cavities… And so the story shows them building houses and balconies and almost little towns in this boy’s mouth… And how they don’t like the toothbrush, and every time the toothbrush comes they hide ‘cause they’re scared of the toothbrush. And every time this little boy eats sugar food they get so excited and cheer him on and say yes they want sugar and syrup and white bread… Whereas if he eats, like, healthy food, they’re very upset and sad… But you know, they hammer, and do construction in this boy’s mouth to build all their houses and that hurts Jens, the little boy… And so, the story goes… He finally ends up at the dentist, and the dentist fills all his cavities. So now that the dentist has filled all the cavities, they don’t have anywhere to live… And now when the toothbrush come next time, they don’t have anywhere to hide anymore and so they’re flushed out. And so… Jens is obviously happy, but Karius and Baktus, the two little trolls, are not so happy anymore. 

INFORMANT’S RELATIONSHIP TO THE PIECE:

Informant: It’s kind of sad actually… It’s kind of funny now that I’m talking about it, how the good is actually sad you know what I mean? 

Interviewer: So… Who tells this story? Why is it told? Where did you learn it? 

Informant: Well “Karius og Baktus” is one of the more popular stories for kids. Like almost every child has heard their parents tell it. And they have theater performances now. It’s also filmed. So, I mean, you can pretty much see any version of it… And it’s used to teach kids to eat healthy. Because in Norway we don’t eat a lot of sugar, except for on the weekends or special occasions… And we never eat white bread really… Everyone in Norway loves to bake and bakes their own bread which is like… Multigrain or whole wheat. Um… It’s just all very healthy. So parents use the story to teach kids to eat healthy so the trolls don’t, uh, build houses in their mouth and hammer and start building. Because obviously cavities hurt, you know?

REFLECTION:

“Karius og Baktus” exemplifies the pedagogical and cautionary nature of tales. Norwegians have, for many years, used this story to influence their children’s eating habits, warning against the damaging effects of too much sugar. The informant was told the tale as a child, and went on to pass it onto me, her child. Children’s minds are very impressionable, which is perhaps why children are so frequently the audience of tales. The tales are entertaining––thus retaining childrens’ attention––but are also vessels for important lessons. It is likely that tales make the lesson easier to grasp and to summarize. “Karius og Baktus,” for example, highlights each phase of developing and fixing a cavity. Rather than explain to a child time and again that sugar causes cavities and cavities hurt, a parent needs only to mention “Karius og Baktus” and the child will understand immediately what is meant. It is much easier for a child to grasp the severity of cavity-induced pain if they have something to compare it to and visualize (ex. having little trolls hammering away at your teeth). It is also likely that the entertainment factor of tales is, at least in part, what helps the lessons “stick”––what ensures they are retained. The informant remembers this tale to this day. As do I, and I surely will always associate cavities with “Karius og Baktus.” 

ANNOTATION:

Book version:

Egner, Thorbjørn, et al. Karius and Baktus. Skandisk Publications, 1994.