Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

Fish dream

Nationality: African American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Memphis, Tennessee
Performance Date: 4/23/19
Primary Language: English

Context: I remembered my friend mentioning some superstition in regards to a fish so I asked her about it again and she explained and this conversation was recorded.

MG: What does the fish in your dreams superstition mean?

KR: “Okay… so it means someone close to you, or it could be actually you, is pregnant. Usually it’s someone close to you that you know. So say I dream it, it could mean my sister or my roommate is pregnant. Its kinda scary. Who knows if it is a coincidence or an actual thing but my mom and grandma have predicted all 4 of my sisters’ pregnancies with this fish dream thing!”

Background: Informant is from Memphis and grew up in a very superstitious family and she had recently been told that her mom had a dream of a fish so she is curious if anyone in her family is pregnant. She explained to me that this is an old wives tale that gets passed down but usually moms dream a fish and then find out their daughter is pregnant. However, this fish dream only applies to women because men do not have this dream.

Analysis: I thought the connection between fish and pregnancy was very interesting. I did try to research on the connection between pregnancy and fish but could only find concerns for eating fish while pregnant. An important connection I made was the fact that both her previous experiences involved her mom, grandmother. In many other cultures moms and especially grandmothers are seen as wise. They have that sixth sense and are able to pick up on signs. Additionally, this superstition discusses pregnancy which is a very scandalous topic and if a woman is young or unmarried she may be afraid to tell her mom or others. Dreams can reveal suspicions or even fears but sometimes they can also just be dreams without a meaning.

Why the Sky is So High

Nationality: Nigerian
Age: 79
Occupation: Retired High School Principal
Residence: Nigeria & USA
Primary Language: English
Language: Yoruba, French

In Yoruba culture, it basically goes that one day, this woman was making stew, and the sky used to be very low, and after she’d take a break from making the stew she’d wipe her hands on the sky, and the sky said “Please don’t wipe your hands on me, because it makes me dirty and I really just like my blue colors”. And so the sky rose up a little higher in the sky. And so, then the woman the next day was cooking again, this grain meal that’s called Sowalo and it’s a heavy meal, with stew, that you eat, and it’s very common and so, she’s cooking it again and her hands are dirty, and so she wants to go wipe her hands on the sky again, but she has to get a step stool this time. And she goes up and she wipes her hands on the sky and the sky gets angry again and moves up a little higher. Then the next day, the woman is also cooking the stew. I think there was a wedding going on or something, and she’s cooking Amalo stew for like, multiple days. So she goes and she takes out a ladder, and she wipes her hands on the sky, and the sky gets so angry and it says “You will never have the ability to go near the sky again”. And it moved all the way up to where the sky is now.

Context: The informant is both the grandmother of a and a Nigerian student who goes to USC. She lived in Saint Louis for the majority of her life, but her family is Yoruba and they live in Ogbomosho, Nigeria, where they hold prominent social and economic status. Her grandmother is here in Saint Louis.

Chinese Pear Story

Nationality: American with Chinese descent
Age: 22
Occupation: Student at the University of Southern California
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/2/19
Primary Language: English
Language: N/A

Context:  

The informant and I are sitting on my bed in my room. It is about 9:00 pm and she is describing to me some of the stories she heard growing up that impacted her life and viewpoint.

Body:

Informant: “So the story was that there was a huge bowl of pears in the dining room table and there’s a little girl and she was the middle child and there’s like an older brother and a younger brother, I don’t think the gender matters. Then a friend came up to the little girl and asked her which pear she was going to get. The little girl ended up grabbing the smallest pear possible in that bowl. Then when the friend asked the little girl why she picked the smallest pear, she replied saying she was going to give a pear bigger than hers to her younger brother. When asked why, she explained how he has yet to experience the good things in life and that in order to know the good things in life he has to at least experience them once. So that’s why he’s experiencing the big pear first so that he knows that’s a good thing. Then she’s going to give a larger pear to both her parents and her brother because they’re older than her out of respect. Then the elders are the most respected and the leaders of the family, and giving them a larger pear is also kind of signifying like they don’t have as much life left to live and so we should be giving the riches of life to them because they don’t have as much time left. Kind of morbid in all honesty.

A: “How did this story affect your life growing up?

Informant: “Oh yeah it had a huge impact on me! Growing up, it’s one of the only stories that I remember from my Chinese book. I actually just asked my mom if she remembered any stories and she said ‘no’ and then when I told her that I remembered the pear story, she still didn’t remember that one. Then I explained it to her and asked her again if she remembered and she said ‘no.’ But that’s always impacted me because I feel that I’ve always tried to prioritize my parents a little bit more in the sense where I did have to respect them because they are my parents. Also, because I wanted to give them things more so because I knew that they wouldn’t have the chance to experience them again like I may have or I will be able to

A: “Was there any significance with the pear and why the pear was the fruit given?”

Informant: I think often times a pear is a symbol of royalty. Ya know how apples are associated with knowledge and giving that to teachers? I think the pear is a symbol of royalty and nobility. Especially in Asian cultures because I feel like everything is a pear versus an apple in Asian cultures.  

TakeAways:

Within Chinese culture, respecting your elders is one of the most important things. I think what this story is trying to tell children is to always respect those who are older than you because they have more wisdom and also to cherish them. This story also teaches children the joys of sharing with others and giving more to others than yourself. This is therefore then instilling children not to be selfish and care for others since you should want them to experience the best in life as well. Children’s stories play a large role in shaping who they are to become as they learn through examples. This story clearly had a large impact on the informant and has reigned true to present day.

 

The fairy and the woodworker

Nationality: Korea
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: LA County
Performance Date: Apr. 21
Primary Language: English
Language: Korea, Spanish

Context
I was having lunch with the informant. He lived in Korea until he was 14 years old, one year from finishing middle school. He then moved to the United States to finish his middle school and high school.

Piece
Informant: So, the male is not a farmer, but actually a woodworker. So he just like, cuts down trees.
So, the fairy is taking a bath. And like in a mountain, like a hot spring, for example. And then, the guy sees it. The guy cutting down trees sees it. So he takes the clothes away. And the fairy doesn’t know what happened. So the guy comes out and is like, if you want clothes you’ve gotta be my wife, which is, criminal. And then they become a forced couple, because that’s the guy’s wish. And then the girl somehow sees the clothes in the house and wears it and goes to the sky with her kid. And the guy doesn’t know what happened. That’s how the story ends basically.

The guy and the girl – they both didn’t want to be separated, but I don’t know why the girl wanted to be separated – wait, the girl wanted to be separated. She’s basically going back home.

Comment
Interviewer: so it’s the guy trying to find the girl?

Informant: Well, that’s the worst thing. I think, technically the both want to stay because they have a child. But she took the child with her. Then who pays for the child? (smile) That’s like a two-thousand year-old divorce story.

Analysis
The story is a shortened variation of the Chinese folktale the Cowherd and the Weaver Girl. In the story, a cowherd hides a fairy’s clothes and keeps her as his wife. Then, the fairy finds her clothes and is forced to return to the sky, leaving her children behind. Her mother forbids her from seeing her husband and separates the family by creating the Milky Way. Finally, the family are able to reunite on the Qi Xi Festival (七夕节) on the bridge formed by magpies.
The informant told me that Korea had two separate stories developed from the Chinese folktale. This version is a variation of the first half of the Chinese folktale. The cowherd becomes a woodworker, because forests are abundant in Korea, while fields and cows are common in China.

 

The Scholar and the Boatsman

Nationality: Thai
Age: 60
Occupation: Restaurant Owner
Residence: New York
Primary Language: Thai (laotian)
Language: English

Context:

The following informant is a 60-year-old Thai immigrant who heard the following story growing up as a kid. This interview was carried out in a mix of Thai and English. In this I will be denoted as C and the informant will be denoted as S

Item:

S: This story is uh, this story is about a student and a person who is a boats man for hire. Like a boat driver but they use an oar. The boat driver and the student. In Thailand there are rivers, big rivers that you need to pay to get across. You pay them money and they will ferry you across the river. From one shore to the next shore, because the river is very wide. When they row the boat on the river there is a very strong current, and the person who rows the boat, the boat driver, has to be very careful. So, the student is sitting on the boat reading and studying, he’s studying on the boat. And, the student asks the boat driver if he’s ever read any history books.

“You ever read the history book at all?”

The boat driver responds, never.

The student responses, “So you missed a lot of opportunities because the history books have a lot of history about rituals and war, to let us know how people in the past lived their lives, how they dressed.”

So the student asks, “Why you never read history book?”

And the boat driver responds, “I never… uh I never went to school.”

So the student goes on as he listens to the sound the water being paddled, “Have you ever about geography before?”

The boat man replies, “No never.”

The student explains “Geography is a subject that lets us know about the world and different countries from mountains, rivers, and so on. Geography is a very interesting subject. You’ve never heard about this subject?”

The boat driver goes “Never.”

The student shakes his head and says. “If you don’t know about this stuff, your life, it means nothing.”

So he goes, “How about science? You ever read a science book?” The boat man replies, “No, Never.”

The student says, “What happen to you? Science book help explain the why things happen in our everyday life. Everything has to do with science. Scientist are the most important people in the world. If you don’t know about science your life is very low valuable.”

At this point there are clouds come over the sky, big clouds come over the sky, because it is about to rain. The wind is also getting rougher. There is a thunderstorm in the distance which shows a storm is coming. And the boat still has a long way to go, it is not even across half the river. Now the boat man looks at the sky and is surprised. He says “You, look, look at the clouds the storm is going to coming very soon. And you, do you know how to swim?”

The student is completely surprised and says, “Swimming? I don’t know how to swim.”

The boat man then looks at the student with a bemused face and says “Why, you don’t know how to swim? You have so much knowledge. You know about history, geography, and science. Why didn’t you also learn how to swim? Soon you know that you life means nothing.”

C: Damn.

S: So. the winds are getting rougher and the waves are getting higher. The boat is only a small boat so it is blow left and right by the wind. And, so the boat capsizes. The boat capsizes, and only the boat man manages to swim ashore. And the student, the one who was pitying the boat man got drowned in the water.

C: And what is the importance or meaning of this story?

S: The meaning is … if you have only knowledge you won’t make it. Meaning even if you know everything you need to know how to survive. You see?

Analysis: I think the analysis that the informant comes up with sums up the main message of the story. What I find very interesting is that the boat man never bothers to try and save the scholar and instead lets him drown. Either the currents were too strong or maybe he found the scholar that annoying.