Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

Pikul Flowers: Thai Folktale

Nationality: Thai
Age: 61
Occupation: Restaurant Owner

Context:

The following informant is a 61-year-old Thai immigrant who heard the following story growing up as a kid in the Issan region of Thailand. 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 U

U: This story is called Pikul Gold or Golden Pikul. Pikul is the name of a flower, this is a story about doing good things. Once upon a time there was a beautiful young woman name Pikul. Her appearance was beautiful and the way that she acted was beautiful. And her mom died when she was a child and she was raised instead by a step-mother and had a sister named Mali. This is, uh, kind of similar to, uh, Snow White or Cinderella, or something like that.

The bad thing was her step-mother and her sister were bad people. Both of them made Pikul do hard work every day, which I guess is like Cinderella. One day after finishing all her work at home Pikul went to go fetch water from the well which was far from their house and heavy. And there was an old lady in front of her who was thirsty and asked for some water to drink. Pikul was happy to help the old lady and told her she could take the water to wash her face and body so she could feel refreshed. And she said, “Don’t worry about if there is not enough water, I can get some more.”

And took care of the old lady well. The old lady says, “Oh wow not only are you pretty but you are also nice.”

Even though the old lady looked very poor and dirty Pikul still treated her well. After that the old lady gave Pikul a special blessing: “With this blessing, the Pikul flowers will fall out of your mouth, Golden Pikul flowers will flow out of your mouth.”

C: They’re falling out of her mouth?

U: Yes, this was a special blessing.

C: That’s a blessing?

U: “Whenever Pikul feels sad, the flowers fall out of her mouth.”

After giving her the special blessing the old lady disappeared. Pikul knew at that moment the old lady was an angel who gave a special blessing to Pikul. When Pikul arrives at home late she is yelled at by her step-mother who says, “You’re skipping work, you’re not doing anything.”

So Pikul tells her step-mother the story of the old lady. As she’s speaking Pikul flowers are flowing out of her mouth and her step-mother is greedy, instead of feeling bad for Pikul she gets greedy instead. She goes from being angry to being greedy and takes all the Pikul flowers and orders Pikul to keep talking so the flowers will keep flowing out of her mouth. She does this so, so she can sell the Golden Pikul flowers for money.

Now everyone is the household is living well, Pikul doesn’t have to do a lot of work anymore but instead she has to talk all day, so the flowers flow out of her mouth. Pikul is tired, she’s very tired with her step-mother because she made Pikul be someone with a sore throat and a raspy voice. The step-mother gets mad at her and bullies and beats her to get her to keep speaking. She can’t speak a single word because her throat hurts and her throat stings.

Now instead to help satisfy the step-mother’s greed, the step-mother comes to the decision to send her other daughter, the one called Mali to do what Pikul did. The daughter that is actually is her daughter. So she goes to where Pikul met the old lady but instead of finding an old lady she meetings a beautiful young woman, wearing beautiful red clothes, standing underneath a large umbrella. The young woman asks Mali if she can drink some of the water that she is carrying, but because, because Mali is jealous of the young woman she acts rudely to the young woman because she doesn’t think the young woman is the angel. Mali curses at the young woman, and the woman, the woman who is wearing the beautiful red clothes, then it turns out she is the angel. So she curses Mali back, “Whenever you angry and you speak worms will fall out of your mouth.”

C: Uh oh.

U: So, Mali goes back home and explains to the mother what happened angrily and the house starts filling up with worms. As they’re falling out of her mouth the house is filled with worms. Because she was speaking with angry emotions. Now the step-mother she starts to think that Pikul, that Pikul was pulling a prank by telling them a fake story and making Mali have what happened to her. She thought she was lying to them, do you understand?

C: Yes.

U: Now the step-mother beat Pikul, chasing her out of the house. Feeling bad Pikul wanders around and she’s traveling on the same path and runs into a young prince riding a horse. The prince sees this young woman sitting and crying and asks her “What happened?”

As soon as he finishes speaking Pikul flowers start flowing out everywhere. The prince is so happy to see this and immediately asks to marry Pikul. After that they get married and become a King and Queen.

This is why there is a saying in Thailand when someone isn’t speaking people will say:

Direct Text:
กลัว ดอกพิกุล จะร่วง จากปาก หรือ อะไร ที่ ไม่พูด

Phonetic Spelling:
Klạw dxk phikul ca r̀wng cāk pāk h̄rụ̄x xarị thī̀ mị̀ phūd

Transliteration:
Are you afraid that pikul flowers will fall out of your mouth that why you don’t speak?

Translation:
Are you not speaking because you are afraid pikul flowers will fall out of your mouth?

Analysis: I think this an interesting tale about being a nice person even in the face of hardship. I think it is very interesting how the informant compares this tale to the tale of Cinderella.

Small Sticky Rice Pot

Nationality: Thai
Age: 61
Occupation: Restaurant Owner
Residence: New York
Primary Language: Thai (laotian)
Language: English

Context:

The following informant is a 61-year-old Thai immigrant who heard the following story growing up as a kid in the Issan region of Thailand. 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 U

U: This is story from around where I am from in the Issan region of Thailand. This is the story, uh, the story of the small sticky rice pot. There this one family with no father, the father died and they only have a mother. When it is time for them to go to the field, because they are farmers, the son goes to work and he goes to plow the field. He gets very tired because the Issan region is very hot. It is hot all day, and he get exhausted and are very hungry. Normally the mother, the mother even though she is very old, will come and bring food for her son every day. She will bring a lunch box for him every day. But today she comes later than usual because she’s also tired. The son is throwing a fit and complains, “It is so hot, I’m so thirsty, and so hungry.”

He’s frustrated because the Issan region is so hot. The mother, when she approaches the field he only sees a small sticky rice pot hanging from her stick. And he’s unhappy. She’s carrying the rice on a stick and put the stick on her shoulders. And he sees how small the rice pot is and he’s not happy. Because the pot is so small and he is extremely hungry, hungry to the point of being angry and frustrated. He’s in such a bad mood from this and starts thinking “The rice in that pot definitely won’t make me full.” And he says to his mother, “Old lady, what have you been doing to bring my food to me so late, and the food that you brought is just this small rice pot. How do you think I’ll be full?”

The mother responds, “Even though the rice pot is small. I pushed the rice down into it until it was tight. It tight all the way to the lid. Try eating it first.”

But because the son was angry, and hungry, and angry no matter what his mother said he was still frustrated. So, he took the stick and hit his mother so she would fall and he took the rice pot to eat. The son didn’t like what his mother had to say. He eats the rice until he is full but there is still more rice in the pot and he thinks, “I was in wrong because I was angry, I hit my old mother so she would fall.”

So he ran over to check on his mother and held her crying but she had already died.

C: What he hit her until she died?

U: Yes. Now the son is crying thinking, “I killed my mother when I was angry and not thinking.”

He’s frustrated and doesn’t know what to do so he goes to the temple and explains to a monk what he did. The monk tells him, “Killing your mother or your father is an extremely heavy sin. Once you die you will never be reborn as a human again. If you want to lighten your sin you need to build a stupa.”

You know what a stupa is right? They’re the big towers in temples. So, he needs to build this stupa and place his mother’s bones in the stupa. He needs to build the stupa as high as doves can fly. Now the son begins building the stupa by shaping clay and wood, until it is tall and huge and he names it Stupa Small Sticky Rice Pot that Made Him Kill His Mother (เจดีย์ กล่อง ข้าว น้อย ฆ่า แม่, Cedīy̒ kl̀xng k̄ĥāw n̂xy ḳh̀ā mæ̀, Stupa Box Rice Small Killed Mother). And in the stupa, he has depictions of what happened. The end.

C: So, once he built the stupa he was okay?

U: He built it so everyone would know what he did. That he killed his mother over a small sticky rice pot. In a fit of rage and hunger.

Context: This tale is very interesting because it brings up the idea of reincarnation is which part of Buddhism and is Thailand’s main religion. Also it reinforces the values of respecting ones parents.

Prince Toad and Fireworks

Nationality: Thai
Age: 61
Occupation: Restaurant Owner
Residence: New York
Primary Language: Thai (laotian)
Language: English

Context:

The following informant is a 61-year-old Thai immigrant who heard the following story growing up as a kid in the Issan region of Thailand.The informant is performing the piece from memory to me, her son. 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 U

“Prince Toad and Fireworks”

U: This story is also from where I’m from in Issan. Do you know what toads are? They’re kind of like frogs that have bumps on them. In this one country in Issan there is, uh, a queen in the country who gave birth to a prince who’s skin was yellow like turmeric. And had skins just like a toad. Because of this everyone called him Prince Toad. Once the prince grew up he wanted to have a beautiful wife. So he asked for a blessing from an Indra. A similarity would be Jesus with the Greeks or something. What do they have in Greek myth?

C: Zeus.

U: So he prays to the Indra who is like the Zeus of Thailand. And Indra creates a castle and a beautiful wife. The Indra also removes Price Toad’s skin turning him into a handsome young man.

C: Why? Why did the Indra do this?

U: The Indra did it because he prayed.

C: And the Indra just gave it to him?

U: Its because Prince Toad prays, “Because of all the good karma and goodwill that I’ve accumulated over my life and my many lives before this, please Indra help me have a beautiful wife.”

And the Indra granted his wishes by giving him a castle and beautiful wife. The King hears this and is happy with the Prince and lets him become the new king. The new king has a good sense of how to rule and takes care of his kingdom very well until small countries come asking to become colonies of the new king’s country. Beside Indra there are also Mara. Which are another god, bad boy gods that live in the earth. The Mara sees that the Prince Toad is so great and people just give offerings to him and there are no offerings for the Maya. Now the Maya is angry and orders a water dragon, which is like a big snake, which is the god of water and responsible for rain. The Maya orders the water dragon to not send rain to Price Toad’s country. This makes it so there is no rain. Now the people in his country get worried because there is no rain and go talk to Prince Toad who is now the king. Prince Toad sets up an army made up of animals, it has ants, bees, termites, and scorpions, all the animals and takes his army to fight the Mara. He orders his ants to take the Mara’s weapons before the fight and the termites to chew though all of the Mara’s wooden weapons. So when they go fight the Mara has no weapons. When the Mara tries to use special spells instead to fight them it gets drowned out by the frogs, the cicadas, the chickens, and the snake. Making it impossible for the Mara to chant a spell.

The Mara tries to fight by making snakes manifest to kill the frogs and the other small animals. Prince Toad then transforms the rainbows in eagles and orders them to catch and eat the snakes that the Mara is making. And the bees and the scorpions bite the Mara until he gives. The Prince negotiates with the Mara to make sure that it rains every year and that the Mara cannot order the water dragon to not make it rain. And any year if the Mara pretends that he forgot the Prince Toad will tell the people in the village to shoot fireworks into the sky to remind the Mara to not forget to make it rain. That is why every year they light fireworks in Issan to make sure that it will rain.

Analysis: I find it interesting how the themes of karma and reincarnation also play a role in the story. I also think it is interesting how the informant compares Greek mythology and Thai mythology.

Annotation: Another version of the story can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket_Festival#The_Myth_of_the_Toad_King

Filipino Folklore: The Maligno

Nationality: Filipino American
Age: 29
Residence: California
Performance Date: 5/1/2019
Primary Language: English

Context:

The informant is a Filipino American woman in her late twenties. I asked her if she knew any stories or folklore from either friends or possibly any folklore from her family and her culture. She mentioned her mother knew many stories about spirits and creatures in the Philippines. The main piece is told in her own words:

The Main Piece:

So, my cousin’s friend decided to set up an apartment for drafting for their upcoming architecture firm. Her friend apparently had a sixth sense, looked out the window, saw a tree in the neighbor’s yard, and suddenly left and didn’t want to return. Apparently, she said there was a tree full of Maligno. My mom said it was a bad area.

Background:

The informant knows this piece from her family and folklore from her own culture. She is Filipino and her mother shared these stories with her and her siblings. She states, “My mom told us about this story while we were in the Philippines. We were visiting some of the old houses where my mom and relatives grew up, which were supposedly haunted. One of the houses had some crazy scratches on the wood floors and little footprint markings. The she started talking about folklore and how they could have been made.” She says it’s interesting because the stories explain what happens when certain areas create bad feelings or if someone has a certain ailment, certain creatures in the Philippines are responsible for them.

Notes:

Namaligno is a term used by Filipinos for someone being affected by something magical or supernatural. Maligno are spirits that haunt places or people. They can also disguise themselves as regular people. If the Maligno takes a liking to a certain individual, it can cause harm to them. For example, in the Philippines, when someone comes down with a sickness or ailment, it is because the Maligno is attached to that individual. Filipinos believe that certain diseases can be caused by the intervention of a magical or supernatural entity. This is usually due to a disease, sickness or ailment that cannot be explained or has no apparent cause. An example of this is Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome, a common occurrence in the Philippines. Due to the lack of explanation as to how people die from this, Filipinos will connect the cause to Malignos. It is an interesting concept because we, as humans, always need and explanation for things. The unknown is an unsatisfactory answer for why certain things happen, so to cope with the unexplained, we search for reasons why. This would explain how in many different cultures, there are creatures or spirits that are to blame for unexplained phenomena.

 

 

For another version/story of Maligno, check out: http://phspirits.com/maligno/

The Owl: A Native American Bad Omen

Nationality: Hopi
Age: 92
Residence: California
Performance Date: 5/1/2019
Primary Language: English

Context:

My grandmother M is Native American and would often tell me stories about her life on a reservation in Arizona. I asked her about any stories that she carried with her as a child or even in adulthood that relate to her cultural background. She shared this story with me about her experience with an owl.

Main Piece:

The story I remember most is not of her life on reservation however a story that happened to her as an adult. My grandmother once told me that the owl is considered a negative omen in Native American culture. She also told me that she experienced this negative omen first hand and has since hated owls. Molly had seven sons and one of her eldest had purchased a motorcycle. He was in his twenties and was of age to purchase the bike but had never ridden one before. My grandmother told me that one day she had noticed an owl out during the day perched on a tree near her bedroom window. She found this very odd because of the time of day, and because she lived in East Los Angeles where seeing owls would be rare. The owl spoke a name to her, and she was very unsettled. The owl had spoken her son’s name. Her son had been home but was about to leave on his bike to hang out with his friends. My grandmother stopped him and told him to stay home because she had a bad feeling about him leaving. She didn’t tell him about the owl for fear that he wouldn’t believe her and would probably think she was crazy. That night, my uncle was in an accident on his motorcycle and died. To this day, my grandmother regrets having kept the owl from him.

Notes:

Stated by Native-languages.org, many Native American tribes consider the owl an omen of death. Hopi however, consider the owl a symbol of authority and wisdom. It is interesting that my grandmother didn’t look at the owl as a sign of wisdom given that her own tribe sees them that way. Possibly it was a sign of wisdom in that it gave her the warning signs and she was left to her own devices to solve the problem. My grandmother has never shared stories with me regarding anything supernatural. I don’t think that was something that they talked about because I don’t think they believed in it. Given that my father also had an experience regarding the death of my uncle and he is very logical and not easily swayed without proof, I believe there is truth to it.

 

 

For more on Owls in Native American folklore:

http://www.native-languages.org/legends-owl.htm

https://www.owlpages.com/owls/articles.php?a=64&p=2