Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

Robin Hood – Legend/Tale

Context: The informant, AQ, shares their experience with hearing the legend of Robin Hood and how it has impacted them personally and how it has helped them practice their Islamic beliefs.

Text: Robin Hood – Legend/Tale

Interview: The one legend that I can think of growing up is the legend of Robin Hood and what he did for the people of his community and what he stood for. From what I can remember, the legend was told to me in elementary and it consisted of an archer who fought against the wrongdoings of wealthy people by stealing from them and giving back to the less fortunate. Despite my little knowledge of the legend, I did take a lot from the story growing up as I was also less fortunate compared to others. Hearing how Robin Hood dedicated himself to giving back to those who didn’t have much, I learned how to be appreciative of what I did have and to give back when I had the chance. The legend inspired me to develop my cultural identity and practice what I learned by being consistent with what I wanted to do to help others and to spread the word about why giving back is necessary and helpful to not only the individual but the also community. Along with practicing zakat and sadaqa, Islamic practices that remind one to always give back to the less fortunate.

Analysis: The informant, AQ, shares their connection with the story of Robin Hood and how the story has impacted them to do better for their community and to spread the awareness of giving back to others. AQ took the story of Robin Hood and put it into practice, helping develop and become closer to zakat “Obligatory charity” and sadaqa “voluntary charity.” This relates closely to the beliefs of Ethiopian culture that Dignity matters more than wealth. The story of Robin Hood has helped AQ get closer to cultural practices and has pushed him one step closer to a connection with Islamic teachings.

The Tale of A Monk – Tale

Context: JL is a Cambodian college student and shares his experience with “The Tale of A Monk” and how it has impacted them and their beliefs.

Interview: The tale of a monk, a student monk had a hard time meditating and would always get angry and external noises that disrupted his silence, so he decided to go out into a boat in the middle of the water, in the middle of the lake while meditating, a boat hits him, the monk starts to yell at the sailor of the boat but no one is on it, there he realizes that although things may try to provoke him, the anger is within him. I first heard this story while reading a book about our thoughts and how to be in control of them. This story has a lot of essence as I think everyone can relate to the student monk, people try to provoke us all the time and ultimately it is up to us to decide what to do about it, do we accept and move on, or do we get hung up on the fact that someone is trying to provoke us. This story means a lot to me because it opened my eyes to how I could be a better person and how to practice my Cambodian traditional beliefs of Buddhism, that good behavior achieves enlightenment.

Analysis: JL dives into the tale of a monk and how the monk was provoked to get angry due to his inability to focus on his meditation but soon learns how to control it and keep his anger within, protecting the feelings of others and even his own. JL, later on, relates to the tale of the monk by connecting his experience with the people overall and himself. As he elaborates on the decision-making of a person that ultimately determines whether they let a situation bother them or not, he ends on a note that many can leave off on, how learning how to let go of situations that don’t require a plethora of energy save us from ourselves. As for the cultural ties JL discussed, Buddhism plays a major role in why this story impacts them the most. One of the main teachings of Buddhism is to become enlightened and one of the many ways to achieve that is through practicing the understanding of the four noble truths. The case of JL and the impact of the story relates to the third noble truth in Buddhism, “Nihroda” (cessation of suffering), which eliminates hatred and ignorance within a person, similar to the idea of the monk eliminating the hatred and anger from within himself, bringing him closer to obtaining Nirvana. As JL continues to practice what he learned from the Tale of A Monk, he will also practice his cultural beliefs of eliminating hatred from within himself.

The Rabbit and the Turtle – Tale

Context: “Slow and steady wins the race.” The informant, LD, shares their knowledge of the Rabbit and the Turtle and what it means to them and their Vietnamese culture.

Interview: Out of the many folk tales and fables that were told to me growing up, the story, told to me by my mother, about a turtle beating a hare in a race stuck with me in many ways. The most common moral of the story instilled within us was persistence; the turtle knew that it would be slower than the hare but it never gave up and in the end, its hard work overshadowed the hare’s natural ability. However, as I’ve grown older, the story applied to my life in another way: contentment. We all move at our own pace, and we should be okay with that. Along with what I learned on my own, I was also able to compare it to my culture and what my parents have taught me about my Vietnamese background, valuing harmony, and how to place collective well-being over individual achievement and competition. If we stop comparing our lives and achievements to other people, our focus on our journey will ultimately make us more successful in the end.

Analysis: The informant LD shares their relationship to the tale of the Rabbit and the Turtle and connects it with their life and how it has shaped them and their beliefs. The interview dives into the ideas of resilience and adaptability, showing that growth played a major role in their life connecting and building a stronger understanding of what the deeper meaning of the story had. The informant grew with the story by taking the story and developing many personal teachings that relate to their everyday life, helping them value their progression as a person more fulfilling because the barrier of envy and comparison is no longer in the way. As for cultural teachings, LD took the story and connected what he learned to the values of the Vietnamese culture, learning how to practice harmony, being apart of a whole rather than singling themselves out for one’s benefit, (i.e. being humble).

Babysitter Scary Story


Text: “There’s this girl who has been working on the side as a babysitter for a few families. One of the families recommends her to a couple they are friends with, and the couple hires her to babysit white they go out on a date night. The night comes, and everything is going well. The kids are fun and well behaved, and as it gets late, she puts the kids to bed, and tries to enjoy herself until the parents get home. Or wait- yeah So She’s trying to relax in the family’s living room watching tv, but the family has this weird statue of a clown in the corner of the room. As much as she tries to ignore it, for some reason she just can’t get it out of her head. So she’s really freaked out, and she finally decides to call the parents. She calls them and she’s like ‘hey, you know the kids were wonderful they’re asleep right now and I’m just hanging out, but do you mind if I cover up the clown statue? It’s really creeping me out’ The Father says ‘stay calm, grab the kids, and leave the house. We don’t have a clown statue.’”

Context: My informant is my younger brother who heard this story from a friend in middle school. He says he first heard his friend tell it at a sleepover and this was the one story that really got to him. He says while “the story feels corny now, I still remember it”. He said at the time he heard it, the twist in the final line was what really made it a good scary story for him

Analysis: While the story doesn’t make any claims to be based on a true story, like other ghost stories may do, it was still effective in scaring my informant at the time he heard it. This is likely because the story effectively plays on deep fears held by most. For example, the use of the clown statue hits on the fear of inanimate objects like dolls that are meant to resemble humans. Then when it is revealed that the clown statue was actually a real person, it portrays the fear that these inanimate objects may not be inanimate at all. Finally, the fact that he heard it at a sleepover, meaning it was maybe not the most familiar or comfortable environment sleeping in someone else’s home could have added to how scary the experience was.

The traveler and the Monk Narrative Joke

Text: 

“There was a man who was driving down a long stretch of road in the middle of nowhere when his car broke down. He gets out, tries to fix it, can’t, and decides to walk down the road to see if he can find any help. He eventually comes across a monastery. He walks up, knocks on the door, and asks the monk at the door “hey my car broke down just down the road, could I spend the night here until I get it fixed?” The monk happily agreed, not only welcoming him in, but offering to fix his car and get the traveler on his way. The man is grateful to the monk for his generosity, and enters the monastery for the night. The man meets the rest of the monks, has a great meal, and they show him to his room. As they were walking down the hall to his room, he passed a locked door with a very strange sound coming from it. He asks the monk “What is that sound?” The monk replies “I cannot tell you, for you are not a monk”. The man accepts the monk’s response, goes into his room, and tries to get a good night’s rest. However, he stays awake all night, unable to sleep because of the mysterious sound. It gets to a point where the guy just can’t take it anymore. So he gets up, wakes up the monk, and says: “Please can you please tell me what that sound is driving me crazy” The monk gives him the same response: “I cannot tell you, for you are not a monk”. The man is frustrated, but tries to go back to sleep. Still, he is kept awake by the sound, and is dying even more now to figure out what it is. In the morning, the man goes up to the monk, and says: “I need to figure out what the noise is, how do I become a monk?” The monk says “you must first travel around the world and count every blade of grass. Only once you have counted every blade of grass, can you become a monk. The man sets out, travels the world counting blades of grass. He covers every plain, every mountain, every hill, until he finally counts the last blade of grass. He travels back to the monastery, and tells the monk: “I have counted all 1 quadrillion, 985 trillion, 743 billion, 892 million, 41 thousand and 6 blades of grass, can I become a monk now? The monk says that is correct, but to become a monk you must first travel the world, and count every grain of sand on the earth. Only once you have done that can you become a monk” The man is so eager to figure out what the sound is, that he agrees. He sets out, goes to every beach, every dessert, every sand dune, and counts every grain of sand on the earth. He returns to the monk, and says: I have counted all “58 quintillion, 8 quadrillion, 247 trillion, 133 billion, 21 million, 607 thousand, 522 grains of sand, can I become a monk now? The monk says, that is correct, you can finally become a monk. The man is overjoyed, and he immediately follows the monk up to the room where he heard the sound, and figures out what was making it. 

“What was the sound?”

“I can’t tell you, because you’re not a monk”

Context: My informant is my younger brother who heard this story from one of his friends in highschool. His friend told him this story on a road trip as a way to pass the time. My brother says the idea of the story is to drag it out as long as the other person will take, usually adding quests the traveler must continue to complete, and stretching out the set up and conclusion. Then once the traveler finds the sound, you wait for the listener to ask what it was, then deliver the punchline. 

Analysis: I found this joke to be especially interesting because the funny part isn’t necessarily the punch line, but how the storyteller has essentially tricked the listener into sitting through a long story that is building up to a climax that is never delivered. Furthermore, the longer the story is continued, the more and more the climax of learning the sound is built up, to the point where no possible source for the sound could explain the traveler wanting so desperately to find it. But by using the punchline as a sort of anti-climax, it both preserves the sense of curiosity in the listener, and instills the same frustration that the traveler felt throughout the story.