Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

The Boy Who Cried Wolf

Nationality: USA
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: USA
Performance Date: April 5th, 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Chinese

Interviewee: It starts with a boy who tricks nearby villagers into thinking wolves are attacking his flock. When the wolf actually appears, the boy calls for help but the villagers believe that this is another false alarm…and in the end, the sheep gets eaten by the wolf.

Interviewer: What does this mean to you?

Interviewee: okay, so when I was little I had a really rebellious attitude and was always looking for trouble. So that really made me stop and think twice before I did anything so I would make sure I didn’t regret it. it’s significance is that that story always stuck with me and it shaped how I go about approaching things

 

For another version of this fable, see: Adams, Elizabeth, Daniel Howarth, and Aesop. The boy who cried wolf. London: Franklin Watts, 2015. Print.

Mullah Nasruddin

Nationality: Persian
Age: 83
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Irvine, California
Performance Date: 22 February 2017
Primary Language: Persian
Language: English

Informant: My friend’s grandfather is originally from Tehran, Iran. He moved to California as an adult but retold some of his favorite stories he heard from his parents as a child.

Original Script: “Mullah Nasruddin is a character who appears to be a joke but he tells the truth through satire and stuff like that. so, at times in some stories he’s hilarious, in some stories he’s an idiot, in some stories he’s wiser beyond belief. So it’s the same character but he goes through different iterations, so he’s definitely a folk character in Persian culture.”

Context of the Performance: Over dinner, family members exchanged old folk stories they remember from Iran.

Thoughts about the Piece: This is an introduction to the trickster character “Mullah Nasruddin”, who recurs in many Persian folktales. He is an interesting character in that he does not fit any universal archetype, but rather fills what ever character type the story needs, whether it be clever, dull, or anything in between.

Citation: for more Mullah Nasruddin tales, see Suresha, Ron Jackson. The Uncommon Sense of the Immortal Mullah Nasruddin: Stories, Jests, and Donkey Tales of the Beloved Persian Folk Hero. Maple Shade, NJ: Lethe, 2011. Print.

Mullah’s Donkey in a Well

Nationality: Persian
Age: 53
Occupation: N/A
Residence: Tustin, CA
Performance Date: 4 March 2017
Primary Language: Persian
Language: English

Informant: My friend’s mother told this story as one of her favorite Mullah Nasruddin narratives, saying she cannot remember where she originally heard it but she always thought it smart of Mullah.

Original Script: “A donkey falls into a well. And then everyone in town, they were thinking how they can actually rescue the donkey and no one can think of anything. And Mullah came and said if you put dirt on it. And everyone was accusing him, “why? it’s going to be buried under the dirt!” And it’s the smartest thing because if they were putting in the dirt and filling the hole so he could actually walk up. That was the smartest actually idea that he had at the time.”

Context of the Performance: Over dinner, family members exchanged old folk stories they remember from Iran.

Thoughts about the Piece: I liked this piece; it’s a good example of Mullah while being clever. I mostly enjoyed how excited the storyteller was, as it was clear this is her favorite story.

Aesop Tales

Nationality: Korean
Age: 21
Occupation: College Junior
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/10/17
Primary Language: English

Interviewer: What is being performed?

 

Informant: We have our own series of ‘Aesop Tale’ like folk stories and stories with moral lessons. By Jacqueline Jung

 

Interviewer: What is the background information about the performance? Why do you know or like this piece? Where or who did you learn it from?

 

 Informant: I like these pieces because having exposure to Western and Eastern stories- it’s so interesting to see the cross over of  ‘moral lessons’ (air quotes) or the emphasis of compassion or community. I learned of these stories when I moved to Korea.

 

Interviewer: What country and what region of that country are you from?

 

Informant: South Korea. (but born and raised in the US)

 

Interviewer: Do you belong to a specific religious or social sub group that tells this story?

 

Informant: Not tied to a specific religion but they are Korean folktales.

 

Interviewer: Where did you first hear the story?

 

Informant: When I was living in Korea, moved there in 2006 and when I was learning the language, reading various folktale books.

 

Interviewer: What do you think the origins of this story might be?

 

Informant: I think very similar to Aesop. They were developed as stories for kids to be compassionate and hardworking.

 

Interviewer: What does it mean to you?

 

Informant: They are very sweet stories. I find them particularly fascinating because they have really similar aspects with tales like Cinderella, The Ant and the Grasshopper and other Western Folktales.

 

Context of the performance– conversation with classmate before class

 

Thoughts about the piece– Reading a children’s book to learn a language is common and this exposure to cultural beliefs seems to have another purpose, to teach about societal values through story at a young age or to an immigrant. You can read a version of the Korean Ant and the Grasshopper here: http://www.uexpress.com/tell-me-a-story/2015/6/28/the-goblin-treasure-a-korean-folktale

 

There Was a King

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Delhi
Performance Date: April 26, 2017
Primary Language: Hindi (urdu)
Language: English, French

“Ek thaa raja.  Ek thee rani.  Dono margaye.  Khatam kahaani.”

That is a folk story in Hindi which roughly translates to:

“There was a king.  There was a queen.  They both died.  End of story.”

CONTEXT:

“When I was young I always wanted to hear a bedtime story before bed, but on nights when my parents didn’t feel like reading me a real one they would tell me that terrible story instead and then leave before I could ask for another one.  I hated it growing up, but now I do the same thing all the time to my little sister whenever she asks me for a bedtime story.”

ANALYSIS:

What I especially like about this piece of folklore is how quickly it was passed down from the parents to the informant and then from the informant to the little sister.  It shows a very clear lineage of the folklore, which is what folklore’s all about.  There’s also a very unique and self-aware sense of humor to this piece that I find really charming and wish I saw in more pieces of folklore today.