Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

The Crow and the Pot

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

“So, there’s a crow, and he’s really thirsty, and he’s flying around looking for water, and it’s a hot summer day.  So he comes across this pot, and because pots usually have water in them, he flies down to the pot.  So the crow finds water in the pot, but he can’t safely reach it, so he thinks about how he can get the water safely.  So he finds some pebbles around the pot and decides to start throwing them into the pot, slowly raising the water level of the pot until he can safely drink from it.”

ANALYSIS:

What I found really fascinating about this folk story wasn’t just the story itself, but the fact that the informant didn’t have anything to say regarding the moral or meaning behind the folk story.  This is a great example of folk stories being passed down but the meaning being lost from generation to generation.  The meaning that I took away from it as a listener is that intelligence should be valued just as highly as strength, because, in the end, the crow didn’t get to drink the water because of his strength but because of his intelligence.

For another version of this folk story, see Aesop’s Fables “The Crow and The Pitcher”.

 

The Monkey and the Wedge

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Delhi
Performance Date: April 27, 2017
Primary Language: Hindi (urdu)
Language: English, French

“So this is a classic Panchatantra story my mother would read to me as a kid.  So one day, a worker was cutting a big log in half, but when lunchtime came and he wasn’t finished cutting the log in half, he put a wedge between the two sides of the log so that it wouldn’t close up.  But then a monkey came down to the log to play, and once he got curious about the wedge, he pulled the wedge out of the log while he was between the two sides of the log that the worker was cutting, and now, with the wedge gone, the log closed up and crushed the monkey.  It’s kind of a dark story, because I think that would kill the monkey, but I don’t ever remember him dying in the story when I was growing up, so I don’t know what’s true and what isn’t.”

ANALYSIS:

This is a really interesting story because the informant is right: the log closing up would definitely kill the monkey, but because the informant was a child when his mother read it to him before bed, his mother most likely left out that part, as it would be hard for a child to fall asleep after hearing that.  I think this speaks to the inherent nature of folklore, that it has multiplicity and variation.  Folklore can go through countless adjustments as time wears on, and a mother adjusting a story for their child so it’s more kid-friendly is just one of the many ways folklore could undergo change.

The Jackal and the Drum

Nationality: Indian
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: New Delhi
Performance Date: April 27, 2017
Primary Language: Hindi (urdu)
Language: English, French

“So there’s this Panchatantra story my mother read me when I was younger about a Jackal.  So this Jackal was wondering this field looking for food when he heard this terrible and loud and scary noise.  The Jackal wanted to run away, and did for a little bit, until he realized that he should find the source of the noise before he decides if he should be scared of it.  So, the Jackal takes all the courage he has and approaches the source of the noise, and finds out it’s just some branches scraping against a drum.  And right next to the drum that the Jackal was so scared of was a ton of food and water for the Jackal that he never would have found if he had run.  My mother always told this story to encourage me to be more brave like the Jackal was, and I really appreciate her for doing that for me.”

ANALYSIS:

This is a great piece of folklore because the informant not only remembers the story extremely well, but also remembers the meaning behind the story.  I think the meaning behind the folklore is one of the most important parts of folklore, and whenever I see that an informant remembers only the folklore story but not the meaning or lesson behind it, it saddens me.  So, naturally, this piece of folklore really uplifted me because the informant took the lesson behind the folklore and really held onto it tightly, something I think that should be done more often.

Bear in the Cave

Nationality: African-American
Age: 49
Occupation: Dance professor
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/24/17
Primary Language: English

Background: D. Sabela Grimes is a 59-year-old man living in Los Angeles, CA. He is a dance professor at USC. Originally, he intended on going to law school, but decided to change his career path to become a dance teacher.

Original script: “so, um, there are two best friends in the woods… and one of them was like ‘yo – because that’s how people talk in the wood – do you hear that sound?” They turn around and see a, um, bear behind them. And instantly, one friend turns to the other and goes “yo, I’ll distract the bear while you book it to that cave near us. GO.” So they, um, split off and one friend, um, climbs up a tree and is waving his hands and like doing these crazy thangs to get the bear’s attention. Um, so the friend looks up and sees his friend running in and out of the cave. So he’s like “yo, what are you doing?? I said I’d distract the bear while you get to a safe place!! Why the flip are you out of the safe place?” His friend keeps running in then out then in then out and the bear’s sitting there like “What the flip?”. He just couldn’t understand what his friend was doing so he goes “yo, why aren’t you listening to what I’m saying? Get in the cave and be safe!” His friend yells back and goes, “I’m doing this because there’s a bear inside the cave!”

Background Information about the Piece by the informant: His mother used this story to teach Professor Grimes about how people always have unseen situations and you must be empathetic at all times.

Thoughts about the piece: I actually really love this piece because Professor Grimes related it to one of the students in our class who hadn’t been showing up to class. The student shared that he decided to drop pre-med over spring break as a senior and pursue a job straight out of college. So, he had been missing class to go to job interviews and job fairs. Professor Grimes told the class that this was a lesson for everybody – that every person is going through something in their lives and as a professor, he doesn’t just want to be an authority figure. He wants to create real, human relationships. This really touched me because he, as a professor, truly cared for his students. I felt loved and respected in his class.

Russian kolobok story

Nationality: Russian
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 4/26/2017
Primary Language: Russian
Language: English

Alexander is a 20 year old student at USC. He is currently a freshman, and is old for his grade because he spent an extra year in Russia, where he grew up his entire life. He said life there was very different and while he is good at English, he still struggles slightly as he is very new to the country. When I asked if there were any stories he learned growing up this is how he replied:

“There was a grandpa and grandma and they didn’t have children, the grandma decided to make kolobok, which is literally a round piece of bread, and made him alive, she baked him, he got bored, and she put him in the window, and he jumped out the window and went to the forest. And so he’s walking through the forest, and he first meets a rabbit, and the rabbit wants to eat him, and he’s like “oh I ran away from my grandma and my grandpa and I’m gonna run away from you” then he runs away. Then meets a wolf, and the wolf wants to eat him and says “I’m gonna give you a cookie come here” and then he says “I ran away from my grandma and grandpa, I’m gonna run away from you” so he runs away. Then he meets a fox, and the kolobok says “I ran away from my grandma and grandma, I will run away from you” and the fox says “I can’t hear you well, or see you well, can you come closer to me” and the kolobok comes closer and the fox eats him”

Alexander said this was the first story he learned, in fact he says it is the first story your mother tells you and he learned it when he was very young. He takes it now as a lesson to never run away from home, or trust the sly fox. I have never heard this story, but again within this story is the prominence of the number 3. The kolobok repeats the “I ran away from my grandma and grandma, I will run away from you” phrase 3 times before the story ends, and I see this in many stories all over. I also think this story has a good message and find it interesting that Alexander said that “this is the first story your mother tells you” as if she has to.