Category Archives: Tales /märchen

Stories which are not regarded as possibly true.

Drop Bears

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: Gilbert, AZ
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English

The interview will be depicted by initials. The Interviewer is QB and the interview is AS.

QB: So you spent some time in Australia?

AS: Yeah, I studied there for 6 months.

QB: Were there any stories that you learned while there?

AS: Actually yes! The first thing that the locals will tell any tourists or newcomers is that they need to watch out for drop bears. Drop bears are essentially vicious, aggressive, koala hybrids that drop down from trees if you’re not paying attention. They’ve been known to bite and attack people who were unaware to watch out for them.

Analysis: The tricks on tourists seem to be alive and well as the student said that this was one of the first things that they and their friends learned. While it was quickly dismissed, it seems to be a good trick for tourists to pay more attention to the landscape around them and appreciate more of nature. They were very pleased with the joke and said if they ever returned they would quickly make sure to continue the tradition of these “vicious animals”.

Family of Clairvoyants

Nationality: American
Age: 22
Occupation: Student
Residence: California
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English

The interview will be depicted by initials. The Interviewer is QB and the interview is RT.

QB: What was this interesting thing about your family?

RT: Ok…so every first born of every third generation in my family is born with psychic abilities. And they vary depending upon random factors, so we have ones that are clairvoyant and ones that can sense past events at random places. So my grandmother was the last one in the family lineage because it’ll be my older brothers first born who is the next one, but she was in the house that my mother spent part of her high school time growing up in and she got up to go use the bathroom in the middle of the night and saw this old woman in a rocking chair in their spare room. And she got up and my grandmother followed her down the hall to the top of the stairs, and this old woman pushed her down the stairs. And then ,after that, things got more and more intense. Not in just that house, but her visions in general.

Analysis: Apart from the interesting ghost story told by the student’s grandmother, it is also interesting to note that the student seems to believe the continuation of this gift within the family lineage. Even with the dark tales that the student’s grandmother went through, the student still expects their older brothers child to have this psychic ability. It is also interesting that the family has these powers on a scale. Perhaps it is a better way for them to group the random happenings into one understandable statement.

Tigers and Crying Babies

Nationality: Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: South Korea
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Viatnemese

The interview will be depicted by initials. The Interviewer is QB and the interview is SH.

QB: Do you know of any folklore that your family told you?

SH: Yes I do!

QB: Alright what is that?

SH: There was this story that my mom used to tell me all the time that, um, about a tiger who is looking for this boy. The tiger, like, goes through and finds this boy, and the story is about is about this tiger hearing this boy cry. So the tiger goes to the house to check on the boy and the thing that shuts him up is his mom saying, “If you keep crying then the tiger will come after you.” And then she feeds him sweet rice cakes and then he doesn’t cry anymore. But I don’t remember the entire story right now. But its actually really good.

Analysis: Even though the student did not remember the entire story, it is evident that the story still had a deep impact on them. The student mentioned that the story was told many years ago to them as a young child and the story was still very enjoyable by them. However, it is difficult to decipher the moral of the story or what it was for. Perhaps it was for the particular rice cakes the mother was feeding the child or a lesson of being a good child so that tigers would not find you and you would be rewarded with sweet rice cakes.

Korean Cinderella

Nationality: Korean
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: South Korea
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English
Language: Korean, Vietnamese

The interview will be depicted by initials. The Interviewer is QB and the interview is SH.

QB: Alright! Do you have anymore that you can remember?

SH: Yeah, there’s like a Korean Cinderella and its called “kunji patel” and its about these two girls and its exactly what you think when you think of Cinderella. The mother passes away and Kunji’s mom dies and she goes to the river to talk to her mom often. But her dad marries this horrible step mother and her step sister. And her step sister is just horrible to her and um Kunji is obviously very sweet. And she will go to the river to cry to her mom, and her mom gives her strength. And then she ends up going back to heaven with her mom.

Analysis: While it shares many traits with the popular Disney Cinderella, it takes a different route at the end. There are obvious symbolic messages as Kunji goes to the river, but the story also seems to show the importance of a girl and her mother’s relationship as the ending might suggest it was better for her to go than to stay.

Virginia Witch Windows

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Corona, CA
Performance Date: 4/25/17
Primary Language: English

The interview will be depicted by initials. The Interviewer is QB and the interview is JT.

 

QB: Wait…wait…can you explain that last tale one more time?

 

JT: Yeah…so…basically I have a cousin who lives in Virginia, and they have diagonal windows on their houses that they call “witch windows” because it was believed that witches weren’t able to fly their broomsticks into the home that way. And I think they have like 2 or 3, so its kind of crazy how big that following is.

 

Analysis: Here we see the succession of folklore spreading throughout the US. Even though the student is from California, they have become an active bearer of this folklore as they tell people about a situation that never took place in the state. However, it is also interesting to note that the student’s cousins house still has the diagonal windows. So many years later and it is still common knowledge around Virginia.