Mullah’s Counting Error

Nationality: Persian
Age: 83
Occupation: Retired
Residence: Irvine, CA
Performance Date: 4 March 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: “Once Mullah has been counting the donkeys that he was carrying with himself, and he was sitting on a donkey and counting, there were nine. He said, “but I had ten!” He came down and counted, and there were ten. But then, when he sits on the donkey and he started counting, he came up with nine. He said, “this is very strange!” Then, this repeats some times, then he realizes that he’s counting wrong because, because of that.”

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

Thoughts about the Piece: This story got the most laughs at the dinner table. It is does not have any sort of moral but, like most Mullah stories, is told for the humor. I enjoyed listening to these tales.

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.

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.

Legend of Maui

Nationality: American
Age: 20
Occupation: Student
Residence: Honolulu, HI
Performance Date: 20 April 2017
Primary Language: English
Language: Pidgin

Informant: My friend was born and raised in Hawaii. He grew up in a culture rich in stories, myths, and legends, a few of which he shared with me.
Original Piece: “Long long time ago, there’s this braddah named Māui, and he really loves his culture, and he wanted to be a fisherman when he grow up, but the best way to fish was to make their own hooks. And the best ones, the number one ones, was made from the ancestors…so his grandmother, on his mother’s side, he made one from her jaw…but the thing was, Māui was a terrible fisherman, but he wanted to be a good fisherman, so he went with his braddahs, he snuck on their canoe, and they went out to sea and they found him, they threw him off the boat, and he had to go and swim back to shore with his hook and his fishing line, and he went fishing on shore by himself. But he caught one mono—one shark—braddahs came back, they were so impressed that they took him fishing the next day. He took out his hook… he was the last one on the boat. He was facing the other way, Māui threw his line out, with the magical hook from his grandmother’s jaw, and he caught something, something big. Māui told his braddahs, ‘don’t look back, keep paddling, I’m gonna fish this up.’ And they were paddling hard, paddling hard, for like half an hour. Then one of the braddahs looked back, and Māui saw him and said, ‘NO!’ and then he hooked up an island. And that’s the island of Māui.”
Context of Performance: We were having lunch when I asked him if he remembered any folktales from home.
Thoughts about the Piece: This one was a lot of fun, because while telling it the performer threw some Pidgin into the dialogue.
For more information on the legend of Māui, see “Legends of Maui.” Maui Kayak Adventures. N.p., 19 Jan. 2016. Web. 20 Apr. 2017.

Tamil Wedding Food

Nationality: American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 1 April 2017
Primary Language: English

Informant: My friend’s family is from southern India, and every few years they go back in the summer for family weddings. This past summer she went to three, and recounted some of the traditions for me.
Original Piece: “Wedding food is a tradition, because we always have the same thing. You have your vegetarian floor, and your non-vegetarian floor. and rows of tables, and rows and rows of banana leaves. And you sit, and men come around with these huge silver—what are they called… like a canister. Like a really big canister and a ladle of food. and they put it on your plate unless you say you don’t want it. Like you have biryani…Tandoori chicken…and some other vegetable dishes.
But not everyone can eat at the same time because there’s too many people.
There’s another part of the wedding where the bride and groom stand at the end of the stage and people come and talk to them individually. So you’re either waiting for food or waiting to talk to the bride and groom. And people go up and talk to the bride and the groom, and give their gift, and take a picture. And so the bride and grooms can talk to everyone at the wedding, and thank them.”
Context of Piece: My friend was showing me pictures from this summer, and I asked her to tell me a bit more about their weddings customs.
Thoughts about the Piece: This piece was interesting, as it brought some order and sense to an otherwise crowded proceeding.