The Frog in the Well

CK: “So there’s a lot of folklore and children’s stories that I read when my mom was teaching me mandarin at home. There’s one that I like a lot and it’s pretty well known, like I feel like all Chinese people know it, it’s called: The Frog in the Well / The Frog at the Bottom of the Well. From what I remember, basically, there’s this frog and he lives a content life at the bottom of a well. He has company (fish and whatnot) and food and whatever you need to be comfortable. One day a turtle comes by the well and tells the frog that he should come out of the well and the frog is like ‘why would I do that lol my life is awesome and I have everything here I need, I have a beautiful view of the whole sky!’ 

Eventually, he’s convinced to hop out of the well and once he does he sees how vast the sky actually is. He realizes how much of the world he doesn’t know about and how much he hasn’t experienced. Yeah, moral of the story is about being open-minded, venturing out of your comfort zone, in general broadening your worldview, making the effort to learn, and discovering opportunities. 

There’s some idioms that come from it.  

井底之蛙 – jǐng dǐ zhī wā – “frog at bottom of well,” you might call someone this if they are close-minded

坐井观天 -zuò jǐng guān tiān – “gazing/looking at the sky while sitting in a well,” same use case as first one but the act of being close-minded

Oh, and a lot of Chinese idioms are 4 characters it’s like a whole thing.””

context: The informant is a Game designer who studied at USC and recently graduated as of 2025. She is a first generation Chinese American and grew up with a lot of Chinese traditions. Her family is from Southern China, and her parents put a lot of effort into teaching her about her culture’s food, language, rituals, etc.

Analysis: Looking at this children’s folktale through a functionalist lens, its meant to enforce a moral function within children. Its advice on how to go about life, and a warning to avoid being close minded. It also pushes children to get out of their comfort zone in order to gain new life experiences. This is further pushed through the multiple proverbs and idioms that come from this specific tale. the phrase “Frog at the Bottom of the Well” is also esoteric language between Chinese people, since they know the meaning behind the phrase due to most Chinese children growing up hearing this story.

The Crocodile Who Walks Like a Man

Age: 20

“On a stormy night a small charter plane was scheduled to land at Boeing Field.

Authorities have never been able to determine who chartered the plane – only that the pilot and passenger were carrying illegal animals into the country.

The plane hit bad turbulence and, after noting the plane losing altitude the radio tower reported hearing a voice in the background yelling something about “it getting out of its cage.”

There was no further radio contact, but a few minutes later the plane tried to make an emergency landing at Paine Field – but failed and went down deep in the woods.

When authorities found the crash site they only discovered the pilot’s body. Coroner’s reports indicated that he died not from the crash impact, but rather from ghastly bite wounds all over his body.

A zoologist from the Woodland Park zoo studied the bites and concluded that they were probably caused by something in the crocodile genus, but with no recorded bite pattern.

Since the crash there have been numerous reported sightings of the crocodile – always at isolated houses or locations deep in the forest.

One such house was originally thought to have been abandoned until clawed footprints were discovered in the flowerbed outside a shattered second story window.

The footprints – hind legs only – were soaked in aviation fuel leading authorities to speculate that the croc may well have mutated from long years of exposure to the runoff waste from Paine Field and the Boeing manufacturing facilities.

But the company denies any such possibility and insists that such stories are merely malicious rumor designed to slander their good name.

this is the story of The Crocodile Who Walks Like a Man that my dad would tell me and my siblings as kids.”

Context: The informant is from Washington state, which is home to many Cryptids. This could be due to the amount of wilderness that surrounds the state. The informant has shared that her father grew up hearing multiple wilderness cryptid stories, and he passed these stories to her when she was a kid. She considers herself a superstitious person, and believes in many of the cryptid stories she was told growing up.

analysis: This legend is a clear statement about how manufacturing facilities around wildlife is dangerous and harms the local communities around them. Its a warning about the predatory nature of big companies, and how little they care for the general publics health as well as the wildlife around them. In a literal sense, these facilities cause massive pollution and harm to the surrounding environment and the animals. There’s paranormal consequences to allowing these companies to invade, pollute and deforest. Its a classic example of folklore used to comment on an institution or company.

La Siguanaba

Age: 23

“A Salvadorian folklore story I know is La Siguanaba. It originated from the Náhuat people. “Sihuehuet” means beautiful woman in Spanish. Its Salvadorian. The gods cursed her for neglecting her son. She was turned into a spirit who lures unfaithful men. She’s also beautiful, that’s how she lures and kills them. When they get close she shows her face, which is, a , mix of a horse or a skull- or a mix of the two, and drives them crazy. It’s basically about temptation. I had this as a research topic in high school. I wanted to learn about the indigenous tribes from where my family is from.”

context: My informant, is a 23 year old male born in America, whose parents were born in El Salvador. Both parents fled to America to escape the Salvadorian civil war. His mother is from a town called El Mozote, which was where one of the largest massacres caused by the US government took place in 1981.

analysis:

Looking at this from a functionalist perspective, the legend is meant to enforce societal norms. Neglecting your child and being unfaithful could lead to divine punishment and temptation could lead to supernatural consequences. I also believe that La Siguanaba follows a common Latin American folklore trope of a supernatural or ghost woman sent out to punish people, like with La Llorona. the informant’s retelling of the story is a way for him to reinforce his own Salvadoran cultural identity. I also believe that many violent Legends (or just legends centered around death) may have emerged due to the Mozote massacre and other horrendous imperialist acts that have been forced upon Salvadorians. Historical trauma can shape how some legends and folk tales in general are viewed, even if those stories predate such events. the passage of time can effect how those stories are remembered or emphasized.

Lunar New Year Superstition

Age: 23

JL: “My Mom texted me today, ‘Hello my daughter and son. It’s Chinese New Year so you don’t have to sweep or take out the trash.'”

Context: This is from one of my roommates, who is Chinese American. She celebrates the Chinese New Year with her family every year. This was a text from her mom to her family group chat, which includes her father and brother. It is a Chinese superstition that if you sweep on the Lunar New Year, you sweep away all your good luck. If you take out the trash, you are throwing away prosperity as you enter the New Year.

Analysis: This superstition is a Chinese folk belief, combined with a calendar ritual relating to Lunar New Year. Like many other cultures folklore, this one relates the idea of good and bad luck with specific rituals. Functionally, not participating in these chores reinforces cultural identity, and also reinforces Chinese social values of prosperity and luck. I also think that the fact this was shared over text demonstrates how folklore adapts over time. Many years ago, this may have been an in person face to face conversation, but in the year 2026, people have found other ways to communicate and connect with one another in order to spread knowledge and information. Overall, this tradition helps create a sense of certainty when the future may be uncertain, especially at the start of a new year.

Halluchila Sickness Remedy

Age: 23

Interview:

“In both TCM and ayurvedic practices there is the notion of hot and cold foods. Not to do with temperature In real life, they loosely map to inflammatory/heavy and anti-inflammatory/light foods,

hot: deep fried foods, avocado, chocolate, meat
warm: rice, corn, bread
cool: onion, mushroom, cheese
cold: watermelon, mango, bok choy (typically watery foods)

In cold weather you wanna eat hot/warm foods, in hot weather cold/cool.

When i was sick my parents would make the most gnarly combo of cool/cold foods to make me feel better. One called Halluchila, hallu=turmeric, chi=hot, la=water. It would be turmeric water with salt, black pepper, ginger, honey, garlic, sometimes onion, and some other stuff. It was genuinely awful but unfortunately it did make me feel better”

context: The informant is a 23 year old friend attending USC. They are Nepali, and grew up in the DMV area, specifically Maryland. When interviewed they gave this interesting home remedy for sickness.

Analysis: This Folk Medicine is a remedy that is learned within the informant’s family, and use ingredients that are commonly associated with “healing” across a lot of other cultures. It is a form of family folklore, since it was specifically passed down from the informant’s parents to the informant. It also demonstrates how a medical understanding of the body isn’t only demonstrated in western medicine, but has been demonstrated through these traditional remedies that have been passed down multiple generations over a long period of time. This specific remedy is also, in a way, a reinforcement of the informant’s Nepali cultural identity, since Ayurveda is so embedded in Nepali culture. This is also an example of social norms within a Folk group, like specific foods being associated with hot and cold, even if the food items themselves aren’t typically served hot or cold.