Tag Archives: children’s story

The tale of Heungbu and Nolbu

Nationality: South Korean
Age: 27
Occupation: PHD Student, Electrical Engineering
Residence: Los Angeles, California
Language: English

Informant: “Nolbu is the older brother. Heungbu is the younger one. Although they are family, Nolbu makes more money and is very greedy. His success puts Heungbu in a bad situation financially. On the other hand, Heungbu is a good person who tries to help other people. So, Heungbu goes to Nolbu’s house to get some rice since he is poor. But Nolbu slaps his face with a spoon and refuses to give him any rice. Nolbu is then going back to his home and sees a bird being attacked by a snake. He tries to save the baby bird by healing its broken leg. Heungbu cures him and lets the bird go. The bird comes back with a seed. A Calabash seed. When the Calabash is grown, he cuts it open and finds tons of gold and money, so Heungbu becomes rich. Nolbu hears his brother became rich by helping the bird, so he breaks a healthy bird’s leg to cure it. The bird then goes to Nolbu’s house and gives him the same seed. But when Nolbu cuts open the Calabash, goblins come out and bite him and take all his money.”

Context: The informant heard this story from his older siblings and claims that it is a common story in Korea. He compared this story to the American story of the tortoise and the hare, saying that it is frequently told to young children like the story of the tortoise. He believes the story is designed to teach kids to avoid greed and help others out of the kindness of their heart rather than to receive something in return. The informant is from South Korea and says that this story has been passed down from generation to generation, mostly orally.

Analysis: I think this tale expresses some cultural and moral values that parents likely wanted to pass down to their kids. The story is relatively simple, with clear moral signals presented throughout, likely to help drive home the point to a young audience. The story clearly puts an emphasis on the idea that kindness can not be (or should not be) faked for personal gain. It also serves to teach children that bad actions can come back to bite you, even if you think you’re tricking the system. Lastly, the story teaches children to be kind, paradoxically, by telling them they will be rewarded for it only if that act of kindness is genuine and not in pursuit of a reward.

“The Yellow Ribbon”

Genre: Folk Narrative – Ghost Story

Text:

A man named Johnny was going out for coffee one day when he saw the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He introduced himself to the woman, whose name was Jane, and the two of them began to fall in love. Everything about Jane was perfect, but there was one thing that confused Johnny: every single day, Jane wore a yellow ribbon around her neck.

“Do you ever take it off?” Johnny finally asked her after a month of dating. Jane told him that she never takes it off, even to sleep, and that he should never untie it. But even though Johnny pushed and pushed, she would never tell him why.

“One day, I’ll tell you,” Jane would always say whenever he asked.

The years went by and Johnny and Jane fell deeper in love and eventually, Johnny proposed to her. Yet every day, Jane still wore the same yellow ribbon around her neck.

The night before their wedding, Johnny finally had enough. He decided he absolutely needed to see what was under that ribbon, that he couldn’t wait a single day longer.

That night, Johnny waited for Jane to fall asleep. When he was certain she was sound asleep, he reached over to her neck and gently tugged on the end of the ribbon to untie it…

But when Johnny pulled the ribbon undone, he realized why exactly Jane had worn it every single day: because without the ribbon to hold it in place, her head rolled right off her neck and onto the floor, where Jane’s eyes slowly opened.

“Oh Johnny,” she said, even though her severed head was now a few feet away from her body. “I told you not to untie the ribbon.”

Context:

“I first heard this story from my older brother when I was growing up, but I heard it a few times throughout my childhood at places like childcare centers and in elementary school. I think it’s a pretty common ghost story among kids. I always thought it was creepy to think about a woman’s head being held onto her body by only a ribbon, and for a while, I was scared of anyone I saw wearing a ribbon or a thick choker around their neck.”

Analysis:

The theme of this story seems to be trust within a relationship: Jane withheld a secret from Johnny – the only apparent “fault” about her. But Johnny could not trust her enough to live without knowing what the secret was, and it was his scheming/distrustful nature that led to him trying to discover the answer on his own and accidentally revealing that Jane’s neck was severed. The implication of this happening the night before their wedding suggests that a lack of trust within a couple is potentially ruinous to a marriage. However, another possible interpretation is to take the opposite stance: that it is withholding secrets from one’s partner that destroys a marriage, and that the skeletons of one’s past will always end up being revealed.

The Lion Who Laughed

Primary Language: English

Alright this is a story about the lion who laughed, because the lion laughed, this is about a lion who laughed. The lion is a very cruel king, he gathers all the animals in the forest, he is a very cruel, cruel king! So all the animals gather in the forest, he goes “Everyone has to laugh at somebody who tells me a joke.” He pulls the tortoise up, the tortoise has to tell everyone a joke. If everyone laughs, he survives. If one person does not laugh, then he dies. He gets eaten by the lion. So! The lion is ready for the tortoise to make a joke and everybody laughs! The tortoise tells the funniest joke in the world, the lion is laughing his ass off, except the sloth. The sloth has not said a word, he is not laughing. So naturally the lion eats the turtle, okay? Or the tortoise sorry. Next day in the forest the lion gathers everybody, he’s a very cruel king, and he goes “Oh my god, some animal’s gotta tell a joke, or I am gonna eat an animal if everybody laughs then the animal is saved! If one person doesn’t laugh then damn. . . I gotta eat the animal.” So it happens to be a kangaroo. The kangaroo’s all nervous and he knows he is going to die and he’s the worst joker in the world. He tells a joke and the lion just stares at him, everybody is just like “what the hell was that?” No laughing. Uhh. . . but he gets eaten, he gets slobbered up but! The kangaroo is dead because he just got eaten but the sloth is laughing his ass off, and everyone is like “Yo, why are you laughing? You were the only one that didn’t laugh yesterday, now you’re the only one laughing today. What’s going on?” And he goes “Ahaha I’m not laughing at the kangaroo joke, I was laughing at the tortoise joke from yesterday. That shit was hilarious!” So the moral of the story is. . .don’t be a sloth.

Hans Brinker and the Dam

Nationality: American
Age: 21
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles
Performance Date: April 2020
Primary Language: English

Piece

One of the stories I heard, growing up as a kid, uhm… whether that be in elementary school or through my parents was the Dutch story about Hans Brinker, uhm… who is not usually named that, it is just his official title in the book. Uhm. And he’s a dutch boy that puts his finger in a damn and saves his entire village from drowning. I’m not sure what it is about this story that has been popularized so much, and I don’t know why it is taught so much in american schools. Uhm. But it is something that is stuck in my mind as the story that’s been passed on from generation to generation. Cause after looking it up I found out it originated in an 1875 book. But yeah, that’s my favorite piece of ferkl- folklore. 

Background

M is a close friend from Minnesota who studies film. He is a really serious guy with strong roots in Minnesota. He told me that he heard this story from his school and his parents and it stuck with him for whatever reason.

Context

He sent me a voice clip over Whatsapp in which he said all of this. I told him to send me a piece of folklore earlier that day. 

Thoughts

The story is an example of a martyr figure, a young boy, that saves his village through self sacrifice. It is probably indicative of values of the community. M mentioned that it was taught a lot throughout american schools and this could be an attempt to instill specific moral values in children, namely those relating to self sacrifice for the good of your community. 

El Cucuy

Nationality: Mexican-American
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Arizona
Performance Date: 4/3/2020
Primary Language: English
Language: Spanish

Context:

MV is a 2nd generation Mexican-American from New Mexico. Half of her family is of Japanese-Mexican descent and the other half is mestizo. Much of her extended family lives in Mexico. I received this story from her in a video conference call from our respective homes. She learned this story from her grandmother, who told it to her when she was a child.

Text:

JS: Tell me the story of El Quiqui (alternatively el cucuy)

MV: All right so el quiqui lives in tunnels in the mountains. And he’s a really creepy guy who takes away bad children and eats them. There’s this girl, her name is Rosa or some other Mexican shit it doesn’t really matter (laughs). And she’s such a good kid, always does her chores, is obedient and all that. Her sister, though, her name is… Margarita (laughs), she’s awful, just a bad kid all around. So one night el quiqui comes and takes her to the mountains. Rosa goes up and just as he is about to eat Margarita, she saves her, and also finds all these other kids in his tunnels and sets them free.

JS: What do you think the story means?

MV: Classic. Classic! “Do your chores or you’re gonna get eaten (laughs)”

Thoughts:

The practical utility of this legend, as the informant stated above, is obvious. It is a tool for persuading children to take care of household duties. Paradoxically, to give them a sense of responsibility, the story scares them into obedience. The informant’s response, “classic,” suggests that household duty and obedience are important parts of being a woman in a Mexican family. Interestingly, in this informant’s account, the two children were girls. This gendering of the objects of El Cucuy’s aggression suggests that young girls are more often trained at a young age to assist with chores around the house than young boys. The faithful Rosa is a model child, one with a sense of responsibility to her sister and to her family. She is a model of domesticity and virtue. Additionally, El Cucuy is masculine, suggesting that a girl who is not obedient will be taken away and consumed by a mysterious and dangerous man. The story can be used to scare children into doing their chores, but it also contains a gendered lesson of matronly duty and selflessness, that if one does not practice obedience, she will end up with an unfavorable man and meet her demise.

For a more comprehensive look at El Cucuy and other Mexican children’s folk legends, see Domino Renee Perez’s book There was a woman: La Llorona from folklore to popular culture. 

Perez, Domino Renee. There was a woman: La Llorona from folklore to popular culture. University of Texas Press, 2008.