Tag Archives: legend

The Chief and the Singer

Main Piece

“It must’ve been before I was in 5th grade — over the course of a few nights, my dad told a story to me, my brother, and my sister. In hindsight, it was very obviously something completely made up on the spot, but I think we were too young to realize.

Back home — ‘home’ referencing Nigeria, where my dad is from — there was an evil village chief. He was a vicious conqueror that took people’s lands, stole from the poor, and amassed a massive amount of wealth. Accordingly, his house was gigantic, and sat on a huge plot of land. One day, the chief captured a princess.”

(Informant MN then noted that he forgot if there was a reason the chief captured the princess, and assumes the story had minimal exposition).

“The chief held the princess in another building on his property. He planned to have her killed the next day. That night, the king was in his bed when he heard the sound of someone singing. He was confused, unsure of where the sound could be coming from, but soon realized the sound was coming from the princess’ cell. While he usually would have put a stop to it, the king instead decided to listen to the song. In fact, he was so taken aback by her voice that when the next day came, he decided to delay the execution until the next morning.

Night falls, and the voice returns. The king, again, is obsessed with her voice–rizz god!–and the next day, delays the execution even further.

This goes on for a while, and to be honest, the details fall away past that point. I think the king ends up marrying the woman, and there’s a sort of ‘happily-ever-after’ ending.”

Interpretation

Informant Interpretation: MN notes that “Nigerian parents do this thing where they tell you nothing about their childhood” and have “no photos of their upbringing,” especially as it pertains to things that happened while they lived in Nigeria. Thus, “you end up forming this fantasy-like [imagination] of what home was like for them,” and stories like this “feed into the fantastical imagery I have of that time and place. As roughly patched-together and made up as that story is, it’s as real as most of the made-up details about my dad’s confusing ass life that I call true.”

Personal Interpretation: I drew connections between this story and “One Thousand and One Nights”–an anthology frame tale that I don’t know well, but I recall contains a similar story about a brutal king and a storyteller woman, who he permits to live night by night as she tells him stories. To me, MN’s story read as an oicotypical variation of this concept, underscored by the fact that he changed between referring to one of the primary figures as “chief” and “king,” and the other as “princess,” “singer,” and sometimes just “woman” (though some of these changes may be attributable to memory). I also think MN’s personal connection to the story, belief that it was entirely made up by his father, and its role in shaping his childhood understanding of Nigeria makes the story feel like more than a tale to me–not a myth as it’s not something he claimed to believe in, but something that shapes his beliefs about a place in the real world. In that sense, it felt somewhere in the gray area between tale and legend.

Background

Informant MN is a current student at USC studying Aerospace Engineering. He grew up in Redmond, Washington and lives at home with his siblings and Mom. He notes that this story was told to him a long time ago, and he has some “amount of amnesia about the particular details of [his] childhood.”

MN is Nigerian and male-presenting.

The Ghosts of July

Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 03/31/2024

Text:

“During the month of July, the gates between the afterlife and this world open, and ghosts come to the roam in our world at night. You have to close your windows and blinds, or they’ll come into your room.”

Context:

The informant heard this story from her roommate, who grew up in China. The informant was told this story one night when they were trading various cultural stories and legends, and recalls that this was a legend believes deeply in. She also recalls that her roommate felt a ghost in her room when she was a kid and didn’t close her window. The informant doesn’t necessarily believe in the story, but thinks that all ghost stories could be possible.

Analysis:

The context of this legend being from China adds a level of cultural significance as it is tied to the lunar calendar. This means that the story has been canonized in cultural lore, but continues to shift. For example, the informant was told a “quick” version of the lore, that holds deeper cultural significance, demonstrating the popularity and easy ability to spread ghost stories. This story spreads easily both as it as a ghost stories, but because families are likely to tell their kids this story in the culture out of caution and true belief in the story. I think that ghost stories are most certainly plausible, but the notion of a singular month of “ghosts” holds less plausibility for me.

The Bellwitch

Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 03/31/2024

Text:

“There is a cave near [the informants home] where a witch-ghost supposedly haunted the Bell family, and would communicate with various members of the family. She would also send weird abnormal things like animals with the heads of other animals.” The witch-ghost would reside in a cave, that is now called the “Bell Cave.” Apparently someone ended up taking their life in the cave, but there is no clear record of that.”

Context:

The informant heard this story from her classmates in high school, as their town held proximity to the Bell Cave. The informant is relatively spiritual, and recalls feeling unsettled when she and her friends drove past the cave later that month. The story of the Bell cave has been spread widely and has made its way into popular media, but the informant recounts that the people who told her heard the story from their families who had it recorded in passed down journals/via word of mouth from elder family members, dating back to the time of the “hauntings.”

Analysis:

By nature of being a ghost story, the story of the Bell Cave and the related witch-ghost is hard to verify, especially as it was adapted into popular media and spread throughout the country. However, I think that it is extremely interesting that the informant held a different perspective coming from the region of the lore. Ultimately, I think that ghost stories most certainly hold some truth, although this is of course unverifiable and solely Is supported by the belief of the orator. I think that ghost stories are “popular” because they serve as both a cautionary tale, and hold entertainment value. Specific to the informant, though, is a historical and geographical significance, adding a layer of nuance to the spread within her home.

The Legend of the Mothman

Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Age: 19
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 03/31/2024

Text:

“There is a flying creature named “Mothman,” who shows up right before a disaster of some sort. After people saw him for the first time, a bridge collapsed. People also saw him right before an earthquake, plus other natural disasters like a tsunami and avalanche.

Context:

The informant heard the legend of the “Mothman” when he was on a camping trip with his cousins in middle school. While they were camping near his home, within the state he lived in, Mothman was claimed to be a national figure. The informant does not necessarily believe in it, and thinks that people are willing to say/support a lot in the wake of large disasters or trauma. He does however admit to recounting the story to his younger cousins when they had a sleepover a few years later.

Analysis:

The notion of a figure representing bad luck or disaster is similar to an albatross, and holds notoriety and recount-ability because are often willing to believe things tied to disasters. Additionally, it can spread as people “think they see something” and begin to worry and panic about an impending disaster. While Mothman is not tied to an explicit culture, the legend can be widely distilled as a form of “campfire story,” or stories that are told to large audiences. I don’t believe that these stories are told out of true “fear” or belief, but rather told as a way to scare younger/unaware audiences. However, the idea holds enough plausibility since it cannot be easily disproven.

The Legend of the Skinwalker

Nationality: American
Primary Language: English
Age: 18
Occupation: Student
Residence: Los Angeles, CA
Performance Date: 03/31/2024

Text:

“If it is late at night and you hear coyotes howling in a residential area, close your window and do not look outside because it is a skin walker who waits to make eye contact before it strikes.”

Context:

The informant, who grew up in a relatively suburban city, recalls hearing this legend from her grandmother when she was a child (about seven years old). Her grandmother, who was rather spiritual, learned it from her mother, and passed the story down. At first it was told as a way to get the informant to close her eyes and go to bed, however, continues to be told today. The informant strongly believes in the story, and maintains that whenever she hears a coyote howl, she feels eyes on her and knows that it is more than simply an animal.

Analysis:

The notion of skin walkers is not isolated to just the part of the United States the informant is from, but is rather widespread. The idea of a “skinwalker” has both been repeated throughout folklore, but has also been a feature of several popular movies. Several Indigenous groups in the United States speak about skinwalkers as well, contributing to their notoriety. This displays a value of cultures in enshrining “villainous” figures (similar to the boogeyman). The value of a figure to warn against also makes these figures common as parents are able to use them to instill lessons upon young children (ie. go to bed when you’re supposed to), however also are lessons in safety as the “truth value” of the legend holds plausibility. While I don’t necessarily believe in the notion of a skinwalker, it is a story I have heard before. Ultimately I think that it is just too unverifiable to holds explicit truth, although I think it is definitely possible. I do think that someone would have caught a skinwalker if they were real (although many argue they would remain in their chosen form).