Tag Archives: Children’s Folklore

El Mal De Ojo (Noah Hensley)

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General Information about the Item

-superstitions

-Language: English

-Country of Origin: Venezuela

-Informant- NA

Date Collected- October 24, 2021

Informant Data:

NA was born in rural Venezuela in 2001. He immigrated to Miami, FL in 2008 with his mother to find a better life in the US after the oil crash that devastated the Venezuelan economy. He is a staunch supporter of capitalism and individual liberties, and is a Junior at Dartmouth studying Economics. 

Contextual Data

Cultural Context: 

Venezuelan children are thought of to me more susceptible to various evil spirits and forces, as they are relatively pure and defenseless. “El Mal De Ojo” (an evil eye) is one of those supernatural spirits; anytime a child is laughed at or envied, the evil eye places bad luck on both the child and it’s family 

Social Context:

The mother in a Venezuelan household is often the one tasked with protecting their children from anything that may come their way. NA’s mother is no different, and while the family is Catholic, the mother still looks out for bad spirits and energies outside the Christian faith that can traditionally harm a Venezuelan family. NA’s mother adhered to the following protocol. 

Item

To protect a child from the ‘evil eye’ caused by callousness and envy, young children (such as NA) are instructed to wear thin red wristbands until they are old enough to ward off the negative energies caused by the supernatural evil eye. It is unclear why the red band is said to protect against the eye itself, but NA speculates that it’s color is designed to avert attention. 

Informant’s Comments

NA did not wear one as a child, but he knows kids who did.

Collector’s Comments:

I had seen these in my elementary school in the US, and now know what it means.

Tags/Keywords

Superstition

Latin

Children

Venezuela

Evil

My Dinosaur (Ignacio Ortiz)

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  • Title: My Dinosaur
  • General Information about item:
    • Verbal Lore, lullaby
    • Language: English
    • Country of Origin: United States
    • Informant: J.M
    • Date Collected: 10-27-2021
  • Informant Data:
    • J.M. is a male Dartmouth student in the class of 2025. He was born and raised in California, USA. J.M. is very involved in the Dartmouth Outing Club and he has found a good, strong community. He enjoys spending time with his family and aspires to be a successful professional in the Biology field when he graduates. 
  • Contextual Data:
    • Cultural Context: Lullaby’s involving ancient creatures, such as dinosaurs, have been very alluring to children all over the world. Natural elements and animals are oftentimes soothing and a good subject for lullabies. 
    • Social Context: Comparing a child to a dinosaur can be a playful and endearing pursuit. J.M. was very comforted by the fact that his father saw him as his little dinosaur. 
  • Item:
    • The last passage of this picture book is very beneficial to induce a child into sleep. It is sung with soothing tones and provides a sense of closure, ideal for terminating the day and initiating sleep.
  • Associated File:

  • Transcript:
    • Good night my dinosaur,
    • sleep tight my dinosaur, 
    • soon I ‘ll see you again, 
    • my very best friend, 
    • good night, sleep tight, 
    • my dinosaur.
  • Informant’s Comments:
    • This was his favorite bedtime lullaby. It was really useful to soothe him after he had a stressful day.
  • Collector’s Comments:
    • I found this lullaby very comforting and sweet. I can see why J.M. loved it and remembers it to this day. The emotional attachment that these songs have on him are similar to the ones I have for myself. 
  • Collector’s Name: Ignacio Ortiz
  • Tags/Keywords:
    • Verbal lore
    • Lullaby
    • Mark Alan Weatherby

German Nursery Rhymes Learned in Germany

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General Information about Items:

  • Nursery Rhymes
  • Germany
  • German
  • Children’s Folklore

Informants’ Data:

  • Informant 1: Lara Schilling is a friend of mine who I met a year and a half ago.  She is 21 years old and recently graduated university with a Bachelor of Science.  She grew up in Kuenzelsau, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany.  Geographically her family is from different areas in Germany.  She is currently living in Dusseldorf, Germany.  
  • Informant 2: Benjamin Libbrecht is a friend of mine who I met when abroad in Russia last summer.  He is 20 years old.  Ben grew up moving around Germany, France, and Belgium.  He is currently studying business and economics in university in Cologne, working towards his bachelor’s degree.  His family geographically is from both Belgium and Germany.  
  • Informant 3: Jonas Haas is a good friend of mine who I met a year and a half ago.  He is 24 years old.  He grew up in Southern Germany in the so called “Black Forest” area.  He graduated university with a Bachelor of Science degree, and is currently employed in the tech sector in Munich.  Jonas’s family is from around Germany as well as Spain.  
  • Informant 4: Jasper Wittenberg is an old friend.  I’ve known him for four years.  He is 20 years old.  Jasper grew up in Hamburg, Germany.  He has been working as a chef in the service industry, and is planning on attending university in the Fall.  His family is from Hamburg and surrounding areas in Northern Germany.  

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context
    • All this data was obtained during the COVID-19 Pandemic, over Zoom interviews.  
  • Cultural Context
    • Nursery Rhymes in Germany are used to relax, entertain, or educate children, similar to Nursery Rhymes in many different cultures.  Some German Nursery Rhymes collected are very popular throughout the country and apparent in its people’s collective consciousness, proven by the fact that several of my interviewees presented them as favorite Nursery Rhymes from their childhoods, as well as several of Kai’s German-American sources.

Items:

  • Hoppe, Hoppe, Reiter (3) 
    • “Hoppe Hoppe Reiter” was described to me by three of my informants, Informants 2, 3, and 4, Ben, Jonas, and Jasper.  It is something adults or older teens say to children when they bounce them on their laps, meant to imitate a child riding a horse – at the end, the adult opens up their legs and drops the child down a little.  It is used to entertain children.

Hoppe, hoppe, Reiter, 

wenn er fällt dann schreit er.

Fällt er in den Graben,

fressen ihn die Raben.

Fällt er in die Hecken,

fressen ihn die Schnecken.

Fällt er in den Sumpf, macht der Reiter: plumps!

 

Hop, hop, rider,

If he falls, he will cry.

If he falls into the hedges,

He will get frightened.

If he falls into the mud,

The rider falls with a plop!

 

  • Piep, Piep, Piep (2)
    • This was also described to me by two of my informants, again Informants 2 and 3, Ben and Jonas.  It is something that families say with their children before they eat, all holding hands, meant to entertain them and to bond with them.

Piep, Piep, Piep, 

wir haben uns alle lieb, 

jeder isst so viel er kann, 

außer seinen

Nebenmann. Guten Appetit!

 

Beep, beep, beep,

we all love each other,

everyone eats as much as he can,

except his neighbor.

Enjoy your meal!

 

  • Alle meine Entchen
    • “Alle meine Entchen”, “All my Ducklings”, is a circle game similar to Duck Duck Goose.  It was described to me by my Informant 1, Lara.  It is used by children to entertain each other.

Alle meine Entchen

Schwimmen auf dem See,

Schwimmen auf dem See,

Köpfchen in das Wasser,

Schwänzchen in die Höh.

 

All my ducklings

Swimming on the lake,

Swimming on the lake,

Heads in the water,

Little tails up in the air!

 

  • Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass
    • This was a learning Nursery Rhyme Informant 1, Lara, described to me.  She said it is often taught in school to learn the pronunciation of vowels.  Listed below is the first verse, which is correct German.  The verses continue the same, by replacing the vowels with other German vowels.  For example, the first verse, “Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass” would be sung the next verse as “Dra Chanasan mat dam Kantrabass”, and so on and so forth.

Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass

saßen auf der Straße und erzählten sich was.

Da kam die Polizei, ei was ist denn das?

Drei Chinesen mit dem Kontrabass.

 

Three Chinese with a double bass

Sat on the street and chatted.

Along came the police: ‘Now what is this?‘

Three Chinese with a double bass.

 

  • Von den blauen Bergen kommen wir
    • This Nursery Rhyme, described by my Informant 1, Lara, is common among schoolchildren.  It is similar to the English “She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain When She Comes”.  However, Lara said that schoolchildren in Germany are known to replace “we” with the name of their teacher, and change the lyrics in a way to insult said teacher.  Not to their face, of course.  It is a way in which schoolchildren can entertain each other and bond in a fairly harmless exploration of deliquency.

Von den blauen Bergen kommen wir,

von den blauen Bergen, die so weit von hier.

Reisen, das ist unsre Wonne,

scheint auch noch so heiß die Sonne.

Von den blauen Bergen kommen wir.

 

From the blue mountains we come

From the blue mountains so far away from here

Travelling is our joy,

no matter how hot the sun

From the blue mountains we come.

 

  • Auf der schwäbsche Eisenbahn 
    • This was given to me by my Informant 1, Lara, and was the least known of all the Nursery Rhymes.  Lara learned it in school.  It is a learning, geographical Nursery Rhyme, in where children learn some major cities in Southern Germany.

Auf der schwäbsche Eisebahne gibt’s gar viele Haltstatione,

Schtuegert, Ulm und Biberach, Meckebeure, Durlesbach.

Rulla, rulla, rullala, rulla, rulla, rullala,

Schtuegert, Ulm und Biberach, Meckebeure, Durlesbach.

 

On the Swabian railway, lots of stops along the way,

Stuttgart, Ulm and Biberach, Meckebeure, Durlesbach.

Rulla, rulla, rullala, rulla, rulla, rullala,

Stuttgart, Ulm and Biberach, Meckebeure, Durlesbach.

 

  • Backe, backe, Kuchen
    • “Backe, backe, Kuchen” is a Nursery Rhyme described to me by my Informant 2, Ben.  It is similar to the English “patty cake”, in where a child and their partner play a hand clapping game while singing or chanting it.  It is a form of entertainment for children.

Backe, backe, Kuchen,

der Bäcker hat gerufen!

Wer will guten Kuchen backen,

der muss haben sieben Sachen:

Eier und Schmalz, Butter und Salz,

Milch und Mehl, Safran macht den Kuchen gehl!

Schieb, schieb in’n Ofen ’nein.

 

Bake, bake the cake

The baker has declared.

If one wants to bake a fine cake

He has to have these 7 things:

Sugar and salt,

Butter and lard,

Eggs and flour

Saffron makes the cake yellow,

Slide it into the oven.

 

  • Pinke Panke Schmidt Ist Kranke
    • “Pinke Panke Schmidt Ist Kranke” was described to me by my Informant 4, Jasper.  It is a rhyme said while playing a game with a child. An object is hidden in one fist and the child is supposed to guess where it is hidden.  The game is usually between adults and children, although it can be between children as well.  It is mostly used to entertain.

Pinke Panke, Schmidt ist Kranke, 

wo soll er wohnen? 

Unter oder oben? 

Oder ist er umgezogen?

 

Pinke Panke, Schmidt is sick,

where should he live?

Below or above?

Or has he moved?

 

  • Itzen Ditzen Silberspitzen
    • This Rhyme was also described to me by my Informant 4, Jasper.  He described it as something adults or teachers will say to children to get them to be calm, quiet, and sit down.  It is similar in America to teachers saying things like “criss cross applesauce” or rhythimic clapping as a way to get their student’s attention.  The children are meant to repeat it, and then quietly sit down.

Itzen Ditzen Silberspitzen, 

alle Finger dürfen sitzen.

 

Itzen Ditzen Silverpeaks,

all children may sit.

 

Collector’s Comments:

  • The informants all seemed happy to reminisce about their childhoods, as well as curious to know what Nursery Rhymes the other informants told me about in their interviews.  I very much enjoyed interviewing them.  They are all wonderful people.  

Collector’s Name: Haley Zierden

Tags/Keywords:

Children’s Folklore, Germany, Nursery Rhymes.

 

Kipsalana Chant

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General Information about Item:

  • Text/Music Folklore – Chant
  • Children’s Folklore – Draznilka
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Henry Senkfor
  • Date Collected: 02-19-2018

Informant Data:

  • Henry Senkfor was born in Cleveland, Ohio on May 15, 1996. Henry lived in Cleveland his whole life and has never moved. Henry started swimming when he was 7 years old because his parents made him do it. He is a senior at Dartmouth. He was captain of the swim team but just finished his swimming career a day ago.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The cultural context of this folklore represents something that many teams do before games or races; a cheer. A cheer/chant is preformed across almost every sport, whether it be saying the team name, or a bunch of random words put together and cheered before the games.
  • Social Context: The data was collected during a one on one interview in Andres Hall. Henry described a ritual of folklore that was passed down to him when he entered Dartmouth as a freshman. The ritual has been passed down from members of the team since before 1976. The ritual gets the team excited and ready.

Item:

  • Henry talked about the men’s team cheer, Kipsalana, which the team chants before every meet. This chant has been passed down for as long as people can remember.
  • Kipsalana Cheer: “Kipsalana,Kapsalana Squish Squa. Tie hi Silicon Sku Cum Wa. Mojo Mummik. Muka Muka Zip. Dartmouth Dartmouth Rip Rip Rip. Tie Hi Sis Boom Ba. Dartmouth Dartmouth Rah Rah Rah.”

Video of the Men’s Swim Team Performing Kipsalana:

IMG_4315

(Download to Play)

Transcript:

  • “The folklore that came to my mind is our team cheer, ‘Kipsalana’. This cheer is something that we do before every meet, exclusive to the Dartmouth men’s swim and dive program. The tradition was started way back before any of us were even born, and maybe before our parents were born as well. No one knows where the cheer comes from or what it means, as it is a bunch of random words. But since it was created, Dartmouth men’s swim and dive will, and has done this chant before every meet.”

Collector’s Comments:

  • The nonsensical lyrics and sing-song rhyming of this chant seems to mirror the Draznilkas of Slavic folklore. This similarity to children’s folklore may be explained by the fact that many young college swimmers are going through a liminal stage, transitioning from home and childhood, into an adult competitive environment, and so rely on these childhood tools to better explore their situation. Furthermore, Kipsalana reflects the initiation ritual purpose of children’s folklore, with the repetition and silly lyrics being an important tool for new members to join the team’s culture.

Collector’s Name: Matthew Luciano

Tags/Keywords: Music Folklore, Children’s Folklore, Draznilka, Swimming

Cello Humor #2

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General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore, tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Dominik Smith
  • Date Collected: 2-28-18

Informant Data:

  • Dominik Smith was born in San Diego, California on October 28, 1996.  According to Dominik, he has been playing the cello from a very young age, 6 to be specific. He said he fell in love with idea of cellos and being a cellist at the age of 6 after watching Yo-Yo Ma playing the Cello with such passion on television. Currently, Dominik is a junior at Dartmouth College. At school, Dominik is a member of the Dartmouth Symphonic Orchestra (DSO) as a cellist. He is majoring in physics and math.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Within any group of students/peers/friends, there is always some sort of “humor.” Going off of this idea, there is definitely a a lot of humor related to instruments and practices in any orchestra. And like any type of humor, mostly everyone in the orchestra becomes aware of it at some point in their life. Since there are many sections within an orchestra, each section being its own instrument, they would probably have their own range of humor.
  • Social Context: This item was mentioned when I asked Dominik about any instances of humor within the cello section. He knew immediately of a joke that he had laughed so hard to when he had first heard it, and knew it be the perfect item for this project topic. He said the joke was told to him by his cello teacher a few years after he had begun playing the cello and was thinking about switching to the viola. He said that his cello teacher had actually heard this joke from one of his previous students, who had apparently come up with it.

Items:

  • The item of folklore that Dominik mentioned during the interview was related to children’s folklore, since he had learned of it as a child and the joke was created by another child of her age. The joke goes along the lines of, “After finishing rehearsals, the orchestra group leaves for lunch and the instruments are left in the room. After a while, the conductor realizes the room wasn’t locked, so he rushes back and finds that all the instruments were stolen except one – the viola.” The explanation for such a joke is that violas (and mostly all wind instruments) are considered the worst instruments in the orchestra, and for most pieces their existence isn’t even required. So the violas weren’t stolen because they were deemed worthless compared to the rest of the instruments.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file): Where the violas are situated and how it relates to the joke (even though they are closest to the conductor, they were still left behind by the robbers).

Image result for orchestra map viola

Transcript:

  • “My cello teacher told me this joke, in order to dissuade me from switching to the viola after having trouble learning some harder techniques on the cello.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • This is Dominiks’s third year at Dartmouth, and he says that being part of the DSO has been a great experience so far.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Dominik was very easy to interview, and actually remembered the whole joke which was very helpful.

Collector’s Name: Aditya Srivastava

Tags/Keywords:

  • Children’s folklore
  • Humor
  • Violas
  • Cello
  • Cello Teacher
  • Orchestra

Cello Humor #1

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General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore, tradition
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Amy Tsai
  • Date Collected: 2-27-18

Informant Data:

  • Amy Tsai was born in China on October 13, 1999.  But then her family relocated to Orlando, Florida when she was a child. According to Amy, she has been playing the cello from a very young age, 8 to be specific. Currently, Amy is a freshmen at Dartmouth College. At school, Amy is a member of the Dartmouth Symphonic Orchestra (DSO) as a cellist. She does not yet know what she will major in, but she is attracted towards biology.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: Within any group of students/peers/friends, there is always some sort of “humor.” Going off of this idea, there is definitely a a lot of humor related to instruments and practices in any orchestra. And like any type of humor, mostly everyone in the orchestra becomes aware of it at some point in their life. Since there are many sections within an orchestra, each section being its own instrument, they would probably have their own range of humor.
  • Social Context: This item was mentioned when I asked Amy about any instances of humor within the cello section. At first, she had a hard time coming up with this item, as she was unsure whether the item she had in mind was actually an item that could be used for this project. Finally during the interview, Amy noted that there was one joke that she head from her best friend in middle school, who played the oboe.

Items:

  • The item of folklore that Amy mentioned during the interview was related to children’s folklore, since she had learned of it as a child and the joke was created by another child of her age. The joke goes along the lines of, “How do you make a violin sound like a viola?”. The punchline is, “Sit in the back and don’t play.” The explanation for such a joke is that violas (and mostly all wind instruments) are considered the worst instruments in the orchestra, and for most pieces their existence isn’t even required.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file): Viola

Image result for violas

Transcript:

  • “My best-friend told me this joke, and ever since I’ve always remembered it whenever someone brings up the viola or the wind-instruments during practice or concerts.”

Informant’s Comments:

  • This is Amy’s first year at Dartmouth, and she says that so far DSO has been her home away from home.

Collector’s Comments:

  • Amy was very easy to interview, and actually remembered the whole joke which was very helpful.

Collector’s Name: Aditya Srivastava

Tags/Keywords:

  • Children’s folklore
  • Humor
  • Violas
  • Cello
  • Orchestra

“123 Dartmouth” Chant

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General Information about Item:

  • Textual Folklore – Chant
  • Poly-modal Folklore – Ritual
  • Language: English
  • Country of Origin: United States
  • Informant: Ziqi Wang
  • Date Collected: 02-23-2018

Informant Data:

  • Ziqi Wang is a male student in the Dartmouth College Class of 2018.  He was born in China and emigrated to the United States when he was 9 years old; he has spent most of his life in the Hanover, NH area, having attended Hanover High School. He studies economics and environmental science at Dartmouth, and intends to pursue a career in business in Boston, MA after graduation. Ziqi has been an active member of Dartmouth’s Club Swim Team since the fall of 2014.

Contextual Data:

  • Cultural Context: The Dartmouth Club Swim Team has a variety of bonding rituals which help the team come together. This particular ritual is mandatory for all members, with the repetition helping to enforce the primacy of the team in all members heads, while establishing the hierarchy of the team, by having team leaders lead the chant in a loud, authoritative voice and having junior members echo the leaders.
  • Social Context: This chant was explained in a one-on-one interview with the informant at Baker-Berry Library. It is performed at the end of the meet, with the members all huddling up together in close contact, creating a close bond. Various team leaders then lead the chant, with the rest of the members following them in the chorus. The chant is also used to signal the end of practices, illustrating the transition from the intensity of practice to post-practice relaxation.

Item:

  • At the end of every practice, the members of the Dartmouth Club Swim Team come together in a huddle and finish with the “123 Dartmouth” chant. It is led by one or more of the team’s leaders or senior members, with the rest of the team acting as a chorus. The text of the chant is shown below.
  • “Team Leader: ‘Club Swim on 3! 1, 2, 3!                                                                                         Rest of Team: ‘Club Swim!'”

Transcript:

  • “We end practice every day with a simple chant which is called 123 Dartmouth. One of the seniors or older people on the team shouts ‘Club Swim on 3!’ And then counts off “1,2,3.” Then everyone else shouts ‘Club Swim!'”

Informant’s Comments:

  • It seems kind of simple and is pretty similar to what a lot of other teams do, but it still adds a lot of excitement and energy for the team after practices.

Collector’s Comments:

  • This chant does seem similar to the huddle-ending practices of many sports teams at Dartmouth, but uniquely, it is led by senior team members, rather than the coach, like in most teams, illustrating a greater level of independence. It has a vague similarity to children’s folklore, in that as Bettelheim emphasizes, repetition is used to reinforce ideas for junior members. Also, it is composed and performed exclusively by and for students. This reflects the nature of club sports, which generally do not have formal coaching staff, requiring club athletes to learn and maintain their traditions and skills independently, much as children’s folklore is used by children to teach themselves and others, as opposed to adults teaching them.

Collector’s Name: Ashwath Srikanth

Tags/Keywords: Textual Folklore, Poly-modal Folklore, Ritual, Chants, Children’s Folklore, Swimming

Urashima Taro

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Title: Urashima Taro

General Information about Item:

  • Genre and Sub Genre: Children’s Folktale
    • Type of Folktale: Fairy Tale
  • Language: Collected in English, originally in Japanese
  • Country where Item is from: Japan

Informant Data: Ellis Guo is a ’17 here at Dartmouth College. He is a senior and while still technically undeclared for a major, he is interested in Computer Science and Engineering. He is a male of age 21. Ellis is from Tokyo, Japan, which is where he attended the American International School.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context/Cultural Context: Ellis learned this tale when he was little in Elementary school. He doesn’t remember the exact age, but it was when he was a child. He learnt it from his teacher, who told his class the tale from memory.

Item: Urashima Taro

Long ago there was a village by the sea. There was a group of three little kids poking a little tortoise not letting it go into the sea. A man named Urashima Taro saw this and yelled at the kids to leave the turtle alone. The little turtle escaped off into the sea. Upon this, a massive turtle appeared and thanked Taro for his kind actions. As a reward, the massive turtle offered to bring Taro back to the turtle home deep in the sea. Taro agrees and gets on the turtle’s back and swims down to the turtle’s massive underwater palace.

The palace is magnificent, and has almost anything one would ever want. Taro meets the princess of the palace, who happened to be the little turtle that Taro had saved from the little kids. The princess is eternally grateful and invites the man to stay and indulge in any of the amenities of the palace. Taro stays for three days and is enjoying his time at the palace, but decides that he needs to go back. Afterall, he misses his friends, family and the village. Taro tells the princess that he wishes to leave, and while saddened, the princess informs that Taro if he leaves he can never come back. Taro reluctantly decides that it is best if he leaves. The princess gives Taro a small wooden box as a gift and tells Taro that no matter what, he must never open the box.

Taro returns to the village with the wooden box and quickly realizes that things aren’t right. He recognizes nobody in the village, and nobody seems to know any of his friends or family. He learns that his family has passed away, and that nobody has seen or heard of them in many years. In fact, while Taro was down in the underwater palace, hundreds of years have passed. In a panic, Taro opened the box that the princess warned to never open. All of a sudden Taro aged hundreds of years and loses all the youth that he had.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Transcript of Associated File:

  • There’s a story of a young man who lives on a small coastal village. Pretty typical guy. Lives by the shore. One day he sees a group of small children torturing this tiny little sea turtle that’s trying to make its way to the ocean. Like a bunch of little kids poking it with sticks and not letting it into the ocean. He goes up to him and starts arguing with them, and eventually scares them off. He brings the turtle to the water and lets it go to the water. A few days later a massive sea turtle emerges from the waves and approaches the same man and says “Thank you so much, you saved my life how can I ever repay you. Let me take you to my home” So the turtle tells the man to get one his back and they swim down into this underwater palace. Huge, magnificent palace with basically anything you could want in the world. The man meets a princess of the palace and she essentially says we’re eternally grateful, please stay as long as you want and indulge in all the amenities of the castle, and enjoy yourself to the fullest extent. And the man stays there for quite some time, just really loves the people and the princess and everything and has a spectacular time. After quite some time he decides its time for him to return home and get back to his normal life. The princess informs him that if he leaves he can never come back. So reluctantly he knows he needs to get back to his home so he reluctantly decides to leave. So the princess gives him a small wooden box wrapped up, and says “This is my gift to you, but you may never open it. You must never open it.” So he thinks this is kind of weird but he takes the box and gets brought back to the shore. He goes into his town and realizes he doesn’t recognize anyone there, everyone in the village is different. He asks around where is my family, where is my home and he realizes no one knows what hes talking about. His friends and family have long sinced passed away, and no one has seen them in many years. He’s distraught and in a panic decides to open a box in hope that it will give him some answers. He opens the box and all of a sudden he ages hundreds of years and becomes an old frail man. He loses all of his youth that he once had. And that’s pretty much the end.

Informant’s Comments:

  • Ellis is recalling this story purely from memory so he informed us that he may be missing small details, but he covered the general idea of the story as he knows of it.

Collector’s Comments:

It was really interesting to hear about this story from a native of Japan. After reading on online about this story, it was interesting to see how the version that Ellis recalled was different that the versions I read online. This goes to show how folklore is dynamic and changes through time, as it is told from one person to another.

  • Analysis:Applicable Laws of Folk Narrative (Orlik’s Laws):
    • The Law of Three (Three children tormenting the turtle)
    • The Law of Two to a Scene (Each scene will only have two speaking characters)
    • Concentration of Leading Character

    Propp’s Functions:

    1. Lack
    2. Departure
    3. Absentation
    4. Interdiction
    5. Return
    6. Violation

    Dramatis Personae

    1. Hero: Ursahima Taro
    2. Villain: Lack
    3. First Donor(s): Small turtle/Princess
    4. Magical Agent: None
    5. Dispatcher: None
    6. Princess: None
    7. The False Hero: None

    Similarities with Russian Folk Tales

    The main similarities between this tale and Russian folk tales mainly involve the structure of the tale. Both this tale and Russian folk tales follow many of Orlik’s Laws of Folk Narrative, such as the Law of Three and Law of Concentration of Leading Character. In addition, Urashima Taro has a lesson that it teaches, which many Russian folk tales do as well. Moreover, we see that Propp’s functions that are normally paired are still paired. For example, departure + return and violation + interdiction.


    Differences with Russian Folk Tales

    Ursahima Taro definitely has more differences than similarities with Russian folk tales. One thing that stands out is that Ursahima Taro does not follow the typical order of Propp’s functions. Normally interdiction and violation come very early on in Russian tales, however this tale finishes with the pairing of interdiction and violation. Furthermore, the ending of Urashima Taro was not a typical happy Russian folk tale ending. In fact, it was quite the opposite – Taro ended up getting heavily punished for his violation of the princess’ interdiction, and ends up extremely old and losing his friends and family.

    Another one of the major differences is the straightforwardness of Urashima Taro. Most of the fairy tales we’ve read in class are multidimensional and have a much more complex plot. There is no real villain to Urashima Taro – the tale more or less has no suspense and is a very forward tale.

Collector’s Name: Teddy Ni

Tags/Keywords:

  • Japanese Folktale, Children’s Folklore, Urashima Taro

Red Eye

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Title: Red Eye

General Information about Item:

Verbal Folklore: Children’s Folklore (Campfire Horror Stories)

This item was collected at Dartmouth, United States

Informant Data:

Emma Hobday was born in Arlington Virginia and is 19 years old. Before attending Dartmouth, she went to Williamsburg Middle School and Yorktown High School. Two of her friends in high school were Katie Dawkins and Elina Kent.

Contextual Data:

Emma and her friends had a sleepover party at Katie Dawkin’s house during around 9th grade.  During the night, they all went into the basement. Because the basement had a creepy swinging light in the center of the room, they decided to sit around it and tell scary stories. Elina Kent, who was also at the party, told the group the “Red Eye” story. Horror Stories like this one are told between friends at any time. Normally, they are told during the night to add to the ambiance and fear factor of the story.

 

Item:

Download “Red Eye”

Transcript of Associated File:

So, a girl lives alone in a house and every night she goes to sleep, but she starts to have weird dreams that wake her up in the middle of the night. So, one night when she’s woken up by a strange dream she’s somehow inspired to go outside and her house is surrounded by a fence, a wooden fence, and there’s a tiny little hole in the fence that she’s never looked at before. And this night she goes and she puts her eye up to the hole. And all she sees past it is red. And so she thinks, “hmm, well I guess that just must be my neighbor’s putting in a new…new shed or something, a new little red shed. So she writes it off. She says, “oh I just had a bad dream.” she goes back to bed.

The next night the same thing happens. She wakes up sweating profusely. She’s had another terrible dream. She goes out to the yard sees the same red thing through the hole. So that goes on all week until one night she’s woken up by a dream where she sees a ghost. And as she looks at the ghost she notices that has pure red eyes. She screams and whips out of her bed and the ghost is gone. This time, she walks out to her yard, looks through the hole in her fence and the red is gone. She just sees into her neighbor’s yard. She’s panicking. She goes back to her room, splashes water on her face to calm herself down and in the mirror she sees that her eyes are now red.

Informant’s Comments: The swinging light in my friend’s made the stories extremely creepy.

Collector’s Name: Andrew Alini

Tags/Keywords: Horror, Campfire Stories, Children’s folklore,