The Storytellers' Secret Santa

Who wouldn't want to receive a shiny, new, exciting story for the winter holiday of their choice - from a fellow storyteller?

This winter, I am giving a new idea a try: Secret Santa for storytellers around the globe!

Here's the rules:

1. We are sending stories as gifts to each other. You draw another storyteller's name in secret (I'll take care of this), and you send them a story. Someone else sends a story to you. That's it. Joy all around. (No, this is not a chain email!)

2. YOU GIVE A STORY, you get a story. This is important. Secret Santa kinda sucks if your gift never arrives. So, only commit if you are sure you can send your gift out in time! Don't ruin someone else's miracle.

3. Please observe copyright (see below*). This means it is easiest if we mostly work with folktales, or stories in the public domain. Be mindful of cultural appropriation.

4. We are doing this in English. For now. Only do another language if you are sure the person you send your story to shares your native language.

5. With that said, this will be extra fun if the stories are not easily accessible in English! Translating something that most people don't have access to is a very nice gift!

6. In fact, MAKE AN EFFORT. Don't just copy-paste a text from the Internet. Find something rare. Old. Shiny. Not readily available. Do some digging. Make it fun. Share the fun! Give the gift of research.

7. It is assumed that the story you gift to someone is theirs to tell. No strings attached. (Do check with your Santa if you want to publish it in the future, though!)

8. TIMELINE: Sign up on the form below by DECEMBER 6th (midnight, wherever your midnight is). The day after, you will receive an email with the name of the person you are gifting to. Then, you have until DECEMBER 24th THE LATEST to send your story, in an email! Make it nice. Put a bow on it.

9. On the form, you will get the chance to give 3 keywords about what kinds of stories you generally like. This will be a guideline for your Secret Santa, but not a guarantee! Be open to new stories.

10. Keep the stories family friendly, unless explicitly stated in the keywords otherwise.

Are we good? Good.

Here's the form:

https://forms.gle/4rSuFzXfiknfAvci9

Please, don't troll this. Just, don't be a troll. Seriously.

* On copyright: In many countries, folktales are not under copyright. However, someone's retelling of a folktale can be. Also, specific translations can be protected by copyright too. It is worth checking the rules in your home country. Look for sources that are in the public domain (also depends on the country, but online archives are a great place to start!). If you work with a folktale, try to find multiple versions, and craft your own telling of it.

You can also craft your own story. But be aware that this is a Secret Santa for storytellers, so no novelettes or literary short stories, please. We are sharing tellable tales. Fairy tales. Fables. Legends. You get the idea.

The Greenland Bestiary (Island folktales 1. - Greenland)

As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. "Island folktales" is a series where I read stories from islands that are not sovereign nations. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

THIS BOOK IS FOR 18+ only. CW: basically everything. Be warned.

Bestiarium Greenlandica
A compendium of the mythical creatures, spirits, and strange beings of Greenland
Maria Bach Kreutzmann
Eye of Newt Books, 2021.

If you think the krampus is the epitome of folk horror, don't read this book. Or do. If you dare.

I found the book at the National Museum of Denmark, and I immediately had to buy it. It is a real treat for storytellers, folklorists, horror fans, and artists alike: An encyclopedia of the mythical creatures of Greenland that does not only contain descriptions and short legends, but also an illustration for every single creature. Artists from Greenland created illustrations that are equal parts gorgeous, fascinating, and sometimes nightmare-inducing.

Next to the high quality, the book also contains a lot of in-depth information. There is an introduction about how the collection was born, a chapter on Greenland's history, a list of alternate names and their spelling, a bibliography, a glossary, a map, artist bios, and even a short essay on Greenland shamanism. Every creature comes with a pronunciation guide (which really comes in handy, you'll see why). The culture presented on the page is rich, enchanting, and probably unknown to a lot of people (especially because many think Greenland is just like Iceland, but bigger) (the Vikings thought so too).

The stories only appear in shortened versions, but I found a good number of them online in this book.

Highlights

Sassuma Arnaa, the Mother of the Sea, is a character I have loved for a long time. She is the goddess of the ocean. When the sins and carelessness of humans tangles and dirties her hair, the animals get stuck in it, and life disappears from the waters. Then, a shaman has to descent into her realm to clean and untangle her hair.

Another interesting character was Asiaq, goddess of the wind, whose body is all topsy-turvy (her mouth is vertical, for example), and so is her home. No one wanted to marry her, so she stole a baby and raised it to be her husband. When she gets bored with him, she turns him into a baby again. She makes rain by shaking his urine out of the diapers... A third powerful figure was Pissaap Inua, the Lord of Strength, a human-faced fox who gifts strength to the weak. In one story a bullied orphan boy asked him for help, and grew so strong that he could kill polar bears with his hands. The Lord of Strength gave him the gift by throwing him into the air with his tail, and shaking all the childhood toys out of his pockets (read the story here).

Art by Agust Kristinsson

I was fascinated by the creature called aassik, basically a giant worm (like in Dune, but with ice instead of sand). According to legend, they can be tamed and harnessed to pull a sled. In one story a young man harnessed a polar bear, and aassik, and an amaroq to his sled to go rescue his sister. Amaroq are giant wolves that can also change into humans sometimes. In one story a young man died in the wilderness, and his body was consumed by amaroq. Their grandmother collected their excrement, covered it with moss, and brought the man back to life. He became a famous hunter.

Art by Jonatan Brüsch

Another exciting creature was the eqalussuak, a Greenland shark that can walk on land, and despite its terrifying appearance it protects orphans, widows, and single women. The award for best name, however, goes to the ikkiillineqanngeqqissaartoq (something akin to a fox, but with a sharp blade on its back that it can use to disembowel giants). The nicest beings were the little people called qamallarlutik who can never sit still, and sometimes turn into ptarmigans. 

Among the shaman legends the strangest was the one about a young man who did not want to accept his calling as a shaman, so one of his helper spirits, a nappaasilat (giant polar bear) dragged him out of the house by the testicles and tossed him into the sea, where another helper, and aaverpak (walrus) bit him and kicked him around until he agreed to become a shaman. (By the way, the nappaasilat can also possess a shaman, and make them turn into a polar bear with healing powers). There were other exciting shaman legends as well, such as the one where children were kidnapped by a monster named amaarsisartoq. A shaman rescued them, but then the monster stuffed him into its hood instead. Eventually, the shaman was rescued by his helper spirits. 

Art by Maja-Lisa Kehlet

There was a beautiful story about a girl abandoned by her lover, who was invited into the home of a woman in black clothes. At the end, it turned out that the mysterious woman who consoled the girl was an inorrooq, a raven shapeshifter.

One of the creepiest creatures was the akueqqutit, an invisible spirit, a kind of reverse conscience: it whispers to people, making them do all the wrong things. Allegedly it is so evil that not even flesh can grow on it, which is why it is invisible.

Another haunting belief was about the qivittut: if someone wants to acquire magic powers, they have to walk into the wilderness, and freeze to death in five days. After that, they become magical creatures, and the women even turn into half polar bear.

Connections

Next to all the mythical creatures and shaman beliefs, Christianity also made an appearance. A shaman called Aattaaritaa decided to convert, after he saw a vision of the end of the world. One of his helper spirits tried to talk him out of it ("If the world ends, I will start it again!"), but the shaman turned his back on the spirit world in the end.

Art by Agust Kristinsson

Tales of the Sea Nomads (Folktales of Asian minorities 2. - Moken)

As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

Rings ​of Coral
Moken folktales
Jacques Ivanoff
White Lotus Press, Bangkok, 2001.

The 44 stories in this book were collected in the 1980s from the Moken people, sea nomads who travel in their ships among the islands between Thailand and Myanmar. The introduction tells us about their lifestyle, the islands, the storytelling tradition, and the collection process. It was fascinating to read about the connection between the collector and the Mokens - like the shaman who secretly recorded an extra myth that the collector only found on the tape after he returned home. The Moken believe their epics have power: some of them can even summon a storm. The introduction lists the storytellers, many of whom were members of the shaman's family, but knew different stories.

Each tale comes with end notes, which are vital (but you have to turn the pages back and forth a lot). There are some black-and-white and some color illustrations too.

Highlights

Several stories were about the origin of taboos and traditions. For example, in the story of Péma Alang a husband told his wife what not to do while he was harvesting swallow nests (combing hair summons sharks, shaking clothes makes wind, etc.). The wife did not listen, and her husband fell to his death in the caves. In another legend a captain, also called Péma, did not give respect to the monkeys of Surin Island (monkeys are revered by the Moken), and tried to fight them, so the monkeys, led by a spirit, bit him to death. In the story of Pinang and the Sea Spirit a mysterious woman climbed aboard a man's ship, and they fell in love. The woman told him not to kill anything that "comes from the sea and has eyes." (Especially turtles, although he wasn't sure if she was a turtle or a dugong spirit). Surprisingly, the husband kept the taboo.

Naturally, ships and sailing played an important role in the stories. I was fascinated by the legend of the crying rope, where a sea snake bit a ship's rudder, and its venom was so potent that it killed everyone on board. Then, a rope came to life, slithered into the noses of the dead, and brought them back to life. That rope has been considered a living spirit ever since.

According to Moken belief, the ebb and tide are caused by a giant crab that lives in a cave under a sky-high mango tree. The tree has other inhabitants as well: a Gaurda bird nests among its branches with its daughter, and below it lives a beautiful woman who seduces sailors and feeds them to the sharks.

In one legend the Moken sailed west, to reach the Land of Amber, and reached the Ficus that grew all kinds of food. There, they got shipwrecked, and the three Moken ancestors made their way back home three different ways: one on the back of a ray, one on the back of a giant bird, and one on an Indian ship.

I also liked the story about an evil giant who killed a woman and took her place; the woman's spirit turned into various things, and finally her son managed to break the spell, winning back his parents.

Image from here

Connections

In the epic of Nyonya, sung in the Malay language, Nyonya marries a man named Jawan Moda after her husband's death. When the new husband cheats on her, she flies home to her parents. Her husband follows, and manages to win back her respect by defending her island from an invading army with the help of monkeys and bears. The battle reminded me of the Ramayana.

Awang the Frog was a frog husband tale, complete with an epic battle, while the story of Kaét was a snake husband story (there were multiple of those in the book). Kaét's father killed her snake lover many times, but he kept coming back to life, and finally the woman, disappointed by her father's cruelty, took her family and moved up to the sky.

The legend of Kechot and Death was about a woman who met walking dead people on an island. The dead asked her to ferry them to another place, but she refused - that is why people do not come back to life after their death anymore.

As for tricksters: There was a Mouse Deer story, but it was pretty jumbled, as if the storyteller only remembered parts of it. At the end of the book, however, among the stories from other collections I found an excellent Mouse Deer and Tiger tale, with tricks I have not heard before.

Goodnight stories for headhunters (Folktales of Asian minorities 1. - Iban / Sea Dyak)

 As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

I know I have not finished the Chinese minorities series yet, but I have gotten my hands on some awesome books recently, so I am taking a detour.

The Girl Sudan Painted Like a Gold Ring
Folktales from the Sea Dyaks of Sarawak, Borneo
Theresa Fuller
Bare Bear Media, 2022.

The Iban (Sea Dyak/Dayak) people number about one million, and live on the island of Borneo in the area of Sarawak, along the seashore and rivers. They live in longhouses that house several families, and until recently they had a tradition of headhunting.

The author, storyteller Theresa Fuller, sent me an ARC copy of this book. I was happy about it, because I like folktales from Borneo and I have not read any from the Dyak tradition before. The book contains ten stories, many of them multiple chapters long; they are interspersed with shorter legends and trickster tales. Each comes with a short cultural introduction, and the re-told texts contain many fascinating details about Dyak everyday life. The author added two parts to two longer stories that came from her own imagination, describing parts of the narrative from the women's point of view. These (carefully noted) sections were more novel-like than the folktales, but very beautiful, and rich in detail. At the end of the book we also get a glossary, and a chapter on Dyak culture.

Highlights

The title story was beautiful and fascinating. The protagonist, Siu, was one of those hunters who accidentally wander into the spirit realm and learn that animals are also human in their own world. He marries the daughter of the king of spirits, and promises never to hunt birds again. When he inevitably breaks his promise, she leaves him. He goes on a  journey, raising their son in the wilderness. After many exciting adventures, they find her again, and the (now grown) son has to prove that, as a half-spirit, he is worthy of being a member of her family. One of the challenges was a spinning top competition, which I especially liked.

Another person who wandered into the spirit realm was Pulang-Gana, who followed a porcupine, and fell in love with another spirit princess. When he returned home, and his brothers treated him badly, he became the god of the earth that everyone has to respect.

Headhunting played an important role in the tale of Danjai and the Were-tiger's Sister. Here the tiger killed a young woman, and her husband, Danjai, set out to take revenge. Entering the tiger's realm he met his sister, who was kind, and helped the hero behead her evil brother. They fell in love, she returned the dead wife's head, and the hero set out to find another head - as a wedding present.

I liked the apocalyptic tale where people tortured a dog, and in punishment a terrible storm turned them all into stone (except for one kind family). In another story, girls made fun of innocent animals, and met the same fate.

Connections

The trickster in residence was our favorite Mouse Deer, here known as Akal Pelandok (Ageless Mouse Deer). He was featured in multiple trickster tales, such as Pelandok and the Giant (where he outwitted a giant that stole fish from the animals), or Pelandok, Sambar and Pig (where the animals fell into a pit, and Pelandok used the others to get free). In the latter, the two outwitted animals tried to hunt him down, but Mouse Deer tricked them with classic tricks he also uses on Tiger in other stories. In a third tale, Pelandok and Kikura the Tortoise mutually played tricks on each other, and also on a monkey and a bear.