F is for the Fig Fiend (A to Z Challenge 2019: Fruit Folktales)

Quick: How many figs can you eat in one sitting?

A folktale from Italy tells us about a princess who loves figs more than anything. So much, in fact, that her father announces that she will be given as a bride to the man who can provide her with more figs than she can eat. Suitors line up for the challenge, but no matter how many figs they bring, the princess devours them all in the blink of an eye.

Eventually, the three sons of a farmer decide to try their luck. The first two ignore the neighbor who asks them for a fig, and fail the challenge. The youngest, however, gives figs from his basket to the neighbor, who turns out to be a man with great magical knowledge. He receives a wand as a gift; every time the princess empties the basket of figs, he can use the want to magically refill it. Eventually she gives up, declaring: "Figs! Ugh! I never want to see another one!"

This, however, is not the end of the ordeal, because the king sets up extra challenges for the young man, trying to keep him from marrying his daughter. With the help of the magical neighbor, the young man succeeds at all of them, and wins the princess in the end.

There is no more mention of figs.

(Read the story, among many others, in this book)

In the summer, when figs are ripe, I tend to eat a whole lot of them straight from the tree.

Do you like figs? How many do you think would be too many to eat?

E is for Eggplants vs Ghosts (A to Z Challenge 2019: Fruit Folktales)

No, this is not the sequel to Plants vs Zombies, but it's close.
Also, yes, eggplant is technically a fruit.

Among many, many folktales collected from Japan's Niigata Prefecture, and compiled by Fanny Hagin Mayer, there is an especially fun story about mushroom ghosts.

Story goes that behind a certain village shrine, every midnight the sounds of music and singing could be heard. No one was brave enough to investigate, until one night a young man decided to pluck up the courage and see what's up. Walking behind the shrine at midnight, he came across a crowd of Little Folk singing and dancing merrily. He asked them who they were, and the little figures told him they were mushroom ghosts. The young man, thinking quickly, told them he was a human ghost. Having established ghost rapport, they started to chat, and the little folk asked the man what he was especially afraid of. "Gold coins," he told them, without missing a beat "And you?" Turns out, the mushroom ghosts were deadly afraid of salty eggplant juice.

As the party got wilder, the mushrooms started having fun by throwing gold coins at the young man, who pretended to be terrified, amusing the little folk to no end. In the morning, the young man collected the gold, went home, and made a bucket of salty eggplant juice. The following night he returned to the party, and threw juice at the ghosts with a ladle. In the morning, all that was left of them was a bunch of shriveled up mushrooms.

(You can also find the story in this book)

As fun as eggplant-allergic, money-throwing mushroom party ghosts are, I am a little sad about how this story ends. What do you think?

D is for Daterella (A to Z Challenge 2019: Fruit Folktales)

I have mentioned before that I have a thing for little-known variants of well-known classic folktales. One of them is Cinderella. I never particularly liked Cinderella, even when I was a kid (and yes, I grew up on the unabridged, cut-the-toes-off, blood-in-the-shoes, eyes-pecked-out Grimm version, but that was not why I didn't like it... I just thought it was boring). It took me more than three decades to come across a version that I actually like.

And I like this one a lot.

Image source

The story of The Magical Little Date Tree was collected by Giuseppe Pitrè in 19th century Sicily, from a storyteller named Agatuzza Messia in Palermo. It features three sisters, daughters of a merchant: Rosa, Giovannina, and Ninetta. One day, when the father goes on a business trip, he locks the three girls in the house (for their safety, obviously) and asks them what they want as a souvenir. Ninetta, the youngest, asks for a date tree - and also curses her father, so that his ship won't sail until he remembers to acquire the tree.

While Dad is away, the girls get bored. When Rosa drops a thimble in the well in the courtyard, Ninetta volunteers to climb down and retrieve it. At the bottom of the well, however, she finds something endlessly more interesting: A door that opens to the gardens of the King of Portugal. Intrigued by the adventure, Ninetta returns to the garden day after day, stealing everything that catches her fancy, robbing the Portuguese king blind. Her sisters don't like her trips - "are you crazy or drunk?" - but it doesn't faze her the slightest.

Agatuzza Messia

Eventually, the prince discovers that a girl has been stealing from the garden. The king then announces a ball, three nights in a row, hoping the mysterious thief would attend - so that they can catch her. Meanwhile, the merchant comes home, and brings the magical little date tree for Ninetta. When invitations arrive to the ball, Ninetta refuses to go (even upon the threat that her father might be executed if they don't comply), and sends her family on their merry way, while she locks herself in her room with the tree.
Once alone, Ninetta sings to the tree, summoning the fairies (that have been hiding in the dates?). The date fairies bring clothes and jewelry, and dress her for the ball.
(They dress her for a date)
(Sorry)

At the ball, the prince immediately recognizes Ninetta, but she responds in curt, mocking sentences to all his questions, and two nights in a row she gets away, tossing jewels and coins behind her to slow the palace guards down.
On the third night, the king has enough of the shenanigans, and corners Ninetta, asking why she is messing with his son. Ninetta demands that the king recognize her as her father's firstborn (to inherit, and have the right to marry first), pardon her father for whatever he might have done, and, once she gets that, she asks for the prince's hand in marriage.

Ta-da, happy end. No nonsense with shoes, ashes, and whatnot.

(Find the story in this book, or this one)

Anyone got a good recipe with dates?

What tree would you pick to dress you for a royal ball?

C is for Currant Girl (A to Z Challenge 2019: Fruit Folktales)

Everyone knows the Frog Bride (okay, almost everyone). But have you heard about the Redcurrant Lizard Bride yet?

This folktale from the southern part of Hungary (Somogy county) begins with a widow who has a very peculiar daughter: She only ever eats currants (ribizke), and nothing else. For this, she is named Ribike. Once the currant bushes dry up in the garden, she becomes sick, dying from, apparently, currant withdrawal. Her mother, desperate to save her daughter, sneaks into the nearby convent to steal currants, but is caught by the abbess. The matron at first doesn't believe a girl can die from currant withdrawal, but when she sees Ribike with her own eyes, she has to agree the situation is dire. As a solution, she accepts the girl into the convent, where she can eat as much of her favorite fruit as she wants.

Viviparous lizard, Reptile of the Year
in Hungary, 2018.

Ribike, incidentally, is not cut out for nun life. One day, as she is gazing out a window, she is spotted by the three sons of the king, who promptly get into a fist fight with each other over who gets to court the beautiful girl. When the abbess finds out, she follows prime medieval moral logic: She punishes Ribike for "seducing" the princes. She turns the girl into a lizard, and exiles her to the end of the world.
(As nuns do)

In the meantime, the king sends out his three sons to complete three challenges, to decide who inherits the kingdom. First, they have to bring a length of linen so fine it can be pulled through a ring. The youngest prince wanders all the way to the end of the world, where he finds a bridge (to where?...), and on the bridge he encounters the golden lizard. They become friends, and the lizard (Ribike) talks her friends, the spiders living under the bridge, into making the fine cloth. The second time, the king wants a dog so small it can fit into a nutshell, but with a bark so loud it can be heard all over the kingdom. This time, Ribike descends into the Kingdom of the Dwarves, and gets such a pup from her friend the king (the tale explains that Ribike is friends with the spiders and the Dwarves because she visits them often and tells them stories about the world). Last but not least, each prince has to bring home a bride. This time, Ribike asks the prince to smash her against the bridge - and turns back into a beautiful girl. Obviously, the youngest prince wins the kingdom.

Fun fact: The currant fruit is known in Hungarian as "ribizli" or "ribizke." In some slang, however, "ribi" or "ribike" is short for "ribanc", which is a none-too-kind word for a promiscuous woman. Probably a coincidence, but it does fit the abbess' false accusations about the girl being "too seductive" (this is why when I tell the story, I call her Ribizli, to avoid confusion and snickering).

Do you like currants? My grandparents grow a lot of them in their garden.

If you had to live on one kind of fruit for the rest of your life, what would it be?

B is for Blackberries vs. Winter (A to Z Challenge 2019: Fruit Folktales)

Blackberries have a thing with seasons. In English folklore, people say you shouldn't pick them after Michaelmas (September 29), because the Devil spits on them, tramples them, or pees on them. The Old Guy hates the little fruit so much because when he fell from Heaven he landed on a blackberry bramble. Ouch.

But that's not the story I wanted to write about today. Rather, I have been reading about the role blackberries (and other berries) play in Iroquois mythology, especially that of the Seneca Nation. In the stories where Winter is defeated, berries play an important part: The belief is that when the blackberries begin to bloom, Winter has no power over the world anymore.

In many stories, Spring taunts, wrestles, and defeats Winter in his lodge of ice and snow. He is a young, strong man helped by the warm South Wind and Thaw. According to the lore collected by Arthur Caswell Parker (an American folklorist of Seneca descent), Spring uses medicine made of blackberry juice to break Winter's resistance, throwing it into his face to counter his power. Another story, collected by Harriet Maxwell Converse (an American folklorist adopted into the Seneca Nation), Ha'tho', Frost, is deadly afraid of blackberries, and never visits the earth when they are in blossom; he has once been vanquished by a boy who mocked him by throwing blackberry juice into his face.

Martha Champion Randle, exploring the Waugh Collection of Iroquois Folktales (stories collected at the beginning of the 20th century), lists several versions of the same story. In these, Atu (Cold or Winter) is usually defeated in a contest by a mortal man. In one of them, a hunter is helped by a supernatural woman, who gifts him strawberry juice and strawberry vines, that help in defeating Atu. Randle notes that the Iroquois belief is that berries grow where snow lingers longest in the spring, therefore they are a symbol of the ultimate defeat of Winter. In another story, Thaw personified gifts the berry vines to the mortal challenged by Atu.

Do you grow blackberries in your garden? Are they blooming yet?

Have you ever tried blackberry juice?

A is for the Apricot Fairy (A to Z Challenge 2019: Fruit Folktales)

Here we go! Happy A to Z!

Surprise! This year, A is not for apples. It's for apricots.

In a story from the shores of West Lake in Hangzhou, China, everything pretty much revolves around apricots: Our heroine, Beautiful Apricot, lives in Apricot Blossom Village, near a forest of apricot trees. One day, while taking her cow out to graze in the apricot forest, she encounters the Apricot Fairy, who kindly gifts her a golden hairpin, telling her to knock it three times if she ever needs help.

Beautiful Apricot eventually marries the ninth son of the Song family, and gains eight sisters-in-law. She lives happily with her new family, helping her in-laws and running the household. Of course eventually her capable nature starts to annoy the other eight women, so they try to trick her by burning and salting the food she's preparing. Beautiful Apricot, not to be outwitted, makes a good meal from bad food, and she wins the respect of the whole family.

Eventually, news of the beautiful and clever woman reach the emperor. He first sends her a test (feed the entire family from one almond), and when she passes it, he decides to send soldiers for her and force her into his harem. When the soldiers appear, Beautiful Apricot finally pulls out the golden hairpin, and summons the Apricot Fairy, asking for help. The Apricot Fairy moves the entire household into West Lake, where they can live under the water safely and happily.

Legend claims people used to be able to go to the lake and borrow household instruments from Beautiful Apricot and the Song family. But one day, someone didn't return what they borrowed, and the neighborly friendship was broken forever.

(Jan & Yvonne Walls: West Lake, a collection of folktales. Joint Publishing Co., 1980.)

How do you imagine an apricot fairy?

What are your favorite foods made of apricot? I love crepes with apricot jam!

MythOff Athens: Mythical Firsts

The theme for this year's World Storytelling Day was "Myths, legends, and epics" - and it seemed like a perfect opportunity to organize a MythOff! With the support of the Federation for European Storytelling, six international storytellers and three artists banded together to bring my favorite myth-telling event to a new country: Greece! You can't even wish for a better setting to tell some myths.

Interestingly enough, we found out, Greek audiences are not usually that much into mythology. Mostly because the Greek myths are commonly known and taught, most Greek storytellers tend to select less often told stories. We had no idea, while working on the event, if anyone was going to show up at all, and if they did, how they would like the show.

In the end, we had almost seventy people in the audience, and an amazing storytelling evening to remember.

The MythOff took place in the Museum of Cycladic Art (one of my favorite museums in Athens), in one of their spacious presentation rooms. At the front of the room, behind the stage area, there was a long table where our artists were seated. That's right! For the firs time in MythOff history, we had artists creating illustrations for the myths, real time, while we were telling! Each story got its own picture, and the storytellers got to take them home. I'm still reeling from the awesomeness.
The voting happened at the end of the evening, with the use of small white pebbles. People dropped them in the vessels marked by the artists, to pick their stories, and placed them next to the pictures, to select their favorites. The artists insisted on being a part of the competition, but the choice, frankly, was near impossible.

An now, for the play-by-play:

Round One: Fire Thieves

I was lucky to be the first teller of the evening. I told the Abkhaz Nart saga of How Sasruquo Plucked Down a Star (and then acquired fire by tricking a terrifying giant). It is a great tale of a bullied hero, a powerful mother-goddess, and lots of funny shenanigans. To match all that, Vasileia Vaxevani told the Greek myth of Prometheus with equal humor and drama. Even Herakles made an appearance at the end.
Voting question: If you wanted to have a cigarette, and had to ask for fire, whom would you rather ask for it?
The winner: Prometheus!
The pictures: Ironically, the Fire round had watercolor pictures, and the Sea round had charcoal. Out illustrations were created by the incredible Yannis (John) Rubus (you can find his art page here), who didn't only draw incredible scenes for both myths, but also received the winner's crown (or rather, souvenir hairband) for the best art.

Round Two: Women

Since it is directly attached to the Prometheus myth, we got to hear the story of Pandora next, told by Maria Terzaki with great eloquence, and subtle hints at how many different ways that story can be understood. The other half of the duo was Mattia Di Pierro from Italy, who told the creation story of Lilith and Eve, and managed to surprise us more than once.
Voting question: If you had to ask for help creating something (or someone), whom would you rather ask?
The winner: Pandora! (or rather, her creation team)
The pictures: It is only fair that myths about women were illustrated by a woman, the wonderful Eugenia Koumaki.

Round Three: The Sea

The first storyteller of the last round, Torgrim Mellim Stene, arrived from Norway, and brought with him a story from Greenland. The story of Sedna tells about a girl who marries a sea bird, but her father tears her away from him. In the enduing battle, she is thrown into the sea with her fingers cut off, and thus becomes the mother of all three creatures, and the goddess of the waters. This story was matched by Ifigenia Kakridoni, who told the bittersweet Greek myth of Scylla and Glaukos, with a guest appearance from Circe. It seemed that the audience was less familiar with this than the other Greek stories, and they sounded both surprised and delighted.
Voting question: If you had to get a makeover, which transformation would you rather choose?
The winner: Sedna!

The pictures: This round was illustrated by Dimitrios Kasdaglis. For the last story, he set up a flip chart and we all got to watch him work onthe figure of Glaukos while listening to the myth. It was enchanting. 

The whole evening went great, and people seemed to have lots of fun both with the stories and with the setup of MythOff. They were already talking about having another one while we were counting the votes! We celebrated the event with dinner and drinks, showing off the artwork to each other and to the Internet (I already have mine framed). I am sure this was not the last time MythOff came to Athens. I can't wait to see what happens next!