Just a short note on how awesome it is to work with young storytellers.
I have been mentoring students at the university school for a semester now, and telling to several classes between 2nd and 11th grade - actually only in the second semester of this schoolyear, I have accumulated 15 hours of mentoring, and 32 hours of school storytelling. Phew! Fortunately, I did take breaks in-between.
Teaching young storytellers is new to me, but I am quickly learning that it is one of the most fun things a grown-up storyteller can spend her time with. I do one-on-one mentoring sessions since 5th and 6th graders ar busy ladies, and their schedules don't match up. These sessions are mainly spent with them telling me tales and me staring in amazamenet at how great they are without ever being "coached". One of the young ladies is quickly becoming very good at telling personal stories, and every time she comes to class she has a new story that she would like to share, already crafter into a neat little performance, with gestures, voices and all. The other young lady is the exact opposite: she enjoys telling mythology, and fills in all the gaps from her own imaginations. Her stories are full of vivid descriptions, colors, personalities and feelings, smells, tastes, and small details that make everything make a lot more sense than in the original tale (Theseus forgetting Ariadne? Clearly he was just not that into her. Marriage is a lifetime commitment, after all) (King Minos was melodramatic, and had servants for ridiculous things) (and the Minotaur smelled like rust).
Every child is born with the natural ability of telling stories. And then there are some who just simply cannot NOT tell. All the time. To everyone. While climbing on chairs and running around the table. The table is supposed to be Athens, by the way.
Saturday, April 28, 2012
Friday, April 27, 2012
X is for Xi Wangmu and her Peaches
Xi Wangmu is the Mother of the West, the goddess who resides on Mount Kunlun in western China, ruling over her magical garden where the Peaches of Immortality ripen every three thousand years. She serves the peaches to her guests and holds magical feasts in celebration of the special occasion. Three thousand years of waiting, that has to be one special party...
... unless the Monkey King crashes it, of course.
Why? Because he was not invited, that's why. And Xi Wangmu in her eternal life and wisdom should have known that not inviting the Trickster with the capital T and the magical bo staff is not going to do anyone any good. Because the only thing worse than Sun Wukong crashing your party is... a drunk Sun Wokung crashing your party. No, seriously, trust me on this one.
The result? Monkey is immortal. Also, one epic story from beginning to end, usually known as Journey to the West (Xi Jou Ji... oh look, another X! I coulda started with this one). You can read the original, read the BetterMyths version, or go watch Saiyuki.
Hmm. Now I want to eat some peaches.
Thursday, April 26, 2012
W is for the Winged Wolf
(You have all been witing for this all month haven't you.)
All right, so here it is: yes we have a Winged Wolf. Most Hungarians don't even know this, it is not one of our most popular folktales, in fact, it took me a long time to dig it up after someone mentioned it in a book but never referenced it (remember kids, citations citations frakkin citations). Finally I found it in a folktale collection from the western part of Hungary, so there. We have at least one recorded sighting of a winged wolf!
What you should know about the winged wolf: it can fly (du-uh!), its hide is bulletproof except for a spot under its left wing, and it can breathe fire.
Yes, you read that right.
In the folktale, the wolf first shows up as a threat. There is a triple fork in the road where someone out of sheer humanity set up some signs: To the left, if you go this way you will live but your horse will die. To the right, if you go this way you will die, but your horse will live (whoever would choose that?). In the middle, if you go this way, the winged wolf will kill you.
Guess which road people are choosing. That's right. Makes for a better story.
The catch? The winged wolf is actually quite a smart creature, human speech and all. Once defeated, it becomes the hero's new mount and carries him for the rest of the adventure; it even gives some Dr. House-like grumpy misogynistic advice every once in a while.
Because, who would not want to ride a fire-breathing winged wolf into battle?
That is how we roll in Hungary.
(Go ahead, Google "winged wolf", see what happens.)
What you should know about the winged wolf: it can fly (du-uh!), its hide is bulletproof except for a spot under its left wing, and it can breathe fire.
Yes, you read that right.
In the folktale, the wolf first shows up as a threat. There is a triple fork in the road where someone out of sheer humanity set up some signs: To the left, if you go this way you will live but your horse will die. To the right, if you go this way you will die, but your horse will live (whoever would choose that?). In the middle, if you go this way, the winged wolf will kill you.
Guess which road people are choosing. That's right. Makes for a better story.
The catch? The winged wolf is actually quite a smart creature, human speech and all. Once defeated, it becomes the hero's new mount and carries him for the rest of the adventure; it even gives some Dr. House-like grumpy misogynistic advice every once in a while.
Because, who would not want to ride a fire-breathing winged wolf into battle?
That is how we roll in Hungary.
(Go ahead, Google "winged wolf", see what happens.)
V is for a very short post on Veils, and a great song!
Three of them, specifically.
The Veil of Maya in Hinduism is the symbol of illusion, dreaming, and duality. It cloacks true reality from us, replacing it with illusions, distracting colors and shapes. The goddess Maya is also the protector of the universe who possesses a part of every other god's and goddess' power. I don't know about you, I like illusions.
The féth fíada is the magic mist or veil that cloaks the fae world and its inhabitants from mortal eyes. In one of my favorite Irish stories Eithne lost her veil as she was bathing in a stream, and after that she could never find her way home to her own world; it was invisible to her eyes, and she to theirs. She became a nun and took on Christianity before she died.
And then there is a third one, called The Wedding Veil of the Proud Princess, written by Lucy Maud Montgomery in her book The Story Girl, which is largely responsible for me becoming a professional storyteller (go figure). It is a tale about the princess who is too proud to marry any mortal man; she waits for a knight that defeats everyone. Well, she ends up marrying a mysterious victor in black armor... read the rest for yourselves!
This story always reminds me of this song which is based on a similar tale:
Der Letzte Tanz (Schandmaul)
One of my favorite songs. That's all!
The Veil of Maya in Hinduism is the symbol of illusion, dreaming, and duality. It cloacks true reality from us, replacing it with illusions, distracting colors and shapes. The goddess Maya is also the protector of the universe who possesses a part of every other god's and goddess' power. I don't know about you, I like illusions.
The féth fíada is the magic mist or veil that cloaks the fae world and its inhabitants from mortal eyes. In one of my favorite Irish stories Eithne lost her veil as she was bathing in a stream, and after that she could never find her way home to her own world; it was invisible to her eyes, and she to theirs. She became a nun and took on Christianity before she died.
And then there is a third one, called The Wedding Veil of the Proud Princess, written by Lucy Maud Montgomery in her book The Story Girl, which is largely responsible for me becoming a professional storyteller (go figure). It is a tale about the princess who is too proud to marry any mortal man; she waits for a knight that defeats everyone. Well, she ends up marrying a mysterious victor in black armor... read the rest for yourselves!
This story always reminds me of this song which is based on a similar tale:
Der Letzte Tanz (Schandmaul)
One of my favorite songs. That's all!
Tuesday, April 24, 2012
U is for Ullr, Norse god of Probable Awesomeness
Another short one (I know everyone is tired of me saying that because I am clearly a graphomaniac).
This one is about one of my favorite Norse gods, Ullr. It looks like I have a strange fascination with gods we know almost nothing about (because then you can make up your own stuff about them). We know a bunch of tidbits and pieces about him that you can go read for yourself on Wikipedia. The ones that matter to me are:
1. He is the god of archery. (We could stop right here, sold.) He also happens to be the god of skiing, hunting, fighting, and winter. You don't get any more Viking than that.
2. He is handsome.
3. He is Sif's (and, according to some theories, Egill's) son, and Thor's stepson.
4. He ruled over the gods for a while when Odin was in exile.
And now I shall leave you all to make up the rest for yourselves. Have sweet dreams about handsome Norse archer gods.
1. He is the god of archery. (We could stop right here, sold.) He also happens to be the god of skiing, hunting, fighting, and winter. You don't get any more Viking than that.
2. He is handsome.
3. He is Sif's (and, according to some theories, Egill's) son, and Thor's stepson.
4. He ruled over the gods for a while when Odin was in exile.
And now I shall leave you all to make up the rest for yourselves. Have sweet dreams about handsome Norse archer gods.
Monday, April 23, 2012
T is for the Trickster Teakettle
I have a friend who refers to himself as "purebreed teakettle" on every possible online forum and media. Once upon a time I promised him a story about a magic teakettle; he is the biggest trickster I know, and when you put "Trickster" and "Teakettle" in one sentence - you get Bumbuku! At least in Japan.
The story starts with an old priest who is very fond of drinking tea; one day he finds an old, rusty teakettle in a secondhand shop, and he feels like the kettle is more than just rust. He takes it home, polishes it up, and then decides he is going to boil some water in to make tea for himself and his two young pupils. But as soon as the kettle startes getting hot... it suddenly sprouts a tail! And four tiny feet! And the head of a Tanuki dog! (very often trasnlated as "badger", but much more than that).
"OUCH!" yells the kettle and jumps off the fireplace "It burns! It burns!" and starts skittering around the room.
As surprised as the old priest is, he yells at his pupils: "Catch the kettle! Don't let it get away!"
The pupils chase the kettle down with a broomstick, but by the time they catch it, the head, the tail and the four tiny feet are gone. It looks like an ordinaty kettle, and not a kettle crossbred with a badger and a turtle...
The old priests decides the kettle must have been bewitched (duh!) and he does not want such a troublesome utensil around, so he sells it for a low price to the first junkman who comes around.
The junkman takes the kettle home; that night he is awakened by a voice calling to him, and when he opens his eyes, there is the kettle, with the head and the tail and the four tiny feet. They make a deal: if the junkman treats the tanuki right and never puts him on the fire, Bumbuku ('good luck') will help him make his fortune.
And this is how their show, Bumbuku The Magic Teakettle, is born: people pay good money and come from far away to see the tanuki do his magic tricks. The junkman grew rich; and as time went by, he felt like he had enough money to stop making the kettle perform. He offered Bumbuku to take him to the temple where he can live in peace and quiet. Bumbuku was afraid that the old priest was going to put him over the fire again, but the junkman went with him and explained everything to the priest.
The end of the story? They say Bumbuku still lives in the temple; they feed him rice cakes, and they never, ever put him over the fire!
I don't know about you, but I would love a pet tanuki that turns into a kettle. How cute is that! Tanuki in Japanese tales are usually tricksters; but in this story, Bumbuku uses his tricks for something good for a change. Kids love this story!
The story starts with an old priest who is very fond of drinking tea; one day he finds an old, rusty teakettle in a secondhand shop, and he feels like the kettle is more than just rust. He takes it home, polishes it up, and then decides he is going to boil some water in to make tea for himself and his two young pupils. But as soon as the kettle startes getting hot... it suddenly sprouts a tail! And four tiny feet! And the head of a Tanuki dog! (very often trasnlated as "badger", but much more than that)."OUCH!" yells the kettle and jumps off the fireplace "It burns! It burns!" and starts skittering around the room.
As surprised as the old priest is, he yells at his pupils: "Catch the kettle! Don't let it get away!"
The pupils chase the kettle down with a broomstick, but by the time they catch it, the head, the tail and the four tiny feet are gone. It looks like an ordinaty kettle, and not a kettle crossbred with a badger and a turtle...
The old priests decides the kettle must have been bewitched (duh!) and he does not want such a troublesome utensil around, so he sells it for a low price to the first junkman who comes around.
The junkman takes the kettle home; that night he is awakened by a voice calling to him, and when he opens his eyes, there is the kettle, with the head and the tail and the four tiny feet. They make a deal: if the junkman treats the tanuki right and never puts him on the fire, Bumbuku ('good luck') will help him make his fortune.
And this is how their show, Bumbuku The Magic Teakettle, is born: people pay good money and come from far away to see the tanuki do his magic tricks. The junkman grew rich; and as time went by, he felt like he had enough money to stop making the kettle perform. He offered Bumbuku to take him to the temple where he can live in peace and quiet. Bumbuku was afraid that the old priest was going to put him over the fire again, but the junkman went with him and explained everything to the priest.
The end of the story? They say Bumbuku still lives in the temple; they feed him rice cakes, and they never, ever put him over the fire!
I don't know about you, but I would love a pet tanuki that turns into a kettle. How cute is that! Tanuki in Japanese tales are usually tricksters; but in this story, Bumbuku uses his tricks for something good for a change. Kids love this story!
Saturday, April 21, 2012
S is for Ship, of the Land-and-Water kind
Once again shhort post, I am not even blaming it on the thesis this time, because it is about my thesis.
One of the stories featured in my thesis in Folktale Type AaTh 513 - The Extraordinary Companions. This is the folktale where the hero (who usually is either poor, dumb, rich and spoiled, lazy, or simply a jerk) sets out on a quest and ends up running into people with strange magical abilities who then help him out until he kills the giant, saves the princess, gets the treasure, etc.
In the past few weeks I have collected 23 versions of this folktale from many countries around the world: Italy, Sweden, Thailand, Korea, Iceland, USA, France, India, Mongolia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Ukraine and Russia - and I have no doubt that there is more of it hidden in story collections and folklore articles.
What really fascinating though, apart from the universal nature of this story, is the variety of superpowers that are featured in it. In my 23 versions I found 28 (!) different abilites, from overkill ones like "he can run as fast as lightning" and "he knows everything" down to weirdness like "he can pee a waterfall". I made a list of these, and also made a list of quests that need to be accomplished, from "rescue princess from evil sorcerer" to "defeat crickets that are as big as elephants".
Fun!
What seems really interesting to me is that literature claims this story type is directly related to the myth of the Argonauts - a ship full of people with magical abilities with a useless leader going to get rich and ending up rescuing a princess. Pretty accurate if you ask me (yes, I don't like Jason, but then again I don't really like Medea either). Seems legit to me, especially because the story almost always features a magical flying ship.
It is also a great story to teach teamwork, and talk about finding ways to use your special talents effectively. I'll muse about it later.
Not I have to go watch Legend of Korra...
... I mean, continue working on my thesis.
In the past few weeks I have collected 23 versions of this folktale from many countries around the world: Italy, Sweden, Thailand, Korea, Iceland, USA, France, India, Mongolia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Ireland, Germany, Norway, Ukraine and Russia - and I have no doubt that there is more of it hidden in story collections and folklore articles.
What really fascinating though, apart from the universal nature of this story, is the variety of superpowers that are featured in it. In my 23 versions I found 28 (!) different abilites, from overkill ones like "he can run as fast as lightning" and "he knows everything" down to weirdness like "he can pee a waterfall". I made a list of these, and also made a list of quests that need to be accomplished, from "rescue princess from evil sorcerer" to "defeat crickets that are as big as elephants".
Fun!
What seems really interesting to me is that literature claims this story type is directly related to the myth of the Argonauts - a ship full of people with magical abilities with a useless leader going to get rich and ending up rescuing a princess. Pretty accurate if you ask me (yes, I don't like Jason, but then again I don't really like Medea either). Seems legit to me, especially because the story almost always features a magical flying ship.
It is also a great story to teach teamwork, and talk about finding ways to use your special talents effectively. I'll muse about it later.
Not I have to go watch Legend of Korra...
... I mean, continue working on my thesis.
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