Folktales Told Around the World / Edition 1

by Richard M. Dorson

Overview

All the selections in Richard M. Dorson's Folktales Told around the World were recorded by expert collectors, and the majority of them are published here for the first time. The tales presented are told in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, North and South America, and Oceania. Unlike other collections derived in large part from literary texts, this volume meets the criteria of professional folklorists in assembling only authentic examples of folktales as they were orally told. Background information, notes on the narrators, and scholarly commentaries are provided to establish the folkloric character of the tales.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780226158747
Publisher:	University of Chicago Press
Publication date:	11/15/1978
Edition description:	Digital Reprint
Pages:	648
Sales rank:	755,174
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.60(d)

About the Author

Richard M. Dorson (1916-1981) was Distinguished Professor of History and Folklore and director of the Folklore Institution at Indiana University.

Read an Excerpt

Folktales Told around the World

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By Richard M. Dorson

The University of Chicago Press

Copyright © 1975 The University of Chicago
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-226-15874-7

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CHAPTER 1

Europe

Ireland

Fionn in Search of His Youth

From Sean O'Sullivan. Folktales of Ireland(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966), pp. 5–60.

Irish Folklore Commission Vol. 984; 22–34. Recorded on Ediphone cylinders about 1930 by Dr. Robin Flower, Keeper of Manuscripts in the British Museum, from Peig Sayers, then fifty-six, Blasket Islands, Dingle, county Kerry. The present tale and many others recorded by Dr. Flower were transcribed in 1947 by Seosamh Ó Dálaigh, collector, by which time Peig had left the island and gone to live on the mainland near Dunquin. Peig helped the transcriber to fill in unintelligible gaps in the original recording.

The narrator, Peig Sayers, who died in December 1958 at the age of eighty-five, was one of the most celebrated of Irish storytellers. The Irish Folklore Commission holds in its archives more than 5,000 manuscript papers of hundreds of tales, songs, prayers, proverbs and items of local lore she recorded for them. For more on Peig see the editor's Introduction, pp. xxii–xxiii.

This tale belongs to the mythological cycle of the Fenian warriors, led by Fionn mac Cumhaill, who are believed to have flourished in the third century A.D. Fionn and his men performed mighty deeds of valor against giants, hags, and sorcerers. The discovery that Irish peasants in the twentieth century still related legends about the Fenians or Fionna astonished scholars. This allegorical Fionn legend is represented by 33 orally collected versions in the Irish Folklore Commission and by 8 published versions. For the references see O'Sullivan, p. 263.

Motifs include D1209.6 "Magic thong"; D1355.13 "Lovespot"; D1840 "Magic invulnerability"; D2061.2.1 "Deathgiving glance"; F863.1 "Unbreakable chain"; K1886.2 "Mists which lead astray"; T466 "Necrophilism: sexual intercourse with dead human body"; Z111 "Death personified"; and Z126 "Strength personified."

One fine day, Fionn mac Cumhaill and fourteen of his men were hunting on the top of Muisire Mountain. They had spent the whole day since sunrise there but met no game.

Late in the evening, Fionn spoke, "'Tis as well for us to face for home, men. We're catching nothing, and it will be late when we, hungry and thirsty, reach home."

"Upon my soul. We're hungry and thirsty as it is," said Conán.

They turned on their heels and went down the mountainside, but if they did, they weren't far down when a dark black fog fell on them. They lost their way and didn't know whether to go east or west. Finally they had to sit down where they were.

"I'm afraid, men, that we're astray for the evening," said Fionn. "I never yet liked a fog of this kind."

After they had sat for a while talking and arguing, whatever look Diarmaid gave around, he saw a beautiful nice lime-white house behind them.

"Come along, men, to this house over there," said he. "Maybe we'll get something to eat and drink there."

They all agreed and made their way to the house. When they entered, there was nobody before them but a wizened old man who was lying in a bent position at the edge of the hearth and a sheep which was tied along by the wall. They sat down. The old man raised his head and welcomed Fionn and his men heartily.

"By my soul," said Diarmaid to himself. "'Tisn't very likely that our thirst or hunger will be eased in this hovel."

After awhile, the old man called loudly to a young woman who was below in a room telling her to come up and get food ready for Fionn and his men. Then there walked up the floor from below, a fine strapping handsome young woman, and it didn't take her long to get food and drink ready for them. She pulled a long ample table out into the middle of the floor, spread a tablecloth on it, and laid out the dinner for the Fianna. She seated Fionn at the head of the table and set every man's meal in front of him. No sooner had each of them put the first bite of food into his mouth than the sheep which was tied along the wall stretched and broke the hard hempen tying that was holding her and rushed towards the table. She upset it by lifting one end of it and not a scrap of food was left that wasn't thrown to the floor in front of the Fianna.

"The devil take you," cried Conán. "Look at the mess you have made of our dinner, and we badly in need of it."

"Get up, Conán, and tie the sheep," said Fionn.

Conán, looking very angry at the loss of his dinner, got up against his will and walked to the sheep. He caught her by the top of the head and tried to drag her toward the wall. But if he broke his heart in the attempt, he couldn't tie her up. He stood there looking at her.

"By heavens," said he. "As great a warrior and hero as I am, here's this sheep today, and I can't tie her. Maybe someone else can?"

"Get up, Diarmaid, and tie the sheep," said Fionn.

Diarmaid stood up and tried, but if he did, he failed to tie her. Each of the fourteen men made an attempt, but it was no use.

"My shame on ye," said the old man. "To say that as great as your valor has ever been, ye can't tie an animal as small as a sheep to the side of the wall with a bit of rope."

He got up from the edge of the hearth and hobbled down the floor. As he went, six pintsful of ashes fell from the backside of his trousers, because he had been so long lying on the hearth. He took hold of the sheep by the scruff of the head, pulled her easily in to the wall, and tied her up. When the Fianna saw him tie the sheep, they were seized with fear and trembling, seeing that he could do it after themselves had failed, brave and all though they were. The old man returned to his place by the fire.

"Come up here and get some food ready for Fionn and his men," he called to the young woman.

She came up from the room again, and whatever knack or magic she had, she wasn't long preparing new food to set before them.

"Start eating now, men; ye'll have no more trouble," said the old man. "This dinner will quench your thirst and hunger."

When they had eaten and were feeling happy with their stomachs full, they drew their chairs back from the table. Whatever peering around Fionn had — he was always restless — he looked toward the room and saw the young woman sitting on a chair there. He got a great desire to talk to her for a while. He went down to the room to her.

"Fionn mac Cumhaill," said she; "you had me once and you won't have me again."

He had to turn on his heel and go back to his chair. Diarmaid then went down to her, but he got the same answer; so did each of the rest of the Fianna. Oisín was the last to try, but she said the same thing to him. She took him by the hand and led him up the floor till she stood in front of the Fianna.

"Fionn mac Cumhaill," said she; "ye were ever famous for strength and agility and prowess, and still each of you failed to tie the sheep. This sheep is not of the usual kind. She is Strength. And that old man over there is Death. As strong as the sheep was, the old man was able to overcome her. Death will overcome ye in the same way, strong and all as ye are. I myself am a planet sent by God, and it is God who has placed this hovel here for ye. I am Youth. Each of you had me once but never will again. And now, I will give each of you whatever gift he asks me for."

Fionn was the first to speak, and he asked that he might lose the smell of clay, which he had had ever since he sinned with a woman who was dead.

Diarmaid said that what he wanted was a love spot on his body, so that every young woman who saw it would fall in love with him.

Oscar asked for a thong which would never break for his flail.

Conán asked for the power of killing hundreds in battle, while he himself would be invulnerable.

On hearing this, Diarmaid spoke.

"Alas!" said he. "If Conán is given the power of killing hundreds, for heaven's sake, don't let him know how to use it. He's a very strong, but a very vicious, man, and if he loses his temper, he won't leave one of the Fianna alive."

And that left Conán as he was ever afterward. He never knew how to use this power that he had, except once at the Battle of Ventry, when he looked at the enemy through his fingers and slew every one of them.

Each of the Fianna in turn asked for what he wanted. I don't know what some of them asked for, but Oisín asked for the grace of God. They say that he went to the Land of Youth and remained there until Saint Patrick came to Ireland, so that he would get the proper faith and knowledge of God and extreme unction when he died. He got them too, for when he returned to Ireland, Saint Patrick himself baptized him and anointed him before he died.

The Cold May Night

From Sean O'Sullivan, Folktales of Ireland(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1966), pp. 15–18.

Type 1927 The Cold May Night. Irish Folklore Commission Vol. 1009, 289–98. Recorded in February, 1946, by Liam MacCoisdeala, collector, from Mícheál Ó Coileáin (70), Carn Mór, Claregalway, county Galway. Mícheál heard the story more than fifty years before from his father, Tomás (60), of the same townland.

Forty-three manuscript and published versions of this tale have been recorded in Ireland. For printed versions, see D. de Híde, Celtic Review 10 (December, 1914–June, 1916): 116–43. It was republished by de Híde in Legends of Saints and Sinners, pp. 40–55, 56–62 and Béaloideas 14 (1944): 207–8. A study of the tale against its literary background has been made by E. Hull, "The Hawk of Achill, or the Legend of the Oldest of the Animals," FolkLore 43 (1932): 376–409.

Achill is a large island off the Mayo coast. Assaroe is the name of a waterfall on the River Erne in county Donegal. Old May Night has been the traditional name for the night of 11 May, ever since the calendar was changed in 1752.

Motifs include B124.1 "Salmon as oldest and wisest of animals"; B841 "Long-lived animals"; R322 "Eagle's nest as refuge"; andX1620 "Lies about cold weather."

There never was as cold a night as Old May Night long, long ago. It was the eleventh of May.

Hundreds of years later, there came a very cold evening. The Old Crow of Achill was alive at the time, and he felt the great cold. He didn't know how he would survive the night; so he flew off to a wood some distance away. He hovered about, and what should he spy on top of the highest tree in the wood but a bird's nest. He decided to pass the night in it.

When he went to it, he found an eagle's fledgling inside. The mother eagle was away, looking for food; so the old crow took hold of the fledgling in his beak and carried it off and killed it somewhere in the wood. He threw the body into some bushes and flew back to the nest.

It wasn't very long until the old eagle returned with a big lump of meat from somewhere. Night had fallen, and she thought that it was her fledgling that was in the nest. She dropped the meat, and the old crow began to eat it with joy. Then the old eagle lay down on top of him. She spent the whole night rising up and jumping about and complaining — for it is said that birds and animals could talk at that time — that she had never felt a colder night.

The Old Crow of Achill was covered with sweat during the night, fearing that when day came and the eagle saw him, she would kill him. The eagle kept complaining about the cold, and at last the old crow remarked that there had been a colder night.

"How do you know that," asked the eagle, "seeing that you only came out of the shell a month ago?"

"Yes, there was a colder night — Old May Night," said the old crow.

"I find it hard to believe you," said the eagle.

"Such a night did come," said the old crow. "If you don't believe me, go to an old blackbird in a certain forge. She'll be there before you, and you'll find that she will tell you that a colder night than last night came one time."

The old eagle got angry. She flew off and never stopped until she came to the Blackbird of the Forge. The blackbird was inside before her, standing on an iron rod. The blackbird welcomed her.

"This is what brought me here," said the eagle. "A young fledgling of mine came out of the egg a month ago. Last night was the coldest I ever experienced, and I spent it rising up out of the nest with the cold. When dawn was near, my young one said to me that there had been a colder night, but I can't imagine how it could know, and it only a month old. It told me if I didn't believe it to go to the Blackbird of the Forge to find out."

"Well, I'm the Blackbird of the Forge, and last night was the coldest I ever felt. I was put into this forge when I was young. This iron rod on which I am standing was so many inches long and so many inches thick at that time. Once every seven years, I used to rub my beak to it; and if I rub it once more, it will break. I have been here that length of time, and last night was the coldest I ever felt; but," said the blackbird, "you must go to a certain bull in a certain field. If he can't tell you, I don't know where you'll find out about it."

The eagle flew off and never stopped until she reached the field. The bull was there.

"What brought me here," said the eagle, "is that a month ago a young fledgling of mine came out of the egg. Last night was the coldest night I ever felt, and I spent the whole night rising up out of my nest to try to keep myself warm. Then when the dawn was near, my young one told me that there had been a colder night. I can't imagine how it could know, and it only a month out of the egg. It told me if I didn't believe it to go to you. Have you ever heard of a colder night than last night?"

"No, I haven't," said the bull. "I have been here for thousands of years, and two horns have fallen off me each year. They have been used to make a fence around this one-acre field, and only the two horns on my head now are wanting to complete the fence. That shows how long I have been here. And still, last night was the coldest night I ever experienced. But the Blind Salmon of Assaroe is older than I am, and he might be able to give you some account of it."

"Where is the Blind Salmon of Assaroe?" asked the eagle.

"In a certain river," said the bull, naming it. "That's where he always is."

Anger came over the eagle, but she flew off and never stopped until she reached the river. She watched the part of the river where the bull said the salmon might be, and what did she see below her but the salmon swimming in the river. She spoke to him, and he replied.

"Are you the Blind Salmon of Assaroe?"

"I am."

"Did you feel cold last night?" asked the eagle.

"I did," replied the salmon.

"I never felt a night so cold," said the eagle. "What brought me here to you is that I have a young fledgling, and I spent all of last night, jumping up and down in the nest, trying to keep it and myself warm. Toward morning, the fledgling, which is only a month out of the egg, said to me that there had once been a colder night. I had never heard of it. It told me if I didn't believe it to go to the Blackbird of the Forge at a certain place, and he might know. I went to the Blackbird of the Forge, and he told me that he had been perched on an iron rod so many inches long and so many inches thick since he was young. Once every seven years, he rubbed his beak against the iron rod, he said, and one more rub would cut it through. He said that last night was the coldest he had ever experienced. He advised me to go to a certain bull in a certain field, because he might know. I went to the bull, and he told me that last night was the coldest he had ever felt. He had been in the field for thousands of years; a pair of horns had fallen from him each year; and the fence around the one-acre field was made of these horns; only the two horns on his head were needed to complete the fence. That was his age. But he told me to go to the Blind Salmon of Assaroe, so that he might tell me about it, and you are that salmon."

"I am," said the Blind Salmon of Assaroe. "A night colder than last night came without any doubt. I was here on Old May Night, the eleventh of May, long ago. It was freezing. I was jumping up and down in the water. It was freezing so hard that when I jumped up one time, the water had frozen when I came down. I was frozen into the ice and couldn't free myself. About two hours after daybreak, what should be passing but the Old Crow of Achill. He saw me frozen in the ice. Down he flew and started pecking at the ice with his beak. He made a hole in the ice and picked out my eye and ate it. That's why I have had only one eye ever since, and that's why I'm called the Blind Salmon of Assaroe. But look here," said the blind salmon, "as sure as I am here, it was the Old Crow of Achill that was in your nest last night and not your young one!"

"Ah, it can't be," said the eagle.

"It was," said the blind salmon. "Only he could have told you about Old May Night."

The eagle returned angrily home, but when she reached the nest, neither her fledgling nor the old crow was there. The old crow had left, and it was well for him. If she caught him, his days would be ended.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from Folktales Told around the World by Richard M. Dorson. Copyright © 1975 The University of Chicago. Excerpted by permission of The University of Chicago Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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Table of Contents

Acknowledgments
Introduction: Choosing the World's Folktales - Richard M. Dorson
 
Europe
Ireland - Sean O'Sullivan
Fionn in Search of His Youth
The Cold May Night
 
Scotland (Lowlands) - Hamish Henderson
The King of England
Johnnie in the Cradle
Applie and Orangie
The Aberdonians and the Chocolates
The Lone Highlander
The Minister to His Flock
 
Scotland (Highlands) - John MacInnes
The Blacksmith's Son
Black Patrick's Bowshot

England - Katharine M. Briggs and Ruth L. Tongue
Annie Luker's Ghost
The Grey Goose Feathers
The Five-Pound Note
 
France - Geneviève Massignon
Cinderella
The Scalded Wolf
 
Spain - Aurelio M. Espinosa
The Unbeliever and the Skull
Santa Catalina
The Mass of Saint Joseph
 
Italy - Carla Bianco
Bertoldino
The Tale of Sister Cat
The Dove and the Fox
 
Switzerland - Robert Wildhaber
Summoned into the Valley of Josaphat
About the Black Spider
Sennentunscheli on the Wyssenboden
The Knife in the Hay
 
Germany - Kurt Ranke
The Swinehard Who Married a Princess
The Ox as Mayor
 
Norway - Reidar Christiansen
The Drinking Horn Stolen from the Huldre Folk at (a) Vallerhaug, (b) Vellerhaug, (c) Hifjell
The Altarpiece in Ringsaker Church
 
Finland - Pirkko-Liisa Rausmaa
The Hunter's Joke
 
Poland - Julian Krzyzanowski
Old Fakla and the Sleeping Knights
The Holy Figure in the Szaflary
The Ages of Man
Song of the Thief
 
Hungary - Linda Dégh
The Magic Calk
Lazybones
 
Russia
The Sorcerer and His Apprentice - Mark Azadovskij
Peter the Great and the Stonemason - I. V. Karnaukhova
Two Thieves
 
Greece - Georgios A. Megas
The Lake Spirits of Peristera and Xerovouni
 
Middle East
Turkey - Ilhan Basgöz
Nasreddin Hodja and Tamerlane
The Smart Brother and the Crazy Brother
Dervish Baba
 
Egypt - Hasan El-Shamy
The Sure News Is Up Ahead
The Falcon's Daughter
 
Tunisia - Hasan El-Shamy
The Sparrow and the King
 
Iraq - Hasan El-Shamy
The Cruel Mother-in-Law
 
Israel - Dov Noy
A Dispute in Sign Language
A Tale of a Jew Who Bridled the Wind
 
Asia
India - Praphulladatta Goswami
Teja and Teji
The Mother Serpent
The King of Cheats
The Monk Who Dueled
Mataru the Grandfather
Tenali Rama and the King's Pets
The Peasant Thanthanpal
Babar Deva the Outlaw
 
Afghanistan - Hafizullah Baghban
The Romance of Mongol Girl and Arab Boy
The Decapitation of Sufi Islam
The Two Thieves With the Same Wife
Khastakhumar and Bibinagar
The Seventy-Year-Old Corpse
 
Japan
The Mountain Where Old People Were Abandoned - Keigo Seki
The Man Who Bought a Dream - Robert J. Adams
 
Philippines
The Adulteress Rat - E. Arsenio Manuel
The Gungutan and the Big-Bellied Man
Agkon, the Greedy Son
The Seven Young Sky Women - Hazel Wrigglesworth
 
China - Wolfram Eberhard
The Bridge of Ch'üan-Chou
Chu the Rogue
 
Burma - Suzan Lapai
Liar Mvkang and the Rich Villagers
Liar Mvkang Sells Ashes
Liar Mvkang and the Water Snake
The Orphan and His Grandmother
 
Korea - Yim Suk-Jay
Why People's Noses Run When They Catch Cold
The Red Pond
The Kindhearted Crab and the Cunning Mouse
The Grave of the Golden Ruler
The One-Sided Boy
 
Oceania
Micronesia
The Ghosts of the Two Mountains - Robert Mitchell
Adventures and Death of Rat
The Maiden Who Married a Crane
The Exiled Sister and Her Son
The Mistreated Stepson
The Spirit Who Swallowed People
The First Getting of the Way to Cultivate Cyrtosperma - Katharine Luomala
 
Polynesia - Katharine Luomala
Maui of a Thousand Tricks
 
Melanesia - Elli Köngäs Maranda
The Myth of Fuusai
 
Africa
Liberia (Gbande) - John Milbury-Steen
The Two Brothers
How the Society Can Get Back Its Medicine
Bush Fowl and Turtle Build a Town
 
Nigeria (Yoruba) - Deirdre La Pin
Jomo, Guardian of the Great Sword
He-Who-Meets-Problems-Alone and He-Who-Seeks-Good-Advice
Cameroun (Gbaya) - Philip A. Noss
Wanto and the Shapeless Thing
Wanto and the Success-by-the-Stump People
Chameleon Wins a Wife
Eagle, Python, and Weaverbird
The Ant and the Termite
The Boy and the Buffalo
 
Zäire (Nyanga) - Daniel P. Biebuyck
Origin of the Enmity between Dog and Leopard
Trapper, Gatherer-of-Honey, and Cultivator
How Nturo Rejected Mpaca
 
South Africa (Xhosa) - Harold Scheub
A Girl Is Cast Off by Her Family
A Zim Steals a Duiker's Children
Hlakanyana Does Mischief But Is Caught
Mbengu-Sonyangaza's Sister Prepares to Undergo Purification Rites
 
New World
Canada
The Duek Dog - Luc Lacourciè
The Tub of Butter
The String of Trout
The Sheep and the Ram
The Sword of Wisdom
The Big Dog
The Scalping of Pérusse
Selling Toilet Paper in the Subway - Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
The Laughing Hyena
An Unexpected Donation
 
United States - Richard M. Dorson
Winabijou (Nanabush) Brings on the Flood
The Mermaid
The Legend of Yoho Cove
Paree at the Carnival
Miracles of Saint Spyridon
The Two Brothers
 
Mexico - Américo Paredes
Kondoy
On Holy Week
 
Bahamas - Daniel J. Crowley
Ordeal by Water
 
Cuba - Daniel J. Crowley
Little Cockroach Martina
 
Trinidad - Daniel J. Crowley
The Poor Brahmin
 
Brazil - Luis da Camara Cascudo
Cases
 
Peru
Treasure, Envy, and Witchcraft - Jean MacLaughlin
The Mouse and the Fox
The Condemned Lover
Quevedo Works as a Cook
The Lake of Langui
The Twin Cycle (Yagua) - Paul Powlison
 
Chili
The Witranalwe Who Guarded Sheep - L. C. Faron
Pedro Urdemales Cheats Two Horsemen - Yolando Pino-Saavedra
 
Index of Motifs
Index of Tale Types
Contributors
General Index
Index of Bibliographic Items
Index of Collectors
List of Narrators