Linkage: Murray’s Google Buzz Profile

Footnotes:

1.	Despite my inexcusable neglect of it over recent months! Seriously, it amazes me that anyone still visits…
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I thought I’d share a poem I was asked to read at my Father’s funeral service on Christmas Eve, this year.

It’s called Where the pelican builds its nest, by Mary Hannay Foott.

It speaks very much of my Father’s lifelong love of Australian poetry, and also gently tugs at a deep sense of longing and perhaps also of regret.

Where the pelican builds its nest

by Mary Hannay Foott

The horses were ready, the rails were down,
But the riders lingered still —
One had a parting word to say,
And one had his pipe to fill.

Then they mounted, one with a granted prayer,
And one with a grief unguessed.
"We are going," they said, as they rode away —
"Where the pelican builds her nest!"

They had told us of pastures wide and green,
To be sought past the sunset’s glow;
Of rifts in the ranges by opal lit;
And gold ‘neath the river’s flow.

And thirst and hunger were banished words
When they spoke of that unknown West;
No drought they dreaded, no flood they feared,
Where the pelican builds her nest!

The creek at the ford was but fetlock deep
When we watched them crossing there;
The rains have replenished it thrice since then,
And thrice has the rock lain bare.

But the waters of Hope have flowed and fled,
And never from blue hill’s breast
Come back — by the sun and the sands devoured —
Where the pelican builds her nest.

Probably the most striking difference I’ve discovered thus far is that unlike many folk stories I’ve previously read, these folk tales don’t seem to particularly mind what you might think of as an unfair outcome [2].

A wonderful example of this comes from the tale entitled And Seven! [3], which recounts the story of a fat and lazy young woman who is courted by a young man. The young man gives his prospective bride 3 tasks to do, with the promise that he will marry her if she completes all 3 tasks. Being fat and lazy (so the story goes), the young woman doesn’t even attempt any of the tasks, but at the very last moment before each task is due to be completed, a different powerful witch [4] arrives on the scene to save the day. Each of the 3 witches asks only one thing in return — that the young woman remembers the witch’s name, and calls her on the wedding day to join in the feast. They each promise the young woman that they will reveal the secret that she did none of the tasks herself if they are not so summoned.

Of course, when the wedding is due the young woman has completely forgotten the names of the 3 witches and it is only because her groom recounts to her a story of meeting 3 witches, who called each other by name, that she is able to summon the witches to the feast, thus keeping her bargain with them.

The story ends with the fat and lazy woman living happily ever after, without once in the tale behaving in a way in which she might have earned that life.

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There are other tales with surprising outcomes in the collection — a favourite of mine so far is the tale of Dauntless Little John, who, though tiny, is so fearless that he spends the night in a cursed castle in which all others who have braved a stay have been found dead of fright by the next morning.

By living through the frightening experiences of the night, Dauntless Little John inherits the castle and a vast treasure and lives happily, until one day he sees his own shadow and… dies of fright! [5]

∗∗∗

If, like me, you have a love of folk tales from around the world, keep an eye out for Calvino’s collection. It appears to be filled with stories of the charming and unexpected; and, after all, what more could you ask for from a book?

Footnotes:

1.	Though some are quick to point out that it’s difficult to define ‘Italian’ in a folk sense, since historically what we think of as ‘Italy’ was in fact a number of distinct provinces with their own folk traditions and tales.
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2.	Not that there aren’t also plenty of tales in which the hero faces adversity but wins the day!
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3.	The title comes from the fact that the young woman is so gluttonous that when her mother is making soup for her, she eats bowl after bowl, while her mother counts them aloud, reaching a total of 7 bowls at each meal.
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4.	All 3 of whom are sisters.
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5.	Reading this story made me wonder if something frightening had happened to Dauntless Little John’s shadow during his stay in the castle, or if this was just meant to be a surprising and darkly humorous outcome given Dauntless Little John’s fearlessness about everything else. Sadly, the tale itself leaves the story at that point, and doesn’t explain why he died of fright from seeing his own shadow.
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Okay, another book to go onto my ever-increasing reading list.

Greg over at Book Obsessions writes:

Devil’s Footsteps by E.E. Richardson offers up a dark and entertaining tale reminiscent of Stephen King’s It, the Candyman movies and of course the Bloody Mary urban legend. Speaking of the latter…After reading this book, I felt compelled to do some research on the Bloody Mary legend. The version of the legend that I have always heard requires the person who is summoning Bloody Mary to say her name 13 times while holding a candle in front of a mirror in a dark room. After the 13th utterance of the name, Bloody Mary will appear in the mirror and basically stare you down. However, I learned through my research that other variations of the legend include Bloody Mary scratching off the face of the person who summoned her, driving the person mad, or even dragging the person through the mirror to live with Mary for all eternity…Yikes!

If you’re a fan of the Bloody Mary tale, then Devil’s Footsteps sounds very much like a fun, scary read!

If you have already read it and you’d like to let us know whether you enjoyed it or not, please share your comments below.

Just wanted to quietly let everyone know about a new blog I’ve launched – or, more accurately, co-launched.

It’s called Voodoologic.org and it’s a collaborative effort between me and a man who’s been one of my closest friends for almost 30 years [1].

If you get a chance, pop on over. It’s still a work-in-progress, but probably always will be, so that’s okay.

Season’s greetings to one and all,

Murray

Footnotes:

1.	And it will be interesting to see if things stay that way now we’re writing a blog together.
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A little while became a year, and a year grew into 2. However, as I said back on that day, I knew a time would come when I would want to start again.

The time has come. I want to start again.

Last time, my goal was to build a reference library of urban legend research. This time, I intend to kick back, relax a little, and explore the things that catch my interest. I have this desire to share these things with the wind and the rain, and because the wind and the rain never remember, I will share them here, too.

I hope you’ll join me for a journey into the things we sometimes believe. Leave comments, disagree, share with others.

Most of all, I hope you enjoy the time you spend here, and that you’ll come back occasionally, to see where the journey has taken us.

Much warmth,

Murray @ ULblog.org