Deities in the mountains (Folktales of South American Indigenous peoples 2. - Kogi)

As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. I am currently working my way through the folklore of South American indigenous peoples. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

Mitos Kogi

Manuela Fischer & Konrad Theodor Preuss

Abya-yala, 1989.

The Kogi live in the northern part of Colombia in the Sierra Nevada, numbering about 15,000 people. The book contains 27 myths collected by Konrad Preuss at the beginning of the 20th century, and 16 collected by Manuela Fischer in the 1980s. Most of these stories were told by chiefs when they were ruling on arguments, handing down laws and values through myths to the next generation. It is an interesting read, but didn't have enough notes to explain cultural elements, so occasionally I felt lost in what symbolic parts and actions meant.

Highlights

The first text in the book about the mother goddess was very beautiful; she is the goddess of dance as well, and the story noted that she is the mother of all people (including foreigners). There was a myth about Taiku, the Lord of Gold, who created ritual objects out of gold. The other gods sent him apprentices, but he turned everyone who was not working hard enough into statues of gold.

The story of Kasindukua was exciting: he was supposed to protect people from illness, but started eating people instead, turning into a puma. The other gods worked hard to trap him. There was also an interesting moment in the story where two gods rebelled against Namsiku; Namsiku grew hooks on the tails of armadillos, and when his rivals went hunting they got dragged underground.

Connections

Among the creation stories there was a flood myth, where the earth was first scorched (hence red soil), and then soaked by rain for four years. The motif of party in the sky was also familiar: in this case Bunkuei, the daughter of one of the ancestors flew to the sky and stole the seeds of various plants - which then were stolen and stolen again, spreading around the world.

There were multiple shapeshifter legends in the book. One of them was about a chief named Mama Teizu, who could turn into a tiger, and ate people. They only managed to capture him when another chief shot an arrow and tore off his transforming mask and shirt.

Who's next?

I'm not sure yet...

Clever armadillos and shapeshifting jaguars (Folktales of South American Indigenous peoples 1. - Mocoví)

As a sequel to the Following folktales around the world reading challenge, I decided to start reading minority and indigenous folktales. I am currently working my way through the folklore of South American indigenous peoples. You can find previous posts here, and you can follow the challenge on Facebook here.

Folk Literature of the Mocoví Indians

Johannes Wilbert, Karin Simoneau, Maria Susana Cipolletti

UCLA, 1988.

The Mocoví are a South American indigenous people numbering about twenty thousand. They live in the Gran Chaco area (most of them in the Argentinian part). This book contains 222 of their stories in English translation, from multiple collection projects - many of them published for the first time. It also has literally everything a researcher could wish for: footnotes, sources, motif index, type index, glossary, map, etc. The introduction talks about Mocoví culture and history, and mentions that the oral tradition was endangered at the time of collection in the 1970s.

What I especially like about this book series is that they put versions of the same tale next to each other, so one can compare how different storytellers at different times remembered them, showing off the diversity of oral tradition.

Highlights

Among the constellation myths there was one about a man-eating rhea bird. After people defeated it with the help of a shaman, it was raised into the sky (as the Southern Cross). In a longer version of the story, the rhea was defeated by two siblings with the help of their loyal dogs after they fled from the court of an evil king (one of the rare tales where marrying the princess backfired). There was also a legend about the Morning Star, which in reality was a "black widow": she kept marrying and killing one man after another.

There were several fun origin stories in the book. My personal favorite explained how the birds got their colors due to a fox having diarrhea... another told about a party the animals had that ended in a mass brawl, leaving several creatures in their current form (e.g. the parrot's beak got punched in, the snake crawled home drunk, etc.)

The brasita de fuego birds had a love story attached: the male thought he'd lost his wife in a fire, but found her again and fell in love with her new red feathers. The story of the crespín cuckoo was very similar, and thus explained why their song is different in the few months when their ancestor was looking for its beloved. The scariest origin story was that of the locusts, which claimed that in the old days they used to be human-sized and hunted humans. There was also a legend about the giant King of Ants, who helped farmers in exchange for peace with his people.

A large part of the book was taken up by animal tales. I especially liked the character of the clever armadillo. In one tale, it caught animals with a lasso and anchored himself in a hole; when fox tried to copy him, things did not go well. In another, armadillo pinched jaguar's nose with his armor, curling up, and didn't let go until the predator changed its mind.

There was an entertaining story about a cat and a deer who made jaguars believe they ate jaguars - exiling the predators into the wilderness forever. In another one, a howler monkey chased a jaguar away, saving a goat; there was also one where a goat used a dead puma to scare a jaguar away. I especially liked the story of the three little yellow fish who were sisters, and got trapped in a crocodile's pond after a flood. They managed to convince the crocodile they wanted to marry him, avoiding being eaten until the flood returned to free them.

There was an exciting legend about a beautiful girl who was bullied by other women (they stole all her lovers) - in the end, using the power women had during their period, she sank her entire village underground with the help of a giant snake. In another version, a shaman convinced a girl on her period to anger a snake monster - and then lead it to the camp of hostile white conquerors.

At the end of the book there were several legends about shapeshifting jaguars. My favorite was the one where the shaman didn't only defeat the jaguar-man, but also robbed its house - bringing the first musical instruments into the human world. In another story a shaman defeated the jaguar with the help of two dogs born from his spit (which people didn't believe later). There was also a friendlier legend about an orphan boy who was raised by jaguars and taught how to hunt.

Connections

Mocoví mythology also had a sky-reaching tree, with branches that allowed people to fish in sky rivers. Sadly, when people became greedy, an old woman in the shape of a capybara brought the tree down. The motif of fire theft also appeared: Hawk stole fire for people, from none other but the grumpy-looking viscacha. In some versions the thief was a vulture, an animal the Mocoví respect greatly. There was also a flood myth (here, a mangy dog warned the kind hero to prepare in advance).

Among the creation stories there was one where a troublesome spirit (Nowét) tried to copy the creations of the Creator (Kotaá) - making goats instead of sheep, and tapirs instead of cows.

I was surprised to find a few familiar tale types: Father of Winds was a "rescued princesses" tale, where the shaman hero became the lord of the winds upon his return from the underworld. In another a mortal man married the daughter of Naiapék the shapeshifting giant - resulting in a Magic Flight story (at the end of which the young couple split up).

Among the animal tales there was the familiar "bystander intervention" tale where an ovenbird helped a dove save its chicks from a fox.

The resident trickster was the Fox, who mostly played tricks on Jaguar. He featured in many classics such as the false funeral, the ungrateful animal rescued from a trap, crossing a river on the back of crocodiles, and mutual dinner invitations with a bandurria bird. One storyteller noted: "Fox is not nice, but his stories are exciting." As I mentioned above, Armadillo was also a popular trickster - he could even trick fox (usually by making him try to copy the armadillo). Another trickster was a distant cousin on Mouse Deer called Brocket Deer, who also liked to trick Jaguar. In a few stories, Monkey also played tricks - once, he convinced Fox that if he followed the Bull around, eventually the bull's balls would drop like candy.

Who's next?

The Kogi people

Z is for Zarzamora and the Fire Bug (A to Z Challenge 2019: Fruit Folktales)

This story comes from the Pemon people of Venezuela. Zarzamora is often translated to English as blackberry, but in Venezuelan Spanish it can mean a variety of similar fruits, such as the Rubus floribundus (zarzamora andina), Rubus glaucus (zarzamora azul, Andean raspberry), Rubus ulmifolius (thornless/wild blackberry), Rubus bogotensis (black mulberry), or the Rubus caesius (zarzamora pajarera, European dewberry). The story itself didn't specify the species.

Once upon a time there was a cocuyo beetle (glowing click beetle) who set out to visit some relatives. He made the appropriate preparations, prayers and invocations for safe travel, and began his journey. One time along the way, night found him on a hill, where he found the house of a zarzamora. He asked for shelter for the night, and she invited him in. She was old, leafless and bent, with some very ugly features, but she was a great hostess. She offered food and drinks, hung a hammock for him, they had a nice conversation - and the zarzamora fell in love with the beetle. The cocuyo, however, wanted nothing from her; he told her she was old and ugly, and the next morning, he went on his way.

The beetle reached his destination, visited with his relatives for a while, and then set out on the journey home. On the way back, he happened to stop on the same hill where the zarzamora lived. Surprise! She was completely changed now: She stood straight, rejuvenated, with fresh leaves and beautiful flowers. The beetle instantly fell in love with her, but she kept ignoring him. Eventually he started begging for her to at least tell him how she became young again.

"Some people passed this way, and they set fire to me. It was the fire that rejuvenated me." - responded the zarzamora. The cocuyo immediately wanted to be rejuvenated too. So, despite the zarzamora's warnings, he flew straight to the place where people were camping, and threw himself into the fire. He was badly burnt, and turned black from the smoke forever. He returned home, ashamed of himself. His descendants have the same tendencies ever since: When they see fire, they try to fly into it, and when they see zarzamora in bloom, they can't stay away from the beautiful flowers.

(The story comes from this book.)

This was the last story for this year's A to Z. Thank you all for another fun Challenge! See you in May for the Reflections. And don't forget to eat fruit!

U is for Ugni Berries and Ulmo Trees (A to Z Challenge 2019: Fruit Folktales)

This one was not easy at all, but I managed to pull a few fun things out of Google Books! Get ready, I am going to hit you with some little known flora.

The fruit for today is the Ugni molinae, known in South American Spanish as uñi, murta, or murtilla, and in English as strawberry myrtle or Chilean guava. It belongs to the myrtle family. Ugni fruit was introduced to Europe in 1844, but has been a staple in indigenous Araucano and Mapuche cuisine for centuries. The fruit is used for making desserts and liquor (chicha), and it is famous for being a favorite delicacy of two important people: Queen Victoria of England, and the thrauco.

Picture from here

The thrauco (trauco or chauco) is a mysterious being of Chilean folklore and mythology. It is a small creature, usually between 50 and 85 cm tall. He wears clothes woven from quilineja (Luzuriaga radicans), and a cap or hat made from the same material. He always carries his stone axe (toki), and usually walks leaning on a twisted walking cane. He might be small, but he is certainly not weak: Using his stone axe, he can fell a three in three strokes, even if it is a gigantic ulmo (Eucryphia cordifolia). In fact, the sound of three axe chops is what usually signals to people that a thrauco is nearby.

The thrauco loves two things more than anything: Climbing trees, and eating ugni berries. As for climbing, he enjoys being high up in the branches of tique (Aextoxicon punctatum) trees. He surveys the landscape from up there, as he really loves looking at nature. He hates people, however. If he sees a human from his perch, his evil eyes might twist the person's mouth permanently.

As for the ugni berries: It is his main source of sustenance, and his favorite delicacy. People in rural Chile warn their children about going into the ugni bushes to pick berries. The thrauco scares children away from his favorite food - but even worse, if he encounters a maiden, he might get her pregnant (pregnancies out of wedlock are often blamed on the thrauco).

(You can read - in Spanish - more about the thrauco here, here, and here.)

Guardian of Nature? Story to scare the children? Mythical being to blame for pregnancies?

And why ugni berries, out of all the things that grow in the forest?...

Enter Anansi! (Following folktales around the world 26. - Suriname)

Today I continue new blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

It's Anansi time!!!

Suriname folk-lore
Melville J. Herskovits - Frances S. Herskovits
Ams Press, 1969.

This book was first published in 1936, and it definitely carries the signs of its time ("Notes on the culture of the Paramaribo Negroes"). It is quite heavy, being almost 800 pages long. The upside is that it is a folklore publication, which managed to dodge the judgmental tone, reporting facts and observations instead, about the culture, beliefs, and customs of the black population (of African descent) of Paramaribo and its region. The folktale chapter contains almost 150 stories in mirror translation, along with ample footnotes (including sources for other variations of each tale), an introduction to the storytellers, and multiple versions of certain stories collected and published side by side.
The introduction chapter on folklore and folk belief was just as fascinating. There was an entire section on the meanings of head kerchiefs tied in different ways, and the stories they told by each variation. I also read about such intriguing things as the mati (a birthday party organized to celebrate lesbian relationships), the trefu (individual food-related taboos that people inherited from their parents), the various souls each person has, and the personal gods that regulated their life and their worship (which, interestingly, could be of African descent, but also local indigenous gods). In the back of the book, there are chapters of dreams, riddles, sayings, and musical notes for the songs inserted into the folktales.

Highlights

With this book, we arrive to the home turf of Anansi the Spider! More than half of the tales were Anansi stories, and the entire folktale chapter was traditionally labeled as Anansi-tori (Anansi stories), a common name for tales in general.
I was very excited to find several Anansi stories that I have not encountered before. For example, Lies hurt more than a wound featured Anansi proving the title proverb by (quite literally) smearing a king's reputation. In Monkey's urine is sweet, he tricked Tiger into drinking monkey pee repeatedly (poor monkey did not fare well in the process). There was a fun story where Anansi competed in eating hot peppers to win a princess' hand, and another one where his wife enchanted kitchenware so that it would run away from her greedy husband. I especially loved the story where Anansi pretended to be American, putting on a hilarious fake accent, in order to be welcomed as a special guest to a feast. In another story, he pretended to be an angel. Spider-angels for the win.
If course there were also cool stories that did not feature Anansi. For example, in Plot to Cook Goat, Tiger and Dog captured a goat for dinner - but Dog felt sorry for it, and helped it get away. In Animal Gratitude and Human Duplicity, a hunter rescued a Rat, a Snake, and a Human Being. Guess which one betrayed him, and who saved him, in the end...

Connections

Orlando Jones as (an amazing) Anansi
in Starz's new American Gods show

Most of the well-known, classic trickster tales appeared in the book, many of them in several variations. Of course we had the Tar Baby, the tug-o-war between Elephant and Whale, the Magic Rock, Riding Tiger and Escape by Switching Places (see also: Br'er Rabbit in the Uncle Remus tales), Eating Tiger's intestines (as opposed to balls or tail, in other versions), and the Feast of Anansi and Tortoise, where they mutually tricked each other.
Of course, once again, we had a race-running tale (Tortoise vs Deer), and also the Contest of the Birds about who can fly the highest (won by Hummingbird hitching a ride on Eagle's back). There was also a version of King Midas' ears, featuring Anansi and the unusual beard of a Pharaoh, and a version of the fairy tale known as Filomena from Haiti, where the cruelty of a stepmother comes back to harm her own children.
The second half of the tale collection featured a lot of classic fairy tale types. I found a close variation on the story that I know as Marie Jolie from J. J. Reneaux's Cajun folktales. There were also local variants for Cinderella, the Magic Flight, the Extraordinary Companions, Beauty and the Beast, Rumpelstiltskin (Akantiudu), the Marks of the Princess, and even the tale I know as the Canary Prince from Italy.

Where to next?
Next week, we are entering the Caribbean! Starting with Trinidad and Tobago.

Of Women and Jaguars (Following folktales around the world 25. - Guyana)

Today I continue new blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

Guyana legends
Folk tales of the indigenous Amerindians
Odeen Ishmael
Xlibris Corporation, 2011.

This book contains 50 tales from the oral traditions of Guyana's indigenous peoples (who make up about 10% of the population). It is a well-selected collection; no story is too long, too short, or too convoluted to enjoy, and the fifty of them together show the diversity of the country not only culturally, but also in terms of natural habitats, from mountain to seashore, from savannas to rainforests. I was a little disappointed that the stories were not tagged with the name of the peoples they belonged to, and that the black-and-white photos were of very low quality. Still, it was good to get visual aid for the various animals, objects, and landmarks mentioned in the tales. The book also has a very useful glossary at the end.

Highlights

My favorite story in the book was the simple yet powerful legend of Bat Mountain, in which an old woman defeated a giant, man-eating bat, and at the expense of her own life saved everyone else.

I also loved the tale of The girl who was once a monkey. It started out as a classic animal bride story - up to the point where the husband began mistreating his wife, and she ran away with her child. Fleeing, she came to a river she could not cross, and called out to her people - the monkeys on the other side all worked together to bend a tree down over the river, and help her return to them. A similarly powerful message to women was the legend of The woman who defeated two tigers (and it was very typical how no one believed her heroic deed when she returned home).
I found the story of Kororomanna and the Hebus amusing. Hebus are forest spirits, usually nocturnal; in this case they were small, hairy, noisy, and had eyebrows so bushy that if they wanted to look up, they had to stand on their heads. Most often they were hostile to people, but they were occasionally known to help those in need.
From a folkloristic standpoint, the legend of the Haiarri root was fascinating. The root was originally a boy, whose power was to stand in water, and make the fish faint and float to the surface. The plant has the same power now - fishermen use it for a better catch. I also appreciated the fact that I found the first, lovely albeit sad legend about the birth of the manatee of my journey in this book.

Connections

I found many similarities to the tales in last week's Venezuelan collection - no wonder, since several tribes whose traditions are included actually exist on both sides of the border. I found familiar tales about people descending from the sky (and a pregnant woman getting stuck); the World Tree that bore all kinds of fruit; two girls rescuing the Sun; a water goddess marrying a fisherman; the birth of the Victoria Regia flower; and there was, as usual, a flood myth too. I especially liked the stories about the World Tree - they spoke volumes about the sharing of resources, the importance of life, and the disastrous consequences that can occur when some greedy person chops the tree down for personal gain (great themes for environmental storytelling).
I was reminded of North American indigenous myths by two stories that involved stealing fire. In one, Hummingbird stole it from the jaws of Caiman, while in the other a boy managed to snatch some embers from a mountain spirit's fire, and pass them on to his friends. I also recognized other indigenous motifs in Tiger's yellow eyes flying out of his head, and the story in which Possum and Tortoise had a fasting contest (Possum lost by dying of hunger). This latter one reminded me of tales from the Andes where Condor and Fox have a contest in who can last longer in the cold.

Once again, there is no folktale collection without a race between animals. This time, it was Tiger (Jaguar) versus Tortoise. The fun part is, they also had a hunting contest (which Tortoise won with a trap), and a body-painting contest which Tortoise simply won because he painted Jaguar's coat so beautifully.
The local trickster (with several stories) is Koneso, the rabbit.

Where to next?
Suriname!

Sea Above, World Below (Following folktales around the world 24. - Venezuela)

Today I continue new blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

Kuai-Mare
Mitos aborígenes de Venezuela
Maria Manuela de Cora
Editorial Oceanida, 1957.

A lovely, colorful, eloquent collection of indigenous myths and legends. The book is divided into chapters by culture, and I think it says a lot about it that by the time I finished reading, my copy was full of post-it notes and reminders for the stories I want to go back and read again. The book comes with a bibliography and a glossary, but more importantly, it is full of gorgeous, little known stories.

Highlights

Right in the first chapter I was enchanted by the world image of the Guarauno people: They called the sky the Sea Above, where the blue was the water, and the clouds are mountains and islands above it. People climbed down on ropes from there to feast on the fruits of our world, until a pregnant woman got stuck in the whole they used as an entrance, and no one could go either way anymore... Mirroring the world above is the World Underwater, the realm of the water spirit Nabarao, who rules over the rivers, mangroves, and all their creatures. There was a lovely story about one of his daughters marrying a mortal man, and taking him to visit the strange world under the river. When the girl left her home to live with her husband, she was accompanied by her pet shark in the form of a black dog, and refused to eat any fish, since all of them were her relatives.
I was similarly enchanted by the Taurepan-Arekuna-Kamarakoto myth of the World Tree, which bore all the different kinds of fruit there are at once. There were multiple stories about it, from when it was first found, until the day it fell (most world trees tend to do so). From the same people came one of the best tales in the book, The Two-headed Condor, where a mortal married the daughter of the vulture in the sky. His father-in-law gave him all kinds of classic fairy tale tasks, which he accomplished with the help of various unusual animals: Dragonflies helped him dry a lake, worms to break up a rock, the weaver bird to make a roof, and ants to build a bench.

Similarly awesome was the legend about the Electric Eel's rebellion against the Good Spirit. Humans were created as punishment for the animals that took part in the rebellion; therefore, humans don't eat any of the Good Spirit's helpers, such as toads, vultures, and hawks.

There was a beautiful Chaima legend about the Guácharo caves, where the souls of the deceased exist in the forms of rocks and crystals, keeping company with thousands of oilbirds that don't like the light. Similarly intriguing, but less elegant, was the chapter about the Kanaima, the spirit of vengeance among the Caribes.

Connections

The Guarauno myth about the Lord of the Sun told about a brave girl who stole the sun from a greedy man who kept it hidden. She did not only return the Sun to the sky, but also tied it to a turtle to slow it down... The first part of the story reminded me of North American indigenous stories (Raven steals the light), while the second half was similar to how Maui lassoed the Sun. There was also a tale about Darkness being kept hidden until someone foolishly let it out; I recently read a similar tale from Brazil. Echoed in several stories around the world was The mosquito who turned into a man (who married a woman just to be able to suck her blood in peace). The evil husband was burned in the end, but from his ashes millions of obnoxious insects were born. After Colombia, I found another flood myth here (from the Tamanaco) where humans were recreated from the nuts of the moriche palm. And, of course, there was a legend featuring vagina dentata; this time, like in Paraguay, the reason for the danger was the bunch of tiny piranhas that lived inside the woman's vagina...

Where to next?
Guyana!

Gods and emeralds (Following folktales around the world 23. - Colombia)

Today I continue new blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

Mitos y leyendas indígenas de Colombia
Javier Ocampo López
P&J, 2013.

A collection of a wide range of myths from the indigenous peoples of Colombia. It contains more than 50 stories (sometimes multiple in one chapter), although we do not get a full re-telling of all of them; some are merely mentioned or summarized. On the plus side, the myths are also explained and contextualized by the author, and they come with footnotes, sources, and direct quotes from medieval chronicles. The author/collector also relates them to similar stories outside of South America.

Highlights

My favorite story in the book was the Salt Merchant, whose wares were washed away by a downpour, and the Chibcha god Bochica helped him "reclaim the salt from the water" by teaching them how to evaporate seawater.

There was a beautiful Muzo myth about the origin of Colombia's famous emeralds. In it, the ancestress of humanity, Fura, cheated on her husband Tena with a stranger with blue eyes and a blonde beard. As revenge, Tena killed her and her lover, and then himself. Husband and wife turned into rocks divided by a river; the painful tears of Fura became the first emeralds, and also the first blue Muzo butterflies.
There was a similarly beautiful legend about the birth of the Victoria Regia flower, from a girl who loved the Moon so much she jumped into the river to reach its reflection.
I found many fascinating figures among the gods and heroes of the indigenous peoples. My favorite was probably the Chibcha Huitaca, the "rebel goddess," who preached a life of delights and pleasures to people - until the civilizing male god, Bochica, turned her into an owl. Another intriguing one was The Son of Thunder, a powerful sorcerer from Paeces mythology, who defeated enemy warriors by summoning snakes and throwing them around their necks. I really enjoyed the idea of the Chibcha Nencatacoa, god of revelry and dancing, because he has been transferred over to Christian tradition as Dancind St. Pascual - on his feast day, people light a bonfire, and if the flames leap high, they believe the god/saint is dancing with them.

Of course there is no book of Colombian legends without the legend of El Dorado, which was featured in detail. There were many other stories from the era of colonization as well; some were bloodier than others. The legend of the Chibcha women was memorable, because they managed to drug Spanish soldiers and get away. There was also Gaitana, female chief of the Yalcones, who, after the Spanish burned her son alive, led a long and bloody resistance against them, taking thousands of people into battle (she reminded me of Boudicca).

Connections

I was reminded of Romeo and Juliet by the legend of Pacanchique and Azay, where a chief tried to steal the bride of a young warrior away. The groom and his father gave the girl a potion that made her appear dead; then they stole her body and revived her. While the plan worked, sadly the story still did not have a happy ending...

There were multiple flood myths in the collection. A Muisca tradition blamed the god Chibchacum for the diluge, and he was forced by Bochica to, like Atlas, carry the world on his shoulder as punishment (when he gets tired and shifts to the other shoulder, earthquakes happen). In another myth from the Orinonco, the only human couple that survived the flood recreated people from the fruits of the moriche palm ("the tree of life").
There was also a fascinating legend about the Son of the Sun, the prophet Goranchacha, who was foretold to be born from a virgin girl impregnated by the rays of the sun. Two daughters of a chief went up to the mountain every day to lie naked before the rising sun, until one of them got pregnant... Apart from the obvious Christian comparison, I was also reminded of the myth of Danae, and the Italian folktale Daughter of the Sun.

Where to next?
Venezuela!

Tricksters and fairy tales (Following folktales around the world 22. - Ecuador)

Today I continue new blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

Cuentos folklóricos de la costa del Ecuador
26 registros de la tradición oral ecuatoriana
Paulo de Carvalho-Neto
Instituto Panamericano de Geografía e Historia, 1976.

This book was not an easy read, and took me forever to get through. It is a folklore collection, which means it comes with notes on tale types - but it also means that the stories have been transcribed from the oral telling word for word, including repeated fillers such as "said" and "then," and that many words were written down phonetically, missing parts or letters. My Spanish struggled to keep up with the omissions, and I had to sound a lot of the paragraphs out loud. I realize that this was supposed to give us a better understanding of what these stories sounded like when told - but it also made reading them a very painful process.
The stories themselves were mostly local versions of well-known types. They had some fascinating details, but none of them really captivated me as a whole.

Highlights

I loved the version of the Dragonslayer folktale type (here named The orphan boy) where the hero was helped by three hounds, who were really angels in disguise, named Santa María, Ligero (Light) and Pesado (Heavy). I also enjoyed The one-eyed king as the Moorish queen, where an old king lost an eye to the queen in battle, and his three sons set out to bring it back (later turned out the queen had been holding the eyeball in her mouth...). The quest was interwoven with the Animal Bride tale type, where the youngest prince married a toad, and she helped him bring the eye back. It was extra fun that the older brothers experimented with getting away with fake eyes, and the king did not even notice that he had been wearing the eye of a cat until his youngest returned...
It was also interesting to see a novel solution to the "Four Skillful Brothers" story. Here, four brothers - a thief, a musician, a marksman, and a carpenter - rescued a princess, and then could not decide who should marry her as a reward. In the end, they gave her as a wife to their father - since it had been the father that helped them start out in learning their professions...

Connections

Most tales in the book were Ecuadorian versions of well-known folktale types such as the Three kidnapped princesses (Juan del Oso, Mama Leche la Burra), or the Magic Flight (Bella Flor Blanca).

There were some trickster tales with African connections: Tío Conejo asking God to be large and menacing fell into the "Trickster asks for endowments" story type. God gave the rabbit all kinds of impossible tasks that Tío Conejo fulfilled easily - so well, in fact, that God began to worry what would happen if the wily little creature was also large and strong. Therefore, he only made the ears bigger. Tío Conejo had some classic adventures in these tales (including an encounter with the infamous Tar Doll). And while the rabbit had African connections, from Europe we had Pedro the trickster visiting - in this case, his last name was Imala (as opposed to Urdemalas or Malasartes, see earlier).
And finally, there is no folktale collection without animals running a race. This time it was Toad vs. Deer, and the Toad (family) won.

Where to next?
Colombia!

Talking mountains, hidden treasures (Following folktales around the world 21. - Peru)

Today I continue new blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook! Tíz évvel ezelőtt perui mesékkel kedztem hivatásos mesemondói pályafutásomat. Nosztalgikus volt ismét elmerülni bennük.

Ten years ago I began my professional career with Peruvian tales. It was very nostalgic to return to them.

Mitos, leyendas, y cuentos peruanos
José María Arguedas, Francisco Izquierdo Ríos
Siruela, 2009.

This classic collection has gone through various editions since its first in 1947. It contains 65 tales, organized by genre and geography: Myths, legends, and folktales from the Coastal, Mountain, and Rainforest regions of Peru. It is the result of a national folklore collection campaign in the early 1900s when they mailed questionnaires out to all town and village teachers, who in turn had their students collect and record local stories, and submit them. The volume therefore is diverse, intriguing, and exciting; it has pretty much everything from indigenous myths to Catholic saints, from international folktale types to monster lore. The book comes with extensive notes on the local words, flora and fauna, and symbols embedded in the stories. It is a classic in its own field, and very much worth reading.

Highlights

One of my favorite stories was that of The three bulls, in which the fertile pastures of a mountain were protected by three terrible bulls - one orange-red, one black, one white. People decided to hunt them down, and chased them separately until they disappeared; later they found gold mines where the red one had gone, silver where the white, and coal where the black.
Talking about mines, I loved the legends featuring the Mother of Salt, an old hag who protects rock salt mines (places, lakes, mountains, etc. in Peruvian lore have "mothers", guardian spirits - who are not always female, by the way, and not always human). In the stories she either begs for food, or cooks for a traveler - and then seasons it by sneezing generous amounts of snot on it. If people are disgusted, she gets offended, and moves the salt mines far away.
I also found the legend of two neighboring mountains, Huatuscalla és Ccaser, very intriguing. People were building a road across the former, carving and torturing it; the locals claim to have overheard the two peaks talking at night, Huatuscalla complaining about the damage. Eventually they agreed that it would transfer all its riches to its neighbor for safekeeping before the humans found them. Two doors appeared in the mountainsides, then a giant bridge; warriors in red carried all treasures over to Ccaser, and disappeared. Huatuscalla has been angry and volatile ever since.

Huatuscalla (picture from here)

There was a charming story about the birth of dragonflies (or as locally called, Little Horses of the Devil), where a mysterious trickster kept spreading fake news and rumors until a village got a sorcerer to turn him into an insect. As a punishment, he now has to appear as the harbinger of good news. I was also entertained by the legend where two neighboring towns swapped guardian saints (Saint Anne and Saint Isidorus), but they kept returning home, because Isidorus was always colt and Anne thought her new home was unhealthy.
My archaeologist heart especially liked the legend of Narihuala, which claimed that when the locals got news about the arrival of Pizarro, they got so scared they buried themselves alive with all their treasures - this is how legend explains rich ancient burials full of gold and silver.

Connections

There were several familiar mythical creatures in these tales. I found sirens, fairies, dwarves, and even a Basilisk that killed off an entire village. I was partial to the Amazonian water-people called yacuruna, whose riverbed houses had roofs made of sand, vipers for beams, and turtles for chairs. Also of local flavor was the pishtaco, who, similar to Bolivian stories, kills people for their grease and blood at night. Those of you who watch Supernatural probably remember this one (interpreted by Dean Winchester as "fish taco").
There were multiple legends about my favorite Peruvian "dragon", the llama-headed Amarú. In one story there were two of them, one white and one black, and their fights over a river caused floods and earthquakes (reminiscent of the two dragons of Merlin).

Find more funny potoos here

The Legend of the Aymaman was the Peruvian version of Hansel and Gretel, where an evil stepmother made her husband take the two children, a boy and a girl, to the jungle and abandon them. Instead of a witch, however, they encountered a fairy, who turned them into birds so that they could live in the enchanted forest forever. Their call (aymaman) is to their deceased mother. It had to be a beginner fairy, too, because the bird, also known as the potoo, is one of the funniest-looking creatures in existence.
And of course there is no book without tricksters! This time it was carachupa, the armadillo (of course), who tricked Tiger by making him believe that the end of the world was near. I have seen this reading-from-a-leaf trick from the Mouse Deer in Indonesia before...

Where to next?
Ecuador.

The richness of the rainforests (Following folktales around the world 20. - Brazil)

Today I continue new blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

Brazilian folktales
Livia de Almeida, Ana Portella, Margaret Read MacDonald
Libraries Unlimited, 2006.

Much like the other volumes of the series, this book was very well researched, well balanced, and presented by practicing storytellers (the editing still needs work, though). It contains a wide range of stories, both in terms of folk genre and in cultural origins, reflecting the rich diversity of the country itself. There is a concise introduction, notes and sources for all the stories included, and even some recipes.
A quick, but educational and enjoyable read. And some lovely stories.

Highlights

Among the indigenous myths and legends, the Creation of the Amazon River stood out to be for its beauty. It told about the love between Sun and Moon that could never be, and how the Moon cried the Great River in her grief. I also re-read an old favorite of mine, the Tupi myth of the How the night came to be, where people got the Night enclosed in a coconut from the Great Snake, but the unusual noises from inside (crickets, frogs) made them open it too soon, and they all turned into monkeys.

This is Cutia

In the animal stories, Jaguar was once again usually on the receiving end of things. In one tale, he was killed by Turtle who jumped on his head from a tree; in another, Cutia pretended to be the King of Termites by covering himself in honey and termites, in order to trick him.
I was especially pleased with the "Scary Tales" chapter. It is not usually my favorite genre, so I was pleasantly surprised by how many of them stuck with me. I loved Devil in a Bottle, where a jealous husband left his wife to the Devil while going on a trip - but the wife tricked the Devil into a bottle, and did whatever she wanted. Creature of the Night was darker and haunting: A girl was courted by a mysterious stranger, but her dog kept him away from her, even after she killed it in frustration. Another girl barely got away from the Beetle Man she married - he turned into a large black beetle every night, and killed animals. There were two kibungo legends, brought over from the Bantu traditions: The kibungo is a monster that kidnaps people in the pouch on its back, and eats them. In one tale, a girl was rescued by her brave grandma; in the other, a boy who was friends with the birds managed to save his whole community.

Connections

Guaraná fruit

The Story of the Guaraná bore a certain resemblance to another well-known myth: A girl was exiled from an idyllic, lush forest because she had been seduced by a snake... The end of the story also echoed many myths around the world where a new plant is born from a buried body (in this case, the eyes, which makes sense, when you look at the guaraná fruit). I was reminded of North American Coyote stories by Crab with the Flying Eyes, where a crab could make his eyes fly out of his head and look around - but when Jaguar tried the same trick, her eyes were eaten by fish, and Buzzard had to make her new ones. Familiar from other South American traditions was the Party in Heaven, where Turtle snuck into a party for birds, hidden inside the guitar of Vulture - but she was discovered, and made the return trip a lot faster...
It was surprising to encounter a tale of Arab/Persian origins - The Cockroach's Wedding. What was not surprising, however, was that most "Tales of Enchantment" were familiar from European traditions (e.g. Louse skin, Kind and Undkind Girls, Dancing Princesses, Frog Princess, etc.); although all of them had their local spin and flavor.
And, obviously, there were tricksters. The local guy is called Pedro Malasartes (distant cousin of Pedro Urdemalas from Spanish-speaking countries). The Tar Doll was also a common motif that appeared here, echoing many African and American trickster stories. There were many familiar ones in the "Death Tales" chapter - such as the very well known Tía Miseria, and a Brazilian version of "Meeting in Samarkand."

Where to next?
Peru!

Scattered stories (Following folktales around the world 19. - Uruguay)

Today I continue new blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

For the duration of the A to Z Challenge, Following Folktales post will go online on Sundays.

Today's post is a little bit different than usual - given that I did not manage to locate a collection of traditional tales from Uruguay. Instead, I hunted down a bunch of collections that had at least some stories from Uruguay in them.

This is a bilingual edition of traditional tales from the southern countries of South America (Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay). It contains five tales from the latter, as well as games, folk recipes, and a short introduction to the country's landscape and culture.

The river of painted birds
A short story; mostly a list of indigenous bird species. It concludes with the Guaraní arriving to this land, and naming it Uruguay, which means "river of painted birds", after the rich local wildlife.

Candombe drums
Again, a tiny tale that paints a picture of how the sound of drums first arrived to Uruguay with people taken from Africa as slaves, and how it made the local wildlife dance.

Ingele thinks he is dead
I knew this as a Hodja story, but apparently it exists in other cultures as well. Ingele, the simpleton, believes that he is dead, because a random stranger told him so. Later, he "comes back to life," and scares the daylights out of some travelers.

Yerba mate
A really beautiful guaraní legend about how Yasí, the moon, wanted to come down to earth to marvel at it up close. She gets attacked by a jaguar, and rescued by a mortal man; as a gift, she creates the mate plant for him, so that he has mate to drink to keep himself alert, strong, and healthy.

The legend of the lajau (ombú) tree
Another really beautiful guarnaí legend, re-told by a children's author. Tupá, the creator, asks each tree what they wish for. The ombú viszes for light and porous wood, and a large canopy so that it can shelter many creatures. Tupá also grants the tree immortality for its generosity.
It is truly a remarkable tree:

Uruguayan tales from other books:

The Green Moss Prince (Stories from the Americas)
A tale of European, probably Italian origins; I knew a variation of it as Prince Canary, from Italo Calvino's collection. Here, the prince visits his lover in the form of a green parrot; when her evil stepsisters hurt the bird and chase him away, the girl sets out to find and rescue him with the help of the Wind, the Moon, and the Sun.

The origin of the camlet (camalote) flower (Ride with the Sun)
Indigenous legends from the colonial era. It tells of the daughter of a white settler, who rescued a native boy from a flood; the boy survived, but the white girl was swept away. Tupá, the creator, turned her into a lovely blue water flower as a reward for her bravery.

The sad tale of a foolish fellow (The King of the Mountains)
The same tale as Ingele, told a little differently.

Oversmart is bad luck (The King of the Mountains)
The Fox tries to lure a rooster off a tree by lying to him, claiming there is a decree that no animal shall eat another (therefore it is safe to come down). The rooster tricks the fox into thinking the hutner is coming with his dogs, and then yells after the fleeing fox: "Tell them about the decree!"

Where to next?
Brazil!

Armadillos rule (Following folktales around the world 18. - Argentina)

Today I continue new blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

Cuentos y leyendas populares de la Argentina
Berta E. Vidal de Battini
Ediciones Biblioteca Nacional, 2013.

This books was recommended to me by an Argentinian storyteller friend. It is a selection from a larger, multi-volume folklore collection project; it is almost four hundred pages long, and has dozens of tales in it, with an extensive introduction. The latter talks about the language of the stories, which was very useful, since the tales were transcribed in the dialects they were told in: They wrote "güeno" instead of "bueno," or "jue" instead of "fue," and most of the time I only understood what a sentence meant when I read it out loud phonetically. The tales also contained indigenous words and animal names, all of which were explained in footnotes. Every story was marked with the storyteller's name and age, as well as the place and year of its collection. The volume opens with animal tales, then it has wonder tales, local legends and beliefs, and some humorous tales at the end. The only things missing were some maps, and a folktale motif index, but the book was a very entertaining read, all in all. I especially loved that several tale types were included in more than one version; it was fascinating to see how the same story is told slightly differently in different regions of Argentina.

Highlights

Tatu, armadillo, quirquincho, piche

Among the animal stories, I especially loved the ones that featured armadillos (there were a bunch of different words for them). In The armadillo, the fox, and the bread seller, the armadillo pretended to be dead on the road. The woman picked it up and put it in the bread basket so that she could cook it later; the armadillo tossed all the bread out of the basket, then jumped out himself. When the fox tried to do the same, he was beaten with sticks, to make sure he was dead...

Owlets are cute though

There was also a very educational tale about The children of the owl. In it, the King of the Birds fed on their chicks; the Owl decided to befriend the king, and she managed to extract a promise that he would not eat her young. When the King asked how he would know which ones were the Owl's, she told him that hers, of course, were the most beautiful. Just to be sure, the next time the King ate, he ate the ugliest chicks in the crowd... which just happened to be the Owl's. To every mother their own.
I also liked the legends about the protectors of the animals (sometimes called La Coquena, or Yastay), who were responsible for scaring or warning hunters when they killed unnecessarily, or killed too much at once.
Among the wonder tales I really enjoyed the about The greedy, the gluttonous, and the kind brother, where each brother met an old beggar who asked for food. The elder two demanded a wish in exchange of the food; the first one got the Midas touch (and the curse with it), and the second asked for an endless supply off food (which soon became too much). The youngest gave food freely, and was rewarded with always having money in his pocket. I liked seeing the Midas myth embedded into a tale like this.
I also liked the Argentinian version of the Three Spinners, here titled The souls from Purgatory. A mother and her daughter summoned souls from Purgatory to help them with their work; when a prince proposed to the girl, the souls spun and wove for them, and then appeared in the shape of the three spinners to scare him away from giving her any more work. Then they went to Heaven.
In a tale about a man who sold his soul to the Devil, the only was to escape being dragged to Hell was to recite The twelve words, an ancient chant no one remembered. The (otherwise kind and good-natured) sinner searched all over the world, until he found one ancient woman who had learned the chant as a child, and she managed to recall it. A living oral tradition can save lives, people...
There was also a very intriguing flood myth, where some people tried to burrow underground and hide in jars (which is why you can find jars with human bones in them in the ground), and some turned into giant cacti - the mother is the trunk, and the arms are the children.

Connections

Rhea

There were many familiar stories among the animal tales. I encountered Fox riding a tiger (like Br'er Rabbit does in the Uncle Remus tales), and also Fox and Armadillo doing business together, where Fox got to choose which part of the crops he wanted to keep (if he chose "top", Amradillo planted potatoes; if "bottom", he planted wheat; if "both", he planted corn). There was also Fox and Seriema, who visited each other but could not eat together (like Fox and Stork), Toad and Rhea who ran a race (like Tortoise and Hare), and Fox and Raven which ended with Fox getting the cheese the first time, but getting a rock in the teeth the second. Sweet revenge.
I also liked the Argentinian Snow White, here titled The jealous queen. The queen was the princess' birth mother (á la original Grimm), and the girl found shelter with twenty-five bandits, who took her in as their little sister. In the end, she only agreed to marry the prince when he promised to pardon the bandits...
There were kings with antlers instead of donkey ears (Midas again), a tree that opened to "Open, sesame!", and little devils singing the days of the week, just like the Irish fairies do in Lushmore. But even the stories that were very familiar had a local flavor to them, and made for a very fun read...

Where to next?
Uruguay.

Period is power (Following folktales around the world 17. - Paraguay)

Today I continue new blog series titled Following folktales around the world! If you would like to know what the series is all about, you can find the introduction post here. You can find all posts under the Following Folktales label, or you can follow the series on Facebook!

It was no easy to find a collection from Paraguay. After getting two books that only talked about stories, I finally narrowed the search down to the oral tradition of one specific tribe. 

Folk literature of the Makka Indians
Johannes Wilbert and Karin Simoneau
UCLA Latin American Center Publications, 1991.

This book is one of a 24-volume series on the oral traditions of South American indigenous peoples. It collects the tales of the Makka (Maká, Macca, etc.), all collected in the 1970s when most of the informants did not speak Spanish yet. The book includes 108 folktales, myths, and legends, many of them in several versions, showcasing how the same narrative can be told differently by different storytellers (I really enjoyed this). It is a very high quality folklore publication: It has appendices, folktale motif numbers, footnotes, information about the tellers, a generous introduction, and everything a researcher could possibly need. The tales have been transcribed and translated word for word, so the text gives a glimpse of what they sounded like in live telling; they are also uncensored, which means there is a whole lot of sex and violence in them. They were quite fascinating.

Highlights

One of my favorite tales was that of a boy whom his father-in-law wanted to kill by sending him to the river infested by a giant serpent. The first couple of times friendly animals (otter, nutria) saved him, but he eventually got devoured, and spent two days fighting his way back out of the belly of the beast. When he emerged, he did not have hair or eyebrows anymore... I also liked the tale of The girl who married a tree, where a lignum vitae tree turned into a loving husband who brought a rich harvest to the people.

Rolled up armadillo

There was a whole chapter of Jaguar tales. Jaguar is not only an animal spirit, but also a shaman - and yet more often than not he was on the receiving end of some painful events. In one story, he killed Armadillo's children, for which Armadillo mother decided to take revenge. She pretended to be sick, and when they called the shaman and he leaned over her, she rolled herself up and clung to his snout through fire and water until the Jaguar dropped dead. While this ending was very satisfying, in most tales the ovenbird eventually brought the Jaguar back to life.
I loved it that the tales were full of colorful imagery. There were multiple stories explaining where the birds got their colors, and there was even a hero whose skin was made of yellow butterflies. There were also several mythical peoples, such as the fukus lei, a tribe of stick people who could easily be mistaken for firewood (Groot?...), and a group of blind men who lived on honey. The strangest creature was probably Pointed-Leg, a man who carved his tibia into a point and used it to stab unsuspecting travelers.

Say what?

Also strange, and definitely graphic, was the legend that claimed that at the beginning of time men could not have sex with women, because they had piranhas living in their vaginas. The wise shaman Hawk made the women dance until the piranhas fell out, the large ones first and then the smaller ones, until only one tiny piranha remained in each woman, gnawing at them - which is why we have periods (I can attest to the accuracy of this description). Menstruation, by the way, featured quite often into the stories; the above mentioned tribe of blind men was cured by a woman on her period, and there was also a popular legend about a woman who turned into a cannibal ogre because her husband forced her to cook food while she was on her period.

Connections

I did not expect to find a far cousin of Celtic kelpies and each uisge-s in Paraguay - and yet there was one, a water horse that dragged people into rivers and drowned them.

Once again, there was an abundance of trickster tales. The Makka's trickster is Fox, and also a person called Tip'a; the latter was not very likable, being a rapist and a murderer, and usually died at the end of the stories. Jaguar came to a similar end in a legend that reminded me of Daedalus and Icarus; he learned to fly from Vulture, but the sun melted the wax he stuck his feathers on, and Jaguar plummeted to his death.
I also encountered a legend about a star-wife; they seem to be common in American indigenous folklore, I am sure I will meet them again later on. There was also a legend about a sky-high tree that people used to climb to fish in the sky, until it was burned down. It reminded me of myths from Oceania, and so did the story of the woman who had an eel for a lover.
And finally, barely a country goes by without at least one folktale of two animals having a race, Tortoise and the Hare style. This time, it was Rhea and Tick (which would be a great title for an indie band), and the latter won.

Where to next? 
Argentina!