Today's tale, "The Twelve Brothers and Their Uncle, Dagwanoenyent," is a Native American story from the Seneca. It features on the Seneca's mythological character, Dagwanoenyent the whirlwind. I read it in the Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Bureau of American Ethnology to the Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. You can read it here.
There were twelve brothers who lived together. All were great hunters, excelled in everything they did and had magical powers.
Each day the twelve would go in different directions hunting. Apparently the oldest was the wisest and "seemed to understand best the women, who went around the world to destroy men, so he always avoided them." One day, though, the women tricked him, one disguising herself as a woodpecker and luring him to the other on top of a high rock. The second woman said, "Let his bones drop to the ground!" and his body fell apart and the bones fell to the ground among the bones of other men...
Lately, I've been thinking about the rules you should follow if you ever find yourself in a fairy tale. I think a lot of them are pretty good rules for life in general. Neil Gaiman wrote a wonderful poem titled "Instructions" that talks about some of the rules. It starts like this:
Touch the wooden gate in the wall you never
saw before.
Say "please" before you open the latch,
go through,
walk down the path.
A red metal imp hangs from the green-painted
front door,
as a knocker,
do not touch it; it will bite your fingers.
Walk through the house. Take nothing. Eat
nothing.
However, if any creature tells you that it hungers,
feed it.
If it tells you that it is dirty,
clean it.
If it cries to you that it hurts,
if you can,
ease its pain.
It goes on from there in a similar vein. Listen to him read it.
Don't take things that don't belong to you. If someone, or something, needs help, help them. Keep gifts given to you safe. Do not be...
"The Old Witch" is a tale collected by Joseph Jacobs in his 1894 book, More English Fairy Tales. I like it for a couple of reasons, but I'll save those until I tell how the story goes.
Once there was a couple who had two daughters, but their father had no work. The daughters wanted to go out and seek their fortunes, and one said she would go into service. Her mother said she could, if she could find a place. The daughter searched in town but no one wanted her. She headed farther out into the country and came to an oven full of bread. The bread begged the girl to take it out, and she obeyed. The girl continued and eventually came to a cow that begged her to milk it, which she did, and an apple tree that begged her to shake down its apples, which she did. As I was telling my daughter the other day, if you...
Happy Halloween! I had to find an appropriate tale for the holiday and what says Halloween more than a coach with a deadless driver and headless passenters. I don't usually do this, but today I'm posting a poem. It's from Ireland, first published by Thomas Crofton Croker in Fairy Legends and Traditions, 1825.
The Death Coach
'T is midnight! - how gloomy and dark!
By Jupiter there's not a star! -
'T is fearful! - 't is awful! - and hark!
What sound is that comes from afar?
Still rolling and rumbling, that sound
Makes nearer and nearer approach;
Do I tremble, or is it the ground? -
Lord save us! - what is it? - a coach! -
A coach! - but that coach has no head;
And the horses are headless as it:
Of the driver the same may be said
And the passengers inside who sit.
See the wheels! how they fly o'er the stones!
And whirl, as the whip it goes crack:
There spokes are of dead men's thigh bones,
And the pole is...
Our anniversary is today, so I tried to find an anniversary fairy tale. I failed. This one, however, features two marriages and three golden heads. "The Three Heads of the Well" is from Popular Rhymes and Nursery Tales by James Orchard Halliwell, published in 1849.
In the days before King Arthur, a king held his court in Colchester. He had a beautiful daughter by his beautiful wife, but his wife died when the daughter was 15. The king heard of a rich widow who also had an only daughter. Even though the widow was ugly and mean, he married her. Her daughter was just as bad as she was. Eventually, the new wife and step-daughter turned the king against his own lovely daughter through lies. The daughter was miserable and begged the king's leave to go and seek her fortune. He permitted her and told his wife to give her a small sum to take with her. His wife gave her brown bread, hard...
I was looking for a spooky tale today, saw the title "The Corpse Watchers," and thought it might be perfect. It's not really spooky at all, more of an adventure story, the kind where the young man heads out into the world to seek his fortune, although in this case it's a young woman. The story's from Ireland, but I read it in Fearless Girls, Wise Women, and Beloved Sisters: Heroines in Folktales from Around the World by Kathleen Raglan.
There was once a poor woman who had three daughters. One day the oldest asked for some cake and meat so she could go out and seek her treasure. The mother made both and when it was ready asked the daughter if she wanted half with her blessing or all with a curse. The daughter took it all and off she went. The mother may not have cursed her, but she certainly didn't send her blessing.
She walked until she was tired and...