Blake - 2 Tales about Duendes - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

	Flickr: model of a duende
by	René Mayorga on Wikimedia Commons

Flickr: model of a duende

by

René Mayorga on Wikimedia Commons

Whether you are looking for a story for Halloween that is "not TOO spooky" or one with a tie to Hispanic Heritage month, stories about a Duende might just be what you want.  According to Wikipedia the duende is found throughout Hispanic lands, even Portugal, the Philippines, and Mariana Islands.  For Spain they manage to list 16 types of duendes.  Back in the early issues of the Journal of American Folk-Lore (1914: pp. 237-39) folklorist Mary Blake recorded two tales about these Little People as they are told in Mexican folklore of that day.  She calls them elves in the title, but duendes within the story.

 

The second story might not fit audiences prone to see it as sacrilegious.  Whether helpful, mischievous, or spooky, Little People can be found in folklore almost everywhere including among Native Americans.  That Wikipedia article would also take you to the more familiar dwarves, gnomes, or leprechauns which are European.  To get a broader picture, check a Wikipedia article titled "Little people (mythology)" and certainly among its list, the name of Goblin is common to spooky tales around the world.

Don't let the goblins get you (shades of James Whitcomb Riley) as next week is probably this year's final spooky story. 

******************

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-

• There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm

• You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
  
  Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"

The email list for storytellers, Storytell, discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional suggestions:            

         - David K. Brown - http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html

         - Karen Chace - http://karenchace.blogspot.com/search?q=public+domain

         - Richard Martin - http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_page.html

         - Spirit of Trees - http://spiritoftrees.org/featured-folktales

         - Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible through the Wayback Machine, described below, but the late Jackie Baldwin's wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ .  It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016  and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.

       - Tim Sheppard - http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/storylinks.html

       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
           - Zalka Csenge Virag - http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com doesn't give the actual stories, but her recommendations, working her way through each country on a continent, give excellent ideas for finding new books and stories to love and tell.

     
You're going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to find some of these old links.  Tim's site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a full-time job.  In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she could no longer maintain it.  Possibly searches maintained it.  Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library (something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine.  It took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally in December of 2006 it appears!

Somebody as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.  I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that becomes the only way to find them.

You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!

Mr. Fox - Steel - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

One of my long-time favorite spooky tales to tell mature audiences is Mister Fox.  It's as current as any modern day news item of a serial killer.  The type goes back at least to the story of Bluebeard with its variations.  For years I've told the version collected by Joseph Jacobs.  Surprisingly enough, although I've had 15 articles here with Jacobs as a label, I've never posted the story here.  Earlier this year I found the version by Flora Annie Steel.  The two tellings are very similar, including the haunting message carved over the doors at the castle of Mr. Fox.  I suggest, however, comparing her version with the link given above to that recorded by Joseph Jacobs.  

If it were legible enough, I'd post the two copies alongside each other, but recommend you do that for yourself before telling it.  

From the title page of English Fairy Tales retold by Flora Annie Steel

MR. FOX

Lady Mary was young and Lady Mary was fair, and she had more lovers than she could count on the fingers of both hands.

She lived with her two brothers, who were very proud and very fond of their beautiful sister, and very anxious that she should choose well amongst her many suitors.

Now amongst them there was a certain Mr. Fox, handsome and young and rich; and though nobody quite knew who he was, he was so gallant and so gay that every one liked him. And he wooed Lady Mary so well that at last she promised to marry him. But though he talked much of the beautiful home to which he would take her, and described the castle and all the wonderful things that furnished it, he never offered to show it to her, neither did he invite Lady Mary's brothers to see it.

Now this seemed to her very strange indeed; and, being a lass of spirit, she made up her mind to see the castle if she could.

So one day, just before the wedding, when she knew Mr. Fox would be away seeing the lawyers with her brothers, she just kilted up her skirts and set out unbeknownst—for, see you, the whole household was busy preparing for the marriage feastings—to see for herself what Mr. Fox's beautiful castle was like.

After many searchings, and much travelling, she found it at last; and a fine strong building it was, with high walls and a deep moat to it. A bit frowning and gloomy, but when she came up to the wide gateway she saw these words carven over the arch:

BE BOLD—BE BOLD.

So she plucked up courage, and the gate being open, went through it and found herself in a wide, empty, open courtyard. At the end of this was a smaller door, and over this was carven:

BE BOLD, BE BOLD; BUT NOT TOO BOLD.

So she went through it to a wide, empty hall, and up the wide, empty staircase. Now at the top of the staircase there was a wide, empty gallery at one end of which were wide windows with the sunlight streaming through them from a beautiful garden, and at the other end a narrow door, over the archway of which was carven:

BE BOLD, BE BOLD; BUT NOT TOO BOLD,
LEST THAT YOUR HEART'S BLOOD SHOULD RUN COLD.

Now Lady Mary was a lass of spirit, and so, of course, she turned her back on the sunshine, and opened the narrow, dark door. And there she was in a narrow, dark passage. But at the end there was a chink of light. So she went forward and put her eye to the chink—and what do you think she saw?

Why! a wide saloon lit with many candles, and all round it, some hanging by their necks, some seated on chairs, some lying on the floor, were the skeletons and bodies of numbers of beautiful young maidens in their wedding-dresses that were all stained with blood.

Now Lady Mary, for all she was a lass of spirit, and brave as brave, could not look for long on such a horrid sight, so she turned and fled. Down the dark narrow passage, through the dark narrow door (which she did not forget to close behind her), and along the wide gallery she fled like a hare, and was just going down the wide stairs into the wide hall when, what did she see, through the window, but Mr. Fox dragging a beautiful young lady across the wide courtyard! There was nothing for it, Lady Mary decided, but to hide herself as quickly and as best she might; so she fled faster down the wide stairs, and hid herself behind a big wine-butt that stood in a corner of the wide hall. She was only just in time, for there at the wide door was Mr. Fox dragging the poor young maiden along by the hair; and he dragged her across the wide hall and up the wide stairs. And when she clutched at the bannisters to stop herself, Mr. Fox cursed and swore dreadfully; and at last he drew his sword and brought it down so hard on the poor young lady's wrist that the hand, cut off, jumped up into the air so that the diamond ring on the finger flashed in the sunlight as it fell, of all places in the world, into Lady Mary's very lap as she crouched behind the wine-butt!

Then she was fair frightened, thinking Mr. Fox would be sure to find her; but after looking about a little while in vain (for, of course, he coveted the diamond ring), he continued his dreadful task of dragging the poor, beautiful young maiden upstairs to the horrid chamber, intending, doubtless, to return when he had finished his loathly work, and seek for the hand.

But by that time Lady Mary had fled; for no sooner did she hear the awful, dragging noise pass into the gallery, than she upped and ran for dear life—through the wide door with

BE BOLD, BE BOLD; BUT NOT TOO BOLD

engraven over the arch, across the wide courtyard past the wide gate with

BE BOLD—BE BOLD

engraven over it, never stopping, never thinking till she reached her own chamber. And all the while the hand with the diamond ring lay in her kilted lap.

Now the very next day, when Mr. Fox and Lady Mary's brothers returned from the lawyers, the marriage-contract had to be signed. And all the neighbourhood was asked to witness it and partake of a splendid breakfast. And there was Lady Mary in bridal array, and there was Mr. Fox, looking so gay and so gallant. He was seated at the table just opposite Lady Mary, and he looked at her and said:

"How pale you are this morning, dear heart."

Then Lady Mary looked at him quietly and said, "Yes, dear sir! I had a bad night's rest, for I had horrible dreams."

Then Mr. Fox smiled and said, "Dreams go by contraries, dear heart; but tell me your dream, and your sweet voice will speed the time till I can call you mine."

"I dreamed," said Lady Mary, with a quiet smile, and her eyes were clear, "that I went yesterday to seek the castle that is to be my home, and I found it in the woods with high walls and a deep dark moat. And over the gateway were carven these words:

BE BOLD—BE BOLD."

Then Mr. Fox spoke in a hurry. "But it is not so—nor it was not so."

"Then I crossed the wide courtyard and went through a wide door over which was carven:

BE BOLD, BE BOLD; BUT NOT TOO BOLD,"

went on Lady Mary, still smiling, and her voice was cold; "but, of course, it is not so, and it was not so."

And Mr. Fox said nothing; he sate like a stone.

"Then I dreamed," continued Lady Mary, still smiling, though her eyes were stern, "that I passed through a wide hall and up a wide stair and along a wide gallery until I came to a dark narrow door, and over it was carven:

BE BOLD, BE BOLD; BUT NOT TOO BOLD,
LEST THAT YOUR HEART'S BLOOD SHOULD RUN COLD.

"But it is not so, of course, and it was not so."

And Mr. Fox said nothing; he sate frozen.

"Then I dreamed that I opened the door and went down a dark narrow passage," said Lady Mary, still smiling, though her voice was ice. "And at the end of the passage there was a door, and the door had a chink in it. And through the chink I saw a wide saloon lit with many candles, and all round it were the bones and bodies of poor dead maidens, their clothes all stained with blood; but of course it is not so, and it was not so."

By this time all the neighbours were looking Mr. Fox-ways with all their eyes, while he sate silent.

But Lady Mary went on, and her smiling lips were set:

"Then I dreamed that I ran downstairs and had just time to hide myself when you, Mr. Fox, came in dragging a young lady by the hair. And the sunlight glittered on her diamond ring as she clutched the stair-rail, and you out with your sword and cut off the poor lady's hand."

Then Mr. Fox rose in his seat stonily and glared about him as if to escape, and his eye-teeth showed like a fox beset by the dogs, and he grew pale.

And he said, trying to smile, though his whispering voice could scarcely be heard:

"But it is not so, dear heart, and it was not so, and God forbid it should be so!"

Then Lady Mary rose in her seat also, and the smile left her face, and her voice rang as she cried:

"But it is so, and it was so;
Here's hand and ring I have to show."

And with that she pulled out the poor dead hand with the glittering ring from her bosom and pointed it straight at Mr. Fox.

At this all the company rose, and drawing their swords cut Mr. Fox to pieces.

*******

I find Steel's version a bit more complete and definitely prefer her Lady Mary, who Steel stressed as "a lass of spirit."  Perhaps you will prefer Jacobs, possibly considering it more streamlined.  It's interesting that his "Mr. Fox" is found in a book also titled English Fairy Tales.  His book was published in 1898, while Steel's was 1918 and she herself says she retold the stories.  

Jacobs is diligent in giving his sources in his volumes and regularly cautions younger readers not to read further.  I'm particularly fond of this drawing by his regular illustrator, John D. Batten, found in Jacobs' More Celtic Fairy Tales.

(My maternal roots include the name Batten.  Genealogy puts me to sleep, but would love there to be a personal link somewhere to John D.)

Jacobs research goes back to Shakespeare.  At the risk of putting you to sleep, he notes:

Source.—Contributed by Blakeway to Malone's Variorum Shakespeare, to illustrate Benedick's remark in Much Ado about Nothing (I. i. 146): “Like the old tale, my Lord, 'It is not so, nor 'twas not so, but, indeed, God forbid it should be so;'” which clearly refers to the tale of Mr. Fox. “The Forbidden Chamber” has been studied by Mr. Hartland, Folk-Lore Journal, iii. 193, seq.

Parallels.—Halliwell, p. 166, gives a similar tale of “An Oxford Student,” whose sweetheart saw him digging her grave. “Mr. Fox” is clearly a variant of the theme of “The Robber Bridegroom” (Grimm, No. 40, Mrs. Hunt's translation, i. 389, 395; and Cosquin, i. 180-1).

The folk process of telling means the story, along with those previously mentioned Bluebeard variations, will have slight differences from storyteller to storyteller.  The creepy nature of this story, however, remains in each.

*****************  

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-

• There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm

• You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
  
  Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"

The email list for storytellers, Storytell, discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional suggestions:            

         - David K. Brown - http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html

         - Karen Chace - http://karenchace.blogspot.com/search?q=public+domain

         - Richard Martin - http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_page.html

         - Spirit of Trees - http://spiritoftrees.org/featured-folktales

         - Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible through the Wayback Machine, described below, but the late Jackie Baldwin's wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ .  It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016  and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.

       - Tim Sheppard - http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/storylinks.html

       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
           - Zalka Csenge Virag - http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com doesn't give the actual stories, but her recommendations, working her way through each country on a continent, give excellent ideas for finding new books and stories to love and tell.

     
You're going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to find some of these old links.  Tim's site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a full-time job.  In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she could no longer maintain it.  Possibly searches maintained it.  Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library (something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine.  It took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally in December of 2006 it appears!

Somebody as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.  I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that becomes the only way to find them.

You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!

Walking in a Graveyard

The phrase "somebody just walked over my grave" is a superstition about when a person gets a creepy chill.  Various sites give a dry explanation but U.K site, The Phrase Finder, gives a slightly fuller look at its medieval legendary origin, an American variant I'd forgotten, and a scientific explanation.  (It's an interesting site to prowl for sayings you may wonder about their origin.)

If you are in my area, please join me for yet another cemetery walk.  That's why I'm sending this out as yet a second early message.  A storyteller's life is filled with a calendar dotted with individual programs -- or at least it was before the schedule canceling caused by Covid.  Things have become end-of-warm-weather hectic as we stand on the brink of another winter once again unpredictable as to how storytelling, theatre, schools, libraries, museums and so much more will be affected.

I love doing what I call "running my mouth for fun and profit!"  Storytelling is my main focus with added bits of time substituting at a nearby library because I didn't want to lose my skills at another profession I love.  Covid has moved storytelling into the virtual world and caused me to look at what I do and why I do it.

Earlier this week I mentioned my undergraduate degree in Theatre Arts.  Theatre for me is addictive.  For many years my library schedule prevented returning to it.  The first time I was able once again to return, I found it sucking me back into its world.  Nowadays that means Community Theatre as most professional commitments would require more than my storytelling time permits.  Even that is limited to involvement within a half hour of my home.  At one point Michigan began offering more film work.  I confess to considering it, but never "got around to it."  Why?  My reluctance to convert my storytelling to a virtual platform revealed the reason.  

For several years at my first library job I had a weekly radio and later cable television program.  My theatre training permits my imagining an audience when performing alone, so why don't I seek virtual opportunities?  When a venue wants me to come and be filmed for presentation virtually, I will do it, BUT find even the smallest of audiences makes the process so much more rewarding.  Why?  Why do I do what I do?  Examining those questions revealed a need for audience response.  Even the less direct  (and slightly less satisfactory) involvement of directing a show still can give audience response.  Similarly doing online reference work lacks the public response a librarian receives over the desk or, at least, on the phone.  I require public contact and response in my work.  Movies, for example, lack that.  They give, at best, a delayed response.  

This blog is called "Storytelling + Research = LoiS", but I would hate to lose all interaction with an audience.  It's why I've never really followed through on switching to writing as a profession.  So if you're able to catch my storytelling, it probably will be a live performance.  Yes, I have some recorded programs, but, like snowflakes, each live performance is different.  The audience interaction in them makes a difference in how I present it.  When done just before a videographer it will differ somewhat from what I offer to an actual audience.  

A perfect example of that occurs this month in "spooky" programs offered to families possibly bringing preschoolers up through older children and still another to disabled adults touched by Covid deaths.  I must judge each group avoiding inappropriate material and present what is most likely to be what that audience can enjoy.  Former president Bill Clinton made famous the phrase "It's the economy, stupid" to explain what he saw as the critical deciding factor in elections.  For my storytelling it's the audience which is critical.  It would be stupid for me to eliminate their response in my work.  

That's the end of my self-examination and next week I will return to a story fitting this month's spooky nature.

Death of a Dowager and the Legend of the Ghost Light

 This article appears early for a special partially time-sensitive reason.

Lakeland Players brings back live theater in the spacious community hall at Central United Methodist Church in Waterford.  There's plenty of room for distance seating, especially if you fall off your seat laughing at this spoof of British mysteries.

Because a room this big is in demand, there will be only four performances: October 8, 9, and 15 at 7 p.m. plus one matinee on Saturday, October 9 at 2 p.m.

Yes, I'm among this crazy cast playing a Cockney housekeeper who claims "I can only say what I see!", but her husband, the butler, keeps cautioning her to not say quite so much.  

Did the butler do it?  

Come see and laugh along at this murderous ensemble who want "Mummy", the old dowager, dead.  

As the playbill proclaims: Only 2 Rude Words per Thousand!

Also since this is October and I try to include something spooky each week, it's the perfect time to talk about the Legend of the Ghost Light.  Not having their own playhouse, Lakeland and certainly CUMC are unable to honor this superstition.  One of my favorite articles on it appears back in 2013 (how appropriate) on the blog of local Birmingham Village Players.  Unfortunately I was unable to reach anyone there to grant permission to reprint it here.  I've been there to see their "Playwrights @ Work" in the past because my friend, Jacqueline Salter, is active in it and is also a member of the same nearby community theatre groups where I am active.  Jackie did a series for Clarkston Village Players on theatre traditions and superstitions, including the Ghost Light.  She has graciously given permission to post it here.  

Theater Traditions and Superstitions: The Ghost Light

This is one superstition that has proven itself helpful in the modern theater.  A ghost light is a single light bulb left lit on the stage when the theater is dark. When leaving for the night, a ghost light is brought downstage center and turned on. The reason for leaving the light is purely practical. It’s a safety thing. Light ensures the first person back into the theater will not fall through a trapdoor, fall into an orchestra pit or just tumble off the edge of the stage. 

Superstitious thespians say that a ghost light will chase away mischievous  spirits.  Others say that it lights the way for ghosts that are around every theater.  The origin of this superstition might be that a "dark" theater is a theater without a play.  No play results in no work and no money.  Leaving a light means the theater is not really "dark", but awaiting the next production.  At any rate a ghost light supposedly helps ensure the theatrical spirits stay happy and contented.  A good thing, because who needs an irate spirit or two lurking in the wings.

Thank you, Jackie, and we have had "dark" theatres for too long.  There is certainly a likelihood that any theatre still contains ghosts from all the intense effort expended there.  I have one other link which gives a few additional ideas.  Theatrecrafts.com in its Glossary of Technical Theatre Terms opened the topic up for comments.  The first comment by Stephen Litterst, gives an urban legend with a humorous look at how it might have proven useful.  Bringing it back to Metropolitan Detroit, it is certainly a union center, so the fourth and fifth comments spin an Actor's Equity possibility on yet another practical reason.

However you want to think about it, you may notice the various spellings of "theater" and "theatre" here.  When I worked for another employer they required the Americanized "theater", but there was one place where I could always spell it by my preferred "theatre" -- my undergraduate degree was in Theatre Arts.  Those roots run deeply and inform my storytelling.  

Maybe that's why I've been in demand for two local cemetery walks.  This year and last year's earlier walks at Oak Hill Cemetery have appeared here.  This Sunday, since The Death of a Dowager goes dark before one final Friday performance of Dowager, there's yet another cemetery walk here in Clarkston.  In this busy time, I'll post that information here later this week.

The Werewolf - Picard retelling Marie de France - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

I promised a werewolf tale to lead into October's spookiness and it's one I've long enjoyed telling to slightly older children through adults.  It's a story that was popular probably in both French and British courts.  Last week was an introduction to Marie de France, who has a thorough Wikipedia article, too.  Fortunately Barbara Leonie Picard has taken the Middle Ages verses and retold it in more standard story format.

NEXT WEEK'S ARTICLE WILL BE PUBLISHED EARLY FOR A SPECIAL REASON.

I plan to share other spooky stories throughout the month, so put on your sweater and brace yourself for the shivers!

*******************

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-

• There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm

• You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
  
  Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"

The email list for storytellers, Storytell, discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional suggestions:            

         - David K. Brown - http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html

         - Karen Chace - http://karenchace.blogspot.com/search?q=public+domain

         - Richard Martin - http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_page.html

         - Spirit of Trees - http://spiritoftrees.org/featured-folktales

         - Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible through the Wayback Machine, described below, but the late Jackie Baldwin's wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ .  It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016  and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.

       - Tim Sheppard - http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/storylinks.html

       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
           - Zalka Csenge Virag - http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com doesn't give the actual stories, but her recommendations, working her way through each country on a continent, give excellent ideas for finding new books and stories to love and tell.

     
You're going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to find some of these old links.  Tim's site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a full-time job.  In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she could no longer maintain it.  Possibly searches maintained it.  Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library (something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine.  It took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally in December of 2006 it appears!

Somebody as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.  I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that becomes the only way to find them.

You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!

The Woful Knight - Marie de France - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

HUZZAH!  It's the penultimate weekend (yeah, the next to the last) at the Michigan Renaissance Festival.

Photo by Pseudopanax at English Wikipedia

While it's not storytelling, I'm active with community theatre groups within half an hour from my home and two of them, Lakeland Players and Pontiac Theatre IV, annually take a weekend as a fundraiser and work the RenFest.  It's this weekend and I'll become a Wine Wench at the wine tasting booth this Sunday afternoon, so I'd love to see you there.

That made me think of a medieval author, Marie de France.  She wrote in French, which means I need to use translations.  Unfortunately I don't know of any recent translator who allowed their translation of her many tales to lapse into Public Domain by not renewing the copyright.  She wrote a most appropriate story about jousting.  The only version I could find was in a 1910 edition by Isabel Butler.  Butler titled it Tales from the Old French and I'll confess I stressed the word "Old" in the title as I really think Butler went out of her way to make her translation have an "antique" style.  I imagine she was also challenged by the originals being written in verse.  The intricate title page and initial letters opening each story are not credited to any illustrator which seems a shame.  Butler has a bit more to say about Marie de France, but the story deserves to be told first.  (Butler mentions a werewolf tale by Marie I plan to post next month in a modern retold Public Domain version.)

This story is a "lay" from a section of "lais" Butler groups together.  If you're wondering about that, it's an older use of the word meaning a ballad, melody or song.  Similarly "Woful" should be translated as it sounds: woeful.  The only other explanations you might want are place names and their residents. "Bretaigne" is the French word for the northwestern region of Brittany.  The Hainaulters (sometimes spelled without the "l") are from the north eastern part of France now on the French-Belgian border.

Gladly would I call to remembrance a lay whereof I have heard men speak; I will tell you its name and its story, and show you the city whence it sprang. Some call it The Woful Knight, but many there are who name it The Four Sorrows.

At Nantes in Bretaigne dwelt a lady who was rich in beauty and wisdom and all seemliness. And in that land was no knight of prowess who, and if he did but see her, straightway loved her not and besought her. She could in no wise love them all, yet none did she wish to renounce. And better it is to love and woo all the ladies of the land than to rob one fool of his motley, for he will speedily fall to fighting over it, whereas a lady doth pleasure to all in fair friendliness. And though it be not her will to hearken to them, yet ought she not to give them ill words, but rather hold them dear and honour them, and render them service and thanks. Now the lady of whom I would tell you was so besought in love by reason of her beauty and worth that many a one had a hand therein.

In Bretaigne, in those days, lived four barons; their names I cannot tell you, but though they were young of age, yet were they comely, brave, and valiant knights, generous, courteous, and free-handed; of gentle birth were they in that land, and held in high honour. These four loved the lady, and strove in well doing for her sake; and each did his uttermost to win her and her love. Each sought her by himself, and set thereto all his intent; and there was not one but thought to succeed above all the rest.

Now the lady was of right great discretion, and much bethought her to inquire and discover which it were best to love; for all alike were of such great worship that she knew not how to choose the best among them. And in that she was not minded to lose three for one, she made fair semblance to each, and gave them tokens, and sent them messengers; of the four not one knew how it stood with other, and none could she bring herself to reject. So each one hoped by entreaty and loyal service to speed better than the rest. And wheresoever knights come together, each wished to be the first in well doing, if that he might, to thereby please his lady. All alike called her their love, each one wore her favour, whether ring or sleeve or pennon, and each cried her name in the tourney.

And she on her part loved them all, and bore them all in hand, until it fell that after an Easter time, a tournament was cried before the city of Nantes. To learn the worth of the four lovers, many a man came from other lands,—Frenchmen and Normans, Flemings and Angevins, and men of Brabant, and of Boulogne, and likewise those from near at hand; all alike came thither with good will, and long time sojourned there. And on the evening of the tourney they joined battle full sharply.

The four lovers had armed themselves and issued out of the city: and though their knights followed after, on them fell the burden. Those from abroad knew [20] them by their pennons and shields, and against them they sent four knights, two Flemings and two Hainaulters, ready dight for the onset; not one but was keen to join battle. And the four lovers on their part, when they saw the knights come against them, were of no mind to give back. At full speed, with lowered lance, each man chooseth his fellow, and they come together so stoutly that the four out-landers are brought to ground. No care had the four comrades for the horses, rather they let them run free, and they took their stand above the fallen knights, who anon are rescued by their fellows. Great was the press in that rescue, and many a blow was struck with sword.

The lady, meantime, was on a tower, whence she might well behold her men and their followers; she seeth her lovers bear themselves right bravely, and which among them deserveth best she knoweth not.

So the tourney was begun, and the ranks increased and thickened; and many a time that day before the gate was the battle renewed. The four lovers did right valiantly, that they won praise above all the rest, till evening fell and it was time to dispart. Then far from their men, too recklessly they set their lives in jeopardy; dearly they paid for it, for there three were slain, and the fourth hurt and so wounded in thigh and body that the lance came out at his back. Right through were they smitten, and all four fell to ground. They who had slain them threw down their shields upon the field; unwittingly had they done it, and right heavy were they therefor. So the noise arose and the cry; never was sorrow heard like unto that. They of the city hasted thither, for no whit did they fear those outlanders. Two thousand were there that for sorrow for the four knights unlaced their ventails, and tore their hair and their beards. All alike shared that grief.

Then each of those four was laid upon a shield, and carried into the city to the lady who had loved them, and so soon as she heard the adventure, she fell down on the hard ground in a swoon. When she recovered her wit, she made sore lament for each by name. "Alas," saith she, "what shall I do? Never more shall I know gladness. These four knights I loved, and each by himself I desired, for of great worship were they, and they loved me more than aught else that liveth. By reason of their beauty and prowess, their valour and generosity, I led them to set their thoughts on love of me, and I would not lose all three by taking one. Now I know not which I should pity most; yet can I not feign or disemble herein. One I see wounded and three slain; nothing have I in the world to comfort me. Now will I let bury the dead; and if the wounded knight may be healed, gladly will I do what I may herein, and fetch him good doctors of physic." So she made him be carried into her own chambers. Then she directed that the others be made ready; richly and nobly she appareled them with great love. And to a rich abbey, wherein they were buried, she made great gifts and offerings. Now may God grant them sweet mercy.

Meantime she had summoned wise leeches, and had set them in charge of the knight, who lay wounded in her own chamber until he began to mend. Often she went to see him, and sweetly she comforted him; but much she regretted the other three, and made great lament for them.

And one summer day after meat, when she was talking with the knight, she remembered her of her great sorrow, and bent low her head. So she fell deep in thought, and he, beginning to watch her, perceived her thoughtfulness. Courteously he addressed her: "Lady, you are in distress. What is in your thoughts? Tell me, and let be your sorrow. Surely you should take comfort." "Friend," saith she, "I fell a-thinking, and remembered me of your comrades. Never will any lady of my lineage, however fair and worthy and wise she may be, love another such four, or in one day lose them all, as I lost all,—save you alone, who were wounded and in sore jeopardy of death. And in that I have so loved ye four, I would that my griefs were held in remembrance, wherefore of you I will make a lay, and call it The Four Sorrows." When he had heard her, quickly the knight made answer: "Dame, make the new lay, but call it The Woful Knight. And I will show you why it should be so named: the other three long since died, and spent all their worldly life in the great torment they endured by reason of the love they bore you. But I, who have escaped with life, all uncounselled and all woful, often see her whom I love most in the world come and go, and speak to me morning and evening, yet may I have neither kiss nor embrace, nor any joy of her, save that of speech only. A hundred such sorrows you make me endure; rather had I suffer death. For this reason shall the lay be named for me; The Woful Knight shall it be called, and whosoever termeth it The Four Sorrows will change its true name." "By my faith," saith she, "this pleaseth me well; now let us call it The Woful Knight."

Thus was the lay begun, and thereafter ended and spread abroad; but of those that carried it through the land some called it The Four Sorrows. Each of the names suiteth the lay well, for the matter demandeth both; but commonly it is called The Woful Knight. Here it endeth and goeth no farther; more there is not so far as I have heard or known, and no more will I tell you.

***

In her Epilogue, Butler gives some background on Marie de France I think is worth knowing: 

The lais, like the romances to which they are close akin, belong to the courtly literature of the time and found their audience in hall and castle. Denis Pyramus, a contemporary, in writing of Marie de France, tells us her lays were "beloved and held right dear by counts and barons and knights," and that "ladies likewise took great joy and delight in them." Like the romances which they helped to foster and which superseded them, the lays tell of love and adventure, of enchantment and strange happenings. In them side by side with the knights and squires and ladies move fays and giants and werewolves. Their material is that of folklore and fairy-tale. A knight hunting in the lande adventureuse meets a maiden in the forest who leads him to a castle with green walls and shining towers. There he spends three days, and when he would return home again, learns that three hundred years have gone by, that the king, his uncle is dead and his cities have fallen, and there lingers but a legend of the king's nephew who went out to hunt the white boar and was lost in the forest. Often in such lays the old fairy-tale simplicity, its matter-of-fact narration of the marvellous survives; and yet in their somewhat spare brevity they have a grace and charm that lets one feel the beauty, the wonder, or the tragedy of the story.

But the interest in the lays is not always that of the land of faery; sometimes it is human enough, as in The Two Lovers where, despite the old-time test and the magic potion, our delight is all in the maid and the damoiseau "who hath in him no measure." Sometimes, as in Eliduc, we find old, rude material—here a primitive Celtic tale of a man with two wives ill cloaked by its additions of mediæval Christianity—retold with a strange gentleness and sweetness, and turned at moments into a story of emotion and scruple.

Both types occur in the lays of Marie de France,—the best that have come down to us. Besides her lays she versified a collection of fables, Isopet, and translated from the Latin The Purgatory of Saint Patrick,—one of those other-world journeys that preceded the Divine Comedy. Yet apart from her works we have no record of her life. She herself in the prologue of her fables, tells her name: "I am called Marie, and I am of France"; but that is all, and it is only the internal evidence of her writings, their Anglo-Norman dialect, and a few chance hints and phrases that have made scholars decide that she was a Norman, or from that part of the Isle de France which borders upon Normandy, that she lived and wrote in England in the second half of the twelfth century, and that the unnamed king to whom she dedicated the lays was Henry II.

Marie makes no claim to originality of theme; in her prologues she tells us she is but rhyming anew the stories "whereof the Bretons have made lays."

It's almost October, such a spooky month for storytelling and I plan to open with Marie de France's werewolf tale made her own by another author, Barbara Leonie Picard.

******************

This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  

At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-

• There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm

• You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
  
  Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"

The email list for storytellers, Storytell, discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional suggestions:            

         - David K. Brown - http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html

         - Karen Chace - http://karenchace.blogspot.com/search?q=public+domain

         - Richard Martin - http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_page.html

         - Spirit of Trees - http://spiritoftrees.org/featured-folktales

         - Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible through the Wayback Machine, described below, but the late Jackie Baldwin's wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ .  It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016  and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.

       - Tim Sheppard - http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/storylinks.html

       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
           - Zalka Csenge Virag - http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com doesn't give the actual stories, but her recommendations, working her way through each country on a continent, give excellent ideas for finding new books and stories to love and tell.

     
You're going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to find some of these old links.  Tim's site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a full-time job.  In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she could no longer maintain it.  Possibly searches maintained it.  Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library (something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine.  It took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally in December of 2006 it appears!

Somebody as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.  I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that becomes the only way to find them.

You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!

Last Minute Substitute

Thursday I had a surprise phone call from a school district wanting me to do a program...the next day!  Northville Schools annually produces Heritage Day for their third graders, both public and private schools looking at Victorian times.  It's part of their annual Heritage Festival.  Covid hit the gentleman who works at Greenfield Village and would normally have been their storyteller.  Could I do it?  My website and various directories mention that I do a LOT of historical storytelling.  Victorian?  I do a Hired Girl from Victorian times, but she's usually talking about how here in the United States we celebrated a Victorian Christmas.  Hmmm.  September is a long way from Christmas.  I decided it was best to present as the One-Room Schoolteacher who had tales of schools from long ago.

Five groups of roughly 100 students each heard a 20 minute version of the sort of stories and facts from that time a teacher might share with today's children.  It was fun and I was delighted to introduce them to a past their grandparents or great-grandparents may have experienced.  It made me realize I want to tell more of the stories, all Public Domain, that might have been told to students by a teacher in a classroom, but this time, with only 20 minutes, it was better to explain what a One-Room School was like.

On my own, I found myself thinking back to the pandemic of 100 years ago.  I couldn't present it this time as that was a bit after their focus on the Victorian era.  When I see masks, I've asked at times my adult historical audiences, if the Spanish Influenza  has returned!?!  With my Third Graders, since it was so hard to hear their small voices normally and, even worse, with a mask, I said they all looked like they were going to rob a bank!  They really were quite good with their masks and enjoyed the comparison.

Still I found myself wondering about schools during the Spanish Influenza.  I'd never learned about that aspect of the previous century's pandemic.  I especially wondered about Michigan schools, even though there was good coverage and comparisons about schools on the national level.  

A while back for those earlier historical programs I had learned (not sure about the original sources):

By mid-October, the governor and state health department ordered the closing of churches and "places of public amusemënt," from movie theaters to saloons.  Many communities also closed schools.  After those establishments were re-opened in November, deaths went up in December.

While I have specifics about the death toll throughout the state (first hitting urban centers, but eventually spreading throughout the state) that was as far as my knowledge covered the schools, summarized as "Many communities also closed schools."  When doing a historical program in an area, I research local coverage (such as when presenting my current Prohibition program).  Many cities have coverage about how they were affected by the Spanish Influenza.  Even the little town of Pullman, for example.

Not just Sunday Schools but the regular schools.  At the other size, Hour Detroit did a timeline of how it played out in Detroit and went from   

Oct. 19, 1918

Gov. Sleeper orders the shutdown of “theaters, movies, churches, lodge meetings, political gatherings and all gatherings which can legitimately be construed as non-essential,” the Free Press reports. Schools remain open. 

to

Oct. 22, 1918

Detroit schools are closed, and 56 deaths are reported in the city. Nearly 3,000 teachers are reassigned to “work visiting homes of influenza sufferers and advising in their care,” the Free Press writes.

 Similarly M Live reported:

By mid-October, the epidemic was alarming enough that the state Board of Health and Gov. Albert Sleeper issued an order closing all churches and "places of public amusement."

"There was a lot of push back about closing the saloons and, to a lesser extent, the churches," Navarro said.

Schools were exempted in the state order, but many local officials made that decision on their own, including officials in Detroit.

Of course M Live reports about University of Michigan a great deal.  While I encourage people to look up online information on how specific Michigan cities and villages decided, there's a wealth of information about the University of Michigan (and a bit on Ann Arbor).  Michigan Today is the official university blog.  It tells why the university stayed open rather than let students return home and spread disease or stay in Ann Arbor without classes, gathering at the many restaurants and other spots.  The university did cancel football, however.

Beyond that the university used its resources, including buildings and people (the SATC was the World War I version of the ROTC):

October 11. The old Michigan Union building on State Street — originally the home of Judge Thomas M. Cooley, dean of the Law School — is converted to an infirmary to handle the overflow from University Hospital, the Homeopathic Hospital, and St. Joseph Hospital. Another infirmary is set up in Barbour Gymnasium to house SATC members with only mild symptoms.

and

October 15. Eight die, including five in SATC. Ralph Smith, an Ann Arborite in the corps, dies of a hemorrhage in the lungs; he’d first reported sick at reveille only the day before. Three sisters of Chi Omega are diagnosed. Seniors in the Medical School are assigned to care for the sick. Many SATC men are confined to their quarters, awaiting diagnosis.

“It is like the Hun,” says an SATC sergeant-major. “Either you down him or he gets you.”

Two Army trucks are sent to Detroit for surplus oxygen tanks. Food for quarantined SATC men is transported from University kitchens.

“Squads of men loaded with trays of steaming food hastening through the streets at a gallop have become such a common sight that citizens have ceased to turn and stare,” the Daily reports.

October 16. Ann Arbor schools are closed.

While university students should be more capable of handling mask requirements, even then it was controversial, including among the military who were heavily impacted.  Camp Custer had devastating deaths here in Michigan as a preview before it killed in the trenches of World War I.  

(Remember masks then were made of gauze.)

 October 17. With six to 10 deaths each day in the SATC alone, U-M President Harry Burns Hutchins directs students and faculty to wear face masks at all times. Red Cross volunteers move into the President’s House to sew masks for distribution across the campus starting at seven the next morning. Captain B.C. Vaughan, medical officer of the SATC, says the masks may do more harm than good, since students are unlikely to use and wash them properly. Dr. W.E. Forsythe, head of the University Health Service, says masks are essential to containing the spread.

I hope you enjoyed this historical look at similar times.  I imagine there were Substitute Teachers called, even as I was a last minute Substitute Storyteller.

KEEP ON STORYTELLING & STAY WELL!