Olcott - Why Wild Roses Have Thorns - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

With summer days being enveloped in clouds from the Canadian wildfires, it may be tempting to stay indoors. The very area where these fire originate has a story about a wildflower that sometimes catches us -- quite literally -- and how it came to have thorns.

Today's story is from the Saulteaux, also Anishinaabe, who spread out from here in the Great Lakes to western Canada. The tale itself is found in Frances Jenkins Olcott's The Red Indian Fairy Book. While the book title might seem disrespectful in today's terminology, her retelling fits perfectly with the way I've heard elders tell Anishinaabe tales. 

 

May the firefighters win their battle so we may safely enjoy the beauties of nature. As my friend, the elder Simon Otto, who has gone on the Long Walk, would say "May you Walk in Peace."

 

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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 20^th 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 them.

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.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

Aesop - Father and Sons - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

A search of Project Gutenberg for Aesop produces 38 books. How to tell Aesop, with or without the moral is sometimes debated, but the fables are always easily retold -- or 38 volumes (and many more!) wouldn't exist. Father's Day calls for a bit of paternal wisdom and today's story is a brief and easy way to do so.

While it comes from V.S. Vernon Jones with illustrations by Arthur Rackham, Rackham didn't illustrate this story. After it another book with illustrations by the author, Thomas Bewick, does match the story.

 

FATHER AND SONS

A certain man had several Sons who were always quarrelling with one another, and, try as he might, he could not get them to live together in harmony. So he determined to convince them of their folly by the following means. Bidding them fetch a bundle of sticks, he invited each in turn to break it across his knee. All tried and all failed: and then he undid the bundle, and handed them the sticks one by one, when they had no difficulty at all in breaking them. "There, my boys," said he, "united you will be more than a match for your enemies: but if you quarrel and separate, your weakness will put you at the mercy of those who attack you."

Union is strength. 

Illustration by Thomas Bewick for his "The Old Man and His Sons" in The Fables of Aesop and Others

May families have reason to celebrate Father's Day with this little story or the other two longer classic tales of Fathers here given by Andersen and Asbjornsen. Hmmmmm both Danish, but Aesop shows Fathers have long desrved recognition.

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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 20^th 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 them.

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.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

 

Skinner - (Wyandotte) Legend of the Sun, Moon, and Stars - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Summer is definitely starting up. The other day I was driving along and saw a turtle trying to cross the road. That tells me they are up and about for the season, but the trick is to keep them from getting hit as they plod to another water spot! I put on my emergency blinkers and headed back to pick him up. A large RV on the other side of the road swerved away from him. I went to carefully pick it up and discovered the round ones are the Snapping Turtles! YIKES! Another driver came up and she said I should keep using my foot to nudge it along. Nobody had a shovel (must remember to put one in my car for turtles and possums). Progress was minimal when another woman came up with a cloth tote bag! I was able to scoop the turtle in and deliver it to the side where it wanted to go. <SIGH!> Before I got back in my car I looked and saw a long line of vehicles in each direction. Didn't see the turtle, but hope it stays on its new side for a long time.

Common snapping turtle facts

Wikipedia.org about Cultural depictions of turtles has a worldwide look at the turtle throughout the world and mentions "In the stories of many Indigenous groups of North America, the World Turtle carries the Earth upon its back." It goes on to talk about the turtle going down in the water to bring up sand or mud to create the earth. The Wyandot people send turtle in a different direction in a lovely astronomical tale I think you will often remember as you see the night sky and all its changes. This version is found in The Turquoise Story Book, the summer anthology by the Skinner sisters, Ada and Eleanor (they did one for each season and a bit more!) 

LEGEND OF THE SUN, MOON, AND
STARS
 
(WYANDOTTE)

There was a time when the Indians called the Little Turtle, the Keeper of the Heavens. That was when the Indians thought the earth was a Great Island, which rested upon the Big Turtle's back. It came about in this way. When the Great Island was first made there were no Sun and no Moon and no Stars. In order to know what to do the old Turtle called a meeting of all the animals. When they had all gathered together the old Turtle told them that there was no light. After a long discussion as to what could be done to mend matters the animals grew weary and were about to go home and let the Great Island continue in darkness, when the Little Turtle spoke up and said: "If I were able to climb into the sky I could gather some of the lightning and make light."

"Go," said Big Turtle. "It will do no harm to try."

Now the Little Turtle had very great powers for, as soon as he had made up his mind to go, a vast cloud full of thunder and lightning slowly rolled down toward the animals, and came so near that Little Turtle climbed into it and was soon carried into the Sky.

As soon as Little Turtle arrived there he went around and gathered as much as he could of the lightning and kindled a great round flame, which stood still in the Sky. But it did not light all of the Great Island. The Sun, as Little Turtle had made it, was not satisfactory, so another meeting of all the animals was called. To this Council Little Turtle came in the cloud.

It was decided to give the Sun life and spirit, so that he could run about the Sky by day. Some animals were told to bore a hole through the earth so that the Sun could go through it and be back in the East by night.

This the animals did. But the Sun sometimes loitered in this earth passage and too often the world was left in total darkness. Again the animals were dissatisfied, and a third meeting was called to decide the best plan and to scold the Sun for his neglect.

To this third meeting the Sun and the Little Turtle and all the other animals came. They decided then and there that the Little Turtle should make the Sun a wife, and that she should shine while he was going back to the East through the earth passage.

Then the Little Turtle made the Moon, and gave her as a wife to the Sun. She was smaller and not so powerful as he. You can see her in the Sky. The Stars that run about the Sky are their many children.

One day the Moon ran into the earth passage earlier than she should have done, and before the Sun himself had passed through. So offended was he that he robbed her of all her heat and much of her light, and she was never able to keep pace with him in the Sky.

Not knowing why her light had grown dim, or what had become of her, the Little Turtle went out to see what was the matter. He found the Moon lingering along the underground trail. There was just a little light and heat left to her, and barely a strip of her once glorious body—just as much as one sees of the new Moon nowadays.

Little Turtle brought her out and tried to mend her. But it was of no use. She would become better for a time and then relapse. Soon she would improve again until she was almost as strong as ever she had been; then again she would begin to fade away until at last only a tiny strip was left of her, and she had almost no heat. And this trick of changing has been repeated many, many times. Indeed, to this day the Moon continually changes her shape.

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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 20^th 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 them.

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.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

 

Olcott - The Bad Poppy-Seeds - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

It seems a week early to have Memorial Day, but it's this coming Monday instead of having it fixed at May 30th as it was until 1968 when Congress changed its observance to the last Monday in May. That change took effect at the federal level in 1971. Probably the American Legion will be selling Poppies this weekend through May 30th. Wikipedia explains:

In 1915, following the Second Battle of Ypres, Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae, a physician with the Canadian Expeditionary Force, wrote the poem "In Flanders Fields". Its opening lines refer to the fields of poppies that grew among the soldiers' graves in Flanders.^[80] Inspired by the poem, YWCA worker Moina Michael attended a YWCA Overseas War Secretaries' conference three years later wearing a silk poppy pinned to her coat and distributed over two dozen more to others present. The National American Legion adopted the poppy as its official symbol of remembrance in 1920.^[81]

Not just the United States, but around the world the Remembrance poppy is a symbol "to commemorate their military personnel who died in war. " Its choice goes way back in history as "Poppies have long been used as a symbol of sleep, peace, and death: Sleep because the opium extracted from them is a sedative, and death because of the common blood-red colour of the red poppy in particular.^[16]"  

The Twentieth Century especially chose poppies after that previously mentioned poem, ""In Flanders Fields", was written after the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae.

It's certainly worth seeing those poppies, in Flanders Field or elsewhere, whether in Belgium or other cemeteries and battlefields or in the Youtube video of "Why Do Poppies Grow on Battlefields; The Science Behind Flanders Fields"

 

Here is a Bengali legend telling even a bit more about these flowers so closely involved with our Memorial Day and Remembrance Day in other countries. It comes from The Wonder Garden, an anthology that is perfect for garden lovers.

 

 

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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 20^th 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 them.

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.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

Colum - The Fish-Hook of Pearl - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Here in the Great Lakes, with many additional inland lakes, fishing is very popular. This month is Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month bringing attention to Hawaii. For some reason, back in 1922 Irish writer and folklorist Padraic Colum "was commissioned to write versions of Hawaiian folklore for young people. This resulted in the publication of three volumes of his versions of tales from the islands." Why wasn't a Hawaiian asked? I've no idea, but the best known of those books, At the Gateways of the Day, not only has the much-loved story of "Pu-nia and the King of the Sharks" but another tale of unusual fishing. Colum obviously knew how to get the most out of his four months in Hawaii! It's worth reading his Introduction to the book talking about the Polynesian differences from European folktales and his re-telling.

The book includes "Helps to Pronunciation", but it would be a good idea to look further online. Hawaiian Alphabet: a complete beginner's guide/ is a good starting point, followed by searching out audio pronunciation of specific words. Getting comfortable with the names is probably the hardest part to non-Islanders telling their stories.

The book contains many tales about the great Hawaiian hero, Maui, also the Hawaiian little people, the Menhune, and talks about Hawaiian mythology, but I find the stories about "ordinary people" like Punia and this tale of a family fishing much more approachable.

Oh, and a fathom is approximately six feet, but originally was the span of a man's outstretched arms, so the ten fathom canoe was quite large. 

Happy telling while you fish!

800-year-old pearl-shell fish hooks at the National Museum - Cook Islands

The Fish-Hook of Pearl.

There are fish-hooks and fish-hooks, but the most wonderful fish-hook that any one ever heard of was the fish-hook owned by Ku-ula. It was a fish-hook of pearl-shell; and every time Ku-ula went fishing he took a canoe, not five fathoms or eight fathoms in length, but ten fathoms, and when he fished with that hook (Ka-hu-oi was the name it had) the canoe would be filled up with the catch.

And it was the finest of fish, the aku fish, that would rise to that hook. He would let it down into the water, and the aku would throw themselves into the canoe. Ku-ula was rich because of all the fine fish he could catch with his pearl hook. It had been given to him by a bird that was called Ka-manu-wai, and this bird would sit on the rail of the canoe that Ku-ula went fishing in and eat some of the fish that Ku-ula caught.

One day when Ku-ula went fishing outside of Mamala the King of that place went fishing there too. The King caught few fish, and none of them were fine ones. He looked, and he saw Ku-ula fishing, and he saw that the aku fish were jumping in hundreds around the hook that the fisherman let down. His attendants told him of the pearl hook that was called Ka-hu-oi, and the King made up his mind to have this hook. He sent for Ku-ula, and he made him give up the hook that the bird Ka-manu-wai had given him.

After that Ku-ula caught no more aku fish; the bird Ka-manu-wai, not getting the food it liked, flew away; its eyes were closed with hunger where it roosted, and the place where that bird roosted is called Kau-maka-pili, “Roosting with Closed Eyes,” to this day. And Ku-ula got poorer and poorer, and he and his family got more and more hungry from that day.

And so it came about that when his child Ai-ai was born they had no food for him. They let him float down the stream, putting him in just above the place where the bird Ka-manu-wai roosted. The child floated down; a rock in the stream held him, and there little Ai-ai stayed in the shallow water. That very day the King’s daughter, who was then a young girl, was bathing in the stream with her attendants. She found little Ai-ai, and she took him to the King’s house; there Ai-ai grew up, and he was tended by the King’s daughter while he was a child.

When he grew up he was a strong and handsome youth. The King’s daughter who had saved him came to love him; she would have him marry her, and at last he and she got married.

It happened that one day after they were married his wife was sick, and she asked Ai-ai to get her some fish. He took a rod, and he went fishing along the shore. He caught a few fish, and he brought them home to her. After a while she was sick again, and she had a longing for fish again. And this time she wanted the aku, the fine fish from the depth of the sea.

He told her then that he could not fish for aku unless he had a canoe and a fish-hook of pearl. When she heard him say that, she remembered that her father had a pearl fish-hook. So she went to the King, her father. When she came before him, he said, “What is it you want, my daughter?” She said, “A canoe for my husband, and a pearl fish-hook.” He told her that her husband might take a canoe out of his canoe-shed, and then he said to her, “I have a pearl fish-hook, and I will give it to you for him.”

So he gave a pearl fish-hook to his daughter, and she hurried home with it. Now Ai-ai, since he had grown up, had known his father and had heard how the King had taken away the hook Ka-hu-oi from him. So when he saw the pearl fish-hook in his wife’s hands he was overjoyed; he took it from her, and he got a canoe in the King’s shed, and he went out to fish in the sea.

A bird came down and watched the shining fish-hook that he held. It rested on the rail of the canoe as he paddled out to sea. It watched him lower the hook. Its eyes were half closed, but now it opened them wide and looked down after the shining hook. This was the bird Ka-manu-wai that had given the hook to his father, Ai-ai knew; now the bird was going to eat plenty of the fine aku.

But no aku came on the hook, and no aku dashed up on the canoe on seeing the shining thing in the water. The bird closed its eyes again. It gave a croak and then flew away.

Ai-ai came back to his wife without any aku for her. Again she was sick, and she begged Ai-ai again to get her the aku fish. “It may be,” he said, “that the King has another pearl hook. Go to him once more and ask him for one. Tell him that in the calabash in which he keeps the fishing utensils that he used long ago there may be another pearl fish-hook.”

So again she went before the King. “I have come for a pearl fish-hook so that my husband may go out and catch me the aku fish that I long for.” “I gave the pearl fish-hook that I had.” “In the calabash in which you keep the fishing utensils that you used long ago there may be another pearl fish-hook.”

The King ordered that this calabash be brought to him. He searched amongst all the utensils that were in it, and at last he found the pearl fish-hook that he had taken. He had left it there and had forgotten it, for he had gone fishing only once after he had taken it from Ku-ula.

And now he gave the hook Ka-hu-oi to his daughter. She hurried home, and she put the pearl hook into the hands of her husband Ai-ai. He went straight down to the beach and took out the canoe and went fishing in the place where his father used to go. As he went the bird Ka-manu-wai flew down and lighted on the rail of the canoe. It opened wide its eyes to watch him let down the shining hook.

When he came to Mamala the aku began to jump to the hook. They threw themselves up and into the canoe. They filled it up—even that ten-fathom canoe was deep with them, and Ai-ai was hardly strong enough to paddle it back. The bird Ka-manu-wai ate of the fish, and as it ate the gleam came back into its plumage, and it was a wide-eyed, strong-winged bird once more.

It took the pearl fish-hook and flew away with it. But every day it would come back with the hook when Ai-ai took out his canoe. The bird guarded the hook and would never let it go into a stranger’s hands again. Sometimes it would bring Ka-hu-oi to Ku-ula, Ai-ai’s father; for the old man took to going out in his canoe again, and he would fish for aku outside of Mamala.

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Colum not only tells about his general sources in the book's Introduction, but concludes with Notes including this about "The Fish-Hook of Pearl"

This simple tale is given in the Fornander Collection, Vol. IV, Part III, of the Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Museum, with the title Kaao no Aiai, the Legend of Aiai.

Project Gutenberg has three volumes of the Fornander Collection of Hawaiian Antiquities and Folk-lore with Archive.org having volumes 4,5, and 6 for anyone wanting to fish even further into these tales.

Illustration for At the Gateways of the Day by Juliette May Fraser

 

 

 

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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 20^th 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 them.

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.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

 

 

Field - The Mother in Paradise - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

As adults many of my friends, and I, too, have lost our mothers on this Mother's Day. Somehow it leaves us feeling orphaned. Today's story is for all of us thinking about how our mothers must have felt as they left us. It's by Eugene Field, who probably mainly fits in our mind as a poet, especially for children. He also wrote much more, yet that Wikipedia link and so many others about him ignore his books of short stories. Today's story is from The Second Book of Tales, which Project Gutenberg introduces by saying:

This work presents a selection of whimsical and poignant tales that explore themes of childhood, love, and human nature, showcasing Field's deep understanding of the simplicity and complexity of life. The stories feature various characters, with an emphasis on children and familial relationships, reflecting the innocence and emotional depth that Field is known for.

It goes on to mention this story, "Each tale conveys a distinct emotional or moral lesson, such as ... a poignant encounter between a mother and her spirits in paradise as she seeks her lost child. This ... sets the tone for the rest of the collection, inviting readers into a world rich with relatable characters, both young and old, as they navigate life's trials and joys."

If I were re-telling it, I would drop the old-fashioned "thees" and "thous" and other such language which some think sounds more likely in heaven. I might also make one other change I'll mention after the story. On this Mother's Day it still has value for us as we "navigate life's trials and joys."

THE MOTHER IN PARADISE

A mother came to the gateway of Heaven. She was aged and weary. Her body was bowed and her face was wrinkled and withered, for her burden had been the burden of care and trouble and sorrow. So she was glad to be done with life and to seek at the gateway of Heaven the fulfilment of the Promise that had been her solace through all the hard, bitter years.

An angel met the Mother at the gateway, and put her arms about the drooping figure, and spoke gracious, tender words.

"Whom seekest thou?" asked the angel.

"I seek my dear ones who came hither before me," answered the Mother. "They are very many—my father, my mother, my husband, my children—they all are here together, and for many and weary years I have lived in my loneliness, with no other thing to cheer me but the thought that I should follow them in good time."

"Yes, they are here and they await thee," said the angel. "Lean upon me, dear Mother, and I will lead thee to them."

Then the angel led the way through the garden of Paradise, and the angel and the Mother talked as they walked together.

"I am not weary now," said the Mother, "and my heart is not troubled."

"It is the grace of Heaven that restoreth thee, dear Mother," quoth the angel. "Presently thou shalt be filled with the new life, and thou shalt be young again; and thou shalt sing with rapture, and thy soul shall know the endless ecstasy of Heaven."

"Alas, I care not to be young again," saith the Mother. "I care only to find and to be forever with my beloved ones."

As they journeyed in their way a company came to meet them. Then the Mother saw and knew her dear ones—even though the heavenly life had glorified their countenances, the Mother knew them, and she ran to greet them, and there was great joy to her and to them. Meanwhile the angel kept steadfastly at her side.

Now the Mother, when she had embraced her dear ones, looked at each of them separately once more, and then she said: "Ye are indeed my beloved—my mother, my father, my husband, and my children! But there is one who should be of your company whom I do not see—my babe, my little helpless babe that came hither alone so many, many years ago. My heart fainteth, my breast yearneth for that dear little lamb of mine! Come, let us go together and search for her; or await me here under these pleasant trees while I search and call in this fair garden for my dear, lost little babe!"

The others answered never a word, but the angel said: "I will go with thee, Mother, and together we shall find thy child."

As they went on their way the angel said: "Shall I tell thee of myself? For I was a little helpless babe when I came hither to this fair garden and into this heavenly life."

"Perchance thou knowest her, my precious lambkin!" cried the Mother.

"I was a babe when I came hither," said the angel. "See how I am grown and what happiness hath been mine! The compassion of divinity hath protected and fostered me, and hath led me all these years in the peace that passeth all human understanding. God hath instructed me in wisdom, and He shall instruct thee, too; for all who come hither are as children in His sight, and they shall grow in wisdom and in grace eternally."

"But my babe—my own lost little one whom I have not held in these arms for so many weary years—shall she not still be my little babe, and shall I not cradle her in my bosom?" asked the Mother.

"Thy child shall be restored to thee," said the angel; "for she yearneth for thee even as thou yearnest for her. Only with this difference, dear Mother: Thy child hath known, in the grace of heavenly wisdom, that at the last thy earthly sorrow should surely be rewarded with the joys of the endless reunion in Paradise!"

"Then she hath thought of me and longed for me to come!" cried the Mother. "And my lost babe shall be restored and shall know her mother again!"

"Ay, she loveth thee fondly," said the angel, "and she hath awaited thy coming, lo, these many years. Presently thine eyes shall be opened and thou shalt see her standing before thee in her heavenly raiment whiter than snow, and around her neck thou shalt see her wearing most precious pearls—the tears which thou hast shed, oh lonely Mother! and which are the pearls the little ones in Heaven gather up and cherish as an adornment most pleasing unto God and them."

Then the Mother felt that her eyes were opened, and she turned and looked upon the angel. And the Mother saw that the angel was her lost beloved child whom she was seeking: not the helpless babe that she had thought to find, but a maiden of such heavenly beauty and gentleness as only the dwellers in Paradise behold and know. And the Mother spread her arms, and gave a great cry of joy, and folded her very dear one to her bosom.

Then presently they returned together to the others. And there was rapturous acclaim in Paradise, and it was to God's sweet pleasance that it was so. For a Mother and her beloved communed in the holy companionship of love everlasting.

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I might mention after the story the idea of people becoming angels is non-Biblical, but meeting babies in heaven is indeed a concept in the Bible and found in several websites quoting verses. For those who have lost children, born or unborn, it, too, can be reassuring.

May you have a Happy Mother's Day.

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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 20^th 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 them.

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.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."

 

 

Skinner - The Humpback of Colima - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Cinco de Mayo is fast approaching. While this holiday is barely recognized in Mexico, here in the United States it is a time to celebrate Mexican culture instead of it memorializing an unlikely military victory 50 years before actual Mexican independence.

Of course I went looking for folktales, but there are frustratingly few anthologies of Mexican folklore! That will change next year as 1930 produces three! Until then Charles M. Skinner's Myths and Legends Beyond Our Borders is the best I could find. The first half of the book focuses on Canada, with the second half on Mexico. For anyone interested in early pre-historic times, it puts the mythical land of Mu as the source of both biblical and other ancient civilizations as part of Mexico. There are indeed folktales. The very first is today's story. Anyone familiar with Asian folklore will recognize the story. . . further support of civilization traveling from Mexico? However it originated, the story is a satisfying tale of justice. Along the way listeners can join in with the chant of the days of the week in Spanish:

Lunes, Martes,Miércoles -- tres!

          Jueves, Viernes, Sabado -- seis!

You can also ask if anyone knows the seventh day which makes siete?

Not only is it a fun bit of audience participation, but it teaches those days of the week.

 

Don't you love the ending? Of course you could go back afterwards teaching the numbers from Uno to Diez.

In the meantime: Domingo -- siete! 

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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 20^th 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 them.

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.

See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."