4 1/2 Factors in Summer Storytelling

If ever there was a summer when heat affected storytelling, this has been it.  Oh I know Michigan's temperatures are cooler than most of the U.S., but it has been more persistent than usual and we're not used to it.  I grew up in St. Louis -- that's Missouri (or Misery as I am sometimes teased), not Michigan, a town I only discovered after settling here.  Summer was my favorite time of year, after all it meant school was out.  It was common there to say "It's not the heat, it's the humidity."  Be it the humidity, the dew point, the heat index, storytellers ignore it at their audience's and their own peril.


Four and a half main factors must be considered in summer storytelling.

1. A lot of summer storytelling is at festivals.  It's a great way for festival goers to relax and cool down even if the festival isn't specifically a storytelling festival.  Yes, it's important to have a sound system and avoid competing noise if a story is to be heard since outdoor areas don't help the voice travel as far, but many venue planners overlook the importance of shade.  Remember this is a time for attendees to sit back and relax.  Also the teller may enjoy a spotlight onstage, but the sun is not going to encourage the teller in a similar way to keep going.
2. A breeze is an added and, sometimes, needed benefit.  One un-air-conditioned library's fan made all the difference.  The audience were absolute angels and this teller eventually realized what was helping them and moved over to share in the welcome blast of air. (It was obviously fairly quiet, but even a noisy fan can be talked over and, whether indoors or out, moving air is helpful.)
3. Hydration.  You know you should do it.  You know the beverages that work against it.  Bring your own to be sure, but hope the venue offers it...for both you and the audience.
4. Clothing can make a difference, too.  When possible it should be light and, if in the sun, still covering.  (I don't do well with sunscreen chemicals unfortunately.)

Clothing deserves extra attention.  

Historical garb is its own set of adjustments.  Historical and ethnic storytellers must investigate how the people they represent handled severe heat .  This summer I've told as myself for summer reading programs and elsewhere, plus wearing The Pride of Scotland tartan at our Highland Games as I'm a member of Clan Stirling, and in two types of historical outfits, the Civil War era and in a World War I uniform.  Sometimes I've done other ethnic storytelling programs, but not this summer although hot lands like India wear blessedly light weight, loose flowing outfits and my friends who tell African tales similarly dress for the weather.  Some summers I've been a Hired Girl or a One-Room Schoolteacher and definitely chose outfits those women would have worn in summer.
 

This past week I did my first "Hello Girls " public program about the bilingual phone operators of World War I.  I knew the uniform was a must, but at first didn't know they had both winter and summer uniforms.  Their uniforms were modeled after the Army nurse and they cost $300 to $500 (that's more than $4300 to over $7200 in today's money).  The army didn't provide it, the women either made it themselves, had it made by a local dressmaker, or by the big east coast department store tailors.  That was a sizeable donation on the part of the women and it's no wonder the town of Emmett, Idaho threw a benefit for Anne Campbell Atkinson.  Even at that, the women rejected part of the uniform that didn't show . . . the woolen underwear and black sateen bloomers.  I'm so glad they did!  I'll not need to show those bloomers.

There are many photos of the operators at their World War I switchboards with their jackets off.  While waiting to enter with a helmet and gas mask on, I wondered if I would need to do that for the program.  Fortunately there was air conditioning and, once I made my entrance in protective gear, I was able to handle the summer weight uniform.  My initial uniform is definitely winter weight.  The jacket started its life as a teenage Civil War reenactor's "sack coat."  I hunted until I found matching navy wool for the skirt, belt, and pockets.

Gentlemen, be you Civil War reenactors or members of a Scottish pipe and drum band, I would definitely be looking for uniform options beyond the dark heavy woolen jacket.  Thanks heavens for the kilt in summer, eh?  At the Highland Games I noticed, more than in the past, some bands had short sleeved uniform shirts to replace the traditional jacket.  As for Civil War ladies, there was an incredible number of layers.  I know I don't have all of them, certainly not a corset since I don't travel with a "fainting couch" nor smelling salts.  Still I do enjoy explaining about the cotton boycott (so, gentlemen, avert your eyes while I show the ladies my shorter pantaloons!)  All the rest, I can assure you is cool muslin.  Besides all those lacy slips, that enormous hoop guarantees people stand a bit apart from each other and ventilation is even better than a kilt, just stay away from campfires.  Fortunately hand fans are very appropriate for any woman, especially for historical storytelling.  (Back to the second factor, breezes, some performers carry their own small electric fans.  I've always believed in seeing to the comfort of my audience first, but let's face it, stages are elevated and heat rises.

Now about that 1/2 heat factor I promised.  None of us are getting any younger and experts say older people are more subject to heat stress than the young.  If you do overheat, get in the shade or a cooler area, maybe even air conditioning, sit down and drink some cool water (ice water isn't as easily absorbed).  Put some of it on your loosened clothing and wrists to further cool down.  If somebody wants to give you ice, use it on your skin or clothing.  I presume your location won't let you take a cool shower or bath.  Back when we were talking about the heat index -- remember it's higher in the sun -- or the humidity, if it's over 60%, your sweat isn't going to do as good a job cooling you.  If this doesn't give you relief in 15 minutes, you need emergency medical help as heat exhaustion can easily move on to the more serious heat stroke.  Even if you do avoid heat stroke, experiencing heat exhaustion means you should probably take about a week of extra caution as you will be more sensitive to the heat.  I remember seeing the late Kathryn Tucker Windham fading onstage in a hot tent at the Michigan Storytellers Festival one year.  Fortunately another storyteller, our emcee, Papa Joe, recognized what was happening and acted quickly.

If you have other suggestions for this topic, by all means let me know.  My email is at the top of this blog, I'm on Facebook, too, so if you can't get through here, those are two fairly easy ways to reach me . . . heaven knows the spammers certainly can.  Hot or cold, storytellers need to be reachable.  There's also my website, http://www.LoiS-sez.com , which needs my attention on its Historical page now that my Hello Girl program is available.  I think next week I'll offer a Keeping the Public in Public Domain story looking at how blessed we are if we survive heat without a forest fire.  John James Audubon, yes, that Audubon, told a great first-person story about surviving one.

Until then, do whatever you can and try to KEEP COOL!

Eells - How the Brazilian Beetles Got Their Gorgeous Coats - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

I've a great story today and I'd like to tie it in to something happening right now, but don't want to get sued!

This is the weekend for one of the oldest U.S. Highland Games in Livonia and I'll be storytelling there BUT this is from the International Trademark Association about not mentioning some other games. 

2. Which Olympic trademarks are protected in the United States?

The Olympic trademarks protected by U.S. statute (36 U.S.C. § 220506(c)) include the name “UNITED STATES OLYMPIC COMMITTEE”; the symbol of the IOC, consisting of five interlocking rings; the words “Olympic,” “Olympiad” and “Citius Altius Fortius,” and also the words “Paralympic,” “Paralympiad,” “Pan-American” and “America Espirito Sport Fraternite,” or any combination of these words; the emblem of the United States Olympic Committee, consisting of an escutcheon having a blue chief and vertically extending red and white bars on the base with five interlocking rings displayed on the chief; and the symbols of the International Paralympic Committee and the Pan-American Sports Organization, consisting of a torch surrounded by concentric rings.

WOOPS!  That was just a quote from your own website, I.T.A., don't sue me!

This week I heard businesses are being sued or threatened with lawsuit if they use certain phrases and that's even beyond the logo and some words not listed in that bit of legalese.    O.k. I'll take my chances, you may have guessed I chose this story because of a two weeks-long group of athletic contests.  Yes, my tongue is firmly in my cheek since my blog is in print, but am willing to be cautious in naming it or using various words or phrases, including the name of the city where it's happening.  The International Olympics Committee is especially looking at corporate Tweets, but I remember libraries learning that even the phrase "Go for the ___" and naming a chemical element with the symbol Au and the atomic number 79 is apt to get them sued or at least a "Cease and Desist" order.

Now for the story from Brazil.  At first I thought it was going to be a variant of another very well known story, but trust me, this version originally published in 1917 in Fairy Tales from Brazil by Elsie Spicer Eells is much better than that.

I like this much more than other stories in the motif K 10 - Athletic contest won by deception -- which includes the well-known "Tortoise and the Hare."  The conclusion on this story is really great and certainly goes beyond the usual trickster's methods with a message that doesn't get preachy.

I'm not alone in this, fellow storyteller, Fran Stallings, told me, it "was a childhood favorite and one of the first stories I ever told outside the family. My version of it has become almost a 'signature' story, and is included on my CD of Stories & Songs for a Green Earth."   I prefer print, but while mentioning audio, LibriVox has a recording of Fairy tales from Brazil, too.

You may have noticed my copy comes from the wonderful old multi-volume set, My Book House, edited by yet another fine producer of 20th century anthologies, Olive Beaupré Miller.  I was delighted last week to learn from an antiquarian bookseller that My Book House, which went unappreciated for a long time, is once again popular ... this time with homeschoolers.  In addition to the set, I have a parents' volume giving ideas for using it with children, including music.  The tiny footnote on page 173 is a perfect example.  It says: The brilliant color of Brazil has inspired music as well as folk tales.  "Thou Brilliant Bird" from the opera, Pearl of Brazil, by the romantic French composer, Félicien David, has all the flare and brilliant color of the parrot.

(No, the hot-link isn't in the book, but let's not stop with Miller.)

While searching for information on Elsie Spicer Eells, because of this great little story, I discovered Fairytalez along with a mystery!  I've written the site owner, but have yet to hear back.  The site is generally very fine for lovers of public domain stories as it claims 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.  The mystery was information that contradicted itself between talking about Eells describing her as a female in talking about the Brazilian region but as a male, complete with portrait, on the page about Eells.  Since 1917 was pre-transgender popularity, I searched further.

Just in case it was a case of her being overlooked only online, I checked two standard biographical resources for children's authors, since most folklore was noticed by children's literature.  The Junior Book of Authors series began in 1934.  I have the second edition, so I checked the original volume at Hathitrust, but she wasn't there.  Not surprisingly, she was also omitted from Twentieth Century Children's Writers.

I was able to find the Portuguese Wikipedia article on her which gave me enough leads to find minor bits of information on Ancestry.com but she clearly preferred her privacy and letting her work speak for her.  It is interesting that the Wikipedia article notes her travels in the 1920s and 1930s in several countries as a researcher of the Hispanic Society of America of New York was something unusual at the time.  We tend to forget how early folklorists were pioneers, especially when female. The Hispanic Society of America is a free New York museum and reference library for the study of the arts and cultures of Spain, Portugal, and Latin America.  Even there, her work seems to be invisible, but fortunately her books can still be found:

• Fairy Tales from Brazil (1917)
• Tales of Giants from Brazil (1918)
• The Islands of Magic Legends, Folk and Fairy Tales from the Azores (1922)
• The Magic Tooth and Other Tales From the Amazon (1927)
• South America's Story (1931)
• Tales of Enchantment from Spain (1950).

I'm happy to own two of them, but also that it's possible to find her work even if I don't yet own the book where it was originally published.

UPDATE:
I'm not sure you will drop down to the Comments section and click on it -- I find the Comments section here is less obvious than I might like, but Bri Ahearn of Fairytalez.com gave this response to my mystery above.

I saw your Tweet and email, and discovered the mistake! There was a photo of another storyteller incorrectly attributed on another website as Elsie. I went through the Portuguese Wikipedia and discovered the error, as you did. I also found some information on her on a women in history website. The bio has now been corrected - thank you! We originally thought the author was female, but the picture was incorrectly attributed when we found it, so we thought it was a male author but I dug more and made the right corrections so she can get credit for her wonderful stories!

My favorite Eells story is the Carnation Youth.

Lois: While at it, I realized I'd been thinking of the author's name as the same as the water creature.  I believe the label and blog article title have been changed to the double "l" and I went back through the article changing it.  Speaking from personal experience, people with unusual names are used to such things.
*******
Here's my new closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain. 
***************** 

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/
             - Tim Sheppard - http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/storylinks.html
  
   
  This reminds me, 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 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 after she could no longer maintain it.  For an example of using the "Wayback Machine", list member, Papa Joe is on both Time 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 gone, but you can still see it.  I put in his site's address, then chose 2006 since it was a later year and clicked until I reached the Library at http://www.pjtss.net/library/. 

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

Wiggin - Wee, Wee Mannie - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Sometimes I feel like the Roman god, Janus, who is depicted as looking forward to the future and back to the past. He was in charge of beginnings, endings, and transitions (perfect for storytelling).

This past week included a program as Liberetta Lerich Green in Mecosta telling about her family's experiences running an Underground Railroad Station and explaining about abolition.

This next week I'm gearing up for the annual Scottish storytelling at the Highland Games in Livonia on August 6.  It's in the Heritage Area called the Wee Bairns, although my telling is tailored to the age and interests of the audience.

Today's story comes from the 1908 classic anthology, Tales of Laughter, edited by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith.  Wiggin is probably best known for writing Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm, but she was a pioneer in Early Childhood Education.  I knew she and Smith had created a fine series of fairy tale anthologies, but didn't realize they were sisters.  The Wikipedia article on Smith gives a more complete listing of those works which stretched from 1890 to 1923 as well as even more on her own.  She, too, was active in the Kindergarten movement.  There's so much they produced worth posting as a Keeping the Public in Public Domain story, that I plan to say more about them in the future.

Don't let the Scottish dialect slow you down in this bit of cumulative nonsense reminiscent of "The Old Woman and Her Pig."

********
Continuing the Janus-like looking in two directions, last week I mentioned this concluding portion of the public domain stories would be changing to provide more recommendations.
Here's my new closing for days when I have a story in Keeping the Public in Public Domain. 
***************** 

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, 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

• 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/
             - Tim Sheppard - http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/storylinks.html
  
   
  This reminds me, 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 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 after she could no longer maintain it.  For an example of using the "Wayback Machine", list member, Papa Joe is on both Time 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 gone, but you can still see it.  I put in his site's address, then chose 2006 since it was a later year and clicked until I reached the Library at http://www.pjtss.net/library/. 

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

! CHANGES !

I have two major changes for my blog.

First --

For five years, during the sesquicentennial of the U.S. Civil War, I posted a separate blog about Michigan's "Fighting Fifth" Infantry, giving newspaper articles about the regiment at the pace they originally appeared in the Detroit newspapers.  The sesquicentennial has ended and I have decided to transfer those articles to my main blog.  Those pages now can be found using the blog sidebar.

Change usually brings both good and bad or, at the least, mixed results.  This has been true as I transferred the old blog.  The usual blog format puts the most recent article posted first, with older articles further down.  Transferring the blog let me put articles in the order they appeared.  I also now take a separate page for each year.  Chronological order is so much more sensible than reverse chronological order when dealing with history!  At the same time my use of Google's free Blogger software produced some of those other results.  It's free other than my time!  It's also almost WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get), avoiding html coding on my part.  The problem is some of my original decisions, like the use of this color font, proved difficult to change.  Equally frustrating quirks of the Blogger process made problems, for example spacing and fonts are different than I chose on the original blog.  I took the format as far as I could, but it may mislead the reader into not realizing there is more to come.  Just know each page has an entire year and keep going.  Additionally my main blog has so many search labels it was impossible to add the many labels specific to the former blog.  Those topics, however, are listed right underneath the newspaper article title and date, before the actual article.

Are the actual articles all I would like?  OF COURSE NOT!  To begin with, the original microfilm process recording those newspapers of over 150 years ago had flaws.  Added to that, I used the index Helen Ellis made, during the centennial 51 years ago, of the Burton Historical Collection newspapers in her Michigan in the Civil War, but, I saw different edition times because the Library of Michigan microfilmed newspaper collection gave me the ability to use a flash drive in my own recording.  That meant two different libraries with two different editions.  At times the newspapers didn't publish the same thing in both morning and evening editions.  As if that wasn't confusing and frustrating enough, trips to Lansing gathering the material had to be limited.  Add in my own learning curve on collection and reproduction to correct microfilm flaws.  I apologize.  This process from original microfilming to final reproduction here couldn't be as complete nor as perfect as I wish.

But as they say in "infomercials", That's not all!

My second change --

I love offering the segment I call Keeping the Public in Public Domain.  As of this time, I've posted 135 public domain stories, complete with appropriate background information I prowl to find.  

In addition, at the end I've posted a link promoting Dr. Yoel Perez's online database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I still will include it because it offers probably the most ambitious online listing of public domain international folklore, and also presents online the 6 volume Stith Thompson's Motif Index.  But when I say "That's not all!" I have decided to add to it.  I'm a long-time fan and promoter of the email list, 

now hosted by the National Storytelling Network at http://storynet.org/storytell.html but it dates back to 1995.  Recently it had a discussion of Online Story Sources.

Aside from my mentioning in the list discussion the Keeping the Public in Public Domain segment and Yashpeh, several other sites were mentioned by other list members.  I'd like those sites to be known by other story loving readers.  My sidebar's already jam-packed with the Civil War pages and all my many article labels, so I don't want to post my recommendations there, but will make the Keeping the Public in Public Domain ending include the other major sites, along with a suggestion for finding sites no longer active.  That way if a site has links that are no longer valid, you probably can still find by using the Internet Archive Wayback Machine, an excellent resource.  

Cher Ami, a true story of World War I

While telling about the "Hello Girls" of World War I, it is also necessary to tell about other ways the Army communicated besides the telephone.  Today's story is about an unusual hero, a pigeon.

The official report of the various methods can be found in.Getting the message through: a branch history of the U.S. Army Signal Corps by Rebecca Robbins Raines, published by the U.S. Army Center of Military History as part of its Army History series.  Chapter V relates how President Wilson's prolonged "insistence on neutrality until nearly the eve of war, however, severely hampered preparedness efforts by the War and Navy Departments. In his view, such activities would not be 'neutral.' "  This created extra problems for the Signal Corps requiring a "rapid and vast expansion...to mobilize its technological, scientific, and economic resources as never before...To obtain needed technical expertise in communications, the Army called upon the private sector."

Yes, they still tried to use the methods that had been part of the Signal Corps methods.  Look at the Signal Corps branch insignia and you'll see the old flags and torch representing their longtime visual method dating back to their formation at the start of the Civil War.

Unfortunately twentieth century signals sent that way caused high mortality.  Flares, of course, were possible, but only showed a location.  Radios were heavy (up to 500 pounds) and the trench warfare methods meant they interfered with each other, so they were more useful in intelligence work.  Speaking of intelligence, cryptography was hardly used.  The Spanish-American War had been unsuccessful in its use of trained pigeons, but again they tried.  This time they created an avian hero, Cher Ami, star of several books, films, and named by Time magazine one of the Top 10 Heroic Animals.

Cher Ami was one of 600 donated by British pigeon fanciers and the last of six birds used by the 554 men known as the Lost Battalion , the 77th Division, who were mainly from New York City, after they became trapped behind German lines in a small ravine area of the Argonne Forest.  Led by Major Charles White Whittlesey, they held out for days against German snipers, waves of German troops armed with hand grenades, and even flame throwers.  Runners attempting to reach French or American lines were either killed or captured.  Food was running out.  The only water at a nearby stream caused so many more wounded in the attempt to bring some back so that eventually the major had to post guards and tell them to shoot anybody attempting to fill a canteen.  "Friendly fire" also meant they were being shelled by their own artillery.  The Germans sent a blindfolded 18 year-old American P.O.W. with a request for surrender.  This was rejected, but the situation was bad enough that bandages were even being taken off the dead to be used again for new men wounded.

Fortunately the men still had three pigeons.  The first bird was sent with this message, "Many wounded. We cannot evacuate." The pigeon carrying the message was shot down. They sent out a second bird with the message, "Men are suffering. Can support be sent?" It, too, was killed.  Eventually Cher Ami was sent.  Cher Ami had delivered 11 messages prior to this current engagement.  Unfortunately, like the earlier two pigeons, the Germans saw when birds were released and so this last bird, too, was shot.  A shell exploded under the bird as it was released, killing five men.  The other soldiers saw it flutter to the ground between the stream and the bridge.  Only later did Cher Ami revive enough to fly again.  Another version, from the book, Yanks; the epic story of the American Army in World War I by John S.D. Eisenhower, says it was able to fly straight up and shivered on the branch of a tree until Whittlesey and the pigeon keeper exposed themselves to German fire while they threw stones at the bird until it took off through German artillery fire.  One thing is certain, by the time it reached its coop 25 miles away to deliver the message attached to one foot, there were several injuries -- one eye was blinded, its breast was shattered by a shot, and the canister with the message was dangling because that leg was only attached by a tendon.  Here's the message.

Fortunately 194 soldiers were able to walk out uninjured because of that message.  Roughly 197 were killed in action and approximately 150 missing or taken prisoner.  Major Whittelsey, whose nickname was "Galloping Charlie", was promoted to a Lieutenant Colonel and, along with others, received the Medal of Honor.

WWI Croix de Guerre

Cher Ami was also honored.  The one-legged, one-eyed bird was given the French Croix de Guerre as well as a U.S. oak leaf cluster -- even though its chest was too injured to display it.  The pigeon was named an Army mascot and retired only to die of the battle wounds about six months later.  In 1931 the bird was inducted into the Racing Pigeon Hall of Fame and received a gold medal from the Organized Bodies of American Pigeon Fanciers.  If you know French, you know the name means "Dear Friend" and is male.  It was only after the bird died and was preserved by a taxidermist for display at the Smithsonian that it was discovered she was a hen.  (Yet another female "Getting the message through"!)

As for the telephone, the Bell System (later AT and T) was called upon to join the Signal Corps.  Here in the Michigan State Telephone Company district, the "Bell Telephone News" - volume 7, which starts in August of 1917 and ends July of 1918 tells about not only the women "switchboard soldiers", as General Pershing called them, but also the men from the Bell System who became soldiers.  Each month opens with personal news like marriages, vacations, transfers, and near the end there's a section called "Of Interest to Our Girls" which not only includes articles aimed at the operators, but even shows fashions occasionally complete with patterns.  The rest of each issue includes news including Chicago and occasional Wisconsin corporate news.  To present day readers the corporate gender discrimination is obvious, as well as the highest supervisory position for a woman at the time was training other operators.
......

Mooney - The Ball Game of the Birds and Animals - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Today's story comes just in time for the All Star Baseball game on July 12.

Watching a pair of red-tail hawks today reminded me of my only visit to Hannibal, Missouri where I went up on a cliff overlooking the Mississippi and above a flock of hawks circling about like today's pair.  It was great to be above that flock of hawks, looking down.  Remembering this sent me hunting for a story with hawks.  Native American folklore offers a wealth of nature stories and James Mooney did an excellent job collecting Myths of the Cherokee .  Back in February I mentioned:  Not only did a Cherokee storytelling friend once verify the accuracy of the book by saying it didn't even make the elders snicker much -- as in their respecting its getting the material right! -- but the versions often tell well exactly as Mooney wrote it.  Mooney took the trouble to live with the Cherokee for several years, trying to help those of us who are non-Cherokee understand their culture.  Today's story not only tells well, but there are two picture book versions of it, which shows what an excellent story it is.

 While I am giving the Cherokee version, the other picture book version is from the Muskogee (Creek), which, along with the Cherokee, are a member of the "Five Civilized Tribes" of the Southeastern part of the United States.  As a result it's not surprising that they share a great tale.  By the way, up above I gave a link to the Project Gutenberg online copy of Mooney's entire book.  My own copy is a Dover edition and it has something I value, but missing in that online copy, a 28 page index that is quite detailed, making it easy to find today's story.

 

Most Native American storytelling includes a traditional prohibition against summer storytelling of some sort.  Twenty-first century skeptic that I am, I figure that was started to keep people from sitting around storytelling when they were supposed to be gathering food and preparing for winter.  Here in Michigan I was told by a storyteller friend of the Saginaw Chippewa band, Robyn Henry, it was acceptable to tell about plants and people, but stories about animals should be avoided as they need to gather their strength for the winter.  When I asked the Cherokee friend about this, he said they don't tell in summer for fear the plants will hear and stop growing.  Normally my comment would be to tell to keep from having to mow so often.  That's my usual response, but right now southeastern Michigan has been missed by any rain passing across the country.  The only thing growing right now are some weeds that drive people wanting a "lawn" nuts.  Hmmmmm, it makes you wonder if the plants and animals have computer access.  Talk about WiFi!

O.k. the hawk had only a featured role in today's story, but they do sail high overhead -- with or without computer signals.  Whether watching them from a cliff high above, or below as they whistle and soar, may your own summer games and stories be enjoyable.
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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 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.    

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

He also loaded to his server the doctorate thesis of Prof. Dov Noy (Neunan) "Motif-index of Talmudic-Midrahic literature" Indiana University, 1954, as a PDF file.

http://folkmasa.org/motiv/NOY_%20Dov_%20Motif-Index_of_Talmudic-Midrashic_Literature.pdf

in the hope that some of you would make use of it.

You can see why that is a site I recommend to you.

Have fun discovering even more stories!

Michigan's "Fighting Fifth" Infantry . . . changes coming

I soon will be opening a secondary section about the U.S. Civil War and the Michigan "Fighting Fifth Infantry" on my main blog of Storytelling + Research = LoiS.
 
Because I frequently portray a local woman, Liberetta Lerich Green, talking about abolition and her family 100 years ago, during the years of the Civil War sesquicentennial I posted Detroit area newspaper articles about the "Fighting Fifth" which her brothers joined.  I created a separate blog posting at the pace those articles originally appeared.  My intent was to give a sense of how family and friends had to experience news about them.  I've maintained that blog separately, but think it is now time to stop paying to have it continue.  Still I do want people to continue to be able to access those articles which would normally require going to a research library and prowling the microfilmed newspapers.  I did that for four years, saving what I saw to a flash drive, then reproducing it as best I could.  I'm painfully aware of the shortcomings in the original microfilm and in my own limited ability to reproduce it.  At the same time I believe internet access to the material is better than telling everyone to go a library with the microfilm.  The Library of Michigan was further away from me than Detroit Public Library's Burton Historical Library, but it offered an interface permitting that flash drive reproduction, so that was my source.  I hope my results continue to have an audience.  Incorporating it here is a way it can stay available as long as this blog remains online.

I believe it's worth a look back at how our soldiers and their families are treated.  The Michigan volunteers fought to keep our country whole and safe, yes, and that includes our celebrating the 4th.  That is why I'm spending time copying and transferring http://www.mich5thinfantry.net/ , Michigan's "Fighting Fifth" Civil War Infantry, so others may find online their newspaper accounts.  On this 4th of July extended holiday weekend, it strikes me as an appropriate way to remember their sacrifices.  (The hotlink above for that other blog will soon stop working.  If you want to see the original, go quickly, but know the information will soon be here instead.)