May 2, 2006

Deeper into Folktales

My favorite folktale growing up was Paul Bunyan. Growing up in rural upstate New York the symbol of Paul Bunyan was everywhere (we had a lot of trees too). I was always fascinated by his big blue ox named Babe. One such story of Paul Bunyan was that he plowed out the Columbia River so that he could send his logs that he had cut down to float on it. I have to admit though the Brer Rabbit stories are not my favorite. I vaguely remember the movie "the Song of the south". The story itself is hard to follow along. It is written in a thick southern dialect. Here is a passage from the story:

One day atter Brer Rabbit fool 'im wid data calmus root, Brer Fox went tur wuk en got 'im some tar, en mix it wid some turken time, en fix up a contapshun wat he call a Tar Baby, en he tuck dish yer Tar-Baby en he sot 'er in de big road...

As you can tell this can be quite the difficult read, especially to a child. However, if you can get past the dialect you will find a very entertaining story. Not all of the folktales that we hear are so difficult to read. The story of Pecos Bill becoming a coyote is a very pleasant read. It's very reminiscent of "The Jungle Book" The story is about a boy named Bill who was lost as his family was traveling across the Pecos River to go settle the west. He was then raised by coyotes that took care of him like he was their pet. When Pecos Bill grew up he became one of the best cowboys around. According to the story it was all of that sunshine and fresh air that did it for him.