Shea's Myth-Folk Blog

Pig lived in a brick house and baked a pie every day. One day, Wolf walked by and smelled the wonderful scent of a pie wafting down the road. Wolf stopped by Pig's house and peered into the kitchen window. He said to Pig, "Give me that pie." Pig replied, "No, I will not give you this pie. I am excited to eat it and do not have time to make another." Wolf said, "If you don't give me the pie, I will huff and puff and blow your house down." Pig had seen Wolf blow down the houses of the other two pigs and was afraid of Wolf blowing his house down. Pig handed Wolf the pie through the window. The next day, Wolf stopped by Pig's house again and demanded Pig give him the pie he was making that day. Day after day, Wolf stopped by Pig's kitchen window and took the pie Pig baked that day. Owl was flying by Pig's window and could hearing sobbing coming from the kitchen. He stopped by and asked Pig why he cried. Pig sobbed, ...

In the story "Jackal, Dove, and Heron," Dove lives on top of a rock. Jackal asks Dove for one of her children, and she says no. Jackal says he will fly up if she does not give him one of her little ones. She throws one down, and Jackal returns day after day to take more of Dove's children. Heron sees that Dove is sad and asks her what is wrong. She tells Heron than she must give Jackal her children or else he will fly up and take them. Heron calls Dove foolish and tells her that Jackal cannot fly. When Jackal returns the next day and asks Dove to throw one of her little ones down to him, she tells him no and tells him that Heron has told her that Jackal cannot fly to take them. Jackal finds Heron at the water. Jackal asks Heron how he stands in different situations, and when Heron bends his neck down, Jackal hit him on the neck and broke it in the middle. This is why the Heron's neck is bent. This story is almost entirely written in dialogue, and each line of dialo...

This week, I chose to read South African Folktales. In the story "Tink-Tinkje", the birds decide they want to have a king since humans and animals have a king. They cannot decide on who the king should be, and go through many suggestions. First, they suggest Ostrich since he is the largest, but decide against him because he cannot fly. They think suggest Eagle because he is strong, but then decide he is too ugly to be king. The next suggestion is Vulture for his ability to fly the highest, but the birds deem him too dirty and smelly. Someone suggests Peacock since he is beautiful, but someone else says his feet and voice are too ugly. The final suggestion is Owl because he can see well. They decide against him since he only comes out at night. One bird suggests that whoever can fly the highest will become the king of the birds. The other birds all in agreement on this system. Vulture flies for three days straight and thinks he has won the title, but then he hears "T-sie...