Eventually, some of those oral stories took on a folkloric element when these otherwise eyewitness accounts of real events and real people were reinterpreted on an ongoing basis, each time adding on new aspects of the original story until the end result contained only a grain of historical accuracy. Not all, but many of the oral stories our ancestors once told, became the stuff of legend and of lore by losing some of their historical perspective in favor of lavish and imaginative fantasy. Even values and religious rituals changed the historical nature of the original event, and often became more important than the event itself.
Parables and Fables
We also have so many parables, defined as a usually short fictitious story that illustrates a moral attitude or a religious principle. Parables are not based upon historical events, but convey a deeper truth about how an individual or a group should behave. Using fiction to drive home a moral is something many parents know works well with small children, who seem to respond to the combination, just as we respond, perhaps subconsciously, to parables and to fables, which are entirely fictional and often magical or fantastical stories that are meant to convey a truth, a moral, or a specific theme.
The most famous fables of all are the talking animal stories of an ancient Greek slave who lived between 620 BC and 560 BC, and who may or may not have told hundreds of brief stories that were meant not just to entertain, but also to teach greater truths than actual, specific ones. These stories became known as “Aesop’s Fables” or the “Aeso-pica” credited to Aesop, although most modern scholars agree he did not create them all. These fables all had a specific formula: They were short, fictitious, were useful to life, contained talking creatures and plants that were often given human qualities, and featured very little human to human interactions. They usually began with an introduction, followed by the story, and ended with a moral. Some had political meanings, some were values-oriented, and some were based on existing proverbs. To this day, Aesop’s Fables are being retold and reinterpreted.
Fables are found in every culture and every country, and originally were used as training exercises for prose and public speaking competitions in ancient Greek and Roman education systems. More modern fables include the popular children’s story “Bambi,” written in 1923 by Felix Salten and later Disney-fied into the classic animated motion picture, and even George Orwell’s political satire Animal Farm, the 1945 classic that used animals to tell a story of Stalinist Communism and totalitarianism.
Märchen Und Sagen
The term Märchen Und Sagen is used by folklorists to describe the two main categories of oral tales, and could also apply to written tales as well. Märchen can be translated into English as “fairy tale” or “little stories” that are not intended as truth and often occur in entirely fantastical settings with utterly magical and sometimes supernatural elements like trolls, fairies, and poison apples. Sagen describes what we would call legends, which are stories of a particular event that occurred at a particular time and place, and may or may not include embellishments such as supernatural interferences or magical elements.
As with myth and religion, story-telling used specific themes as a foundation for representing a particular universal truth, even an archetypal or a psychological one. Many of the same themes present in myth, which includes the hero’s journey, made their way into historical narratives and became the stuff of “sagen,” or legends.
Legends
No matter what form story-telling took on, the purpose was to pass on information, because even the most imagination-based fiction has seeds of truth that can help us, thousands of years later, identify key characteristics of a culture and their way of life. Legends are often described as stories of historical events that are not meant to be symbolic narrative, as some other forms of story-telling, such as myths, are. Legends specifically are often based upon core truths that are embellished upon over time, such as the King Arthur tales or the stories of Robin Hood, Paul Bunyon, Lady Godiva, Romulus and Remus, and others—eventually becoming more “fictionalized” over time and therefore losing some of their weight as actual legend. The Brothers Grimm (whom we will talk more about) describe legends as “historically grounded folktales” and modern folklorists recognize them as historical narratives that contain folk beliefs and experiences indigenous to the culture telling them, and filled with the symbolism and traditional values of that culture. It is that specific cultural spin that makes legends so hard to dissect when looking for solid factual information, yet legends may indeed be telling us about important events that actually transpired.
The word legend comes from the Old French legende, from the Medieval Latin legenda, meaning a narrative of an event. A legend can be about a person, as described previously; or a place, such as Atlantis or Shangri-La; or even a creature, such as Nessie the Loch Ness Monster or Bigfoot. Even an inanimate object can become a legend. Think the Holy Grail, the fountain of youth, the Philosopher’s Stone, and the Emerald Tablets. The original use of the word implied a fictional content, but in time, people began to adopt the term as a literary narrative of a possibly historical event, much in the way folk tales became.
The problem with looking for truth in legend is the passage of time, as well as the interpretive assaults by generations of story-tellers who add their own touches to the original tale, just as we today embellish actual stories of events that have occurred in our own lives. (Come on. Was that first kiss in kindergarten really that amazing that you saw stars and unicorns dancing in the air? Or is it just more fun to remember it that way?)
The Anatomy of a Legend
One of the most popular and enduring legends of all time is that of a man who led his country into battle against the evil Saxons and led the Knights of the Round Table on the quest for the Holy Grail: King Arthur. The legend of the Arthurian king has gone through so many changes and transformations through time, but there was an origin point, and it may have been a real king that started it all, or at least a real historical figure involved in the Saxon invasion. The story goes that Arthur was a British leader who led his country against Saxon invaders in the early part of the sixth century. Arthur was also the head of a group of very special knights that made up the Round Table, including the almost equally legendary Sir Percival and Sir Lancelot, in the quest to find the cup of Christ, the Holy Grail—which is also a legend, because some say it was the cup that Christ’s blood spilled into when he was pierced with a spear while on the cross, and others say it is the chalice used at the Last Supper. Arthur was married to the stunning Queen Guinevere, also a legend in her own right, as was her torrid and forbidden romance with Lancelot. Guiding Arthur in his legendary 12 battles and his more spiritual quests was another legend, Merlin the Magician. Arthurian legend also includes a magical sword called Excalibur, and an equally magical and legendary burial place for this king at an island called Avalon. Oh, and then there’s Mordred, the legendary son of Arthur and his own half-sister, the evil Morganna. Mordred is said to have mortally wounded his own father in the final Battle of Camlann.
Interestingly, most of that story angle was added on by 12th-century-AD French poet and writer Chrétien de Troyes, who created many of these elements by adding characters and events that ultimately created the genre of Arthurian and chivalric romance of medieval literature, which was a form of poem or verse narrative that spoke of adventures of knights and heroes on a quest, intended for aristocratic audiences. But before he got hold of the story, Geoffrey of Monmouth had already created his own Arthur angle in his 12th-century Historia Regum Britanniae (History of the Kings of Britain). There were also already in existence some Welsh and Breton epic poems and stories that spoke of Arthur, a great warrior defending Britain from both human and supernatural enemies.
And before that, there were many mentions of a celebrated Romano-British leader who fought against the invading Saxons and may indeed have engaged in 12 battles, culminating in the legendary Battle at Mount Badon, during which Arthur is said to have ki
lled more than 900 men singlehandedly.
While scholars and historians continue to argue over whether Arthur actually was a king who led his men into battle and his knights into chivalrous adventures, or maybe a Celtic folk deity, or even a re-telling of the Christ myth, complete with 12 “disciples,” or just a really amazing warrior who fought like hell and had stories told about him, the story continues to engage modern audiences today in the forms of movies, TV shows, novels, and non-fiction books that attempt to answer the question: Who was King Arthur?
Many legends follow this trajectory of beginning with a seed that may have historical accuracy, but is then planted and then pulled up and replanted over and over again until the final fruit results in a completely reinterpreted telling of what was once a true story. We, the present generation, are left with the task of finding the fact within the fiction.
The role legends played in providing cultural and historical information about a specific person, thing, or event continues to this day, even with our more fantastical and often viral urban legends.
Urban Legends
Today’s contemporary legends often go by the name “urban legend,” although an urban setting is not required to qualify as such. These modern myths and legends often originate with a true event, such as a deadly spider bite, but then go viral because of technology and social networking, all the while taking on new life and a whole lot of fiction along the way. Often changes are made because of regional beliefs, and some urban legends actually do accurately portray aspects of modern life, such as the fear of something or the danger of something else. These modern-day cautionary tales are meant to instill fear, and even sometimes panic and horror, as part of their propagation.
The scarier they are, the faster and wider they spread.
The first known use of the term urban legend in the general public comes from the publication of a series of popular books by an English professor at the University of Utah named Jan Harold Brunvand. The books were a collection of legends compiled and released to the general public under the title The Vanishing Hitchhiker: American Urban Legends and Their Meanings in 1981. The purpose of these stories was to show that legend and even folklore were not exclusive to primitive and ancient cultures, and that we could actually glean some understanding and knowledge about our own modern culture by studying these stories.
Interestingly, most urban legends involve stories that are said to have happened to “a friend of a friend” (FOAF) and are rarely traceable to one actual person. Sometimes, we can trace these stories to a source, as in the Lovers’ Lane murders in Texarkana in 1946, resulting in the urban legend “The Hook” or “The Hookman,” a serial killer with a hook for one hand that allegedly killed lovers while they were necking in their cars in remote places, and left his hook stuck to the side of their car door handle. Some variations apply!
Most urban legends we hear about today, especially via social networking on the Internet, are just made-up stories, jokes, hoaxes, and pranks intended to spread like wildfire and cause people to freak out, which they often do, despite an obvious lack of any real details by which the story might be proven true. This goes to show us just how easy it is to spread false information when fear is at the core of it—and explains why the most memorable urban legends involve heinous crimes, bizarre and enigmatic creatures, or specific locations that must be avoided at all costs! These narratives, also referred to as “urban belief stories,” speak of a collective belief in a specific location that are alleged to be true accounts, even if they utilize the FOAF device, and end up spreading orally, with or without embellishment. They become urban myths that live on long after the initial people involved have died.
Some of the darkest urban legends involve entities that stalk and kill human beings—entities that may or may not be the stuff of pure fiction. Here are a few to keep in mind and avoid if you actually do see them: (Check out http://creepypast.wikia.com for more of these stories!)
Slenderman—A mysterious entity often depicted as being tall and thin, wearing a black suit with a white shirt and necktie, and having a blank face. If he stares at you, you die. He is often found lurking in the woods or around children.
The Rake—A strange humanlike creature that allegedly began appearing in summer 2003 in parts of the northeastern United States, primarily rural New York. The creature traumatized some witnesses, although most people believe this urban legend was designed entirely for fun and games and public gullibility.
The Ghost Car—Police in Garden City, Georgia, apparently engaged in a wild goose chase with a ghost car that could drive through fences. The white car was allegedly caught on video and posted on the Internet.
Bloody Mary—No, not the drink, but the creepy woman named Mary Worth who allegedly appears in the mirror if you chant her name three times in the dark or by candlelight. She wants, it seems, her reflection back, which she was prevented from seeing after a disfiguring accident, or so the legend goes. (Coauthor Marie tried this many times as a child with slumber party friends. The only person who appeared in the mirror was her mom telling her and her friends they were nuts!)
There are those who firmly believe they have encountered these monsters and mysteries out of place and time, and there are those who insist they are nothing more than made-up stories Photoshopped or videotaped and put up on YouTube and various Websites to go viral, thus leading to more “sightings” and more questions. As long as these stories have some semblance of plausibility, or a few vague details thrown in for good measure, there will be some people who will not only believe them, but also perpetuate them by taking them viral.
By the way, as an aside, one of the most popular Halloween costumes in the last few years is the Slenderman. Good marketing or spooky truth?
A Storyteller Speaks By Elana Freeland
The old myths, legends, and fairy tales are really not about what we think of as “facts” but about being human. Even the gods in the great myths (Greek, Scandinavian, Nordic, etc.) have very human traits. The same themes play over and over in the myths of every culture: the gods are fascinated by human beings but want them to remain subservient, while the humans want to be the most human possible, which means moral. Thus the gods have power, but not morality, and the human being is always struggling between good and evil, which is what makes the ancient tales riveting to this very day, the struggle for truth being greater than obtaining factual information.
Which brings up a second question: “Why might fiction be a better conveyor of truth than fact?” Ancient myths, legends, and fairy tales are fiction in the sense that they’re not exactly nonfiction—in exactly the same sense that biographies are not exactly nonfiction. These stories are the biographies of all of humanity told in different cultural voices. Greek myths differ from Mesopotamian myths because the epochs portrayed are as different as the peoples and times they portray.
For decades, I have told hundreds of these tales hundreds of times to big and small groups, old and young. Whereas a fact is a mere reflection of a tiny bit of reality, the storyteller’s voice draws everyone into a total reality—a dream reality that deals morally with the reality of being human. Perhaps this is why storytellers were also the teachers, shamans, and priests: Their capacity to induct people into a world otherwise inaccessible except through dreams, initiation, and death.
Rudolf Steiner included a vast mythology curriculum in his Waldorf educational system which is based upon the phylogeny-recapitulates-ontogeny process that every young person must travel in order to truly mature. Steiner perceived that the youth’s present incarnation needs to spend just a bit of time in the consciousness of the past: first the archetypal fairy tale, then the fable, then the legend, and finally the grand myth, until at last, the youth stands at the door of history. Is history “factual”? Yes, but in the same way myths, legends, and fairy tales are “factual.” They are all points of view. Sadly, to our spiritual poverty, these vehicles of imagining and feeling what it is to be human have been shunte
d off into distorting Disney cartoons while corporate television and film screenwriters have usurped the role of cultural storytellers.
Elana Freeland is a story-teller, mythologist, and writer who lied and confabulated as an only child, then as an adult learned to tell myths, legends, and fairytales during her training to be a Waldorf teacher. She started the Seattle Storytelling Guild and the Olympia Storytellers Guild, and has taught mythology and story-telling through the University of Washington and Evergreen State College. Besides telling stories professionally for a decade, she told and read stories and poems on her three-and-a-half-year KAOS-FM program, “The Round Table.” She recently completed writing her Sub Rosa America series, a fictional history of America since the Kennedy assassination told from the vantage point of a multitude of stories during a journey along Route 66.
Appleseed Stories
A perfect example of truth-based legend is the story of John Chapman, born in Leominster, Massachusetts, on September 26, 1774, and better known to the American public as “Johnny Appleseed.” Chapman was a skilled nurseryman who spent 50 years of his life growing apple trees and supplying apple seeds to pioneers in the midwestern United States. Chapman gave away and sold many trees. He owned a number of nurseries in the region, including Ohio, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana, and, as the legend has it, was very successful but lived very simply. He was a very religious man, and his generosity, along with his conservation efforts and the catchy nickname, made him a living legend. Possible embellishments to his legend suggest that as Johnny traveled, he wore his cooking pot on his head as a hat. Chapman also allegedly sang a traveling song or Swedenborgian hymn, everywhere he went, which is still sung before meals in some American households today: “Oooooh, the Lord is good to me, and so I thank the Lord, for giving me the things I need, the sun and the rain and the apple seed. The Lord is good to me. Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.”
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