Deihl - The Three Bells - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

New Year brings resolutions to do better.  This New Year's story fits that resolution by showing the importance of attitude.

I confess the title of this book, Holiday-Time Stories, was what talked me into buying it.  So many times storytelling programs are scheduled for a holiday celebration.  This little book was written by Edna Groff Deihl.  I can find nothing by or about her even though the book lists three other volumes by her.  Surely this is a perfect reason for Keeping the Public in Public Domain and I can only hope her books are digitally archived in the future.  The illustrator, Genevieve Fusch Samsel, was similarly not found on the internet at this time.  The illustration by Samsel says this is "The End."  Possibly it is for 2013, but trust we will meet again in 2014 online or in person.
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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.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories. 

At the same time, I've returned to involvement in 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 normal monthly posting of a research project here.  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my monthly postings as often as I can manage it.  

de Bosschere - The Rich Woman and the Poor Woman - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Back on July 10 of this year I posted a story from Jean de Bosschere's book, Christmas Tales of Flanders.  At the time I noted the book's title was misleading as the book is not about Christmas.  The first story in the book, however, is set at Christmas.

 

 

As De Bosschere notes, many of the stories in the book "are found in a different guise in the legends of other nations."  This was a classic tale of two motifs: J 2073.1 Wise and foolish wish: keep doing all day what you begin AND Q1.1 Gods (saints) in disguise reward hospitality and punish inhospitality.  If you are unfamiliar with the idea of motifs and want to tell stories, I heartily recommend you go to the three-part series here by Wendy Welch on March 17, 18, 19, 2013.  For other Flemish folktales, some of which are definitely Christmas tales, I repeat a recommendation of a little known anthology by Mount Clemens organist, August R. Maekelberghe.  He died shortly before I went to work at the Mount Clemens Public Library, but thanks to Isabel Miller, we have his wonderful retellings of his birthplace's folktales in the book, Flemish Folktales.  She published it for him shortly after his death. She gave me permission to freely tell from it, but I don't feel comfortable reprinting it here.  For even more Flemish folklore, and well told, it's a book worth seeking out and your borrowing it will keep it alive in library collections.  When books aren't borrowed, they are discarded.  Certainly that would be a poor fate for future readers.  It's in that spirit that Keeping the Public in Public Domain began.
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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.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories. 

At the same time, I've returned to involvement in 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 normal monthly posting of a research project here.  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my monthly postings as often as I can manage it.   

Happy Belated Birthday, St. Nick!

'Twas the day after St. Nicholas Day when I did a program as "The Hired Girl" on Victorian Christmas only to have an attendee give me "the facts" about Saint Nicholas.  I was sooo happy that, while I mentioned the saint, I didn't dwell on his history since it didn't fit the topic.  Didn't find what he said matched what I'd heard, but came home to fact check.

Surprisingly many of my high school classmates were mentioning that December 6 was celebrated as his feast day. 

WELL!  That did it, I had to see what facts are recorded as well as the legends.

First of all he goes by many names, according to Saints.Sqpn.com:

• Nicholas of Bari
• Nicholas of Lpnenskij
• Nicholas of Lipno
• Nicholas of Sarajskij
• Nicholas the Miracle Worker
• Klaus….
• Mikulas….
• Nikolai….
• Nicolaas….
• Nicolas….
• Niklaas….
• Niklas….
• Nikolaus….
• Santa Claus

But that's nothing compared to the 90 groups listed there claiming him as their patron -- including Butchers, Bakers and Candle Makers as well as the three countries, Germany, Greece, and Russia and the 80 towns (throughout Europe and one in the Palestinian Christian town of Beit Jala, ).

Taking the saint out of his stained glass and finding facts agreed upon by all sources is much trickier.  (Catholic Online says, "he is said to have been represented by Christian artists more frequently than any saint except our Lady.")  Unfortunately they quote Butler's Lives of the Saints, a 30 year work putting into four volumes the massive 68 volume Acta Santorum.  I say unfortunately because a lot of legend and unverified statements are included in telling of a saint for whom much may be inferred, but little proven.  The Acta and Lives at least mention the sources start in the mid-ninth and early tenth centuries.  

Since St. Nicholas was born in the third century, and it is reported he died on December 6 in mid-fourth century (the years vary, but that date returns often), there's a long gap before recording his life. As the Catholic Encyclopedia put it, "Though he is one of the most popular saints in the Greek as well as the Latin Church, there is scarcely anything historically certain about him except that he was Bishop of Myra in the fourth century."

The original tomb of St. Nicholas at the basilica in Myra.

Myra (now Demre) was a major city in Lycia, but to put that in modern terms, it's now in the Anatolian province of Turkey. His birth is also probably in the same region as Butler claims, "All accounts agree that he was a native of Patara, in Lycia."  That's only three miles from Myra.  The area was Greek during his lifetime.  He was buried in his cathedral there until 1087.  Then his "translation" occurred.  I put that in quotes as it's a matter of opinion why his relics were moved to Bari, Italy.  The link I gave you has a detailed (and from the viewpoint of the Basilica of St. Nicholas in Bari) says his removal came after a papal vision to preserve him from Turks  taking over the area, destroying Christian churches and objects.  Its being a contest with Venice and protested by the citizens of Myra makes it an action-packed story of its own.  Readers of the Ellis Peters medieval mystery series about Brother Cadfael can appreciate it based on the first book in that series, A Morbid Taste for Bones.

I found it interesting that Wikipedia notes: There are numerous variations of this account. In some versions those taking the relics are characterized as thieves or pirates, in others they are said to have taken them in response to a vision wherein Saint Nicholas himself appeared and commanded that his relics be moved in order to preserve them from the impending Muslim conquest. Currently at Bari, there are two churches at his shrine, one Roman Catholic and one Orthodox.

Basilica di San Nicola in Bari, Italy

San Nicolò al Lido (Venice)

Unfortunately those variations aren't footnoted.  The source I gave before Wikipedia is clearly on the side of a vision.  Wikipedia does a good job of pointing out the relics are proven to be in both Bari and Venice, while Myra tells of continued production from the sarcophagus of "a clear watery liquid which smells like rose water, called manna (or myrrh), which is believed by the faithful to possess miraculous powers."  Sounds like St. Nicholas indeed is like Santa Claus in being several places at once so everyone benefits.

While we're discussing Legends, there are plenty to go around.

• Our tradition of a Christmas stocking supposedly started when the kindly Nicholas heard a poor man's three virgin daughters had no dowry and otherwise would be forced into a life of prostitution to survive.  On three separate nights he stopped by their home tossing a stocking filled with gold over their house wall so they each were able to marry.  (The three gold balls symbolizing a pawnshop also originated with those balls of gold.)
• Talking about pawnshops makes me think of another legend where he talked thieves into turning from a life of crime after their mothers prayed for them to change.
• More in dispute is whether he brought 3 children back to life after they were killed by an inn-keeper and pickled in brine.  Some say the "children" were seminary students.  Sounds like Sweeney Todd!
• Yet when a famine struck he multiplied grain.
• Sailors have him as a patron and supposedly as a young man he made a pilgrimage to the holy land and, on his return, calmed a terrible storm that threatened to sink his ship.  This led to the custom of wishing "May St. Nicholas hold the tiller."
• Another legend I enjoyed at Orthodox America has him as a devout young priest when the Archbishop of Myra died. "The other bishops, as well as the priests and people of the town, gathered to choose a successor. They couldn't decide who should be their new archbishop. They kept a vigil and prayed all night long in the cathedral, begging God to guide them. God revealed to one of the bishops that the first priest to enter the church in the morning should be chosen as the new archbishop. At sunrise, a simple priest, Father Nicholas, came quietly into the cathedral to say his morning prayers. In this way the Lord God revealed His choice for archbishop."
• A miscellany of ideas about him has him fasting on Wednesdays and Fridays, some would start this even as a nursing baby!; orphaned, but wealthy, so he started young to be generous; raised by his uncle also named Nicholas who was the bishop of Patara; imprisoned for a time by the Roman emperor Diocletian in the last persecution of the church then released by the emperor Constantine; some put him at the first Council of Nicaea even though he's not among the official lists of attendees, but definitely opposing Arianism.

There's a saying that what's important in our lives is "what we do between the dashes" of our birth and death.  What happened between his dashes is the stuff of legend...Oh goodie! says the storyteller in me.  Oh rats! says the fact-checker.

If you want to check the many places I went, there are too many to list here, but you might start at dmoz, the open directory project.  

For fun, go to the St. Nicholas Center and also CatholicCulture.org and HubPages for St. Nicholas traditions from around the world, activities, crafts, recipes, games, and, of course, stories and more.  Google Images has many of those pictures of St. Nicholas and also offers many coloring pages.

Did my program attendee's facts turn up?  No, but I'm so glad I checked as I found the wealth and generosity of St. Nicholas continues.

(Bailey) "Cat on the Dovrefell" - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Sometimes a story doesn't "click" until the right version appears.  A Norwegian folk tale, "The Cat on the Dovrefell" was one such story.  Then I discovered this version by Carolyn Sherwin Bailey.   While little is said online about her, she has many works appearing in various digital archives.  She has been a favorite of mine for her many anthologies, frequently including her own versions of stories.  If you search the internet for the story under the title, "The Cat on the Dovrefell" you will find an overly brief version by George Webbe Dasent.  Bailey's version is renamed, but it reveals why this tale is loved in Norway by fleshing out the story for the rest of us.

 

Bailey's Newbery award winning book, Miss Hickory and The Little Rabbit Who Wanted Red Wings are also two stories you might know by her.

An Icelandic storyteller and friend, Stephanie Brewer, who has gone on to tell stories in The Great Beyond used to tell about the Yule Lads, trolls causing such mischief in December.  I think she would approve of this Troll Bear:

A 2012 Steinbach Signed Troll Polar Bear German Christmas Nutcracker at

www.hayneedle.com

All this talk of Christmas trolls reminds me of that very old troll named Carol.  You may have heard about her in the Christmas song, Deck the Halls.

What you never heard of "Troll, the ancient Yuletide Carol"?

On that note I guess it's time to include my explanation of why I want you to keep alive stories in Public Domain and hope you find lots of wonderful stories, old and new at this time of year.
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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.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories. 

At the same time, I've returned to involvement in 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 normal monthly posting of a research project here.  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my monthly postings as often as I can manage it.   

Bigham - Little Wee Pumpkin's Thanksgiving - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Went looking for a Thanksgiving story at the back of my mind.  Mother Goose was in my mind and so I first checked Frank Baum (yes, of the Wizard of Oz stories).  Looked at his  Mother Goose in Prose.  That wasn't it.  Fortunately I have a great catalog program, AZZ Cardfile.  It started long ago as a free Windows application and when it was phased out I was delighted to find this flexible program.  I use it to keep track of my storytelling library, indexing it to help me find my stories.  Back on June 19th I posted Tommy Tinker's Charm String from Madge Bigham's very creative Mother Goose Village.  Chose that story as a follow-up to Baum's Tom the Piper's Son, but would have loved to post today's story.  I've enjoyed telling it in the past.

Don't let the overly cute "Wee" in the title turn you off.  It's a good story that might benefit from updating the name of the pumpkin in the title to something a bit less likely to draw unintended snickers.  That's my personal opinion.  With or without that change, I hope you enjoy the tale.

Bet you thought the time for Jack-O-Lanterns was over.  They can be more fun than flowers at a hospital bed.
May all be well with you and all you love and may there be many reasons to be thankful this Thanksgiving.

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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.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories. 

At the same time, I've returned to involvement in 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 normal monthly posting of a research project here.  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my monthly postings as often as I can manage it.  

Cowles - Bread of Gold - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Julia Darrow Cowles proved to be an interesting resource, so I tried to see what I could learn about her.  With this I've done two blog posts with stories from her work.  I already completed the first, and this second article includes what little information I could find on her.  She was among those in the late 19th and early 20th century who led that period's storytelling revival.  Personally I'm downloading to an eReader a book of hers, The Art of Storytelling, with Nearly Half a Hundred Stories.  It's great for an eReader as she indexes her stories and does an excellent job of making them accessible to young listeners.  It's just the sort of resource I love when telling on the road, especially in a foreign country, where a theme can pop up and I want to find related stories.  She was a bit more thorough in her own notation of sources than typically found in many anthologies of the era.

I especially thank a fellow librarian and lover of children's literature, Barbara Begin Campbell, at Oakland University's School of Education for checking her own copy of the original edition of Junior Book of Authors!  It saved me trying to find a library in the false hope she might just be mentioned.  (A slight UPDATE here: Google Books is online with that book and it is searchable.  The recent court decision about Google Books providing a research service that doesn't jeopardize copyright is proving true.)  Mrs. Cowles nearly anonymous passing is a perfect example of how important it is to preserve the Public Domain as our cultural heritage.  There's a tiny bit in the paragraph below I was able to find with some online detective work on my part.  It is probably all anybody but her own possible descendants might know. 

The best I could learn online about Julia Darrow Cowles is she was also known as Mrs. Frances Dana Cowles: (January 6, 1862 - September 6, 1919), was from Canada, had a Connecticut ancestor, was probably Baptist (see pages 16 - 18 for a list of all her books in A Baptist Bibliography :  Being a Register of Printed Material By and About Baptists; Including Works Written Against the Baptists edited by Edward C. Starr, Curator of the American Baptist Historical Society), and she also was "a member of a well-known Minneapolis literary family" according to "The Heimatbrief", the newsletter magazine of the German-Bohemian Society, September 2003.   Since only a fraction of her books are currently online, I would hope more are added to the various digital archives.

Here's a tasty story of some bread that won't make good Thanksgiving stuffing or other eating.

 

I love Cowles telling us this comes from Slav Tales, translated by Emily J. Harding, even noting the publisher.  Not typical.  This slender 124 page volume includes several more from Slav Tales, along with many Tibetan and Gypsy stories -- not the usual sources, and an assortment of other tales.

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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.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories. 

At the same time, I've returned to involvement in 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 normal monthly posting of a research project here.  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my monthly postings as often as I can manage it.  

Cowles (Schoolcraft) - How the Seasons Came to Be - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

First a bit of a story from this storyteller.

On April 15, 2000 I went to a sale at the home of a local used bookseller.  She had other locations where she sold at antique malls, but her basement was a treasure trove from which she also sold.  She was moving to a new home, so I eagerly went to her sale.  Can't recall offhand what books I bought that day, but definitely remember buying this mug

It was by Edward Gorey -- if you're a fan, as I am, you probably recognized it being by him.  Perhaps the name doesn't ring a bell, but if you've watched his wonderful animated introduction to the PBS series, Mystery!, then you've seen his style in action.  He didn't do the animation, Derek Lamb did that, but it's definitely based on his art.  I fell in love with him through his delightfully macabre illustration of children's books and went on to prowl his other books and artwork.
Wikipedia rightfully compares him to Charles Addams (another favorite of mine!) and says he's "an iconic figure in the Goth subculture."  I'm no Goth, but greatly enjoy both author/illustrators.

The reverse side of the mug says

Not all of that is visible and it needs to be seen: So Many Books - So Little Time.  That certainly is appropriate for this bibliomaniac.  My publishing Public Domain works from my own library makes that obvious.  What I didn't know until later that day was Edward Gorey died that very day at age 75.

So Many Books So Little Time 

How true.  It's part of the reason why I consider Keeping the Public in Public Domain important.  I started this series while on sabbatical this past year.  That project, Elder Stories, is still something I hope to continue along with my storytelling as it shows ways to maintain communication and offer a social event for patients with Dementia and Alzheimer's and their caregivers.  Both the Public Domain work here and Elder Stories fit the Edward Gorey motto.  At the same time I've now returned to my professional storytelling, combining it with a very full life beyond work.  As a result this month revealed the schedule for this blog and Keeping the Public in Public Domain needs adjusting.  To maintain the level of research I consider appropriate, it will appear at least monthly, often more -- as may be seen in last month's multiple postings expanding the topic of Victorian Christmas, including the October appropriate idea of "scary ghost stories" which are a part of that Victorian celebration.  Sorry I can't predict it more closely.  Lately I've been living a quote attributed to, of all people, Woody Allen: If you want to make God laugh, tell Him your plans.

Here's November's entry in Keeping the Public in Public Domain.  It came from a children's anthology, Indian Nature Myths, edited by Julia Darrow Cowles.  Ms. Cowles is best known for her 4 works of historical fiction at The Baldwin Project (Our Little Macedonian Cousin of Long Ago, and similarly Roman, Athenian, and Spartan), but she also has the fascinating The Art of Storytelling, with Nearly Half a Hundred Stories.  It's worth downloading.  Great for an eReader as she indexes her stories and does an excellent job of making them accessible to young listeners.  It's that reason why I'm including her version of a tale you should also read and compare in Henry Rowe Schoolcraft'sThe Myth of Hiawatha, and Other Oral Legends..., or at least this specific story, "Ojeeg Annung or The Summer-Maker".  After Cowles' story I'll point to the difference in the two versions and why it makes the story a bit more "accessible to young listeners."

Go also to the version recorded by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft of "Ojeeg Annung or The Summer-Maker" and see how Cowles omits concepts such as Manitos.  While worth exploring in the Anishinaabe or Ojibwe culture, it is a complex issue requiring a great deal of explanation beyond sharing the main ideas of the story.  This does NOT mean Schoolcraft shouldn't be used.  He tried faithfully to preserve the stories from the People of the Three Fires, the Anishinaabe.  I'll say more about him later when I present his work.  Cowles, to her credit and unlike too many public domain editors, at least names each Native American nation rather than just lump it under "Indian."  While she doesn't list her sources, like Schoolcraft, trying to find the original sources for the stories she includes become so much easier if you know how to find standard works of folklore for the nations named. 

The cover of Folklore of the North American Indians -- a woodcut from Once Upon a Totem by Christie Harris, illustrated by John Frazer Mills, based upon the Native American art of the Pacific Northwest

November is Native American Heritage Month.  Combining this month's research with the Keeping the Public in Public Domain series, I want to recommend a reference for finding those solid works of Native American folktales.  The Library of Congress in 1969 published Folklore of the North American Indians; An Annotated Bibliography compiled by Judith C. Ullom.  The sensitivity behind choosing the best material is shown in its criteria: (1) statement of sources and faithfulness to them, (2) a true reflection of Indian cosmology, and (3) a written style that retains the spirit and poetry of the Indian's native manner of telling.  If there is any flaw in the book, it's that it is unable to look beyond 1969.  The book is out of print and has never been updated.  The good news is the work can be found online thanks to Scholars Archive @ OSU (Oregon State University), so it still is in print electronically.

This has been a combined post of both types of posts here -- a bit of research (normally more) and Public Domain stories.  May we all remember the contributions of the Native Americans, our own First Nations, the original spirit of Thanksgiving, including how the national holiday began with the declaration by Abraham Lincoln in 1863 recognizing the celebration of 1621 and, as our seasons settle into Winter, may the gift of Ojeeg return to the land of the Anishinaabe.

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Once again a slightly revised series statement of purpose:
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.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories. 

At the same time, I've returned to involvement in 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 normal monthly posting of a research project here.  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my monthly postings as often as I can manage it.  

Cory - Billy Bunny Series - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Today's Keeping the Public in Public Domain has an idea for storytellers or puppeteers looking for a way to build a program wrapped around one character.  I've escaped from fables (see end of this post for more information) and this year's look Victorian Christmas that took the second half of October.

When I was still creating storytelling programs at one library I found it was easy to do a continuing story where each week I told a new adventure about one character -- I would have a puppet for the character, but that's optional.  Books that offer episodic stories where each chapter has a stand-alone adventure about one character were perfect for this.  The era covered by Public Domain had many such books and even series following characters.  I should have included Cuffy Bear when I came to Arthur Scott Bailey on my shelves as that was the first of a series about Cuffy and also the first of such books I have. 

David Cory had many series because he syndicated children's stories for the daily WZJ radio show in Newark, New Jersey.  A collection of his correspondence, some manuscripts, and memorabilia is housed at the Special Collections Research Center at Syracuse University Libraries.  Their description of his work says, "He came to writing after a twenty-year career as a stockbroker, beginning with stories invented for his children."  Project Gutenberg currently has 14 of his books including four series:

 Three of the Puss-In-Boots, Jr. series

 

Three of the Little Jack Rabbit series

and

 

 one from the Little Indian series.

Project Gutenberg has three from the series LITTLE JOURNEYS TO HAPPY LAND (no cover given)  and 

The Jumble Book,  a book that doesn't seem to be a series book, but has a variety of animal stories.

My own series book is from the Billy Bunny Books of the 1920s.  Project Gutenberg currently has two.  Mine is yet a third book:

(Notice some of those other titles in the series) 

 

 

 

 

The leaves are still enough on the trees, as I write this, giving some of Michigan's autumn beauty.  As a result I'm choosing these two stories that include Jack Frost and the second tale includes a bit of nature facts.

You will notice the mention at the beginning and end of each story tying it to the story just told or about to be told.  The song includes a word guaranteed to make today's children snicker, "gay."  It would be reasonable to avoid the distraction by changing the wording from "and gay" to "today" unless you want to spend time before the story discussing the term.  The vocabulary of older works sometimes requires you to make such decisions. 

Actually we're jumping to another story.  By the way, talking about changes and decisions, I might decide to remove some of the personification of those who aren't animals.  Examples of this are the character, Mr. Happy Sun, changing it to "the happy sun" and "his" to "its" and similarly handle Willy Wind if I don't think it hurts Cory's work.  Mother Nature is there, too.  Shades of Thornton Burgess and Old Mother West Wind!  Puppeteers especially need to consider the number of characters used.

If you're curious about that Luckymobile Uncle Lucky drove, go to this article from March 26, 2009 in the blog, Lady, That's My Skull to see it.

The blog's author, who writes under the name of Sleestak, was able to find several volumes of the series.  Sleestak seems to enjoy the art of Hugh Spencer more than the stories and shows several more illustrations from Billy Bunny and Daddy Fox, (available from Project Gutenberg) including a Billy Bunny doll worth watching for at antique stores. 

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At the beginning of today's article I mentioned Frederic Taber Cooper's An Argosy of Fables.  Prior to spending the second half of October looking at Victorian Christmas celebrations, starting on September 21, 2013, I made several posts from Argosy's Book One, Classical Fables, and Book Two, Oriental Fables, although I stopped in that section without including Armenian and Turkish Fables.  I'm a big fan of Turkish folktales about Nasreddin Hodja, so those fables could provide short additional material to balance out a program.  Book Three is called Modern Fables (remember the book was published in 1921) and covers English, French, Spanish, Russian (all by Krilov except one from that prolific author, Anonymous), German, and Polish (all by Krasicki) fables.  Book Four is titled "Kraal and Wigwam Fables" looking at fables from various areas of Africa and various Native American tales Cooper calls fables.  The good news is the sources of the Native American material is better identified than in many Public Domain books.  Unfortunately many of the other sources may be difficult to track down, especially when Cooper was referring to sources in another language or in something other than a book.  His work as editor, however, produces generally tellable stories.

If you consider that fables are the wisdom of the past and other cultures, the book is an excellent overview of a major type of story.  The same organization that brings us the Wikipedia does us a great service with its Wikisource placing the book online.

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This is my slightly revised series statement of purpose:
This is part of a series of weekly posting 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.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories. 

At the same time, I'm returning to involvement in 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 normal monthly posting of a research project here.  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my monthly postings as often as I can manage it.