Cooper - "Hindoo" Fables - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

An Argosy of Fables, selected and edited by  Frederic Taber Cooper, continues its journey with "Book Two, Oriental Fables."  Cooper's antique spelling of "Hindoo" makes me wonder how many of the 20th century spellings that have changed their transliteration will look outdated or quaint to future readers?  Book Two has four parts: Part I - "Hindoo" Fables; Part II - Persian Fables; Part III - Chinese Fables; Part IV - Armenian and Turkish Fables.

India's fables are listed by Cooper as "Hindoo" Fables because Hinduism is the dominant religious and cultural tradition for the Indian subcontinent.  Don't take Cooper's Hindu designation too strictly as it includes four Jataka tales.  The Jatakas are among the earliest Buddhist literature.  Buddhism, in contrast to Hinduism is a relative newcomer to India and Asia.  It might have been more accurate to have said Sanskrit Fables, rather than Hindu, as all stories in Part I are part of the larger body of Sanskrit literature.  Seeing the Jatakas made me check back on two books I had earlier felt compelled to omit.  Ellen C. Babbitt's two volumes of the Jataka tales are indeed in Public Domain, but my editions were produced later.  I now have access to those original editions and will sidestep alphabetical arrangement right after finishing the Argosy of Fables.  Because of that I'll skip Cooper's Jatakas.

Part I has fables from Hitopadesha which is a collection with many fables in common with the Panchatantra and that is another, almost as large, group of Indian fables.  Besides the Jatakas, Katha-Sarit-Sagara rounds out Part I.  When I learned Kathasaritsagara was The Ocean of Story, a collection I've only seen in bits and that it was 18 books of legends, fairy tales, folk tales, and fables composed for the entertainment of the queen of Kashmir, I looked forward to dipping myself again in that ocean, but now understood why I'd never found a copy or copies of it.  The Wikipedia article talks about translations and at first I thought they would barely glimpse what the queen saw.  Not so!  The Internet Archive has the ten volume version of C.H. Tawney's translation of The Ocean of Story.  Here are some tips: each volume starts with a lengthy Foreward; many stories just have names of the characters for titles; volume 5 has the Panchatantra; and volume 10 includes the index to the complete work, plus alphabetical lists of the stories, the motifs, and the Jatakas.

As a personal aside, in prowling the various volumes I found volume 7 listed a story I'd only heard.   It tells of some men sharing abilities together which lets them bring a lion back to life.  I had no idea this was the source of a tale showing knowledge doesn't always equal wisdom.  (After browsing so many volumes, volume 10 helped me find it again and verify, yes, it was a lion and not a tiger.)

Several of those stories included in An Argosy of Fables remind me of stories told in various European traditions.  Stories do travel you know, even from an Ocean of Story which pre-date Grimm and Celtic literature and . . . well, you get the idea.  With such a large source, I'm starting here with just the "Hindoo Fables" and will save the other parts of Book Two, Oriental Fables for future posts here.

My selection here are two business-related fables from the "Ocean."  I'm uncertain what translation Cooper used, but they are similar to Tawney's translation.  Cooper was wrong, however, the second story is in volume 5, not 10.

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This is part of a series of weekly posting of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  I will post on Saturdays in the series unless that week I have other research articles.  I hope this will satisfy all who have found these stories worthwhile.  I include myself in that audience.  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.  

Cooper - Classical Fables - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Book One in An Argosy of Fables by Frederic Taber Cooper is Classical Fables.  Part I is Aesop, a full 109 pages worth.  I'll skip that since this series started with Aesop.  Instead fables will be chosen from each of the other three parts.  Part II is Babrius (I'll give a Wikipedia link for each classical fabulist), Part III has two subsections, A is Phaedrus, while B is further fables attributed to Phaedrus, Part IV is labeled Avianus, Abstemius, Etc.  (Odo of Sherington is listed more than either Avianus or Abstemius.)

The first page of the Babrius part gives us a glimpse of the decorated initial opening his section by illustrator Paul Bransom.  It also has two stories and the second is certainly timeless.

For Part III I chose something definitely by Phaedrus.  It also gives a view of the fabulist's world.  In addition I chose a story accompanied by a full page illustration for a better view of Bransom's work.

Part IV includes some familiar stories, Avianus is credited with a story about a clever crow using pebbles to raise the level of water in a jar which I have heard attributed to Aesop, but Wikipedia points to Babrius as his probably source, but taking those fables from Greek to Latin; the section closes with the familiar story of The Miller, the Boy and the Donkey again attributed to Aesop, but Wikipedia explains that Faernus did a noteworthy version of Aesop in the 16th century; the many fables in Part IV by the English minister, Odo of Sherington, who is also known as Odo of Cheriton also had me wondering, so today's final selection combines yet another familiar story, the one about the belling of the cat by Abstemius with 2 tales by Odo.

The next Fables "book", Oriental Fables, will be next week's selection.
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This is part of a series of weekly posting of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  I will post on Saturdays in the series unless that week I have other research articles.  I hope this will satisfy all who have found these stories worthwhile.  I include myself in that audience.  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.  

Cooper - An Argosy of Fables - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Oh boy, here I go again!  Didn't plan on developing a new research project, but I have a fascinating book which might be considered, if not a Public Domain encyclopedia of fables, certainly a great introductory resource to a major type of storytelling literature.  I started the Keeping the Public in Public Domain series with two very different books of Aesop's fables.  This isn't all I own using that ancient pedagogue's fables, but they were the only two pre-dating 1923, thus safely in Public Domain.  Frederic Taber Cooper in 1921 also saw the value of fables, not just those attributed to Aesop, but their value in classical and modern times and as a view into ethnic literature. The book's subtitle declares it's "A Representative Selection From the Fable Literature of Every Age and Land."

His book is so large, 485 pages, he divided it into three books: Classical Fables; Oriental Fables; and Modern Fables.  In trying to choose one or even one fable from each "book" I felt like Alice having fallen down the rabbit hole into Wonderland. 

I've often recommended going to Project Gutenberg to read the rest of a book featured here, but Wikisource did a loving reproduction of this book, complete with the beautiful Paul Bransom illustrations.  When I go to Project Gutenberg I'm so text-oriented I usually omit the illustrations for a swifter download.  From the cover illustration above, you can see that would be a shame.  They may have used a different edition as I find slight illustration differences from my book.  Their site also is not always as intuitive to search for a book, but once you find it, the reproduction is well done.  I suggest clicking those illustrations to enlarge them.  They were full-size in the original book and deserve a larger look to appreciate them.

The value of fables comes from their taking the wisdom of a culture and putting it in very brief form.  (Brevity...always a trick for a storyteller!)  Animals often are the characters, illustrating human traits, but they aren't the only possible actors.  Wikipedia points out they also can be mythical creatures, plants, inanimate objects or forces of nature.  (That Wikipedia article is worth visiting for its large listing of their many articles on classical and modern fabulists -- way more recent than Cooper's "modern" fabulists, as well as "notable fable collections."  As an example of what I mean, the list of modern fabulists includes people like George Orwell, Dr. Seuss, and James Thurber.)

As a storytelling teaching device, fables are perfect for student storytellers and writers.  I like to create fables starting with a proverb as fables teach a lesson.  Something worth considering is whether that lesson is stated or not.  Cooper seems to prefer stating the moral, especially for Classical Fables.  Modern thinking tends to consider stating the moral at the end too didactic.  That view prefers to let the audience or reader draw their own conclusions without hitting them over the head with a stated moral.

If Cooper calls his anthology three books, who am I to disagree?  It deserves at least three postings here, so starting tomorrow I will post a bit of the Classical Fables.  Aesop will be omitted since he's been covered earlier.  Tomorrow will be a bonus posting since today was spent discussing fables and specifically An Argosy of Fables.  Following my new schedule for the Keeping the Public in Public Domain series, I will post one story a week unless other research needs to interrupt the schedule.    That schedule is explained in the following new series summary.
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This is part of a series of weekly posting of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  I will post on Saturdays in the series unless that week I have other research articles.  I hope this will satisfy all who have found these stories worthwhile.  I include myself in that audience.  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.  

Converse - The Two-Headed Serpent and the Brave Boy - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

One of the pleasures of the "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" series is it forces me to examine more closely the many older anthologies that could easily be overlooked.  It's also an opportunity occasionally to discover a bit more about the people who put those anthologies together.

 
Harriet Maxwell Converse is certainly one of those intriguing people.  PBS has two articles on Converse: the first is a fairly straight Biography of Harriet Maxwell Converse, but the second is a more emotional look at her correspondence with Ely Parker, who was the source of much of her Seneca and other Iroquois material. The wealthy white woman writer was adopted into the Snipe clan of the Seneca and even chosen as a Six Nations chief.  Along the way I also discovered more about Arthur C. Parker, who is best known for his own book, Skunny Wundy: Seneca Indian Tales, although that is not his only contribution to helping educate the public about Native Americans.

It's also sometimes tricky to scan some books.  They may be fragile or have been bound with too little space to copy easily.  Today's book has both problems so I had to choose with that in mind.  Fortunately a short story worked around those problems.

Elder Stories (part of How I Spent My Summer)

It's almost a running joke that students are expected to write about "How I Spent My Summer."  Back on May 3 of this year I recognized a sabbatical from my usual storytelling commitments was needed.  While some storytelling did sneak into my schedule, the work that came the closest to being a major change of pace was described this way:

• Most of my work includes research, which is why this blog is titled Storytelling + Research = LoiS.  (Didn't realize, when choosing my title, the "+" and "=" signs would not show up in the address!)  I have begun work on a project continuing through this summer which does not lend itself to posting on these pages.  I will be working with some very special people in Alzheimer's and Dementia groups.  Patient confidentiality prevents my telling the results of this work.  Last summer at the National Storytelling Network conference, I assisted, Liz Nichols in her presentation of the TimeSlips program.  There is a great deal of information about this exciting and fun way to invoke communication and creativity among this very special population without relying on memory.  For yet another view of its use, you might go to Mary Clark's article for NSN's special interest group, the  Healing Story Alliance.  Perhaps you will catch some of the excitement I feel in working on this project! 

Working with Alzheimer's and Dementia patients and their caregivers was a delight!  I want to do much more of leading them in creating stories based not upon memory, but upon what they see.  The sharing and opportunity to have fun with others, added to the maintenance of communication and even creativity, was contagious.  Calling my own version of it "Elder Stories", I offered an assortment of pictures to each group, letting them choose their favorite for each session.  Because I knew history was an interest among some of the members, I used photographs or illustrations that included 20th century and late 19th century.  Norman Rockwell was a favorite.  The stories may have been totally different from what actually happened in a photograph or what the illustrator had in mind.  Doesn't matter.  To paraphrase Shakespeare's Hamlet, The story's the thing wherein we capture the imagination that still exists.

If you know of any group that would like to try Elder Stories and is here in Michigan, please contact me.  Beyond Michigan I suggest the hotlinked resources named above.  It will take longer to develop your own program, but is definitely worthwhile.

On a personal note, beyond the Elder Stories, I also mentioned "a very important personal project in my life" and that "I hope to post more about it later at its successful conclusion."  There was indeed a successful conclusion, but am not yet ready to turn it into a part of my storytelling life.  Storytelling isn't all research or performance, it takes time to process an experience or prepare a story.  This has been one of those projects.  We'll see if it develops beyond my personal life. 

Keeping the Public in Public Domain. . . or not?

Back at the beginning of summer I began a pair of experiments.  One of them was the publishing on Wednesdays and Saturdays a series of stories from books I own that are in the Public Domain.  I chose stories pre-1923 both because they are safe to reprint and I feel strongly about the cultural purpose behind the idea of the Public Domain.  Sometimes I get on my virtual soapbox and complain about how Sonny Bono is in the Great Beyond singing "I Got You, Babe."  I say that because when he left performing and became a congressman, he represented the interests of the Disney corporation, which was about to see Mickey Mouse leave the safety of copyright.  As Wikipedia put it in their article on him: He was one of twelve co-sponsors of a House bill extending copyright.  Although that bill was never voted on in the Senate, a similar Senate bill was passed after his death and named the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act in his memory.

While the claim was made that this just put U.S. copyright law in line with the rest of international copyright law, the litigious nature of U.S. copyright law enforcement easily outstrips international tendencies.  Public Domain became a nightmare of locating renewals and death dates of authors for any works published from 1923 on.  To put it in the words on Sonny Bono's tombstone:  And the Beat Goes On.

For that reason, when starting the Keeping the Public in Public Domain series, I said:
This is part of a series of bi-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. 

Currently I'm involved in projects taking me out of my usual work of sharing stories with an audience.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  This fall I expect to return to my normal monthly posting of a research project here.  Depending on response, I will decide at that time if "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my monthly postings. 
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Labor Day marks the time recognized by most in the U.S. as "fall."  This has nothing to do with the recognition of the first day of the autumnal equinox when the sun crosses the celestial equator going southward, rising exactly due east and sets exactly due west.  That will be September 22 at 4:44 p.m.  It won't even be the day a few days later when the day is equally divided with 12 hours of daylight and 12 of night.  All that may satisfy devoted followers of almanacs, nor even the changing of leaf colors, but psychologically the start of school and ending of summer vacations is when fall schedules begin.  I know some areas have school start in August, but tradition and a desire for the last gasp of vacation dollars tends strongly towards using Labor Day as the marker.  It is so strong that Michigan's legislators decreed schools should start after Labor Day.  Not even the changing of leaf colors can be predicted.  I'm convinced Michigan is going to become the Garden Spot of the U.S.  This summer's heat only barely touched our "Water-Winter Wonderland" and we have had many leaves change color quite some time ago.  Fortunately this premature change hasn't included leaves falling.

ENOUGH! you are probably saying.  Schedules change as the start of school seems to make my calendar resemble a carousel going faster and faster with commitments that no longer have anything to do with summer.  

So it's time for me to decide if I should continue the posting of stories.  I've had emails off the blog and comments from friends on Facebook making it clear people have enjoyed the stories.  At the same time I know it sometimes took me away on yet more research.  It's just the way I tend to work.  I still want this blog to include monthly research topics, whether related to the stories or the other topics related to my storytelling.  

I've decided to drop the Wednesday publishing of stories in the Keeping the Public in Public Domain series.  For now I will post on Saturdays in the series unless that week I have other research articles.  I hope this will satisfy all who have found these stories worthwhile.  I include myself in that audience.  At the same time I hope this schedule is realistic.  We'll see.  
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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.