Haunted Houses - Im - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Today's Halloween celebration for many will be a visit to a "haunted house."  I remember a spooky old house near where I grew up in St. Louis that was supposedly haunted.  It was later torn down for added church parking lot space.  How sad!  Every area should have a place where the kids whisper "It's haunted!"  Commercial haunted houses are fun, but not really the same.

This month has included a few of the many stories I recommend in a wonderful book from 1913.  Here's a pdf from the University of Oregon where you, too, can prowl the many stories James Gale made available back then and are safely in Public Domain.  Both Im Bang, who was born in 1640 and was a government official in the early 18th century, and Yi Ryuk, who lived in the mid-15th century, preserved Korean folklore as it was told so long ago.  James Gale made it accessible and is definitely in the spirit of Keeping the Public in Public Domain.

At the same time I mentioned a modern book still in copyright, Which Was Witch.  I opened this month with Im Bang's tale of Wild-cat Woman that Eleanore M. Jewett did a beautiful job of turning into the title story of her book.  I want to close this month with yet another story which she transformed and expanded for story lovers.  Today's story is really several incidents, but she combines some of them into one story set Seoul's "Ink Town" district at the foot of what is sometimes called South Mountain, because it's in the south central area of Seoul. Wikipedia tells us it should really be Mount Namsan, which literally means Front Mountain.  Obviously today it's view of the downtown Seoul skyline is very different, but she does a beautiful job of not only combining incidents, but putting us back into Korea of old.  I strongly recommend seeing her version, too. 

Im Bang and Yi Ryuk's book is not the only source of tales for her book.

In the meantime, read today's selection and think about how you might tell it.

Maybe, like Jewett, you would like a bit more background on the story.  Here's information on Ink Town -- what a great name!  It is explained in this blog article about Seoul Subway Names which tells us they are a lens into Korean history and its legends and lore.

Line 7 - Mokgol

A mok is an ink stick, a type of solid ink traditionally used in East Asia for ink and wash painting. Historically, it is considered one of a scholar’s four precious possessions, along with paper, brushes or pens, and an inkstone. Mok was produced in great quantity in this area during the Joseon Dynasty, giving rise to the area’s moniker as ink town. Another theory suggests that the area was deliberately named after the ink stick to encourage the town’s prosperity and development.

Ink sticks, and the stone where it is ground and mixed with water, can be beautiful, too

The same blog, Korea Joongang Daily, also give a view of a zither which probably was the instrument Gale translated as a harp.  It reminds me of my Appalachian Dulcimer.  Like stories, instruments travel and make slight changes.

Gale's book includes 53 stories.  Thirteen of them are Yi Ryuk's 15th century tales, closing the book.  I've not posted them here, but if you look at that pdf of the book opening today's article, you might want to read number 41 (he uses Roman numerals, so XLI), The Old Man in the Dream; 43, The Propitious Magpie; 49, Who Decides, God or the King?; 51, Strangely Stricken Dead; and 52, The Mysterious Hoi Tree.  Those are the ones I like, but maybe you'll choose others.

Happy reading and storytelling!
******************
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.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  


At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates 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 regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.    


There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I recommended it earlier and want to continue to do so.  Have fun discovering even more stories!

Buzz into Audience Participation

It's time for scary, or sometimes not so scary, telling.  I've a dog puppet named Buzz because I first dressed him like a Bee for my insect programs.  He helps me talk about how important Bees are and how Yellow Jackets are mistaken for bees.  (There's an Anishinaabe tale about that.)  He also helps with audience participation on many topics.  We often use raffle-style tickets, Buzz picks the selected ticket holder to choose and try to answer a riddle after naming a page in a joke book matching the theme.  I recently found a skeleton outfit and made up a very short audience participation story for young audiences.
My comments below are (inserted) at times and when I ask a question of the audience you will find an underline.

The Colorful Skeleton
There once was a skeleton who drank some Hot Chocolate.  You could see it go all the way down through the skeleton and the color you saw was ___.
But the day was hot enough he wanted something cooler and for healthy bones, so he drank (milk) and the color you saw was ___.
When next he wanted a drink it was even hotter, so he drank some Lemonade and the color you saw was ___.
(Show a Lemon-lime Kool Aid package.) After that he tried Lemon-lime Kool Aid and the color you saw was ___.
Still hot and thirsty, he drank Fruit Punch full of cherry and strawberry juice and the color you saw was ___.
He even drank Orange Juice, so of course the color you saw was ___.
But can you guess what was his favorite flavor and color of juice?
(Boo for Booberries.)

You can find outfits easily at Collect Peanuts.com where there are 9" Woodstock outfits, girl outfits for Belle & boy outfits for Snoopy.  Belle's sizes run in 10" and 15", while Snoopy's are 11" or 18".  Buzz wasn't with me when I found the skeleton outfit and really would have been fit better by the larger size.  A mask isn't included, but I took apart a flat skeleton from my local dollar store.  I made sure it wasn't a scary version of a skeleton.  I may add a Trick or Treat bag.

Another outfit resource is Build-a-bear clothing and you can quickly make puppets by using their stuffed animals.  I see they've just added a Husky!

Hmmmm.  I love Huskies and Malamutes and that would save me unstuffing any I already have.  Unstuffing stuffed animals is an easy way to get a puppet.  Over the years I've often written about Puppets and Puppetry.  There are many ideas here about how you can easily use puppets, so you might want to look through those articles.  Here's a look at Buzz in his Bee outfit.

You might also find articles here on Audience Participation worth reading.

Have fun telling this Halloween!

Fright Night at Fisk Farm

It's hectic right now -- oh to be able to clone myself!  Failing that, here's a local Heads Up (yes, skulls & floating heads are perfect for this time of year) then another Heads Up not just in this location, but fitting the 12 nations in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement and ultimately it will affect the world.

 

Live storytelling is always the best, so if you are able to come, this is an evening's bargain entertainment.

Next week I plan at this time to do another Keeping the Public in Public Domain, but until then, here's an important paragraph from the Wikipedia article on the Trans-Pacific Partnership intellectual property provisions:
The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has been highly critical of the chapter on intellectual property covering copyright, trademarks, and patents. In a press release concerning the issue, the foundation argued that copyright provisions in drafts of the TPP would likely further entrench controversial aspects of US copyright law (such as the Digital Millennium Copyright Act) and restrict the ability of Congress to engage in domestic law reform to meet the evolving IP needs of American citizens and the innovative technology sector.^[173]

LoiS here again -- That EFF link is to another Wikipedia article, but I strongly recommend you go to the Electronic Frontier Foundation site for their information.  In the meantime, click on the EFF video in the Wikipedia article.  The EFF produced it when TPP was still developing. Congress is required to vote this secret article up or down without changes.  Leaks show EFF was correct and it's at least as damaging to access to Intellectual Property as they predicted.  It really needs to get your attention.  (Like to read?  Digital Rights Management already restricts you on your electronic devices.)

This is a Wikimedia video.  Can't paste it here, but you can click on it in the Wikipedia article.

Folks, it's happening all over again, The Mouse and other Hollywood money will lock up Public Domain and this time there will be no way Congress can even manage copyright to allow features like Fair Use!

Im - Old Woman Who Became a Goblin - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Talking about

last week, I ended with "Because so much of the book fits the spooky nature popular during the month of October, I'm considering spending more time this month with stories from Korean Folk Tales.  We'll see.  It's like my answering machine message says: You just never know what I might be up to!"

Oh why the heck not?!?

I love spooky stories and this book has a few unusual ones I'd like to share.

Today's brief story has a goblin or two and a warning about hiring household help.

Of course the scholar's wife eventually failed to treat the "old woman" well, but this was somebody whose references certainly needed checking.

Be careful who you invite into your house.  They may want to stay and you can't get them out!

It's an old rule of scary tales, if you invite the creature in, you've asked for whatever may happen.

May your happenings this spooky month of October be only ones you want to invite in and your stories ones you enjoy telling!

******************
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.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  


At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates 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 regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.    


There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I recommended it earlier and want to continue to do so.  Have fun discovering even more stories!

Im - The Wild-Cat Woman - Keeping the Public Domain

Last week on September 25, while I was working on a segment of Keeping the Public in Public Domain by today's author, I discovered this on Wikipedia's home page "In the news" section: A U.S. federal judge rules that the copyright to "Happy Birthday to You", claimed by Warner/Chappell Music, is invalid.

I'll try to avoid my rant about copyright here -- the end of my Keeping the Public in Public Domain segments clearly shows my sentiments -- but I'm ecstatic about this long overdue ruling!  Warner/Chappell earned $2 million a year on a song dating back to their piano arrangement in 1935.  Most or all of that money will never be repaid.  Thank heavens the public kept the song alive.  Public Domain was intended to keep our cultural heritage alive, which Sonny Bono and his 1998 Copyright Term Extension Act, saving Micky Mouse from entering the Public Domain, has gone a long way away from that intent. 

Fortunately it's often possible to find the sources to modern folktales.  (Unfortunately not always, but folktales are living oral literature, so storytellers also help preserve the cultural heritage of many countries.)  Today's story is one such source.  The 1913 book preserves Im Bang's introduction.  Those introductions throughout his Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts, and Fairies are both a blessing and sometimes a bit of a bore.  It gives a clue about what will follow and often explains the background, but the stories are where the audience wants to be.  I'll give both, it's an interesting explanation, but understand if you prefer to jump right to the story.

That story was re-told by Eleanore Jewett as the title story in her book, Which Was Witch.

I always recommend reading as many versions as possible, so if you want to re-tell it, you would definitely benefit from taking a look at how she expands it.  By the way, because Korean Folk Tales is safely in Public Domain -- and I found roughly 20 stories, from among the book's 53 stories, I'd gladly tell -- you can find it as a pdf at http://library.uoregon.edu/ec/e-asia/reada/dent.pdf
or at the online free book source, Chest of Books.








1913 translator James S. Gale in Korean Folk Tales: Imps, Ghosts, and Fairies tells us about both Im Bang and, the author of the last 14 stories, Yi Ryuk.

The jacket flap tells us Gale was a linguist, scholar, historian, and interpreter of Korean culture, but the Wikipedia article on James Scarth Gale gives us insight into how he fell in love with Korea even though it only mentions this important contribution to Korean folklore in passing.

Because so much of the book fits the spooky nature popular during the month of October, I'm considering spending more time this month with stories from Korean Folk Tales.  We'll see.  It's like my answering machine message says: You just never know what I might be up to!
************
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.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  


At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates 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 regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.    


There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I recommended it earlier and want to continue to do so.  Have fun discovering even more stories!