Prosperity, Prohibition, & Pontiac in the Roaring Twenties

For several years Clarkston offered Ghost Walks through the town.  It ended after it became hard to find volunteers to staff it.  Fortunately there's a version in Pontiac and it's in a cemetery and it benefits the historic Oak Hill Cemetery.  This year the theme is Prohibition related, a topic I've been bringing to libraries and museums with my "High Times in Dry Times" program, so I'm delighted to be part of this look at people from the Roaring Twenties.

My favorite story is of the bootlegger, Albert Nelson, who was also a cornet player, so people would go to the back of the jail to hear him playing.  All six stops will be safely spaced and masked.

Take a good look at the facts on the above poster and I hope to see you there!

An "Original" Story

I call my husky/malamute my Exercise Machine, getting him out roughly every other day for at least a 45 minute hike.  Fortunately we live near several parks with wooded trails.  Ideas for this blog often come while on these outings.  It's a great time to observe nature and think about storytelling possibilities.   Summer clearly isn't ready to leave Michigan, but lately I've seen scattered signs of autumn as leaf color changes on a few vines and an occasional bush or tree exposed to colder damp air. 

Most interesting, the wild grape vines. which until now were only good for chewing a bit on the tendrils, are starting to ripen. 

That picture came from an article on making "Wild grape wine"  from a blog called PA Wild Edibles.  The author has apparently kept the blog online, but it only ran from 2011-2014, offering ideas from his foraging in Pennsylvania.  I confess that foraging has long interested me.  Maybe my love of wildflowers and wild plants  is because I'm a terrrrrrible gardener.  For those of us interested in wild plants his blog is worth prowling.  I'm also impressed that anyone might be able to find enough wild grapes to make wine.  I love grabbing a cluster and nibbling one at a time.  It's guaranteed to have a seed to spit, possibly spreading more vines along the trail.

Besides spreading wild grapes, I want to spread this story the wild grapes made me decide to share.  Any fellow lovers of the "wise fool", the Hodja, will recognize its inspiration.  I set it in a tiny hamlet called Grape found in Monroe County alongside the River Raisin.  It's a Michigan area that welcomed French pioneers with plentiful wild grapes.

***********
Back when Grape was a flourishing community and not a mere spot in the road between Monroe and Dundee, a preacher was having an impossible time figuring out what to say in his weekly sermon.  He wracked his brain, but nothing seemed to work.  At last he decided what he would say.

That Sunday he stepped into his usual spot to deliver his sermon to his small congregation.  He looked at them all carefully, taking his time to be sure each person felt his gaze.  At last he spoke up.  "Good people of Grape, do you know what I have to tell you?"  He waited.  The people shifted in their seats uncomfortably.  "Well do you?" he repeated in a demanding tone.  They began to look at each other and shake their heads No.  "Well then, how can I speak to you?" he said defiantly, turned and went on with the church service.

The next week he again had no idea what to say in his sermon.  Again he stepped into his usual spot to deliver his sermon.  Again he called out, "Good people of Grape, do you know what I have to tell you?"  He waited.  The people shifted in their seats uncomfortably, but this time they shook their heads Yes.  "Good," he said, "then I have no need to say any more to you."  He turned and went on with the church service.

For yet a third week he again had no idea what to say in his sermon.  Again he stepped into his usual spot to deliver his sermon.  Again he called out, "Good people of Grape, do you know what I have to tell you?"  He waited.  The people shifted in their seats uncomfortably, but this time some shook their heads Yes and some shook their heads No.  "Excellent," he said, "then those of you who know should tell those of you who don't."  He turned and went on with the church service, but knew he really had to figure what to say in his next weekly sermon.
***********
As that story shows, it's rather like my storytelling friend, Laura Vitek, likes to say at the end of her emails, "There's always a story.  It'd be a shame not to tell it."

Similarly while prowling that PA Wild Edibles blog I found a recipe for sumac cider.  I've known staghorn sumac supposedly made a lemonade ever since I read it in the late Euell Gibbons' ground-breaking book on foraging, Stalking the Wild Asparagus, but lemonade didn't need my experimentation.  Cider?  Maybe.  It's certainly a year when orchards aren't opening for their usual autumn treat.

That leads me, good people on the internet, to ask you if you agree with my husband or me.  Should it always be Cider and Doughnuts or not?  Those of you who think you know, please be sure to say.  You can let me know either in my email or on Facebook where each week I also post these articles.

Primary Manual Work (Plus) - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

One of the things about live storytelling, especially historical storytelling, there's always more that can be said.  It reminds me of the final chapter of Peg Bracken's Appendix to the I Hate to Cook Book which she titled "Tail Gate, Shutting the; Now What Did I Forget This Time?"  This past week I was once again the One Room School Teacher, treating the board of the Iosco County Historical Society as if they were a local group considering starting a One Room School.  The program was live streamed and I've given permission for a clip from it for their website or their Facebook page. I'm not able to post it yet.  Volunteers work as their time permits, but will add it here when available.

Because everyone was wearing a mask, I acted as if I thought the Spanish Influenza might have returned.   This let me expand the program a bit to talk of how it affected their county (a 25% increase in deaths), how it had affected Michigan including soldiers at Camp Custer (nearly 700 deaths), and how President Wilson's refusal ever to discuss it led to deaths here and in the trenches of World War I.  I also mentioned his own stroke led to Mrs. Wilson being the undeclared first woman president.

Probably coverage of both Spanish Influenza and briefly women's suffrage made my omission of today's material reasonable.  Still I was sorry to leave out this aspect.

The term "manual work" refers to the crafts a teacher would use to supplement course work.  In this case it was for the public schools of Los Angeles, California.  While other instances of manual work can be seen online, this book is only available for sale at present.  The book might be interlibrary loaned, however, and the bibliography pages at the end are particularly worthwhile.  The example I wanted to include was the start of second grade when it was tied to Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe.  With the interest in survival, it was interesting how it could tie curriculum elements together with this classic.

Second graders?!?  While one-room schools served roughly ages five to fifteen, U.S. second graders are approximately seven years old.  How could they handle Robinson Crusoe?  I grew up with "Classics Illustrated" comic books and wondered how much was eliminated, but here are two versions listed in the book's bibliography.  Robinson Crusoe for Boys and Girls and  An American Robinson Crusoe do a surprisingly good job of eliminating the more adult part of the classic.  The crafts essentially start where Crusoe began to establish his island survival home.  The first book opens that topic in chapter three, "Robinson in His New Home", while the other is chapter eight, "Robinson on an Island."

Later I'll point out some projects still used in crafts today.  Let's see how it is suggested.

You'll notice the cover isn't completely shown.  This is because the book is 9 1/2" by 13 1/2" and I will need to add a little bit of what didn't scan.  Several of these projects are standard crafts worth using even without the Robinson Crusoe thematic work.

First the text and then the illustrations.

Notice the quotations at the top, including from Plato and the second page has the poet, Whittier.

I believe most of the first column on the second page can be easily guessed with the possible exception of "Jute Hammock."  The definite exception is the material for "Special Days" where a "Portfolio" is suggested.  Since the text is not complete (and small) I'll give it all.  It also is a general idea useful throughout the year (and is first shown in the September of the First Grade).  The materials and tools are "1/4 Sheet Manila or Kraft Paper, 36"x48"; Paste; Scissors."  The third column says:

As no Special Days occur during this First Month, the time assigned for this work may be utilized in making a Portfolio from Manila or Kraft paper, to be used as a receptacle for preserving incomplete work.  Divide the large sheet of paper, 36"x48", into fourths, resulting in sheets 12"x36".  From each of these sheets cut off a square 12"x12", leaving sheets 12"x24".  Fold lower short edge up to within 4" of upper short edge.    Open.  Beginning at lower short edge, cut off strips 1"x10" from right and left edges.  Again fold on horizontal crease.  Fold over side flaps.  Fold down upper flap, cutting off the inch margins.  Paste side flaps.  (Figs. 93 and 93a)

 Those figures were earlier in the First Grade material where they also made a Portfolio:

The top 3 pictures on the page are not part of the Portfolio

 Nowadays a quick trip to the office supply store is probably how most of us would handle it, but it's interesting to know how it was done before that and could be made again.  The time would supposedly be 30 minutes.

Here are the two pages of examples, numbers 165 through 174 with a few explanations of what is cut off.

The top rows' numbers were cut off.  The Tree Spelling Blank is 165, the Furniture for the Table has 166 in the center and then 166a.  Number 169b is part of the tent with the bottom of the paper cut off when scanning.

The top row middle is 171a for the Tool Chest and the upper right is 172a for the Circular Raffia Table Mat and that's certainly a craft idea worth using beyond the Robinson Crusoe projects.  The cut off of 173 and 173b are the sort of pot holder and mat loom projects you may remember from scouts or summer camps just like the Raffia Mat.  Robinson Crusoe's Raft, number 170, while not explained beyond being a "supplementary model by interweaving slats", should be recognized as something often made nowadays with craft or popsicle sticks to make a trivet.  Number 174, the Jute Hammock can be enlarged to make a hammock for things like toys or a catchall in the car or kitchen.

Bet you never realized those craft projects from summer camps and scout meetings were common even at the start of the Twentieth Century (and probably much earlier).  You also may note my copy of this book originally came from the Grand Traverse County Normal Training Class.  Normal today has other meanings, but back then said it fit "norms" or standards required in education.
******************

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.

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-

• There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm

• You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
  
  Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"

The email list for storytellers, Storytell, discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional suggestions:            

         - David K. Brown - http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html

         - Karen Chace - http://karenchace.blogspot.com/search?q=public+domain

         - Richard Martin - http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_page.html

         - Spirit of Trees - http://spiritoftrees.org/featured-folktales

         - Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible through the Wayback Machine, described below, but the late Jackie Baldwin's wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ .  It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016  and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.

       - Tim Sheppard - http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/storylinks.html

       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
           - Zalka Csenge Virag - http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com doesn't give the actual stories, but her recommendations, working her way through each country on a continent, give excellent ideas for finding new books and stories to love and tell.

     
You're going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to find some of these old links.  Tim's site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a full-time job.  In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she could no longer maintain it.  Possibly searches maintained it.  Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library (something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine.  It took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally in December of 2006 it appears!

Somebody as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.  I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that becomes the only way to find them.

You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!

Grimm - The Fisherman and His Wife - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

This is from https://diycandy.com/gone-fishing-mini-wood-sign/ and is a simple craft for Dad or decor

I don't know about you, but right now the above sign matches my level of ambition.  Oh, I don't fish, but the idea of disappearing to lay around in August sure fits my mood.  Of course thinking about "Gone Fishing" made me think about today's story collected by the Brothers Grimm in their Household Tales.

The fisherman and his wife

Fairy tale by The Brothers Grimm

There was once a fisherman who lived with his wife in a pigsty, close by the seaside. The fisherman used to go out all day long a-fishing; and one day, as he sat on the shore with his rod, looking at the sparkling waves and watching his line, all on a sudden his float was dragged away deep into the water: and in drawing it up he pulled out a great fish. But the fish said, 'Pray let me live! I am not a real fish; I am an enchanted prince: put me in the water again, and let me go!' 'Oh, ho!' said the man, 'you need not make so many words about the matter; I will have nothing to do with a fish that can talk: so swim away, sir, as soon as you please!' Then he put him back into the water, and the fish darted straight down to the bottom, and left a long streak of blood behind him on the wave.

When the fisherman went home to his wife in the pigsty, he told her how he had caught a great fish, and how it had told him it was an enchanted prince, and how, on hearing it speak, he had let it go again. 'Did not you ask it for anything?' said the wife, 'we live very wretchedly here, in this nasty dirty pigsty; do go back and tell the fish we want a snug little cottage.'

The fisherman did not much like the business: however, he went to the seashore; and when he came back there the water looked all yellow and green. And he stood at the water's edge, and said:

'O man of the sea! Hearken to me! My wife Ilsabill Will have her own will, And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'

Then the fish came swimming to him, and said, 'Well, what is her will? What does your wife want?' 'Ah!' said the fisherman, 'she says that when I had caught you, I ought to have asked you for something before I let you go; she does not like living any longer in the pigsty, and wants a snug little cottage.' 'Go home, then,' said the fish; 'she is in the cottage already!' So the man went home, and saw his wife standing at the door of a nice trim little cottage. 'Come in, come in!' said she; 'is not this much better than the filthy pigsty we had?' And there was a parlour, and a bedchamber, and a kitchen; and behind the cottage there was a little garden, planted with all sorts of flowers and fruits; and there was a courtyard behind, full of ducks and chickens. 'Ah!' said the fisherman, 'how happily we shall live now!' 'We will try to do so, at least,' said his wife.

Everything went right for a week or two, and then Dame Ilsabill said, 'Husband, there is not near room enough for us in this cottage; the courtyard and the garden are a great deal too small; I should like to have a large stone castle to live in: go to the fish again and tell him to give us a castle.' 'Wife,' said the fisherman, 'I don't like to go to him again, for perhaps he will be angry; we ought to be easy with this pretty cottage to live in.' 'Nonsense!' said the wife; 'he will do it very willingly, I know; go along and try!'

The fisherman went, but his heart was very heavy: and when he came to the sea, it looked blue and gloomy, though it was very calm; and he went close to the edge of the waves, and said:

'O man of the sea! Hearken to me! My wife Ilsabill Will have her own will, And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'

'Well, what does she want now?' said the fish. 'Ah!' said the man, dolefully, 'my wife wants to live in a stone castle.' 'Go home, then,' said the fish; 'she is standing at the gate of it already.' So away went the fisherman, and found his wife standing before the gate of a great castle. 'See,' said she, 'is not this grand?' With that they went into the castle together, and found a great many servants there, and the rooms all richly furnished, and full of golden chairs and tables; and behind the castle was a garden, and around it was a park half a mile long, full of sheep, and goats, and hares, and deer; and in the courtyard were stables and cow-houses. 'Well,' said the man, 'now we will live cheerful and happy in this beautiful castle for the rest of our lives.' 'Perhaps we may,' said the wife; 'but let us sleep upon it, before we make up our minds to that.' So they went to bed.

The next morning when Dame Ilsabill awoke it was broad daylight, and she jogged the fisherman with her elbow, and said, 'Get up, husband, and bestir yourself, for we must be king of all the land.' 'Wife, wife,' said the man, 'why should we wish to be the king? I will not be king.' 'Then I will,' said she. 'But, wife,' said the fisherman, 'how can you be king--the fish cannot make you a king?' 'Husband,' said she, 'say no more about it, but go and try! I will be king.' So the man went away quite sorrowful to think that his wife should want to be king. This time the sea looked a dark grey colour, and was overspread with curling waves and the ridges of foam as he cried out:

'O man of the sea! Hearken to me! My wife Ilsabill Will have her own will, And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'

'Well, what would she have now?' said the fish. 'Alas!' said the poor man, 'my wife wants to be king.' 

'Go home,' said the fish; 'she is king already.'

Then the fisherman went home; and as he came close to the palace he saw a troop of soldiers, and heard the sound of drums and trumpets. And when he went in he saw his wife sitting on a throne of gold and diamonds, with a golden crown upon her head; and on each side of her stood six fair maidens, each a head taller than the other. 'Well, wife,' said the fisherman, 'are you king?' 'Yes,' said she, 'I am king.' And when he had looked at her for a long time, he said, 'Ah, wife! what a fine thing it is to be king! Now we shall never have anything more to wish for as long as we live.' 'I don't know how that may be,' said she; 'never is a long time. I am king, it is true; but I begin to be tired of that, and I think I should like to be emperor.' 'Alas, wife! why should you wish to be emperor?' said the fisherman. 'Husband,' said she, 'go to the fish! I say I will be emperor.' 'Ah, wife!' replied the fisherman, 'the fish cannot make an emperor, I am sure, and I should not like to ask him for such a thing.' 'I am king,' said Ilsabill, 'and you are my slave; so go at once!'

So the fisherman was forced to go; and he muttered as he went along, 'This will come to no good, it is too much to ask; the fish will be tired at last, and then we shall be sorry for what we have done.' He soon came to the seashore; and the water was quite black and muddy, and a mighty whirlwind blew over the waves and rolled them about, but he went as near as he could to the water's brink, and said:

'O man of the sea! Hearken to me! My wife Ilsabill Will have her own will, And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'

'What would she have now?' said the fish. 'Ah!' said the fisherman, 'she wants to be emperor.' 'Go home,' said the fish; 'she is emperor already.'

So he went home again; and as he came near he saw his wife Ilsabill sitting on a very lofty throne made of solid gold, with a great crown on her head full two yards high; and on each side of her stood her guards and attendants in a row, each one smaller than the other, from the tallest giant down to a little dwarf no bigger than my finger. And before her stood princes, and dukes, and earls: and the fisherman went up to her and said, 'Wife, are you emperor?' 'Yes,' said she, 'I am emperor.' 'Ah!' said the man, as he gazed upon her, 'what a fine thing it is to be emperor!' 'Husband,' said she, 'why should we stop at being emperor? I will be pope next.' 'O wife, wife!' said he, 'how can you be pope? there is but one pope at a time in Christendom.' 'Husband,' said she, 'I will be pope this very day.' 'But,' replied the husband, 'the fish cannot make you pope.' 'What nonsense!' said she; 'if he can make an emperor, he can make a pope: go and try him.'

So the fisherman went. But when he came to the shore the wind was raging and the sea was tossed up and down in boiling waves, and the ships were in trouble, and rolled fearfully upon the tops of the billows. In the middle of the heavens there was a little piece of blue sky, but towards the south all was red, as if a dreadful storm was rising. At this sight the fisherman was dreadfully frightened, and he trembled so that his knees knocked together: but still he went down near to the shore, and said:

'O man of the sea! Hearken to me! My wife Ilsabill Will have her own will, And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'

'What does she want now?' said the fish. 'Ah!' said the fisherman, 'my wife wants to be pope.' 'Go home,' said the fish; 'she is pope already.'

Then the fisherman went home, and found Ilsabill sitting on a throne that was two miles high. And she had three great crowns on her head, and around her stood all the pomp and power of the Church. And on each side of her were two rows of burning lights, of all sizes, the greatest as large as the highest and biggest tower in the world, and the least no larger than a small rushlight. 'Wife,' said the fisherman, as he looked at all this greatness, 'are you pope?' 'Yes,' said she, 'I am pope.' 'Well, wife,' replied he, 'it is a grand thing to be pope; and now you must be easy, for you can be nothing greater.' 'I will think about that,' said the wife. Then they went to bed: but Dame Ilsabill could not sleep all night for thinking what she should be next. At last, as she was dropping asleep, morning broke, and the sun rose. 'Ha!' thought she, as she woke up and looked at it through the window, 'after all I cannot prevent the sun rising.' At this thought she was very angry, and wakened her husband, and said, 'Husband, go to the fish and tell him I must be lord of the sun and moon.' The fisherman was half asleep, but the thought frightened him so much that he started and fell out of bed. 'Alas, wife!' said he, 'cannot you be easy with being pope?' 'No,' said she, 'I am very uneasy as long as the sun and moon rise without my leave. Go to the fish at once!'

Then the man went shivering with fear; and as he was going down to the shore a dreadful storm arose, so that the trees and the very rocks shook. And all the heavens became black with stormy clouds, and the lightnings played, and the thunders rolled; and you might have seen in the sea great black waves, swelling up like mountains with crowns of white foam upon their heads. And the fisherman crept towards the sea, and cried out, as well as he could:

'O man of the sea! Hearken to me! My wife Ilsabill Will have her own will, And hath sent me to beg a boon of thee!'

'What does she want now?' said the fish. 'Ah!' said he, 'she wants to be lord of the sun and moon.' 'Go home,' said the fish, 'to your pigsty again.'

And there they live to this very day.

******************

That was what Wikipedia called an "anti-fairytale" of greed and dissatisfaction.   I found their article says variants include a Russian and an Indian version, but the Japanese tale of The Stonecutter is the one I recognize from both Andrew Lang and Gerald McDermott's excellent picture book.  It certainly takes wishes to an extreme.

With the current Covid chaos, I think it fits this bit of humor:

Remember all those times when you wished the weekend would last 
forever? Well, wish granted. Happy now?

******************

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.

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-

• There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm

• You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
  
  Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"

The email list for storytellers, Storytell, discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional suggestions:            

         - David K. Brown - http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html

         - Karen Chace - http://karenchace.blogspot.com/search?q=public+domain

         - Richard Martin - http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_page.html

         - Spirit of Trees - http://spiritoftrees.org/featured-folktales

         - Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible through the Wayback Machine, described below, but the late Jackie Baldwin's wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ .  It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016  and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.

       - Tim Sheppard - http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/storylinks.html

       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
           - Zalka Csenge Virag - http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com doesn't give the actual stories, but her recommendations, working her way through each country on a continent, give excellent ideas for finding new books and stories to love and tell.

     
You're going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to find some of these old links.  Tim's site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a full-time job.  In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she could no longer maintain it.  Possibly searches maintained it.  Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library (something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine.  It took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally in December of 2006 it appears!

Somebody as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.  I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that becomes the only way to find them.

You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!

Westervelt - The Hills of Pele - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Hawaiian Volcano by Steve Halama on Unsplash.com

 Michigan's motto is "If you seek a pleasant peninsula, look around you", so I was surprised to find August 10 is the anniversary of our largest recorded earthquake (4.6 magnitude).  I looked that up and find it's considered light magnitude with only minor damage.  I grew up in Missouri where the New Madrid Fault (pronounced with the accent on the "Mad") is a major earthquake zone with the possibility of serious damage believed likely.  This made me look for earthquake stories from the most earthquake-prone states.  Those are the states of California, Alaska, and Hawaii.  A small book ages ago caught my eye, Hawaiian Legends of Volcanoes, by William Drake Westervelt.  I've never been to Hawaii, but confess it's interesting folklore has produced several stories I enjoy telling, so I bought it and was surprised to find it includes considerable detail on what was known about vulcanology in the early 20th century.  Looking up Westervelt was also a bit surprising as he authored five books and many articles on Hawaiian mythology and folklore.  That might not be too surprising since he held several offices in the Hawaiian Historical Society, but he was a minister from Ohio, who clearly fell in love with his adopted home and tried to faithfully represent the Hawaiian viewpoint in the legends he collected and translated.

Hawaii's earthquakes and other geological matters all seem to go back to their volcanoes.  Pele is the Hawaiian volcanic goddess.  Westervelt's story introduces us to her and also to an ancient Hawaiian sport reminiscent of surfing, but done down the side of a volcano!  There's an interesting article in Hawaii Magazine about reviving Holua sledding which goes 50 to 80 mph down the side of a volcano where wiping out can also remove your skin on the lava rocks.  Grass hillsides are now more common.  The sleds are long and narrow, and it's up to the daring of the sledder if you do it lying down, kneeling, or standing up.  Here's a video of it before we see it in the story. 

Normally I would include any illustrations, but a beautiful Hawaiian girl is shown in the middle of the story.  Do you recall the story talking about "Her appearance changed.  Her hair floated out in tangled masses, touched by the breath of hot winds"?  There is a thin volcanic fiber known as Pele's hair and it's golden color.  Besides that factual Wikipedia article, The blog, The History Girls, has pictures of it and also retells Westervelt's story.  

I agree with them, it looks very much like the hair you might find in a hairbrush.  Just remember if you find some (it's not only found in Hawaii, but on other international volcanic sites) it's both fragile and can cut you.

The next story in Westervelt's book is "Pele and the Chiefs of Puna."  I doubt he drew the book's illustrations, but no illustrator is listed.  This is the illustration of Pele for that story.

I've seen various illustrations and altered photos using lava either red or black for her hair, but that art nouveau shows how she might start out fooling some young athletes before revealing her true nature.

The only other note about this story is that the two symmetrical mounds of lava called "The Hills of Pele" were still visible in 1916, but no longer exist.  Pele is always reshaping Hawaii.

The current pandemic has shaken our world up enough.  May Michigan's peninsula remain pleasant and all of us earthquake free.  

*****************************

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.

Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-

• There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm

• You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.
  
  Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"

The email list for storytellers, Storytell, discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional suggestions:            

         - David K. Brown - http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html

         - Karen Chace - http://karenchace.blogspot.com/search?q=public+domain

         - Richard Martin - http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_page.html

         - Spirit of Trees - http://spiritoftrees.org/featured-folktales

         - Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible through the Wayback Machine, described below, but the late Jackie Baldwin's wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ .  It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016  and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.

       - Tim Sheppard - http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/storylinks.html

       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
           - Zalka Csenge Virag - http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com doesn't give the actual stories, but her recommendations, working her way through each country on a continent, give excellent ideas for finding new books and stories to love and tell.

     
You're going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to find some of these old links.  Tim's site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a full-time job.  In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she could no longer maintain it.  Possibly searches maintained it.  Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library (something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine.  It took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally in December of 2006 it appears!

Somebody as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.  I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that becomes the only way to find them.

You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!