Folklore: a gateway to future reality

When I was little, there were few books available in the house, so I always liked to stay with them at the library, so I could read all that I would need. I loved stories, jokes, riddles, historic and philosophic books. I am a retired bookworm. Today I am between writing and seeing series or movies from various countries. Netflix helps a lot with their kind of entertainment, I was a child that didn’t make my homework and would prefer spending time watching TV or reading books. Classes were enough, I wanted more knowledge than the one that school gives. Therefore, I was a little recipient that loved to get her head full of knowledge and dreams!

Despite all that I had available at the library and TV, something that I always loved was the folklore tales that you would hear when you were at a family event. Most of them were only passed from generation to generation, and I am quite happy that I’ve encountered one university that took the time to get some of them together in an e-book - that is in Portuguese, so It’s a shame that today I can’t share with you all.

Enough of the little introduction. Let’s get to those great stories?

The fox and the wolf tales – popular tales

It was a full moon’s night. The fox and the wolf were hungry, so they decided to search for food. In their way was a public laundry tank full of water. They noticed that there was a round white object in the water.

“What is that?” Asked the wolf.

“Maybe that’s a cake.” Answered the fox.

“How can we get to the cake?” The wolf was amazed by this discovery. They were happy because they would not starve tonight!

“We have to take the water out.” Said the Fox, searching around to check if they could have anything to help them. Nothing was there except the tank and the water. “We have to drink the water. It’s the only way to get there.”

“Let’s go eat this cake!” The wolf jumped into the tank, starting to drink the water. The fox followed him.

They drank, drank, drank, and the water was still in the tank.

“I can’t do this anymore.” Vented the wolf.

“We can’t stop it, it’s almost there!” The fox encouraged him.

They drank, and drank, and drank a little more. Their bellies were full of water, almost bursting!

“It takes so much time. I can’t drink any more water.” The wolf was full.

“We have to do this; don’t you want the cake?” The fox was still trying to drink the water, thinking about the cake.

“Let’s do this!” Said the wolf, starting to drink again.

“There is no cake!” Said the fox, after they drank all the water. “It was just the reflection of the moon!”

“I’m so full. I’m starving.” The wolf was so full of water and so tired that it could no longer move.

“Me too. I can’t walk anymore.” The fox joined the wolf that lay on the tank’s floor.

Starving they stared the moon, thinking how beautiful she was, until they had fallen asleep.

Choose wisely, when you are hungry and have to search for something to eat!

There are some tales of these two. Normally, the fox plays with the wolf and wins. With those tales, I learned to be more aware of my surroundings and to think for myself when people tell me something.

Run, run, little Calabash

Once upon a time there was an old lady who lived alone in a small house next to a forest where she liked to go for walks.

One day, on her way to her daughter's wedding, she had to walk all the way through the woods.

She was enjoying the walk when she came across a fox, who said to her “I'm going to eat you, old woman.”

“Don't do that now," answered the old woman, "because I'm going to my daughter's wedding, and when I come back I'll be fatter. And the fox let her continue on her way.

A little further on, she came across a large wolf.

“You won't pass here without me eating you," said the wolf.

The old lady replied:

“Not now, I'm going to my daughter's wedding, and I'll come back fatter.”

And the wolf also let her go.

At her daughter's wedding, the old lady had a great time and ate a lot too.

When she was about to leave and go back home, she remembered the wolf and the fox that was waiting for her. So, she told her daughter the story, and the two of them thought of a way for the old lady to return home without being seen.

Therefore, they went looking for something for the old lady to hide in, they tried various objects, pots, barrels, and then they found a big calabash that she could fit into and look through.

On the way back home, the old lady kept turning the calabash.

When she passed the wolf, he asked: “Have you seen an old lady out there?”

“Not an old lady, not an old man, spin the little calabash, spin the huge calabash," answered the old woman.

And she continued on her way, hidden inside the calabash.

She was already a little more relaxed, having managed to deceive the wolf when the fox stood in her way.

“Have you seen an old lady around?” Asked the fox.

The old lady answered: “Not an old lady, not an old man, spin the little calabash, spin the huge calabash."

Soon after, she arrived home safely, banged her calabash on a large rock near the door, and came out of there.

The old lady continued to take her walks, but somewhere else in the woods so as not to cross paths again with the wolf and the fox, and they are still waiting for the old lady to return from her daughter's wedding.

This story wasn’t one of my favorites until I had a similar situation when I was a teenager. I had to be like the old lady, and come up on the spot with an excuse that the man would leave me alone and stop the harassment. With her line of thought, I could manage to convince the man that I would let him get what he wanted other day, giving my fake cellphone number, and he let me go safe and sound.

There are so many folklore tales that I love that I cannot stop thinking about them all. I love these folklore tales because all of them started with some truth into it: their goal, their meaning. And it’s so nice to live our moments and sometimes use their knowledge unknowingly! All the tales are magic to me because they live inside, and I can come up with some solution in my life because of them.

Don’t forget that knowledge is power… People’s knowledge is a generation's deep power. And that’s because I’ve chosen to tell you a little about my culture with these tales.