Wednesday, July 27, 2016

C160. Baer (p. 147). The Hard-Headed Woman

This is Chase160.

Types  ATU0563 Table, Ass, and Stick
Motifs
J1813.8 sheep's head has eaten dumplings
D1472.1.9 magic pot supplies food and drink
D1601.10.1 self-cooking pot
Notes

Baer: "incorporates folk beliefs and incidents from European and African folktales."

Baer cites the Dorson sheep's head story; in this story, it is an effect of the conjuring. 

Baer does not classify this story herself as ATU0563 Table, Ass, and Stick, but she says that is the number applied to African analogues  in Klipple and elsewhere

Lamba: "a calabash provides a manw ith food. When another man tries to injure the calabash with his spear, then his axe, his fingers are cut off in punishment and the first man goes back and receives good." ... others, plus "a Hausa narrative involves a man, his two wives, a spoon that fills calabashes, and a whip that eventually drives them all out of the house."

Baer finds most interesting a Limba tale: "After Spider and Kayi, his wife, worked together, he denied her a share of the good and accused her of having a disease. On the advice of a diviner (finch), Kayi buried an antelop horn under the cooking stones and went home to her people. As soon as Spider cooked his dinner, 'the pot with the sauce and the one with the rice - oh! they began to run, going off to Kayi! He the spider followed behind.' The third time he tied the pot to his waist to prevent its leaving, but the pot pulled him along until he fell, then dragged him the rest of the way. After Spider promised to mend his ways, Kayi told him about the buried horn."

West Indian stories about food-producing calabash also feature spider

conclusion: "a fine example of a tale in which we see operating the traditions available to the teller... integrated to reflect the current values and concerns of the teller and his audience. While the overall pattern of the tale is rooted in African tradition, modifications are the result of influences and conditions of life in the southern United States."

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