LL-L "Folklore" 2002.12.06 (13) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Thomas Byro <thbyro at earthlink.net>
Subject: LL-L "Folklore" 2002.12.06 (12) [E/LS]

Ron

Has anyone continued the work of the brothers Grimm?  I don't mean their
"serious" philology work but their work collecting folklore.

The countryside that I grew up in, of northern Westphalia, was certainly
gloomy enough.  I remember walking for kilometers, mostly along dirt roads,
to get to school.  The land was boggy and flat as a tabletop.  Dense fogs
would arise and at times all I could see was my feet and the eerie carven
horseheads seemingly staring at me down from the tops of the houses.  It was
in one of those houses that one of my playmates lived.  When the nights
started early and the wind caused the ancient timbers to creak, we would
become scared and play near his grandmother, who seemed allways to be at her
spinning wheel. We would then ask her to tell us stories.  She allways
obliged.  I should mention that his family was one of those where only
Plattdeutsch was spoken.

I have never before or since been transported by the spoken word as by this
old woman.  Some of the stories were like those I since encountered in the
collections of the brothers Grimm.  Others though were unlike any I have
heard before or since.  I remember my favorites being stories about the
dwarves and the tricks played by Loki.  I don't know if they were
traditional stories or if they were made up by her.  Sadly, I don't even
remember her name.  This woman though would be counted as a national
treasure by any sane nation.  Is anyone ut there trying to find and save the
stories of such wonderful people?

Tom Byro

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From: R. F. Hahn <sassisch at yahoo.com>
Subject: Folklore

Tom,

I really don't know if any such data gathering is still being done these
days.  Perhaps others on the List know.

I doubt that this sort of work is still being done in Europe.  I would be
pleasantly surprised to hear that it is.  Most people assume (perhaps not
justifiably so) that human resources such as the ones the Grimm brothers and
you have encountered are no longer around, that this sort of gathering ended
with the end of the 19th century.  Instead, people reinterprete the same old
material over and over.  These days, folkloristic data gathering is
generally expected to be more fruitful outside Europe, such as among Native
American, Australian Aborigines and the various peoples of Papua-New Guinea,
in places where stories had been transmitted only in spoken form until
recently and where languages are expected to go extinct and stories happen
to be recorded in the process of recording linguistic corporae.  I know that
even in the 20th century considerable folkloristic collection work has been
performed and published in *some* parts of Europe, especially in Hungary and
other parts of Central and Eastern Europe.  However, I do not know if
anything substantial is being done in the Lowlands.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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