SOUTH AMERICA
In south-western Peru, on a plain called Cajamarquilla is the Band of Holes. Thousands
of man-sized holes, stretching for over a mile on uneven mountain terrain, are carved
into the barren rock.
Thousands of years ago, in a valley in the place we now call Peru, there lived a large
community of nymphs. For a long time, they lived happily among the trees and rivers,
until one year, there was a drought. The rivers started to dry up and the trees began to
die. The nymphs knew they had to make an offering to the Rain God, and they also
knew that what he loved the most was music. What they couldn’t figure out was how to
get music on the earth to reach the skies above, where the Rain God lived. They tried
singing, but their voices were not loud enough, and neither were their musical
instruments. They tried making bigger and louder instruments, but nothing worked.
Finally, one young nymph had an idea. She began digging a big hole in the ground, and
once she finished, she stretched several long reeds tightly over the surface. When she
plucked the reeds, the sound produced was louder and more magical than that of any
other musical instrument in the world. All the other nymphs followed her lead, and
within a few hours, the whole valley was covered with large holes, reeds stretched over
their surfaces.
The nymphs began to play their new instruments together, and for hours and hours they
produced one beautiful melody after another, till the music reached all the way up to
the skies. At last, the rain came, and they lived in peace once again. To this day, the
large holes can be seen in Pisco Valley in Peru.
ASIA
A Woman and the Bell of Miidera
In the ancient monastery of Miidera there was a great bronze bell. It rang out every
morning and evening, a clear, rich note, and its surface shone like sparkling dew. The
priests would not allow any woman to strike it, because they thought that such an
action would pollute and dull the metal, as well as bring calamity upon them.
When a certain pretty woman who lived in Kyoto heard this, she grew extremely
inquisitive, and at last, unable to restrain her curiosity, she said: "I will go and see this
wonderful bell of Miidera. I will make it send forth a soft note, and in its shining surface,
bigger and brighter than a thousand mirrors, I will paint and powder my face and dress
my hair."
At length this vain and irreverent woman reached the belfry in which the great bell was
suspended, at a time when all were absorbed in their sacred duties. She looked into the
gleaming bell and saw her pretty eyes, flushed cheeks, and laughing dimples. Presently
she stretched forth her little fingers, lightly touched the shining metal, and prayed that
she might have as great and splendid a mirror for her own. When the bell felt this
woman's fingers, the bronze that she touched shrank, leaving a little hollow, and losing
at the same time all its exquisite polish.
AUSTRALIA
Goolahwilleel the topknot pigeons
Australian Folktale
Young Goolahwilleeel used to go out hunting every day. His mother and sisters always
expected that he would bring home kangaroo and emu for them. But each day he came
home without any meat at all. They asked him what he did in the bush, as he evidently
did not hunt. He said that he did hunt.
"Then why," said they, "do you bring us nothing home?"
"I cannot catch and kill what I follow," he said. "You hear me cry out when I find
kangaroo or emu; is it not so?"
"Yes; each day we hear you call when you find something, and each day we get ready
the fire, expecting you to bring home the spoils of the chase, but you bring nothing."
"To-morrow," he said, "you shall not be disappointed. I will bring you a kangaroo."
Every day, instead of hunting, Goolahwilleel had been gathering wattle-gum, and with
this he had been modelling a kangaroo—a perfect model of one, tail, ears, and all
complete. So the next day he came towards the camp carrying this kangaroo made of
gum. Seeing him coming, and also seeing that he was carrying the promised kangaroo,
his mother and sisters said: "Ah, Goolahwilleel spoke truly. He has kept his word, and
now brings us a kangaroo. Pile up the fire. To-night we shall eat meat."
About a hundred yards away from the camp Goolahwilleel put down his model, and
came on without it. His mother called out: "Where is the kangaroo you brought home?"
"Oh, over there." And he pointed towards where he had left it.
The sisters ran to get it, but came back saying: "Where is it? We cannot see it."
"Over there," he said, pointing again.
"But there is only a great figure of gum there."
"Well, did I say it was anything else? Did I not say it was gum?"
"No, you did not. You said it was a kangaroo."
"And so it is a kangaroo. A beautiful kangaroo that I made all by myself." And he smiled
quite proudly to think what a fine kangaroo he had made.
But his mother and sisters did not smile. They seized him and gave him a good beating
for deceiving them. They told him he should never go out alone again, for he only played
instead of hunting, though he knew they starved for meat. They would always in the
future go with him.
And so for ever the Goolahwilleels went in flocks, never more singly, in search of food.
EUROPE
The Forest of Lilacs
French folktale
When Blondine entered the forest she commenced gathering the beautiful branches of
lilacs. She rejoiced in their profusion and delighted in their fragrance.
As she made her selection, it seemed to her that those which were more distant were
still more beautiful so she emptied her apron and her hat, which were both full and
filled them again and again.
Blondine had been thus busily occupied for about an hour. She began to suffer from the
heat and to feel great fatigue. She found the branches of lilacs heavy to carry and
thought it was time to return to the palace. She looked around and saw herself
surrounded with lilacs. She called Gourmandinet but no one replied.
"I have wandered further than I intended," said Blondine. "I will return at once, though I
am very weary. Gourmandinet will hear me and will surely come to meet me."
Blondine walked on rapidly for some time but she could not find the boundaries of the
forest.
Many times she called anxiously upon Gourmandinet but he did not respond and at last
she became terribly frightened.
"What will become of me, all alone in this vast forest? What will my poor papa think
when I do not return? And Gourmandinet, how will he dare go back to the palace
without me? He will be scolded, perhaps beaten and all this is my fault because I would
leave my carriage to gather lilacs? Unfortunate girl that I am! I shall die of hunger and
thirst in this forest if the wolves do not eat me up this night."
Weeping bitterly, Blondine fell on the ground at the foot of a large tree. She wept a long
time. At last her great fatigue mastered her grief. She placed her little head upon her
bundle of lilacs, and slept peacefully.
AFRICA
The Story of the Lightning and the Thunder
Nigerian Folktale
In the olden days the thunder and lightning lived on the earth amongst all the other
people, but the king made them live at the far end of the town, as far as possible from
other people's houses.
The thunder was an old mother sheep, and the lightning was her son, a ram. Whenever
the ram got angry he used to go about and burn houses and knock down trees; he even
did damage on the farms, and sometimes killed people. Whenever the lightning did
these things, his mother used to call out to him in a very loud voice to stop and not to
do any more damage; but the lightning did not care in the least for what his mother
said, and when he was in a bad temper used to do a very large amount of damage. At
last the people could not stand it any longer, and complained to the king.
So the king made a special order that the sheep (Thunder) and her son, the ram
(Lightning), should leave the town and live in the far bush. This did not do much good, as
when the ram got angry he still burnt the forest, and the flames sometimes spread to
the farms and consumed them.
So the people complained again, and the king banished both the lightning and the
thunder from the earth and made them live in the sky, where they could not cause so
much destruction. Ever since, when the lightning is angry, he commits damage as
before, but you can hear his mother, the thunder, rebuking him and telling him to stop.
Sometimes, however, when the mother has gone away some distance from her naughty
son, you can still see that he is angry and is doing damage, but his mother's voice cannot
be heard.