Quotes About Folklore

He was known through all that country. He had no kin, no ties, and he antedated everyone; nobody knew how old he was—a tall thin man in a filthy frock coat and no shirt beneath it and a long, perfectly white beard reaching below his waist, who lived in a mud-daubed hut in the river bottom five or six miles from any road. He made and sold nostrums and charms, and it was said of him that ate not only frogs and snakes but bugs as well—anything that he could catch.

If she were studying Orciny, and there might be excellent reasons to do so, she'd be doing her doctorate in Folklore or Anthropology or maybe Comp Lit. Granted, the edges of disciplines are getting vague. Also that Mahalia is one of a number of young archaeologists more interested in Foucault and Baudrillard than in Gordon Childe or in trowels.

In India, when grandchildren are sick, some grandmothers will sweep the child with a broom or with the branch of a tree. If the child asked the grandmother what she was doing, she will reply that she was "removing bad spirits". It is reported that in many cases, the children would get well.

Stories have a unique power, David. The Inuit believe they can capture souls.

Leaning forward, Bergstrom said, "I'm asking you. Come on, give me a folk legend. Anything. You have to have a story hidden away somewhere." David shook his head. "You're not serious, surely?" Bergstrom studied him carefully for a moment. "You forget, I live and work among the Inuit. Stories

Now the Irish have a strange custom: whenever the name of County Mayo is spoken (whether in praise, blame, or non-committally, as soon as the world Mayo is spoken, the Irish add: 'God help us!" It sounds like the response in a litany: 'Lord, have mercy upon us!

Each little flower has a history and cultural references, is a superstition or a cure for something.

In the Balkans the peasants say that if you long for faraway countries and leave your own land and home to find them, you are born under A LILAC-BLEEDING STAR.

Every crag and gnarled tree and lonely valley has its own strange and graceful legend attached to it.

Así son siempre las leyendas, ¿no? Una mezcla de verdades y mentiras. Sólo que, si sumas una verdad y una mentira, el resultado es siempre una mentira.

They believed that if a mouse found your hair clippings and built a nest with them you got a headache. If the nest was big enough, you might go mad.

Bhaskar Hazarika makes a strong debut with 'Kothanodi', revisiting stories he read as a kid, painted beautifully with mature strokes.

In my research, what I found most interesting was how common and ordinary magic was to people in the past.

The genius of a folk melody or story is not the feeling that it's original but quite the opposite - the feeling that it has existed all along.

The Snork Maiden looked around her. Then she leaned forward and whispered in the Fillyjonk's outstretched ear: "First you must turn seven times around yourself, mumbling a little and stamping your feet. Then you go backward to a well, and turn around, and look down in it. And then, down in the water, you'll see the person you're going to marry!" "And how do you get him up from there?" asked the Fillyjonk excitedly.

My dad was just a big Joseph Campbell nut.

Whiskers: According to an old bit of folklore, cat's whiskers that you find somewhere can be used in a wish-fulfilling spell. For this to work, burn the whisker and whisper a wish to the smoke. This spell might be accomplished with the whiskers of other animals too, like using a dog's whiskers to inspire devotion and constancy.

MONDEGREEN. A term for misheard song lyrics, coined by American freelance writer Sylvia Wright (1920–1961) in 1954. It derived from her long-held belief that a song contained the line, "They had slain the Earl of Moray and Lady Mondegreen." In fact, the line ended with the words, "and laid him on the green.

Some People think 'coven' is a word for a group of witches, and it's true that's what the dictionary says. But the real word for a group of witches is 'an argument'.

My dad, the old professor, used to say, 'Never get into an argument about what's folk music and what isn't.'

It's hard to know what has become folklore and what is reality. But don't all myths stem from some semblance of fact?

The Folk doubtlessly learned this lesson long ago. They do not need to deceive humans. Humans will deceive themselves.

Someone's really sold you a bill of goods. Plenty of mortals are better at plenty of stuff than the Folk. Why do you think we steal them away?

Once, there was a girl who found a sword in the woods. Once, there was a girl who made a bargain with the Folk. Once, there was a girl who'd been a knight in the service of a monster. Once, there was a girl who vowed she would save everyone in the world, but forgot herself. Once, there was a girl… Hazel