Dr. James T. Callow publications
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The James T. Callow Folklore Archive
Your search for Tale returned 80 results.
Superstition
If a pregnant woman is frightened by fire, the baby will have a red or purple birthmark.
Submitter comment:
Belief: Means of Cursing
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Reference
Original BN [P740] crossed out. Replaced with current classification
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): BABY ; BIRTH ; Birthmark ; CHILD ; COLOR ; CURSE ; FEAR ; FIRE ; jinx ; Offspring ; Old Wives Tale ; Purple ; Red ; SUPERSTITION
James Callow Keyword(s): Reference
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth |
Superstition
Belief:
If you're frightened during pregnancy after the 7th month the child will be born with a birth mark such as a strawberry or in the shape of a thing that produced the fright.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Reference
Original BN [P880] crossed out. Replaced with Current Classification
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): BABY ; BIRTH ; CHILD ; CURSE ; FEAR ; jinx ; Offspring ; Old Wives Tale ; Scare ; SUPERSTITION
James Callow Keyword(s): Reference
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth |
Superstition
Superstition:
Pregnant women should not look at strawberries because then their children will develop red blotches on themselves (which look like strawberries).
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Reference
Original BN [P740] crossed out. replaced with current classification
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): BABY ; BIRTH ; Birthmark ; CURSE ; jinx ; Mark ; Offspring ; Old Wives Tale ; PREGNANCY ; STRAWBERRY ; SUPERSTITION
James Callow Keyword(s): Reference
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth |
Custom/Belief
Tie a diamond ring to a piece of string with the diamond hanging at the lowest point. Hold the string at eye level. Hold it steady and place someone's hand palm down under the diamond. If the ring sways from left to right that is the sign that the expectant mother will have a baby boy. If it sways to and fro, the baby will be a girl.
Data entry tech comment:
motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Reference
Original BN [F500] crossed out. Replaced with current classification
Keyword(s): BABY ; BELIEF ; BIRTH ; DIVINATION ; gender ; Old Wives Tale ; Ordaining ; SEX ; SUPERSTITION
James Callow Keyword(s): Reference
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth |
Superstition: Pregnancy
Prediction Belief:
If a pregnant woman looks at an ugly animal, her child may be ugly.
Submitter comment:
Prediction / Belief
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Reference
Original BN [P800] crossed out / replaced with current classification
Where learned: HOME
Keyword(s): BELIEF ; BIRTH ; CHILD ; CURSE ; jinx ; Offspring ; Old Wives Tale ; PREGNANCY ; SUPERSTITION
James Callow Keyword(s): Reference
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Birth |
Proverb
Irish Proverb:
A rolling Stone Gathers No Moss
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
James Callow comment:
Located in pile marked Duplicates and Other Rejects
Where learned: HOME ; MICHIGAN ; GRAND RAPIDS
Keyword(s): Moss ; Movement ; Rolling ; Stagnant ; Stagnation ; STALE ; STONE
| Subject headings: | PROVERB -- Proverbial Metaphor |
Legend
CROSS ON WHICH CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED WAS SUPPOSEDLY
OF DOGWOOD. THUS THE DOGWOOD FLOWER IS SHAPED LIKE A
CRUCIFIX AS A REMINDER OF THE CRUCIFIXTION. THE TEAR
DROP IN THE CENTER OF THE FLOWER REPRESENTS A TEAR
WHICH IS SHED FOR THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
Submitter comment:
ORIGIN: UNKNOWN
Data entry tech comment:
Updated 02-22-2011 by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): Christ ; CRUCIFIXION ; CURSE ; DEATH ; Dogwood ; FLOWER ; Legend ; RELIGION ; Story ; Tale ; Tear ; Tree
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Plant |
Date learned: 07-30-1964
Legend
CROSS ON WHICH CHRIST WAS CRUCIFIED WAS SUPPOSEDLY
OF DOGWOOD. THUS THE DOGWOOD FLOWER IS SHAPED LIKE A
CRUCIFIX AS A REMINDER OF THE CRUCIFIXTION. THE TEAR
DROP IN THE CENTER OF THE FLOWER REPRESENTS A TEAR
WHICH IS SHED FOR THE DEATH OF CHRIST.
Submitter comment:
ORIGIN: UNKNOWN
Data entry tech comment:
Updated on 2011-02-22 by TRD
Where learned: MICHIGAN ; DETROIT
Keyword(s): Christ ; CURSE ; Cursed ; DEATH ; Dogwood ; FLOWER ; Legend ; RELIGION ; Story ; Tale ; Tear ; Tree
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Plant |
Date learned: 07-30-1964
TWO DEAD BOYS
ONE AFTERNOON, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT,
TWO DEAD BOYS STARTED TO FIGHT.
A DEAF POLICEMAN HEARD THE NOISE;
AND BEAT THE LIFE OUT OF THE TWO DEAD BOYS.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated / 02-24-2011 / TRD
Keyword(s): Abuse ; Afternoon ; Boys ; Dead ; DEAF ; DEATH ; FIGHT ; LIFE ; Night ; Opposite ; PARADOX ; POLICE ; RHYME ; RHYME ; Story ; Tale
James Callow Keyword(s): TANGLETALK
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Narrative Verse |
Date learned: 11-02-1969
Story
WHEN A SEAMAN DIED ABOARD SHIP AND A BURIAL AT SEA
WAS NECESSARY, A PENNY OR OTHER COIN WAS PLACED IN THE
MOUTH OF THE DEAD MAN BY HIS SHIPMATES BEFORE BEING
SEWN UP IN HIS BURIAL SHROUD. THIS COIN WAS FOR OLD
MAN CHARON, SKIPPER OF THE FERRY THAT WOULD SAFELY
CARRY THE DECEASED ACROSS THE RIVER STYX--IF PAID
IN ADVANCE.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated and Motifs added / 02-28-2011 / TRD
Where learned: BOOK
Keyword(s): ; BURIAL ; COIN ; Dead ; DEATH ; Ferry ; Lore ; MONEY ; Ocean ; Payment ; River ; SEA ; Ship ; Shroud ; Story ; Styx ; Tale ; Underworld ; VERSE
| Subject headings: | CUSTOM FESTIVAL -- Death Funeral Burial |
Date learned: NOT GIVEN
Language: Rhyme
Ridicule Rhyme:
Tattle Tale, Tattle Tale
Hang your britches on a nail,
Hang them high, hang them low,
Hang them in a picture show.
Hang them 'till your fanny shows.
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): BRITCHES ; Entertainment ; Fanny ; Hang ; High ; Language ; Low ; Nail ; Picture Show ; rat ; RHYME ; RIDICULE ; Tattle Tale
| Subject headings: | Ballad Song Dance Game Music Verse -- Lyrical Verse Lyrical Verse |
Ghost Tale
In Chapel Hill, TN, There is a ghost that roams next to the railroad. All you can see is his light as he flashes it up and down the tracks. It is supposedly a lineman who had fallen off the train many years before. When he fell he lost his head. Now he roams the track swinging the light looking for his head.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs added by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): Beheaded ; DECAPITATION ; GHOST ; HEAD ; Lineman ; RAILROAD ; Story ; SUPERNATURAL ; Tale ; Urban Legend
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Ghost Spirit Phantom Specter |
Legend
Legend of Davey Crockett:
The West was a rich source of tall tales of a man such as Davey Crockett, the country boy/indian fighter elected to Congress. In washington, he told tall tales about his Western days"...killed himself a bear when he was only three."
Tales such as these have become legends.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs Added by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): Bear ; Congress ; Davey Crockett ; INDIAN ; Legend ; TALL TALE ; Wild West
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Legend |
Celestial Body Legend
Idea of looking for the "man" in the moon.
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs Added by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE
Keyword(s): ASTROLOGY ; ASTRONOMY ; CELESTIAL ; Legend ; Man ; MOON ; Tale
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Moon |
Prose Narrative Tale
Prose Narrative Tale:
Folktale of New England -- The Gingerbread Man.
Children's story of a runaway cookie including repeated theme: "rubn, run, as fast as you can. Can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread man."
Data entry tech comment:
Motifs Added by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; NASHVILLE ; Bookhouse Volume One
Keyword(s): CATCH ; CHILDREN ; Cookie ; Fast ; Gingerbread ; Gingerbread Man ; Legend ; Narrative ; New England ; Prose ; REGIONAL ; Run ; Tale
| Subject headings: | PROSE NARRATIVE -- Tale |
BABIES ARE FOUND UNDER THE CABBAGE LEAVES IN THE GARDEN.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; CORNERSVILLE
Keyword(s): Babies ; BABY ; Cabbage ; GARDEN ; Tale
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Creation and Order of Human Life BELIEF -- Plant BELIEF -- Birth |
A SNAKE WON'T DIE UNTIL THE SUN GOES DOWN. THEY'LL SQUIRM
AND SQUIRM UNTIL SUN GOES DOWN, THEN THEY DIE.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; CORNERSVILLE
Keyword(s): Die ; Snake ; Sundown ; Tale ; Time of day
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Animal BELIEF -- Death Funeral Burial BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
Date learned: 00001972-00001973 (ASSUMED)
WHENEVER A GROUP OF CATS GATHER IN A GRAVEYARD ON THE
NIGHT OF THE NEW MOON, THEY ARE INHABITED FOR THAT NIGHT
BY THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD. THEY WILL CONVERSE (LOUDLY)
ALL NIGHT LONG, BUT IN THE MORNING THEY WILL BE "ONLY"
CATS AGAIN.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; MCKENZIE
Keyword(s): Cats ; Dead ; GHOST ; GRAVEYARD ; Inhabit ; MOON ; New Moon ; SPIRIT ; Tale
| Subject headings: | 686 Properties attributed to specific numbers or numerals individually. BELIEF -- Ghost Spirit Phantom Specter BELIEF -- Mammal BELIEF -- Moon BELIEF -- Measure of time WeekDayHour |
Date learned: 10-14-1973
IF A CAT HAS A CROSS-SHAPED MARK ON ITS FOREHEAD, IT IS
DESCENDED FROM THE LITTER WHICH WAS BORN AT THE NATIVITY
OF CHRIST.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Where learned: TENNESSEE ; MCKENZIE
Keyword(s): Born ; CAT ; Cross ; Descendant ; Fur ; Litter ; Mark ; Nativity ; SIGN ; Tale
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Mammal |
"WOODS' KIDS"
WHEN CERTAIN UNFAVORABLE HAPPENINGS OCCUR WITHIN THE
ROSSER HOME, THE WOODS' KIDS ALWAYS TAKE THE BLAME. THESE
SMALL CREATURES INHABIT THE WOODS BEHIND THE HOUSE.
Data entry tech comment:
Updated by TRD
Keyword(s): Blame ; FAMILY ; Fanciful ; Invisible ; Legend ; Tale ; TRICKSTER
| Subject headings: | BELIEF -- Legend |
Date learned: 02-00-1972