The Grateful Dead: The History of a Folk Story — John Shaqi
The Grateful Dead: The History of a Folk StoryGerould, Gordon Hall
General
The Grateful Dead: The History of a Folk Story
Gerould, Gordon Hall
Dead -- Folklore; Folk literature -- Themes, motives; Grateful dead (Tale)
This tale, found among the Turkish race of southern Siberia, has
transformed the opening incident altogether. For the burial of
the corpse it substitutes a good deed, which is entirely different
from the original trait. Yet it is evident that we have to do with
The Grateful Dead, after all, since the divine image is rescued
from senseless contumely and God himself appears in the role of the
thankful ghost. It is evident also that the theme is combined with
The Poison Maiden. Though we do not hear of any misadventures of
other men with the priest's daughter, the marvels which attend her
purification indicate the danger in which the hero stood.
Russian I. is likewise peculiar in several respects. The younger of
two brothers angers his parents by going to the wars without their
permission. He is killed. Later he appears to his brother, asking
him to implore pardon of their mother, whose anger prevents him
from resting quietly in his grave. The elder brother thus succeeds
in giving peace to the ghost. Later, when he marries a merchant's
daughter, whose first two husbands have been killed by a dragon on
the wedding night, he is saved by the ghost of the dead, which keeps
watch in the chamber with a sword and kills the nine-headed dragon.
This tale stands almost alone [77] in giving the two chief characters
personal relations, since it is nearly always a total stranger whom
the hero benefits. That actual burial of the dead does not come in
question is not so remarkable, as various changes have been made in
this trait. One story, [78] indeed, which otherwise has no likeness,
similarly makes the dead man uneasy in his grave. The beginning of
Russian I. has thus suffered considerable modification. The ending
is also different from the normal type in that the division of the
property and the woman has entirely disappeared.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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