Folklore and Urban legends??

[Goose]

       
     
Ok... Sooo.... Here goes.

Don't nobody steel my idea   or lack there of  

:PI have been coming up with story Ideas for "Gremlin" take over book,moive, Kagillion dollar, cute cuddly retail wonder.

Hey everybody has dreams.   Mine is Own a Thousand + acre ranch in the mountains.

I was trying to come up with natural environments, example Little homes in Witches brooms. But now I think  only bad characters will live in Witches Broom. Everyone else hollow log and caves.

Please let me rack your brains and try to preserve Urban legends, Folklore.
I promise not to change there names. I know Grandparents enjoy a good time too.

Currently I had flying squirrel type characters. But... hubby is not to keen on Squirrels. Mine would live like Ewoks.

Well Now I have said too much and want to listen..
Anything hiding in your memories?

[timberjack20]

Cute little pupy dogs with wings and 3 horns would be cool.  It would be the coolest if they carried chainsaws.

[Don P]

We tend to retell the same stories just updating the setting and characters, Old Native American legends or Greek Mythology, whatever. Who would have thought The Oddessy would end up in the deep south accompanied by the Soggy Bottom Boys
I always preferred Andy Griffith's Hamlet to Shakespeare's .
While up in Wisconsin there was the legend of the Hodag, I'm probably the wrong one to try to tell it. It was the evil incarnation of the souls of all the oxen that had been whipped and cursed through life pulling timber out. The hodag would sneak into logging camps and cause all sorts of mischief.

[L. Wakefield]

Goose, check out the thread 'animal inns'- I think it is under forest education'. Some of the pictures will make you think- 'who loves there?' and that can be the start of a story.   lw

[Goose]

 ::)Hmmmm Chainsaw killing puppies a little bloody and dismembering Bu

Hodag, Never heard of them. I have been doing a lot of research, it was disheartening to realize there was not much out there and so much that has been over done. That is why I asked you guys. Thanks, and I will check out the Animal link too.

woo hoo we are rolling now....  

[Ron Scott]

Eagle River, Wisconsin hosts the "Hodag" Snowmobile Race every winter.

[Don P]

Not sure that I'm really understanding your request :-/...but here's a story I like. Its from a book of Indian legends.

   

HOW BEAVER STOLE FIRE FROM THE PINES

 
                 

NEZ PERCÉ

 
 Once, before there were any people in the world, the different animals and trees lived and moved about and talked together just like human beings. The pine trees had the secret of fire and guarded it jealously, so that no matter how cold it was, they alone could warm themselves. At length an unusually cold winter came, and all the animals were in danger of freezing to death. But all their attempts to discover the pines’ secret were in vain, until Beaver at last hit upon a plan  At a certain place on Grande Ronde River in Idaho, the pines were about to hold a great council. They had built a large fire to warm themselves after bathing in the icy water, and sentinels were posted to prevent intruders from stealing their fire secret. But Beaver had hidden under the bank near the fire before the sentries had taken their places, and when a live coal rolled down the bank, he seized it, hid it in his breast, and ran away as fast as he could. The pines immediately raised a hue and cry and started after him. Whenever he was hard pressed, Beaver darted from side to side to dodge his pursuers, and when he had a good start, he kept a straight course. The Grande Ronde River preserves the direction Beaver took in his flight, and this is why it is tortuous in some parts of its course and straight in others. After running for a long time, the pines grew tired. So most of them   halted in a body on the river banks, where they remain in great numbers to this day, forming a growth so dense that hunters can hardly get through. A few pines kept chasing Beaver, but they finally gave out one after another, and they remain scattered at intervals along the banks of  the river in the places where they stopped. There was one cedar running in the forefront of the pines, and although he despaired of capturing Beaver, he said to the few trees who were still in the chase, "We can’t catch him, but I’ll go to the top of the hill yonder and see how far ahead he is." So he ran to the top of the hill and saw Beaver just diving into Big Snake River where the Grande Ronde enters it. Further pursuit was out of the question. The cedar stood and watched Beaver dart across Big Snake River and give fire to some willows on the opposite bank, and recross farther on and give fire to the birches, and so on to several other kinds of trees. Since then, all who have wanted fire have got it from these particular trees, because they have fire in them and give it up readily when their wood is rubbed together in the ancient way.  Cedar still stands alone on the top of the hill where he stopped, near  the junction of Grande Ronde and Big Snake rivers. He is very old, so old that his top is dead, but he still stands as a testament to the story’s truth. That the chase was a very long one is shown by the fact that there are no cedars within a hundred miles upstream from him. The old people point him out to the children as they pass by. "See," they say, "There is old Cedar standing in the very spot where he stopped chasing Beaver."  
 In a Jicarilla Apache version of this story, it is Fox who tricks the fireflies out of  their fire secret. Arriving from the sky, flying on the back of a wild goose, Fox makes the first drum ever. Beating it, he teaches the fireflies how to dance. Their watchfulness relaxes as they sway to the rhythm of the drum, and they dance themselves into a trance. Fox steals their fire by putting glowing embers in his bushy tail, and with his tail burning like a torch, he brings fire to the human beings.                  

[Goose]

 
Uhh we have been sick here. I won't get into the ugly, but it has been ugly....My baby has it now. Well he is 4 but he will always be my baby. it is so sad.  


Don, I have never heard that either. Thank you. I do need to read more books. That was such a beautiful legend. You can really picture the trees spreading out and stopping. It also makes you want to go look for that Cedar Tree doesn't it.

My Dad was born in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. They moved here to Colorado when he was 3. He has over 50 first cousins there. My grandfather helped run a huge still there during prohibition .

Many family members are trying to get me to keep working on the wood instead of write a book. Spring is getting closer I am in a toss up. I Just need more Tools you always could use more tools.

ok off to clean

[Mark M]

How about porky-pines? gotta have porky-pines