Help spread the folktale tradition

Written by Sandra Hudson

As a child, were you ever carried away on the wings of imagination as you listened to “Let’s Pretend” on the radio?

More than a half century later, there is still a warm place in my heart for the “quest” — memories of dragons slain, monsters defeated and evil witches meeting their comeuppance.

Week after week, the “Let’s Pretend” lessons were clear. If the quest was noble, it mattered not the odds, it mattered not the defeats you might suffer along the way. If ... you remained faithful to the cause, if ... you sought the right counsel, and if ... you never gave up, you would be victorious in the end and live happily ever after. Growth was in the journey.

In the shadows of my mind, I can hear evil voices challenging the forces of goodness to do battle. I recall the shrill laughter accompanied by a cackling gravel voice that regularly cast evil spells upon my heroes and heroines. I belong to a generation where folktales allowed me to savor the certain victory of good over evil, and endowed me with the optimism I could and would conquer all.

Folktales taught our generation it’s a gallant thing to seek one’s fortune, to leave our comfort zone and travel the highways and byways of life with an inquiring and open mind in search of the truth. We learned that if we wanted to be a hero or heroine, we must learn to tolerate ambiguity. We must not prejudge a situation or people, for it will likely be at our peril. We learned that if we are to be heroes we must seek allies, preferably very diverse companions, and we are wise if we draw upon their knowledge and their strengths to help us overcome obstacles on our journey. Heroes are masters at negotiation and synthesis. In the telling of folktales, the familiar becomes strange, while the strange frequently becomes familiar.

Considering the realities and challenges of today’s world, it’s a shame that tales were out of vogue when our current leaders were growing up. After World War II, many teachers and librarians considered most of them politically incorrect. Yet children, and even adults, thirst for them. Just look what blossomed in the publishing industry in 2000 when the Harry Potter stories rained down upon the western world, which had faced a drought of folktales for five decades.

In writing this column, I find myself suddenly caught up in the playful enjoyment of comparing the commonalties between folktales and the creative process. Both share a sense of problem, followed by open exploration of diverse ideas and experiences. Both deal with the unexpected, deferred judgment, options, alternatives, choices to be made, a synthesis of ideas and a sense of new opportunities to be realized.

Those of us in our 70s and 80s are the last generation to be steeped in the oral tradition of folktales, which helped teach us how to become heroes of our own destinies. We have a responsibility to share that folktale tradition.

I invite you to help build a folktale collection for the Johnson County Historical Society at 860 Quarry Road in Coralville. Lend an out-of-print folktale book with fanciful pictures to be photocopied. Or, you might use their oral history recording booth to record a favorite childhood folktale. Call ahead (319-351-5738) to reserve the booth and make sure there will be someone on hand to teach you how to use it.

Sandra Hudson is involved in arts and culture events in the Iowa City area and statewide. She retired to Iowa City in 1998. She can be reached at Sandra.L.Hudson@att.net.