*** Haus der Kulturen der Welt: Forum1 Archive *** ----------------------------------------------------------------------- [Date]: Thu, 28 Oct 1999 18:03:23 +0900 [From]: t o m v i n c e n t [To]: Cultural Exchange via Internet [Subject]: Re: [forum1] Re: La Llorona This reminds me of the StrewelPeter (spell?) story about the little boy who sucked his thumb. All I remember is the illustration of the man coming with a really huge pair of scissors to cut of the little boys thumbs. I sucked my thumb as a child, and was always terrified by that story. I live now in Japan where there is no tradition (I don't think so anyway) of cruelty in children's stories, and people here are always baffled by Europe's terrifying nursery rhymes and stories....... are they Europe's? Is this originally a European phenomenon, or is it more widespread? Where does the La LLorona story originate I wonder? Very often folk stories overlap cultures -maybe there's a similar story elsewhere? Anybody know? > Dear Karin: the story I remember from when I was a kid goes like this: > there was a woman who had several children, and for some reason I can't seem > to recall she killed them all and buried their corpses. God punished her > and ordered her to recover all the bones. She managed to recover all of > them except for the little last bone of the little finger of one of the > children. Since then, she wanders around at night, wailing (La llorona, as > you know, means "the wailer"). > When we were kids (and especially when we were camping or in a "finca" in > the countryside, we were told this story, which was all the more scary > because she suppossedly killed little children at night to cut of a little > finger to see if it matched the lost one. > Take into notice that I am recalling from memory, so if you need a more > accurate version, I can check it out. > Abrazo, J. ___________________ T o m V i n c e n t creative director ............IMG SRC, INC............. http://www.imgsrc.co.jp