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Photo by Katherine McGinnis of VSG VP, Lee Porteous, and Treasurer, Andrea Samuels, selling tickets to this sold out event. |
Water, Water, Water
March 20, 2011
Summary of Stories
1. Pat Carfra – “The Selkie of Skule Skerry” – a Scottish folktale.
A selkie emerges from the ocean and transforms into a man, who joins the village and lives with a young woman, who has his son, not knowing his identity. He reveals himself and tells her she must give up her son when he is 7 and he and the boy return to the ocean. She later marries and her new husband fulfils a prophecy by killing the selkie and his son, brining their pelts back to her.
2. Margo McLoughlin – “The Chief of the Well” – adapted from Harold Courlander’s book, The Piece of fire and other Haitian Tales
God answers the petitions of the thirsty animals and provides a well for all to use. The guardian of the well becomes a tyrant who refuses water to all, even God when he comes to investigate. The guardian is banished and can only drink from puddles. The new guardian, the frog, sings welcome to all to use the water, for although someone may “own” the land around the well, God has provided the water, which belongs to all.
3. Faye Mogensen – “A Pitcher of Water” – adapted from a story by Diane Halpin
During a drought in Saskatchewan, one family’s well continues to give water but runs dry when everyone has to use it. The neighbours, men, women and children decide to wait together behind the barn, until the next day to see if water will come back into the well. The family’s children share their ration of water (each has a glass) but the waiting people despair and some talk of suicide. The father brings his fiddle to the barn and the children encourage everyone to join him. He plays until even the men come in and all are cheered and calmed by the music. He plays until dawn, his fingers raw and bleeding, and the well produces more water (and hope), so everyone does get at least a drink.
4. Jennifer Ferris – “Lake Elm” – an Estonian legend adapted from the Kalevala and a version by Geraldine McCaughrean
A lake that is abused by the actions of robbers who begin living on its shores, takes its treasure of water, fish and other gifts, to transform a parched land whose people respect and care for it.
5. Jacquie Hunt – “The Aqueduct of Segovia” – adapted from Leyendas espanoles de todos los tiempos by Jose Maria Merino
Although we now know that the Romans built this aqueduct, for hundreds of years this magnificent structure amazed the local people, who could not imagine human beings being able to create such a structure. A legend grew about how a young woman servant, exasperated with the repetitive and tiring task of hauling water, bartered her soul to the devil if he would deliver water to the house every day BUT at the last minute specified the first delivery had to be before dawn the next day. The devil constructed the aqueduct but the girl, immediately repenting of her foolish bargain, implored Heaven so passionately and purely that God was moved to intervene. The wheels of Heaven were speeded up so that the devil was placing the last stone when dawn broke. The girl’s soul was saved and the people of Segovia received the majestic, and useful, aqueduct.
6. Diane Gilliland - “Skeleton Woman” – an Inuit story told by Mary Uukalat, published in Women Who Run with Wolves
An unfortunate young woman, murdered by her father who threw her into the sea, was reduced to a skeleton which a young man accidentally hooked with his fishing gear. He brought the whole skeleton to the surface, tangled in his line, and it “chased” him to his hut. Through the night, due to his compassion and her magic, she regained her form and the two lived a long and prosperous life together.
7. Shoshana Litman – “Soap, Soap, Soap” – an Appalachian folktale based on a version by Mike Lockett, the Normal Storyteller
Jack is sent to the store for soap, and to make up for his bad memory chants the subject of his mission. He has various encounters and the people whom he first offends by his chant and then helps, give him different things to chant until, at last, he is reminded of his original “soap” chant and to his mother’s amazement, actually brings her the soap she asked for.
8. Peg Hasted – “Place of Many Winds” – a family story from the west coast of Vancouver Island
The hey-days of the fishing fleet and the excitement of its presence in Kyuquot, when Peg was a child and her father was a fisherman are recalled, along with a dangerous run for home, in a severe storm that threatened the whole family aboard – an example of why the First Nations name for Kyuquot was “Place of Many Winds”
Music provided by Margo McLaughlin (Hang drum) and Nadia Engelstoft (fiddle)
