Canadian Folk Tales

Anyone know of any good websites? I'm Canadian, and remember a few from childhood, but I need a good reference for part of my Alt Pop History: Masked Rider.  ^{Ah. Sorry. This rant can be skipped if you want.}

The only one I know about is a story about windigo possession, and it's in a book I own called Field Guide to Demons, Fairies, Fallen Angels, and Other Subversive Spirits. Windigo is a fun monster to play with, anyhow.

Oh, that's a good start. I need something I can twist a bit more positive for partner Imagins, but... Yeah. I can work that.

And that makes me think of the Qubec/ Francophone concept of the loup garou— a werewolf by way of sinning. I think I can work that into a partner.

Mmm. Maybe make the primary imagin based on that, and then choose some folk heroes like Big Joe M....

^ I don't now if they differ but the Acadians have the same concept of werewolf by sinning. Missing seven years of church is what does you in.

As for "Canadian" folk tales that's a bit hard. I'd look at native tales honestly. There's Napi from Blackfoot tales, "Skywoman" from Iroquois and Glooscap from Mi'kmaq legend to start off with. Inuit legends are also very cool. I don't know if that's helpful at all really.

Oh, there's tons. You can find info on the web, on CBC, and on Wikipedia, but if you're already in Canada try your local library— they'll have plenty of stuff, guaranteed. Don't forget to check out Native American/Inuit stuff, too. The Inuit are full of awesome folk stories.

One of my favourite relatively obscure Canadian legends is La Chasse-galerie. It's so absurd. Basically, it's Canada's Flying Dutchman, except instead of a three-mast ship, it's a giant canoe. In terms of well-known legends, there's Ogopogo, Canada's answer to Nessie; the aforementioned wendigos, men who become monsters when they eat human flesh; and Sasquatch. Gotta love Sasquatch.

I'd also suggest scouting out some local storytellers or at least local folklore research; every area has different stories. For instance, here in Newfoundland myths tend to involve the sea— pirates, sea monsters, shipwrecks, etc. One famous legend is of the waiting woman, whose lover was a sailor who never came home. She waited on the cliffs for him for years, but he never came back, and finally she turned to stone. Our go-to hero is Jack— he's the star of "Jack Tales", really long epics that involve roaming all over the land to win the heart of a young woman.

And that's just the completely made up stuff. There's also folklore inspired by real events, like Lemon's lost mine. There's plenty of stuff out there.

edited 8th Oct '10 5:17:09 PM by Ronka87

Aye, native folklore and mythology is normally a fantastic source for stories and inspiration along those lines...

also, a quick google search popped up these promising results:

• http://americanfolklore.net/folklore/canadian-folklore/
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Canadian_folklore
• http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0002880
• http://www.folklore.bc.ca/Links.htm
• http://archives.cbc.ca/society/celebrations/topics/358/

{Nothing major, I just bulleted your list to make the separate links easier to identify. — Madrugada}

edited 9th Oct '10 8:23:04 AM by Madrugada

^///^; Hee. Always nice to know I'm havin' an effect on the fora.

Is that one with The Three Golden Hairs one of ours? I forget. I feel like it's supposed to be the Quebecois version of an older French fairy tale.

Basically a guy cleverly wins a princess' hand in marriage (yes, in Quebec), but her brother doesn't approve, so he sends him off on a quest to snatch three magic golden hairs from the tail of the Dragon of Wisdom in the next seigneurie.

On the way, he meets a man whose apple tree only bears fruit on one side, a man whose wife absolutely hates his guts, and, just down the hill from the dragon's estate, a ghost cursed to carry people on his shoulders across the river. All three try to persuade him not to go on such a suicide mission, but when he refuses, they ask him to at least inquire of the dragon what they should do to solve their problems.

The dragon's wife, a prophetess, is very sympathetic to the sweet young man, and offers to hide him under the bed.

Each time he plucks a hair that night and the seer's dragon husband wakes up, she tells him she had a dream about the plight of each of the people the boy met in turn. And in the morning, when the dragon heads out for the day, the boy departs, determined to relay the dragon's advice on his way back.

After the ghost carries him back across the river, he tells him that if he wants to be free, he should drown the next guy who wants a lift.

When he arrives at the unhappy couple's house, he advises the husband, "Dude, just treat her like you did when you were wooing her; she's just wondering where the guy she married went."

Finally, at the farmer's orchard, he says, "The Dragon of Wisdom has revealed that the tree is withered on one side because several chests of gold and gems are obstructing its roots; if you dig them up and split the money with me, the tree will recover." Naturally the fortune is there, and the farmer agrees to giving the boy a share, not wanting to argue with a friend or conqueror of the great worm.

So the boy arrives back at the castle, and the prince is entirely stunned.

"Where did you get all that money?"

"From the Dragon. He's a stand-up guy; said it was a wedding present. He mentioned he had some back taxes he wasn't sure how to courier to you without his messenger getting shot, and he'd like you to come collect them personally."

Naturally the greedy prince rides down to the river and commands the ghost to bear him across, which... goes over about as well as you would think. And the boy and the princess live happily ever after. The End.

Sound good?

That sounds like a somewhat localized version of The Devil With the Three Golden Hairs, one of the German stories the Brothers Grimm collected. However, the same story occurs all over the world.

Go and read the short story "All the Cool Monsters at Once", which is exactly what it sounds like.

Do further research from there.

edited 8th Oct '10 11:56:48 PM by newtonthenewt

Quebec's first monster was a loup-garou in Chicoutimi. At dusk on May 3, she was a middle-aged woman drinking coffee at the Tim Horton's in Place Saguenay; then the full moon rose, and the woman sprouted fur. Her nose grew, her ears turned pointy, and her fingers mutated into claws. Ten more seconds and she was three meters tall: a giant wolf-thing who threw back her head and howled before sprinting off into the night.

Shortly afterward, a bunch of Goth teenagers showed up and ordered the same kind of coffee.

That's a great story. Thanks for the link.

...

Have I mentioned lately you guys FREAKIN' ROCK!

Holy crap, I didn't realize you were in the GTA. Whereabouts? I'm in York Region.