Legends are not always “told” in words— the basic form might be “doing” (ostensive), not “telling.” Motifs nevertheless help identify meanings and functions.

Reading

Estimated time: ~40 minutes

Lynne McNeill (2013). "Types of Folklore: Things We Believe” in Folklore Rules (2013), pages 56-61.

UW Library : Permalink to Folklore Rules

E. Bird (1994). Playing with Fear: Interpreting the Adolescent Legend Trip. Western Folklore 53,3, pages 191-209.

UW Library : Permalink to Playing with Fear: Interpreting the Adolescent Legend Trip.

Linda Dégh (2001). "Exorcist Barbara Lee and Her Network" in Legend and Belief: Dialectics of a Folklore Genre, pages 276-290.

PDF File : Degh_2001_150to153and276to290.pdf

Rationale: This lecture shows that legend texts are not always expressed in words. But believability is still an issue when people tell the legend by "doing" it (this is called an "ostensive" legend, or a "legend trip").

Lecture

In this lecture keep the following questions in mind:

How does motif analysis help figure out what this legend is "about"?
How do different motifs point to different beliefs?

Bonus

Here's the video of a legend trip, discussed in today's lecture
https://youtu.be/P39TyC86SNM

Here's a recent book edited by the author of our textbook, offering a variety of perspectives on ostensive Legends: Legend Tripping, edited by Lynne McNeill (2018) [link to entry in UW Libraries Catalog], and a 2-minute spot on Utah Public Radio, where Lynne McNeill is interviewed about meanings of ghost legends.

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