Everybody loves a good story. We love to read them, listen to them, watch them on TV or in a movie theater. Throughout history, stories about people and places have always been popular. For a long time, those stories were not written down. Instead they were told from one generation to the next. These stories are called folktales.
Noun: Folktale
a story originating in popular culture, typically passed on by word of mouth.
Many of the stories we know by heart were folktales handed down in Europe; stories like Hansel and Gretel, Cinderella, etc. America has its own version of these kinds of stories, many of which you may already know. As mentioned earlier, folktales are generally passed down from one generation to another and often take on the characteristics of the time and place in which they are told.
Folktales speak to problems or situations that we all face, and they help people make sense of what’s going on in the world in which they live.
Most of you have heard of Johnny Appleseed. Johnny Appleseed was a kindly man who went throughout the country planting apple trees, right? Well in a folktale handed down in Ohio, Johnny did more than plant apple trees. In a tale told by S.E. Schlosser, Johnny was also a hero of the War of 1812. The story goes like this:
“Johnny Appleseed was a hermit and a wanderer who was welcomed wherever he went in the Ohio territory. Everyone loved him, in spite of his unkempt appearance. He always carried a sack full of apple seeds to plant, and walked barefoot all year round. He knew the frontier woods better than anyone. Even the Indians respected Johnny Appleseed for his courage.
When the War of 1812 began, many Indians allied themselves with the British, seeking to revenge injustices done to their people by the settlers. They attacked up and down the Ohio territory, but they left Johnny Appleseed alone. Taking advantage of his position, Johnny Appleseed
became the Paul Revere of the Ohio territory, warning settlers of danger.
On one occasion, Johnny Appleseed learned that a band of Indians had laid siege on the town of Mansfield, Ohio. Johnny Appleseed ran twenty-six miles through the forest to Mt. Vernon to obtain help for the settlers. As he ran, he tried to warn other settlers along the path of the danger by blowing on an old powder horn. Aid reached the town within a day, and the settlers were spared, thanks to the bravery of Johnny Appleseed.”
Have you ever heard that story? Talk to your grandparents or older people in your community.
Ask them to tell you stories that they were told as children, you might be surprised to learn that you have heard the same story — only told a different way!!!
