"The past is not dead. It's not even past." ~ William Faulkner
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Jumping a train.
In Mr. Burl's folk tale below, "Uncle Jim" and "Uncle John" hop a train to Mt. Sterling. |
Folk and fairy tales have always been a source of fascination to me. As a child, I couldn't get enough of Hansel and Gretel, Red Riding Hood, Rapunzel and all of those beloved classics. As an adult, I carried that interest with me into some scholastic pursuits, studying, for instance, the history of those age old stories while trying to understand what they mean in our collective consciousness.
Folk tales hold an especially important place in local communities. Children can learn moral lessons from them and they can act to enforce social norms. But, and perhaps most wonderfully, they work to help us define a sense of place, and we all need that, no matter how far we roam.
Mr. Burl had a few Bath County folk tales he liked to tell and what follows is one of them. "Uncle Jim" and "Uncle John" are completely fictitious, by the way. ~Ginger
From the journals:
It is probably true that tales, whether true or not, are
told and ever handed down from generation to generation. The author has heard some local tales many
times and with a little different twist each time.
Do you remember the one about the two good old boys who loved to jump the freight train and ride to Mt. Sterling for special events? On some of their visits they imbibed in a few
“snorts.” One day, before hopping the freight to Mt. Sterling, they
heard that there was a “mad dog” in the community.* While in town, they had a few “snorts” and
attended a circus. After leaving the
circus, they went down to the tracks to hitch a ride home. Upon reaching the jump off place which was up
a grade, they jumped off and started walking through the woods. Suddenly they met a dog. Remembering
the news they had heard prior to leaving home that morning, Uncle John
climbed a nice big tree nearby, while Uncle Jim unfortunately scrambled up a
sapling.. As he was trying to climb out
of reach of the dog the sapling began bending over until Uncle Jim was almost
back on the ground.
Uncle Jim being very
frightened called to Uncle John and said, “What do I do now?”
Uncle John hollered back, “Turn her loose and
climb her again!”
*In Mr. Burl's notes, he mentions "mad dog scares" and writes that he wants to ask Dr. Bobby Byron how rabies was treated before the vaccine. I don't guess he ever had that chance, but it sure would have made for interesting reading. I'm assuming there was no cure, and any treatment would have pretty much been regarded as futile.
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Atticus Finch protects the town from a mad dog in To Kill a Mockingbird, surprising his children with his skill with a gun. I thought of this scene when I read Mr. Burl's note on mad dog scares.
Don't we all just love Atticus?
“It was times like these when I thought my father, who hated guns and had never been to any wars, was the bravest man who ever lived.” ~ Harper Lee, To Kill a Mockingbird
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Labels: Folk Tales