Catchingrabbits with a forked stick?

[mcostello]

Pray tell, a story that I have not heard of. What is it and are there any more like it? I have heard of snipe hunting.

[Scott NC]

  I have a book called "The Best Loved Stories, Told at the National Storytelling Festival" that is pretty good.  Read "The Walkin' Catfish" sometime.  Are you looking for lore or urban legends or something else?

[BillyBones]

One of my daughters favorite books is "Irish Fairy and Folktales" by W.B. Yeats. 

When she was little before bed she would get story time, the Yeats book was one she liked, but i used to tell her stories as well. One of her favorites is a traveler is walking down a road, hungry and thirsty he comes to an old house with an old man and woman sitting on the porch. The traveler asks for food and water on for his journey. The old man says that he has a well by the house but food will cost the traveler a story of his journeys. The traveler says that he has no stories to tell. So the old man directs him to the well. While reaching for a drink the traveler falls into the well. "Adventure ensues". At the end of the story the traveler is again walking down a road where he comes to an old man and women sitting on a porch. The old man asks, Now do you have a story to  tell? 

The "Adventure ensues" part is where you start making up the story. As long as the story begins and ends at the old couples house the rest is just what ever you can come up with. It changes every time you tell it. You can make it as long or as short as you want, set in any place you want. I think that is why my daughter and my grandkids have enjoyed it over the years is becuase it is never the same story twice. 

[Scott NC]

  Now that reminds me of "The Musicions of Breytown" my dad used to doctor up in his own fashion as a bed time story.  Great stuff.  

[Frosty]

Do you wan to know how to catch rabbits with a forked / split stick or a story? I'm sure once I get warmed up a little I can make up either.

The biggest trick to catching rabbits with a forked stick is being absolutely sure it's actually a rabbit in the burrow. Catching a Badger or Wolverine with a forked stick is less than . . . desirable. 

My nieces all called me "Weird Uncle Jerry" while they were sort of youngsters, middle teens. Not knowing any little kid stories like "Little Red Riding Hood," etc. I used to just tell them about things. I was told by a group of Mothers (neighbors) the kids couldn't understand anything I was telling / showing them. Less than a week later one of their Fathers told me his little boy could not only tie more knots than he knew about but knew when and where to use them. 

I had a great time showing a couple youngsters how to use a compass and read a map and navigate. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  "Weird Uncle Jerry".  And you love jokes and puns?????  Good Gravey.

[Frosty]

Oh yes, I LOVE good gravy and learned a valuable lesson the one time I tried making Scallop gravy. . . .YECH!!

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  I appologize.  I know what you mean't, but like you say, I'm struggeling to hold back.

  Anybody have any tall tales to say?  The Musicions of Breytown takes a lot of thumb typing on a cell phone.  Some railroad thieves that jump off the train and looking for a hideout, encounter a house in the boondocks inhabited by animals that defeat them by stacking up on each other.

[George N. M.]

The tale is an American version of the "Musicians of Bremen", a German folk tale collected and published by the Brothers Grimm is 1819.  Versions go back to the Middle Ages.  Here is a link to the Wiki article:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Town_Musicians_of_Bremen

GNM

[Scott NC]

  That's it, George.  But nobody could tell it like dad did though.  Like I said he embellished a bit.  Runs in the family.  Thanks for the link.  I wonder where a childhood story will lead to now?

[Frosty]

I just read the Wiki entry, thanks George. It'd be a great Boyscout, campfire story, maybe turn it into a sketch for jamboree. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[mcostello]

I do have something to add.

A coworker told Me when rabbit hunting if They found a tree that hollowed out in the base, He would take a black berry bramble and stick it in the hole and twist. Evidentially worked well, till the time He pulled out a big rat.......................

[Frosty]

Sounds like it worked more well than he anticipated. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[TWISTEDWILLOW]

Here in eastern Oklahoma in the Cherokee nation reservation (not really a reservation in my opinion but they call it that for some reason) a LOT of tribal members believe in…

“the little people” 

there are tons of tribal stories/legends about them, some have been passed down for generations 

some of the stories are about the little people helping wayward children or warriors lost in the woods and other stories I’ve heard where that the little people were not so friendly in some cases 

I’m not really educated on all the stories enough to repeat them but I will ask around and see if I can find some good ones, 

im member of the Muskogee Creek nation but I don’t know any of their stories either, I never got really involved much with either tribe but I know some people who are really deep into the heritage and can tell me some of those stories 

[Frosty]

I'd like to hear some stories of the little people, Billy. It's kind of amazing how different stories in different nations and different millennia are not so different. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Scott NC]

  I would like to hear stories, legend or lore that you care to share too.  As long as it's not too spooky.  There are Cherokee in NC and if I meet somebody, maybe I can share a tale or two and make a friend.  Who knows.

[BillyBones]

In Iceland you will find little tiny houses on road sides and the like that are put there for the Fairies. 

This past summer i taught my granddaughter how to build fairy houses with twigs, leaves, grass, etc. in the backyard. 

[Scott NC]

  Time well spent.  I had to move away from mine.

[Frosty]

The Fae living in suburbia need places to live more than in the country. Building them fairy houses keeps them from living in the house and making mischief. IIRC in the old country you'd leave a bowl of milk with a pat of butter in it to keep the Fae from making your cows dry up.

Ankle high cosa nostra. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[Nobody Special]

Be careful mentioning the Tuatha da Dannan too much, it can draw their attention and bring bad luck. Bad as walking widdershins around a church.

I collect a lot of stories, but the best unfamiliar tall tales and stories I know aren't repeatable on a family site. But here's a couple of long sayings for ya in response to "How's it going?"

"Fine as frog fur split four ways and tapered on the ends, but I'll be over it by dinnertime." "It's a dog eat dog world and I've got on milkbone boxers". and my personal favorite, "As busy as a three-legged cat covering up scat on a frozen pond". If you're in a hurry, "fair to middlin'" which is a grade of cotton, not a type of weather.

Actually, I don't know if you know about telling the bees or tanging them. When you keep bees, you're supposed to tell them about anything important that happens in the house. If you don't share, they either don't stay or don't produce. When the beekeeper or someone in his house dies, someone is appointed to go inform the bees. I've done it.

Tanging is the practice of beating pots, pans, or other metal objects to get a swarm to settle. It drives me crazy for the same reason that dowsing does; it's a bunch of superstitious nonsense that shouldn't possibly work, except it does somehow. My grandfather could tang bees right into a box or a trash can. I usually am happy if I can get them to settle somewhere where I don't need a ladder.

[BillyBones]

Frosty, when i was a kid my grandma told me that you have to let a wild spot grow in the yard so the Fae folk could have a place to live. I have always had a spot or corner of my yard that i do not mow or take care of and let it grow wild becuase of that. 

Nobody, For me along those lines it was "finer than frogs hair" usually in reference to an attractive woman, Ribeye britches instead of milkbone boxers, the cat one got me, and "Fair to middlin" was usually in response to "How ya doin?". I had a squad leader in the Army that had a couple good ones i always liked. If you asked him what was going on he would say either " Aint nothin shakin but he beans in the pot and the beans aint shakin cause the water aint hot" Or "Aint nothin blowin but the leaves on the trees and the leaves aint blowin cause they aint no breeze"

I just recently learned of that talkin to the bees thing. 

Tanging, now that is definitely new to me but we used to clack rocks to attract bats in the evening. Me and my cousins would get a couple rocks and bang them together, with in a few minutes there would a bunch of bats around. It was usueful on those nights when there was a lot of mosquitos about.   

[Frosty]

I read a couple articles about tanging bees, it seems evenly split between works well and myth. I'll keep it in mind in case we get caught in a swarm though, Deb is allergic so getting them to settle would be a good thing.

Well. we should be set fine for the fae then Billy, we live in a forest and my idea of yard work is trimming the tag alder back so it doesn't scratch the vehicles in the driveway. 

I'll have to try clacking the bats in, I've never heard of that and we see bats when the bugs are out. Not many but they're around, maybe if sonar gets out that we're good clackers more will hang here and eat mosquitoes. 

Frosty The Lucky.

[George N. M.]

Years ago Martha and I were living in Riverton, WY and working as geologists.  She had an apartment downtown above one of the stores.  the back of her apartment let out onto a flat roof with a walkway to stairs down to the alley.  There was a bat roost in the attic above her apartment.  In the dusk we would sit on the roof and throw bits of hamburger into the air to feed the bats which would catch them on the fly.  If you threw a pebble in the air they would stoop on it but veer off a half foot or so away when they realized it was hard and not food.  Pleasant diversion on a summer evening, sitting in the dusk with a glass of wine while feeding the bats.  Very Addams Family.

GNM

[Frosty]

You paint an excellent picture George, I can see myself sitting on the roof, wine in hand tossing niblets to the bats watching the stars come out.

Years ago I was driving to visit the folks in S. Cal and stopped in Crescent City to take a break and have lunch. It was a beautiful day and I took my Subway down to sit on the beach and enjoy surf, sun and light breeze. As soon as I say down the seagulls started gathering at sight of a Subway bag. I was enjoying my combo and Pepsi as the gulls swooped closer so I tossed a pinch of bread and one caught it in the air. Cool, entertainment and all was well till a more aggressive gull chased the others off and started trying to grab my sandwich, it got the bag off the beach and wasn't being Good entertainment so I stopped throwing bits. Then it actually gave me a wing strike and brushed my shoulder with it's talons. 

Sooooo I tossed it a slice of jalapeno. It squawked in triumph and climbed away, then the squawks became distressed,  it dropped the jalapeno slice and dove for the water. The slice made it maybe 2' and another gull caught it only to drop it in a few seconds for the next gull and so on. Finally gulls stopped catching and dropping the pepper to dive head first into the sea when it fell in the water itself. 

A number of people applauded laughing and I got to enjoy the rest of my sub while 15 or so seagulls entertained me by floating tails up righting just long enough to take a breath and back under just beyond the surf. The ranger in charge of the beach asked me what I'd thrown, thinking I'd thrown something dangerous I'm sure but broke out laughing when I told him. "I'll remember that one. Have a good day Sir." "You too officer."

I learned something else, Gulls are SMART, not one more begged for food from me, other beach goers yes but they left me alone.

Your bat story brought the Crescent City beach gulls memory back, thank you. 

Gotta LOVE a good Kodak moment!

Frosty The Lucky.

[Nobody Special]

Some of the most fervent beekeepers I know are violently allergic, crazy nutters. I have found that a lot of people that think they're allergic aren't though. Many call anything yellowish and flying as bees, such as sweat bees and yellowjackets. Wasp venom works on a very different mechanism, so being allergic to one often doesn't mean you are allergic to the other.

I've tanged one or two swarms every year for the last five years. I'm sure that it doesn't hurt that when bees swarm, they do it twice, and the first time they don't generally go far before settling. Something good to know - a low pitched sound and slow beats tend to settle them low, high pitched and you'll need a fricking stepladder. My first time I used a table spoon and a saucepan and put them in the top of my neighbor's plum tree that hasn't been pruned in 15 or 20 years and it took three tries and some cutting to get the queen down. The last several I used a big stockpot and a wooden spoon and got them down to three feet or lower. Tonk tonk, not tink tink.

And like I said, totally agree that it shouldn't work. It's been tested extensively and far better entomologists than me say it has to be malarkey. E pur si muove. It doesn't tick me off like dowsing though. I know in my heart of hearts dowsing can't work, so it drives me nuts every time that I've done it and it has. My dad not only could find water but electric lines and utilities.