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Author
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Comment
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Podnah
Registered User
(8/1/02 11:38:18 pm)
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Marie Jolie - Cajun Fairy Tale
Hello everyone,
I've been reading some fairy tales in an excellent book by the wonderful, late Cajun teller, J.J. Reneaux, called "Cajun Folktales." My favorite is "Marie Jolie," and I'm wondering if any of you know of similar tales from other cultures. Here's a brief synopsis of the tale:
Marie Jolie 's mother wants her daughter to get married, but Marie Jolie, the prettiest woman in the parish (county in other states) isn't that interested in finding a husband; so the mother arranges a contest by having the turkey buzzard take a pumpkin and place it on top of a cypress tree, and to see which man can climb the tree, fetch the pumpkin, and come back down without falling in the swamp. All fail, except for this one exceptionally handsome fella. He whips right on up and down easy as can be. So they get married, and he takes her to his home. But he starts to change as go along, and he becomes uglier and uglier. He takes her to some dark place in the woods, after meeting with some unseemly characters. He tells her to stay with his mother, and he disappears in a cloud of smoke and flames. Marie Jolie can see the mother has a kind heart, and ask her to explain what's going on. The mother apologizes, as it turns out her son is the devil himself - M'su Diable! Marie Jolie asks for help escaping, but it's no use. Finally, she tells the mother that nothing can stop her - that she'd rather die trying than to stay the wife of the devil. The mother than tells her, yes, there actually is a way, but that she must have complete determination and courage to succeed. She tells her to overfeed the rooster, who serves as the devil's spy, so that the rooster will oversleep; and to take 6 dirty eggs with her. She is also instructed to leave at dawn. She does all these things, but the door creaks as she leaves, waking the rooster, who alerts the devil. He chases after her, and she throws the first egg. A huge fence springs up made of wood. He curses, and goes back to get his magic ax. He cuts down the fence, and proceeds to chase her once again. Each time he gets closer,she throws another egg, each one building a more difficult fence to penetrate, such as steel, concrete, etc. But he gets through them all, till she only has one egg left. She tries to throw it, but she's so overwhelmed that it falls at her feet, and becomes the Mississippi River. She falls in, but realizes she cannot swim across. An alligator swims up, and Marie Jolie asks the gator if she'll take her across. The gator asks "What makes you think I won't eat you?" Marie Jolie replies "I'd rather have you eat me than be the wife of the devil." Admiring the woman's courage, the gator takes her across. Then the devil shows up, and also asks the gator to take him across. The gator agrees, and takes the devil half way across - but then plunges down to the bottom of the Mississippi. Not much is known about what happened to the devil after that, but as J.J. Reneaux said, there was some talk he washed up in the French Quarter, and went to Bourbon Street! And so all went well for Marie Jolie.
Since for many fairy tales, there are often many versions across different cultures, I'm wondering if this story rings a bell in terms of similar tales? The actual tale in the book is quite delightful and much more developed, with lots of Cajun French thrown in.
Hope this finds everyone well. Scott
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Laura
McCaffrey
Registered User
(8/2/02 5:36:32 am)
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Re: Marie Jolie - Cajun Fairy Tale
Off hand, I can't think of one that entirely matches. The glass hill stories, mentioned in one of the other discussions, has some similarities, in that a prince has to climb a glass mountain to fetch the princess. In some versions she helps him by rolling down apples. She isn't put up there by her mother though and the story has a happily ever after; he's not gruesome and she doesn't want to escape him. Throwing back items that turn into other things to escape capture also occurs in other tales. In some of the Baba Yaga tales, the girl throws back a variety of things that distract Baba Yaga from persuit. These things the girl casts back also, I believe, create physical changes in the geography, rivers and mountains and such. Some on this board are more familiar with these tales than I am, though, and may want to chime in here. There's also all kinds of tales about tricking the devil - American, Irish, etc.
I'll have to get my hands on the book. All those fierce and helpful women characters sound interesting.
Laura Mc
Edited by: Laura McCaffrey at: 8/2/02 9:39:48 am
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Heidi
Anne Heiner
ezOP
(8/2/02 1:57:47 pm)
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Re: Marie Jolie - Cajun Fairy Tale
I don't know of any stories that are a direct match either--or indirect, but there are tales with similar elements. I first thought of "How the Devil Married Three Sisters" tales. The third sister outwits the devil, saving herself and her sisters. D. L. Ashliman has some variants on his site at:
www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0311.html
There are many tales in which the fleeing heroine throws back objects, too. One of my favorite's is Petrosinella from Il Pentamerone. It is a Rapunzel variant and I have a version of it on my site at:
www.surlalunefairytales.c...etros.html
The Marie Jolie tale is an interesting one. Thanks for sharing....
Heidi
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Midori
Unregistered User
(8/3/02 5:00:27 am)
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archives
We have discussed very similiar tales in the archives--a long discussion of the Robber Bridegroom sort of tales (the young woman agrees rather impatiently to marry a handsome fella who turns out to be a murdering brigrand)--I have also mentioned in an earlier post to Carolyn Dunn a long nigerian story called "The Beautiful Gentleman" about a young woman who falls in love with a man in the market, follows him home to the bush and watches horrified as he returns all of his borrowed parts and becomes a skull...it's avery similiar scenario to the Cajun tale--the young woman winds up at a sort of cannibal's/demon's house under the care of his mother...and has to use her wits to escape.
I love the trope of throwing magic objects to change the landscape and aid in escape. What I find interesting is the objects themselves are usually so plain and small and utiltarian--the sort of thing a woman might have in her pocket at any given time--a pair of sewing scissors, a comb--and then to watch the mythic damage these little things do to the landscape--it's an interesting juxtaposition of feminine objects as heroic weapons.
The cajun collection sounds fabulous. Thansk for the reference.
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Podnah
Registered User
(8/3/02 11:10:08 pm)
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Re: archives
Midori,
It's interesting that you brought up the Nigerian tale: in fact, one of the parts of Marie Jolie that I glossed over in my synopsis is that on the way home from the wedding, the devil has to return all these borrowed items: coat and tie, hat, etc. Sounds very similar. Thanks for the leads. Scott
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Midori
Unregistered User
(8/4/02 8:53:20 am)
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very fine beautiful gentleman
Scott,
I believe you can find a version of this tale in the novel, "The Palm Wine Drunkard" by Amos Tutuola. Tutuola is a sort "bridge" between traditional tale telling and the modern novel--brought up in a traditional society (as opposed to colonial education) Tutuola's novel is constructed almost exclusively out of traditional tales woven together. It's quite a wonderful piece. I can't find my copy to double check on this though which is a bit annoying--if you happen near a university library, or even a good bookstore, you might be able to snag a copy and look. (I'll see what I can do from here too...)
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Midori
Unregistered User
(8/4/02 11:35:03 am)
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found it
Yep...it's definately in Tutuola's novel "The Palm-wine Drinkard" (sorry about my earlier misspelling!) in the chapter (appropriately named) "The Complete Gentleman." You can also find an interesting variant of it in Harold Scheub's collection "The African Storyteller" from the Masai called "Konyek"--a more complicated variant--the young woman marries the demon, has a cannibal son (named Konyek) and when her sister comes to visit her and is murdered (after giving birth to twins--I told you it gets complicated!) the wife raises the twins in secret and plots the death of her demon husband and son...
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janeyolen
Unregistered User
(8/4/02 11:15:45 pm)
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Second
I want to second Midori's PALM WINE DRINKARD recco. It is a stunning book, always surprising, even for someone well versed in folklore and mythology.
Jane
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Podnah
Registered User
(8/5/02 10:51:27 pm)
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Re: Second
Thanks Midori and Jane for the recommendations for The Palm Wine Drunkard. I ordered a copy today (BTW: Anyone looking for this book, check Amazon and after doing the search for Amos Tutuola, click on the other sellers offering the book new, and you'll find Powell's books selling new copies for under $6.) Thanks again. Scott
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Gregor9
Registered User
(8/6/02 12:31:32 pm)
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Palm Wine Drinkard +
Not to mention his "My Life in the Bush of Ghosts" (which even spawned a Brian Eno LP many years ago) A wonderful, strange, evocative voice like no other I've ever read. Tutuola's amazing.
Greg
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