Subject: RE: BS: CapriUni's blog: disability in folktales
From:
GUEST,Suibhne Astray
Date: 17 Jul 11 - 05:19 AM
Indeed - could be a simple case of anthropomorphism, but in living with the story all these years I've always felt The Blind Jack operates on a different level of initiation to his previous seeing-self. His willingness to blind himself is another fascinating piece of apparant idiocy in this respect. In emphasis of this I always make clear that the eyes Jack removes were bown, whereas the eyes he gets are blue (which of course makes him more desirable to the giant's daughter later on). Once, whilst on a particularly rollicking roll, I free-styled an entire sequence of self-mutilation in which Jack doesn't just remove his eyes, but pays for more food by removing teeth and limbs as well, and finally his very heart - but my young woodland audience were in a gruesome mood that night! How he got them back was by waiting for the autumn and for the various leaves, seeds, twigs, galls, mast, acorns, keys, etc etc. to fall from the various trees in the woodland, in further emphasis of death / ressurection / initiation I suppose, and even then he had to wait until the spring before the magic tood full effect. I only did this to flesh the bones of the story several members of that night's audience had heard me tell the night before. Listening back to a tape of the performance though I was amazed at how well it all fitted together (thus vindicating my ideas with respect of The Storyteller as Shamanic Medium). In this respect, the Sampson collection contains some potent tales, not least of them being The Squirrel and the Fox.
A wee aside: one time I told it as part of an afternoon festival session and a family had to leave (for whatever reason) half way through. In fact, they left at the point Jack falls beneath the tree, blind, and not caring if lives or dies, before the eponymous beasts put in their appearance. At this point I generally sing a brief but creepy ballad - The Witch Mother, The Twa Corbies, Long Lankin or Child Owlett. The next day, the family sought me out with their two young sons telling me they'd both had very troubled nights because they were worried about what would become of Jack in the story. This is what comes of only hearing only half a tale! So - after a brief story-so-far for the benefir of other passers-by* I gave them a full telling of the more comedic Part Two. We were in the Market Place of a Northumbrian Market Town so we picked up quite an audience, but my focus was on the two brothers (!). Afterwards an old woman stepped up to the mother of the boys and said: "You don't want to let your lads listen to stuff like that - they'll never get to sleep tonight."
"Oh no," quoth the Mum with a grin, "Quite the opposite - it'll help them sleep better!"
* In telling in a festival situation I always do a story-so-far for any latecomers - usually getting the kids to help me. It cements the audience, and brings the stories alive in the hearts of the community.
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sj
