Week 5 Story: Milli Vanilli the Soothsayers?

There once was two men attending a disco dance seminar in California. When they were there, they saw a large group of people trying to get a look at the most famous performers of Los Angeles.

The duo had a very dear friend who was a music producer. He wanted them to be just as famous as these stars that gathered crowds. So, the music producer told them that they were to become performers, or they would no longer be friends. This meant if they didn't do as their friend said, they would be unsuccessful forever as no other producer would want them. They were afraid as they stepped foot in the recording studio, as their singing wasn't great, but they had to do something.
Luckily, some other men in the studio approached them and said that they would help solve this problem. So while they were to be recording, the professional studio singers sang all of the songs for them.

The day came that a concert venue needed someone to put on a killer show, and so they decided they would prove to the producer that they could do it. When it was time for them to perform on stage they put on tightest shorts possible and super tall boots, and marched onto the stage. However, they were not the ones actually singing the set. Instead, they used the prerecorded music in order to lip-sync he entire show. The men who were actually singing promised to never let anyone know of the truth.

Just when they thought they had their one hit wonder moment, the producer needed them to perform at the concert venue yet again. The actual singers said that they didn't mind helping this time either, and so they continued to fake perform. The two ended the concert and gained the admiration of not only the producer, but many fans as well. The real singers did just as they promised and did not utter a word of the lie. Not only did the two become very famous, but they won a Grammy as well.

Milli Vanilli Blame it on the Rain (12 inch single) by acme401 (2013)

I got the inspiration to write this story from my parents. While I was trying to find something that lined up with the swindling of The Soothsayer story by Ignacz Kunos (1913), I asked my parents for advice. They both mentioned Milli Vanilli, a duo that I had absolutely no idea about. After doing some research on them, I knew that they would be the perfect pair to write about. Not only did this story give me an original inspiration, but it also led me to learn about a really crazy story that my parents were familiar with.

Reading Notes: Turkish Fairy Tales-Part B

Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1913).

All the Birds Stuck to One Tree (Madjun) by George Hodan

Patience-Stone and Patience-Knife: When a young woman kept hearing a bad omen from a bird, her mother and herself decided to just stay home. After a while, the girl's friend's wanted her to come and spend the day with them. The mother was of course hesitant, but decided to let her go. The girl went with her friends happily and danced in meadows. But when her and her friends drank from a spring a wall went up between them. The friend's couldn't reach her and they didn't know what to do. When they told the mother, she went to see the wall for herself. The two wept and the girl fell asleep in tears. When she woke up, the saw a door. When she opened it, there were 40 keys on the wall that each lead to rooms of precious metals and stones. One door led to a man who had the omen written on a document on his chest.

Patience-Stone and Patience-Knife (cont.): The girl fanned the man and prayed over him. She then saw a girl, who she told to take over her job while she washed herself and cleaned the room. Of course while she was gone, the man woke up and declared the stranger to be his wife. She was livid, and sent the girl away like a peasant. When a feast came to time, the man asked the girls what present they wanted. So he went off, but couldn't find the girl's request. He searched and searched until a man gave him the knife and stone she requested. When he came back, he was curious of the odd request and decided to spy on the girl. She spoke to the stone and told it of her story, and how the other girl was not the true wife. When the stone exploded, she was ready to kill herself with the knife, but the man shouted in confession and the couple ended up together after all.

The Imp of the Well: A woodcutter and his less than ideal wife would get in many arguments about food, and money. One day, he got so sick of her after a fight over him buying a rope, that he left on a donkey. Of course the wife followed him, but he found out that she was spying on him. He went to work woodcutting, and even shouted at his wife when she was near a well. But she fell into the well, and he just went home! The next day he came back to save her with rope but pulled out a trapped imp instead. To thank the man, he gave him three leaves to heal the Sultan's daughter so that he may be rewarded with riches.

The Imp of the Well (cont.): Soon the day came in which the poor daughter did become ill. So the woodcutter did as he was told and was rewarded with marriage to her. All was fine and dandy until a friend of the Sultan's daughter was sick as well. The Imp was with said princess, and didn't want the woodcutter to gain any more glory. The man decided to tell the imp that the wife in the well had escaped and followed him. This scared the imp so bad that he was never heard of again and the woodcutter lived on a happy life.

The Soothsayer: When a great soothsayer's wife came to visit the area of a couple, the wife decided that she wanted her husband to be a soothsayer as well. The husband didn't want to lose her, but was perplexed on what to do. His friend helped him by recruiting some of the bath-women and so they set up a plan. A stolen ring was planted by one of the women, and in looking for it, the man acted as if he could predict where it was. He was praised for finding it and went home happily. Later, the ring was lost again, and when he was told to find it or he would die, he didn't know what to do. Fortunately, the women who stole it was feeling guilty and decided to tell the man what she did. He told her to leave and have a goose swallow the ring. Then when he pointed out the goose having the ring in it's stomach, he was praised even more and became something out of nothing.

The Wizard and his Pupil: When a boy refused to go to school without running away, his mother took him to a market where there were many different jobs to observe. The boy was particularly interested in a wizard. He grew to learn all the tricks, including how to swindle people out of money by transforming himself into something of value. But when he learned this, he ran off to his mother in order to make them money, not the wizard. The wizard was angry about this and tried to be the one to "buy" the boy in his different form. When he succeeded, the boy turned himself into a bird to fly away. But, the wizard did the same and chased him. After much changing and chasing, the boy tricked the wizard and was able to kill him in front of a Sultan. He then was wed to the Sultan's daughter and had no more money problems for him or is mom.

The Liver: When a girl's mother wanted liver to eat one day, she had to keep "borrowing from Peter to pay Paul" so to speak. In the end, she had to kiss a peasant, to get straw from him, in order to feed an ox, to get his hide, to take to the tanner, to get leather for shoes for the incense man, in order to pray for rain, to get barley from the farmer, to give to the stork who stole the liver from the girl in the first place.

Madjun: There once was a mother who had basically a deadbeat son. The son did nothing but still wanted his mother to go and beg for the hand of the princess. When she did this, the king called for him and when he saw that the boy was bald, he gave him an unrealistic task of getting all of the birds in the world in one place. The boy went to figure out what to do and ran into a dervish who gave him advice on how to capture the birds. He did so and the king was still not pleased, charging him to grow hair. The boy was defeated and decided to just freeze everyone with the word Madjun like he did with the birds. Word spread that it was the boy causing this, and the king had no choice but to give the boy his daughter. The boy released everyone from the freeze and the couple lived happily.

Kunterbunt: This story was super confusing and weird. Basically there were three silly brothers who couldn't help but always find things in groups of three. There was always something wrong or different about two of the tree items such as death or brokenness. Then the story shifts to just one of the three men and describes his strange journey to find his knife, and running away from robbers. The story ends with the man falling off of a building to his death... but it is really all just a dream!

Reading Notes: Turkish Fairy Tales-Part A

Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1913).

Crow Bird by Alexas Fotos (2018)

Fear: When a mother was telling her son that she had fear, the boy didn't know what fear was. When searching for it he came across 40 robbers whom he was supposed to be afraid of. Next he came across the dead, who he hit with a spoon. Then he came across a ghost, a Jew, and even a sea monster. Each time he came across them, he had no fear. Finally he came across a fountain to rest, in which three pigeons transformed into women who prayed for the boy's health.

Fear (cont.): The boy told them that he was the one. They praised him and give him the offer to stay with them forever in a cave a riches, but he couldn't rest with his quest unfinished. He them came across a crowd of people mourning the loss of their Shah, and awaiting the choosing of the next. Of course the boy was chosen. He wanted to leave, but the Sultana was determined. She tried to scare him with the threaten of death, but it turned out to be a live bird in soup that scared him. So he was to be wed, and brought his mother to the palace where they loved happily.

The Wizard-Dervish: One day a sonless king came across a holy man. The king made a deal where if he at half an apple and his wife the other half, they would have a son (but had to give him up when he turned 20). The boy grew up and when he was to be married, he was taken away by the holy man and dropped off at a river where he met the man's daughter (as a dove). She told him that her dad was going to hang and beat him. He continued to beat him until one day when the daughter came back to warn him of the next challenge of choosing a dove. Just as he was told, he chose the daughter to marry (without her mom's consent).

The Wizard-Dervish (cont.): The girl and boy were walking when she turned him into a garden and she into a gardener to hide from her mother. Then she turned them into an oven and baker, to avoid mom again. But this time the mom saw then change back and chased after them, until they were turned into a pod and a duck. The mom looked for them and with no luck, walked away. They then came across the city that he was from, and let the girl in an inn, while the holy man found the boy and dropped him back off at the palace. The girl, thinking she was abandoned, turned back into a dove to scold the boy. He then fetched he from the inn and took her to the palace too when he realized it wasn't all a dream. The original bride was sick of waiting and left, so he married the girl.

The Fish-Peri: When a fisherman died, he told his wife that the kids were never to know that their father was a fisherman. As the son got older, and the mother died, he was trying to find something in his house to sell because he was poor. He found his father's old gear and after successfully catching fish, he sold and ate some...deciding to become a fisherman as well. One day he caught a fish so fine that he built a well to house it instead of selling or eating it. Once he came home the next day everything in his house was clean. He thought it was his neighbors, but he wasn't sure after it happened a few times. With the advice from his friend, he faked leaving for work the next day and saw that the fish turned into a beautiful girl. So the guy decided to throw the fish skin into a fire to free the girl. So they then were to be married, but when word spread that she was so pretty, the king decided he wanted her instead. The king told the boy if he couldn't build him a gold palace under the sea in 40 days, then the bride would be his. Hearing this, the girl told the boy to go back to where he caught her and cast a stone into it, and wish for a cushion to cast into the sea from an Arab.

The Fish-Peri (cont.): The next day, a palace was in the place of the cushion in the sea. But now the king demanded a crystal bridge. So yet again the girl told the boy to do the same thing, but get a bolster instead of cushion. of course the bridge was built, but the king had one more request. He wanted a feast for all the townsfolk and food left over. So, this time he was to get a coffee mill, but was not supposed to turn it. Bu accident, he did and some plates of food fell out. The next day, the feast took place just like the king wanted. Then the king wanted a mule from an egg, so again the boy did this. Finally the king wanted a day old infant who could talk and walk. So he was given the Arab's son, and he took him to the king. The kid hit the king so many times that all he wanted was for them to leave. So they did and the boy happily married the girl.

The Crow-Peri: When a boy's father died, the boy was left all alone in the world. He didn't know his father's occupation until he came across a bird trap. He used it himself, and when he caught a bird it begged him to let him free in exchange for a much more beautiful bird. So he let the bird go and caught a new bird so pretty, that the king bought it and gave the boy a ton of gold. The king's jealous assistant decided to force the boy to get ivory for the bird to stand on, or the king would have his head. The boy didn't know what to do, until a crow approached him and told him to make the elephants drunk with wine and then cut off their ivory. They boy did this, but the bird wouldn't sing for the king. So the assistant suggested to have the boy find the owner. 

The Crow-Peri (cont.): The crow gave the boy advice yet again, telling him to get a ship for 40 maidens and a bath. So he did this, and the bird told him where to sail it. When he arrived to the destination, he was to only let the queen (owner of the bird) on board before sailing back. He did just this, and when she arrived, the bird indeed sang. Not to mention, the king and queen fell in love and married. Unfortunately, the queen fell ill and needed medicine from her palace that was guarded by lions. he crow gave the boy advice on how to tame them. He did this and was able to revive the queen. However, the queen saw the crow and realized that it was one of her old servants. She saw that the servant still loved her and turned her back into a girl. She married the boy and the assistant was fired, while the boy was given a royal position.