Latest / Sandman Stories Presents / EP 273: Azores- Why The Alveloa Bird Received A Blessing+ (Eells)

Transcript

EP 273: Azores- Why The Alveloa Bird Received A Blessing+ (Eells) · Sandman Stories Presents

• 0:24
  Welcome back listeners to Sam Man's Story Presents, a folklore
• 0:28
  podcast where I read you as sleep or until the next story.
• 0:30
  I'm your host Dustin. Today we are back in the book of
• 0:34
  Azorian folklore written down by Elsie Spicer Eels.
• 0:38
  We have 4 stories for your listening pleasure.
• 0:41
  The first one is about a lucky bird and why it is blessed.
• 0:45
  The second is about a cursed bird and why it is cursed.
• 0:49
  The third story is about why people tell each other to stand
• 0:51
  outside the door like the mother of Saint Peter.
• 0:55
  And the final story is about Saint Anthony who turns a woman
• 0:58
  into an owl. OK, let's begin.
• 1:02
  Why the AL Veloa bird received a blessing?
• 1:05
  The story of the bird of good luck.
• 1:09
  In the Azores, there is a little bird which is loved and
• 1:11
  protected by everyone. Its name is the AL Veloa.
• 1:17
  It has a grey back, white breast, head and throat, and
• 1:19
  black and white wings. The tale of this little bird is
• 1:24
  always in motion. This is the reason long ago,
• 1:28
  when the wicked king Herod ordered all the babies to be
• 1:31
  killed, the holy Virgin fled Egypt with her Christ child safe
• 1:35
  under her arms. They rode upon an ass.
• 1:39
  The Virgin glanced fearfully behind her as they went along
• 1:41
  the way. At any moment Herod's messengers
• 1:45
  might come up in pursuit. The tracks of the ass showed
• 1:49
  plainly on the Dusty Rd. Oh, cried the Holy Mother, our
• 1:54
  enemies will see our tracks. They will know in what direction
• 1:57
  we have fled. The Alveoloa was near by and
• 2:02
  heard. She spread out her tail like a
• 2:05
  fan and shook it about. On the Dusty Rd. the tracks of
• 2:09
  the ass were brushed away. The Holy Mother smiled upon her
• 2:15
  for this kind deed. Little bird, your tale shall
• 2:17
  always be in motion. By this sign you shall be known
• 2:21
  and your life shall be spared. To this day, the tale of the AL
• 2:25
  Veloa is in motion. Saint Michael himself, the
• 2:29
  patron of the island of San Miguel, has asked for special
• 2:32
  protection for this little bird. On this island, the AL Veloa
• 2:37
  flew all the way before the Virgin Mary, showing her the
• 2:40
  road to Egypt. My blessings upon you, little
• 2:43
  bird, said the Virgin. May you always have the strength
• 2:46
  to slay your enemy. To this very day, the alveoloa
• 2:51
  is able to slay birds much larger than herself.
• 2:54
  The alveoloa kills the hawk as a saying.
• 2:56
  In the Azores, if one wakes in the morning and sees this little
• 3:01
  grey and white bird before his window, he will have a lucky
• 3:04
  day. On the way into Egypt, the
• 3:07
  Virgin pointed to the lupine, which grew by the wayside.
• 3:11
  Eat, little bird, she said. Eat until your hunger is
• 3:14
  satisfied. Blessings be upon you for your
• 3:17
  kind deeds to me and the Holy Child.
• 3:20
  May good fortune and plenty always attend you to this very
• 3:25
  day. This bird, blessed by the
• 3:26
  Virgin, is an emblem of good luck.
• 3:29
  The End. OK and story #2 Why the Codornes
• 3:51
  bird received a curse. A story of the bird who walks
• 3:55
  humbly. When the Holy Virgin was fleeing
• 3:59
  into Egypt to escape the persecutions of Herod, the
• 4:02
  Codornes bird flew about, making a great racket, calling out.
• 4:06
  Come this way, keep quiet, cried the Virgin.
• 4:11
  Our enemies will hear you. They will come in pursuit.
• 4:16
  In despite of her words, the Cordornes kept up its noise.
• 4:21
  My curse upon you, said the Virgin.
• 4:23
  You shall always walk humbly. You shall never fly high and
• 4:26
  smile at the sun. To this very day, the Cordornes
• 4:30
  bird walks humbly. It has many enemies who love to
• 4:34
  slay it, to devour the end. OK, and store number 3 outside
• 4:56
  the door like the Mother of Saint Peter, a story of why she
• 4:59
  always stays outside. If there is no response when you
• 5:05
  ring the bell or knock at the door in the Azores, you have to
• 5:08
  say outside the door, like the Mother of Saint Peter, they say.
• 5:13
  This is a story which tells us why the Mother of Saint Peter
• 5:16
  had to stay outside. The very stingiest woman in the
• 5:20
  whole city was Saint Peter's mother.
• 5:23
  She was so stingy that she never gave away a single thing to a
• 5:26
  beggar. No matter if the beggar was old
• 5:28
  or sick or blind or crippled, or even a mother with a babe in her
• 5:32
  arms, she always made the same reply.
• 5:35
  I have nothing to give away. Not even when there was a famine
• 5:39
  in the land, but plenty in her own home, would the Mother of
• 5:42
  Saint Peter share with the unfortunate.
• 5:45
  When Saint Peter was made the guardian of the keys of Heaven,
• 5:48
  of course he tried to bring his mother inside this celestial
• 5:51
  gate. When your mother lived upon the
• 5:54
  earth, did she ever share her plenty with any of the poor,
• 5:56
  unfortunate children, was the question Peter thought hard.
• 6:02
  His mother had always been a worthy, virtuous woman in many
• 6:05
  respects, but he could recall nothing which she had ever given
• 6:09
  to the poor and the unfortunate. At last he remembered a day when
• 6:13
  she had gone into the gardens to get vegetables for the soup.
• 6:17
  A poor beggar woman had stood outside the garden gate crying
• 6:20
  Alms, Alms. For the love of God, get away
• 6:24
  from my garden, said Saint Peter's mother.
• 6:26
  I have no alms to give you. If I give away the vegetables in
• 6:30
  my garden, I'd soon have nothing left to feed my own family.
• 6:33
  I'd be begging myself. The poor beggar woman started to
• 6:38
  turn away with tears in her eyes.
• 6:41
  An onion stalk fell from the hand of Saint Peter's mother.
• 6:44
  It was bruised by its fall and covered with mud, but the beggar
• 6:47
  seized it eagerly. Keep it.
• 6:51
  I wouldn't use it anyway, snapped Saint Peter's mother.
• 6:55
  Saint Peter could remember nothing else to tell, so we
• 6:57
  related this story. Go find the onion, was a
• 7:00
  comment. When Saint Peter at last found
• 7:03
  that onion stock, it was still dirty with mud of the garden and
• 7:06
  crumpled by its fall, just as it had been when his mother had
• 7:09
  given it to the beggar. Hold up the onion and pull your
• 7:13
  mother in, was the order. Saint Peter held out the onion
• 7:17
  stalk. It did not reach very far down
• 7:19
  into purgatory, but his mother jumped as high as she could and
• 7:23
  seized it. Eagerly, slowly and very
• 7:26
  carefully, he pulled her up by it to the heavenly gate.
• 7:30
  Just as she was about to enter the door, the onion stalk broke.
• 7:35
  I'm sorry, you'll have to stay outside, said Saint Peter.
• 7:38
  I've done the best I could do for you.
• 7:40
  The onion stock was not strong enough to pull you through.
• 7:44
  Thus it happens that the Mother of Saint Peter has to stay
• 7:46
  outside the door of heaven. The End
• 8:05
  and story #4 Why the owl flies at night.
• 8:09
  A Story of Good Saint Anthony Long ago there was an image of
• 8:14
  the good Saint Anthony washed ashore by the rough waves of the
• 8:17
  Bay of Angra. A little Chapel was built to
• 8:21
  receive it on the steep slopes of Mount Brazil overlooking the
• 8:24
  Bay, and here it remains to this day.
• 8:29
  Once Upon a time, a little boy named Pedro lived in a tiny
• 8:32
  cottage near Saint Anthony's Shrine.
• 8:35
  His mother had died and his father had married a new wife
• 8:38
  who was often cruel to him. She dressed him in ragged,
• 8:42
  shabby clothes, and the other children of the parish often
• 8:45
  pointed their fingers at him and scorned because of his poor
• 8:47
  garments. One day, as Pedro knelt before
• 8:51
  the image of the good St., a strange thing happened.
• 8:54
  His clothing became new and whole.
• 8:57
  He was dressed as well as any boy in the parish.
• 9:01
  Where did you get clothes like this?
• 9:02
  Asked the stepmother when he came home that night.
• 9:05
  I always knew you were good for nothing.
• 9:07
  I believe you have stolen them. Little Pedro told what had
• 9:12
  happened, but the woman would not believe him.
• 9:15
  Don't stand there talking any longer, she cried.
• 9:19
  Take the water jars and go to the spring and fill them for me.
• 9:21
  Hurry, I don't want to be kept waiting for the water.
• 9:26
  Pedro lifted the two great water jars which stood on the floor
• 9:31
  and slowly climbed up the hill to the little spring which
• 9:33
  supplied water for the family needs during the greater part of
• 9:36
  the year. Just now the spring had failed,
• 9:39
  as the stepmother had found out that very day.
• 9:44
  There is no water in the spring now, said an old man with whom
• 9:48
  Pedro met on the way. The boy had almost reached the
• 9:52
  spring, and the big jars were growing heavy even though they
• 9:55
  were empty. I'm so nearly there.
• 9:59
  I'll go on and see for myself, decided the lad.
• 10:03
  The other spring is so far away, and the jars will be so heavy
• 10:07
  that I can never carry them all this distance.
• 10:10
  Perhaps there's still a little water here.
• 10:15
  When he reached the spring, he was surprised to see the water
• 10:18
  flowing faster than in many a day.
• 10:21
  He remembered, too, the new suit of clothes he was wearing.
• 10:25
  Luck is with me today, he cried as he filled the water jars.
• 10:30
  The good Saint Anthony is my friend.
• 10:32
  It is he who has given me my handsome clothing, and it is he
• 10:35
  who has blessed the spring for me.
• 10:39
  When he returned home with the jars full of water, his
• 10:42
  stepmother stared at him in amazement.
• 10:44
  He had not been gone for long enough to obtain it from the
• 10:46
  farther spring. Where did you get this water?
• 10:50
  She asked. As soon as she could find the
• 10:52
  words with which to speak. Pedro told her that it had come
• 10:56
  from the spring, just as it always did.
• 10:59
  That spring is dry today. She cried.
• 11:02
  Now I know that you are a liar as well as a thief.
• 11:04
  Just wait until your father comes home.
• 11:06
  I'll see that you get the beating you deserve.
• 11:10
  Pedro wondered why she had sent him to the spring if she already
• 11:13
  believed it to be dry. And while he was thinking of
• 11:15
  this, the angry woman gave him a big basket.
• 11:20
  Here she said, go out in the garden and pick up some wood
• 11:23
  from me. Hurry, don't keep me waiting.
• 11:25
  Your slow waves drive me mad. Pedro knew that all the wood in
• 11:30
  the garden had been picked up a long ago.
• 11:32
  Now there was nothing in the garden except roses.
• 11:35
  There were red roses and pink roses and yellow roses and white
• 11:38
  roses, but not a single stick of wood.
• 11:42
  High up on the steep slopes of Monte Brazil there might be wood
• 11:45
  to gather, but the night was dark and the path was steep and
• 11:48
  long. Little Pedro was very tired, so
• 11:53
  tired that 2 great tears rolled down his cheeks.
• 11:57
  Suddenly the good Saint Anthony from the little Chapel stood
• 12:00
  before him. He smiled kindly at the child.
• 12:04
  Why are you crying, my boy? Asked the Saint.
• 12:08
  I have watched you carefully for a long time, and I know that you
• 12:12
  seldom give way to your tears, though often your burdens are so
• 12:16
  heavy that a boy less brave would do little less than weep.
• 12:22
  I have to fill my basket with wood, and there is nothing
• 12:25
  except roses in our garden, replied Pedro.
• 12:28
  I'm tired, and it is very dark on Mount Brazil to search there
• 12:31
  for wood. Here, dear boy, said the Saint,
• 12:34
  smiling. Just pick the roses and fill
• 12:37
  your basket with them. Then take them to your
• 12:39
  stepmother and see what she has to say to you.
• 12:42
  I'll be with you. Pedro filled his big basket with
• 12:46
  the lovely red and yellow and pink and white roses which grew
• 12:49
  in the garden in such rich abundance.
• 12:52
  Then he ran into the house with them.
• 12:55
  As the light fell from the candles upon them.
• 12:57
  To his amazement, he saw that they were no longer roses.
• 13:00
  The basket was full of wood. Where did you get this wood?
• 13:05
  Cried the woman angrily. There are only roses in the
• 13:08
  garden. Where have you been?
• 13:10
  She seized Pedro roughly by his collar, his new coat, and shook
• 13:14
  him until his teeth chattered. He looked up into the Saints
• 13:18
  eyes. Saint Anthony's face was stern.
• 13:21
  Stop, woman, cried The voice which a moment before had been
• 13:25
  so kind and gentle, now it thundered forth in stern
• 13:28
  accents. This little lad has done you no
• 13:32
  harm. You have been guilty of a desire
• 13:34
  to bring harm to him. For this cruelty take the
• 13:37
  punishment which you so richly merit.
• 13:40
  It is you who will have sent this child out into the night.
• 13:44
  Now it is I who sends you out into the night.
• 13:48
  From that moment Pedro's stepmother was no longer a
• 13:50
  woman. She was changed into an owl with
• 13:53
  her eyes the big round circles that had looked when she had
• 13:56
  gazed upon the fierce face of angry Saint Anthony.
• 14:00
  To this very day the owl has to fly by night.
• 14:05
  The end. All right, I like those stories.
• 14:24
  I like the idea of the blessed bird and the cursed bird, and I
• 14:29
  like their connection to Christianity because obviously
• 14:32
  the Azores being Portuguese, there's a lot of Catholic
• 14:36
  influence there. And I really liked in the third
• 14:39
  story how even the the mother of Saint Peter is having trouble
• 14:43
  getting into heaven. So it's like, hey, do the right
• 14:44
  thing. And the last one, just the the
• 14:47
  evil stepmother. I mean, it's a trope, but it's
• 14:50
  in there. And it's cool that she kind of
• 14:52
  gets her own. But I also really like owls.
• 14:54
  So not that big of a thing. All right.
• 14:57
  And the podcast shout out goes to the Bunny Trails podcast.
• 15:02
  If you like learning where a turn of phrase comes from and
• 15:05
  where they show up in pop culture, then let Dan and Shawna
• 15:08
  take you under the weather and over the yellow big road to the
• 15:11
  Big Apple. And if you like their show as
• 15:14
  much as I do, go and give them a like a listen and a review.
• 15:17
  And the listener shout out is to Gondar, Ethiopia.
• 15:21
  This is a really cool city to find out about.
• 15:23
  It was the capital of the Ethiopian Empire.
• 15:26
  It was first mentioned in the 14th century and it was chosen
• 15:30
  due to the protection of the mountains, the fertile lands,
• 15:33
  and because it was on the caravan route up to Sudan and
• 15:36
  the Red Sea. It has nicknames like the
• 15:39
  Camelot of Africa and the Paris of Abyssinia.
• 15:43
  Sadly, in the 1700s, it began to experience a decline.
• 15:47
  The nobles started fighting with each other and they wanted to go
• 15:50
  live here and there. And so the power of the place
• 15:52
  declined. Currently, it's under the
• 15:55
  control of the Ethiopian government troops as the
• 15:57
  Ethiopian civil war continues, which the fighting would come to
• 16:01
  an end. And I would really love to see
• 16:02
  the city. And to the one person who
• 16:05
  listened to me in Gondar, I say in Amharic, I miss again.
• 16:10
  Hello in Dahina Edero. Thank you.
• 16:15
  Good night. The.