DOLL STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD + GOLLYWOGS |
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DOLL STORIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD + GOLLYWOGS Stories, Folktales, Folklore, Fairy Tales, Legends, Myths, History, Nursery Rhymes, Fantasy & Facts Scroll down or click on your choice below • Books/Stories about Dolls From Around the World • Online links to Doll stories/info - World Dolls • SOS: Searching Out Stories/Info - World Dolls Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians |
BOOKS ABOUT DOLLS FROM AROUND THE WORLD - DOLL STORIES + GOLLYWOGS
Book titles are in blue and underlined. Click on them to find out more about the books and how to buy them.
To retell any stories, obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
In performance, always credit your sources.
Alphabetized for your convenience with short descriptions to save you research time.
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Complete Tales and Poems of Winnie-the-Pooh (The) by A.A. Milne with Ernest H. Shepard (illus). (2001 - Ages 9-12) This special volume brings together all of the Pooh stories and all of the poems in one full-color, large-format book. The texts are complete and unabridged, and each of Ernest H. Shephard’s whimsical illustrations have been brilliantly recolored from his original sketches of Milne’s son, Christopher Robin, and his toys. |
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Flower Fairies Paper Dolls by Cicely Mary Barker. (2005 - Ages 4-8) For the first time, paper dolls are available from the Flower Fairies(tm) Friends series. With four different fairy dolls-two boys and two girls-and eight different outfits for them to wear, young girls will love this book. The dolls and clothes are fully perforated so they're easy to remove, and they're printed on sturdy card stock, so the dolls and clothes will last. An envelope is conveniently attached to the inside back cover for storing the pieces. |
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Julie Mini Doll (The American Girls Collection) by American Girl. (2007) This 6 1/2 inch mini-doll brings Julie's world to life on a smaller scale. She arrives dressed in an outfit authentic to the 1970s. Plus, she comes with Meet Julie, a miniature version of her book that tells Julie's story about growing up in 1974. |
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Rebecca Mini Doll (American Girl) by American Girl. (2009 - Hardcover) This 6-1/2 inch doll brings Rebecca's world to life on a smaller scale. She arrives dressed in an outfit authentic to her era. She comes with Meet Rebecca, a miniature version of the first book in her series. |
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So Long Book of Gollywog Tales (The) by Justin Michman. (1950) |
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Velveteen Rabbit (The) by Margery Williams. (2005 reprint- Baby-Preschool) A stuffed toy rabbit (with real thread whiskers) comes to life in Margery Williams's timeless tale of the transformative power of love. Given as a Christmas gift to a young boy, the Velveteen Rabbit lives in the nursery with all of the other toys, waiting for the day when the Boy (as he is called) will choose him as a playmate. In time, the shy Rabbit befriends the tattered Skin Horse, the wisest resident of the nursery, who reveals the goal of all nursery toys: to be made "real" through the love of a human. |
ONLINE LINKS TO DOLL STORIES AND INFORMATION - WORLD DOLLS + GOLLYWOGS
Online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them to get more stories and information.
Story titles are in quotation marks.
To retell any stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Short descriptions included for your convenience and to save you research time.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golliwogg
The Gollywogg Caricature from Wikipedia.
• http://www.goetia-girls.com/occultarticles_h.html
Baba Yaga Shaman Witch Queen (references to carved dolls).
• http://atlantaga10.tripod.com/allcountriesdolls.html
A page of Dolls from all countries - links.
• http://annl_1.tripod.com/
Ethnic dolls from around the world — National and regional costumes.
• http://www.amamantafamily.com/Multicultural_Ethnic_Dolls_.htm
Multcultural and ethnic cloth dolls with traditional dresses and costumes.
• http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/album/562947626cXTHCb
Dolls around the world collection.
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http://tinyurl.com/nam69
Dolls from around the world from Google images.
• http://store.doverpublications.com/by-subject-paper-dolls-dolls-from-around-the-world.html
Paper dolls from around the world from Dover Publications.
• http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/2202/
A Listening Doll from ArtsEdge.
• http://towson.edu/CSME/mctp/StudentProjects/Storytellers/TitlePage.html
Storyteller Dolls by 5th Graders and Art Teacher Mrs. Ivette Burgess.
• http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/28761/make_your_own_storyteller_doll.html?cat=24
Make Your Own Storyteller Doll in the Pueblo Indian Tradition.
• http://www.storycraft.com/viv/private/js.htm
The Junior Storyteller is a quarterly activity guide for young storytellers.
• http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5949401
Alkelda Dolls for Storytelling.
• http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Storyteller+dolls+express+tradition-a09378452
Storyteller dolls express tradition.
• http://www.navajorugsindianbaskets.com/html/artistresults.asp?artist=285
Pueblo dolls from Len Wood's Indian Territory.
• http://www.pueblodirect.com/kachinas.html
One-of-a-kind Kachina Dolls from PuebloDirect.com.
• http://www.pueblopottery.net/storyteller.htm
Story Teller Dolls: Pueblo Pottery Clay Story Teller Dolls from Jemez and Acoma Pueblo.
• http://jerriehurd.wordpress.com/2009/07/12/storyteller-dolls-and-their-little-listeners/
Storyteller Dolls and Their Little Listeners from Our Stories: The Blog.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matryoshka_doll
Matryoshka doll, Russian nested doll, description from Wikipedia.
• http://tinyurl.com/lo63hk
List of videos of Russian Dolls from Google videos.
• http://russian-crafts.com/nesting-dolls/history.html
History of Russian nesting dolls from Russian Crafts.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_traditional_dolls
Traditional Japanese dolls from Wikipedia.
• http://www.antiquejapanesedolls.com/index.html
Antique Japanese Dolls from Alan Scott Pate.
• http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/jshoaf/Jdolls/index.htm
A Page for Japanese Dolls from Judy Shoaf.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/African_dolls
African dolls from Wikipedia.
• http://www.ethidolls.com/
EthiDolls: Authentic African Dolls Signature Collection featuring Historic African women leaders.
• http://tinyurl.com/nz3uhw
List of African dolls from Google products.
SOS: SEARCHING OUT STORIES AND INFORMATION ABOUT DOLLS FROM AROUND THE WORLD + GOLLYWOGS
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plus original research)
Book titles, movie and song titles, and online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them to get more information.
Story and song titles are in quotation marks.
To retell any stories, obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Posts are added chronologically as they are received by Story Lovers World.
1) Query:
I have a rush request for a program centering around dolls. I mean the toy variety, not the human type. I can think of the Vassilisa story off the top of my head, but I bet (or hope) there are more out there. BTW, this is for a group that is mainly adults who collect dolls of all types.
Batsy B. 4/20/07
Responses:
a) No story but a thought...perhaps you could weave in some cultural info from Japan. They have a Doll Festival every year. Here is some background: Doll's Festival
http://japanese.about.com/library/weekly/aa022498.htm
Added later: "The Three Dolls" was just mentioned in another post. There is a version by David Novak in Ready-To-Tell Tales (American Storytelling).
Karen C. 4/20/07
b) Have I got a doll's tale for you! I read it in the set of red books that came with an encyclopedia set in the early '50s. The title that I remember is "The Magic Glass."
Bones:
Boy is always looking through the waste basket because adults throw away such useful interesting things.
One day found a round, smooth glass. It looked like a glass lens. He put it in his pocket along with all the other treasures of the day.
Woke up at night, couldn't sleep, remembered glass, got it to check it out.
The fun part:
Looked through glass, of course. Stuffed animal at foot of bed moved!
Stopped looking through glass, of course.
Then looked at model plane. Plane flew!
All the toys moved when he looked at them through the glass, and stopped when he took the glass down.
Decided to see what it would do to real things. Went into parent's room. In story, parents turned into Noah and Mrs. Noah. I have used Superman and Lois Lane, never thought to use Barbie and Ken. Maybe today it would be Spiderman and Mary Jane :-). Poked mom while doll, nothing. Poked mom without glass, she woke up!
Put glass in pocket in the morning.
Afternoon class was dull, kids misbehaving, our kid pulled out his glass and looked at the teacher. In story she turned into a polliwog. (One of our Brits can probably tell us what that is.) I use any popular character of the day that isn't well liked. The boy keeps his glass on the teacher until just before dismissal bell. Other kids want to use it, but he explains that if he takes the glass away the teacher will catch them. I use a substitute teacher here.
That night mom gets pants to fix them (hmm, may have to figure out how to update this part!), and glass rolls out of pants.
One afternoon soon mom has a gathering of friends. The book said it was a tea party, I've used a Tupperware party, don't think it matters. A curious mouse looks out the mouse hole hoping that some crumbs fall his way. To his surprise all the people stand stock still and the people in the pictures start moving! They come out of the pictures and start eating the refreshments. The mouse is so amazed that he keeps turning from the hole to tell his companions what he is seeing. Of course, when he turns away everything goes back to normal, and when he turns back everything shifts.
It happens that dad comes home while this is happening. He stands in the other room and is horrified as he sees the guests turn into dolls and back again, many times. The pictures coming to life is too much. He puts the house on the market and moves the family.
The glass is forgotten about until the next family is in the home. One day, the baby sees something shiny against the wall and . . .
If you use it, let us know which dolls you use!
Mags S. 4/20/07
c) Here's a thread from 2004.
I don't remember who the first collector is, but I've had these in my Jewish story file for a while.
Sandy Pomerantz"The Three Dolls"
King David, the famous king of Israel, ruled in Jerusalem three thousand years ago. King David had a friend, a good friend, what is called 'a bosom friend'. This friend used to visit him once a week in his palace, to have a little talk and to listen to his playing - you probably know: King David was a very talented harp player.
And one day, this friend brought him a gift - a big package wrapped with silk and gold ribbons.
Well, talking about kings, perhaps you think that kings are special people not like ordinary people, but to tell the truth: kings are also human. King David was very curious to know what gift is inside this fine package, under the silk wrapping, and who would not be curious? I'm sure you are also all dying to find out.
King David unties the ribbons and opens the wrappings. Inside he finds three packages. He opens one of them - inside there is a doll, a beautiful doll - ornaments, clothes made of silk and silver - a very special doll. He opens the second package - another doll not less pretty than the first one, gold, silk diamonds.
And now he opens the third package. What do you think is waiting for him this time? Believe it or not - one more doll, a breathtakingly beautiful doll. King David was happy - what a nice gift. He liked them very much.But then this friend asked him a question: "Tell me, my lord, of all three, what doll is the most valuable?"
Most valuable? That is not an easy question - they all are very nice very pretty. How one can tell?
What do you think? This one? The second? I see that you hesitate, you are not sure. Well, King David was, how should I put it - stumpped a little. He did not know what to say. But then, Prince Solomon, his young son said to him: "Daddy, do you want me to show you?"
"Yes, son."
"Bring me a silk thread."A silk thread was brought and the prince took one of the dolls and pushed the thread inside its ear, like this. He pushed and pushed and the thread came out of the other ear. Then he took another doll and did the same and this time the thread came out of its mouth. Now he took the third doll and pushed the thread inside. It went down to its belly and did not come out.
"You see, daddy," Prince Solomon told his father, "The first doll - what goes in one ear comes out the other! the second doll - what ever you whisper secretly in its ear, very soon finds its way to its mouth. Tomorrow the whole city will know the news. But the third one - what ever you tell it, it keeps it in its belly. It stays inside. Now, you tell me which doll is the most valuable of the three?"
d) I tell another version of The Three Dolls story, different in several ways. I learned it about a year and a half ago from a lady called Shan Stevens, who I think has a very cool name. We were both working in London, for Crisis, a charity which runs shelters for the homeless during the chrissmassey new year time.I didn't get a title for it, so I just call it "The three dolls and what they were."
The differences are:
King David is instead a Sultan.
The parcel. They all come in the same box, and it is clear that they are a set.
The beauty of the dolls. This never came up. The way I tell it, they are just very simple pot dolls, not really exquisite in any way. I think this might just be the way I tell it, because I didn't remember every bit Shan told me. I had to make up their appearance myself.The value of the dolls. This doesn't get asked. Instead, the sultan wants to know, "what are they for?". He asks his vizier, and his scholars, and none can tell him. Finally he sends for his fool, who plucks a hair from the Sultan's head.
The answers are different, too.
Doll One: the hair goes in one ear, and out the other. "This is an ignorant man. He forgets what he hears."
Doll Two: the hair goes in, and gets lost inside the head. "This is a learned man, who stores all he hears inside his head."
Doll Three: when the hair goes in the ear, it is a straight hair. But when it passes out of the mouth, it has curls in it. "This doll is the storyteller, because anything that he hears comes out again, but with it's own new twist."I use it as a kind of "origins of storytellers" tale.
Andrew MacPh. 7/24/01
e) I love this story and also tell the tale but the version I know is David Novak's in Ready-To-Tell Tales (American Storytelling)
One thing I love about this story is that in the telling I never describe the dolls, either verbally or with any hand gestures. At the end of the tale I will ask the children "How big were those dolls?" Each child always has their own unique answer. Ahhhh the power of the imagination.
"The Story Of The Three Figurines"
A king by the name of Amar Singha wanted to test the cleverness and power of discrimination of the neighboring king, Rana Roy, and the discernment of Roy's people. He sent the king three golden figurines with the same appearance and weight. The king was supposed to figure out which figurine was the most valuable.
Together with his court, Rana Roy looked at the figurines, but was unable to see the slightest difference among them. Even the wisest person in his kingdom could not see any difference. It was depressing for the king to think of the disgrace of having a kingdom where no one was intelligent enough to judge the differing values of the figurines. The whole kingdom participated in this event, and all the people did their best.
When they were about to give up hope, a young man named, Brajesh, sent word from a prison near by. He said that he would determine the difference if he could inspect the figurines. Rana Roy had him brought to the palace and he presented the figurines to him. Brajesh looked them over very carefully.
After some time, he noticed that all three figurines had a small hole in the ear. He inserted a thin silver thread and discovered that, with the first figurine, the thread came out through the mouth. With the second figurine, the thread came out the other ear. With the third, the thread came out through the navel. After thinking about this for a while, he turned to the king.
"Your Highness," Brajesh said, "I think the solution to this puzzle lies before us like an open book. We were just supposed to try to read this book. You see, just as every person is different from all others, so each of these figurines is unique in itself. The first figurine reminds us of people who immediately go out and retell what they have just heard. The second figurine is like the person for whom news goes in one ear and out the other. The third figurine, however, is very much like a person who keeps to themself what they hear, and they let it move their heart. On the basis of this, you should judge the value of the figurines. Which would you want as your confidant? The one who cannot keep anything to themself? The one who considers your words no more important than the wind? Or the one who is a trustworthy keeper of your words?"Note: Yes, Brajesh was freed! This story is based on an old Persian folk-tale, but I changed it a little.
Judy S. 4/20/07
2) Query:
Maybe it was a "gollywog." I had never heard of it, whatever it was. So, what is a gollywog?
Responses:
a) Hmmmm. A tricky subject, the Gollywog. It's a doll, and also a character. The dolls are made of black cloth, having big heads with afro haircuts, big googley eyes, and loud dandified clothing. The extravagant clothes are probably due to their being made from leftover scraps of cloth, and the eyes are often buttons. They look similar to the black & white minstrel characters.As for the character, have a look at the golliwogg wikipedia article; it's as good a place to start as any.
In Britain, Gollywogs have been a very contentious subject. On the one hand, they're considered to be blatantly racist. In particular, the Golliwoggs were were cast as villainous thugs in Enid Blyton's Noddy books. Bad bully boys. They were eventually written out, being replaced by goblins. Rightly so, in my opinion, as Blyton's portrayal repeatedly drew attention to their being black. I seem to remember the word "coon" being used too. Why use a black racist stereotype, when you can have goblins doing the nasty stuff instead? Goblins are a more traditional way to scare children, methinks.
On the other hand, the dolls are quite enchanting, and have many fans who consider them to be a cultural icon. For many years Golly was a mascot for Robertson's jam and marmalade, and a wealth of collectibles were produced. Tea-pots, tea-cloths, and the well-known enamel badges. Every jar had a golly-token. Three of them got you a badge. They eventually gave way to pressure and dropped the mascot, but he held out for far longer on the jam jars than he did in the Noddy books.
Certainly, on the marmalade jars, he was just Golly, without the -wog suffix. According to some of Robertson's (presumeably biased) PR, the name Golly derives from dolly. Is it wrong to portray a children's toy from orange and sugar producing countries? He wasn't a villain on the jam jars - quite the opposite in fact, a rather jolly fellow.
Speaking personally, I don't see the Golly as inherently racist. Blyton's portrayal was unnecessarily and cruelly racist, but would the portrayal have been deemed racist if the character hadn't been a villain?
But then I'm biased, because I'm a badge collector. I'm a fan of the badges and have a dozen or so golly badges. (I recently acquired a Leeds United golly!)
Make up your own mind...
Andrew MacGolly/Gollywog Links:
The Wikipedia page. Be sure to have a look at the discussion meta-page, which carries a lot more debate about the racism of golliwogs, and etymology.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golliwogg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:GolliwoggSave Our Golliwogs - the apologists' point of view...
http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/golliwog.htm
http://www.sterlingtimes.co.uk/golly2.htmThe Robertson's jam badges...
http://golly1.com/
http://search.ebay.co.uk/robertsons-golly-badgesFan sites:
http://www.gollyworld.freeserve.co.uk/index1.htm
http://www.tourisminternet.com.au/chgolly.htm
http://www.tourisminternet.com.au/chgolly4.htm
http://golliwogs.com/history/index.html
Andrew Mac 4/21/07
More Gollywog sites:
The History and Meaning of Gollywogs: http://www.tourisminternet.com.au/chgolly4.htm
Gollywogs for sale: http://www.gollydownunder.com/golly%20products.html
Well Golly: http://nonmice.blogspot.com/2006/03/well-golly.html
b) There's an interesting display at the KC Toy and Miniature Museum (a place well worth seeing if you're in the area.) The oldest golliwogs are black, true, but they're so obviously non-human (long pointy noses etc.) that they have nothing to do with race. Later ones, however, do become human and racist. So do we say that it's been spoiled foverever like, say, the swastika? Or is there something we can recover from the charming old dolls and stories?
Anne L. H. 4/22/07
c) A Gollywog (same description) was also an important character in Little Nemo in Slumberland. A friendly soul, but tending towards mischief, his vital plot function was suggesting activities that got Nemo into trouble. Anybody who hasn't seen the wonderful animation of this early (and unique) Sunday-funnies classic has missed something good.More recently, there was an "underground" (ie adult) sci-fi comic series drawn in the hard-edged style of Herge's Tintin, that I used to follow in Heavy Metal magazine, back in the eighties I think, with a Gollywog character. Most of the comics in that magazine were European; this one was maybe Dutch. This Gollywog was altered by the American magazine for its audience by changing its color from inky black to forest green.
How we look at the Gollywog is related to the problem (often discussed here) of Little Black Sambo: both are products of British imperialism, both have innocent and corrupt aspects, neither is acceptable to most black people. We have a long way to go. Sigh.
TimJ 4/22/07
d) I stumbled across these this morning and thought of you.
"The Doll in the Grass"
http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/junior34.htm
"The Dolls and the Other Dolls"
http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/cinder22.htm
"A Kind Heart"
http://www.rickwalton.com/folktale/cinder48.htm
Karen C. 4/22/07
e) Fabulous site for doll stories:
Gary Sowatzka's Doll Stories
http://www.sowatzka.com/index.html
http://www.sowatzka.com/dollstory/dollstory.htm
They run monthly competitions for doll stories.
About the Dolls and Their Stories
http://www.persona-doll-training.org/pd/the-dolls.php
The Folklore Doll Company, York, Maine
They make folklore dolls that are just plain fun to look at!
http://www.thefolkloredollcompany.com/
More folklore dolls!
http://collectdolls.about.com/library/weekly/aa011200d.htm
Illustrated doll story: The Blue-Eyed Doll from Japan.
http://wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/dolls/media/kamishibai/index.htm
3) "Doll i' the Grass from Norway"...
Once on a time there was a king who had twelve sons. When they were grown big he told them they must go out into the world and win themselves wives, but these wives must each be able to spin, and weave, and sew a shirt in one day, else he wouldn't have them for daughters-in-law.
To each he gave a horse and a new suit of mail, and they went out into the world to look after their brides; but when they had gone a bit of the way, they said they wouldn't have Boots, their youngest brother, with them. He wasn't fit for anything.
Well, Boots had to stay behind, and he didn't know what to do or whither to turn; and so he grew so downcast, he got off his horse, and sat down in the tall grass to weep. But when he had sat a little while, one of the tufts in the grass began to stir and move, and out of it came a little white thing, and when it came nearer, Boots saw it was a charming little lassie, only such a tiny bit of a thing. So the lassie went up to him, and asked if he would come down below and see "Doll i' the Grass."
Yes, he'd be very happy; and so he went.
Now, when he got down, there sat Doll i' the Grass on a chair. She was so lovely and so smart, and she asked Boots wither he was going, and what was his business....
The rest of the story is at...
http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0402.html#norway
4) "Dance, Dance, Doll of Mine" by Hans Christian Andersen
http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/DanceDanceDollOfMine_e.html
"Yes, this is a song for very small children!" declared Aunt Malle. "As much as I should like to, I cannot follow this 'Dance, Dance, Doll of Mine!' "
But little Amalie could; she was only three years old, played with dolls, and brought them up to be just as wise as Aunt Malle.
There was a student who came to the house to help her brothers with their lessons, and he frequently spoke to little Amalie and her dolls; he spoke differently from anyone else, and the little girl found him very amusing, although Aunt Malle said he didn't know how to converse with children - their little heads couldn't possibly grasp that silly talk. But little Amalie did. Yes, the student even taught her the whole song, "Dance, Dance, Doll of Mine!" and she sang it to her three dolls; two were new, one a girl doll and the other a boy doll, but the third doll was old; her name was Lise-moér. She also heard the song, and was even in it.
Dance, dance, doll of mine!
Girl doll's dress is very fine.
Boy doll is a dandy, too;
He wears gloves and hat and shoe;
White pants, blue coat, him adorn;
On his toe he has a corn.
He is fine and she is fine.
Dance, dance, doll of mine!....
The rest of the story is at...
http://www.andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/DanceDanceDollOfMine_e.html
5) "Sasha and the Little Birch Tree: A New Russian Fairytale" by Marty Sheppard.
Overlooking the Volga River was a green forest of birch trees. The trees stood oh, so tall, as if to show their pride to all who looked their way. When the winds blew, the birch swayed ever so bravely, but always returned to their upright position as they stood guard over the forest animals and children who played below. But one day, a huge gust of wind came and the smallest of birch trees could not withstand its power and tumbled to the ground. There it lay, in pieces, and filled with shame. No longer would it have the chance to grow big and strong and tall for all to see. No longer would the children be able to run around it chasing each other. Oh, what a sad ending to such a proud start.
When the sun set, the moon beams shown through the taller tree limbs on the fallen birch. There was just enough light for Sasha, a golden cock, to see the little birch. The moonlight shining down on the beads of sap made it look as if the little birch was crying.
Sasha went over to the little birch and said, "What's the matter?"
"Oh Sasha, a big, strong wind came by today and blew me over. I was supposed to grow tall and help the other trees guard the animals and small Russian children who play in the forest."
"Little birch tree, don't cry. You can still help others. Let me take you to a wise old woman who will know what to do."
So off Sasha went carrying the pieces of the little birch tree. When they came to a small dacha at the edge of the river, the sun was just starting to peak over the horizon. Sasha called out.
"Cock-a-doodle-doo. Mastryona, we need you."
Two eyes peered through the curtains at an upstairs window. Quickly, the old woman bolted out of the door and said, "Preevyet, Sasha! What is it with you? Can't you let an old woman sleep?"...
The rest of this beautifully illustrated story about Russian nesting dolls is at:
http://www.unr.edu/cos/geography/GAIN/materials/sasha.html
6) Babushka's Doll
Natasha isn't really a bad girl. It's just that she wants to play on the swing now, not after the wash has been hung up to dry. And she wants her soup now, not after the goats have been fed. Looking after Natasha keeps Babushka, Natasha's grandmother, very busy. Then, after lunch, Natasha notices a doll sitting on Babushka's shelf...a doll Babushka tells Natasha she played with just once when she was a little girl. When Natasha plays with the doll while Babushka goes to the store for groceries, she discovers why once is enough with Babushka's doll...and finds out just how tiring it can be to take care of a child who wants everything now.
7) "The Dolls' Christmas Party" by Viola Roseborough.
It was the week before Christmas, and the dolls In the toy-shop played together all night. The biggest one was from Paris.
One night she said, "We ought to have a party before Santa Claus carries us away to the little girls. I can dance, and I will show you how."
"I can dance myself if you will pull the string," said a "Jim Crow" doll.
"What shall we have for supper?" piped a little boy-doll in a Jersey suit. He was always thinking about eating.
"Oh, dear," cried the French lady, "I don't know what we shall do for supper!"
"I can get the supper," added a big rag doll. The other dolls had never liked her very well, but they thanked her now. She had taken lessons at a cooking-school, and knew how to make cake and candy. She gave French names to everything she made, and this made it taste better. Old Mother Hubbard was there, and she said the rag doll did not know how to cook anything.....
The rest of the story is at
http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/christmas/stories/the-dolls-christmas-party.html
8)
From a discussion at Sur La Lune:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/boardarchives/2005/apr2005/dollsinft1.html
• One of the tales in Zipes collection of French tales has the main character start out as a doll or doll like figure, "Princess Camion."
• Do Ballets count?
If they do...
What about "Coppelia" or the ballet "Petrushka"?
How about The Nutcracker as that includes dolls that dance in some versions.
• How about "Doll in the Grass" (I think that's the title). A prince goes off to find a bride, encounters a beautiful little doll in the grass by the road who convinces him to get engaged to her. The standard plot ensues: the doll performs several tasks that outdo the other girls of the kingdom and is eventually turned back into a human.
• Quote:
I do remember a "doll" in Italian fables, generally made of flour, sugar, and filled with something sweet, to replace the true bride on her wedding night.
I read a version of this called "The Arab Girl."
She seemed to be one of the more resourceful fairy tale heroines
I think the Brer Rabbit story is "Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby" - not exactly a doll, maybe, but close. I believe there's a Kentucky tale called "The Corn Dolly," but I can't remember where I read it.
Branching out a bit, would you be interested in dolls that depict fairytales and/or are used in transmission? (there's Trouble Dolls and Listening Dolls etc.) Seems like more information on that kind of role.
• "The Facetious Nights of Straparola," translated by W.G. Waters
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/facetiousnights/night5_fable2.html
• I remember a tale called "The Swan Maiden." The maiden and the prince made a doll out of honeymeal to escape the witch. The witch thought the doll was the maiden, and slapped her for not speaking. The witch's hands stuck fast to the doll's cheeks, and she is stuck there forever.
This trick also shows up in the tales of Anansi the Spider (The version that turns up in the Brer Rabbit stories is probably derived from that one).
There are a number of stories about animated objects from Japan. There is a Japanese folk belief that if a household object is kept for a certain amount of time (Usually 100 years), it will develop a kind of minor soul, and become weirdly animated. While "haunted" items (Tsukumogami) are most often things like farm tools, dishes, lanterns or umbrellas, I wouldn't be surprised if haunted dolls figure in there somewhere.
There is also the Yuki Onna (Lady of the Snows), an evil mountain spirit from Japanese folklore. In one story, she carries a bundle of ice formed into the shape of a baby. If she manages to trick a traveller into touching the ice doll, thevictim is also turned to ice.
9) Pueblo Storytelling Dolls
A few weeks ago we had a discussion of the Pueblo Storytelling Dolls. While doing some research for an art teacher today I found the following links, some with curriculum guidelines. I thought I would pass it along in case anyone has a need for the information.
Helen Codero was the first artist who made them. You can see some pictures here of fifth grade students who made some in their class.
Pueblo Storyteller Dolls
http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/schools/travilahes/pueblo.html
More classroom information
BEF: Storyteller Doll
http://www.brightoneducationfund.org/grants/storyteller_doll.html
Unit from Artsedge
http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/teaching_materials/curricula/curriculum.cfm?curriculum_id=352&print=1
Hitty Her First Hundred Years
Audio version:
Presented for the first time in audio, here are the charming and adventurous memoirs of an exceptional doll named Hitty. Her story begins in Maine in the early 1800s, where she is transformed from a piece of sturdy mountain-ash wood into the valued playmate of a young girl named Phoebe Preble. When the inseparable pair join Phoebe's father on a journey aboard his whaling ship, Hitty's one hundred years of exciting adventures begins! Join this doll of great charm and character as she travels all over the world, from India to Philadelphia to New York. Whether she is traveling with a snake charmer, attending the opera, meeting Charles Dickens, becoming a doll of fashion, posing as an artists' model, or being stolen away on a Mississippi riverboat, one thing is certain... no doll has led a life like Hitty's!
Rachel Field's Hitty: Her First Hundred Years
Amazon.com book
Following the "life" of a wooden doll may seem like a strangely passive way of learning American history, but it turns out to be a remarkably gripping approach. In the course of her first hundred years, the peddler-carved doll Hitty travels from Boston to India, is abandoned for years in an attic, is shipwrecked in the South Seas, meets President Abe Lincoln, and at one point lives with a snake charmer. Seen through her hand-painted eyes, the 19th-century world is a miraculous and usually wonderful place, with some mysteries never to be fathomed. Rachel Fields wrote this Newbery Medal-winner in 1929; 70 years later Rosemary Wells and Susan Jeffers did what to some is the unthinkable: they adapted the classic. In their defense, they did a gorgeous job and did in fact give Hitty a much-needed new lease on life. As Wells says in her note to the reader, "no one I spoke to had actually read Hitty in at least thirty years, and that seemed a real shame."
Of course, as in any adaptation, something of the original is lost. Wells even makes a few significant changes to the story. But purists take note: Wells has the utmost respect for the importance of Hitty, and Susan Jeffers's richly imagined illustrations are definitely worthy of this classic. Don't let another hundred years slip by without reading this gem! (Ages 9 to 12)
The above doesn't sound like the book Rose the Story Lady referred to but it is about a doll.
Rose said: "Many years ago I read a story about a fashion doll. Little girl has fashion doll from Paris given to her. Family lives in city occupied by British. Family gets information that Washington needs to avoid defeat. Mother sews message inside doll. Small girl goes on errand to get milk, bread (or deliver something) to her grandmother who lives in the country. British soldier sees doll and says he will take it an sell it for money. Little girl offers doll to him, says he can have her doll if he is lonely and needs someone to talk to at night. Other soldiers laugh at him. He gives doll back. Information is given to someone who takes it to General Washington and defeat is avoided."
Rose the Story Lady 4/23/07
10) Gollywogs
How we look at the Gollywog is related to the problem (often discussed here) of Little Black Sambo: both are products of British imperialism, both have innocent and corrupt aspects, neither is acceptable to most black people. We have a long way to go. Sigh.
Something one ought to know, if tempted to use the term golliwog, is the meaning of the 'wog' part. I'm assuming that the term isn't well known in the US. Wog was a term for coloured people, in the days of Empire, and it was pretty dismissive if not demeaning. That was in the days when blacks and indeed most other colours of people were considered savages who needed organising and civilising. Golliwogs were pure black, but the term wog referred to Arabs, Indians, Chinese, any non-white inhabitants of the Empire. Since then, my impression is that it moved from a common and fairly practical term accompanied by a casual institutional racism, to a more deliberate racist slur. It's fallen slightly out of fashion now since, say, the 80s, amongst racists, but it is still an extremely offensive term.
The word Golliwog was often shortened to Golly as a character name or term for the doll. But I think it was probably the -wog ending that ensured the word and the doll could never be rescued from seeming out-and-out racist, even though it was often a much-loved toy for innocent children. No one is sure where 'wog' comes from - perhaps from Golliwog itself, perhaps from elsewhere. As usual, Wikipedia can give you plenty of detail - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wog
Tim S. England 4/23/07
Responses:
a) Yep. I agree that Gollywog and Little Black Sambo present the same problem.
But Gollywog didn't have a jungle band...
It's interesting that Little Black Sambo seems to have changed from African stock to Indian during his career. Compare these two record covers...
http://www.kiddierecords.com/archive/week_06.htm
http://www.kiddierecords.com/week_06/record_sleeve.htm
You'll find loads more old kids' records at:
http://www.kiddierecords.com/2005/index.htm
Andrew Mac 4/23/07
b) >It's interesting that Little Black Sambo seems to have changed from African stock to Indian during his career.<
Just as a sidenote: the Indian actually came first. (Note the reference to "ghee" in the original, and the fact that there are no tigers native to Africa.)
Pity the figure became seen as racist; take away the name, the story is a perfectly good one of a little boy's cleverness in outwitting the wild beasts. The version I had as a child (clearly set in India) showed the pancakes his mother makes with the ghee as having stripes. My mother never made ME pancakes like that!
Matt D. 4/24/07
c) Actually, "Sambo" as a racist term predates Helen Bannerman's story of Little Black Sambo by a number of years. She simply picked up a name that was in common (derogatory) usage at the time, and inserted it into her charming story, to its everlasting detriment. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that "Sambo" as a derogatory term characterizing one of "mixed Negro and Indian or European blood", especially one with "the subservient mentality held to be typical of the black American slave" was in use a century before Bannerman's 1899 story.A friend and I did a conference presentation last year on the debate over LBS, trying to present some historical context and looking at modern retellings (oral and published). In fact, I quoted from previous discussion on this list of this topic, and referred to Papa Joe's wonderful Brave Little Samantha as well as to Conrad's insistence of remaining true to Bannerman's story, warts and all.
In this presentation, I drew on images from the Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabila website http://www.ferris.edu/news/jimcrow/ for the prototypes of standard racist caricatures such as the Mammy, the Pickaninny, the Coon, the Sambo, and the Tom (or Uncle). Regardless of Bannerman's benign intentions and her wonderful storytelling skills, her original illustrations do fall well within the characteristics of these caricatures. There is also extensive discussion of the Golliwog caricature at this excellent site.
I love the story and actively tell it - but without using the names of Black Sambo, Black Mumbo, and Black Jumbo. Lately, I have been telling it to preschoolers as a felt board and puppet story, with the wonderful red jacket, blue pants, purple shoes, and green umbrella made of felt, four cardstock tigers to wear the clothes and a tree for the fight scene, and a tiger puppet to pounce out and demand each piece of clothing from the little boy. However, I use no human images at all. It is up to each listener to see the little boy in their own minds and, I hope, to see themselves in the brave, resourceful boy.
Vicky D. 4/24/07
• Impunity Jane
Impunity Jane is a Victorian pocket doll who yearns for adventure. Without a trace of sticky-sweetness, Godden shows us a restless doll consigned for four generations to sitting in a dollhouse, sometimes neglected for years, until she is purloined by a 7-year-old cousin, Gideon, who can hear doll wishes. Then Impunity Jane's life begins! She is a devoted companion in Gideon's play and gets to be a sailor, an aviator, a miner, and enjoy all manner of adventures. Gideon faces being called a "sissy" by a gang of older boys, until tough little Impunity Jane manages to win them over...
Jennifer M. 4/8/08
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