TYPHOON STORIES
(excerpts from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)

1) A German recently told this story in German to a mostly German group, then translated it for me later. He said it is a Philippine story that he read in a book published in Slovakia or the Czech Republic.

Monkey, deer, and turtle (a small one, not a tortoise) fish for a living. Monster Abidoo keeps stealing their fish. Monkey guards fish one night, can't prevent Abidoo from stealing them. Deer guards next night, same thing. Turtle guards next night. Abidoo comes. Turtle is weaving something from sisal or other plant material, begs Abidoo to tie her to a tree because monster Typhoon is coming and will blow her away. Abidoo is scared and asks turtle to tie him to tree. Turtle does so, monkey and deer come, amazed at turtle's success, deer butts Abidoo in stomach in retaliation for stealing fish, turtle tells Abidoo that was Typhoon.

2) It has some elements in common with Ears and Tails and Common Sense in a book of the same title by
Julius Lester. It's one of my favorites, learned when I taught in Jamaica.

3) I share a version of the "typhoon" or "big wind" story, rooted in Jamaican folktale. I know it as Rabbit, Tiger, and the Big WIndy Whatever. A similar story, Brer Tiger and the Big Wind, can be found in a collection called The Days When the Animals Talked: Black-American Folktales and How They Came to Be by William J. Faulkner, first printed by Africa World Press in 1993. Also, see Julius Lester's version of a Brer Rabbit Story in The Tales of Uncle Remus: Brer Rabbit and Brer Lion. This is an adaptation of the story, Brother Rabbit Ties Mr. Lion in Joel Chandler Harris' Nights with Uncle Remus: Myths and Legends of the Old Plantation. In that version, Rabbit ties Lion to a tree to protect him from a "harrycane." There are many variants. The story of the small creature tying up the big creature to supposedly protect him from some kind of dangerous storm is a well-travelled tale.

(This web page updated 8/3/03)