Roger Mitchell collection of Micronesian
folktales, 1963-1964, 1970-1971
Collection is open for research. Advance notice required.
Roger E. Mitchell (1925-2011) received his PhD in folklore and anthropology from
Indiana University in 1967. He was a student of prominent American folklorist
Richard Dorson and went on to teach folklore and anthropology for 27 years at the
University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. He served in the Pacific during World War II and
this experience inspired his study of the people and folk traditions of Micronesia.
From 1970-1971, he was Scholar in Residence at the University of Guam. In 1975,
Mitchell received a Guggenheim Fellowship for the study of Micronesian folktale
types and motifs.
Mitchell published his research on Micronesian folktales in the
Journal of American Folklore,
Asian Folklore Studies, and the
Journal of the
Folklore Institute
. The collection houses materials for his 1973
publication
Micronesian Folktales that were donated
to the IU Folklore Archives. These research materials were cited by Richard Dorson
in his work
Folktales Around the World (1975).
The collection is arranged in order of motif-index number (assigned by Mitchell).
This collection contains over 300 folktales from the Micronesian Islands that were
documented by Roger Mitchell and other individuals in 1963-1964 and 1970-1971. Each
text includes informant, date collected, collector, place collected, and translator
and is assigned a major Motif-Index number, e.g. Motif A431.1.3 “Goddess causes
famine.” Topics represented in the collection include origin myths; deities, heroes,
monsters, and other mythological figures; animal tales; and childbirth, marriage,
sexuality, and coming of age.
Additional records such as newsletters, annual reports, bulletins, and publications
may be accessed in the
Archives of Institutional Memory.
Series:
Micronesian Folktales, 1963-1971
Box 1
A431.1.3. "Goddess Causes Famine," 1970
A751. "Man in the Moon," 1970
A758. "Theft of the Moon," 1970
A761.6.2. "Chief Among the Stars," 1971
A910. "Origin of Water Features. General," 1964
A955.3.2. "Origin of the island's position," 1971
A955.8. "Island fished-up by demigod (hero)," 1970
A955. "Origin of islands," 1970
A955.3.2.1. "Primeval hero moves islands into present position,"
1971
A1433. "Acquisition of money," 1971
A1459.2. "Acquisition of seaman-ship (sailing, etc.)," 1964
A2611.0.7. "Woman (goddess) gives birth to plants," 1963
A2681.5.1. "Origin of coconut tree," 1971
A2686.3.1. "Origin of kava plant," 1971
B16.5.6.0.1. "Man-eating lizard monsters," 1970
B33.1.5. "Devastating birds eat everything in district,"
1970
B260. "Animal warfare," 1970
B264.7. "Fight Between Octopus and Whale to Determine Who is
Superior," 1971
B285.2.1. "Animals make voyage in canoe…" 1970
B300. "Helpful animals," 1971
B355. "Helpful animals killed by hero's enemy," 1971
B450. "Helpful birds," 1970
B602. "Marriage to bird," 1970
B602.11. "Heron Weds Maiden," 1971
B612.1. "Eel paramour," 1971
B631.13. "Mouse(rat) gives birth to human child," 1970
C937.1. "Immortality lost because of break of tabu," 1971
D42.3. "Spirit assumes appearance of man's wife," 1971
D170. "Transformation: man [girl] to fish," 1971
D197. "Transformation: man to lizard," 1970
D651.5.1. "Transformation to spy on husband," 1971
D1692.4.1. "Lulling to sleep by 'sleepy' stories (songs),"
1971
D2161.3.7.3. "Person having no arms or legs given those by
magic," 1971
E30. "Resuscitation by arrangement of members," 1971
E35. "Resuscitation from fragments of body," 1970
E113. "Resuscitation by blood," 1971
E221. "Dead spouse's malevolent return," 1970
E323.2. "Dead mother returns to aid persecuted child," 1971
E607.2. "Person transforms self, is swallowed and reborn in new
form," 1971
FO. "Journey to other world," 1971
H1570. "Miscellaneous contests (sexual)," 1963,
1971
L165. "Lowly boy becomes chief," 1970
*L112.12. "Hero (heroine) covered with sores (leperous),"
1963,
1971
L111.1. "Exile returns and succeeds," 1964, 1971
K1992+ "Statue carved: man told it is his dead wife," 1971
K1988. Brother (sister) secures blessings due another," 1970,
1971
K160. "Deceiver falls into own trap," 1971
K1315.1+ "Brothers seduce sister by deceptions: pretend they are
so ordered by spirits," 1970-71
K373+ "Ghost (alus) pretends in dark to be man's friend. As man
catches fish, ghost holds basket, eats fish," 1964,
1971
K81. "Deceptive eating contest," 1970
K11.1. "Race won by deception: relative helpers," 1970,
1971
J2460.1 "Disastrous following of misunderstanding directions,"
1970
J2411.6. "Imitation of jumping into fire without being burned.
Dupe burned," 1971
J2133.3.1. "Coyote attempts to fly from tree top: Falls,"
1970
J1791.7. "Man does not recognize his own reflection in the water
(mirror)," 1971
J1820, "Inappropriate action from misunderstanding," 1971
J1745.3. "Boy sees girl climbing tree, mistakes her vagina for
wound," 1963, 1970,
1971
J1700. "Fools," 1970, 1971
O610. "Theft from ogre," 1970, 1971
O512. "Ogre killed," 1963, 1971
G412. "Children lured into ogre's house," 1970,
1971
F911.4. "Jonah. Fish (or water monster) swallows a man,"
1970
F547.5.1. "Removable vagina," 1970, 1971
F547.3.8. "Detachable penis (moves independently)," 1963,
1971
547.1.1. "Vagina dentate," 1970, 1971
541.11. "Removable eyes," 1970
F301. "Fairy lover," 1963, 1971
F112. "Journey to the land of women," 1963,
1970
F471.2.0.1. "Demon lover," 1963, 1970
Box 2
N733.1.1. "Brothers unwittingly fight each other," 1964,
1971
Q241. "Adultery punished," 1970, 1971
Q325. "Disobedience punished," 1963, 1971
Q411. "Death as punishment," 1971
Q451. "Mutilation as punishment," 1970, 1971
R169.+ "Man rescues wife in flying wooden bird," 1970,
1971
S10. "Cruel parents," 1970, 1971
S11.3.3. "Father kills son," 1964, 1971
S110.3.+ "Animal relatives slain," 1971
S301. "Children abandoned (exposed)," 1971
T75.1. "Scorn of unloved suitor punished," 1970
T81. "Death from love," 1971
T89.2. "Woman sacrifices herself in order to save beloved,"
1970,
1971
T93.3. "Disappointed lover kills self," 1970,
1971
T111. "Marriage of mortal and supernatural beings," 1970,
1971
T111.1. "Marriage of a mortal and a god," 1964,
1971
T111.2. "Woman from sky-world marries mortal man," 1970
T210. "Faithfulness in marriage," 1970
T548. "Miraculous birth," 1963, 1970
T541.2. "Birth from wound or abscess," 1971
T584.3. "Caesarean operation upon woman at childbirth as a
custom," 1970,
1971
T554.0.4. "Woman gives birth to fish," 1963