Stories at Night by Firelight

 I recommend ‘Buckeye Legends’ for storytelling around the fire circle.

Outdoor paper bag lanterns, such as these, are perfect to set the ambiance for nighttime storytelling.

By Anna Krejci

When the outdoor air turns colder in fall, I want to sit in front of a small fire.  At night, I like to watch the mesmerizing light from the flames.  I love to feel the warmth from a fireplace or outdoor fire circle.  I appreciate the contrast between the chill and being toasty.  People gather to warm themselves around a fire.  It is a good time to tell and listen to stories.

I found a book of stories called “Buckeye Legends: Folktales and Lore from Ohio.”  It was written by Michael Jay Katz.  I settled into reading it when it was nearly September and time for fall campfires. “Buckeye Legends” has 28 short stories, which are set in many different places in the state.

Stories to Tell

Here is some of what you’ll find in the book. If you read the stories to your friends or family gathered around a fire, you’ll learn of Joe Copperwing, who around 1812 was the only remaining Shawnee to live in Ohio, and whose leather products were popular among the European settlers in Greene County.  As told by the narrator, you might envision Joe Copperwing making leather by submerging the animal hides in a creek – just one of many steps in the process.  You might feel sad that Joe Copperwing was separated from the rest of the Shawnee, who were moved off their land by the white settlers.  The narrator fills your ear with details of who Joe Copperwing befriended and of how he lived.

From another story, you’d hear about the travels of Mordant Bissell, a Chagrin Falls man who traveled to the South Pacific.  He brought this story from the Cook Islands to Ohio.  As the story goes, people on the island of Mangaia lived underground until a god named Ru, who was partially made of stone, held up the sky. The story also reveals why the pumice stones on the island resemble bones.

From yet another tale, you might wonder how the old mansion looked surrounded by trees on Blennerhassett Island, which is near Marietta.  Blennerhassett Island has historical ties to Aaron Burr’s ambitious agenda, which was to start a new, perfected government on seized land out West.  According to lore, Blennerhassett Island was a base for the men who were joining Burr in his plan.  The men were chased off the island by federal military men who thwarted them in the early 1800s.  President Thomas Jefferson had declared their intention illegal, and the story tells what happened to Aaron Burr's followers in the aftermath.

Nature Endures Like the Legends

The stories are set in diverse settings in Ohio.  I think reading some of this collection of stories outdoors on a cool, fall night, in diminished light, would be captivating.  With a lantern or flashlight by which to read, I’d enjoy the history, and the wonderment of these stories read aloud, and let the darkness enfold me.  The storyteller’s voice would be carried in the wind.  Rustling leaves from the tree branches above would be a slight interruption, perhaps only like a listener uttering an “ahem,” or a gasp, as the story takes an unexpected turn. Nature is old and enduring like these legends.  I can look at an old, large tree, and think it might have been there 200 years ago, like those trees on Blennerhassett Island that surrounded the manor.  When Mordant Bissell returned home to Ohio from the South Pacific to tell the islanders’ story of the pumice stones, the rocks of Ohio might have been just as old as the island’s.  Joe Copperwing sunk his animal hides in Ludlow Creek for leather making; the stream still exists.

From Legend to Tradition

“Buckeye Legends” awakened my sense of imagination, and at the same time left me with some insight into Ohio history.  The stories left by previous generations talk about the past Ohioans and support an understanding of current traditions in Ohio’s communities.  I have been to many of the places mentioned in the book: Geauga County, Greene County, Old Man’s Cave in Hocking Hills, Chagrin Falls and Marietta.  The list of places in Ohio mentioned in the book goes on; often there is an explanation of how these places were named.  This book is a traveler’s delight.

Work Cited

Katz, Michael Jay. Buckeye Legends: Folktales and Lore from Ohio, The University of Michigan Press, 1994, Ann Arbor.

Paper Bag Lanterns

Not everyone can access an outdoor fire pit by which to share “Buckeye Legends,” so consider instead making some paper bag lanterns to light up the night in a cozy way.  Just the sight of light on a cool, dark, fall night warms me up!

Supplies

You will need the following supplies:

A white paper bag lunch sack and a brown paper bag lunch sack in the same size

An Exacto knife

Pencil

Small piece of cardboard approximately the same width as the paper bag lunch bags

Sand

Battery-operated flickering LED tea light

Pictured above are brown and white paper bags, a battery-operated LED tea light, a pencil, an Exacto knife, a piece of cardboard.  Sand is not pictured, but will be needed for this project.

Instructions

On the wide panel of the brown paper bag, sketch with a pencil the outline of a leaf.

Insert the piece of cardboard into the brown paper bag that you have laid flat on the table.  The cardboard will protect the surface of your worktable.

With the Exacto knife, cut along the lines of your leaf sketch, being careful not to push too deep.  This takes some time to get a clean cut since the paper bag is fragile paper.  Make sure you are cutting into the cardboard underneath your paper bag and not your worktable’s surface.

Carefully remove the cutout shape of the leaf. You can discard it.

Remove the piece of cardboard from the bag.

Open the brown paper bag. Fill it with just enough sand to weigh it down in the wind.

Insert the white paper bag inside the brown paper bag.  You shouldn’t need to fill the white bag with any sand.  The sand in the brown bag should suffice.

Place a tea light inside the white paper bag.  You have a paper bag lantern.

Set the paper bag lantern outside and within view of your seating for the storytelling.  Turn on the tea light and settle in for a snug time. These lanterns lend a nice, decorative touch to an outdoor space.