We have been studying fairy tales, myths , and legends and recently we had the opportunity to hear about a legend from some very enthusiastic third graders in Arizona.
What is a legend-–A legend is usually based on a true event in the past. However, the story may have changed over time to take on some special mystical feature.
Legends usually have a real hero at the center of the story and they are often set in fantastic places. The story will have been passed on from person to person, sometimes over a very long period of time. The fact that so many people have taken the trouble to keep the story alive, usually tells you that it has some very important meaning for the culture or region in which the story was first told.
Sometimes things get changed over time with each retelling of the story. We did a little research today and found some different versions of the story but we really like the one that the kids shared with us.
We recently skyped with our new friends in Arizona at Peralta Elementary School. We eagerly listened as the tale unfolded.
They did a wonderful skit telling us about Superstition Mountain and the Legend of the Lost Dutchman. They had made some really cool pictures of miners , gold and a skelton. T he legend of the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine centers around the Superstition Mountains. According to the legend, a German immigrant named Jacob Walzer discovered a mother lode.
Near the school is the Superstition Mountains. This mountains are full of mystery and the legend of the Lost Dutchman Gold Mine.
People have died on Superstition Mountain. There was a lady that was 65 years old hiking and she fell 50 feet and she died. There was a plane crash that killed some children from their school. Why did the Indians fear the mountain?
The first person to get gold was Don Miguel a very rich man from a wealthy family. In 1845 he went home to get supplies and made the Apache angry so they attacked and killed over 400 men. Others came after him trying to locate the lost mine. Some had maps but many died trying to find the mine. Jacob was said to have located the mine. Then the maps were lost and everyone thought the mine was too. Did it exist?
The Superstition Mountain gets it’s name because so many people die there and it’s like a mystery. The Indians thought it was a place of death. They don’t know if it’s a ghost or just a mystery with humans.
In 1910 they found 10 golden nuggets.
We also learned about some animals found in the Sonora Desert. We also learned about Saguaro Cactus, the state flower of Arizona and how the cactus wren lives in the top of it.
Animals in the Sonoran Desert include:
They have lizards. There was one that spit out blood from it’s eyes. If it squirts them in the eyes they will be blind forever. They have the Gila Monster. If it gets on you it will not let you go. It will poison you and you can died from it.
The state bird is a cactus wren. They have real roadrunners there. He runs really fast. They have mountain lions that come looking for water. They have bobcats and panthers. They have skunk. There is quail. And rattlesnakes too. They have lots of birds. Some of the animals are the same in North Carolina like the cardinal , skunk, bobcat and rattlesnake.
It can get to 122 degrees in summer. It gets very hot.
It can get as cold as in the 30’s.
They once had a lockdown because the mountain lion was trying to find water.
Where is this mysterious place…….
It is close to Mexico. It’s next to California. It’s in the hottest desert in the USA.
It’s Arizona.
We heard a legend from Australia called the Three Sisters Blue Mountains. North Carolina has Blackbeard the Pirate, the Brown Mountain Lights and many others. Do you have a favorite legend?
Here is a link for some North Carolina legends and ghost stories.
http://www.northcarolinaghosts.com/
That sounds like a really entertaining Skype session – I really enjoy hearing legends, partly because they are usually close to the truth, but generally because the stories are JUST believable, although usually incredible!
There are a lot of local legends where we live. One that I really like is the legend of the Little Drummer Boy, about local town Richmond.
Legend has it that King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table are buried under Richmond Castle. Some soldiers who knew this, decided to find out if it was true, or if indeed there was a tunnel leading from the castle to nearby Easby Abbey, as was rumoured. The found an entrance to a very small tunnel, but none of them could squeeze through it, so they persuaded their drummer boy to explore the tunnel. They told him to beat his drum as he went, and they would follow his progress above ground. He set off, and they followed the sound of his drum, all the way down through the town to the river, but as they went along the banks of the river, the sound faded… eventually they could hear nothing. They searched the castle, they searched Easby Abbey but the little drummer boy was never found.
To this day on a still night, you can hear the sound of the little drummer boy’s ghostly drum, and a stone is erected on the site that it was last heard…
I have been looking for a clear definition of a legend and this is th one! thank you so much!