ROGUES AND RESCUERS

By Rita Grimaldi

Who are our allies (our Rescuers) and who are the villains (the Rogues)?

For me, the story of The Long Leather Bag explores these two questions.

Who are our allies?

Shaman stories are probably the first stories in which animal allies appear. In these stories, animals both support the shaman and in return are supported by the shaman. This is also true in The Long Leather Bag. The youngest sister is kind to the animals – she rubs the horse, she sheers the sheep and she milks the cow. In return, the animals help her by not telling the villain Hag where she is.

Sometimes in shaman stories, a form of animism occurs to enrich the storyline and the actions of its characters. What is animism? It’s the belief that everything has a soul or spirit, including animals, plants, rocks, mountains, rivers and the stars. Animists also believe that every anima is a powerful spirit that either helps or hurts in some fashion. Therefore, it is to be paid attention to in some way.

In the old stories, animism allows objects to come alive. One of my favourite stories to tell is the story of Drakestail. In this story, a duck called Drakestail goes to a villain King to get his money back. On the way, he meets a ladder who asks to come with him.

Drakestail says to the ladder, “You will have a hard time to walk on your stiff wooden legs. Make yourself small and climb into my gizzard and I will carry you.” The ladder does this.

Later, the villain King throws Drakestail into a well. Drakestail says, “Ladder, ladder friend so true, Drakestail needs to climb on you.” The ladder comes out of Drakestail’s gizzard, makes itself big again and Drakestail uses it to climb out of the well to safety.

This same reciprocal help happens in the story of The Long Leather Bag. The youngest sister is asked by the mill to turn its wheel. She is kind to the mill and does what she is asked. In return, the mill grinds up the villain Hag. The grateful mill also tells the youngest sister where to find the Hag’s wand and how to return her sisters from stones back into their human forms.

Re-thinking why the story has three siblings

Many of the old stories have three siblings. There might be three brothers or three sisters. In all cases, it is the youngest sibling who usually behaves better than his or her older siblings and in the end, often saves them from some calamity or malicious act.

In The Long Leather Bag, the two eldest sisters behave badly toward both the animals and the mill. In retaliation, the animals and the mill tell the villain Hag where to find the two sisters. The villain Hag turns each of them into a lump of stone.

For me, the story shows a pattern of two siblings who behave badly and get their comeuppance while a third sibling behaves well and succeeds in defeating the villain.

In this way, I can look at the story as an important behavioural lesson for all of us navigating our way in the modern world.

If you behave like this, this is what will happen to you.

But if you choose to behave like that, this is what will happen 
to you.

In The Long Leather Bag, kindness pays off in the end.