Southern Folklore by Vivian Johnson https://padlet.com/vjohnson0/fmgw0zofvr I Believed What the Elders Said en-us 2013-07-13 03:52:12 UTC 2013-07-13 04:02:07 UTC hello@padlet.com "If a girl bites off a live butterfly's head, she will receive a dress the color of its wings" is the first folklore I took to heart. It was the 1950s, no TV meant talking was entertainment.  Yes, I fell for this one. Don't judge me! One could only wear so many dresses made out of huge flour sacks!   These were desperate times in my young life. Of course, at my tender age (six or seven) it was easy to believe grown folks.  Actually, belief was a requirement for survival with all limbs intact and minimal scarring from beatings with handy, just right for whopping weapons of choice.                                                                                                                                                                The butterfly beheading was NOT easy,  especially with the wiggling antennae. (I've been thinking about it for some time and finally did the research. This folklore dates back to the 1800s. According to some folklore, you are supposed to throw the remains over your left shoulder to secure the gift). I did not learn until later that the "Fort man" was in on it. Perched in his truck-actually a Ford, hence the name, he traveled up and down the bumpy dirt roads selling his wares, including yards of colorful material for sewing. Cloth with colors similar to the butterfly wings would be purchased and  a dress appeared.  I must admit, my pretty new dress did have most of the wings' colors-as best as could be remembered.  In retrospect, my heart  felt a bit heavy clamping my teeth over the butterfly's wiggling head, but desperate times called for desperate measures.   Greed led me to settle for wings that fluttered my favorite colors.  Guilt and sadness wrapped itself in the threads woven together in the cloth that created a "mammy made" constant reminder of my weakness and childhood greed. I vowed not to ever do that again.  Okay, there was that one last time... DO NOT JUDGE ME, it was the 1950's!                                                                                                                                                             I just wanted a pretty dress that would release me from being the laughing stock of the whole school, egged on by children who lived in my community and played with me when no other school children were around. It did not take me long to realize that  no cloth existed on the traveling salesman truck or anywhere else in my world that could re-create the beauty of  butterfly wings powerful enough to ward off the pain of being teased. It was also clear that hurtful children will always find something to laugh about. That's just who they were. vjohnson0 https://padlet.com/vjohnson0/fmgw0zofvr/wish/11190602 7/13/13





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