Folk Tales of the Pennsylvania Dutch by William Woys Weaver

Folk Tales of the Pennsylvania Dutch
Stories of Witchcraft, Magic, and the Supernatural
by William Woys Weaver
Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center, 200 pp., hardcover $35

The Pennsylvania Dutch hold a rich tradition of oral storytelling, yet little scholarship to date focused on the supernatural tales of this community. William Woys Weaver’s latest book, the 10th volume of the Pennsylvania German Cultural Heritage Center’s annual publication series, attempts to address this oversight. This collection of 41 short stories culled from numerous sources, including Don Yoder’s field notes, demonstrates the conflation of traditional German superstitions and Native American beliefs in the folk tales of the Pennsylvania Dutch. In these stories, Bear Woman works with the Buschmops (King of the Forest Dwarfs) to defeat evil in the land, the Daumlinge (water fairies) give a childless woman a baby, and Glee Hans (Schlangeman) creates magical utensils while satisfying the urges of females. Many of the tales feature a Braucher, an expert in powwow, a system of folk magic. When the characters face troubles, the Braucher identifies a cause — usually a barn witch, a curse or another supernatural element — and provides a cure using simple ingredients and methods, such as making a dough man or offering pretzels.

Weaver chose a literary approach to this collection. By using this method, he retained, as he notes in the introduction, “the creative flexibility afforded to traditional performative oral retellings of folktales, striking a delicate balance between stylistic expression and adherence to traditional forms.” This approach successfully delivers a volume of well-told tales, replete with humor, sexual innuendo, magic and practical wisdom. To enhance the appeal of this collection, Patrick J. Donmoyer contributed a series of silhouette drawings, reminiscent of Scherenschnitte. These beautiful illustrations fulfill the artist’s goal to “give substance to [these] oral traditions without truly confining them in knowledgeable forms,” he explains in the foreword. Additionally, this volume contains a glossary, helpful for those readers unfamiliar with Pennsylvania Dutch terminology.

Weaver’s collection of folk tales belongs on the shelf of every scholar of the Pennsylvania Dutch, yet it is the perfect choice for those who merely seek a delightful collection of stories.

Mary L. Sellers
Penn State University