CABO VERDE / Year of Parsons's comparative article, not a physical anomaly
Cabo Verde's magic password: when a house or tree obeys
A password moves a tree or reveals hidden space in Cape Verdean tales. The mystery concerns the motif's journey between oral storytelling and printed literature.
Cabo Verde; tales collected from islanders in New England · Broad country marker for the tales' island association; collection took place in diaspora and no extraordinary event site is authenticated.
Assessment: The password motif and the collector's transmission uncertainty are documented. A unique origin or physical anomaly is not established.
Investigation and inspector’s assessment
The mystery and the documented account
Elsie Clews Parsons's 1918 comparative article recounts Cape Verdean password tales, including a wolf carried skyward by a fig tree after forgetting its formula and access to a hidden store of wealth through speaking to rock. She discusses related versions and admits uncertainty about transmission from Portugal as oral tradition or literature. Her testimony also locates island-born tellers in Newport and New Bedford, where one later supplied a printed text. The story's geography and the collector's interview geography must therefore be kept separate. [S1] [S2]
The question worth investigating
Did these motifs circulate through printed stories, oral exchange or both? How did movement between islands and diaspora change the impossible spaces and passwords?
Evidence, provenance and uncertainty
The historical article is consulted through a transcription of the original publication. Its period terminology and broad racial grouping are not adopted as present-day categories. Magical movement is a narrative event, not a measured space-time anomaly. [S1] [S2]
Inspector’s assessment
The password motif and the collector's transmission uncertainty are documented. A unique origin or physical anomaly is not established.
Next research and discriminating evidence
Compare original page scans, transcriptions and named collection contexts. Trace printed texts and attributed oral versions chronologically. Preserve uncertainty where a similar plot cannot establish the direction of borrowing.
Documentary chronology
- 1917
The bibliography records Parsons's Ten Folk-Tales from the Cape Verde Islands. [S2]
- Before the 1918 article
Parsons describes islander tellers in Newport and New Bedford. [S1]
- 1918
Her comparative article examines password motifs and uncertain transmission. [S1]
- 30 September 2026
Eklipsis compiles this English documentary investigation from the named sources. No field visit or new eyewitness interview is claimed.
Dates distinguish the event, the creation of a record and its later publication. Approximate dates remain approximate.
Evidence ledger
Documented in the named record
Parsons explicitly questions whether a Cape Verdean version arrived through oral storytelling or literature.
Not established by the selected evidence
The moving tree, responsive rock or hidden house establishes an actual spatial anomaly.
Editorial assessment; stated limits apply
The password motif and the collector's transmission uncertainty are documented. A unique origin or physical anomaly is not established.
Hypothesis review
Printed and oral tales moving through an Atlantic network
Collector's proposed transmission avenue
- Supporting considerations
- One teller supplied a printed text from Lisbon.
- Limits and objections
- This does not explain every variant's origin.
- Discriminating test
- Compare dated publications with attributed tellings.
An adaptable oral motif with independently varied settings
Alternative transmission hypothesis
- Supporting considerations
- The article compares different objects and spaces responding to formulas.
- Limits and objections
- Similarity alone cannot prove independent invention.
- Discriminating test
- Compare unusual shared details and documented contact routes.
Inspector’s next steps
Trace the earliest accessible record
For Cabo Verde's magic password: when a house or tree obeys, record author or storyteller, collection date, language, translation, page and exact scope. Distinguish evidence of a story being told from evidence of its events. Note which full documents remain unavailable.
Investigate the central question
Compare original page scans, transcriptions and named collection contexts. Trace printed texts and attributed oral versions chronologically. Preserve uncertainty where a similar plot cannot establish the direction of borrowing.
Compare explanations without merging evidence
Compare dated publications with attributed tellings. Compare unusual shared details and documented contact routes. Preserve contradictions and unsuccessful searches; proposed work remains unperformed.
These are proposed research tasks, not completed fieldwork or requests already sent to an archive.
Documents and source register
Original reports, scans, catalogue records and later analyses are identified separately. Alternate copies of the same document do not add independent evidence. Follow the named archive for full access information.
Elsie Clews Parsons — The Provenience of Certain Negro Folk-Tales, II: The Pass-word (1918)
Historical title retained for identification. Collection settings and literary-origin uncertainty are explicit.
Language: English
Open original source ↗JSTOR — Parsons, Ten Folk-Tales from the Cape Verde Islands (1917)
Journal of American Folklore 30(116), 230–238; metadata consulted, not full text. Same collector, not independent anomaly evidence.
Language: English
Open original source ↗Downloadable working files
The pack contains the English dossier, a structured case record, source register, chronology, evidence ledger, hypothesis comparison and inspector task sheet. Downloaded source documents, when available for redistribution, are identified in the pack manifest. Other documents remain direct source links.
- English dossier · Markdown
- Structured case · JSON
- Chronology · CSV
- Evidence ledger · CSV
- Hypothesis comparison · CSV
- Source register · CSV
- Inspector task sheet · Markdown
- File manifest and attribution · JSON
Eklipsis authored this synthesis and its working sheets. The original archives and researchers retain credit for their documents. This is a documentary investigation, not a claim that Eklipsis conducted the historical fieldwork.