Folklorist's Fieldwork Notebook Accidentally Becomes the Region's Most Popular Bedtime Story

Dr. Margaret Stith-Propp's fieldwork notebook, a 340-page academic document filled with motif index numbers, informant codes, and phrases like 'cf. AT 480 variant, see Thompson 1932,' has become the most requested bedtime story among children in Harlan County, Kentucky, after a copy was accidentally left at the public library's children's reading corner. 'He asks for it every night,' said parent Rachel Caudill, referring to her five-year-old son, Owen. 'He calls it the Numbers Book. He's asleep before I finish the first page. It's miraculous.' The notebook's soporific power was first discovered by librarian Dorothy Begley, who placed it in the reading corner thinking it was a donated book. Within a week, parents were photocopying pages and requesting Dr. Stith-Propp visit for a reading. 'I was mortified,' said Dr. Stith-Propp, who had been searching for the notebook for three weeks. 'That book contains two years of fieldwork. The motif classifications alone represent hundreds of hours of analysis. And it's being used as a sleep aid for kindergarteners.' Dr. Stith-Propp attended one reading session at the library and read aloud from her entry on 'Motif H1023.2.1: Recognition by Birthmark, subtype regional variant, cross-referenced with K1816.0.3, Disguise by Painting Body.' Every child in the room was unconscious within four minutes. 'I have never felt so simultaneously validated and insulted,' she said. The notebook has since been returned to Dr. Stith-Propp, but parents have petitioned her to publish it as a children's book. She has declined, though she admits to reading it aloud to her own children 'when nothing else works.'