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COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Stories, Folktales, Folklore, Fairy Tales, Legends, Myths, History, Nursery Rhymes, Fantasy & Facts Scroll down or click on your choice below • SOS: Searching Out Stories/Info - Community Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians

SOS: SEARCHING OUT STORIES AND INFORMATION ABOUT JACK TALES
Advice, Comments and References from Storytellers, Teachers and Librarians
(excerpts from Storytell posts plus original research)

Book titles and online links are in blue and underlined. Click on them for more information.
Story titles are in quotation marks.
To retell these stories, get permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain.
Storytell posts are added chronologically as they are received by Story Lovers World.

1) I bet there is something in Earth Care by Margaret Read MacDonald

2) I am not sure if this story would work but you never know. The story is called The Best Wish and it is an original tale by Dan Keding, one his grandmother shared with him. It is in one of the previous Storytelling Magazines, December 2001 I believe. Do you receive the magazine? If not I will find it for you.

Bones:

Two angels are fighting in heaven. One, pessimist says there are no good people left on earth, everyone is greedy. Optimist bets he can find three good men on earth. He comes to earth disguised as a beggar and finds three brothers, all good men, very poor. They share their food with the angel in disguise. For their reward he gives each one a wish. First one wishes to be a wine merchant. Wish is granted, wealth, huge home, ships, etc. Second one: wishes to be a wool merchant. Wish is granted, again, wealth, position, etc. Youngest and last one wishes for the one woman who will love him for who he is. Tough job, only three women in the world and two are married. They find the third and with the help of the angel they marry. He gives them a small, modest home in a beautiful forest and tells them always to remember God's poor, as he told the other brothers as well. Years pass, angel revisits, again dressed as a beggar. First two brothers turn him away. Angel takes away everything. Third brother and wife welcome him into their modest home and offer him whatever they have. Angel rewards them because they remembered "God's poor."

3) Or the true story of the mom & pop pizza place that had a national chain move to their town. They used the page of the phonebook that held their competitor's ad as a coupon. Just bring in that page and you get so much off on your pizza.

4) How about making up your own story about the Giant who came into the town threatening that he would eat them up if they didn't do what he wanted! He ate the townspeople one by one until no one was left and then the Giant went on to another far country to find a new town.

5) I just learned "The Earth Monster" written in Joe Hayes' book Here Comes The Storyteller. Coyote gets all the people of one village to work together to scare away the monster even though they are scared to death. I used all kinds of sound effects and called a lot of kids up to use them, like story theater. It was a lot of fun. I would call it community building story for sure. Good ending, too.

6) Liz Weir's story (in The Healing Heart for Communities: Storytelling for Strong and Healthy Communities (Families) at http://www.newsociety.com ) about the farm family who've fallen on hard times is perfect. They're visited by a tramp who gives them a gold bar in exchange for their kindness. He leaves saying he'll come back the next year to see how they've managed. They bury the gold for safekeeping and never have to dig it up. Through their own efforts and the resources already at hand, they bring prosperity back to their farm. When the tramp returns, the farmer tells him, "Once I started to work on things, we soon got the place going again. You gave us just the wee 'lift' that we needed."

7) Interestingly, on NPR recently was a report about how not every little community is destroyed by Walmart. They focused on a local entrepreneur who sent his employees to shop at Walmart and report back on things they didn't have and services not provided. Then he focused on providing those goods and services. On the opposite side of the coin a "specialist" on how Walmart ruins small businesses and upsets economies said Yeah, he'd also heard about a man who used to own a general type store, who'd gone into a couple of specialties (one was exotic fish I think, but I can't think of the other one) and still thought (obviously erroneously, according to the specialist) that he was still a viable businessman and Walmart competitor. It's an interesting story to watch develop, if not an interesting development in terms of human commmunity betterment.

8) Stories about community abound and of course the first one is Stone Soup. For the wee onesm you could use the story of The Little Red Hen (Little Golden Book), lots of participation there.

Here are some other suggestions which might strike a chord:
"The Magic Pomegranate" - by Penninah Schema - Ready-To-Tell Tales (American Storytelling) by Holt and Mooney
"The Noisy House" — http://www.story-lovers.com/listsnoisyhousestories.html

"Anansi Shares Wisdom With the World" (different versions)
http://www.motherlandnigeria.com/stories/why_wisdom_is_everywhere.html
http://nigeria.usembassy.gov/wwwhcampblngsigning.html
http://www8.sbs.com.au/worldtales/read_story.php?storyID=20
http://www.robinsononeil.com/african_anansi.htm (very elaborate version)

Grandfather's Rock by Joel Strangis - Touching story of a family finally pulling together to care for their grandfather. Copyright might apply. I have not found it in folktale form but it is smilier to the story of "The Half Blanket" recently discussed.

"Granny's Gifts by Andrea Belcher - http://www.story-lovers.com/listsgranny'sgiftstory.html

"The Baker's Dozen" GOS #7
http://www.aaronshep.com/storytelling/GOS07.html

"The Magic of Mushkil Gush" (Middle Eastern, Iranian, Persian Folktales) http://www.aaronshep.com/stories/048.html
"The Best Wish" by Dan Keding Nov/Dec 2002 Storytelling Magazine — http://www.dankeding.com/
"The Tear" by Dan Keding — http://www.dankeding.com/
"Old Joe and the Carpenter" - Doorways to the Soul: 52 Wisdom Tales from Around the World by Elisa Pearmain

"The Gifts of Wali Dad" (Pakistani, Asian Indian Folktales)
http://www.aaronshep.com/stories/018.html

"Kings for Breakfast!" (Hindu, Asian Indian Folktales)
http://www.aaronshep.com/stories/004.html

"The Difference Between Heaven and Hell" — http://www.story-lovers.com/listsheavenandhell.html
"The Parts of the House That Argue" - Wisdom Tales from Around the World (World Storytelling) by Heather Forest (each piece is important to the other, much like a community.

9) Below are some stories I have considered using on these topics:

"The Enormous Carrot"
"Anansi and His Sons"
"The King's Road"
"The Mitten"
"Little Red Hen"
"The Ant and the Dove"
"The Sun Tree"
"Animal School"
"Planting the Trees"
"Starfish"
"The Lion and the Mouse"
"Three Friends" (Despain's Tales of Heroes (The Books of Nine Lives, 4) )

Wendy G. 10/21/09

10) What about "A Drop of Honey" from A kingdom lost for a drop of honey,: And other Burmese folktales, or Peace Tales by Marbaret Read MacDonald, a tale where the leader doesn't take responsibility, causing the downfall of the country? Or one of the versions of "Miller, His Son & Their Donkey" from Donkey Trouble (Aladdin Picture Books) or Aesop's Fables: Complete, Original Translation from Greek (Forgotten Books), where everyone gives advice on how to take a donkey to market... my way's the right way? A couple of citations...

Judy N. 10/22/09

11) Tiddalick: The Frog Who Caused a Flood (Picture Puffin), who drank all the water in the world -- community works to get water back. I've changed the ending so they don't laugh at one of the animals but they all do the chicken dance and frog laughs

The Boy Who Cried Wolf: A Retelling of Aesop's Fable (Read-It Readers!: Fables) -- community comes to his rescue.

"Butterfly Friends" -- the wildflowers help the butterflies to stay dry.

Anansi and the Moss-covered Rock -- little spotted deer knows if things are to change she needs to step up and help.

"Frog and Locust" -- only by working together, singing together, do the rains come.

Sue B. 10/22/09

12) My favorite, although it does take some time to learn it, is "Coyote Brings the Light." In the version I tell three other animals volunteer to help. Also, from Stories California Indians Told is "The First Rainbow." Animals volunteer to help Coyote in his plan to get a sign that the rain will stop.

MRM also led me on to an African story "Kanu Above and Kanu Below." Four animals that are a nuisance to their community come together to save the Chief's daughter.

Marilyn K. 10/22/09

Response:

I developed a new story this summer for the MA SRP, a version of the above, it is an East African folktale called The First Morning: An African Myth. It will work well in the program.

Karen C. 10/22/09

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Created 2005; last update 10/21/09.