STORIES ABOUT STORIES and STORYTELLING
(excerpts from posts)
(If you want to retell any of the stories listed below, be sure to obtain permission from the copyright holder if the material is not in the public domain)

1) David Novak's version of The Three Dolls in Holt and Mooney's Ready-To-Tell Tales (American Storytelling). The storyteller gets to be the hero.

2) Another version of The Three Dolls is online at
http://askbaba.helloyou.ch/stories/s1004.html
Also, the compilation about Three Identical Dolls at
http://www.story-lovers.com/liststhreedolls.html

3) Also Raven Brings Fresh Water (as retold by Fran Martin) in which Raven tells a boring story to put a man named Ganook to sleep so Raven can take the water Ganook guards.
http://tinyurl.com/639a6z

4) The Argos story from mythology.
http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/Argos.html

5) The Bird Who Spoke Three Times in Ruth Sawyer's The Way of the Storyteller.

6) Especially around Halloween, there's James Whitcomb Riley's The Gobble-Uns 'll Git You Ef You Don't Watch Out! - James Whitcomb Riley's Little Orphant Annie: James Whitcomb Riley's Little Orphant Annie, who tells all those witch-tales.

7) The King Who Wanted to Learn Wisdom in Apples From Heaven: Multicultural Folk Tales About Stories and Storytellers by Naomi Baltuck.

8) A book, Tricky Tales - from Scholastic Book Services, 1975. They got it from The Boy and the Blind Storyteller by Paul Anderson.

9) The Gift of Story from A Story, a Story, an African tale retold and illustrated by Gail E. Haley.

10) The Cricket Story from Spinning Tales, Weaving Hope: Stories, Storytelling, and Activities for Peace, Justice and the Environment Ed. Ed Brody, Jay Goldspinner, Katie Green, Rona Leventhal and John Porcino of Stories for World Change Network, Philadelphia, New Society Publishers, 1992, pg. 201.

11) The Gift of Story: A Wise Tale About What is Enough by Clarissa Pinkola Estes.

12) Pleasant DeSpain, Sweet Land of Story. , Sweet Land of Story.

13) Mr. Pak, written by Carol J. Farley. A different version of this story is A Tale For Sale and it's in A Tiger by the Tail and Other Stories from the Heart of Korea: retold by Lindy Soon Curry and edited by Chan Eung Park. It's in the World Folklore series.

14) Jim Trelease's The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition (Read-Aloud Handbook).

15) The Storytelling Princess (Picture Puffins) by Rafe Martin. The story is one many of us are familiar: someone must tell a story to someone who cannot possibly guess the ending of the story. This is a neat take on that motif, and told very well.
ISBN 0-399-22924-8, from G.P. Putnam's Sons.

16) Two other books related to storytelling were reviewed in the 3/15/02 issue of Library Journal. Medieval Folklore: A Guide to Myths, Legends, Tales, Beliefs, and Customs. Apparently it was published in 2000 in two volumes, but has been republished in one paperback volume for $18.95. The review was pretty positive.

17) The second is by Marjorie Dundas, who was and maybe still is a listmember of Storytell. It's called Riddling Tales from Around the World. The review of this title was also very good, although it was mainly recommended for academic and specialized collections.

18) Kendall Haven has a book on using storytelling for creative writing. It's called Write Right!: Creative Writing Using Storytelling Techniques.

19) Jack Maguire's two books: Creative Storytelling: Choosing, Inventing, & Sharing Tales for Children and The Power of Personal Storytelling. Both of these may be used in graduate level storytelling/folklore classes.

20) Marni Gillard's Storyteller, Storyteacher: Discovering the Power of Storytelling for Teaching and Living.

21) Story and Truth is a tale of Truth alone or naked who is not accepted. When accompanied by Story, who dressed in lovely colors, Truth was accepted. One source is A Treasury of Jewish Folklore by Ausubel. It is attributed to Rabbi Jacob Kranz, an 18th century Eastern European storyteller and teacher, who was a also known as the Maggid of Dubbno.

Heather Forest made it into a poem. The story poem is on the dedication of her book Wisdom Tales from Around the World (World Storytelling) that "Naked Truth and Parable." Another source is Newman's book Maggidim & Hasidim: their wisdom;: A new anthology of the parables, folk-tales, fables, aphorisms, epigrams, sayings, anecdotes, proverbs, and exegetical ... companion volume to "The Hasidic anthology.".

22) Truth and Beauty found in the introduction to Jane Yolen's Favorite Folktales from Around the World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library). In that one, a man goes to seek Truth and finds that she is old and ugly, but wise and with a beautiful voice. After learning all he can from her, he asks if there is anything he can do for her. She says, "When you speak of me in the world, tell them I am young and beautiful!." Is this what Story does?

23) The Coming of the Legends from Joseph Bruchac's Iroquois Stories: Heroes and Heroines Monsters and Magic.
This is an Iroquois or Haudensaunee legend of a young boy who sought shelter by a great rock. As he was chipping flint from the rock, a deep voice said, "I will tell a story." The rock asked the boy to give up one of the birds he'd killed hunting that day. Then the rock told tales of how things were in the former world. The boy returned many times bringing other birds and other listeners. The standing rock told legends until the boy was a man who had the responsibility to carry these stories to the people.

24) Naomi Baltuck's book Apples From Heaven: Multicultural Folk Tales About Stories and Storytellers. She has a wonderful way with her words. The stories are all about storytellers and storytelling from many cultures.
I know there's one about a man who's about to get married, but pieces of his wedding clothes (I think) plot to kill him because he hasn't told stories. His butler saves him! I heard it once as a Korean story.
Response: I think that one is called The Story Bag and is in Naomi Baltuck's book, Apples From Heaven: Multicultural Folk Tales About Stories and Storytellers which has been mentioned.

25) My favorite is one whose title I don't know, told at a seminar by a lovely lady whose name is, I think, Debra Tolar Olsen or Olsen Tolar. This deals with a caliph whose child was given the gift of having stories told to him all his life. The child becomes a wise caliph and on his tombstone had written "If I was wise, it was because of the stories." I'd love to know if this was hers, or traditional or someone else's. It's a wonderful starting story. Another member has found a wonderful story, about Coyote and the Magic Words, by Phyllis Root. And I've found the one about the Story Spirits who try to kill someone who won't let them be told.
Response: That California teller whose story you're remembering is Debra Olson Tolar whose contact info is listed in the current NSN Source Book.

26) There's that one posted on the list recently. The king's favourite storyteller got out of line and said something that insulted the king. He was condemned to death, but allowed to choose how he was to die. He chose old age.

27) You might look at David Novak's version of The Three Dolls in Holt and Mooney's Ready-To-Tell Tales (American Storytelling)
The storyteller gets to be the hero. I found another version online at www.zensufi.com/figurine.htm, but it doesn't work as well as a storytelling story. I also have a copy of Raven Brings Fresh Water (as retold by Fran Martin) in which Raven tells a boring story to put a man named Ganook to sleep so Raven can take the water Ganook guards (which reminds me of the Argus story from mythology--another possibility). Unfortunately, I don't have notes about the source of the raven story, but I think I found it in one of those folklore anthologies published by Time-Life or Reader's Digest or some such. Then there's The Bird Who Spoke Three Times in Ruth Sawyer's The Way of the Storyteller. And, especially around Halloween, you could always recite James Whitcomb Riley's The Gobble-Uns 'll Git You Ef You Don't Watch Out! - James Whitcomb Riley's Little Orphant Annie: James Whitcomb Riley's Little Orphant Annie, who tells all those witch-tales.

28) Free Melons is a tale I often use to start. Here are my notes, plus a couple of contributions from the list.
Free Melons.
Nasruddin - people didn't believe his tales. Went home to think of a story everyone would believe. Swore he would only leave that room when he had such a story. Disturbed by children's noise outside in street. Decided he's play a trick on them to get peace. "In market at other end of town - they are giving away free melons" Children ran, leaving Nasruddin in peace to think. As children ran others asked why. More started running - children - adults ran - whole town soon ran. Old man ran by storyteller - told him. So Nasruddin thought "Perhaps there really are free melons." He ran, too. Shows that the only people who can tell really good stories must believe them themselves!
Response: In the Mediterranean countries we eat seeds. melon seeds, watermelon seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds. salted, grilled we crack them between the front teeth eat the seed and spit the hulk almost compulsively. it took many years of training and now the cinema theaters and the inside of the buses are no more carpeted with deep layers of seed hulks . so when Hodja Nassar A din tried to rest one hot day at noon under a fig tree and a swarm of street urchins played noisy games around His tree he sent them to the other side of the village :" what are you doing here didn't you hear that Mohammed is giving away seeds to honour the birth of his first son? ' the kids scattered and Hodja went back to sleep but..he could'not sleep the thought of the seeds kept him awake. Maybe it is true it is possible , why not ? May be Mohammed is married.. maybe a son is born and Hodja ran all the way not to miss the (maybe last) seeds.
Response: I'm sure there are many variants of the tale type. Here's one from the mining camps of the American West: An old prospector who never ran in luck died and went to heaven,but the place was so crowded he couldn't get in. St.Peter told him to hang around awhile and there might be room. After pondering the matter,the old fellow called an angel and whispered to him that there had been a gold strike down in hell;and at once there was a pell-mell rush of angels,and soon heaven was empty. As the horde fled downward,the prospector gazed after it hungrily and then turned to Peter. "You know,"he said,"mebbe there was some truth in that rumor." The above collected by B.A.Botkin. I imagine that Nasruddin must also have told such a tale,probably other trickster's too...

29) From the land of many languages, mainly Hebrew and Arabic, here is the answer to your request: Naser-a-Din, The "Na" is pronounced with depth, something between "Na" and "Nu". The "Di" is a little bit prolonged and emphasised. The whole name is said in one breath, don't stop untill you get to the "i". Hodja in Arabic is "Haj" when the "H" is a letter that does not exist in English, and it is pronounced from the throut like the dutch pronounce "jj".

30) Tricky Tales - from Scholastic Book Services, 1975. They got it from The Boy and the Blind Storyteller by Paul Anderson. Rich farmer on high hills can't enjoy riches becasue many robbers in hills, dare not leave farm. Bored. Sends Hop, his servant, with purse of money, to valley to buy story from storyteller. Hop meets farmer, tells him his errand, asks where find storyteller. "Lucky you! I'm best storyteller! Give me purse." But when has money, can't remember single story. Looks around for inspitation, sees stork appproaching, mutters: "He comes, step by step." Hop assumes this is story, repeats words. Farmer realizes this, and
continues to watch stork, saying "Now he stops to look! Now he stops to listen!" and later, according to bird's moves, "He bends down, He creeps" and finally "Ah, he's off, he's fleeing, soon he will be safe!" as bird flies away. Still no story in his head. Hop asks, "What next?" Farmer replies. "What more do you want? That's my best story!" and quickly leaves with money. Hop returns, tells master and mistress "best story". They ponder it each day, and discuss possible meanings each night, and are no longer bores. (When telling this to storytellers, I find they think this is the end, and sometimes I leave it there. A good story about story and ONE of itspowers.) But the original goes on: Robber chief decides he will succeed where others have failed, because of master's watchful eye, goes to rob hill farm. Black night, black clothes. Suddenly hears voice cry out: "He comes, step by step!" (How is that possible, surely nobody can see me in the dark?) He stops and looks and listens. Hears: "Now he stops to look, now he stops to listen." (Impossible! Something strange going on here.) Robber wants to find secret, bends down, creeps to window to peek in. Hears "He bends down, he creeps" and is sure there must be witchcraft or ghosts here, so turns to run. Hears "He's off - soon he will be safe" Thief doesn't stop until he reaches robbers' cave, tells all there never to go near rich farmer again, protected by magic.

31) Here's an offbeat one--how about THE STORY-TELLER 13 TALES by Saki (the pen name of H.H. Munro) about the man who tells a gruesome story to quiet some annoying children on a train, knowing that the story is completely freaking out their nanny who wants them to only hear sweet things.
Response: I love that story -- and the "horribly good" girl deserved what happened to her in that "improper" story.
Also, I know there's one about a man who's about to get married, but pieces of his wedding clothes (I think) plot to kill him because he hasn't told stories. His butler saves him! I heard it once as a Korean story and saw it somewhere else from another country, but I can't remember the name, so can't look i up for you...bet someone else knows it!
Response: There is a Korean tale called The story bag;: A collection of Korean folk tales in a collection of Korean tales with the same name. It is the stories and not the clothes plotting to kill the groom. This might be the one you're thinking of.

32) Also, I know there's one about a man who's about to get married, but pieces of his wedding clothes (I think) plot to kill him because he hasn't told stories. His butler saves him!
Response: I think that one is called The Story Bag and is in Naomi Baltuck's book, Apples From Heaven: Multicultural Folk Tales About Stories and Storytellers which has been mentioned.

33) There's also The Tale of the Three Storytelling Machines in Stanislaw Lem's The Cyberiad.

34) The Indian folklorist, the late A. K. Ramanujan brings some excellent stories about srtorytelling in his book Folktales from India (Pantheon Fairy Tale & Folklore Library), The Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library, New York, 1991.\ The best of them are two Telgu stories: What Happens When You Really Listen (p. 55) and A Story in Search of an Audience (p. 26).

35) Judith Black had an essay on her website
http://www.storiesalive.com
"Fighting for the Soul" about using stories to fight the thoughtless cruelty of the young.
http://www.storiesalive.com/education/articles.htm
There are other wonderful things there, too, in her "from my mouth to your ears" section.

36) Once, a young man came to study with the great Jewish rebbe, the Baal Shem Tov (the Master of the Good Name). The Baal Shem told him "Stay close to me. Watch what I do. Listen to what I say and... remember."
For many years the young man was constantly at the side of the master. He heard him speak when people would come for his advice or help with their problems and all that he saw or heard, he remembered.
One day his master called him and told him that it was now time for him to go out into the world.
"But what shall I do to earn my living?" asked the young man.
"You are to be a storyteller!" said the Baal Shem with a smile.
"And what stories shall I tell?"
"You will tell stories of me and all I have said and all I have done."
So, the young man made his way into the world telling stories of the wonder-working rebbe. His life was hard. Many times those who wished to hear his stories brought him into their homes and gave him the finest of foods and lodgings but there were other times when he had no money to buy food or to gain lodging out of the cold and rain. But, in this way, he made his way in the world always seeking those places and people anxious to hear stories of his master.
One cold dark day, he stood in the marketplace of a strange town offering his stories but no has time for stories today. At last, he approaches a man and asks him if he wants to hear a story of the great Baal Shem Tov.
"Stories?" says the man, "I care nothing about stories but, I'll tell you somebody who does. On the outskirts of the village is a great house where the lord of these lands dwells and he LOVES stories of the Baal Shem Tov!! In fact, he has said that if anyone can tell him a story of the Baal Shem that he has not heard before, he will reward that one with gold!!"
So, the storyteller makes his way to the gates of the great house and tells the watchman that he has stories of the Baal Shem. He is brought before the lord of the manor who sits alone and melancholy in his great, dark room.
"Tell me a story of the Baal Shem that I have not heard before and you shall be rewarded. If I have heard your stories before, you will go in peace but as empty-handed as my heart."
The storyteller began.
"Once the Baal Shem was walking in the forest and a messenger rushed up to him..."
The lord raised his hand and, with a great sadness in his voice, he said;
"Stop, I have heard that story."
And the storyteller began another story but he was not more than a few minutes into the tale when the lord raised his hand and said "Stop, I have heard that story."
All through the night, the storyteller began to tell but the lord of the manor had heard all his stories. Finally, the storyteller could think of nothing and said, "I have no more stories."
"Surely, you have known more stories of the Besht than any man that I have ever met. You may go in peace."
And just as the young man was about to leave the room, he stopped and turned to the lord.
"I remember a time when a rich man came to the Baal Shem. He was a man who had committed great sins in his life and, although he had repented of his sins and made efforts to undo the evil he had done, he did not know if he had yet been forgiven by God and had regained his portion of the world to come. And my Master, the Baal Shem, turned to him and said 'When you hear someone tell you THIS story, then will you know that God has forgiven you.'" and when the storyteller looked up at his host, the rich man was weeping. "I was that man and you shall become a member of my house and shall want for nothing for the rest of your days!"

37) I'm sure there are many variants of the tale type. Here's one from the mining camps of the American West: An old prospector who never ran in luck died and went to heaven,but the place was so crowded he couldn't get in. St.Peter told him to hang around awhile and there might be room. After pondering the matter,the old fellow called an angel and whispered to him that there had been a gold strike down in hell; and at once there was a pell-mell rush of angels,and soon heaven was empty. As the horde fled downward,the prospector gazed after it hungrily and then turned to Peter. "You know,"he said,"mebbe there was some truth in that rumor."
The above collected by B.A.Botkin. I imagine that Nasruddin must also have told such a tale, probably other trickster's too...

38) The Gift of Story
An African Folk Tale
retold by Rocci Hildum
People have told stories for a long time. They have told stories to help them remember ~ important people and things that have happened. The old ones tell stories to the young ones to teach them ~ how to behave and why certain things are the way they are. Sometimes they tell stories just for fun. But there was a time when there were no stories to be told and no stories to be heard. This is an African story about that time.

Now, at that time there were no stories to be told and no stories to be heard. In all the places and times and people there were no stories to be told and no stories to be heard. There were no stories to help people remember. There were no stories for the old ones to tell the young ones to teach. There were no stories to tell just for fun. There were no stories to tell and no stories to hear. There were no stories to be told and no stories to be heard because Nyame, the Great Sky God, owned all the stories. Nyame kept his stories in a golden box that he kept locked, and he kept the box right beside his throne. Nyame would not share his stories with anyone, he kept them to himself and so that in all the places and in all the times and in all the people there were no stories to be told and no stories to be heard.

Now, Ananzi, the old man who is known as the Spider man because he can change into a spider, decided that he should like to purchase Nyame’s stories. Ananzi spun a great web up to the sky, from the middle of his village to Nyame’s throne. Ananzi climbed all the way up the web until he was standing before Nyame’s throne and bowing down before the Great Sky God, Ananzi said to Nyame, "O Great Sky God Nyame, I have come before you to tell you that I should like to purchase your stories."
Nyame, that Great Sky God, looked down at the old and little Ananzi for a second and then threw back his head and laughed and laughed. "Ananzi, you are so small, so small, so small. How is it that you shall be able to purchase my precious stories."
Ananzi looked up at Nyame and asked, "What is the price that you ask for your stories?"
Nyame thought to himself for a moment and then said, "You will need to bring me Osebo, the Leopard of terrible tooth."
Ananzi nodded his head and Nyame thought to himself, "He agrees too easily, this is too small a price for my precious stories."
Nyame thought for a moment and said, "And you shall need to bring to me, Mmboro, the hornet whose sting is like fire."
Ananzi nodded his head and Nyame thought to himself, "He agrees too easily, even this is too small a price for my precious stories."
Nyame thought for a moment and said, "And you shall need to bring to me Mmoatia, the fairy that men never see."
Ananzi nodded his head and said, "The price that you ask is fair. I shall bring you the price you ask for your stories."
Nyame threw back his head with a great booming laugh. "Ananzi, you are so small, so small, so small. How is it that you shall pay this price that I ask?" But Ananzi had climbed back down his web to the middle of his village.
The first thing that Ananzi did was to go in search of Osebo, the leopard of terrible tooth. Ananzi ran along the jungle paths until he found Osebo, lying in the sun in the middle of the path. Osebo saw Ananzi and said, "Ananzi, my friend Ananzi. You are just in time for lunch. You are just in
time to be my lunch."
Ananzi smiled at Osebo and said, "We shall see what we shall see, but first let us play a game." For Ananzi knew that Osebo loved to play games.
Osebo said, "What game shall we play."
Ananzi said, "We shall play the binding binding game."
Osebo said, "And how do you play this game."
Ananzi explained, "I shall take the creeping vine and I shall bind you by your foot and by your foot and by your foot, and when you are all bound I will untie you and it will be your turn to bind me."
Osebo smiled a great smile and said, "Yes, let us play the binding binding game." For Osebo was thinking to himself that when it was his turn he would eat Ananzi.
Ananzi took the creeping vine and he bound Osebo by his foot and by his foot and by his foot and by his foot. And when Osebo was all bound tightly so that he could not move, Ananzi stepped back and looked at him and said, "Now, Osebo, you are ready to go and meet the Great Sky God Nyame." And Ananzi hung Osebo, the leopard of terrible tooth, from a banana tree.
Next Ananzi went in search of Mmboro, the hornet whose sting is like fire. First Ananzi got a calabash gourd, which is a hollow gourd used to carry water. Ananzi filled the calabash gourd with water and Ananzi took a great, large leaf from the banana tree. Ananzi took the calabash gourd and the banana leaf and went to find the nest of Mmboro, the hornet whose sting is like fire. Ananzi stood by the nest of Mmboro and held the banana leaf over his head and poured water from the calabash gourd onto the leaf. Then Ananzi poured out the rest of the water over the nest of Mmboro. Ananzi cried out, "Mmboro, Mmboro, it is raining, it is raining. Shouldn’t you fly into my calabash gourd so that your delicate wings will not be tattered?"
The hornets cried out, "Thank you, thank you Ananzi, for saving my delicate wings," and flew into the calabash gourd. When Mmboro had flown into the calabash gourd, FOOM! Ananzi put a stopper on the gourd. Ananzi held up the gourd and admired it and said, "Now, Mmboro, you are ready to go and meet the Great Sky God Nyame." Ananzi hung the calabash gourd in the banana tree next to Osebo the leopard of terrible tooth.
Lastly, Ananzi went to find Mmoatia, the fairy that men never see. Now, Ananzi knew that Mmoatia loves to dance before a particular tree in a particular spot in the jungle. Ananzi went to that particular tree in that particular spot. Ananzi carved a little wooden doll holding a bowl and
filled the bowl with the sweet yams that Mmoatia loves. And Ananzi covered the entire doll with sticky gum from the Gum tree. Ananzi tied a creeping vine around the neck of the doll and hid in the bushes and waited.
By and by, Mmoatia came dancing down the path to the tree and saw the gum baby. Mmoatia loves the sweet yam and asked the gum baby, "May I taste some of your sweet yams?"
Ananzi, hiding in the bushes, pulled, just so lightly on the creeping vine, so that the Gum Baby nodded her head.
Mmoatia took the bowl from the gum baby and tasted the sweet yams. "Oh, these sweet yams are so good. May I eat the rest of the sweet yams?"
Ananzi pulled on the creeping vine, just so lightly, and the Gum Baby nodded her head.
Mmoatia ate the rest of the sweet yams and gently placed the bowl back in the hands of Gum Baby. "Oh, your sweet yams were very, very good. Thank you for sharing your sweet yams with me."
And Gum Baby was silent.
Mmoatia is very proud and was offended that Gum Baby was silent. "Do you not answer me when I thank you?"
And Gum Baby was silent.
Mmoatia was getting angry and demanded, "If you do not respond to me when I thank you, I shall slap your crying place!"
And Gum Baby was silent.
And Mmoatia was angry and slapped Gum Baby’s cheek and Mmoatia’s hand stuck fast to Gum Baby’s cheek. Mmoatia was very angry, "Let me go or I shall slap you again!"
And Gum Baby was silent.
And Mmoatia was very angry now and slapped Gum Baby’s other cheek. And Mmoatia’s other hand stuck fast to Gum Baby’s cheek.
Now Mmoatia was furious. And Mmoatia pushed with her foot and with her other foot and in a short while Mmoatia was stuck by her hand and her hand and her foot and her foot and Mmoatia could not move.
Then, Ananzi came out of the bushes and said to Mmoatia, ""Now, Mmoatia, you are ready to go and meet the Great Sky God Nyame." Ananzi went to the banana tree and took Osebo, the leopard of terrible tooth and the calabash gourd with Mmboro and the Gum Baby with Mmoatia and spun a great web from the center of his village up to the sky, to the throne of Nyame, the Great Sky God.
Ananzi he laid his treasures before Nyame and stepped back, "Oh Great Nyame, I have brought you the price you ask for your stories."
Nyame stared at what was laid before him and was astonished. Nyame called everyone in his court, "Come and see the great thing that Ananzi has done. Ananzi has paid the price that I have asked for my stories; and they shall be his stories. From now on these stories shall be known as Ananzi stories."
Nyame took the great golden box with all of the stories and handed it to Ananzi. Ananzi climbed back down his web to the center of his village. Ananzi set the golden box down in the center of the village. With his hands on either side of the box, Ananzi gently, just so gently, lifted the lid of the golden box. And stories, the most wonderful stories flew out everywhere.
Stories to help people remember important things and important people.
Stories for the old ones to teach the young how to behave and to explain why some things are the way they are. Stories to tell just for fun. Happy stories and sad stories and funny stories. All kinds of wonderful stories flew out of the golden box. They flew to all the places and all the times and all the people.
So that in all of the places and in all of the times and in all of the people there were stories to be told and stories to be heard. Even today in every place and time and person there are stories to be told and stories to be heard. Even here, in this place and this time and in all of these people there are stories to be told and stories to be heard.
And this is the story of the gift of story.

SOURCE: A Story, a Story, retold and illustrated by Gail E. Haley, Atheneum, 1970.

I usually adapt this story to wherever I am telling, substituting some local event or place for the Pike Place Market in Seattle, a place familiar to enough of the children and adults near where I live to get them involved. I also introduce the story by explaining that I tell many different kinds of stories but the one thing they all have in common is that they are absolutely true. Which some people don't believe so I explain to them that the reason every story I tell is absolutely true is that all stories are absolutely true, which they sometimes do not believe. So I explain to them that since they are not professional storytellers perhaps they do not understand. If I tell a story, even if the things in the story didn't really happen, it will tell you something true about me. And if I tell you a story and you listen to that story with your ears and your heart and your soul, even if the things in the story didn't really happen, it will tell you something true about yourself. And if I tell you a story from a different culture or time or place, even if the things in the story did not happen, it will tell you something true about that culture or time or place. So I want to tell you a true story....

39) The Cricket Story
A Folk Story Adapted by Rocci Hildum
Antonio and Rudolpho were good friends. They were good friends but they had not seen each other for a long time. Antonio lived in the big city of Seattle where it is very busy and noisy and there is always something happening. Rudolpho lived in the country where it is quiet and slow. One day, Ruolpho decided that he would like to visit his friend Antonio. When Rudolpho knocked on Antonio's door Antonio was so glad to see him. Antonio wanted to show Rudolpho all the wonderful things in Seattle. Where do you think Antonio took Rudolpho? [The kids and adults voluteer familiar sights...Space Needle, Science Center, Aquarium...] That's exactly where he took him. They went to the top of the space needle and Rudolpho was amazed, because he had never seen anything like this before.

Then one day Antonio took Rudolpho to one of his favorite spots, The Pike Street Market. Have any of you ever been to the Pike Street Market? The Pike Street Market is a very busy place. There are people playing music and people reading poetry and people buying things and selling things and kids running around and these guys throw fish around. It is a very busy place. Rudolpho was fascinated. He had never seen anything like this before. All of a sudden Rudolpho stopped. "Listen."
Antonio looked, "Listen to what? How can you hear anything in here is is so noisy. There's children running around and music and poetry and guys throwing fish, how can you hear anything?"
Rudolpho said, "No, Listen!"
Rudolpho listened for a moment and then said, "A cricket."
Antonio was astonished. "That is not possible. There is so much noise in here, there's music and poetry and kids running around people buying and selling things and guys throwing fish, how could you possibly hear a cricket? Besides, I've never even seen a cricket in the city!"
Rudolpho listened and then he bent down towards a planter and picked up a little cricket. "See, a cricket." Then Rudolpho put the cricket back.
Antonio said. "That's amazing, how did you do that? Teach me how you did that, I want to trick my friends too!"
"There's no trick."
"There's got to be some kind of trick!"
"No, no trick, watch," Rudolpho took three brown pennies from his pocket and in the middle of the Pike Place Market with people buying and selling things and music and poetry and kids running around and guys throwing fish,
Rudolpho dropped those three brown pennies on the ground, PLINK, PLINK, PLINK. And the music and poetry stopped. People stopped buying and selling things. Kids stopped running. And guys stopped throwing fish. Everyone was looking at Rudolpho, Antonio and those three brown pennies.
"See," Rudolpho said, "You just have to know what to listen for."
So, that's what I want to tell you. Decide what you will listen for. Choose the things that are important and then listen. Make listening the thing that you do very well. Listen with your ears and your heart and your soul. Listen to all the music and poetry and stories all around you. But especially, listen to all the music and poetry and stories that come from inside of you, because they will be especially true.

Source: Spinning Tales, Weaving Hope: Stories, Storytelling, and Activities for Peace, Justice and the Environment, Ed. Ed Brody, Jay Goldspinner, Katie Green, Rona Leventhal and John Porcino of Stories for World Change Network, Philadelphia, New Society Publishers, 1992, pg. 201.I.

40) Query: I just got word that I have a budget to purchase some books on theatre, creative drama and storytelling with middle school students (ages 11-15). I have to move quickly ...or I will lose the money. Any suggestions of some great books, either aimed at students that age, or aimed at adults/teachers who are working with them. They also could have some kind of focus on using drama and storytelling to teach literacy. Also, many of the students we are working with are "English Lanuage Learners" — English is their second lanugage. Any suggestions? Thanks!
Response:
1) The Power of Story: Teaching Through Storytelling by Rives Collins and Pamela J. Cooper. Out-of-print, but you can find used copies on half.com or bookfinder.com. Contains wonderful storytelling activities.
2) Tales As Tools: The Power of Story in the Classroom by The National Storytelling Association. Should be
issued to everyone who graduates in education.
3) The Grammar of Fantasy: An Introduction to the Art of Inventing Stories by Gianni Rodari.
4) . Best-Loved Folktales of the World (The Anchor Folktale Library) edited by Joanna Cole. A favorite collection of international folktales.
5) Stories in a Nutshell and Aesop’s ABC by Heather Forest. Brief plots for expansion into stories, plays, puppet shows, etc. And Check out Heather’s website at
http://www.storyarts.org
Lots of lesson plans and ideas for using stories in the classroom.
6) Ready-To-Tell Tales (American Storytelling) and More Ready-To-Tell Tales from Around the World by David Holt and Bill Mooney. Guaranteed successful stories from the finest tellers in America with tips on how to tell them. Two of the most useful books I own.
7) Favorite Folktales from Around the World (Pantheon Fairy Tale and Folklore Library), edited by Jane Yolen. Another favorite collection of international folktales.
8) From Sea to Shining Sea: A Treasury of American Folklore and Folk Songs, compiled by Amy L. Cohn. A favorite collection of American folktales.
Response: How about some of the great readers' theatre books? Those might work well with you ESL students, and might be a good segue to more performance-type material.
Response: Here's a few about telling, written for kids (with summaries from my catalog...can't help being a librarian sometimes!)
Tell Me a Tale: A Book about Storytelling a book about storytelling y Joseph Bruchac.
Storyteller Joseph Bruchac incorporates many of his favorite tales in this discussion of the four basic components of storytelling: listening, observing, remembering, and sharing. Bruchac's has advice/tips good for all tellers, me included--
Here Comes The Storyteller by Joe Hayes
Presents favorite Southwestern folktales of storyteller Joe Hayes, photographs of Hayes performing, and storytelling tips.
How & Why Stories (World Storytelling from August House) by Martha Hamilton and Mitch Weiss (a.k.a. Beauty and the Beast Storytellers)
A collection of twenty-five traditional stories explaining why an animal, plant or natural object looks or acts the way it does. Following each story are storytelling tips and short modern, scientific explanations for the subject of the story.
Response: I suggest Wisdom Tales from Around the World (World Storytelling) because the stories are relatively easy but the message is strong, and they are very diverse.
Response: Raising Voices: Youth Storytelling Groups and Troupes, Kevin Cordi, Judy Sima, Libraries Unlimited (Greenwood Publishing Group),
School Library Journal
A unique and reliable blueprint for beginning and sustaining a successful group or troupe of storytellers from grades 4 to 12."
Sue B, "If you only buy one book to get started with your youth storytellers, buy this book "
Includes everything from letters to parents, coaching exercises, class management, extensive bibliography for stories, how to get funding, reproducibles and so on and so on.

41) Don't forget Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales (Penguin Classics). Anybody who groaned about them in high school should go back and read them again--the man was a genius of style, and the stories are marvelous.

42) I would like to recommend a book that made a big impression on me when I read it years ago. It is The Women's Decameron by Julia Voznesenskaya; translated by W.B. Linton. I have been searching the library for it ever since to reread it , but have been unable to locate it again. This thread brought it back to mind and I seach the library catalogue again. I found it, but it says that it is not yet available for borrowing. I guess that means they've bought a new copy at last. It is a Russain novel about women quarantined in a maternity ward, because of an out break of measles or some such illless. They tell each other stories to while away the time and what powerful stories they are.
Response: Powerful is not enough to say. Such an eye opening into the scourges of life in the Soviet especially for women. Definitely a Must.

43) One of my favorites is Haroun and the Sea of Stories by Salman Rushdie. In it the professional storyteller Rashid's, (aka -The Shah of Blah) powers dry up after his son, Haroun, asks, "What's the use of stories that aren't even true?" So the fable has Haroun on a quest to stop the polluting of the Sea of Stories and helping his father. Delightful and funny. Brief bit: ... "He (Haroun) looked into the water and saw that it was made up of a thousand thousand thousand and one different currents, each one a different colour, weaving in and out of one another like a liquid tapestry of breathtaking complexity; and Iff explained that these were the Streams of Story, that each coloured strand represented and contained a single tale ..."

44) And then there's the Saki (H. H. Munro) short story, THE STORY-TELLER 13 TALES, in which a man in a railroad car intervenes when a nervous aunt is telling a story to a bunch of unruly children. They are bored with the aunt's story because it's about a goody-goody little girl. The storyteller hijacks the tale and turns it into an adventure story with a grisly ending for the girl, thrilling the children and horrifying the aunt. I just came across this one again in a book called Funny Stories (Red Hot Reads), selected by Michael Rosen.

45) A Story to End All Stories (a story from India)
A certain king was enormously learned. He knew all the arts. Once, on a whim, he sent word through his provinces that he would give a reward of a thousand rupees to anyone who could tire him out with a story; if he ever got bored and stopped saying “Hmm, hmm” to the story, he would admit defeat and pay up.

Learned pundits came to his court from over a hundred places, told him story after story till they got tired and sick. He continued to say “Hmm, hmm” every sentence of their telling. He never tired of it.

Finally a pundit came from the north. He told the clever king many long and involved stories. The king enjoyed them all and never once showed any sign of fatigue. The pundit exhausted himself and felt defeated. His face fell. One day, as he was walking away from the palace, utterly dejected, he met an old friend who asked him, “Why do you look so depressed?”

The pundit was happy to see him and unburdened himself of the whole story. The friend said, “Is that all? Cheer up. Take me with you tomorrow and I'll defeat him.”

In spite of all the pundit's protests, the friend went with him to see the king, who gave him permission to begin a new story, and so he began one.

“Once upon a time, in a certain town, there lived a king. Near the town was a big pond. On its bank was a huge banyan tree. Right under it, a farmer had stored all his ragi grain in several kanajas (grain containers) after harvesting and threshing the ragi. Thousands of sparrows lived in the banyan tree. Every sparrow would eat a grain, take a small drink of water in the pond, and fly back to perch on the tree. There were twenty enormous kanajas filled with grain. Each day, a sparrow would fly down, eat a grain, take a small drink of water, and fly back to the tree. Then the next sparrow would fly down, eat a grain, take a small drink of water, and fly back to the tree,” and so on.

And he went on like this for hours. The king began to get tired of saying “Hmm, hmm, hmm” to every sentence of the story. Every day, after the morning bath and food, they would gather for the story, which never seemed to end.

Again the storyteller resumed: “The grains of ragi were not exhausted. The sparrows continued to eat. One of them would eat a grain, drink the water, and go back to the tree. Then the next one would eat a grain, take a drink …,” and so on.

The king was disgusted. “ Thu, this fellow is repeating himself over and over. How can I keep on saying ‘Hmm, hmm’ to him?” he wondered wearily. Finally he asked the storyteller, “For days you've been telling me the story. Tell me, by now, how many kanajas of grain got empty?”

“Ayyo, my lord, in all that I've told you these many days, not even one quarter of a kanaja was eaten by the sparrows. There's so much more left for the sparrows to eat and for me to tell. So one of them ate a grain, drank the water, and went back to the tree. And then the next one …,” and so on.

The king's heart sank. For days, he had hardly been able to attend to any of his household or state affairs. “When will all the twenty kanajas get over? Ayyo, ayyo, how many more days will it take? How long, O lord!” he cried within himself. He was afraid he would be stuck with saying “Hmm, hmm” for months. So he said to the storyteller, “You win. You're a great storyteller. With your story, you've brought me the biggest headache of my life. You've achieved something that none of the great pundits could achieve with their beautiful stories. You're greater than all.”

Then he gave the man his reward of a thousand rupees and was happy to see the pair of them go.

As soon as they were outside, the two friends skipped with joy that they had taught a foolish king a lesson. “We've done it,” they said. “Never more will he trouble a learned man or a storyteller.”
•••••
Source:
A Flowering Tree and Other Oral Tales from India by A. K. Ramanujan includes 77 stories:
http://ark.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/ft067n99wt/

46) A speech about story and storytelling
Boston Globe–Horn Book Award
Picture Book
The Man Who Walked Between the Towers (written and illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein.
Speech: I AM PRIVILEGED to stand here and talk to you because I told a story. It wasn’t even an original or made-up story. I found it in a newspaper and it amazed me. Reading it made the soles of my feet tingle. The story made me happy and it made me feel that being human was a little more wonderful, a little grander, than I’d previously imagined. I wanted to tell the story to others, and so, using pictures as well as words, I made a book.

I’ve since met people who have read my book and they’ve told me that it amazed them and made the soles of their feet tingle, and that it was a story they felt they needed, and needed to show to others. And so here we all are because of a story.

What is it about stories? Why are they so important to us? Why spend so much time and effort in the hearing and reading and telling and writing of them? Of course there’s money in it — but why? Why do people all over the world spend the money they’ve earned driving taxis, selling shoes, building buildings, and plowing fields to hear or see a good story? What do stories give us? Why do we pursue and treasure them, as well as the authors, actors, visual artists, dancers, and musicians who tell them? Music — a lot of people listening to other people make noises — is another kind of storytelling, universally important and valued, though so mysterious that we have even less of an idea of what it does for us. What is it for? Why do we need to jump around when we hear it?... (for the rest of the story, go to)
•••••
http://www.hbook.com/bghb04_pb.shtml

47) The original title of the printed source of this Persian story is
Le cercle des menteurs by Jean-Claude Carriere
I have the book in its Spanish translation, so I do not know the publisher in France.
The story the way Carriere relates it:
Facing the Ocean
An ancient Persian story describes the storyteller as an isolated man, standing on a rock facing the ocean. he tells without pause one story after the other, stopping only to sip water once in a while.
The ocean, fascinated, listens calmly.
The anonymous author adds:
If one day the teller stops, or someone makes him stop, nobody knows what the ocean might do.
I asked a storyteller from Iran whether he knew this story and he said that he had never heard it, but there is this custom on the Indian ocean coastal area: the women sing to the sea to keep it calm so their men who are sailing will be safe. We have the same custom on the Greek islands.
Also the severed head of Orpheus - they say it arrived at the island of Lesbos after being thrown into the sea by the Maenads and sits there on a rock singing to the fascinated waves.
Manya, Greece

48) Editor's note for book called Haroun and the Sea of Stories.
Immediately forget any preconceptions you may have about Salman Rushdie and the controversy that has swirled around his million-dollar head. You should instead know that he is one of the best contemporary writers of fables and parables, from any culture. Haroun and the Sea of Stories is a delightful tale about a storyteller who loses his skill and a struggle against mysterious forces attempting to block the seas of inspiration from which all stories are derived. Here's a representative passage about the sources and power of inspiration:

So Iff the water genie told Haroun about the The Katha Sarit Sagara or Ocean of the Streams of Story Translated from the Original Sanskrit. Volumes I & II and even though he was full of a sense of hopelessness and failure the magic of the Ocean began to have an effect on Haroun. He looked into the water and saw that it was made up of a thousand thousand thousand and one different currents, each one a different colour, weaving in and out of one another like a liquid tapestry of breathtaking complexity; and Iff explained that these were the Streams of Story, that each coloured strand represented and contained a single tale. Different parts of the Ocean contained different sorts of stories, and as all the stories that had ever been told and many that were still in the process of being invented could be found here, the Ocean of the Streams of Story was in fact the biggest library in the universe. And because the stories were held here in fluid form, they retained the ability to change, to become new versions of themselves, to join up with other stories and so become yet other stories; so that unlike a library of books, the Ocean of the Streams of Story was much more than a storeroom of
yarns. It was not dead, but alive.

"And if you are very, very careful, or very, very highly skilled, you can dip a cup into the Ocean," Iff told Haroun, "like so," and here he produced a little golden cup from another of his waistcoat pockets, "and you can fill it with water from a single, pure Stream of Story, like so," as he did precisely that.
Mary Lee S.
•••••

49) This is a children's book, but I found it absolutely charming, and a wonderful message about storytelling. Also a nice commentary on our recent discussion about costumes... Gooney Bird Greene, by Lois Lowry.
Leanne J. 6/7/05
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(Updated 7/21/05; 6/9/08)