Tell me if you have a topic you'd like to see. (Contact: LoiS-sez@LoiS-sez.com .)
Please also let others know about this site.

Saturday, December 30, 2017

Storytellers Tell in the Moment and It's Written in the Sand!



Sometimes we don't know somebody is gone and must make the conclusion only by the fact that we no longer hear from or about them.  My recent posting the story of "The Other Wise Man" came from inspiration by Indiana storyteller. Larry Givens, and the correct conclusion his disappearance from telling meant he had died.  Here in Michigan the same was true for Simon Otto.  Simon was an Odawa (Ottawa) elder who generously shared with me, but because he lived in Petoskey, phone calls or emails supplemented our few times in person.  I mentioned him three times earlier here.  Sadly I didn't hear of his going on the Long Walk in mid-2016.  Looking further, his obituary was simple, giving only his dates without any comment other than his beloved "Walk in Peace."  Simon wrote a column called "Talking Leaves" for the Petoskey News-Review.  In 2014 they did an interview and article about him giving an excellent view of him.
Simon Otto in Petoskey News-Review article


I did hear about the passing this summer of our Story Peddler, Ralph Morrison, even though I haven't found an official obituary about him.  Judge Ron Lowe gave the following memorial at Ralph's funeral.
***
Seems like sharing a story about Ralph would be an appropriate way to mark his passing.  I am sure we all have stories about Ralph we could share.  I would be interested in hearing yours.  Here is mine.

I met Ralph over 25 years ago through Debra Christian who was my storytelling mentor and business (Oral Magic, Inc.) partner at that time.  Being that we both had the gift of gab Ralph and I got along very well.  The fact that he was interested in the law and always had questions just insured that we always had something to talk about.  I was just embarking upon my storytelling adventures and I found Ralph, probably like many of you did, to be very nurturing and willing to share his knowledge.

That is how our first ever "A Storyteller's Retreat" was held at Toad Hollow.  It was something Debra and I wanted to do.  We talked to Ralph about it and he not only encouraged that we do it he offered up Toad Hollow as the location.  Both Debra and I were go getters at the time and I am sure we would have pulled off the Storytellers Retreat with or without Ralph and Toad Hollow but that fact that he believed in our vision and was willing to partner with us for the first event and to provide Toad Hollow facilities as the location went a long way in getting the retreat off the paper and into reality.

We spent several lazy afternoons at Toad Hollow talking, planning the retreat and sharing stories.

Using Toad Hollow was magical.  If you ever visited it you know what I mean.  There was a simple charm about using a location that came into existence during a time when storytelling was a much more everyday usual occurrence.  We had storytellers from several states attend.  Some were accomplished and experienced and others were just budding.  Some were young and some were old.  The stories we told were as different and the folks attending.  The single thing we had in common was our love of storytelling.

The event would have workshops and storytelling shows as well as meals and cocktails.  Everybody who attended were encouraged to attend the workshops and to tell at the storytellings.  As most who attended would choose to tell we had long eclectic storytellings sometimes late into the night but I cannot recall anyone going to bed until it was done.  We came together on Friday night as strangers and left Sunday afternoon as friends.  Many of those who attended the first retreat returned every year after that for as long as we did them and did so for the reunion aspect as much as the education and storytelling.

At Toad Hollow the workshops and storytellings were all done outdoors.  The facilities, or maybe lack of facilities in this case mandated that.  But what a great space to hold events outside!  Having the ability to move everything indoors was one of the primary reasons we would eventually leave Toad Hollow as the site of the retreats.

People had the option of camping in their own tent or sleeping in the old mill.  They both had their pro's and con's.  In the first year those that slept in the old mill discovered two obstacles to their peace and enjoyment of the event.  The most annoying was some kind of bug that bit them at night.  Those that chose to sleep in the mill rarely chose to do it again.
  
The one that still puts a smile on my face was the goose.  Seems that one goose was very protective, I never quite figured out what he was protecting, but as you approached the mill on the path it was not unusual for him to take notice of you and to let you know you were not welcome.  He would stick out his neck and bring his head low to the ground in front of him and hiss.  Then he might move towards you, sometimes on a run.  I learned by talking to Ralph and Debra, both who raised geese, that the hissing sound was a warning and that they do bite.  I managed to avoid being bitten but not everyone did.  My recollection is that someone got bit on the rump.  I did not like that goose.  Maybe that is why he was not fond of me.  But he did start it.
 
I can no longer remember how many retreats we did there.  But as the retreats are some of my favorite memories from my early days of storytelling I will always remember that Ralph encouraged us, volunteered to teach a workshop, and provided the facilities for those first "A Storyteller's Retreats".  Like most good storytellers, he will be missed but the world was enriched by his life.
 
***
2006--09 Michigan's Arts & Humanities Touring Directory
The following links about Ralph were also found:

Sep 25, 1999 - "I've been a professional peddler, licensed by the State of Michigan for over 30 years," Fulton resident Morrison said. ... therapy," which brings Please see Dog, Page 3C , JOHN GRAPTHE ENQUIRER Ralph Morrison shared stories of humor, faith and encouragement Tuesday with a Battle Creek audience.
Ralph transforms stories into performance art whether it's “The Rabbi from Toad Hollow” sharing sacred and biblical stories or the "peddler" with stories about g-d and his world for all ages, Ralph has been a juried performer with the Michigan touring arts council for over 20 plus years and a has been a storyteller from his ...

ralph morrison | Professional Profile - LinkedIn

https://www.linkedin.com/in/ralph-morrison-72a51524
toad hollow theatre / peddlers cart theatre. 1975 – Present (42 years)Greater Detroit Area. Solo performer/Storyteller Coach , Professional Speaker , Workshop Presenter , Performer Consultant , Event Coordinator , Writer-Editor, professional santa claus ...

To (and from) both Simon and Ralph

Walk in peace!


Saturday, December 23, 2017

My Christmas Wish for You Forever


Back in 2014 I posted this with the subject heading of "My Christmas Wish for You Forever."  I just looked back for it because it is so appropriate for my past five weeks posting the Henry Van Dyke tale of "The Other Wise Man."  It's interesting that it was the cover for "Success" magazine both in 1900 and 1906.  Obviously I'm not the only one to think it deserves repeating.  I gave credit to the artist, J.C. Leyendecker, but this time found information and copies of his many covers for "Success" and "Saturday Evening Post" and much more.  That link was for March 30, 2015 edition of Art & Artists, an incredible blog for art lovers.  It was just the first of ten posts about Leyendecker.  Click on the second link to take you to April for the rest.  Along the way you will see the scope of Poul Webb's work which was recognized as a "Google 'Blog of Note'."

The work of storytellers may be kept only in memory, but that was what kept returning to me when I just couldn't leave the story of "The Other Wise Man."  Larry Givens truly kept the Public in Public Domain when he told this story so long ago and started me thinking about this story.

Another storyteller, and, like me, he sometimes has a puppet sidekick, is Randel McGee.  He does a lot of storytelling as Hans Christian Andersen, complete with the intricate paper cuttings Andersen loved to do.  He saw my posts of "The Other Wise Man" and sent me this paper cutting, and, yes, he tells the story, too.

May all your stories haunt you in only the best way.

Saturday, December 16, 2017

Van Dyke - The Other Wise Man, part 5 - Keeping the Public in Public Domain


The story stopped with this pearl and now continues.

You probably saw the ending to Artaban's story coming.  The tale was published in the beautiful 1902 volume of The Blue Flower.
The lovely cover and illustrations inside were anonymously created, but still worth keeping.  The physical pleasure of the actual book seems missing somewhat in its digital format.  In the book's Preface Van Dyke says the stories grew together like blossoms on a bush, with this story starting ten years earlier and the others, while he knew them quite well by heart, needed a good while before he could find time, in a hard-worked life, to write them down and try to make them clear and true to others.

The digital link above is to the Project Gutenberg text.  Similarly, here is the Wikipedia article about Van Dyke.  Both those projects deserve our remembering them with donations to keep them going and are non-profits which, if made in 2017, still earn U.S. taxpayers a deduction if that gives you an incentive.  I use both heavily and intend to include them in my year-end giving.  At the same time I always look a bit further and found the Van Dyke biography at The Famous People gave the best view of him.  My only reason for not giving it earlier was it revealed the story's end in a way no Spoiler Alert could rescue.

Van Dyke speaks for himself in these comments in the Preface, saying why he wrote this and the other stories in the book.
As the year draws to a close may that search succeed for you.  Last week I gave three sources for finding Van Dyke's quotes since I believe he had that rare quality...Wisdom.  Just in case you don't want to scroll back there, here they are again, starting alphabetically with today's Van Dyke look at the coming holiday of Christmas.
May 2018 have us all looking on our own life, even as Artaban did -- thinking his quest had failed -- but knowing
*******************


This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  



At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.
 
Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.

    Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
The email list for storytellers, Storytell, discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional suggestions:            
         - David K. Brown - http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html
         - Richard Martin - http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_page.html
         - Spirit of Trees - http://spiritoftrees.org/featured-folktales
         - Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible through the Wayback Machine, described below, but Jackie Baldwin's wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ .  It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016  and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.
       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
     
You're going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to find some of these old links.  Tim's site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a full-time job.  In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she could no longer maintain it.  Possibly searches maintained it.  Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library (something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine.  It took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally in December of 2006 it appears!
    Somebody as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.  I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that becomes the only way to find them.
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!



Saturday, December 9, 2017

Van Dyke - The Other Wise Man, part 4 - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Imagine seeing the Great Sphinx at Giza while it was still unvandalized!  I thought I knew the story of it, but discovered myth and legends and contradictory hypotheses aplenty.

Artaban learned in last week's part of the story he must travel to Egypt if he wants to end his quest.  Along the way he looks up at the Sphinx seeking answers. 
Next week I'll post that story's end, but think it's time for an assortment of Van Dyke's "pearls of wisdom."

I found three major sources of quotes and, while it's difficult, will choose one from each.
https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/henry_van_dyke
Not much on illustration, but 6 pages of quotes http://www.azquotes.com/author/4271-Henry_Van_Dyke
Tons of illustrations go with the 62 quotes at The Famous People, making it sooooo hard to choose.
https://quotes.thefamouspeople.com/henry-van-dyke-239.php
While we're at it, you might want a look at the Wikipedia article about Henry Van Dyke.  The man led a fascinating life and certainly burned his own candle in service to others.  I'd also like to suggest you consider this message from Wikipedia (it's too small if not shown in the original size, but otherwise the message either is cut off or goes over the sidebar of labels here).  Oh, and in case you wondered, donations to Wikipedia are tax deductible. in the U.S., U.K., and the Netherlands.





 ********************
This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  



At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.
 
Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.

    Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
The email list for storytellers, Storytell, discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional suggestions:            
         - David K. Brown - http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html
         - Richard Martin - http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_page.html
         - Spirit of Trees - http://spiritoftrees.org/featured-folktales
         - Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible through the Wayback Machine, described below, but Jackie Baldwin's wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ .  It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016  and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.
       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
     
You're going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to find some of these old links.  Tim's site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a full-time job.  In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she could no longer maintain it.  Possibly searches maintained it.  Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library (something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine.  It took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally in December of 2006 it appears!
    Somebody as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.  I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that becomes the only way to find them.
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!

Saturday, December 2, 2017

Van Dyke - The Other Wise Man, part 3 - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Is it ever right to lie for a good cause?  That's part of today's journey with The Other Wise Man, Artaban.  Three days behind the other Wise Men, all alone he finally reaches Bethlehem.  If you remember, by now he has given up one of his three jewels to help a traveler in need, but he still has his pearl and ruby to offer the King.  It may not be Gold, Frankincense, or Myrrh, but he is eager to give it.
The woman was definitely Jewish and using the blessing given by Moses to Aaron in the book of Numbers, which would have been well known to her.
If you have time you may find this article about this familiar blessing shows even more inside its Hebrew roots which could be translated to mean "Yahweh will kneel before you presenting gifts and will guard you with a hedge of protection" -- as the author says, his first thought was 'Wow!'

Artaban has only his pearl remaining.  The journey is not over, but from here on, just as we all are at our most busy, the story segments will be brief indeed.

There are many images of the Slaughter of the Innocents in Bethlehem that day, but Artaban prevented it from entering yet another home.  He asks "I have spent for man that which was meant for God.  Shall I ever be worthy to see the face of the King?"

********************


This is part of a series of postings of stories under the category, "Keeping the Public in Public Domain."  The idea behind Public Domain was to preserve our cultural heritage after the authors and their immediate heirs were compensated.  I feel strongly current copyright law delays this intent on works of the 20th century.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories.  



At the same time, my own involvement in storytelling regularly creates projects requiring research as part of my sharing stories with an audience.  Whenever that research needs to be shown here, the publishing of Public Domain stories will not occur that week.  This is a return to my regular posting of a research project here.  (Don't worry, this isn't dry research, my research is always geared towards future storytelling to an audience.)  Response has convinced me that "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my other postings as often as I can manage it.
 
Other Public Domain story resources I recommend-
  • There are many online resources for Public Domain stories, maybe none for folklore is as ambitious as fellow storyteller, Yoel Perez's database, Yashpeh, the International Folktales Collection.  I have long recommended it and continue to do so.  He has loaded Stith Thompson's Motif Index into his server as a database so you can search the whole 6 volumes for whatever word or expression you like by pressing one key. http://folkmasa.org/motiv/motif.htm
  • You may have noticed I'm no longer certain Dr. Perez has the largest database, although his offering the Motif Index certainly qualifies for those of us seeking specific types of stories.  There's another site, FairyTalez claiming to be the largest, with "over 2000 fairy tales, folktales, and fables" and they are "fully optimized for phones, tablets, and PCs", free and presented without ads.

    Between those two sites, there is much for story-lovers, but as they say in infomercials, "Wait, there's more!"
The email list for storytellers, Storytell, discussed Online Story Sources and came up with these additional suggestions:            
         - David K. Brown - http://people.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown/stories.html
         - Richard Martin - http://www.tellatale.eu/tales_page.html
         - Spirit of Trees - http://spiritoftrees.org/featured-folktales
         - Story-Lovers - http://www.story-lovers.com/ is now only accessible through the Wayback Machine, described below, but Jackie Baldwin's wonderful site lives on there, fully searchable manually (the Google search doesn't work), at https://archive.org/ .  It's not easy, but go to Story-lovers.com snapshot for October 22 2016  and you can click on SOS: Searching Out Stories to scroll down through the many story topics and click on the story topic that interests you.
       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
     
You're going to find many of the links on these sites have gone down, BUT go to the Internet Archive Wayback Machine to find some of these old links.  Tim's site, for example, is so huge probably updating it would be a full-time job.  In the case of Story-Lovers, it's great that Jackie Baldwin set it up to stay online as long as it did after she could no longer maintain it.  Possibly searches maintained it.  Unfortunately Storytell list member, Papa Joe is on both Tim Sheppard's site and Story-Lovers, but he no longer maintains his old Papa Joe's Traveling Storytelling Show website and his Library (something you want to see!) is now only on the Wayback Machine.  It took some patience working back through claims of snapshots but finally in December of 2006 it appears!
    Somebody as of this writing whose stories can still be found by his website is the late Chuck Larkin - http://chucklarkin.com/stories.html.  I prefer to list these sites by their complete address so they can be found by the Wayback Machine, a.k.a. Archive.org, when that becomes the only way to find them.
You can see why I recommend these to you. Have fun discovering even more stories!