I've a program coming up where the audience requested stories about Farm Animals for Harvest season. They want me to start with "Stone Soup" and I plan to end with the "Bremen Town Musicians." Beyond that I began to list all the farm animals that came to mind. The last of ten animals I remembered were ducks and geese.
With more possibilities than I have time to tell, I will use another favorite way to select my stories. I will write each animal and a story for it on slips of paper. Then they go into an open-mouthed container. For Halloween it would be a cauldron. This time it will be an old cast iron cooking pot. The audience pulls out a strip to determine each story I will tell.
While planning this I mentioned I had not yet looked up a story for ducks and geese to my friend and storytelling colleague, Priscilla Howe. Right away she had a favorite, "Drakestail" and even has a YouTube video of her telling it.
Hmmm. That sounded interesting, but of course I wanted to prowl a bit further. Along the way I found even more versions of the story such as this picture book version
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| Denise McGill had created an alphabet book of fairy tales with Drakestail for the letter "D." |
Beyond that,of course, Wikipedia has a brief article on it, including noting its use of repetition. I love to use repetition as a method of audience participation. Beyond those resources I was sure such a traditional tale would be found in Public Domain. I was right and found a version by Andrew Lang in his Red Fairy Book and another in The Fairy Ring by Kate Douglas Wiggin and Nora Archibald Smith. Those are indeed favorite authors, but it was Carolyn Sherwin Bailey's version in Once Upon a Time Animal Stories I liked the best. Her background as a storyteller shows why it will tell the best.
I'm giving it here, but looking at all those versions guarantees I'm going to incorporate ideas from more than just Bailey.
HOW DRAKESTAIL WENT TO THE KING.
Once upon a time there was a wee little duck, with a very long tail, so he was called Drakestail. Now, Drakestail had some money of his very, very own, and the king asked if he might take it. So Drakestail loaned all his money to the king.
But the king kept Drakestail’s money for a year and a day, and still he did not send it back. Drakestail said he would go to the king and bring back the money himself.
So off he started, one very fine morning, for the king’s house. The sun was shining on the ponds, and Drakestail waddled along in the middle of the road, feeling very fine. As he traveled, he met a fox, and the fox said, “Where do you go this fine morning, Friend Drakestail?”
“To the king,” said Drakestail, “for he owes me money.”
“I will travel along with you,” said the fox.
“Ah,” said Drakestail, “your four legs would soon tire. Come along with me this way,” and he opened his wee little bill very wide, and down his wee little throat went the fox.
Then Drakestail traveled on a little farther. As he went he came to a ladder lying beside the road.
“Where do you go this fine morning, Friend Drakestail?” asked the ladder.
“To the king,” said Drakestail, “for he owes me money.”
“I will travel along with you,” said the ladder.
“Your wooden legs would soon tire,” said Drakestail. “Come along with me this way,” and he opened his little bill very wide, and down his wee little throat went the ladder.
Then Drakestail traveled on a bit farther until he came to his friend, the river, lying and glistening in the sunshine.
“Where do you go this fine morning, Friend Drakestail?” asked the river.
“To the king, for he owes me money,” said Drakestail.
“I will travel with you,” said the river.
“You would soon tire if you ran so far, my friend,” said Drakestail. “Come along with me this way.” He opened his wee bill very wide, and down his wee little throat went the little river.
Then Drakestail traveled and traveled until he came to the king’s house. Now Drakestail thought that the king would meet him at the gate, so he called out very loudly:
“Honk! Honk! Drakestail waits at the gate.”
But the king did not come out to meet him. Who should appear at the gate but the king’s cook, and the cook took Drakestail by his two little legs and flung him into the poultry yard. The other fowls, who were ill-bred birds, ran up to Drakestail and bit him, and jeered at his large tail. It would have gone very badly with Drakestail, but he called to his friend, the fox:
So the fox came out, and he ate up all the ill-bred fowls in the king’s poultry yard. But still Drakestail was badly off. He heard the king’s cook putting the broth pot over the fire.
he cried. So the ladder came out and leaned against the wall, and Drakestail climbed over in safety. But the king’s cook saw Drakestail and set out after him. He caught poor Drakestail and clapped him into the broth pot, and hung him over the fire.
cried Drakestail. So the river put out the fire with a great noise and sputtering, which the king heard. And the king came running to the kitchen.
“Good morning to you, King,” said Drakestail, hopping out of the broth pot, and making a very low bow, “are you through with my money, which you have kept for a year and a day?”
“That I am, Drakestail,” said the king. “You shall have it at once.”
So the king gave Drakestail the money that he owed him, and Drakestail waddled home again to tell of all his travels.
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 them.
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.
See the sidebar for other Public Domain story resources I recommend on the page “Public Domain Story Resources."
