Allen - The Enchanted Wine-Jug; or Why the Cat and Dog Are Enemies - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

My daughters are Korean and as a result I've especially enjoyed collections of Korean folktales.  It's interesting to see how their stories are the same and different.  I've told a version of Why Cats and Dogs Are Enemies before discovering this Korean tale, but love the way this combines the explanation of their enmity with yet another theme: a magic object that continually replenishes itself.  The two make for a richer, more detailed story as collected by H.N. Allen, M.D. in Korean Tales; Being a Collection of Stories Translated from the Korean Folk Lore, 1889.

I also confess that in telling this story, there are ways I would condense or simplify the written version.  See what you think.

And now you know why.

Next will be my favorite story by Hans Christian Andersen.  Unlike this tale, it's quite short.  Watch for it!
****
This is part of a series of bi-weekly posting 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.  I hope you enjoy discovering new stories. 

Currently I'm involved in projects taking me out of my usual work of sharing stories with an audience.  My own library of folklore includes so many books within the Public Domain I decided to share stories from them.  This fall I expect to return to my normal monthly posting of a research project here.  Depending on response, I will decide at that time if "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" should continue along with my monthly postings. 

The AT Numbers Unattached - Part 3 of 3

This final of 3 segments looks at how to search effectively, especially for half-remembered stories and more recent stories published after Stith Thompson's Motif Index.  (Remember blogs are published with the most recent articles first, so be sure to read Part 1 and 2 before this.)  

3) Jane remembers a story from childhood about four sisters becoming spring, summer, fall and winter.  She turns to the creation section of the motif index.  

Seasons are not mentioned at all.  This could be good or bad news.  It probably means Thompson did not research this area of story collections, which probably means that no such stories had been collected in the 1930s, when the index was compiled.  This could either mean the story is not from folklore, or that it is folkloric but rare.  With the explosion of storytelling interest in the 1980s and 1990s, if it is a folktale, it is likely to have been collected somewhere.

But how does Jane find it?

She uses a little ingenuity.  The creation motif is useless, but the sisters became seasons through making quilts with magic needles.  Section D of the motif index deals with magic.  D900-1299 deals with magic objects.  It is the matter of a moment to discover that magic needles (D1181) are most prominent in Germanic and Slavic stories; more than half the listings following D1181 are German or based on a Germanic language.  While the tales indexed here are not what Jane is looking for, she can now turn to geographic collections of German and Eastern European tales for a more productive search.  And, by remembering that Grimms' fairy tales were collected and well-known in the 1930s, she can exempt them from her search.

This does not guarantee that Jane will find exactly what she wants.  Too often storytellers miss versions or variants because they are focused on a particular element.  One motif alike does not make the entire tale type alike.

But finding the magic needle in other folktale motifs will help Jane feel more confident about whether she remembers the tale from a literary source or in the oral tradition.

These three scenarios certainly do not cover the plethora of experiences possible to the story researcher.  Frustration, euphoria, confusion, despair, and the flush of success through persistence are well-known to the sincere source seeker.  Nothing comes from nothing; good things come to those who show a little integrity, employ a little ingenuity, and log a lot of library time.

TIPS FOR EFFECTIVE SEARCHES: 
Think Loosely.  Don't get bogged down in tiny elements, and remember, the way you think is not necessarily the way Thompson thought when he put that story into a category.

Stay focused.  Don't think so widely that any story, through mental gymnastics, can become the one you are looking for.  A giraffe that heals animals through magic leaves is not a physician who gets his power from a magic dragon elixir.

Employ common sense.  Knowledge you already have can help narrow your search categories.  Knowing that "gypsy" is a common (if misguided) term for Hungarian peoples, or that African stories often focus on gourds and yams, can save you a lot of time.  They can also help you pick out the elements of the story most important for indexing.

Use your friends wisely.  Other people reading other books will cut your search time exponentially.  Let it be known what you are looking for.

On that final note of seeking help from others, I want yet again to thank Wendy for her permission to reprint this article AND to note that it came from her posting it on the international email list, Storytell.  I printed it out back in 1999.  Unfortunately the list went through various changes -- originally it was hosted by Texas Woman's University, with various software changes; when they stopped hosting it the National Storytelling Network added it to their site.  Archiving for old resources was lost unless saved by list members.  We are a community and often help in such searches.

The AT Numbers Unattached - Part 2 of 3

Looking at the AT numbers in Part 1 of these 3 posts, Wendy Welch proved that " The common misconception that 'research takes too long' is just that." 

Because there is sometimes a bit more I want to add, all my own comments are in blue to clarify when it is me talking or Wendy.  Because Wendy's article went into needed detailed, the first section, which sets out the basic principles, was the longest of three posts.  This next post looks at what to do if the story is not very common and is under copyright.

This is the shortest of the three segments, so let's start with a look at Wendy.

Wendy Welch PhD is a folklorist and storyteller. She has been on the faculty of the Healthy Appalachia Institute and the University of Virginia’s College at Wise as well as serving on both the Board of Directors for the US National Storytelling Network and the National Storytelling Board in the UK.
Beyond these many professional achievements, Wendy co-owns a used bookstore, has written The Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap: A Memoir of Friendship, Community, and the Uncommon Pleasure of a Good Book -- with its own Facebook page, tours as a storytelling performer and instructor, is an accomplished  craftswoman, and also blogs at Wendy Welch, Little Bookstore of Big Stone Gap. (All that was fairly official information, so it's in black, but for a bit of personal opinion -- Wendy's an incredible blogger and, if you, too, are a bibliophile, you owe it yourself to prowl her blog.)

Now back to The AT Numbers Unattached, part 2 of 3

2) Jane falls in love with a story that is not very common (and is under copyright).  She picks up a picture book about a great flood, during which the animals save themselves inside a hollow reed stopped up with wax from Wasp.  The Turkeys are last to enter the hollow tree, because while the other animals have been saving themselves, Turkey and his wife have been gathering the seeds of the earth.

Jane learns from this picture book's author (a woman of integrity, obviously) that it is loosely based on a Navajo myth.  Jane is intrigued with the story; she wants to tell it, but she doesn't want infringe on the copyright of the author whose book she is enjoying.  (Jane has integrity, too).  Also, Jane knows she is not even 1/32nd Navajo; she comes from Irish stock.  But she loves the turkey story.  What does she do?

First, Jane faces facts.  She must also think about what she will do if this tale turns out to be found only in Native American culture.  It would be best for her to decide this before she begins.
Next she decides which motif she likes.  What has charmed her?  Is it the unlikely hero, the Flood, the animals working in cooperation to save their own lives?  These are questions only Jane can answer, and she will need to answer them before she can make her research count.  Jane decides the turkey hero intrigues her, as she is in the midst of putting together a Thanksgiving program.  She starts there in the motif index.
Turkey in the alphabetical index of volume six (omitted online) reveals several interesting possibilities: escape dressed as t. girl K1816.5; why t. has red eyes A2411.2; helpful t. B461.5.  But B461.5 turns out to be a completely different story; the others are obviously different.  Jane could track down one of these motifs in a folktale collection specific to a country.  She has a turkey story now.  But if it were the saving the earth theme with the seeds she wanted, Jane would turn to "seed" - to find only one reference even remotely like her story: magic bird collects seeds B172.3.  Again, it's not even close.  At this point, Jane should abandon the alphabetical index as unhelpful and try the more loosely categorized A-Z one in Thompson's preface to volume 1.  Remember "A" deals with creation stories. One subheading of creation stories is "great calamity" stories: earthquakes, floods. . .  Jane scours the entire section of creation and disaster stories.  She now has several interesting ideas to pursue using the tactics of scenario one (see The AT Numbers Unattached, part 1 of 3), but the turkey and seeds story is not there.  From here, Jane can turn to the Thompson Motif Index of Native American Literature, but she will have to deal with the fact that this story is not found in a culture she can claim as hers.  (The Native American index is equally simple to use.)   

The final of 3 segments will look at how to search effectively, especially for half-remembered stories and more recent stories published after Stith Thompson's Motif Index.

The AT Numbers Unattached - Part 1 of 3

Every once in a while I do a workshop helping people find storytelling resources.  (For puppeteers I offer resources for puppet programs.)  For those really seeking detailed information, folklorists have created a way to systematize the many elements of a story.  This can also help writers and storytellers create stories because there is no copyrighting an idea.  How your own originality takes an element like "a foolish bet" and spins it into a story is where the "magic" occurs.  

Anti Aarne

Stith Thompson

  Two folklorists, Anti Aarne in 1910 and Stith Thompson in 1928 (later revised and expanded in 1961), identified the elements of folktales.  Their system of classification is a goldmine, but it sometimes confuses new researchers.  




Back in 1999 storyteller, Wendy Welch, wrote an introduction to it that does a great job of walking you through the AT classification.  With her kind permission, it is reprinted here.  Because there is sometimes a bit more I want to add, all my own comments are in blue to clarify when it is me talking or Wendy.  Because it also can be long and detailed, this first section, which sets out the basic principles, is the longest of three posts.

The AT Numbers Unattached or Researching Your Story's Print Versions

by Wendy Welch

(originally appeared in the TAPPS Newsletter, Spring 1999)

 It's a common dilemma.  You have found The Story.  You love it; you feel it; you want to tell it.  But something is not right.  The story is copyrighted; it is from a culture outside your realm of experience; it was told by another storyteller and you don't want to copycat.  What do you do?

You head for your nearest university library.  Therein will you find The Types of the Folktale by Anti Aarne and Stith Thompson.  You will also find Thompson's Motif Index of Folk Literature.  At about $800 per set, these volumes are beyond the range of most public libraries, but any good university will have them in the Reference Section.   (You can now find the Motif Index online.  Be sure to click a copy with "full view." Next click "Go to the beginning of the book" and use arrows or page numbers to browse.  Unfortunately the sixth volume, the Index, is omitted, but you can see a few other books there with a Motif Index for specific peoples if you just search for Motif Index.)

Don't let "Reference Section" rustle up images of dry paper chases.  With the proper tools--the indexes, a working knowledge of geography and culture, and time--tracking down stories can be as simple as an afternoon's work and more fun than a Halloween scavenger hunt.  For it is a scavenger hunt of a kind.  You work your way along information trails, picking up clues, diverting to follow false leads, backtracking to the main purpose, and ultimately arriving at --if not the goal you set for yourself--at least some very nice places.

Consider the trials and tribulations of "Jane Storyteller";

1) Jane falls in love with a story set in a culture she doesn't feel comfortable telling about.  She wants to find out if a version of the African-American folktale about Bear fishing with his tail through ice exists in another culture.  Jane gets out the Thompson motif index.  A "motif" is an element of a story in the same way that a syllable is an element of a word; they can be incredibly small (a lantern will not blow out) or very large (a princess sets three impossible tasks).  Like syllables, they are natural divisions along the rhythm of the language and seem obvious until you start to think too hard about them.  The best rule of thumb is, if you think it is a motif, it probably is.  Knowing which motif you want to follow is essential to keep yourself on task.  It is far too easy to get diverted in the thrill of the chase.

Jane looks up "bear" in the alphabetical index found in the last book of the six-volume set.  Bingo:  She finds "b. fishes through ice with tail  A2216.1" listed.  All motifs have a letter and several numbers attached to them, corresponding to Thompson's division of motif types.  The motif index lists 23 types of folktales, assigning each a letter.  A is for creation stories; J is for wisdom and foolishness; U contains homilies.  

Jane picks up volume one, and quickly locates A2216.1.  She beholds the bewildering entering; "*Type 2; DhIII 49.  Finnish - Aarne FFC VIII 14 No. 78; Estonian - Aarne FFC XXV 146 No. 42; Flemish - XXXVII 86 No. 78.  K 1021.  The tail fisher."  

Jane has lucked out on two counts.  First, that enigmatic little "*Type 2" means Jane need look no further in the motif index.  The story she is after is such a well-known tale type, it is catalogued in The Types of the Folktale.  Second, Bear is not the only fisheranimal using his tail for a hook; K1021 reveals a cache of tales about animals doing the same thing.  She can now either look up K1021 (K is from the section for trickery and action) or she can turn to the AT index, as The Types of the Folktale is often called.  If Jane were a real stickler for detail, she might also be excited by the FFC numbers; those show that Anti Aarne wrote articles about the Finnish, Estonian, and Flemish versions of this story, which were published in Fellows of Folklore Communications monographs.  You can find these easily by the reference numbers that follow.  The DhIII refers to a book in which the story appears; Jane can find it by looking up Dh in the front of the Motif index to see which collection/collector it stands for.

However, most storytellers will find little to gain from a perusal of academic dealings with the story.  They want versions for performance.  Thus Jane turns to The Types of the Folktale.  (Online at this writing only in Limited Search, as opposed to Full View.)

This single volume is a list of numbered story types followed by books in which they are found.  Since it was published in 1940, collections cited by The Types of the Folktale must obviously be from before then--another reason to use a university library.  The list is organized by numbers: 1-299 lists animal tales; 300-749 are the wonder tales; and so on.  AT numbers, as these are called, differ from motif index numbers in size.  A typical tale type number looks like this: AT333 (Little Red Riding Hood).  Cinderella is 510, although it is possible to have a 510b or c for the subdivisions of whether it is the dress or the shoes which are magic.  (The AT stands for the authors' names, and is dropped when both parties involved know they are discussing tale types.)  (A good example of this can be found at the back of each volume of Margaret Read MacDonald's Storyteller's Sourcebook.)  

Jane is looking for tale type 2 which appears readily enough on the first page.  Here she finds a bewildering display of abbreviations listed next to countries or ethnocities: "Italian: Alex. Lat Am. XI, 270" for example.  No less than 45 geographic or cultural sources are given.

Like DhIII in the motif index, the abbreviations in this display all refer to collections of tales; to find the full title and author's name, Jane turns to the front and discovers that "Alex. Lat Am. XI, 270" stands for Alexander's Mythology of All Races of Latin America, Volume XI, Boston, 1920, page 270."  

There is where Jane can do a little fancy footwork; she can either find Mr. Alexander's book and read that version, or she can gamble.

Jane now knows that this story is found in, among other countries, Italy.

She can leave the reference section and head for the 398.2 section of her library's circulating collection.  There she find two collections of Italian folktales.  Scanning the tables of contents, she finds these titles: "How the Fox Outwitted Bear", "Bear's Fishing Trip,"and "Why Fox Has a Long Tail."  Jane is a smart cookie.  She remembers from the K1021 clue that more animals than Bear have been caught with their tails in the water.  Even though that last story sounds a bit different, it involves a key word.  She looks up the long-tailed fox.  The wily trickster is the butt of the joke this time, as the story details how his tail, caught in the ice was stretched by his attempts to free himself.  Jane has a variant to play with.

Next Jane looks up "Bear's Fishing Trip."  Nope; this is about Fox tricking Bear out of his fish catch.  The third story, "How Fox Outwitted Bear" proves a double find.  Bear fishes with his tail in this tale, but at the end of the story are annotation notes!  Jane's heart beats faster.

Annotations happen when folklorists doing just what I have been describing here write their paper trails down for others to follow.  Finding annotation notes for a story means your work is almost done.

Jane sees her old friend K1021, and several references to A2200,  A quick walk back to the reference stacks would reveal that A2200 begins the motif index section for folktales explaining how different animals became the way they are--what tellers often call porquois stories.  Jane now has a whole playground of story ideas open to her.  She can stick with Bear on the ice, or she can slide off to new possibilities by tracking down references within the motif index's A2200-2599 section.  Jane could read through the various subheadings in a matter of minutes; it covers less than three pages.  The common misconception that "research takes too long" is just that.  

Jane could also skip A2200-2599 altogether and pursue Bear through Norwegian, Scottish, Southern American, and Native American tales collections (all of which Thompson cites) but perhaps she has now had enough of Bear and Thompson.

For about half an hour of research, she has netted not only the story for which she came, but also several new possibilities.  Jane can go home happy.

That lets us reach a happy end to the problem of what to do if "it is from a culture outside your realm of experience", but the benefits from Aarne and Thompson don't end there.  The next post here will look at what to do if the story is not very common and is under copyright.

Are Ballads "Really" Storytelling?

Every year when the Summer Reading Program ends, whether as a storyteller or a librarian, I start thinking about the next summer's theme.  For 2013 it's Dig Into Reading .  That made me think





During the Dog Days of the summer of 2013 Dig into Reading with LoiSand her puppy puppet, Buzz, as they DIG for TREASURE in the 398s!


Buzz can already Dog Paddle, but he is trying to learn to talk like a pirate, but ARF! is not quite the same as AARGH!
Try also saying "Puppy Puppet, Buzz the Pirate" five times fast!

I know there's treasure in the 398s easily found by librarians.  Limited money for programs requires something beyond promoting a library's collection. While storytelling's important -- how could I think otherwise! -- librarians know variety brings people to programs: puppets, music, magic, juggling, anything beyond the usual.  Even if a librarian has those skills, it takes time to develop programs using them.  Puppetry and music, with storytelling, will help me DIG for the TREASURE of the 398s.   I will include a rousing pirate ballad telling a great classic story.  That reminded me of a discussion on Professional Storyteller network asking if singing a story is storytelling.  With permission from my fellow participants comes this discussion, "Songs as stories" asking exactly that.

http://www.richelleputnam.net

Posted by Richelle Putnam on September 26, 2010
I was disheartened by another storyteller who said singing stories, such as ballads, was not "really" storytelling. I bit my lip and went on without a battle, but was, of course, reminded of the earliest known storytellers who, while playing their instrument of choice, "sang" stories for a meal, room, and board. Some of the greatest stories ever told, historical, mythological, and folklore, were done so through singing ballads. "Big John," "Ringo," "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald," "Delta Dawn," "The Gambler," "The City of New Orleans," and the list goes on.

I'd love to hear your thoughts on this subject.
Richelle Putnam
A writer/singer of ballads
and
...storyteller?

Replies to This Discussion:

http://thestorytellingman.com

Reply by George Allen Williams on September 27, 2010
Harry Chapin was one of my favorite "song-tellers," and Stan Rogers' work still knocks me cold. For what it's worth, I've often noticed that people who comment that anything other than what they are doing isn't "really" whatever they think it should be, tend to be rather narrow in scope, thought, and ability. Go right on singing your tales. Tell Pete Seeger, Joan Baez, or Woodie (and Arlo) Guthrie that they aren't (or weren't) great storytellers. Fie upon the person who says otherwise. Keep singing your tales. (I'd still be doing it, too, except an old injury to my right arm doesn't allow me to play any more. I still do the occasional a-cappella piece, though.)

Reply by Richelle Putnam on September 27, 2010
Thank you! You named some of my all time favorites and they still move my heart after all these years.

Hey, nothing better than A-cappella.

http://www.facebook.com/MagdaStorySpider

Reply by Christi U. on September 27, 2010
I agree. I'm definitely a words person and tend to hear the "stories" within music sooner than I hear the beat. And yes, all of those songs and songtellers are perfect examples of just another expression of the same Truth we are all telling. I wonder how many festivals your critic had been to. I have quite a few tellers who use music well and have a wonderful following because of the fact they are following their own talents rather someone else's super-imposed perceptions.

http://www.DanielBishoptheStoryteller.com

Reply by Daniel Bishop, the Storyteller on September 30, 2010
Storytelling: The use of the voice to convey a narrative. Some of my favorite storytellers use music to tell their stories. I will say I'm a bit of a purest, as I believe that an author is a writer of story, not a teller. A dancer is a Dancer of Story not a teller, and a filmmaker is a conveyor of story not a teller. But when you use your voice to tell a story, then you are a storyteller. I have heard singer sing a ballad but did not tell a story. They sang words to music. They could have use any words. But if you tell a story using music to help, you are a storyteller.

There is my $0.02
Daniel Bishop, the Storyteller

Reply by Richelle Putnam on October 5, 2010
Good point. Voice is used in both. I have also heard story tellers who did not tell a story....but we won't go there. : )
Richelle

Reply by Daniel Bishop, the Storyteller on October 5, 2010
Ohh so true. Stringing two words together does not a story make. I have heard two people give the same story, one was painful, the other was magic.

Reply by Richelle Putnam on October 5, 2010
Exactly!

http://www.LoiS-sez.com

Reply by Lois Sprengnether Keel (LoiS) on October 5, 2010
Similarly some probably would say telling in poetry or verse isn't storytelling. Yet it's communication & it does have the ability to be varied to match its listeners within the context of the fixed words. That's how the great epic tales began.

I've been working at adding music to my storytelling for the variety it provides. Today's audiences sometimes need a change of pace & this is 1 of many ways. Often a ballad can be the perfect lead into a story continuing a theme touched in a song. You mention writing ballads, so this is especially possible, more for you than for those who simply sing something they find.

To add to the names of balladeers who told stories in song: early in my storytelling life I heard Gamble Rogers. He is singing & telling his tales in the Great Beyond, but exposure to him helped me understand & broaden my definition of storytelling before it became etched in stone.

In the case of existing ballads, I've seen them used as an introduction to a story that was told. I'm thinking of Leanne Johnson's telling of The Singing Bone. She & her harp also are no longer with us, but, like that story of an instrument that tells a tale of murder, this still plays in my mind. Whether retelling the story an old ballad provides or giving us your own ballad, it is oral storytelling & that is the stated purpose of this network.

Keep on telling...whatever way communicates in a live, direct manner between you & your listeners. It IS real storytelling to a great many of us.

Reply by Richelle Putnam on October 5, 2010
Thank you so much for sharing. Storytelling in whatever capacity keeps our heritage alive and lives from becoming mundane! 

http://johanna.itgo.com

Reply by Scott and Johanna Hongell-Darsee on October 17, 2010
I totally agree that singing and storytelling belong together. I often perform medieval ballads and weave a story around them. It gives another dimension to the narrative and I like the feeling of repeating something that has been handed down through generations, giving it my own touch. Ballads are not just music to be performed in concerts. They are crazy stories to be performed for their stories.

http://www.londondreamtime.com

Reply by Neckinger Nell on October 24, 2010
Richelle, Thanks for this, I *absolutely* agree, in fact I was just pondering the same thing a couple of days ago...
"So many ways"...
There are so many wonderful ways to tell a story. I hope I get to hear some of your story ballads one day.
best wishes,
Vanessa

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

So you've had a chance to listen in on this discussion.   My Puppet Puppy Pirate Buzz wants to know:

What do you think...Are Ballads "Really" Storytelling?

February 26 is “Tell a Fairy Tale Day" or Do You Tell Fairy Tales?

Painting - by Edward Robert Hughes
You can buy this at Allposters.com

I was asked, "Do you tell Fairy Tales?"  
My answer: Definitely.

I tell "stories from around the world and back through time."  The second part of that includes my various historical reenactment programs.  This question fits into much of the first part of my storytelling mission.

At the risk of becoming a "blahblah" blog of opinions, I want to consider the role of fairy tales and folktales in storytelling.

One of the Tuatha De Danann from http://al-tirnanog.blogspot.com/

When I talk about "stories from around the world" it does not mean all those are exclusively fairy tales. Technically fairy tales are wonder tales: stories of magic, of happenings and creatures beyond the ordinary.  I prefer to call books in the Dewey Decimal Classification of "398s" "folk tales" even though Harry Potter made magical elements more popular. The "wonder" tale with its magical elements doesn't suit some listeners, but need not eliminate all folktales. Using the term "fairy tale", too often listeners pictured and rejected tiny girls with wings and a magic wand.  (How different from the powerful denizens of Tir Na nOg!) It also conjured up stories where all "lived happily ever after", unlike reality.  Yet that very ending may explain our need for fairy tales!  Some listeners rejecting fairy tales often accept American tall tales and spooky stories from anywhere. Tir Na nOg points to the fun of exposing groups to Celtic tales where fairies are anything but tiny. Tolkien's elves and dwarves were nourished in such ancient traditions and many modern fantasy writers clearly drank from the same fountains.  If Tolkien sources interest you, go to Sources of Lord of the Rings which is part of the huge Internet Sacred Text Archive.  Despite using exclusively female illustrations, the Wikipedia article, "Fairy" gives a good introduction to the wealth of fairy lore and variety of personalities. The Discussion tab broadens the topic, showing it's international aspects. 

Folklore is an important aspect of our own culture and of other lands.  Nations and ethnic groups have a folklore that can help us understand each other better.  It needs to be brought to as many people as possible.  If ever I doubted how little folklore is known, I just recall when a local television station had a reading program where kids were supposed to read in various categories, including Fairy Tales.  That's when I realized even the parents didn't know what a Fairy Tale was.  One mother asked if Beatrix Potter's Peter Rabbit was a fairy tale!

Probably the most accurate and broadest name would be Traditional Tale, which certainly includes material told by adults, but eliminates literary tales like either Potter, Beatrix or Harry.  If I want to tell a story with a Disney version or even some other version fairly well known, but I'm telling a variant, I let my listeners know this will sound a bit familiar, but to listen for the parts that are different. Fractured tales are popular now, but it pays to be sure the group knows the original or they won't appreciate it and catch the changes.

I like the comparison of a folktale to a stone smoothed by many people handling it over the years. Folktales have been polished to their essentials by years of telling.  This is why, when teaching storytelling, I suggest people start out with short folktales. 

If that's the case, why are personal tales so popular in festivals and story slams?  Are they better suited to adult audiences?

To understand, look at how U.S. storytelling festivals changed over the years.  At the beginning of storytelling festivals you could tape the stories since all were traditional tales.  Gradually performers personalized stories with music and other ways of making a story "their own", then began selling their tapes, so we were told not to record performances. Next came tellers of personal stories.  You might refer to something happening to a particular storyteller, BUT it was untrue, as well as unethical, to retell the story and claim such things happened to yourself and not the original storyteller.

The relatively short time permitted in story slam performance is also better suited to anecdotes.

A storytelling friend in Bristol, Tim Sheppard, talks about how in the U.K. storytellers tend to carry on the oral tradition by repeating the old tales.  He also says those carrying on the oral tradition are appalled or amazed at the way in the U.S. we tell people they have to take a tale, change it to make it your own, or to take several versions of it and craft a new version.  He has two sections about traditional stories: Traditional Storytelling and then The Cultural Traditions of Storytelling in his huge website of Storytelling Resources for Storytellers.

In my own view, our litigious society here in the U.S. has led to fear retelling the very folk literature able to help us understand other cultures.  Is it any wonder many cultures don't want their tales told except by storytellers steeped in the culture they are representing, if a teller is going to change it that much?

Perhaps Tim also mentioned a better way when he said: that doesn't tend to mean actually changing the tale. It means bringing the tale to life and inhabiting it, so that it's an authentic expression from the heart. It's just that all that can be done without interfering with the tale.

In my own consideration of all this, I believe copyright limitations and a desire to stand out from other tellers led to so many personal stories.  Some storytellers question if it might also have something to do with the American psyche? Perhaps, but major tellers who give personal tales usually weave humor into their stories if they want to keep me listening for very many stories.  I question the durability of most of these stories lasting long enough for anyone to remember them when they finally become old enough to reach Public Domain.

Just as pop culture, like the Harry Potter saga, has started to accept fairy tales, some storytellers have started to stand up for the fairy tale.  Not all storytellers approve of the rejection of fairy tales.  A great place to catch storytellers at play with the concept is The Fairy Tale Lobby. Questions and characters there might even get you thinking about how fairy tales still belong in publications, conferences, festivals and the repertoire of storytellers, whether professional or amateur.  After all, the root of the word "amateur" is "love." 


I believe there's still a need for folk literature, including the fairy tale.  If people don't know their own culture with its folktales and don't learn the folklore of other cultures, we will degenerate into a land of the mass media and misunderstand anyone who isn't the same.

Thank you for considering all of this.  I hope you, too, will Tell A Fairy Tale, and not just on February 26.  I also warn you to read this discussion only once or twice.  Feel free to tell others, but be careful as John D. Batten warned on August 29, 1891:

Hmmmm.  There are many Battens, including ancestors of mine, but it's a story that might put you to sleep like that warning.
LoiS(tepping down from my soapbox, but not from telling traditional tales)

P.S. Looks like there may be other ideas to add as we near the 26th.  Just saw this and think it deserves adding, 8 Reasons Why Fairy Tales Are Essential to Childhood .  Additionally fellow storyteller and friend, Karen Chace's blog, "Celebrate with tell a fairy tale day!", gives a wonderful assortment of links to tales, curriculum ideas, and crafts.  She kindly just linked to this blog, but her "heads up" back on January 31 gave me a nudge to add this extra blog article since I usually stick to publishing just once a month. 

I've long loved the Einstein quote mentioned in the "8 Reasons" . . .

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” 
― Albert Einstein

Because I think this is truly important, other articles on this important topic coming my way may also be added.  Then again, it may need an additional article here.  Just can't get enough of these.

Now for something just for fun!

Remember the old "How many ... does it take to change a lightbulb?" jokes? 

I wrote this in reply to a challenge on the international email list for storytellers, Storytell , about taking storytellers changing the lightbulb and turning it into a story.  This uses many a time-honored folktale element and also looks ahead to Halloween.

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This is LoiS with her international storyteller sisters, including Csenge Zalka from Hungary.  (Left to right: Erika Todd of MI; LoiS; Csenge Zalka; Nicole Hofeldt of MN; Danielle Todd of MI -- taken at Northlands in WI, 2008)
Storytellers are a family no matter where we are.

Enjoy the tale!

Once upon a time, long ago, but not so long ago that there wasn't electricity, there was a lightbulb.  A lightbulb that all agreed needed changing, but ALAS! nobody felt like changing it.  A summons was sent out throughout the land of stories about changing this lightbulb promising riches & fame to whomever would dare to change this lightbulb.  Many, oh so many considered it, but gave it up as unworthy of their time and effort. Would this lightbulb ever be changed?

In a distant and far away corner the challenge was heard by a storyteller, the youngest in a family of storytellers.  "I'll go!", volunteered the youngest child, but everybody else in the family laughed for they knew this young storyteller had barely learned to tell a fable, much less change a lightbulb through the power of storytelling.

Despite the derision of brother and sister storytellers, the youngest storyteller set out on the long journey with barely a crust of bread & a bottle of water for sustenance.  Along the way the young storyteller came upon an old woman, who asked, "Could you spare me some of your food?"

"Yes, certainly," agreed the young storyteller, "but while you eat it you must promise to listen to my tale about the changing of the lightbulb."

Hours later the old woman begged to have the story stop and, when the young storyteller insisted there was still more to the story, she gave a magic potion that she promised would bring success if drunk upon seeing the lightbulb.  Remembering that the gifts of elders often made all the difference in stories, the young storyteller stopped to thank the old woman. The instant the young storyteller stopped to get a breath and thank the old woman, she vanished.  (Obviously grateful to have escaped!)

On the young storyteller travelled until at last the lightbulb was in view. A crowd had gathered nearby, telling ghost stories in the dark, convinced that light would never return.  The young storyteller felt the attraction of the ghost stories and was about to weaken, already planning to tell some stories that were only told at home in the far away land from which the young teller had come.  The audience turned and looked at the youngest storyteller.  How often they had wished for new stories and young storytellers!

Just then the young storyteller remembered the potion the old woman had so generously provided.  A sip, a gulp and it was drained.  Instantly the fog cleared in the brain of the young storyteller.  The mission to change the lightbulb was recalled and quickly the bulb was grasped.  A few twists and the bulb was unscrewed.  The replacement bulb was laying there and just as quickly screwed in.  The young storyteller bowed to the crowd, but they all started to go away, muttering about the futility of telling ghost stories in such bright light.

Fame and riches might go to someone bold enough to remember that their mission was to change a lightbulb, but ALAS! if that person hopes to become a storyteller, it is hard to gain an audience for ghost stories that end unhappily ever after.  Ah, but of course, "That's another story..."

Happy telling to you, too!