"Unhinged ruler" stories

A wonderful online resource for storytelling and storytellers is hosted by the National Storytelling Network, the email list, Storytell.  I'll give more information about it after this list.

One of the great things on Storytell is the ability to ask a question and get replies from members ranging from beginner through professional.  One of our professionals, Richard Martin in Germany asked: 

Recent events have made me look for folk tales of rulers who become sufficiently divorced from the reality perceived by others that they end up doing terrible things to their land - perhaps even the lands of others. So far I have only thought of the Ovid tale of King Erysichthon whose insatiable greed led him to prostitute his daughter and eventually to consume himself.

O Founts of Wisdom, which tales can you suggest?

Rachel Hedman replied:

---

I would actually approach it to folktales where people unified together for good. Where a group may be small but their heart and goodness overcome. Bring about the unifying spirit that sometimes must fight to keep the peace for all.

 

Richard clarified:

I appreciate that, but it is the tragic story of the person heading for doom which I find interesting. Sometimes we need to look at such things.

From there the topic began producing these replies:

*(Suzanne Whitby) 

I tend to resonate with Richard, here. Using folktales to explore possible outcomes - good or bad - can provoke conversation and thought, in my world anyway :) Admittedly, I do love a trickster and a good ending, though, so Richard, some thoughts below which might only partially help. Also, a few ideas that are based in history, but have a somewhat mythical quality about them - again, take what you find useful and ignore the rest.

The one that popped into my head was the story of the "battle in sign language"  - the Spanish inquisitor, wanting to evict the Jews, the "debate" etc. I know you know this story. From the perspective of today, perhaps there is the feeling of the inquisitor heading for doom.

The other is about the witch prickers - here is one historical example of a woman in the role (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-20315106), but a bit of Googling might be of interest.

I wonder if Loki and his involvement in the death of Baldur might be interesting - as a reader or listener, we know it's going to go badly on every level, and it does.

Thinking of the Greeks, I think you might also want to look to Minos in Crete - paying to Poseidon for a sign of the god's favour, then refusing to sacrifice it, resulting in the gods (unfairly) visiting a punishment on him in the form of Pasiphae falling in love with a bull, and so on. Again, as soon as you know that Minos tries to trick Poseidon, well... Not a particularly hopeful story, unless you follow it through to Minos' death at the hands of the daughters of King Cocalus in Sicily, but perhaps that's just me being a bit too interested in retribution!!

Going back a bit earlier, I think the whole story of Prometheus stealing fire, the gods creating the "girl with all the gifts" etc. also has seeds of doom.

Gengis Khan popped into my head, too, as I thought there were some doom-filled stories about him that were unproven, but I haven't been able to find anything.

The Ethiopian tale of the fire on the mountain - felt a bit ominous, although all works out in the end.

Maybe the tale of King Midas - happy ending in the end, but there is that idea of "doom" at the outset.

*(Cassandra Wye)

Hi Richard,

I am with you on the doom ending - because it is less told in story-world 

And I always love telling the untold stories 

There is of course - A drop of Honey - from MRM book of earth tales 

and all things are linked - African tale collected by H Courtalder ? I think 

But for me the tale that is never told = ending of King Solomon 

There are loads of tales about his wisdom and his wealth 

But apparently he squandered it all, his palaces and temples fell down and he died a pauper 

I am sure there are many on the list that know more about this than I do 

My favourite of course is what happened to Hao Ai - The greatest archer of them alli (other spellings are available) 

who saved the world from 10 suns 

Became a hero 

Was rewarded for his heroism with immortality 

And promptly started to abuse his power 

This is my favourite one to tell 

There are loads of written versions of this tale online

I learned mine from UK Chinese community about 30 years ago 

Hope this helps

* (Marilyn McPhie)                                                                                                                             Here's a story that might fit the theme: 

Long ago, lived a king named Reggis. In his kingdom, there was a carpenter, who made beautiful wooden chests. The king declared him as the royal carpenter. King Reggis served his country well. No one went hungry. The people under his rule were happy. One day, he overheard the cook saying, Ours is the best king we ever had! and the king silently agreed. The next day the king overheard the gardener talking to his assistant, King Reggis is amazing, he could do anything! and the king silently agreed. These thoughts filled the king's mind. He became displeased with anything ordinary. Each day he had to find another way to show that he was the best and he could do anything. He paced restlessly in the moonlight. The moon was so bright and silvery, the king wondered what it would be like to touch it. So he called his carpenter and said I wish to touch the moon. So, what is the fastest way to build a tall tower? The carpenter answered, If you stack up all the chests in the kingdom, that would make a tall tower. The king agreed and asked him to begin work. The carpenter knew this was not possible, but he had to do as the king ordered. He went to work. Every chest in the kingdom was brought to the garden and stacked up. The king's purple and gold one was first. Then all the others went on top. When all the chests were stacked, it was not high enough to reach the moon, so the king ordered the carpenter to make more chests. The carpenter used every scrap of wood left in the kingdom, and all the new chests were added. The king announced he would climb the tower that night and touch the moon. Everyone watched in wonder. When the king stretched up his hand as he stood on the last chest on top of the tower, the moon was still out of reach. So the king demanded that one more chest be sent up. But there are no more chests , the carpenter shouted up to the king. Then take one from the bottom and send it up! the king commanded. The carpenter knew the king's pride had finally made him blind to even the most obvious facts. There was nothing to be done but do as the king commanded. So the carpenter pulled out the purple and gold chest and then ran out of the garden. The tower toppled over with a huge crash, filling the garden with chests. When every chest had fallen, the carpenter was afraid to look for the king. But the king was thankfully not badly injured. The king returned to his royal duties with a very different attitude. One day he overheard the cook say to the gardener, Our good king is foolish, but he is no longer full of pride and the king silently and strongly agreed. Source: Adapted from a Caribbean folktale

This was in my files.  Sadly, I apparently didn't record the source.  If anyone else has it, please let me know.

There's also the Chinese legend of Wan Hu who decided in the 16th century to launch himself into space.  Supposedly, he has a chair built and attached forty-seven rockets to it.  When the fuses were lit, there was a huge explosion.  When the smoke cleared, there was no evidence of Wan Hu or the chair.

* (Allison Galbraith)

Hi Richard,

The one where a king only has a bath once in a blue moon, and when he does his feet get dirty on the way out of the river.

So he makes ridiculous demands to have the land washed (flooded) and brushed (too dusty) and finally covered in an enormous quilt of patchwork leather (nothing can grow)

A wise soul puts him right by suggesting they cut the leather carpet neatly around the king’s feet, then tie it onto his feet with straps.

Hence the rest of the land can be freed of carpet, and the king’s feet are kept clean in the first pair of shoes ever made 😊

I can’t remember where I first saw/heard this tale or where it originates – hopefully someone else can help with that!

* (Elinor Benjamin) 

There is always the Wicked Prince

https://andersen.sdu.dk/vaerk/hersholt/TheWickedPrince_e.html

* (Rona Leventhal)

Probably not exactly what you want, but The Fisherman and His Wife has some of the similar motifs and stories mentioned in this thread.  Been meaning to work on that one myself for quite a while!

Here's To The Stories!

 

* (Mary Garrett)

I recall one in which the emperor commanded that the worms eating the mulberry trees be exterminated not realizing they were silkworms.

There’s another in which complaints of noisy frogs lead to filling all the little puddles and ponds, and then there were no frogs to eat insects.

Do I have details, nope . . . it’s been too long since I heard or read them, but I’ll bet someone knows.

Oh, and “Drop of Honey” which dealt with inaction instead of foolish action.  Life is complicated.  

* (Nicola-Jane le Breton)

And there is 'The King of the Moles' from Somerset:

https://www.scribd.com/book/402439173/Somerset-Folk-Tales-for-Children

About a Lord of the Manor who decides he wants everything to be neat & tidy, regardless of the environmental impact.

Nature responds with devastating consequences for him.

I have a PDF of this one, from a book of Somerset Tales I borrowed from the library.

* (Tim Jennings)

Leanne and I recorded a version of a tale from India, we called it “The King And The Thrush.” I believe it could serve you well. It’s on the album of the same name, with the subtitle “Tales of Goodness and Greed.”  One of our best, and you are welcome to as much as you want of the original elements that we added, or you could go back to the source, which I think is called “The talking Thrush.” On the same album, the well-known Danish tale “The Wonderful Pot,” always a winner. I think we fixed it in a couple of places, but the original, again, very good, added to American library story times about the same time as 3 little pigs. “Jackal’s Pond” would also work, he’s not a king, but he declares himself a god, and makes the other animals bow down and worship him before he lets them drink. Nobody else tells it, Leanne discovered it, I think we made it much better. 

Always like a hat-tip when somebody makes use of our work, but that’s just my vanity at this point, the tales want to spread, and I’ve certainly copped licks from other folks w/o acknowledgement in my time.

* (Olive Shaughnessy)

Rum Pum Pum: A Folktale from India.

  I just told it yesterday. It delights the children and all the adults in the room knew I was honoring Ukraine.

 

* (Kiran Shah)

Rum Pum Pum sounds very much like The Rooster's Diamond Button by Margaret Read MacDonald.

LSK: That's "The Little Rooster and the Turkish Sultan" in Margaret Read MacDonald's Twenty Tellable Tales.

 

* (Kiran again responding to the earlier suggestion by Cassandra)

Hi Cassandra,

Yes, A drop of Honey is one of my favourites.

Hou Yi - (different spelling) is one I hadn't thought of. 

I do not know about King Solomon so would love to hear more.

 

* (Cassandra)

Hi Kiran

King Solomon is a really interesting “character”

He is one of the few “wise “ men that is revered in Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths 

You find his stories around the world - as they have travelled extensively as each faith spread around the globe 

He was said to be so wise - that he knew all the languages of all animals 

And incredibly rich 

And his judgements have gone down in history 

My favourite king Solomon tale - I developed for my vision project 

And included on We Share the Same Moon science as storytelling resource - https://www.wesharethesamemoon.org/?p=562

But I first fell in love with his stories via Bertolt Brecht - "The Caucasian Chalk Circle”

My all time favourite play. One day I will play Azdak. 

And of course if memory serves King Solomon’s wall is still a holy site in Jerusalem 

BUT - when I did some research on to what might be the “real” story - not so noble

According to Wikipedia, he squandered his immense wealth and died a pauper 

If I were Richard - and aren’t we all glad I am not ;) 

I would love to weave together the fact and the fiction 

And it is such a beautiful and terrible tale 

* (LSK: my own reply about Solomon)

Cassandra, I agree with your calling Solomon "a really interesting 'character'...one of the few “wise “ men that is revered in Jewish, Muslim and Christian faiths."

I applaud your "research on to what might be the 'real' story - not so noble

According to Wikipedia, he squandered his immense wealth and died a pauper."

and also second your wish, "I would love to weave together the fact and the fiction

And it is such a beautiful and terrible tale."

This reminds me of a teacher saying something like "aren't we glad the Bible isn't still being written?"  (Actually in God's view it is, but I continue...) The only "character" not shown making a mistake is Joseph, unless you count his pride in showing he was the favorite among his brothers.

I remember once proposing Solomon in that perfect category only to be told how ruthlessly he taxed his people to support his flagrantly extravagant lifestyle.  It would indeed be worthwhile to have a tale weaving together his wise and very unwise sides.

LoiS(ure his choice in foreign female companions was a step toward this) 

 

* (Cassandra)

YES !

This are the stories l love to tell!

Like Hoa Ai (other spellings are available) - who is both a hero and a
monster

I love telling them with teens and getting them to discuss the concept of
“hero” and ‘wise”

Why can’t we all be wise and unwise?
Such a better concept to live with rather than up to
Cassandra 

 

Those are the four days of discussion and you will notice it also gives suggestions on usage such as the discussion of "hero" and "wise and unwise."

 

AFTER I created this compilation I received this additional story suggestion of a very moving story I remember well.  If you read it, I'm sure it will stay with you.

(Barry Stewart Mann)

I saw some of the Storytell chat about unhinged rulers but was too busy to zero in.  Now it's Saturday and I saw your post - hope I'm not too late to offer this one, "Kaddo's Wall," a story from West Africa (as best I can tell, from Togo or Burkina Faso) about a rich man (not technically a leader, but in practice very much so) who will not share his corn, but instead hires the peasants to use it to build a wall around him ("Build that wall!").  It's from the collection The Cow-Tail Switch and Other West African Stories, by Harold Courlander and George Herzog. 

If you wish to join this international email discussion list, you don't have to be a member of  National Storytelling Network -- although it's certainly worth supporting and their archiving it goes back to April of 2016.  Prior to that Texas Woman's University hosted it.  We lost those archives but some entries were saved by Jackie Baldwin on her Story-Lovers.com site which can be found via the Wayback Machine.  (To learn how to access that, see the standard webliography at the end of "Keeping the Public in Public Domain" segments on this blog.)  On the N.S.N. site go to https://storynet.org/groups/storytell/storytell-listserv/ and follow the instructions.

Fillmore - The Wood Maiden - Keeping the Public in Public Domain

Remember when the first writing or speaking assignment every year in school was "What I did on my Summer Vacation"?  A bit of wood bark from a tree that came down sparked the idea of a fairy house.  The project started with me and my husband joined in.  At first I wanted to be a preschooler say, "NO!  It's MINE!", but his skills working with tiny N Scale railroad modeling couldn't be denied.  I knew better than to make a fairy and went looking on Etsy.com.  So many fairies!  I play Native American flute a bit and have four earlier posts about this.  When I saw this little fairy from NWWholesaler I knew she was the perfect choice for me. 

Decided for this opening beyond the "Shelter in Place" posts to give a story of fairies and music.  The available selection is large indeed.  Frances Jenkins Olcott's The Book of Elves and Fairies is easily prowled with its own subject index.  I have the Dover reprint which omits the poetry beginning and ending each section plus a very few (five) stories.  I could understand the omission of two from Charles Perrault as they are easily available.  Lovers of Stephen King's The Tommyknockers may miss the omission of "Tom and the Knockers" as possible inspiration for the novel, and it would have helped the brief story of "The Knockers' Diamonds" that is included.  What caught my attention in the Project Gutenberg's posting the full book was the story of "Fairy Do-Nothing and Giant Snap-'Em-Up."  What a title!  I understand the story is moralistic, told with old-fashioned style, and they probably thought it was worth omitting, but oh if told or read with a sardonic style it's great!  I recommend this look at a boy who hates school lessons and loves eating "goodies."  Hmmmm parents trying to homeschool their children during the pandemic would never have that problem, would they?

Searching Olcott I chose "The Wood-Lady" listed as from Bohemia.  You may notice that's not today's story.  Why?  Well it does include a fairy orchestra (although it lists birds as the musicians), but it also has a girl, Betty, who is expected to help her mother in the production of flax into linen.  Here in Michigan we have a storyteller who not only tells stories, but is a weaver who can tell stories from that knowledge, Barbara Schutzgruber.  Barb and I have traveled and roomed together for a National Storytelling Network conference and, aside from her weaving knowledge, I wanted to congratulate her on receiving the Oracle award this year for the North Central Regional Excellence at the first-ever virtual conference.  Unlike previous conferences she had to sit there while we could see her close-up while she was praised.

Her acceptance speech stated, "Folktales shaped my belief that regardless of external differences, people are not that different deep on and showed me that the world is not one of Either/Or, but rather one of Both/And."  I've been struggling to find a way to say this during the current additional time of civil protest about human dignity.  If you go to the Oracle link (while it remains on Facebook) of the entire award ceremony you can hear her entire acceptance speech as well as seeing Michigan's other Oracle winner, Corinne Stavish, who not only won the Circle of Excellence award, but was on the original committee where the name "Oracle" was chosen as an acronym for what it represents.  If you watch the ceremony, you'll also see Corinne introduced by past Oracle recipient, Michigan's Judy Sima and another from Yvonne Healy, who has relocated to Denver, but was a long-time Michigander and at one time chair of the NSN board.

By now you're wanting the story, but why did I use the version by Parker Fillmore in Czechoslovak Fairy Tales instead of Olcott's?  I called Barbara and she led me to his superior version.  (I knew it was more accurate as the girl is called Betushka, and that was the familiar form of a name probably changed from the Czech/Bohemian Alzbeta, or in English, Elizabeth, which of course is nicknamed Betty among other things.)  Barb especially pointed to how Betushka uses her head quite literally to handle the flax since she doesn't have a distaff.  For us non-spinners, think of using your arm to wrap a cord or, in this case, unspun fibers.

Betushka normally is able to take those unspun fibers, wrap the flax around her head to fill her spindle even while tending goats, eating, and dancing.  Let's hear it for this tale of female multitasking until distracted by fairy music from the woods. 

Barb and I both were happy she didn't throw away any more of those leaves!  Adding to all of that I guess we should be careful when hearing fairy music.  In my searching I found several stories where the fairy music can entice you to their world and keep you -- I'm saving one for Halloween as that's when the story occurs.

As for this story versus the Olcott version, her re-telling is shorter, but doesn't seem to leave anything out, except her acknowledgement section omits crediting its source.  Hmmm.  His book appeared in 1919, while hers was 1918.  He worked with the original Slavic texts, but she gives no clue to how she learned the story.  Today's researchers would expect that.

While looking at tales of fairies I found one in Andrew Lang's multi-colored books I dearly loved.  It will probably appear here next week.  We'll see, but for now, this is the end.

***********

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

         - Karen Chace - http://karenchace.blogspot.com/search?q=public+domain

         - 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.

       - Tim Sheppard - http://www.timsheppard.co.uk/story/storylinks.html

       - World of Tales - http://www.worldoftales.com/ 
           - Zalka Csenge Virag - http://multicoloreddiary.blogspot.com doesn't give the actual stories, but her recommendations, working her way through each country on a continent, give excellent ideas for finding new books and stories to love and tell.

     
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!

Puppetry Resources

LoiS with signing tiger puppet from workshop, A to Z  Puppets Are Easy

Puppetry will never be my main focus, but it is a great supplement for my storytelling work with children.  Prior to this the Puppets label has been here 21 times, so here's another.  Librarian William M. Painter wrote three books: Musical Story Hours: Using Music With Storytelling and Puppetry; Story Hours With Puppets and Other Props; and a third, combining the two and adding artwork, Storytelling with Music, Puppets, and Arts for Libraries and Classrooms.  I acquired that last book recently from another storyteller/teacher.  Published in 1994, it had been years since I read it and, at that time was working as a full-time librarian, just storytelling in my time off.  This book is indeed best suited to the library and teacher audience, but it still had some value for me.  (Must borrow again the one with specifically puppets and props.)

I confess that the music I use in my programs is usually live.  CDs too often seem to take my focus, whether I'm the one operating the player or somebody else is.  (His ideas are enticing, so maybe I shouldn't give up too easily.)  Painter's use of art prints, especially the Norman Rockwell or Winslow Homer works was a good reminder.  I liked also his reminder about how audience members could enjoy operating the puppets and props.   Audience participation is always worth considering.  Librarians and teachers can get more use from his picture book recommendations, but I still found a few stories beyond Picture Books since I don't have the same Fair Use exemptions.

The back of the book has a Resource Directory.  Thought I'd update my book with websites since they weren't available in 1994.  Several companies were merged in both the library and puppetry fields or their existence ended, including puppetry advocate, Nancy Renfro, but also Russ Berrie.  Some puppets, like Dakin, are now only found by sites like re-sellers on Etsy and Amazon.  That usually requires searching for something fairly specific, but https://www.etsy.com/market/dakin_puppets gives 63 results currently for a company that was a long-time supplier.  The companies still around have mainly gone to fairly large sites and when searching you can try "puppet" for both finding puppets or puppet stages or "dramatic play":

• Constructive Playthings.com/category/dramatic-play
• Lakeshore Learning.com/products/dramatic-play
• Mansion Schools.com/dramatic-play-learning-play
• Pyramid School Products (again the category of dramatic play is used -- must be educational terminology?)

Stepping into the library world the term changes to "supplies" and then use "puppet."  Amalgamation among library suppliers reduced the number of sites:

• Brodart.com
• Demco.com (has absorbed several brands)

Looking further than the book I found two major craft sites include puppetry resources.  Again search "puppet."

• Jo-ann.com
• Michaels.com 

Beyond that I was saddened to find that both the email list, Puptcrit, which is still listed on the Puppeteers of America site, and the independent network, Puppet Hub, have shut down.  Archive.org's Wayback Machine lets you view the open discussions of Puppet Hub at https://web.archive.org/web/*/www.puppethub.com if that's any help to you.

The national organization, Puppeteers of America, produces its own quarterly journal and mentions the only comparable online resource, The Puppetry HomePage, saying it "is webmastered by Rose Sage and is one of the best for on-line puppetry resources."  The closest it comes to offering puppets is information on building them.  P.O.A. offers both regional and national festivals.  They also list what may be your best resource, Regions and guilds.  Getting together with other puppet enthusiasts can give you ideas beyond the pre-made resources here.  My own guild, Detroit Puppeteers Guild, is very welcoming and loaded with talented members of many kinds.

I also have some resources on my personal website: my handout, "An Alphabet of Puppets and Storytelling" which gives a wide variety of ways to use puppets, and on my page of Specialized Resources I have sections including Audience Participation and, of course, Puppets.  There you will find pattern sources and the commercial puppet manufacturers, Folkmanis and the team of Melissa and Doug.  Both companies are also sold by some of the suppliers above and in fine toy stores.

As almost a postscript, just today I received the National Storytelling Network's June edition of "Storytelling Magazine" and it has a Guest Editor's Section on Puppetry in Storytelling to take into even further possibilities.

I always remember the title of one puppet play collection:

Don't just stand there-jiggle!

May you and your audiences enjoy the jiggling!

 

Out with 2016 and in with 2017!

Now is the perfect time to look back and see how the year went and what might need to be done differently in the coming year.

The folks at Clipart Library have some great images for looking back at 2016.  I've chosen them for this post, but they have other topics worth checking.

For my part I want to stick to Storytelling here (although I promise I'm also looking at other parts of my life, too!)

• There have been weekly posts here, including 31 segments of the popular Keeping the Public in Public Domain stories, although I've also sometimes told other stories, too.  I've noticed it has become popular reading for our U.S. service members.  I'm happy to give them something to read during those times when some entertainment is needed.
• I love the research and time travel of Historical Storytelling Programs - my program as Liberetta Lerich Green and the topic of abolition, the Underground Railroad, and the Civil War has been popular for many years, but this year I particularly remember the small town of Mecosta packed the hall and were very enthusiastic.  
• Another of my historical programs, this one about World War I had preview programs and a debut.  I'm excited to tell about the "Hello Girls" as Marine City bilingual telephone operator, Oleda Joure Christides.  This is as much a story of Women's History as it is for the coming centennial of the U.S. in this often overlooked war which moved our country into playing a role on the international scene.
• I'd heard about the Jesuits for years, but this past year let me tell to them as both Liberetta and Oleda.  There was nothing retired about the intellect and good wit of these "Jebbies" and I hope to have even more opportunities to bring my storytelling to them.
• Other adult programs included a two hour spooky storytelling around a campfire.  It let me try out some of the Lafcadio Hearn stories I've posted here.  After two hours I found myself realizing how many spooky stories I know, but didn't get to tell!
• An aunt died in 2015 and I had the opportunity to do memorial presentations both in Las Vegas and at the ancestral burial plot in Bloomington, Illinois.
• Yes, I enjoy telling for adults, but worked for a great many years with children, so there was plenty of that, too.  Some of my favorite programs were return engagements, including the many schools for the Jackson Storyfest.  Jackson is a truly diverse county, with urban, suburban, and rural communities.  Definitely urban is Detroit and it was wonderful to have a Detroit Public Librarian bring me back.  She had a library with no air conditioning but fans on a meltingly hot summer day, yet those families stayed right with me and my puppet sidekick!

Now is the time for thinking ahead to 2017 with new projects and room for self-improvement.

• Publicizing programs is a never ending job, especially as I look at my Hello Girls program, both because of its limitations for the time of the historical centennial celebration, but I see it as so much more because their 70 year battle for recognition makes it a perfect example of Women's History, although it's already been enjoyed by men, too.
• That program left me unhappy with its debut on audio-visual problems in a room with too much light for our equipment.  Help came from Dennis Skupinski, who has the YouTube channel, WW1 Centenary Michigan, which urges you to Give the First World War a Second Look.  His flash drive of WWI scenes and music lets program sites have an option for larger rooms.
• I also need to contact libraries in small towns for an unusual project that can come to them at very low cost to the library.
• Summer Reading Programs in libraries value literacy, but variety performers like puppeteers and magicians draw larger audiences.  This is why this blog has had several (13 so far) articles on puppets, including puppet sidekicks.  This year Priscilla Gorilla will once again accompany me.  It also permits audience participation.  
• American Sign Language is the third most used language in the U.S. and students say they learn even more from my storytelling in voice and sign.  I need to promote more my introductory programs in it.  The program is very flexible and can be for children or adults, from a one-time program or a series.
• I am the Michigan state liaison for the National Storytelling Network, but always find myself feeling as if I should do more to spread the word and also work with our state's members.
• One of the things I love about my work is its variety and creativity and how I never know what's next.
• Of course, I plan to continue offering stories in my Keeping the Public in Public Domain segments.  With 52 weeks to the year, this past year's 31 segments seems just about right to me.

With all of this I plan to keep my storytelling always moving from Good Enough to Better and even Best.

"Can't think of a thing to say"

In the wake of Veterans Day, Election Day, all the political talk, talk, and more talk, 

"Can't think of a thing to say!"

How all of this will finally work out is beyond me.  Thinking of this and how this country will need to come together made me think of the last time our country was this divided. . . the election of that first Republican, Abraham Lincoln.  Since one of my major programs deals with abolition, the Underground Railroad, and the Civil War, it hits me in a way that only a historical perspective can bring.

I've tried hard to avoid political talk as it has grown only more divisive in recent years.  The idea of difficulty knowing what to say, on the other hand, is very appropriate here.

Do a search on Google Images for the phrase and you'll see things like a lawyer telling a client, "I could knock off the legal jargon, but then I'd have nothing to say" or a maitre d' asking a mature couple "Speaking or nothing-left-to-say-to-each-other section?"  Even those two parrots are a way to present a cartoon saying that.  Let's keep, not only civil, but a sense of both history and humor.

It happens to all of us at some point. 

Yes, even Stephen King said this, when he was talked by his publisher into getting a Twitter account.  Relax.  He may be happiest filling big thick volumes, but if you go to his website and scroll down to just short of the bottom, you'll see his Twitter account is still up and running.  Similarly it's time to keep our relationships "up and running" and not "unfriend" or otherwise avoid different viewpoints from our own.

I suspect small talk stops us all at some point, so try these ideas from PsychCentral-- it's worth planning ahead and these 10 ideas are worth considering and doing whatever it takes to have them in mind.

As a storyteller, true stories and also storytelling memorials are also important.  The Funeral and Memorial Information Center has a video and other ideas on how to have something very worthwhile, the Talk of a lifetime.

In fact storytellers and storytelling have a lot to say to us right now.  This past summer the National Storytelling Network opened its annual conference with a keynote speech by Rives Collins called "Storytelling in the Twenty-First Century: Why the World Needs What You Already Know."  Obviously I'm not going to repeat that in its entirety here, go to NSN's website and see all offered by this member-driven organization.  Many resources are there and members also have many additional benefits including Storytelling Magazine, which gave in its current issue a printed taste of his presentation.  (With 91 slides, four videos, and several songs, you can see why I say the text is only "a taste.")  As Michigan's State Liaison I'm proud to talk with people at any time about the organization, but this sentence in his speech is an action call about storytelling.  "The atrophy of wonder is one of the great hazards of adulthood, but I also believe that as a collective, not only can we nurture a sense of wonder in our children, we can use storytelling with adults as an antidote to the boredom and cynicism that preoccupies modern life."  Putting that in bold type is my own addition, but it is the reason for storytellers to speak up. 

As a blogger I can particularly appreciate a cartoon and comment from P.K. (don't be stopped because that stands for Pastor Kevin) as he had the nerve to show a blogger at his computer saying: I have nothing to say . . . I say it regularly.

Since some of my readers, whether officially storytellers or not, blog, while doing that Google Image search for "Can't think of a thing to say" I found 2 blog idea generating pages:

1. http://www.brandcampblog.com/how-to-get-out-of-a-blogging-rut/ 
2. http://www.creativecounselblogdesign.com/2013_05_01_archive.html
3. but there are lots of other such idea generators for blogs.  Surely you can find a few!

In contrast I found storytellers tend to think differently.

In the past I've featured Gail Froyen, so I was interested when she said "I seldom tell in a 'formal'

setting any longer, but friends say I talk in story. I also listen that way."  I said back to her my own discovery (and that of other storytellers returning to acting) that "I've found it affects my memory. Was one of the two aunts in Arsenic and Old Lace, but tend to think and give the lines as if storytelling rather than memorizing."  It's also why, when a teacher who knew me and introduced me as having "all these wonderful stories memorized for us",  I had to correct her a bit and say "Oh, no, I know them by heart."  There is a difference.

Of course storytellers also have a tendency to hear something and say, "That reminds me of a story!"

Next week I have a story to fit that, so I hope you come back next week for a really classic Irish story of  what happens when a storyteller has nothing to say.  It will also include a challenge to create your own story.

On that note, I close with a photo of the World War I "Hello Girls" who made it possible for our soldiers to have their say.

Appreciate a Dragon Day

Today is Appreciate a Dragon Day.

Chloe (Midnight Storytellers), the Dragon Whisperer

Honest!  It is officially listed as that.

There have been other posts here about Dragons and that link currently gives you three (3!) stories from the Keeping the Public in Public Domain.  Today I want to give something more.

My British storytelling colleague, Chloe, of Midnight Storytellers, and I started talking on the international network of storytellers, Professional Storyteller, about her work as a Dragon Whisperer.  She has generously given me permission to repeat what was said.  Librarian that I still am, we both mention some dragon books worth reading.

What started this was I mentioned my friend, Loretta Vitek, (found here at Loretta Vitek) and her love of the saying "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for thou art crispy and would be good with sauce!" and Chloe responded:
Hi Lois, The Brit version is "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons - for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup" ;)
I have another window / bumper sticker which says 'Sometimes the dragon wins'.
I've fascinated by dragons since I was 8 years old. A family friend with a talent for drama read The Hobbit to his children and me on joint family holidays. Then he read us Farmer Giles of Ham. I still love both. I think it was worth wading through excessive film hours to see Smaug gloriously realised - and voiced!!
My idea of dragons is like C S Lewis' idea of Aslan - not a tame lion... At DCHQ [Dragon Conservation Headquarters] we tell apprentices "Only The Keenest Survive".
This summer I was the world's first (probably) ever Dragon Whisperer in Residence at my local stately home Sudeley Castle. It's now just a Victorian replica of castle-ness but the place has links with King Henry VIII (the one with all the wives...) and has a lovely garden surrounded by farm meadows. A little place of magic in the Cotswolds.
What brought you to dragons?
Kind regards, Chloë.

My reply was:

Hi Chloe,
Finally free of a very challenging play I was in.  Wanted to do justice to a reply.
Ketchup?  Thought that was strictly American.  At least expected a Brit to call it Catsup.  (Now the word looks like a funny derivation should be hunted up.)
Tolkien's Hobbit's dragon also got me started back when I was a teen and reading it one summer. 
My favorite dragons are the Asian ones -- powerful, but not intentionally like the European ones who are so often either greedy or worse.  (Not that such stories aren't fun to tell, too.)  Presume you also know the Scottish, Assipattle vs. the Sea Monster tale -- title varies.  Such fun to tell and, while not a dragon, so dragon-like.  In contrast I also like Kenneth Grahame's Reluctant Dragon for the relationship between the little boy and the dragon.  That reminds me of Ruth Sawyer's The Year of the Christmas Dragon, with another boy + dragon friendship.  It's too little known, but I love its explanation of why so many in the western hemisphere look Asian.  As for Asian dragons, there are too many to count and I love to count their toes to see if they are imperial dragons or not. 
Something that really sticks in my mind from generations ago is "Day of the Dragon", a short story in Alfred Hitchcock's Monster Museum.  A professor, who has had his reputation ruined because he writes for the tabloids, experiments on a male and female alligator, giving them fully functioning hearts, whereupon they evolve back into dragons and wind up taking over the world.  Definitely a case of "Sometimes the dragon wins."  Love that saying, too.  Thanks for telling me about it.
Do you know P.S. member, Jill Lamede?  She does the Tintagel Dragon and even has a book, Tales of the Tintagel Dragon.  You would probably enjoy her website, http://www.lamede.com/index.html, especially http://www.lamede.com/page10.html.  If you get in touch with her, by all means be sure to say hello from me!
Happy whispering, Chloe!
LoiS(ssssss!)
P.S. I've enjoyed our conversation on this.  Would you mind my quoting any of it, complete with full credit and links to your information and site, in a blog I do?  Storytelling + Research = LoiS could do with another look at dragons.  Here's the two I've done there so far: http://www.storytellingresearchlois.com/search/label/dragons

Donita K. Paul

As you can tell, Chloe said "Yes", although by now there are three stories at that link.  It was worth saving until Appreciate a Dragon Day which you may want to know was started by the author, Donita K. Paul, back in 2004 to promote the release of her award nominated book, DragonSpell, which became a 5-book series.  If you go to the AaD Day link above you will find it includes additional dragon resources for those of us who do indeed appreciate them. For anybody wanting to read more dragon stories there is a bibliography page of recommended books, as well as not one but two pages of program and flat out sizzling fun with her AaD Day page and then additional links given as Bright Ideas.


By the way, when I mentioned Professional Storyteller, I want to back up just a bit and mention you can find Chloe's page there gives even more information about her.  Professional Storyteller is an excellent resource for and about storytellers and storytelling.  For my storytelling friends it gives a free page of promotion, the opportunity to blog, post photos and videos, and even promote storytelling events.  The discussion groups there aren't overwhelmingly busy, but are yet another resource both for public viewing and conversation.  Members can post on each other's page or email there privately and the search box gives a wonderful means of locating other storytellers nearby and also when traveling.  Here's my own page there.  Can you tell I consider PS a resource worth promoting?

But as they say in television infomercials "Don't Stop There!"
I also want to mention another dragon-loving, and, of course, dragon-telling British storyteller, Jill Lamede, she is a resource mentioned here earlier when trying to find more about something happening at Land's End, another name for Cornwall and Tintagel where she lives and works. Back then I said: Then I remembered Jill Lamede, whose delightful Tales of the Tintagel Dragon is now available on Kindle.  I had bought from her a hard copy of the book years ago, ordering it for Mount Clemens Public Library so I could tell it.  It's still there and I finally remembered her saying another name for Tintagel was Land's End.  That's Cornwall!
As Jill recently reminded me, Tintagel is not very far from Lands End, both are in the magical county of Cornwall in the furthest southwest toe of England.

I especially enjoyed the summer she even worked with me to use her book at the library.  Jill (also on Professional Storyteller where she has so far posted 6 videos) has always been a great online friend to me starting way back with the international email list, Storytell, sponsored by the National Storytelling Network.  NSN is truly a member-driven organization for those of us who love storytelling, so I also urge you to go to the jam-packed website if you are a storyteller, want to find a storyteller, or just want to know more about storytelling.


You just never know what we storytellers might share with each other to resolve research questions.  I'm delighted to have the friendship of both these British storytellers and my local storytelling friend, Loretta Vitek.  If you scroll down to the bottom of North Oakland County Storyteller's directory of members you will find more about Loretta.  Just be sure to remember her warning, which I slightly misquoted.  It should say Do not meddle in the affairs of Dragons, for thou would be crispy & good with sauce or Chloe's British version "Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons - for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup"  Either way, be sure you do your appreciating dragons carefully.

Make every day Earth Day

 

While Earth Day was officially April 22, it was never intended to be a focus for one day only.  Here are some good ideas to keep it going + a look at storytelling and even puppetry ideas for Earth Day and beyond. 

Because it fell during the week, if you are here in the metro Detroit area you might want to go to an excellent annual celebration held at Carl's Family YMCA in Milford this Sunday.  From 1-5p.m.   If you can, go to this practical, fun family festival.  Notice the first thing the article mentions is giving out free seedling trees.  "Mother Earth" always has lots to give away.  Planting them also fits Arbor Day, whose dates vary, but here in Michigan is the last Friday in April.  There's much more than the article had space to list, but North Oakland County Storytellers, yes, including me, will be telling stories related to the day also.    Once you go, you'll want to attend every year.





While mentioning Arbor Day, why not go to the Arbor Day Foundation site and join?  With your membership you will get ten free trees, a tree guide to more than 200 varieties of trees, 100 varieties of additional trees discounted with free shipping included, and the Arbor Day newsletter.  This non-profit carries on the work of  the first Arbor Day observance in 1872. The Foundation has grown to become the largest nonprofit membership organization dedicated to planting trees, with over one million members, supporters, and valued partners.  The story of Arbor Day itself is interesting and especially the story of the U.S. start by Julius Sterling Morton which stretches from his roots here in Michigan, to seeing its need on the plains of Nebraska, to Washington, D.C. where he was Secretary of Agriculture in the administration of President Cleveland, to Chicago where his son, Joy, the founder of the Morton Salt Company, carried on the family love of trees with an enormous arboretum and estate.

Here's a list of 8 common things you didn't know you could recycle.  If you don't want to ship your nylons off to No Nonsense (the second to the last item), you can give them to me for puppet stuffing.  I use them in puppet making workshops with old stuffed animals.  Here I am at a different workshop on how to use puppets with "Ivan", who has appeared here before because he lets me use sign language.  He has a bit of a story about the day I made him from a very old stuffed animal.  Detroit Puppeteers Guild had a workshop led by deaf puppeteer, April Cooper, on how to make him, but neither of us expected that the oldest stuffed animals were stuffed with styrofoam pellets.  I'm a big recycler of styrofoam, but those pesky pellets are probably still lurking in cracks at the Livonia Civic Center Library because opening the toy erupted into pellets everywhere! 

Ivan the Signing Siberian Tiger

and being eaten by Rainbow Boa Boa

I also have something else you might want to recycle with 7 surprising ways to use pet hair.  You could combine the nylons with the pet hair for absorbing oil spills -- the first surprising way to use all that pet hair.  With the double fur coat of my husky/malamute, I plan to try #7 for my rural garden, but know many people do indeed spin it into yarn.

You may have noticed both those last two links go to Care2.com.  If you join that site you can find a wide array of free e-cards along with information supporting a multitude of causes and healthy living.

As I write this, National Storytelling Network's special interest group
is due to post its April 7 teleconference with storyteller/biologist Fran Stallings.  H.S.A. has the March 24, 2015 up, so I presume the lively discussion will be available soon as their teleconferences, along with other resources, are always posted afterward.  Fran's topic was "Stealth Eco-telling, Putting Your Repertory Where Your Heart Is" and she did exactly that, showing ways to use stories you may already know.  She also was wise enough to point out the need for including positive stories to avoid the easy to fall into "gloom and doom" mood when mentioning the need for ecology.

Take care of the Earth . . . so far it's the only livable  planet we have and need to keep it that way.

Easy one-person puppet storytelling

Have you ever wished  for storytelling help and didn't know where to turn?  There are three good online networking resources.  The oldest is the email list, Storytell , hosted on the National Storytelling Network's 's website.  It's slightly international, but Professional Storyteller, with well over 2000 members from around the world, is very international.  Facebook's group, Storytellers,  is the newest and the least likely to be searchable for past information.  Storytell has an archive since 2009 which goes back to moving to the NSN site + long-time list member Jackie Baldwin has been archiving citations, discussions and references on specified storytelling subjects, themes and motifs posted on Storytell since 2000 at her wonderful Story-Lovers site.  Beginning in January of 2008, Professional Storyteller combines the visual -- and even audio -- nature of Facebook with the depth of archiving and possibilities of Storytell  in Professional Storyteller's various groups and the more general Forum discussion.  It also is open to the world to add to the internet presence of its members who can post their information including blog, videos, photos, events, and the opportunity to network with all those members interested in storytelling.

Additionally I'm active on Puppet Hub with my own group Out Front with My Puppet for puppeteers who don't stay behind a stage. Whether storytelling, or performing music, or. . . it's just the puppet and their human performing directly to their audience.

Because puppetry is part of my storytelling, when Betty Diles, on the Forum for P.S. asked: I'm looking for some quick easy skits or stories that I can do with puppets for my Pre-K and Preschool classrooms.  Any suggestions, websites, books would be greatly appreciated. :)Thanks!!

Here is a slightly revised version of how I responded and hope it helps you, too, find "Easy one man puppet stories":
Hi Betty,
I'm not at home right now, but saw your request and did a quick search of an online library catalog for puppet plays that specifically mention being for one person. I also followed it up with a look in Amazon since it often gave more information. (There's always more than 1 way to separate a feline from its epidermal layer!)

Even if you were clear around the world in Australia, I'm sure these online resources will be especially helpful. If you go to my website at http://www.lois-sez.com/SpecializedResources.html and go to the resources listed under Participatory, several sites may help you. The section called Puppets is right under that. I was surprised to see none specifically had on their sites what you need. They are worth your visiting, however, and I strongly recommend this Ning network, http://PuppetHub.com. If you put this question on my group there, "Out Front with My Puppet", I'm sure you will get some great suggestions.

For books that came up:
I know I own and would recommend One-Person Puppet Plays by Denise Anton Wright
* also Storytelling Made Easy with Puppets by Jan M. VanSchuyver.
* There are puppet scripts and great ideas in Caroline Feller Bauer's Leading Kids to Books Through Puppets. While I don't recall if they are suited to early childhood groups, her ideas are great and it is worth owning.
* I have Dee Anderson's Amazingly Easy Puppet Plays: 42 New Scripts for One-Person Puppetry, but don't recall if it works for the "littlies" as an Aussie storytelling friend, Mabel Kaplan, liked to put it. The summary says "Enough puppet programs for every week in the school year." That may mean it is meant for older children. It's hard to tell without the book in hand.
* Another good resource is Connie Champlin's Storytelling with Puppets and there are 2 editions. Get the 2d, more recent 1997 version. I don't recall it having scripts, but you'll definitely get other suggestions from it.
*Two books I don't own, but look promising are How to Do "the Three Bears" With Two Hands: Performing With Puppets by Walter Minkel and A Show of Hands: Using Puppets with Young Children by Ingrid Crepeau and M. Ann Richards. If you read their descriptions, it should help you decide if they're for you.

I don't tend to limit myself to existing scripts as so many folktales are simple enough to adapt. Another great thing is to be the narrator talking with another puppet or puppets as you tell the story.

Puppets are so great to use in so many ways. At the risk of once again leading you to my own site, many have found useful an alphabet I created of ways to use puppets in storytelling at http://www.lois-sez.com/Puppets.html. Hope these suggestions help, Betty!

A bit later I added:

Here's another book you may like. Fun Puppet Skits for Schools and Libraries by Joanne F. Schroeder. The stories, songs, et cetera would all work with preschool through primary grades. Some are specifically for 1 person and there are ways like stick puppets to manage stories that require several characters quickly.

I'll keep looking as time permits. I have a workshop in Petoskey, MI specifically about using puppets specifically for this age group, so it will help me, too, to have additional resources. Glad to help us both!

and yet a bit more:

Hi Betty,
When I had a chance, I went hunting online to see if there are any sites you should visit. There are many for Biblical puppetry, but I only found http://www.puppetresources.com/ for general purpose scripts specifically prepared for puppets. Some of them will work for solo puppetry. Of course your adapting folktales will still be the option I would recommend as it's the most flexible to meeting both thematic needs and your own.

****************************
I hope this month's blog, in honor of the National Day of Puppetry, which comes each year comes on the fourth Saturday of April, gives you some good resources both for puppetry and storytelling.

If you're looking for more puppet fun and are near the Detroit metro area, you can also go to my local guild, Detroit Puppeteers Guild.  If you are in the U.S. and seeking a guild, check with the Puppeteers of America to find your region and closest guild.