Glimpses from the Craft of Storytelling
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The Craft of Storytelling
Warming Up
Some tales can satisfy emotional needs, and others can favour intellectual interests.Delicate tales may preserve Lustigkeit, a child's gladness. We all have a Child (good TA term) inside us - or if not, death is waiting. [Cf.Gregory Boyce's professional "Short Lessons" on TA, for example.
A decent storyteller reflects the need to be steadily cautious in front of his audience, or in the face of unwanted disturbances. Traditional social gatherings in earlier centuries included storytelling, for people were fond of stories, then as now. Storytelling was for all, and common throughout many countries.
Talking Donkey
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| Balaam and his talking donkey. 1252-70. Detail. |
Balaam answered the donkey, "You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now."
The donkey said to Balaam, "Am I not your own donkey, which you have always ridden, to this day?" [Numbers 22:28-30]
Having fun is vital for health and well-being. Being prestigous and solidly fit is hardly all there is to a good life. Some of Baron Munchausen's exploits may seem foolish enough. One of his tales speaks of vegetables on trees. A relative brought him with him in a voyage to Sri Lanka. On the way there was a storm where an old couple were caught when they were high up in the branches of a tree, "gathering cucumbers (in this part of the globe that useful vegetable grows on trees)." [Raspe, ch 1, p 24-25]
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| Munchausen illustration by Gustave Doré |
Just to make things clearer: The cucumber is really a fruit, and so is the pineapple, acorn, wheat, almond, squash, and water melon.
The orange, on the other hand, is a berry, and so is the banana - and the apricot, aubergine, date, grapefruit, lemon, and tomato, to name some of them.
It is also true that all fruits are berries, and some fruits are vegetables.
Well, would you know -
[Ebu sv "fruit", "vegetable farming", and "berry".]
Some Tales Are Interpretatable
"Don't jump from the frying pan into the fire," is a proverb. It suggests that one should refrain from doing anything drastic, rash, or desperate so as not to make things worse than they already are - something like that. There are other valid interpretations of this proverb too, which served Ricky Lynn Gregg in the country music hit "Get a Little Closer." [Dpa].Tales called parables may talk across the ages. Buddha said, "I have taught the truth . . . But simple as it is, the people cannot understand it . . . I must adapt my thoughts to their thoughts . . . Therefore, I will tell them stories." Buddha parables have survived. [MORE]
Add to that: Flowering, figurative speech allows for being interpreted this way and that way, and "There are many valid interpretations of what is worth while," as John J. Sparkes writes [Tpd 135]. Much depends on interpretation. [Gospel of Thomas, log. 1]
A savoury story may influence young ears deeply.
Not every welcomed tale is found to be good and decent
To deprive children of fit and savoury tales is to deprive them of present and future boons. Culture is maintained and passed on by stories, as Jerome Bruner tells - and Albert Einstein finds fairy tales to be good for coming scientists too [Brms 1].One question is: "What is a good tale? "Good" is such a baffling word." And "handy" and "welcome" are not exactly linked to "bad", but they can be. If we wince from handy goodness, from very welcome goodness, and outfit that serves our prestige and so on, it is not good at all. See a skeletal survey of what "good" can be here: [LINK]
We should try to be worthy of respect, not just hanker after recognition, fame, or whatever. One way to get a measure of respect is by welcome developments of proficiency and skills and talents. The ability to interpret, evaluate and re-evaluate can be much developed through steps and stages in a long, on-going process called maturation. [Cf. Erikson's life stages].
Expect and encourage evolving maturation: Tales that relate to contemporary culture, reflect aspects of id (libido) functions around, and maybe shared by many, for good or bad or something else. Study and interpret so as to understand and relate well, if that can be.
Amused by Miracle Tales
Men and women may amuse themselves if safe.Famous men and women of the Catholic Church are reported to have levitated and soared in the air. One source says a few hundred Christian saints have risen up into the air:
"Some of them were able to stay aloft for several hours at a time and others were able to travel many miles . . . Unfortunately, there seems to be little documentation". [Link] [Also check John 14:12 etc.].
We would like to share an older painting with you:
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| The levitating patron of test-taking and of students, and of pilots and air passengers. |
Consider the folk wisdom of "Seeing is believing" and "Twin fools: one doubts nothing, the other everything [Ap 166]." Able individuals may be found in between those two rough groups. And proficient reservations (qualifications) may be schooled and trained against being taken in so much.
Baron Munchausen recounts he once rode on a cannon-ball. Another time he lifted himself and the good horse he sat on, out of a quagmire by pulling his own hair till he saved himself and his horse. Some might say the funny tale paid handsomely. Here is more about the Franciscan Joseph of Cupertino:
St. Joseph - in one basilica [church] he rose near the vaulted ceiling to kiss a picture of [Mother Mary] . . . Sometimes he even took passengers with him. Once, for example, inspired by a choir's hymns, Joseph caught up a confessor in front of a singing group of nuns and spun the man around in the air. - When the saint saw several friars struggling to lift a 36-foot cross for a Calvary they were building, he jetted 70 yards to their aid, picked up the cross "as if it were straw," and put it into place. [Source: Catholic Digest, "stories/9605102a"]A way of life where men and women spend more time a day in their cars than with their spouses and children, is not a sign of great culture.
Miracles are either real or fancied
A concerned mother once visited Albert Einstein to get his counsel on how to help her son become really good in maths. Exactly what was she to read for him to help him evolve into a prominent scientist?By refusing to stiffle fancy and tall tales, modern "miracles" of technology may come about in time. [LINK]
"Folk tales," said Einstein.
"Okay," said the mother, "and after that?"
"More folk tales," said Einstein.
"And after that?" the mother asked again.
"Still more folk tales," answered Einstein. [Brms 1]
The clou to look out for in very many contexts (settings and even situations) can be the handy and useful hints assembled. In order to preserve uprightness or bulwark against future decay, and downfalls, very many European stories are scaring and warning. Half of the tales of European folklore have warning values - gainst being dumbfounded, against being naive, taken in and losing benefits, assets or good positions.
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Literature
Dp: Fergusson, Rosalind: The Penguin Dictionary of Proverbs. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1983.
Dpa: Folsom, Steven R. Dictionary of Proverbs in American Country Music Hits (1986-1996). On-line: [www.utas.edu.au/docs/flonta/DPbooks/FOLSOM/cmdictionary.html]
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