Share

Folk tales demonstrate the creative tradition of storytelling. These tales have not only been handed from generation to generation within cultures, but have also migrated to appear in multiple, sometimes quite disparate, cultures, and are often altered to represent traditional norms within each culture. The familiar, rags-to-riches story known in English as “Cinderella”, which is told in French as “Cendrillon”, in German as “Aschenputtel,” and in Italian as “Cenerentola.” But its roots are in a Greek story first recorded in the fifth century BCE. Looking at multiple takes on the same story can open the mind to narrative possibilities and, more importantly, help your students see that the core of a story can live in many dressings. The freedom to “mess with” text is a major, longstanding, and liberating step in the storytelling process.

A story worth telling, whether in print, aural performance, song, theatre, or dance must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. Look for a set-up that creates a situation, which will then resolve to a satisfying conclusion. For aural storytelling, a simple narrative structure—a brief story—will serve better than one that is lengthy and complicated. From an aural storytelling perspective, “Cinderella” is preferable to Anna Karenina. The story needs a conflict—a situation that challenges the characters and inspires action. Characters provide opportunity for interesting descriptions and depictions, as well as the energy of direct address and dialogue. Keep in mind that the goal is the creation of a new and vivid story. A simple story provides room for embellishment, letting your student fill the events of the tale with detail, backstory, and a unique take on the theme.

Wonderful sources of folk and traditional tales are available online and in print. Comprehensive collections, such as Best-Loved Folktales of the World and Favorite Folktales from Around the World, by Jane Yolen, and Margaret Read MacDonald’s Three-Minute Tales, are great in-print story resources. Heather Forrest’s Story Arts web site is a favourite online resource for many storytellers.

A Story with Possibilities

Heather Forrest’s website includes the Hebrew version of a story titled “Fate.” In this simple story a man learns that Death has come for him and flees to a city ten miles away. The story ends with Death puzzling over how he will keep his appointment with the man he just encountered, as they are meant to meet in a city ten miles down the road. The idea that it’s impossible to cheat Death is a simple concept that holds the story together. The source version provides very little information, allowing students to build their own concept of the setting and characters, creating details to support the narrative. Comparison with other versions is possible, offering options in plot and character. Your student can be prompted to ask such questions as where and when the story takes place, how to describe Death, and how the man reacted when he knew Death had come for him, as they build a personalized and expansive version of a simple tale.

Story Pitfalls

Choosing a story that contains too many events is a common storytelling pitfall. For example, take “Lazy Jack,” the famous story of the boy whose mother sends him out to work every day. He loses, or ruins, his pay each day, prompting his mother to tell him what he “should have done.” When he blindly follows his mother’s advice, he loses his pay yet again. Over the course of the story, Jack is compensated with a penny, a bottle of milk, a round of cheese, a cat, a leg of mutton, and a donkey—each element entwined with previous and successive events to create the narrative structure. It is a wonderful story, but students who choose it must include so many events that they lose the opportunity to fully inhabit the story.

Many myths, fairy tales, and legends present a similar pitfall. These stories may be deeply rooted in oral tradition, but too complex to work as material for creative storytelling. Once again, the teller is obligated to explain complicated relationships, sometimes including a backstory that extends through generations. The explanations can overwhelm the plot, leaving little room for reinvention and creating an inventory of details rather than a compelling story.

Short stories or literary sources can also prove challenging sources for stories. The original texts may offer wonderful language and thoughtful construction, both of which tend to be difficult to alter or sacrifice, even in the most creative process. A Robert Munsch story will always sound more or less like Robert Munsch, just as a retelling of Jon Scieszka’s “The True Story of the Three Little Pigs” will sound a lot like the original. Choosing a complete work of this genre can get in the way of the creative process, as it often leads to a presentation that includes a few fresh details but is essentially a partially memorized telling substantially made of the original text.

Storytelling is an invaluable element in a Speech Arts and Drama student’s tool kit. It inspires creativity, as well as a level of ownership in performance that extends easily into many aspects of day-to-day communication. Working with folk tales of the world is an opportunity to connect with age-old life lessons and wisdom, and to acquaint oneself with the tricksters, fools, and jokes that have stood the test of time. Bringing the creative process to the right story can be both empowering and inspiring, and it can have a deep effect on storyteller, listener, and audience alike.