What can we learn from stories?

I recently worked with a school near Chichester who were looking at stories from around the world and what we can learn from them.  I found this to be an intriguing and refreshing project.  It goes without saying that there are simply thousands of popular myths, legends and folktales.  Often they have remained popular because they go some way to explaining something or have a deeper symbolism but this challenge was about considering the moral meaning of tales rather than deciphering their metaphors.  Even before Aesop’s time storytelling has provided a mirror to the way we live as audiences have judged the choices of both heroes and villains.  As a storyteller I am drawn to colourful, funny, crowd pleasing tales so this brief really got me thinking about my material differently.

Here are the three stories I opted to tell to the children…

As Much as Salt – there are hundreds of versions of the story of the girl banished for comparing her love of her father to her love of salt (Shakespeare uses it in King Lear).  It has a beautiful resolution as the girl’s father learns what it is to love and what it is to forgive.

The Proud Turtle – you can’t do a session for a 5 year old and not have some animals doing silly things!  This story is one of my favourites.  Again there are lots of versions of the tale of the boastful know-it-all who falls from the sky because of a lack of humility.  I tend to leave it as the Turtle falls – it’s for the children to decide whether he survives the drop (and whether he deserves it).

Stone Soup – again lots of people claim this story of how a community make the tastiest stone soup through sharing.  It’s a lot of fun to get the children to suggest ingredients and act out preparing the soup and of these three tales has the most obvious message.

Meanwhile I was also asked to present a story set for an event celebrating the achievements of people who had volunteered at their local libraries.  Rather than something frothy I wanted my audience to have something a bit more thought provoking but also be suitable for an event celebrating volunteering in libraries.  I chose to tell a story about a boy who leaves his village and heads to the big city with nothing except his Mother’s wisdom.  In the story as he shares his wisdom he rises from the market place to become an adviser to the King.  In this instance when I’d finished I elaborated on the metaphor of shared wisdom; what if the boy had had a library card, could that have helped him to rise from the market to the Royal Palace?  What then the importance of the volunteer who listens to a child as they read or discuss their reading?  What role does the library play in the journey from their market place to the palace?  If you offer this kind of context I think it was an appropriate choice of story.

So what do I take away from the experience of considering the values I extol in the stories that I tell?  A good story will entertain but a well-chosen one can offer an insight into who we are and who we might like to be and that can be powerful.