Stories that Enrich, Enhance, and Expand

·        Stories expand your imagination.

 

·        Stories of myth enrich the soul.

        ·        Stories offer solutions to story problems that may in turn help solve real problems.

 
      ·        Stories allow enriching vicarious experience.

 

·        Stories are windows to other cultures.

 

·        Stories with humor relieve stress, sadness and grief.

 

·        Story characters model skills such as making friends, making decisions, and enduring through hardships.

  

“I believe that imagination is stronger than knowledge. That myth is more potent than history. That dreams are more powerful than facts. That hope always triumphs over experience. That laughter is the only cure for grief. And I believe that love is stronger than death.” Robert Fulghum, All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten.

 

The Many Faces of Cinderella

Cinderella stories are common around the world.  In most versions the protagonist is a noble young woman who is treated badly by a stepmother.  She recieves help from a mystical being adn then meets a wealthy and prominent young man.  He immediately falls in love with her but she leaves suddenly.  He finds an aricle of clothing that belongs to her and uses it to find her.  They marry and the stepmother gets her just rewards.

There is an Algonquin story called the rough-faced girl.  She is mistreated by her older sisters and her father.  She is forced to sit close to the fire and tend it, which leaves her face and arms scarred with burns.  All the young women hope to marry the Invisible Being but they are all passed over.  They cannot see him because of their hard hearts. Because the rough-faced girl is noble and kind, she is the only one who can see the Invisible Being that lives across the lake. They marry and live happily ever after.

A story from China is similar.  Yeh-hsien is good and kind but is treated badly by her stepmother.  She takes care of a fish and is kind to it, but her stepmother kills and eats the fish.  Yeh-hsien is told where to find the bones and how to make a wish.  She marries a King at the end of this tale.

In the Russian version, called The Wonderful Birch, the heroine is helped repeatedly by elements of nature, such as a birch tree. The stepmother here is also an actual witch, going back to Russia’s rich history of magical fairy tales. With the Scottish tale of Rashin-Coatie, it is a red calf that helps the heroine, in keeping with the tradition of raising cattle for a living in that country. Finally, in the Irish story Fair, Brown, and Trembling, the heroine is actually a princess, and, as with any good Irish tale, there is a nice amount of combat and royal appearances scattered throughout the story.

Cinderella stories give us hope that inner beauty and kindness will be rewarded.  I hope you will find one and read it today!

A New Story about Giants

by guest blogger Daniel Tracy

Giants! Once believed to be extinct, they have been seen again in this small village in Appalachia.  Everyone in the village knows someone who has gone missing.  Most of them believe their brothers, fathers and cousins were probably eaten by giants. But those disappearances happened long ago.

 Now, everyone feels safe.  They hunt for game in the woods.  They gather mushrooms in the woods.  They tend to their bees and gather their herbs without a second thought about the massive menace from those old stories.  But one day, an old man was walking alone in the woods when it happened.  He felt the ground tremble and heard the birds go silent.  And then he heard screams. Hobbling faster, he came to the edge of a clearing. A huge shadow draped the spring grass and the vegetable patch in blackness. The shadow began at two boulder size feet. His gaze traveled from the feet, up hairy pillar legs, to a leather clad torso, a toothy Cheshire cat grin, and stopped at black pin prick eyes, cold as unlit coal.

Who will be the next victim?  Who will come to defend these peaceful mountain people from the horrible giants?

Massive Menace by Daniel Tracy, published by Glowing Ember Press

Stories About Gold

Leprechauns!

You may have been thinking about leprechauns this week, with Saint Patrick's Day coming up. Most of the stories are about someone trying to catch a leprechaun.  If you catch one you need to be clever, because a leprechaun has many tricks and will do his best to get away.  Never listen to him, because he will try to confuse you. If you can keep him long enough, he will offer three wishes or a gold coin for you to let him go.  In most stories about wishes  the wisher makes terrible decisions.  He may end up insane or completely broke because the language of the wish must be well chosen. So if you catch one, you might do better to accept the gold coin and then cheerfully let the wee man go on his way.

Fairies!

Many years ago the Welsh mountains were full of fairies. People used to go by moonlight to see them dancing, for they knew where they would dance by seeing green rings in the grass.
There was an old man living in those days who used to frequent the fairs that were held across the mountains. One day he was crossing the mountains to a fair, and when he got to a lonely valley he sat down, for he was tired, and he dropped off to sleep, and his bag fell down by his side. When he was sound asleep the fairies came and carried him off, bag and all, and took him under the earth, and when he awoke he found himself in a great palace of gold, full of fairies dancing and singing. And they took him and showed him everything, the splendid gold room and gardens, and they kept dancing round him until he fell asleep. When he was asleep they carried him back to the same spot where they had found him, and when he awoke he thought he had been dreaming, so he looked for his bag, and got hold of it, but he could hardly lift it. When he opened it he found it was nearly filled with gold. He managed to pick it up, and turning round, he went home. When he got home, his wife Kaddy said, "What's to do, why haven't you been to the fair?" "I've got something here," he said, and showed his wife the gold. "Why, where did you get that?" But he wouldn't tell her. Since she was curious, like all women, she kept worrying him all night -- for he'd put the money in a box under the bed -- so he told her about the fairies. Next morning, when he awoke, he thought he'd go to the fair and buy a lot of things, and he went to the box to get some of the gold, but found it full of cockle-shells.

---

Fables

Fables are short stories that teach values. Often the characters in fables are animals that can talk but still have their natural animal traits. Through the actions of the animals fables illustrate a behavior that puts them in danger or reveals a weakness. It is easy to see that there is a corresponding human behavior that is not beneficial.  Fables are a gentle way to teach wisdom and good sense. Usually the stories are funny and at one time they were told in social gatherings like a joke is told today.

 

Aesop is the master fable writer. There are hundreds of recorded Aesop fables. Most of them are not familiar to us today. What do you think is the message of this fable?

 

A Lion used to prowl about a field in which Four Oxen used to dwell. Many a time he tried to attack them; but whenever he came near they turned their tails to one another, so that whichever way he approached them he was met by the horns of one of them. At last, however, they fell a-quarrelling among themselves, and each went off to pasture alone in a separate corner of the field. Then the Lion attacked them one by one and soon made an end of all four.

Stories of Transformations

One of the oldest and most beautiful folktales is The Swan Maidens. In this story, a man is hunting ducks near a lake. He sees seven beautiful swans come to rest in the lake. But these were not ordinary swans. They were enchanted young women. They removed their robes of feathers and enjoyed bathing in the lake until dawn. The man was so captivated by their beauty that he took one of the feather robes and would not give it back. So the youngest and most beautiful of the swan maidens was compelled to go with him instead of flying away with her sisters. As often happens in stories, she falls in love with her captor and she marries him. They raise a family together and are happy. But when her feather robe is discovered, she puts it on and flies away. The man then proves his love by searching for her far and wide and passing several tests to win her back.

Another story about transformation is the legend of the silkies. These stories originate in northern Scotland. In most versions of this tale, a female seal comes onto the land to sing and dance. She removes her seal skin and takes on the form of a woman. Of course someone discovers the seal skin and hides it from her. Like the swan maiden she marries and raises a family, but when she finds the seal skin she returns to the sea.

Not all of the stories of transformation are about animals changing into women. There are male shape shifters in folklore as well. One of them is called a Leshie. This creature from Slavic lore is male and lives in the forest where it protects forest animals. It usually appears as a tall man with a beard of vines, a tail and horns. Sometimes it can look just like an ordinary man, but with glowing eyes. It is not necessarily an evil creature but it can cause some trouble when it feels mischievous.

These folktales are entertaining but are also symbolic.  They show that people are both good and bad, and that love requires sacrifice.  I hope you wenjoy reading these stories of transformation.  Maybe you will write one of your own.