“folktales are really clever…”

By Limor Shiponi

Our current storytelling beginners’ course is a wagon full of marvels. Last time it was the guy in marketing who came up with a profound insight, this time it’s a lady about my age with a brilliant spin-off that left us all in awe.

One of the exercises I use in training, leads participants through a process that transforms a personal story into a folktale. During the various phases of this exercise participants are requested to shift partners, so eventually no one knows who the original story-owner was, what it sounded like or what it was about. An hour later, we have a room full of new-born folktales…

In a small village in Romania, lived a woman who had an only child – a beautiful, loving young girl. The mother and her daughter had very little by means of property and finance, but they had one another. The mother took close care – to tell her child the most beautiful stories, sing songs with her, dance, walked in nature, and visit friends as often as possible. The mother wanted to give her daughter a life of beauty and joy, of wisdom and friendship. They were happy with each other and with what they had for many years.

One day, a distant relative came to visit. She was from a far-away land over the great oceans. This woman was very elegant and she had a lovely smell of perfume. The girl thought to herself, “She looks like a queen”; the girl was very curious about that woman and the things she brought with her.

A day after, the guest said to the girl, “I have a present for you”. She opened a special-looking box, gently pulled out a round, shiny object, and offered it to the girl. “What is it?” asked the girl. “It’s a crystal ball,” answered the guest, “and it’s only for you to use. If you look into it you will see the most beautiful, exciting and interesting things. If you look through it at anything, you’ll learn very fast what’s worth looking at and what isn’t. Take it, keep it and enjoy.”

The girl took the ball and ran outside to look into it and all around. She was fascinated by the sights and sounds in the ball. She was excited to look at things around her through the ball. Some of them looked nice and interesting, some were plain and boring, so she decided not to look at them anymore. She was happy with the beautiful, exciting and interesting things in the ball; They were endless, and every day there were new things in the ball to explore. Gradually she looked more into the ball than around here, spellbound by the magnificent, out of this world sights.

After some time, she came into the tiny house where her mother was working in the kitchen. “Hey mom!” she called, “look at my present!” The girl lifted up the ball to show it to her mother, but as she did, she saw her mother through it and thought, “My mother looks empty. She isn’t very interesting.”

From that day on, the girl drifted away from her mother and clutched to the crystal ball. Her mother tried to call her – to eat together, to tell stories, to walk outside – but nothing would bring her child back. Although she had a lovely daughter whom she loved dearly, she was very much alone.

As the woman telling the story spoke this last sentence, another woman in the class clutched her head between her hands. It seemed she was about to break into tears. The teller fell into silence looking at her. “That’s my story,” said the distressed listener, “it’s about me, my daughter and what happened after she received an iPhone as a present”. “How is it, to hear your story told as a folktale?” I asked. “It’s even more distressful than I thought reality is, but it is truly how I feel.” “Would you like to hear the rest of it?” I asked. “Yes” was the answer. The teller continued with a glint in her eye and brought the story to a surprising twist and conclusion. It was surprising because her story had a solution for the distressed mother in it.

The story-owner smiled, “I like that and I’m going to follow the story’s advice”. Then she added, “folktales are really clever” which made us all break into laughter.

At the end of the lesson she asked the teller, “how did you come up with such a great solution and folk version for my story?” which upon the other student replied, “well, I have three daughters with iPhones. I know what it feels like…”