Telling stories
We are all the children of a long and coloured mythology. That is we have all been told stories and in many cases the stories can be traced back for centuries. After all before we wrote things down we had an oral tradition and the best way to have a story remembered is to give it a strong structure. I’ve been watching a number of videos the trace the roots of common fairy tales. Legends, if you will. The stories that date back as far as we can trace. I know that I learned many of these stories from a relative before I could read for myself. And what I find really interesting is that the good stories I remembered with fidelity. Proof that the stories had structure that went beyond a simple afternoon. I have much more to study and less but it is proof that storytelling has value. What about you? Which stories from your childhood do you still remember? Take the time to look up any of those stories and see if you can find an older version. You may be surprised by where you end up. And for the record I have never tried to lose my own children in the forest or trade them for gold coins. Go ahead. Ask them. They may not remember many of my stories but they will know that I did not make those stories out of whole cloth. As for the content of most of our anthologies of children’s literature we will quickly learn the stories move from culture to culture across time. The actual details may vary but the structure underlying any given story remains. Have a look and see where your favourite folk tales or fairy tales or legends came from. It is no surprise that the majority of our own cultural heritage has the roots that go back a long way. Based on earlier tales that may not be true in the details but that convey a lesson. After all this is how we have kept our culture. Sitting around a fire and telling stories.
