Your task is to take the story about how evil comes into the world, the story King tells about the Witches’ convention in Chapter One of The Truth about Stories, and change it any way you want, except the ending. You can change to place, the people, the time – anything you want. But, your story must have the same moral – it must tell us how evil came into the world and how once a story is told, it cannot be taken back.

First, learn your story by heart, and then tell the story to your friends and family.

After you have told the story a few times,  post a blog with your version of the story and some commentary on what you discovered about story telling.

Many centuries ago, the forest lay still and quiet – a peaceful time, unknown to most. The sole occupant of the forest was an ancient Goddess named Mephanda.

Mephanda, the Goddess, created this forest. She was born amongst the clouds and travelled down to a river. As Mephanda floated on the cloud right above the river, she realized it was just a river – a river surrounded by nothingness – and that she would not be able to swim in the river, so she created land. Large meadows materialized around the river. Then Mephanda decided that she would need food, so she created plants. And Mephanda created trees so she could sleep in them.

She was very happy with her creation, and she lived very happy and content in this forest she created. There was an abundance of food to eat and many beautiful flowers and trees for her to enjoy.

One day as Mephanda laid in a tree she heard a very loud bang. She wondered where it had come from, as she had never heard a noise like this before. She looked around, but no matter how far she looked she saw nothing.

Then suddenly the sky darkened quickly. The sky was now pitch black with not a hint of colour or light. Mephanda was very frightened. As Mephanda hugged the tree with fear, she noticed the sky was raining down a golden shimmer. Mephanda was mesmerized and couldn’t keep her eyes off it – her fear dissipating. This had never happened before, and she believed it was very beautiful, albeit slightly frightening.

As the golden shimmer rained upon Mephanda, her stomach immediately began to grow. Then she realized that the golden shimmer made her pregnant. After all, she was a Goddess, so she could become pregnant without a man. And now that she thought about it, she was indeed thinking of having a child, as she was lonely. Yes, she had her beautiful forest, full of trees and flowers that she had created, but, as much joy as the forest gave her, she had the feeling that something was missing. This feeling seemed to have materialized in the golden shimmer that got her pregnant.

The sky was blue again – as blue as a sky could be – and the forest looked more beautiful than ever before. But maybe it was just her joy that made everything look more vibrant. Now she was wondering how long it would be until she would give birth. Was it a boy? Was it a girl?

She felt energized and decided to make her world even more beautiful for her child. She created a little lake close to her favourite trees and then a big ocean with a beach of golden sand and countless islands filled with colourful flowers and trees. And then she created green hills which were slowly sloping up into big mountains topped with white hats of snow and ice. Her world became larger and larger.

And after some time the day finally came when she gave birth to a little child she named Typh. Even though he was barely a mere few hours old, Typh was already talking to her.

The day went by and Typh grew faster than she would have ever expected. About two weeks after he was born she saw something strange: parts of her forest were covered in blackness.

As she went to the parts of the forest that were covered in blackness, she found hundreds of dead, burnt trees, most of which were still smoking deep black smoke. Mephanda was sad to see her forest like this and wondered what had happened. She followed the trail of dead trees, moving faster and faster. Then she finally saw what was going on. She was shocked and sad at the same time. Typh was laughing and using his awakening godly powers to set trees on fire.

“What are you doing?” screamed Mephanda.

“Killing them with fire.”

“But why?” She asked with horror in her trembling voice.

“Because I can,” a smiling Typh said. And at that moment Mephanda realized she may have doomed her paradise with her wish for company and more joy than she already had.

It was fun to recreate the essence of Thomas King’s story in my own words and I believe that is a big part of what story-telling is about. It also shows that a story can work in many ways and lots of different forms. Not only did I rewrite the story, but when I told it to relatives and my boyfriend I told the story each time a little bit different. Oral story-telling is a fluid process, each time the story get re-crated a tiny bit different. Stories can change over time, but their essence might still be there told through an entirely new set of words setting the story up in a totally different way.

King, Thomas. “‘You’ll Never Believe What Happened’ is Always a Great Way to Start.” The Truth About Stories: A Native Narrative. House of Anansi Press Inc., 2003.