The expectation of this post is take Thomas King’s story about how evil comes into the world, memorize it, change it (or not), tell the story to family/friends, and record some commentary on what was discovered through this journey.
There is a story I know, and it goes like this…
This is a story I know very well, as I have told it countless times, about how evil came into the world. Before there were countries and regions and metropolises and cities, the world was a much more simple place. With humans, animals, and others alike, equality was of utmost importance. Everyone lived off the land as they needed, and if they fell short there were all of the others to help them. If humans and animals could not fill the void of those not fortunate enough to be equal, there were others, such as witches with potions and spells, that were more than happy to fill the void – thus creating the equality the world then strived for. There was competition for nothing, not food nor land or water, but a magical simplicity that ruled their world. This was all true until a gloomy fall day when an unnamed, dark-spirited witch came into the world – ultimately ruining it. In these times, as is the same with now, fall/winter is a down time for individuals who live off the land; and since everyone lived off the land at this time, everyone, including the witches, were not doing much of anything. With this down time, came an unfortunate idea from the dark-spirited witch whom no one knew very well – a plan for all witches to compete to create magic, potions, and spells of poor taste. With an understandably poor first reaction from the majority of others, the dark-spirited witch confirmed with the others that the magic, potions, and spells of poor taste would be destroyed immediately following the competition; due to it just being that – a good-spirited competition. Once the competition was completed, and every witch had created the poorest of creations they could imagine, it was confirmed that the dark-spirited witch had won the competition with his ability to obtain all of the poorest magic, potions, and spells created for all of time. This is how evil made its way into the world – initially through the infinite evil of one individual.
Now for some commentary on what I discovered through sharing my story.
Being what I consider a relatively non-creative individual, I began this assignment with some hesitancy that turned to haste. This is obviously never a way to approach an assignment, and I quickly realized it was definitely not the way to approach a story. Through slowing down and forcing myself to take in and enjoy Thomas King’s chapter, I was able to see the wonderful details in the stories he portrayed to us. This allowed me, a self described non-creative individual, to really delve into the enjoyment of making (and telling) a story. Albeit my story is very short, it opened my eyes to the general appreciation of story telling. The individuals I shared my story with were also initially hesitant to listen, as telling them a story such as this was not something I would normally force upon them; but, with some convincing, I was able to tell my story to them. I found these people appreciating my creative short story, although it was out of the norm. This allowed me, as well as them, to create a new found appreciation for not only sharing and listening to stories, but creativity in general.
Thanks for reading!
Devon Smith
Hi Devon, and excited to read more of your stuff along the term!
I was automatically attracted to your blog post by the beginning of your story because of a similar way you and I decided to frame our story. Perhaps both of us could come up with a reason why we decided to do that? You write that “Before there were countries and regions and metropolises and cities, the world was a much more simple place. With humans, animals, and others alike, equality was of utmost importance”. I similarly decided to create a landscape of peace and serenity for my evil story to spring from. We seem to be both attracted to a sense of peace to evil in extremes, why is that do you think? Without hesitation, I began writing my story by creating a land of purity, and then witches come along, ruining things, as they often do. Are we as story tellers attracted to a way in which opposites and extremes are most dramatic and traumatic? Does it say anything about how oral and scribal stories are told? Do we tend to exaggerate with oral tales in comparison to textual tales because of our ability to use sound and voice to dictate tone? If so, does textual tales then lose their power and prowess in the story-telling World?
Also, I loved how you were upfront and honest about the kind of journey this story-telling assignment was to you; a kind of creativity let loose! I think that’s one of the powers of story-telling as well, in addition to mutating your own stories from others. Because photos, videos and even memories can become imprinted into our minds as an incident, or “one time”, the creative journey that story-telling embarks us on often takes creativity, thought and a “mental hyperlinking” if you will. Perhaps this is why story-telling and stories in general serve as a great oral tradition in history, and even in today. There’s something about having total control over creative decision that make story-telling personal, and that much more memorable. Does story-telling and orality give us a power of creative control and freedom that other memory processes don’t? If so, how does this affect our way of communicating to not only those around us, but also ourselves?
Thanks for your contribution, and keep writing!
– Jeffrey Liu
Thanks for your story Devon – nice to see you stretch your creative wings – cause, everyone has an imagination 🙂 I enjoyed it very much.