“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.”

Long ago, there was a world unlike ours today. There was a world with unobstructed blue skies and a world with clear ocean waters. There was a world with rolling fields and bright snow-capped mountains; a world with millions of tall, unwavering trees and sand that would roll and toss and play in a passing breeze.

There was a world which was always light and good and joyful with inhabitants that were much the same. And every once in a while, the inhabitants of the world gathered to check-in, to make sure that everyone still felt light and good and joyful.

It was at one of these check-ins that our story begins.

The rabbits went first. Their chosen representative stood in the centre of a perfect circle formed by the surrounding check-in attendees. He told his group’s stories of their time since the previous gathering. He told of all the great many berries they discovered and the cozy new burrows they had built, and at the end of his tale, the rabbits were thanked by the many inhabitants for bringing more light and good and joy to their world.

The elk went next. Their representative stood in the centre of the circle and told the stories of her group’s travels through the snowy mountains and how they found a way to locate the buried grass. At the end of her tale, the elk were thanked for bringing more light and good and joy into the world.

Group by group, each representative took their spot in the centre of the the circle, told their stories of light and good and joy, and were thanked for their contribution to the world. After the very last group had taken their turn in the circle, the animals began to disband, returning to the world to continue bringing in more light and good and joy.

“Wait!” a voice declared from the gathered inhabitants, “I did not get my turn.”

A man, standing on two legs, stepped into the centre of the gathering, into the centre of the circle which had become just a little less perfect in the scuffle to leave. The other inhabitants stopped and urged him to tell his tales of bringing light and good and joy into the world. Everyone should get a chance to tell their story.

So he did. He spoke of his many travels, like the other inhabitants had, except his tales contained less light and good and joy. He spoke of cutting up trees, so he could burn them. He spoke of attaching sharp rocks to long poles and spearing (and killing) their fellow inhabitant fish. He spoke of much death and destruction and while he did, the blue skies became obstructed with thick, grey blankets and the clear oceans became dark and foreboding. The mountains were less bright, the trees less strong, and the sand less playful.

“Stop! Please stop!” a bluebird demanded as the light that had once filled the world began to dim, “Your stories are taking away our light and good and joy. You must take them back! You must return our world!”

But he could not, for once a story has been told, it cannot be taken back.

 

 

---

This week’s assignment contained elements of both written and oral story-telling, and after telling my version of how evil entered the world, I was much more aware of how the story changed based on its medium. I think that Pixar director Pete Docter puts it well:

“What you’re trying to do, when you tell a story, is to write about an event in your life that made you feel some particular way. And what you’re trying to do, when you tell a story, is to get the audience to have that same feeling.”

It is one thing to only write the story down on paper, but it is another to be able to add pauses and emphasis to make not only the story more interesting, but also to stress the underlying significance and help my audience understand the story the same way I did while writing and telling it. That’s where oral story-telling is different from written: you can have control over the emotions of your audience.

I also noticed that when telling my story orally, the meanings and emotions of my words changed each time I told it. I never told my story the same way twice, with pauses in exactly the same places or with emphasis on the same parts of words. So even when only focusing on one medium, my story was still able to alter its meaning and essence with each new time I told it.

References:

Khuenwan, Teerayut. “Transparent Earth Model on a Dark Green Background – Illustration.” iStock. 30 July 2017, https://www.istockphoto.com/ca/illustrations/transparent-earth?mediatype=illustration&phrase=transparent%20earth&sort=mostpopular. Accessed 23 Jan. 2019.

Peters, Brian. “6 Rules of Great Storytelling (as Told by Pixar).” Medium. n.p., 21 Mar. 2018, https://medium.com/@Brian_G_Peters/6-rules-of-great-storytelling-as-told-by-pixar-fcc6ae225f50. Accessed 23 Jan. 2019.

Vanessa. “How to Tell a Great Story: Using the Science of Storytelling to Share your Message.” Science of People. n.p., https://www.scienceofpeople.com/how-to-tell-a-story/. Accessed 23 Jan. 2019.