“I am going to tell you a story,” says the man.
“What is it about?” The boy asks.
“This story is about stories,” the man says, “Back in the old days, when the world still believed in magic, there were those that could wield that power. They used these powers for good, to heal and to help. They would also use their magic for games and contests. They would meet in the woods with the light shining down on them as it always did, for evil and darkness had not yet touched the world. That day, they competed to see who could be the scariest of them. This was all done in jest, of course. They shifted their appearance, brewed potions and cast spells until one stranger stepped forward. No one had ever seen this stranger, who appeared neither man or woman, but all listened as the stranger told its story. Tales of death, plague, and hate tumbled from the stranger’s mouth. As they listened, the sky began to darken and the woods stood silent, until they were standing in complete darkness. One of them, braver than the others, stepped forward to speak to the stranger.
‘What have you done?’ The brave healer asked. The stranger stood in silence, already seeming to fade into the darkness itself. Another stepped forward.
‘Take back your story!’ The other pleaded, desperation in their voice. Everyone began to cry, knowing at the bottom of their hearts that the story could not be taken back. The stranger had brought evil into the world.”
“Why couldn’t the story be taken back?” The boy asks.
“Because once a story has been loosed in the world, it cannot be taken back. A story is not something tangible that can be caught and hidden once the first storyteller has told it. That is both the curse and the gift of the story.”
For my version of this story, I chose to pair it with a framing device of a man passing this knowledge down to a boy. The story that Thomas King tells about how evil came into the world is not about evil, but about the power that stories hold. The story only become tragic in this instance because it is evil being loosed into the world. However, stories can also function to deliver good, or even happiness, depending on the subject matter. The story within a story within a story also appealed to me. I also removed the fact that they were all witches, as I find that witches has a very negative connotation. Instead, I chose to make them simply practitioners of magic. I also accentuated the ominous quality of the storyteller within the story by giving them the title of stranger.
After memorizing my story, I chose to relay my story to three different groups. For this assignment, I thought it would be interesting to tell my story to groups that I had varying degrees of comfort with. First, I told my story to my sister, who I live with. Because we spend so much time together, my delivery of the story was fairly confident and stayed pretty well in line with the written version of my story. Next, I took my story to a close group of friends. I told my story in the public library this time, so, while I was comfortable with my group of friends, I did feel a little unease that other people might overhear us. I also noticed that this time, my story started to waver from the written version with small details changing. I think this was because I was more nervous performing (if we can call it that) for my friends than for my sister and our cat. Finally, while I did not solicit strangers to hear my story, I did ask a new friend that I am not quite comfortable with. This made me even more nervous because, even though he agreed to hear it, the situation almost felt awkward because we do not know each other very well.
I am very shy in many situations, so I was surprised I was even able to finish telling the story at all. I wonder how many people had this experience in retelling their story? Did you begin to deviate from your written version as you were forced to use your memory? Now, I am beginning to see why stories that originate from oral storytelling appear to have so many versions that go from changing small details to larger details.
After further reflection and my dialogue with Kaylie in the comment section, it occurs to me that part of my influence came from the Sandman graphic novel. If you are interested in reading the whole volume, this comes from Volume 2, The Doll’s House. I highly recommend reading the entire series, though. There are so many interesting references to literature, mythology, etc. Also, Neil Gaiman is a fantastic writer. I am posting images of the first two pages of The Doll’s House, which contain some interesting dialogue on storytelling.
Works Cited
Gaiman, Neil, writer. Dringenburg, Mike and Malcolm Jones III, artists. The Doll’s House. Vertigo, 1990, pp. 1, vol. 2 of The Sandman, http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/perpetual/17950093/52685/52685_original.jpg. Accessed Oct. 2016.
Gaiman, Neil, writer. Dringenburg, Mike and Malcolm Jones III, artists. The Doll’s House. Vertigo, 1990, pp. 2, vol. 2 of The Sandman, http://ic.pics.livejournal.com/perpetual/17950093/74406/74406_original.jpg. Accessed Oct. 2016.
Hi Hope,
Thanks for the post! I enjoyed reading your story and reflections and I thought it was really interesting the way you framed the story as being told by a man to a boy. I think framing it in that way is a fun storytelling technique and it made me wonder if the story would change depending on how it was being framed. Did you consciously choose a man and a boy to be relaying the story to each other? Do you think that it would change depending on who the characters were sharing the story? (E.g. if it was a woman/girl, or a child/person, or another character, or any combination of these and the characters you used.)
In response to your questions, I also found that I deviated from my written story concept and that my story changed partly due to my audience. I was more shy depending on who I was sharing it with, and I actually found that sharing it with someone who I was closer to, but who I know would be honest with me and/or more critical, to be almost more nerve-wracking than sharing it with others. However, I also found that once I got “into” the storytelling, that things got easier. It was interesting to hear the different contexts you shared it in, and I could relate to some of your hesitations.
Finally, I agree with you that I think stories can also deliver more positive seeming content (not only “evil”) and I enjoyed the way you reflected this in the very end of your story with the story’s presence in the world as being both a gift and a curse.
Anyhow, thanks again and I look forward to connecting with you soon!
– Kaylie
Hey Kaylie! I was doing a final sweep of all my comments to make sure I got them all. I realize that, despite all we went through getting this comment into moderation, I never ended up replying to it! Shame on me. I will reply now, though!
With your question as to the framing of the story, I took a second to reflect on why I chose a man to retell the story to a boy. I am not entirely sure why I chose that, but I did not make a conscious decision to pick a man/boy pairing here. I do think that it would be interesting to have seen the exchange between a woman and a girl, though I am not entirely sure how that would shift it. I probably would have written it the same way, but maybe the subtext would have changed?
It is occurring to me now that I may have been slightly influenced in my telling by the Sandman graphic novels, which is my favourite series of all time. In Volume 2, Doll House, it begins with a man taking a boy into the desert to tell him the story of their land. The beginning panels have some excellent discourse on storytelling and, as I have been dying for an excuse to use Sandman in an academic setting, I will be linking the images in my post where I can format them properly.
Hope
First of all, good for you for telling your story with varying degrees of comfort to many audiences.
I am intrigued by the fact that you made your storyteller an ominous stranger. The idea of a stranger, since childhood evokes fear and the possibility of evil. Meanwhile you upgraded the other members of the group in the story within the story to magical practitioners (like people out of Harry Potter) to make a clearer notion of good and evil. I am wondering why you chose to make that divide.
I thought that part of the moral story was that ‘anyone’ could make evil come to life through story? That could be my interpretation though.
Hello there, Sarah! Thank you for your comments.
In my version of this story, I wanted to make it clear that evil did not exist before the stranger brought it into the world. I wanted to try to get away from the word ‘witch’ because I find that it often carries negative connotations. So, I specified that the ‘good’ in the story used their powers to heal and help others around them. I also tried to make the competition to scare each other seem like something childish, though the stranger walks into the group and corrupts the innocence of the game by loosing evil on the world.
Oh, that is an interesting take on the story. I didn’t pick up on that, but that might be because I was reading more into what the story was saying about how telling a story changes the world.
Hi Hope,
Great read!
I have a several questions about your story:
1. “No one had ever seen this stranger, who appeared neither man or woman, but all listened as the stranger told its story. Tales of death, plague, and hate tumbled from the stranger’s mouth.”
I think it’s really interesting how you mentioned the stranger as being androgynous or genderless. However, I was wondering why, a tight-knit community like this, would not be afraid that a stranger has entered their territory and did not bother to ask this person where they originated? Also, how did the stranger know these dark things if it had not yet been created? Is the person like the character satan from the Mysterious Stranger?
2. ‘Take back your story!’ The other pleaded, desperation in their voice. Everyone began to cry, knowing at the bottom of their hearts that the story could not be taken back. The stranger had brought evil into the world.”
My question is, why would they even care that a stranger has told such a sinister story and be sad about it? Why don’t they just shoo this person out or attack him for ruining their event? These people didn’t have to believe what this stranger said.
Let me know what you think
Cheers,
Chloe Lee
Wow, these are very good questions! I suppose the majority of them could be answered by the fact that I was trying to point the story in the direction of evil coming into the world by the telling of the story by this stranger.
Also, I was trying to emphasize an innocence to this community before evil comes into the world. They have no need to fear the stranger because fear is a foreign concept to them, evidenced by their childish version of trying to scare each other.
To me, evil is something that we feel. We feel as though we have done something evil, or maybe something feels evil. So, when the stranger’s story brings evil into the world, the community instantly feel it and that is why they believe the stranger.
Thank you for the comment on my keeping the stranger without gender! I tried very hard to get away from gender labels with both the community and the stranger since they became anthropomorphic versions of the concepts of good and evil.