STORY TELLING CONTINUED

Many years ago the town cryer or storyteller would roam from town to town, shouting the stories of the day, the newspaper was alive. Through this person the towns people learned current history, the children were entertained. Many people would argue over situations until this town cryer came and told what the people thought to be the real facts. But the town cryer was soon to be part of history as well, when the printing press became affordable in the smaller towns and newspapers were soon replacing the cryer. The rich were the only people who could afford such a luxury as a newspaper so still the cryer shouted his stories, to those who could not buy a paper. Soon though the newspaper, road signs, books, brochures, food cartons, writen constitutions and others were being writen and it was becomming manditory to learn to read and write in most countries. . But wait , no they didn't, but history said they did, cast aside the oral story telling, for shame. . The casual storytelling at bedtime, around the dinner table in the parlor, even at parties were still being told and retold, but the respect was all but gone for that mighty tool of the town cryer.

The school libraries, the scout campfires, the school teachers all kept the tradition of the storyteller alive. The children sat wide eyed and agog as they were told the stories that were told their parents parents. The children kept the memory of the storys fresh in their minds till the story teller returned again to tell another story to the school children. This made it easy for the children to learn to recall important facts, and the teachers picked up on this. So to help children recall important facts teacher would tell important facts to the children in a story form, some of the children drew pictures in their minds to easily recall, some developed photographic memories. Some children wanted to tell their own stories or write their own stories. The 'once upon a time'...perked the ears and imagination, the 'This happened to me'... excited the desire to tell their own stories. So the storyteller once again started roaming the towns and retelling the stories.

WHAT IS STORY TELLING?

Telling orally a story for the ears of others to enjoy. This isn't reading a story from a book or even sharing a story from something you might remember, but to actually look into the eyes of your intended and to magically build a story, what he sees he recreates as an actor would, with voice and gestures and draw a series of mental images like the film for a movie, the listeners of these stories lean in to be sure they don't miss one single word, they are eye fixed to the story teller, they might have a smile as something funny is related or a tear to something sad, they might be wide awake with excitement or fall asleep from the soothing voice of the teller, should the teller speed up slow down be more explicite or I had enough , just finish already, boredom. The thinking grows in the listener the touch of the emotions of all concerned.

There will be more regarding the story teller in some future notes, if you have anything you might wish to add to these notes please feel free to leave a note of your own.

N Jay