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Story-telling
Mary Medlicott
Story-telling is often regarded as the ‘Ur’ form, the base of all the arts. It combines the
art of the tale, regarded in the Irish proverb as ‘worth more than all the wealth of the
world’, with the fundamental human propensity for seeing life in the form of stories. As
Isaac Bashevis Singer put it, ‘Today, we live, but by tomorrow today will be a story. The
whole world, all human life, is one long story’ (Singer 1976:5).
For children as for adults, the oral tradition was originally the basis of all knowledge,
and the way in which this material was communicated was also significant; it involved
direct contact with whoever was the story-teller, sometimes as part of special
celebrations, often in the course of ordinary life.
The oral tradition consists of three main sorts of material. First are the inherited
stories which include myths, legends, folk-tales and fairy tales and all the proverbs,
riddles and songs which traditionally accompany them. Second are life stories, accounts
of personal, family and tribal events. These are the building blocks of history and the
cement of social living. Third is the new material story-tellers create, sometimes weaving
it so seamlessly into the old that its newness can scarcely be recognised except as
creating the topicality and freshness which help tradition to survive. As well as providing
entertainment, these materials carry enormous educational potential. In The Ordinary
and the Fabulous, an influential book on using traditional literature with children,
Elizabeth Cook argues that: ‘a grown-up understanding of life is incomplete without an
understanding of myths, legends and fairy tales’ (Cook 1969: vii).
Co-existing TraditionsIn the past, key places such as castle, church, square, kitchen and bedroom provided
the focus for different story-telling traditions, the nature of each determined by the type
of venue, the kind and size of audience and the expectations surrounding the story-
teller.
In courtly traditions, story-tellers entertained the chief or king, his entourage and
guests. Normally highly trained, they undertook a long apprenticeship. In medieval
Wales, such a story-teller was known by the name cyfarwydd, the one who knows the
way. In contemporary West African countries such as The Gambia, comparable
traditions are still upheld by the griot trained from childhood in the ancient stories, the
music to which they are sung, and the history and genealogy of whoever is the griot’s
patron.