While working with the Smithsonian Folk Festival in Washington D.C., I had the beginnings of an idea. Storytelling as an art form clearly thrives in community. Many people who hunger to be better storytellers suffer from a lack of constructive feedback. Maybe what the storytelling community needs is someplace to go that will allow them to learn the process for creating great stories.
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A Myth on Seeing with New Eyes…
Once there was an old stone carver who had an apprentice. Every day the apprentice asked the teacher if he could pick up the tools of the trade and start to work with stone. “Not yet,” his teacher would say, “First you must learn to see what is – keep sweeping.”
Every day after the chores were completed, the old master would send the apprentice out to look at the world while the stone master worked on his statues.
At the end of the day, he would ask his apprentice what he had seen.
“I saw a hawk flying, I counted a spider’s legs and I saw an old woman on the road,” said the apprentice.
“Hmmm,” said the old teacher.
“Am I ready to work with the stone tools yet?”
“No – keep sweeping.”
Everyday the response was the same after the apprentice returned from his wanderings. After months of conversations like this, the apprentice grew impatient.
“Master, I have traveled the land and brought back news from all along the valley. I have told you of the hawks nesting on the mountains and the fish in the lake below. What more do you want?”
The old master carver just smiled at his apprentice. “If you do not see what is right in front of your face, I cannot allow you to use these tools. First you must show me that you see what is.”
The apprentice placed his head in his hands. “What is… what is… I have told you all that is happening in the valley, what more do you want? If I go for a walk, all I will see is a hawk flying, a spider’s web and an old woman on the road.”
The old man’s eyes twinkled as he spoke. “I want you to show me that you see the hunger of the hawk, the shadow of a spider’s web and the sweet smile of a life well lived – keep sweeping.”
Copyright 2010. This is an original story by Eric Wolf. You may use this story on your website or magazine as long as this link is retained back to the International Storytelling School at http://www.thestorytellingschool.com
My old friend, Jay Lieskie, told me this story.
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I knight you – Storyteller!
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Interview #089 Anne Glover – Finding your Authentic Storytelling Voice.
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Community Storytelling is a form of oral narrative where the storyteller has already entered into relationship with the audience before the story begins.
I am Lyn Ford and I would love to know what Folk tales can actually trace their roots to what became the state of Ohio.
My Name is Alton Chung, and my question is we have young people who are going to Moths, story slams and poetry slams and that’s young, it’s vibrant, intense and that is where they go and listen to these stories. And yet we have the older generations who are in the established, National Storytelling Network, [...]
I am Ron Chic of Chain of Unbroken Stories. I have spent this wonderful week with these storytellers. Now I want to take that energy and that feeling and that attention and bring it out into the real world. How do you get another audience to understand the nature of what you are saying?
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