Storytelling

Hello again

Sometimes I become a storyteller but I am not so good at it. If I tell stories the listener would not know where the beginning and where the ending is.  Confused, the listener would just turn away.

My audience is usually my grandkids . . . ha haa  . .  at bedtime. My storytelling has songs to break the monotony of my repeated stories especially for the youngest one but sometimes before  I could recite my revised version she would cut with a curt response . . .  don't want twinkle twinkle  . . .

Hmmm . . .

Some people are natural storytellers. There are storytellers who perform on stage where they share stories of educational and cultural in nature. Some travel from place to place in search of audience. Not to worry. There are lots of people ever willing to spend hours sitting to listen.

Then there are storytellers like you and me the everyday and the ordinary storytellers among ourselves . . . Good to have them around other wise life would be bored i.e if they do not sound like a broken record.

From a title a good storyteller can expand it into so many sub headings. Dramatised and with added embellishments entwined into so many paragraphs and with so many words so convincing that you crave for more. They can flash back event of hundreds of years ago as if they were there at the time witnessing everything.

You see a story has got to be told otherwise it will die and what happened nobody will know. You may ask if that is so important. Of course it is because it can refute if there are lies in subsequent stories about certain event.

 A lot of stories are just made up out of wicked bad hearts or mere ignorance.

On the lighter sides there are gossips told with humour and satire which can make you laugh rolling on the floor as the saying goes, though sometimes after getting up you feel like a fool.  A storyteller with a storytelling skill is able to take you to high and low emotionally. Not to mention those teary tales making you feel so stupid after shedding so much tears.

All of us have our own life stories which for whatever reason we sometimes like to tell. Our lives vary but generally most are just mundane everyday stories. Of course not if you are some famous sensational persons or you have extraordinary experiences. Others they have nothing much to tell.

Yet some people can con you with their imaginations and dreams just to draw attention to themselves and to feel good and to inflate their own ego. We allow them to fool us without realising it. It does not matter if no harm done anyway but still we cannot throw cautions to the winds.

Then there's the obssessive and promotional type of storytelling. We like to tell stories about our accomplishments and exploits how small or how insignificant . Why do we need to tell ? Aahh . . .we tell because we want  to "compare notes". Yeah . . . how can only the neighbour is having such fantastic stories. Me too . . . haaa . . .  and not to be out done we add sugar to make our story sweeter.

At times we have to become listeners to friends who become instant storytellers after they come back from some kind of a personal mission. Listen to them of what they went through on their tour and how that has made them become greatly enlightened spiritually. To some listening to it can be inspirational but to others it may be just a yawn especially when the storytelling is creeping to boasting.

A good storyteller is clever to gauge the situation.  If the audience is losing interest, more salt and spice will be added. You listen with mouth gapped. When back to your senses you feel like a fool. But the next time you don't mind listening again because the storyteller can make things so believable and interesting.

Ok you say you don't like to listen to cock-and-bull stories. You may go off but many others would still remain and that's why the coffee shop in the kampung or the cafe in the city is full house most of the time. And the storyteller continues to have a great time . . .his stories sell.

Storytelling with funny foolish and hilarious stories, indeed is  popular, a pastime to while away your boring hours. A pastime?

Below - storytelling session ?

The sparrow and the bee-eater

Lets end our chat with this song, his story . . .

bye for now . . .