Slow and Steady: Stor e Telling April May 2011

Tortoise and Hare
from Children's Illustrations, 1880

I have penned the Stor E Telling column since January of 2002 and the articles from 2002-2006 are the publications page of my website found here http://tinyurl.com/llnn47y . I will be adding the columns from 2007 to 2012 to that page as well. However, I am in the process of checking what link URL's have changed or are now defunct. It is a time consuming process so I am taking the “slow and steady” approach via Aesop and will post the individual columns on my blog for now.

I will not be adding current columns until the following year, so if you want immediate access to the newest websites, consider becoming a member of the National Storytelling Network.

Please feel free to comment on the blog and let me know if you find this useful.

APRIL MAY 2011

Since this issue’s theme is Storytelling World I have put together a number of eclectic sites from around the globe. So pack your bags, find your passport and hit the storytelling road!

Danish Fairy Tales – Forty-six tales collected by J. Christian Bay, 1899 –  “May this train of Danish Kings and queens, wise men and fools, princes and beggars…may they all be kindly welcomed…”

http://tinyurl.com/6kso9qf

The Fairy Books of Andrew Lang – Step onto the rainbow of colored Fairy Books by this prolific author. All twelve colorful volumes are right here at your fingertips. 

http://tinyurl.com/4qglsr6

The Golden Mountain by Meyer Levin, 1932 -  “A collection of tales of the Eastern European Hassidic Jews, centering on the holy men Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlaw…these magical realist stories of the Hassidic rabbis are encoded with deeper levels of meaning similar to Buddhist, Sufi, Celtic, and other spiritual traditions.”
http://tinyurl.com/4j952xp

Green Willow and other Japanese Fairy Tales by Grace Adams, 1910 – Thirty eight stories from the Land of the Rising Sun, complemented by the gorgeous illustrations of Warwick Goble.

http://tinyurl.com/4rzy5pg

Mongolian Folktales - “The Mongolian folktales can be roughly divided into four groups: legends, animal tales, tales about everyday life, magical and riddle tales. In the following you will find a few words about each of these groups and a folktale as an example.”
http://tinyurl.com/7rw9xt

Old Hungarian Fairy Tales – Eight tales collected by Baroness Orczy and offered by The Baldwin Project.

http://tinyurl.com/4qw9ym2

Persian Tales by David Lockhard Roertson Lorimer, 1910 - Once upon a time there was a time when there was no one but God…so begins many of these wonderful stories from Persia. There is also a section vocabulary and pronunciation section at the end of the book.
http://chestofbooks.com/fairy-tale/Persian/

Spring is here and the earth is waking up, offering us gorgeous flower and delicious vegetables to add to our table. Here are a few tales to add to your story garden.

The Gardener and the Manor by Hans Christian Anderson

http://hca.gilead.org.il/gardener.html

Petrosinella (Parsley) – Italian Fairy tale by written by Giambattista Basile.

http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rapunzel/stories/petros.html

The Spring Beauty – Chippewa Legend

http://tinyurl.com/4t4gv66

The Sprig of Rosemary from the Rose Fairy Book by Andrew Lang.

http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/425.htm

Story-lovers.com – Jackie Baldwin always has a crop of stories to share.

http://tinyurl.com/4j9tmev

Tenali Rama and the Brinjal – Folktale from India
http://tinyurl.com/6jo2g4p

The Tulip Bed – English Folktale

http://tinyurl.com/29grakc

Fools, Tricksters, Festivals and Spring - April and May are full of interesting holidays and celebrations: April Fool’s Day, Earth Day and Children’s Day in Japan are just a few. Back in April of 2009 I offered a blog post with stories and curriculum resources to help you celebrate any or all of these special days.
http://tinyurl.com/4qskmq2

Flowers, Fairytales and Folklore - April and May also bring back the flowers of spring. After a long harsh winter in the northeast of the United States they are always a welcome site. In May of 2010 I put together a blog post with stories and activities to welcome our colorful friends and celebrate spring.

http://tinyurl.com/4v72sxo

And if you missed any of the previous “Slow and Steady…” blog posts here are the links to the series so far.

2007

January February 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/06/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html
March April 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/06/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_30.html
May June 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html
July August 2007
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_15.html
September October 2007
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_20.html
November December 2007
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/07/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_29.html

2008

January February 2008
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html
March April 2008
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_11.html
May June 2008
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-may-june-2008.html
Summer 2008
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/08/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_25.html
Fall 2008
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html

2009

January February 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_10.html
May June 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_14.html
July August 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_21.html
September October 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/09/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_29.html
November December 2009
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/10/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html

2010

January February 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/10/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_13.html

April May 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/10/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e_28.html
July August 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling-july.html
September October 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling.html
November December 2010
http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-wins-race-stor-e.html

2011

January February 2011

http://www.karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/slow-and-steady-stor-e-telling-january.html

Karen Chace 2013 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.

Wisdom, Wit and Wonder - Fabulous Fairy Tales!

The Frog Prince and Other Stories
by Walter Crane, 1874

“Deeper meaning resides in the fairy tales told to me in my childhood than in the truth that is taught by life.”
~ Friedrich von Schiller

Recently, my colleagues and I have been discussing the lasting importance of fairytales amidst the plethora of personal stories on festival stages and  at story slams. Don't misunderstand me, I love a well-told personal tale; I have taken part in story slams and strongly support my local organization, massmouth.org. The current popularity of that genre offers the wonderful benefit of introducing a younger audience to the art of oral tradition. However, more than ever it seems as if the old tales are being relegated back to the nursery and adults assume fairy tales are for children.

In doing a bit of research for this post I came across this wonderful quote:

"Once upon a time, back when animals spoke and rivers sang and every quest was worth going on, back when dragons still roared and maidens were beautiful and an honest young man with a good heart and a great deal of luck could always wind up with a princess and half the kingdom - back then, fairytales were for adults...." Neil Gaiman

It is my hope that one day telling fairytales will be as mainstream and hip as The Moth and its facsimilies around the country. So here is short list of antique books on line, filled with stories. In the new year I will research and post more; the possibilites are endless.

Fairytales contain the wisdom, wit and wonder of the ages. Give them a try and you just might be swept away by story!

A Book of Fairy Tales from Many Places

http://oaks.nvg.org/fairy-book.html

Andrew Lang’s Colored Fairy Tale Books – They’re all here from blue to violet!
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/lfb/index.htm

Armenian Fairy Tales - Sixteen interesting folktales from the ancient country of Armenia.http://www.armeniaemb.org/Kids/ArmenianFairyTales/index.htm

Beauty and the Beast by
Warwick Goble, 1923

Canadian Wonder Tales by Cyrus MacMillian
http://tinyurl.com/6un85nh

Celtic Fairy Tales
http://tinyurl.com/6o7ksrx

Czechoslovak Fairy Tales – Seventeen stories from the Baldwin Project.
http://tinyurl.com/87nv9hh

Fairy Tales by Howard Pyle, 1903.

http://tinyurl.com/6smvnr7

Fairy Tales from the Arabian Nights by E. Dixon, 1893.

http://www.wollamshram.ca/1001/Dixon/dixon01_main.htm

Fairy Tales from Many Lands by Katharine Pyle, 1911. The Evil One Who Married Three Sisters, The Seven Golden Pea Hens and other unique stories are found within.
http://www.archive.org/details/fairytalesfromma00pyle

Fairy Tales and Folktales of the Irish Peasantry - Edited by W. B. Yeats and published in 1888 the stories are here to enjoy, courtesy of Sacred Texts. Revel in tales of the Merrow, Changelings, Pookas, Fairies and Banshees, Saints, Priests, Giants and Devils, Kings, Queens, Earls and Robbers; Yeats covers them all!
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/yeats/fip/

Fairies at the Cradle
by Warwick Goble

Grimm’s Fairytales – 209 tales by the Brothers Grimm.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~spok/grimmtmp/

Indian Fairytales by Joseph Jacobs, 1912. It offers twenty-nine tales from Eastern India and gorgeous illustrations to complement each story. http://www.sacred-texts.com/hin/ift/index.htm

Japanese Fairy Tales by Teresa Peirce Williston, 1911

http://www.sacred-texts.com/shi/jft2/index.htm  

Pepper and Salt – Literary Fairy Tales by Howard Pyle, 1885
http://tinyurl.com/7y6momu
      

Roumanian Fairy Tales and Legends by Mrs. E. B. Mawr, 1881.
http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/rft/

Russian Fairy Tales - The site shares twenty-one fairytales. Most offer both a short and long version, for those who want more details.
http://tinyurl.com/6blpls

Slovak National Fairy Tales - A Tribute to Pavol Dobšinský (Dobsinsky) -Interesting background information on the writer who created the largest collection of Slovak folktales. It also offers insight into the Slovak heritage and presents fourteen folktales.
http://www.geocities.com/slovaktales/index.htm

The Junior Classics (Volume One: Fairy and Wonder Tales) edited by William Patten.http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext02/1jrc110.txt

The Magic Ring and Other Oriental Fairy Tales by James Miller, 1861.
http://www.archive.org/details/magicringotheror00bobbiala

The Wonder Clock – Literary Fairy Tales by Howard Pyle, 1887.

http://tinyurl.com/7mswtce

There’s Magic in Fairy Tales – My blog celebrating the birthday of Harry Houdini from March of 2011. There are fairy tales filled with magic, crafts, curriculum and a fairy tale story stretch I wrote as well.
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/03/theres-magic-in-fairy-tales.html

Wonder Tales from Baltic Wizards by Frances Olcott, 1928.

http://tinyurl.com/7ck8x2v

If you missed the previous blog posts of public domain story collections go to:

• http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/05/public-domain-folktales-myths-legends.html
• http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/06/public-domain-ii-folktales-myths-and.html
• http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/09/public-domain-iii-folktales-fairy-tales.html
• http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2011/10/public-domain-iv-folktales-fairytales.html

Karen Chace 2011 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.

Public Domain III - Folktales, Fairy Tales, Legends and Myths

Scheherazade
by Edmund Dulac

This is the third in a series of blog posts offering books that are now in the public domain. Some are found on the particular websites, others via Google Books. You may download many of them directly to your computer and in some instances to your Kindle or e-reader. I will be sharing more in the future but for now, on your mark, get set, read!!

The Algonquin Legends of New England by Charles G. Leland, 1894.  “This work contains a collection of the myths, legends, and folk-lore of the principal Wabanaki, or Northeastern Algonquin, Indians…” http://tinyurl.com/3d2b5nk

Among the Meadow People by Clara Dillingham Pierson, 1901 .http://tinyurl.com/yyzcgbk

Chinese Wonder Book - Meet The Nodding Tiger, The Man Who Would Not Scold, among others in these fifteen stories from Norman Hinsdale Pitman, c. 1919. http://tinyurl.com/3jzdjmf

Cossack Fairy Tales and Folktales by Robert Nisbet Bain, 1902 – Bain collected these folktales from Ruthenian, the language of the Cossacks, a language intermediate between Russian and Polish. http://tinyurl.com/2uklns8

Danish Fairy Tales – Forty-six tales collected by J. Christian Bay, 1899 –  “May this train of Danish Kings and queens, wise men and fools, princes and beggars…may they all be kindly welcomed…” http://tinyurl.com/6kso9qf

Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations by Edmund Dulac, 1916. Some of the stories will be familiar to storytellers but others are new gems. The illustrations make the reading even more enjoyable.

"This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net .”
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/25513/25513-h/25513-h.htm

The Fairy Tales of Marie-Catherine d´Aulony -Marie-Catherine lived in France during the time of Charles Perrault but her tales were shared in a more conversational style and usually featured a female protagonist. Many of her works were collected by Andrew Lang in his Fairy Books. http://tinyurl.com/ydh2hfe

The Golden Mountain by Meyer Levin, 1932 -  “A collection of tales of the Eastern European Hassidic Jews, centering on the holy men Baal Shem Tov and Rabbi Nachman of Bratzlaw…these magical realist stories of the Hassidic rabbis are encoded with deeper levels of meaning similar to Buddhist, Sufi, Celtic, and other spiritual traditions.” http://tinyurl.com/4j952xp

Green Willow and other Japanese Fairy Tales by Grace Adams, 1910 – Thirty eight stories from the Land of the Rising Sun, complemented by the gorgeous illustrations of Warwick Goble. http://tinyurl.com/4rzy5pg

Indian Why Stories – Sparks from War Eagle’s Lodge-Fire – Twenty-two stories collected by Frank B. Linderman, 1915. http://tinyurl.com/63sovcu

More Australian Legendary Folktales by Katie Langloh Parker from 1898. http://tinyurl.com/yczxfms

Myths and Legends of Our Own Land by Charles M. Skinner, 1896
http://tinyurl.com/ya9ko3n

Persian Tales by David Lockhard Roertson Lorimer, 1910 - Once upon a time there was a time when there was no one but God…so begins many of these wonderful stories from Persia. There is also a section vocabulary and pronunciation section at the end of the book. http://chestofbooks.com/fairy-tale/Persian/

The Stories Mother Nature Told Her Children, by Jane Andrews, 1888

http://tinyurl.com/y8bof2z

Summer Legends by Rudolph Baumbach, Translated by Helen B. Dole, c.1888. Twenty-two legends to celebrate the season including The Legend of the Daisy, The Clover Leaf, and more.

http://tinyurl.com/6jxsqhc

Tales of Laughter from 1908. A collection tales from Ireland, Spain, France, Russia and other countries from around the globe. They are sure to have you smiling with delight!http://tinyurl.com/3mzd7pr

And if you missed the previous blog posts of public domain story collections go to:

http://tinyurl.com/3dwd25f
http://tinyurl.com/3mpoeqy

© Karen Chace, 2011

Oh The Weather Outside is Frightful...

Yuki-onna - The Snow  Maiden

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow...It seems as if we are becoming a living tribute to the song, Let It Snow, composed by lyricist Sammy Cahn in 1945.  Today we greet February with a familiar sight this winter, snow! It continues to fall today here in snow-weary New England and more is on the way. I am remembering the old saying, "If you can't beat em, join em!" So with that in mind I offer you some winter tales to warm your spirit.

(If you would like to listen to a modern version of this great song, here is a link to Michael Buble's version.  It is certain to add a smile to your face and a spring (no pun intended) to your step!)


"Announced by all the trumpets of the sky,
Arrives the snow, and, driving o'er the fields,
Seems nowhere to alight: the withered air
Hides hills and woods, the river, and to heaven,
And veils the farm-house at the garden's end.
The sled and traveler stopped, the courier's feet
Delayed, all friends shut out, and housemates sit
Around the radiant fireplace, enclosed
In a tumultuous privacy of storm."
                                                 ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

Yuki-onna (雪女, ゆきおんな, Yuki-onna snow woman)
Some legends say the Yuki-onna, being associated with winter and snowstorms, is the spirit of someone who perished in the snow She is at the same time beautiful and serene, yet ruthless in killing unsuspecting mortals. Until the 18th century, she was almost uniformly portrayed as evil. Today, however, stories often color her as more human, emphasizing her ghost-like like nature and ephemeral beauty.In some stories:

• Yuki-onna appears to travelers trapped in snowstorms and uses her icy breath to leave them as frost-coated corpses
• Yuki-onna leads them astray so they simply die of exposure.
• She manifests holding a child. When a well-intentioned soul takes the "child" from her, they are frozen in place.]
• Other legends make Yuki-onna much more aggressive. In these stories, she invades homes, blowing in the door with a gust of wind to kill residents in their sleep. Some legends require her to be invited inside first. From Wikipedia. Click here for more on Yuki-onna.

STORIES

Yuki-onna– The Woman of the Snow - Japanese Folktale
In a village of Musashi Province, there lived two woodcutters: Mosaku and Minokichi. At the time of which I am speaking, Mosaku was an old man; and Minokichi, his apprentice, was a lad of eighteen years. Every day they went together to a forest situated about five miles from their village. On the way to that forest there is a wide river to cross; and there is a ferry-boat. Several times a bridge was built where the ferry is; but the bridge was each time carried away by a flood. No common bridge can resist the current there when the river rises.

Mosaku and Minokichi were on their way home, one very cold evening, when a great snowstorm overtook them. They reached the ferry; and they found that the boatman had gone away, leaving his boat on the other side of the river. It was no day for swimming; and the woodcutters took shelter in the ferryman's hut,--thinking themselves lucky to find any shelter at all. There was no brazier in the hut, nor any place in which to make a fire: it was only a two-mat hut, with a single door, but no window. Mosaku and Minokichi fastened the door, and lay down to rest, with their straw rain-coats over them. At first they did not feel very cold; and they thought that the storm would soon be over.

The old man almost immediately fell asleep; but the boy, Minokichi, lay awake a long time, listening to the awful wind, and the continual slashing of the snow against the door. The river was roaring; and the hut swayed and creaked like a junk at sea. It was a terrible storm; and the air was every moment becoming colder; and Minokichi shivered under his rain-coat. But at last, in spite of the cold, he too fell asleep.

He was awakened by a showering of snow in his face. The door of the hut had been forced open; and, by the snow-light (yuki-akari), he saw a woman in the room,--a woman all in white. She was bending above Mosaku, and blowing her breath upon him;--and her breath was like a bright white smoke. For the rest of the story click here.

One of my favorite winter stories; a Cinderella variant.

The Twelve Month Brothers - Ukrainian folktale
There was once a widow who had two daughters, Helen, her own child by her dead husband, and Marouckla, his daughter by his first wife. She loved Helen, but hated the poor orphan because she was far prettier than her own daughter.

The Twelve Months

Marouckla did not think about her good looks, and could not understand why her stepmother should be angry at the sight of her. The hardest work fell to her share. She cleaned out the rooms, cooked, washed, sewed, spun, wove, brought in the hay, milked the cow, and all this without any help.

Helen, meanwhile, did nothing but dress herself in her best clothes and go to one amusement after another.

But Marouckla never complained. She bore the scoldings and bad temper of mother and sister with a smile on her lips, and the patience of a lamb. But this angelic behavior did not soften them. They became even more tyrannical and grumpy, for Marouckla grew daily more beautiful, while Helen's ugliness increased. So the stepmother determined to get rid of Marouckla, for she knew that while she remained, her own daughter would have no suitors. Hunger, every kind of privation, abuse, every means was used to make the girl's life miserable. But in spite of it all Marouckla grew ever sweeter and more charming.

One day in the middle of winter Helen wanted some wood-violets.

"Listen," cried she to Marouckla, "you must go up the mountain and find me violets. I want some to put in my gown. They must be fresh and sweet-scented-do you hear?"

"But, my dear sister, whoever heard of violets blooming in the snow?" said the poor orphan. For the rest of the story click here.


The Winter Spirit and His Visitor – Native American Folktale
http://tinyurl.com/4nq52xc

Winter Melon Boy (Hmong)  

http://tinyurl.com/6cy59hm

BOOKS

Winter and Children’s Literature
http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/winter.html

CRAFTS

Winter Snowman Crafts
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/winter/crafts-snowmen.htm  

  

CURRICULUM

Snow Flake Crystals

See how amazing snowflakes really are with close up photographs that will amaze your students!  

http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/photos/photos.htm

Snowman Bulletin Board Ideas 
https://www.supplyme.com/collections/snowman-bulletin-board-ideas

Snowy Weather Resources  - Here's a lesson on where snow comes from:
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/weather/resource/3827.html

How do animals spend the winter? Help your students find out! 

http://www.sciencemadesimple.com/animals.html

Winter Activities Work Sheets – Crossword Puzzles, Anagrams and more.
http://www.dltk-holidays.com/winter/worksheets.htm


MUSIC

Perpetual Preschool - Winter Animal Songs
https://perpetualpreschool.com/winter-animal-songs/ 

SOMETHING EXTRA

 

Celebrating Snow with the Small Ones – Fingerplays, songs and more to delight the children in your winter lapsit program.
http://karenchace.blogspot.com/2013/11/celebrating-snow-with-small-ones.html

 

Please note, websites change at a rapid pace and weblinks may change or break without notice. I cannot be responsible for redirected or broken links.  At the time of this posting all links were in working order. Thank you for understanding.

 

Karen Chace 2011 ©

This blog post was researched and compiled by Karen Chace. Permission for private use is granted. Distribution, either electronically or on paper is prohibited without my expressed written permission. For permission, please contact me at storybug@aol.com. Of course, if you wish to link to my blog via your website, blog, newsletter, Facebook page or Twitter please feel free to do so; I greatly appreciate your support and personal integrity.