space
A long, long, long time ago, so long ago that it feels like another lifetime, I used to go to a Renaissance Fair every year. My favorite thing there was not the jousting, the medieval costumes, or giant turkey drumsticks. No, my favorite thing was the storytellers. They'd gather an audience around them in a circle and tell a tale with audience participation. Now, it's so long ago that I don't remember any of the stories or antics, but I remember some of the techniques used. And, those little gems were stored away somewhere in the back of my mind for future use.
Since then, I've been collecting folktales from around the world. I've not really counted how many I've gathered and rewritten, but it is in the vicinity of 300 stories. Out of all of those tales, I have two favorites in my collection. I love The Paramount Chief and One Wise Woman. It's a tale from Liberia. I illustrated it as a stand-alone children's book. I merrily used photographs from my time in Liberia as references to draw the pictures. It's certainly worth the read.
The other favorite tale was a much more recent discovery. It's The Stone at the Door, a love story from Morocco. It's also very special to me because I lived in Morocco after my time in the Peace Corps. In this tale, a young man is on a search for his bride. But, before he can find that woman, he has an important lesson to learn. It truly is a wonderful story. And, of course, I also created a stand-alone children's book for this tale as well.
However, when I travel to schools as a guest artist/author, I don't read either of those two favorite tales. No, my story of choice is always Spider and the Honey Tree, a tale from Liberia that I gathered as a Peace Corps Volunteer. I've told this story so many times I can't even guess the number of times. And, every time I tell it, I remember the techniques I learned so far long ago at a Renaissance Festival. I have audience participation, to be sure, and I keep the audience's attention no matter the age of my listeners.
In Liberian tales, Spider is frequently the main character. He's a trickster. Sometimes he gets away with his tricks, and other times they backfire on him. In every case, there is a lesson to be learned. When I tell my tale, I'm always Spider and I need the nicest, sweetest, most wonderful child in the history of the world to help me enact the story. Of course, I'm trying to trick the kid. Will the child become Spider's victim or will the tables be turned on him? You'll just have to read the story.
I always ask the child/actor/victim if they are the nicest, sweetest, most wonderful child in the history of the world or if they are an actor. The answer to that question is about a 50/50 split. I'm guessing half of the kids are liars.
The story is part of my collection of 50 Liberian tales in Once Upon West Africa. However, I finally decided that book 23 on my list of children's books must be a stand-alone book for Spider and the Honey Tree. I have no idea what took me so long, but the book is finally complete.
It's a very good read, but if you really want to hear it the way it should be told, you need to invite me to your school, library, or wherever a group of children gathers who want to be told a good tale.
PS When Spider and the Honey Tree is available for ordering, I'll add the link to that.