Storytelling - Why Tell Stories?
“We have a profound need to tell and hear stories. It is how we share experience, understand each other, and create community. Every conversation is full of personal anecdote; every effort to explain shared customs and values needs a tale; every bit of wisdom is best expressed by a story. The very way our minds think is the essence of story. So to master powerful and effective communication, to engage people and ensure they remember facts, or to break down barriers of isolation within or between groups, telling stories in some form is essential.”

Story and Truth
There was once an old woman. She was on a journey. She had travelled for days. She had travelled for weeks. She had travelled for months. She had travelled for years. She had been travelling for the whole of her life.

One day she came to a village and she went in through the gateway. She walked up to the nearest house and knocked on the door. The door was opened up but as soon as the people saw her they rudely sent her away and slammed the door in her face.

She knocked on the next door but again they shouted at her and sent her away and would not let her inside. Door after door she went to but the reaction was always the same. Sometimes the door was slammed in her face or a more polite “Not today thank you.” Sometimes the people in the houses would not look her in the face but just quietly push the door closed.

After a while she went and sat near the fountain in the middle of the square. As she sat there a young man came in through the gateway. He had long flowing hair and a multi-coloured cape that hung down to the ground. He approached the first house and knocked.

The door was thrown open and in he went as a welcome guest. There was the sound of merriment and feasting from inside. He left there and went to the next house where he was received in like fashion. House after house he went to and house after house opened up their doors to him.

After a while the old woman called him over. “Who are you?” she asked. “Every house you go to you are welcomed in yet every house I go to no one wants to know me.”
He said, “My name is Story and I am welcome wherever I go. Who are you?”

“I am Truth and no one wants to know me.”

“Well why don´t we go into the next house together” he said. And he wrapped her up inside his huge cloak and so together they went into the next house.

So you see – whenever you hear a story, there is always truth in there somewhere.

A few cool Storytelling links…

Gail Ellis – British Council teachingEnglish website

Developing teachers website