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Author
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Comment
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tigermiep
Registered User
(12/13/04 7:53 pm)
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storyteller's license
so, in getting up in front of my first graders today, i forgot the exact circumstances of the miller's encounter with the devil in the beginning of "The Girl without Hands". My fairly Grimms-accurate description of the devil provoked the response later, "why did the devil look like a faun?" "yeah," said another child, "like mr. tumnus!" i told them the devil had taken that form to get the miller to trust him! anyway, we left off where the girl leaves her family home.
trying to learn 2-5 tales a week to tell them leads to my forgetting details all to frequently. while i try to substitute suitably fairy-tale incidents and can usually cover up with back-tracking (Why, Hansel, you didn't notice me taking these pearls out of the witch's treasure chest!), i feel as if i'm not giving them the true tales with all their mythic significance. how much license can a storyteller take?
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Veronica Schanoes
Registered User
(12/13/04 8:18 pm)
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Re: storyteller's license
As much license as he or she wants. Many of these tales come out of an oral tradition, and have never been static or set. If you're enjoying the telling, and the kids are enjoying the hearing, I don't think there could be any problem with any embellishments, details, characters, or motivations that you add or leave out. There's no one "right" version of these tales.
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Erica Carlson
Registered User
(12/14/04 1:14 pm)
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Re: storyteller's license
I agree with Veronica. Stories change with their tellers (and often with their audiences as storytelling is an interactive exercise), and your version of a story is, well, your version. If you're interested, though, the Center for Children's Books here at UIUC has a page of storytelling resources: Storytelling, including a brief but helpful guide to Storytelling Etiquette--mostly common sense stuff about respecting other tellers and writers.
I think it's really great that your class has a chance to hear so many of the lesser known tales, by the way.
Best,
Erica
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