Liz Warren | Storyteller

The students in The Irish Storytelling Tradition told their first stories last Wednesday, June 13th.  It was a good solid set of stories – well chosen and well told.  Their written responses to their stories were as interesting as their tellings of them and added dimension to their choices.

Danielle Allison told a modern Irish version of “The Very Hungry Cat” which featured among others a Ninja Nana and a Surfer Dude with an entourage.  Danielle has a background in clowning, which was evident in her energetic and kinetic telling.

Jeff Asplund told “A Bargain is a Bargain” in which a woman sells her soul to the devil for the money to educate her children.  He told Sharon Creeden’s version from Fair is Fair.  Hers is my favorite because the last child, who grows up to be a lawyer, in her telling is a woman. About selecting his story Jeff wrote, “The story was simple and had a good end to it. That’s why I switched to it the day before the presentation. I need a story that I could connect with and eventually master.  “The Jackdaw”, my original choice, really wasn’t my kind of story. “A Bargain is a Bargain” really fits with how I tell a story.” The picture at the beginning of the post is Jeff sitting in the Bad Ass Cafe in Dublin.

Doug Bland told “The Story of Boann” a mythic story that he crafted from a wide range of sources.  Boann is the goddess who created the Boyne

River by defying a taboo against visiting a particular well.  As such, it’s a perfect fit with the theme of Doug’s sabbatical. On the challenges of crafting a story from Irish myth, Doug wrote, “I chose to tell “Boann and the River Boyne” first, because it fits well with my sabbatical theme, “Living Water”. Second, I’m intrigued with Boann as an Eve or Pandora figure who dares to defy authority and liberate the source of wisdom—the waters of the well of Segais. . .I was afraid that I was defying the gods of Irish storytelling by taking the few details and images I had collected and putting them together in my own way.  I came up with a story that I like, a story that makes some sense to me, maybe event a story that Boann, acting as a muse, gave me; but even at that I told the story with some fear and trembling.  Now that I’ve received some affirmation and encouragement, I’ll go back and develop this story with more boldness and creativity.

Skippy Covington told “The Cow Who Ate the Piper”.  After consulting several versions, Skippy settled on Billy Teare’s version called “The Piper’s Revenge” from More Ready to Tell Tales from Around the World. The story involves adangerous cow, frozen feet, new boots, and a tricky piper who himself gets a surprise at the end of the story.

Allison Davis told “Secret Tokens Prove Ownership” from Folktales of Ireland by Sean O’Sullivan.  In this story, a mysterious scholar arrives for the birth of a foal, makes an unusual prediction and recommends the assignment of a secret token for the horse. In response to the question of why she chose the story, Allison wrote, “At first, I really didn’t know why I liked the story. It finally occurred to me only when I told my story to Doug and we talked about it. I realized it had a splash of dramatic irony – my favorite! I enjoy a story when the audience knows something the others characters do not. It creates bittersweet suspense! The story in the book however, did not present the irony strongly, so that may be a reason it did not pop out to me consciously. But after realizing that the ending scene consisted of dramatic irony, I decided I would like to stretch it out a bit in my own telling.”

Ashley Dobbins told “Oisin in the Land of Tir na Nog”, a beautiful story that describes not only how Oisin, the son of Finn McCool, came to have an otherworldly wife, but how he lived to tell the stories of the Fianna to St. Patrick.  When asked why the story was important to her, Ashley wrote, “I was immediately drawn to this story because of Tir na Nog.  The second I heard that word, something sparked in my memory.  I had heard the word before, I just couldn’t remember where.  I assumed it was from my grandparents telling me a story with Tir na Nog as the main setting.  So, I thought that I would learn this story and tell it to them next time I visited them!”

Amanda Ryder told “The Seal Wife” from George MacPherson’s Highland Myths and Legends.  The story is from Scotland, but the tradition of the seal wife, or selkie spans both islands. About her story Amanda wrote, “The story was important to me because all of the stories that I had heard involving mermaids or selkies had the husbands hiding the skins.  To me this was an indication that perhaps the love for their wives or the respect for their happiness wasn’t a top priority.  In this story I noticed right away that the fisherman’s love for the woman is so strong and he wants so badly for her to be happy that he offers her skin back. I thought that was a wonderful gesture on his part. Even though he could have lost her and been lonely all over again, he was more worried about her happiness and well-being than his feelings.” The picture is of Amanda occupying the Hag’s Seat at Loughcrew.

Joyce Story told “The Three Daughters of King O’Hara” which was a perfect match for her voice and storytelling style. The story attracted her because she is an O’Hara, but beyond that she wrote, “I liked the story not only because of the O’Hara connection but because the plot is so interesting.  The listener is caught up in wondering what happens next.  I also like the appeal of the wife’s devotion and love, and I was moved at the loss of her three children.”