- Welcome, everyone. My name is Patty Callison. As many of you know, the Bloomington Storytellers Guild
- is celebrating 50 years of existence.
- I, of course, was not old enough to be here at its founding. I've only been a member for 40 years, having
- joined at two. At any rate, we've been going back through all of our files. You know, when you start
- something like the Bloomington Storytellers Guild, you don't go, well, what shall we do for the 50th
- anniversary?
- when it's still years and years away. So we've been going through old programs and lists and people
- who told and line up of the folks and so forth. And we have been able to finally, I think, almost kind
- of sort of determine that the winter telling started
- in 1995. We were at various places. We were at the Unitarian Universalist Church, and we were at Unity
- in their little auditorium. And finally, we were lucky enough to partner with the Monroe County Public
- Library. And we are so, so grateful to the library
- and to the friends of the library for making this possible. So, silence your cell phone. I'm not gonna
- say anything about your baby because I love your baby. And sit back and relax with us. Gosh, we've only,
- COVID did us in for a couple of years, but we've been telling continuously for more than 20 years. So
- I hope you enjoy our stories. I think you will. I got to hear them all. And welcome. That's failure
- number one.
- My name is Farida Pawan. In December, I traveled to Kazakhstan for work. It was the first time I was
- in the country. And this story is from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan is a Turanian country. Its culture and
- its language is Turkic. But because it's in east of the Caucasus, it is also influenced
- by Central Asia as well as the Middle East. The beauty of Kazakhstan is in its people who cherish large
- families that they consider the heartbeat of their existence. Kazakhstan is also the land of spirits
- who live in the world of unseen, in the air and in the earth.
- They guard the secrets and shape the destinies of the land. For you see the land are steps. They are
- expansive golden grassland, especially in the summer, that stretch as far as the eyes can see. And in
- the midst of all this grandeur are emerald green orchards
- and the crowning glory of these orchards are the pomegranate trees whose fruit and seeds glow like red
- rubies in the sun. The story I'm about to tell you today takes place in one of these orchards. It's
- called Zarina's Orchard.
- Now the story takes place during a time when it was very dry and very, very dusty. Everyone was thirsty.
- There was little water to drink, even less water to go crops in. Zarina and her 39 sisters wanted to help.
- They carried empty jugs and walked over the mountains to the river. And when they got to the river,
- they filled these jugs with water and put them on their heads and walked ever so slowly and so carefully
- so not to lose a drop of the precious water. Oh, said Zarina,
- Oh, oh, oh, said her sisters. This is such hard work, how we wish the water would come to us.
- The next day, when they were at the river again with those empty jugs, a ferocious, powerful hunter
- by the name of Ferdun passed by. Upon hearing their stories, Ferdun said, I
- have 39 brothers, we can help. Now upon hearing his summons, Ferdun's summons, his brothers came immediately.
- They began to hack at the mountains slowly but carefully for 38 straight days. And when they got to
- the 39th day, they reached the river. And water began to flow and then to gush down
- to the valley and reach the village where the sisters were. And now the sisters had enough water to
- drink, enough water to do laundry, enough water to cook, enough water to grow crops, and enough water
- to raise families with 39 brothers. And so,
- At this point, Zarina was grateful. She went to the edge of the river. She thanked the sky. And she
- thanked the water. And she thanked everything that the land had given. And as she was doing that, she
- felt a gentle breeze. And before her appeared a man in a green silk robe. Without emotions,
- the man said, Zarina,
- I have a bag of seeds for you. Scatter the seeds by the river. But Zarina, do not, do not look back.
- Zarina was mystified, but she took gratefully the bag of seeds and started scattering them along the
- river. Very carefully, just as the man had instructed,
- Although she remembered what the man had said, Serena could not help herself. And before she knew it,
- she looked back and she saw rows and rows and rows of fruit trees. There were bright orange apricots,
- beautifully red, delicious Almaty apples and luscious purple plums.
- But that was not a single pomegranate tree. Oh, what a shame. Now determined to have an orchard filled
- with pomegranate trees, Serena the next day went back to the edge of the river. She thanked the skies.
- She thanked the water. And she thanked everything the land had given. And again, she felt this gentle
- breeze, and the man with the beautiful green silk rope appeared one more time.
- And the man said, Zarina, I have another bag of seeds. Scatter these seeds along the river's edge.
- But Zarina, do not, do not look back. Zarina took gratefully the seeds again, and she started scattering
- them along the river's edge very carefully. And although she remembered what the man had said when there
- was only one seed left,
- Zarina could not help herself. And before she knew it, she looked back. And there were rows and rows
- and rows of trees, fruit trees. And there was one pomegranate tree. What a shame. But by then, Zarina's
- sisters and Ferdun's brothers
- had already found the orchards and they were celebrating and enjoying all of the fruits and all of the
- good things that came with the fruit trees when they heard a rumble. And the wind began to whip up and
- the sky turned dark and the whirlwind started swirling and landed right at the river's edge in front
- of them and outstepped a dovlish creature. And the dovlish creature had
- a long green beard that twisted and knotted with mossy, ugly rotting moss. And he had a green tongue
- that swirled and wreathed like a serpent. And he pointed a finger right at Zarina and said,
- How dare, how dare you turn the desert into an orchard. Dusty and dry is the orchard and dusty and dry
- it shall remain. And so the devilish creature then blew out dust and it covered the sky, it covered
- the water, it covered the land. And he whirled away without stopping. And Zarina said, we must, we must stop him.
- And Ferdun's brother said, the only way we can stop him is to kill him. Zarina's sister said, we cannot
- kill him. He does not have a heart. Determined, determined to have, to save all the things that had
- brought joy to the brothers, to Ferdun's brothers and to her sisters, Zarina put a scarf
- over her face and went after the devilish creature in the dust. And as she was doing so, the man in
- the green silk robe appeared one more time. And the man said to Zarina, Zarina, the devilish creature
- lives up in the mountain in a cave. He keeps his heart. He hides his heart in an egg to prevent from
- feeling any joy or pain. Crack.
- the egg and you will be rid of the devilish creature." Zarina went up the mountain and found the cave
- where she heard the devilish creature snoring. With every snore came from his nose, nostrils, dust that
- covered everything in its pathway. Zarina crawled slowly under the devilish creature's pillow and pulled
- out the egg.
- And she leapt and run. And when the devilish creature realized what had happened, he ran and screamed
- at Zarina. Give me back my heart. Give me back my heart. It belongs to me. Give it back to me. And as
- he got closer, fearing for his life, fearing for her life, Zarina pelt the egg, looked at it,
- There was no dust on the trees, on the water. There was no wind. There was complete silence. Now what
- happened to the devilish creature? I cannot tell you because Zarina did not
- Thank you. A quick announcement. Our friend Ken Ogas, who was to be the next teller, was unable to be
- with us this evening. Dana.
- everyone. My name is Dana and I'm going to tell you the story of the four seasons. The story is an old
- story. It's German folk tale. Sometimes it's also known as Toads and Diamonds. It's been shows up in
- all kinds of different variations. A long time ago, there was a very poor woman and she worked for a
- very, very greedy woman.
- She would get to her house every morning, and she would bake bread, and then she would clean the house,
- she would do the laundry. And then in the early afternoon, she would start to make the dough for the
- bread the next day. And she would roll the dough, and little bits of it would come off on her fingers.
- pull that little bit of dough off of her fingers and she would roll it into a ball. And then she'd take
- that little ball and she'd put it in her pocket and she'd go home and she'd put that in her very thin
- soup. It's really all she had to eat that had any sort of real nutritional value. Well, one day as she
- was doing this, the greedy woman walked into the kitchen and she saw her take this little ball of dough
- and put it in her pocket.
- And the wealthy woman looked at her, and she said, what are you doing? And she said, I take that bread
- home with me, and I make a soup out of it. Well, that's my bread. That's my dough. You need to throw
- that away. And so the woman threw it away. And she went home, and she had no
- nothing to make a little dumpling for her soup. And she thought to herself, well, I guess I'd better
- go out into the forest and do some foraging to put something in my thin gruel. So she went out, and
- it was winter, and there wasn't much. And she had to go farther and farther into the forest until she
- realized if she didn't turn back, the sun was going to go down. And she looked around, and she realized
- She didn't know where she was. But off in the distance, she could see smoke, and what appeared to be
- four people sitting around a fire. And so she walked up to this group of people, and sure enough, it
- was four individuals sitting around a fire, and they were eating. And she said, excuse me, I'm afraid
- I'm lost, and I need to find my way home. Oh, they said.
- Well, welcome and please sit down and have some food." And when she took the food, she looked up and
- she realized these four people were dressed very strangely. One person had on a robe. It was bright
- green and it had beautiful daffodils and hyacinths all over it with a little bit of rabbit fur here
- and there. And then another one had a robe on and it had
- had pumpkins and gourds and persimmons and apples. And then another one had a robe on, and it had beautiful
- raspberries and strawberries and roses and daisies. And the last one, their robe was pure white, and
- it sparkled like the snow. And as she ate her food, she looked around, and when she was done,
- She put her plate down and she said, thank you very much. That was a lovely meal. Can you tell me how
- I can get home? And they looked at her and they said, we can tell you how to get home. We know a shortcut.
- But before we tell you, you have to answer a question for us. All right, she said, what is your favorite
- season? Oh, well, I love the spring. Everything is new.
- and beautiful. And I love the summer because it's warm and you can spend a lot of time outside and the
- days are long. Oh, and I do love the fall. I love the harvest and all the beautiful colors. And winter
- is nice because I can go home and I can put a fire on and I can sit by the fire and I can knit and I
- can read. I'm sorry I can't answer that question. I think they're all wonderful.
- all right," they said, and they handed her a basket. And the basket had a cover of gold cloth.
- And they said, take this basket home, but don't take the cover off until you get home. And then they
- showed her a shortcut on the way home. And she thanked them. And she went home. She put the basket down
- on the counter, and she pulled off that golden cloth, and it was full of food. It had fruit, vegetables,
- bread, cheese. And every time,
- She pulled something out. It would be replenished. It didn't matter how many times she did it. The basket
- was never empty. And so the woman realized that she could sell this fruit. She could sell these vegetables.
- She could sell this bread at the market. And she wouldn't have to work for that greedy woman anymore.
- And so that's what she did.
- And one day when she was sitting in her booth and she was selling her lovely fruits and vegetables and
- cheese and bread, who should walk by but the greedy woman? And she looked at her and she said, what
- are you doing here? And the woman said, I have a stall now. I have this wonderful basket where all of
- the food is replenished all the time. Where did you get that basket? Said the greedy woman.
- And she told her all about the people in the woods and how they had given her this basket. Ha! Well,
- you might get a basket of food because clearly you look like you need it. I, however, do not look like
- I need food. So I think I'll probably end up getting a basket of pearls and diamonds, gold and silver,
- maybe a little bit of platinum as well. Where do I find these people? And so the poor woman, who was
- poor no longer,
- explained to her how to find these four individuals. Well, she tromped off into the woods. She was looking
- for them, and finally she spotted the fire. Ha! She said, now for me to go and get my jewels and my
- reward. And she walked up to the four individuals, and they were sitting just as they had been sitting
- before. And she said, give me my basket. And they said, would you like to have a plate of food? And
- they handed her
- plate of food. And she looked at it and she scoffed. I don't eat this kind of food. This is gourds and
- pumpkins and persimmons and things like that. I don't eat that kind of thing. I eat pheasant. Where's
- the pheasant? Oh, we're terribly sorry. They said we don't have any pheasant for you. Well, I just came
- for a basket. I didn't come here to eat. Very well, they said. Before we give you your basket,
- Could you please answer a question for us? I suppose. What is your favorite season? Hmm. Well,
- let's see. The spring is terrible. Rains all the time. And it's windy. Summer's awful. It's burning
- up. And then suddenly it won't rain anymore. And then there's the fall. Oh, I can't stand the fall.
- It's just windy, and the days are short.
- I don't like that at all. Oh my gosh. And winter, winter is the worst of all. It's just awful. It's
- like it's never going to end. All right. They said, and they handed her a basket and it also had a gold
- cloth over it. And they said, do not take the gold cloth off of this basket until you get home.
- All right. She said, and she ran away. She didn't say thank you. Nothing.
- And she ran home, she put that basket on the counter and she whipped off that gold cloth and out jumped
- a toad and a snake and a lizard and a roach and a rat, any kind of vermin.
- that you probably don't want in your house was coming out of that basket. And as soon as one jumped
- out, another one was there to replenish it. The woman screamed, and she picked up that basket, and she
- threw it out the door. And she marched down to that woman's booth, and she told her what happened. And
- the woman said, I'm sorry. There's nothing I can do. And there was nothing she could do. But the greedy
- woman stomped off back home and never got
- thing again and then our hero she went home and her basket just kept replenishing and that's the story
- of the Four Seasons.
- You were waiting to come in, weren't you? Yes. I did the introduction. I screwed up. Do you want to
- go back over there? All right. Take two. David and I are going to tell a story. And I'm going to tell
- you a little bit about it before we do the story.
- This story actually finds its literary roots in the Uncle Remus stories. And so it has evolved. And
- if you look around, you'll find several different variations of it. And it's all about the Southern
- story. An African-American story was what it truly was that Joel Chandler Harris heard.
- in Georgia, and it's called The Chickenhawk and the Buzzard. Well, good day on this wintry but getting
- warmer day, Sister Buzzard.
- Oh, I tell you what, Brother Chickenhawk. I am so hungry, but my stomach is wearing a blister on my
- spine. Oh, well, I'm sorry to hear that. Well, I got a pretty powerful hunger myself. In fact, I was
- going to head on over to Farmer Brown's place and get me a young and tender chicken.
- Why don't you come on with me? Come on, let's go get us a chicken. Oh, no, no, no, no, Brother Chickenhawk.
- That's not our way. No, we buzzards, we just kind of sit around and wait for something to die. The Lord
- will provide
- Well, the Lord has provided me with big sharp talons, big sharp beak. I see you got a pretty good snout
- on yourself there. Well, come on, come on, let's go get us a young and tender chicken. No, no, no, I'll
- just wait here because I know that the Lord will provide. Well, suit yourself.
- Yes, sir. Yes, I'm sure. The Lord will provide. All right, suit yourself. And at that, Brother Chickenhawk
- took off up into the sky, circling over Farmer Brown's place, spied a chicken, went into a nosedive.
- Just then, Farmer Brown stepped out, saw that Chickenhawk up there, grabbed his shotgun, bam!
- X's, splat. Brother Chickenhawk landed right in the dusty road underneath Buzzard's tree. Oh, poor Brother
- Chickenhawk.
- about to partake of, I am truly thankful. Hello there. My name is Dakota Medley. And what I'm about
- to tell is technically an original story.
- but I wanted it to kind of feel like an older tale. This one is an original tale called How Red Wolf
- Stopped the Blizzard and is loosely inspired by tales from Norse culture and a tale from Polynesian
- culture. I know those seem very opposite. But it made sense when I put them together.
- In a far off land, in a valley of green grass, there was a village full of hunters, gatherers, and even
- farmers. All was well in the land of green grass, but at the top of a tall, icy mountain was a wizard.
- His name was Fimble, and he called himself the Lord of the Winter due to his ego and cruel personality.
- And one day he looked down on that village and said, I think I'll freeze that land and make it better.
- They think their green grass is so great. I'll show them. So he froze that land and the people of the
- village went into a panic because
- Food was becoming scarce due to animals disappearing, and water was, well, hard to drink from a well
- due to being frozen. Eventually, it got real bad to the point where all the villagers grouped together
- to meet with the chief elder, Haradwulf, who proposed an idea on how to handle this situation.
- Some young man needs to step up and talk to Tosk, chief of the fire squirrels. Perhaps Tosk would know
- the cause of this winter and how we can resolve this problem. I'll go, said a young man in his late
- 20s named Red Wolf, who was adventurous and brave,
- The town prepared Red Wolf for his journey and he went off. He walked for several miles for a while
- until he came across a small stone hut with a tall chimney that smoke came out of the top. This was
- the home of the fire squirrels. Red Wolf went up to the door. And he knocked. And he knocked again.
- And again, and again, until he got to about 320 times. He was standing there a while. And then finally,
- the door was answered by a small and meek voice. It wasn't Tosk, but it was the voice of a fire squirrel.
- Who, who are you? I am Red Wolf.
- I come to speak with Tosk, your chief," he said. The fire squirrel led Red Wolf in, and he was greeted
- by many fire squirrels. At the center of them was one that was slightly larger than the rest, with a
- flame pattern on his autumn red fur tail, a unicorn-like horn spiraled from his forehead, and he had
- a stick-like staff in his hand. This was obviously Tosk.
- The chief looked up and said, Speak. Red Wolf said, I am Red Wolf. Our village is under attack by a
- blizzard. I come to see if you know what is causing it and how to resolve it. Atosk already knew, and
- he explained, Your village is under attack by the wizard Fimble. Fimble. We must go to his icy mountain
- and break his icy scepter.
- Then you'll be forced to flee to colder areas and won't bother your village again." And thus the two
- went off on that other, again it was a walk back, so it was once again a while of many miles. And they
- finally came to the icy mountain and they went to the top and they found Fimble on his icy throne staring
- at his crystal ball which, as you could guess, was also made of ice.
- Who dares interrupt me enjoying myself?" Fimble cried. I am Red Wolf, said Bread Wolf, obviously, and
- I am Tosk. Same. And we have come to end your reign of terror on my village and the blizzard that you've
- put on it. Oh, I don't think so, Fimble said. He grabbed his icy scepter.
- And he tried to freeze them by blasting ice at them, but they dodged, obviously. We must split into
- two different directions, said Red Wolf. Right, he can't hit us both, said Tosk. They split up, which
- angered Fimble because they kept dodging him. Stand still and let me freeze you.
- Tosk ran circles around Fimble, distracting him long enough for Red Wolf to come up behind and grab
- him from behind. Let go, Fimble said. This distraction allowed Tosk the opportunity to use his magic
- and create a fireball, which he blasted at Fimble, hitting his scepter, which as you'd guess, was also
- made of ice, causing it to melt. No, the scepter!
- Fimbul cried. With his power ruined and unable to control the seasons, Fimbul spiraled away in a whirlwind
- of ice and fled to colder areas, never to bother the village again. The two heroes would return to the
- village, but not before Tosk would produce a much larger fireball
- that he made hover over the village long enough that it'd melt all the snow and ice from the blizzard
- Fimboldt put there prior, turning the town back to normal. The two eventually returned, where the chief
- elder Harrod Wolf held a great feast for them that all the village people attended. Well done, you two.
- You saved the village, Harrod Wolf said. I was honored to help, said Red Wolf.
- As was I," said Tosk. Tosk would eventually leave the village and return to his home amongst the fire
- squirrels. And the two heroes would be remembered in the village stories for years on after. The end,
- and thank you for listening. Hi, everyone. Good evening.
- I'm Christina Jones, and I'm going to whisk you back to Turkey where we started this whole program.
- And I'm going to tell you a brief but spectacular story about the Mullah Nasruddin. So it happened that
- the Mullah was living in a small remote village, very close to the steps. And I'm sorry to say that
- it was attacked by an evil
- evil tyrant and his followers. And they ransacked every home and they extracted every bit of goodness
- from each house until every house had nothing and the tyrant had everything. But even everything wasn't
- enough. And so he went from house to house threatening
- and saying, tomorrow, you'll give me the most valuable thing. And it will be mine. And in return, I'll
- let you live. Well, it happened that the Mulas' next door neighbor had a very, very large family. Not
- 39 sisters large, but large. And they had very little to eat. Everything had been taken.
- All they had was a donkey, a donkey that had been there from the very beginning and bore their children
- out into the fields and, and lighten their loads whenever it could until it couldn't. And it was their
- time to take care of the donkey. But that's all they had. And so the husband said, we have to do it.
- There's nothing left. And so reluctantly, they took
- the donkey to the tyrant's home and presented it to them. And the tyrant looked at that donkey, that
- broken down useless animal and flew into a rage and said, how dare you? How dare you bring me such a
- disgusting, worthless animal? I should beat you now as warning for everyone. Excuse me.
- And it was a small voice in the shadows. They all turned and there he was. The mullah had been listening
- and he said, I see intelligence in those eyes. In fact, I know something very valuable about this donkey.
- In fact, I will teach this donkey to read.
- Very well, before I change my mind. You may do that." And so the mullah gently took the donkey to his
- home. Now, the mullah was a very learned man. And he was one of the few people in his village with large
- books. And so the mullah grabbed one of the big books and placed it on a table in front of the donkey.
- And out of his pocket, he put some seeds in between the pages. And he did that.
- for most of the book and that made the donkey curious because his eyes weren't great but he could smell
- and he could eat. And so the donkey became very interested in this book all of a sudden and he very
- gingerly took out his tongue and turned the page and there were some seeds and so he gobbled them up
- and he took his tongue out, turned the page, more seeds,
- He was getting the hang of it. And so this happened day after day at a certain time, the mule would
- bring out the book and he'd put the seeds and the donkey would just feast and just flip right through
- those pages. It was time. And so, Nasseruddin pulled the donkey down to the tyrant's home with the book
- in tow. And he said, I've done it. I've done it. I've taught this donkey to read. Behold,
- And so he put the book in front of the donkey. And the donkey, he knew exactly what to do. He knew he
- was waiting for this, because it was dinner time. And so he took the book, and he nosed it open, and
- he licked the page, and he couldn't find the seeds. And so he licked another page. No, and he licked
- faster and faster, and he was flying through the pages, looking furiously for the seeds. And so he said,
- bray! And he let out this bray! And he kept looking for the seeds, and bray!
- I'm looking and bring, bring. And the mullah said, see? He even reads out loud. That's my story. Hi,
- everyone. My name is Kellen Everett. I'll be telling a story tonight that I found. First, I found it
- in a collection of Polish fairy tales. And as I started reading it, I thought
- that this story about a little hedgehog sounded familiar. And so I started doing some more digging.
- And I found it in Grimm's fairy tales as well, as well as some other fairy tale collections. And then
- I realized why it sounded so familiar is that it was also in an episode of Jim Henson's 1980s TV show,
- The Storyteller. So it may seem familiar to some of you as well. It is a classic. And like all good
- classic fairy tales, this one begins
- once upon a time. Now once upon a time in Poland there lived a couple, a husband and a wife who lived
- simply and they were happy enough for the most part except for one thing. They wanted a child. They
- had no baby sitting in the crib that sat in their house and they worried about this and they fretted
- about this as they went about their days and as they went about their work in the fields and in the woods.
- Now one day, as the woman was working in the woods looking for berries, she spotted a little hedgehog
- crawling underneath a fern, and she sighed deeply and said to herself, if I had even a hedgehog for
- a baby, I would be happy. And now what this woman didn't know was that Jensa, the witch of the woods,
- was lurking nearby and had heard what she said. And soon after this, the woman got her wish, and a baby was born.
- But instead of having soft downy hair and blue eyes and little hands and feet, well, this baby had paws
- and a snout and sharp prickly quills all over. This was not a human baby. This was a baby hedgehog.
- And the woman said, well, I'm blessed. Who thought my words would come true like this?
- I said that if I had even a hedgehog for a baby, I would be happy. And here he is. And her husband said,
- well, I suppose it's better than nothing. We should be grateful for what has come to us. And so they
- decided to raise the hedgehog as their child. And they came to love the hedgehog as it grew up. It didn't
- grow very much, mind you, just about regular hedgehog size.
- And it didn't speak, and it mostly just sat in the crib that they had in their home. Until one day when
- the woman was very tired from her chores and all her work, the hedgehog did speak. And he said, Mother,
- I think today I will take Father's dinner to him out in the field. And so everyone was surprised to
- see from that day on the hedgehog would take his father's dinner to him out in the field.
- And then a few years later, the hedgehog said, Mother, today I'll take the pigs out to feed in the woods.
- And so that became the hedgehog's work. His responsibility was to take care of the pigs as he took them
- out to feed in the woods. And under the watchful care of this dutiful little hedgehog, not a single
- pig was ever lost. Now, it was on one of these normal days, the hedgehog was tending the pigs out in
- the woods, sitting under the shade of a mushroom.
- The hedgehog spotted the king riding by through the woods. And then he saw the king riding by again.
- And then he saw the king ride by for a third time. The king was lost. And the hedgehog said, what is
- your majesty looking for? And the king stopped and looked around and up and down until finally he spotted
- the little hedgehog sitting under the mushroom. Ah, I seem to have lost the path out of the forest.
- Will you help me?
- Well, yes, Your Majesty, but first you must promise me a reward. I would like, as a reward, the first
- thing that you see when you return home to your kingdom. And in a year and a day, I will come visit
- and collect this reward. Of course, by all means, says the King. I'm sorry to say, Your Majesty, but
- your word is not enough. I would like to have this promise written down, and I'd like your royal handkerchief
- as a seal. Now, the King was not happy about this.
- He was not thrilled to be bound to such a promise, to a hedgehog. But he also didn't want to spend the
- night riding around in circles in the forest until he got eaten by wolves. So reluctantly, the king
- wrote down his promise and gave the paper and his handkerchief to the hedgehog, who then guided him
- dutifully out of the woods. And as the king rode home and rode to his palace,
- Why, who came riding out of the gates but his beautiful daughter, the princess, who was worried sick
- about her father being lost? And now the king was worried. His daughter was the first thing he had seen.
- Would he have to give his daughter to the hedgehog? Who ever heard of a princess marrying a hedgehog?
- But soon after this, the king got busy with kingly business, as kings do, and he forgot about his promise.
- And the hedgehog returned to his hedgehogly work of tending the pigs as time went on until the promised
- year and a day were fast approaching. And the hedgehog said, Mother, Father, please have a saddle made
- for the rooster, for I need a ride out into the world. The horse was too big for the hedgehog, you see.
- So they made a little rooster-sized saddle and placed it on the rooster's back. And the hedgehog climbed
- up on the little rooster and rode off.
- with the greatest dignity he could muster. And he rode and rode over hills and valleys and through fields
- and streams all the way until he made it to the palace of the king. The guard stopped him.
- Who goes there? What do you want? I wish to see the king, says the hedgehog. Impossible, says the guard.
- He's at dinner with the royal court. Well, the hedgehog then pulled out the letter from the king and
- the handkerchief embroidered with the king's royal seal.
- And the guard had to let the hedgehog in. And what a surprise it was on the promised year and a day
- for the king to see this hedgehog come flying in on the back of the rooster in front of the whole royal
- court. And the king had to then sheepishly explain that a year and a day before, he had accidentally
- betrothed the princess to a hedgehog.
- And so the whole royal court just burst out laughing and laughing. Whoever heard of a princess marrying
- a hedgehog? They cried. And they all laughed and laughed at the very idea of it. And at the foolish
- king for making such a foolish promise. Now the king was outraged at the audacity of this little hedgehog.
- All have you killed? He cried. And he ordered his guards to attack the hedgehog. But just as he did,
- the hedgehog gave
- a shrill whistle, and in an instant, from near and far, from everywhere, from every nook and cranny,
- came pouring in hedgehogs. Through the windows, through the doors, crawling all over, climbing up the
- tables and chairs, up the tapestries on the wall, and everywhere they went, they jabbed their sharp,
- prickly little hedgehog quills into the legs and feet of all the nobles and the king.
- And as they jabbed and poked and stabbed, the nobles and the king all hopped around and rubbed their
- legs and feet and cried out in pain until finally, stop, stop, enough, cried the king. You shall marry
- my daughter. And he commanded the princess to marry the hedgehog. And so she reluctantly dressed up
- in her finery and the hedgehog hopped back up on the rooster's back as they rode down to the church
- for the wedding. And as the wedding ceremony was concluding,
- It was a beautiful ceremony, by the way. As it was concluding, the bride turned to face the bridegroom.
- And yet another surprise for everyone there. For there was no hedgehog standing up there, but instead
- a handsome, dignified young man who turned to the princess and gave a most dignified princely bow and
- said, thank you, princess, by marrying me
- You've broken the spell that Jens of the witch cast on me at my birth." Well, now the princess was delighted
- not to be marrying a hedgehog, but instead a handsome princely young man. And the king was delighted
- to have a handsome princely young man for a son-in-law instead of a hedgehog. And so the former hedgehog
- turned prince, told them about his family, his parents, and they were sent for to live in a house near
- the palace and be taken care of.
- king made the hedgehog prince the heir to the throne. And that night they held a grand ball and a grand
- feast, the likes of which had never been seen before in that kingdom, or have been seen since. And they
- all lived happily ever after.
- One second. That's better. Maybe. Hi, my name is Clayton Schroeder. I'm a singer, songwriter, storyteller.
- Note that I did not say musician. I told my wife recently that I don't really consider myself a musician.
- And she said, and I quote, you're an idiot.
- But I consider myself, in terms of skill and talent, first, a singer, second, a storyteller, third,
- a songwriter, and way, way, way over here, a musician. In college, I studied theater, the fancy kind
- that you spell with an R-E at the end of theater.
- And when I graduated, I realized that an actor's life was not for me. But I always idolized Harry Chapin
- and Jim Croce. So I went to a pawn shop, bought a guitar, and 20 years later, I still don't know what
- I'm doing with this thing. I mean, I know some chords. I know like 10 chords. So like, this is the D chord.
- And this song is called Dish because the chords are D-ish. But it's a voicemail I left an old college
- roommate of mine named Amanda. It's about a year after we graduated
- and she went off to grad school in California. I continued my education by squatting in an apartment
- above a bar in Terre Haute, Indiana. I was a fledgling singer-songwriter at the time. I had more stories
- than I did songs. The same is still true, I guess.
- But when I called her up, it was supposed to be just one of those, hey, how you doing kind of conversations.
- And it turned into an apology because for my senior thesis,
- I faked my own death. It turned out about as well as you might imagine. And I almost lost some friendships
- over it, including Amanda's. Almost. And that's what really saved me, is that I could have lost everything.
- But I didn't. So when I called her up and I got her voicemail, I just started strumming these D-ish
- chords. And this is what came out. Hey Amanda, it's been about a year.
- Some songs, some stories to tell. Do you wanna hear? You have to tell me first before I sing the very
- first verse.
- I wish we were back in SoHo You were my upstairs wife You were upstairs crazy busy I was downstairs
- causing strife Sorry Amanda
- I owe you my life. Sorry Amanda. I owe you my life. Love you Amanda.
- hair adding to the beauty of singing.
- Amanda.
- My name is Laura Clavio. And as you know, just about every culture has their origin myths about things.
- And the well-known story, Cherokee storyteller, Gail Ross, happened to go through some of her family's
- papers and found this tale, a love tale about love berries. And this is how it goes.
- In the very beginning of the world, there was the first man and the first woman, and they lived together
- as husband and wife, and they loved each other dearly. But one day they quarreled, and even though later
- neither one of them could
- Remember what the quarrel was about. Every word spoken brought more pain and heartache until finally
- in grief and anger, the woman left their house and began to walk toward the east, toward the rising
- sun. The man stayed in the house. And as time went by, he became lonelier and lonelier.
- until his anger was gone and all he felt was a terrible loss and despair, and he began to cry. Now,
- in those early times, spirits and men were much closer than they are now, and they could speak to one
- another. And a benevolent spirit heard the man crying, and he looked down and he said,
- Why do you cry? And the man said, my woman has left me. And why did your woman leave, the spirit asked.
- But the man said nothing. He just hung his head. Did you quarrel with her? And the man nodded. Hmm.
- Would you quarrel with her again, asked the spirit.
- And the man said, no, he only wanted to live in peace and harmony and in love as they had done before.
- And the spirit said, I have seen your woman. She is traveling toward the east, toward the rising sun.
- And with that news, the man got up and began to follow his wife, but she could not be caught. He could
- not overtake her.
- Everybody knows an angry woman walks fast. So the spirit looked at the situation and he said, I'll go
- ahead and see if I can slow her steps a bit. Then perhaps you can catch her. And so the spirit went
- ahead and he found the woman on the trail. Her gaze was straight ahead.
- Her steps were long and hard and fast. So the spirit thought, ah, I see some huckleberry bushes. And
- he waved his hand. And all the bushes went into bloom and bear fruit. And he thought, this will stop
- her. But that woman only gazed straight ahead. She didn't look to the right or to the left. There was
- pain in her heart.
- And that's all she saw. And her footsteps did not slow. So the spirit waved his hand again and all the
- bushes along the trail burst into bloom and went to fruit. But still that woman saw nothing. She looked
- straight ahead. She didn't look to the left or to the right.
- All she felt was pain and anger and her steps did not slow. So then the spirit made all the trees of
- the forest, the apple, the pear, the peach, the wild cherry, all burst into bloom and go into fruit.
- But still the woman saw nothing.
- All she saw was her anger and her pain, and her steps did not slow. Hmm, thought the spirit. Ah, I will
- make a new fruit, something that grows close to the ground so that she will have to turn her head and
- look down, and that will slow her steps. And so he waved his hand again,
- and a carpet of beautiful heart-shaped leaves began to grow along the path. And pretty soon they were
- starred with beautiful white flowers. And those flowers ripened into berries, which were the color and
- the shape of the human heart. And as that woman walked, she stepped on those berries and the beautiful
- aroma went up into her nose
- and she stopped and she looked down and she saw the berries and she picked one and ate it and she discovered
- that it tasted as sweet as love itself. So she began to slowly walk along picking and eating berries
- and she leaned down to pick up a berry and she saw her husband coming behind her. By that time the anger
- was gone from her heart and he caught up with her
- And they ate the berries and eventually began to walk home where they lived out the rest of their days
- in peace, in love, and happiness. And that is how the first strawberries came to make peace between
- men and women in the world and why to this day they are still called the berries of love. Thank you.
- I don't know what you did to it. I'm Jenny Ritchie, and I have a story that I first heard around 1970
- in Louisville, Kentucky. It was told by the marvelous storyteller, Mrs. Barbara Miller, legendary children's
- librarian.
- But although 1970 was a long time ago, the story's older than that. Howard Kurlander heard it told in
- West Africa sometime in the early 40s and put it in a book called The Cow-Tail Switch, which was published
- in 1947, so almost 80 years ago. But it's older than that because the man who told him the story
- was just retelling a story that had been told by the people who lived in Ghana around the town of Akora
- for generations. And it's this old story I want to share with you. They say there was a countryman who
- was but an indifferent farmer, but he decided one day
- that he would go and dig yams to take to market. So he took his digging stick out, and he began to dig.
- And the first yam he turned over, a big one it was, as he reached for it, that yam talked. It said,
- what are you doing here? You never came to water me. You never came to weed me.
- Now you want to dig me up? Leave me alone." Somebody say something? Nobody around. Just the cow. Cow,
- did you say something? But the cow just chewed her cud. No. Really, said the dog.
- The cow didn't talk. Cows can't talk. It was the yam. The yam said, leave me alone. You should listen
- to the yam. You never talked before, said the farmer. And I don't like your tone. I believe, I believe
- I need to beat you.
- with a stick. Put me down, said the stick. And the man put the stick down on the rock nearby. And the
- rock said, take that stick off me. It was too much. I've got to get out of here.
- And away he went, running down the road. He ran down the road to escape the strangeness behind him.
- And there up the road came that tall fisherman with his fishing, his fish trap on his head full of fish.
- He was headed for market. Hey, friend, he said, what's up? Where are you going so fast? Oh, I have.
- to get out of here," he said the farmer. He said, my yam talked and said, leave me alone. And my dog
- talked and said, listen to the yam. And the stick said, put me down. And the rock said, take that stick
- off of me. I had to run. I have a few questions about that, said the fisherman. And the fish trap said,
- yeah, did he take the stick off or not?
- And down went the fish trap and the fishermen joined the farmer running down the road. They ran fast
- to escape what was behind them. And there was that stout little weaver coming up the road with a big
- bundle of colorful cloths on his head. Slow down, he said. No need to run so fast in this weather.
- What's going on? And the farmer said, you ready for this? The yam, said, leave me alone. And the dog,
- said, listen to the yam. And the stick, said, put me down. And the stone, said, take that stick off
- me. Yes, said the fisherman. And my fish trap, said, did he? Oh, said the weaver.
- I hardly think this is something to run about. And the bundle of cloth said, oh, you'd run too if it
- happened to you. Down went the bundle, and off went the weaver running with the others. They ran till
- they came by a river, and there was a bather in the river splashing and
- waving at them. Hey, are you chasing a gazelle? What's going on? I had to get away, said the farmer.
- The yam talked. It said, leave me alone. And the dog said, listen to the yam. And the stick said,
- put me down. And I put it on the rock. And the rock said, take that stick off. Yes, said the fisherman.
- And my fishing trap said, did he?
- And the weaver said, and my bundle said, you'd run too. The swimmer said, you know, things like that
- don't really happen. But the river came bubbling by. And the river said, you better believe it. Ah!
- There was a swimmer out of the river running
- They ran right in to the village. And it was so unusual. People stopped working. Everybody came around.
- There was a great commotion. And the chief of the village stepped out and did not like what he saw.
- He called his servant to bring his stool, his beautiful wooden carved stool like a throne. When he stepped
- on it, when he sat on it, he was doing official business.
- So he sat and called the men up. What excuse do you have for causing this ruckus? You won't believe
- this. But everything's talking, said the farmer. When I went to dig up my yam, the yam talked to me,
- and it said, leave me alone. And then my dog talked to me and said, listen to the yam. And then the
- stick talked to me and said, put me down, and the ruckus
- talked to me and said, take the stick off me. I had to get out of there, didn't I? And the fisherman
- said, and my fish trap said, did he take the stick off? And I had to get out of there, didn't I? And
- the weaver said, my bundle of cloth said, you'd run too? So I did.
- And the swimmer said, well, the river said, you'd better believe it. And I had to run too. The chief
- had listened patiently. But now he scowled. He said, this is
- the silliest story anyone's ever brought before me. Don't you have better things to do? You'd better
- go do them before I punish you for disturbing the peace." The men walked away. And as the chief watched
- them walk away, he shook his head and he said,
- That is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard. Yeah, said a voice. Yeah, said the stool. That's
- ridiculous. Who ever heard of a talking yam?
- Thank you, Jenny. I'm Lisa Ciampelli, and on behalf of the Bloomington Storytellers Guild, I would just
- like to thank you all for joining us this evening for our wintertelling concert of stories both heartwarming
- and humorous. Please give another round of appreciation to our talented tellers. Thank you all. And
- a special shout out to Patty Callison for coordinating our program this evening. Thank you, Patty.
- We would also like to thank the Monroe County Public Library for hosting us and extend our gratitude
- to the Friends of the Library, a special group of community members who help support the library by
- providing funding for library materials as well as an array of programs and special events serving everyone
- from infants to adults.
- And we hope that you'll join us again in warmer weather. On July 31st, we'll be presenting Summer Tales,
- featuring tall tales from American folklore. I think that's right. So hope to see you then. And until
- then, thank you again. Be well and good night. Thank you.