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.