Good evening. Thank you. Hello. Welcome. My name is Sarah Bowman and I work here at the Monroe County
Public Library. I would just like to welcome everybody to this evening's winter telling event. A few
things I would like to say first. First of all if you have a cell phone if you could put it on silent
mute off whatever works best so it doesn't interrupt a storyteller in the middle of a story.
A few other things I would like to say.
Before we get going this evening is I would like to thank the Friends of the Library. They make programming
at the library for all ages possible. So we would really like to thank them. There's a table on your
way outside with some information if you're interested in becoming a member of the Friends of the Library.
I'd like to thank CATS for videotaping this evening's program. You can see this program on the Library
Channel 3. You can check their schedule at CATSTV.net.
Lastly, I would like to thank the Bloomington Storytellers Guild for being tonight's entertainment.
Patti Callison from the Bloomington Storytellers Guild is here this evening, and she's gonna go ahead
and introduce you to the program. And I would like to, again, welcome you and remind you that after
the stories are over, up on stage, we'll be having some refreshments and coffee, well, cookies and milk.
Isn't that perfect? So I'd like to invite everybody to stay after the stories are over and get a chance
to chat with the storytellers. And again, thank you. Patty Carlson. You are tall.
Well, we're really thrilled that you all came out tonight for the Wintertelling. The Bloomington Storytellers
Guild, which has been around in Bloomington, and we're all getting so old we can't remember. But we
were thinking about 74 was the year that the guild sort of started up. And we are a loose group. Well,
wait a minute. Let me put that another way.
We're a tight-knit group of storytellers who have a devotion to the art of storytelling and love to
present that to you and tonight you're going to hear a number of stories. Because of our literary background,
so many of us have a literature background,
We tend to tell a lot of folk tales. We also have some personal stories that occasionally get told.
But as people were coming tonight, coming together with their stories, it looked like you were going
to see a vast, varied group of all kinds of myths and legends and folk tales from around the world.
These stories are ones that, since many of us have a literature background, we have found in folklore
books that you can check out from the Monroe County Public Library sometime and take a look at those.
But we basically carry those stories around in our heads. And that's sometimes a dangerous place to
be. So welcome tonight.
And again, we want to thank the friends of the library and the two ladies who are sitting outside. We'll
be glad to make you a friend of the library if you would like to become a friend. But most of all, thank
you for coming out on this winter night. Thank you for coming to Wintertelling. And we hope you enjoy
it. Thank you.
Good evening. Thank you for coming out on this cold, blustery night. It was so wonderful to see all
of your faces here to join us tonight for our winter telling. As Patty said, it's true as a storyteller,
sometimes when you read stories, they just kind of roll around in your head. And the one that I'm going
to be sharing tonight is such a roller.
I checked out the Mammoth Book of Fairy Tales in preparation for this program. And the very first tale
in this collection of folktales was a tiny, curious gem of a story. And I'm curious to see how you feel
about it after it's done. It's a short story. It's by Lawrence Scheimel. And this is an adaptation of
it. The name of the story is A Bag of Poetry.
So it started on a day when all was lost, all was lost. And Anya was sitting and she was straddled on
a stone wall that surrounded the parking lot of the Safeway grocery store. And she had a bag of groceries.
And she had a big, thick black marker. And she was scribbling poetry all over her bag. And as she was
doing this, she noticed out of the corner of her eye a homeless man and his dog approaching her.
and he came up and the dog sniffed her shoe and the man asked for change. And she looked up and first
she saw the dog and the dog was black and it had a brown spot which looked like it had balanced precariously
on the top of its head and then over time it just kind of slid over one eye. She couldn't resist it
and she looked at the man and he was wearing these jolly green and red Christmas boxer shorts.
and a red or a brown and black plaid flannel shirt that matched his dog. And she smiled at him and he
smiled back with wide wondrous eyes. And she reached into her bag and she gave him a loaf of bread.
And then she reached into her bag and she gave him a pound of roast beef. And his eyes grew even wider
and he said, God bless you. And she looked at the dog and she pulled into her bag and she reached out
and she gave the dog a bone.
And the dog wagged his tails, and he couldn't bark because he had the bone in his mouth. And they turned
around, and they padded away. Finally, Anya's bus came. And she got on the bus, and it was empty, which
was unusual. So she sat down, and she sat her bag next to her. And she reached in her bag, and she pulled
out a book. And she started to read.
And so when it was time for her stop, she looked up from her book, and she noticed that the crowd of
people in the bus was weighing in on her. And she tried to make her way through the crowd to get out
of the door. Well, this woman pushed and pushed and pushed, Anya, until her bag fell. And at that moment,
everyone stopped, silent, waiting for her groceries to come tumbling out. Well, the moment waited too
long, and it lasted too long.
And the woman pushed her aside. And as she walked off the bus, 17 eggs rolled out of the top of Anya's
bag. And they rolled across the sidewalk. And they landed next to a building, each one uncracked. And
a flock of pigeons flew down to the eggs. And they started pecking at the eggs. And first they ate the
creamy yellow inside. And then they gobbled up the shells.
When Anya bent down to retrieve the bag, she gave them a handful of popcorn, and she walked home. And
when she got into her apartment, her mother was glad to see her. She was so glad that she followed Anya
right next to her shoulder to see what she brought from the grocery store. So Anya put her bag down
on the counter. And the first thing that Anya reached in and brought out was a new job for her brother,
Peter. Her mother gasped.
She couldn't believe it. She ran around the other side of the counter, and she took Anya in her big,
beefy, soft, warm arms. And she pinned Anya's arms to her sides and said, this is wonderful.
And she yelled, Peter. And Anya kept getting things out of her bag. First, she reached in and she got
a big bag of potatoes. And then she reached in and she got a big flour sack. And then she got 17 cobs of corn.
And then she got three quarts of milk, and she set them aside. And then Anya pulled out the moon, and
she set it on the counter. And her mother thought it was a saucer, so she took some of the milk and
she poured it. And then she took the moon, and she put it on the floor. And Anya noticed this. And so
Anya reached into her bag, and she pulled out five kittens.
And her mother looked over her shoulder and said, what's that? And she said, it's kittens. And she's
like, we have too many kittens. And just as she said that, cats came from everywhere, in through the
window, from all the halls and from the cupboards. They came flooding in towards the saucer of milk.
Meanwhile, her brother Peter came in, bleary eyed. He'd been asleep all day. And his mother smiled and
picked up the new job and took Peter into the living room. Anya kept putting away the groceries until
Nothing was left in the saucer. And so she picked up the moon and she went into the backyard to put
it back into the sky. Meanwhile, her mother came into the kitchen and everything was gone,
save for the bag. And so her mother went to the bag and looked inside thinking surely she can't pull
anything else from this bag. And so she collapsed it and neatly folded it along the creases. And because
she couldn't read the poetry, threw it out.
And that's the story of the bag of poetry. Thank you for listening. Hello, everyone. My story is from
Africa. We believe it is Zulu, but we are not sure. It is called the Sky Woman's.
basket. I hope you enjoy it. Once upon a time there was a farmer. This farmer had a very large farm
that he tended all by himself. He enjoyed taking care of his vegetables and all of his animals, but
his favorite thing to tend was his herd of cattle because in the morning he would go to the barn, unlock
the door, go inside, and he would milk
his cows and from their milk he would make cheese and yogurt and ice cream. Well, one morning our farmer
went to the barn, opened the door and he tried to milk his cows, but he couldn't. They were dry as a
bone. He thought this was odd, but he let them outside
took them to really rich green grass on the far corners of his farm. But the next morning, they were
dry again. And now our farmer became suspicious that someone had in the middle of the night stolen the
milk from his cows. So the next evening,
Instead of locking the barn door and going back to his farmhouse, he locked the barn door from the inside
and creeped over to a corner and hid behind a bale of hay. And he waited and waited and waited until
just past midnight, a star rose up in the sky and came to hover over the farmer's barn and
shot a ray of light through the roof of the barn down to the floor below. And that ray of light started
to spin and twist until it formed the shape of a ladder. Our farmer stood in amazement and dismay as
he watched that ladder. Down from it came many, many beautiful
And they came and they started to milk his cows dry. And he jumped up and said, stop thieves. What are
you doing? And all of the women scurried up the ladder to the safety of the star, except for one, which
he was able to grab by the heel and pull down to him. The star floated away as our farmer turned this
beautiful woman toward him.
woman you have stolen from me." And she said, yes, I have. I'm sorry. What can I do to repay this debt?
He said, well, you could stay here with me and help me on my farm. She said, all right, that is fair.
So for several months, the man and the woman worked together on the farm, tending the vegetables, caring
for the cows, until one day,
Our farmer went to the woman, and he said, Sky Woman, you have worked very hard for me, and you have
repaid your debt. You may go if you wish, but as we have worked together these past few months, I have
grown quite fond of you, and I would be most pleased if you would stay here with me and be my wife.
The first guy said, well, I was hoping that you would say something like that. You are a good man, and
this is a good world. I will stay here with you on one condition. What's that? Asked the farmer. Anything.
She said, well, I own this basket that is shut tight with a lid.
In it is a secret that belongs to me. You must never open my basket without my permission. If you can
promise me that, I will stay with you." Well, our farmer thought this was an easy thing to promise.
So he said, yes, of course. And they were married. And they lived together happily for quite some time.
But you know how it is with us.
Every time our farmer would pass the basket that was sitting in the corner of the living room, he would
wonder, what is inside that thing? Is it something wonderful, beautiful, or is it something terrible
and evil? He didn't know, and he would look to the Sky Woman for clues, but she had none to give.
this secret began to eat at him and eat at him and eat at him until he began to think, this is my house.
She is my wife and this is my basket. And then one day when our sky woman was out tending the fields,
he went to the corner of the room
kneeled down and he lifted the lid of the basket and looked inside. When he saw what was in there, he
was dismayed and aghast and he burst out laughing and he laughed and he laughed and he laughed and he
laughed until the sky woman heard him and came running, burst into the room and saw what he had done
and she said,
You have broken your promise." And he said, wife, oh, wife, this secret has been eating at me and it
has had me in suspicion of you. I didn't know if there was something good or evil inside it. I'm sorry,
but I just felt I had to know. And I must say, I can't believe it. I look inside this basket and there
is nothing inside.
You are so silly. Well, our sky woman said nothing when she crossed the room, put the lid back on, lifted
the basket, and walked away, never to be seen again by our farmer. And some people say that she left him
Because he had broken a promise. And a promise is a promise. But other people say that she left him
because when he looked in the basket, he saw nothing there. For we are oftentimes blind to the treasures
of others. And that is the story of the Sky Woman's Basket.
Well, you are a treasure, Addie, and we are not blind to that. Very nicely done. My name is Stephanie
Holman, and I have three short stories sprinkled throughout your program tonight. And so for the first
sprinkle. Once long ago, a poor man was walking along a road by himself, looking down, thinking about
his situation.
And because he was looking down, he was able to see, there by the side of the road, a pouch, a leather
purse. And no one around, he stooped and picked it up, and he could tell by the heft of it. He wondered
by the clinkety-clank of it if it might not be filled with coins. And when he opened it, indeed it was
filled with gold coins. And with no one else there to claim it, he put it in his pocket and headed home.
Well, the next morning, he went to the village to spend his newfound wealth. Many things did he need.
But no sooner had he gotten to the marketplace than there was a sign freshly painted and it said, lost,
purse filled with gold coins, reward for its return. And it was signed by the richest man in town. That
poor man was slumped and headed for home. He sat at his table and he looked at those coins in that pouch
and he thought about what was the right thing to do.
He thought, ah, that rich man, he's so wealthy, he wouldn't even miss this money, and I'm so poor I
could really use this money. But it is the right thing to return it, and it did say a reward. Maybe
there'd be just enough for him to get by. So he headed over to the rich man's house and knocked upon
the door. And the man himself opened the door and looked down upon this beggar, this man in tattered
clothing, a waif of a man, he was so thin, carrying his purse of gold.
He snatched it from the man and started counting it in his hand. And he thought to himself,
look at this fool, this fool standing here before me. He probably thinks there's a reward. No, there's
no reward. I just wrote that on there so that I get my coins back. But I'll give this man a lesson.
That will be his reward. I'll teach him a lesson. And so the rich man counted out the coins. And when
he'd finished, there were 100 coins. And he said, 100, and put them back in the pouch and closed it
tight. And he said,
What are you waiting for? And the poor man said, well, the sign had said something about a reward. So
the rich man, a reward? You'll get no reward. In fact, you are nothing but a thief. And I will let everyone
know in the village that you are a thief. What do you mean a thief? I returned your money. When I lost
this gold purse of coins, it was filled with 200 gold coins. And now there are only 100. You saw me
count them. You are nothing but a thief.
And he turned to go back into his house. But the poor man reached out and stopped him from closing the
door and said, listen, listen, you don't have to give me reward. And I don't even want a reward from
you. But you can't call me a thief. You can't besmirch my name. We will go to the village judge and
we will let him decide. Fine, said the rich man. And they went not side by side, but together to the
village judge. And the village judge listened to the rich man's story.
And then he listened to the poor man's story. And then he thought about it. He'd been in this village
a long time, and he knew this wealthy man, and he knew that he was up to no good. So he said, tell me,
how many coins were in the purse you lost? And the rich man said, 200. And then he turned to the poor
man, and he said, tell me, how many coins were in the purse you found? 100. I saw him count them out myself.
Aha, then it is clear. The purse you lost is not the same as the purse he found. Give him back the purse
he found. And so it was done. That was a good one. They're all good ones.
My name is Lisa Ciampelli, and the story that the program says that I'm telling tonight, The Peasant's
Clever Daughter, a folktale collected by the Brothers Grimm, is indeed the story that I'm telling tonight.
But the version that I'm telling is actually more closely related to the story called Rachel the Clever,
which appears in a collection of Jewish folktales, which indicates that the story originates from Poland.
But this story is actually pretty well traveled because I've found variations of this story in Greek
folk tales and there's another version called The Fisherman's Clever Daughter and a collection
of Czechoslovakian tales. So it's really a story that's made its way around the world. And I tell this
version tonight in honor of the clever young women around the world and through time who have advised
on public matters often behind the scenes
and kept the peace at home as well. This is the story of Rachel the Clever. Once upon a time there was
a clever king who was so proud of his intellectual aptitude that he vowed to marry only the woman who
was as clever as he. Now one day this king happened to be out traveling and he stopped at an inn
And he overheard the innkeeper boasting about his very clever daughter. He, the innkeeper, claimed that
there was no riddle that his daughter was not able to solve. Now, the king wondered about this because
he was very fond of riddles and had posed many a riddle to many a person that they had not been able
to solve. And he decided to challenge the innkeeper. He called him over and he said, I have three riddles for you.
And if your daughter can solve them, then you shall be handsomely rewarded. But if she is not able to
solve them, you will lose your in. Here are the riddles. The first is, what is the fastest thing? The
second is, what is the richest thing? And third is, what is the dearest thing?
I expect the answers by tomorrow." And the king left, leaving the innkeeper to ponder what the answers
could possibly be. He fretted that Rachel would not know how to figure them out, but he brought the
riddles to her, and she just smiled and said, Father, don't worry. You're not going to lose your inn.
Go back to the king and tell him that thought is the fastest thing, that life-giving earth is the richest
thing, and that love
is the dearest thing. And when the innkeeper told the answers to the king, he was astonished, for he
had shared these riddles with many a noble and educated woman, and none had been able to come up with
the correct answers that he sought. And yet he had vowed to marry a woman who was as clever as he. Did
this mean that he, the king, was destined to marry the common innkeeper's daughter?
He thought that perhaps he would give her another puzzle. And so he said to the innkeeper, tell your
daughter well done and give her these 10 eggs and tell her that I would like to have them hatched out
and the chicks brought back to me tomorrow. The innkeeper was very worried. How was his daughter ever
going to do this? And when he told her what the king was asking,
She just laughed and she said, father, go to the king and bring him these seeds of grain and tell the
king that if he can plant the seeds, grow them and harvest them by tomorrow, then I will gladly bring
him the 10 chicks so that he might feed them the right grain. The king was pleased with Rachel's answer
and he decided that it was time that they should meet.
and he asked the innkeeper to have her come to the castle. But she should come in three days' time,
and she should come neither walking nor riding, and she should come neither dressed nor undressed, and
she should come bringing him a gift that is not really a gift. The innkeeper was growing weary of these
riddles. They made his head hurt.
But he was confident that Rachel would know the answers and know what to do. And indeed she did. She
thought just a moment and then she asked her father, would you please bring me a goat and some fishnet
and two doves? And the innkeeper did as she asked. And at the appointed time, she wrapped herself in
the fishnet and she sat on the goat with
one leg dragging on the ground, and she clutched a dove in each hand. And when she arrived at the castle,
she greeted the king, and she said, your highness, as you can see, I have come to you neither walking
nor riding. And wrapped in this fishnet, I am neither dressed nor undressed. And the king laughed and
said, and the gift that is not a gift? Here, she said.
And she presented him with the two doves, which promptly flew out the window. That is indeed a gift
that is not a gift, the king laughed. And he was pleased to see that Rachel was as pretty and kind as
she was clever. And he asked her to marry him. He forgot his pride. He forgot that he was king of all
the land, the most cleverest king that ever lived, and that she was simply an innkeeper's daughter.
and she agreed to marry him. But then he remembered his pride and he said, excellent, but you must promise
never to meddle or disagree with any of my court decisions. Very well, she agreed. And the king and
Rachel, they lived happily for many years until there was one day
when Rachel noticed a farmer in the courtyard. And he appeared very unhappy. And she went to him and
asked him what was wrong. And he told her, well, I came to court on business, and I brought my mare
with me. And my mare happened to give birth to a foal under my neighbor's cart. And my neighbor is now
claiming that the foal belongs to him. And the king has ruled that, indeed, the foal is now my neighbor's property.
Rachel was rather dismayed and somewhat embarrassed by her husband's decision in this matter. And she
told the farmer, here's what you should do. Go and get a fishing pole and stand out in the courtyard
and pretend to fish. And when the king sees you and asks what you are doing, this is what you should
say. But don't tell him or anyone who told you to do this or say what I'm about to tell you.
Well, the farmer did, as Rachel suggested. He got a fishing pole and he stood out in the courtyard beneath
the king's window, and before long, the king looked out his window and saw the man standing there, and
he called to him, hey, what are you doing? Are you daft? How do you expect to catch a fish in the middle
of a dusty road? And the farmer just looked at him and said, why, your highness, I am just as likely
to catch a fish in the middle of a dusty road as a
Wagon is to give birth to a foal. The king realized the injustice of his earlier decision. And he also
realized that there was only one person who was clever enough to come up with that retort. And he called
Rachel to him, furious. You have broken your promise to me. You have meddled in my judgments. And you
must leave the palace.
He was very angry with her, but his heart broke as he said these things. And yet his pride overpowered
his love. You must leave, he repeated. But before you go, you may take with you the one thing that is
most dear to you in the castle. Very well, Rachel agreed calmly. But we have lived together happily
for so many years.
Let us share one last meal together and recall all of the fond and happy times that we have shared and
then we may part as friends. The king agreed and he brought out his choicest wines for the meal and
Rachel made his favorite dishes and the king ate and ate and drank and ate and drank and drank and before
long he had fallen asleep at the table. And without waking him, Rachel called some of the servants over
And she wrapped the king in a blanket. And with the servants, she carried him out into the night to
the garden by her father's inn. And the next morning, the king awoke to the sounds of birds chirping.
And he found Rachel beside him. And he found that he had a throbbing headache. But he looked at Rachel
and he asked, what am I doing here? And she looked at him and said, I'm only doing as you
advised. You said that I might take with me from the castle the one thing that is most dear to me and
that my love is you. And the king looked into her eyes and he forgot his pride this time forever. Will
you forgive me and return home with me? He asked Rachel. Of course, she said. And will you perhaps on
occasion discuss
your cases at court with me?" Yes, he agreed. And from that time on, whenever he was presented with
a particularly challenging case, he would pause a moment and say, hmm, perhaps we should consult my
wife on this matter. You know, she is a very clever woman.
I think we have a theme going here of cleverness. I love to hear stories about clever people because
my mind doesn't work that fast. I only think of these clever things like three days later lying in bed
sleepless at night and then I say, oh, I could have done that and it would have been clever. But do
I think of it like these story people do? If you are looking at your paper, you'll notice that Daria
is next and Daria is not here.
After I destroy the equipment here, I'm going to tell her story. I don't need that, do I? My name's
Jenny Ritchie. The story that Daria was going to tell and that I am going to tell comes from Syria,
and it is another clever woman. Some of us are born with a lot, and some of us
born with not so much. And it doesn't seem to matter how clever you are or how un-clever you are as
to which your circumstances are. Does that make sense? There was a very clever woman who was born in
a poor village with not much at all. And despite her cleverness, which enabled her to survive, it did
not enable her to put aside for her old age.
And so she decided that she must go to the city to see what fortunes could be found there. And when
she came to the city, she observed that the queen who had huge flocks and herds and gardens and servants,
the queen was easily amused by fortune tellers and by traveling
jugglers and not so much by study or intellectual pursuits. So the clever woman went to the queen and
said, your majesty, I have a secret. Oh, you do? Yes, I can teach turkeys to talk in seven different
languages. Oh, you can?
It is a secret. You could teach my turkeys to talk? Yes, ma'am, in seven different languages. But it
takes a while. It takes quite a few weeks to teach turkeys to talk even one language. And it will take
seven weeks to teach them to talk seven languages. And of course, during that time, Your Majesty, I
must focus on those turkeys. You could teach my turkeys to talk in
Seven weeks in seven languages? I could have a party. I could have everyone come from the ambassadors
from other nations. We could be out in the garden and the turkeys would wander among them talking to
them in their own language. What a sensation. When can you start? Well, Your Majesty, you must give
me the turkeys and you must give me food and drink and wherewithal for seven weeks of work. Oh, no problem.
I'll start planning the party now.
And so the clever woman went home with a huge flock of turkeys and a long line of donkeys with provisions.
And for seven, well actually for six weeks, she ate and drank and lived well. And the turkeys did whatever
turkeys do. And on the sixth week, she went back to the queen. You're back already, said the queen.
How are my turkeys? Your majesty, they are doing very well.
They have already learned six languages, and they are well started on the seventh. Oh, this is going
to be so much fun. I can just can't hardly wait to hear them talking. But, Your Majesty, there's a problem.
A problem? What sort of a problem? Your Majesty, the turkeys all say the same thing. Well, what do they say?
majesty in seven different languages. The turkeys say, the queen has a lover. Kill the turkeys. And
here's a reward for your efforts. And I suggest that you lose the secret of teaching turkeys to talk.
suited the clever woman just fine she went back home with the wherewithal to live well on into her old
age and with with a huge flock of turkeys which she did kill one at a time one meal at a time she disposed
of the turkeys who never talked again
over here. My name is Pamela Smith and
I get to tell the story tonight that balances out all the cheerful ones. This is a story from the Hebrew
Bible about King Ahab, and people often have heard of King Ahab from the Mendelssohn's oratorio, Elijah.
Ahab and Elijah, the great dynamic in that oratorio. But there are many more stories about Ahab.
The first book of kings says Ahab, the worst king Israel ever had. He married the daughter of King Ishmael
of Sidon. Do you remember her name? Jezebel. Jezebel, she was a worshiper of Baal. And Ahab set up in
Israel, in his city, an altar to Baal.
And as if that weren't enough, one of those shrine grove pole things to the fertility goddess Asherah.
Ahab was a pip. But let me tell you how he came to his death. In those days, Israel was divided into
two kingdoms, Israel and Judah. And Ahab was the king of Israel.
Now for three years, the kingdom of Aram and the kingdom of Israel were without war. But in the third
year, Jehoshaphat, who was the king of Judah, came up to visit Ahab, the king of Israel. Ahab said to
his officers, do you realize
Ramoth Gilead belongs to us and we are doing nothing, nothing to take it out of the hands of the king
of Aram. And Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, will you come with me to bring to battle to win back Ramoth Gilead?
Jehoshaphat said, I am as ready as you are. My horses are your horses, my men
are your men, but Jehoshaphat also said, let us inquire first of the Lord. So Ahab summoned his prophets,
400 of them. And he said to them, shall I go to battle for Ramoth Gilead or shall I refrain? And the
prophets said,
The Lord will put victory into the hands of the king. Jehoshaphat said, is there perhaps some other
prophet of the Lord of whom we may inquire? Ahab said there yet remains one more prophet, Micaiah ben
Imlah. Micaiah the son of Imlah, I hate him.
He never prophesized anything good for me, only disaster. Jehoshaphat said, let not the king say such
things. And King Ahab said, bring me Micahiah ben Imla, quickly. Now, Jehoshaphat the king of Judah
and Ahab the king of Israel, sitting in their royal thrones,
dressed in their royal robes at the threshing floor outside the gates of Samaria. And all the prophets
were raving around them. Zedekiah ben Chana'ana had made horns out of iron. And with these, he said,
thus says the Lord, with these horns Ahab will gouge the Arameans.
And all the prophets were speaking in this wise, march, march and triumph. The Lord will deliver victory
into the hands of the king. The officer who had gone to fetch Micahiah said, look at this. All the king's
prophets are in one accord. Let your word be like one of them, prophesize something good.
But Micahiah said, as the Lord lives, what the Lord gives me to say, I will say. Ahab said to Micahiah
ben Imlah, shall I go forth to battle for Ramoth Gilead or shall I refrain? And Micahiah said,
Ahab said, how many times must I make you swear to tell me only the truth in the name of the Lord? Micaiah
said, I saw the flocks of the people of Israel scattered on the hills like sheep with no shepherd, and
I heard a voice cry out,
These have no king. Let them go home to their own place. Ahab said to Jehoshaphat, did I not just tell
you he never prophesies anything good for me, only disasters? Micaiah said, then listen to this word
of the Lord. I saw the Lord sitting on his throne,
with all his hosts to his left, to his right, and to his left. And I heard the Lord speak.
The Lord said, who will tempt Ahab for me that he may go to Ramoth-Gilead and die? And one said one
thing and one said another until a ruach, a breath, a spirit,
said, I will do it. The Lord said, how will you do it? And the ruach said, I will go and be a ruach
of lies in the mouth of all Ahab's prophets. Oh, the Lord said, you will tempt him and you will succeed.
Go and do it.
And so you see, Ahab, it is not I who prophesized disaster for you. It is the Lord who has put lies
in the mouths of all your prophets." Now, Zedekiah ben Chana'ana came and slapped Micahiah across the
face. And he said, just when did the spirit of the Lord leave me and go into you? And Micahiah said,
Maybe you will find out on the day when you run home to hide in your privy. Ahab said to an officer,
take Micah Iah ben Imla to Amon, the governor of the city, and Joash the king's son, and tell them,
put this man in jail and feed him only on bread and water until the king comes home safe and sound.
And Micaiah said, if you come home safe and sound, the Lord has not spoken through me. And he called
to everyone there, witness this, witness this. So Jehoshaphat, the king of Judah, and Ahab, the king
of Israel, went to battle for Ramoth Gilead. Ahab said to Jehoshaphat,
I intend to wear the gear of a common soldier, but you, you, you, Jehoshaphat, wear your robes. So Ahab,
the king of Israel, put on the gear of a common soldier and led Israel into battle in disguise.
Now the king of Arab said to the captains of his 32 chariots, contend with no one, small or great, save
only Ahab, the king of Israel. So when they saw Jehoshaphat, oh, they wheeled to the attack, but Jehoshaphat
let out his war cry, and the charioteers, seeing that this was not Ahab, ceased to pursue him. But one
archer drew his bow.
And by luck, his arrow struck Ahab between the joints of his armor. Turn back, Ahab cried to his charioteer.
Turn back, I am wounded. The battle grew fierce that day. They propped Ahab up in his chariot.
As though he were confronting the Aramaeans. And there he stood until towards evening he died. And the
blood flowed out from his wound and pooled on the floor of his chariot. And at sunset, a cry went out
over the battlefield. The king is dead. Let each one go home in peace.
So that was how Ahab died. They buried him there at Samaria and they took his armor and his chariot
to the pool at the gate of Samaria to be washed. And the city's street dogs came and lapped Ahab's blood
off his armor and licked up his blood from the floor of the chariot. And this completed the words that
Elijah had said.
Ahab, you thief, you murderer. Where the dogs lapped up the blood of Naboth, they will lap up your blood
as well. And as for all of Ahab's other great deeds and the cities that he founded and that ivory palace
that he built for himself,
Are these things not written down in the book of the Annals of the Kings of Israel? So Ahab slept with
his fathers, and his son Ahaziah ruled in his place.
I think we're moving from our clever part of the program to our power struggles because I have for you
the second in my short story, sprinklings throughout the program. And it too is a power struggle between
two great entities, the wind and the sun.
and if they could just keep their arguments to themselves instead of bringing everybody else into it.
In this Aesop fable, the wind and the sun were high in the air, up in the sky,
when they had yet again another discussion, an argument, a disagreement about which was the most powerful,
which of the two entities was the stronger. And back and forth they went, back and forth they went until
finally they looked down onto the surface of the earth and there they saw the answer to their power struggle.
It was a human, a man, walking along a road. And he was whistling a little tune, his face up against
the sun and a little breeze blowing in his hair. And his cloak was billowing out behind him.
And the sun said, see that human? Let us each take a turn with our powers. And whichever one of us can
make that human take his cloak off first, that will be the strongest of the two. Agreed, said the wind.
And the sun said, oh,
You can go first. And the sun hid behind a cloud. And of course, the wind, knowing he would win, puffed
up and headed out. And he started out soft at first, aiming a slight breeze down at that human walking
on the road. And the man turned his face up eagerly to the wind. But then that power started in,
in earnest. And it began to blow so hard that the man had to lean forward against the wind to make any
progress. And before he knew it, he had to wrap that cloak even tighter around him than before.
And so the wind blew out and gave up.
Your turn, he said to the sun. And the sun came out from behind the cloud. And he, too, started gentle
at first, down on that tiny little human. And the human, he let go of his cloak and let it billow about
him as he felt the sun. And then the sun, as we know and remember, right, can really turn it on. And
it began to shine down on that little human. And the human began to wipe sweat from his brow. And pretty
soon he had to take that cloak off and put it over his arm and carry it as he walked.
Said the sun, I am the strongest. I won. And the wind, humble in defeat, blew away. And the moral of
this Aesop fable is often said to be kindness or warmth is more effective than severity. Or you could
also say to be nice is much better than to be a blowhard. Thank you.
This time I have a story and you can take with it what you will, moral or not, it's just a fun story
for me to tell and it's called The Pumpkin Child and I'm afraid some of you have heard it before. And
this is a story that comes from Persia. Once upon a time, a long time ago, there was a man and a woman
who lived on the edge of town and they loved each other very much and they had enough of everything.
And they were happy enough, except for one thing. The woman wanted a child. And she wanted a child so
badly. And all of her friends had children. And she saw the warmth and the love in the homes. And she
wanted that for herself and for her home. And finally, she prayed. And she prayed. And she said, even
if my child looked like a pumpkin, I would be happy. I want a child.
and so she was given a child. That next month, she knew she was pregnant, and she carried the child,
and when she birthed the child, came out singing, and they looked in the child's face, and the baby
opened her eyes, and her eyes were blue like sapphire, and her lips were red like pomegranate. Oh, she
was lovely, and she and her husband
doted on this child, and every morning, they would go into the child's room, and they would sing to
the child to sing it awake. One morning, the man and the woman went to sing to the child at dawn, and
they pulled back the blanket, and instead of a baby, there was a pumpkin. There was a pumpkin.
And the man could not believe his eyes. In fact, he almost went blind, and he turned around, and he
grabbed a few things, and the woman never saw him again. But she stayed with her pumpkin child, and
she picked her up, and she kissed her, and she said, I will never, ever leave you, and I'll always be
your mother. And so the woman would go about her day with her pumpkin child on her hip,
and she'd take her out into the garden and she'd take her to the market and she would take her wherever
she went and she held her head up very high because everyone laughed at her and everyone laughed at
her pumpkin child but she didn't pay them any mind.
And finally, she loved that child so much that it grew bigger and bigger like children do. And finally,
she couldn't carry the child anymore. So the pumpkin child had to roll around the house. So it rolled
into the bedroom, and it rolled into the bathroom, and it rolled in the kitchen. It would roll outside
to play occasionally, even though the children laughed at her. She didn't care. She would just roll
around during their games. Well, finally, the pumpkin child became big enough to go to school. And so
the mother said, all right, it's time.
And remember, don't listen to anyone. You deserve to be there as much as everyone else." And so the
pumpkin child didn't say anything, but rolled down the road. And she rolled into town, and she rolled
right up the steps to the school for girls, where she was going to learn how to weave and sew. And so
the lady opened the door. There was a pumpkin.
Not a word said, she was expecting her. And the pumpkin girl ran in, well, it just rolled inside. And
when it was lunchtime, the pumpkin girl rolled out into the courtyard with the other girls where they
were all going to have their lunch. Well, it just so happened that at lunchtime, at the stroke of 12,
there was someone watching those girls. He made a habit of watching them every day, in fact. It was
a rich merchant's son.
And he was hot. And he knew it. And he liked to sneak on and spy on these girls just to see what's what.
So he would go up to the top of his father's building that overlooked the school for girls and he would
spy on these girls. And this particular day he saw a pumpkin rolling into the yard and he thought, how
curious. And so he kept watching this pumpkin and it didn't stop with the other girls. It just kept
on rolling and rolling until it went to a bush at the far
wall of the garden, and went under the bush, and he kept watching it. And then out from the bush came
the most beautiful girl he had ever seen, with eyes like sapphires and lips like pomegranates. And the
girl scaled the wall that was covered in grapevines, and she ate a lunch of grapes. And when she'd had
enough, she scaled back down and out rolled the pumpkin back to school.
Well, this guy could not believe his eyes. And he said, surely, this won't happen again. So the next
day, he was there at the stroke of 12. There goes the pumpkin. There goes the girl. In go the grapes.
Down goes the girl. Back goes the pumpkin. And it happened, and it happened. And finally, he said, I've
got to meet this girl. She's beautiful. She's the girl of my dreams. And so he snuck to the wall on
the other side of the wall, and he scaled.
And he waited because he knew what was going to happen. And so the pumpkin girl scaled up the side of
the, wow, up the grapes. And he said, hello. And she said, and she slid down. But he grabbed her hand.
But she slipped her hand away. And all that he had was a golden ring that was on her finger. And she
went back down. She rolled away in a huff as pumpkins can.
And so the boy went in to tell his mother the news. And the mother was very glad to hear this news because
the news was her son was finally going to settle down. He was going to stop chasing girls, and he was
going to marry at last and give her a grandchild. Oh, she could have wept. She was so happy.
And she said, well, tell me who is this girl? Who, who, who, who? And he said, well, I don't know her name.
This is her ring. And whoever you can find that fits this ring is the girl that I'm going to marry.
Okay. So the mother thought about it. Okay. All right. Fine. It was kind of a mystery. And so she called
in her servant, Nana, who was her servant for many years. And she said, Nana, go to each woman's house and see
Which girl fits this ring so that my son can get married and our dreams can come true? And Nana agreed.
And so she went from house to house. And soon, word traveled fast. And so girls would starve themselves
so their finger would fit into the ring, or they'd eat a lot of butter and fat so they would plump themselves
up and to fit into the ring. But nothing they did seemed to work. And so Nana would go from house to
house and failure, failure, failure, failure until she got to the edge of town where the woman lived.
And she knocked on the door, and the pumpkin child's mother answered the door. And she said, hello,
do you have a young lady here at this house? And the mother, who was so tired of being laughed at about
her girl, said, please stop torturing me. You know that I have a pumpkin child. Well, this I've got
to see, said Nana. May I see her? Fine. And so the mother let Nana in.
and enrolled the pumpkin child. And Nana said, wow. Wow. And the mother said, there. There she is. There's
my pumpkin child. Now what is your business? And so Nana said, well, I have this ring. And well, my
master said that whoever fits into this ring is his bride. And so I'm going around from house to house.
And before she could say another word, a hand slipped from out of the pumpkin, grabbed the ring, and
put it on, and went back down into the pumpkin.
And Nana could not believe that either. And so she spun around. She didn't have another word to say.
And she flew back to her master's house and told the mother everything. Well, the son came in hearing
the hullabaloo. And he said, be quiet. This is the one I've been waiting for. This will be my bride.
And Nana said, but it's a pumpkin. How are you going to have babies with a pumpkin? Never mind. I gave
my word. It's going to happen.
And so the boy married the pumpkin, and everyone laughed as they went down the aisle. And everyone laughed
when he said, I do, and the pumpkin just stood still. And everyone laughed when he kissed that pumpkin
right on the stem. And everyone laughed when they moved far away into the country, into their own mansion,
and lived happily.
But no one laughed the day that the girl appeared in bed that night, some night after many months of
happy marriage. And the boy looked into his wife's eyes that were blue like sapphires, and he looked
at her lips that were rich like pomegranate, and he said,
Why tonight? And she said, because I know that you love me. You love me even though I was a pumpkin.
And so they lived out their days very happy with lots and lots of kids, but they always kept that pumpkin
shell there in their room to remind them of the time when he loved her even though she was a pumpkin.
And that's the story of the pumpkin child.
My name is Mary Frazier, and I am here tonight with a story for you from Japan. It was first written
down by Lafcadio Hearn, and it's been adapted many times. We have some lovely picture book adaptations
of this story that you can come back and see another day. As I reflected on this story, I couldn't help
but think about the importance of rice in Japan. Indeed, two of the most famous
Japanese words that any of us in this room might know. Can you think what those two most famous Japanese
words most well known in America might be? Maybe. How about Toyota? How about Honda? Both those names
happen to refer to fertile rice fields.
or plentiful, bountiful rice fields. They are family names for those corporations, but they do refer
to the bounty of the rice field, which for many Japanese peasants was all of their wealth, everything
that they had. And so I have a story for you about a little village down by the sea. There were 90 homes
there, 400 people.
And when the weather was good, the children would play in the bay. There was a large bay, and the water
was gentle there. And the children would play and laugh and run in the waves. But when there was a storm,
the water would sometimes come up the shore as far as their houses. And the children, and indeed the
men and women, everyone would run into their homes and shut the doors and wait for the storm to subside.
Now behind this small village was a tall mountain and a road zigzagged up
the side of this mountain. And there were ancient patties where people over time had carved out flat
places in the sides of the mountain so that they could raise rice there. And the people toiled in the
rice fields all through the year. They would be there in the spring as the rain pelted their backs.
They would toil up those roads in the summer out to their fields to work. And then when the grain was
golden, they would go and harvest the rice.
Now at the very top of the mountain there lived a very old, very wise man named Oji-san, which means
grandfather in Japanese. And he lived there in this lovely house with his little grandson, whose name
was Tada, and they lived there very happily. Now, one day it was very hot and very still.
And it was at the time when the rice was about to be harvested. So Ojisan and Tato were standing on
the balcony of their house looking at their vast fields of rice. Ah, such wealth they saw there before
them. They had worked so hard tending this rice all year. And they could see that they would have a
bounteous harvest that would last them all through the year to come. They would have plenty to eat this
year. And as Ojisan
stood there looking at his field, his eye followed on down the zigzag road and down the other flat fields
of the farmers below, kind of like golden stairs making their way down the side of the mountain. And
he and his grandson looked down there together and they could see far down in the village, so far away
that people were like ants. They could see that they were planning a festival there. There were lanterns
and there were
Flags hung, just hanging limply though because the air was so still and so hot, but they could tell
that people were preparing to have a ceremonial dance in the courtyard of the temple there to celebrate
the harvest. Ojisan looked up at the sky and he looked about him and he said, this is earthquake weather.
And indeed an earthquake came.
Not very long after that, but Tata was not afraid. It was not a particularly strong earthquake, and
earthquakes happened all the time in Japan. But this one was a little strange, because it went on so
long, and it shook so low, almost in a spongy way, as if something odd were happening out in the ocean
far beyond the bay where their village was. And the house shook for a while. But then it stopped, and
all was quiet.
and they stood there looking down and appreciating the day. But then Oji-san's sharp eye looked down
at the edge of the water and he could see that the water was rushing away there from the shore and it
kept moving out further and further and further out into the bay and it was leaving behind wet sand
there and there were rocks festooned with seaweed and
Though he couldn't see it, he was sure there were fish flopping there and crabs scuttling away. And
he could see people from the village hurrying down there to the shoreline to look and see. It was such
an odd thing. They had never seen such a thing. And they were even venturing out into the oddly rippled
sand that had been exposed as the water continued to rush out further and further toward the ocean.
And it was plain that the people didn't know what was happening.
But Ojisan knew such a thing had never happened in his life. But his grandfather had told him about
such a thing. And he knew that there was great danger. There was no time to send a message down the
zigzag road of the mountain. There was no time to tell the priest to hit their temple bells, to sound
the bells, the warning sound. There was no time to stand and think. Ojisan had to act. And so he said to Tata,
Run and fetch me a torch." And the little boy was very obedient. He loved his grandfather, and he did
always exactly what the old man said. And so he hurried into the house, and he got a pine torch, and
he kindled it there, and he brought it to the old man. And instantly, Ojisan walked up to a stack of
his rice stalks, and he plunged the burning torch into it, lighting the rice.
kindled instantly just like dry tinder and it began to burn and then sparks flew and began to ignite
other rice stalks nearby and soon it was all alight and burning at a great
A cloud of smoke went up into the air, a column rising up into the still air. And Ojisan just walked
along, continuing to ignite all of the piles of his stalks of rice. And little Tata ran behind him and
he said, Ojisan, why? Why, Ojisan, why, why? Stop, stop. He was terrified. He thought his grandfather
had lost his mind. But Ojisan didn't have time to stop and explain. All he could think of were 400 lives
in danger below. And so he strode along.
lighting all of his rice, his whole past year, his whole future, all of his wealth he was burning. And
then he looked down and he saw that the monks had looked up and they had noticed it and they began to
pound the bell there to send the warning sounds and all the people came up from the shore and they began
to hurry up that long road and they ran up. And Oji-san, when he had finished firing all the rice, he
just threw the torch down and waited.
And he didn't have long to wait at all, because the fastest people had come up the mountain with pads
they were going to try to beat out the flames. And the old man held up his arms, and he said, stop.
Let it be. Let it burn. I want all the people to come. There is great danger. And soon the people did
come, the men and boys and the women and girls who were the fastest runners, and then the young women
with babies on their backs. And then the elderly began to toil their way up
the zigzag road of the mountain. And then poor little Tata began to cry, and he said, I'm afraid my
grandfather has lost his mind. He set fire to the rice himself. He burned our rice. And the old men
looked at Ojisan and the young men, and they said, what?
What does this mean? What can it mean? And Ojisan said, is everyone here? Yes, it is true.
I burned the rice. Is everyone here? And the men said, yes, everyone is here. We have all come to save
your fields, you old fool. Have you lost your mind? Have you gone mad? Are you going to burn our fields
as well? And they raised their fists in anger to threaten him. But Ojisan just pointed out to the sea
and said, look. And everyone turned.
and looked and it was so far and so distant, there was no water as far as the eye could see, but there
seemed to be a strip of land where no land could possibly be, had never been, could never be. And then
that strip of land seemed to grow wider and thicker and darker and it came closer
and closer and then it appeared to be a great cliff of water and it was moving toward the people faster
than a kite can fly and suddenly everyone understood and the people shrieked Tsunami! And then all ability
to make sound, to hear sound was gone as a thunder clap seemed to hit as the water rushed up and hit
the shore and then there was a great burst of foam like lightning and then there was just a
as it made its way, spray coming up the side of the mountain. The people turned and scattered and ran
in fear. And after a minute they came back and they looked down and they saw the foamy white sea raging
over the shoreline, raging over the place where their village had been just moments before. And they
watched in amazement as that water clawed out great gouges of sand as it made its way back into the
bay. And then it came and struck again.
ebbed away and struck and ebbed and struck and ebbed, but each time with less strength until finally
it stopped in its ancient bed where it had always been, although it raged as if it were a typhoon. No
one said a word, just silence. They all looked down at the shore where their homes had been
There was nothing left. There was no village, just some bamboo poles and bits of thatch along the shore.
And then little Todd, I came up and he took his grandfather's hand in his and he said, oh, Jisan, now
I understand. Now I know why you burned the rice.
on everyone, the men all knelt, and then everyone else knelt down to give thanks to Ojisan. And they
looked up at their neighbors, faced their wise old neighbor. They had always come to him for advice,
and they looked at him now and saw he was as poor as the poorest among them. All of his wealth was gone.
But he had saved 400 people.
The old man stood tall and he said, my house is still standing. Come, there is room for many. And the
people never forgot what they owed to Ojisan. They couldn't make him wealthy again, but they did rebuild
their village. And when they built the temple, they put his name in gold over the temple door so that
no one would ever forget the sacrifice of the old man who saved the people
when he burned his rice. And that story is called The Wave. Thank you. We need a moment of silence after
that one. Wow. So we are skipping the story.
For time's sake, that is the hound story. And so move down your program to voodoo. And this is the third
of my short story offerings tonight. And so it is also one of my favorite of the three. It's short,
but not so sweet.
Mrs. Decker had just come back from a two-week vacation at Haiti. She needed a cooling off period from
her husband because before she'd left for her vacation, they had been at each other's throats, a divorce
imminent. But would it work? Would a little time off help? No. She had not even unpacked her suitcase,
and they were at it again, arguing back and forth. Finally, she just threw her suitcase down on the
bed, and she said, half. I want half of everything, half of all the money, half of all the property.
I deserve it.
And he said, ridiculous. Oh, you think so, is it? You know I could have it all easily. I learned voodoo
in Haiti, and I could have it all, and you'd have nothing. And he said, rot. Oh, you don't understand
the art of voodoo, do you? I've learned it, and did you know that I could kill you with this art form?
And no one would even know. They would think it was a heart attack, and you'd be gone, and I'd have it all.
Nonsense. All right, then. If you don't believe it, just give me a little bit of your fingernail, a
little bit of your hair, perhaps. And I have the wax figure. I have the hat pin. This is the deal. I
will perform the voodoo on you. If you live, I promise not to ask for anything in the divorce. You'll
have it all. But if you die, I have it all, don't I? What do you think? And he said, deal. And so, looking
at his short
freshly clipped nails, he headed into the bathroom to clip a few pieces of hair from his head. When
he came back into the room, hair in the palm of his hand, he looked at her, she was warming the wax
effigy, working it this way and that. She plucked the hairs from his hand and started pushing them into
the warm wax until she had it just where she wanted. She placed the wax figure right there on the table
and then she took a ridiculously long, sharp hat pin and she poised above the figure and she said to
her husband, she said,
You are going to be so very, very sorry." And then she plunged down right where the heart would be.
Well, Mr. Dexter was more surprised than sorry. He didn't really believe in voodoo, but he was a very
cautious man. And besides, it had always bothered him how she never cleaned her hairbrush.
Does anybody need some help with that? Was it his hair? Oh dear. We're on the last three tonight in
our little
We'll section on Haiti. The last story that I have to tell you is a Haitian folk story. And I tell it
because, as I was listening to NPR, the news, it talked about how the people in Haiti, although they've
had a nightmarish, horrible experience, have started to come into the streets. And when they come into
the streets together, they sing, they dance.
They tell stories, and then sometimes they cry. And so this is a story of joy, of silliness. It is a
trickster tale from Haiti. Now, the king of Haiti loved dancing. And he would have dancers come every
night and perform
that he didn't have enough money in the treasury to pay them. So he couldn't have dancing every night.
Well, one evening, he was sitting in his garden, and maybe some of you have done this, and a little
line kind of went through his mind. Kokikiro, kokikiro, la la la.
I like that, he said. I think I can do a dance with that. And he began to dance. Koki Kiro Mastamba.
Koki Kiro Mastamba.
dance like this. I can dance like this. Kokikiro Musamba. Kokikiro Musamba. Samba dance. Samba dance. Samba
got to thinking some more. So the next day, he let it be known that anyone who could figure out the
Kokikiro dance, that that person he would give 5,000 gordis. And that was a lot of money. Well, it went
out to everyone.
And they began to line up. They were all, all dancers. Everybody in Haiti dances. And some were better
than others. But they lined up. And one by one, they tried to figure out the steps of the Kokikiro.
And he, the king, saw wonderful dancing. But nobody.
Nobody could figure out those steps to the Kokikiro. Well, time went on. Every night he had wonderful
dancing, and every once in a while somebody would get really close to figuring out the Kokikiro. But
even if they got the very beginning of it, or sometimes even if they got the second part,
I could never figure out the third part of it. And so months went by. The king loved this. But every
night, after all the dancers had gone away, and after all the servants were gone, he would dance the
coquiquiro. And he would dance like this. Coquiquiro. Masamba.
And I can dance like this. Samba dance. Samba dance. Samba dance. Samba dance. Ha ha! Nobody saw me.
But one night, the gardener, Mali,
had come back to the palace to get his hat. He needed it. And he heard the Koki Kiro dance. He looked
in, and there was the king. And Mali thought, I will watch very carefully, and I will get the 5,000
And he watched, and he memorized, and quietly he went away. Well, the next morning, Mali's talked to
his wife and Madame Mali's and told her what he had seen. And he had a plan. And the plan involved his
friend Boki. Now Boki,
was not very bright, and Boki was not very graceful. But Mali thought he was the perfect one to teach
the Koki-Oki. And so he approached his friend and said, Boki, I am going to do something great for you.
Oh, oh, said Boki.
He knew that Molly's was a trickster and every time he went to do something great for him, well, it
was better before he did something great for you. Ah, let's just leave it alone. Oh, but Boki, how would
you like to win 5,000 Gordons? I have seen the king. I can't do the dance myself, the okey okey, but
you could do it.
King would suspect me, but I will teach it to you. And so he did the steps of the Koki-Oki.
And Boki said, all right, I will try. Koki, Koki-O, huh? We'll work a little bit every night on this,
said Mali's, and then you can do it. So they worked on it every night.
Two months later, Boki and Mali's were waiting in line with the dancers. People were still coming in
and dancing for the king, trying to figure out this, the Koyoke. And still no one had come up with it.
Well, Mali's did not go in with Boki. He sent him in, and here came Boki. And the king could not believe it.
For Bokey, this slow-moving big fellow, did the coquioque. It wasn't pretty.
was the Kokioka. The king was flabbergasted. The king was amazed. The king was stunned. But he handed
over the 5,000 Gordes. And Boki, thank you very much. And off he ran.
with the sack and he met up with melees and they started talking about how Boke could feed his many
little bokies that he had at home. But Mollies, he had a lot of little Mollies at home too. And so they
were running through the forest when suddenly Mollies stopped. He said,
I have another dance that I could teach you. Another dance? I'm very good at dancing," said Boke. Well,
Mali said, it goes like this. If you have no sense, set your
that's easy said bulky and so he started to dance if you've got no sense I'll put your
Because as he had danced, Madame Malley's had come out from behind the breadfruit tree and sneaked off
with his sack. My sack, my sack is gone, said Bokey. And Malley said, did you put your sack
On the ground? I warned you about that. And off ran Malise. And Boki was not left holding the sack.
And that is a story from Haiti, a trickster story, about that trickster Malise and his sidekick Boki.
Thank you all for coming tonight. Please stay with us for some refreshments that will be right