Blog #2: Storytelling with the "The Drunkard's Wisdom"

 My goal for this storytelling experience is to tell a story that high school students would be interested in hearing. The mantra I kept telling myself comes from Greene & Del Negro (2010) “The storyteller must take the story from the printed page and blow the breath of life into it” (p. 59). I constantly reminded myself of how I can make this story come alive, how I can make it the characters more human and help the listener to connect to the story.

 

Selection

Folktales are a good genre to share with young adults.  It was perfect for this week since we were reading folktales and I read a handful of West African folktales. After reading several, I settled on “The Drunkard’s Wisdom.” Although this story’s main character is a drunkard, the story does not focus on his drinking and has a moral that students will likely be able to relate to. Some students may know of a drunkard figure through their familial connections, or they may be more familiar with the character from TV and movies. The drunkard seems to be archetype that most students will have a frame of reference for. And more than that, the story centers family and how sometimes we have outcasts in families who are perhaps misunderstood.

 

Preparation 

 

Choreographing "The Drunkard's Wisdom"

 

Memorization was not a requirement for this story; however, I wanted to practice as if it were to get me prepared for learning stories. I did not try the visual and auditory approach, but I decided to still try choreographing. Creating the cue card was helpful because it helped me to analyze the story and think through plot, which helped me in deciding which words to emphasize and where to slow down or speed up. After creating the cue card, I then marked parts of the text where I wanted to pause, emphasize words, get quieter, or take on a certain tone. I read the story through twice silently and twice out loud, with the second time being when I choreographed the text.

 

Cue Card for “The Drunkard’s Wisdom”

Title: The Drunkard’s Wisdom Author: West African Folktale Source: West African Folktales Collected and Translated by Jack Berry, Edited and with an introduction by Richard Spears 2013) Running Time: 3:44 (determined by reading the story aloud) Characters: The drunkard, the mother, herbalist, the brother, monkey Scenes: Mother’s house Herbalist place In town, passing by the lake Herbalist’s place Synopsis: A mother throws out her drunk son but becomes ill afterwards. A different son takes her to an herbalist who tells her she must eat a fruit that only grows on an island surrounded by poisonous water. Also, the tree where the fruit is has an old monkey who is very dangerous. The family goes the to the banks of the lake and the drunkard walks by. After a short argument, they ask the drunkard what he is going to do. The drunkard picks up a stone, throws it at the monkey, and the monkey throws back the fruit the mother needs. The mother gets well, and the moral is given: Love all of your children equally. Dialogue: “All right, drunkard, now you know. Now that we have told you everything, what are you going to do? What can you do?” What the herbalist tells the mother Audience: 14–18-year-olds

I also completed some speech exercises, especially the tongue, lip, and jaw exercises (Greene & Del Negro, 2010). This was incredibly helpful for me because sometimes the Geechee creeps in and my speech can get a little lax causing me to not fully enunciate words. These speech exercises really helped me to be able to use a clear voice during my performance.

Presentation

When I read the folktale, I tried to maintain a little eye contact with the camera. This seemed to work well and amazingly I did not lose my place. I tried my best to really play up the dialogue when the brother is talking to his drunkard brother. I wanted the drunkard to have a tone that was calm, yet confident. I really enjoyed this folktale because of the turn it takes for the drunkard to be the one who saves the day. Below is my video of storytelling with "The Drunkard's Wisdom."

 

Reflection

Reflecting back on my storytelling, I realize that I should have done more the introduce the folktale at the beginning and add some context with a reminder of what a folktale is. That is something I will work on for the next storytelling experience. As for the performance itself, I think I did well. Something that I did this time I think will help me with future storytelling is determining the tone of certain parts of the text and practicing how best to convey that tone.

 

Reading List for this Week:

Legends (Including Urban Legends)

• Mulan
• The Flying Dutchman  
• Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow  
• The Legend of Lavinia Fish 
• Bloody Mary

 

Folktales

(West African Folktales, 2013, Collected and Translated by Jack Berry, Edited and with an introduction by Richard Spears)

• “The Tortoise and All the Wisdom in the World 
• “Dede and the Leopard” 
• “Ananse Is Put in His Place” 
• “The Cruel Mother” 
• “The Drunkard’s Wisdom” 
• “Choosing the Right Friends”

The KennedyCenter has some great resources for myths, folktales, and more

 

References

Greene, E. & Del Negro, J. (2010). Storytelling: Art and technique (4th ed.). Libraries

 

Unlimited.