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| School photo 1953 |
Well, sort of… it’s not about the
first stories I had read to me when I was tiny, or the first stories I read to
myself when I was a bit older. I’ve written elsewhere that when I was a boy I
read all the Henry Rider Haggard books plus things like Coral Island—real
‘boy’s books’! When I was a bit older still I liked SF and fantasy and I’ve
always been (and still am) a lover of short stories. I’m sure that impacts on
my choice of stories to tell now—even the fact of being a storyteller. Neither
is this about the first tall tales and jokes I can remember hearing when I was
growing up. (That might make a good post one day although it might easily get
censored! Playground humour can be pretty rude!)
What this is about are the first
stories I remember hearing when I became interested in the art form we call
‘oral storytelling’.
I must have discovered
storytelling in the early/mid 1980s because, by the time I moved to Derbyshire
in 1987 I was including stories in my performances. I soon became involved with
story clubs in and around Derby and Nottingham—I went to them and ran a couple
myself.
There are three specific stories
I remember from that time. They were stories which everyone seemed to know and
you could almost guarantee that someone would tell one or other of them at most
meetings. I learned them by osmosis rather than on purpose and two of them have
remained in my repertoire ever since, although I usually reserve them for ‘lay’
audiences rather than storytelling experts. A specialist audience will probably
know them too well and consider them hackneyed, in the same way that The Wild
Rover was done to death in folk clubs.
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| Cassette album recorded live at Tales at the Tiger in 1992. Roy Harris, Pete Castle Madge Spencer and Ann Fairbairn |
The first of these stories was
The Tailor’s Coat – the one about the very skilful tailor who made himself a
magnificent long coat and he wore it for days, and he wore it for weeks, and he
wore it for months, and he wore it for years… and when it began to get worn out
he made it into a jacket and he wore it for days, and he wore it for weeks, and
he wore it for months, and he wore it for years… and when it began to get worn
out he made it into a waistcoat... and then a tie and a button and, finally, a
story! I’m sure you know it. No-one seems to know for sure where that story
comes from but there are various theories. We had a long discussion in Facts & Fiction a few years ago. It’s a good story for getting a bit of audience participation
and you can tell it to any age group from the youngest children to adults.
The second is The Man Who
Couldn’t Find His Luck. Since those early days I have not heard anyone else
tell it but they must do because a Friend on Facebook a couple of years ago
said that if he heard it again he’d kill himself... or the teller! I expect you
know it: there’s a man who has no luck and his friends persuade him to go and
consult the oracle to find his luck. On the way he meets a wolf, a tree and a
beautiful young woman. Eventually he reaches the oracle and gets the answer to
why he has no luck which is—”You have, but you miss the opportunity, you don’t
see it, you let it slip through your fingers…” So, full of hope, he sets off on
his way back home. Until he meets the wolf!
Again, I don’t know the exact
origin of the story but I’ve heard and accepted that it’s from Ancient Greece.
A few years ago I was reviewing a book of Islamic Tales and found it in there,
exactly the same tale credited with coming from Uzbekistan—yet another example
of the way stories are universal.
The third story was probably the
one I liked best but, for some reason, I didn’t learn it at the time. It was
THE PICKPOCKET. Although I didn’t learn it I remembered it fondly and it lodged
itself in the little compartment in my brain reserved for ‘things I’ll learn
one day’. And that day came just 2 or 3 years ago. I happened to hear Dave
Tonge, the Yarnsmith of Norwich, tell his very different, idiosyncratic,
version of it and it inspired me to work it up. It’s a good story which can be
appreciated by a range of audiences and I’ve found it works well in folk clubs.
(See my first Blog Post for a discussion about the difficulties of mixing songs
and stories.)
Again I have no idea where The
Pickpocket originates. It’s been through a whole range of throats before it
reached mine so it is ‘traditional’ in that sense but I suspect it is not
terribly old. If the person who ’made it’ hears my version I hope he likes it.
(On the other hand it has a sort of Jewish feel about it… there’s a Yiddish
song about Avremi the Pickpocket: “I’m Avremi, the most talented pickpocket, a
great artist, I work lightly and surely…”)
There is a vast difference in
attitude to the ownership of stories between tellers in Britain and the USA.
Here we, on the whole, love to hear other people tell or sing stories and songs
we have had a hand in making. Discussion forums/Facebooks etc in the USA
though, are full of handwringing posts
about ‘how can I copyright my material to stop other people using it?’; ‘I
heard someone telling a story I made, should I sue?’; and such like. From a
purely personal point of view I love it when, as has happened, I hear a song or
story which has obviously been taken from ‘my’ version. Sometimes you get
credited— “I learned this from a recording by Pete Castle” - but other times
the teller/singer might not know that I actually put that verse into the song
to explain the story more, or added the motif to the story to improve it. It
may have been through several voices between me and him. In that situation I
have a lovely, satisfying feeling of something well done. A bit of ‘me’ has
been accepted and has entered into the Tradition. That’s the most you can hope
for.
If
you'd like to know more have a look at my web site http://www.petecastle.co.uk
You
may also like to consider subscribing to Facts & Fiction storytelling
magazine (
http://factsandfiction.co.uk ) It's quarterly and covers
all aspects of storytelling with news, reviews etc
My
You Tube channel contains a lot of videos of both songs and stories.
Have
a look at the previous postings below and if you have any comments please post
them. I'd welcome your (constructive) comments and would be very pleased if you
did sign up to 'follow' me!
