We were three brothers; two of us were silly, and neither of us had a bit of sense. We went to the bow-maker’s and bought three bows, two of which were broken, and the third had no string.
In a stream without a drop of water swam three ducks, two of which were dead, while the third hadn’t a spark of life. We shot one with an arrow, and taking it in our hand, set off up hill and down dale, drinking coffee and smoking tobacco, gathering tulips and hyacinths, until we had travelled the length of a barleycorn.
On and on we went, until we came to three houses, two of which were in ruins, while the third had no foundation. There lay three men, two dead and one without life. We asked the dead men to give us a vessel to cook our duck in. They showed us tree cupboards, two of which were broken and the third had no sides.
In them we found three plates, two full of holes and the third without bottom. In the plate without bottom we cooked the duck.
One of us said, “I have eaten sufficient,” the other , “I’ve no appetite,” and I said, “No more, thank you.”
He who said he had eaten sufficient ate up the whole duck, he who said he had no appetite ate up the bones, at which I became angry and ran away to a melon field.
Taking my knife from my girdle I cut a melon. Where my knife was, there was I. Meeting a caravan, I asked where my knife was. They answered me: “For forty years we have been looking for twelve camels we have lost. As we have not been able to find them, how you think we could find your knife?”
At this I went away in anger and came to a tree. Close by was a basket in which some one had put a murdered man. As I looked at him I saw forty thieves approaching, so I took to my heels, they after me. Running till I was out of breath I reached an old tumble- down drama, in the court of which I sat down to rest. The thieves followed and chased me round and round the court, until in my despair I sought to escape them by climbing to the pinnacle of the
minaret. One of the thieves drew his knife and came at me, when with a lough shriek I looked my hold and fell to earth.
I mortal terror I suddenly opened my eyes — to discover that I had been dreaming.
I worked in public education for 33 years as a music teacher and elementary librarian. My mom was a homemaker who worked at Ball State University as a cashier, Dadworked for car dealerships all his life, in the Service Department and Body Shops. I have one brother who’s 6 years younger than me. I don’t really have any particular hobbies, because my three professions: Teaching, Music, and Storytelling have kept me pretty busy all my life. My wife Kathy is from St. Louis and until recently taught 1st Grade . I have one son, Nate who is a gifted young man, currently working at Sports Port and at So Il Climb.
What is your interest in storytelling? How did it begin?
I’ve always led two different lives, one as a Elementary Librarian in the Ferguson/Florissant school district, where I entertained school children with stories, that usually had a funny message and as a professional musician who improvised jazz since I was in high school. Storytelling puts the two together because I’m always making something new up to add flavor to the stories, like singing a song, giving the
characters voices, or doing sound effects.
Why did you decide it was important to be a member of Missouri Storytelling?
How can Mo-Tell improve? Example: members, news, I have always tried to support the arts, I think being part of a statewide professional organization dedicated to promoting Storytelling is a good thing to do. Whatever I can do to promote and encourage tellers and audiences throughout Missouri benefits all of us in the profession.
What tellers have been influential in your life?
Well, most of my family were pretty great storytellers, even though they might not have known it. So that’s what got me started. Hanging around with musicians, who were always swapping tales about the crazy characters they met, whether on the band stand or in the audience, makes you want to share your experiences with your bandmates. Then there’re the folks who are professional tellers that moved me, like Bobby Norfolk, Annette Harrison, Sue Hinkel, and Ken Wolfe. If you keep your ears open, you’re certain to hear something that inspires you, either in the stories they choose, or the way they tell them. If you hang around with them enough, something is bound to rub off.
What is a favorite story, movie, song?
It’s really hard for me to pick a single story, but one I dearly love is a tale from Ghana called Le Le Goro about a four year old girl who’s so strong that she can throw an Antelope, Leopard, and Elephant up into the sky. It’s both funny and poignant. There are way too many movies to narrow it down to one. As a musician, I truly love 1,000s of songs. Frankly I like any song that has a good story or a great melody.
Favorite Trick or Treat Joke? Memory of Xmas? Valentine memory? Favorite vacation?
Holidays are an important time for telling and remembering stories. Vacations, even more so! My family visited Expo 67 in Montreal Canada and right out of the gate, my brother who was 10 years old at the time, won a giant stuffed teddy bear throwing a ball into a stack of bottles. We had to carry that bear all over the fair,in 100 plus degree heat, and on the metro.
Two kings’ sons once upon a time went into the world to seek their fortunes; but they soon fell into a wasteful foolish way of living, so that they could not return home again. Then their brother, who was a little insignificant dwarf, went out to seek for his brothers: but when he had found them they only laughed at him, to think that he, who was so young and simple, should try to travel through the world, when they, who were so much wiser, had been unable to get on. However, they all set out on their journey together, and came at last to an ant-hill. The two elder brothers would have pulled it down, in order to see how the poor ants in their fright would run about and carry off their eggs. But the little dwarf said, ‘Let the poor things enjoy themselves, I will not suffer you to trouble them.’
So on they went, and came to a lake where many many ducks were swimming about. The two brothers wanted to catch two, and roast them. But the dwarf said, ‘Let the poor things enjoy themselves, you shall not kill them.’ Next they came to a bees’-nest in a hollow tree, and there was so much honey that it ran down the trunk; and the two brothers wanted to light a fire under the tree and kill the bees, so as to get their honey. But the dwarf held them back, and said, ‘Let the pretty insects enjoy themselves, I cannot let you burn them.’
At length the three brothers came to a castle: and as they passed by the stables they saw fine horses standing there, but all were of marble, and no man was to be seen. Then they went through all the rooms, till they came to a door on which were three locks: but in the middle of the door was a wicket, so that they could look into the next room. There they saw a little grey old man sitting at a table; and they called to him once or twice, but he did not hear: however, they called a third time, and then he rose and came out to them.
He said nothing, but took hold of them and led them to a beautiful table covered with all sorts of good things: and when they had eaten and drunk, he showed each of them to a bed-chamber.
The next morning he came to the eldest and took him to a marble table, where there were three tablets, containing an account of the means by which the castle might be disenchanted. The first tablet said: ‘In the wood, under the moss, lie the thousand pearls belonging to the king’s daughter; they must all be found: and if one be missing by set of sun, he who seeks them will be turned into marble.’
The eldest brother set out, and sought for the pearls the whole day: but the evening came, and he had not found the first hundred: so he was turned into stone as the tablet had foretold.
The next day the second brother undertook the task; but he succeeded no better than the first; for he could only find the second hundred of the pearls; and therefore he too was turned into stone.
At last came the little dwarf’s turn; and he looked in the moss; but it was so hard to find the pearls, and the job was so tiresome!—so he sat down upon a stone and cried. And as he sat there, the king of the ants (whose life he had saved) came to help him, with five thousand ants; and it was not long before they had found all the pearls and laid them in a heap.
The second tablet said: ‘The key of the princess’s bed-chamber must be fished up out of the lake.’ And as the dwarf came to the brink of it, he saw the two ducks whose lives he had saved swimming about; and they dived down and soon brought in the key from the bottom.
The third task was the hardest. It was to choose out the youngest and the best of the king’s three daughters. Now they were all beautiful, and all exactly alike: but he was told that the eldest had eaten a piece of sugar, the next some sweet syrup, and the youngest a spoonful of honey; so he was to guess which it was that had eaten the honey.
Then came the queen of the bees, who had been saved by the little dwarf from the fire, and she tried the lips of all three; but at last she sat upon the lips of the one that had eaten the honey: and so the dwarf knew which was the youngest. Thus the spell was broken, and all who had been turned into stones awoke, and took their proper forms. And the dwarf married the youngest and the best of the princesses, and was king after her father’s death; but his two brothers married the other two sisters.