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All
peoples who are rooted in oral cultures have enjoyed the magical web spun
by the storyteller both past and present. Good stories, and more
importantly, good storytellers, have been venerated in African tradition.
Most African art forms are not literary but rather are oral forms which are
splendid and varied. The African art of storytelling remains a tradition
that is continuing to change and thrive today.
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Click
the bullets below to see descriptions of a few of the stories that Ms. Hall has told to thrill
audiences of all ages. |
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The Story of the
Eagle
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down for centuries among the Songhai people of West Africa. This is my personal favorite, because it inspires each of us
to realize our own inner greatness. |
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The Dishes, Coco, Me,
and the Back Porch (Original)
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My mother still
lives on the small farm in Clarksville, Tennessee, where I grew up.
The farm was surrounded on all sides by woods. Across the road from our house was
an old, creepy cemetery,
where most of the tombstones were marked “Unknown.” I played there often with my brothers and sisters, and it was the
source of many scary stories, including this one. |
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Goldilocks and the
Three Bears
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There are numerous versions of this classic European
fairytale. I draw from many
of them, and in this telling, I spice it up with a few cultural tidbits
of my own. |
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How the Sea Got Its
Salt
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This tale is from
the Alumat people of the Philippines. It’s what’s known as a pourquoi tale.
Pourquoi is a French word meaning “why,” and a pourqoui story
tries to explain why living things, natural objects and unusual
phenomena behave or look the way they do. |
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Coyote Gets Water
From the Frog People
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The Kalapuyan were
an indigenous tribe living in the Lamette Valley of Northwest Oregon.
Though now extinct, some of their stories live on. In much of so called “Native American” folklore, Coyote is a
central figure. He is a trickster, and usually he can’t be trusted,
although in this tale, Coyote does something good for the people of the
village. |
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The Purple Ribbon
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This is a
“jump” tale. Listeners
will soon find out why. I
call it an American story because it has been a part of our culture for
so long, even though it’s originally an old English folktale called,
“The Yellow Ribbon.” I
learned it from a recording of the famous African-American storyteller,
Jackie Torrence. In this
story, a husband wants to know the secret of a purple ribbon his wife of
forty years wears around her neck each day. He asks about it often, but she admonishes him to leave well
enough alone. He should
have listened to her. |
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