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k 24 Chapter Five TheRoleof theStoryteller liSteNiNg to a Story becomes a transformative experience when a masterful storyteller draws out the child within us to dance in the greater consciousness. Why our child? Because he is our inquisitive, impetuous, changeable self—just the person to sashay through the world of a story. Who are the masterful storytellers? “Bizindaw weweni gichi-anishinabeg (listen to the elders)” is guidance i have often been given and overheard being given to others. During the winter in a traditional Dakota camp, the children would gather in the lodge of a wise and gifted elder storyteller.67 ohiyesa said that the storyteller’s “skill in making the most of his material had built up a reputation which might extend even to neighboring villages. He was . . . an entertainer in demand at all social gatherings.”68 our elders are storytellers wizened by time and given the knowing of experience. as the ainu (the original inhabitants of Japan, who were caucasian– Polynesian) would say, they know upaskuma69 —how to tell the old stories. They embrace the memories and they have a well-worn path to the storyline. Now that is masterful. The most cherished and accomplished storytellers for many of us have been our parents. i fondly remember being transfixed by my father’s recounting of his childhood adventures and my mother’s retelling of the stories she heard when she was a child. The ways of the world that mystify a child were clarified for me by those stories. The same was true for tokaluluta (chief red Fox), who recalled that “From my mother’s bedtime stories i . . . learned much of the folklore that had come down from ancient times. She told me stories about birds and animals that lived on the plains and in the forests, why the great creator gave wings to the birds, the fawn its spots; the goat, elk, buffalo, and antelope their horns, the wolf the strong claws and teeth, and the rabbit his speed.”70 k 25 Some Native groups will have individuals who specialize in the telling of certain types of stories. These people are sometimes held in high esteem because they have committed a large body of stories to memory. examples are genealogical and direction-finding storytellers. other stories are under the stewardship of certain individuals because the stories are considered sacred. The drumkeeper of a clan may carry the story of the drum’s origin, and only the drumkeeper will tell the story. The adept storyteller is also a story collector. one of her roles is to be on the lookout for new stories that will be of value to her people. The irish have a proverb, “He who comes to you with a story brings two away from you.”72 another useful skill is to know how to choose the form of delivery that best suits the story and the storyteller’s ability. She has the choice of four media: narrative, song, play, or dance. oftentimes the medium is determined by the story’s tradition. even though many contemporary storytellers use various technologies to help tell their stories, those aids are merely the voice. The story is still being told in one of the four traditional media. StorytelliNg Protocol Many stories have their season for telling. Those with certain animals as characters might be told only when those animals are hibernating or have migrated. This is done because distance helps give perspective—one of the storyteller’s desired effects. yet this will seldom be stated by the storyteller, because it could undermine her intent. More often i’ve heard a storyteller state, in typical Native tongue-in-cheek style, that her reason for not telling the story when the animals are around is so that they will not hear themselves being talked about. in the Northern Forest where i live, certain stories are told only when snow blankets the ground. The quiet, introspective mood of the season lends itself well to the soul-touching character of the stories. in some traditions the learning of a story is considered a sacred undertaking and is approached in a formal customary way. in the algonquin tradition, the person desiring to learn the story presents a petition pouch of kinnikinick (nowadays more often tobacco) to the storyteller, who is considered the keeper of the story. The pouch (sometimes followed by a gift) symbolizes a willingness to give in order to receive. after the story is learned, the new storyteller—now also considered...

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