Re-creation or origination?

Re-telling traditional stories does not have a high status! I am often asked how a dusty, old story is relevant to urban, technological lives. Or I bump into the idea that the process of originating a story is more creative, than the process of re-telling an existing tale. Even my teenage niece has asked me to write something that I’ve made up, instead of endlessly re-telling old stories!

The art of storytelling is not properly understood. A skilled storyteller is someone who is able to take ancient material, and make new meanings from it. They know how to re-shape old patterns and stock characters. They can create dialogue, stitch-up holes, invent poetic language, use voice, rhythm, and body to make a tale live.  Each teller brings their own questions  and concerns to a tale.  The response of each audience changes and shapes  a tale. All this renews  a story, making it relevant,  bringing it into the present.

Re-telling a traditional tale is not intellectual laziness or lack of creativity, but an exploration of deep narrative forms that have stood the test of time. I want to come back, again and again: to Snow White; to the boy stuck at the bottom of the well; to a castle surrounded by thorns; to a mute girl; to a prince with one arm and one bird’s wing… I  can never get to the end of these images.  Re-creating these stories is an opportunity to see them in different ways,  to keep developing my storytelling skills, and to try and do the stories justice.

Unlike written literature, traditional stories are in a constant process of being made. This  is  a shape-shifting art form, that lives on the tongue, defying time, and the limits of the page. These ancient patterns are strong enough to give tellers and listeners the space to put new flesh over old story skeletons, and make the tales their own.  Traditional tales are rich and endless treasures, timeless and eternal, full of boundless meaning.  Perhaps the  source of all origination.