Aug
12
2004

The Story Teller (UPDATED)

An article by Don Quixote Comments

“When people told themselves their past with stories, explained their present with stories, foretold the future with stories, the best place by the fire was kept for the storyteller.” – The StoryTeller

I have no idea how I missed this coming out, but imagine my surprise when the boys and I were at Best Buy to get Zelda: Legend of the Four Swords, and what should my wandering eyes spy? Jim Henson’s The Story Teller.

Now, I have no idea if anyone else on the planet besides me used to watch this as a child, but this was by far on the top of my list of shows that I wanted to watch each and every week.

Each week the story teller and his dog would find their way around the modern hearth and share their stories. Stories of love, truth, and hope. Worded with a flair for the poetic, illustrated with the magic that only Jim Henson can bring, The Story Teller spun a web that held the attention of the child in all of us.

Nine classic folk tales from around the world were brought to life to instill in the viewers a sense of higher ideals. I often talk about wanting to purchase pieces of my past, but this was one I didn’t even blink on. I have only had a chance to watch one with the boys, but it was wonderful to watch them watch it. To know that these two boys, raised in a modern age of computer animated reality and nonstop action where captured by tale of the Story Teller.

I miss story telling. I understand when Austin Long writes of his laments that movies have become nothing more than reprocessed spam without the decency to even change the name of the film. Where have all the story tellers gone?

Where have the folks who love the power of words, who love the sound of their alliterative resonance wandered to? Cadence, rhythm, word order have vanished from our culture and today I feel its loss greatly.

Has the use of computers and the ease in which one can write stolen the crafting from our written word? Plunk, plunk, plunk, the word mill grinds out tripe.

Where have all the story tellers gone?

—————————————
UPDATE:

So, I’ve been kicking around this idea for all your bloggers out there. What say you to a challenge of us writing a serial between our blogs? Yep, that old school, “I’ll start the story”, you continue it. I’m game if you are, so if you’re interested in trying your hand at a little narrative writing, post your name here.