EENET asia Newsletters : Fifth issue 4th Quarter 2007 / 1st Quarter 2008

Go, Tell the Story, Sing a Song

In families of our traditional storytellers, the children are making a break with the profession since most often they barely manage to scrape together a living. Our grandmothers were our link with the world of stories, but these days with the decline in inter-generation living, we are losing out on that as well.

Telling, we have believed, must happen. Many cultures believe that if you have a story to tell - and don’t tell it - strange things will happen. Stories have unique and startling ways of making sure they go told! A Kannada story narrated by A K Ramanujan, who collected and edited the most definitive collections of Indian folktales, is a wonderful example of this. This is how it goes:

There once lived a woman who knew a story. But she kept them to herself, she never told anyone the story or sang the song. Imprisoned within her; the untold story and unsung song felt choked, trapped. They decided to run away.

One day, as she slept with her mouth open, the story escaped; it fell out of her, and taking on the material form of a pair of shoes, sat out side the house. The song too hurriedly followed, and took the shape of something like a man’s coat, and hung on a peg. This caused the husband to be very suspicious; especially when she kept insisting she did not know whose they were or where they had come from. In a rage, he picked up his blanket, and went off to the nearby temple to sleep.The flames in the lamps of the town, once they were put out, did not really go out. They moved to the temple and spent each night there, gossiping together till the lamps were lit again the following day. On this night, all the lamps from all the houses had reached the temple - except one, which came in much later. “Why are you so late tonight?” the others asked. “Because at my house, the couple quarrelled late into the night”, said the flame. “Why did they quarrel?” The flame told them the events. As he finished the other flames asked: “But where did the coat and shoes come from?”“The lady of our house knows a story and a song. She never tells the story, and has never sung the song to anyone. The story and the song got suffocated inside: so they got out and have turned into a coat and a pair of shoes. Seeing this made the husband furious. It seems they took revenge”. The husband, lying under his blanket in the temple, heard the lamp’s explanation. His suspicions were cleared. When he got home at dawn, he woke up his sleeping wife and asked here about her story a n d her song.

“What story? What song?” she asked. She had sadly forgotten both of them.

Among the Cree of Manitoba, Canada also there is a similar belief that stories, when they are not told, live in their own villages where they go about their own lives. Every now and then, however, a story will leave its village and seek a person to inhabit. Some person will abruptly be possessed by the story and soon will find they telling the tale, singing it back into active circulation. Go tell the story, sing the song!

We are keen to hear stories and songs about children from your countries. Do share them with us. We begin this column in EENET Asia ISSUE no. 5 by the following story from India.

The Cracked Pot

A water bearer in India had two large pots, each hung on the end of a pole which he carried across his neck. One of the pots was perfectly made and never leaked. The other pot had a crack in it and by the time the water bearer reached his master’s house, it had leaked its water and was only half full.
This went on daily for two years, with the bearer delivering only one and half pots of water to his master’s house. Of course the perfect pot was proud of its accomplishments. But the poor cracked pot was ashamed of its own imperfections and was miserable that it was able to accomplish only half of what it had been made to do.

After two years of what it perceived to be a bitter failure, one day it spoke to the water bearer, “I am ashamed of myself and I want to apologize to you.”

“Why?” asked the bearer? “What are you ashamed of?”

“I have been able, for these past two years, to deliver only half my load because this crack in my side causes water to leak out all the way back to your master’s house. Because of my flaws, you have to do all of this work, and you don’t get full value for your efforts, the pot said.

The water bearer felt sorry for the old cracked pot, and he said, “Today, as we return to the master’s house, I want you to notice the beautiful flowers along the path.”

Indeed, as they went up the hill, the old cracked pot took notice of sun warming the beautiful wild flowers on the side of the path, and this cheered it up a bit. But at the end of the trail, it still felt bad because it had leaked out half its load, and so again the pot apologized to the bearer for its failure.

The bearer said to the pot, “Did you notice that these were flowers only on your side of the path, but not on the other pot’s side? That’s because I have always known about your flaws, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and every day while I walked back from the stream, you have watered them. For two years I have always known about your flaws, and I took advantage of it. I planted flower seeds on your side of the path, and everyday while we walked back from the stream, you’ve watered them. For two years I have been able to pick these beautiful flowers to decorate my masters table. Without you being just the way you are, he would not have this beauty to grace his house.”

Each one of us has our own unique flaws. We’re all cracked pots. We need not be afraid of our flaws. We need to acknowledge them, and we have to learn to convert our weaknesses into our strengths.

Children too have their own needs strengths, and weaknesses which we need to cater for in our teaching. We have to keep in mind that all children including those who have some difficulties are first and foremost children, just like their other peer. A school culture in which all children are valued and welcomed, along with teaching and classroom management methods that are in line with this culture will have a positive impact on all children and adults in a school.

What does this story tell you about your children? Do you think they have weaknesses or flaws that turned out to be strengths in a certain situation? Do write to us about them. We look forward to your views and will be happy to share your responses with others in EENET ASIA.

EENET asia Newsletters : Fifth issue 4th Quarter 2007 / 1st Quarter 2008