Storytelling charms and enriches our lives

Storytelling is a time-honored tradition reaching through the years in many cultures. Among my favorites is in the American Indians Cherokee tribes’ realm of legendary stories about “How the Pheasant Beat Corn,” which is:

Once Pheasant saw a woman beating corn in a wooden mortar in front of her lodge.

“I can do that,” said Pheasant. “I don’t believe you,” said the woman.

“Yes, I can,” said Pheasant. So Pheasant went into the woods behind the lodge. He flew to a hollow log and drummed with his wings until the people thought he really was beating corn. That’s why the Indians have the Pheasant Dance as part of the Green corn dance.

Aesop’s Fables is another series of storytelling with lessons to learn. One of my favorites there is the farmer who gets his cart stuck in a ditch and calls out for help to a specific god of the time. That entity explains what to do, telling the farmer that while he is praying, he also needs to put his own efforts into the solution. Lesson being in addition to prayer, those affected must also help themselves.

When inveterate local storyteller Ben Jones opened his (sadly, now closed) Briar Patch Books in Sperryville years ago, I immediately thought of my wonderful childhood delights, Brer Rabbit and his adventures, specifically Brer Rabbit and the Briar Patch in which he entices Brer Fox to toss him into the erstwhile patch instead of barbecuing him for dinner (Southern “supper,” I have learned).

Similarly, when another storyteller, Richard Brady, writes about his garden meanderings with wildlife, I am almost immediately drawn back

to the treasured Beatrix Potter tales of her Peter Rabbit and his escapades with Farmer Mr. McGregor. What delights for many children and adults alike.

Quite a while ago, I heard an interview with Don Hewitt, who, in 1968, created the 60 Minutes broadcasts. He attributed the series’ successes to what he described as its storytelling format. Legendary or famous humans star instead of the animals and the gods in the legions of myths many of us read.

There are many ways to enrich our lives, I think. Eating ice cream, walks in the spacious fields and forests that surround us here in our beloved Rappahannock County are but two that I include along with the endearing charms of storytelling available in many places.

Sheila Gresinger Washington