Story-telling lessons

Foreword

This volume is one in a series of texts in religious education known as the " Judson Training Manuals for the School of the Church."

These manuals are arranged in three groups, namely, general, departmental, and parent-training. The general group includes vital teaching, story-telling, churchschool buildings, expression through worship, handwork, community service, educational leadership, appreciation of the Bible, and kindred worth while themes in the field of religious education. The departmental group covers courses for every department of the school of the church — Cradle Roll, Beginners', Primary, Junior, etc. The parent-training manuals emphasize religion in the home, and the necessity of training for the God-given, heaven-blessed privilege of parenthood.

It is the aim of these manuals to popularize the assured results of the best psychology and pedagogy, and to make them the willing and efficient servants of all workers in the school of the church.

Both the editors and the writers want these books " to live where the people live," and to be of real value to those forward-looking folks destined to be the leaders in religious education.

To this end, each course will be (1) simple in language; (2) accurate in statement; (3) sound in psychology ; (4) vital in pedagogy ; (5) concrete in treat-

Foreword ment; (6) practical in purpose; and (7) spiritual in tone.

This book on " Story-Telling Lessons " will be welcomed by all teachers, preachers, and parents. It is the simplest and sanest presentation of this most valuable form of teaching.

It puts story-telling artistry upon the market in attractive fashion. The book is packed full of teaching values.

Doctor Tralle, the author, is a master in religious education. He has a rare combination of high-grade scholarship and ability to put truth in virile, everyday English.

In Chapter I, he handcuffs the reader's interest and holds it captive to the end.

W. Edward Raffety.

Contents

CHAPTER PACK

I. Learning Story-Telling 1

III. Impersonation in Story-Telling 23

Chapter I Learning Story-telling

No, story-tellers are not born. They are made. Of course some are more easily made than others, chiefly for the reason that they were more fortunate in their early environment and unconscious training. Fortunate are those individuals who were taught, early in life, to see clearly and to feel deeply, and then to get others to see and feel what they themselves have seen and felt. They become the best story-tellers.

HOW LEARN STORY-TELLING

Anyone of average ability may become an efficient story-teller if he is willing to pay the price in intelligent, persistent effort, under competent direction. Some specific suggestions are here presented.

1. Study Principles of Story-telling

This book is an attempt to present the fundamental, psychological principles of story -telling, with practical suggestions regarding the art of story-telling, and to do this in a fresh, stimulating way. The author is greatly indebted to the story-tellers whom he has heard and whose books he has read, but at the same time he feels that he is not presumptuous in taking issue with some of their statements and in advancing some new view-points, since he has had twelve years' experience in teaching classes in story-telling in college and training-school and in telling stories to a variety of audiences in various sections of our country.

Some of the best books, dealing with the principles and the art of story-telling, are the following : '' The Use of the Story in Religious Education," Eggleston ; " The Art of the Story. Teller," Shedlock ; " Educating by Story- Telling," Gather; "For the Story-Teller," Bailey; " Manual of Stories/' Forbush ; " Story -Telling in School and Home," Partridge ; " Stories and Story-Telling," St. John; "How to Tell Stories to Children," Bryant; "Stories and Story-Telling," Keyes; "Story-Telling," Lyman ; " Telling Bible Stories," Houghton ; " Some Great Stories and How to Tell Them," Wyche; "Children's Stories and How to Tell Them," Esenwein and Stockard ; " Story -Telling for Upper Grade Teachers," Cross and Statler.

Of course no book, or books, ever can take the place of the living teacher, and always it is advisable to study story-telling under a good teacher, if this is possible, in addition to reading the books. At the same time, it is possible to learn story-telling without a teacher, through the reading of the books and by persistent practice.

2. Read Many Good Stories

Unfortunately, there are not many books of stories which conform to the fundamental principles of good story-telling, but at the same time there are a number of books which present fairly good examples. It is advisable to read a great number of these stories, and to read them critically, in connection with a study of the basic principles.

Learning Story-Telling

Some of the best examples of story-telling may be here indicated. Some representative books of stories are the following : " For the Children's Hour," Baile> and Lewis ; " The Golden Spears," Leamy ; " Stories to Tell Children," Bryant; *' Golden Windows," Richards; '' Old Stories of the East," Baldwin; "Tell Me a True Story," Stewart; ''Blue Fairy Book," Lang; "Descriptive Stories for All the Year," Burnham ; " Fairy Tales a Child Can. Read and Act," Nixon; "Five Minute Stories," Richards ; " Story-Tell Lib," Slosson ; " Ethics for Children," Cabot ; " Worth While Stories for Every Day," Evans., A book that contains a considerable quantity and variety of story materials, though the form in which the stories are presented cannot be regarded as at all ideal, is " World Stories Retold," by Sly.

3. Hear Expert Story-tellers

Valuable suggestions may be had from listening to experienced story-tellers. It is advisable, moreover, to hear as many different story-tellers as possible, since there will be less likelihood of imitation.

As the student listens to story-telling, he should give himself up to its lure, listening attentively and sympathetically. Then he should carefully analyze the story-telling to which he has listened in the light of his study of the fundamental principles of good story-telling.

4. Practice Story-telling Persistently

One of my students, Jane Willis, was asked to tell a story in class for criticism, early In the course, and she reluctantly agreed to do so.

When she came to the telling of the story, she was greatly embarrassed, and gave us about the poorest example of story-telling I had ever heard. I made a few suggestions as to how she might improve her story-telling, and asked her to tell the story again, at the next meeting of the class. I said, " You will do better next time."

The next time she did a little better, but seemed frightened, and was evidently discouraged. I said to her : *' Your chief difficulty is lack of self-assurance. Try to forget yourself. See what is going on in your story. Lose yourself in it. Now, try that story again, the next time we meet." She said : " Oh, I cannot do it. I just cannot tell a story." I saw that she was about to cry, and said nothing more to her at the time.

At the close of the class she came to me, saying, " I feel that I am carrying too much work in the school, and I am going to drop story-telling." I said, "You may drop anything else, but you are not going to drop story-telling." She said, " But I can never learn to tell a story." I said, " Yes, you can. Just make up your mind that you will, and stick to it.'*

I feared that she might not be present at the next meeting of the class, but she was there. Two weeks later she told another story in the class, and did better. From that time on she steadily improved in her story-telling. Toward the end of the course I said, *' I have here a clipping from a newspaper which has in it, it seems to me, the making of a good story. I should be glad to have some member of the class take this clipping and work it over, arranging it in good story-telling form, embodying all the principles of a good story, and then tell it in the class."

Learning Story-Telling

The first one to volunteer to undertake this difficult task was the young woman who had declared she never could become a good story-teller. She said, " I can try it if you want me to." I said, " You are the very one to do this. I had hoped that you, of all the members in the class, would be the one that would be willing to undertake it."

At a later meeting of the class, when she had finished telling the story that she had prepared, in accordance with my request, she was spontaneously and vigorously applauded, and one of the other members of the class said, " Why, that is the best story we have had in this class."

I said, " You are right ; it is, without question, the best example of story-telling we have had in the class."

" Thank you. Miss Willis."

WHY LEARN STORY-TELLING

" Let me tell the stories, and I care not who writes the text-books," says G. Stanley Hall; and, more recently, William Byron Forbush has said : "Of late we have come to take story-telling seriously. It is one oi the oldest of arts, and one of the most valuable."

1. Stories Have Great Cultural Value

" Stories are the oldest form of transmitted culture, and the most formative," says Richard G. Moulton. " Is it not delightful to note that learning is bringing the adult back to the story?" So says Angela M. Keyes. And again, Edward Porter St. John : " The loss of a love for stories may be the result of sophistication, but it is not an evidence of wisdom. To feel contempt for their use reveals ignorance of the art of education."

Story-telling is as truly cultural, as really educative, as is Latin, Greek, mathematics, art, music, or any other curriculum subject. There are no choice studies, or subjects, which have an exclusive cultural value, and the number of " cultural subjects " in the curricula of our schools has increased amazingly during the last twenty years.

A prominent educator, in a convention address, said: *' I could have remained in the university one year longer, after having received my A. B. degree, and could have taken every subject in the curriculum, which was constructed on the theory that there were a limited number of subjects which possessed a peculiar cultural value. The graduate was supposed to be educated in general, but was not fitted for anything in particular. Now the curriculum has been enlarged to such an extent, through the addition of a great number and variety of subjects, in which are included story-telling and home economics, that the taking of all the subjects in the enlarged curriculum by my daughter, who is just entering this same university, would take two hundred forty years out of her sweet young life."

It is gratifying to note that story-telling is coming into its own in the schools as a recognized method of making, effective important cultural values, and we are coming to realize that it has been the story-telling outside the formal processes of the schools to which we have been indebted for a very considerable proportion of our real education. The story has been quietly putting control into life.

It is a hopeful indication that we are coming more

Learning Story-Telling and more to realize that it is through story-telling artistry that we may hope most effectively to pass on to future generations the cultural treasures of advancing humanity. The story makes effective the highest ideals of life.

Story-telling appeals strongly to the whole individual in the three phases of consciousness, namely, the intellect, the emotions, and the will. The story makes a particularly strong appeal to the imagination, which is the function of mind through which we are enabled to obtain a sense of reality. Also the story appeals strongly to the feelings, or emotions, developing a sense of spiritual values, or an appreciation of the best things in life. So also, through the story, the will is strengthened most effectively, and right choices are developed.

2. Stories Aid in Understanding History

The history of every people begins with stories, and, in all history, it is the stories that most deeply impress us and influence us, and not names, dates, and mere facts. It is the stories which may be said to contain and to transmit the spiritual values of history, and to make them practically effective in posterity.

It is not their annals that have revealed the peoples of the world to us, but their stories. We best know the Greeks through the Homeric and other stories, the Romans through Plutarch's Lives, and the Hebrews through the stories of the Bible ; and these are the three peoples who have given to the world its three best gifts, namely, culture, law, and religion.

We did not get our truest and strongest impressions of the World War from statistical tables and official reports, but from stories. The best transcript of American contemporary life is not to be found in census reports, economic essays, or didactic editorials, but in the stories of the novelist, the short-story writer, the movingpicture producer, and the skilful story-teller. We learn history, and teach it, most effectively when it is done dramatically, and not didactically.

3. Stories Make Education Interesting

Most of us have been guilty of sitting up the greater part of a night in order to finish reading a story, but who ever committed such indiscretion in the reading of essays, editorials, sermons, or commentaries, unless it were a matter of duty or compulsion? And we read stories, instead of listening to them, only because there are more story-books than there are story-tellers. Any story is, of course, far more interesting and effective when it is artfully told than when it is read.

In the story, education assumes the guise of entertainment, and it accomplishes its more serious purpose most effectively because it does entertain incidentally. The story does not argue for a "soft pedagogy," but for a vital pedagogy. The story makes learning a delight, and why should it not be so?

It is a harmful educational superstition to believe that the way to make learning effective is to make it difficult. There will remain enough of the difficult for Soldier Student, in the educational front line, after Red Cross Story has applied all her antiseptics and bandages, and has served all her sandwiches and sweets and hot drinks.

A student said to a certain teacher : " I'd come to your class just for recreation if I didn't learn a thing, but I

Learning Story-Telling do learn a great deal. I never had any teacher to make me think for myself as you do, and to so inspire me to better life and service." She was talking to a teacher who had learned how to vitalize the teaching period with a dramatic telling of appropriate stories.

4. Story-telling as a Humanizing Process

It would be difficult to overestimate the value of the story as a humanizing and socializing agency. It is a cure for false dignity and excessive individualism. It gets one out of his own little world into the great, broad world of all humanity. It brings one into contact with every phase of human life and activity. It leads one to become interested in other people, and to become more generous, more charitable, more cooperative.

While the story is accomplishing its socializing effects, it is doing the chief thing that we are trying to do in our modern education. Indeed, one of our representative leaders in religious education, Professor T. G. Soares, has defined education as follows : " Education is a scientifically directed process of progressively developing socialized personality."

This socializing of personality is accomplished most effectively through the story for the reason that the listener has presented to him socialization in action. That is, he sees human beings, in the story, behaving toward one another as they ought, and so he himself tends to behave as he ought toward other individuals through the dramatic suggestion of right human relationships in action. In case the individual in a story does not behave as he should toward other individuals, such behavior is made unattractive to the listener.

1. Discuss the story of Jane Willis.

2. Quote five sentences from the following references, and indicate, in a sentence, your reason for the selection made in each case: Keyes, pages 3-12; St. John, Introduction and Chapter I ; Partridge, pages 3-28 ; Sly, Chapter I; Wyche, pages 1-10; Forbush, Chapter I.

3. Give a brief summary of Chapter XIII in Partridge.

4. Give a brief summary of Chapter XIII in Forbush.

5. See discussions of recreational value of stor}^-telling in the following: Wyche, pages 31-39; Bryant, pages 19, 20 ; Forbush, page 4 ; Partridge, page 79.

6. Note what Henry Ward Beecher did with a story on one occasion. See Sly, pages 4, 5.

7. In considering the socializing value of the story, read Partridge, page 73, and Forbush, Chapter XIV.

8. Tell a story in the presence of someone in whom you have confidence, courting frank criticism, and then re-tell the story, seeking to profit by the criticisms which have been made. The oftener the same story is told, the more will the story-teller profit in the telling, and the more effective will be the story with others.

9. Professor Hugh Hartshorne has said, in eflfect, in a public lecture, that the function of the religious educator is (1) to guide the child in purposeful activity, (2) to assist him in social functioning, (3) to control his environment, and (4) to aid him in the experiencing of God. And he adds that this process of education is best facilitated by teaching-stories, which motivate behavior, visualize standards of conduct, and rationalize and modify experience. Discuss.

Chapter II Telling The Story

However good the story may be in itself, and however perfect its form, it must be well told in order to be effective. The main thing in story-telling is the telling.

1. Strive to Appear at Ease

The appearance of ease in the story-teller tends to give the impression of power, of competency, of mastery of the situation, and enables the listener to devote his whole attention to the story itself.

(1) Hands and Feet

The hands should be in repose, at the sides of the body, except when used in gesture, in order that they may not attract attention. To have the hands in the pockets, to hold one with the other, in front or at the back, or to hold on to a book, paper, or table, likely will tend to attract attention to the story-teller rather than to the story. Therefore control the hands.

As to the feet, ordinarily they should be rather close together, with one a little in advance of the other, with an occasional, but not too frequent, shifting of positions. Sometimes, of course,' the action of the story will require an altogether different placing of the feet and hands. The aim should be to make both the feet and the hands as inconspicuous as possible, but sometimes this is best accomplished by using them in appropriate gesture.

(2) Direction of the Gaze

The story-teller should look at his audience, without appearing to look at any particular individual, and at the same time he should not shift the direction of his gaze too frequently, as this indicates lack of self-control, and will attract attention to the story-teller. In impersonation, the story-teller should direct his gaze as would the character in the story, and, in changing from one character to another, a shifting of the gaze will assist in distinguishing between the characters.

Always, the story-teller should be careful to observe the " angle of vision," being careful not to look too far to the right or to the left, for the reason that a part of the listeners may not be able to see his face or to understand his words. The angle of vision is about a right angle, so the story-teller should not direct his gaze outside the fourth of a circle.

(3) Standing or Sitting

As a rule, the story-teller should stand in telling a story, unless the circumstances make this impracticable, as when the group is very small, for the reason that one has more freedom for expression when standing than when sitting. In telling stories to very small children, it may be advisable to remain seated, if the group is small.

There would seem to he no good reason for assuming, as some do, that the ideal situation for good story-telling is an evening group in front of an open fire, with only the dim light of the fire for illumination, and the story-teller seated with the others. Such a situation was favorable to story-telling in the olden times simply because it was a situation of relaxation from the toils of the day and of freedom from distractions.

The better situation for good story-telling today is a well-lighted, properly ventilated room with the listeners comfortably seated and the story-teller standing.

2. Giving the Impression of Well-being

The story-teller should appear to be happy. He should smile occasionally during the telling of the story, whenever a smile will not contradict the story, and usually just before beginning.

(1) Intentions Are Good

A happy appearance tends to create the impression that the story-teller means well by his audience, indicating good will, friendliness, and evokes an attitude favorable to the story-teller and therefore to the story itself. An appropriate smile is suggestive of good intentions and is indispensable to the best success in story-telling.

(2) Has Something Good

The story-teller who looks happy suggests by his appearance that his story is a good one, that it will be enjoyable, and that it will benefit his listeners. Of course the story-teller should not smile excessively. His smile should not develop into a chronic grin, but at the same time he should realize that it is of the highest importance to smile frequently, whenever at all appropriate, that he may thus convey the impression, however unconscious his listeners may be of it, that he has something good for them in his story. Keep Happy Smile in your heartfamily and as a frequent visitor in your face-family.

3. Realize Vividly the Events

The story-teller must first realize the events of the story, must see each part of the action clearly and vividly, if he would get his listeners to see, to feel, and to- will. That is, he must appeal strongly to the imagination, compelling his listeners to see clearly, to image accurately, to have a sense of reality.

(1) Use the Imagination

In order to appeal to the imagination of the listeners, the story-teller must make a right use of his own imagination. The characters in the story should be very real to him. He should be able to see them as actually present. He can succeed in doing this by willing to do it, by realizing that it is essential to success, by using pictures, diagrams, and descriptions, by utilizing all the information available. Nothing in story-telling will be real to the listeners until it is first real to the story-teller.

(2) Yield to the Lure

The story-teller must conscientiously and definitely give himself up to the lure of the story if he would succeed in entrancing his listeners. He should get into the world of the story if he would transport his listeners into its world and lead them about at his will. The story-teller himself must he first entranced if he would entrance, must he lured if he would lure, must he captivated if he would captivate.

He is not undertaking to recall words, or indeed to bring anything out of the past into the present, but rather he is face to face with actual beings in a new world, and is virtually lost to his actual condition and surroundings. Only thus can a story-teller hope to succeed.

4. Memorize Actions Rather than Words

It is a serious mistake for the story-teller to undertake to memorize, verbally, the words of a story. To do so will bind his imagination, prevent him from seeing the characters in the story, tend to slow up the rate of speaking, to induce hesitation and pauses, and likely will reduce the telling of the .story to a more or less mechanical performance.

(1) See Pictures

The story-teller should devote himself tg a clear imaging of characters, beings, places, actions, and scenes. In other words, he should memorize pictures rather than words, and should bind all the pictures in all the events of the story into a symmetrical and beautiful whole. Too much emphasis cannot be placed upon this suggestion.

Story-tellers are prone, particularly those whose experience has been limited, to say, " I have to memorize word for word; otherwise I should forget, and could not say anything." This is a mistake.

(2) Trust the Memory

If the suggestion to image clearly and vividly the events of the story is followed, and if the story-teller will read the story over and over again, reading it completely through each time, and then will undertake simply to cause his listeners to see what he sees and to feel what he feels, he will find that he will reproduce, unconsciously i6 Story-Telling Lessons

and without effort, the very words of the story, and, if he changes the words, these changes will not be material, and in some cases actually will be better than those which he had in the story as he had read it over repeatedly.

Occasionally, of course, it will be necessary to memorize the very words, where there is purposeful repetition or where there is dialect, but, even in these cases, it is likely that a frequent reading will result in exact repetition without definite effort to memorize verbally. The same will hold good in the case of a story in verse, though here more definite effort to memorize verbally may be required.

5. Make Every Word Understood

The story-teller should speak .with clear, correct, distinct utterance, so that every word may be understood by every listener, without unnecessary effort.

(1) Speak Distinctly

Anyone who has taught story-telling or public speaking is surprised to find that many individuals cannot articulate correctly and distinctly many of the sounds in the English language, for the reason that they have not been drilled in phonetics at any period of their education.

It is of the highest importance that the story-teller should take training and should develop in himself the ability to utter every element of the language distinctly and to speak all of them in their various possible combinations. If the listener misses a word, because of indistinct utterance, the whole picture of the event may be marred for him, and the story spoiled. Clear, distinct utterance, proper articulation and enunciation, is all too rare. The story-teller's art demands of him the best possible in this respect.

(2) Train the Voice

It is unfortunate when story-telling that is otherwise good is marred by harshness in the voice, nasal tones, undue loudness, incorrect pronunciation, and other defects of utterance, all of which attract attention to the delivery itself and thus make difficult the hearing, understanding, and appreciation of the story itself. Voice culture is a prerequisite for the best story-telling.

Some are far more fortunate than others in this regard. The early training and environment has been favorable to the development of purity of tone, correctness of pronunciation, and accuracy of utterance. Many have unconsciously acquired incorrect habits of breathing and of utterance, and have developed defects in the voice which greatly interfere with the best effectiveness in story-telling.

6. Take Care to Introduce the New

In telling a story, it is highly important to emphasize the new as it appears during the progress of the story in sentence after sentence. Emphasis should be placed upon each idea and word as it occurs for the first time in each particular story, in order that the listener's attention may be attracted particularly to it and that he may be assisted in getting its meaning, and therefore a realization of the action.

This introducing of the new may be done through appropriate gesture, through stronger stress, through facial expression, and through proper modulation of the voice. Take the following extract from the story of " Why the Chimes Rang " :

" There lived, in a country far away, a boy named Pedro, and his little brother. They lived in a little town, some miles from a big city.

" The Christmas season was drawing near, and Pedro and his little brother were talking of the beautiful Christmas celebration held every year in the big city, in the big church whose tower could be seen from where they lived on the days when the weather was fine.

** Pedro said, * Mother saw the beautiful celebration once, and she says that nobody could ever guess all the fine things there are to see and hear. And she says that she has heard that the Christ-Child sometimes comes down to bless the service.*

" Little Brother said, ' I wish we could see this beautiful service this Christmas eve. If we could go, we might see the Christ-Child, too.* And Pedro said, ' Yes, and we could take a gift for the Christ-Child.' Little Brother asked, *Oh, what could we take?' Pedro answered, * We could take my little piece of silver that I earned and have been saving.' * Oh, that would be fine,' said Little Brother."

The following words are "new" and should be emphasized: Lived, far away, boy, Pedro, brother, little town, miles, big city, Christmas, near, talking, celebration, big church, tower, seen, weather, fine, mother, says, guess, fine things, heard, Christ-Child, bless, we, see, gift, what, piece of silver, fine.