The Sage's Gift

This was one of the first stories I learned at a storytelling conference. It is an open source story, as so many traditional folk tales are, so you can tweak it to make it your own, but don't stray from what I call the basic "story skeleton" You can tweak it by coloring the descriptions or the dialogue with your branding, but keep the truth of the story.

I'm taking this story and placing it in a "storytelling frame" to show a basic formula for what really works when you begin to create your own stories or adapt those you've heard.

First, you start at something normal, something that is identifiable for your listeners.

Once upon a time, long ago in the city of Baghdad, (Once upon a time is very normal for all of us-it says to the listener..oh..this is a make believe tale, a fairy tale, a fable) there lived a caliph (king) who ruled over his subjects to the best of his abilities, and yet it kingdom did not flourish. His people were poor and down-trodden and without hope. And worst of all, the caliph had no heir to replace him when he died and he was very old indeed. (You set up a problem to be solved in your store, something goes wrong, we need a hero)

And then like a miracle, his wife conceived and a son was born. In jubilant celebration, the caliph ordered a great feast to be held and he invited all the notable and worthy people of his kingdom.

In the day of the feast all the guests arrived at the palace, bringing their gifts for the child. They had searched wide and far for the perfect gift to please their caliph and to honor the child. Each person passed before the throne and placed their gift at the caliph's feet and admired the newborn king. There were golden cups, beautiful weavings, the finest silks, and jewel studded toys. Each gift was finely crafted and more beautiful than the one before. Everyone had brought a gift--except the young sage Meheld Abi. When he approached the throne, he held nothing in his hand, nothing. (story builds tension and suspense, what will the caliph do?)

The caliph was sorely insulted and he demanded, "How dare you come before my child with no gift to honor him."

Calmly, the young sage approached the caliph and the child and spreading open his hands before him (add action with your movements) and said, "Sire, your many guests have indeed honored you with the finest of finery and jewels, the wealth of our poor land. But my gift is of immeasurable, invisible wealth. When the young king is old enough to hear and begin to understand, I will visit him each day. I will bring him the gift of a story every day of his young life. And I promise you, great Caliph, that when he is grown, he will be both wise and compassionate." (Aha..the hero comes in the form of the caliph to train up a new hero. The storyteller arrives to be the teacher.)

Meheld Abi fulfilled his promise. Each day he came to the palace and he told his stories to the young caliph to be. He told stories of wise men and of fools, of tricksters and pranksters, of rich and of poor, of faith and belief, of adventure and love. The boy grew hearing all the stories of his land and when he had grown to manhood, the old caliph died, and the young man took his place upon the throne.

And just as Meheled Abi has promised, the new caliph was both compassionate and wise--ruling with a wisdom that had never been seen before in any ruler. His kingdom grew rich and prosperous, his people were satisfied and wealthy, no hunger in the land and he was loved by all. His children were taught the same stories by Meheled Abi who became an old man and eventually passed on to the afterworld. But the stories he had shared lived on and were told by everyone in the land.

And when it came time for the Caliph to join Meheled Abi and his father, his children and heirs gathered around his bed in love and mourning and they asked him what they could do for him. He asked that these words be inscribed upon his tomb for all to read: IF I AM WISE, IT IS BECAUSE OF THE SEED SOWN BY THE TALES.

(All good stories take our listeners on a journey from ignorance to truth. They live a common normal place and embark upon a journey with their teller, who shows them a new place, a new truth, a new thought, a new wisdom. In the words of the Sage's Gift, we hear echoes of great tales, of Solomon, of Hiawatha, of the Gift of the Magi to a newborn King. And at the end of all stories, we become wiser because of the seed sown by the tale.)