“It doesn’t matter about being born in a duckyard, as long as you are hatched from a swan’s egg.”
~ Hans Christian Anderson, The Ugly Duckling
When asked about writing his autobiography, the author Hans Christian Anderson said, “I already have … The Ugly Duckling.”
The story of a baby swan who grows up in a family of ducks is known around the world. The baby swan eventually discovers that he is not a deformed duck, but a beautiful swan.
As a storytelling performer and artist, the stories that I choose to tell (or write) also resonate in some way with me. In this sense, every story is a personal story. Every story tells you something about what I value or believe about life. Every story is a vulnerable act revealing who I am. Even if I choose to tell a folk tale, my personal connection to that folk tale is what touches and moves the audience. This is why storytelling performers spend so much time finding just the right story. If it does not resonate with me, the audience will sense something inauthentic about the telling. The connection can be as simple as “I love this story because it makes me laugh” or as complex as “this story touches my soul.”
Hans Christian Anderson (1805 – 1875) is best know for his fairy tales: The Ugly Duckling, The Emperor’s New Clothes, The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, The Little Match Girl … to name a few of the 156 stories that he penned. This Danish author has been translated across the world. His stories of virtue and resilience in the face of adversity have become icons of the Western World.
At a recent story gathering, a young girl began her own story in the style of a fairy tale. Her mood was serious and full of emotion. There once was a field tended by a faithful farmer, like a mentor to the field. He kept the field full of healthy plants, but one day the farmer disappeared. The field became sad and barren. It was only when seeds came in from neighboring fields that the field discovered that she could grow plants again.
As the story went on, it was clear that she was the field. The sadness that poured into the loss of the farmer was her sadness at losing a mentor or a parent or a loved one. I still don’t know the details, but I only know that I connected so deeply to the story because she was so connected emotionally to the metaphorical telling of her life.
In exploring ways to tell our personal stories, the folk tale genre can be a powerful way to tell those difficult stories, process through the emotions, and give others the gift of our life lessons.
Perhaps your story has even been told already as a folk tale or fairy tale. Consider retelling it in your own way.
Every story is a personal story.
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