A Note from the President

Hello my friends,

My tulips and irises and pushing up through the soil. Nature is trying to bring Spring to our doors. I am afraid old man Winter has not finished his job just yet. One day it is 60 degrees and the next it is 16 degrees. Will my flowers survive?

In some cultures, stories are told only from the first snowfall to the last one. In my neck of the woods the weather changes so rapidly, I think we better be ready to share a story any time of the year, and that’s what we do.

This year MO-TELL will be sponsoring four online events that will reach listeners near and far.

When Spring really hits, we will be helping to put storytellers in the Missouri State Parks. I hope you will be able to catch some of these shows.

Do not forget our Liars Contest. This year marks the ninth one. It will be in the St. Louis area again. The date is July 8. Watch for the updated rules soon to be posted on the website.

We also will be contacting you about your memories and stories of Missouri Storytelling, Inc.

Sharing our stories is so important to ourselves, our community and to the world. Please keep telling your tales.

Love to you all,

Joyce Slater

President of MO-TELL

“I’ll tell you a secret. Old storytellers never die. They disappear into their own story.”

- Vera Nazarian, author

Story of the Month: He Never Lied

A folktale from Africa

Once upon a time there lived a wise man by the name of Mamad. He never lied. All the people in the land, even the ones who lived twenty days away, knew about him.

The king heard about Mamad and ordered his subjects to bring him to the palace. He looked at the wise man and asked, “Mamad, is it true, that you have never lied?”

"It’s true.”

“And you will never lie in your life?”

“I’m sure in that.”

“Okay, tell the truth, but be careful! The lie is cunning, and it gets on your tongue easily.”

Several days passed and the king called Mamad once again. There was a big crowd: the king was about to go hunting. The king held his horse by the mane, his left foot was already on the stirrup. He ordered Mamad, “Go to my summer palace and tell the queen I will be with her for lunch. Tell her to prepare a big feast. You will have lunch with me then.”

Mamad bowed down and went to the queen. Then the king laughed and said, “We won’t go hunting and now Mamad will lie to the queen. Tomorrow we will laugh on his behalf.”

But the wise Mamad went to the palace and said, “Maybe you should prepare a big feast for lunch tomorrow, and maybe you shouldn’t. Maybe the king will come by noon, and maybe he won’t.”

“Tell me will he come or won’t he?" asked the queen.

“I don’t know whether he put his right foot on the stirrup, or he put his left foot on the ground after I left.”

Everybody waited for the king. He came the next day and said to the queen, “The wise Mamad, who never lies, lied to you yesterday.”

But the queen told him about the words of Mamad. And the king realized that the wise man never lies, and says only that which he saw with his own eyes.

MO-TELL Member of the Month: Flavia Everman

Flavia participated in speech and drama in high school and even went on to State but didn’t know it could be done in the “real world” until much later. Sue Hinkel gave a seminar in her town many years ago, and when she heard her tell the stories and give the workshop, she thought, “I did this in high school, and I can do it now.” Flavia contacted Sue Hinkel and Sue inspired her to make the jump and here she is today—telling stories.

Flavia does many different things, but of all of them, storytelling is her most favorite. The look on the people’s faces while she is telling, the body language as they lean into the story, the “jump” at the scary parts, the tears at the sad parts, the laughs at the funny parts, all of it delights her.

Flavia said the part that has changed her the most was when she was in Rwanda, Africa and told a Raffe children’s story about a spider on the floor. After she was finished the chief stood up and told the members of the tribe that they were like the spider, everyone was trying to squash them.......That event was a powerful lesson to her; that our words, no matter how innocent are more powerful than we think and we need to watch them very carefully, especially as weavers of the spoken word. Flavia takes it as a huge responsibility. She then went on to tell the tribe an inspirational story about resilience containing a turtle and a jaguar, which she hopes in her heart inspired them to keep fighting against the negative attitudes towards them.

Flavia specializes in folklore and fairytales as these are the stories that the cultures have used to teach the morals of their society. By telling these stories, you can teach children and sometimes adults the “rules” of society and the decent and not so decent ways to behave. She is also interested in looking into the “history”of societies through their storytelling and reconstructing the morals through the stories they told.

Flavia found out a few years ago that she is a “Scanner”. This is a Jack of All Trades as they used to call them. Flavia can do math and science, write grants, organize budget spreadsheets, yet ballroom dance, story tell, paint, draw and sing. She is not afraid to take dryers, washers, print cartridges apart and fix them. Flavia can garden, process deer and chickens and tend her fruit trees. She is currently teaching 18 different classes this semester from Creative Writing to elementary Astronomy, to pottery to drama. Flavia has a project in Rwanda, Africa collecting original folklore from the Ba’Twa people. Flavia recently participated in the Chennai India Storytelling Festival.

Flavia said she really appreciates that MO-TELL has partnered with the Parks Departments to bring storytelling into the parks. If there was a way to organize a master calendar of storytelling events in the state, that would be great, but she knows that would take some manpower and cooperation from local Chambers and groups of storytellers. She knows about the St. Louis and KC Storytelling Festivals, but it would be fun to have a Missouri event where we could all come together like a family reunion, have seminars and storytelling events, and share to the citizens of our great state. Flavia said she could help MO-TELL with grant writing and organization.

You can reach Flavia Everman on Facebook (with Tigger as the profile picture). People are free to message her from there and she will getback with them.