|
Amazon
Category:
Children
Pages: 50
A gorilla is challenged by children who use commonsense against him. He succumbs to their terms and shares his authority
Storytelling for the African family is like watching a movie on a family channel. It involves interest, concentration, a good storyline, an excellent narrator with strong voice management skills. Like the main actor in a movie, the narrator must be agile and melodramatic—he must be able to move, use stunts, engage the audience in the action, sing, and raise and drop his voice according to the story. Because 99 percent of the characters--mainly heroes and villains—are animals, the narrator must imitate their sounds and actions, convincing the audience that he is in fact the animal.
Older people sit around a fireplace while dinner is being prepared and begin to tell tales. The narrator starts with a question: “Mongana?” (“May I tell a story?”), and the listeners reply “Sin ngayn” (“Yes, you may”). From the response, the narrator determines who is still awake. The call-and-response format suggests not only the participatory experience between the storyteller and the listeners, but, most importantly, it engages both parties in a pedagogic activity wherein the keen listener prompts, redirects, or corrects the teller when he omits a section or uses a term not known to the audience.
Excerpt
The smoke from the fire was twirling into the sky; a signal he knew would attract one of the children. He had seen them, as he stood tall and silent between the zebrawood trees. Just a few more, he thought. Just a few more, and my own family will be complete.
He was eight feet tall, with round eyes that seemed to be always crying. He only had to think of his childhood as a baby gorilla to feel afraid and alone.
On the night of no wind, five-year-old Bo had hidden in the tallest tree.
He watched as a strange smoke hit his own mother, father, and five brothers and sisters. The smoke pushed them to the ground.
|
