Long Live the Queen!

Last summer, an eight-year-old girl called Saga pulled a sword out of a Swedish lake. In this article, she raises the question of whether that makes her a queen. As a Storyteller, I was particularly excited when Saga noted that people immediately connected her action of pulling the sword from a lake with the famous legend of King Arthur and the Lady of the Lake who conferred kingship upon him in the way that Saga herself unconsciously replicated, more than a thousand years later. That evidence of connection with legends and stories of the distant past makes my spirit soar.

At the same time, there is a darker undercurrent to this story. Saga undoubtedly recovered the pre-Viking weapon because, as her father explained to her, "it had been the hottest summer for 260 years", which resulted in a noticeable drop in the lake's water level. These hot temperatures across Europe are a double-edged sword indeed, revealing ancient and long-lost or forgotten treasures or markings in the landscape, at the same time as they herald a new and dangerous future for Saga and her children.

Perhaps the sword can be interpreted as a message from our ancient ancestors: a warning that difficult times may be on the way.... and that new and youthful female leadership may be the answer to the problems we face.

Long live the Queen! May she lead us wisely and well.

Vivian, the Lady of the Lakeby annewipf

The joys of storytelling in Boston’s neighborhoods

I just finished another joyful round of performances with the ReadBoston Storymobile, a fantastic organization that sends professional storytellers throughout the neighborhoods of Boston, where we perform our stories and distribute books to the children who come to hear us. It’s really a kind of heaven for me!

(Courtesy photo: ReadBoston Storymobile)

The wonderful organizers at ReadBoston coordinate with 47 different sites in 12 different neighborhoods throughout Boston, and send a group of tellers out to perform. Each site gets a date and time that is theirs to host, and every week, a different storyteller visits and performs for them (view the schedule here). Parents and outside day cares and camps are welcome to come and visit for story hour, maximizing the number of children who can benefit from this literacy-supporting activity, and every child leaves with a free book they can take home and keep. Children can visit as many sites as their parents and camp directors can take them to, so they can accumulate a nice little library by the end of the summer!

This has been my 10th summer performing with the ReadBoston Storymobile, and it remains fulfilling and delightful. The children are enthusiastic and love hearing stories, and they are so thrilled to pick out books! This program makes a tremendous difference in the lives of children who might not otherwise get access to live performance and literature. Our program director just reported that we served over 4,000 children this summer—wow! For those who believe in the importance of screen alternatives for developing minds, take a look at ReadBoston and their wonderful work.

Interested in hiring a storyteller? You’ve come to the right place! Here’s more on me:

I’m famous for my silly sound effects and wacky faces, and for encouraging audience participation. I tell trickster tales, silly stories and spooky tales from many different cultures. A co-founder of the Massachusetts-based storytellers organization Massmouth, I perform and teach storytelling and story-reading in schools, libraries, bookstores, museums, water-treatment facilities and private homes, to and for kids and adults of all ages. I’m also a storyteller-in-residence at Porter Square Books in Cambridge and lead the weekly story hour on Wednesdays at 11 a.m. I am the artistic director of Adult Folktale Telling, a local storytelling series devoted to uncensored traditional tale-telling for adults. For more information, please visit doriastories.com, doriastories.blogspot.com and facebook.com/adultfolktaletelling.