I offer Storytelling sessions for groups of all ages:
– Schools
– Special Needs Groups
– Social Groups and Clubs
– Care Homes
– Museums and Castles
– Festivals
– Parties, Weddings and Family Groups
In addition to traditional folk and fairy tales, I can create a tailored “set list” for your event to fit in with your festival theme, party or school project. I do also love to dress up and have a number of costumes to fit with the themes. I’m always eager to learn new stories though, so if you have a theme which is not covered below, please ask!
Musical accompaniment can often be incorporated. I can modify my presentation to suit all ages and abilities – Doric/Scots can be used to add an additional flavour to the storytelling as well as puppets and props!
Prehistory – In the summer of 2001, I started volunteering at Archaeolink Prehistory Park near Oyne – now sadly closed. This was where I started telling stories from prehistory – mainly from the Iron Age at the time of Scotland’s Roman Invasion (approx 84 AD) but also from the Bronze Age and Mesolithic/Neolithic (Stone Age) period. I am now a founder member of The Rhynie Wifies – a local all-female living history group who specialise in the Prehistory of Scotland. Click here to seeThe Rhynie Wifies on Facebook.
I can come in Stone, Bronze, Iron Age/Pictish, Viking or Medieval costume and bring various props with me depending on your needs or special topics (such as food production, clothing, dying and textiles etc.).
Making butter and telling a story
Iron Age Stories include:
Silly Billy (Celts vs Romans)
The Goat’s Skull (A druid must find the perfect man)
Nettle Soup (How a wee lassie saved her village)
Brat and Garat (Two brothers face the Wickerman!)
The Curse of Scotland (The creation of Scotland’s most fearsome foe)
Aurora Dances (A creation myth of the Northern Lights)
The Maiden Stone (A Pictish tale from the Chapel of Garioch)
The Longest Harvest (Farming trickster tale)
Viking Tales
The Lay of Thrym (Thor’s Wedding)
Thor and Loki’s visit to Utgard
The Death of Baldur
Idun’s Apples
Skadi’s Wedding
The Auld Wifie, The Coo and the Vikings
Mael Brigte’s Revenge
Tales and Songs of the Sea
I can come in costume as an 1880s Scottish Fishwife, complete with creel and puppet pal Elsie, and can bring a bit of my knowledge from my Fisher Folk background. Stories cover the hardships and superstitions of fisherfolk life as well as the various dangers at sea. Traditional (and some more modern) songs can be incorporated in to the set too!
Stories include:
The Fisherman and the Flounder
The Boddam Sea Serpent
The Mermaid’s Ring
The Selkie’s Bride
Morag, The Sea Serpent
Assipattle and the Mester Stoorwurm
The Fishwife and the Changeling
Why The Sea Is Salt
Kitty and the Blue Men O The Minch
Songs include:
The Bonnie Ship The Diamond
The Silver Darlings
Tatties and Herring
The Fisherman’s Lassie
Come A Ye Fisher Lassies
The Boddamers Hung The Monkey-O
Fairweel Tae Tarwathie
Nature and the Environment, Climate Change – this is a very popular theme which covers a wide range of topics. I can come dressed as one of the old earth goddesses and tell stories about the mythology of the earth, wild animals, Scotland’s wildlife, gardens and farming… The list is endless!
Stories include:
The Green Man (How the legend of the nature deity endures)
How Bear Lost His Tale (A traditional North American legend)
Auld Craobhie (The earth hides great riches but punishes those who take advantage)
The Boy Who Became King By Planting A Seed
Tidalick the Thirsty Frog (Aboriginal folk tale)
The Giant Squirrel (Algonquian folk tale)
The Salmon of Knowledge (Irish Legend)
The Wolf’s Eyelashes (Chinese Tale)
King Solomon and the Bee (A mere bee saves the day!)
The Blue Rose
Not Quite Right (A tale of Mother Nature)
How the Monkey got Mischief
The Rainbow Crow (Traditional North American legend)
Koi and the Kola Nuts (Liberian Folk Tale)
The Great Flood (Llamas, not Noah, save the world)
Science
A set of stories which will get both children and adults thinking about science and the world around us.
Have you ever wondered what the world was like when we didn’t know so much? Why were the stars in the sky and who made it rain? Why did the up stay up and the down stay down? Why did the owl not sleep at night and why did the frog always live near water? Why did we have night and day, winter and summer?
My set of science stories covers Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics, Geography, Astronomy, Medicine… the list goes on. See below for more details.
Stories include
How Raven Brought The Sun (Astronomy)
The Legend of Orion and Scorpio (Astronomy)
The Legend of the Milky Way (Astronomy)
Kumukahe’s Race (Volcanoes, Geography – leading on to the 1816 eruption of Mount Tambora, the Year Without Summer and Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein)
Duban The Sage (Medicine, Forensic Science, Leprosy, Antibiotics)
The Struggle of Sun and Rain (Weather)
The Rainbow Crow (Weather, Seasons, Climate Change)
Aurora Dances (The Northern Lights)
The Legend of Persephone (Weather, Seasons)
Einstein’s Driver
Archimedes and The Crown (Chemistry, Physics. Why blacksmiths are lame in mythology)
Famous Hoaxes (Evolution, Piltdown Man, The Furry Fish)
Tiddalik The Frog (Evolution, Climate Change)
Mr Twit’s Odious Ale (Microbiology, Brewing)
Space
Many societies have explanations for what they see in the sky – the Greek legends of the stars being just the beginning! Join me on a journey across the sky!
Stories include:
The River In The Sky (A Vietnamese explanation for the Milky Way)
The Buried Moon (A traditional story from the north of England)
How Raven Stole The Sun (North American legend)
The Moon (One of the stories collected by the Grimm Brothers)
The Boy Who Wanted A Star Of His Own (For the little ones)
Anansi and the Sky Kingdom
The Stupid Prince (He thought the moon was made of cheese!)
Why The Sky Is So High (Bengal Legend)
The Mouse Who Was To Marry The Sun
How The Sun Fell In Love With The Moon
Light and Dark
Stories include:
How Bat Brought the Darkness
Four Candles (No, not the Two Ronnies sketch!)
The Farmer’s Bridge
Blowing the Candle Out
Three Princesses
The King and the Lamp
How Sun Fell In Love With The Moon
The Buried Moon
How Raven Stole The Sun
The Moon (collected by the Grimm Brothers)
How Anansi Brought The Sun
Charles Darwin
The audience will help me plot the young Darwin’s voyage across the world on The Beagle and will hear stories about the places, animals and people he enountered on his journey.
Strong Women and Gallus Quines
A set of feminist tales from around the world which can incorporate a couple of traditional Scottish Ballads. Stories include:
The Auld Wifie, The Coo and The Vikings
All Three!
Tatterhood
The Bedouin Wife
Queen Anahit
Eppie Moray
Three Strong Women
Pele’s Race
Wullie’s Ghost
Pirates
Always a popular topic for children! I can mix these stories in with various sea shanties and come as my pirate character, Mad Polly Rowiemuncher (the quartermistress!)
Stories include:
Emmy Tot (A true Scottish Heroine!)
Ocean Born Mary
Ralph The Rover and Inchcape Bell
Dem Hidden Bones
The Sympathetic Pirate (and his bear!)
Jack Warrender and the Standing Stones
Scotland
A great many of my favourite stories are Scottish in origin – many I have learned from the Scottish Traveller storyteller Stanley Robertson but also from the writing of Duncan Williamson and many others.
Stories include:
Auld Craobhie (from Stanley Robertson)
The Lass that Married a Selkie
Sawney Bean
The Gaberlunzie King
Assipattle and the Mester Stoorwurm
The Man with no Story to Tell
The King and the Lamp
The Laird O Morphie (A Kelpie Tale!)
Death In A Nut
Traditional Scottish songs can also be included into the mix – most of these come with an explanatory story.
Songs include:
The Unquiet Grave
The College Boy
Bogie’s Bonnie Belle
McGinty’s Meal And Ale
Lord Gregory
Mrs Greig of Sandlaw
The Ploomin Laddies
Local Myths and Legends
I particularly love myths, legends and stories from my own neck of the woods! (Aberdeenshire)
Stories include:
St Nathalan (A Pictish Nobleman’s son who became a saint)
The Maiden Stone (A Pictish Tale from the Chapel of Garioch)
Mary Elphinstone (The tale of a lass who was buried alive!)
Tad Losgann (King Malcom Canmore’s Wild Boar)
Osbarn The Smith (A gory ending to a story from Kildrummy)
The Boddamers Hung The Monkey-O (Accompanied with the song)
The Wizard Laird of Skene
The Stone Circle Curse
Fairies
The world would be a much duller place without the mischief of the fairy folk! I can come dressed as my fairy character and bring my fuzzy wee fairy friend Fizzy.
Stories include:
The Woman That Flummoxed The Fairies (Fairy tale originating in Durris)
Fairy One Step (written by Monty Python’s Terry Jones)
The Leprechaun’s Gold
The Arabian Nights
These ancient tales from the east of the brave Scherezade still captivate audiences today and I have to admit I’m a huge fan. Many tales are still relevant today!
Stories include:
The Giant Fart!
The Little Hunchback
The 12 Brothers
Duban The Wise Man
A Dream of Treasure
The Lamp That Came With The Tide
Easter and Spring
Stories include:
The Easter Bunny (Where DID such a curious beast come from?)
King Solomon and the Bee
A Much Shorter Tale
Not Quite Right
How Raven Stole The Sun
How Honey Bees Got Their Sting
How Rabbit Lost His Tail
Halloween and Ghosts
Halloween is absolutely my favourite time of the year – and who doesn’t love a ghost story? Spooky tales for all ages (Set list may be limited by age group of audience)
Stories include:
Mary Elphinstone (The tale of a lass who was buried alive!)
The Ghost Bride (From the telling of Stanley Robertson)
Cauld Johnnie (A most unfriendly guardian of the dead)
The Wine Tower (Traditional ghost story from Fraserburgh)
The Irish Smith (The origin of the neep lantern)
Blood Will Tell (Based on the notion of”Trial By Blood”)
Mr Fox (Traditional English Tale)
The Horseman’s Word
Kitty Rankie
The Vampire Field
Twa Corbies (Traditional Scottish Song)
4 Blue Bonnets (A tale of witches)
Black Mary and White Mary (From the telling of Stanley Robertson)
Tales from the Christmas Tree
For Christmas events, I can provide a set of stories called “Tales from The Christmas Tree” – a set of decorations are hung upon a Christmas Tree and there is a different story attached to each one. The audience can take turns to select their story. Christmas Elf costume available!
Adults Only
It seems a bit of a modern misunderstanding that stories are just for children – they certainly are not! But some stories are best told without the little ones present, whether it’s due to the scary, mature or just downright cheeky subject matter!
Stories include:
Sandy’s Trip Tae Aiberdeen
All Three! (A fiesty young lass gets revenge on a miser)
Reasons to Beat Your Wife (Egyptian Bedouin women’s tale)
Only God Can Judge A Woman In Love
The King of the Dogs (A Scottish Creation Myth?)
Songs include:
The Dottered Auld Carl
A Maiden Came To London Town
Pauline Cordiner - Scottish Storyteller 