Intent To Tell by Steve Gladwin

Many years ago, when I first came to Wales, I got into conversation with a storyteller friend about repertoire. What would and wouldn’t we tell? My friend surprised me by saying that she preferred to stick to the tales - of her ‘homeland’, ie of northern Europe. When it came to stories outside that area and those of those of ‘native peoples’ in particular, she didn’t feel  comfortable telling the ‘sacred tales of other people’. I couldn’t agree with her but then I couldn’t exactly disagree either. In the intervening years I’ve often wondered whether she changed her mind about this. Recently I’ve had reason to consider this issue again and whether there is a particular ‘way’ which we should tell stories.

In November I picked up from my bookshelf one of the many books of traditional tales which have been stacked there for the entire time I have lived here in Wales. (And before!) The book in question was one which I had never got on with. Faded, but still magnificent, I found myself thumbing once again through 'American Indian Myths and Legends' by Erdoes and Ortiz. I’ve owned it for as long as I can remember and just before I left Somerset, I added to my collection their 'American Indian Trickster Tales'. This slimmer volume contains such stories as 'Monster Skunk Farting Everything To Death', (I”m not making this up!). However, although I confess to having read that one once or twice, I had never read either of the actual books.

The books which stayed on the shelf!

But there I was sitting down with it in November - and dear reader - I found myself completely entranced and captivated. If there is such a thing as finding the right time for the right book, surely I had done so. There were I admit, some tales I found complicated, but there were far more which were powerful, vital and often visceral. Almost uniquely in my reading of such volumes I found myself feeling that not only the stories of the people, but also their lives and history were really being captured. More often than not the tales had been recorded from actual sources rather than simply retold. I remember years ago having a similar reaction while reading Neil Philip’s collection of English Folk Tales, a great many of which are also in dialect. But would I tell any of Erdoes and Ortiz’s tales as a storyteller? Why ever not? 

Long before I came to live in Wales I spent a week here on a writers retreat in Lampeter with my then partner and two poets. The retreat turned out to be as much about drinking as writing but that need not concern us here! Besides drinking, I spent most of that week reading my way through Joseph Jacobs Celtic Tales. I was introduced, along with their delicate line drawings, to many tales which would become favourites later.The one which completely hooked me however was called Powell, Prince of Dyfed. Notwithstanding the change of spelling, it comes from the first branch of the collection of Welsh tales called The Mabinogion.

The first appearance of Rhiannon from Joseph Jacobs Powell, Prince Of Dyfed with illustration by John D. Batten.

In October 2014 my first book The Seven was published, concluding a process which had first begun with that early reading of the first ‘branch’, as the four tales are collected. The Seven’s antecedents are firmly in the second ‘branch’, Branwen, Daughter of Lir, as well as other Welsh tales. In The Seven I take a number of liberties with this story. As a writer with an obsession which has lasted for years I never much questioned my right to do so.

My point however is that as a storyteller I would have felt almost bound to question doing that and would therefore have been a great deal more cautious. After all, when you are giving a live performance in Wales, it’s best not to invite the unwelcome attentions of any Mabinafia. I’m sure this applies equally to any country where the audience feel they have a right to hear those tales unblemished or ‘mucked about with’.

I have always felt that what you do as a storyteller depends on your intent in the first place. If you set out to improve without altering the balance, add to without compromising the message, then surely this is permissible. 

Do we always do this as writers? I must confess that I’m not sure. Whereas I would have balked at messing about with the story of Branwen in front of a people for whom it was an essential part of their culture, I’m sure I didn’t question it half as much as a writer adapting a tale to attract an often Welsh readership. My concerns as a writer were all about how I might make the idea work. My editor here in Wales, shared the same concerns.. At no stage did she say to me, ‘You can’t do that with the story of Branwen.’

Several years ago Seren Books in Wales commissioned a number of Welsh writers and poets to write new versions of the Mabinogi stories. I have read only a couple of them including White Ravens by Owen Shears. I felt that while retaining some essence of the original, I also enjoyed his treatment because it went its own way. That is surely how it should be. Another storyteller friend disagreed. She felt that he’d lost the essence of Branwen altogether.

One of the series of Mabinogion retellings by Seren Books.

Whatever the truth, it’s the intent that matters. I feel as I have always done both as a writer and a storyteller. If we set out to do justice to the tales we are telling when we ‘adapt’ them, surely the story gods will be with us. More often than not, we are also old and wise enough to judge when we are doing right or wrong by them and the story.

I also disagree that there is only one set way to tell a story. Or the idea that they can only be told with a certain rhyme, rhythm and cadence. The Kalevala chanted to suitable musical accompaniment might make for a thrilling experience, but few of us are linguistically equipped well enough to understand it. Once a story leaves the oral tradition, or its natural land, something of its power may is lost. Should that however prevent us from trying to recapture it with the abilities we have. More often than not nowadays, that recapturing is done by writers as much as storytellers.

Should there then be different responsibilities for an 'oral' storyteller, to those of us who are 'retelling' a story it as a writer? How concerned should we be with having the right intent?
Lastly is there any right or wrong way to tell a story? I'd love to hear your thoughts.


Native American Myths and Legends and Native American Trickster Tales, (which includes Monster Skunk Farting Everything To Death) are published by Pantheon Books.

Getting hold of a complete volume of Joseph Jacobs Celtic Fairy Tales doesn't appear to be easy but Pook Press do a nice selection with an arresting cover and the John Batten illustrations.

Seren Books have commissioned all of the retellings of The Mabinogion, with often very interesting results.

Storyteller Fiona Collins wonderful retelling Pryderi, for The History Press in her Ancient tales Retold series, tells the story of the one character whose life spans the entire four branches.
http://www.thehistorypress.co.uk/index.php/ancient-legends-retold-the-legend-of-pryderi-24046.html

My own offshoot The Seven - a retelling of Branwen amongst other things is available from Pont Books.