East London was getting a bit too crowded for Thembi and becoming way too small because in every corner she turned there they were, Tsepo and his fiance. Thembi had tried to convince herself many times that she did not care about him anymore but deep down inside she still loved him and she thought [...]

“Good Morning Teacher” echoed the class. “Good Morning children” said Miss Lucy. Miss Lucy was every child’s favorite because of her innovative ideas of teaching and for those interesting things she told. “I hope all of you have brought something I asked you to bring today…” asked Miss Lucy. “Yes Teacher…” echoed the class. “And [...]

Professor Brian Sturm presents storytelling as a way of organizing information, conveying emotions, and building community. A model of storytelling as altered state of consciousness (the story trance) is presented that inlcudes 16 portals to altered states. Three stories are told to illustrate the theoretical model: Truth and Story; What happens when you really listen; [...]

In China, as I dare say you know, the Emperor is a Chinaman, and all his courtiers are also Chinamen. The story I am going to tell you happened many years ago, but it is worth while for you to listen to it, before it is forgotten. The Emperor’s Palace was the most splendid in [...]

In a certain village there lived two people who had both the same name. Both were called Klaus, but one owned four horses and the other only one. In order to distinguish the one from the other, the one who had four horses was called Big Klaus, and the one who had only one horse, [...]

This is a story I wrote on my blog: When I was young I used to enjoy watching a program by Bill Cosby called “Kids Say The Darndest Things.” Basically Mr Cosby would ask the kids some questions and the kids would just answer. What was special about these answers is that they were so [...]

Audio Story: Blacksmith’s Note “Near the end of Sui Dynasty there was a poor scholar who lived in Taiyuan City. This scholar earned his meager income from teaching. His home was near an official storehouse. One day he went into it and found several thousand strings of cash. He could not help taking some of [...]

Once upon a time there lived an old couple who had one son called Martin. Now when the old man’s time had come, he stretched himself out on his bed and died. Though all his life long he had toiled and moiled, he only left his widow and son two hundred florins. The old woman [...]

TEDstories: Iranian-born artist Shirin Neshat explores the paradox of being an artist in exile: a voice for her people, but unable to go home. In her work, she explores Iran pre- and post-Islamic Revolution, tracing political and societal change through powerful images of women.   Link to this post!

Once upon a time there lived an old couple who had three sons; the two elder were clever, but the third was a regular dunce. The clever sons were very fond of their mother, gave her good clothes, and always spoke pleasantly to her; but the youngest was always getting in her way, and she [...]