In June 2014 the Australian
Fairy Tale Society was launched and part of the vision of the
Society, is to see Fairy Tale discussion and performance groups gather several
times a year, around the country: The Fairy Rings.
The inaugural Fairy Tale Ring, organised
and hosted by the wonderful ethereal Louisa John-Krol, took place in the
Fitzroy gardens on the first hot day of Spring.
Toby Eccles opened the gathering by a
masterful telling of Jack and the Beanstalk, the most well known version having
been collected in Australia by Joseph
Jacobs in the 1860s then published in the UK in English Fairy Tales.
Toby describes his version as having an ‘Australiana twist’. With themes of
drought, images of sandy wide verandahs, meals of bread and dripping, and all
described in Toby’s broad, soft Australian accent and colloquialisms, Jack’s
adventures sat well in thelandscape.
Toby was followed by Zeinab Yazdanfar, with
Aaron Shepard’s version of a tale from Iran, The Magic of Mushkil Gusha
(Australia School Magazine May 1997 and Cricket August 1998). A version also
appears in World Tales by Idries Shah. Zeinab’s first language is Farsi and she
read the story, in English. As listeners we felt privileged to witness a new
friend taking her first steps to becoming a re-teller of folk tales.
It was a joy to listen to Cindy-Lee Harper telling
two stories given to her by a Wiradjuri elder many years ago. CL herself has a
heritage that can be traced back to the Pyemarriner People of North East
Tasmania and while not identifying as Aboriginal, she has explored this
connection in her storytelling and work. In recent time CL has been enjoying
writing more than telling and you can read one of her stories that illustrates
her connection to the Pymarriner HERE
Louisa followed with an improvised and
collaborative telling of Cecino the Tiny from the anthology World
Tales by Idries Shah. With Tiahna whirling and spinning her hula
hoop into the story impromptu, it was both engaging and very funny.
Thank you to Toby (and his family), Louisa,
Teena, Jackie, Lylah, Cath, Zeinab, Cindy-Lee, Lucy, Tiahna and Mary-Lou for
rocking up to tell, listen and foster a new storytelling venture in Melbourne.
You can follow Louisa’s adventures on her
glorious website HERE
pics from north to south: Toby, Zeinab, Cindy Lee, Tiahna, Louisa
