Jack the Master Thief

A great trickster tale from the Brothers Grimm, and told in a number of variants in the British Isles

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In December 2014 I was asked to tell tales at an international conference of probation officers. Naturally I looked for a number of folk tales connected with the themes of crime, punishment and justice, and decided to include this well-known tale.
As so often when putting a programme together, it was a tale I had known but not told for many years. Now, however, it demanded to be told!

A few days later I had my annual Amnesty International benefit performance, and so included it again, which is where this recording was made.

Here is the Grimms’ version.
And here a version by Joseph Jacobs.

Disclaimer

The video clips here are all amateur quality, shot in various theatres.

Their intention is just to show the range of my storytelling and give a flavour of a live performance.

Permission is granted for use in non-commercial educational contexts.

The videos are © Richard Martin.

Professionally recorded CDs and DVDs are available here.

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Permission to tell outlines my views on copyright

For those who are teachers: Telling stories in the classroom: basing language teaching on storytelling