The Blacksmith’s Dilemma
A dilemma tale from East Africa
What can you do when the omnipotent king gives you an impossible task?
Folk tales often show how power can be confronted.
Video not yet publicly available
This tale has been recorded and will soon be uploaded to the video gallery, where it will be available to watch for free – together with many, many other tales.
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If you have a particular reason for wanting to watch the recording before it is publicly available, send a mail and we can discuss this.
Tales about blacksmiths are many and ancient. The Blacksmith and the Devil is reckoned by some anthropologists to be the oldest they can trace back – to 8000 years ago.
This recording was made at my annual Amnesty International benefit performance in 2019.
I first found the tale here.
Not surprisingly, the devil is a popular motif in folk tales. Here are a few more I have recorded over the years.
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