Monkey Misery
A Haitian tale with a warning: be careful what you ask for
This tale, collected by Diane Wolkstein in Haiti, became well known when published in her book The Magic Orange Tree (1978).
In 1990 I was fortunate enough to hear it told by Hugh Lupton when hosting the Company of Storytellers for a weekend (an important impetus in starting my own telling career).
Hugh's 2019 publication Tales of Wisdom and Wonder has a text.
Another version is in Allison Galbraith's Funny Folk Tales for Children, (History Press - and conveniently available as an eBook).
The video clips here are all amateur quality, shot in various theatres or, as here, in my home studio.
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