Monkey Misery
A Haitian tale with a warning: be careful what you ask for
Video not yet publicly available
This tale has been recorded and will be uploaded to the video gallery in early September, 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.
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. (This is what started my own telling career.)
Hugh's 2019 publication Tales of Wisdom and Wonder has a text.
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