Video gallery

Tales to watch

• Tale of a Tailor
  One of the shortest folk tales, here shortened to 60 seconds
• The Cruel Sister (including harp music)
  A blind harper brings justice
• The Squire’s Bride
  What a man of a certain age learns when he thinks he can marry a pretty young girl
• Parrot’s Prayer
  A favourite tale for adults, showing the power of prayer
• Hänsel’s Stepmother
  The dark truth behind a well-known tale
• The Wife’s Letter
  A tale from Surinam which shows the power of the written word
• The Wood of 100 Oaks (view on Storyflix)
  An old tale of young love – and the power it gives to live happily ever after
• Mary and her Sheep
  A tale which shows it is possible for a husband and wife to live happily together
• The Shoemaker and the Elves
  A Christmas tale from the Brothers Grimm
• Khan’s Riddles
  A new recording of a wonderful wedding story
• Worm in the Whisky
  One of the many great tales about Scotland’s national drink
• Tortoise Wins the Spicy Food Competition
  Spicy peppers are great, but your mouth may need cooling down – Trickster Tortoise has the answer
  (accompanying Activity Teaching Pack available)
• The Three Crones
  A bawdy Italian fairy tale – of and for the imagination
• Tortoise Called “All of You”
  Can a smooth-talking trickster fill his belly? This Nigerian tale warns that pride can lead to a fall
• The Tailor and his Wife
  Not enough money in your pocket? This bawdy Scottish tale has one answer
• The King’s New Robe
  An Arabian trickster tale which H.C. Andersen drew on for one of his most famous stories
  
• The Wounded Selkie
  A tale of hate, revenge, forgiveness, reconciliation and understanding
• The Lute Player
  A Russian fairy tale of enslavement and liberation
• Frightened Mouse
  A telling based on The Sage and the Mouse, in the Indian collection, The Hitopadesha 
  (accompanying Activity Teaching Pack available)
• Mouse with the Long Tail (with harper Peter Wucherpfennig)
  An Italian fairy tale told for adults: loathing turns to longing, and thence to love
  
• Mr Fox
  A folk tale of horror – speaking across the centuries to #MeToo teenagers
  (accompanying Activity Teaching Pack available)
• Silent Princess
  An Oriental fairytale
• Death in the Nut
  A powerful tale in which Jack learns that death is essential to life
• Jack and the Shitting Donkey
  How Jack tricked the landlord – and for three years running
• Shipwright and the Witches
  An English tale of mathematics and how Jack escaped the gallows while building a ship for the king
• Birbal and Akbar’s Missing Thumb
  The enforced proximity of the coronavirus lockdown makes this old tale strangely appropriate
• Old Woman and her Pig
  Will the old woman get home before midnight?
• Sack of Truth
  An Italian tale of herding rabbits, and of three different kisses
• Travelling Man and the Bed
  A tale of temptation
• The Pleiades (told for World Storytelling Day, 20.03.20)
  A Swedish fairytale telling of the voyage of seven young people, and where it took them
• Old Rinkrank
  A Grimms’ fairytale in which a young girl becomes a woman
• Jack goes Hunting
  Can a man really make his wife happy?
• Strongest of Them All
  Jack finds he is not the strongest after all
• Nasruddin Saves a Man
  The hodja finds that what works once, may not work twice
• Bee, the Harp, the Mouse and the Bum-clock
  An Irish Jack tale to lift your heart
• Pomegranates and Patience
  A Sufi tale of what a patient needs from a doctor
• Jimmy No-Story
  A Scottish tale showing how important it is to have a story to tell
• Free Melons
  A storyteller’s problem
• The Carpenter
  A tale of anger overcome
• Missing a Moral
  A great encore for an adult audience
• Land Where No One Ever Dies
  An Italian folk tale dealing with one of our last taboos
• King who was a Gentleman
  What does it mean to be a gentleman? An Irish tale of a king who thought he was the greatest gentleman in the world
• Calf with the Fattened Ear
  An Ethiopian tale of foolish greed
• The Box under the Bed
  Ever thought of the difference between a joke and a story?
• Foolish Jack
  What happens when you have the right smile
• Drop of Honey
  A highly-topical Burmese folk tale about political responsibility
• The Widow of Ephesus
  From ancient Rome, one of the great satires on marital fidelity
• The Stolen Bairn
  A Scottish fairy tale of a mother’s courage re-uniting her with her child
• Pig with the Wooden Leg
  A tale which explains why I am the cold-hearted man I have become
• Girl from Heaven
  A tale where a man fails to recognise what his wife has to offer. Sounds very contemporary?
• Nasruddin’s Three Sermons
  Nasruddin’s answer to the problems of public speaking
• Prince Hat under the Ground
  A magic-filled Swedish fairytale, drawing on the myth of Amor and Psyche
• Giant and the Squirrel
  A Swedish folk tale
• Greatest Pickpocket
  A great tale – and one of the best punchlines
• Small Bird’s Wisdom
  A Polish tale of how soon wisdom is forgotten
• Nasruddin looking for a Wife
  Many men wish to find the perfect wife, but Nasruddin found there was always a problem
• Why Cats live with Women
  An African tale: the title says it all 
• Boys who wouldn’t listen
  From the classic Indian collection, The Panchatantra
• Merry Wives
  Three wives compete to find whose husband is the most foolish
• Quick-tongued Princess
  A princess who always had to have the last word, and how she met her match
• Three Ugly Aunts
  If you want to marry a prince, this Norwegian fairy tale shows what you really need
• Why Stones do not Die
  A creation myth from the Nupe people, Nigeria
• King Olaf’s Master Builder
  Building a church with demonic help
• Three Sillies
  An English folk tale about silliness and marriage
• Terrified Suitors
  A Danish folk tale of how a young widow managed unwanted attentions
• Woman who was Angry with the Gods
  A Persian tale in which a woman makes sure the gods arrange the world the way she wants
• Three Suitors
  A tale in which the woman has the right to choose
• King Midas and the Touch of Gold
  The classic tale of unintended consequences
• Boy with a Beer Keg
  A battle of wits between a boy and Death
• Cow, the Pig and the Politician
  In Nov. 2016, with politics in the air, I chose this story as an encore for a recent performance
• Tops or Bottoms
  How a clever farmer tricked a giant (and how the blue-black potato Vitelotte first came to earth)
• Sonnet 18
  Not a traditional tale, but Shakespeare’s gift of immortality is one of my favourite poems – so here it is
• Boys and God
  A tale all parents will understand
• What brings Happiness
  Is it fate, or do we decide ourselves?
• Man who had No Luck
  A storyteller’s response to the UK referendum decision to leave the EU 
• Merry Miller
  How a happy man without a care in the world is rescued from the greatest care of all
• Giant without a Heart
  A Norwegian wonder tale in which the youngest son kills the giant and wins the bride
• Lost Necklace
  A rich and powerful king learns from the wisdom of a woman
• Headache
  Showing why every man needs a good tailor
• King’s Three Delicate Wives
  An Indian folk tale showing the dangers of when a man has foolish ideas of what a woman should be
• Crystal Heart
  Learning the true meaning of beauty, love, life
• Blood-Covered Vampire
  An ever-popular tale, and not just for Hallowe’en
• What are the People Like?
  An old folk tale of tolerance for today’s world
• The Devil’s Three Golden Hairs
  A great Grimms’ story, told for adults and ending with an all-important moral
• Der Schiffsbauer und die Hexen
  The Shipwright and the Witches – how Jack escapes the gallows while building a ship for the king of England (erzählt auf Deutsch)
• Lindworm
  A powerful adult fairy tale of redemption
• Cat and the Dog
  An Irish version of Aesop’s Tortoise and the Hare, showing why it is that cats sleep by the fire
• Well of the World’s End
  A powerful folk tale of initiation
• Wounded Selkie
  A beautiful Orcadian tale of hate, revenge, forgiveness, reconciliation and understanding
• Jack the Master Thief
  One of the ultimate trickster tales
• Rabbit and the Moon
  A powerful African tale of death and new birth
• Three Useless Sons
  A tale from the Brothers Grimm which all fathers of sons will understand
• Master of All Masters
  An English folk tale of a man who thought he had to teach everyone the language
• First Strawberries
  A Cherokee creation myth of the eternal problems between man and woman – and a solution
• The Candle in the Barn
  A tale in which a father learns wisdom from his daughter
• Nasruddin’s Daughter
  A tale which shows the dangers of having only one story to tell
• Pedlar of Swaffham
  How a man became rich through a dream – a popular Norfolk legend
• Thieves’ Competition
  A tale of trickery as three thieves compete to prove which one is the cleverest
• Gandharva Sen is Dead
  A delightful Bengali tale of too much sympathy
• Sesame Seed
  An Egyptian folktale which teaches a king wisdom
• Wishgiver
  What should a man wish for when offered the chance?
• Blue Rose
  A beautiful wedding story
• Golden Apples with Silver Leaves
  A Swedish wondertale
• Nasruddin’s Cat
  Another wonderful Hodja story
• The Magic Pisspot
  A comic Swedish folk tale
• Mill that ground out Silver Coins
  A comic Swedish folk tale
• Leopard-Eating Dog (video in English plus an audio recording in German)
  A comic tale from the ancient Sanskrit collection, The Panchatantra
• Louse and the Flea
  Another comic tale from The Panchatantra
• Woman’s Work
  A comic Norwegian tale of a man who, at last, manages to learn
• King Midas and his Donkey Ears
  Ovid’s tale of censorship and state secrets
• Butcher’s Tears
  A tale of suffering and compassion
• Magic Pear Tree
  A tale of greed punished
• First Smile
  A tale which shows why women smile more than men
• Milk and Sugar
  A powerful tale of immigration
• Blacksmith and the Devil
  A tale which shows how a blacksmith won against the devil, and also explains those flickering flames of marsh gas known as Jack o’Lantern. A socio-linguistic analysis of this performance is here.
• Three Heads
  The difference between a fool, a wise man and a storyteller
• Deaf Mary
  My telling of a story I first heard from Billy Teare
• King Erysichthon
• A short clip from Ovid’s dark tale of punishment by the gods
• Reason to Beat your Wife
  A tale in which one person really does know the secret of how to have a happy marriage
• What Women Most Desire
  Chaucer included this folk tale in The Canterbury Tales (a short clip from a much longer tale) 

• Online performances – invite me to your classroom

• How to show these videos in the classroom

• Professionally recorded CDs and DVDs are available here