Video gallery
These folk tales are posted here to share them with a wider audience.
They also show the range of my storytelling and give a flavour of a live performance.
The recordings were made in various theatres on non-professional equipment.
New tales are added about once a month, as recording conditions in performances permit.
The videos listed below are in chronological order, so the top links are the most recently added.
(For an alphabetical list of all the tales on the website – audio, text and video – go to all tales).
Tales to watch
- 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 - The Pleiades
A Swedish tale showing how this constellation came to be in the sky - 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 - Mr Fox
A favourite tale of horror from England - 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 - Tailor and his Wife
A favourite comic tale from Scotland – for adults - Pedlar of Swaffham
How a man became rich through a dream – a popular Norfolk legend - Shitting Donkey (extract)
How Jack tricked the landlord out of the rent - 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 - Death in the Nut
A powerful tale in which Jack learns that death is essential to life - 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 - Cruel Sister (including harp music)
A blind harper brings justice - 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 - Khan’s Riddles
A wedding story - 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. - Squire’s Bride
A Norwegian folk tale which shows what happens when a man of a certain age begins to think of marrying a pretty young girl (9 min of the story) - 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 - Wife’s Letter
A Surinam folk tale showing the power of the written word - 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) - Jack goes Hunting
Can a man really make his wife happy? - Old Woman and her Pig
A clip of the last line of this old English chain story
Go here for tales to watch
Go here for a list of all tales included on this site
Go here to receive an e-mail notification when new tales are added
Permission to tell outlines my views on copyright
For those who are teachers: Telling stories in the classroom: basing language teaching on storytelling