How I learned to tell stories

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in Children's Story, General 1 Comment

I’m not sure I remember when I started telling stories.  At first, my children started asking me about what happened to me when I was little.  I suspected they were looking for stories of how I handled things or what might possibly be coming next for them.  They couldn’t get enough of my childhood and I couldn’t remember enough.  Most people who came near got the childhood story request as well.

I always enjoyed my father-in-law’s stories.  He could tell some wild ones about a 12-foot half-man-half-chicken beast who looked terrible, but was really quite gentle.  He lived under creek bridges and was responsible for much of what’s taken place in modern history.  These were seriously creative and very outlandish.  I certainly enjoyed them.  No matter where he was, he could just go on about this chicken man beast.

I’ve always known about the importance of story telling with children.  I held myself back for a while, but as my children’s behaviors began to ask for what the limits were or how to integrate into a new activity, the stories just started coming.

The first epic was when my girls started hounding me for barbie dolls.  There was no way in Helo that I was going to let those infernal creations into our house.  I started into a story about a big ugly green troll who made plastic dolls (which had less than honorable properties) and brought them into a town in order to sway the children from the good words of their parents and the good ol’ trusted toymaker who used natural materials.  In the end (of the first chapter), the troll was found to be up to no good and the old toymaker convinced the towns people to give the troll a chance to put his toy making skills to good.  He ended up carving wooden horses for the children.  This proceeded on to larger horses that the children could ride on, and thus, the rocking horse.  The troll found he felt much better doing good for the children of the town than being less than honorable.  This story ended up going on for about 20 chapters.

Now, it’s easy to tell stories.  Often when there’s an ideal to aspire to or a behavior to correct or a activity to begin, I can whip up a story and the girls hang on every word.

Old Woman of the Forest

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in Children's Story
Old Woman of the Forest
by
Abraham Williams

A long time ago, deep in the land of Kandahar, there lived an old woman.
No one knew how old she was, but some say she was as old as the moon.
Everyone had always known of her since they could remember.

She had long long long white hair and dark dark dark blue eyes.

In the mornings, she walked through the deep and lively woods.  She made sure all was in order
– The trees were green and strong.
– The rabbits were fed and happy.
– The birds were singing songs for the day.

After her walks, she would always go to the well to fetch her water for the
day… and to make her wishes. Everyday she did this and every day she
wised “For all the good of the world”.

The children of Kandahar all knew of the Old woman of the forest and every Sunday, the
children would walk into the woods and bring food to the Old woman.
They not only came to bring nourishment, they came to listen to her
stories. She told them how the mountains came to be when the earth made
mighty heaves upwards. She told them how the trees loose their leaves
but always grow them back. She also told them about the well. The
children would go to the well with her and listen to her wishes. They
made a few modest wishes of their own. The old woman always said, “You
must always wish for others before yourself. Never yourself first. And,
always say Thank You because your wish will come true.”

The children loved their time with the old woman.

Then, one day the when the children came to visit. The old woman lie ill in
her bed. She could not get up and make sure all was in order. She could
not ensure
– The trees were green and strong.
– The rabbits were fed and happy.
– The birds were singing songs for the day.

And, most of all, she could not go to the well.  All of the children went home, except for one.  Her name was Julianna.

“What ails you old woman of the forest?”, Julianna asked. The old woman said,
“I am old. Old as the moon. It’s time for me to rest my weary bones.
You must go and make sure that all is in order. ” “But I don’t know
what to do.”, Julianna said. The old woman said, “Walk through the
deep and lively woods.  Make sure all is in order.
– The trees are green and strong.
– The rabbits are fed and happy.
– The birds are singing songs for the day.”

“Then you must go to the well. Please fetch my water for the day, and make
your wishes. And Remember, You must always wish for others before
yourself. Never yourself first. And, always say Thank You because your
wish will come true.”

Julianna went walking deep into the lively woods.
– The trees were indeed strong.
– The rabbits were indeed fed and happy.
– And the birds were indeed singing songs for the day.

Julianna
went to the well. She fetched the water and she wished “For all the
good of the world”, just as she had seen the old woman of the forest
do. Then, she made another wish. “I wish for the old woman to be
healthy again.” Julianna wished into the well. Then she brought the
bucket back to the old woman. Once to the house, she found the old
woman standing in the doorway, smiling. “Young Julianna.”, the old
woman said. “You have wished for another and you have wished for me to
be healed. You are a very kind one indeed. ”

“Because youhave healed an old woman out of the kindness of your own dear heart, I
have a gift for you. Please come with me. ” The old woman of the forest
led Julianna down a path to a small stream. “Do you see this stream?”,
said the old woman.

“This stream is what feeds the well. The well is what feeds us. Do you know what feeds the stream, Julianna?”, The old woman asked. “The rain from the sky fills it and the ground
holds it so that we may drink.” The old woman reached into the stream
and pulled out a small stone. “Take this stone with you. It is a
wishing stone. When you find you are lost or in need, think of this
stream and make a wish. And, remember to say Thank you, because your
wish will come true.”

Julianna thanked the old woman and walked back to her home.

Each
Sunday, the children would walk into the woods and bring food to the
Old woman. They not only came to bring nourishment, they came to listen
to her stories. And this is the way it was, because Julianna wished it
so.

Here’s the audio.

About this blog

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in General 3 Comments

First, thanks for taking the time to check out this blog about my
Children’s Audio Stories. I’m looking to publish children’s stories and
you have the opportunity to rate them, get them for free for an unspecified amount of time, or what ever
you like to do with them. That is, except reprint as your own. I own
the copyright to this material and I’m the sole creator, so permission
to reprint is a legal necessity.

If you find something you like,
please don’t hesitate to copy it and put it on your ipod or a CD for
your children to listen to. I love comments. I’ll take comments about
the story, the recording, the tone, or whatever you find important to
note. I will attempt to create one of these every week. This could be
difficult as I am a parent of "I’m almost five" twin girls. Parenting
is the greatest thing I’ve ever done by the way. My kids love to play
and are growing way to fast for me! They also won’t let me out of the
bedroom at night unless I tell them about "The Old Woman of the Forest"
or "Debbie and Tutu". For your information, I’ve tested these stories
on them first.

Once again, thanks for checking out my stories!
If you find you like them, and want more, you can show me you really
like it by donating to my effort.

Entrepreneurship

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in Business 3 Comments

As I was poking around on iwillteachyoutoberich.com, a site of which I enjoy the aspirations of entrepreneurship, I found a reference to Steve Pavlina’s podcast and blog. There’s quite a few interesting items to explore. Polyphasic sleep is one of those items. My only experience with it myself was watching Kramer on Seinfeld stumble hilariously through the episode. Anyway, there was quite a selection of topics of which I found interesting. Another was becoming an early riser; I aspire to such things.

I started reading his experience of briefly becoming an employee at a young age and deciding that was not his path. He later went on to write about his method of financial support and how much time he has on his hands. This is definitely something I’d like to learn about. I’ve been pursuing the subject now rigorously for about 2 years.

Living Memory

Posted by abraham.williams@gmail.com on in Death

My Great Grandmother died a few days ago. She raised my brother and I from about age 2 to 13. I’m 31 now; she was 96. I think it’s quite a luxury in today’s time to have known one’s Great Grandmother well. As couples are having children much later in life (at least in the Bay Area of San Francisco), children are often lucky to have a set of Grandparents who are mobile and energetic.

I began to consider what the Pastor said at the service. He talked about her being physically gone, but also talked about the gift of memory bestowed upon us and how she lives on in our memory. I’ve heard this said many times in other discussions about death. I thought about this in a new light.

My wife is still alive; I can’t describe enough how good this is. She also lives in my memory at the same time. Although, she doesn’t have any conscious knowledge of my memory of her. Meaning, it appears this is totally my experience disconnected from her experience. Physically, this explanation is obvious. However, I imagine she can get hints about how I think of her by my subconscious actions. As the saying goes, thought leads to action.

So, now back to the deceased. Since my memory doesn’t appear to be a soul “link” with my wife where we speak via telepathy (it could be, I would hope it is), then with my deceased grandmother I can only expect it’s the same. This is where my conundrum starts.

I began to think about not my own memory, but my Great Grandmother’s memory. From what I can observe about physical death, it’s gone because the brain is gone. So, all the times we were either nice, mean, or loving to her were also gone to her. Then, another thought came.

If how you treat someone is erased by death, why does it matter how you treat them? Immediately, I understood something I’ve always known but, now, it had a new weight and felt quite profound. The reason it matters is because how you treat someone matters to them when they’re alive, thus it matters to the living. We all have to get along in order to survive. Not so much as about death, our lives are about life with each other.

Any spritualist medium experts around to comment on this one? I’m only seeing the physical side of things.