Showing results by author "Bill Gordh" in All Categories

Seven children (traditionally told with boys) are playing a rock game in the space where the dances are held in the village. The mothers call for the children to gather some corn so they can make corn soup. The kids just keep playing. The mothers keep asking. They keep playing. The mothers get mad and put rocks in the soup.

Gecko eats a mosquito. Yum. Then he settles into sleep. Gecko can't sleep. Firefly keeps flashing its lights. Gecko goes to the chief. Chief goes to the firefly. Firefly says it's Woodpecker who is knocking on a tree, trying to tell everyone there is an earthquake, and that is why firefly is flashing. Chief goes to Woodpecker. Woodpecker says it got the message from Frog. Frog says it is not saying that. It is saying that Ox is dropping plop on the road. Ox says it is just trying fill potholes caused by Rain.

Sister Fox tries to get Br'er Rabbit by inviting him to go fishing with her on her rowboat. She knows that he can't swim, and she is tired of being tricked. She also knows that he loves fish and will not pass up an opportunity like getting to fish from a rowboat. They get out in the middle of the lake and sit there singing. Sister Fox is singing about her favorite lunch - rabbit! Br'er Rabbit cannot swim and is getting nervous.

A father and son went to camp out in the forest and do some hunting. They found a place to set up camp. Before going to sleep, the father told the boy some stories including one about the monster that lived in the forest. The boy fell asleep and his father went to do some night hunting. The boy woke up, was scared and went looking for his father. His father had heard an animal up in the trees and climbed a tree to hunt. The boy heard his father in the tree and called to him. The father was startled and thought it was the forest monster.

A boy was always wishing for things he didn't have. An old magician told the boy if he put salt on a magpie's tail, he could have any wish he made. The boy went out with salt into the woods. All the magpies flew away. One finally spoke with him and told him if he brought her a nice clasp knife, she would let him put salt on her tail.

A fox is walking down a path when it is pounced on by a hungry tiger. Fox has to do some quick thinking. It asks the tiger if it really means to eat the leader of the forest. Tiger says it would not eat the leader of the forest, but Fox is not the leader.

There is a harvest festival in the village. Everyone contributes. Coyote and his wife decide to make a vegetable stew. He tells her if she will clean the pot and boil the water, he will do the rest of the work. In the morning, she does her work and when the water is boiling, wakes Coyote to do the rest. He makes excuses to get her to do the work of gathering the vegetables. This happens again and again until the stew is all ready, except for salt. She tells Coyote to travel to Salt Lake to get the salt.

Bush Cat lies down under a tree to nap. Monkey comes along and decides to play a trick. Monkey ties Bush Cat's tail to the tree. Later Bush Cat wakes up and can't get away. Bush Cat asks Snail to untie its tail. Snail agrees once Bush Cat promises not to eat Snail. Once Bush Cat is free, Bush Cat wants to catch Monkey and decides on a trick. Bush Cat asks Snail to tell all the animals that Bush Cat is dead under the tree. This way when the animals come to dance around and sing in honor of their friend, Bush Cat can jump up and catch Monkey.

The stars used to sing and dance in the nighttime sky. Coyote brags that he sings with the stars. The other animals laugh. Then he asks them if they ever hear him howling at night. They say yes, and he announces that that is him singing with the stars. He has their attention now and he doesn't want to lose it, so he adds some more to his story.

Caterpillar is small but has a big voice. When Rabbit goes out and leaves her door open, Caterpillar decides to play a trick on rabbit. It crawls inside rabbit's house and slams the door. When rabbit returns, she gets scared because she sees scratchy marks on the ground and her door is closed. She asks who's in her house.

Lion was declared king and invited all the animals to come for a greeting, so he could thank them all. Little Ant was representing all the ants and she was so excited she got up extra early and got to the greeting place before any other animals. She didn't care.

Nasruddin made a bet with some friends that he could stand all night long outside, in the middle of the square, with no clothes on. They all said it was too cold. They all decided that if he could make it through the night with no heat, they would make him dinner, and if he failed he would cook them dinner. He went into the square. As it got later it got colder. Colder and colder and colder. Nasruddin was about to give up and go inside to get warm when he saw a candle in a window across the square.

Spider wants scrambled eggs for breakfast but doesn't want to cook them. He pretends to have a stomach ache. He begs his wife to go to the doctor. She goes. Spider takes a shortcut and gets to the Doctor's house. Spider knows the doctor is not home. Spider goes in and pretends to be the Doctor. When the wife gets there, Spider tells her through the door to feed Spider scrambled eggs. She goes back home. Spider rushes back home and gets back into bed.

Spider is walking through the jungle one day when he hears about a party that is to happen in the east. He decides he will go, as there will be lots to eat and drink. He walks on and hears about a party in the west, then on and hears about a party in the north and then one in the south. He wants to go to all the parties, but he neglected to find out the times they started. He just knows they are all on the same night. He gets an idea. He asks four of his cousins to come over.

Award-winning storyteller Bill Gordh (Film Advisory Board Award of Excellence winner, National Association of Parenting Periodicals Gold Award winner) presents this folk tale live with no script, accompanied only by his own dynamic banjo playing.

A hunter is out and hears some geese flying in formation overhead. They are singing! He shoots one of them, and it falls from the sky but continues singing. He brings it home, and he and his wife pluck out its feathers. As each feather is plucked, it flies out the window. They put the goose in the oven, and they can still hear it singing from inside the oven. After a while they bring out the goose and put it on a platter on their dining table. Just then the flock of singing geese come flying through the window.

The village is next to the lagoon. The people fish with spears standing in the shallow waters. Time goes by and they are not getting any fish. They don't know what to do. They go to their chief. He seems to be in a dream and does not offer them any suggestions. Time goes by. Still no luck.

The rabbits lived near a beautiful pond up in the hills. The elephants bathed and drank from a pond to the south. The elephants' pond dried up. They began looking for a new pond. Finally they came to the rabbits' pond. When they saw it, the elephants stampeded toward the water. The rabbits went flying in every direction as the elephants stomped around in the water, spraying and playing. The rabbits did not know what to do. The old grandmother rabbit got an idea.

Brahma throws a party for the animals, and one representative of every kind of animal heads for the party. The celebration begins. Everyone is there except Turtle. Brahma wonders where Turtle is, but the party goes on. Finally Turtle arrives. Brahma asks Turtle why it is so late. It says it wanted to come to the party, but every time it started to leave home it started missing home and stayed a little longer.

Little Half Chick was just that - a half-chick! But he was tired of the farm and thought he deserved a better life. He decided to go and visit the king in Madrid. He hopped along. Along the way, he hopped over a bridge.