troubadour heart storytelling
The stories of the world are living moments, shared by all. Stories open the human mind, heart and attention. Troubadour Heart Storytelling, a unique storytelling module in Claudia Dudley's teaching curriculum, brings the magic of world stories into any setting. These include many of the world’s great myth cycles, as well as heroic spiritual epics largely unknown in America. Magic, heroism, romance, and above all, intelligence, permeate the traditional stories and myth cycles of the world.
In her work with hundreds of students and also with adults, Claudia Dudley has seen how children of all ages are entranced by stories, especially when accompanied by live music. These stories express the wisdom of the ages, and in “story-space," which is the extraordinary silence between listening and telling, this wisdom can penetrate the heart.
“Imagine a classroom filled with little learners captivated by stories filled with adventure and suspense and love and hope. The best thing of all is that the stories are not from any type of screen. They are being given in the oral tradition. Told by the most amazing storyteller. Claudia tells the stories with such feeling. She brings stories from all lands. She can tailor her storytelling to whatever you might be focusing on at the time. Claudia has a gift and loves sharing it.”
TROUBADOUR HEART STORY REPERTOIRE
Indian Myths and Stories
The Mahabharata: The epic story of five brothers and their wife, and a battle between kinsmen that almost destroys the world (told in 12-14 stories).
The Ramayana: The story of the god-hero Rama and his wife Sita, and the demon king Ravana who abducts Sita (told in 14-16 stories).
Tales of Krishna: Stories of the beloved blue god-hero from his childhood through young manhood (told in 8 stories).
Individual Indian Stories
Savitri and the Lord of Death; The Broken String; The Rat Princess
Image: "Ganesh writing the Mahabharata", public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The Arthurian Cycle (Britain)
Tales of Merlin, King Arthur, Guenevere, Lancelot, Morgaine le Fay, and the Knights of the Round Table (told in 7-9 stories).
Image: King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (c. 1470). Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Egyptian Myths
Stories of the sun god Ra, the mother-goddess Isis and her beloved husband Osiris, their jealous brother Seth, and Horus, son of Isis and Osiris (told in 8 stories).
Image: The Weighing of the Heart from the Book of the Dead, public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Greek Myths
Classic Greek tales of Zeus, Demeter, Hades, Persephone, Pandora, Orpheus, and other gods and goddesses (told in 10-13 stories).
Image: Pandora Opens the Box, by Walter Crane. 1892. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Norse Myths
Stories of the Northern gods and goddesses: Odin, Freya, Frigg, Loki, Balder; of Ragnarrok ( Day of Destiny), and the Twilight of the Gods (told in 10 stories).
Image: Frey, Thor, and Odin. From Journeys Through Bookland (1922), public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Tales from Tibet
Tales of Gesar: Adventures of the great Tibetan spiritual hero Gesar and his beloved wife Brougmo (told in 13 stories).
The Milarepa Cycle: True spiritual folktale of a youth who commits murder, and then slowly transforms into Tibet’s most beloved saint (told in 11 stories).
Image: Mural, Gesar of Tibet; public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The Quan Yin Cycle
Tales of the Buddhist Goddess of Mercy, from before her incarnation as a young princess through death and transformation into the goddess.
Also known as Kwan Yin or Guanyin, she is often revered by Taoists as an Immortal (told in 6-8 stories).
Image: Guanyin statue in Water Moon pose (11th Century Liao China). From Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Hawaiian Mythology
Stories of Pele, the goddess of volcanoes; thought to be the creator of volcanoes on the Hawaiian islands.
(As legend goes, Pele lives in the crater Halemaʻumaʻu at Kilauea, on the island of Hawaii.)
Image: Kilauea, oil painting by by Charles Furneaux, c. 1880s-1890s. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Celtic and British Isles Folklore
The Story ofTaliesin, (early Bythonic poet of sub-Roman Great Britain); The Land of Promise;
Belena, the Magic Cow; Ywenec; The Beautiful Etain; The Young Tamlin (also called Tam Lin of Scotland);
St. George and the Dragon (early Christian tale from the Crusades period); The Monkey’s Paw (19thCentury ghost story)
Image: an original page from the manuscript of The Book of Taliesin, or Llyfr Taliesin, c. early 14th Century.
Written in Welsh. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Middle Eastern and Islamic Tales
The Arabian Nights, also known as One Thousand and One Nights, tales from the Islamic Golden Age.
Collected from Middle Eastern and South Asian tales of myriad ancient roots.
Scherazade; The Ebony Horse; Aladdin; Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
Image: Illustration from a Persian version of One Thousand and One Nights, c. 1850s. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
The Monkey King (China)
The Monkey King (or, Sun Wukong): Popular Chinese epic of Monkey, seeker of immortality, and his companions (told in 8-10 stories).
Individual tales from China and Japan include:
The Tongue-Cut Sparrow (Japan); Sima with the Big Hat (Japan); The Island of Horaizon (Japan);
The Weaving of a Dream (China); Lac Dragon Lord (Vietnam); The Fourth Question (China)
Image: Sun Wukong and Xuanzang from Journey to the West, 1864. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Native American Legends
The Legend of the Peacekeeper: Tales of Deganawiddah, semi-mythical Onondaga leader
who brought the centuries-long Great Peace to tribes of Eastern America (Iroquois; told in 6 stories).
Individual Native American Stories
Skeleton Woman; Legend of the Bluebonnet; Jumping Mouse; Little Green Ugly Frog; Spearfinger; Grandmother Spider; How Coyote Made the Stars.
Image: Coyote in a Canoe, 1915. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Other Individual Fairy Tales and Myths
Vasalisa the Beautiful, The Firebird (Russia); The Goddess Inanna (Assirya); The Maiden in the Castle of Rosy Cloud (Sweden); The Golem (Jewish);
Bluebeard, The Clown of God, East of the Sun and West of the Moon (Central Europe)
Twelve Dancing Princesses, Faithful John, King Thrushbeard, The Fisherman and His Wife, The Three Sillies,
The Handless Maiden, The Goosegirl (Brothers Grimm)
The King of Togo Togo, The Great Debate (Africa)