Since the dawn of time, we've shared stories. They remind us of who
we were, who we are, and who we wish to be. Through
story, our ancestors speak to us, passing on wisdom and truth from the
past, and stories prepare us for the future if only we listen. Welcome
to Episode one of Listen. My name is Daniel Foytech and I love a
good story. Since this is the first episode, I'm going to talk a
little more than I normally will, just so you know what this podcast is
all about. Listen is about one of my favorite activities and if you're here,
hopefully one of yours too. Listening to great stories. Now. About
two years ago, I embarked on a journey as a writer to try to
understand story and storytelling better. I wanted to look at story in all its
forms, from the stories we tell each other every day, to the books
we read, the plays we go to, songs we listen to, and
all the other story forms we've created along the way. As I kept looking
and listening and learning, I found one of the purest and most amazing forms
of storytelling, the original, live, traditional oral storytelling. It's an amazing
form of storytelling honed and perfected since the dawn of time. Really, but
sadly it's not exactly what some would call mainstream anymore. I'm slightly ashamed to
say that I didn't realize there was this whole, rich culture of storytelling and
dedicated, talented tellers who keep it alive. Live storytelling. It's a magical
thing that you can't explain or understand until you hear it and experience it for
yourself. No doubt, many of you who are listening know and love live
telling, and I'm glad you found your way here because I'm among friends,
because I know I can do this with story lovers, I'm going to ask
for your help in achieving the goals of Listen. First, to create a
new home for traditional tales, for stories that mustn't be lost. I hope
this digital archive will be a place you can send your friends and family,
your children, your students to get a taste of live storytelling. Second,
to feed the hunger for stories that speak to the soul. There's nothing like
being in an audience when a master teller tell us a story. But for
those of you who haven't attended live tellings, I hope hearing these stories will
ignite a deep love of story and encourage you to seek it out in your
local community. Third, to help tellers I feature in the show grow their
audience and have their voices heard by those who might not otherwise hear them.
That means a lot of new tellers and emerging tellers will be featured. There
will be nationally and internationally known tellers featured here as well. They will share
these episodes with their fans, and I hope those fans will come back to
discover new voices and new stories. There are amazingly talented tellers all over the
world. It's my hope that Listen will provide them with the ability to take
a virtual tour of the globe so you story listeners can hear their unique tales.
Listen is your show. It will grow when you share it with your
family and friends. If you know a great teller who should be featured,
let me know and let them know. Story belongs to all of us,
so share it with all You can. Support the tellers you hear by picking
up one of their CDs and by attending live tellings whenever you can. Today's
feature teller is Lynn Ford. Lynn is an incredibly talented teller, and I
know she'll hold you spellbound with this sampling of her stories, recorded live at
the twenty fifteen Three Rivers Storytelling Festival. I thought i'd start off with one
of pop Pop's stories. His name was really Bayard Wilmer Arkward. I called
him pop Pops. And some of my other kin folk, and I don't
know which cousins they were or how they were related, they called him Uncle
Fuzzy. I wanted to call him Pop Pop's fuzzy, but he said,
I'm not fuzzy. I'm fine. So this is one of my Pop Pop's
stories. And I added the sound of a small rattle that can be known
as as shakeray. Now shakeray just means shaker or rattle. In the hundreds
of languages of Africa, each size of the gourd rattle would have a different
name. Pop Pops never used this. It made it my story when I
added it. But I thought i'd share something with you, somebody that you
know, Jack, there's Afro latching Jack too. Be all right, be
all right, everything is gonna be all right. I said, Bey,
all right, be all right, everything is gonna be all right. Thank
you for singing that with me a little bit. I think it's too early
from my voice this morning. Well, that was what Jack's mama would sing
whenever she was working in the garden or milking the cows, pulling up weeds,
washing something. And as Jack had learned that song from his mom,
and he sang it just as much as she did. And the farm began
to throw because Jack worked so hard. Now he had two brothers, Will
and Tom, and they worked as much as they needed to. And then
they would take the wagon going into town, spend time with their friends and
their girlfriends, and have a little nip and maybe another little nip ano a
little nip, and the wagon would be going kind of crooked back home.
Life is like that sometimes today for some folks, isn't it. But Jack
stayed home to help his mama. Now, as Mama got to a certain
age when she decided that maybe she started she should start thinking about the future
for those boys, And so she gave each one of them a cow,
each one of them one of her finest cows, and she told them if
they took good care of that cow, she would make sure that in the
right season they received a fine young bull to match up with that cow,
and she'd also give them a piece of land that they could work to make
money just for themselves. But they had to show that they could take care
of that cow first. Now, will An Tom, they did as much
as they needed to do to take care of a cow. They did whatever
choice they needed to do, an then they would go on into town.
But Jack, he didn't have friends, he didn't have a girlfriend, and
he spent his time on that farm. An when he wasn't taking care of
the cow or workin on his choice, he was walkin that cow up over
the low hills, an down into the low valleys. An that cow got
to eat the sweetest grass, the best clover, an that cow thrived and
grew. Jack's cow was the best. We will an Tom didn't particularly like
that. When they realized how well Jack was doing with that cow, they
got a little bit upset. An one eatin an they drove that wagon home
a little crookedly, and they went into the barn an looked at that fine
fat cow that was Jack's. And while Jack slept in his room and Mamma
slept in her room, those two young men broke off huge branches, went
into that barn and killed that fine cow. Now, Jack didn't nobody until
the next morning, and he walked into the barn and there was his cow
lying on the ground with two big old logs sitting on top of it.
Oh, my cow, what happened to my cow? And Will and Tom
said, well, you know, big wind blew through here last night.
Did you hear it? And Jack said no, I didn't hear anything.
Mama didn't wake up either. We were out trying to take care of things.
That wind blew and I bet it blew those two big pieces of wood
in here that hit your cow and knocked that cow clean over dead. Wind
blew through and knocked out my cow. How come my cow's the only one
dead in this barn? How come there's no other pieces of wood sitting around
in this barn. There's no other pieces of wood sitting on the fields.
Trees don't look like anything's broken, and the crops are standing straight and talk.
What kind of wind was that? And Will and Tom said, well,
it was kind of a weather situation. You know anything about weather?
Jack said, no, a weather situation. Well. Jack looked at his
cow. He wasn't gonna get a fine young bull in season, and he
wasn't gonna get that piece of land. But he remembered what his mama said,
be all right, be all right, Everything is gonna be all all
right, And he thought, well, I can skin my cow, and
I can take the hide to the tanners and maybe make some money from the
hide. And I can make sure the meat is ready and give it to
my mama. We can always use more meat, and she'll take good care
of that. So that's what he did. He skinned that cow, gave
the meat to his mama. She felt so sorry for him, but there
wasn't much of anything she could do. And he rolled up that hide as
best he could. His cow had grown so fine. In fact, that
hide was kind of heavy, and he managed to get it on his shoulder.
Uh. And he was walking down the road trying to carry that thing.
Oh. You know what, I may not know much, ah,
but I know that weather situation. Oh was probably my brother's willing tom H.
And you know what else, Ah, I did something a little stupid.
Oh. I ain't got nothing to eat. H. I didn't bring
nothing to drink. Oh, and this thing is so heavy. Oh,
why didn't I just get the wagon? Jack sat down on the side of
the road. And about that time somebody came walking down the road, an
older man with a crow sitting on his shoulder. And the man looked at
Jack, and the man looked at that hide, and the man said,
boy, what you gonna do with that? Jack said, I'm trying to
take it to the tanners so I can make some money. That man said,
well, how about if I trade you something for it, then you
don't have to worry about caring. I can see how tired you're getting.
Jack said, trade me something for it might be a good idea. I
didn't use my head too much when I left home. What will you trade
me? And the man said, while, I'll trade you this crow a
crow for a cow hide. I may not be too bright, but why
would I want that crow? The man said, Oh, this is a
special crow, a most unusual crow. This is a talking crow, a
talking crow. Well, i've heard about those things. Make it talk.
And the man whispered something to that bird. Well, he's also a very
intelligent crow. If he has nothing to say, he doesn't speak. Jack
thought, wow, and intelligent crow. They can talk. Hurt by those
things. I'll trade you this hide for that talking crow. And the man
said, will be very gentle with him. If you squeeze his toe just
a little bit, he might talk for you. And the man scooped up
that hide and started making his way down the road to where he had a
wagon, and so he could take that thing to the Tanners much more easily
than Jack. He'd finally gotten rid of that stupid crow that he'd planned on
killing and eating. He'd been taking a walk because he was upset with that
crow, and now he had a hide to make some money. And Jack
Jack thought, I've got a talking crow. Squeeze his toe and he's gonna
talk to me. Good morning, crow, crow said, I good morning
crow. How are you doing? Crow? Said a crow? Can you
really talk? Crow said? I Crow? What day is it? Crow
said? Jack kept squeezing that crow's telling, asking questions, and the only
thing that crow said was and Jack thought, well, crow is talking.
Problem is is crow doesn't speak the same language I do. Be all right,
be all all right, Everything is gonna be all all right. Jack
kept on walking down the road, and his throat was getting dry, and
his stomach was starting to rumble and grumble, and he had left home without
anything to eat, anything to drinking. There was a house there, and
maybe somebody there would give him something to eat and let him rest a little
bit. He walked up to that house and knocked on the door, and
a woman opened the door, and she said, boy, what you want
here? Am? I'm thirsty and I'm hungry, and I need to take
a little rest of your mind if I come in for a spell. And
she said, my old man's not here, and he's mighty jealous, and
he'd be upset if a young man was sitting in the house with me.
And I'm all alone here. But you do look hungry and thirsty, and
for some strange reason, you got a crow riding on your shoulder. You
come on in, child, and maybe you can tell me a store about
that crow, and I'll give you a little bite to eating, a little
something to drink. But you got to carry it up into the loft and
stay there just in case my old man comes home. I don't want him
to see me alone with another man. And Jack said, yes, ma'am.
And when he got in there and sat down, all she gave him
was a crusted dry bread a little pitcher of water. He fed the crow.
First, gave crow little water, first, got ready tell the story
of the crow. When there was a knock on the door, and the
old woman said, oh, oh, keep in the loft. Quick,
go up in the loft. I'll shut the scuttle hole, and you stay
there until I introduce the fact that there's a young man here to my husband.
He won't get too upset. So Jack climbed up the ladder up into
the loft, and he sat there quietly with that bird, and the bird
was starting to nuzzle against his cheek and go to sleep. Old woman shut
that scuttle hole, opened up that door, and Jack started thinking, why
would her old man have to knock on his own door. He heard a
man's voice coming in. He heard the chair pulled out, and man sat
at the table, and he peeped through a little hole in the wood there,
a little knot hole, and there was a man sitting there in a
dark suit, dark collar, a little bit of white show on it.
Oh, it's the preacher. Woman brought out freshly baked loaf of bread.
Preacher said, thank you. Lord. Woman brought out a whole ham,
smoked and smelling good. Preacher said thank you. Lord. Woman gave that
preacher a kiss on his forehead. Preacher said thank you, Lord, and
Jack knew by the way he spoke he might be the preacher, he might
be her man, but he probably was not her husband. So Jack sat
up there and hoped that that bird on his shoulder wouldn't make a noise.
And then he heard somebody singing coming down the sidewalk, big deep bass voice.
He heard the woman saying, Oh, my husband's here. You have
to hide, you have to hide. He heard the preacher's feet Scotland.
Hide behind the bedroom door, Hide behind the bedroom door. He heard the
old man hiding behind the bedroom door and made a kind of attack. As
it hit the wall. He heard her running around. She took that loaf
of bread and she dropped it into her laundry basket, threw some clothes over
it. She took that ham, hid it under the bed, came back
and was standing by the fireplace smiling. Her husband walked in the house and
he said, I smell something good. You've been baking. You brought a
smoked ham in. She said, oh, oh, noah, honeywall what
you're smelling is a situation. See, there was a young man. He
needed something to eat, and he was so thirsty and I felt so badly
for him. I invited him into the house and I gave him some bread.
That's what you're smelling. And that other smell that you think is him,
well, he walked in with a crow on his shoulders, and I
bet you're just smelling that crow. I had him go up into the lost
because I didn't think you'd like it if I was sitting here all by myself
with a young man, so I didn't want you to be upset. I
wanted to introduce you to this situation before I introduce you to the young man.
And her husband said, well, that's kind of foolish. I don't
mind you helping a young man, and he hollered, boy, come on
down, and Jack hollered back, yes, sir. And he came through
that scuttle holding down that ladder and walked over to that man. Man said,
boy, you gotta crow on your shoulder. Jack said, yes,
sir, Why you gotta crow on your shoulder? He's my talking crow,
my talking crew. He sees a lot of things. And Jack looked at
that old woman, and he talks about what he sees. And Jack looked
at that old woman, and that old woman stopped smiling demurely, started looking
a little pitiful. That old man said, he talking crow. We'll get
him to talk for me. Well, the problem is seems like I'm the
only one could understand him. But I'll get him to talk for you.
And Jack squeeze that crow's toe. Crow said, oh, and Jack listened.
He said the crow said that there's a loaf of bread in the laundry
basket, and that old woman started to shake a bit. Her old man
went over to the laundry basket and moved the cloak. There's a loaf of
bread in the laundry basket. That's amazing. I wonder how that happened.
And he said it on the table, and he said, you want me
to cut your sliced boy. And Jack said, no, wait a minute,
wait a minute. I can tell crow wants to say something else.
And he pinched that crow's toe and listened. The crow says that there's a
smoked ham under the bed, and that old woman looked like she was gonna
cry. And her old man walked into the bedroom and looked, there's a
whole smoked ham under the bed. This is amazing. That crow is so
intelligent. Old man put that ham on the table. Crow gonna say anything
else. If that crow can tell you something else, I'm gonna give you
half to sloaf of bread and half to smoked ham. In fact, if
that crow can tell me something else that's really interesting, I'll pay you for
it. Jack said, well, I think he could. He looked at
that old woman, and he could hear another sound coming from behind the bedroom
door. Somebody was whispering prayers, Oh Lord, save me from my sins.
Jack said, I know I can get him to talk for you.
The old woman said, I'll pay you five hundred dollars if you keep that
crow's mouth shut. This is terrible. Critics aren't supposed to talk like that,
right, This is practically demonic. I'll give you five hundred dollars if
you keep that evil crow from speaking anymore. Old man said, I'll give
you a thousand dollars if you get him to talk. Oh Lord, save
me from my sins. Jack grinned. Pinch that crow's toe. The crow
says that if you fold your hands together, sir, and bow your head
and close your our eyes, the preacher will appear at your front door to
bless that ham and that bread and the old woman sighed, and behind the
door, Jack heard, thank you lord. Well, that man folded his
hands, bowed his head, closed his eyes kept him closed long enough for
the preacher to tiptoe from behind the bedroom door to the front door. And
that's when Jack pinched that crow's toe, and that man at the table opened
his eyes, and there was the preacher at the door. This is amazing.
I'm gonna give you the thousand dollars plus the five hundred dollars my wife
was trying to offer you. So Jack left that place with half a loaf
of bread, half a smoked ham, fifteen hundred dollars, and a talking
crow. But he let that crow fly away. Anything that wonderful needs to
be free. And he went on home with all that money, and he
gave the five hundred dollars to his mama, and he said, Mom,
if you don't mind, I'd like to keep the rest. I want to
buy my own cow, and whatever's left from that, I want to buy
some books, get myself a bit of an education. He looked at his
brothers, I want to learn about weather situations. And his brothers asked him
where did you get that money? And he told them, well, I
took the hide down the road, heading towards the Tanners, and from that
hide came money. He didn't tell them the rest of the story. You
know what they did. Will and Tom went out and killed their cows.
They skinned those cows. They took the hides to the Tanners, and they
told the Tanners to turn the hides into money. And they got run out
of the tannery for being crazy. But in the meantime, Jack was at
home with his mama and they were both singing, be all right, be
all right, everything is gonna be all all right. My last story for
you, and this is one of my favorites. It's short and you may
remember it, and some folks are telling it. And last night I told
my story of Aunt Kat's turkeys. You'll remember it around Thanksgiving. Feel free
to tell that one too. This is another old woman's story. I am
now proudly an old woman. I've got ten grand babies, one foster grand
baby, and three great grandsons. And in my family that makes me Grandma,
Big Mama, Abuela, Grandma Ford, and Muzzy and I answered all
of em. My husband, however, Bruce, he's Pop Pops, and
we're not sure how that happened, but he's very happy about beIN pop pops
for everybody. This is a story about an old woman who was sitting in
her rockin' chair that she'd set out on the small dock next to the creek.
She was rocking back and forth as she did a little stitchwork, perhaps
patching up a quilt. She had an old leather thimble on her finger,
a thimble that had been passed down in her family for generations. As she
did that stitch in her rheumatism started acting up, and she set down her
workin She tried to stretch herself, and when she spread her fingers out,
that leather thimble fell from her finger an landed down there in the water.
The old woman stood up and said, oh Lord, And the good Lord
appeared. He said, woman, what you want? She said, I
I I'd dropped my thimble down into the river, and I ain't finished with
it yet. Well, the good Lord reached down into those waters with one
great hand and drew up a thimble maid of silver studded with diamonds. He
handed it to her. He said, old woman, this short thimble,
And the old woman said no. Good Lord reached down into the waters again
with that great hand and drew up a thimble maid of gold studded with pearls
and rubies. Woman de short thimble, and the old woman said no.
Good Lord reached down a third time and drew up an old leather thimble,
and he said, woman, this short thimble. And the old woman said,
hey, yes, And the good Lord was so impressed with her honesty
that he let her keep all three thimbles. Well, time passed and that
old woman got even older, and she was walking next to that little river
that crick with her old man, arm in our with that old man when
his feet slipped in the mud and he slipped down into the waters and disappeared.
Don't get ahead of me, the old woman said, oh, Lord,
And the good Lord appeared. He said, woman, what you want
this time? She said, Old, my old man just fell in the
water, and I ain't finished with him yet. Well, the good Lord
reached down into that water with one great hand and pulled up Denzel Washington.
He said, woman, this your husband, and the woman said yes.
Good Lord said woman, why you lie? You notice is not your husband.
She said, oh, I didn't lie, Lord, it was self
preservation. I just said what I needed to say. I told you what
needed to be told. You see, I remember what happened that last time
with the thimble. And if I'd have said no, that's not my husband,
you might have reached down into the water and pulled up Jim May.
And if I said no, that's not my husband, you might have reached
out and water and pulled up Alton Chung. And then you'd have pulled up
my husband. And I'm too old to be taking care of three men at
the same time. Lord, I didn't lie to It was just self preservation.
I told you what needed to be told, and the Good Lord was
so impressed with her intelligence he let her keep Denzel Washington. Thanks for tuning
in for episode number one of Listen What did you Think? Let me know
at feedback at ninth story dot com. Today's episode featured stories by Lynn Ford.
If you'd like more information on Lynn and her work, if you'd like
to pick up a CD, if you'd like to say hi, you can
reach out to her at her website at storyteller lynn Ford dot com. You
can also email her directly at fried Tales two at gmail dot com. Please
share your love of story sure the show help us grow. The best support
you can give us is to tell a friend who might enjoy the stories.
Follow us on Twitter at listen to Story, find us on Facebook at Facebook
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Listen is dedicated to bringing you traditional stories told by some of the best tellers
in the world of storytelling. All works read in this audio recording and associated
music and artwork or copyright of their respective creators and may not be used in
any form without their permission. Stories in this episode of Listen were performed by
Lynn Forward. The Listen theme is a selection from Better Start Walking and was
written and performed by Robin Brown. You can find more out about Robin and
his work at Robin brown dot info. Closing music is also from Better Start
Walking. Listen is a Ninth Story Studio's production. Ninth Story dot com creator
and producer Daniel Foytech. That's me. Full show notes with links and artwork
can be found at www dot Story, listeners dot com, Forward Slash one.
This has been Daniel Foytech. Until next time, Listen, tell and share stories