Fabric of Folklore
Folktales can be strange, mystical, macabre and intriguing. Join us as we explore the stories, culture and people behind the folklore. We go beyond retelling the legends, myths and fairy tales of old. We look at the story behind the lore, behind the songs and traditions to understand more about what they mean, and their importance. These stories, many originating as oral histories, inform us of what it means to be human; what it means to be an integral part of this Earth. Stories of magic and wonder bind us. They connect us through invisible strands, like the gossamer fibers of a spiders web. Folktales have the power to demonstrate how, although we live in drastically different locals, our hearts and minds beat as one human race. We are weaving the fabrics of our past and present stories, to help us better understand ourselves and to awaken us to a more compassionate and caring world community. As we explore the meaning of existence through folklore we hope to inspire future generations to lead with love and understanding.
Fabric of Folklore
Belling the Cat, An Aesop Tale: Mini episode Storytelling Ep2
In this STORYTELLING episode of Fabric of Folklore, Vanessa Y Rogers narrates the classic Aesop's fable, 'The Belling of the Cat.' The story revolves around a group of mice trying to outsmart a stealthy cat threatening their lives. A young mouse proposes the ingenious solution of belling the cat, but the older, wiser mouse raises the crucial question: who will bell the cat? We delve into the inherently cautionary nature of Aesop's fables, explaining why their endings often feel incomplete and unsatisfactory from a modern perspective. For those intrigued by the origins and significance of these ancient tales, the episode also points listeners to episode 18 featuring Dr. Laura Gibbs, who offers in-depth insights into the enduring popularity of Aesop's fables. Don't forget to subscribe for more storytelling adventures!
Aesop Fables with Dr. Laura Gibbs
00:00 The Belling of the Cat
00:05 Introduction to Fabric of Folklore
00:28 The Story of the Belling of the Cat
02:28 The Moral of the Story
02:38 Discussion on Aesop's Fables
03:48 Conclusion and Further Learning
"Alex Productions - Lands" is under a Creative Commons (BY 3.0) license:
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Music powered by BreakingCopyright: • ⚗️ Medieval & Celtic (Free Music) - "LANDS...
Follow us:
Fabric of Folklore website
The Belling of the Cat
Introduction to Fabric of Folklore
Welcome, welcome to Fabric of Folklore Storytelling Time. I'm Vanessa y Rogers, your storyteller, and we are talking about Aesop. Fables are very old stories, thousands of years old. And the story we're going to tell today is the belling of the cat.
The Story of the Belling of the Cat
So there was a farm with a family of mice and they lived happily on this farm and they ate the grain in the barn and they lived, contented, happy lives. And we're well fed until one day the farmer got a cat this cat was incredibly stealthy and a very good mouser. He would sneak up behind the un, knowing mouse.
He would sneak up, he would sneak up behind the unaware mouse and gobble him up. So the mice were alarmed at the behavior of this cat and the death of so many of their fellow mice, and they called a meeting, a melding of the minds, a community event to try and solve the problem of the cat. But nobody had any ideas, nobody had any suggestions because this cat was.
So quiet no one knew when he was sneaking up behind them, until one little mouse in the back of the room raised his hand and he said, I have an idea. And all the, eyes looked directly at the little mouse and he said, if we can put a bell. On the collar of the mouse, we will then know when he's coming up behind us, he won't be able to sneak up on us anymore, and we'll be able to skitter away without being eaten.
All of The mice in the circle clap their hands because they knew that it was a beautiful, perfect idea until the old leader of the mice raised his hand for silence and once everybody was quiet around the circle, he said, yes, young mouse.
That is a beautiful idea. But let me ask you a very important question. Who. We'll Bell, the cat and everybody was silent.
The Moral of the Story
It is one thing to say something must be done, but quite another thing for someone to actually do it, and that's the moral of the story.
Discussion on Aesop's Fables
One of the interesting things about the Aesop fables that I personally. Find dissatisfying is all of the stories feel like they're only halfway complete. And that's part of my American culture, wanting a satisfying ending, a hopeful motivational ending where people rally together and find a way.
we prefer our stories to have happy endings. We want our stories to, save the day at the end. Aesop fables are cautionary tales. They are warnings about misplaced desires, about, authority and power, about ignoring a responsibility about human nature itself.
They're road guides, from the ancient world to say, stop on this path because if you continue, there is danger along the way.Aesop stories are short, they're concise, and they're warnings about the consequences of human behavior, So many times their endings are unsatisfactory because that is the point of these fables.
Conclusion and Further Learning
If You wanna learn more about fables? Make sure you tune in to episode 18.
Dr. Laura Gibbs spoke in length about Aesop fables and how they came to our modern day, how old they are, and how they passed through continents and countries and people, and why they are so popular even still today. Thanks so much for listening. Make sure you hit that subscribe button, so you get notifications and keep the folk alive.
