Wood smoke mingles with the smells of beer, tobacco and food, but the room is still, save for one man standing near the fire. He leans heavily on his staff, "Yes, that is a fine tale indeed, but telling stories is thirsty work. Perhaps if I had a tankard to wet myself. ..." one is quickly produced. Several more are ordered should his dry out. "If I live to be a hundred, I should never see such a storm as we saw off Africa, like as Typhon and Old Scratch himself were to argue which of them should have the honor to deliver us to Davey Jones . . . "
From the Greek, the long way around via Ovid comes this tale of the old days when the gods walked among us, showing us the importance of hospitality. First performance at Midrealm Bardic Madness Online XXII.
While the best-known version of this was published by Hans Christian Anderson in 1837, he was adapting a German version of the tale called, So ist der Lauf der Welt, which itself comes from the Libro de los Ejemplos, a 1335 anthology by Juan Manuel, Prince of Villena, containing fifty one cautionary tales from Aesop, Persian tales, and other sources. The oldest written version comes from Līlāvatīsāra by Jinaratna from 1283, itself a summary of the lost 1052 collection Nirvāṇalīlāvatī
Everyone knows that fairy stories are for children, so of course there's nothing more to this familiar story than a frog who wants to sit on your lap, eat from your plate, and sleep in your bed. Reliably recorded in 13th C Germany, though some research suggests a Roman origin.
According to Christopher Booker in The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell Stories there are only, well, seven basic plots. Plot 1, found in the literature of all cultures, is the story of a young man going out to slay the ferocious beast. This particular version is iambic tetrameter with the last of each stanza in three. The rhyme scheme for each stanza is ABAB.
From Ovid's Metamorphosis comes a lesser known tale of King Midas, long retired to the country and eschewing wealth , decides that judging a music contest between Pan and Apollo is a good idea. It isn't.
The English version of a story first collected in Italy as Pre Papiro Makes Pretence of Great Learning, but in Truth Knows Nothing in The Facetious Nights of Straparola, c1550, Straparola also includes Constantino Fortunato, which came to English via France as "Puss in Boots."
Out of the Zen tradition as told by the delightful Alan Watts. Their oral tradition extends to at least 200 C.E. Contact with the West was largely the fault of the Mongol Horde. And who doesn't love a good pratfall?
Another from Alan Watts, a Taoist parable, dating back to the 2nd Century C.E. As with many things Asian, it came to the West with...wait for it...the Mongols
I was recently reminded of this story, which I first heard decades ago, by Dame Lucia Elena. The Grimms collected one version. Versions from Russia and Japan are known to exist. A fisherman catches a magical fish and Plot happens.
A short story of Knighthood told by His Grace Dag Thorgrimmsson
Collected by Aesop, teaching the important lesson that a mouse is far too small a meal for a lion. Or something like that. Might our lions always remember they need the mice.
In AS LV, His Majesty declared a pilgrimage from Basra to Constantinople . Old Tom, who's seen a few things, has his own impressions of the journey.
Pandora first was recorded by Hesiod in his Theogeny, where she's unnamed, and again in his Works and Days. For Modern audiences, it was necessary to remove Hesiod's misogynist asides. Fortunately they were secondary to the plot.
From Arctic peoples in both Eastern Siberia and Western Alaska, where light is a much more serious matter than to we temperate folk. I imagine that Tom learned it from a Russian sailor.
An SCA story about the unique challenges faced by the children of reenactors
Longer ago than I care to contemplate, I heard this read to me in Library Story Time, identified as “A Vietnamese folktale.” I have unfortunately been unable to find the original nor any other source. "Astonishingly Large Ships" might be a clue to a port call by the Ming Treasure fleet, which did produce ships larger than anything contemporary in Asia, though nowhere near the size claimed by contemporary accounts.
Being Basic Plot Six, Tregedy, this story is the sort one tells in the dark around a campfire. This is a typical example of the ancient genre.
Bao Zheng 包拯, (999–1062) was a Chinese civil servant and politician during the Song Dynasty. During his life he instituted many reforms to China's judicial system and is to this day regarded as a cultural hero. Many stories are told of his wisdom and discernment. The three I tell are Judge Bao and the Smell of Food, Judge Bao and the Black Basin, and Judge Bao and the Stone Thief.