Three-Minute Tales

by MacDonald, Margaret Read

• ISBN13: 9780874837292
• ISBN10: 0874837294
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-12-15
• Publisher: August House

Summary

Anyone who teaches, leads, or speaks in public has had the experience of needing to fill short amounts of time in order to hold the attention of the group. The challenge is familiar to Margaret Read MacDonald, who for thirty-five years told stories weekly to preschoolers. MacDonald has assembled 100 simple, short, pithy tales for all occasions holidays, history or nature walks, public speaking and media appearances, and especially for the classroom.

Author Biography

Margaret Read Macdonald is the author of numerous books on folklore and storyteling, Until her recent retirement from the King County Library System in Seattle, she told stories weekly to visiting students and preschoolers. She has traveled worldwide -- and extensively in Asia -- sharing and collecting traditional tales

Table of Contents

About This Book	7	(1)
About the Tale Notes	8	(1)
Why Three-Minute Tales?	9	(2)
Suggestions for the Beginning Teller	11	(2)
CHAPTER 1: Tales to Tell on a Walk	13	(8)
The Sun Sisters.
China	14	(2)
The Butterfly Robe.
China	16	(2)
Planting Forget-me-nots.
Iran	18	(3)
CHAPTER 2: Tales to Tell on a Museum Tour	21	(12)
Siddhartha Encounters Suffering.
India	23	(3)
Siddhartha Under the Bo Tree.
India	26	(2)
The Naga Mucalinda Shelters the Buddha.
India	28	(1)
A Lover of Dragons.
China	29	(1)
Ganesha Around the World.
India	30	(3)
CHAPTER 3: Tales for the Youngest Listeners	33	(10)
Coyote's Rain Song.
Navajo	34	(2)
Pancake Party.
Siberia	36	(2)
Hiring the Fox as Shepherd.
Norway	38	(3)
The Frog from Osaka and the Frog from Kyoto.
Japan	41	(2)
CHAPTER 4: Participation Tales	43	(24)
The Teeny Tiny Man.
Canada	44	(2)
Two Goats on a Bridge.
Russia and Eastern Europe	46	(3)
That's Good! No, That's Bad!
U.S.	49	(2)
Did You Feed My Cow?
US.	51	(1)
The Tailor's Jacket.
Jewish	52	(3)
Herman the Worm (Song and Chant).
American Camplore	55	(4)
Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree.
American Camplore	59	(1)
Lazy John.
U S. Appalachian Folksong	60	(1)
Roll Over.
American Folksong	61	(1)
The Courting Song.
American Folksong	62	(2)
Story Finger Plays for the Very Young.
U S. and Canada	64	(4)
Tommy Thumbs Up
Way Up High in the Apple Tree
Five Little Jack-o-lanterns
Miss Polly Had a Dolly
CHAPTER 6: Short Folktales for Any Age	67	(10)
The Young Reader.
India	68	(2)
The Maiden in Green.
China	70	(2)
The Yu Player from the South.
China	72	(2)
How Two Water Snakes Moved House.
China	74	(1)
The Story Not Told, the Song Not Sung.
India	75	(2)
CHAPTER 7: Riddle Tales	77	(14)
Thief and Master-Thief.
India	78	(2)
The Hare and the Lion King.
Burma	80	(2)
Pig and Bear in Big Business.
Czechoslovakia	82	(2)
The Parrot and the Parson.
Europe	84	(2)
The Clever Old Woman of Carcassonne.
France	86	(2)
The Fool at the Country Store.
Southern Indiana	88	(3)
CHAPTER 8: Humorous Tales	91	(16)
Teaching the Horse to Speak.
Turkey	92	(1)
Talking Turkeys.
Syria	93	(2)
The Dripping Nose.
Southern Indiana	95	(1)
The Learned Scholar.
Jewish	96	(2)
Moving the Stone.
Turkey	98	(1)
The Man and the Lion Travel Together.
Aesop	99	(1)
The Best Part of All.
U.S.	100	(1)
The Tumblebug and the Eagle.
Aesop	101	(3)
The Well-Read Frog.
U.S.	104	(3)
CHAPTER 9: Scary Tales	107	(12)
"Look at My Teeth!"
Cuba	108	(3)
Squeak My Leg.
Russia	111	(3)
The Ghostly Sneeze.
France	114
Painting Ghosts.
China	116	(1)
Potato in My Hand.
U.S.	117	(2)
CHAPTER 10: Stories to Think About	119	(22)
Tossing Starfish.
US.	120	(1)
A Storytelling Parable.
Contemporary, based on Jewish folklore	121	(2)
Rock vs. Plant.
Contemporary fable	123	(1)
Quarreling Leads to Losses.
China	124	(1)
The Argument Sticks.
Iroquois	125	(1)
In a Time Made Out of Twilight.
Original, Lenore Jackson	126	(1)
Plan of Attack.
China	127	(2)
The Old Man Who Moved Mountains.
China	129	(2)
One Word for Happiness.
China	131	(2)
Medicine to Revive the Dead.
Thai	133	(2)
Keeping a Promise.
China	135	(1)
Bad Luck or Good Luck?
China	136	(2)
Opening Your Ears.
U.S.	138	(1)
The Miser.
Aesop	139	(1)
The Wisdom of the Ants.
China	140	(1)
CHAPTER 11: Very Tiny Tales! Under 30 seconds!	141	(8)
The Man Who Ate Fish.
Iroquois	142	(1)
The Red Brick Temple.
Thailand	143	(1)
The Thai Man in the Shade.
Thailand	144	(1)
Holding Up the Sky.
China	145	(1)
The Bilingual Mouse.
Canada	146	(1)
The Bilingual Cat.
Mexican-American	147	(2)
CHAPTER 12: Endless Tales and Tales to End the Telling	149	(10)
Mother Morey.
US.	150	(1)
Rats of Nagasaki.
Japan	151	(2)
The Tinkling Bell.
Japan	153	(2)
The Shepherd and His Sheep.
Czechoslovakia	155	(2)
The Golden Key.
German, Grimm	157	(2)
Bibliography: More Short Tales for Telling	159