Story Telling

There is a strong tradition of story telling among the Gryph communities. Stories are told to impart religious knowledge or to aid in the teaching of a lesson or sometimes just for fun. Skilled Story-Tellers are highly valued in Gryph society, acting as reservoirs of wisdom. Many communities will have a dedicated Story-Teller. Others rely on nomadic Story-Tellers who wander the lands wherever their fancy takes them. Nomadic Story-Tellers have th advantage of bringing new tales from other communities, and often act as messengers and bearers of news too. Community Story-Tellers have the advantage that they know their audience well and have had a chance to practice and polish the stories in their repertoire. Stories are traditionally related verbally although many a story teller will use gestures and create non-verbal sounds to add atmosphere.

In addition to lone story telling some communities have developed a theatrical tradition where groups of gryphs tell a tale, each taking on the persona of a character and speaking as if they were that character. This form is sometimes aided by painted scenery, props, masks and music. The older, more traditionalist, story telling groups stick to literally speaking out a story. However many of the younger practitioners have become more experimental in their approach, for example exploring the use of movement without words to tell a story.

Eastdale village holds an annual Story-Telling contest in their Meeting Amphitheatre. It started life as a small scale local event, meant to cheer the community in the cold season after the Hunting of the Sun but before the First Spark of Spring. In recent years the event has expanded as Gryphs from other parts of the world travel to watch and to take part.