I told my 1st story today in Storytelling. I went last which was tough but it went OK. Here is the story I told:
Truth and Falsehood
Once upon a time, and a time before that, and maybe, maybe even in our own time, Truth and Falsehood met at a crossroads.
After exchanging greetings, Falsehood asked Truth how the world was treating her.
"How goes it with me?" said Truth. "Each year is worse than the last."
"I can see the plight you are in," said Falsehood, glancing at Truth’s ragged clothes. "Why, even your breath stinks!"
"Not a bite has passed my lips these 3 days." "Wherever I go, I have troubles, not only for myself, but for those few who love me still. It’s no way to live," she sighed.
"You have only yourself to blame," Falsehood told her. "Come with
me. You’ll see better days. We’ll dress you in fine clothes like me,
and you’ll have plenty to eat. Only you must not oppose anything I
say."
Truth consented, just this once, to go and eat with Falsehood as she
was so hungry she could barely keep upright. They set out together and
soon came to a great city. Going to the best hotel, full of people
enjoying their entertainments, they sat and ate of the very best. When
many hours had gone by, and most of the people had gone off to other
distractions, Falsehood rapped his fist on the table. The hotelkeeper
himself came up to see to their wants, for Falsehood looked like a
great nobleman. He asked of what they desired.
"How much longer am I to wait for my change from the sovereign I
gave the boy who set the table?" asked Falsehood. Then Falsehood grew
angry and began to shout, saying that he never would have believed that
such a great hotel would rob people who came there to eat, but that he
would keep it in mind for the future, and he threw a sovereign at the
hotelkeeper. "There," he shouted, "bring me the change!"
Fearing that his hotel would get a bad name, the hotelkeeper would
not take the sovereign, and he even gave change from the reputed
sovereign of the argument. With that he began to box the ears of the
boy who could not remember taking the coin. The boy began to cry, and
protested that he had not taken the sovereign, but as no one believed
him, he sighed deeply and said, "Alas, unhappy Truth, where are you?
Are you no more?"
"No, I am here," said Truth, through clenched teeth, "but I had not
eaten for three days, and now I may not speak. You must find the right
of it by yourself, my tongue has been tied."
When they got outside, Falsehood burst out laughing and said to
Truth, "You see how I contrive things?" "Isn’t life better like this?"
"Better I should die of hunger," said Truth, "than do the things you
do." So they parted forever, or at least until Truth, she again became
complacent.
I (slightly) adapted this story from "Favorite Folktales from around
the World" edited by Jane Yolen. New York: Pantheon Books, c1986. The
main changes I made were to the beginning and the ending. I changed
those because I wanted people to understand that the fight for truth is
an ongoing, eternal struggle that won’t be magically fixed one day when
Truth turns her back on Falsehood. I also changed Truth’s gender as I
agree that Reason (reason), and by proxy Truth (truth), has been
coopted as a masculine virtue for far too long. This story just speaks
to my philosophical side, but more importantly, it speaks so very
deeply to our current situation in America—"Wherever I go, I have
troubles, not only for myself, but for those few who love me still.
It’s no way to live."