What makes a good storyteller, in your opinion? Are your favorite storytellers people you know or writers you admire?
“Hello children, I am your baby sitter this evening whilst your mummy and daddy are at a halloween party, so I thought you would like to hear a goodnight story before going to sleep.
“Are you sitting comfortably? Then I will begin. First of all we will draw the curtains and light a candle for some real atmosphere. Just telling you a story would be boring wouldn’t it children? Yes, or course, we want to create some genuine effects to get into the mood. Johnny, stop twitching on your seat. Oh you have to go to the toilet. Then go, we can wait can’t we children? Oh, I see your brother has to go with you, you are frightened of the dark. Fred take your brother to the toilet, now.
So now we are complete and I can begin. Imagine a village where there is an old church. Old churches are nice buildings, full of nooks and crannies and a few ravens to caw the night away. Jenny stop biting your finger nails, that is not a good habit. So, yes, this old church had a cemetery. Now we all know that old churches have cemeteries. If they are really old, they have very old gravestones and this special church had gravestones, but they were all lined up in a nice row leaning on a low wall. The names on the stones were hard to read because of their age. It was a full moon but there were some patchy clouds, so only a few gravestones were illuminated by the light of the moon.
Johnny stop gripping your brothers arm, you are hurting him, Just relax and enjoy the story. You are ungrateful children, all that fidgeting on your cushions. Where was I? Oh yes, suddenly a man appeared in the graveyard from nowhere. At a closer look you could see a pile of earth next to one of the graves, as if someone and climbed out of the grave. The man stood silently . His breath blew white clouds in the air, due to his body temperature, which was lower than freezing point. Yes Jennifer you are right, body temperature is what the doctor measures when you are ill with flu. Very clever and I am glad to see you are following my good night story.
This man did not have flu, he was dead. He had been dead for many years. If you took a closer look you could see that his fingers had no flesh, just the raw bones and he had a length of rope around his neck. Johnny stop crying, you are making your brother’s pyjamas wet. The man called
“Morticia”, there was no answer.
He called again “Morticia where are you?”
“I am here Nick” and a lady rose from a neighbouring grave dressed in a long white shroud.
Actually it would have been white originally, but the years had took their burden on her shroud, and it was now quite grey, with some suspicious patches, which could have been dry blood, who knows.
“Oh Nick, you have returned. I missed you all these years.”
“Yes Morticia, I was doomed to become undead until I found you again.”
Fred stop shaking, you are causing Johnny to scream. You are frightening your brother. Yes, I can assure you this is just a story and will have a happy end. Undead means he was no longer dead, so you do not have anything to be worried about. If he was still dead, he would be a ghost seeking revenge, so calm down. Jennifer stop covering your eyes with your hands, there is nothing to see.
Ok, where were we, oh yes. Nick found his Morticia.
“Nick did they hang you for my murder?”
“That is a stupid question Morticia, but you always annoyed me with your stupid questions, that was why I strangled you. Yes of course they hung me, but now we are together again. After my many years of penance, I am free. We can be together again.”
“Oh”
“Morticia you have a problem?”
“Yes, you see I waited so long for your undead body to become dead that I sort of met a nice corpse, Jeremy, on the grave on the right. He was very kind to me and we spent many happy halloween nights together. We had quite a jolly time over the last hundred years and now we are a pair. Tonight is halloween so we will be going on a haunt together.”
“And me?”
“No, Nick, you had your chance, but you killed me. So Jeremy, are you ready, let us take a walk together and visit all those nice children left alone while their parents are at a halloween party.”
Children stop screaming, Johnny, Fred, Jennifer where are you going? To bed? Ok, I will come and tuck you up, Would you like another story? No? But I have a few more good night stories I brought with me. Children stop hiding beneath the bedclothes. Yes, Ok, I will switch the light on, although I don’t know how you can sleep with the light. I could leave the candle here? Yes I am going now, but I won’t be far.
Some children are so ungrateful. I spend my time telling them a good night story, one of my own, and they disappear. I was so sure the children admired me for my story telling talents. So, now I will go and watch the TV, I believe Halloween 6 is being shown. I never saw that one.
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