The Frog Rock Storytellers Circle revives the art of the raconteur.
A fire crackles in the living room fireplace.
In his ringing preacher’s voice, O.J. Mozon Jr. evokes a scene of folksy, old “Santie” Claus and Mrs. Claus side by side, sitting in rocking chairs and discussing the birth of Jesus that night.
Mozon is Mrs. Claus, saying, “Miss Mary got a baby down her place.”
Santie sighs nostalgically for their kids grown up and moved away. But Mrs. Claus “doesn’t miss them a bit” adding that Santie always left her to doing the hard work of raising the kids.
It’s a meeting of the five-year-old Frog Rock Storyteller’s Circle with eight readers and listeners in the home of circle founder and islander Ed Sheridan.
Stories from Liberia, the Arab world, the Inuits, the African-American tradition and Germany come alive, but do much more than entertain.
“I believe stories unleash a certain kind of creativity in children,” Sheridan said. “Someone once said ‘the pictures are better (than television or movies),’ because you make them yourself.”
Three storytellers will spin yarns Dec. 29 at the Bainbridge library.
Though the listener sits still as a tale unrolls like a ball of yarn, the art of storytelling is an intimate, two-way street.
Laughter breaks out as Sheridan describes the king of the dwarves, who is unsure of what to do with a gift: “He didn’t get many because he was a grump.”
At one moment, the languid grace of Elizabeth Erving’s weaving arms conjure up the sensual dance of the young maiden that is the heart and soul of the whale.
At the next, you can hear the audience hold its breath as Erving describes the dying of the maiden, the words weighted by long, mournful pauses.
From the warm baritone of Mozon to the soft voice of Shepherd that seems to be telling a story just for you, the full range of humor, suspense, pathos and scenes from faraway lands is skillfully conveyed.
Beyond sheer enjoyment, every teller agreed that stories are powerful for adults and children because they stay with you and teach you more about yourself.
“I find application to life. (Stories) give me new insight to deal with whatever I’m dealing with,” Shepherd said.
As a Navy chaplain, Mozon uses stories as models in his sermons; an environmental educator by profession, Kathy Dickerson uses tales to instruct.
“Stories are a way to reach people, more effective than shaking your finger at them,” she said.
Agreed Mozon, “Stories are ways of sharing living and directing living. Everyone has a story. I listen to people’s stories and help them write the next chapter in their life.”
Sources for tales come from everywhere: magazines, books and other storytellers.
Regardless, storytellers choose tales that speak to them, and make each one into their own story, opening up a different world for both teller and listener.
“I just find stories transport us from one place to somewhere deeper in ourselves, to access parts of ourselves we might not otherwise,” Shepherd said.
Harking to an older time or place, Sheridan finds stories are “where you suspend all the Internet, radio and bills and go to this deeper place where we hold a deeper part of ourselves.”
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Seasonal stories
The Bainbridge library hosts “Winter Tales,” a storytelling event 7 p.m. Dec. 29 for elementary school-age children and up. The event is free. Ed Sheridan, O.J. Mozon Jr. and Charise Diamond are featured storytellers. For more information, call the library at 842-4162.
