Folk Tales

A tale by Eugene Marckx Long ago when the first people lived on the earth a young man left all his family, and his tribe, and went out on his own across the hills. Did his folks miss him? Did he ever think of going back? No one knows. He wandered through river valleys and…

Adapted from a tale by Duncan Williamson, Scotland’s greatest storyteller ‒ Penguin (1987) Many years ago lived a king in a large castle. All around his kingdom the farmers worked hard, and he told his queen, “These are my bees. Without bees we have no honey, but my people work. And half of all they…

a version of a tale by Ruth Sawyer ©1970 Once there was and was not a Spanish peasant. He usually had a little to eat — today yes, tomorrow no — but on this day it was no. And a storm came in the night, with rain pelting down at winter’s end, turning all the…

by Eugene Marckx They tell of a crossroads called Damned-if-you-Do & Damned-if-you-Don’t. But they don’t tell about a boy born there. He was raised by an old man, since the woman who bore the son couldn’t stand it with the man there in Damned-if-you-Do & Damned-if-you-Don’t. She left them both in the dust. The old…

By: Tom Wilk Sept 2019 NOTE: This fable is written in 2nd person form, attempting to place YOU directly into the story. Please interpret each action of the main character from your own personal point-of-view. Consider each decision, action or question as your own “I Statement”.  Let’s just say it’s a beautiful Fall day and…

By Eugene Marckx A featherbrained idler – what your grandfather said of him, and farmers hereabouts who should’ve known better, long after Nestor took to the road. Then he was forgotten, but the forgetting couldn’t quite fill in the pigeon-hole, which hid quite a lot, it turned out. Nobody brought up how Nestor made music…

(from the Colville Native American tradition) Long before humans were born most all the animals felt pretty gray. Was it because the sky was always gray and always about to rain? Was it because there was never enough to go around? Never enough to eat? Never enough comfort? All day long the animals scratched out…

a tale by Eugene Marckx The valley king died. After his many years of quiet prosperous rule, the people gathered, along with kings from neighboring lands, to remember and express in doleful song their grief and deep respect. When his coffin was lowered into the grave, each of them in passing dropped a flower and…

(from the Colville Native American tradition) Long before humans were born on the earth all the animals felt pretty gray. The sky was always gray, and half the time about to rain. Food and shelter and comfort were scarce. There was never quite enough to go around. All day long the animals got grouchier and…

A Russian tale adapted by Eugene Marckx In old Russia long ago there were horses of power. These horses were tall and broad chested with fiery eyes and iron hoofs. And they spoke wisdom. None of those horses are above ground today. They sleep with the men who rode them, until a time when Mother…