John David HickeyStoryteller and Bard

Once upon a time, there was a teacher who was a Buddhist monk. His great joy in this life was to have a snack and a nap afterwards. Before every lesson, he ate so much that he could barely move.

Soon after the beginning of the lessons, he always took a nap and slept until the bell for the end of the lessons sounded.

Lee was the son of a poor villager and was a student in the same school. One daty, Lee asked the monk:

“Teacher, may I ask you why do you sleep in all our lessons?”

“My friend,” replied the monk without any embarrassment, “It just seems that way. During these minutes, I meet with Buddha and listen to His wise words. That’s why I try to sleep as much as I can.”

At one time, Lee took care of his sick father during the night and fell asleep at school in the morning. He slept so deeply that he didn’t even hear the bell, which woke the monk.

When the monk saw the sleeping boy, he angrily took Lee by the ear and started screaming:

“Ah, you, little weasel! How dare you fall asleep in my class?”

“Teacher,” said Lee, “It just seemed that I slept. I was with Buddha and listened to His wise words.”

“And what did the all-powerful Buddha said to you?” snarled the monk.

Lee replied, “The all-powerful Buddha told me: ‘Never in my life have I seen your teacher.’ “

I’m very excited to announce that I’m going to be performing at the Grand Steampunk Exposition at Fort George in Niagara on the Lake in September!

Last year, I created a steampunk storyteller persona called Professor Taelstrum and he’s made a few brief appearances here and there, but this will be the most prestigious by far! The good Professor will be performing on the Sunday of the Exposition, so I hope to see you there!

The Weight of a Snowflake

~ Anon

“Tell me the weight of a snowflake.” A mouse asked a wild dove.

“Nothing more than nothing,” the dove answered.

“In that case I must tell you a marvelous story,” the mouse said. “I sat on the branch of a fir, close to its trunk, when it began to snow, not heavily, not a raging blizzard, no just like in a dream without any violence. Since I had time, I counted the snowflakes setting on the twigs and needles of my branch. Their number was exactly 3,741,952, when the next snowflake dropped onto the branch- “nothing more than nothing” as you say-the branch broke off.”

Having said that the mouse went away.

The dove, thought about the meaning of the story for a while and finally said to herself, “Perhaps there is only one person’s voice lacking for peace to come about in this world.”

Yoinked from Karen Chase’s blog:
http://karenchace.blogspot.ca/2013/12/the-weight-of-snowflake.html

“The tale is not beautiful if nothing is added to it.”
— Tuscan proverb

You don’t need to know sign language to be able to appreciate this little girl’s telling of the Night Before Christmas. She could teach us all a few things about storytelling.

Happy Yule everyone and a safe, joyful holiday!

After seeing a few of the Keep Calm graphics being posted all over the social media, I designed a couple of my  own. If you’re on Facebook, you can reshare these images on my Facebook Fan page.

Download your own copy of Jack tales at: CDBaby