In addition to tweeting on my own behalf @prnancarrow, I currently am responsible for tweeting for the organization whose board I’ve been on, on and off, for a decade: Northstar Storytelling League.  Their account is @NorthstarStory (which is also the same name as their Facebook page, and it is a good one to follow if you want to know about storytelling in the Twin Cities.  Lately we’ve also been trying to provide and repost content that is of interest to storytellers everywhere, and one of the things I am experimenting with is a folktale theme for the week.

Right now I am using the themes provided for the year by Story SlamMN – because no one has given me any better ideas, and because it’s a good way of preparing my mind for a story.  Generally speaking, slams are not the best place to tell folktales – although Massmouth in Boston is experimenting with one, and I am really looking forward to hearing how it turns out. We have a great venue in Minneapolis for people who like to share folktales run by another Northstar member, Dorothy Cleveland called Folktales Rising, and I like to try out material and refine it there.  But I also like to expose more people to folk and fairy tales. It is fun to debunk their Disney myths, watch their jaws drop, make them think. The old ways were wise ways, and as the Grimm Brothers well knew, folk and fairy tales were not for children.

So occasionally in this blog I will repost a list of tweets for the week. It’s a good way of gathering together those folktales on a particular theme.  This is also a great place for you to add a link to a folktale you like on a particular theme that I’ve missed.  Book links are OK, but links to online content are preferred.

And here are last week’s @NorthstarStory tweets on folktales about money:

• This week’s #folktale theme is money. Here’s a tale from India: The farmer and the money-lender. ow.ly/deTZd
• #Folktale for today: The rabbit grows a crop of money. ow.ly/df3e9
• The week’s theme is money. The #folktale of the day is from China: The Gold Colt and the Fire Dragon Shirt ow.ly/df3p2
• Can’t have a week where the #folktale theme is money without Midas: ow.ly/df3Z2. And a few more humans w/ animal ears to boot.
• If money only came this easily: Peter Ox, a #folktale from Denmark: ow.ly/df4ia
• The Miserly Old Woman, a #folktale from India, concludes our week’s series of folktales about money: ow.ly/df4rf #storySat

If you have other stories to add, please do so! I will actually be telling a variation of the first story – within a personal context – at SlamMN! tonight.  The theme is CASH, but you can pay with a card. Would love to see you there.