Aboriginal story telling

This morning we went to our local library for an Aboriginal story time.

The storyteller was an aboriginal lady called Peta. She sat us all in a big circle and told us a very interactive story about Tittalik the frog. Legend has it that he was turned into a rock that you can see in the picture below.

The kids loved it and were encouraged to bounce around like kangaroos, emus and goannas during the story.

When she finished she explained that in aboriginal culture stories were currency and were traded. It wasn't a one-way sytem of listening and then leaving. I was begining to wonder if she wanted us to dig deep in our pockets but then she asked us to tell her a story in return. Loads of kids put their hands up but she said the tall people owed her not the short ones!

There was silence and finally one of the librarians told a story of her dads childhood. Peta went around the room and asked each parent for another story. I told an old Irish story about Finn mac Cumhail and the salmon of knowledge. Thank goodness there were no other Irish people there to point out the parts of the story that were not 100% accurate!

Afterwards Peta came over and said she had loved the fact that the story was obviously very old and wanted to know about our family and whether we told stories down the different generations. I told her she would love to meet my Dad, especially after a bottle or two of wine!