You've enjoyed the magic of hearing storytellers weave their words into pictures in your mind, and now you want to have a go, so where can you find a story to tell? Here are some of the books and websites that we have found useful. CDs and websites with audio content are also excellent ways of hearing storytelling in action, but nothing beats seeing storytelling live. The more storytellers you see, the more you'll appreciate the rich diversity of telling styles and stories. You'll find links to Storytellers' websites on our Other Useful Stuff page.

When choosing your first story, try to find a short one with a strong plot that really appeals to you - telling stories is not an exercise in memory, but a way of expressing yourself! What you should aim for is not a 'cover' version but your own interpretation.

So, when you've found that first story, tried out telling it to the mirror or the cat, why not bring it along to our weekly storytelling circle, Ring of Hope, Tuesdays 8 - 10 pm? Details. On Tuesdays 19th October and 23rd November, renowned storyteller June Peters will be leading workshops on improving your skills. But beginners are also welcome and supported at every meeting.

Websites

www.sacred-texts.com
"The largest freely available archive of online books about religion, mythology, folklore and the esoteric on the Internet."

www.gutenberg.org
Classic books available to download. Try a search on 'Folklore'.

www.surlalunefairytales.com
Folk tales and fairy tales from around the world.

www.wollamshram.ca
1001 Nights, various versions

www.story-lovers.com
Story Lovers World - says it all!

www.mainlesson.com
The Baldwin Online Children's Literature Project

www,afghan-network.net
Mullah Nasruddin stories

A (very) modern working over of traditional Cornish tales is at
www.stevecolgan.com

www.davidengland.co.uk
David England's story collection

Story Bee: recordings of US tellers with stories for children
www.storybee.org

Mythstories - museum of myths & fables. Good site; irritating music!
www.mythstories.com

Story Collections

There are so many, it would be impractical to list them all. Look out for collections of stories from particular countries. Books of local legends can often be found in National Trust/English Heritage shops, and local bookshops. Versions for children may have been edited; the originals will be more punchy. Retellings of individual stories, again often for children, can be harder to work with, as there is more to strip away to get to the basic plot. Many older books can be found on the websites listed above. Here, then, is a taster of the world of story out there:

1001 Arabian Nights (many editions)

Aesops Fables (many editions)

Hans Christian Anderson Fairy Tales (many editions)

Norwegian Folk Tales Asbjornsen & Moe

Legend Land George Basil Barham (Cornish and Welsh) www.gutenberg.org

Jamaica Anansi Stories Martha Warren Beckwith

Traditions and Hearthside Stories of West Cornwall (three volumes) William Bottrell. Llanerch Press have published facsimiles but only have volumes 2 & 3 in stock at present. It is also available on the secondhand book sites, where there are also a lot of smaller books which have been compiled from Bottrell.

Dictionary of British Folk Tales (four volumes) Katherine Briggs. Taster available in her Sampler of British Folk Tales

Virago Book of Fairy Tales edited by Angela Carter

Italian Folk Tales Italo Calvino

Italian Popular Tales Thomas Frederick Crane

Folk Tales of the British Isles Kevin Crossley-Holland

The Greek Myths Robert Graves

Household Tales Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm (many editions)www.sacred-texts.com

Popular Romances of the West of England Robert Hunt 1873. Also available at www.sacred-texts.com

Folk Tales of Brittany Elsie Masson www.sacred-texts.com

Panchatantra: the Book of India's Folk Wisdom

Drolls from Shadowland J H Pearce 1893. Also at www.gutenberg.org. These seem more literary stories but the first in particular is likely to have a traditional origin, although I have not yet tracked another source (CBD).

The Facetious Nights Giovanni Francesco Straparola www.surlalunefairytales.com

Many thanks to Claire Bowden Dan (CBD) who provided the core of this list, the credit is all hers, any blame is mine.