Oral Storytelling Over the Centuries

[AKKuya]

For most of the history buffs already have some knowledge on this topic, anyone not having the slightest idea.  Here's how it works.

1) An incident takes place involving a person, place, and conflict with a resoultion.
2) The person or persons involved tell the story to someone else.
3) Second hand story loses some truth but replaced with impromtu fill ins.
4) Step 3 repeated many times especially in local pubs that result in little truth but great embellishments.
5) Centuries later, first telling of story has no resemblance to current story save name of person and nature of conflict and result. 

Let's start a simple story and see how it progresses.

Rules:
1) Each retelling must change one issue only or add to the story.
2) Each change or addition must conform with the story somewhat.  Ex.  The hero walked to the gate.  The hero ran to the gate. Or, the hero walked to the stone gate.
3) Keep the story PG.
4) Best to copy and paste earlier version and make the change somewhere.


In the woods of Gerdania, a young man sold wooden fences to farmers.  His name was Korinth.  He worked hard and made a small amount of wealth for a future house of his own.

His eyes were only for the middle daughter of the village butcher.  Her name was Jodina and had long flowing brown hair with the palest of skin.  She was betrothed to the local chieftan's youngest son.  She did not love the chieftan's son nor knew that Korinth existed.

Barbarians had been spotted in the villages to the south and preperations were made to defend when the barbarians.  Korinth volunteered in constructing a solid fence.

The barbarians arrived and the village was under attack.  The defenses held.  The barbarians kept up the siege.  The wall fell and the village was in danger.  Korinth spotted Jodina being dragged in a net by Barbarians to a wagon cage with other females.

Korinth escaped the turmoil and vowed to resue Jodina and win her love.  He didn't know the chieftan's youngest son also escaped the turmoil and decided to rescue Jodina also.

Korinth followed the barbarians to thier homeland.  He traveled through forests, over mountains, and across rivers and deserts.  Over many months, he arrived at the barbarian's village.

With great skill and cunning, Korinth snuck into the barbarian's village and found Jodina.  He saw her being held captive in the leader of the barbarians dwelling.

Before his eyes to his horror, he saw the chieftan's son reach her first and free her from the chains.  His heart was crushed.

He made his way out of the village and began searching for them.  He never found them.  Korinth traveled to a village high in the mountains.

There he met a new girl and married.  They had many children.



 

[Dragon]

In the woods of Gerdania, a young man sold wooden fences to farmers.  His name was Korinth.  He worked hard and made a small amount of wealth for a future house of his own.

His eyes were only for the middle daughter of the village butcher.  Her name was Jodina and had long flowing brown hair with the palest of skin.  She was betrothed to the local chieftain's youngest son.  She did not love the chieftain's son nor knew that Korinth existed.

Barbarians had been spotted in the villages to the south and preparations were made to defend against the barbarians.  Korinth volunteered in constructing a solid fence.

The barbarians arrived and the village was under attack.  The defenses held for a while, but the barbarians kept up the siege.  The wall fell and the village was in peril.  Korinth spotted Jodina being dragged in a net by the invaders to a wagon cage full of other females.

The barbarians, having gotten what they came for, set alight the remaining huts and fled back to their homeland.  A messenger was sent to the chieftain to inform him of the capture of Jodina.  Khal, the chieftains son, gathered his best fighters and set off to rescue his betrothed.

Korinth, vowed to the village elders that he would follow the barbarians to their homeland and free as many of the woman as he could.  He traveled through forests, over mountains, and across rivers and deserts.  The thought of freeing his one and only love, and the chance to win her heart, was all that kept him going over the many months he traveled before arriving at the barbarian's village.

With great skill and cunning, Korinth snuck into the barbarian's village and found Jodina.  He saw her being held captive in the leader of the barbarians dwelling.

Before his eyes and to his horror, he saw Khal reach her first and free her from the chains.  His heart was crushed.

He made his way out of the village and began searching for them.  He never found them.  Korinth traveled to a village high in the mountains.

There he met a new girl and married.  They had many children.

[dedalos]

He made his way out of the village and began searching for them.  He never found them.  Korinth traveled to a village high in the mountains.  He took a job at a leather factory. This is the city we now know as Korinth and the producer of the famous Korinthian leather 

[Penguin]

In the woods of Gerdania, a young man sold complex and dangerous derivative schemes to unwitting investors.  His name was Subprimus.  He made vast sums of money and built his own private mansion.

His eyes were only for the middle daughter of the village bond broker.  Her name was Rebecca and had long, flowing black hair, and her preparation for the weekend was of legendary proportions.  She was betrothed to the local child star musician who built his career on his squeaky voice and talent of looking cute to 12-13 year old girls.  She did not love this Justinian of Beaver, nor had she recognized that Korinth had brought Gerdania's to the brink of collapse.

The SEC had been spotted in the villages to the south and Subprimus made preparations to hide his various felonious activities, such as insider llama trading and grain price-fixing.  Korinth sold off a great deal of stock and prepared the money for bribes.

The SEC came and shut Subprimus's Looman Brothers down.  After discovering Rebecca, they called the local police and had her arrested for disturbing the peace.  Having done their job, the SEC left billions of dubloons of toxic plow assets to be sorted out for generations to come.

Subprimus vowed to reclaim his rightful place at the head of his ring of fellow cronies, and began a series of lawsuits that lasted years.  He sued everyone, left and right, and his excellent lawyers took all their money.  With capital in hand, he set off to bail Rebecca out of jail and make a run for the border in a large white SUV.

With great cunning, Subprimus drove over to the station, picked Rebecca up, and slammed on the gas.  As 'Highway to the Dangerzone' blasted through the car, a police helicopter soon began to chase them.

Only a few hours into the chase, he ran out of fuel.  The police arressted him, and after leaving jail he found another girl; they had much legal trouble.

-Penguin

[Nypsy]

My third grade teacher did something similar.

She lined up the whole class, whispered a sentence into the first kids ear who then whispered the sentence into the next kids ear, rinse and repeat until the last kid in-line spoke out loud what he heard. It had no relation to the original sentence.

[jimbo71]

You said oral

[jeep00]

Hope this one goes better than that one about the bearded guy in sandals that shook someone's hand and told him he hoped he felt better........

Bob