Gold Tree And Silver Tree
Posted: March 14, 2012 Filed under: Age 11 and up, Uncategorized 7 CommentsGold Tree and Silver Tree Ages 11 and up
A queen and her daughter go walking. They come to a glen and a brook. “Am I not the fairest in all the world?” the queen asks the fish that swims there. “No,” says the fish, “You are not.” What happens next? Who is the fairest? Click on the link to find out. A story from Britain. 10.59 mins.
This story has an unusual solution to a big problem. Do you think it’s a good one? Leave a comment below.
Story origin for me: Alan Garner’s Book of British Fairytales
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I first heard this story – from you – at Ruth and Dean’s house, way back when we held those Spring gatherings. I felt like: Somebody kill that friggin’ fish!
Some seven years later … I’m like: GO TROUT GO! So … yes. That threesome worked for us all.
:)
This story has been pretty big for me. I was once working in a school and the kids were doing role play — that “I am” exercise where you choose whatever story element you want to be. A boy took the storyteller’s chair. “I am the first wife,” he announced. “I am the first wife and I feel so stupid. I always let everyone else do things for me. I never did anything for myself.” I was surprised, to say the least. Even more so when his teacher told me, “That’s his problem. He has learning disabilities. He wants us to fix them but he won’t do any of his own work.” I realized then how elated he’d been when he went back to his seat again.
Ah! I didn’t remember THAT story about what happened when you took Silver Tree and Gold Tree to school. The story I did remember was about this other kid who did the “I am” exercise and said “I am the king.” And he said how he, like the king, smiled and nodded and pretended that everything was nice and normal around him at home, when in fact, it wasn’t. I never forgot about that one. Never. Whenever the story was mentioned by someone, it always came with that kid tagging along.
Ah, from here, because I’d forgotten about that. It is indeed an amazing insight and one which gives yet another indication of what the stories have to give. Here’s one more: the woman who came to me to talk about the moment when Gold Tree puts her finger through the key hole. “That’s me and my mother,” she said. “And I always do it. I always put my finger through and I always get stabbed. I see now I have to stop.”
What happened to the king, I wonder?
Now there’s the question. Thing about the folktales is that they do tend to focus intently on the main characters and see no need to tie up all the loose ends!
There’s a whole nother story there.