“And it shall come to pass, when your children shall say unto you, What mean ye by this service?”
Book of Exodus, c. 600 BC · instructions for the Passover meal
Chapter 3
On Story
“The people will tell of their wisdom, and the congregation will shew forth their praise.”
Ben Sira, c. 180 BC · Jerusalem scribe, author of the Book of Sirach
“This is the showing forth of the inquiry of Herodotus, to the end that neither the deeds of men may be forgotten by lapse of time, nor the works great and marvellous lose their renown.”
Herodotus, c. 430 BC · Greek writer, the first historian
“Two hundred years it has travelled down to us, and we sing it to our children, knowing as little as our fathers what the words may mean, but knowing well the meaning of its music.”
W. E. B. Du Bois, 1903 · American sociologist, writing of a song his great-great-grandmother carried
“A drink comes before a story.”
Irish proverb, 1922 · seanfhocal, attested in Irish verse by 1663
Children who could answer the most questions about their family history scored highest on measures of self-esteem, sense of control, and family functioning. Knowing the stories predicted their wellbeing better than any other single measure the researchers tried.
Marshall Duke, Amber Lazarus and Robyn Fivush, 2008 · the Do You Know scale, Emory University family narratives project
Among Agta hunter-gatherers in the Philippines, skilled storytellers were the most valued members of a camp, and camps with more storytellers cooperated more. Story turns out to be a survival technology.
Daniel Smith and colleagues, 2017 · study of storytelling among Agta hunter-gatherer camps
StoryCorps invites two people who know each other to sit down and record one forty-minute conversation. Every recording is archived at the American Folklife Center in the Library of Congress.
StoryCorps, 2003 · oral history project founded 2003, archived at the Library of Congress
Free to read, always. Liking a verse or leaving a comment happens in the app, so the conversation has a name attached to it.