My father-in-law is a master storyteller. He used to tell stories to the kids that always started the same way but ended up somewhere different. He would begin "Once upon a time there were three bears. The Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick Maker. And they all sailed out to sea." And from there he would make up a different story each time.
My daughter has asked everyone in our family if we would write a story for my father-in-law in this same manner. I thought this idea was lovely and couldn't wait to participate.
Until I actually sat down to write and realized, I am not a good make-believer. Fairy Tale writing or "storytelling" is definitely not my bailiwick. But I love the idea and want to contribute, so here is my attempt at a story...
Once upon
a time there were three bears: the Butcher, the Baker, and the Candlestick
Maker and they all sailed out to sea.
They lived
in a town called Garibaldi on the Oregon coast. There weren’t many other bears in
Garibaldi at this time and everyone in the small town knew everyone else- knew
their failures and their hopes and dreams; knew their personal histories and
their darkest secrets.
Well… they knew most of the
darkest secrets in town. The Butcher had a secret that no one knew. He had been
born to a family of cattle-farming bears that were all expected to work the family
business. The Butcher was a very strong bear and a fine butcher, having learnt
from a long line of butchers. He was deft with the carving knife and knew to
trim each cut of meat and he always knew exactly how to give his customers what
they wanted.
Every
bear in town had a story to tell about the Butcher and his dexterity with a
sharp knife.
What
no one knew, not even the gossipiest of gossipers, was that the Butcher used
his sharp-knife skills on more than just cows. Every so often a human would
come through town, and never leave. The Butcher harbored a deep and unpleasant
need to practice his skills on humans even though this was not allowed by the
other bears.
He eventually
grew tired of butchering -cows and
people- and wearied of carrying his secret. He was a hunter at heart and wanted
to do more with his paws than work in a butcher shop. He wanted to hunt. At the
first opportunity, he would be leaving this town behind.
The
Baker, too, had always been a baker. He had never done anything else and craved
change. In Garibaldi, there isn’t a lot of tolerance for change and the boring old bears only
liked bread made with honey; but the Baker wanted to bake with rye, and diced
peppers, and herbes de Provence! Whenever he added a bit of something different
to his bread dough the other bears turned up their noses and avoided his shop.
Garibaldi was no longer the place for him.
The
Candlestick Maker was a young lady-bear who was most definitely not suited to
this vocation. Like the Butcher and the Baker, her family had been making
candlesticks for many years. She was pressed into service of the family
business but had no passion for it. Her passion was stories- she could often be
found in her father’s
workshop gazing out the window. She spied the Baker across the way tending a
private garden of lavender, basil, rosemary, and tarragon; she watched as a few
men straggled through town and she noticed the Butcher pausing as he swept his
front stoop to watch the men as they begged at the Baker’s store-front.
Her
imagination took flight as she watched the bears of the town going about.
Melted wax pooled on her workbench as she made up stories in her mind and her
father shouted at her. “Look
at this mess! Stop your lollygagging and spin these candlesticks!”
The
young bear ground her teeth and decided to leave her father’s candle-making shop and
sail about the world. She threw off her leather apron and declared herself a candlestick
maker no longer. “I’m a Storyteller.” She whispered, and then she left.
And
that is how the Hunter, the Fancy Bread Baker, and the Storyteller all found
themselves at the port of Garibaldi, fed up with the town and their
expectations.
The
three became friends and spent their journey together. The Hunter had sausages
to share; the Fancy Bread Baker had several rosemary and pimento loaves; the
Storyteller set out candles from her pack to light their table.
The Hunter and the Fancy Bread Baker extended
a fatherly protection over the Storyteller, and she kept them entertained with
stories of delight. They talked of their families, and of the burdens they
carried.
“I don’t like making candlesticks, but
Father doesn’t care what I want to do.” The Storyteller told them. “He only
cares about the family business.”
“Who wants to eat the same boring bread,
day in and day out?” The Fancy Bread Baker complained. “Where have this town’s
taste buds gone?”
“I kill the humans that come to town.” The
Hunter explained. At the shock on the other’s faces, he rushed to explain,
“Only the strangers though! I often wanted to
kill my customers, but I didn’t!”
The
Baker and the Storyteller stared at him. “J-just don’t kill any more, and don’t kill
us, okay?”
The
Hunter allowed that as he had no friends beside these two, he would kill no
more humans and also refrain from using his knives on them.
The
ship eventually docked at a faraway island port, and the three disembarked.
They had very little of their supplies left and decided to stay together for a
time. They made their way along the coastline of the island and as night was
falling they came upon a village. There was no inn, and anyway the three had no
money. They met a nice old bear who pointed them inland and described a small,
abandoned cottage that they might find suitable for the night.
The
cottage was in poor repair but the three set about making it comfortable for
their first night on land in some time. The next day the three split up to
explore the village. They were given food and bed rolls and wheat for flour, in
exchange for help around the village.
The
villagers were generous, but very poor. They were kind and shared what they
had, but they also lacked in many areas. They welcomed the three strangers to
their small village, and shared their woes with the newcomers.
There
were many animals surrounding the village, but the bears of this town had
little in the way of hunting skills. They had gardens, but no experience with
herbs and no recipes to speak of. The young bears were mischievous and were
often left to their own devices while the adults tried their best each day to
complete their chores and gather food.
The
Hunter brought his skills with the knife and was able to provide not only meat,
but protection for the whole village. The villagers asked many things of the
Hunter -because he was such a strong bear, he was often asked to help with repairs
around the village. In exchange, the villagers shared their meals with him, and
helped him improve the little cottage he and his friends were living in.
The
Baker tended the gardens and taught his recipes to others and baked fancy bread
for everyone. The bears of this village loved the clever flavours he blended
together and often brought their own ingredients for the Baker to experiment
with. The shared their seeds and harvest with him.
The
Storyteller gathered the children each day and taught them to read and write,
and tell stories of their own. She taught them about the virtue of contributing
to their village and got them thinking about what they wanted to be when they
were grown bears.
And
so, accepted by their new friends, the three bears thrived in the village. The
Butcher never again turned his knives against a human; the Fancy Bread Baker
spent his days baking delicious treats for a community who encouraged his experimentation.
And the Storyteller found her niche in raising up a new generation of young storytellers,
who could be both productive and whimsical.
The End
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