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In a far off country called Africa there is a story of a child who once asked a warrior a question that everyone wanted to ask. She said to him, why is it in all the stories told by the warriors, the lion always loses? The warrior thought about it for a moment and thought of the question that he, too, once asked himself. And his reply to her was, that will always be true until the lions start telling the stories.

I came into storytelling about 17 years ago when I started as a children's librarian for a Minneapolis Public Library and was requested by the library to offer a children's storytelling program every Wednesday at 10:00. And in reading stories to them, I lost an element that I really missed. That of creating the image of the story to take it away from that flat page and to make it alive and exciting for the child.

Stories have provided many insights for Black folks in America. Stories have helped lift their spirits, have helped them to pull together those images that made them strong when at times they felt very weak. Made them consolidate together when they were fragmented. But most important, it made them laugh at their sorrows. It was uplifting.

Storytelling has been coming back for many years now. And I, myself, am a member of a group called Black Storytellers Alliance, and Black Storytellers Alliance has a long history in Minnesota. It was called the Black Arts Alliance in the early 70s. Then it became the Black Theater Alliance. And now we have changed our name to Black Storytellers because that best categorized what we do.

We feel strongly that stories promote values, and these values are not to be just talked about during Black History Month, but can be used year round. But what would a radio program be without hearing a story?

I have a story I want to tell you now, and this story is about a friend of mine, who I call the knee high man. And the knee high man was a person who always dreamed of being very tall, but he also wanted to be very strong, and he just didn't know how to do it.

So this knee high man, he lived on a farm and he said, I know what we'll do. I'll go ask those animals how they got to be so big and tall and so big and strong. So the knee high man, he went to the tallest animal and it was Sister Horse. And he said, "Sister Horse, Sister Horse, how did you get to be so big and tall?" And Sister Horse said, "Well, you know, I got to be big and tall because I love to eat corn." Knee high man said, "You know, I like to eat corn too. How much corn must I eat to be as tall as you?" Sister Horse said, "Well, you must eat five bushel baskets of corn. And after you eat that corn, you must run as fast as the wind."

Well, the knee high man was ready for that task. He went to that first bushel basket of corn, ate it no problem. Went to that second one, gobbled it up. Still no problem. Third one, just a piece of cake. But when he got to that fourth one, he just nibbled here and nibbled there, and he just wanted to sit down, but he remembered that the horse said that he had to eat five.

So he ate that last one. Nibble nibble. And he wanted to sit down, but he remembered that the horse said he had to run. So he got up and he ran this way, he ran that way, he turned all the way around, but he didn't get any taller. And besides that, he got a tummy ache from eating all that corn.

Well, he wanted to go back to the horse. And he went there and he said, "Sister Horse, you don't know what you're talking about. I'm going to go ask the bull." The big bull and said, "Brother Bull, Brother Bull, how did you get so big?" Brother Bull said, "Well, you know, I got big because I love to eat the grass." "Grass?" said the knee high man. "Yeah, you have to eat grass. And after you eat that grass, you have to get on the top of the tallest hill and you have to yell, you're Mr. Bull."

Well, the knee high man thought about it, and he looked around to make sure that none of his friends saw what he was about to eat. And he got down in that grass, and he started. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Well, that knee high man ate two acres of grass. And after he ate that grass, he got up on the tallest hill, and he started to say, "I'm Mr. Bull. I'm Mr. Bull. I'm Mr. Bull."

And all he got was a sore throat and a belly ache from eating all of that grass. Well, that knee high man, he just sat down like all of us do, and he put his hands in his face, and he just started to bawl. And just, "Oh, what am I going to do? What am I going to do?"

But he didn't notice who had been observing him the whole time. It was old Sister Owl. And Sister Owl just started to laugh, and laugh, and laugh. And that knee high man looked at her and said, "You shouldn't be laughing at me. I worked very hard today. I worked very hard today. I ate five bushel baskets of corn. I ran as fast as I could. I ate two acres of grass. And I shouted to the top of my lungs."

Sister Owl said, "What you do all those fool things for?" Knee high man said, "Well, because I want to be big and tall so I can see everything that's going on around me." The owl said, "You know, if you just climb up here on this oak stump with me, you will be able to see everything that's going on around you."

Well, the knee high man said, "You know, I never thought about that." Sister Owl said, "Now tell me, why do you want to be so big?" Knee high man said, "Well, I want to be big and strong so that if I ever get into a fight I would be able to win." Miss Owl said, "You're kind of short. Has anybody ever started a fight with you?"

Knee high man thought and said, "No, nobody has ever started a fight." Then she said, "Then why do you want to be so big and tall and so big and strong?" Knee high man said, "You know, I never really thought about it." And when the owl heard that, the smile just got broad, and her eyes got big and she said, "And that's what your problem is. You don't have to be a giant to see everything. Just keep your eyes open and sit on a tall hill. You will be able to see everything. And you don't have to be a giant to win the fight. If you just use the brains that the Dear Lord gave you, you will be able to think through all your problems."

Well, the knee high man, he thought about it, and he said, "I think I know what I can do." And from that day forward, whenever the knee high man had a problem that he thought was too big that he couldn't get over it or too wide that he couldn't get around it, he just remembered the lesson that he learned from the wise old owl. He sat down, thought out a plan, and became the best that he could get.

And that's what stories are. Stories are used to entertain. But many times stories are used to promote social values. It's a way of attacking problems that you don't have to club somebody over the head to tell them about. You can use the examples of the lazy, greedy old tiger. Or you can use the image of the child who lost his or her way and through going through a lot of adversities have been able to move on to another level.

What I would eventually love to do with stories is to link stories on an intergenerational basis. Because I think a lot of times we have generations that don't talk. And I think the use of stories may be a way to get generations to talk. To get those grandparents to tell those stories to their children, and to get their children to tell those stories to their children.

And a good example of a story that I usually like to start off with when I do talk to groups, both young and old, is the story I call The Tailor. And that story is a story of creativity, but most important, it's a story of imagination.

Because you see, long, long, long time ago, there was a tailor. The tailor was famous because he could make the most beautiful coats, but he never made a coat for himself, and he desperately needed a coat. So he decided that for every penny that he made from the many coats he made, he would save a few cents until he had enough money to find a fabric.

But it couldn't be any old fabric. It had to have all the colors of the people of the world. So he went around and he looked. And he got the green, he got red and yellow, he got black and white. He got all the colors. All the colors of the people of the world.

And so on the cool night, he laid out his fabric. And he reached into his pocket and out came a pair of scissors. And with those scissors, he went, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip. And then he took out his needle and thread and he sewed, and he sewed, and he sewed until he had a coat. But it wasn't any old coat because that coat went from the top of his neck down to his ankle.

And so he put on that coat, and he went out to the town square, where all the people were. And he spun around this way, and he spun around that way. And when the people saw that coat they said, looking good, looking good, looking good. Well, he was looking good because he had that beautiful coat. And so he wore that coat.

He wore it inside, he wore it outside, until it was tattered and torn. So he took off that coat, and he was going to throw it away, but he noticed that the colors were beautiful, and you can't throw a thing of beauty away. So he reached into his pocket, and he started again.

He went zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip. And he got his needle and thread and he sewed, and he sewed, and he sewed until from the top of his neck down to his waist he had the most beautiful jacket you can imagine. So he went back out there to where the people of the village were, and he would spin around this way, and he spun around that way. And when the people saw that coat, you know what they said-- looking good, looking good, looking good.

And he was looking good because that jacket fit perfectly. So he wore that jacket, and he wore that jacket, until, alas, it got tattered and torn. So he took that jacket off, and he was going to throw it away, but he noticed that the colors were so very beautiful. So he reached in again and out came those scissors.

And he went zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip. And he got his needle and thread, and he sewed, and he sewed, and he sewed until he had a scarf. He put that scarf on and he went out to the village of the people. And he spun this way, and he spun that way, and again, when they saw that scarf, you know what they said-- looking good, looking good, looking good.

Well, he was looking good, and he liked that scarf. And so he wore that scarf, and he wore it, until it got tattered and torn. And he took it off, and he was going to throw it away, but the colors were so beautiful. So he reached in again. He got out his scissors, and he went zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip. And he got his needle and thread, and he sewed, and he sewed until he had a beautiful hat.

Well, he went out to the village of the people, and he rose his hat, and he said, good day, good day, good day. And when the people saw that hat, they said, looking good, looking good, looking good. Well, he wore that hat, and he wore that hat until it got tattered and torn. So he took it off, and he was going to throw it away, but the colors were so beautiful, so he got his scissors.

And he zip, zip, zip and zip, zip, zip. And he got his needle and thread, and he sewed, and he sewed and he sewed, until he had not one, not two, but three cloth buttons. And he made himself a shirt, and he put those buttons on the shirt. And when he went out to the town square, he just stuck out his chest broadly and he said, see my buttons? See my buttons? See my buttons?

And when the people saw those buttons, they said it again-- looking good, looking good, looking good. Well, you would think that would be the end of our story, but it's not. Because once more, he took out his scissors. And he went, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip, zip. And he got his needle and thread. And he sewed, sewed, sewed, and sewed, sewed, sewed, until he had the story that we just made up.