“Storytelling tells us about our civilization, our culture. Stories give us confidence.”
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Published Nov 25, 2023 • Last updated 2 hours ago • 2 minute read
Kathie Kompass, who has been a storyteller for 40 years, helped close out the 2023 edition of the Ottawa Children’s Storytelling Festival with an hour’s worth of fables on Saturday. Photo by Tony Caldwell /POSTMEDIA
Distracted children must surely be the bane of storytellers everywhere, unless, perhaps, when the story they’re telling is simply so engaging that young listeners are helpless to do anything but interrupt.
That was the case with four-year-old Dorian Birch, who, during a momentary lull in Kathie Kompass’s telling of The Three Little Pigs on Saturday, loudly proclaimed to all in the room, “I’ll eat you up!” This, incidentally, came shortly after Dorian announced to his mother (and others nearby) that he wanted to ask a question of Kompass.
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His mother, Ashley Corman, said Dorian was extremely excited when she told him about the festival. “He loves stories, and we read them every night, so I thought this would be a nice change of pace, to see how he is watching and hearing them. He doesn’t like to sit for a long time, but I think today was a good, short introduction.”
But Dorian’s were the sort of unavoidable vagaries to be expected at the Ottawa Children’s Storytelling Festival, which closed out this year’s six days of programming at Centrepointe’s Ben Franklin Place on Saturday.
Nor was it just youngsters who were engaged. Kompass’s modernized version of the familiar tale included an inhaler that the wolf had to use while huffing and puffing outside the brick bungalow, while the pig inside asked Alexa how to cook a wolf; noodle soup was apparently the way to go. Judging by the pitch of the chortles that followed updates like these, parents were paying attention, too.
In an interview afterwards, Kompass, who has been telling stories for 40 years, explained their significance. “Storytelling tells us about our civilization, our culture. Stories give us confidence.”
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For youngsters, she added, “they build vocabulary, they build listening skills. Listening is incredibly hard work.”
This year’s festival, put on by the Ottawa Public Library and Ottawa Story Tellers, marked the 29th anniversary of the event, and it was held in person at OPL’s Centrepointe branch and the Odawa Native Friendship Centre, and online on YouTube.
Kompass’s hour of fables Saturday was followed by one tale each from eight-year-olds Anouk Arun and Rohan-Durja Vishwas, who attended last year’s festival and perhaps caught the bug themselves.
“Stories give you ideas,” Rohan-Durja said, “like a crocodile trying to eat someone. And you go on wonderful adventures.”
Following their stories, Dorian ran to Kompass to ask his question. When he returned to his seat, I asked what he wanted to know.
“I don’t remember,” he replied.
Perhaps he’ll tell that story another time.
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