Stories you could tell from memory - Lois & Clark Fanfic Message Boards

Full disclosure: this is for a story that I keep telling myself that I don't have time to write. Yet somehow I can't stop thinking about it, so something tells me it will eventually find its way onto the small screen.

Imagine that you and another person are stuck somewhere with no form of entertainment--no TV, radio, books, iPhones, nothing. What stories would you be able to tell from memory? They don't have to be children's stories, although that's what comes immediately to my mind. I'd like to get as many suggestions as possible.

I'll start: I could do children's folk stories (The Three LIttle Pigs, The Three Billy Goats Gruff), some fairy tales (Anything that Disney made into a movie

), some Bible stories like Noah's Ark, Jonah and the Whale, or David and Goliath.

Any story suggestions at all would be greatly appreciated. If they're from other cultures, that's even better.

TIA,

Happy

My daughter refused to watch Star Wars on TV because the sight of Darth Vader was too scary. But she LOVED having me tell her the story (plot) in parts every night while I brushed her teeth. She got distracted from what I was doing and I got her teeth brushed with no interruptions (except an occasional question).

This of course is the orginal Luke Skywalker meets Han Solo and Princess Leia - a New Hope - Star Wars. I wouldn't let my daughter anywhere near the new Star Wars stories -- much too scary!

I think I got through the entire A New Hope and half of Empire Strikes Back before the whole process exhausted me and I made her start brushing her own teeth. But as it was over a year ago, I may have made it all the way through Return of the Jedi. I can't remember.

A Brazilian indigenous legend that I remember from memory is the origin of the Giant Amazon Lily (Vitória Régia):

Legend has it that, a long time ago, the Tupis-Guaranis, indigenous people from Northern Brazil, told that every night, when the moon hid behind the hills far off on the horizon, it was going to live together with its favorite young ladies. They used to say that, if the moon could like one single girl, it would transform her into a star of the sky.

One princess, Pajé's daughter (Pajé being a kind of priest of the indigenous people), was impressed with that story. So, at night, when everybody was sleeping and the moon was traveling across the sky, the princess wanted to be a star, so she walked up to the hills and chased the moon, hoping the moon could see her up in the hills.

And so she did, every night, for a very long time. But the moon did not seem to notice her, even though the crying of the princess could be heard in the distance as well as her sadness and sighs.

One night, the princess saw, in the clear waters of a lake, the image of the moon. The innocent girl wondered if the moon had come down to take her away, so she jumped in the deep waters to join the moon and its lovely young ladies. She was never seen again.

The moon, in return for the beautiful princess's sacrifice, transformed her into a different star, different from the all the others whose light lit up the night sky. So, the moon transformed the princess into a "Star of the Waters", whose flower is the Giant Amazon Lily or "Vitória Régia".

At that moment, a new plant was born, whose scented white flowers blossom and unfurl only at night. And, when the sun appears in the early morning, the flowers change their color to soft pink.

[Linked Image]

Andreia

Andreia, thanks for sharing that story, complete with gorgeous photos.

In addition to all of the types of stories you mentioned, Happy, I could recount some TV shows (episodes of the original Star Trek, and, of course L&C episodes), some movies (e.g., The Wizard of Oz), some children's books (the one my son has me recite each night nowadays is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom), The Hobbit, and some Greek and Roman myths. I could also recount some family stories (e.g., how my parents first met, how my brother got into trouble at school for correcting a teacher who had insisted that spiders were insects, the day I twigged onto the concept of things having names)

Joy,
Lynn

personal or family stories, greek myths, movies (havent been to the movies in years but the ones i saw ages ago), pretty much the whole bible, american history, aesops fables, book plots, short stories (tell tale heart, the lottery, most dangerous game, ali babba, etc.). sorry no caps i'm on my cell phone

Excellent ideas, FoLCs, keep'em coming.

Thanks for the lily story, UltraWoman!

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Originally posted by VirginiaR:
This of course is the orginal Luke Skywalker meets Han Solo and Princess Leia - a New Hope - Star Wars. I wouldn't let my daughter anywhere near the new Star Wars stories -- much too scary!

Quite right. Jar Jar...

Of course, George Lucas *did* intend TPM to be the entry drug for six-year-olds.

Michael

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Of course, George Lucas *did* intend TPM to be the entry drug for six-year-olds.

Worked for me, Michael... although I must admit I was obsessed long before TPM came out (and I was only six... or actually seven or eight)

Pretty much the same things go for me. Star Wars, various tv shows, a vast array of other superhero stories, anything written by Shakespeare or Edgar Allan Poe, the Bible, various children's books, fairy tales, Disney movies, pretty much any film that's been released in the past two years that I've seen (which is a lot more than I'm proud to admit

), including one that I saw just yesterday [for anyone who likes romances, please go and see "One Day". It's beautiful

Like others have said, books and movies that have become favourites over the years. Star Wars, The Chronicles of Narnia, Toy Story (probably any Pixar movie), The Swan Princess, 101 Dalmatians and The Starlight Barking...and for nights huddled around the campfire, Stephen King, Robert McCammon and the Underworld and Resident Evil movies series.

And here's a folk tale for you - from a book of Asian folk tales I was given as a child - and which has always been a favourite, here in its orginal form:

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The Tiger’s Whisker
[A Korean Tale]

A young woman by the name of Yun Ok came one day to the house of a mountain hermit to seek his help. The hermit was a sage of great renown and a maker of charms and magic potions.

When Yun Ok entered his house, the hermit said, without raising his eyes from the fireplace into which he was looking: “Why are you here, Yun Ok?”

Yun Ok said, “Oh famous sage, I am in distress! Make me a potion!”

“Yes, yes, make a potion! Everyone needs potions! Can we cure a sick world with potions?”

“ Master,” Yun Ok replied, “ if you do not help me, I am truly lost!”

“Well, what is your story?” the hermit said, resigned at last to listen.

“It is my husband,” Yun Ok said. “He is very dear to me. For the past three years he has been away fighting in the wars. Now that he has returned, he hardly speaks to me, or to anyone else. If I speak, he doesn’t seem to hear. When he talks at all, it is roughly. If I serve him food not to his liking, he pushes it aside and angrily leaves the room. Sometimes when he should be working in the rice field, I see him sitting idly on top of the hill, looking towards the sea.”

“Yes, so it is sometimes when young men come back from the wars,” the hermit said. “Go on.”

“There is no more to tell, Learned One. I want a potion to give my husband so that he will be loving and gentle, as he used to be.”

“Ha, so simple is it?” he hermit said. “A potion! Very well. Come back in three days and I will tell you what we shall need for such a potion.”

Three days later, Yun Ok returned to the home of the mountain sage. “I have looked into it,” he told her. “Your potion can be made. But the most essential ingredient is the whisker of a living tiger. Bring me this whisker and I will give you what you need.”

“The whisker of a living tiger” Yun Ok said. “How could I possibly get it?”

“If the potion is important enough to you, you will succeed,” the hermit said. He turned his head away, not wishing to talk any more.

Yun Ok went home. She thought a great deal about how she would get the tiger’s whisker. Then, one night when her husband was asleep, she crept from her house with a bowl of rice and meat sauce in her hand. She went to the place on the mountainside where the tiger was known to live. Standing far off from the tiger’s cave, she held out the bowl of food, calling the tiger to come and eat. The tiger did not come.

The next night, Yun Ok went again, this time a little bit closer. Again she offered the bowl of food. Every night Yun Ok went to the mountain, each time a few steps nearer the tiger’s cave than the night before. Little by little the tiger became accustomed to seeing her there.

One night, Yun Ok approached to within a stone’s throw of the tiger’s cave. This time, the tiger came a few steps towards her and stopped. The two of the them stood looking at one another in the moonlight. It happened again the following night, and this time they were so close that Yun Ok could talk to the tiger in a soft, soothing voice. The next night, after looking carefully into Yun Ok’s eyes, the tiger ate the food that she held out for him.

After that, when Yun Ok came in the night, she found the tiger waiting for her on the trail. When the tiger had eaten, Yun Ok could gently rub his head with her hand. Nearly six months had passed since the night of her first visit. At last, one night, after caressing the animal’s head, Yun Ok said:

“Oh, Tiger, generous animal, I must have one of your whiskers. Do not be angry with me!”

And she snipped off one of its whiskers.

The tiger did not become angry, as she had feared he might. Yun Ok went down the trail, not walking but running, with the whisker clutched tightly in her hand.

The next morning, she was at the mountain hermit’s house just as the sun was rising from the sea. “Oh, Famous One!” she cried. “I have it! I have the tiger’s whisker! Now you can make me the potion you promised so that my husband will be loving and gentle again!”

The hermit took the whisker and examined it. Satisfied that it had really come from a tiger, he leaned forward and dropped it into the fire that burned in his fireplace.

“Oh sir!” the young woman wailed in anguish. “What have you done with it?”

“Tell me how you obtained it,” the hermit said.

“Why I went to the mountain each night with a little bowl of food. At first, I stood afar, and I came a little closer each time, gaining the tiger’s confidence. I spoke gently and soothingly to him, to make him understand I wished him only good. I was patient. Each night I brought him food, knowing he would not eat. But I did not give up. I came again and again. I never spoke harshly. I never reproached him. And at last one night he took a few steps towards me. A time came when he would meet me on the trail and eat out of the bowl that I held in my hands. I rubbed his head and he made happy sounds in his throat. Only after that did I take the whisker.”

“Yes, yes,” the hermit said. “You tamed the tiger and won his confidence and love.”

“But you have thrown the whisker in the fire!” Yun Ok cried. “It is all for nothing!”

“No, I do not think it is all for nothing,” the hermit said. “The whisker is no longer needed. Yun Ok, let me ask you – is a man more vicious than a tiger? Is he less responsive to kindness and understanding? If you can win the love and confidence of a wild and bloodthirsty animal by gentleness and patience, surely you can do the same with your husband?”

Hearing this, Yun Ok stood speechless for a moment. Then she went down the trail, turning over in her mind the truth she had learned in the house of the mountain hermit.

LabRat

BTW, Would you include poems as well? If so, I could add some Robert Frost, some Poe, a little Shakespeare, some Tolkien, and a handful of others, both serious and silly. (The first poem I ever made a point of memorizing was Eletelephony . IIRC, I was about six at the time.)

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Originally posted by Lynn S. M.:
BTW, Would you include poems as well? If so, I could add some Robert Frost, some Poe, a little Shakespeare, some Tolkien, and a handful of others, both serious and silly. (The first poem I ever made a point of memorizing was Eletelephony . IIRC, I was about six at the time.)

I would think poems should/could be included. After all, some poems can be just as entertaining and impactful as a regular story. My personal favorites lie among Shakespeare, Poe, Wordsworth, Whitman, Sylvia Plath (depressing, I know) and T.S. Eliot (uh! to die for! not to mention he's a poet who actually rhymes, which would be entertaining for the younger folks

).

But in line with that sort of thinking, where *would* you stop? Technically, anything could be a story, whether it's a poem, riddle, myth, fairy tale, or a historical event. Would you go so far as to include historians, like Benjamin Franklin or the writers of the Constitution? Or even free thinkers and movement leaders, such as Hobbes, or Emerson? Or are we crossing the line of what is and isn't entertainment here?

Thanks, guys. I loved your story, Labby. For the purposes of my story, I wouldn't put any restrictions on the category. I'm open to anything you could say to entertain, distract, or soothe another person to pass the time.

Ooh, what about verbal games? Can you think of games that don't require anything other than talking? There's the "I'm going on a picnic" game.

Well, for whiling away the time nothing beats singing. Contemporary songs, oldies, ballads, love songs, show tunes, hymns, lullabies, advertising jingles...

Oh, and the theme songs of TV shows: Gilligan's Island, Brady Bunch, etc.

Don't forget the classic "99 Bottles of Beer on the wall".

I said entertainment, Virginia, not the musical equivalent of Chinese water torture. :p

Verbal games?

1) I Spy
2) Twenty Questions
3) One person says a word within a category (e.g., animal names). The next person has to come up with another word fitting the category, but their word must start with the ending letter of the prior word
4) Truth or Dare
5) Create a story: Each person adds one word or sentence to the story.
6) Each person says a letter such that the letters said thus far form the beginning of a word. The loser is the person who says a letter which completes a word. (Words up to three letters are ignored.) For example, if the first three letters were C-L-A, and I, thinking about the word 'clamp', said 'M', I would lose, since 'clam' is a word.
7) Trivia challenges (Name Snow White's seven dwarves or Santa's reindeer)
8) And, of course, there's always Invisible or Fly.

Joy,
Lynn

My first thought is family/school/workplace anecdotes, or jokes. I should think that you'd choose to narrate something the other person is less likely to know, to make it more fun - so, instead of a well-known fairytale, you might go for that favourite book of yours that the other person has never read.

Games:

The Movie Game

One person says the title of a movie. The next person has to use the last letter of that movie as the first letter of the next movie.

Example:

Person 1 - Army of Darkness
Person 2 - Superman Returns

and so on...(titles beginning with "A" or "The" become like Knight's Tale, A but not using A as the last letter - in this case, it would be E since Tale ends in E)

Ooh, games! I don't know how we missed this one but... Six degrees of separation (or "six degrees of Kevin Bacon," whichever title you'd prefer). You name an actor (not necessarily Kevin Bacon) and then you have to connect that actor to another one by people he(or she) has starred in a movie with in less than six connections. For example, if I wanted to connect, say, Mark Hamill to Owen Wilson, by random luck of the draw...

1. Mark Hamill
2. James Earl Jones
3. Jeremy Irons
4. Steve Martin
5. Eddie Murphey
6. Owen Wilson

Bonus points to anyone who can successfully explain how I connected them all!

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Originally posted by Mouserocks:
Ooh, games! I don't know how we missed this one but... Six degrees of separation (or "six degrees of Kevin Bacon," whichever title you'd prefer). You name an actor (not necessarily Kevin Bacon) and then you have to connect that actor to another one by people he(or she) has starred in a movie with in less than six connections. For example, if I wanted to connect, say, Mark Hamill to Owen Wilson, by random luck of the draw...

1. Mark Hamill
2. James Earl Jones
3. Jeremy Irons
4. Steve Martin
5. Eddie Murphey
6. Owen Wilson

Bonus points to anyone who can successfully explain how I connected them all!

Mark Hamill played in Star Wars with James Earl Jones, who played in The Magic 7 with Jeremy Irons, who played in The Pink Panther 2 with Steve Martin, who played in Bowfinger with Eddie Murphy, who played in I Spy with Owen Wilson

(god I love IMDB - I couldn't get past the James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons connection in The Lion King)

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Originally posted by Deadly Chakram:

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Originally posted by Mouserocks:
[b] Ooh, games! I don't know how we missed this one but... Six degrees of separation (or "six degrees of Kevin Bacon," whichever title you'd prefer). You name an actor (not necessarily Kevin Bacon) and then you have to connect that actor to another one by people he(or she) has starred in a movie with in less than six connections. For example, if I wanted to connect, say, Mark Hamill to Owen Wilson, by random luck of the draw...

1. Mark Hamill
2. James Earl Jones
3. Jeremy Irons
4. Steve Martin
5. Eddie Murphey
6. Owen Wilson

Bonus points to anyone who can successfully explain how I connected them all!

Mark Hamill played in Star Wars with James Earl Jones, who played in The Magic 7 with Jeremy Irons, who played in The Pink Panther 2 with Steve Martin, who played in Bowfinger with Eddie Murphy, who played in I Spy with Owen Wilson

(god I love IMDB - I couldn't get past the James Earl Jones and Jeremy Irons connection in The Lion King) [/b]

Love all those movies- came up with Owen Wilson because I just rewatched I Spy a couple of weeks ago, and Mark Hamill because... well, because who can pass up a Star Wars reference?

I won't call you on cheating for using IMDB (though if it were my family I would have...) :p

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Originally posted by Mouserocks:

Love all those movies- came up with Owen Wilson because I just rewatched I Spy a couple of weeks ago, and Mark Hamill because... well, because who can pass up a Star Wars reference?

I won't call you on cheating for using IMDB (though if it were my family I would have...) :p [/QUOTE]

LOL! Double bonus points?

I just heard a game on the radio I could totally see L&C playing (if that's which characters this is for). Where you guess the title of a book by the name of the chapters. Reminded me of guess the dwarves and guess the reindeer game they played.

For example: (the numbers do not match the chapter numbers)

1) Almost Paradise
2) Skeleton
3) The Tour
4) Breeding Sites
5) The Park
And the last hint Epilogue: San Jose

Can you guess the book?

Another Book (easier):

Chapter 3 - The Black Spot
Chapter 11 - What I Heard in the Apple Barrel
Chapter 27 - "Pieces of Eight"

What is the book?

I could also see them playing a variation of this game, guess the book from the names of the characters.

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Originally posted by VirginiaR:

Another Book (easier):

Chapter 3 - The Black Spot
Chapter 11 - What I Heard in the Apple Barrel
Chapter 27 - "Pieces of Eight"

What is the book?

Treasure Island.

Yep. I could see them playing that game.

But, to tell the truth, there's only one book I can think of whose chapter names I remember. Here are a couple of the chapters:

An Unexpected Party
Riddles in the Dark.

I rather suspect that this one will be extremely easy to guess for anyone who has read the book.

Joy,
Lynn

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Originally posted by Lynn S. M.:

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Originally posted by VirginiaR:

Another Book (easier):

Chapter 3 - The Black Spot
Chapter 11 - What I Heard in the Apple Barrel
Chapter 27 - "Pieces of Eight"

What is the book?
Treasure Island.

Yep. I could see them playing that game.

But, to tell the truth, there's only one book I can think of whose chapter names I remember. Here are a couple of the chapters:

An Unexpected Party
Riddles in the Dark.

I rather suspect that this one will be extremely easy to guess for anyone who has read the book.

Joy,
Lynn

Ding! Ding! Ding! Get that woman a Clarkie Bear!

Yes, that was Treasure Island. I figured with Clark's super memory, he'd be the one reciting the chapter names to Lois... who ALWAYS thinks she has the answers!

Of course, for more irony, Clark could always use H.G. Wells' novels to stump her.

Have no idea on your book. "Through the Looking Glass" is the only one I could come up with, but I don't think that's right.

Can I guess your book, Lynn? In fact, it's the only one that sounds familiar to me

but it is VERY familiar, one of my favorite books: JRR Tolkien's The Hobbit.

I can't tell a book by the names of the chapters, but I know a story from heart that I used to tell my girls when they were in the mood for a story.

A young man wanted to become a master of the sword, so he went around asking for the greatest sword master in the land. He searched high and low, asking many people, and after several years of travel he finally came to a thickly forested mountain where the fabled sword master lived. More days of sweat and climbing brought him to the sword master's hovel where the young man threw himself at the feet of the master and said "Teach me the ways of the sword, so that I may be a master like you!"
The Master said, "It is very hard, and takes a long time."

"How long?" his new apprentice asked.

"At least 10 years."

"What if I work twice as hard to learn."

"Twenty years." answered the sword master.

But the young man was determined to learn and decided to stay, but the sword master began putting him to all sorts of menial tasks, like gathering wood, fetching buckets of water up and down the mountain, making dinner and scrubbing out pots. The young man thought this must be a test of how well he obeyed, but one day when a large chunk of wood fell on his foot, he cursed and yelled that he must be foolish to think he was going to learn anything. Just then the sword master jumped out of the bushes and starting beating his apprentice with a wooden sword. The apprentice was left sobbing and bruised on the forest floor, but since it was the first time he'd seen the sword master do any sort of sword play, he stayed, expecting the lessons to begin any time.

Days and days of nothing and the apprentice was rethinking his decision to leave while making dinner, when suddenly the sword master jumped out of the shadows with his wooden sword once more, beating the apprentice for all he was worth. The third time this happened the apprentice was able to get away by running. Another time he ducked and rolled down a hill. Pretty soon the attacks came every day, several times, while the apprentice was sleeping, using the bathroom, whatever time the sword master thought he could catch the apprentice unaware.

Then one day while the apprentice was cutting vegtables for soup, the sword master came running to strike him from behind. The apprentice merely lifted the soup lid from the pot and blocked the blow. He had become a master of the sword without ever touching one.

The end.

Virginia, thanks for the Clarkie doll. The perfect prize.

Alice is a good guess, but it isn't right.

Anti-K, you get a Clarkie doll of your own. "The Hobbit" it is.

Joy,
Lynn

Pippi Longstocking (Swedish Pippi Långstrump)

Thanks for the suggestions, Shimauma and Meadowrose. It may take a while, but they may show up in an epic some day.

Happy