Sample droll tales...
What are Droll Tales?
From before the remembering of time there have been custodians of an oral tradition in many cultures and particularly among the Celtic peoples. Everyone could recall the stories and rituals but it was always necessary to appoint a wise one as a focus; one who could inform the people who they were and where they had come from, and perhaps where they were bound on the long journey of years.
In Cornwall this tradition was strong up to the advent of writing and recording when it began to fade. Droll Tellers of old would travel around remote farms and villages paying for their night’s lodging with an evening of stories and gossip. They would also be in great demand on feast days in the larger townships. Often modifying the stories according to their audience and circumstances they would keep them alive whilst retaining the essence of each one.
‘Why remember the old stories when they are bound to be written down somewhere’ became a common theme of the slow decline of the art. People forgot that the Droll Tellers of old represented a vital part of a culture which valued not only the plot but the very telling of the story as a shared experience. They forgot the importance of the old and familiar fables in which they could participate, in favour of the endlessly new.
Fortunately a few tellers have kept the art alive over the intervening years and with reconstructions from early written records there is now a healthy renaissance of the Cornish Drolls. They have great relevance today to help us understand the history, geography and traditions of Cornwall, to inform on moral issues and to create social cohesion; and have fun! A Droll Telling session should be an inclusive and uplifting experience for young and old alike and because of the multi-layer nature of the stories can appeal to people of all ages and backgrounds at the same time.
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