March 2025 Newsletter
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SAS’s 19th AGM on Saturday 22nd February was a fun evening where work and play were juxtaposed perfectly. Many thanks to all for taking the time to be there.
We appreciate your presence and your support!
Free Online Oral Storytelling event via Zoom hosted by Storytelling Association (Singapore).
The theme of World Storytelling Day 2025 is Deep Water. This theme can have many meanings: stories in which a character is in trouble, stories about magical waters, or stories connected to deep waters like the sea, a lake, or a river.
If you would like to tell a prepared story in 9 minutes or less, please let us know via the registration link to be put on the list to tell a short story that must include ‘Water’. in part of the story.
Please note:
- The stories are told, not read.
- The stories can be aimed at any age-group.
- Come as a listener or teller. All welcome.
- Zoom link will be sent when you register for the session.
Children love stories because they spark imagination and wonder! Join us for an exciting Oral Storytelling session with two talented members of the Storytelling Association Singapore (SAS). Each session features fresh, fun tales that engage young minds and encourage creativity.
Our storytellers will interact with the audience, making it a lively and participatory experience!
Children must be accompanied by an adult throughout the session.
No registration needed – just come and enjoy!!
Calling all SAS members, come take part in a Story Web session at a member’s home in Potong Pasir. Come and try out a rough and raw story with a small group of supportive listeners.
Events in Singapore & Around the World
Click here to find out more and to register for the course.
SAS is an institutional member of FEAST and SAS members can avail of the special institutional member rate.
FEAST has numerous events (some free and some for a small fee) every month. To find out more or to become a member go to their website here.
Plunge into the depths of storytelling where mystery, adventure, and intrigue await. From ancient myths of the sea to folktales whispered on moonlit shores, from personal stories of resilience to legends of hidden treasures. What secrets swirl beneath the surface—some meant to be uncovered, others best left undisturbed. Join us as listeners and tellers to dive into tales of Deep Waters.
If you would like to tell a prepared story of 5-6 minutes email Christine Carlton at storyaus@gmail.com to be put on the list to tell a short story that must include the words “they all saw it”. The stories are told, not read.
This is a free online event organised by the Australian Storytelling Guild (NSW) Come as a listener or teller. All welcome.
Wednesday, 19th March 2025 – 4.20 pm SGT
Register on Humanitix for your free link.
In this session, we’ll dive into the magic of performance, tension, and character to unlock the full potential of your storytelling. Every character has a unique spark waiting to be unleashed — let’s explore the performative details that breathe life into them, especially when telling bold, adult, or daring tales.
About Lillian Rodrigues-Pang
Lillian Rodrigues-Pang is an internationally acclaimed, award winning storyteller. Her performances intertwine oral tradition with percussion, movement and improvisation. She has performed and taught internationally and on Australian main-stages, theatres, schools and in community. She has over 20 years’ experience working in mental health settings. Her current touring adult show is Church of the Clitori has toured Australia and will tour to Europe in 2025, has multiple 5 star reviews and continues to pack venues. She has performed ‘adult’ versions of stories in cabarets, comedy nights, around campfires and on festival stages for the past 10 years developing characters and refining her performance techniques
Please note that SAS is an institutional member of FEAST and SAS members can avail of the special institutional member rate. Contact feaststory@gmail.com for this special rate.
Monday March 10, 2025 3:00 AM Singapore time
Magic. Wonder. Friendship. Peril. These are the adventures of Crazy Jane and Red Haired Annie. Join master storyteller Laura Packer for new, original fairy tales told live online. Let your heart remember to hope, and your spirit remember to dream. Live online and limited-time playback.
Thursday, March 20th, 11 am Singapore
In this interactive session, participants will explore the basic elements of organizational storytelling, especially translating their story into a call to action. Through grounding activities and story prompts, participants will leave the session with a rough draft or outline of their organisational story or “the pitch,” and additional resources and examples to continue their journey.
Click here for the website and zoom link
Thursday, March 13th 2025, 8 am Singapore time
Spring Sparkles
Singing birds, buzzing bees
Swinging trees, sprouting leaves
Blooming flowers, ripening fruits
Beginning lives, burgeoning tribes.
It’s sun-drenched spring scattering sheer cheer!
Spring is here! Preening feathers, wooing calls; nature flirts with one and all. Before we know it, we’re hooked on nature.
I see a lot of birds from my window. Coconut lorikeets unabashedly indulge in public displays of affection. Chattering, screeching, and living life with reckless abandon, they are a joy to behold.
There was a time when lorikeets were caged because they could speak.
Why do they fly free today?
Here’s a story to tell us about that.
Why do parrots parrot?
Once upon a time, Ambhom owned a gorgeous lorikeet as lorikeets could speak and what’s more they could even articulate their thoughts. The man enjoyed his pet’s company, sharing his day with the lorikeet and getting insights from it.
The man was a little greedy and this behavior was noticed by the lorikeet. One day the neighbor’s water buffalo wandered into Ambhom’s field. The neighbor was busy and preoccupied, so Ambhom took advantage of his neighbor’s situation and kept the water buffalo for himself.
Many days later, the unsuspecting neighbor came by and asked Ambhom if he had seen his water buffalo because one of them was missing. Ambhom feigned innocence and acted ignorant.
But his lorikeet knew the truth. It screeched and called out, “Trook, rook, Master stole it. Master sold it. Master stashed the money away in a sack of sweet potatoes.”
The neighbor was perplexed. Just then Ambhom’s wife came by with sweet potatoes in a basket and money in her other hand and said, “Look, dear husband, I found a lot of money in the sweet potato sack. We usually keep our money in a silver box in the cabinet, so I was wondering why there was money inside the sack and where it came from.”
Ambhom turned red in the face and muttered something incoherent, when the lorikeet called, “Trook, rook, Master stole a water buffalo. Master sold it. Master stashed the money away in a sack of sweet potatoes.”
Ambhom’s wife stood there embarrassed, rooted to the spot.
The neighbor looked questioningly at Ambhom, but Ambhom insisted that he was innocent. Finally, the neighbor said, “We will have to take it to court then! See you in court tomorrow.”
The lorikeet’s owner realized he had to come up with some plan so as not to get into trouble with the law.
That night, he placed the lorikeet’s cage in a box and beat on the box with a stick and kept spraying water on it. The lorikeet thought a huge storm was brewing.
The next day in court, the judge asked what had happened to the water buffalo. The man pretended to know nothing.
The judge then called for the lorikeet to be brought before him as a witness.
Once again, the lorikeet called out, “Trook, rook, Master stole it. Master sold it. Master stashed the money away in a sack of sweet potatoes.”
Ambhom pleaded with the judge to give him a chance to defend himself. He said, “My lorikeet loves tall tales and cooks up stories. Try for yourself. Ask it anything. Ask it what the weather was like last evening.”
The judge asked, “What was the weather like last evening?”
“Trook, Trook, it was a dreadful night. There was thunder and rain. I was scared.”
The judge was puzzled. He wondered when it had rained. It had been a beautiful evening.
“You see, your honor. I told you that my lorikeet loves to tell stories.”
The judge declared Ambhom had done no wrong and the guilty man was allowed to go free. Ambhom rejoiced and felt very lucky indeed.
When he reached home, he opened the cage and said to the lorikeet, “Fly away. I do not want to see you in my house ever again.”
The free lorikeet screeched and returned to the forest; there he met the parrot. They became friends. The lorikeet noticed the parrot’s lovely feathers and special voice. It warned the parrot, “Humans love keeping birds in cages, they love to possess things and go to great lengths to possess money, jewelry, caged birds and many more things. Be warned they will want to take you into their homes. If ever you end up in a person’s home, heed my advice. Do not speak your mind! If you do, you will get into a lot of trouble. Only repeat what you hear, people love hearing their own thoughts in a different voice.”
Today, parrots are a favorite pet in innumerable homes. Luckily for the parrot, it remembers the lorikeet’s advice and only repeats what humans say to it.
I believe this story could be true! In one of Ruskin Bond’s stories, a caged parrot never speaks a word and is constantly admonished by the lady who bought him as a pet. She would say, “You are no beauty! Can’t talk, can’t sing, can’t dance,” along with other nasty comments.
One day, the parrot managed to escape. Everyone thought they would never see the parrot again. One day the parrot returned and sat on the veranda railing, looking around expectantly with its head cocked to one side, hoping to get a treat.
Just when the lady whose pet it was came by, the parrot flew out of her reach and perched itself on a nearby rose bush, before glaring at her and shrieking in that lady’s familiar voice, “You are no beauty! Can’t talk! Can’t sing! Can’t dance!” Indeed, the parrot had learned to parrot.
“Everyone likes birds. What wild creature is more accessible to our eyes and ears, as close to us and everyone in the world, as universal as a bird?” – David Attenborough
References: Why Parrots Only Repeat What People Say, A folktale from Thailand
The Parrot Who Wouldn’t Talk and Other Stories, by Ruskin Bond