Where has gone our Sang Kancil and Nenek Kebayan?

Probably won’t be too much to state gone are the days where little children would gather in circle and completely entertained by the amusement of the story unfolds by a storyteller.

Back then, little children will never feel restless and bored by the absence of the picture & sound box as the sound they heard from is the sound of lively voices of the storyteller, narrates any legends and tall tales.

Can you still remember the story of Sang Kancil with Buaya or Sang Kancil with Monyet? How about Puteri Bongsu, Puteri Gunung Ledang where the Nenek Kebayan always appearing? We also have our own funny tales like Lebai Malang, Pak Pandir and the clever mischief boy Si Luncai.

Well, does your children know these figures and its tales? Guess they know well figures like Ben 10, B-Daman (SP?), Power Rangers and to the little girls, Disney Princess always win their hearts. Hemmm..well to them, who is Mahsuri and Badang anyway?

It is such a shame, the act of storytelling and the way we were being brought up knowing all those folk tales, legends is no longer pass down to the next generation. Instead, it is being replaced by Mother Goose, Hans Christian Andersen and Roald Dahl. We prefer getting them books by these authors rather seeking the original version of Sang Kancil stories.

I stumbled upon this book years ago when my eldest son, Hanafi was still a baby. Sadly, it is not written by Malaysian writers and the original version has been edited and it is different from the actual story I know. Anyway, at least there’s something, better than nothing.

It is kind of embarassing, that people from different cultures knows the stories of Sang Kancil. She even wrote a book about it. I found this when I attended her storytelling workshop year 2004. Glad that I had attended Cathy Spagnoli‘s workshop as she has provided tips and guidelines on becoming a professional storyteller. She herself is professional storyteller and tell stories for a living and she is so passionate about it.

Not long after that, I attended another storytelling workshop and she is professional as well and she was more close to home. Linda Fang, tells us magic stories of China and one of her books that I got is well written and worth to own it.

I love doing storytelling. Perhaps I might start a storytelling session or something like that…. What do you think?

I remembered that long ago, there’s one tv show, Cumi & Ciki if I’m not mistaken and there’s one segment on storytelling. If only this kind of show exist again. I mean it is good to educate the next generation about the beauty of storytelling and our heritage should be inherited by them. Not to be forgotten completely.

If you wonder why I emphasise so much about storytelling, do read up my previous chat =>
Storytelling : Benefits & ideas that parents must take note.

Hanz’s Note : I miss going to Jualan Gudang by Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka. There you can get plenty storybook of Malaysian folk tales. It’s too bad, that these kind of books is not so easily available at MPH or Kinokuniya Bookstores.