The Bardcast: Recent Episodes
Greg Noseworthy/Mark Hammar
The goal of this pod cast is to provide the world with recorded stories — classic stories, new stories, all stories — told by real Story Tellers. Our intent is that not only will this provide entertainment for our listeners; it will give Story Tellers the opportunity to promote themselves by providing them with a biography page
Cad é mar a ta siv?, “How are you all today?”
Long before Arthur, there was the magician Merlin. And even as a boy he had other worldly adventures before he came to help Uther Pendragon and guide the young King Arthur. Today’s yarn tells one of these stories from the life of Young Merlin, when he is taken away to help a cruel King named Vortigern who is building a tower to protect him from his enemies.
So welcome to story time at Bardcast. Throw another log on the fire, refill your beverage, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy, “Merlin and Vortigern”.
Cad é mar a ta siv?, “How are you all today?”
Today's story is about a young man in the middle ages who spends some time in a monastery after sustaining an injury, and is compelled to join this Holy Order by his curiosity about a sound, and the trials and tribulations he endures on his journey through the advancing levels of his monastic order.
So welcome to story time at Bardcast. Throw another log on the fire, refill your beverage, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy, “The Monk of the Fourth Order”.
Cad é mar a ta siv?, “How are you all today?”
Today's story has been told under many names, like stone soup or nail stew. It is a tale about a young soldier just released from the military who is traveling home, and how he brings together the inhabitants of an unwelcoming community with his recipe for supper.
So welcome to story time at Bardcast. Throw another log on the fire, refill your beverage, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy, “Nail Stew”.
Cad é mar a ta siv?, “How are you all today?”
I first heard today’s story a number of years ago, along with Clever Jack which is my favourite story, when I was fortunate enough to attend a storytelling Celigh when the Storytellers School of Toronto had arranged for six Irish storytellers to come to Canada for their ‘Toronto Festival of Storytelling’. Today's story tells the tale of a young man who has the best cow for miles around, and the adventures he suffers at the hands of the fairy folk when he make the mistake of cursing his cow.
So welcome to story time at Bardcast. Throw another log on the fire, refill your beverage, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy, “Jack and His Cow”.
Cad é mar a ta siv?, “How are you all today?”
Today’s first story comes from the earliest stories of the Sechelt people of British Columbia in Canada, a time when things are not as they are now. One of the differences was that the Robin was just a brown bird, and this story tells how he came to have his red breast.
I first heard today’s second story from an Iroquois re-enactor at Saint Marie Amoung the Huron’s. It is a Native Canadian teaching story about a group of Wendat dogs who throw a huge party, and the trouble that is caused due to the lack of rules followed by the group.
So welcome to story time at Bardcast. Throw another log on the fire, refill your beverage, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy, “How the Robin Got his Red Breast” and “The Wendat Dogs”.
Cad é mar a ta siv?, “How are you all today?”
Today’s story tells the tale of a clever woman who is taken by the fairy folk for her ability to make the best pies in all of Ireland, a fact which has made the fairies jealous, and how she uses her wits and guile to tackle this very serious situation.
So welcome to story time at Bardcast. Throw another log on the fire, refill your beverage, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy, “The Woman who Flummoxed the Fairies”.
Cad é mar a ta siv?, “How are you all today?”
Today’s story is from the old books of Wales, when the lady in the moon could come down among the Welsh and wander where she would. A time when the moors were thick with the horrors or witches, and animated waterlogged bodies and disembodied hands of those lost in the gloom.
I thought this story to be appropriate as we are near the celebration of Halloween, which derives from the Celtic festival of Samhain, when the curtain between our world and the next is thin and spirits can cross for one night, or so says the old Celtic tradition.
So welcome to story time at Bardcast. Throw another log on the fire, refill your beverage, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy, “Buried Moon”.
That is a Gaelic phrase that means “How are you all today?”
Welcome to the first story to be broadcast on Bardcast podcasting network. If you are new to storytelling, then welcome and well met; and if you are used to telling or hearing a yarn then nothing I am about to say is new, but still welcome and well met. Storytelling is more than just someone standing up and telling a brief tale. Storytelling is an understanding between the storyteller and the audience; an ancient agreement that the yarn about to be told and heard may not be word for word what was last time spoken, and it doesn’t matter if the teller and audience are the same or different from telling to telling. The agreement states that the basic story may remain the same, but the many details may greatly differ from teller to teller, and telling to telling. The trail that the hero needs to travel may be a just a little bit longer, or the trials he needs to face may be just a little more difficult, or the stepmother may be just a little more wicked this time than the last time the story was told. It is an age old tradition that no matter how many times you may have heard the tale to come, it will not be confined to any bounds, nor will it be constrained to any social mores, and even though you may have heard it a dozen times, or a hundred, it may just surprise and amaze you in a way that will make you laugh, or cry, or groan; but you can never know what emotions it will bring. With that, I welcome you to join us weekly for a tale, some will be old and some new, that I hope will bring you some joy.
When I was first asked to tell stories for Bardcast I immediately knew which one I would start with, as this is my favourite medieval story of all time. Other stories are more exciting, or the hero is more daring, or the heroine is more comely, and these are all great stories too; but no matter how many stories I hear or learn, this story still calls to me as the most lovable story I tell. It involves a clever young man who lives with his mother, and finds a very interesting way to help the family to survive, and I hope you enjoy it.
So welcome to story time at Bardcast. Throw another log on the fire, refill your beverage, sit back, relax, and I hope you enjoy, “Clever Jack”.