Sacred stories resonate across cultures, generations

David Thompson does not want the audience to remember his face.

As he takes hold of the microphone he hopes that they will not recall his large round glasses, his trimmed grey beard, the expressive wrinkles on his forehead or his long, curly brown hair. When Thompson tells a story the only thing he wants the audience to remember are the words.

Thompson stands at the microphone and collects his thoughts as people adjust themselves on the hard plastic chairs. He begins the last story of the night by singing softly, rhythmically in Gaelic. The strange sounds cast a spell, like a blanket, over the audience. Students lean forward and listen to the rising and falling of Thompson's voice as it becomes a whisper, then stops.

"The Hound of Ulster!" Thompson shouts, and he begins the Irish tale of Cu Chulainn, one of his favorites. For the next 15 minutes Thompson's words were the only sound in the auditorium.

Thompson was the guest speaker at the Sept. 10 Religious panel discussion hosted by the ACC Philosophy department on Sacred Story and the Art of Storytelling.

The evening began with ACC students Danielle Warden and Cynthia Bennett as well as Comparative Religion professor Melinda Rothouse sharing the speaker's table with Thompson. The students asked questions about the storyteller's role and Thompson gave examples of Islamic, Jewish and Russian stories.

For Thompson, storytelling is his religion, the way he connects to the world.

Standing alone, telling the last story of the evening, Thompson no longer simply talks about sacred storytelling but demonstrates it. He is no longer just a guest speaker. Thompson is now a preacher, the audience his congregation.

In his more than 30 years as a professional storyteller Thompson has practiced his art in four of the five continents, been featured on NPR, done command performances for the leader of the Clan MacTavish in Scotland and is a four time Irish story telling champion. But the first time Thompson told in front of a large crowd was when he was only 16 and at that age he did not envision telling stories the rest of his life.

"My father was in the Kiwanis Club and at the state convention they had a talent show," said Thompson. "I got up there and I told the Babylonian story of how beer was made. So you got 3,000 drunk Kiwanians in the place and they loved it!"

Thompson remembers his first telling experience with joy, but also recalls how it originally inspired him to go into acting. Thompson went on to study theater with the aspiration of making it on Broadway. Instead, after college, Thompson found himself in the classroom teaching theater to high school students. It was while he was teaching and working on a Masters degree in Education in London that he got his first storytelling gig.

"They actually paid me," said Thompson with a smile.He had built up a reputation of something of a storyteller at the high school where he taught. His students enjoyed his stories from America and he meanwhile soaked up their English tales. When the school put on a fundraiser, they hired Thompson and he honored them by telling the story of a local Saint.

"It was 15 pounds, so around 30 to 35 dollars," recalled Thompson. It wasn't much but he had found an audience and his calling.

"I found that storytelling, when I really started getting into and studying it and doing research, and I started finding my voice, finding my part, it provided a creative outlet," said Thompson.

Storytelling today is going through a major resurgence and storytellers can be found at fairs, on the radio and in classrooms. And while many people think of storytelling as something for children, Thompson disagrees.

"Children have storytellers. Adults need storytellers," said Thompson.

Most of his stories are geared toward adult audiences and deal with mature themes like death, morality, and the gods. Thompson also sets himself apart from many modern storytellers by not falling into the trend of telling only personal stories.

"The person who tells only personal narrative(s) is a coward," said Thompson. "You have all these wonderful stories, and sagas, and ballads, and legends and teaching things that have been around for ages and are gradually being forgotten."

"The spoken word is necessary," said Thompson. "We are so busy with our sound bytes. We are so busy with our little short texting that we forget the spoken word."

Thompson is passionate about epic tales and it is obvious as he tells the story of Cu Chulainn at the ACC religious panel on Thursday night. He is able to bring his voice to such intense heights that it fills and overwhelms the auditorium, then he draws in his audience by whispering and murmuring, almost like a mother sighing into her child's ear.

He tells how Cu Chulainn stood alone, defiantly, against a field of enemies. Thompson's eyes blaze and his voice almost trembles, no longer telling the story but instead letting the story flow through him. He actually feels the story possess him and he can watch himself standing, arm held high in the air, as if holding Cu Chulainn's sword aloft.

Thompson ends by singing once more in Gaelic, softly, like a one-man choir singing a hymnal, bringing the sermon to an end.