Episode 25: Philip and the Pooka: An Irish Tale

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Episode 25: Philip and the Pooka: An Irish Tale
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When you pull the tail of the pooka, there’s no tellin’ where the tale might end! Kathleen Green’s delightful Irish story of a pooka is brought to life by the Irish Storyteller Michael O’Malley. (See Jimmy Stewart’s movie Harvey for another great pooka tale.)

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Episode 24: The Silly Farmer: A Tale from Ethiopia

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Episode 24: The Silly Farmer: A Tale from Ethiopia
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Children especially enjoy this light-hearted Ethiopian tale of the silly farmer, retold with oohs & aahs & old bones by Storyteller Michael Kasony-O’Malley. This story can also be found in Pleasant DeSpain’s collection of Tales of Nonsense and Tomfoolery.

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Episode 23: Why I Tell? (Part 1: First Night Boston with Jay O’Callahan)

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Episode 23: Why I Tell? (Part 1: First Night Boston with Jay O’Callahan)
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Seeing the “Balcony” sign in an old theater at First Night Boston decades ago changed Michael’s life, along with Jay O’Callahan’s Raspberries.

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Episode 22: Tibetan Phowa Practice with Jesus & HaHa (Aunt Mary): A Buddhist Christian Story

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Episode 22: Tibetan Phowa Practice with Jesus & HaHa (Aunt Mary): A Buddhist Christian Story
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Doing the Tibetan Buddhist phowa practice with Jesus Christ for HaHa (my Roman Catholic godmother, Aunt Mary). Sogyal Rinpoche’s The Tibetan Book of Living and Dying. The Sacred Heart of Jesus painting. Dual or Double Belonging: On being a Buddhist Christian.

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Episode 21: The Wind in the Pine: A Japanese Tale: An Earth Mother Story

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Episode 21: The Wind in the Pine: A Japanese Tale: An Earth Mother Story
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This gentle tale from Japan is retold by Environmental Storyteller Michael Kasony-O’Malley (aka Michael R. Malley or Michael O’Malley). It is found in Frances Jenkins Olcott’s 1919 collection: The Wonder Garden: Nature Myths and Tales from All the World Over.

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Episode 20: Two Farmers and the Carpenter

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Episode 20: Two Farmers and the Carpenter
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Storyteller Michael Kasony-O’Malley (aka Michael R. Malley or Michael O’Malley) adapts and tells this tale inspired by Margaret Read MacDonald’s story “Old Joe and the Carpenter” found in her collection of Peace Tales.

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Episode 19: Half a Blanket: An Irish Tale

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Episode 19: Half a Blanket: An Irish Tale
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Irish Storyteller Michael O’Malley (aka “Michael the Storyteller” or Michael Kasony-O’Malley) thinks of his own father whenever he tells this story from County Down in Northern Ireland. Michael tells this tale with permission from Maggie Kerr Peirce who shared it in the collection entitled Ready-To-Tell Tales.

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Episode 18: An American Folktale: Why Bunny Rabbits Have Long Ears and Short Tails

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Episode 18: An American Folktale: Why Bunny Rabbits Have Long Ears and Short Tails
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Michael R. Kasony-O’Malley (“Michael the Storyteller”) shares an American pourquoi tale (aka as an origin story, an etiological tale, or a “reason why” story) about the bunny rabbit’s ears and tail.

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Episode 17: The Chinese Horse Story

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Episode 17: The Chinese Horse Story
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The simple wisdom of a poor, old farmer is highlighted in this Chinese tale of a horse, a son, and a farmer from a small village in China. Retold by Michael R. Kasony-O’Malley, also known as “Michael the Storyteller.”

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Episode 16: A Photograph in Ireland

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Episode 16: A Photograph in Ireland
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Beltaine (May Eve) is one of the four turnings of the Celtic year (along with Lughnasa, Samhain, & Imbolc) when the wall between us and the Spirit World is particularly thin… For more information about the Fairies/the Sidhe (Shee)/the Good People see Irish Earth Folk by Diarmuid MacManus, The Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries by W.Y. Evans-Wentz, and Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales by Alwyn & Brinley Rees.     (Music: Courtesy […]

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