Sacred and Profane Tales

Tales in the beginning were pure, but when these paled, twists and complexities arise

All the grand, undying, timeless tales are simple. They are so simple, in fact, that new audiences who have heard of such a tale but hear it for the first time, may find themselves let down by it. ‘Is that all there is to it?’ they wonder.

Yes, that's all there is.

Others may hear the old tale and be astounded. ‘Wow! That's great!’ is what they feel. ‘Why can't today’s stories be that powerful?’

Two factors make these old tales powerful.

1. Over their long lives, the tales have been told again and again. They are told in different ages and different climes. All that is superfluous and all that distracts from the core meaning or heart of the tale has been worn away. In these retellings the matter of the tales takes on greater weight and substance. It seems that a tale retold becomes in some way true (or truer than it was).
2. Because these tales are so well known, they become the model or template for this kind of tale. So when a talesman puts his hand to shaping a new tale of this kind, he is only too aware of the model and feels he must elaborate and adorn it in his own new tale. He feels he must put back in the rough edges and complexity that were rubbed off the model in its retelling. By contrast then, the old tale retains its power — while the new edition must rely on its twists and turns or how it ‘revises’ ‘revisits’ or ‘reverses’ the original model.

Could any new tale join this fellowship? Or does the Age of Great Tales lie only in the long-ago?

Maybe it does. The argument would go like this. There are only so many feelings the human heart can know. The basic situations have been told. Model tales have formed about them. We have no need for more until we have forgotten the models that we have (or these models no longer serve their use).

The opposing argument would be this. No Great Tale joins the Pantheon until it has been told many times in many climes. A new Great Tale may have been composed only yesterday … but it cannot be known as such for centuries to come.

Another thought on these lines is that only a culture with a strong Common can ‘brew’ a Great Tale. A tale develops toward this universality only when it is told and told again and each talesman feels free to recast the tale as seems best to him. For this an imperfect memory is helpful in both the talesman and his audience. Perfect reproduction such as we find all around us today — especially joined with restrictive legal barriers around what is called ‘intellectual property’ — inhibits the shaping and remaking through which an Ordinary Tale develops into a Great one.

(Composed on pentop Friday 4 July 2008.)