Children gather for the storytelling session. Picture by Ashwinee Pati

Bhubaneswar, July 13: Long, long ago… Far, far away… These are terms some children in the city are most familiar with.

“How they came to be acquainted, I'll tell you in brief. But only if you will listen a while; For this very jest, among all the rest, I think may cause you to smile,” said Sarah Letts, as she read out the adventures of the legendary archer of Sherwood, Robin Hood. Giggles, questions and claps filled the room as the exciting storytelling session progressed at Bakul Children’s Library.

A large number of schoolchildren had flocked to the library to listen to tales from around the world being told aloud. In an effort to give a fillip to reading habits among children, Bakul has been conducting story-telling sessions for quite some time now.

As energetic volunteers from different parts of the world come together, the event has become enriched with stories from different countries. Mahua Maharana, a retired insurance employee and now a Bakul volunteer, arranged for the event.

“We conduct story-telling sessions in English on Saturdays and in Oriya on Sundays. But stories from other countries attract children and broaden their horizons. We receive a resounding response from schoolchildren for these sessions, she said.

Storytellers from exotic countries appeal not only to the children, but also the volunteers who run the sessions.

“We organised a story-telling session recently in which the story-tellers were from Italy and Estonia. Even volunteers like us had never heard such lovely tales before,” said Maharana.

Stories from around the world have been spread across four Saturdays, the first one being reserved for the Adventures of Robin Hood, followed by Ivanhoe, both being told by Sarah Letts.

“This is my second experience of storytelling with Bakul. The children were so curious about archery, the Sherwood forests and even the costume of Robin Hood! I really enjoyed the session,” said Letts, who has come here from England for an NGO assignment. The children too seemed to have enjoyed themselves.

“I like Little John the most in the story. He even defeated Robin Hood,” said Arpita, a student of Class V. “I wish we could watch cartoon films on Robin Hood. He must have been a brave person,” said Kaustabh , a student of Class IV. Jivan, a student of Class VI, said: “The Merry men were really clever. I saw the pictures in the book and how they hid in trees.”

There were close to 40 children gathered at the children’s library. The storytelling sessions from around the world will continue for the next three Saturdays, when Annmarie Mackenzie from Canada and Paul Drielsma from Australia will read out folk tales from their countries. Mahua will be reading out a folk tale from Bengal.