One bright morning otter slinked up out of the river to go and pay a visit to his friend owl.
He came to owl’s oak and knocked but there was no answer. Owl was fast asleep. Otter whistled and chirped and listened but there was still nothing. Finally he tried a loud squeal, all to no avail, and so he went disappointed back to his pools.
That night owl flew from her nest intent on paying her friend otter a visit. She glided from the woods low over the river where otter had his holt, calling in the darkness, but otter heard nothing as he was fast asleep. She wheeled around and back shrieking out to her friend but with no result. She came to rest in a willow, waited a moment, gave a final hollow cry and lifted off and away through the trees.
Next morning otter awoke and again decided to try and see owl.
Fortunately for the two friends that day there was a total eclipse of the sun.
They met between the woods and the water, and there otter greeted owl with a question that had long been troubling him, and owl replied as she saw fit:
How might the old stories best be told today?
– I don’t know
If you did know
– by accident
– by singing
– by walking over uneven ground
How might the old stories best be told today?
– in an every day voice
– by learning the names and lore of wildflowers, of birds
– by talking to strangers in pubs, by listening to men in hi-viz jackets
– by finding what the name of a place means
How might the old stories best be told today?
– by calling them something else
– by knowing your own story
– by sleeping with a book under the pillow
– by choosing your moment
– by telling them in a nutshell
– by slipping one into the conversation at a party
How might the old stories best be told today?
– make ‘em laugh
– make ‘em cry
– know your audience, talk to them, listen
– start with a strong image and get the ending right
How might the old stories best be told today?
– I don’t know
– by getting lucky
– by not caring
– by being at home with silence
– by making yourself heard
– by telling the stories that need to be heard
– not venerating the ashes but spreading the fire
– awakening in adults what never died in children
– by not being boring
How might the old stories best be told today?
– by waiting till someone says Tell us a story!
– by those who tell them best
When the sun came out again owl and otter had vanished and of their conversation there remained no trace.
loopholestories 
I’ve just printed the poem and stuck it on my shed wall for inspiration. Thanks Jamie
Thank you Jamie ! I’ve sat down to add something but you’ve used all the answers I could think of!
Maybe ,
How might the old stories best be told today?
by daring,
by loving,
by magic.
Lovely to read these comments on my first ever online poem! It was an impromptu bit of writing and tends to change a bit every time I go back to it. Shouldn’t wonder those three lines might find their way in somewhere, Cath.
Interesting story. I was quite curious what purpose otter had to meet the owl.
An answer to your question can be found within the story itself:
… otter greeted owl with a question that had long been troubling him… How might the old stories best be told today?
Thanks for your interest,
Jamie
Yes that was exactly what I had in my mind. Thanks. By the way I am bit curious whether you worked in Bhutan. I had a teacher by your name.
I taught English there for VSO between 1985 and 1988. I worked with many Bhutanese teachers but the head teacher at my school was from Kerala.
Very glad to hear about you and that you are working as a great story teller. I was your student. You may not remember me but I remember you. Mr Jose K.C, from Kerala also remembers you. We are working as lecturers in a teacher education college at Samtse ( You may have heard of it since Shaba school used to get trainees for teaching practice). We are presently at Paro College of Education involved in a review workshop. Our head teacher Mr Krishnan too might remember you. Anyway, it was very nice meeting you here.