Upcoming Gig

I will be performing again at the Illinois Renaissance Faire in Danville IL. I have a couple of new stories for this year, and I will be working directly with another group with a viking boat that will be sailing on the river. So come on out and see the show, watch some jousting and the kids might even learn some history by accident if they are not careful.

Upcoming Gig

I will be doing 2 storytelling shows at the first annual , First Christian Church of Peoria's renaissance day. this will be held on Sat Sept. 27 from 10 to 5. my shows will be at 11:30 and 2:30 but there will also be all sorts of other varied entertainments, mainly geared for a more 'Hands on" demonstration of arts and crafts type of thing. Much less commercial and corporate than your large ren faires. Hope to see a good crowd of people out there.
Siegfried

The Perfect Wife

This Is a "Nasrudin Tale" Nasrudin was, and still is, a folk character from the middle east. Nasrudin was highly regarded by the Caliph, but no one was sure of his position in the court. Was he a wise counselor, or the court fool? Nobody was ever quite sure. One day the caliph and his many sons were trying to decide who to appoint as a trade diplomat to a very important post. All of the sons had a different person they wanted for the post, mostly cronies who had done favors for them. As one son would bring up his candidate, the other sons would tear him down saying things like "he doesn't have enough experience"
Then the other would respond "Your candidate is to old and frail"
Another would chime in "your choice is to young for such an important job"
"Enough" shouted the Caliph "Nasrudin, which candidate do you think I should pick?"

"This is a very hard decision, Caliph." Said Nasrudin " It reminds me of the years I spent looking for the perfect wife. I met many women, some were beautiful, but were too shy. Others were intelligent and outgoing, but were not good cooks. Some had hair too short,and some had hair too long. finally, after years of searching, I found the perfect woman. She was intelligent, and could hold a conversation. Her hair was neither too short, nor too long. She was beautiful, without being vain. She could cook, and keep house. Everything about her was perfect."

"Nasrudin, all these years you have been in my court, and I have never even met your wife!!"
Exclaimed the Caliph "You should bring this remarkable woman to feast with us tomorrow night!"

"Oh, I am not married, Caliph. For you see, she was searching for the perfect husband."

The Nail

Once, there was a merchant who had set up at a grand faire. This merchant was not an evil man, but he was a hasty, and somewhat shortsighted, man. Very early on the last day of the faire he found that he had completely sold out all of his merchandise. He looked at the sky,and thought to himself "If I leave the workers to pack up the tents and tables in the wagon, and I ride my horse with the money I have made. I could just make it home before dark". This was very risky however, for the woods and roads outside the town were dangerous after sunset. The woods were filled with bandits and, dangerous animals like wolves and bears. The merchant ignored these dangers and gathering his earnings, packed his saddlebags, and galloped off.

Mid morning he stopped at a roadside inn, because horses cannot run forever without rest,water, and food. He told the stable boy to water, feed and brush down the horse and to get him as soon as the horse was ready. He was in a great hurry and had no time to waste if he was to make it home before nightfall.

The stable boy came and got the merchant a short while later"The horse is ready to go except for one thing" the stable boy exclaimed "there is a loose nail on one of the horseshoes. Let me take the horse down to the blacksmith,and have him pound the nail in. it won't cost more than a couple of copper coins,or take more than a few minutes, and you can then be on your way."

"NO!" shouted the merchant " I have no time to waste. If the nail has stayed on this long, it will be fine until I get home, But if I take the time to wait for the blacksmith to fix it I won't make it home before dark." He then Jumped on his horse and began to ride off quickly down the road.

Later, in the afternoon, the merchant again stopped to rest and water his horse. he gave the stable boy the same instructions as before "stable boy! come here! Quickly as you can groom and water my horse. as soon as he is ready come get me. I am in a great hurry!!"

A short while later, the stable came up to the merchant. "Your horse is ready" he said "except for one small thing. There is a nail missing out of one of his shoes,and several of the others are coming loose. Let me take him down the road to the blacksmith and have him re-shoe that hoof. It won't take more than a handful of silver coins, and a half hour or so of your time. If you don't do it the horse could lose the shoe and could go lame"

"NO!" shouted the merchant " I have no time to waste. If the nail has stayed on this long, it will be fine until I get home, But if I take the time to wait for the blacksmith to fix it I won't make it home before dark." He then Jumped on his horse and began to ride off quickly down the road.

Then, much later in the afternoon, tragedy struck! The horse ran over a rock in the road and began to limp. The merchant thought that maybe if he got off the horse and walked alongside, the horse would be able to go on. The weight of all those coins in his saddlebag was too much though. He had to leave the horse by the side of the road,and he carried those heavy saddlebags full of coins himself the last several miles to his house. needles to say he was very tired,hungry and much past dark before he made it home. not to mention lucky to have not been robbed by bandits, or eaten by bears in the dark.. No one knows what happened to the horse. All because the wealthy merchant wouldn't stop for a nail

THE MORAL OF THE STORY IS;
IF YOU MUST MAKE HASTE, DO SO SLOWLY.