Our oldest folktales come from the earliest of times when life was local, slow changing, and primitive. Life today is global, fast changing, and driven by technology.

Folktales embody both old wisdom and street smarts. Modern life has made both of these more important. “Mind your relationship to your neighbors.” “It takes a village to raise the children.” “Reflect on your dreams.” “Be careful with power.”

In modern times people have and routinely use much more “power” than before. Power amplifies our actions. The effects of what we do now affect more people and sometimes threaten the ecology of our world. The side-effects of what we do are harder to anticipate when they take a long time to show and when our mindset is that world will always take care of us, no matter what we do to it.

Generations of people have changed folktales as times have changed. In the twentieth century,  popular storytellers changed folktales and avoided harsh lessons. Perhaps the wars of the twentieth century were so unsettling that the story tellers felt that they needed to convey a safer and gentler world to the next generation. In such retelling, sometimes little is left that is memorable, lyrical, or useful. This misses a purpose of folktales. Beyond preserving important old lessons, new lessons are needed for the new challenges of new times.

Deep wisdom flows from many places.  In writing The Oberlanders and The Sendroids, I stretched and recombined folktales from diverse cultures. Taken together, the individual folktales form an expansive epic.

We invite you to enjoy the stories. Let us know where they take you.