An Old-Fashioned Fairytale About Modern Storytelling

Once upon a time, there was a prince who wanted to listen to a really great story like the ones his deceased mother-queen used to tell him when he was a little boy; she was a great storyteller, and no one could impress the prince since her death. So, he decided to travel all over the world to find a truly inspiring story.

At the beginning of his journey, the prince met a moneybag and a bloated aristocrat. But the first wouldn’t stop babbling on and on about big numbers, and the latter – about his famous family name.

Then, the prince ran into a magician who lured the prince with her miraculous tricks and promised to tell him the most fascinating story ever. To his deepest regret, she turned out to be a swindler and her story was totally fake.

In despair, he addressed a man of knowledge. However, the scholar sounded like a buzzkill and overburdened the young prince with tons of facts and data…

So he came home again and was sad, for he would have liked very much to hear a really fascinating story.

One evening a terrible storm came on; there were thunder and lightning, and the rain poured down in torrents. Suddenly a knocking was heard at the city gate, and the old king went to open it.

It was a poor girl standing out there in front of the gate. She was wet to the skin, so the king let her in and had the servants give her some food and dry clothes. When the prince was told that there’s a late guest in the palace, he went to meet the girl. She would disclose him neither her name, nor about herself, and suggested telling him a story instead.

The prince wasn’t too excited about that after his failed journey. Anyway, he stayed to listen. And the girl told him about a beautiful princess who was living safe from need and fear, with her loving family in a fancy palace until the evil wizard attacked the castle, killed all her relatives and she was the only one who stayed alive. Nevertheless, she was abandoned to her fate and had to survive and overcome different obstacles keeping in secret her royal origins. Otherwise, the wizard would immediately kill her too.

The prince was deeply moved by this emotional and genuine story just like the times he was all ears listening to his mother’s fairy-tales. But imagine, how amazed he got when he found out that the main heroine of the story was actually standing in front of him!

Our prince fell in love with this undercover princess because of her inspiring story that showed her unconquerable spirit and took him to the incredible story wonderland for a moment. So, the prince took her for his wife, and the princess became the most popular storytelling coach in the whole kingdom…

Oh, we nearly forgot… and they all lived happily ever after 😉

 

P.S. The moral of the story is that somehow we are the same with that prince: we all are customers who are looking for great and genuine stories to get inspired.

Some of us also have stories of our own that we want to stand out and sell.
But if you just want to sell your story like the moneybag, or
only count on your Big Brand Name like the bloated aristocrat, or
“fake it till you make it” like the swindler magician, or
make a real boredom out of your story…
Well, no prince would buy it… That’s a true story.

For the prince to “fall in love with you” (or, at least with your story), you have to be like that princess – tell your real story, let it be genuine, interesting, evocative, contagious and inspiring (for your types of “princes”, of course).

Or, to cut the long story short, storytelling rocks! Just rock it the right way.