Monday night I told a version of the Italian tale Happy Man's Shirt at the Jonesborough Yarn Exchange radio hour. It's a story that has been around forever and I first read it in one of Jane Yolen's incredible collections, Favorite Folktales from Around the World. I brought the story forward in time--not quite contemporary but almost. Our performance included a piece about kudzu and the potential for a kudzu theme park, so I gave the solemn boy a rich father who owned properties in Jonesborough and beyond, in the land of kudzu. The father wanted his son to be outgoing as he was, so that when the time came to inherit his properties his son would flourish and prosper. A preacher, thinking a spiritual transformation was in order, suggested a "come to Jesus" moment and baptized the boy who never cracked a smile. Then a woman with fifteen raucous children invited him to stay with them for a bit, but he was not amused by the noisy bunch. Finally, a politician approached him and talked him practically into the ground about any and everything, but the boy looked at him with solemn, intelligent eyes and refused to agree and laugh with him.
Finally, the father was out hunting one afternoon and wounded a rabbit. He followed the rabbit but was distracted by wonderful music coming from just over the hill. It was a young man singing happily amid a flock of sheep and a herd of goats.
"Come with me," said the father, "and I will make you rich if you will make my son happy."
"No," said the singer, "I have everything I need right here. I live in a beautiful place, I have a guaranteed job--goats and sheep love kudzu. No, I'm happy here and I will not leave."
"Then let me buy the shirt off of your back," said the rich man.
The young man stepped back, alarmed. "You are crazy, go away and leave me alone."
But the father, in desperation, grabbed him and ripped his jacket open to seize the shirt off of the man's back, but he discovered the shepherd wasn't wearing one. He went home dejected and depressed, but when his son welcomed him with an open heart, he realized he had overlooked something very important--to love his son just as he was. They lived happily ever after.
About Me
- saundra
- Born in Tallahassee, the capital of Florida, I am a genuine Florida Cracker--a descendent of sturdy women and men who farmed their way south from North Carolina in the early 1800's. I am a graduate of Florida State University with a BS in Social Science, and earned an MA in Education/Storytelling from East Tennessee State University. My work is deeply influenced by a love and reverence for the natural world and environmental issues and my love of story. Performance Photos by Valerie Menard, Silentlightimages.com.
