Everyone knows Cinderella, the story of the unfortunate young woman who, thanks to her fairy godmother, rides in a pumpkin, misplaces her glass slipper, and ends up marrying a prince. But have you heard the version where she’s aided by a magical fish instead? Or the one where she loses her shoe to an eagle?
These are just a couple of the 600-plus global variations of the Cinderella fable. You’ll find many of them at Jonesborough, Tennessee’s Storytelling Resource Place (SRP), a repository of books, recordings, costumes, instruments, and other items related to the storytelling performance tradition.
“Much like libraries safeguard written knowledge, we safeguard the living traditions of oral storytelling,” says interim SRP President Tama Lunceford. Educators, scholars, performers, and members of the public visit to research and explore thousands of folktales, legends, personal reminiscences, historic retellings, ghost stories, and other yarns meant to amuse and fascinate.
Visitors can also take in artifacts such as the late master storyteller Angela Lloyd’s “sunbrella,” a bare-spoked umbrella festooned with ribbons and bells. As Lunceford explains, Lloyd held it during her performances “to allow the sun to shine upon the stories and the listeners.”
Jonesborough, which styles itself the Storytelling Capital of the World, is a fitting home for SRP. Since 1973, the town has hosted the National Storytelling Festival, drawing thousands of tale spinners and their fans each October. This year also marks the 10th anniversary of SRP, which is planning celebrations throughout 2026.
And after that? “Personally, I would like to see [SRP] offshoots develop around the globe,” Lunceford says, the better to collect and record local storytelling performances. Now that would be a happy ending.
