"I once watched a drab and dirty tinker tell a story about the fairies at a Donegal crossroads. He gathered a crowd in no time. Words became living substance for all who listened. For the duration of the story nothing lived but the story, neither listeners nor storyteller. When it was over, we saw again that the tinker was drab and dirty, ... haggling for trade; and we became ... what we had been before."
Books:
(note: there are about 20 others, but they've gone out of print)
Journey Cake, Ho!
Remarkable Christmas of the Cobbler's Sons
Roller Skates (1937 Newbery Award)
The Way of the Storyteller
thanks to:
http://www.penguinputnam.com/catalog/yreader/authors/2026_biography.html
http://www.waterboro.lib.me.us/maineaut/s.htm
http://www.baylor.edu/~Sharon_P_Johnson/folklorestorytelling.htm
http://www.stkate.edu/library/about/ruthsaw.html
www.amazon.com