The Storyteller

An allusion is when a story references another work of art or literature to create thematic connections. One brief allusion in “The Story-Teller” is to the song “On the Road to Mandalay.” This song, published in 1907 by Oley Speaks, uses lyrics taken from the Rudyard Kipling 1890 poem “Mandalay.” The poem is about a British soldier who has returned home to England and yearns for the “Burma girl” he left behind. This allusion might highlight the personal connections Munro has to the story, as he also served in Burma, now Myanmar. Additionally, the poem’s narrator is disillusioned with British society and yearns for the freedom he felt in Burma (present-day Myanmar), reinforcing this story’s critique of Edwardian England culture.

The story also alludes to fairy tales and fables. By opening with “once upon a time” as is tradition, the children, as well as the reader, know to expect a moral lesson from this tale. Furthermore, the pigs and the wolf in the story draw a clear line to other more famous children’s moral stories, specifically “The Three Little Pigs” and “Little Red Riding Hood.” Through this allusion, Munro subverts the lessons normally conveyed through these tales, strengthening the story’s theme that morality is more complicated than simple questions of good and bad.

The allusions to these children’s moral stories slide into parody. By using the common trappings and cliches of fairy tales, the bachelor constructs a story that directly opposes both the aunt’s story and the general attitude of traditional children’s tales. Instead of a bad child learning to be good and thereby securing a safe future, Bertha is a good child who realizes too late that her goodness will not save her, and thus dies violently.

Through this parody, the bachelor—and, by extension, the narrative—is also parodying the social conventions of Edwardian England. The obedience and good behavior that are seen as morally good and the rewards that are given to “good little girls” become the dangers to be avoided in the story, thus flipping both the fairy tale form and Edwardian social conventions on their heads.

The diction (the choice of words) in “The Story-Teller” is simple; Munro keeps his language use straightforward, informal, and easy to read rather than relying on more formal or elaborate prose. This simple language reinforces the ways the story mimics fairy tales and fables, which likewise trend toward simplicity. The diction used in the dialogue is particularly simplistic, which mimics the way children speak. Their language is direct, even blunt, which drives the humorous tones of the story, such as when the children insist that the aunt’s story is “stupid” or when Cyril repeats the ever-popular question of children everywhere: “Why?” The simple, childish humor of this dialogue belies the dark undertones that become more apparent in the bachelor’s story.