Stories of the Month 2025 - Federation of Asian Storytellers

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Each month we are delighted to share a story as told by one of our members.

Our selection reflects the three main audience streams that our programmes cater to - kids/family, adults and Mother Tongue (and/or Multilingual). In the process, we hope to demonstrate something of the diversity of our membership, of the stories we tell and the way that individual tellers can tell a tale.

We are grateful to all these tellers kindly agreeing to share a story with a wider audience on this platform.

Click here to view the stories of the previous years!

Stories of the Month 2024 Stories of the Month 2023 Spotlight Gallery 2022

Roger Jenkins

January 2025

About the story: The King & the Mask provided by Roger

This telling of the story was originally recorded for STORIES FOR HEALING, curated by Jim Brule, in 2021. It is long, but I am proud of it and I think it captures a lot of who I am as a teller

Before I became a storyteller, I was a drama teacher and theatre practitioner and I have long been fascinated by, and performed with, Masks, both in the Italian commedia dell’arte and here in S.E. Asia where masks are part of the performance tradition.

So I love this story because it is about the transformative power of a mask – in the story a real one, but as in so many folktales, what we see is but a metaphor for a hidden psychology. I use three masks in the story, which were carved by the wonderful Pak Ledjar from Yogyakarta. I had the good fortune to discover his tiny shop/home on my first visit there in 1979 and I returned many times acquiring his wonderfully expressive, unpainted masks, which I have used in workshops and performances ever since.

I have two versions of this story: THE KING AND THE MASK is the one for adults. For the tens to teens, I tell it with a Master Thief as the protagonist. He goes to the Palace Ball intending to steal the crown jewels, wearing a honest-faced mask to avoid detection - only to be seen by the Princess who falls for his kind, honest (and admittedly handsome) face – unaware it is a mask. She says she wants to marry him. The thief asks for a year before giving her his answer. Fearing that her father will send guards to check on him, the thief is forced to wear the mask, and just like the King in this story, in the process his character is transformed. He confesses to the Princess he cannot marry her because he is nothing but a thief, but when he removes the mask to prove it, there is a happy surprise for them both!

You can view the full Stories for Healing recording here with my introduction as well as our post-telling chat about the merits of the story (and why Jim likes my version - the fact that the King sees the masks and knows it is smiling) - over other versions.