STORYTELLER ENTHRALLS AUDIENCES

Once upon a time, a little boy named Daniel disliked going to school every day. So his mother tried to help by going to his classroom once a week and telling stories. He began to enjoy school more, and they all lived happily ever after. The end.

Although that's not how Lynn Rubright tells stories, that is the story of how she got started as a professional storyteller.

Almost 32 years ago, she began telling stories for her son's first-grade class. She liked it so much that it became her profession.

"I'm not sure he liked it but it helped me start a new career," she said.

About 35 people, young and old alike, gathered Saturday afternoon at the Cape Civic Center to hear Rubright perform a collection of stories called "Mind Magic."

Rubright's performance was the finale in the Zonta Club of Cape Girardeau's series "Literacy: Key to Discovery."

"We all love to hear stories," said Elizabeth Ader, the city librarian and co-chair of the club's literacy committee, adding that America's history is rich in oral traditions.

Rubright's stories ranged from "Rosie's Walk," about a chicken's stroll through the barnyard, to "Rabbit's Tale," a fable that explains how the rabbit bush of the Southwest got its name.

Rubright's favorite story is one about her father, a real-life hero.

Each Saturday, her family would go on a picnic. Her favorite spot was to a park where cars drove through the river to cross like "the Queen Mary crossing the Atlantic."

One day, her father stopped the family car in the middle of a small river to save a child from drowning. Later in the afternoon, the child's father came by to thank him.

"He asked how my father knew and I said, `He's got eyes in the side of his head and my mother's got eyes in the back of her head," Rubright said.

"The truth of the story is that you have to have a plan and work your plan," Rubright told her audience. "But sometimes you have to make a plan in a hurry and work it quick. That's something I've been trying to do all my life."

The lesson in that story was just one of the values Rubright learned from her parents. "Your life tells a story," she said, "whether you're aware of it or not."

And members of the Zonta Club of Cape Girardeau, who sponsored Rubright's performance, hope literacy becomes an important part of the lives of area children.

Ader said storytelling can be a springboard to better reading and writing.

Rubright agreed. "I think we would have more exciting learners if teachers would play around with the children," she said.

As an education professor at Webster University in St. Louis, Rubright instructs teachers on how to use storytelling techniques in the classroom. "It all revolves around wanting to learn," she said.

Rubright and her son Daniel, who is also a storyteller, both teach at Webster University. He often writes the music for the songs that accompany her stories.