The Stories We Were Told

Folktales from Ghana, retold in cut paper

Stories That
Raised Us

The tales our grandmothers told, made new. Help the characters choose what happens, then hear the story as it was really told.

Watch Episode 1 Share a story

Long ago, Tortoise had a shell as smooth as a calabash.

His friends the birds lent him their feathers, so he could fly to a wedding at the top of the tallest tree.

What he did next is up to you.

Watch Episode 1

Scroll to follow Tortoise · Click anywhere to throw feathers

The story shelf

Pick a story by the fire

01 / 12

Why the Tortoise Has a Cracked Shell

Tortoise borrows his friends’ feathers to fly to a wedding in the sky. What he does there is up to you.

Watch the episode

How it works

Listen, choose, then hear how it really went

  1. 1

    Listen

    A storyteller tells a real folktale, with the village listening in.

  2. 2

    Choose

    Twice in every story, the storyteller pauses and asks what the character should do.

  3. 3

    Find every ending

    One ending is the story as it was told. The others show what could have happened.

  4. 4

    Take the quiz

    A few quick questions at the end check that the lesson landed.

The Stories We Were Told title card: a cut-paper storytelling fire above the series name

Why we’re doing this

“As the way we grow up changes, I’m afraid we might slowly lose some of these stories. Not because anybody decided they weren’t important, but simply because fewer people are telling them.”

Joshua Cleopas, creator