How to tell a story

Homer could do it. So could Hemingway. But telling a story is not as easy as it sounds, which is why storytellers are remembered when other people are forgotten. One of the greatest storytellers I ever heard was a man called Eamon Kelly from the south-west of Ireland. Unlike Hemingway, but very like Homer, he told his stories to listeners, not readers.

And he did this in a language filled with colour, idioms and idiosyncrasies. For example, Kelly pronounced many words, such as "storm" and "farm", with two distinct syllables. This is known in linguistic jargon as anaptyxis, a form of epenthesis. As regards his colourful language, instead of using the verb "to salivate" when describing how a character looks forward to eating a slice of a freshly made cake, Kelly says: "His teeth were swimming inside in his mouth for a bite of it."

Here now is Eamon Kelly, the seanchaí (storyteller), telling a story about the early days of tea in Ireland. By the way, tea is the cover story of the October Spotlight magazine, which goes on sale on 29 September.