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"Imagine This!"
(An Imagine This! Company story)

Word Smith called everybody to the square. It was time for his annual edict.

"People," he commanded. "It is time to change words!"

Concern rumbled through the assembly. "Gak, uh, mmmm."

"First, no more 'cool.' Cool isn't cool anymore!

"Second, I am also banning the word 'thing.' That's because nobody knows the difference between one thing and another!

"Third. Stop using the word 'like.' If everything were alike, nothing would be different! "You're never again to use those three words. Now, return to your lives!"

With that final exclamation, Word Smith vanished into his Language Sanitorium. He left behind the people, now stammering, lost for words.

Admittedly, life for them had been close to indescribable, almost inexplicable in fact, saved only by the ubiquitous use of 'cool,' 'like,' and 'thing.' But now, without even those words? They were speechless.

Some tried to communicate with burbles and grunts. Others engaged in wild arm waving, contorting their faces and hopping about the square. Most retreated to dark corners, occasionally muttering to themselves. "Ork. Slork. Mumbojumbo." Noone knew what anyone meant.

One of the people, desperate to be understood, remembered a battered tin horn stored in the cellar. She retrieved it, climbed onto the ramparts, and honked out to the world.

The signal reached Story Teller. Armed with a wagon load of riddles, adventures, discoveries, temptations and other tales, Story Teller guided the wagon into the square.

People crept out of their corners to view this strange sight. As they approached, the wagon sides split open, and spilled a rich cargo of ideas for stories.

"Here people, here," Story Teller exclaimed. "Imagine This!" So, the people
imagined.

Soon the burbling and mumbojumbo turned into an exuberant torrent of eloquence. The people fast developed a vibrant, lush vocabulary. Stories cascaded from their imaginations. Some wrote them. Others spoke them. Others read or listened.

The stories were so captivating, that even the cynical Word Smith was drawn from his Language Sanitorium. He joined in a dynamic, new adventure - happily trading stories with the people in the square.

For thousands of years in every culture, people have entertained each other through the sharing of stories, folktales, myths, and legends. And still, in today's world of light speed technology, storytelling is vital to the way people learn, think, create and communicate. In the landmark study by Cooper, Collins and Saxby, they state that "education needs to embrace literacy programs that actively employ storytelling to bridge oracy skills and literacy skills."

Albert Einstein put it this way: "If you want your children to be brilliant, tell them fairy tales. If you want your children to be very brilliant, tell them even more fairy tales."

Imagine This! Company, Inc., of Orlando, FL., is devoted to developing entertaining ways of experiencing the storytelling arts - story creation, presentation and acting - applied to people's everyday lives and careers. We do this through the production of games, television programs, and learning resources.

Thank you for enjoying our story!