The Knowledge Brothers: "Stories", "Facts", & their van "Paige"

In this post: We give parents a Fabulingua Original Story they can share with their children that demonstrates the real-life power of storytelling! 

Once upon a time, there were two siblings who had the same mission in life - to educate kids.  

One of the brothers was called “Stories” and the other was called “Facts”. They had an old Volkswagen van called “Paige” (very similar to the “Mystery Van” that Scooby-doo rode in with his human buddies). The Knowledge Brothers, as they were known, would drive around in their van and pull up to the local school in small towns across the country and stay a while.  

It was early November, and the school Principal was delighted to greet them. “Yay! You’ve come to teach the kids!

Facts was the most handsome of the Knowledge Brothers, his hair was slicked back and always in place. He was tall, well dressed, looked sharp, and had gleaming white teeth. Most impressively, he was very knowledgeable - his muscles were bulging with all the facts of the world. The girls and boys all wanted to be as smart as him and have something clever to say about anything that was being discussed. 

When the brothers arrived at the school, Facts jumped right out of Paige, looking suave and perfectly coiffed. He gave the Principal a firm handshake and was ready to deliver his knowledge to the kids that very second. 

Facts called the kids to attention and they gathered around excited - they had waited all summer for the arrival of the Knowledge Brothers, and they could not wait to hear what they had to say. They were particularly excited to hear from Facts because they wanted to be like him: good-looking, muscles bulging with knowledge.

Facts started talking, but it was not long before the group’s attention started to wane. Gradually, one by one, the kids became bored and restless. They started shuffling from foot to foot and kicking the dirt on the ground until everyone was whispering and giggling.

By the time Facts was done with his lecture, most of the kids had wandered off to the playground or were dozing off. There was only one child left who was paying attention to what he said.

Facts was dejected and wandered back into Paige.

“It’s happened again, brother… I’ve lost their attention.  They’re all either playing or sleeping!  If I can’t keep their attention, how can I do my job and deliver knowledge?”

“Don’t worry bro, let me have a crack at it.”

Stories finally opened the door to the van to step out. He always took longer to get out of Paige when they arrived in a new town. He had never quite finished lunch, he’d always managed to spill something on his shirt at the last minute, and he just had so many more extra items to put away on his side of the van than Facts did. Playful descriptions, amusing side notes, intriguing cliffhangers, character development, and it sometimes took him a longer to get them organized before he could get out of the van and meet the kids.  

Stories was the goofiest guy around… he kind of looked like a mess.  He was gangly, his shirt was sometimes untucked, his hair only sometimes brushed, and his shoelaces were sometimes tied. Sometimes he would look sad, and sometimes he’d be grinning from ear to ear. You never quite knew what you were going to get from him.

The school Principal looked disapprovingly at him as he tried to shove some remaining items back into the van (they were some impersonations that had escaped as he closed the van door). Adults could sometimes get impatient with Stories, they sometimes felt it took him too long to get going.  And time was money, so why was he taking so long??

Stories gave the Principal a knowing look, brushed some crumbs off his t-shirt, wandered over to the playground, and sat on a giant rock next to a kid that looked a bit lonely. He started talking to him and slowly, one by one, kids started gathering around, like he was a magnet pulling them all in. Soon there was a silence amongst the kids, no feet kicking the dirt, no elbowing. They even stopped eating their Halloween candy! They were all just listening, mesmerized by the story that he was telling.

You see, that was the strangest thing. While all the kids had thought they wanted to be like Facts, they actually found him cold and remote. Some found him boring and others thought he was interesting but unrelatable.

But Stories had the exact opposite effect on them.  No one particularly looked up to him and no one thought they wanted to be such a tangled mess that took so long to get to the point. And yet here they were, magically gravitating towards whatever Stories said.  

He spent hours on the playground, and soon every child and teacher (and even the Principal!) was gathered around him as if in a Greek amphitheater. No matter what topic he covered, he touched their hearts or imaginations and they felt deeply connected with him. Sometimes the adults had no idea where he was going, but they remained intrigued and the kids just found him irresistible and wanted to hang around him to hear where the story would go next. He told many stories and it didn’t really matter what kind of story he told - funny, thrilling, adventurous or imaginative - they just could not help paying attention to his every word.’

Facts sat in his minimalist and tidy side of the van, finished up his lunch, carefully wiped his mouth with his linen napkin, and put away his lunchbox. He watched how his rambling mess of a brother held the stage and captured everybody’s heart and attention. He was a bit jealous.  A lot jealous, if he was honest with himself. He had grown up confident in the knowledge that facts were superior to stories. Stories were not intellectually worthy, they were just so trashy, they were just entertainment.  They paled in comparison to facts. So how could this keep on happening, that everyone seemed to love learning from stories?

As Facts sat in Paige feeling increasingly sorry for himself, he decided to do some research to understand why his brother’s storytelling technique seemed to be so much more effective than his.  He found an excellent blog by FabuLingua that explained it all!

What Facts had not known was that humans had actually been using stories to pass knowledge from generation to generation, since time immemorial. From cavemen, with their illustrated stories on cave walls, to warring Greeks and their oral stories of heroes and antiheroes that Homer eventually captured in writing. 

Even religious knowledge has been captured in stories through texts like the Bible and Quran. Politicians have spoken in narratives that have captured hearts and led movements throughout history (“...I have a dream…”). Businesses and schools have told stories to help motivate and educate employees and students…

As Facts sat in Paige realizing that there was actually a scientific foundation for his brother’s success, some of the kids came up and knocked on his (very clean) side of the van.

“Your brother asked that we come to get you. He’d like your help in delivering even more knowledge.”  Facts gladly followed the kids - he was happy the kids wanted to invite him to join the party. He went and sat next to his brother who was in the middle of a gripping story about the power of stories. 

Stories invited his brother to contribute to the story. “Tell us some facts on the power of a story!” 

“I’d love to!”  But before he launched into his facts, he opened up with the story of a little boy who had been born blind, but regained his eyesight when he had surgery at the age of two. He was a shy, and geeky boy who’d had a fair number of struggles, including his father dying at a young age. But he followed his passions and went on to be a professor both at Harvard and Oxford and make important discoveries about childhood education.  He was courted by Presidents Kennedy and Johnson and members of the British parliament and effected huge changes in how young kids are taught in those countries. “This psychologist was called Jerome Bruner. He actually put a number on the power of a story: he found that ‘Facts are 20 times more likely to be remembered if they’re part of a story.’  

The crowd loved it - they remembered the fact, but they really remembered in the context of how this little boy who had been born blind and had had many struggles ended up having such an impact on both sides of ‘the pond’. Kids got up to their feet and cheered. Facts had never felt that connection with kids as they took on everything he said, and he realized that when facts were artfully layered into stories, kids never seemed to get bored - they seemed to only want more. 

Eventually, the school bell rang and the kids were sad to leave.

“Come back tomorrow!” pleaded the kids. 

When the students got back to their classrooms, the teachers couldn’t believe all they had learned. Typically, when the school had a visiting speaker, only one kid would even remember anything that was said. This time, because of Stories, with the help of Facts, all twenty kids in the class remembered what they were taught!

“Stories can build empathy and compassion!”

“Good stories follow the 4 i’s: They establish an interest, they instruct, they involve, and they inspire us!”

“Stories develop our ability to communicate!”

The list went on and on! The kids just couldn’t stop shouting out all they had learned. 

With the two Knowledge Brothers cooperating, it was the best of both worlds!  Though it was now clear that Stories would have to take the lead when they got to a new school, and that Facts would play a supporting role.  Which was fine, Facts was a big boy and he could handle that. After all, that way they would both be more successful at accomplishing their mission - all they needed to do was to figure out how to get to a school earlier and get organized … but that’s a story for another day! 

In this Fabulingua Original Story about storytelling, we shared a story parents can share with their children to demonstrate the real-life power of storytelling! In the world of tablets, cell phones, and computers, there’s still so much value in getting your children to use their imagination, but that’s just one of the reasons why it’s so important to keep the tradition of storytelling alive! Learn more reasons in our blog about storytelling below!