416-928-2394
www.nlpcanada.com
nlp canada training inc.
How do Stories
Mean?
father are stronger than the
things that threaten you.
3.
Tackle the small problems before
they become too big to tackle.
4.
If you’re brave enough to take a
risk, you’ll grow strong enough
to conquer the problem.
5.
People will consume until they
are stopped.
6.
A big brother is more useful than
a big voice.
7.
If you do not seize opportunity
when it appears, it may end up
seizing you.
by Linda Ferguson
The title is not a misprint. The
question is not what does a story
mean, but how does it have
meaning? The answer is not simply
in the words it contains. It is in the
interaction of the elements of the
story with a context and the
particular experience of a listener or
reader.
Let’s look at a simple, familiar story
that is often told to very young
children: the story of the Three Billy
Goats Gruff. We’ll consider what
happens in the story, and then look
at seven of the messages it might
possibly convey.
The story goes like this: the three
billy goats Gruff are brothers who live
in a field on one side of a river. On
their side of the river, grass is in short
supply. Across the river, grass is lush
and plentiful. The bridge across the
river is guarded by a troll.
The three billy goats decide to cross
the bridge one at a time. The
smallest goes first. The troll roars at
him and threatens to eat him. The
little goat says he is not worth eating;
the troll should wait for his big
brother. The same thing happens
when the second goat crosses. The
largest billy goat has no problem
butting the troll into the river.
What is the moral of the story? It
depends on who is telling and who is
listening.
1.
Might makes right. The toughest
competitor wins.
2.
You can go out into the world
knowing that your mother or
Does the story mean one of these
things, all of these things or none of
these things? If the same words can
be taken in such different ways, it
seems evident that meaning must
require more than words. What helps
us choose between these
possibilities?
Begin by asking whether the story is
about the troll or about the billy
goats? The answer depends on how
you see yourself in the story. Are the
billy goats expansion-hungry
capitalists with no interest in fair play
or conservation? If they are, you are
probably the troll. If you are the troll,
the meaning you take from the story
might be 1, 3, 5 or 7.
If you are not a big, scary troll, you
might be a very small person. You
might see yourself as the smallest of
the billy goats gruff. The meaning the
story has for you might be 1, 2, 4 or
6. The story will tell you that you
have to take a risk in order to get
what you want, and you have to
behave wisely in taking that risk. If
you do, stronger heads (literally!) will
back you up, and you’ll get safely to
a reward.
What do you learn if you are the
biggest billly goat? All the meanings
are possible for the biggest billy goat,
but they tend to shift in focus. They
suggest that your strength carries
responsibilities.
The person who listens often
associates with one character. The
person who tells the story associates
with all of them. The person who tells
offers a range of meanings; the
person who listens chooses among
them. There is power in both
positions, and there is more power in
the relationship between them. It is
the relationship that creates the fit the focus we call meaning.
After all, another meaning of the billy
goats story is that there is strength in
numbers: we get what we need by
building on one another’s vision,
nerve and strength.
Linda Ferguson, Ph.D., is
Senior Partner at NLP Canada
Training Inc.. She and her
partner, Chris Keeler, provide
coaching and training in all
aspects of integrated thinking.
NLP Canada Training Inc. is a
registered educational
institution.
We issue tax receipts for tuition
fees.
NLPCTinc. 200 North Service Rd. W., Unit 548, Oakville, ON, L6M 2Y1