"A storyteller has a different agenda from the emperor.

[And yet] there’s a limit to what storytelling can

achieve. We’re not saying that a poet can stop a battalion with a couple of lines of his poetry. But there

are other forms of power. The storyteller appeals to the mind, and appeals ultimately to generations and

generations and generations."

According to Achebe, a storyteller has at the tip of their pen the power to influence the mindset and

impact the future of tomorrow. This could not be any closer to the truth.

Storytelling is a tool that has been used for hundreds of years to teach and shape the lives of not only

children but also adults. We have served as witnesses to how stories were teaching instruments for

children long before schools were constructed. These stories crafted by storytellers include folktales,

which had a hidden meaning that served to guide and heed little children. There is a folktale about how

the porcupine animal loved speaking to strangers and ended up disappearing over time, and that is why

they are few today. Such folktales served as warnings to children to not talk to strangers and thus

protected them from being harmed—no greater power than that which can serve as a protector without

needing to be ever-present.

Storytelling is a whole new world that the reader is being thrust into and it is with some of the stories

that many find solace, inspiration, and where their dreams are realized. Stories have inspired some to

follow their dreams. Dreams are the aspirations that make us soar, the hopes which make us carry on

and persevere for a better tomorrow, and the ambitions which accomplish the most difficult feats. One

book that has changed my life for the better is the one titled “the 5 AM Club” that, in turn, has changed

my mindset on how I should plan my life and how waking up at five am has become my daily routine in

my pursuit for success.

Having a firm grasp and thus influence on one's behavior is a great power that storytellers have. The

ability to change the mindset can not be compared to any other thing. It has been centuries that many
have tried to influence man’s minds for various reasons of either control or domination. Still, it is only

the incredible power of storytelling that has been able to do what seemed impossible.