- All kinds of books can
be used for storytelling. Now, "Abiyoyo" is a book you can sing, which makes perfect sense because it was written by a folk singer, Mr. Pete Seeger, who's here with us today. Hi, Pete.
- Hi. - Pete, tell us where you got the idea to write the book "Abiyoyo." - Oh, quite unintentional. I was singing a lullaby to
my kids about 35 years ago, and you know, kids get
about three years old and they discover that
lullabies are propaganda songs. - What do you mean propaganda? - O
h, they don't want to go to sleep. And they howled me down,
"No, we want a story." So I compromised as
one does in this world. I said, "Okay, I'll figure out a story, but I'll sing you the song too." (lively banjo music) ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ Based on a South African lullaby and folk story. Text by Pete Seeger. Illustrations by Michael Hays. Spoken and sung by me, Pete Seeger. (lively banjo music) Once upon a time, there was a little boy who played the ukule
le. Around town he'd go, clink, clink, clunk. Clunk, clink, clunk. The grownups would say, "Take
that thing out of here." Not only that, the boy's
father got in trouble. The boy's father was a
magician. He had a magic wand. He'd go zoop, zoop and
make things disappear. (twinkling music) But he played too many tricks on people. He'd come up to someone about to drink a nice
cold glass of something. Zoop, the glass disappears. Someone doing a hard job of work. (Pete imitating sawing sound) Up comes
the father with his magic wand. Zoop.
(twinkling music) No saw. He'd come up to someone about to sit down after a hard day's work. Zoop.
(twinkling music) No chair. - That's not funny.
- Yeah, right. Get out of town. - [Pete] People said to the father, "You get out of here too. Take your magic wand and your tricks, and you and your son just get. And the boy and his
father were ostracized. That means they made him
live on the edge of town. (dramatic music) Now, in this town, they
used to tell st
ories. The old people used to tell
stories about the giants that lived in the old days. They used to tell a story
about a giant called Abiyoyo. He said he was as tall as a tree and could eat people up. Of course, nobody believed the story, but they told it anyway. One day, one day, the sun
rose blood red over the hill. The first people got up
and looked out the window. They saw a great big
shadow in front of the sun, and they could feel
the whole ground shake. (ground booming) Women screamed.
(w
oman screaming) Strong men fainted.
(man gasping) - [Person] Run for your lives. Abiyoyo's coming. (Abiyoyo grunting) - [Pete] He comes to the sheep pasture. (sheep baaing) He grabs a whole sheep. (Abiyoyo gulping) He comes to the cow pasture. (cow mooing) He grabs a whole cow. - [Person] Grab your most
precious possessions and run. Run. - [Pete] Just then, the
boy and his father woke up. Hey Pa, what's coming over the field? My son, that's Abiyoyo. Oh, if only I could get him to lie down, I cou
ld make him disappear. The boy says, "Come with me, Pa." He grabs his father by one hand, the father gets the magic wand
and the boy gets his ukulele. They run across the fields. (people yelling) People yell, "Don't go near him. He'll eat you alive. Here was Abiyoyo. (Abiyoyo grunting) He had long fingernails
'cause he never cut 'em. He had slobbery teeth
'cause he didn't brush 'em, stinking feet 'cause he didn't wash 'em. He raised up with his claws. (Abiyoyo grunting) Just then, the boy whips
out his ukulele. (lively ukulele music) ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ Well, you know, the giant
had never heard a song about himself before. And a foolish grin spread
over the giant's face. The giant started to dance. ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ The boy went faster. ♪ Abiyoyo-yoyo-yoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo-yoyo-yoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ (Abiyoyo panting) The giant got out a
breath. He's staggered. He fell down flat on the ground. (Abiyoyo gasping) Up steps the father. Zoop.
Zoop.
(twinkling music) Abiyoyo disappeared. (people cheering) - [Person] They did it, they did it. - [Pete] He's gone. (people cheering) The people ran across the fields. They lifted the boy and his
father up on their shoulders. They say, "Come back to town.
Bring your darn ukulele. We don't care anymore." And they all sang. ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo, yoyoyo, yoyoyo ♪ ♪ Abiyoyo, yoyoyo, yoyoyo ♪ (lively banjo music) And that's the story of Abiyoyo. - Great story
, Pete. I think I like the
disappearing part the best. - Oh, I'm glad you said that. - How come? - Time for me to disappear? Zoop.
(LeVar laughing) - Well, I guess we'll
see Pete some other time. Folk songs and rock videos
tell their stories with words and music, but musical stories can be told without using any words
at all, just movements. Let me show you what I mean. Here's a group working out
the way to tell a story that you'll probably recognize. (tranquil music) Melanie Stewart and her dan
ce
company perform folktales and fairytales set to music. (tranquil music) - [Narrator] Dance is a
terrific way to tell a story because the human body is so expressive. (tranquil music) In the story, "Beauty and the Beast," movement can show the feelings of all the different characters. (tranquil music)
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