The Most Beautiful Thing in the World

Published: Sept. 21, 2006, 4:01 a.m.

Seeking geocaches and "The Most Beautiful Thing in the World". This week the Activated Storytellers come to you from Olympia, WA with a story from China.

"The Most Beautiful Thing in the World" from China

This is one of the stories we use when we conduct one of our weeklong Artist-in-Residency programs in schools. We direct students in all aspects of theatrical production, including developing the script from a story, designing and building props and costumes, and acting.

In this tale, a king sends his three children out into the world to find the most beautiful thing. The one that succeeds will inherit the crown.

Post Your Thoughts

What do you suppose is the most beautiful thing in the world? Is it a smile? Is it a place? Something someone did? We'd like to hear YOUR story! You can post your thoughts here and we'll read the best ones in an upcoming podcast.

Geocaching & Letterboxing

Since the theme this week is seeking treasures, we decided to focus on Geocaching, the game where you are the search engine. If you are new to Geocaching, Geocaching.com and a GPS unit will get you started. Type in your zip code, copy down the clues and get ready to do some real life treasure hunting. Be careful though and don't let the muggles spot you!

Geocaching got its inspiration from letterboxing, which started about 150 years ago, and is still practiced today. But Geocaching as we know it, with the aid of a GPS device, started only about 6 years ago.

We chose to focus on Geocaching because the Olympia area has quite a number of interesting caches, some of historical interest. In addition to being a lot of fun, this game offers an opportunity to learn things while challenging your detective skills. 

Inspiration

A couple of weeks ago we presented the story of "The Apple Dumpling" and pointed out how it reminded us of the guy who swapped a red paperclip on craigslist.org for something bigger and better, until he got his dream - a house. Well a family of listeners heard the story and decided to try it for themselves! This family's goal is to live on the road like we do, but first they need a bus. So they decided to trade a little red matchbox bus for a real one! You can check their progress at A Bus 4 a Bus.

National Tour

We are bringing our live theatrical productions to schools and libraries on the West Coast through December and then we'll be heading east. Please visit our web site for more information about school assemblies and residency programs, or to find a free show sponsored by a public library to bring your family to. If you'd like to pass on information to your school you also find a flyer that you can download, print and share on our site.

Happy Listening,

Dennis, Kimberly and Zephyr Goza