Traditional stories are transformative, flicking a switch on a mood in an instant, or working in silence, like a seed. Traditional stories are often ‘flash fiction’ as brief as the burning of a match. Take this Scottish traveller proverb, 'A story flies eye to eye, mind to mind, heart to heart.' Ben Okri says ‘the great essays on storytelling are done in stories themselves.’ Here’s a take on an old Jewish tale that does just that: