ORIGIN OF A TALE Origin of a tale is a creative project for young audiences conceived of and interpreted by Aurelien Zouki and Éric Deniaud. The piece combines storytelling, dance, and object and sound manipulation. The central element is clay in layered sheets, in piles, in blocks, in bas-relief, modeled live, etc., giving life to figures and spaces. It is from and through this raw material that the two interpreters build the genealogy of fables and their origins. In order to write their own fables, we know that La Fontaine and Marie de France were inspired by Aesop, who was himself inspired by Persian tales, which most certainly came from India, and so on… probably since the continental drift, perhaps before language became so elaborate. The first fable may have even been modeled from clay. Through oral transmission, these simple wisdoms have been entrusted to us from age to age, territory to territory. The ascension of time and crossing of space reminds us that not so long ago, borders were not defined as they are today. The only things, perhaps, still able to easily cross, are our thoughts and our stories. Supported by the Swiss Embassy in Lebanon and the French Institute in Lebanon.