Are stories viruses?

This week I got sick, the whether was good, then bad then good, it's the perfect combination for me to get my usual, because I have one, it's a little routine, and it's all mine.
It goes like this: sinus infection for 2 days, then sore throat for two days again , then down to my lungs and I walk around Istanbul wheezing and coughing like a old engine.

And all around me I notice people who are getting the virus (not necessarily from me) but everyone has their own version, some people have to stay in bed, others get an upset stomach...it's the same virus, but it touches us in different ways.

And it makes me think about tales (yes, again!).  Jack Zipes a specialist of tales has a theory that tales spread like viruses.  One person at a time, they conquer, adapt and then spread to another person. The moment you take the tale and carry it in your heart and mind, you are affected.  Then if you tell the story, you spread it.

Now some people think that it is very important to stick to the original version of a tale, not to change a thing, to be faithful carriers of the original text.  Which is also a valid goal...
But what Zipes argues is that every time you take a story, and change it according to your tastes and sensibilities, you help the tale stay alive for another generation.

For example:

• you change the part of a story where the husband hits his wife to teach her a lesson because you find it would be wrong to transmit this message;  
• or, you decide to give some wit to little Red because you just don't feel like carrying the message of the little girl passively waiting in the wolf's stomach for the big man to come rescue her.  

Just like the viruses need to adapt to conquer more and stay alive, so the tales, transformed by active storytellers turn into new brews that will mesmerize new generations.

I'm not saying that everything needs to go, a storyteller carries the essence of an old magic, for example  the oldest written tale, written on a papyrus 8th century B.C., "the tale of two brothers", is still being told today, and that's an important part of telling stories:  carrying the torch. 

But a storyteller's job is also to keep tales alive and relevant, to twist and turn the stories, to jazz it up, to mix in some politics, anecdotes of the day, details and images that will touch the listeners of today, so that with each telling the tales get the adaptation they need to be around for another two thousand years.

What is a tale that touched you? Tell it today, you don't need to remember it perfectly, you just need to let it out and contaminate others.  

Tales are a magical viruses, they strengthen our immune system to fight against today's most deadly virus: meaninglessness. 

So help it spread!