The harp plays a fast jig in concert with the concertina, an instrument that looks similar to an accordion.

"It's a concertina," says storyteller Tim Jennings. "It is not an accordion."

Jennings and his wife, Leanne Ponder, are a storytelling team that brought their special brand of tale and music to the Plumb Corner Library on July 28. The pair have travelled as far as England to share their brand of folk stories with audiences of all ages.

"We'll do shows where it's all adults or shows where it's all teens or shows where it's all children," says Jennings, surveying the crowd and noticing a mix of people, young and old, children and adults. "Sometimes we get a nice mix like this."

Jennings and Ponder, playing traditional Irish and Scottish music while telling stories from places as far away as India brought a sense of wonder and majesty to the assembled children and adults in the library.

"Traditional folk tales and traditional folk music," says Jennings. "You can't find these stories, they're not in print anywhere. We find them as fossils and bring people stories they've never heard before. We learn all our music by feel."

The two have been performing together since 1980.

"We started by playing music together," says Leanne. "Then we decided to try storytelling together since Tim was already a storyteller. We chose a very short story in case it went poorly but it went well and we're still doing it."

"It's much easier with Leanne than it was by myself," says Jennings.

Leanne and Tim use an array of voices, motions, musical cues and verbal tricks such as finishing each others sentences, speaking over each other or speaking in unison to bring their stories to life. Each animal, person or place feels vibrant and real even though no one has travelled farther than Plumb Corner.

"We're both very picky about words," says Jennings.

The pair wrap up a fable about a magic bird and a greedy king and launch into another folk song and tale to the audience's delight.  The show ends on a song and the children in the audience come forward to get a better look at Leanne's harp.

"I thought it was great," says Kathy Bliss, of Marion, who brought both her children to the event. "Wonderful, it was wonderful."

For more information about Tim Jennings and Leanne Ponder check out their website at: http://folktale.net/