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By THOMAS SCHWARTZ

OBSERVER Staff Writer

SILVER CREEK - Layne Gneiting came to Silver Creek to tell some stories.

He introduced himself to an audience of mostly children and asked if they like stories, too.

"Yeah!"

The kids laughed and the eager sound of applause seemed to encourage Gneiting and he began, saying, "This is the story of a little boy, playing in a river..." A traveling storyteller soon entered the frame who seemed curiously similar to the man speaking.

His story is a journey, complete with physical challenges to overcome and individual goals to pursue. He began in Washington by the Pacific shore and rode his bicycle cross-country along the northern border of the U.S. His wife and seven children, who accompany him in a recreational vehicle said, "we chose the North Route to avoid the heat but we could have taken any route this summer."

The stories he tells are pieces of folklore, honored by time and the generations of storytellers who passed them through the years. A classroom teacher at the University of Arizona during the schoolyear, he is teaching an online class called "The Hero's Journey" during the summer.

This comes in addition to updating his blog each day and bike-riding through the daylight, taking care of his huge family and stopping occasionally to share his rich bank of stories and folklore to people of all ages.

One of his stories told of an emperor who "always knew the answer," and would give his kingdom to anyone who could come up with a question he couldn't answer. In his smallest voice, he told of a little girl who pitched three questions at the emperor; "What is the most important task, who is the most important person and what is the most important time?"

The emperor, who wanted to be wise, was stumped. His sister suggested that he go ask the hermit outside town. The hermit made him dig his garden for him. As he was digging he met a man who was injured storming the palace, as he sought revenge for his brother, whom the emperor killed in war. The emperor healed the man's wound and learned that the most important task - at that time - was digging, because if he had not stayed and dug the hermit's garden, he would have been killed at the palace. The most important task was healing the man, because the emperor would not have learned the answers to his questions without learning how he affected this man. And the most important time, the emporer discovered, was that moment. He returned triumphantly to the little girl.

The emperor endured his own hero's journey and by the end, Gneiting had the kids chiming in and finishing his sentences "Who is the most important person?" asked Gneiting. The kids replied, "the person you are with at that moment." "When is the most important time?" "Right now!" "What is the most important task?" "Making the person you are with at that time and place happy!"

After the stories were all over, he talked about the journey and importance of the moment.

"The journey throws at you surprising elements you can't anticipate," Gneiting said. "If your heart is right, you will meet visitors who can help you right when we're in need."

The stories all involved the slightly self referential character of the traveling storyteller which mirrors the pluralism of the stories he tells.

"It's not a script," Gneiting said. "It's the images that you memorize, and it's never the same twice." He credits the Leo Tolstoy and John Ruskin as the authors of the stories he told on Saturday morning at The Anderson-Lee Library, but they were told in real time, from his own skill and credit as a storyteller.

Gneiting learned his art as a storyteller from his mentor, Ods Bodkin, whom he met many years ago at the National Storytelling Festival in Tennessee. Bodkin would accompany his storytelling by strumming on a 12-string guitar. Gneiting uses a keyboard. Little is known about Homer, the ancient Greek storyteller, but he probably used a lute. The music sets the mood and pace for the listener.

Gneiting's journey is about following two seperate dreams: telling stories to the people of America and riding his bicycle from coast to coast.

He incorporates his extensive family as his roadies and support team along the way. His daughter Dani carried a large keyboard and speaker set from their R.V. (large enough for seven kids) to the Anderson-Lee Library.

His blog can be found at crazyguyonabike.com.