Don't tell tales: it's one of the stranger things we tell our children. Being a clype, of course, ranks high on the scale of unforgiveable sins for children and indeed some adults too. But why do we equate this with a term which also means telling stories, spinning yarns, both real and imagined?

The positive power of storytelling is being evoked in Glasgow this week with the Stories of our Cultures event in Pollokshields, in the south of the city.

Bringing together people from all manner of different backgrounds for music and storytelling, it looks an interesting event, and it is aimed at adults and children, native Glaswegians and new arrivals alike.

The week-long event features different storytellers every day, from five traditions: Scottish, Irish, Jewish, Punjabi and Slovakian. Between, them they are to carry out 25 schools visits, while each storyteller will also spend a day visiting a variety of local community groups.

Thus, today, a Punjabi storyteller will visit a Muslim women's group. In all there will be 12 visits to community groups and also two evening musical events with a night of Scottish and Jewish music tonight and a Punjabi-Scottish fusion night on Thursday.

Tonight's event features Moishe's Bagel as well as Lev Atlas of the Orchestra of Scottish Opera, playing Roma and European tunes and on Thursday the Piping Hot Dholies, featuring bagpipes and the Dholi drums popular in Punjabi music, perform.

It's all about using the power of stories to bring different cultures together, according to organiser Rachel Smillie, Glasgow Storytelling Development Officer.

"It is based on the work of Pollok storytelling centre which has proven a great way of people beginning to understand each other, particularly with the arrival of asylum-seeker communities," she explains.

Earlier this year, the city hosted a Stories of our Faiths event.

This week's event, based in a storytelling yurt (a nomadic tent) at the Hidden Gardens, part of the Tramway arts centre, is also being used to help establish the need for an interfaith storytelling centre to be based in nearby Govanhill, one of Glasgow's most deprived areas, and also a focus for new migrants to the city.

Funding has been secured to commission leading Scottish architects Page and Park to design the centre, which is backed by the charity Faith in Community Scotland.

Smillie adds: "This is in response to the need for connections between faiths, communities and cultures which don't immediately meet the barriers of difference and fear, but discover the common values through the telling of stories."

Interestingly, the event doesn't include any contribution from the Slovakian Roma community now thriving in the heart of Govanhill, which seems like an omission.

Smillie admits that despite pursuing contacts with the Roma community, they were unable to find a storyteller for the event. To her, this simply reinforces her argument.

"It demonstrates the need in the future for the role of the proposed centre, to ensure that all parts of the local community are given the opportunity to play a full part in the development of the cultural programme," she says.

Stories of our Cultures runs until May 16. Evening music events are free, though donations are encouraged.