Reading Notes: English Fairy tales Unit (1): Reading B- The Ass, the Table, and the Stick

Picture of a Donkey spitting gold by John D. Batten

My ideas: This story was very neat. I liked how there was magic in the story and how two unfortunate people were joined together and had wealth. I like the troubles that the boy goes through to gain his fortune. People keep taking advantage of him, and this is much like how people do now day. However, I did not like how when the son finally regained all his fortunes, his father had died, and he was not able to show him. I wonder, if the boy would share his fortune with his father? Was he riding back home to show off to his father or was he intending to rub it in? What if the father had been alive and the son was able to rub in his new found wealth. I also really liked how in the end of the story, the boy still chose the maiden to be his wife, despite all the others with more wealth. I would like to change this story to the boy's perspective. Doing this would allow the audience to be more connected. This would also allow us to see how the boy reacts when he finds his fortunes gone. Also, simply putting it in his perspective would add a lot of detail to the story. From this, we could find out what attracted him to the maiden. Were they childhood friends? Was she really pretty? Also, how did he feel every time he rode home and he realized what had happened? Was he angry? Why was he riding home to begin with? This story has a lot of different ways I could retell it.


Bibliography: Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales. English Fairy Tales Unit (1). The Ass, the Table, and the Stick.

Reading Notes: English Fairy tales Unit (1): Reading A- The Story of the Three Little Pigs

Illustration from J. Jacobs, English Fairy Tales 

My Ideas: Everyone knows the story of the three little pigs. This is one of the most memorable stories from my childhood, so I could not help but to choose this story. I am a big fan of putting the story in different perspectives, so I could change the story and put it in the mother's perspective. We hear about her shortly at the beginning and that is all. Also, I could make this story a sort of cat and mouse game, maybe adding more details and thought and put the story in the little pigs perspective. Also, what if the other pigs had survived and fled to their brothers house, where they would fight together against the wolf. What if the wolf's character was rich and when the pigs killed him, they gained his fortune and were reunited? What is we learned why the other piglets chose to build there homes out of bad material? Is this due to how they were raised? Also, how old were the piglets? Were they maybe too young when their mother had to let them go? I also think it would be a good idea if the wolf would have kidnapped the other piglets and kept them hidden. Maybe at one of the places the wolf told the piglet their was apple or turnips. The smart piglet could rescue his brothers, kill the wolf, and reunite their family. These additions would make the story very eventful. I feel like there are a lot of options with this story. Unlike other stories that I have read this semester, it actually has a good amount of detail. Although the detail is good, there are still things I could add. 
Bibliography: Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales. English Fairy Tales Unit (1). The Story of the Three Little Pigs.

Storytelling: Week 11- Another Cinderella Story (The True Bride)

**Background, this story is the diary of a girl much like Cinderella. Her mother died when she was just a baby, and recently her father has died in a terrible hunting accident.

Cottage in the Woods: Photo Source ArchitectureImage

Tuesday, January 5: Dear diary, today has be hard. It has been three days since my father died and I can barley handle the grief. Stepmother has not let up on me any, even in my time of grief. I wonder if she even mourns the death of my father. As cold and heartless as she is, I doubt it. As for my stepsister, she seems upset, but Step-mother scorns her when she looks sad, so I can tell she is holding it in. I wish we could talk and comfort one another. Too bad I am an outcast in my own home. Have to go, step-mother is calling.

Saturday, January 9: Dear diary, it has been nearly four days since I last wrote. Stepmother has made me in charge of all the household chores, so I have been busy. I still miss daddy. He would have never let her treat me this way. Tonight step-mother told me that I am lazy and useless, even though I am the one who cares for this house and cooks for her and my sister. Thursday, it began snowing, and has not stopped since. That is all I have for today.

Sunday, January 10: Dear diary, it appears this is the beginning of the end. Today, stepmother asked me to travel out to find berries, in the middle of this blizzard. I must go, as she already deems me as lazy. I will begin my journey tomorrow and I told step-mother that I would wonder until I died, so this may very well be the last you hear from me.

Tuesday, January 12: Dear diary, I SURVIVED. I am back home and better than ever. When I was out looking for berried, I stumbled across the most beautiful little cottage where four brothers lived. They were so kind to me. When I told them what I was doing, they helped me to find berries, but not just any berries, the largest, sweetest strawberries I have ever seen. I bet you will never guess where they had the strawberries, on their roof! That is right, growing away, right underneath the snow. I was in complete awe. After the brothers blessed me with these berries, they then asked me if I needed anything else. I hated to ask, I really did, but it was just so cold outside, and I could not bear to make the journey home in the old rags that I wore, so I told them I was poor and how I needed new clothes for my journey home. The youngest brother then told me to spit on my hand, I was a little taken back by this request, but I did as he said. When I opened my hand, a gold nugget appeared. I could not help but be overwhelmed with my new found ability to spit gold. Just when I thought I could not be blessed anymore by these kind souls, each brother made me the most beautiful clothing I had ever seen. I thanked them, and they sent me on my way. I am so blessed. When I came home though, even in the light of my new fortunes, stepmother was jealous and fueled with rage at my success. That is her calling, so I must get back to work.

Wednesday, January 13: Dear diary, I can not stop laughing. Today, step-mother sent my sister to get the same fortunes as me, however, when sister came back, all she got was the ability to spit foul smelling toenails. I cannot help but laugh. I am worried though, that step-mother will abuse my powers. I wonder if there will be any consequences to this new found gift.

Author’s Notes: With this story, I kept the storyline the same. All the same details happened, just like in the original story, however I put it in the “cinderella” of the story’s perspective. The first thing I did was add background to where the father was. This story is actually a four-part story and is very similar to the story of Cinderella but with a Native American twist and in all of the stories, the father is never mentioned again after the first sentence. When I was reading the original stories, I always wondered where he disappeared to, so I thought the readers of my retelling would too, so I added an explanation for his absence. The next thing I changed, was that I put it in the daughter’s perspective. Throughout the original story, there are no thoughts or opinions shared by any of the characters, so I thought that putting it into the daughter’s perspective, especially the one who is treated poorly, would add a personal effect and allow readers to connect more with at least one character. I thought making a diary would be the best way to express all of the daughter’s feelings toward what happened to her.

Bibliography: Thompson, Sith. Tales of the North American Indian's. Native American Marriage Tales Unit. The True Bride. 1929

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales Unit- Reading B: The True Bride

• Story: In this story, their is a man and a woman who have a daughter. The wife died and the man married another woman who also gave the man another daughter. (This story is very much like Cinderella) The stepmother, always accused her stepdaughter of being lazy and was always angry with her. One day, in the heart of winter, the stepmother asked her stepdaughter to go out and gather berries, this being an unreasonable request, the stepdaughter did not want to go, but she was tired of her stepmother constantly nagging, so she went. SHe told her stepmother that she wold wonder until she was dead. She put some food into a basket and went on her way. While she was wondering, she wondered upon a cottage, that was full of three men. They asked her why she was out in the middle of winter, and she told them about her mother always nagging and how she needed berries. The men then gave her a snow shovel and told her to go onto the roof and uncover the snow. When she did, it was revealed that the roof was earth and full of giant strawberries. She filled her basket and then climbed down. The men then asked her if she needed anything else. SHe told them she was poor and needed new clothes. The youngest brother told her to spit and when she did, it revealed that she spit gold nuggets. The next brother made shoes for her out of the finest material. The third brother made a dress, out of the finest material, as the younger brother had done. The eldest brother, made her a robe that would never wear out. As the brothers made their object for her, her new clothing appeared on her body and her old clothes disappeared. When she returned how with her new clothing, the basket of berries and her new found ability of spitting gold, her stepmother was surprised and became angry with the girl. She then told her younger daughter to follow the tracks the elder daughter has left in the snow, so she too could have the ability to spit gold and get new clothes. The girl did, and when she came upon the four brothers cabin, they offered her the same opportunities, however, she refused to spit and acted as though she was above it, this caused the brothers to get angry and they gave her the ability of spitting toe nails instead of spitting gold. When she returned home, the mother was angry and told her not to spit again.
• My ideas: Much like the story of Cinderella, I want to put this in the stepdaughters perspective. This would transform this tale into an actual story. This would make the story more detailed and allow the characters to have more feelings and opinions that are expressed. This would also allow for more dialogue and thoughts to be added to the story. 



Cottage in the Woods: Photo Source ArchitectureImage

• 
  Bibliography: Thompson, Sith. Tales of the North American Indian's. Native American Marriage Tales Unit. The True Bride. 1929

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales Unit- Reading A: The Rolling Head

Snake. Photo by Sugar Monster

• Story Summary: This story was very similar to stories I have previously read in other units. This story is about a family who keeps to themselves. There was a man, woman, and two children. Every time the man went out hunting, he would paint his wife's face and body before he went out hunting. The wife, went out to the same stream, every time. She would take off all of her clothes as if to bath, and then she would call for a snake. When the snake appeared, he would tell her to come to him since her husband was away. Everyday, her husband would return with meat for his family to eat, and he would wonder what happened to the paint. One day, he asked the wife where the paint had went, and she told him she had bathed in the lake. Curious as to why, the husband set out the next day, performing the same ritual as to go to a hunt, but instead, he followed his wife to the lake. When he saw the women, with the snake wrapped around her, he was angered and jumped on the snake and killed it. He then killed his wife and cut her up and took her back to her meat back for the children to eat. The children unknowingly ate their mother. The father than told the children to tell their mother when she returned that he went out to fetch meat he had tied up in a tree. The father then left. The younger daughter said that their mother was merely teasing them by not returning and the older daughter then told her not to speak ill of their mother. Then the mother's head came rolling to the daughters and said I am very sorry my daughters have eaten me up. The two daughters, terrified by this sight ran, but the head kept following. Eventually, the elder daughter drew a line in the dirt so the head would not cross. The daughters were then hungry and saw a deer, they merely looked at it and it struck the ground as it had been shot. They then ate the deer. Someone was very kind to the girls and they were well looked after. Two large panther and two large black bears guarded the girls. A starving village had heard of the two girls that had plenty of food and went the them in hope of them sharing. They children welcomed the people in. When all the people had left, only the girl's father remained. Because he had left them, the girls told one of the black bears to kill him, so it did. 
• My Idea: My idea is to change the story to either one of the girl's perspectives or even to the father's. Maybe I could even put the story in the mother's perspective, which would tell us a lot of things we do not know, such as why she called the snake and continued to visit him. Was her husband abusive? What did the paintings he did on her body mean? Was she not happy? Was she the force that protected the girls? Was her absence ever revealed to the girls? There are alot of detail I could fill in in this story.
• Bibliography: Thompson, Sith. Tales of the North American Indian's. Native American Marriage Tales Unit. The Rolling Head. 1929.

Week 10 Story Planning: The Woman Who had a Bear as a Foster-Son

Story: This story is about an old woman who lives near a shore. The house was nearest to the shore, meaning she was a little bit out of town. When the towns people from the town above had been out hunting, they would always bring the old woman meat and blubber. She had always longed for a son and one day, she finally got her wish. Well, sort of. Occasionally, when the townspeople would hunt. they would kill and bring back its meat. One day, they killed a bear that had a cub. The towns people, knowing the old woman was lonely asked her if she wanted a bear cub and she said yes, and she went to get it. When she got the bear he was very cold, so she took him into her home and began to nurse him back to health. The old woman began to care for the little cub as if it was her own child, so much that the bear even slept with her. 

The bear began to grow and as it did, the woman would talk to it and overtime the bear grew the mind of a human being. She even taught the bear to sniff at her when he was hungry. The children of the town would sometimes come to the old woman's house and want the little bear to play with them, and of course he did. Before he left, the old woman would always remind him to sheath his claws, and so he did. As the bear grew, he outgrew the children he was playing with and soon he began to play with adults, but as soon as he grew more, it was no time before he was even too strong for the adults to play with. The adults, knowing how strong he was, decided to start taking him hunting, as he would be an asset.

 Eventually, northern people came across the bear and almost killed him, but the townspeople managed to save him. The townspeople told the old woman that she needed to make some type of marker for the bear, so that other people, from other villages would know him and know that he was tame. The old woman made him a collar of plaited sinews to wear as a marker. After that, the bear continued to hunt and be the best hunter there was, and people of other villages would always let him go when they saw his collar. 

A group of people for a town called Angmagssalik heard of that bear that was not caught and they said that if they saw it, they would kill it. The people advised against this, as the foster mother was old, and they did not know how she would manage without the little bear. The bear had always leaned from the old woman, not to harm a human and treat them as kin. One time during a storm, the bear was away hunting, he did not return until evening and when he did, he nudged at the foster mother’s hand as usual to tell her he was hungry. When the foster mother went outside, she saw the body of a man whom she did not know.  She then began calling to the townspeople. After this, the foster mother realized that the bear better not stay with her, as it was not safe. She regretted this, as he was the son she never had. On the morning the bear was set to leave as she hugged him, she rubbed oil and soot on his side without him knowing. That was the end of the story, but it did say, that people to north saw a large bear with a black mark on its side.

Polar Bear:  Wikipedia

My Ideas: I really liked this story, but it was really sad at the end. I understand why the bear had to leave, but why could the old lady not have just gone with him and let him protect her as she had? I would like to change the ending and let the bear stay with the old lady. Maybe they could move together and take care of one another. They could even go visit the people of the other villages and explain the situation. I also think it would be cool to make the bear talk and put this story in his perspective. It would be a unique to hear his point of view on things. The old lady was the mother to him, as he was the son to her, their bond to each other is so loving, but I want to what the bear thinks. How does he feel about the people since they killed his mother? What about his instinct? Was it not there since he grew up with humans? Why did he not run off? I am almost positive you will be hearing a story from the Bear's perspective. Also, this story did not have very many descriptions. I would like to add descriptions and make it more detailed so people can paint a picture of what is happening and what things look like.

Research:

·       Inuit Myth and Legend: Inuit people throughout the ages have employed oral traditions over time and have known their importance. They started by telling their stories through illustrations and carvings. They have also used songs and dances to better convey the meanings of theses legends and myths. The early tales, as described above, were how the early Inuit’s preserved their history (Houston). The article also said, that the old stories as I described, were sometimes liked to Inuit shamanism. Shamanism is a religious or mystical expert who functioned as a mystical expert, healer, prophecy and custodian of cultural tradition (Smith). Being the native American unit, it makes sense. Most native American’s had tribes and each person had their own role, so it would make sense that there would be a designated person in charge of keeping the cultural going and to keep passing these stories told. Most Inuit myths and legends are about the creation, heavens, birth, love, hunting and sharing food, respect for elders, polygamy, murder, infanticide, incest, death and afterlife. According the article, many Inuit myths have complex meaning that can only be understood by those living in that culture. This article was really neat.

Bibliography:

Rasmussen, Knud. Eskimo Folk-Tales. Eskimo Folktale Unit. The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son. 1921.

Houston, James. Inuit Myth and Legend. The Canadian Encyclopedia. 

Smith, Derek G. Shaman. The Canadian Encyclopedia.

Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales Reading B: The Wife Who Lied

Picture from the story: The Wife Who Lied

Story: Navara, was a woman that came from a tribe of man-eater, but when she grew of age, she was taken by of the tribes that did not eat men to be married. One time, Navara was going to visit her own people. She decided that she would put her mittens of her feet to make her look as though she was not properly cared for by her husband's people. Navara's people felt greatly for her and they agreed to make war against her husband's tribe. They set out to Navara's husbands village and when they arrived, all the men were out hunting, with only the women home. They slaughtered all of the women except three, who escaped through hiding from them.  When all the men came home from hunting, they found all the women dead and stuck on pole with points in them, except for the three that survived. They knew immediately who had done it, since Navara had left previously. The immediately fell into war and went to the other tribe's land. The three woman who had survived worked so furiously to help prepare for war, that their finger bones were exposed. When they finally set out to the enemy tribe, they hid themselves among the rocks, knowing the other tribe would be expecting the. Eventually, because of an old woman's dream, the enemy tribe knew that that Navara's husbands tribe was near, and they all met in a single house to counsel with the spirits. The tribe them surrounded them and took Navara and killed her.
My Ideas: This story is very gory and gave a lot of details about the deaths. Why did Navara lie? Why did she decided to cause war between the two tribes? Did she not want to marry her husband? Was she unhappy? Did she just like her tribes ways better? I feel like there is very little detail about the background information of this story. To retell this, I would fill in the blanks, such as the questions I asked about. Also, I think instead of putting this in all knowing form, it would be good to hear for either one of the survivors of the attack or Navara herself. This would make the story more personal and give us some details about the characters.

Bibliography: Rasmussen, Knud. Eskimo Folk-Tales. Eskimo Folktale Unit. The Wife Who Lied. 1921.

Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales Reading A: The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son

Story: This story is about an old woman who lives near a shore. She had always longed for a son and one day, she finally got her wish. Well, sort of. The old woman lived in a town, with others, but she lived closest to the shore. Being an old woman, others in the town would always bring her meat and blubber to eat. Occasionally, when the townspeople would hunt. they would kill a bear to eat. One day, they killed a bear that had a cub. Knowing the old woman was lonely, they took the bear cub to her. The old woman began to care for the little cub as if it was her own child. The bear began to grow and as it did, the woman would talk to it in human speech and overtime the bear grew the mind of a human being. The children of the town would sometimes come to the old woman's house and want the little bear to play with them, and of course he did. Before he left, the old woman would always remind him to sheath his claws, and so he did. As the bear grew, he outgrew the children he was playing with and soon he began to play with adults, but as soon as he grew more, it was no time before he was even too strong for the adults to play with. The adults, knowing how strong he was, decided to start taking him hunting, as he would be an asset. Eventually, northern people heard of this bear and one time when he was out hunting with the humans, he almost got killed, but they managed to save him. The townspeople told the old woman that she needed to make some type of marker for the bear. so that other people would know him. The old woman made his a collar of plaited sinews to wear as a marker. After that, the bear continued to hunt and be the best hunter there was, and people of other villages would always let him go when they saw his collar. A group of people for a town called Angmagssalik heard of that bear that was not caught and they said that if they saw it, they would kill it. The bear had always leaned from the old woman, not to harm a human and treat them as kin. One time during a storm, the bear was away hunting, he did not return until evening and when he did, he nudged at the foster mothers hand as usual to tell her he was hungry. When the foster mother went outside, she saw the body of a man whom she did not know.  She then began calling to the townspeople. After this, the foster mother realized that the bear better not stay with her, as it was not safe. She regretted this, as he was the son she never had. On the morning the bear was set to leave as she hugged him, she rubbed oil and soot on his side without him knowing. That was the end of the story, but it did said, that people to north saw a large bear with a black mark on it's side.

Polar Bear:  Wikipedia

My Ideas: I really liked this story, but it was really sad at the end. I understand why the bear had to leave, but why could the old lady not have just gone with him and let him protect her as she had? I would like to change the ending and let the bear stay with the old lady. Maybe the could move together and take care of one another. They could even go visit the people of the other villages and explain the situation. I also think it would be cool to make the bear talk and put this story in his perspective. It would definitely be a unique. The old lady was the mother to him, as he was the son to her, their bond to each other is so loving, but I want to what the bear thinks. How does he feel about the people since they killed his mother? What about his natural instinct? Was it not there since he grew up with humans? Why did he not run off? I am almost positive you will be hearing a story from the bear's perspective.
Bibliography: Rasmussen, Knud. Eskimo Folk-Tales. Eskimo Folktale Unit. The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son. 1921.

Week 9 Storytelling: The Jealous Wife

Once upon a time, there was a man who had two wives. The elder wife, Sarah, and the younger wife, Samantha, each had a son. One day, the husband decided that he would go into the Bush to trade for approximately six long months. Before his journey, each wife worked diligently to make their husband food for his long journey. The husband's one request was that the family remain a family, even in his absence, but most importantly that neither or his sons were harmed. When the day came that the husband was to leave, he felt a great worry that in his absence, his family would not be safe. He let this feeling pass as his wives reassured him that everything would be fine. 

The husband killing his elder wife in the
original story:  Hathi Trust

The six months passed very slow for the little family, as they awaited their loved one to return. As each day passed, Sarah began to worry about the state of the younger wife. You see, Samantha had always been jealous of the elder wife, because she always got more attention than her. When their sons were born, they took even more attention away from Samantha and she became extremely jealous.

When it was nearing the end of the six months, the family anxiously awaited the return of their husband. Samantha, feeling extremely jealous that when her husband did return the he would not have missed her most, devised a plan to rid herself of the other family members. She decided that she would kidnap them and keep them hidden from her husband. She then would tell the husband that while he was away a group of bandits came and took them, leaving her alone.

 Samantha said to Sarah and the children, “Any day now, our husband shall return and we have no meat for him to eat, why don’t we go down to the river and catch some fish to celebrate his return?”

Sarah replied, “Marvelous! He will love the pleasant surprise.”

Away the went to the river to catch some fish or little did they know, where Samantha would hide them away. There was a small cave, that only Samantha knew about and that is where she decided to hide the family. While they were fishing, Samantha saw pointed out the cave and said, “Look, there appears to be a cave over there, why don’t we go and led the children explore?”

The children replied, “Please! Please! Let’s go explore.”

Sarah, knowing that the children were tired of fishing she replied, “ That sounds like a great idea.”

Away they went to the cave, never to be seen or heard from again. Samantha returned home with a bundle of fish and found her waiting husband.

The husband said, “My dear, you look lovely, where is everyone else?”

Samantha, forcing tears replied, “Shortly after you left, a group of bandits came and took them, leaving me injured. I have not seen or heard from them since.” Samantha had pulled off a very good lie and the husband did not suspect a thing.

The husband responded, “I must search from them.”

The next morning, the husband left to go back into the bush on a search for his family. Samantha was left alone, with no one to comfort her and feeling sorry for herself and feeling bad for what she had done. She then went back to the cave to retrieve the family, but all that was left of them was bones.

Author’s Note: In the original story, I kept the characters and the plot the same. I decided to change what happens to the family though. In the original story, the elder wife is jealous of the younger wife’s son because he is better looking and more intelligent than her own son. She then decides that one night, she will kill the younger wife’s son, while she is out fishing. The night she went to kill the boy, she went to where they usually sleep and using a sharp knife, killed him. The other child went screaming to the neighbors for refuge. The next morning, meaning to spare the younger wife from finding her son dead, the elder wife went to clean the mess. That is when she discovered that she had killed her own son. She took his lifeless body and ran into the woods. When the husband returned he had asked the younger wife what happened, but the only witness was the other son and the husband did not want to believe a child, so he gathered a friend and went back into the bush in search of his wife. When he found her along with his son’s body, he killed her out of rage. I decided to change the way things progress in the story. Instead of making the elder wife jealous, I made the younger wife jealous. Also, instead of outright killing a child, I made the younger wife decide to hide the whole family out of jealousy, so she could have all the husband’s attention. I also thought it would be good punishment to make the husband want to immediately go out of search for his long-lost family, leaving the younger wife alone again. For further punishment, I also made her be regretful of her decision and go back to the cave and the family to have been devoured by something, that way, not only did she feel bad for herself, but also what she had done to the family.

Bibliography:  

Dennet, Richard E.  Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. Congo Unit: The Jealous Wife. 1898.

Reading Notes: Part B-Congo Unit: The Fetish Sunga

• Story: this story is about a clever fisherman named Basa. Each day, Basa would go out and fish on the river, where he always caught a large amount of fish. Even though Basa always caught a great amount of fish, he always kept it secret and would never tell anyone he caught fish. He hide the fish in his house so that no one would find and prove that he caught any. Everyday when he returned from fishing, his family would ask him if he caught any fish, and each day he continued to lie. During this time, a fetish Sunga watched Basa, and everyday she saw him lie and was saddened by this dishonesty. The fetish Sunga decided one day that she would sent one of her servants to go to the place where Basa fished. The day that the Sunga sent her servant, was a really good day for Basa, he caught many fish. While hiding some of his fish in a fork of a tree, Basa heard a child calling for him to come to their mother, this just so happened to be a trap by the fetish Sunga. Basa followed the voice until he came upon a dried up river and he followed the voice to a watershed. At the watershed, he saw a beautiful town, with people that greeted him kindly, at first he was taken aback and a little alarmed so he was reluctant to celebrate with them. Sunga laid a table before him and at this point, he could not resist and he drank all the wine there was. For his dishonesty, the Sunga then deprived him of his speech.

• My ideas: I would change this story so that Basa would not lose his speech. I thought this was a harsh punishment for a sin that most people comment on a daily basis. Also I think the story could use some background information. For example, we really do not know why Basa lies to everyone about the fish he caught, so maybe I could make up a story and include that in the background information. Also, I think the story would be more interesting in the fetish Sunga's perspective. This would give us information on why she watching Basa, what made her choose Basa, and what made her choose his punishment.

• Bibliography: 
• Dennet, Richard E.  Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. Congo Unit: The Fetish Sunga. 1898.

Fishing: Sketch by Dennet

Reading Notes: Part A-Congo Unit: The Jealous Wife

Congo Unit: The Jealous Wife

• Summary: In this story, a husband has two wives and two children, one from each wife. The husband decides to go into the Bush to trade for six months. Before leaving, the husband had one request, that neither of his children were hurt and that they were cared for properly. The two wives and two children got along well, and when it was about time for the husband to return, the two wives decided to go fish for him so they could make him a proper meal when he returned. Remembering what he said, they knew they could not leave the children alone, so first, the elder wife went to fish while the younger wife stayed and watched the children. After the elder wife returned, it was the younger wife's turn to fish. While the elder wife was watching the children, she became very jealous, as the younger wife's child was better looking and more intelligent, so she decided to murder the child. SHe sharpened a razor blade and intended to kill it that night. That night she went to the place where the children slept and killed the younger wife's child, while her own went running to the neighbors home for refuge. The next morning, when the mother went to admire her handy work, she discovered that she had accidently killed her own child, so distraught, she ran into the bush with her child lifeless body. When the husband returned home, he missed his elder wife, and since the only proof of her wrong doing came from a child, he did not believe it. The husband and his friend went into the woods in search for his wife. When they found her, they saw the child's lifeless body and killed the wife, using casca, out of rage.
• My idea: This story was very gruesome and intense, unlike the typically stories I read. For this story, my idea to change it is to make the younger wife jealous of the attention everyone else gets. So my idea is to make the younger wife kill or send away the entire family. I know it is extremely gruesome, but I more than likely will use the send-away scenario or maybe even have her take them prisoner, so that way it is more humane than killing the entire family. From previous stories I have read this semester, I want to bring in a story within the story and maybe even fool the husband for a while. Maybe the younger wife can tell the husband an elaborate story about how something killed them all or maybe even how some bandits kidnapped the entire family. Anyway, I want to keep the ending to be sad(ish) so maybe the younger wife will end up dying and the family will end up rescued.

Photo where casca is being used to kill someone: Hathi Trust

• Bibliography: 
• Dennet, Richard E.  Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. Congo Unit: The Jealous Wife. 1898.

Learning Challenge: Happiness Jar

My plan is each day to write down something that made me happy each day for at least a week and place it is a "Happiness Jar." I think this would be a really cool project to continue. Maybe I could write down something each day and at the end of each week reflect on the things that made me happy that week. I think this project could even be a year long. That way not only in hard times, but each day I would have something that would remind me of the happiness I have in my life. I chose this image as inspiration to make a jar for each year. This jar is specifically for memories, but I think I could expand it to happiness.

Happiness Jar: PageHardware

Growth Mindset with a Future Elementary Teacher

I decided to have a conversation about growth mindset with one of my roommates. She is an elementary education major, so I thought that we would have a good conversation about it because she was more than likely familiar with it. I started out by telling her my experience with growth mindset and how I had never heard of it or researched it until this class. My roommate, being very passionate about education went on to explain the things that she had learned about it and then she told me how she plans to implement it in her classroom. I also chose my roommate, because she is from a different state and a much larger city. I knew this would have an impact on her feelings and experiences with growth mindset. She also told me that she had experience with growth mindset in high school where I had never. Overall, we had a very informative conversation and it was cool getting to see her experiences and what she plans to do with growth mindset in her own classroom.

Cute Bulldog Growth Mindset Meme: Growth Mindset Resources

Tech Tip: Blogger Template

Wow! There are so many cool features on blogger. I am not very tech savvy, so when it comes to exploring with designs, I typically just keep it very basic. I really enjoyed just taking some time to look over my blog and really customize it to fit my personality and style. While there are somethings I am not sure I will be keeping long (i.e. the font), I really do like the changes I made to my blog.

Week 8 Progress

(Daily Motivation: Pinterest)

I am very happy with my progress so far. I like how we are able to get ahead in this class. I know that if I would not have utilized this feature earlier in the semester, I would not be happy with my progress. Over the last few weeks, with midterms in full swing, I have definitely slacked on the extra credit assignments. I plan to try and get ahead throughout this week and over the weekend, as I have a very busy next few weeks. I definitely need to try and stick with my original schedule of getting everything done early in the week, because as the week goes on I find myself procrastinating more and more. The out of my schedule thing started when testing started, as my big exams are typically on Wednesday, so I just focus on studying on those days. On the weeks I have tests, I typically try and do Tuesday and Wednesday's assignment on Sunday, but this does not always go as planned. My favorite assignment each week is the readings. I really enjoy getting to read all kinds of different stories and make connections to what they may resemble in today's time. For the rest of the semester I really need to stick to my schedule and be sure I am doing at least a couple of extra credit assignments each week. I also need to make sure that I am not putting anything off to the end of the week. This causes me to rush, therefore my best work is not presented.

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

(Feedback Infographic: How to Craft Constructive Feedback Blog Post)

I feel like the feedback I get is always really helpful. I have not gotten that much constructive criticism though, and I would really like to get more. I am not a writer, so I know there are a lot of things I need to improve on. I feel like I could give more constructive criticism, I am just always afraid that I may be wrong or I might hurt someone's feelings. I also genuinely feel like all the stories I have read though have been really good, so honestly they do not need a lot of criticism. I really enjoy commenting on people's blog introductions. With this being an online course, I could easily go all semester without meeting or even knowing who is in my class, but I really like how I am forced to get out of my comfort zone and "meet" people, even if it is through their introductions. Also, I am a huge animal person, so I love reading blogs and getting to see everyone's pets. Going ahead, I feel like I could spend more time while commenting. Instead of just trying to get an assignment done, maybe I could look at it from another perspective and treat it as I am getting to know someone and trying to make personal connections. This feedback infographic was by far my favorite. I really like how it gives you a step-by-step on how to give good feedback. I have personally used this in a blog post about feedback before and I know it is a good reference and I should utilize it more when giving feedback.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

So far, I have really enjoyed this class. I like being able to explore different cultures and compare how they tell stories. If it was not for this class I can honestly say I would not have read half of the stories I already have. My favorite part is being allowed to choose whatever story I want within the unit. To me, I would rather get to chose what I am reading based on what sounds interesting rather than being assigned something that I am not interested. I also enjoy the freedom. The due dates keep me on track, but I like being allowed to work ahead. At first I found the storytelling to be hard, just because I am not that creative, however, over the last few weeks, I have found it easier and easier to retell and make my own version of a story. My reading note strategies have also changed. The first week, I really did take notes like I was going to be tested. This really helped me to know the whole story without re-reading it, but I really had to think about what I wanted to change, so I would have to go back and re-read the story again, to try and remember my ideas. Over the last few weeks, I have created a summary as well as a "my ideas" section in my reading notes. This really helps me to be able to reflect on the idea I had while reading the story, so that way, I am prepared going into writing my story. The image I chose, was from my week 3 storytelling. That was the first story I wrote, and honestly it was one of my favorite stories to read. I am not that into Greek Mythology, but I can definitely say the Cupid and Psyche unit was my favorite so far. This image was used in my storytelling assignment. It is a picture of Psyche at the shrines of Juno and Ceres. Looking forward, I feel like I need to branch out more on my storytelling assignments. I also need to take more time when reviewing my stories and try to catch more errors. I also think that I have been slacking a little on dates. I feel like if I would more time to edit and reflect, my stories would be better. Overall, I feel like this class is going well.

(Psyche at the Shrines of Juno and Ceres: Photo by Burne-Jones)

Week 7 Story Planning: The Panther

The Panther:

• Characters: The mother, the son, two daughters, the panther, needle-vendor, scorpion-catcher, egg-seller, dealer in turtles, man who sold wooden clubs

  

  The Panther: WebSource

• Summary: This story was very much like little red riding hood. In this story, a mother and a son went to visit their grandmother, upon their journey in the woods they came across a panther. The panther would not leave them alone and eventually convinced the mother to rest  a while, upon resting, the panther convinced the mother to let him "brush" her hair. This led to him pulling out chunks of skin and eventually eating her and her son, placing the sons small bones in a basket the mother had with her. The panther then stole the mother's clothes. He decided to dress up like the mother and return to her home. When he returned he knocked on the door, but the daughters were questioning him about how he looked different. They first said, Our mothers eyes are not as large as yours, the panther replied that he had saw hens laying eggs at the grandmothers and he was pleased. Then they said that their mother did not have spots on her face. The panther replied that the grandmother had not spare bed so he had to sleep on peas. The girls then said our mothers feet are not that big. Frustrated at this point, the panther said it was from walking for so long. He had an explanation for everything and eventually the two daughters decided it had to be their mother. As soon as they opened the door, they knew it was not so. Later on, they saw the panther eating and asked if they could have some. You see, the panther had saved the little brothers bones for later and that is what he was eating. He gave the daughters a small finger and they immediately knew what had happened. They escaped the house and climbed a tree. They lured the panther out by saying they were watching a neighbors wedding. The panther said he could not climb, so they decided to throw him a basket. When the panther was in the basket on the way up, the girls started rocking the basket and hitting the tree. This caused the panther to fall out and this revelaed his true identity. He then ran away. The girls were terrified and knew he would be back to eat them. They did not climb down from the tree until morning. The next morning, the sat on their door step sobbing, when a needle-vendor passed by. When he saw the distraught girls, he asked them why they were sad. When they told him, he gave them needles to place in the cushions of the arms chair. Next a scorpion-vendor can by and after hearing what had happened he gave them a scorpion and told them to place it next to the torch. Next an egg-seller came along and after hearing their story gave them an egg and told them to put it in the ashes. Next came long a turtle-dealer and when hearing their story he gave them a turtle and told them to place it in a water bucket. Next came a man who sold wooden clubs, when hearing their story he gave them clubs and told them to hang them over the door to the street. When the wolf returned he first sat in the needles, which poked him, when he ran to grab a torch the scorpion stung his, when he looked down into the fire the egg exploded blinding him, he then ran to the trough where the turtle bit him, and when he ran out the door the clubs fell on his head and killed him.
   
• My idea: For this story, I want to retell it in the panthers perspective. I want to know what made him choose the mother and her son. Were they the first humans he came across? Why did he decide to go to the house? Was he starving and in need of a lot of food or was he just pure evil. I also may change the story ending. Maybe make the panther learn his lesson and make him friends with the daughters. But could they ever trust him? Could the panther ever go against his instincts? Why could he not just eat animals? I am not sure which way I would go with, but we will see
• Research: 
• The Panther: As in most stories, animals have a meaning, so to begin my research I started by looking up the meaning of panther in Chinese culture. I found this quite ironic, in Chinese culture, the panther typically represents taming of cruelty. In this story, the panther was anything but tame. He devoured a mother and a son, and then tormented the daughters. Knowing this information, I could retell the story and maybe make this the story where the panther earns his representation. Maybe in the story, the family's love for one another could have been so prevailing that the panther decided to swear off eating humans, causing this to be taming of cruelty.
• Chinese Folklore: From researching chinese folklore, I learned that most folklore is relating to human nature, love, historical events, the supernatural and stories explaining natural phenomenon. This makes perfect sense. All the stories I read this week from the chinese fairy tales unit involved these things. I believe that this unit did a really good job of portraying all the variety of story types that can be told.
• Bibliography: 
• Wilhem, R. Chinese Fairy Tales Unit: The Chinese Fairy Book: The Panther. 1921.
• “Animal symbolism in Chinese art 兽 shòu.” Symbolism of Animals in Chinese Art.
• “Chinese folklore.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 4 Oct. 2017.

Week 7: Chinese Fairy Tales Unit Reading B:

How the River God’s Wedding Was Broken Off

• Story: In this story, witches and sorcerers of a certain area told all of the residents that the river-god looked for a bride each year, and if he did not find one, the river-god would bring wind and rain in improper season, causing famine and failure of crops. Then, when a girl came of age in a wealthy family, the witches and sorcerers would tell the family the girl has been chosen, but the family would offer to pay large sums of money for their daughter to be spared and eventually they would find a family who could not pay and they would have to sacrifice their daughter. See the bride of the river-god was a sacrifice, but more importantly, it was just a scam that the witches and sorcerers told to make money. Si-men, the ruler in charge at the time, caught wind of this and he decided that he would check out the next wedding of the river god. Upon his arrival he insisted on arriving before the bride to let the river god know she was coming, the witches and sorcerers said no and he cast them one by one into the river, until they begged for mercy, that was the end of the marriage of the river god.

• My idea:  I would change this by putting it into the "bride's perspective". This would make the narrator not know everything, so when seeing what the leader does, how would the townspeople feel? Was this really a scam? Would the ruler help them if it was true? Would there maybe be a secret love connection between the king and the "bride"? Is that why he decided to check out the rumor? I think making a love connection would be an interesting twist to the story. Also, what if the curse was real and the ruler was the narrator but did not want people to make him out to be the bad guy if the curse was true? There are a lot of options for this story.  

• 

  River Landscape: Web Source

• Bibliography: Wilhem, R. Chinese Fairy Tales Unit: The Chinese Fairy Book: How the River God's Wedding Was Broken Off. 1921.

Week 7: Chinese Fairy Tales Unit Reading A: The Panther

The Panther:

• Characters: The mother, the son, two daughters, the panther, needle-vendor, scorpion-catcher, egg-seller, dealer in turtles, man who sold wooden clubs

  

  The Panther: WebSource

• Summary: This story was very much like little red riding hood. In this story, a mother and a son went to visit their grandmother, upon their journey in the woods they came across a panther. The panther would not leave them alone and eventually convinced the mother to let him "brush" her hair, this led to him pulling out chunks of skill and eventually eating her and her son. The panther then stole the mother's clothes. He decided to dress up like the mother and return to her home, hoping to find more food. When he returned he knocked on the door, but the daughters were questioning him about how he looked different. He had an explanation for everything and eventually the two daughters decided it had to be their mother. As soon as they opened the door, they knew it was not so. Later on, they saw the panther eating and asked if they could have some. You see, the panther had saved the little brothers bones for later and that is what he was eating. He gave the daughters a small finger and they immediately knew what had happened. They escaped the house and climbed a tree. They lured the panther into a basket and revealed his true identity and he ran away. The girls were terrified and knew he would be back to eat them. The next morning a needle-vendor was passing by when he saw the distraught girls. He asked them why and when they told him, he gave them needles to place in the cushions of the arms chair. Next a scorpion-vendor can by and after hearing what had happened he gave them a scorpion and told them to place it next to the torch. Next an egg-seller came along and after hearing their story gave them an egg and told them to put it in the ashes. Next came long a turtle-dealer and when hearing their story he gave them a turtle and told them to place it in a water bucket. Next came a man who sold wooden clubs, when hearing their story he gave them clubs and told them to hang them over the door to the street. When the wolf returned he first sat in the needles, which poked him, when he ran to grab a torch the scorpion stung his, when he looked down into the fire the egg exploded blinding him, he then ran to the trough where the turtle bit him, and when he ran out the door the clubs fell on his head and killed him. 
• My idea: For this story, I want to retell it in the panthers perspective. I want to know what made him choose the mother and her son. Were they the first humans he came across? Why did he decide to go to the house? Was he starving and in need of a lot of food or was he just pure evil. I also may change the story ending. Maybe make the panther learn his lesson and make him friends with the daughters. But could they ever trust him? Could the panther ever go against his instincts? Why could he not just eat animals? I am not sure which way I would go with, but we will see.
• Bibliography: Wilhem, R. Chinese Fairy Tales Unit: The Chinese Fairy Book: The Panther. 1921.

Famous Last Words: Week 6 Another Busy Week

Wow. This was a long week. I had two test and a quiz this week on top of a lot of homework, it may not seem stressful, but it was. This week I read the Tales of a Parrot Unit, honestly I was really excited for it. The stories were all really good and they were different from the previous ones I have read. I feel like a good majority of the units I read are just a lot of different stories, where this unit was a primary story with a lot of secondary stories. I highly recommend this unit. With each week the writings get easier for me. I think a lot of it has to do with getting more comfortable. This week my goal is to try to retell stories differently than I have before, I think this will really challenge me and make me more comfortable telling a wider variety of stories. So far, I have really enjoyed getting to read everyone's stories. They are all so good. I really enjoy getting to see all the different ways and styles of retelling stories. A lot of them are really creative and it amazes me. My other classes are going well. It has been really busy,  however, I am managing. I have recently applied to volunteer at a hospital and I start soon, so I am really looking forward to this. I am worried however about time, as I have been so busy. I know when I get into a routine it will not be bad. Next week, I have a quiz so I will be pretty busy at the beginning of the week trying to get things done, but overall it should not be a bad week. I also have to write a lab report, which I am not looking forward to. On the bright side, I get to go home this week and OU-Texas is coming up quick, so I will have a small break.

Funny Meme about being busy: Meme Center

Tech Tip: Announcements Email

The daily announcements are very helpful and good way to keep on track. I typically try to look at them everyday, but if I am having a really busy week at least every couple of days. I really enjoy being able to have something to look at the just reiterate everything that is due for the day and upcoming. I also like the other information that is included, they are educational, yet entertaining and I really enjoy them.

Week 6 Storytelling: The Parrot's Final Story

The Parrot's Final Story

Story: After many nights of being kept from seeing her lover, Khojisteh, dressed in her most beautiful clothes and jewels, intending for this to be the night she would finally go meet her lover. You see for some time now, as Khojisteh would go to leave, she would always ask her husbands parrot for permission. This night was different, however, Khojisteh was feeling unusually confident and strolled right past the parrot to go and meet her lover at last. The parrot was relieved that he did not have to tell another story. It had not even been an hour since Khojisteh had left, when Miemun, the parrot's master and Khojisteh’s husband, returned from his long journey. The parrot had warned Khojisteh of just this happening in his stories but she just did not listen.

The Parrot telling stories to Khojisteh: Web Source

Miemun now settled in came up to the parrot and said, “Loyal servant, where is my beloved wife?” You see since the beginning of their relationship, Miemun and Khojisteh had been inseparable and only had eye for each other. Miemun left on a journey, and Khojisteh was so distraught by his leaving, that she found comfort in the arms of another. The parrot, loyal to his master, yet so used to telling stories replied, “Have I ever told you the story of when A King Fell in Love?” Intrigued by the parrot’s story, Miemun replied, “No, tell me of this story.”

The parrot began, “One upon a time there was a young, handsome bachelor, who just so happened to be a King. One day, he laid eyes on the daughter of the emperor of room and he fell instantly in love with her. The two had reciprocal feeling and were eventually married. The couple was practically inseparable, day and night. However, with as much love as the couple had, it turns out the wife was keeping a secret. Since childhood, she had a secret lover whom was the love of her life. The queen had thought he had died in a battle years ago, but it turns out he was being held captive by her husband. As soon as she found out this news she was overcome by pure joy and ran to her lover. She gave him her affection in all ways possible. Unfortunately, a guard spied the couple and went straight to the King, he sentenced him to death. The queen was distraught and eventually in the presence of God and the King was forgiven of her adultery. The King loved his wife so much that he forgave her.”

From the story, Miemun got the hint and said, “Tell me parrot has my wife gone to a lover.” The parrot replied sorrowfully, “Yes good sir. Night after night I have delayed her departure, however, tonight she decided to ignore me and leave.” Miemun was distraught and his heart was broken. Looking for comfort Miemun asked where the Sharuk was, to see if she too had bore witness to these stories, when the parrot informed him of his wife’s doings, he became enraged. When Khojisteh finally returned he confronted her and found out the truth, but when he learned her actions where done for comfort, Miemun became sorrowful that he left. After confirming that she had only gone to her lover once, Miemun forgave her. From that day on, Miemun, Khojisteh, and the parrot lived happily ever after.
Author's Notes: In the original story, this is the final of the parrot’s tales. I really tried to keep the storyline the same, because this was my favorite of the Parrot Tales Unit. In the story, the parrot tells Khojisteh the story of a king falling in love and yet again manages to keep her from going to her lover. In the story the parrot tells her, a king falls in love with the emperor of room and wins her heart. In the story, the queen has a son by another man and the King does not know. Upon arriving at the castle, the queen begins feeling her sorrowful for her son is not there too. She then devises a plan to bring her son to the castle as a “jeweler”. The king agrees to this. One day, the queen was giving her son a motherly kiss on the forehead, when a guard oversaw this act, he told the king at once. The king was furious, thinking his wife brought her lover into the castle, and ordered her son to death. When the son told the executioner the truth he decided to hide him instead of killing him. The King notices how gloomy his wife is and asks her what is wrong, she finally tells him the truth. The King understand and summons the executioner to tell them where the body is and this is where he reveals the truth, that he did not kill him. They lived happily ever after. As soon as the parrot finished the story, Miemun returned from his long journey. Upon his arrival, he asked where the Sharuk was and the parrot told him everything that happened. He began with the murder of the Sharuk (the parrots companion) and how she was trying to have an affair. Miemun was so enraged that he killed his wife. I decided to change the story a lot. I started by making Khojisteh finally get to go meet her lover and Miemun return while she was away. I changed the story the parrot told, to kind of reveal the secret to Miemun and show him he could be forgiving to his wife as the King in the story was. In the original story, I did not like how Miemun killed his wife just because she killed the bird. I liked how this story overall was the parrot’s way of surviving.

Bibilography: Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi.The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot:A King Falls in Love and the End of Khojisteh. 1801. Web Source.