Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales, Part A

I love old fairy tales and one that stood out to me was Cap o' Rushes. I thought this was a cool story that had a Cinderella appeal to it. I would like to make it more appealing to readers in our generation though. I would like to make it more modern. So I will keep the father and his three daughter. Instead of him asking how much they love him he will ask them to do chores around the house to help with his busy schedule. One daughter did all of the chores, but her older sisters lied to their father and told him the youngest didn't do any of them. So he took her car away, so she was forced to walk to school. The star QB for football would see her everyday walking to school and think she was the most beautiful girl, but he could never find her. Then I would change how the father finds out that she was the daughter that would do all of the chores and she would be rewarded and find true love.

(Girl walking to school)

Bibliography: English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs; link to reading 

Reading Notes: Apache Tales, Part A

This section was very entertaining and one part stood out to me a lot and that was the killing of the monsters story. I think this could be a cool story to make my own as I can change the monsters that the man killed and how he kills them. One change I would love to make is instead of an elk, who I see as a peaceful creature, I would choose the monster to be a bear. The man can lure the monster in with food and then jump from a tree above to drive a spear into its back. Then the second monster I would like to make a wolf. This monster though, is more wise and does not give in to tricks as easily. So to kill this monsters the man and his companion devise a plan to slay the beast by using a decoy. I want to leave out the rest of the story and add a little sacrifice of the one of the men while killing the wolf monster. This would keep with my theme and show love conquers all.

(Bear and Wolf)

Bibliography: Apache Tales by Jicarilla; link to reading

Reading Notes: Marriage, Part B

This second part of this section was very good and one part that stood out to me was the Dog-Husband. I did not enjoy very much the second half of the story after they had left the girl behind but I enjoyed the first part and believe I could do something with it. First, when the girl becomes pregnant I would make the parents be angry at the dog, but afterwards the dog changes to his human form and shows the parents. The parents were still ashamed, but did not kill the dog. So the village stayed with the girl, but became increasingly angry at the situation. After the birth of the children the villagers would revolt against their house and ask for the dogs life or all would die. I want to show the sacrifice of the dog for his wife and his children. And have a deeper meaning about the love that is shared between a family and that the man of the house would give his life to protect them.

(Woman and her dog)

Bibliography: Native American Marriage Tales, Part B; link to reading

Reading Notes: Marriage The Fox Woman, Part A

These stories are a very beautiful example of the love between a man and a woman. One story really stood out to me. I feel like there are a lot of different angles that I can take this story. One change that I would love to make would be initially I would like to add a fight between the man and woman and that is why the man left. When he comes back he expects the woman to be gone and she is. He would carry on with his normal daily activity, and his house would begin to be a mess. One day he would come back and find his house is in perfect order. Then he would find the wife. She came back because she had missed her husband and had used the skin of a mouse and had hid within the walls of the house to surprise him.

(mouse)

Bibliography: Native American Marriage Tales; link to reading

Storytelling: The Giant Elk

There once was a small village so deep in the woods that no one could find it. In this village lived a peaceful tribe who lit the night sky with fire and who sang beautiful songs of adventures and love. This village lived peacefully for hundreds of years before tragedy struck. From the forests far to the west lived an elk. This was no ordinary elk. It was giant and ferocious, feeding on all who had joy in the world. The elk had been traveling and had come upon this village only by accident. It heard the songs of the villagers with the drums beating to steps of dancers. The elk charged in and took the village by surprise, eating up all it could before heading away for its sleep. The village was in a panic. They had never faced anything of such evil before. The leader of the tribe, Sunyain, and his trustworthy friend Ugai knew that something had to be done to defeat such evil. So they followed the footprints of the elk up to a great field where they found the beast sleeping out in the open. The men hid behind some trees, not daring to get close to the elk with fear that they might wake it. "How can we kill this beast when we cannot get close enough to strike it down," questioned Ugai? As if it was listening to their conversation a leopard appeared. "I can help you my friends.

(leopard)

You see I am very quick and if you get on my back I can run to it so that you may strike it down before it hears us. That elk killled my cubs and I will do whatever it takes to help you," the leopard insisted to the men.

"It is very gutsy and we still have no weapons to strike the beast down," replied Sunyain.

"Maybe I can be of service," said a porcupine that had snuck up from behind them.

(Porcupine)

"My quills are very sharp and will serve as excellent weapons for you to strike down the creature." The group devised a plan and it was agreed upon. The two men plucked the giant quills from the porcupine's back and hopped onto the leopard. Zoom!!! They were off. They were heading full speed towards the elk with the quills aimed directly at the heart. When they were only feet away the leopard tripped and sent the men flying forward and their quills, missing the mark. The quills only injured the beast. The elk shot up with pain and sent out a bellow that could be heard throughout the entire forrest. The men, now terrified, took off running hoping that they could hide from it in the forest. The elk, after his bellowing, was now filled with anger. It charged the men and gained ground very quickly. The men had no hope of escaping. "The only chance our village has of surviving is if we kill this beast once and for all," said Ugai. With Sunyain agreeing, the two men took up their quill spears and prepared to charge the beast. Sunyain yelling out "charge" at the top of his lungs took off, but before he could get anywhere he felt a sharp pain in the back of his leg. He turned to see Ugai pulling the quill out of his leg. "I cannot let you die here. You are our leader. The people... they need you to survive, and let's face it, they don't really need me." Before Sunyain could say anything Ugai took off continuing to run at the beast. He ran past the point beyond the sight Sunyain and then as Sunyain was crying out all noise fell quiet. Sunyain stopped and listened, but heard nothing. "Ugai!!! Ugai!!" Sunyain called out, hoping to hear the voice of his dearest friend. But there was nothing. Sunyain hobbling as fast as he could came upon a sight he wished he had not seen. Before his eyes was the elk and Ugai both dead with an antler piercing Ugai through the heart and a quill piercing the head of the elk.

(Elk)

Years later, Sunyain still remembered his dearest friend Ugai. The story of his bravery had become a song that was sung every night in memory and thanks to the bravest of them all. The man who had sacrificed his life. 

Author's Note: The original story, an Apache story, tells of a single man, Jonayaiyin, who with the help of a clever lizard and gopher was able to take down an elk and an eagle that had been terrorizing their village. It tells of Jonayaiyin and his trek to where the elk and eagle both were, respectively. He is able to kill the beasts and return to his village a hero. This story has also has an influence from a God-like character who helps the village by sending a hero to kill the beasts. My story follows closely with the main idea, but I changed a few areas. I added a friend for the main character to accompany him and in the end sacrifice his life for him. I also changed the animals that provided help and used a different angle on how their plan played out. In the original it does not go into the future, but I wanted to show the impact that the friend made and his joyous celebration. 

Bibliography: Native American Hero Tales: The Killing of Monsters by Stith Thompson; link to reading

Reading Notes: Native American Hero Tales, Part B

This second half of the reading was very interesting, but what caught my attention the most was the story about the Red Woman. What interests me the most is the two boys. They have many different stories about when they disobeyed their father. I think this could be an interesting point to change within my story. I could make new storylines and also could tell a tale of one of them saving another from an evil they had found. There are many new angles that could be taken from this, but I have not thought about specifics. One thing in particular I do not like and will change is the mother rising out of the dead. I would like to show maybe a sacrifice the mother makes that ends in her death. This could be for the two children and it could be against red woman who in the original killed her before birth. In my story she would live and meet this woman after years.

(Indians gathered for a story)

Bibliography: Native American Hero Tales by Stith Thompson; link to reading

Reading Notes: Native American Hero Tales, Part A

I liked this section of heroes very much. One of my favorite parts of the story was Jonayaiyin. This hero stood out to me because I believe he made the most difference by killing the great Elk and great Eagle. I think this part of the story would fit great with my repeated idea of sacrifice. One way I would like to change this story would be to add a sidekick for him. Someone who helps him make decisions and is equally as brave. This could add a portion for the sacrifice. I would love to add the sidekick giving his life to save that of his hero. Another thing I think could be changed are the animals helping them get to the great Elk. The story tells about a lizard and gopher. I could make any other two animals that could provide assistance. I think these changes would improve and make the story original.

(elk)

Bibliography: Native American Hero Tales by Stith Thompson; link to reading

Week 8 Growth Mindset

This semester has been an amazing area of growth in my life. I think I am beginning to recognize that the end is near and I graduate in a little or a semester. Because of this I am having to grow in so many areas of my life. So many of the areas that I thought were weaknesses I am beginning to develop. Some of those are asking lots of questions, taking a long term view, and being ready for things to change. These are areas that I struggled with the most and let's face it, so many other college students do too. As I am coming to the end I have been working much harder on these areas because I know that they will help me find success and help me grow as a person when I am out on my own. This class has helped me to gain on these areas because it allows me to be creative in my writing, but also ask questions about what would make my work better. I am understanding that what I write might not be in its best form and that I have to be willing to change the work from the comments of others.

I am ready for the second half of this semester to continue to challenge myself. I know that it will be getting tougher as other classes begin to get into finals and stressful situations. So keeping ahead of this class and preparing the work earlier in the week will help me in so many different ways.

(Inspirational quote)

Week 8 Reflections

So far this class has been such an enjoyable time for me. I have loved reading old stories and getting to see the writing styles of so many amazing authors. During my readings I believe I have been doing a good job in "reading like a writer". One of my favorite readings so far has been the the Two Brothers story. I love the simplicity of the story, but that it also has an amazing theme. I have been able to find good time to read. I usually do so in the mornings in a quiet room so that, I can focus on the story and not be distracted.

I have loved the writings so far. I see how my writing style comes off of who I am as a person. One aspect that I hope to improve on is the flow of my stories. Usually when I re-read or get ideas from others it has to do with my flow and things that I can do to improve it. I hope to master the run-on sentences in my stories. These are my biggest problem and I know that I can improve a lot in this area.

When looking at the stories of others I love to see the overall themes that each person has. I feel like without even thinking about it we tend to fall into the same ideas over and over again because it is what we gravitate to. One thing that I have seen in a lot of stories that I hope to avoid is rushing through situations without having a lot of descriptions.

(reflections of a kitten)

Story: Wisdom's True Heart

Once there was a man named Father Carlotta. He possessed all of the wisdom within the world and people from all over the land would seek him out for wisdom and advice.
He was not easily angered, but there was a group of men who were able to anger him. They would come to him with questions and instead of taking his advice would decide what to do on their own. Father Carlotta saw this and felt as if his wisdom was being thrown away. Because of this he decided to no longer share his wisdom, but that he would hide it away from everyone. So he began to collect all of the wisdom that he had given away, plucking it from those who needed it most. This left people afraid and questioning every decision that they made. When Father Carlotta had succeeded in collecting all of this wisdom he sealed it in a jar and put that jar around his neck.

(Jars)

Now Father Carlotta had a daughter, Arya. Arya loved all the people of the land and they loved her back. She began to notice that the people were acting very strange and saw so many decisions that were not taken with wisdom. So she snuck into her father's room and saw the jar of wisdom around her father's neck. She did not know what to do. She could not confront him, so she began to follow him.He took the jar into the mountains and began to climb as high as he could. He began to struggle to climb when the ice had become too slick. Again and again he tried, but always he failed. Angered he did not know what to do.

Suddenly Arya jumped out from around the side. "Father, here, try this," and she showed him how to climb the ice. She showed him the metal shards she had stuck to her shoes that helped her stick to the ice and be able to climb. "And here I thought I had all the.."

The ice began to shift and collapsed below the feet of Arya. She began to fall into a chasm when her father, using the jar and the string around his neck, reached out to grab her.

(Chasm)

She grabbed the string just in time and was soon hanging over the edge. "Father, the string is about to break," Arya screamed out in terror. Father Carlotta had only an instant to decide. He could save the jar that held all of his wisdom and all the wisdom throughout the land or he could reach for his daughter saving her from certain doom. The string snapped and the father, reaching out, grabbed the sleeve of his daughter, throwing her to safety, in the blink of an eye, all while the jar containing the wisdom fell and fell to the bottom of the chasm. "Why, why did you save me? I thought nothing was more important to you than your wisdom." The father looked at the tears flowing down his daughter's eyes. "I made the wisest decision I could have ever made and I would make it again just to know that you are safe." Without the notice of the father or daughter the jar had reached the bottom and shattered. And with that shatter all the wisdom within the jar spread throughout the land giving to all who lived there wisdom.

(Icy Mountain)

Author's Note: The original story tells of a trickster-spider who had all the wisdom in the land. His role was to give wisdom to those who sought it out. Out of anger he collected all of his wisdom and devised a plan to hide it forever. A place where I made a change is in the original the wise man had gone into the woods and tried to climb a tree so he could hide the jar of wisdom in a place to where no one could every get it, whereas my story goes to the mountain where he tries to climb very high. In the original Anansi's son gave the father advice about an easier way to climb the tree. In my story I added a daughter instead of a son, but each proved to be wise without wisdom from the father when they showed their father a better way to do something. The original story Father Anansi became angry because his son made a wiser decision than he had and in his anger threw the jar of wisdom on the ground. The jar broke, spreading the wisdom all through the land.

Bibliography: West African Folktales: How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race by William Barker and Cecilia Sinclair; link to reading

Wikipedia Trails: From Storms to Ghost Sickness

So I am sitting here trying to figure out what to start with and there is a storm happening so I googled storm and that is how I began. From there I saw a particular kind of storm called a dustdevil. This is sort of like a tornado but much much weaker. From dustdevil I saw how it became named and that led me to the chindi which is a Navajo word. From there I was reading and I saw that the Navajo believed that anyone that came in contact with a chindi had ghost sickness. This sickness has weakness, loss of appetite, dizziness, nightmares, and terror attacks. It was interesting to see how just thinking of a simple storm has led me to see Navajo traditions and beliefs that a ghost interacted with a human causing a sickness to occur.

(Storm)

Bibliography:

Storm; link to reading

Dustdevil; link to reading

Chindi; link to reading

Ghost sickness; link to reading

Reading Notes: West African Folktales, Part B

This section of the story was very interesting, but one part I liked a lot was the leopard and the ram. It is about how the leopard and the ram became wild and domesticated respectively. There are a few things I would love to change to give this story a new idea. One thing I would like to change is the ending part of the story. So after the leopard finds out how the ram kills his prey he becomes very nervous around him. I would like to make that justified. So after the ram hears about the leopard finding out how he kills his prey, he decides he has to kill the leopard so no-one learns of his secret ways he hunts. One night the ram shows his pre-attack motion. The father leopard seeing this aimed at his son yells at him to run away as fast as he can and jumps in front of the attack. The father leopard would be killed, but his son would escape into the woods. So same basic idea just adding a little love and sacrifice in there to keep up the theme of my portfolio.

(Watchful leopard)

Bibliography: West African Folktales; The Leopard and The Ram by William Barker and Cecilia Sinclair; link to reading

Reading Notes: West African FolkTales Part A

I really enjoyed these stories and loved the variety and the applications that each one gives. Through reading these I am looking for ways in which love can takeover as the main theme. One part I particularly liked was the way in which humans received wisdom. This story shows the stubbornness of the person who contained all the wisdom of the world. His son though proves himself to be wise which angers the father. I would love to change this overall theme. I want the son to prove himself out of love for his father. And in a "passing of the torch" so to speak the father then gives the son wisdom because of his deeds and his love for him. In this his son decided to share that wisdom with everyone, that they may feel and help their loved ones.

(Father embraces son)

Bibliography: West African Folktales: How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race by William Barker and Cecilia Sinclair; link to reading

Wikipedia Trails: From Pumpkins to "The Battle of Magh Tuireadh"

I started with pumpkins because why not. It is fall time and I really want to carve a pumpkin. From there I went to jack-o-lanterns because that is what we call pumpkins after we carve them here in the US. From jack-o-lanterns I went to Samhain, which is a festival of harvest which was also called Halloween. And lastly from Samhain I went to "The Battle of Magh Tuireadh." It ended with this because Samhain is an Irish festival so when I went to that page it began talking about Irish mythology and about this book and the myth of this specific battle in ancient times. 

(Pumpkins)

Bibliography:

Pumpkins; link to reading
Jack-o-lanters; link to reading
Samhain; link to reading
"The Battle of Magh Tuireadh"; link to reading