Storytelling Week 7: The Freak Event

There were three friends that were always together and they even lived together. They were very different from each other appearance wise but their hearts were one. Piku the monkey, Filo the dog, and Chow the buffalo. The three of them realized how tired they were of the city life from the noise to the traffic to the feeling of being lonely while still being in a crowd. They had gotten tired of it all and just wanted a quiet life, so they decided to live in the forest. They decided to walk to the forest so that they would be able to find their way around the place.

It was a very beautiful forest from what they could tell. There was a lake whose water was crystal clear and a waterfall was running into it. Lots of animal were running around there just playing with each other and swimming around in the lake. The forest was filled with trees and little plants. Flowers and fruits were scattered in the trees and plants that made it look very beautiful. There was almost like a path that was leading up to this clearing in the middle of the forest that was not too far from the lake, so they would always have access to water.

Piku: "Let's stay here in this clearing."

Chow: "Yeah, I like that idea too. The water is not far away and there are lots of fruits and grass to eat here too."

Filo: "I am okay with that idea. We can build a house with the wood found here so that if it rains or something we can have shelter."

They all decided to split up and look for wood to build their home. They chose to meet up in one hour at the clearing with anything that they had gathered.

After some time they came back with the wood and vines so they could be held together. Between the three of them they managed to make a pretty decent place to stay. They had 3 separate rooms to sleep, a common room for them to relax in, and a kitchen area so they can eat their food there.

Piku: "I have come up with a system so that we can hunt for food and make sure that nothing happens to this place either."

Chow: "What is it?

Piku: "Two of us can hunt while one stays back to cook for all of us. We can all switch days to hunt and cook so everyone does it and not one person is stuck with something."

One day it was Chow and Filo's turn and the weather was just terrible that day. It was all cloudy that day and it had been thundering and threatening to pour all day. It looked like one of those where all you want to do is stay inside because you can just feel how horrible it is going to be.

Piku: "Guys, I do not think that you should go hunt today. I don't feel so good about it. Something seems off."

Filo: "Don't worry! Everything will be fine. We will be back before you even know it. Plus we need to hunt for more food."

Piku: "Don't worry about food. I have been saving our leftover fruits and stuff that we don't eat and storing them in a cool area. We will be fine for today and tomorrow if the weather does not get better by then."

Chow: "I think that Filo is right. We will be back soon. Plus if we get more food today then we can have fresh food. Don't worry about us."

The two of them left leaving Piku behind in the house to worry after them. Within the hour it had started pouring, it was so bad that it felt like the sky had just been ripped open for the water to come rushing out. Piku started to freak out for his friends, especially because he knew the lake floods the forest. The clearing was safe but the direction his friends had gone in was not. What would happen to them? Would be safe? Will they be alright? The tress had started to fall over every once in a while from the force. The weather was getting worse and Piku did not know what to do. His friends had been gone for a while and there was nothing that he could do but wait for them to show back up.

Lightening Storm                       

Author's Notes: I decided to end the story here instead of actually saying what happened to the friends because I wanted my readers to come up with their own ending. I feel like it would make things a lot more fun for everyone if they had their own ending and they could read about what everyone comes up with. I used the same characters from the original story along with the beginning but I completely changed it up after that. I did not know how to use the original story so I just made something new for this one. This image that I used sort of goes with the image I had in my head for the storm. The bad weather rolling in and then all of it breaking loose and coming apart. It just makes it look so intense just like I had pictured it in my head.

The Three Friends: the Monkey, the Dog, and the Carabao by Dean S. Fansler (1921)

Week 8 Growth Mindset

Sometimes I definitely like staying in my comfort zone and doing things that I know and am okay with doing. Other times I push myself to try new things even though it may be hard or something that I just do not feel comfortable doing. I am not story on this neither am I weak, I feel like I'm always floating through the middle on this subject. Just last week we went to this exotic animal zoo place and you had to keep the camel food in between your lips and the camel comes and takes it out of there. I was most definitely scared and uncomfortable with doing that but I decided to just bear through it and it was fun. I'm glad I tried something new. This is just an example of how this applies to my life and it doesn't always mean for fun, you can do this in your classes or even just taking a difficult course that you are interested in.

Fearless

                                       

Week 8 Reflections

I think I did a good job with the reading posts each week. I try to give myself a couple of different ideas or a different approach I could take for the story. This helps me when I actually sit down to write it all out on Wednesday because I have have different directions that I could take it in. I think that I definitely could read about the different heroes from the stories and write about them for week 9-10. For week 11-12 I could write about Beowulf since I have already read that book in my class before I would be able to understand it more. I could also read stories of Robin Hood since that also sounds fun to read about. I am looking forward to reading the stories from week 13-14 since they are about fairy tales. I love reading about them or watching their movies since they always make me forget about my stress and make me feel like a kid again. I like the way I wrote my stories since I gave them a do it yourself ending sort of thing. This way I get to hear about lots of different endings from all of the people that read them. It makes things a lot more fun for everyone.
       

Pinterest

                                                       

Reading Notes C: South African Folktales

South African Folktales

I could talk about the different ways the ants worked together or the plans they came up with separately. Maybe in the end it works out or them or not but I could expand on it and everyone could have their own ending.
                         

Anteater

                               

Reading Post B: Filipino

Filipino Tales
The man should not have messed with the three animals, dog, monkey, and buffalo. He did and paid the price for after the dog and the buffalo died. The monkey was being smart and in my story I could write about how the monkey beat the man with the three ways.  The beehive, boa, and the pit.

Boa 

                                     

Reading Post A: Nigeria

                                

Nigeria  Elphinstone Dayrell (1910)

I could talk about how lighting and thunder came to be and how because of lighting they are forced to stay away in the sky away from the people. This gives  an almost childlike sense and makes things easier to understand for everyone.

Lighting 

Storytelling: Arachne & Athena

Arachne was a great weaver and had woven beautiful tapestries. She was not of noble blood instead she came from a small family that people did not really know about. Arachne, however, was known throughout Lydia for her work. Nymphs would leave their stuff to come see her work or just do anything related to the subject. They were all mesmerized by her talent and she took pride in that.

Water Nymph: You have such a wonderful talent. You do your work so beautifully that it is easy to tell that you have been taught by the great Athena, goddess of weaving.

Arachne: How dare you even suggest that? No one has taught me anything. This talent of mine is self-taught. No one deserves credit for it, not even Athena.

Athena decided to give the girl a chance for offending her. Arachne was talented and it was easy to see that. Athena had heard a lot about her and even her refusal for being compared to Athena. Athena changed herself to look like an old lady. She had grey hair on her head, her skin was kind of sagging and she even had a stick to use as support when she walked. She looked like a very fragile, typical old lady.

Old Lady: You have great skill no doubt but listen to my advice. Get rid of your pride and thank Athena for blessing you with such talent. You can be great among the humans but admit that Athena is still better than you. Let go of your pride.

Arachne: You have turned old and senile. Tell your daughters and daughters-in-law to listen to your crazy talk. I am smart enough on my own. No one asked for your advice and I certainly do not want it. If Athena thinks she is so good let her come here and have a competition with me. Why is she afraid of me? Does she think she will lose? Guess she is not as great as she thinks she is.

Old Lady: That is enough!

She transformed herself into her normal goddess self.

Athena: I have heard enough from you. You are too prideful of your work. You no doubt have talent but how dare you compare yourself to me? You think I am afraid of you. Ha! Let's have this competition and everyone can see how much better I am than you.

Arachne: Finally! I thought you must have been too afraid to come here, but now that you are let us not waste any more time. Let me compete with you and show you that I have more talent.

The both of them did not waste any more time and sat in their corners. It was a huge room with comfortable chairs for them to sit on. There were lots of paintings and pictures scattered throughout the room for the guests to admire. The walls were painted a pale yellow and there was even a table with some flowers on it for decoration. There was also a huge window that let the sunlight in and kept the wind flowing in the room. They had unlimited supplies and time. They both started worked on their tapestry quickly and everyone around them was just mesmerized with their work. You could barely see their fingers move since they were so fast. The treads kept disappearing into the work and reappearing in their basket. Athena had the twelve gods featured on hers, along with their special characteristics. In the four corners she showed what happens to the fate of those that decide to challenge the gods and goddesses.

Arachne, on the other hand, had the crimes that the gods and goddesses had committed towards the humans. She showed how their actions ruined the lives of humans and yet they continued to do so.

Ovid's Metamorphoses  Book 5-7 by Tony Kline (2000)

Author's Note: This story is how the original story goes except that in the end Arachne tries to hang herself. Athena out of pity decides to turn her into a spider and she continues to weave webs forever. I just added more details in there about how this happened and even a couple of conversations between Athena and Arachne. I did not really change anything except that I left the end out of my story. Sometimes I think it is better to leave things to the imagination than to say everything about the story. I also wanted people to imagine their own endings and see what they could come up with for this situation. I chose this image because it accurately showed the scene and what happened in the competition. There were people that came to watch the competition surrounding the two competitors, leaving all of their work behind just to see what would happen between the two. They wanted to see how this would end between the human that was great at weaving and a goddess that know known for weaving.

Athena Wins

Storytelling Week 6: Kweku Tsin

      I do not even know how this happened. One minute we were just searching for food in the forest because of the food scarce and the next we were running from a dragon.

       I had just hunted a delicious looking deer for us to eat and was taking it over to my father. I knew he would be pleased and I knew was not wrong. It would have to do for now, the walk to our meeting place was only five to ten minutes away from where I had killed the deer.

      It was a very beautiful forest with huge trees everywhere. There was even a little pond for the animals to drink water from. Little rabbits and frogs were everywhere along with the birds looking for food. The sky was fairly clear with a few clouds scattered about and the sun shinning through them. It was not hot though because of the slight breeze that was rustling through the leaves in almost a playful way.

      I had finally reached my father and he looked so glad to see the kill that I had just made. At least now we would have something to eat even for one day.

Anansi (father): "I see that you have made a very nice kill today. Good job. We can finally eat something good, I was getting tired of eating rabbits."

Kweku Tsin (son): "I know father, that is why I made sure to find another animal today. Plus this should last us today since there are only two of us to eat it."

Anansi: "Did you hear that son?"

Kweku Tsin: "No father, what are you talking about? I only hear the wind and the chirping of the birds. It is such a beautiful day today, I just want to stay here and relax."

Anansi: "Maybe I am just being paranoid. It is probably nothing."  

A roar is heard throughout the forest. All the animals scatter away into the protection of their homes. The birds fly as far away as they can, the rabbits burrow in their holes, and the frogs leap underneath the barks on fallen trees.

Kweku Tsin: Okay you are definitely not wrong. I heard it that time and so did everyone else. We should run and hide somewhere so that whatever it is does not catch us. I may had hunted someone but I do not want to become someones else's meal today. What is that animal anyway?"

Anansi: "This area that a lot of animals so it would be hard to guess just from the roar of the animal. It could be a lion, tiger, or even a dragon. This area is known to have all of them. We should go somewhere else, I do not want to stay here and find out exactly what animal is making that noise."

Kweku Tsin: "You are right father. We should look for some shelter immediately. Lets leave this deer here so that whatever animal it is will find it first. This way it will stop here and eat it and hopefully not be hungry anymore and not look for us."

Anansi: "That is definitely the smart thing to do. Lets go and not waste another minute here."

They ran from there leaving the deer behind. The two of them could hear the roar getting louder and louder before it stopped. They knew that it had found the deer and stopped there. They only hoped that it would be fulfilled by that and leave them alone. They soon hear the roar again and could feel a strong breeze towards them. They saw the shadow for a huge dragon not too far from them and knew that they were wrong. It was not going to stop until it got to them.

Author's note: I decided to stop here and let everyone else imagine what happens to the father and son duo. Did the dragon get them? Did they manage to escape? Did someone come help them out? The original story did not go into this much depth about the beginning which I decided to lengthen. They were captured by the dragon in the original and a lot more things happened to them afterwards. I did not want to go into all of that and instead decide to give you all a imagine your own ending again. This image shows the dragon and some people getting away from him. Maybe this can be one of the endings you guys decide to choose for them.

West African Folktales  by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair

Dragon

Reading Post C: Nigeria

Nigeria Unit

I could write about how the rat and the bat were friends and how they always helped each other out. I could talk about how the bat was jealous of the rat and then ended up killing him.

Bush Rat 

Reading Notes B: West Africa

West African Folktales

I could write about how Kweku Tsin came up with his plan to distract the dragon. They way it executed and how they managed to finally escape. In he end it also explains how the sun, moon and the stars came to be so it would also explain that in my story. 

Majestic Sun

Reading Notes A: West Africa

West African Folktales

I could write about the spider and how he ended up fulfilling his three task with cleverness. I could expand on all three of them and write one big story or cut them up in three parts and have three stories instead.

 

Island Life 

Storytelling Week 5: Daedalus & Icarus

Father & Son Duo by Tony Kline (2000)

The room is dark, cold, and just gives off an eerie feeling. There is no light in the room other than the moonlight that is coming in from the window. Daedalus knew that there was no way to escape. He himself had designed this labyrinth so that no one could ever leave. He and his son were both stuck here forever just because of one mistake. It was not even his fault. How was he supposed to know that someone would be able to escape? Minos should have punished his daughter instead of the two of them. She was the one that helped Theseus get out of the labyrinth. He had nothing to do with and yet he was the one paying the price for it.

Icarus: Dad, this is just cruel. We did nothing and yet we are the ones paying for it. We need to find a way to leave this place. Ariadne should be the one to get punished.

Daedalus: I know son. I made this maze which is why he has trapped us in here. Minos needs to punish someone since his own daughter ran off with him.

Icarus: That is not fair. You need to think of a plan to escape. We cannot be in here forever like he has told us to do.

Daedalus: I have thought of a way, I just do not know if it will work or not. It is very dangerous and never been tried before.

Icarus: What is it? I am sure you can do it, you are the smartest man I know. You built this place yourself. I know your plan will work.

Daedalus: I am thinking about making wings out of feather and join them together with wax to create wings. That will help us fly away from here and go off to another island or some place far away from here.

Icarus: Dad this is outrageous! I have never heard anything like it. A man flying. Is this even possible?

Daedalus: I have thought it all and I know it can work. I am just going to start making the wings, this will take me a couple of days to make. We cannot talk about this in front of the guards or anyone. No one must know.

Icarus: Ok dad, I will never talk about this again. Not even with you so no one else can hear of it.

Daedalus started working during the same night. He used the wax from the candles to join the feathers together. He got the feathers from the birds that would fly close to the windows or rest there for some time. It took him three nights to build them since he could not work on them during the day The next day he gave them to his son and put the two of them put them on.

Daedalus: I need you to listen to me. This is very important. Do not fly too high or close to the son, the wax will start to melt and you will fall. Do not fly too close to the water or the waves in the sea, the feathers will get wet and then you will not be able to fly. Do not forget this.

Icarus: Yes dad, I will be very careful and remember this. Do not worry, we will we fine. I am confidant that this will work and we will finally be able to get out from here.

Author's Note: I decided to stop the story right as they were about to jump from the window and escape. This way the readers could image their own ending, whether it was their escape or if they died. Maybe they get caught by the guards before this could happen or if they are found later on. I think this was better than telling everyone what actually happened and spoil the ending. I used this picture to show Daedalus telling his son to be careful while putting on his wings. The other images gives away what happens and so I did not want to use that. Sometimes it is better to find your own ending than to break that image of the happily ever after that we always want to see. I have read this story before and so it was easy to write about. I did say exactly what happened from the source into my story except I added the conversation between the father and the son. In the original version all you hear about it how he told his son to be careful and they fly off. you do not get much about what happens before that other than the scene with Theseus. Here I added the frustrations that they could have had with their situation and how they came up with their escape plan. I also used more of a modern language instead of the olden style since people sometimes get bored of that.

Daedalus & Icarus

Reading Notes C:

Bengali Folk-Tales by Rev. Lal Behari Day (2014) 

I could write about what happened to the couple because of Sani. I could also write about the 7 queens and how they did nothing to help themselves, or write from the point of view of the son that survived. That could be interesting o write about too since we don't really know about how he actually grew up in the cave. 

The Seven Sons  (2014) 

Reading Notes B: Raja Rasalu

Raja Rasalu  by  Flora Annie Steel (2014) 

I could talk about how Rasalu felt being imprisoned for 11 years until he finally became free. I could also write about the journey of the first son and all he did in the well and after with the Guru.

Raja (2014) 

Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt A

Ancient Egypt (2014) 

I could write about how Ra was poisoned by his own venom from the snake Isis created. I do not know what direction I want to take it in yet. I could even write about this in the point of view of the snake. 

Isis(2014)

Reading Notes: Indian Fairy Tales

The Broken Pot by Joseph Jacobs

This would be a good story to write about. I could expand on the smaller parts that he talked about in the story. From the rice he went all the way to his kid and how he would kick his wife if he did not listen to him. He got what he deserved in the end by kicking the pot of rice as he was imagining kicking his wife. All he was doing thinking about the future rather than trying to make his present better by working hard.

Broken Pot (2014)

Feedback Focus

I feel like I read faster when I read in my head but I also noticed that I do tend to miss some details that way. Reading out loud forces you to focus on every detail while reading in your head does not. I think the copy and delete method is alright. I like the reading out loud one better. While this does make you take notes on the things and makes you remember things that you might have later forgotten but I prefer the reading out loud out of the two methods. The story about the car was really interesting. I have not read one like that before so it was really refreshing. I felt like it was easier to focus on the stories and remember more of the details. 

Focus  by Jenny Dempsey (2014)

Storytelling Week 4: Kaiyei's Plan

The room was all dark other than the glow in the dark stars on the wall, and a small night light in the shape of a princess next to the bed. There was no other noise in the house other than the kids in the room. There were all settled down in bed and were eagerly waiting to listen to today's bedtime story. They always look forward to this since it is always new and their father had promised that tonight they would be listening to a story about the evil queen. They always hear stories about evil kings but tonight it would be different. They had even been on their best behavior all day just so they could hear this story.

Dad: "Are you both ready to listen to today's story?"

Girls: "YES!"

Dad: "Have you both brushed your teeth and ate your veggies today?"

Girls: "Yes dad, can we please listen to the story now?"

Dad: "Alright girls, we can start. So back in the day there was a king with three wives and they had four sons. When the kids were little there was a huge war going on and one of his wives, Kaiyei, helped save his life. In return he gave her two promises and anything she wanted in return of those promises she could have."

Girls: "Dad, what did she ask for?"

Dad: "I'm getting to that hold on. As I was saying, years had gone by and those four boys had turned into handsome men. They all had even gotten married and were living very happy with their wives and the rest of their family. Kaiyei's maid however always had a problem with Rama, the kings eldest son. He was very handsome, he always did the right thing, he listened to everything, and was very talented at everything he did. Rama was loved and adored by all throughout the country and would rightfully become king one day. Kaiyei's maid however always thought that Kaiyei's son should become king and she was always envious of Rama. She never liked him no matter what he did. So she kept poisoning Kaiyei's mind with false things. She told her how he would king her and her sons out. That they would never be happy and how he was so fake. After a while she started to believe her maid."

Girls: "Then what  happened dad? What about the promises?"

Dad: We are almost there, do not worry. One day after listening to her maid she went to the king. I want to cash in those promises you gave to me all those years ago. He asked her what she wanted and to not worry, anything she wanted she would get. She said she wanted her son Bharat to become king instead of Rama, and she wanted to exile Rama to the forest for 14 years. The king was very shocked to hear this. Everyone loved Rama and he deserved it, how could anyone hate him like this. Word got out and everyone knew this in the kingdom by the end of the day. Rama's wife decided that she would also live in the forest with him like a hermit. His brothers were all very close to him but one was particularly close to him and even he decided to follow in his brothers footsteps. Everyone was horrified at this. It was Kaiyei's fault that these three were leaving, because of her one decision it caused problems in everyone's lives. The king died from this shock and she was kicked out by her own son after the three of them left.

Girls: She was so mean! How could she do that to her own son? Did they come back? Dad what happened next?

Dad: That's a story for a different day.

Author's Note: I decided to try something different for this story. Instead for this one I tried to turn it into a bedtime story. It was just a brief story in their bedtime story. Telling the story this way gave it more of a childlike sense. I used this picture because I wanted to show the two of them together.


Ramayana

Rama & Sita  

Reading Notes B: Ramayana

I could also write about how Sita was kidnapped or the journey of Rama of finding Sita. I could also write about Hanuman and Sita meeting for the first time. They way she finally trusted him and how she gave him her ring so that he could give it to Rama. This would be a token and how it would definitely give Rama the courage that he needed to continue on his fight.

Ashoka Vatika 

Ramayana

Reading Post: A

I could talk about how Rama met Sita for the first time or how they ended up getting married. I could also write about Kaiyei's plan to get rid of rama, and how it caused Lakshama  to leave too. In her cruelty she forgot everything and ended up being hated by all .


Ramayana

 

Rama & Sita

Reading Notes C

I could write about how Pygmalion made a carved a statue out of marble of a women. I could talk about how he fell in love with her and how she ended up turning into a real girl. How they ended up getting married and even had a son 9 months later.

Pygmalion and his statue

Ovid's Metamorphoses  by Tony Kline (2000)