Reading Evaluation Week 15

I think there was a good equal balance between reading, writing and commenting in this class. I liked reading the stories that had happy endings. It seemed like a lot of the stories I read were kinda depressing, sad and with sad endings. So I enjoyed when I read a story with a happy one. I also liked reading a lot of the children's stories and stories with lessons in them. Some of the stories I read were stories I had read when I was younger and it was fun for me to re-read them. I got to read Alice in Wonderland at the end of the semester and once I read it I actually re-watched the movie because it reminded me how much I love it.

Week 15 Reflection

          I really enjoyed this class. At first it seemed very overwhelming with something due almost every day, but once I got the hang of it it wasn't bad at all. My favorite part of this class is the work I have created. It will be fun to go back and read the stories i have written int he future. I also like that we used a blog in this class, because of this I am considering creating my own personal blog. I have always wanted to create my own blog about recipes I have made and I think I will finally do it over the summer.

         I liked the schedule of this class, especially with the most points due on Sunday. It allowed me to have Friday and Saturday off if I needed it and then get back to work on Sunday. I really appreciate all the detailed feedback we got on our portfolio stories, it was so helpful to have someone give me that much great feedback. I also like that we actually got to learn a lot about the other people in this class, that is unique for an online class.

Portfolio Index

Story 1: A Flood From Under the Water
This story takes place during the time of the great flood, from a point of view of a fish, Sparky.


Story 2: How Cat and Dog Became Enemies
Cat and dog used to roam the earth together many years ago. One event caused them to become enemies ever since.

Story 3: The Three Brothers Continued 
This story is the ending to the story The Three Brothers, a Congo unit story. What will the three brothers do when they see their parents for the first time after all those years? 

Story 4: The Beautiful Fish
Jan is a nature-loving gal with a passion for fishing and gardening. She has always connected more with nature than people, but that all changes on day when she catches a beautiful and magical fish.

Story 5: The Toddle Family
The Toddle family looks like any other family on the outside, but they have one big secret that sets them apart. This family descended from ducks and with a little bit of magic they can do amazing things.

Story 6: Dorthy and the Caterpillar
This story mixes the iconic characters of the Wizard of Oz and Alice in Wonderland together to create an alternative ending to a classic tale.

Reading Diary - Italian Tales

Italian Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane

Water and Salt - This was an interesting story. The king needs to kill one of his three children and he kills his daughter because she said she loved him as much as salt and water. The king thinks she is killed but instead she ends up in a magic forest and marries a prince. When they got married they invited 3 kings, one being her dad. She then shows him how bad it is to eat a meal without water and salt. I still don’t know if the king dies or not. 

The Man, the Serpent, and the Fox - I really liked this story. A hunter reluctantly frees a serpent because he promised to not eat him. The serpent tries to eat the hunter once he saves him, and the hunter is mad. They go through the forest asking other animals if the serpent has a right to eat the hunter. Finally they come to the fox. The fox tricks the serpent to go back to where he was stuck before the hunter let him out, and this time no one saves him. 

Melinda and the Monster - This was a great story. I read a story from last week that someone wrote about this story and I really like that I got to read the original. A father picks a rose for his youngest daughter and a monster comes and demands he die from picking his rose bush. The father has to bring his daughter to the monster or he will die. The father brings his daughter to the monster and she is treated well but scared of the monster. She eventually consents to marry the monster so her dad doesn't die. The monster turns into a handsome prince and explains that he was cursed by a witch. 

(The girl and the prince - Pixabay)

Reading Diary Continued - Russian Folktales

Russian Folktales - By. W.R.S. Ralston

The Soldier and the Vampire - I liked this story a lot. It was very interesting and exciting. A soldier goes to a warlocks house after he gets back from the army. They both go to a wedding and the warlock drinks the wife and husbands blood and kills them. He then boasts to the soldier to their way back home about how to bring them back to life and the only way to kill a warlock. The soldier listens carefully but doesn’t say anything. He then kills the warlock, saves the husband and wife and gets the towns people to help him burn the warlock so he stays dead. It ends happy.

The Witch Girl : This was an interesting story, I found it a bit confusing. Death was suppose to come to a family in the night and place them all in coffins. Cossack came and wanted to stay with the family but they told him about how death was coming. He stayed up all night and when the witch came to kill the family he cut off her arm and threw her out the window. The next morning one of the girls of the family had a wounded arm and they drowned this girl because she was the witch. 

(The Witch of Death - Wikipedia)

The Two Friends: I thought this story was very cleaver. Two best friends promise to invite the other to their wedding even if they are dead. One friend died and the groom goes to the friends grave stone on the day of his wedding. The dead friend comes out of his grave and insists on having a drink with the groom. They have 3 drinks and for each drink 100 years passes. The groom wakes up in a world he is unfamiliar with and no wife.

Reading Diary - Russian Folktales

Russian Folktales - By. W.R.S. Ralston

Dead Mother - This was a very very sad story. A mother dies while giving birth and the husband is so very sad. The baby cries all the time and no one can get her to stop. The king worries that the baby will not have milk to drink because she no longer has a mother. They find out someone has been coming in the middle of the night and calming the baby. The guards stay up and see the dead mother come in and feed the baby. One night the mother comes in but then immediately leaves, the next morning thh baby is dead. 

Friday - A lady dis-honored mother Friday. So Mother Friday came and put dust in the lady's eyes so she could not see. The lady begged mother Friday for forgiveness and promised to never dishonor her again. 

Wednesday - This story was interesting. Wednesday comes to help a women do her daily chores. But the women is very frightened that Wednesday came to help her and she runs to her neighbors to get advice. The lady is able to get Wednesday out of her house and puts a cross over is so Wednesday cannot come back in. 

(The cottage Mother Wednesday came into - Pixabay)

The Metamorphosis of the Dnieper, the Volga, and the Dvina - I found this story to be confusing. I'm honestly not sure what was going on. These three people go out for three years in search for good luck. The two girls get swept up by the river and the boy goes down the river to try and find them. 

Storytelling - Fairy Ointment

Dear Diary,

Today I was going about my own business while wandering through the land of gumdrops and giant mushrooms. I came across one mushroom that had a thick goopy syrup at the base of it. This goop has the most amazing smell so I couldn’t not take a closer look. The smell was so wonderful, it was something that I had never experienced before. The goop also had a shimmery gleam about itself that almost seemed to glow. I bent down and put my face right up next to it so i could bask in the smell. But right when i was doing that a group of scurrying chipmunks ran behind me and I fell into the goop. It got it all in my face and hair. But after that, the most magical thing happened….

(The mushroom forest - 2k1.info)

When I finally got all the goop out of my eyes and was able to see again the land had totally changed. Or at least how I saw it. The once grey brown mushrooms were now brightly colored polka-doted mushrooms. There were thousands of light pastel colored butterflies all over the land, on the gumdrops, in the air and on the mushrooms. It was the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Yeah, it did freak me out a little in the beginning, but everything in the land was so happy and peaceful.

 I spent nearly four hours dancing under the shade of the giant and beautiful mushrooms. I made friends with a pod of butterflies and they traveled with me, resting on my shoulder. When I realized it was time for me to head home I went back to the mushroom where I had fallen in the goop. I gather a jar full of the goop to see if I could make these magical thing appear anywhere else besides the land of the gum drops and mushrooms. 

I am now back home in my willow tree writing to you diary. I am excited to see if the goop will still be magical back at home. Do I have little magical butterflies fluttering around here too? Or maybe I have pixie fairy’s who will grant me wishes! Hopefully mom doesn’t find out about what happened, she wouldn’t be to happy if she heard about all my adventures. Mom often thinks I’m careless and don’t have enough fear because I’m always wandering off from land to land. 

Well here goes nothing. Stay tuned for next time diary and I’ll let you what happens!

- XOXO Daisy D Dwarf 

Author's Note: This story is based on the story Fairy Ointment from the English Fairy Tale unit. In the original story the fairy ointment is used by bad fairies so that they can become invisible to other and steal. I wanted my story to have the same concept of this magical fairy ointment, but instead to be used as a good thing. This ointment can make magical things come to life, and allows ordinary creatures to see these magical things. 

Bibliography: English Fairy Tale, Fairy Ointment, By. Joseph Jacobs (1890)

Reading Diary Cont - English Fairy Tales

English Fairy Tales - By. Joseph Jacobs

Fairy Ointment: This was a cute story. I found it a bit confusing in the beginning, but I really liked the end. I like the idea of a fairly ointment that you can put on someones eyes and make them see something different. In this case the ointment made people not see or be able to see the stealing fairy. I would consider writing a story where the ointment allows people to see something good, instead of it being a bad thing. I think of fairy's as good creatures and not bad. 

(The Fairy Spreading the Ointment - Wikimedia)

Mr.Fox: I really liked this story also. I like that there was suspense and drama, but that the bad guy dies in the end. Lady Mary is a great character, she is so strong and I love how she waits till the breakfast to sign their marriage contract to tell everyone how horrible Mr.Fox is so that he can really suffer. Mr.Fox’s house seems like a terrible place! It was described really well and I had such a vivid picture of the scene. 

Johnny Cake: This is another one of those stories where a little part of it gets added on and on as the story goes. I still don’t really like this story style, I tend to get bored and stark skimming. I just don’t find it very exciting of a story. I liked the beginning of the story though when the little boy lets the Johnny cake out of the oven and he ran away.

Reading Diary - English Fairy Tales

English Fairy Tales By Joseph Jacobs

Tom Tit Tot: This was an odd story. I didn’t fully understand it all to be honest. It had a lot of things going on though which made it interesting. The pictures were really creepy, I would have never pictured the characters to look like that unless I saw those pictures of them. I thought it was kinda a depressing story, the whole story is about a girl trying to make these things so her head doesn’t get cut off by her husband. 

The Three Little Pigs: This was a very cute story. I remember the first part of the story very well from my childhood, but the sending half of the story was really fun for me to read. I like that the third smart little pig continues to trick the bad wolf when he still tries to kill the pig. The pig wins in the end and out smarts the wolf each time. When the wolf tries to boil the pig the water actually boils him and the pig eats the wolf. 

(The Three Little Pigs - YouTube)

The Old Woman and Her Pig: This story was very comical. It made me laugh. I have to admit that I sometimes get bored with these stories though, they drag on for too long sometimes. It is an interesting story style repeating and adding to the story each paragraph. I like the end the best when each part finally comes together and ties back to the beginning. 

Storytelling Week 11 - Dorthy and Caterpillar

There once was a girl named Dorothy who was on her way to the Emerald City. Dorothy was a long way from home and hoped that the Wizard at the Emerald City could help her find her way back. After Dorothy's long journey she finally arrived at this magical city, only to be disappointed to find out that the Wizard was a fake. She was now no closer to getting back home then she was at the beginning of her journey. She had made three great friends along the way who were determined to help Dorothy get back home too. There is the kind Tin Man, the cowardly Lion, and the smart Scarecrow.

Her friend the Scarecrow asked all the ladies of the Emerald City barber shop if they knew anyone who could help Dorothy get home. These lady's talked to everyone in the city and so the Scarecrow though they could help them out. After talking to over thirty hairdressers they were still no closer. The Tin Man went to the factory where all the things in the Emerald City were made to ask for help. The workers in the shop didn't know of anyone who could help Dorothy either.

Finally the cowardly Lion asked all the animals if they knew any way or anyone who could help, and they did know someone. There was a rumor that a wise Caterpillar lived in the red sunflower fields to the east of the Emerald City.  Dorothy didn't want to have to go on another journey to just be disappointed again, but without any other options the four of them headed off to the red sunflower field.

(Red Sunflower Field - Public Domain Pictures)

This was only a two-day trip, but once they reached the field they were very tired. They had been traveling for many days now and all missed home. Now that they were in this field they had no idea where to find the Caterpillar or if he would even show up. They walked around the entire field row by row for nearly two hours, and found nothing. They had given up and were now in the same place where they had started. Dorothy began to cry and feared that she would never make it back home again.

Suddenly a large caterpillar smoking a hookah popped up from the tall sunflowers. The Brave Lion jumped back in fear from his sudden presence. Dorothy introduced them all and told the Caterpillar her story. While Dorothy was telling her story Caterpillar didn't say anything and continued to smoke his hookah. Once she was done explaining her story Dorothy again got choked up and started to cry. The Caterpillar spoke very few words, but did finally speak, "Dorothy you had the power to go back home this whole time. You just have to want it enough. Your red ruby slippers are magical and all you have to do is tap them together and think about home."

Dorothy told all her new friends goodbye and how happy she was to have met them. She thanked the wise caterpillar and was eternally grateful for him. She then clicked her heels together and woke up back home.

Author's Note: I based this story off of the story 'Advice from Caterpillar' from Alice in Wonderland. The Caterpillar helped Alice get back to her normal size after eating and drinking things that had made her grow and then shrink. She was now needing help getting back to her normal size. The Caterpillar was not straightforward with Alice about what she needs to do and is famously quoted saying "Who are you" over and over again. He eventually tells Alice that eating certain parts of the mushroom will make her grow and other parts will make her shrink. After a lot of trial and error Alice is finally able to get back to her normal size again.  I thought it would be interesting to combine this story with the Wizard of Oz. I used the wise Caterpillar as the person who helps Dorothy get home similar to how he helps Alice. I love both of these stories and like combining stories together so I thought it might be fun to do that with these two. I wanted to keep the characters from these two stories true to themselves but just have a different storyline.

Bibliography:
Alice in Wonderland, Advice from Caterpillar, Lewis Caroll (1865)
The Wizard of Oz, produced by Metro-Golwyn-Mayer, (1939)

Reading Diary - Alice In Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland, By. Lewis Carroll (1865)

Down the Rabbit-Hole: This was great story. I remember this scene of the movie very well from my childhood. I like the detail that I got to read about in the book though. I like how Alice while going down the hole try’s to think about what she had learned in school that might possible help her measure how far she had fallen. I also like her inner struggle with listening to herself and thinking about what she has learned and what others might advise her to do. I love the concept of this liquid making her small, and the cake making her really tall. This could be an interesting concept to apply in my own stories. I could also write about her getting into he garden finally and what happened while she is in there.

(Alice Grows - Wikipedia)

Advice from a Caterpillar: I also remember the slightly annoying Caterpillar from the movie, I can picture him smoking his hooka. Its fun for me to read these stories because I can picture them in my mind so vividly. I also remember the “who are you” question that caterpillar always asks Alice. She finally gets back to her normal height in this story, after getting even more distorted. She learns that she has to eat tiny tiny bits of the mushroom to balance out her size perfectly. She gets mistaken for a serpent because she grows too much and her nick gets very long. The illustration for this part of the story is great.

Storytelling - Corn

At the beginning of time, animals were the only living creatures on earth. These animals were on land, in the sky and in the water. However, one day many many years ago the first man was created and placed on earth. This man roamed the earth and found companionship with the land animals. They showed him how to hunt fish and what plants to eat.

His best friend was a squirrel who followed him everywhere he went. This man roamed all the lands, except for one. There was one area of land that was under constant cover of crows, and he did not dare to venture over there. He had found that for the most part birds were mean animals, they would try to swoop down and take his land animal friends. He was also afraid of them because he did not understand how they were able to fly in the sky and he was not.

As this man got older and grew he became to feel more confident and hunting was an easy task for him. The animals started to follow him because they felt as if he was some sort of master and superior being. He was able to create shelter when rain came and protect the animals from hard downpours. They loved this man and would risk their lives for him. He was a gently master though, and prided himself on watching out for all the animals, small and big.

One year there was constant rain and the animals were not able to hunt in the rivers for fish because the water was to deep. They had to start rationing their food because they were limited to only plants and berries. One day the first man realized that they had not seen many birds for a long time, because they did not do well when it rained. He then started to lead the animals towards the area of land that he previously did not dare to go to. After a few days of traveling they finally reach this haunted land. As the man expected the crows were not there anymore guarding it. He saw this as a perfect opportunity to finally see why they were always swarming this area.

As they moved closer they could see that it was a field of some kind, but they had never seen the type of plant before. The man finally got close enough to touch the plant and grabbed a yellow cornstalk. All the animals were in awe and danced and cheered. But suddenly all the crows flew out of the fields and into the sky. They had been hiding under the shelter of the corn fields during the rain! The crows chased the man and animals for miles to scare them from coming back onto their territory. Finally, the crows grew tired and returned to their hiding ground.

This was the first time man ever found corn.

(Corn Field - Geograph)

Author's Note: This story is based on the Tobacco and Strawberry Cherokee story. The Strawberry story is about the first time a human ever finds a Strawberry. The Tobacco story is about the first tobacco plant. This plant gets stolen and the story is about trying to get the plant back. I thought it would be interesting to create my own story that is similar to the themes of these.

Bibliography: Myths of the Cherokee, Tobacco and Strawberries, By. James Mooney (1900)

Reading Diary Continued - Myths of the Cherokee

Myths of the Cherokee - By James Mooney

The Ball Game of the Birds and Animals: The animals were very confident that they could beat the birds, and the birds were a little nervous themselves. The birds even took in some of the small animals that the big animals wouldn’t let on their team. The birds made these animals wings so that they could be on their team. The bird team wins the game, and the animals didn’t even have a chance to touch the ball because it was up int he air the whole time.

(Squirrel with wings - Wikipedia)

The Owl Gets Married: Im not quite sure the purpose of this story. A woman marries a man who she thinks will be a good hunter. He turns out to not be a good hunter so she follows him one day. She finds out that her husband turns into an owl, and that he scares off all the fish. She kicks the man/owl out of her house and the owl plucks away all his flesh. 

The Huhu Gets Married: I don’t know what a Huhu is but this was another interesting story. This has a similar plot to the story above. The wife wants a good husband who can hunt, and she marries this man who turns out to be a Huhu. Once she finds out what he is she kicks him out. 

The Snake Boy: A grandmother loves her grandson a lot. One night he turns into a scary snake and everyone is afraid of him. The grandmother goes after the snake because she loves her grandson so much and lives in the river with him.

The Snake Man: This story a man eats a squirrel and turns into a snake. There is a legend that this would happen, but the man did not believe this legend and continued to eat the squirrel. This goes to show that people should believe legends. 

Reading Diary - Myths of the Cherokee

Myths of the Cherokee - By. James Mooney (1900)

I am cherokee so I am very interested in reading some of their stories.

How the World Was Made:  This story starts off very different then the creation story, but then ends with a lot of similarities to the creation story. It starts with a beetle breaking up the ocean ground and bringing the dirt to the surface, creating land. But the land was soft and not hard. There are lots of mountains in the cherokee land. Trees, animals and plant are very important to them. 

The Journey to the Sunrise: This was an interesting story. It tells more about different tribes then finding the sun. One tribe they came across a man died and the wife was buried with her husband to die too, i though this was a very disturbing custom. They never were able to touch the sun, and they spent their whole lives trying to get there. But they did learn lot from all the different tribes.

Tobacco: I never really though about people in the past having a tobacco addiction, but this story is about this. A woman is even about to die because the tobacco is taken and she is having withdraws. Many animals tried to go get the plant, but they all failed. One small hummingbird wanted to try and everyone doubted him, but he was so quick and swift that he snuck by and got the tobacco. This is another lesson, to not underestimate people. 

Strawberries: This as a sweet story. A lady leaves her husband and intends to not come back. But her husband follows her. Many fruits and berries are placed in front of the woman but she never stops to eat them. Then she sees ripe red strawberries, these were the first to ever be seen. She then stops to eat the strawberries and remembers her husband and decides to run back home and is met happily by him. 

(The first strawberries found - Free stock photos)

Storytelling - The Toddle Family

The Toddle family is just an everyday ordinary family, or so it may seem...They do have one characteristic that makes them a bit unique. You see, this family comes from the same bloodline of ducks. While this was thousands of years ago, the bloodline still flows through their bodies even today. So what does this mean? Well, this family from the outside looks like all other human families and really they are, but they are also able to turn into ducks.

This family can decide when they want to change their appearance, which has allowed them to blend in easily with the rest of civilization. However, they often choose to live out in the countryside on their own where they can spread their wings and soar high in the sky when they freely choose.

As if turning into a duck wasn't different enough, there is even more. This family is also able to die in bird form and be brought back to life. Often when the family is living off in solidarity one of them will change into bird form and be killed. The rest of the family will gather all of the duck's bones and throw them into a nearby body of water. The next morning at sunrise the duck's bones will again become a living duck and then is able to change into a human.

Now that you know the secrets behind the Toddle family, it's only fair that I tell you who the members of this family are. The first is the grandparents of the family that go by Bip and Ronald. This couple had three children Lou, Ray, and Carch. Ray married a sweet lady named Anna, and Lou married a strong and large man named Trevor.

It has always been important that this bloodline is carried on so that this special family can continue. From a young age, the elders of the family have taught the children that the most important thing in life is to marry and create children. Ray and Anna were unable to ever have kids no matter how hard they tried. This made Ray very sad because he felt as if he was a failure to not be able to provide the most important thing in life. After Lou married Trevor, Ray didn't feel as bad. Lou was able to have kids very soon after getting married and ended up having three little boys.

Now as the boys were getting older it was time for the entire family to educate them on who their family was, where they came from, and the most important part of life. But these three boys were turning out to have more problems than the others of the family with who they are. They would often joke around about turning into a duck and never fully appreciated their heritage. The elders of the family tried their best to educate the boys and show them how fortunate they were to have this gift, but the boys usually couldn't seem to care less. With the years of their youth slowly becoming a thing of the past and the boys coming into adulthood will they ever learn to cherish the gift that they have and be able to carry on their family's blood line and bring new women into their weird and unique lives?

(A Member of the Toddle Family - Public Domain Pictures)

Author's Note: This story is based on a Native American Marriage tale , The Youth Who Joined the Deer. This story originates from the Nlakapamuk people, also referred to as the Thompson River Salish, in British Columbia. In this story there is a village of people who can turn into Deer. These people hunt each other for food and then throw the deer bones into a river and the deer comes back to life. A hunter marries one of these deer women and lives with their tribe. He learns about them and is well respected. The hunter and his wife have a child together and decided to return to his people for some time. During the time they spend with his people they teach them to always throw the deer bones into the river. They decide to return to his wife's people and the hunter ends up turning into a deer too.

I thought this was a very interesting concept so I decided to make up my own story with a similar theme, but place it more in today's world. I thought the concept of a group of people changing into another animal was really neat. I also liked the aspect of killing the animal for food and then bringing it back to life. I wanted to keep this aspect of the story as similar to the original as I could, but created a different plot line surrounding it.

Bibliography: Native American Marriage Tales, The Youth Who Joined the Deer, By Stith Thompson (1929)

Reading Diary - Native American Marriage Tales unit Continued

Native American Marriage Tales Unit: by. Stith Thompson 1929

The Dog Husband: A lady has a husband who is a dog but also changes into a human. They have children together and the wives family is really mad and kills her husband. The wife ends up having 5 dog babies, but later find out they can turn into humans also. She makes them stay in human form for the rest of their lives and they all live happily ever after.

The Youth Who Joined the Deer;

This was a very interesting story. I likes it a lot. I did not like the part about the hunter having 3 wives, and just leaving his other 2 wives even thighs he had a child with one of them. But I like the aspect of a person also being an animal, and killing the animal and bringing him back to life. I think of the idea of using all the parts of an animal and not letting anything go to waste.  After a deer is killed his bones are thrown back into the river and the deer comes back to life and changes into a human. I thought thes was just a very creative story. 

(Deer Bones - Wikimedia)

The Rolling Head:

This was a very very weird story. The wife goes swimming with a snake while her husband goes and hunts every day. The husband finally watches his wife when he leaves and sees her with he snake and kills the sale and his wife. he then feeds his wife to his children. The wives head starts align to the children and they get scared. Many other animals die and then the father gets killed by a lion at the end too. 

Reading Diary - Native American Marriage Tales unit

Native American Marriage Tales Unit By: Stith Thompson 1929

The Piqued Buffalo-Wife: There was a lot going on in this story. It has the themes of family and being good to your family. A father should always be able to identify his own family, especially his children. A husband also needs to treat his wife well or else she might leave or be taken away from him.

The Eagle and the Whale Husband: This teaches the lesson that marriage is a 2 way street. Both have to be willing and active parties in order for it to work. These 2 girls married animals and they both didn't treat them well. They tied them up and didn't love and nurture their wife. These girls eventually found ways to escape and run away.

Common theme of humans marrying animals.

The Fox Woman: This was a very odd story. A fox turns into a pretty lady and walks into a hunters house and tells him she is his wife. The hunter takes her to be his wife because she is so beautiful. The lady smells like a fox and the hunter notices. After this, the lady turns back into a fox and runs away forever.

The Woman Stolen by Killer Whales: This was a very cute story. The woman gets taken by killer whales because her and her husband caught their friend. The husband runs after her determined to save her. He makes friends with the sharks who help him out a lot, and he saves his wife. The Shark fights the killer whales so that the woman is set fee. It was odd because these water animals don't seem to be in water at all during this story.

(The Killer Whale - Pixabay)

Comment Wall

                                                  Taylor Swift - Blank Space music video

Blog Design

I might like to change the colors of my blog.



I thought that Allyson had really pretty colors on her blog.

I also liked Bailey's colors on her blog. I like the use of pictures throughout Bailey's blogs, I will try to add more pictures to my own.

I like how Ashley used a picture that correlates to what her blog is about. Our blogs are about stories and the background picture of her blog is books. I thought this was neat.

Time Management

(Time- YouTube)

This image is sometimes how times seems to me, like it is slowly getting farther away and smaller. The second half of the semester will be difficult to manage my time because I am also applying to summer Internships. I always thought that school was stressful, but applying and getting a job is even worse. 

I think that I have found a good time management system for this class now. I have utilized the extra credit assignments a lot more now because I typically have a lot more time on the weekends then school days. I will continue to not stress out to much if I miss an assignment during the week, and just make sure that I make it up by doing extra credit that week. 

I have a lot of big projects in my other classes that will be time consuming at the end of the year. I will continue to use my day planner to stay organized and to maximize my time. I also work about 10 hours a week, so I will have to continue to balance school and my job. Overall, the rest of the semester will be hard, but hopefully all worth it in the end. I just need to remember to take everything one step at a time and things will fall into place how they are suppose to. 

Storytelling - The Three Brothers Continued

Author's Note: This story is an expanded ending of a Congo story, The Three Brothers. In this story a mother had three boys, triplets, and abandoned them by a river because she was unable to care for three babies. The river-spirit fed the three boys in their early years and allowed them to grow up to be strong men. It also provided the men with women to become their wives and the men end up building their own house, multiplying, and creating their own little town. The boys father one day was wandering around and saw his three son's and ran back to the village to tell his wife. The father and mother made their way to where the sons lived but the mom was an old lady and had to stop from exhaustion. One of the brothers son's saw them on their property and ran back to the house to tell about the intruders. The story ends with the brothers planning to kill the intruder but the river-spirit tells them that the intruder was their mom and they invite her inside. I really liked this story but it ends very abruptly and left me wondering what happens. After the brothers planned on hunting and killing the intruder I found it odd that the story ends with "And they did so," in regards to letting this lady into their house. Also, what happens to the father that came with their mother to find his sons too? So here is my own elaborated ending to the story.

(The Three Brothers in the River - Wikimedia)

The three brothers had always listened to the river-spirit, for it had saved their life. The river-spirit had never led the brothers wrong. This time they really had to think about what the spirit had said about the intruder though. They had never heard about their mother and knew nothing about her. How would they even be able to tell if it was her or not? The brothers also agreed that their priority was to keep themselves and their land safe. The brothers decided to go check out who this intruder was and then make a judgement on what to do with them once captured.

The brothers went to the spot where their son saw the intruder, but she wasn't there anymore. They searched the whole rest of the day for the intruder but could not find them. Later that night the river-spirit told them again that the intruder was their mother and to not harm her. The three brothers listened to this warning but decided to continue with their original plan of hunting and killing the intruder if they saw her again.

Meanwhile, the three brother's father had gone back into town to gather supplies in order to continue their journey. The mother rested in a ditch by the riverbed to wait for her husband to return from town and sleep. The father gathered a backpack full of water and food to bring back to his wife. She wanted to have as much energy and strength as she possibly could before she met her sons.

The brothers awoke the morning after the intruder was spotted on their land and spent that whole day searching far and wide again, but found nothing. They began to blame the brother's son who saw the intruder in the first place. They accused him of just seeing an animal or something, saying that it probably wasn't even a person at all. But again that night the river-spirit spoke to the brother's and assured them that the brother did see someone the previous day, and the person he saw was their mother.

After two days of searching, the brothers decided to call it quits. They came up with a plan in case they ever had future intruders and decided to be on guard for anyone on their land the next few days.

The brothers father had a hard and long day walking back to his son's house to meet his wife. When he met back up with her they rested for a few more hours and drank lots of water and filled up on food. After this long day, they finally decided it was time to go up to their son's house. It was nighttime now and the three sons were all inside.

The father and mother finally made it to the house. The mother was very excited to finally meet her grown sons, for she had wondered about them every day since giving birth to them. They knocked on the door but no one came to answer so they knocked again. Finally the door opened and they were greeted by the three sons holding bats and hunting weapons. The sons tried to come after their mother and father because they didn't know who they were. Their mother and father pleaded for them to stop and listen. The brothers finally did so because of all the warnings given by the river-spirits.

The three brothers eventually settled down enough to let their father and mother inside.  They stayed up and talked all night about their lives and everything their mother had missed out on. She explained how she always regretted leaving them but that she was unable to care for three children at that time in her life. She told them about the sadness she had when leaving them by the river that day, and her feelings about seeing the river now all these years later. She plead for the river-spirit to watch over her three babies before leaving that day, and somehow she knew that they would.

Their mother and father ended up moving in with the three sons. They lived out their final elderly years all as a big happy family.

Bibliography: Congo Unit, The Three Brothers, By. R.E. Dennett (1898).

Reading Diary Week 7 Continued - Congo Unit

Congo Unit By R.E. Dennett

General themes: trickery, preparing food, hunger, animals. The dominant predatory animal gets tricked and killed by an animal lower on the food chain.

The turtle and the man - This story has a lot of animals deaths. It was a fairly graphic story. The turtle tricks the OX and Fox into helping him, but then he doesn't leave then with any food. The Turtle kills the OX and eats him. The fox tricks the turtle back and bites his head off when he gets close. The Fox then eats the turtle.

The Antelope and the leopard - The antelope makes a bet with the leopard that he can find him, and if he does find him that the leopard has to die. The Antelope finds the leopard easily, but the leopard tries to trick the antelope. The antelope changes into a beautiful woman and tricks the leopard into killing his other 4 wives and himself. So the antelope kills the leopard in the end, as well as his family.

The Gazelle and leopard - The gazelle eats all of the leopards food. Then the Gazelle plays drums and tricks the leopard to come dance. They then ambush Leopard and kill him.

(Leopard and Gazelle in the wild - YouTube)

The three brothers - I really liked this story, but it ended so abruptly! I might write a second part to this story and come up with a real ending. How this story ending is with the 3 brothers being told not to kill the intruder but to invite her inside because its their mother. Will they end up listening to the advice ?

Reading Diary Week 7 - Congo Unit

Stories form Congo, By R.E. Dennett

Common themes of these stories - Dreams, wives, hunger, food

How Wife's Restored Their Husband - This was an odd story, It wasn't one of my favorites. I think  I just though the weirdest part was about the three wives. In the end they restore the husband, and he eats from one of the wives bowls. At the end of the story it makes a note that it would have been better if he ate all three of the wives food in one bowl.

How Gazelle Got Married - This story has a big theme of names. I can see names being a big part of the culture in Congo possible, I like this theme. Whatever animal finds out the names of the 2 daughter gets to marry them.

Vanishing Wife - I liked this story a lot. This story starts in a dream, and that dream then comes true. A woman and house appear and it eventually becomes his wife. Her only request is that he brings her a fish every day with its head cut off. One day he doest cut off the fish's head and his wife and house vanish forever.

(Man with his fish - Wikipedia)

Another Vanishing Wife - I really liked this story also. It has a similar story line to the original, but it is definitely different also. I might write my own version on a "vanishing wife" story. I though they were really interesting. The character in this story kept wanting to please his people, even though they were never nice to him. He focuses on this more than pleasing his wife who has always been very supporting of him. She ends up vanishing and the house too.

Reading Diary Week 6 - South African Folk-Tales

South African Folk-Tales by James Honey

I have read a lot of animal stories so far this semester, and these stories continue with that pattern. A lot of these animal stories were sad, and didn't have happy endings.

The Lost Message - This story is about ants. It talks about how ants are always being killed and eaten, and they have found no solution to helping it. The insect kind finally sends the ants a message about unity and working together, so that they will be saved. The message never gets to the ants, and they are still wandering around without unity, and still an easy target.

Monkey and the Fiddle - This was one story that has a happy ending. The monkey can play a beautiful song on the fiddle which makes everyone that hears it have to dance. I like the idea of this, a magical fiddle and  a magical song. At the end of the story the animals beg the monkey to stop playing because they are tired of dancing. The monkey gets his way because of this and finally stops playing.

Jackal Fools Lion Again - A lot of these stories have to do with jackal and lion. This story I though was really sad. The lion was trying to help everyone and hunting to provide food. Jackal takes all the food for himself and starves lions family. Jackal then kills lion by tricking him to eat a hot stone. I know that it is typical for lion to hunt jackal and him to be the dominant animal. Regardless of what usually happened with lion, I still felt bad for him because he was just trying to help.

Story of a Dam - Again this story has to do with jackal and lion. I though this story was also really sad. Jackal was hurting other animals and being mean, and in the end he kills lion. I do not like the jackal in these stories, he is a very annoying character. He does harm to others and gets away with it. This is an interesting twist to see lion as the one being killed each time.

(Jackal and the Lion - Wikipedia)

Thoughts about Comments

I think I have done a good job leaving comments. Like anything, I have improved each week now that I know more about blogs and writing stories. I could become better at leaving things for people to work on when commenting. In my comments I often only talk about the good things and things I like about the story. I don't usually talk about things that could use improvement. The stories I have read so far have all been really good, so its hard to write any negatives about them. I personally would like for people to leave comments about things I could work on in my story because that will make it better. So I will try to work on this in the future.

Storytelling Week 5: How Cat and Dog Became Enemies

For centuries cat and dog roamed the earth together. Man loved both cat and dog, but they both also lived free in the wild together. These animals would lie in the warm sun together and chase butterflies in the wind. Cat and dog often hunted together and ate similar foods. These two creatures looked out for one another.

Each year there was a grand gathering of all the dogs and cats in the surrounding areas. Everyone brought gifts and food of all kind to this grand event. Each year the dog leader Fido, and the cat leader Lily sat side by side at the center of the gathering. These two leaders were great friends and worked together so make all the animals of the land happy.

(Lily - Wikipedia)

One of the main events of this annual gathering was the big games. All the cats and dogs created teams and competed against each other in various games. The cats were usually good at the games of trickery, such as hide and seek. The dogs were usually good at games that involved strength, like tug of war. This year was the hundreth anniversary of this gathering, and the games were more grand and competitive than ever.

For the first time there was a grand prize for the team who won the most games. The winning cat team would compete against the winning dog team for an all out final games battle. The cats and dogs prepared for these games for weeks, never taking a day off to rest. They practiced balance, agility, speed, strength, focus and endurance. Every cat and dog believed that they had trained hard enough that they deserved to win that final prize.

The day finally came for the big games to start. Fido and Lily blew the opening horn to start the first race. As the day progressed it was clear what teams were in the running to compete in the final games battle. At the end of the day there were obvious winners for each cat and dog team. The dog team that won was called the Hip Hoppers, because they were quick on their toes. The winning cat team was the Sly Sneakers because they were expert hiders and trickers.

(Dog on the Hip Hoppers - Wikipedia)

Both teams went home that night to gear up for the next day. All the other cats and dogs went home sad about not winning, but also excited to cheer on their friends in the upcoming game battle.

All the cat's and dog's woke early that next morning anxious for the days festivities to come. Both sides were getting a little heated with each other because they had trained so hard for this and wanted to make their species proud. The Hip Hoppers and the Sly Sneakers went back and forth all day switching off winning and losing each game thrown their way. The crowd was going crazy from the excitement! They shouted advice and encouragement to their friends.

The last event of the day was finally here and both the teams were tied. Because these teams were tied this event was what would decide who won the grand battle and the grand prize. This final event was tug of war. The game went on for nearly ten minutes. Both of these teams were not giving up. The crowd was going crazy and wanted their teams to win just as bad as the teams competing. The cats were running in circles around the arena because they couldn't sit still from all the excitement. The dogs were concentrated on giving the Hip Hoppers all the advice and motivation possible.

The Hip Hoppers and Sly Sneakers finally started to tire out, and one team had to give up. The Sly Sneakers could no longer hold on so in unison they all let go. This caused the Hip Hoppers to all fall back on top of each other. The animals in the crowd were in utter shock. All the dogs rushed onto the field to help the Hip Hoppers up from their fall. The cats in the crowd ran to console the Sly Sneakers. The arena was now a very crowded place with all the animals in it. The cats and the dogs started fighting and talking badly about each other. Fido and Lily went into the pile of animals to try and calm them all down. They were unable to help the situation and eventually got involved with the fighting as well. From this day on cat and dog have never liked each other. They are often still seen competing for the attention of humans and competing for objects and food.

Author's note:
This story is based on two Khasi folktales. These stories both describe different ways these animals came to live with humans.

The first story is "How the Cat Came to Live With Man." This story is about a cat who has a lion as a brother. The lion is not nice to the cat and one day the cat meets a group of nice children that pet her and treat her well. The cat ends up running away and staying with the children after her brother gets really mad at her. This is how cats came to live with man.

The second story is "How the Dog Came to Live With Man." A dog goes to an annual gathering where dogs from all over bring goods and food. This dog gets made fun of for what he brings to the gathering because it smells bad. The dog confides in a human about being made fun of. He becomes very fond of this human and continues to live with him because all the dogs treated him badly. This is how dog came to live with man.

I thought it would be interesting to add to these stories and make a story about dogs and cats instead of their relation to humans. Both of these stories are about the animals going against their own species. I wanted to make a story about them sticking together with their own kind.


Bibliography: How the Cat Came to Live With Man and How the Dog Came to Live With Man, Folktales of the Khasis, by Mrs K.U. Rafi, 1920.

Reading Diary Week 5 - Khasi Folktales Unit Continued

Khasi Folktales Unit, By: Mrs. K.U. Rafy

These story's went along with the same themes as the first set of stories. I noticed that there are a lot of Lions in these stories. For the most part they all have animals as the main characters in them too.

What Caused the Shadows on the Moon - There were 4 brothers and sisters of the moon. The older of the siblings were not as pretty or good as the younger 2 siblings. One of the older brothers goes off and betrays his family, and hangs out with the wrong people. When he returns home his mom throws ash in his face because of all his wrong doings. This ash has stayed till this day and thats why there are dark spots on the moon.

What Makes the Lightening - There is a big feast/gathering with all the animals. Thunder is the one who summons everyone to the feast. Thunder asks to hold Lynx's sword, and he moves the sword so fast that it flashes and almost like a flame blinds everyone. All the animals ran away in fear, and thunder and lightening have always gone hand and hand to this day.

The Lazy Tortoise - This Tortoise is very lazy and dirty. A star falls in love with her and comes down to earth and marries her. He could not see her laziness and dirty body from the sky. The star tries to get the Tortoise to change her ways, but she doesn't, and the star leaves his wife. The Tortoise begs for the start to return, but he never does.

How Cat came to Live with Man - This story was interesting because I really like the story about how dog came to live with man. This was a different story but had similar themes. The cats older brother is a lion, and he is mean to her. She runs off to find fire for her brother, but doesn't return because she finds loving children to play with and gets caught up with them. Her brother gets angry with her so she runs back to the humans, and had stayed with them ever since.

(Cat and Human - Wikimedia)

Reading Diary Week 5 - Khasi Folktales Unit

Khasi Folktales Unit, By: Mrs. K.U. Rafy

I really liked the stories in this section. They were all about animals, and just fun easy reads. For the most part each story has some type of lesson, such as fairytales and kids story's usually do.

The Tiger and the Monkey - This story shows the lesson that smarts and wit are more powerful than strength and fear. The monkeys trick the lion, and they end up winning in the end.

Lei Tree story - The smallest bird saves all of mankind. Again in this story it shows that smarts and paying attention to the things around you is more helpful/can make more of a change than just strength. These strong woodcutters would have never been able to do it without this one small bird. I also found it interesting that a lion licks the tree each night to heal it.

Hunting the stag lapalang - This was a sad story. It has the theme of true unconditional motherly love. It also shows that the child should have listened to his mother, because danger happened when he was away from his mom. His mom had good reason to worry.

The goddess Ka Ngot and Ka Iam- The more boastful and prideful of the sisters loses in the end. The more quiet sister takes the safer path and wins. This teaches us the lesson to be humble and not arrogant.

How the dog came to live with man - I love dogs so I loved this story. I think this is an interesting concept for a story and might be interested in writing my own story about how I think dog and man became friends. The dog gets shunned by his own kind and turns to a human man to tell about his sorrows. They become a great hunting team and help out each other.

(Dog and Man - Flickr)