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)