Week 6 Storytelling: Where Do I Belong

(flickr)

Once upon a time there lived a little ape. He was not just like any ape in jungle. He was unique and very special. He lived on an island very far east and close by to the Great Sea. The island that he lived on was called Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. In fact, it was on the main rock mountain of the island that this special little ape was born. The main thing that made this little guy so unique was the fact that he was literally hatched form an egg.

As a young ape he was so full of life. He spent everyday enjoying himself and playing around on the mountain tops. His favorite things to do included rolling down the mountains and chasing all of the tropical birds and butterflies that flew around the jungle. He thought he was on top of the world. He grew up alone in the jungle but he loved his life there.

He didn’t realize he was different until he met some other apes on the island and came to find out that they were not born from eggs. He suddenly felt very ashamed of himself and was embarrassed that he was not like everyone else. He struggled with the fact that he felt like he did not fit in with the rest of the apes. He would try to hang out with them, but he always felt judged and unwanted.

One day all of the young apes were spending time with their mothers, and that was the moment he decided to give up trying to fit in because he did not have a mother. All he had was a lonely cracked egg shell. That’s when he made the decision to go away and go back to his hill. This ape was done trying to be like the other apes in the jungle. However, now that he was alone again he still was not happy, but he did not know why.

A couple of weeks went by, then one day he had a visitor. One of the other apes had come looking for him. He said that they had all noticed his absence and they missed him and they wanted him to come home. He was so shocked by this! He had never been missed before nor had ever though of a place as home. He immediately hugged the other ape and agree to go back down the mountain with him.

Authors Note: I wrote this story to give a deeper explanation of how life was like growing up for the ape in the story the Handsome King of the Apes. I thought the soon to be king needed to be understood a little bit better. 

Bibliography: This story is based on the story Handsome King of the Apes. This story is part of the The Monkey King unit. Story source: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Week 6 Reading Diary, Continued: The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung

For the second part of my reading diary I decided to read about Asian mythology. I read The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung. Story source: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921). Below of the two stories from my reading that I found to be the best.

Handsome King of the Apes: I enjoyed this story because it shows how the monkey came to be and his beginning. The story begins by being extremely detailed and allows the reader to really envision the island and what it is like. The the story takes an interesting story when it says that the ape was hatched from an egg. Obviously I was very surprised by this because I have never heard of such a thing. I liked that even though this ape was special that he still got along well with the other tribe of apes. I feel like this story continues on with a theme I’ve been reading in stories where there is some sort of competition between animals to decide who becomes king.

(the waterfall)

The Great Sea: this story jumps forward the ape who was hatched from an egg already became king and was now respected. I found myself wondering what it was like when he first became king and how he coped with that new responsibility. I think overall this was a very good story and I think it was told in a very detailed way.

Week 6 Reading Diary: Brer Rabbit

For this reading diary I decided to focus on Brer Rabbit. Joel Chandler Harris's series of books of Brer Rabbit tales (almost two hundred stories in total) is one of the most important resources we have for African-American folklore study. For my diary I chose two stories that I found to be the most interesting.

(illustration by A. B. Frost)

Why Mr. Possum Loves Peace: all of the stories of Brer Rabbit were extremely difficult to understand. I found myself reading this story out loud multiples times to still just barely grasp the meaning. I found this one to be a little more interesting than the rest of the stories because it involved a wide variety of characters, and once again they were animals. I have established many times in the blog that I immediately like a blog more because it includes animals. Once again this statement in true here. I really enjoyed Mr. Possum because I feel like he is very kind, as well as being grounded and thoughtful.

A Story about the Little Rabbits: once again I could barely understand this story because of the language and the way that it was translated. However, overall it was a very good story about cute little rabbits so that made the struggle of reading it much more worthy. I do not think that I will continue to read these stories because I am not able to get as much out of them as I would hope because of the difficulties of reading. The story was very unique in the way it was written.

Thoughts and Comments

Hey Everyone!

As I look back on all of the past comments I have received I have realized that I have received some pretty amazing comments. Everyone in this class is so nice and encouraging. I think comments are especially engaging whenever they reference something specific in the story. I think comments would be a little bit better if they offered some advice or critiques for the author. 

Thanks so much for all of the comments!

Looking forward to see your future comments.

-Kristine :)

Storytelling for Week 5: Vote for King

Once upon a time there was a huge jungle, and it was filled with hundreds of animals running around in the foliage. Now these animals were of all sizes and had the freedom to do and say as they please. Throughout the years the jungle had many arguments between the different animals. These arguments were usually solved through physical fights, which always got pretty intense and brutal. The worst fight was when a cheetah was caught stealing food from a tiger. Or these disagreements were never solved, and that was even worse because it caused the jungle to become divided.

After many years of spending their life like that, day in and day out, some of the animals found themselves beginning to have hope for change, especially those animals that were both small and weak. The animals wanted peace, and they wanted to be able to walk about the jungle without having to fear their enemies. It didn’t take long for the whispers of peace to travel through the jungle, and very soon it was a single wish that almost all of the animals in the jungle collectively possessed. Peace was in their mind and nothing would stop them from making it a reality. They were just not sure how to make it happen. All of the different types of animals in the jungle were in disagreement on how best to gain peace, and no one was stepping up.

A few weeks of disagreements went by and there had still been no change, and the animals were still fighting amongst each other. Up until now there had only been hopeful rumors of change. Finally, the monkeys decided to take charge and they called a meeting in the center of the jungle. They requested to have one representative from each type of animal attend the meeting. The meeting took place the following day. All of the animals sat in a circle with the monkeys in the middle. Each animal sent to the meeting was the most respected and wisest of its kind, and they were all confused about what they were doing there because there had never been an organized meeting in the jungle before.

The monkeys opened the meeting by explaining that this group was the elite of the jungle and would now be known as the council. They made it clear that this was how they proposed that the council made the decisions for the jungle from now on because it was the only way to have a representative from everyone in the jungle. Everyone else agreed unanimously. However, they still needed a king among the council, and everyone had an opinion about who this leader would be. 

(flickr)

After a lot of disagreements, the council settled on three nominations. In the running for the king was the head monkey, the tiger, and the turtle. The monkey was an option because some of the animals thought the monkeys were smart enough to come up with the idea of the council, so they should be able to lead. The tiger was nominated because he was strong and would intimidate against enemies or thoughts of rebellion or attack. Finally, the turtle was nominated because he was one of the oldest in the jungle therefore he was the wisest and the most experienced.

The decision was set to a vote. All of the animals raised their paw for the animal they thought was best fit to lead. It was a quiet vote without too much discussion because there was a winner by a large majority. By the end of the vote they had a king. King Tiger made his debut as the leader and everyone finally saw peace in the future.

Author's Note:I wrote this story, Vote for King, as a prequel to the story "The Tiger and the Monkeys." It was my way of showing how the tiger became the king of the jungle. The original story just simply stated that there was a council in the jungle but never told how this came to be. I wanted to bring this part of the story to life in order to give the original story more substance and make it a little bit more believable. The original story focused on rebellion and trickery from the monkeys. The king heard a beautiful singing voice and made it known that he would marry the woman the voice belonged to. The monkeys tricked King Tiger into believing the voice belonged to one of their sisters. Once the king decided to marry her he found out it had all been a trick, and that the monkeys had been plotting to attack the king. The story ended with yet another bloody fight in the jungle and King Tiger being forever afraid of the monkeys. I would think the next part of the story would tell about an impeachment of the tiger and a new vote for king.

Bibliography: This story is based on the story, The Tiger and the Monkeys. This story is part of the Khasi Folktales unit. Story source: Folk-Tales of the Khasis by Mrs. K. U. Rafy (1920). 

Week 5 Reading Diary, Continued: Khasi Folktales

As I continued my second reading diary for the week, I decided to switch gears and begin learning about the Khasi Folktales. The Khasi people live primarily in Meghalaya state in India and also in the neighboring nation of Bangladesh. The stories were collected in the early 20th century and cover a wide range of topics.

The Tiger and the Monkeys: this story immediately caught my attention. First because it was about animals. Then, I was intrigued because I realized it was about the monkeys trying to pull a fast one on their king, the tiger. It made since that the tiger was the king since he is so powerful. I found it very odd that all of the animals were able to hear such a small insect singing in the wild. When the monkey said the voice belonged to his younger sister, I was surprised that the tiger believed this and that it somehow led to marriage.

(tiger, photo by T. Hisgett)

How the Dog Came to live with Man: once again attracted to this story because of my love of dogs. Once again the tiger is given a title in the story, being the governor. I didn’t find this very unusual. It happened very casual and all of a sudden that the dog decided to leave the jungle and be an attendant to man. It didn’t take long for the man and wife to warm up to the dog and start giving him leftovers from dinner like a modern day family would do.

Week 5 Reading Diary: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories

For my reading diary this week I decided to focus on Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories. The selection of stories is from Mackenzie's Egyptian Myth and Legend, and it includes both mythology and folklore. The book consists of the retelling of Egyptian legends, and not direct translations of the ancient Egyptian texts. 

(The God Ra)

Creation: I personally found this story very interesting because I saw it as kind of a directory of all of the Gods and Goddesses in ancient Egypt. The story really introduced a lot of Gods and Goddesses and told what they are known for. Since I am not very familiar with ancient Egypt, this was extremely helpful for me. Ra is the Creator and he is overall the most important person because according to Egyptians he made Earth and Heaven and pretty much gave us life. To me he is the most interesting God of all.

The Sun’s Journey: the story began in kind of a dark manner speaking of slaughter and I was not really sure what to expect for the remainder of the story. When I think of the sun God I think of happiness so I was taken a little off guard. The story took a huge turn when it showed Ra getting praise from everyone and all of the higher ups. It shows that he is loved and is the light and the happiness that I expected him to be. Overall, the story was pretty challenging for me to understand. Like I said above I am not familiar with ancient Egyptian stories so reading the language was challenging for me.

Storytelling for Week 4: The Life of a Fish

(Flickr)

Once upon a time deep in the lake there lived a little fish named Frank. The lake was filled with hundreds and hundreds of exciting and interesting fish of all shapes and colors. All of the fish were very friends and Frank had many friends. He lived alone and loved to swim around the lake and do a lot of exploring. He was a very adventurous fish, and was always trying to experience new things.

One day as Frank was taking a casual swim about the lake he noticed a weird shadow come about in the water. As he looked up to the surface he knew it was coming from the outside. Since he is a very curious fish he knew he had to investigate so he quickly swam up to the surface and looked out. To his surprise is a was a man, and then suddenly that man chucked an object into his lake. Frank stared at the man and when the man finally noticed Frank, he smiled and nodded. Frank took this gesture as the man saying he would not harm him and that he was a friend.

Frank had never experienced this form of kindness from a human before. Usually they only visit the lake to pollute it or to cause raucous that disturbs all of the fish in the lake. Frank immediately decided to investigate the object the man threw into the lake. He came upon the object with hesitation. It was a large, tan, and round object that smelt delicious. He eventually found the courage to taste this object and found it to be delicious bread! Frank had eaten bread before but none so delicious and he had never seen so much of it. He was so amazed and thankful for the man and his kindness, and to Frank he would forever now be known as the baker because of the delicious bread he made.

Frank bought the bread back to the rest of the fish in the lake and he was seen as a hero. Everyone was in awe when he told them the tale of the nice baker. Then, to his surprise the baker returned every single day and discarded another loaf of bread. Frank and the baker had truly become friends and they saw each other every as it became tradition that Frank would need him and retrieve the bread.

However, one day the baker seemed very distraught and Frank was concerned about his friend. He knew something was wrong so he stayed close to the surface for the rest of the day in case anything happened to the baker. Soon he saw the baker on top of a cliff over looking the lake. He stood there for a very long time and Frank was very confused about what he was doing. He quickly went and got the rest of the fish in the lake to get their opinion. When they returned to the surface the baker was still on the cliff, but now he was on the edge above the lake. Then all of a sudden he leaped off the cliff. Frank didn’t know why he was doing this but he knew he had to help! On his order he and the rest of the fish formed a raft and actually caught the baker and let his go to safety on the other side of the lake. The baker looked at Frank in amazement, and their friendship was stronger than ever. They and found a great friend in each other.

Authors Note: I wrote this story, The Life of a Fish, in the perspective of the fish. It shows his side of the story and how him and his friends saved the bakers life.

Bibliography: This story is based on The Story of the Baker and the Grateful Fish. It is part of the Persian Tales unit. Story source: Persian Tales, translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer and illustrated by Hilda Roberts (1919).

Week 4 Reading Diary, Continued: Santal Folklore

For this diary I have decided to read stories from the unit Santal Folklore. The stories in this unit come from an enormous collection of Santal stories translated into English by C. H. Bompas. Below are the stories that I found to be most interesting and worth sharing to my readers.

The Monkey and the Girl: this was a very unique story. It first caught my attention because it was about monkeys, and as I have previously stated in my blog I love animals. Once I started reading the story it took an odd turn with a girl wanting to marry a monkey. This is very unlike fairy tales in the United States because the girls in those tales always marry a prince charming. Then, the story got really dark really quickly with the girl being burned alongside her monkey love. The moral of the story was that the girl had a monkey heart and that explained why she was so infatuated with the monkey in the first place. 

(sati / suttee ceremony)

The Tiger’s Bride: this story started off strange as well because a woman needed help and for some reason the only option was to marry off her daughter in exchange for help. This story has a lot in common with the story above because once again the girl was married off to an animal. In this story it was a tiger. Once again, the story grew dark because the bride ran away and the tiger was beaten by his friends until he ran away as well. Neither of these stories had a happy ending and they seem like more of a warning.

Week 4 Reading Diary: Persian Tales

For this reading diary I decided to focus on Persian Tales. I read a collections of fairy tales translated from the Kermani and Bakhtiari dialects of the Persian language by David Lorimer and his wife Emily Lorimer when they were living in Iran during the 20th century.

The Shepherd Who Found a Treasure: This was an interesting fairy tale. It was a little complicated to follow and was slow getting started, but once you understood what was going on it was very compelling. My only complaint is that he didn’t share the treasure with the other shepherd who had the dream. I think it was selfish and dishonest of him to keep is all for himself.

The Story of the Baker and the Grateful Fish: This was my favorite story. It had many different layers to it because there was trickery, kindness, and revenge. It did a good job of encompassing all of that. I like that the fish saved the baker because he was kind to them by feeding them bread every single day. They repaid him in a very decent way by saving his life in the river. I think this teaches the lesson of “treat someone the way that you want to be treated.” I also like how he got payback on his old master in the exact some way that he was once betrayed. However, the master was not able to be saved because he was never kind to anyone or anything so no one was kind to him back.

(Blog)

Storytelling for Week 3: The Plot to Kidnap

One dark and stormy night there was a band of robbers sitting alone in a pub pondering what to do with their lives. They had just traveled hours after robbing an old far in the middle of no where. However, the job didn’t pay much. They only got food from the far, about one hundred dollars, a lazy donkey, and middle aged horse. Right before they left the far they noticed an old woman by the window who had seen everything. The robbers had no choice but to take her with them. The old woman was now sitting near by in the pub so that the robbers could keep their eye on her.

The robbers knew that this job wouldn’t hold them over for much longer than a week, and that soon they’d be back to struggling to find food and stay alive. They needed money and they needed it fast. 

(Flickr)

They fast at the pub drinking their beers and silently thinking. They were the smartest bunch; after all they were robbers. Finally, the smallest one spoke up with an idea. He had decided that they needed to do one huge job that would pay off big and quick. However, he didn’t really have the details planned out on how to go about this.

Then, another lad spoke up reminding the rest of the men that there was a wedding tomorrow in the next city over, and that is was a very rich family. At that moment they were all thinking the same thing. They were going to kidnap the bride and hold her for ransom. The thought of this freighted all of them because until then they had only been involved in small crime like robberies. Kidnapping was a whole other level but they didn’t have a choice. They needed to do this in order to survive. They knew her parents would pay just about anything to get her back safely.

They had no time to prepare or plan. They needed to head for the city now because it would be about a day’s travel on foot. They were confident that they had the strength and man power in order to make this job successful, and they would figure out the rest on the way.

Authors Note: I wrote this story, The Plot to Kidnap, as a prequel to the story The Captive Woman. It is about how the robbers in the story plotted to kidnap the girl, and also how they came to travel with the old woman and the magical donkey. I wrote this because I had questions when I was reading this story so I answered my own questions.

Bibliography: This story is based on the story The Captive Woman from the Unit: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche, written by Apuleius and translated here into English by Tony Kline.

Week 3 Reading Diary, Continued: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche

As I continued my Reading Diary for Week 3 I decided to focus on Apuleius’s Cupid and Psyche, which is from a Roman Novel, The Golden Ass, written by Apuleius and translated into English by Tony Kline. Below are the two stories that I found most interesting.

The Captive Woman: When I first heard of Apuleius’s Cupid and Psyche I thought it seemed like a common fairy tale. However, to my surprise it started out nothing like that at all! This first part of the story was extremely dark with a girl being help captive for ransom. The language was much more horrific than any fairy tale I had ever read before. I found myself wondering why these men needed to kidnap this girl for money and what brought them to this earlier in their life. I think it was a really good way to set the story up because it definitely did get my attention and left me wondering what was going to happen to the girl and the old woman. I was also curious to find out why the old woman was with them in the first place.

Her Dream: This particular story tugged at my heart strings and really gave me an emotional connection with the girl as I learned more about her story. The story started seeming a little more similar to fairy tales I had read in the past when I learned that she was taken from her wedding which is something I have heard before. I really felt bad for her when she said she had dreamed of her beloved dying, and I was curious about what the fate of her fiancé was.

(Cupid and Psyche, Roman sarcophagus)

Week 3 Reading Diary: Alice in Wonderland

For my reading diary this week I decided to focus on the stories of Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll.

Down the Rabbit Hole: I have seen the movie many times since childhood. As I began to read it was very interesting because I was very aware of the differences from the movie. Alice falling down the rabbit hole was a huge part of this story and described in such detail. I remember it in the story as happening very quickly. I feel like the written story painted much more of a picture for the reader and really kept my attention at all times. I find myself wishing I hadn’t seen the movie before I read the stories. It’s not as fun to read knowing what is going to happen next.

(Illustration by Sir John Tenniel)

Advice from a Caterpillar: When I was a kid the caterpillar was always my least favorite character because for some reason I thought he was a little creepy. As I am reading this story now I do not really find him creepy, instead I find him much more mellow. However, he is still one of my least favorite characters in the story. I still find it very odd that the caterpillar is smoking hookah. It is a children’s story and hookah does not really promote a good behavior, which makes the caterpillar a bad role model. It was interesting because I did not remember the caterpillar being the one to make Alice grow so it was interesting to read something unexpected.