Week 10 Reading Diary: American Indian Fairy Tales

As I continued reading Native American stories for Week 10 I had many topics to choose from. I chose to focus on American Indian Fairy Tales. I chose this because I thought it would be a little bit more relatable to me. This unit contains stories inspired by the Ojibwa and other Native American legends collected and published by Henry Schoolcraft in the early 19th century.

(Iagoo)

Iagoo, the Story-Teller: as the story began I found myself becoming very interested with Iagoo. I was eager to learn more about a character who was so powerful and wise. He seems like the perfect character and role models for young children. I liked how he is all knowing of all fairy tales and stories and he continuously passes them on. This story is kind of the set up for the entire book as the stories in the book are ones that Iagoo will soon share.

The Fairy Bride: I found this story to be very interesting. I am a sucker for a good love story so I was drawn to this story when I saw the title. I love reading about weddings! The story begins by saying who Neen-i-zu is. She is a wonderful girl who is extremely popular throughout the tribe. I gained more intrigue in the story once fairies were introduced. Overall, I think that this was a particularly great story. It had everything that fairy tales are supposed to have. It had romance, and magic. It kept my interest through the whole thing.

Storytelling for Week 9: FIRE

(flickr)

There it was, lying in front of them. This was the mysterious phenomenon the animals have all been waiting for. It flickered constantly, was a bright orange color that they had never seen before, and moved so elegantly in the wind as it blew. The water spider had just brought back fire in her bowl, and now all of the animals were sitting in a circle around the fire and just staring blankly into the flames. They all heard of the great flames that arrived and knew they must have it, but no one really understood why they were all obsessing over it. They had accomplished their goal of obtaining the fire but what was next? No one knew what to do with this so called “fire.” So they continued to stare at it for hours and hours. They were amazed by the glory of the flame and the bright future that it represented. They did not realize it at the time but at that exact moment they were having the very first campfire.

Finally, the water spider stepped forward and proposed they investigate the fire. This came as no shock to the other animals because the water spider was the only animal able to successfully return with fire, and was therefore seen as the bravest animal. It seemed only fitting that she was the one who tested out the fire and figure out its capabilities.

All of the other animals watched the spider with suspense as she approached the bowl, and everyone stayed silent as she did. She reached out one of her legs and slowly moved it toward the fire. Moments later she shot backwards with a scream. It did not take her long to figure out the that fire was extremely hot and would burn things. The animals knew then that fire was not something to be messed with. Fire was dangerous but it was also curious to them because it the colors and the way it flickered was so beautiful to them. It was the first time that they had experienced something that was both dangerous and beautiful.

After being burned the spider talked about this hot feeling the fire provided. With great caution the spider approached the fire again. She knew to not get close enough to touch it but just close enough to feel the heat. She described the feeling as being the sun at night. She said it was comforting and warm. This immediately provoked the other animals to want to feel the heat. They all lined up for the chance to get close to the fire. Each time a new animal stepped up to the fire they seemed very nervous but then every time they walked away from the fire they had this calm look of happiness on their face.

It did not take them very long to realize they could grow the fire in size to serve more creatures at once. There was a lot they still had to learn about the fire, but they were excited to do so. Everyone was amazed by the effects of the fire and were instantly grateful they had it in their life and for forever.

Author's Note: I wrote my story, FIRE, is based on and created for the story, The First Fire. The original story is about fire being place on Earth for the first time. In the story there are a wide variety of animals who take turns to go to the fire and try to retrieve it from a far away place. After a lot of attempts, a water spider is finally successful, and she brings back fire for all of the animals. The original story ends by just saying that she brought fire and they forever have fire. We never learn much detail about their life with fire. In my story I wanted to show how the animals reacted to the fire and what they first thought of it. I realized that it would be absurd to just assume that the animals would know what to do with the fire. The readers needed to know how the dealt with it. So I did not decide to change anything in my story, but instead I wrote an explanation and detail to make the original story a little bit more credible. I think readers will be able to understand the original better after reading my story.

Bibliography: This story is part of the Cherokee Myths unit. Story source: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900). It is based on the story, The First Fire.

Week 9 Reading Diary, Continued: Myths of the Cherokee

As I continued my reading diary for this week, I decided to switch gears and read stories from the Myths of the Cherokees. The stories are all told by James Mooney and they are based on the stories told in the Cherokee tribe long ago. I found all of the stories to be very interesting, but below are a couple of the ones I found to be the best.

The First Fire: I found it very interesting to see the beginning of fire from an animal’s point of view. This story told their first reactions, what they made of it, and how they felt about it. It said one day the fire was sent down by lightening and that the animals sent a council of animals to go check it out. I would be interested to learn more about the council. No one was brave enough to bring back fire because they were all scared of the flame. I thought it was surprising the the water spider ended up being the hero in the story.

(owl)

The Owl Gets Married: I particularly liked this story because it went along with my readings from Tuesday, Native American Marriages. Once again it is a human marrying an animal. In this story it is a young woman finding love with an owl. The owl was the only suitor who was a good enough hunter to please the young girls mother. Overall, I think it was a very interesting story and showed a lot about the Cherokee culture.

Week 9 Reading Diary: Native American Marriage Tales

For Week 9 we were told to focus on Native American stories and I decided to read the Native American Marriage Tales. Stith Thompson's anthology, Tales of the North American Indians, was a pioneering work in comparative studies of Native American storytelling. This reading selection contains Thompson's stories of animal brides and animal husbands, along with some fairytale-type stories that are a blending of European and Native American storytelling styles.

The Piqued Buffalo Wife: First of all, this reading continues with my animal theme I have been doing for all my readings and storytellings. I really enjoyed this story because it focuses on emotions with animals are how the buffalo is related and involved in a boys life. I have connected buffalos to Native Americans but I never knew the reason for this. I had always just seen pictures. Now, from this story I have a greater understanding of that relationship and what it means to the tribes.

(headdress of the Matoki Society; photo by Edward Curtis)

The Dog Husband: once again going along with the animal theme. Dogs are my favorite animals so it is no surprise that this story stood out to me. Different from the story above, this story is about a young girl and a dog as opposed to a young boy and a buffalo. It is another great story about that relationship and bond. However, this story has a lot of heart ache with her parents and family not agreeing and respecting her and the dogs love. Overall I think it was a very interesting read.

Tech Tip: Blogger Template

For my first Tech Tip I decided to customize my blog a little bit by changing the template and making it look a little bit more like me! I decided to change the colors from the orange scheme to pink. I never liked the orange, but I was always too lazy to figure out how to change it. Now I like looking at my blog a lot more! 

Reading Plans: Week 9 - 10

I find Native American tales to be very interesting, especially since we go to school in Oklahoma and the history is so rich here. 

When exploring the reading options for Week 9-10, two units caught my attention.

1. Marriage Tales: I chose this topic because all of the tales are about marriage between animals, and I have been enjoying reading a lot of the animal stories in this class.
2. American Indian Tales: I want to read this unit because they are a collection of children's fairy tales, and I want to see how they similar and different to fairy tales today. 

(flickr)

Blog Ideas

After reviewing my blog I realized that there are a lot of ways that I could improve my blog. My blog is not very personalized, so I have a lot of room for improvement in that area. My layout needs to be renovated because I never changed it from the generic option I was given when first setting up my blog.

The following people had really great layouts for their blogs and have given me a lot of ideas:

Macey Davis

Adrienne Crawford

Ally

Managing My Time

One of the most important things I have realized while taking this course is how to manage my time. There are so many deadlines that it is extremely important not to fall behind. 

However, since I am a senior I have a very light load when it comes to school work. So I have found that the best strategy for me is to sit down every night before bed and do an assignment. I spend close to an hour every night, but that works for me because this class is really the only homework I ever have. 

I am going to continue with this strategy for the second half of the semester!

(flickr)

Storytelling for Week 7: In Search for Love

(flickr)

One dark and gloomy day there was a very particular beautiful cat named Gon, who was pondering his existence. He lived with his young master whom he loved most dearly. His master was a musician and Gon liked to spend his days listening to him play. Their house was very nice and cozy, and it was right in the middle of a very small town in Japan. Their house was not particularly big, but it was in no means small. Got and his master lived very comfortably. Gon had a very good life. He was given treats whenever he pleased, he had a roasting fire to lay by, birds to chase, constant attention and petting from his master, and most importantly a roof over his head to sleep. In fact, Gon was treated like an absolute king by his master. However, he was never truly happy because it always seemed like something was missing from his life. He tried desperately to make himself happy, but he could not figure out exactly what was missing from his life until that gloomy day at home.

As Gon sat inside his nice house, he curled up near the window and watched the outside. He sat there for hours upon hours seeing people come and go all day. He did this most days so it was not a special occasion. Then it happened.

He watched as a man sat upon a bench and Gon saw his look at the town and watch the people, just like he was doing from behind the window. The man looked content but not necessarily happy. Then, a young woman approached the man and sat down next to him. She looked at him kindly before grabbing his hand and giving him a kiss. This young woman completely changed the man's emotions because now he was filled with joy and smiling ear to ear. It was clear to Gon that this man and woman were in love.

It was that very moment that Gon realized what was missing in his life. He wanted another cat to love, and he was sure that would make him happy. Now he just needed to figure out how to make this a reality. He meowed by the back door day in and day out for over a week in hope that his master would let him outside to explore the town. Gon knew there was no way he would meet a pretty cat just lying around the house.

A few days later he got his chance! His master had walked out the front door to pick up his mail. He did it the same way he did every single day. However, this specific day he accidentally left the door a little cracked open. Gon was ecstatic and pushed through the door with his nose. He trotted around the perimeter of the house and it wasn’t long before he saw her. Standing a little way down in front of the neighbor’s house was the most beautiful cat he had ever seen. She had white fur that looked like silk. She looked like an angel, and to his surprise she was staring at him too, with a twinkle in her eye. It was fate. He ran towards her and it was love at first meow. He had found Koma, and the rest was history.

Author's Note: This story is based on a story from that I read in the Japanese Fairy Tales, called The Cat's Elopement. The original story was very interesting and enjoyable to read. It is about two cats Gon and Koma. A handsome cat named Gon, belonging to a music teacher, and a lovely cat named Koma, belonging to a lady, met and fell in love. Neither of their owners would sell one of them to the other owner, and they finally decided to elope. In the evening, they were threatened by a dog; Koma fled up a tree, while Gon stood his ground to protect her; a servant came by and carried off Gon to his mistress, the princess. A snake had fallen in love with this princess, and annoyed her with its visits. One day, when it came to annoy her once again, Gon pounced on it and killed it. After, he saw a large cat harassing a smaller one. He went to rescue the small cat and found it was Koma. He brought her to the princess and told her their story. She wept with sympathy and kept them with her; when she married a prince, she told him their story, and the prince agreed to keep them always, so they lived happily, with their many kittens playing with the prince and princess's many children. I decided to write this story to explain how he met Koma and why he needed her in his life. I decided I wanted to make the need for love and affection in Gon’s life a little greater. I did not feel the need to tell the rest of the story because the original did such a good job of that in the first place. It was very hard to make an already great story any better. I though instead of changing a big part in the story, that instead I would just write a great amount of detail to the beginning of the story.

Bibliography: This story is part of the Japanese Fairy Tales unit. Story source: The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1897). It is from the story The Cat's Elopement.

Week 7 Reading Diary, Continued: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang)

As I continued with my week seven reading diary I thought it would be best to continue reading the Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang). I began reading the stories in Reading B and I found many of them interesting. These Japanese fairy tales retold by Andrew Lang. Both of the stories that I chose to highlight are from The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1903).

The Crab and the Monkey: First of all, the title confused me because I was unsure about how a jungle animal and a sea creature would ever come to interact. The story came to make sense when I learned that the crab did not live by the sea and instead lived by there mountain where it would be able to interact with a monkey who lived in a tree. The story was very pleasant at first and showed the crab and the monkey being kind of acquaintance as they shared food. However, it took a turn when they monkey cheated the crab out of the good fruit and they were enemies ever since.

The Magic Kettle: This story too was set in the mountains. We never learn how the old man came upon this magic kettle, or how it got into his house. I was very excited to learn that the kettle actually transformed into a cute little animal that is called a tanuki. In the story the magic kettle became quite a sight to see. Many people were amazed by it and I can certainly see why!

(tanuki tea kettle)