Reading Diary Week 14: Fables of La Fontaine

This week I'm reading "Fables of La Fontaine" by Elizur Wright.

This week I'm reading "Fables of La Fontaine" by Elizur Wright and W.T. Larned in the European readings unit.

All of these stories in this unit were really fun to read. I kind of looked ahead at part B of the readings and thought that it was kind of cool how most of Wright's stories were about animals, but Larned had kind of a mixture of stories about people and animals, so they were really entertaining and enjoyable to read through. Since there were a lot of little rhymes and stories within each section, it made it really fun and easy to read.

One of my favorite stories in this unit is "Foolish People". The title caught my eye because I always think it's fun to read stories that describe people as being silly or foolish, so I thought that this one would be funny right off the bat. There are three different stories within this section, "The Hen With The Golden Eggs", "The Acorn and the Pumpkin" and "The Miller, His Son and the Ass", which was by far my favorite.

"The Miller, His Son and the Ass" is about a miller and his son going to the fair in order to sell their donkey. They put him on a pole in order to keep him smelling fresh so that people would want him, but no one was actually interested. A lot of people made fun of them and shamed them because they thought that they believed they were better than everyone else and, finally, the miller decided to not sell the donkey at all and just went home and did what he want.

(The miller, his son and the donkey)

Storytelling Week 13: Strelka Bar

The bartender noticed that the man who had been sitting at the bar for the past few hours just kept looking sadder and sadder. He was hesitant to go up and talk to him, especially since it was 1 am and he knew he had a lot of cleaning to do before he could go home, and he really didn't want to stay past 2 am. He went around gathering cups from the empty tables, and tidying up the almost empty bar, but couldn't shake the feeling that the man needed someone to talk to. He looked at the clock, saw that it was 1:30, sighed and went and sat on the stool next to the man.

"Hey man, are you okay? You look pretty upset"

The man looked up at him with tired, sad eyes, and said "I've made a really big mistake".

They sat in silence for a moment, then the man continued his story.

"I'm just so tired. So tired of being treated so poorly. My wife hates me and does everything she can to make my life miserable. On days that I know I'm going to be busy, I kindly ask her to make me breakfast, and she says no and calls me a thief. If I say that it's okay that she doesn't make me food, she does it and tells me to eat it all, but still calls me a thief. If I ask her to help me out on the farm, she refuses, but if I try to go do it, she goes out there to work and makes me leave her alone. I could only take so much hatred and so much misery in my life, so I took matters into my own hands.

I was out walking yesterday morning and picked berries. I came across a huge pit and was feeling very sorry for myself, and decided I thought my wife deserved to pay for the way she's treated me. I returned home and told her that she shouldn't go out and pick berries in the forest, which I, of course, knew she'd do because it was the exact opposite of what I told her. So she went out and I lured her into the pit, and she went in and couldn't get out. It just felt so nice to go home and not feel so unwanted. I had a quiet evening after, but started to realize that I should probably check on her. This morning, I went to the pit and put rope down, and much to my surprise, a demon came out, terrified. He said that an evil woman had eaten all of the other creatures down there. I was scared, so I dropped the demon down and came here. I just don't know what to do. I'm supposed to protect and cherish my wife, but I left her down in a pit, and I really don't feel bad about it. I don't want to be married to her anymore, but I also feel wrong keeping her in the pit forever, kind of. Well, maybe not, but I should, right? What do I do?"

The bartender was very perplexed and realized that the man was more sad at the thought of having his wife come home. He had heard about this evil woman and knew that the man was better off without her.

"I think that you need to do what makes you happy, even if it means leaving her down in the pit forever."

The man smiled and said "That's exactly what I was thinking."

So the man finished his drink, left the bar, and lived happily ever after without worrying about his evil wife.

(Men at a bar)

Bibliography: This story is based on the story "The Bad Wife" in Russian Folktales by W.R.S Ralston in the British Unit. 

Author's Note: This story stood out to me immediately because the wife hated her husband so much, but didn't seem to have any particular reason for doing so. She would do the opposite of what he said, for example, if he'd ask her to wake up early, she'd sleep late, if he wanted breakfast, she wouldn't cook it for him, but if he didn't want breakfast she would, and basically did anything she could to defy him. He was out sulking one day and found a pit, and decided he didn't want his wife in his life anymore. He decided to tell her to not go for a walk in the forest to pick berries, fully aware that she would do the opposite and go for a walk. He lured her out into the forest and trapped her in a pit. He went back and checked on her and ended up pulling out a demon who was terrified of his wife being down there, because she had eaten all of the other demons. I thought it would be fun to make it seem like the husband was drinking in a bar because he was sad that he got rid of his wife, when in reality he was just sad at the notion that he might need to bring her home.

Reading Diary Week 13: Russian Folktales Continued

This is the second half of the Russian Folktales by Ralston.

My favorite story from this second half was "The Headless Princess". I noticed the title almost immediately, because "The Headless Princess" would definitely make you look twice, and the whole ended up being really good.

There was a priest who had a son, and the son went every day to reading and writing lessons. He would pass by the palace on his walk home, and one day he saw the princess getting ready for bed. The way she got ready for bed, however, was very strange. She would take off her head, wash it, braid her hair, then put her head back on. The little boy, of course, was in awe about seeing the princess taking off her head.

He decided to tell everyone about what he had seen, and shortly after, the princess became incredibly ill. She told her father that in the event that she should die to make sure that the priest's son read the psalter over her for three nights. Sadly, the princess died and her father sent for the priest. He asked if he had a son, and when the priest said yes, he explained that his son would be reading the psalter over the princess.

The boy returned to his lessons the next day and complained to his teacher that he thought he was in a lot of trouble because he had to read the psalms over the princess who he believed was a witch. The old woman explained how he could trap and kill the witch should she try to attack him.

Sure enough, when he went to read over her body, she came out of the coffin, but couldn't do anything because he had done exactly what his teacher had told him to do.

The princess ended up face down in her coffin, her father found her and demanded to know what happened. The boy explained everything and the king had his daughter be disposed of properly to get rid of the witch, and rewarded the boy with a lot of money and land.

I thought this story was really mysterious and interesting to read.

(Evil Princess)

Reading Diary Week 13: Russian Folktales

This week I read Russian Folktales by Ralston.

There were so many good stories to choose from in the European Unit, but the Russian Folktales caught my eye pretty quickly and I wanted to read them, since I have never heard any of these tales before. I really enjoyed each and every one of the readings!

One of my favorite stories, however, was "The Bad Wife". The story is about a wife who is terrible to her husband. She constantly gripes at him, doesn't think he deserves anything good and did anything and everything to get on his nerves. The husband just kind of put up with her anger and let her do her own thing. The husband, however, caught on pretty quickly that his wife would just do the exact opposite of what he said, and used this to his advantage. He would tell her to not cook him pancakes, because "he didn't deserve them", and the wife would cook him pancakes because she thought that she was defying him.He would tell her to not go out and cut the hay, and once again, she would do it because she thought that it would make him mad. Even though it sometimes worked to his advantage, he was still upset that he had a wife that hated him so much.  He was very frustrated at the fact that she wouldn't just do something he asked, and decided to go out and pick berries. On his walk, he decided that he was ready to get rid of the wife who hated him so much. He returned home and told her to not go out in the woods to pick berries, so she did. He tricked her into going into a pit and left her there for eternity.

(Mad Wife)

Storytelling Week 12: The Quaker's Story

The quaker was very excited. He had prepared an elaborate meal and was very much ready to eat it. He turned around to look at his impressive spread and quickly realized that something was different about his table, and was very perplexed about it. Something was missing, and he couldn't figure out what it was. He thought must just be going crazy, his table seemed to have a full spread. He ran through a mental checklist, to make sure that nothing was actually missing and that it was all inside his head. He had his napkins, plates, silverware, meat, but something was definitely missing. He looked around, scratched his head, then finally he realized what was wrong. His bread and cheese was gone! That was his favorite part of every meal and it was nowhere to be found. How could it have just disappeared? He shrugged it off, thinking that he might have just forgotten to get it from the store, it had been a very long day and he was tired.

The next day, he walked home from work quickly. He was hungry, and made sure that he grabbed bread and cheese from the local market so that he could enjoy it with his meal. Once again, he laid everything out, turned around for one second, and his cheese and bread were gone again. He looked everywhere, but it was no where to be found. The quaker began to get angry and closely inspected the area around him to find clues as to who was taking his food. He looked closely at the floor and saw small dog prints. He realized he had there was a small hole in the wall on the other side of the kitchen, and that a dog must have been sneaking into his house at dinner time and making off with his cheese and bread. He kind of admired the dog for having the nerve to sneak into his house, but his admiration quickly turned into anger again.

(Dog stealing food)

The next night, he was determined to not let the animal take his food. He tried to cover the hole up, but didn't have any tools to do the job well, so he just thought that he would scare the dog away. He wasn't exactly sure what he would do should he confront the dog, but he was tired of his bread and cheese being taken. You see, his religion believed that you must not put your hands on any one of God's creatures, and he fully intended to follow that rule. He would just make sure that the dog didn't take the bread and cheese and hopefully scare him enough so that he never came back.

The man waited and waited, but there was no sign of the dog. He left his hiding spot to run to the bathroom, and when he returned he found the dog in the middle of his kitchen, bread in mouth. The dog froze, the quaker froze, and the two just stared at each other for a second, until the dog decided to make a run for it.

The quaker got very angry, probably more angry than he had ever been in his life. He started yelling after the dog, but after realizing it wasn't going to stop, he started chasing after it. He got angrier and angrier because he couldn't catch up with the dog. As he was running, he saw large sticks, and picked them up to throw at the dog in hopes that he would stop. All of a sudden, he tripped over a large tree branch, and broke all of his bones. After his accident, the quaker realized his mistake, and vowed to never chase after an animal again.

Bibliography: This is based off the story "The Dog and the Quaker" by Sir Brooke Boothby.

Author's Note: This week I read Aesop's Fables and was having kind of a hard time finding a story to write about since some of the fables are very hard to understand because of their language. I really liked the story "The Dog and the Quaker", so I decided to expand more on it. The story is about a quaker who constantly has his bread and cheese stolen by a dog. Normally, he might have punished the dog for taking his food, but the Quaker religion believes that no one should put their hands on one of God's creations. The Quaker religion really promotes finding non-violent solutions to problems, so the Quaker didn't actually believe in harming the dog at first. So, once he finds the dog, he tries yelling at it, but once that doesn't work, he resorts to throwing things at it and ends up breaking all of his bones. He kind of defies his religion and does what he wants and ends up suffering the consequences. It was fun to create an entire story about "The Quaker and the Dog" and elaborate as to why he might have been so upset by the dog taking his bread and cheese. I would think that I'd be pretty mad if my food was being stolen too. It was an interesting story and fun to write about!

Reading Diary Week 12 English Aesop Fables Cont.

This is the second half of the readings for the week over the English version of Aesop's Fables by Sir Roger L'Estrange,  Sir Brooke Boothby and James Davies.

The second half was probably my favorite part, simply because there were three whole sections over dogs. First of all, I found the titles of the different sections really funny. The title "Yet More Dogs" actually made me laugh out loud because I'm pretty sure the author was just thinking "Well, we have "Dogs" and "More Dogs", so might as well make the next one "Yet More Dogs"". I like how they used humor in naming each of the fables. My favorite section is probably "Dogs", because of the story "The Faithful House-Dog". 

"The Faithful House-dog" is about a man who tries to trick a dog to leave his owner's house. The dog isn't fooled though, and stays with is owners. I also really like the next story, "The Dog and the Crocodile". The crocodile tries to trick the dog so that he can eat him, but the dog is too smart and outsmarts the crocodile. 

(A man and his dog)

I also really liked the stories about the cats and weasels. I think it's interesting how the author kind of looped the two of them together. They are similar, yet so different. I thought that the story "The Battle of the Mice and Weasels" is really funny, because you don't really think of the two fighting. The thought of two little mice and weasel armies is really funny and entertaining. 

All of Aesop's Fables were really fun to read. I really enjoyed the British reading unit. 

Reading Diary Week 12: British Aesop Fables

This week I read the English version of Aesop's Fables by Sir Roger L'Estrange,  Sir Brooke Boothby and James Davies.

I really liked the English version of Aesop's fables and they were really fun to read. I thought it was really interesting that most of these stories had titles about animals, but then the stories that followed, which were often by different authors, just had "more" in front of the title. It's like they just picked up the last author's story from where they left off. For example, there is the story "Foxes", then the story right after it is "More Foxes".

My favorite story of Aesop's Fables is "Fables About People". I thought the story "The Dog and the Quaker" was really good and really unique. It was also really funny and I liked that the author made sure it rhymed, even if the words didn't really seem like they were in the right order. The story talks about a dog who stole a Quaker's bread and cheese. Normally, the man would have done something about it, but the Quaker religion didn't believe in people putting their hands on one of god's creatures, and if a person did that they would be punished, so he wasn't supposed to harm the dog. The man, however, was really upset that the dog stole his food and decided that he was going to punish the dog anyway. He yelled at the dog and ran after him, but ended up breaking his own bones.

I thought that this story was really humorous and entertaining and very fun to read.

(Man Chasing Dog)

Storytelling Week 11: What Happened To Jack's Wife?

"I'd like to start out by saying that I do love my wife. My actions may seem to prove otherwise, but I love her and this has just been a huge misunderstanding" Jack said quickly and nervously to the police officer. He was sweating profusely and didn't know if it was from the crazy London heat or how scared the police officer was making him. He kept thinking about the huge mistake he made and where his wife might be, which was making everything worse.

"Sir, you sold your wife. For a minikin pin. You essentially sold another human being, which is pretty illegal. Please explain how this is a misunderstanding and why I shouldn't take you to jail right now. Why would you do that to your wife?"

Jack fidgeted under the police officer's harsh stare. How could he explain that he didn't mean for this to happen? What if the police officer didn't believe him? He didn't want to go to jail. He just wanted to find his wife, take her home and forget that this entire thing ever happened.

Jack took a deep breath and began his story.

(Man being questioned by police)

"I had a very long day today. I had to work in the heat from 6 am to 6 pm, and I was just ready to go home and eat dinner and spend time with my wife. I got home, however, and she wanted to go out to dinner, because she too had a long day at work and didn't want either one of us to have to cook. I personally didn't want to leave the house, but I reluctantly agreed, and we headed out to one of our favorite neighborhood diners. We had a lovely meal and really enjoyed each other's company, as we always do, and talked out our days at work and caught up. We finished up our meal and, on our walk home, I saw a street vendor selling some unusual things. I have a strange habit of collecting objects that other people don't necessarily want, like I have a few old clocks sitting around, but none of them work so my wife just ends up getting mad at me -"

"Sir, please tell me how this is relevant to your story?" the police officer said in an exasperated tone.

"Oh yes, sorry. So anyway my wife just wanted to go home and really didn't want me buying anymore junk, but I insisted on stopping. We should...we should have just gone home. She finally agreed, but made me promise to only stay for a few minutes. I approached the vendor and saw that he had a strange collection of minikin pins, which are just small pins. He had multi-colored ones, which I just knew I needed for my collection. Here's where things started getting strange. He kept looking at my wife and it was making me very uncomfortable. I was trying to get out of there as quickly as possible, but still wanted the pins. He was jabbering on about how pretty he thought my wife was and how she should come visit him, and I kept trying to give him money but he wouldn't take it. I turned around for one second to grab the pin and he grabbed my wife and said that I had just traded the pin for her. He ran off and now I can't find them. I didn't actually sell my wife for the stupid pin, I was tricked. I just want to find my wife."

The officer looked bewildered for a minute and wasn't sure if he should actually believe the story. The man seemed sincere and was actually tearing up at the thought of his wife being gone.

"Sir, don't you know how crazy that story sounds?" the police officer said quietly.

"I know, but you have to believe me".

All of a sudden, the officer's partner wandered into the room and stated, "Another street vendor saw the vendor grab his wife and run off, so Jack is innocent. Sir, we are so sorry and are going to do everything we can to get your wife back".

Jack was elated and was led out to the waiting room until another detective could come get more information about his wife.

Bibliography: This story is based off of the poem about the man who sold his wife for a minikin pin in the British Nursery Rhymes Unit.

Author's Note: The rhyme about Jack selling his wife for a minikin pin is actually very short and gives very little detail about anything. The poem goes "Jack in the pulpit, out and in, sold his wife for a minikin pin". I thought that this rhyme was really funny and different since it does involve someone trading his wife for a minikin pin. Since it is so short and is only 14 words and gives very little background information or information about what happens in the future, I thought it would be fun to expand on it and turn it into a story. I'd like to think that Jack wouldn't really want to sell his wife for a minikin pin on purpose and would have done it on accident. It was kind of hard to come up with a way where someone could accidentally sell another person for an object, so it kind of made sense to turn it into a kidnapping story where Jack was tricked into giving his wife to the vendor for the pin. I'd assume that the police would have a hard time understanding why it happened, so having him questioned by the police seemed like a good place to start the story.

Reading Diary Week 11: Nursery Rhymes Continued

Today I did the second part of the British Nursery Tales readings by Andrew Lang.

The second half of this unit was really interesting. My favorite section was the "Love and Matrimony" rhymes, just because I always think that nursery rhymes about love are funny and unique. A lot of these rhymes were also kind of dark, which I thought was different because you'd think that nursery rhymes about love would be super upbeat and positive. I also didn't recognize most of the rhymes, besides Jack and Jill, so it was kind of cool to go through and read the different rhymes. many of these rhymes are short and sweet, which make them very easy and fun to read. The "Jack and Jill" rhyme was exactly the same as the one I heard growing up, which isn't very surprising since it's a very short rhyme. I think it's funny because it doesn't really seem like a love rhyme, since it just ends with them tumbling down the hill. I thought that the rhyme about the husband selling his wife for a "minikin pin".

(Jack and Jill)

There were so many rhymes in this unit and they were all very unique and had a lot of character to them. I thought it was different that a lot of them didn't actually rhyme or make any sense. They used a lot of language that I didn't understand, so that made it kind of confusing when it came to reading some of the poems, but that could be due to the fact that I don't understand the British slang. I enjoyed reading this unit.

Reading Diary Week 11: British Nursery Rhymes

This week I read Nursery Rhymes in the British Unit by Andrew Lang.

A lot of these nursery rhymes were very different than those that I grew up with. I found some that I've heard different versions of before, but a lot of them were new, which made them fun to read. I was kind of surprised to find that a lot of them were a bit darker, which is unique since nursery rhymes are meant for children. I realized, however, that a lot of the rhymes that I grew up hearing were also dark, but they weren't very blatant about it and just had hidden meanings, like "Ring Around The Rosy" is about the bubonic plague.

The rhymes that I found to be really interesting to read were those in the "Charms and Lullabies" section of the readings, since they were also very dark and it's weird to think about trying to get your child to go to sleep with such dark poems. I thought that the poem "Bye Baby Bunting" was one of the most unique poems. It talks about a father going to hunt for an animal and get its skin to wrap the child in.

In contrast, the rhyme that tries to quiet a baby was very heartwarming and didn't contain any dark elements at all. I like that it talks about a parent would do/give anything to their child in order to make them happy.

(Picture from Hush-a-bye, Baby, or Rock a bye baby)

I liked this unit a lot overall. These stories were different than the stories that I've for this class so far, so it was a great way to mix things up.

Storytelling Week 10: There's No Longer Just One Woman Left In The World

News Anchor: We interrupt your scheduled programming with very big news! Last week, we thought that that all of humanity was doomed, since there was only one woman on Earth in the south, and she just recently got married, so we thought that only one family would have a child, meaning that the end of people on Earth was inevitable. We now, however, have reports that as of last month there is now more than one woman,which means we might actually have a chance! There are also some other very interesting twists to this story that you're going to want to hear. We have Ted Williams live on the scene with more information. Ted, can you tell us what's going on?

Ted: Yes this is quite the weird situation. There originally was just one woman left on Earth and she was located in the southern region, while all of the men were located in the north. It was a long journey to the south, so no one had actually made the trip yet to marry her. Finally, a man from the north had traveled south so that he could marry her, meaning that there were no longer any single women left on this planet. We weren't sure what we were going to do, because it's kind of hard to populate the earth with just one man and one woman.

Anchor: Yes, you do have a point there.

Ted: Anyway, there was a headsman who had a son who also decided that he wanted a wife. The woman's husband knew of this other man, but didn't expect him to actually do anything about it. Boy, was he wrong. The headsman's son went to the couple's house and formulated a plan to take the woman from her husband. The headsman's son tried to take her while the household was sleeping and began to pull her out of the house by her feet. The husband woke up, realized what was happening, and ran to save his wife.

Anchor: Wow, this is quite the story.

Ted: Oh just wait, there's so much more.

Ted: So the two men are pulling the woman in opposite directions, and she ends up splitting in half. In half! Isn't that crazy? So now there are two halves to a once whole woman.You'd think that the men would fight over who would get to keep both halves and make the woman whole again, but they actually ended up each taking half of the woman and keeping it for themselves. The headsman's son took the half with the feet to the south, while the northern man kept the top half for himself, and this, my friends, is where things get really interesting. So each of them have half a woman, right? What were they supposed to do with half a woman? Each of them decided that they were going to carve the missing parts of each woman out of wood so that they had a whole woman. The man in the north carved feet and legs for his wife, while the man in the south carved arms and hands. Apparently, the woman in the south is a great dancer, but not very good at sewing or any other skill with her hands, and the woman in the north isn't a very good dancer, but is extremely skilled at sewing. This means that we can now begin to populate the Earth!

Anchor: This has turned into quite the story.

Ted: I know, and it's still developing.

Anchor: Thanks for the update, Ted. We will keep the viewers informed on this developing story as we get more information. Tune in at 9:00 pm for more updates.

(Eskimo Family)

Bibliography: This story is based off of "The First Woman" by Eskimo storytellers. 

Author's Note: The story "The First Woman" really stood out to me because it kind of reminded me of the story of Adam and Eve in the beginning of the bible. There was only one woman on Earth and she lived in the south. A man from the north decided that he was going to go marry her, so he traveled to the south and made her his wife. A headsman's son, however, thought that he should have a wife and traveled south as well, even though the woman was already married. The husband knew of the headsman's son, but let his guard down while he was sleeping. The headsman's son went in the house while everyone was asleep and started dragging the woman out by her feet. The noise woke the husband up and he began pulling his wife back into the house by her shoulders. Eventually, the woman was pulled in half and the headsman's son took her lower half to the south, while her husband kept the upper half in the north.They each decided that they were going to carve the rest of the woman out of wood, but the woman in the north couldn't do much with her feet since they were made of wood. The woman in the south couldn't do much with her hands since they were wood, but she could dance very well. This story is the myth behind why women in the south of Alaska can dance well, while the women in the north are very skilled at sewing. I thought it would be fun to write a news report over this story because I think it would definitely be breaking news if there was no longer just one woman on Earth. 

Reading Diary Week 10: Myths and Legends of Alaska Continued

This is the second half of the Myths and Legends of Alaska.

The story "The First Woman" was my favorite in this unit. Earth originally just had all men, who lived in the north, and there was only one woman who lived to the south of the men. One of the men decided that he was going to travel south and marry the last living woman. There was a headsman whose son didn't have a wife and the man who married the last living woman acknowledged it. This headsman's son traveled south to the woman's house and formulated a plan to take her. He waited until everyone was asleep and began to drag the woman out of the house by her shoulders. The husband woke up as the headsman's son was taking the woman and started pulling his wife's feet. The headsman and the husband kept pulling until the woman was eventually pulled into two. The headsman's son took the upper half of the body to the north, while the husband kept the lower half in the north. They each set out to carve a complete woman out of wood. The woman in the south had wooden hands, while the woman in the north had wooden feet. The woman in the south was able to dance very well, but didn't have use of her hands, while the woman in the north was very skilled with her hands, but couldn't dance. This is why southern women are good dancers and women in the north are very skilled with their hands.

I liked that this story related to mythology about why Eskimo people are the way they are today and was really interesting to read from start to finish.

(Eskimo Woman)

Reading Diary Week 10: Myths and Legends of Alaska

This week I read Myths and Legends of Alaska told by Eskimo storytellers.

I really enjoyed all of the stories in this unit. I thought it was really interesting to learn more about what Eskimos believed in and the fact that a lot of the stories were about the raven. I've never really done a lot of research into their mythology, so I really enjoyed this unit!

My favorite story in this unit is "The Origin of the Tides". I haven't read a story about why there is high tide or low tide, so this story caught my eye almost immediately. It begins with a man, a raven named Qa, walking along the Nas River. Instead of having a high tide and a low tide, the sea was always high. Qa found a rock in the very middle of the sea and decided that he was going to build a home underneath it. He made a hole in it and then dug a hole through the house and the Earth and put a lid over it all. He had another man be in charge of the hole and he would open it twice a day, which would cause the ocean's tide to go in and out. A chief, Tael, got caught in the tide and couldn't figure out why the ocean kept going in and out. He finally realized it was because of the lid and that's the reason that we have high and low tide.

All of the stories in this unit were very good. I loved reading about the different beliefs that the Eskimo indians had.

(The Ocean)

Week 9 Storytelling: The Owl's Wife

Dear Diary,

My mom said that it's time for me to find a husband, but said I need to be very picky when choosing one. I know how well my father took care of her, and how much she struggles now that she's gone, so I want to make her to completely approve of the man I marry. She's offered up some very good advice that I need to keep in mind while finding a suitor. She said I'm supposed to find a man who will be a good hunter, since I need to be taken care of. She told me that this is one of the most important characteristics to look for in a man. I know that my mother is always right, so I'll make sure that my husband knows how to provide well for me.

Dear Diary,

I didn't think I'd ever find a suitor, but that changed today. A man approached my mother about me becoming his wife. She spoke with him a bit and decided that he would be a good husband for me. I was kind of reluctant at first, but he swore to my mother that he's a good hunter, and she believes him, so she really wants him to court me. If my mother thinks he's good enough to be my future husband, then he most likely is.

Dear Diary,

I'm a married woman now! My mother allowed us to live together and be married and I'm very happy. I can't wait to start our life together. I know that he will provide so well for me and our future family. He already goes out and spends the whole day hunting to find food! He hasn't really come back with anything big yet, but it's to be expected since he's not used to hunting in this area. I know that he'll get better with time though!

Dear Diary,

There's something weird going on with my husband. He claims to be out hunting all day, but only brings back little scraps of food. He always makes up excuses, but I'm having a hard time believing him. He should be bringing back more food than just scraps, especially since he's spending the entire day out hunting. My mom is getting suspicious. She thinks that something weird is going on and wants me to follow him the next time he hunts. I'm worried that he'll never trust me again if he catches me, but I need to know what's going on. What if he's not really hunting and just steals food from other people? He could also just be a really awful hunter, which means he lied to my mom. She won't be happy if he lied to her. I'm ready to figure out what's going on.

Dear Diary,
I finally figured out why my husband was so bad at getting food, and you're never going to believe why. I followed him out to his hunting spot and found out that he's actually an owl. I'm married to an owl! I don't even know what to do. I can't be married to an owl. Especially an owl who can't provide for me at all. I'm not sure what to do. I need to confront him, but I think I'll talk to my mother first.

Dear Diary,
Well, I'm no longer married. I confronted the owl and ran him out of the house. He was so sad, but what was I supposed to do? We could never stay married. I moved back in with my mother and will continue to look for a suitable husband. Hopefully the next one can provide well for me, and isn't an owl.

(Owl)

Bibliography: This story is based off of "The Owl Gets Married" in the Cherokee Myths Unit. 

Author's Note: My story this week is based off of "The Owl Gets Married". It's about a girl whose widowed mother tells her that she needs to find a husband who is a good hunter so that she can always have plenty of food to eat and be taken care of. After awhile, a man comes and asks if he can marry the girl. The mom tells him that he must be a good hunter and the man says that he is a great hunter. The mom agrees to letting them get married and the man takes the girl away to be his wife. The girl and her mother become suspicious of the man's hunting skills after he claims to hunt for hours and hours, but never returns with more than just a few scraps of food. The mother has her daughter follow the man out when he hunts, and she finds out that he's actually an owl. The girl was furious, confronted the owl, and forced him to leave their home. The owl dies of a broken heart because he loved the girl so much. I really enjoyed this story, and thought it would be interesting to write a diary from the girl's point of view and give her a voice in the whole thing.

Week 9 Reading Diary: Cherokee Myths Continued

Today I read the second half of the readings in the Cherokee Myths Unit by James Mooney.

The second half of this unit was just as good as the first. I really like that a lot of these stories were about animals and told different tales about animals' relationships with each other, as well as with humans.

One of my favorite stories was "The Owl Gets Married". A mother always told her child that she would only allow her to marry a man who was a good hunter and could provide well for her. A man came along and claimed to be a great hunter, so her mother advised her to allow him to court her and gave the two of them permission to live together. The husband would always claim to be out hunting, and would be gone the whole day, but would only return with a small amount of food. After seeing him return with very little food, the mother got very suspicious and had her daughter follow him. The daughter followed him to where he would go 'hunt" and found that he was actually an owl. She returned to her mother with the new information, and the girl confronted the owl. She drove him out of their house and the owl withered away because he had lost his love.

(Owl)

I also really liked the story "The Bullfrog Lover". A man really liked a woman, but her mother didn't like him at all and didn't want him courting her daughter. He hid in the bushes near the water and made a trumpet, and made himself sound like a bullfrog. At first, the woman was very frightened, and told her parents what had happened. The family believed that this was a sign to not tell the daughter what to do in her personal life anymore and the mother let her be with the young man. In the second part of the story, a girl would hear a bullfrog singing, but didn't realize the man that she was going to marry was a tadpole, until one night the fire revealed his tadpole mouth. 

Week 9 Reading Diary: Cherokee Myths

This week I read Cherokee Myths by James Mooney.

I was really excited to read these myths this week! I've always loved Native American tales, so it was really interesting to read about what the Cherokee Tribe believes!

I was really interested in "How The World Was Made" at first glance, because it's always really interesting to read about what different cultures believe about the creation of the world, and it ended up being one of my favorite stories! The Cherokee believe that the Earth is an island that is suspended from the sky vault. They think that once the Earth has grown old, the cords holding it up will break and the entire planet will be submerged in the sea. The Earth used to just be covered in water, overcrowded by bugs who thought that there needed to be more room. This story also had a lot of aspects of the bible. After the men and animals were created, they had to watch over the Earth for seven days and seven nights, which relates back to the Earth being created in seven days. There was also just a brother and sister in the beginning, much like Adam and Eve. I really enjoyed this story!

I also liked "Tobacco and Strawberries". The first part of the story was about how tobacco came back and the second was about where strawberries came from. I really liked the origin of strawberries story. I think it's really interesting that strawberries were created in order to make a woman fall back in love with her husband.

(Strawberries)

I liked reading about the different Cherokee Myths this week! 

Week 9 and 10 Reading Plan

I'd like to read about Cherokee myths during week 9. I'm really interesting in the story "How the World was Made", but I'm also looking forward to reading about the different Cherokee animal tales. I'm also Native American, so I'm looking forward into hearing mythology from one of the Native American tribes.

(Smokey Mountains)

 

For week 10, I'd like to read about tales in the Pacific Northwest. I feel like growing up in the south, especially Oklahoma and Texas, you really only hear about tribes in Oklahoma. It'll be cool to read about what the tribes in the Pacific Northwest believed and learn a little bit about their culture and tradition. 

 



Blog Ideas

I looked at three different blogs and found different aspects of each that I really liked and wanted to incorporate into my blog in the future!

http://oklahomafornow.blogspot.com
I really liked how this blog had the Pinterest board and weather widget on the side of it. I'm planning on adding my Pinterest board into my sidebar, because it's really cool to see what people are pinning for this class!

http://mythandfolk2016.blogspot.com
This blog had such a pretty and vibrant layout. I want to update the design of my blog to be a little bit more lively and creative! I loved the different shades of pink in the background and how it wasn't just one solid color.

http://weeklydoseofbri.blogspot.com
This website was organized well and made me want to change the layout of my site a bit to make it more organized and easy to navigate.

All the blogs in our class are so great and I enjoyed looking through them!

Time Strategies For Second Half of Semester

I think my schedule for this class is actually working out really well! I'm pretty good about keeping on top of things, and I've also allowed myself some extra time in the week if I want to work ahead. I think I'm doing much better with time management as a whole this semester. I'm getting everything done on time, studying for tests in advance, and I feel a lot less stressed this semester in comparison to others, which is great! I know that this part of the semester is when things start to pile up, so I'm really trying to stay on top of things and make to do lists and actually stick to checking the items off. I have a ton of projects due over the next couple of weeks, and I now have to start really applying for jobs since I graduate in almost two months, so I'm hoping that having good time management skills will help me be able to do it all. I've found that making a list of things to do has helped a lot with completing things on time! I'm looking forward to the second half of this semester.

(This picture made me laugh because I used to be the person who waited last minute to do anything) 

Storytelling Week 7: The Doctor's Crazy Story

(Radio show host): Good morning, Dallas! Thanks for tuning in on this beautiful Monday morning. So we know that we've been getting pretty repetitive with some of our contests, and wanted to spice the show up a little bit, so we've decided to do a new segment called "What were they thinking?", where we allow callers to tell us their stories, and the craziest story wins a free cruise!

(Radio Host)

(Radio co-host): We know a lot of ya'll have had some strange things happen to you, and we're super eager to hear your stories. Call in between the hours of 9am and 12pm to let your story be heard and hopefully win a cruise to the beautiful Bahamas!

(Radio host): It looks like we already have people calling in! Our first caller goes by the name "Doctor". Hey Doctor, what's your crazy story?

(Doctor): You guys aren't going to believe my story, I barely believe it!

(Radio Co-host) Please go ahead and tell us, we can't wait!

(Doctor): I come from a small town and I'm the only doctor for all of the residents, so I get pretty close to all of my patients. One of my patients, Pedro, came in about six months ago and was complaining that he didn't have a wife, and didn't think he'd ever get married because he didn't have anything to offer a woman.

(Radio Host): Well that's pretty sad, poor Pedro.

(Doctor): You won't be saying "Poor Pedro" after I tell you what happened. So I decided I would help Pedro out and find him a wife. I knew a friend of mine had a daughter who was interested in getting married quickly, so I set the two of them up. They got married the next day, and I allowed them to live out at one of my houses and even gave them 200 pieces of gold to kind of give them some money to start out with.

(Radio host): That was pretty nice of you! I wish my friends would give me two hundred pieces of gold. I would have been so thankful!

(Doctor): I would have been too! I thought everything was okay, then i went on with my life and I thought they had too. About a year later, I got a call from them that they needed more money because they had spent all of mine.

(Radio co-host): They asked you for more money?! After you helped them get married and gave them money to start their lives?

(Doctor): Yep! So I reluctantly gave them more money, just because I didn't want them to suffer. I thought that it would be the last I heard from them.

(Radio host): Well I'd hope so! But I assume that they called you again.

(Doctor): Yes they did. And that's when I started to get a little suspicious. How could they be blowing through so much money? So I decided I would confront them about it. They then had the audacity to play dead when I confronted them, so I kind of took them back to my house so that they could be my servants.

(Radio host): You took them to be your servants? That's a little weird.

(Doctor): I know, but what was I supposed to do? They took all of my money!

(Radio co-host): Well that was quite the story.

(Radio host): Yeah, I know that we still have more stories to hear, but I don't think that anything could top that! Doctor, we're just going to go ahead and give you the cruise!

(Doctor): Wow thanks so much!

(Radio host): Someone will contact you with the details. Make sure to tune-in after the break to hear more crazy stories and to see who will win the contest tomorrow!

Bibliography: This story is based off of The Clever Husband And Wife in the Filipino Popular Tales by Dean Fasler. 

Author's Note: In this story, Pedro thought that he didn't have a chance at finding a wife because he didn't have any money or anything to offer a woman. The doctor decided that he would help him find a wife and get him married the next day. After the two were married, he gave them a house and two hundred pesos in order to start their life together. They spent all of their money and had nothing, so they asked the doctor for money again. They spent money again, and asked once more, then realized that they could just keep asking the doctor for money. The doctor figured out their scam, went to confront them, and they played dead. The doctor realized that they were faking it, and made them his servants for life for stealing from him. I thought it would be fun to do a modern radio show about it, and make the radio program a contest for crazy stories. I think it would have been interesting for the doctor to be able to share his story on the air and get modern-day reactions to it. It made it fun to give the doctor a cruise for having the most ridiculous story because that's something that radio shows today do.

Reading Diary Week 7: Filipino Popular Tales Continued

This is Part B of Filipino Popular Tales by Dean Fasler.

Many of these stories contained animals and explained why things are the way they are today. My favorite stories were the ones that contained morales at the end of them, like "The Iguana and the Turtle".
One of my favorite stories was "The Story of our Fingers". I love that the story gave human-like characteristics to fingers, and I've never really read a story that has done that before. We all know that our thumb is separate from our other fingers, but the story begins with the thumb actually being close to all the other ones. The fingers were hungry and the thumb suggested that they steal food in order to survive, but the other finger didn't agree. Since the thumb was a thief, the other fingers didn't want to live near him, so he separated from the rest. I thought this story was really interesting and different. I definitely never thought that there could be a mythological reason for why our thumbs are away from the rest of our fingers.
I also really liked "Why the Ocean is Salty". The ocean used to be without salt and was a collection for goddesses' tears. There was a tall giant who saw a beautiful women sitting on the rocks crying into the ocean. The woman didn't want to live in her dark home in heaven, so she asked the giant to build her a mansion made out of pure white bricks. The giant couldn't find any bricks, so he went to the king of salt, who gave him bricks of salt. He built bamboo bridges across the ocean and had people carry many bricks across. The ocean, who was peacefully sleeping, was angered by all the noise and wiped out those carrying them, dissolving the salt into the water, which is why the ocean is salty today. I like that this story is so unique and I'd never heard a story about why the ocean is salty before this one.

(Salt)

I really enjoyed this week's readings. Filipino tales were something that I'd never read before, so it was really interesting to read their stories! I love learning about other cultures and I think that learning about their different myths really gives some insight into their culture and beliefs! 

Week 7 Reading Diary: Filipino Popular Tales

This week I'm reading Filipino Popular Tales by Dean Fasler.

The Three Friends: The monkey, dog and carabao were all great friends and decided to move out to the country to hunt. Each of the three friends stayed home one at a time in order to cook, and a Buñgisñgis was causing problems for them and essentially bullying them alone, and the monkey tricked him and he was killed by a boa constrictor.

Three Brothers of Function: Three brothers were sent to a prestigious school by their father, but had way too much fun and didn't actually study. During their vacation, they bought a book from an old woman, and the book was supposed to bring the dead back to life. Then, they met a woman who sold them a flying mat. Finally, the last brother found a stone that he thought was magical as well. Ambo, the brother who kept the book that brought people back to life, promised a young woman's parents that he would bring their daughter back to life and fell in love. The other brother then took her for a ride on his flying mat, and he fell in love with her as well. Then, they wrecked and the last brother, with the magic stones, fixed the ship and thought he deserved to be with the the woman too. They couldn't decide, so their father divided her up into parts for all of the brothers, and Suan, the brother with the magic stones, was the only one who wanted her and put her back together.

The Clever Husband and Wife: Pedro wanted a wife, but didn't have anything to offer a woman. He went to the doctor and said he wanted one, so the doctor promised that he would get him a wife the following day. Pedro and his wife were married and the doctor gave him two hundred pieces of gold and a house to live in. They were trying to figure out what to do with the money, spent all of it, and became poor. They kept getting money from the doctor and he realized they were tricking him, and took them home with him to be his servants.

The Devil and the Guachinango: A young girl, Piriang, was very stubborn when it came to finding a husband. The devil heard this news, and disguised himself as a worthy man, and she fell in love. Then, a guachinango decided he wanted to marry her, and he buried the devil, which scared him away and married the girl.

Chonguita: A king had three sons, Pedro, Diego and Juan. Their father sent them out on their own and Juan came upon a monkey who gave him bread and told him that he had to share the bread with each monkey he came into contact with. He met a huge monkey who promised his daughter, Chonguita, would marry him. They returned to his father, along with the other brothers who also had wives, and the king said that whoever's wife drew the prettiest picture would be crowned as king. Chonguita drew the prettiest picture, so Juan was king, even though his wife was a monkey.

Cochinango: Cochinango was a boy who was considered a fool, but a man predicted that he was going to marry the princess and become the king. The prediction came true, and Cochinango was king.

The Enchanted Prince: A very rich king had a son who fell in love with his enemy, a young witch. His father brought all of the beautiful women of the land to the castle for his son to pick, but the son chose none of them. He finally found a woman, but the witch was very angry and terrorized the town and turned the prince into a monkey. After many years, the prince found a beautiful woman and he was turned back into a man and they lived happily ever after. 

(Monkey)

The Wicked Woman's Reward: A king had five women and favored two of them because they could give him children. One woman had a girl and another had a boy. The one who had a girl wished she had a son, so she killed her girl and stole the boy from the other woman. The king thought the son's mother had drowned the girl and ordered that she be drowned in the river and he was happy to see his son was still alive. He married his daughter's mother, went to the river, and realized he drowned the wrong woman. He had his wife hanged and his son was raised to become the next king. 

The Poor Man and his Three Sons: A poor man had three sons and on his deathbed he gave them a rooster, a cat and a scythe. They each ended up becoming rich because they knew how to trade things that they were given. 

The Monkey and the Turtle: A turtle and a monkey were good friends and decided to share a banana plant. They both planted their plant, but the monkey's died while the turtle's thrived. The turtle tricked the monkey, and the monkey ended up dying.

The Monkey and the Crocodile: A monkey and a crocodile had a weird arrangement after the crocodile helped him across the river. The crocodile vowed that the monkey would pay, but the monkey said that he was the chef for the king, and the crocodile believed him. The monkey gave him food that he was allergic to, because he had tried to eat the monkey, and the crocodile was uncomfortable. 

The Monkey and the Dragon-flies: A tired dragonfly wanted to rest on a monkey's tree and he mocked her for being weak and swatted her away. The monkeys then decided to fight the dragonflies, thinking that they would win, but they lost and all were killed.

The Monkey, the Turtle and the Crocodile: A monkey was very deceitful and tried to trick a crocodile and a turtle that were resting in the street. He tricked them into going near two very hungry men, and they were both killed. 

Storytelling Week 6: Disobedient Daughter's Diary

Dear Diary,

It's time for me to marry, but none of the men in this town are good enough for me. They're lacking in looks or personality, when, let's face it, I'm the most beautiful and smartest woman in all the land. I just don't understand why it's so hard to find someone who is as good as me. I'll be single forever if things don't turn around.

Dear Diary,

I've heard that there's the most handsome man who has traveled from a faraway land just to meet me. I must find him and meet him, since he's all that my friends can talk about. Hopefully he's just as good looking as I am.

Dear Diary,

The man is all I could ever want and more in a future husband. He's smart, charming, and so incredibly handsome. I plan to marry him and return with him to his homeland, but my parents seem to think that we're moving too fast. Don't they understand that they shouldn't mess with true love? They were married within a month!

Dear Diary,

We're married now, and it's time to move back to his home with his mother! My parents are being incredibly stubborn about this whole situation. They reluctantly allowed me to marry him, but now they're saying that I should wait to move back with him. They're just not ready for me to leave. They don't understand that they can no longer control me. I'm a married woman! They're going to have to realize that my husband will take care of me and that I'm going to do what I want.

Dear Diary,

I've made a horrible mistake. I returned back to my husband's home and he was not what I thought he was. As soon as we arrived in his town, his friends came and started taking parts of his body away until he was reduced to a skull. A skull! How am I supposed to be married to something that isn't even fully human. I tried to leave but he demanded that I go back to his mother's house to take care of her. I do love his mother. She's old, but she's so very sweet. I help her out around the house and we have some lovely conversations. I'm glad that I have her here, at least. I don't know what I'd do if I were here all alone.

(The Skull)

Dear Diary,

I haven't written in so long! My life was so hectic. The skull's mother finally felt so sorry for me that she helped me escape. A gentle breeze blew me home and I was able to return to my mother. My parents thought I was dead, so they were incredibly happy to see me. I don't know what I was thinking ever leaving them for someone who I hardly knew! I have definitely learned my lesson. I'm not really sure what happened to my last husband, and I don't really ever want to find out. I'm sure he was angry, but he couldn't have really expected someone as beautiful as me to stay with him forever. It's time for me to find a real husband, a human husband. Hopefully he will be as good looking as me.

Bibliography: This story is based off of "The Disobedient Daughter Who Married A Skull" in the Nigerian Folklore Unit by Elphinstone Dayrell.

Author's Note: I really enjoyed this story, not only because it was interesting, but also because it was kind of interesting how the girl's situation seemed like karma for being so vain and not wanting to listen to her parents. In the original story, the girl is incredibly self-centered and stubborn, and refuses  to marry every man until she hears of an extremely handsome man and ends up meeting him at the market. He's actually a skull who has borrowed body parts from his friends because he wants to be appealing enough that the girl will agree to marry him and return home to the spirit world, and she finds this out after disobeying her parents and marrying him and returning to the faraway land with him. He doesn't let her go back home, and he lives in the spirit world that is full of cannibals, so the girl would have most likely been killed. After helping around the house, she becomes good friends with his mother, who eventually helps her get back home. I thought it would be fun to do a diary from her perspective and explain things in her eyes, since it's all told in third person and you never really hear what the girl is thinking.

Reading Diary Week 6: Nigerian Folk Stories Continued

This is part B of the Nigerian Folk Stories unit by Elphinstone Dayrell.

The Story of the Lightening and the Thunder: Thunder and lightening lived on earth, and were mother and son. Lightening had a temper, and when he was angry he'd destroy everything in his path. Thunder would yell very loudly when her son threw his fits and would scare people in the town. The king made them move out farther, but they still caused destruction, so they were forced to go live in the sky.

The Bush Cow and the Elephant: The bush cow and the elephant weren't very good friends at all, and wanted the chief to settle all of their arguments once and for all. He decided that they would just need to fight, but caused problems fighting in public, so animals had to fight in the open bush after that.

The Cock who caused a fight between Two Towns: Ekpo and Etim were brothers and were very rich. Ekpo had a great chicken who caused a lot of issues between the two brothers. They fought about him, and ended up killing many men in the process. Since it caused a lot of issues, Ekpo was forced to kill his chicken so they never fought over him again.

The Affair of the Hippopotamus and Tortoise: Isantim was the biggest king in all the land and had seven wives. The hippos would only go down to the water in order to bathe, but didn't live in it like they do now. The hippo used to hold feasts, and told a tortoise if he guessed the king's name at the next meal, that he and his wives would be ashamed and go live in the water for eternity. The tortoise guessed his name, and that's why hippos now live in the water.

 

(Hippo)

Why Dead People are Buried: The creator decided that dead bodies would be put in a compound, and had wood and ashes over them, and then in 24 hours they would become alive again. The creator sent a messenger dog to tell the world his new plan, but the dog got distracted by a bone in an old woman's yard, so he didn't make it back in time to put the wood and ashes over the bodies. As punishment, the creator decided that all bodies would be buried underground, and not be able to come back to life again.

Of the Fat Woman who Melted Away: A fat woman was made of oil who many men wanted to marry. Her mother finally agreed to let a man from a far away land marry her and take her home with him. His other wife got very jealous, and put the woman in the sun and she ended up melting. The husband was furious and gave her back to her parents who sold her as a slave.

Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes: A starving woman used to cut parts of the moon off so that she could eat, but people found out and started wanting to get some of the moon too. The moon now hides, and gets thinner and fatter each month. 

How the Tortoise overcame the Elephant and the Hippopotamus: An elephant and hippo were very good friends. They were eating together and a tortoise showed up and agreed that he would give the elephant 10,000 rods if he could pull the tortoise out of the water. The tortoise tricked him a few times, and that's why tortoises live on the land and in water.

The King and the 'Nsiat Bird: The king wanted to marry the 'Nsiat Bird's daughter. The king agreed to marrying her, even though she was going to have twins, which wasn't allowed in their kingdom. The king loved his children, but it was custom for them to be killed since they were twins. The 'Nsiat Bird, not liking the idea of his daughter's children being killed, decided to take his daughter and her children and live in the trees.

Concerning the Hawk and the Owl: Rulers were supposed to put on huge feasts that they had to invite all species to. He used a hawk as a messenger, since they were the fastest birds. Once he got too old, the king told him to find his replacement and he chose an owl. The king made him take the owlet back to his parents and find another replacement, and the hawk chose a chicken, which the king also didn't want. The hawk's friend just used him as a way to eat chicken, which didn't make anything better.

The 'Nsasak Bird and the Odudu Bird: Both of the birds were friends, and decided that they were going to try to become chiefs. The king had them build houses and would decide which one was chief after inspecting them. The 'Nasak Bird ended up winning because of his cunningness.

The Election of the King Bird: Essiya wanted to find a new king of the birds and didn't take the decision lightly. In the end, he chose Ituen, the fishing eagle as the king. 

Reading Diary Week 6: Nigerian Folk Stories

This week I read the Nigerian Folk Stories unit by Elphinstone Dayrell

Of The Pretty Stranger Who Killed The King: MBOTU was a terrible king. He took prisoners for slaves and his people hated him. Many people wanted to kill him, and a witch decided to take matters into her own hands. She changed herself into a pretty girl and ended up killing the king. The king of Itu, however, was planning an attack. They attacked after the king was killed and ended up killing and taking a lot of the people in the town as prisoners. 

Why The Bat Flies By Night: A rat, Oyot and a bat, Emiong, were great friends. The bat always cooked good food and told the rat that he boiled himself in water in order to make the best food. The rat decided to try this, died, and the wife of the rat was very upset and wanted the bat to be killed. The bat changed his habits so that he flew at night instead of the day so that he could avoid being killed.

The Disobedient Daughter Who Married A Skull: A skull decided that he wanted to marry a very beautiful woman named Afiong. He borrowed many parts from his friends and was made into a beautiful man. Afiong saw him and fell in love, and agreed when he wanted to marry her. Her parents hesitated, but since Afiong was very stubborn, she went back to his homeland as his wife. Since he was a skull, his friends demanded their body parts back, and he was left only looking like a skull. Afiong wanted to go home, but he refused and took her back to his home to his mother. His mother loved her, so she eventually decided to help her escape, and Afiong was returned to her parents. 

The King Who Married The Cock's Daughter: Effiom was married to 250 women, but wasn't satisfied with any of them. He decided to marry a hen, and she made him happier than any of his other wives. This made them mad and they ended up tricking him into having to send her away, which broke his heart, and he died.

The Woman, The Ape and The Child: A woman had a child and moved to the jungle with her husband. The ape would come and take care of the child, and a jealous man decided to report this to the husband, who now wanted to kill the ape. The husband shot the ape, but didn't kill him, and the ape ended up killing the child. Out of anger, the husband also killed his wife and then went to tell the king what happened. The king, Duke, wanted to kill the hunter for all the issues he caused. He was killed, and apes and monkeys are now afraid of children.

(A Nigerian Drill)

The Fish and the Leopard's Wife: A leopard had a beautiful wife, and all the fish fell in love with her. Fish used  to be able to come on the land and would visit the leopard's wife. The leopard found out, was enraged and went to the king. The king ruled that fish were to never come on the land again, and that they would be eaten by any animal or human who found them in the future.

Why the Worms live Underneath the Ground: Driver ants and worms had a fight to see who was the strongest. The worms lost, so they had to go live underground for eternity.

The Elephant and the Tortoise: A tortoise tricked an elephant into giving him his eyes. The elephant then tricked the worm into giving him his eyes, so now elephants have tiny eyes and worms are blind.

Why a Hawk kills Chickens: A hawk fell in love with a hen, and she agreed to marry him. A young chicken then decided that he wanted to marry the hen, and stole her from the hawk. The hawk was very angry, and the king decided that chickens will be carried off by hawks for eternity to pay the hawk back for having his wife taken. 

Why the Sun and the Moon live in the Sky: The sun built a large compound for his friend, water, to come visit with all its other friends. The compound was built, and water came in with all its friends, and pushed the sun and the moon into the sky. 

Why the Cat kills Rats: Ansa had a very good housekeeping cat. A rat fell in love with one of the king's girls, but didn't have anything to offer the king. The cat then realized that food was missing from the store and her friends told her that the rat had taken the food to pay the king for the girl. The cat told the king, who was very angry, and was ordered to quit her job and take the rat. The cat killed the rat, which is why all rats get killed by cats now. 

Thoughts About Comments

I really enjoyed reading through all of my comments! The best ones were when people found parts of my introduction and found ways to tie it back to their own lives and also told me about themselves. It can be hard to feel connected to my classmates since this is a fully online class, but it actually really helps to have engaging comments that almost seem to be a conversation of their own. I also like the comments that make it seem like the person has read my story in full, and reflects back on those certain parts, it makes it feel a lot more personal. I should actually work on making my comments more engaging and personal, rather than just saying "I liked your story" and leaving comments that just kind of talk about stories in general. That's something I'm really going to work towards doing next week!

Week 5 Storytelling: The Trial Of The Father

We find ourselves in a musty, crowded courtroom to see if the father of a young woman is guilty of murder, after killing a monkey, which caused his young daughter to commit suicide. The court was to decide if he would be charged with involuntary manslaughter for his daughter, or murder for the monkey. This was the first time that someone had been prosecuted for killing an animal, and many people believed that he was really being charged with causing his daughter's death.

The father is brought in by the bailiff, looking incredibly nervous and tired. He hadn't slept in weeks. He didn't understand why he was being prosecuted for murder, all he did was kill an animal. He didn't realize it would cause any trouble, let alone cause his daughter to kill herself. He nervously looked over at the jury, some who looked at him sympathetically, and others who looked at him with pure hatred in their eyes. He took his seat and waited for the trial to begin. 

Judge: "Prosecution I'll allow you to begin".

Prosecutor: "The prosecution calls the girl's father up to the stand".

He wasn't prepared for this. He didn't think he'd have to testify so soon. He glanced over at his lawyers, who were equally as surprised. They hadn't prepared him for the kinds of questions that the prosecution would ask, or how he was supposed to answer. 

The judge looked at him expectantly and said "Sir, we don't have all day".

The father reluctantly made his way to the stand, and waited for the questioning to begin.

Prosecution: "Sir, is it true that you killed the monkey because you didn't want your daughter to marry him?"

Father: "Yes, that's correct".

(courtroom)

Prosecution: "Why was that such an issue for you? In this day and age we often see those kinds of marriages happen. In fact, there was a woman who gave her daughter to a tiger to be married". 

Father: "I wanted my daughter to marry a human, not a monkey. I knew that she loved him though, so I thought something had to be done. I realize now that my daughter just had a monkey soul and that she needed to be with him". 

Prosecution: "So, you're telling me that you murdered an innocent animal who would your daughter wanted to marry, for your own selfish reasons? Don't you realize your actions led to your daughter's death?"

Father: "I'm very aware of that, sir. You just don't understand. I didn't want my daughter to marry an animal. I wasn't okay with it. We've killed animals for many years before this, so I don't see what the issue is".

Prosecution: "The issue is that your actions caused another human to die. Your SELFISH actions. The prosecution has no more questions". 

The trial went on for days. The father was emotionally drained and just couldn't understand why he was in trouble for killing an animal. He was also mourning the death of his daughter, which took an even bigger emotional toll on him. 

Finally, after a long day of arguments, the jury ruled not guilty, and the father was allowed to go on with his life. 

Bibliography: This story is based on "The Monkey and the Girl" by C.H. Bompas. 

Author's Note: "The Monkey and the Girl" is a very interesting story. It starts with the girl agreeing to marry the monkey, but then her father finds out and disapproves. He decides that he needs to kill the monkey and instead of just burying him, he burns him like they would a real man. The girl is extremely upset and distracts the men burning the monkey so that she can jump into the fire. Her father says that she just must have a monkey soul, so she wanted to be with the dead monkey. I thought it would be fun to kind of spin it into a court trial, since murder is obviously something that would get you into prison today. I think that the father would justify his actions and not really understand why he was in trouble for killing a monkey or for his daughter killing herself, and would explain that he thought his daughter had a monkey soul. He would probably be super distraught over losing his daughter, and kind of regret his actions since it did lead to her death. I think that the jury would also find him not guilty, at least for murder, since he didn't actually kill a human being, even though he shouldn't have killed the monkey either.