**House For Sale**

A small, cozy cottage deep in the countryside that is perfect for raising your children or enjoying your space from the bustling city. Located just close enough to the main city to be convenient, but far enough a way to feel the seclusion and tranquility that nature can provide. The spacious rooms and living area allow for the house to be full of many people. This would allow for the space to be rented out as extra income, or for you to have great gatherings of friends and family. The large windows in the front allow for a view of the rolling hills and mountains. Farmland is available to your family for either stables or farming.

(The Cabin) 

Property Details

-A four bedroom cottage. Large rooms that are perfect for multiple beds depending on your needs.

-a large outhouse located near the back of the house

-spacious living area and kitchen

-lamps for gas lights

-large lot perfect for stables or farming with a view of the mountains 

-many windows allow for plenty of light 

-about a half an hour from the main city

-closest neighbors about ten minutes on horseback

Features 

-lamps for gas lights throughout the home

-fencing to keep cattle or other animals contained

-many trees to provide shade and greenery to the lot

-acres of grass that is perfect for feeding or for families to enjoy

-large stables already built to accommodate animals of the family and travelers

-insulation to not let wind and other debris through cracks in the walls or window of the cottage

-sturdy roofing to protect against rain and other weather conditions

-built in fire stove to allow for heating and cooking in the house

Disclaimer

This cottage is located where Death tends to appear. Should Death appear in the night, everyone in the cottage shall perish. However, several years ago, a Cossack was visiting. When Death appeared and reached through the window, the Cossack cut off her arm. All of the villagers set out the next morning to find death and see her demise. Once they came to the Ponomar's cottage down the road, the daughter was laying on the stove, missing an arm. Therefore, it could be said that Death has appeared at this current cottage. That next morning, the Death witch was drowned so we can assure that occupants will remain safe and out of danger. 

Author's note: 

I am writing this story based off of The Witch Girl from the Russian Folktales unit. In the story, a Cossack comes to a cottage and asks if there is a place for him to stay. The owner replies, "Come in, if you don't fear Death", which really confuses the Cossack. When he walks inside, there are families in there crying and praying. They are expecting Death to come that night. Should Death visit the cottage, everyone would die. So, they all go to bed except the Cossack, who stays up all night to keep watch. Once Death appears and reaches in through the window, he cuts off her arm. The next morning, the Cossack tells everyone what he has done and they go out in search of Death. They find a girl at the Ponomar's cottage, laying on the stove missing an arm. When the Cossack explains to the man what has happened and shows him the arm, the man demands for his daughter to be drowned. 

I didn't really feel like writing more on this topic, so I decided to write a real estate listing for the cottage. I thought it would be a more fun and creative topic. Since real-estate agents have to disclose events like death that have happened in a house, the story ties in to the Disclaimer at the end. I didn't really change anything of the story, more just put it in a different format. 

Bibliography:

The Witch Girl from Russian Fairy Tales by W.R.S. Ralston (1887). 

Famous Last Words

Since its near the end of the semester, I decided to do a quick Famous Last Words blog to reflect on my week and kind of the semester as a whole. I can't believe that at the end of this week, it will be May and the year will be basically over! It always flies by and I feel like next year will be even worse. 

So, this week I actually got my reading done early! Which was a first for me. Since some of my classes were cancelled due to presentations and others were cancelled for the storms, I had more time on my hands than usual. It feels good to know that I am on track to finish the week on time, especially this close to the end of the semester. I have not done my storytelling yet, but I plan to later this afternoon or tomorrow. 

My other classes are really picking up since it is the end of the semester. I am in one class, advertising media, that demands so much time! My group consistently works on the project, which is great, but we still have so much to do. I can't even think about it or I start getting stressed out. Luckily, the class is really interesting to me and is for my major. It helps the time spent feel worthwhile. 

On top of that, I had another project due on Monday that we have to present on Thursday. Its a group project so finding time to get the entire group together to practice is nearly impossible. We always meet up around 9pm which means were on campus so late! I am ready for that project to be over.

Then, in my Public Speaking class, we have our final speeches this week and next. My speech was supposed to be today but I was not ready. Thank goodness my teacher allows flexibility and I was able to move it to next Thursday. That way, I will have more time to be adequately prepared. I just couldn't get it together this week since I was in Houston all weekend for a wedding.

Regardless of all the stress I feel and that I am a little behind in school now, I really enjoyed the wedding. I went with my boyfriend's family, so I got to know them more. The actual wedding was beautiful and it was obvious that they had spent a lot of money to hold the best event that they could. It was also super interesting because the bride married a guy from France. She had been working in London and met him on the train. His father and grandparents did not speak English, so parts of the wedding and the toasts were in French while the other parts were in English. Also, a ton of his friends came so there were a lot of people there who were from Europe. It was so interesting talking to them and I loved hearing about all of their experiences. All of the countries are so close together in Europe, that it seems like they had been everywhere! 

Personal picture of the wedding reception

Overall, it was a wonderful weekend and a much needed break from all of the assignments that are due at school! 

Reading Diary Week 14, continued: Russian Folktales

The Witch Girl really confused me! Was it the daughter that lived in the cottage? I got confused when she was ill and her arm was cut off after the Cossack cut off the witch's arm. Or was death punishing the daughter? 
I thought it was very brave of the Cossack to cut off the arm of Death. I'm curious if the Russians believe you can defeat and avoid death, since that happened in the story? This is something I would like to research. 

The Russian Princess was also a really weird story! The fact that the Princess could take off her head was really strange. I couldn't tell if the story meant her actual head or like a headpiece. From how it sounded, it sounds like it was her whole head. Then, she was so mad at the priest's son for seeing her and telling everyone what he saw- I guess it was supposed to be a secret? 

The Cossack

I think its interesting how in each story, the family is so quick to betray one of their own. In The Russian Princess, the King decided to drive a stake into her heart so that she would die and stop torturing the priests' son. In The Witch Girl, the father rewarded the Cossack for drowning the witch, which evidently was his daughter. I feel like in English and American stories, the families always protect their own. I would like to research family dynamics in Russia to see if these stories are incorporating an accurate portrayal of how families relate to each other. 

The Two Friends made me very sad! SinceI would be the bride, I know I would be very disappointed if my fiancee disappeared into a grave with his old, dead friend and did not make it to my wedding. Why did the friend ask the man to drink with him? Did he not know that a hundred years would pass with each drink? What if I suddenly walked out of my house or something and three hundred years had passed? 

This story reminded me of my storytelling since a supernatural being defies the laws of death and has the power to communicate with those still living. This is basically what happens in my storytelling. The only difference is that the spirits that I write about are often helpful to those still living. Maybe for my last story, I could write about one that makes life more complicated for those living? I had never thought about doing this; it is something to consider.

Note for storytelling: 
Moujik= Russian peasant 
Cossack= member of the Southern part of Russia. They are known for their horsemanship and military skills. 

Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folklore by W.R.S. Ralston (1887). 

Reading Diary, Week 14: Russian Folktales

This week, I read the Russian Folktales unit. I thought it was very interesting because it dealt with spirits and other supernatural figures. I think I got some good ideas from this unit since my storybook follows the theme of "immortals among us" where characters that have either passed or who have the power of time travel, etc. communicate with other characters in the story. 

At first, I thought The Dead Mother was sweet because the mother was still taking care of her baby, even though she had passed away. I thought it was a good way to illustrate the strong love between a mother and child. However, towards the end it got kind of eerie. It sounded really freaky when the other characters are sleeping in the room and they see the dead mother come in. Also, it got super weird when the baby was dead at the end. It made me kind of sad honestly.

The Treasure was very intriguing to me because I am wondering what values the Russians had that caused this story to be written. I am curious what the motivation of the author was. Maybe to talk about how God punishes the greediness of others? I felt bad for the old man that the people were not interested in helping him until he had money. Basically, it painted the Russians as very greedy and selfish people to me. Also, the pope was so corrupt! He is supposed to be the spiritual leader, but he definitely did not seem to be living according to the Bible. One thing I would like to look up is the values that the Russian people have because it may give some insight to the stories. Also, I am curious what beliefs the Russians typically have. If it is Christianity or Catholicism, then the Pope does not uphold the values that the Bible teaches. However, if it is a different belief system, then maybe he does. 

(The pot of gold that the old man found)

Friday was pretty confusing to me since I did not understand the importance of Mother Friday. I tried to look it up but didn't really find anything online. The story reminded me though of how the Sabbath is to be kept holy and a day of rest in Christian faith. I'm wondering if Friday is seen as a day of rest out of respect for the saints? I wish there was more information on this online! I am very intrigued by why a woman would get punished for spinning flax on Friday.

The Leshy was a very dark story! Basically it seems like the demon kidnapped the girl and held her hostage for 3 years. During that time, she seemed to have forgotten her life with her family. It reminded me of the hostage stories you hear of happening during real life where the person starts thinking that their captive life is normal and I guess the trauma causes them to totally suppress memories of their life before. It really seemed eerie to me and I'm once again curious why the Russians created a folktale about this. Was it supposed to be a warning to girls to not walk alone in the forest? This aspect also reminded me of The Little Red Riding Hood. 

Overall, I have so far really enjoyed the Russian Folktales. I feel a little weird about how much I liked reading them since a lot of them were about death or other dark topics. It was a nice change of pace though from some of the stories of the past. Also, they were very easy to understand which allowed me to focus on reading the stories rather than figuring out the language, etc. I am excited to read the second half later today! 

Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales: A Collection of Muscovite Folklore by W.R.S. Ralston  (1887). 

Reading Diary, Week 13

I really enjoyed reading this week's unit! I chose to read the Fables of La Fontaine this week for my stories. My favorite part of the reading was how light the stories sounded. I think this was because each sentence was so short that it gave it kind of a jumpy, jovial feeling. In my writing, I would like to try and copy this sentence structure. I have not ever changed the structure of my sentences, so this would be a good exercise for me. 

I also really liked how each of the the stanzas rhymed. I think it makes the writing more interesting and more exciting to read. I've said this before, but I want to try and rhyme in my storytelling. I think its a really cool challenge and something that would be really fun.

(The Tortoise and the Hare)

The third thing I liked about the unit was all of the animal stories. I love animals so I tend to gravitate towards stories about them.

My favorite stories from the first part of the unit are the stories by Larned. I was first intrigued by the titles: "Foolish Animals" and "More Foolish Animals". Then, I really liked the content since the stories were very light hearted. I think reading should be a sweet distraction from life and these stories struck me as this way. 

Growth Mindset Challenge- Curiosity: Quest for New Ideas and Information

This week I also decided to do a Growth Mindset Challenge. For the challenge, I read Jackie Gernstein's blog post about adding curiosity to schools. I completely agree with everything that she says because I do think curiosity should be encouraged and cultivated while one is in school. There are so many times that I feel like I don't have time to be curious because I'm trying to get assigned homework and readings complete. By the time all of this is done, my mind feels worn out and I would much rather just watch mindless TV rather than think about anything new.

Growth Mindset Memes blog.
Original image made on Cheezburger

I also think it would help encourage people to learn. Being naturally curious means that you want to know more. This would help so much during one's education. Especially in college where a lot of the gen-ed classes do not pertain to your major, but rather are trying to make you a well-rounded student. For example, I had to take a non-western dance class last year to satisfy my non-western culture class. Had I been curious about this topic, I would have wanted to know more and would have enjoyed the class more. 

I also think curiosity should extend throughout one's life. Not just during their schooling. I don't think a person is ever done learning. However, I could see how when I get older, there may be a time where I am not learning many new things since I am either working or doing my normal routine. If one is not curious, they will not pursue knowledge and will not continue to learn. I want to be curious so that I can learn forever and grow as a person. 

Learning by HEART- The Amazing Effects of Gratitude

This week, I decided to do a learning by HEART challenge. The one I did focused on happiness and it was a video that talked about the effects of gratitude. Basically, it said being grateful leads to one being happier. 

I completely agree with this video. I think being grateful definitely gives a person a healthy perspective and helps them focus on the positive in their life rather than the negative. Let's say that I chose to write down everything that happened to me during the day that was good. This would definitely help me focus on the good things that are happening around me and would help me completely shift my mindset.

I also thought it was interesting that scientists have only been studying the effects of gratitude for about 30 years. Thinking about how long some topics have been researched, this is no time at all! I am curious what else comes to light as researchers get more time to dig into the effects of gratitude.

I think the video was definitely a good reminder to me to focus on the good rather than the bad. When I get down or am tired, I can get fixated on everything that is going wrong that day which only makes my mood worse. I think writing down all of the blessings in my life would definitely be helpful since I could refer to it when I started feeling pessimistic. 

Reading Diary Week 12, continued: Robin Hood

Today, while reading, I couldn't help but notice how much detail is put into each story in the Robin Hood unit. For example, in Little John a Begging, the details about the number of beggars, whether the were blind or not, the specific forrest, where people were from, etc. I thought it was really interesting that the author decided to include so much information. I wonder how much of it was accurate to the times and how the author decided which places to include, etc? There had to be some research or trends that dictated what was included.

Including more detail is something that I am trying to do in my own storytelling. When writing my next story, I would like to reference some of the stories in the Robin Hood unit for examples on how to include all of the facts without making the story feel choppy and interrupted.

I really enjoyed Robin Hood and Maid Marian. I am a sucker for love stories, so I really liked the story of Robin Hood finding love with Marian. From the story, it sounded like they lived happily together for the rest of their lives, and that really made me happy. Some of these stories can be so dramatic, I was half expecting something terrible to happen to her. I guess the Robin Hood unit hasn't had many plot twists like that though. I have not yet written a love story for this class yet. That is something I would like to do before the semester is though. 

Robin Hood and Marian
(Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood)

Robin Hood's Death made me really sad! From my understanding, Robin's cousin basically stabbed the vein in his arm until he bled out. I was shocked to read that this was Robin's end. It's one of those things where when you read it in the story, the language is different so it doesn't sound that terrible. But, if you stop to think about it in real life, its truly horrific! My guess is that Walt Disney did not include this in the ending of his story, but I could be wrong. If I'm remembering right, I have not yet killed anyone off in my stories. Maybe it would be a cool exercise if I ended one of my stories with the death of a character.

All in all, I think the Robin Hood unit was not my favorite. Actually, the British/Celtic weeks did not really appeal to me in general. This is interesting since I would have thought I liked the British ones since I had assumed they would be similar to America's since the values and traditions might overlap more? I was proven wrong! 

Reading Diary, Week 12: Robin Hood Unit

I actually learned something before even reading in the Robin Hood unit. I did not know that there were multiple Robin Hood stories. I guess, due to the representation that Disney provides, I just assumed since there was only one story since there is only one movie. I don't know if I've ever seen the movie, but I am wondering if the movie tells the story of his whole life? Like all of the different tales combined or if it focuses and elaborates on one? Or maybe its completely different? I would like to research this and see.

The next thing I noticed about the unit was that the language was fairly different which made it a little difficult to read. I had a hard time understanding what was happening and actually had to re-read many sentences. This got annoying to me since I am not used to a language barrier. However, in my own storytelling, it might be cool to research a different way of speaking and incorporate it in. I have never tried to write using the ways of speaking from a different time, so this could be a real growing exercise for me. Since the stories are so long, this meant that it took me a long time to get through even one story.

Actual photo of me trying to read these stories 

(Pixabay)

I'm still not completely clear on what all happened in the story of Robin Hood and Little John. The language is so different! It is surprisingly difficult for me to read! Basically, I think it was explaining the story of Robin Hood and Little John's meeting and a fight that they had. One thing I really liked about the story was how it rhymed. I have never tried rhyming in my stories, so I think it would be a challenging yet fun exercise to try.

In The Shepherd, I noticed a lot of punctuation. I don't know if this is because the language of the time is more abbreviated from the formal version or why this would be, but there are so many apostrophes before words and other things like that. I also noticed they employed a lot of commas and semicolons. At the end of each line and the beginning of many, there is some kind of punctuation which makes the story look really busy to me. 

Robin Hood's horn seems like an integral part to Robin Hood's character. It seems to appear in each story. I would like to research whether a horn is a prop for a reason. Does it symbolize anything, or was it just an artistic choice of the author to include it?


Bibliography: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child. 

Week 11 Storytelling: Dear Alena

February 22, 1892

Dear Alena,

You will never guess what just happened to me earlier tonight. This lady just knocked on my door and when I opened it, she just let herself in. She introduced herself as "the witch with one horn" and she actually did have only one horn! I was mesmerized by her forehead and couldn't look away! It was all I could do to step aside as she burst forth through the door. 

She then sat down and started talking about other women and, lo and behold, there was another knock on the door. Then, the weirdest thing happened. It was like I was in a trance and, before I could even think about it, I had stood up and walked to the door to let yet another woman came into my house! This time, she introduced herself as "the Witch of two horns" and, as you would guess, she actually did have two horns. 

This continued for the longest time. Each time there was a knock, I immediately stood up and would open the door. It's like I couldn't control my own body...

This madness finally stopped when there were twelve women in my house! Each had one horn than the one before. So, the last woman had twelve horns. It was the most bizarre thing I have ever experienced. 

I finally decided to go to bed because they were so busy carding wool. I ended up having to just leave them in my living room since they were making no motions to leave! Hopefully they will be gone in the morning. 

Thoughtfully yours,

Keelin

The Horned Women
Illustration by: John D. Batten (1892)

February 24, 1892

Dear Alena,

The women are still here! I thought they would be leaving but they won't! Last night, I really thought I was going to die. They are so menacing with their many horns. But, besides all of that, last night got even weirder. I really cannot explain what has been happening, but I will do my best. You probably will not believe me, but I promise I am telling the truth.

So, the witches decided last night that they wanted cake. So, I had to go to the well to fetch water to make it. When I got to the well, I realized the sieve had a hole in it, so I couldn't bring back any water. Of course, I was completely freaking out because if I didn't bring back the water for the cake, the witches were going to be extremely angry. Then, all of a sudden I heard this mysterious voice from behind me, telling me what to do to fix the sieve. Then, they went into great detail as to how to rid my house of the witches. It knew exactly what to do and all of a sudden I felt very strong and compelling. Like I had been possessed by this other being. 

When I returned home, I followed the exact steps that the voice told me. When the witches returned to the house, they could not get in and they were forced to flee! I am so relieved! I have been terrified for so many days! 

I cannot wait to visit soon to go into more details about these strange events! Please come visit soon.

Best,

Keelin 

Author's Note: I wrote my story based of off The Horned Women from the Celtic Fairy Tales unit. My story follows pretty closely until the end. The original story goes into many more details about the spirit of the well and how the witches were denied entrance from the house. I also made the story more personal by using the first person. In the original story, the narrator understands what is happening. For example, when the spirit of the well possesses the woman, they know what is going on. However, in my version, the protagonist is unclear as to what is happening to themselves. Since the story was so bizarre to me, I thought I would express that through my storytelling. 

Bibliography:  The Horned Women from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892). 

Reading Diary Week 11: Celtic Fairy Tales

The Field of Boliauns was such a weird story to me. First of all, the diction was very different. I had to look several words up to try and figure out what they meant. For example, I didn't know what "motty" or "deeshy daushy" meant because they're just not in our vocabulary. I also had never really thought about where the stories about leprechauns come from, but I guess its from the Celtic stories. I thought it was interesting that this one included one in it. I'm not really sure what the purpose of the story was. But I guess not every story needs a purpose...

The Horned Women is also super weird! Why are all these stories so different?! It's crazy to me how each culture has such different traditions, especially when it comes to more creative things like storytelling. Why were there twelve horned women in a lady's house? How could this story even come to be? It did kind of remind me of the movie Ella Enchanted where the Ella has to do anything that anyone says. I just am really curious how this story even had meaning to the people and what kind of events were happening that would inspire it. This is something I would like to research if I had time.

The Sprightly Tailor made me laugh because it is just so absurd to me. Why is there a monster in the church? I like the tailors perseverance but why was all of this happening? The ending made me laugh since he finished the trews but the stitches were longer in the end than the beginning. I don't know why this struck me as funny, but it did. I also had to look up what trews were. Turns out that they are just a Scottish word for pants. At least that is what Wikipedia says. 

Trews
Photo by James F. Perry

All in all, the Celtic culture seems really strange to me. I don't know why they write about what they do or any of the words. I guess it's good to have exposure to different things and I'm happy I read the stories. I guess I just wish I understood the meaning more. I think researching Celtic culture may help with this. 

Bibliography:

Celtic Fairytales by Joseph Jacobs (1892) 

Storytelling Week 10: The Surprise

A blue heron and a fox both lived near a great lake. Each of the animals felt great frustration due to the fact that they lived such separate lives. The fox would hunt all of the smaller animals that the blue heron was friends with. In turn, the blue heron would eat all of the small bugs that fed the fox's prey. This meant that the fox had to hunt much harder for food that was plump enough around the lake. After much fighting, the two decided to strike up a deal. They would race to the end of the lake and whoever won could keep the lake until the end of time.

The fox was sure that he would win, since all he had to do was sprint in a straight line. The blue heron was sure he would win since he had the ability to fly. 

It was early morning when the two set off. The fox started at a swift pace, running along the bank at a record breaking speed. The heron did the same, soaring through the sky across the middle of the lake. Now, each of them learned their lesson. About halfway to the end, they each had to stop and recover for they were so exhausted that they could not continue. The fox curled up in the tall grass against a small shrub for the night. The blue heron decided to fly closer to shore and land in order to preserve his strength for the next day.

The Hummingbird by Charles Sharp

The sunrise woke each of then up and each started off. They did go a bit of a slower pace than the other days, though. Several hours later, the edge of the lake was near and each pushed to beat the other. The blue heron reached the land first, and decided to gloat to the fox about his victory. Just as he was about to say something, though, he heard the hummingbird. 

"Excuse me, I was here first and this is now my land," the hummingbird argued. Now, the fox and the blue heron were not pleased by the hummingbird's statement and decided to argue back with him. However, it was then that the Great Spirit spoke and confirmed that the hummingbird was the true winner for he controls the Earth, not the fox or the blue heron. 

Each stared at each other in disbelief. They had been tricked! Dejectedly, they went home and gathered their things to move elsewhere and honor the Great Spirits wishes that the hummingbird be the true owner of the lake. Even today, that is why the hummingbirds build their nests around water while also enjoying the sweet nectar of the beautiful flowers surrounding the lake. 

Author's Note:

I changed several parts of this story while I was writing. The first was that a fox was not in the original. Rather, the hummingbird and the blue heron owned the lake and were racing and the winner was deemed the true owner. I decided to add in the fox because I thought it added an element of deceit and surprise since I wanted the hummingbird to have it all. I also changed the ending of the story. In the original, the hummingbird lost the race which meant he could not drink from the lake ever again. I decided to change this because I think hummingbirds are so beautiful and I wanted it to have the victory. 

Bibliography:

Why Hummingbirds Drink Only Dew from When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends.When the Storm God Rides was retold by Florence Stratton in 1936.