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. 

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. 

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) 

Reading Diary, Week 10 continued: Tejas Legends

Why Hummingbirds Only Drink Dew reminded me of several of the stories I read yesterday. Each of the Tejas legend stories seem to include so many parts of their culture. This one included gambling, that the Great Spirit seems to be their God, and different animals that the Tejas people seem to cherish. I also learned that hummingbirds must not drinks water and must not fly at night from reading this story. This is two facts that I did not already know about them.  There must have been many hummingbirds around for them to write about them so much. Lucky them! They are very pretty birds.

The Maiden Who Loved a Star was really sweet to me. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet or some other forbidden love story. I did feel bad for the maiden, though, when she was turned into a tree. I thought she was going to be turned into a cool animal that could fly or something, but no. Once again, I was impressed by the creativity of the Tejas legends. When I first started reading the story, I would never know that it was going to be an explanation for how purple sage appeared in the desert.

How I imagined the star falling to the maiden
Photo by: Kenneth Lu

How Sickness Entered the World made me kind of sad. In reality, it kind of showed the downfall of human's existence. It also seemed to mirror the story of Adam and Eve and how they sinned and brought sickness and all things negative into the world. Rather than eating a fruit, the two Indians killed the messenger snake. Also, both stories included snakes. I wonder if this is because snakes are seen as deceitful? 

When the Rainbow Was Torn had a lot of personification. In my storytelling, I think it would be cool to change an inanimate object into something with actions and characteristics, like the legends did for the rainbow. I thought it was interesting how all of the bands except the yellow, red and orange got away. I understand that they chose these to stay because that's what color the flowers were. But, I also wonder why they chose the color source to be the rainbow? Maybe because it was one of the only bright things around in nature? 

These stories have intrigued me more than most of the folklore stories have. Like I have said before, the creativity and the almost randomness of how the different things in nature come to be makes me wonder about how the Tejas Indians thought. I wish I could travel back into time and be there when they told these stories in person. They seem so mystical and magical. 

Bibliography: 
When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton. 

Reading Diary, Week 10: Tejas Legends

How the North Wind Lost his Hair was a cool story because it explained two different things. The first was why the South is so much warmer than the North. I thought it was an interesting twist to think that one of the winds had beaten out the other. It also explained the Spanish moss in the trees. I wonder why they chose to combine the two stories? I want to research more about how the wind and the moss would be connected where it would make sense in their minds to combine the two. 

It sounds like to me that the Indians found drugs in the story When the Woodpecker Pecks. The fact that they ate buttons that gave them visions, caused them to forget about their children and work, and fall asleep definitely sounds like the effect of some kind of hallucinogen. Its curious to me that this would make it into their folk stories and be part of an explanation for something in nature, like a woodpecker. It makes me wonder whether drugs were a large part of Indian culture?

The Tejas legends seem to include a lot more creativity than some of the other legends. The stories are much more imaginative than some of the other one's I've read. They also seem to explain more than one thing. For example, in The Cloud That Was Lost, I first thought it was explaining fog since the cloud was down near the Earth. Then, it turns out it was explaining how the phlox got their color. 

Wild Flox
Photo by: Tim Ross 

I also like how the Tejas legends explain so much in nature. It was difficult for me to understand the purpose behind some of the other folklore stories we've read. I like how with the Tejas legends, it is very obvious what they're explaining. Yet, they do it in a very creative way. In my storytelling, I want to strive to be more creative. Truth be told, I could put more thought into some of my writing. I want to take the time to think up good ideas so that I can write more imagery and have more of a creative spin on my writing. This would not only strengthen my skill but also make my stories more interesting to read.

Bibliography:
When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton.

Reading Diary Week 9, continued: Myths and Legends of Alaska

Today, I finished the Myths and Legends of Alaska. 

The First Woman was really weird story to me. I get the point- that women in the north are good with their hands and women in the south are good dancers. But why did the woman have to be ripped apart?? It seemed really harsh and gruesome and I wish that wasn't how the tale went. 

The Land of the Dead was especially intriguing to me. I thought it was interesting how their storytelling included how dogs felt when they were beaten. It really seemed to teach lessons of empathy and understanding that must have been valued in their culture. I am curious why the two wrongs they chose to point out were chewing on the grass and beating the dogs, rather than acts against each other, for example. I would like to research more to see if I could understand why these two issues were brought up in the story. I also liked their emphasis on the festival of the dead. It must have been a very important part of their culture since they felt a need to explain it's existence. 

Illustration of the Land of the Dead from Judson's book

The Cradle Song was interesting because it was so relatable. I think everyone learns lullabies as they grow up, and this was my first time to read one from another culture. I think its cool that, even though Alaska is part of the United States, they still have their own culture and traditions that are completely separate. I'm learning that this includes creation stories, values, and so much more. 

The Discontented Grass Plain seemed really weird to me because, in the end, the grass had become a wolf. I couldn't tell if the story was trying to encourage one to find contentment in their life, or if it was explaining why the wolves are separate from each other. If it was to explain the wolves, I'm not sure why they did it in such an indirect way. In my own storytelling, I would like to be direct where the reader doesn't have to wonder my point. Confusion is something I've run into a lot while reading this unit. I guess because I am not as familiar with the Alaskan culture and it's history? 

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson

Reading Diary: Myths and Legends of Alaska

For Week 9, I chose to read the Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Barry Judson. I thought this would be interesting since I am not familiar with Inuit traditions.

The story The Raven Myth: Raven's Creation really enthralled me because I am so fascinated with other creation stories. I thought it was interesting that the story focused on the creation of animals like reindeer, caribou, and mountain sheep that were to be prevalent in the land. This made sense since these animals are so prevalent in colder climates like Alaska. I also thought it was interesting that they chose a raven to be creator of all things. I wonder why this was? 

The Raven

The Flood was extremely interesting to me since The Bible talks of a massive flood as well. I believe that the flood actually happened because I believe that The Bible is true, but it does surprise and please me that there is more evidence of this flood through other folklore traditions.

I also think it is interesting that all of the birds can push up their beaks to become human beings. I'm wondering where this came from where it is so perpetuated in their folklore. 

Raven's Marriage surprised me because the story was more about his struggle to fly with the geese than his marriage. I'm not really sure what the folktale was about. This story struck me as one about perseverance and not wasting all of your energy at the beginning of your journey- much like the storyline of The Tortoise and the Hare. If Raven had not sped ahead of the geese, would he have been able to complete the journey with more ease? Or, was it more of a matter of not having had to make such a long journey before? In my own storytelling, I want the title and the content to align so that it is clear to the reader what the story is about. 

I think the Raven got what he deserved in Raven and the Seals. I love seals so it made me really sad to hear of Raven killing and eating so many of them! I hope that when the Stump sat over the hole, it also saved the seals' lives. Also, I think Raven deserved it since he was boasting about what he had, trying to make Stump jealous. Any time you provoke someone, I think you deserve any backlash that you receive.

I thought it was really cool how the Alaskan people explained the long spans with and without light in The Bringing of the Light by Raven. A man piling up snow seems like such a trivial reason for there being no light, so I think its funny that it was a big enough part of their lives to include it in the story. I also am a little confused on Raven after reading the story. Can anyone become Raven? What is the importance of a rave? These are things I would like to research in the future to help me better understand their stories. 

Reading Diary Week 7, continued:

Continued reading from Filipino Popular Tales by Dean S. Fansler . 

Why Mosquitos Hum and Try to get into the Holes of our Ears really confused me. I understand that the story was an attempt to explain why mosquitos buzz around peoples ears. However, the story did not make it very clear which type of being each character was, which made it hard to follow. I was also confused how the rain, carrying the house, and the fire all tied in. It just seemed very random and hard to follow. In my storytelling, I want to make it very clear what is happening and who each character is so that people do not get frustrated and confused. 

The Hummingbird and the Carabao made me laugh. I liked how the relationship between the two animals was very relatable. Oftentimes, my friends will also joke with each other that they can do one thing better than the other and a competition ensues. I also liked the large amounts of diction in the story. It allowed the relationship to develop between the two characters and showed more emotion than a 3rd party re-telling of the event. In my storytelling, I would also like to incorporate more diction so that the personalities of the characters and their thoughts can be more developed.

Why the Sun Shines more Brightly than the Moon was a very interesting story to me because, as I've mentioned before, I like when folktales attempt to explain natural phenomenons. In this case, I thought it was interesting that the girls had knowledge of what their god was doing and could have enough contact with them to steal. This is such a contrast to the Christian beliefs that I grew up with where God is this mystical being who we cannot see or visit until after death. I'm curious if the Filipinos believe that they're god is living among them? This is something I would like to look more into. 

The sun versus the moon
Photo by: Remus Withe 

The Story of our Fingers definitely makes me look at my hand a little differently! It always makes me laugh the stories that humans can come up with when left to their imagination. I'm curious why the tale came about that a thumb was trying to steal? Then that would cause people to look negatively upon one part of their body. I think this story does a good job embodying the culture of the Filipino people. It was apparent after reading this that they do not approve of stealing and that, should one steal, it is possible that they would be shunned from society. I'm curious whether this is still a value that exists in their culture today?

I really enjoyed Why the Ocean is Salty because it makes sense to me. Something I have learned through this unit is that the Filipino people are very creative. They like to employ magic/mythical beings into their stories as well as give natural objects, such as the ocean, a personality. I really enjoyed reading this unit because it was a previously unknown culture to me and my first experience with it. 

Reading Diary Week 7: Filipino Popular Tales

This week, I am reading the Filipino Popular Tales by Dean S. Fansler. I've really enjoyed this unit because I am not familiar with Filipino culture.

In the story Three Brothers of Fortune, I liked how each had a magical object that could perform a different power. Throughout the story, I was curious how the charms would work. In the past folklore stories, the results of the charm did not turn out how the one who possesses it would have thought. However, in the case of this story, the charms worked as expected. Then, I was curious how the story would end. I liked the turn of events where the other two brothers received "useless" parts of the woman, but the brother with the stones could put her back together to have all of her. This was not something I expected in the story, and I was really happy to read that that's how it turned out. I do feel bad for the woman, though! I know I wouldn't want to be cut up into three pieces! I wish the story had elaborated more on what exactly this meant. Was her body actually split up into three?

I was really surprised by the ending of The Clever Husband and the Wife. I was guessing that the doctor would be extremely angry at the husband and his wife for lying. However, his response was one of joy because they were both alive. 

The story of Chonguita struck me as very absurd; however, I was also very drawn in to the story and wanted to know what happened. After each trial, I was curious to know who would win and was concerned about the well-being of Chonguita, especially when she was hurled against the wall. I also felt badly for the couple from the beginning since Don Juan had to marry a monkey and Chonguita had no say in the matter. In my storytelling, especially for my storybook, I would like to establish this kind of emotional connection so that my readers feel for the characters. I think it helps people stay engaged in the story and care about what is happening.

How I Imagine Chonguita
Photo source: Wikipedia (2007)

The story The Enchanted Prince made me really happy! I was so pleased that each of them found an answer to their needs and essentially saved each other. For my storytelling, I would really like to write a love story. An idea I have for this is to pick out one character I like from the stories and develop a love story with a match that I think they would get along well. I think this would be a really good way to expand my creativity and write a completely original piece. 

Reading Diary Week 6, continued: West African Folktales

I am continuing to read the West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair. 

The first story of the reading that I enjoyed is How the Tortoise Got It's Shell. I thought this story was interesting because it tells the story of a tortoise before it had a shell, which I thought was an interesting aspect of West African culture. I have mentioned this in my reading diaries before, but I really enjoy stories that give insight as to how different cultures explain the natural occurrences around us. This story is a prime example of that. While I was reading it, I was wondering what the tortoise's thought process was while he was stuck outside the gate. Why didn't he try another way to get inside? A storytelling idea would be to write this from the tortoise's perspective and add in his inner dialogue.

The Tortoise

The Hunter and the Tortoise was a story that really brought things full circle. From the beginning, the tune of the tortoise was that man forces himself on things rather than the other way around. This prophecy came true in that the man tried to force the tortoise to sing and she refused. Had he just let it be, he could have enjoyed the music. I wold like to use this method in my storytelling of a self-fulfilling prophecy. 

I have noticed that a lot of the stories in this storybook come full circle. Just as in The Hunter and the Tortoise, The Ungrateful Man also experienced what he deserved after he was killed as a traitor. Since this is included in so many of their tales, I have to wonder if honesty and loyalty are of high value in their culture. Also, many of the stories include they influence of animals. Was it believed that animals and humans used to be able to communicate in ancient times? I wonder only because this is included in so many different tales from different cultures. Or is it just a convenient method of storytelling?

An idea for story telling from this unit would be to replace some of the animal characters with humans and vice versa. Would humans be personified differently than the animals would?

I also loved the story Why Tigers Never Attack Unless Provoked. I thought it was so cool that the man and the tiger were such good friends. I would like to use this in my storytelling to bring two characters together. They had such a connection that the man was actually very upset at the thought of the tiger dying and watched over his cub. This kind of emotional appeal is something I would definitely like to include in my stories as well since it does a great job of grabbing the audience's attention and keeping them engaged. 

The Tiger

Reading Diary Week 6: West African Folktales

This week, I am reading the West African Folktales story by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair. The first story of the unit is called How We Got the Name "Spider Tales". I really enjoyed this story because of how clever the spider is. He tricked such large, ferocious animals into submitting to him. Thinking about it logically, a lion and boa would probably either eat, squish, or not even notice the spider. However, through these stories he was cunning enough into tricking them into defeat. It reminds me of the stories with the fox from the previous unit, The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. 

The second story that grabbed my attention was the story of Anansi and Nothing. I liked how in the end, the story concluded with the assertion that children are often said to be "crying for nothing" because of Nothing in the story. It also struck me as comical that someone would be named "Nothing". Lastly, I think there is a good lesson in this story that not everything is what it seems. It is imperative that one have the patience to wait different situations out so that they can be revealed for what they really are. In the case of Anansi and Nothing, it became clear that the real rich man was Nothing. However, this was not apparent to the wives at the beginning. I think this is valuable lesson that everyone should consider. A lot of times, a situation will evolved and result in something that you never would have thought.

A modern depiction of Anansi jealously staring after Nothing
Photo by: Gabriel S. Delgado C. (2010)

After reading Why the Lizard Moves His Head Up and Down and Thunder and Anansi, I have decided that I do not like Anansi one bit! He is so selfish and deceiving. It is very clear that he only cares about himself, especially in Thunder and Anansi since his entire family was starving and he still hid the pot from them. I would hate to have known him, much less have him in my family. Also, let's not forget that his poor starving wife didn't even know what she was getting herself into since she believed she was marrying a rich man at the time due to the fact that he was wearing Nothing's clothing. I really hope that something happens to him in the near future so that he is not a character in the stories anymore!

Finally, Anansi's evil ways were revealed in Tit for Tat! I also enjoyed how some of the West African beliefs were incorporated into the story. Since the image shaking meant that the Gods were angry, I am assuming that the West Africans believed that a shaking image meant the god was angry. I am curious how exactly these images manifested in real life for them to see. Maybe it was like a spirit standing before them?

Lastly, the story of Anansi turning into a spider made me laugh because he got what he deserved. I can't believe he was still up to his tricks and was so determined to steal food from his family. Especially since it sounded like they had plenty to go around. Also, this story really resonated with me because my boyfriend is terrified of spiders and always has me sweep the webs down from the corners to make sure that they do not have a place to take refuge in his room. I told him this story as a way to explain to him that the spiders in the corner are not harmful. In fact, they are actually trying to hide and avoid being noticed! 

Week 5 Reading Diary: Egyptian Myth and Legend

This week, I am reading from the Ancient Egypt unit which pulls stories from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie. 

The first story was really intriguing to me because it tells the story of Creation as told by the Ancient Egyptians. Due to my Christian upbringing, I had never explored other creation stories. I really enjoyed the Egyptian's take though. I thought it was interesting how each being created was a ruler of one specific element of the Earth. I also liked how the Earth came from a "waste of water" because it really felt like a rebirth story. The water was waste and the Earth came up out of it. 

I was very intrigued by Ra in the story called The Secret Name of Ra. I am very curious why the Egyptians chose to describe him as an older being that had moisture dripping from his mouth as he spake. This is very different from the Christian ideas of God in that God in the Bible does not age. I like how Isis overpowered Ra and stopped at nothing to get the power she wanted. To me, this aligns with how women in today's society will stop at nothing to get the power or position they desire. In my storytelling, I would like to create a strong female character that is more cunning than her male counterpart. 

Ra, the ancient Egyptian sun god.
Photo by: Jeff Dahl (2007)

I really enjoyed the story of Osiris because of the peaceful way he chose to rule Egypt. I also liked how Isis and Osiris put on a very united front and ruled Egypt together. They seemed to be an ancient power couple. In my future writings, I would like to include a relationship like theirs. 

The Journey of Isis made me sad because of the intensity of Isis's grief. I can't imagine how it would feel to lose my husband and search for his body only for it to be thrown out again once I found it. I liked how the story gave the powerful goddess a very human side that was very relatable. I always think of goddesses as these powerful beings that are not affected by emotions the same way that humans are. However, this story showed me differently. 

The goddess Isis. Photo by: Jeff Dahl (2007)

I'm confused why the youth was taken into the water, never to be seen again by the crocodile in The Wax Crocodile. I guess it was just the fact that the youth was supposed to be following the Pharaoh rather than sneaking off to visit his lover? If I were the woman, I would be extremely upset that I was having to suffer for my lover's mistakes. Maybe a storytelling idea could be to rewrite this story with a different ending to characterize the woman as more triumphant. 

Week 4 Reading Diary, continued: Santal Folklore

The first story of the second reading is called The Jackal and the Chickens. To be honest, I did not really enjoy this story. The whole premise seemed to be killing. I wonder why this is so prevalent in the Santal folklore stories? This is something I would like to look up and investigate further. For my writing, I would not like to include anything like this. It could, however, be a challenge to myself to write a story that I do not particularly write to try and build these skills?

The second story, The Jackal Punished, seemed even worse! The basic storyline was almost the same as the previous; however, the deaths stood out even more because the story was shorter. This made it seem like the entire story was about death. I am not a fan of this type of content.

The Jackal by Artemy Voikhansky

The Tigers and the Cats seemed random to be because I feel like some of the events do not relate. In my writing, I would like to have some flow that keeps the reader easily clued in to what is happening.

One issue with Indian folklore that I have is that it really does confuse me. For example, in The Elephant and the Ants, the moral of the story "not to despise the poor man, because one day he may have the opportunity to put us to shame." I do not really understand how the elephant running with ants relates to a poor man. Something I would aim to do in my writing is to communicate messages that my audience can fully understand so that they do not feel the confusion that I do now. 

After reading these stories, I'm getting the sense that revenge is a large part of Indian culture. Either that, or at least being punished for not treating people right. Each of the stories seems to have some aspect of punishing for wrongdoing, most likely death. 

Source: Folklore of the Santal Parganas, by C.H. Bompas (1909)

Week 4 Reading Diary: Santal Folklore

The beginning of Ledha and the Leopard reminded me of the story of Adam and Eve. The boy came home after promising not to do something and was convinced by a woman to do so. Also, I like how clever the animals are in the story. They are personified as people with plans and schemes. Maybe this is something I would like to include in my storytelling.

This story of The Oilman's Bullock made me sad because the bullock only lived a short while after he was free. The message of this story to me was to always enjoy whats happening in your life now instead of constantly looking forward because you never know what the future holds.

I really like how clever all of the stories from the Santal folklore are. This is something I will strive for in my writing. I would really like for someone to read my story and be as impressed with mine as I am with these. One thing that is so far for me to comprehend, though, is the meaning behind each story. This is probably due to the fact that Indian culture and values are very different than European. I have made a note to research more into these folklore stories to see what they could be trying to communicate. 

I really enjoyed the story of Ramai and the Animals because I liked to see the kind spirit of Ramai. He was protecting the snake, otter, cat, and dog out of the goodness of his heart rather than for the prosperity they would bring. In turn, they rewarded him. Kindness is an extremely important virtue to me and one that I try to practice everyday. Therefore, I liked to see it in Indian culture and know that they value it as well.

The otter that Ramai saved. Photo by: Ken Thomas

The Ghormuhas sounded like they should be in the show Game of Thrones or something! They were so intense. While I did not like that they ate people, including their own fathers and mothers, I liked the idea of coming up with a completely new creature. This  type of creation could be cool to practice in my own writing. Someday, in a story where it fit, I would like to think up a completely new being and insert it in to the story.

I thought the ending to The Jackal and the Crow was very funny because basically, the jackal could not jump over a post because he was so full. He transfixed and died.  This was such an unexpected ending and struck me as very funny in a fable. In my writing, it would be cool to include an ending that struck people as funny as this story did to me. 

The story of The Tiger Cub and the Calf started out sweet but ended the opposite. It is interesting to me how death is such a prevalent part of Indian folklore. In addition, I think it is interesting how, throughout all of the stories, the different species of animals and humans all could communicate and get along. Do people from India believe that there was a time that this was possible?

Bibliography:
Folklore of the Santal Parganas, translated by C.H. Bompas (1909)

Week 3 Reading Diary: Aesop's Fables (Jacobs)

This week for my reading diary I chose to read classical stories instead of biblical stories. I chose to read The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs. I was really happy I read this unit because one of the topics I was interested in for my storybook was animal stories. Through this unit, I got a clearer idea of some animals I would like to focus on. After this reading, I'm thinking I would like to write about foxes or cats. Foxes because they are so cunning and tricky. I think this could be something really fun to expand on and think of new ways that the fox could trick the other characters in the story. Also, cats because I liked how they were described as "self aware and focused". I think they are more cautious, which would be the opposite of a fox, but definitely something I would have fun developing in the stories. 

From this unit, I also discovered some other aspects that I might like to include in my own storytelling. The first would be to characterize historically strong characters as weak, like in Androcles and the Lion. For a storytelling idea, I think it would be cool to switch the roles of two characters and make the strong one weak and vice versa. I also liked the message of this story- that we can all learn from gratitude. I think in America, it can sometimes be extremely difficult to be grateful for all of the things we have and always want more. I think this fable does a good job of reminding us to do so. 

From The Lion in Love, I realized that I like stories that are more realistic. I understand that this was a fable, however the story of a lion falling in love with a woman and having his teeth and claws removed for her seemed very far-fetched to me, which kind of turned me off from the story. In my attempts to be creative, I want to do it in a way that it seems clever rather than stretched. This way, the reader may not experience the same feelings as I did while reading.

As mentioned above, I am heavily considering using foxes as the focus should I decide to write a storybook on animal stories. The Fox and the Stork is a good example to me because I love the craft of the story. The tricks were simple but still creative and added humor to the story for me. This is something that I would like to include in my stories to add another element for the reader. Also, the story of The Fox and the Grapes is another story that drew me to foxes because it is so relatable to me. Oftentimes, if I cannot have something, I convince myself that its not something I wanted in the first place, just as the fox did with the grapes. Lastly, the story of The Fox and the Mosquitos  interested me because it is such a wise story. I was really surprised while reading it because I had almost an epiphany moment. It is so true that should the hedgehog shoo away the mosquitos for the fox, only more would come that were even more hungry and suck him dry. This kind of insight is not something I had really thought about before but is so true. I'm not 100% sure how it applies to my life right now, but I am confident it will at some time and would be a valuable lesson to remember. 

The Fox and the Mosquitos. Illustration by Walter Crane's Baby's Own Aesop (1887)

I did not enjoy any of the wolf stories because I thought the wolf was downright mean. This is probably an indication that you will not see many mean characters in my stories. Maybe I should write one just to practice that style of writing? I don't even know what I would say in the dialogue. 

The last story that caught my attention was the story of The Cat-Maiden. While this story almost falls into the "unrealistic" category with The Lion in Love, I still liked it because I think it teaches a very valuable lesson. Beings will never abandon their true nature, so its important to accept them as they are. You wouldn't expect a cat to not act like a cat, so don't expect a jerk to act kind and gentle or vice versa. Granted, everyone has their moments but they will always revert to their true nature. This is, unfortunately, something I've forgotten at times and would have done better to remember. 

Generally, I've really enjoyed how both the Bible stories from last week and the Classical stories from this week teach lessons subtly from the story. This is something I would really like to incorporate into my writing because I feel like it makes it so much more meaningful. I will definitely need practice, however, because I feel like this skill is difficult to master.  

Week 2 Reading Diary, continued: Bible Women

My second reading of the week is the second half of the Bible Women unit from the King James version of the bible. 

The first story I read was the story of the Witch from Endor. This story was really interesting to me because I didn't know it existed in the Bible. I think its really interesting that the Bible talks of calling spirits back from the dead. I was raised to believe that everything the Bible says is true, so I am now questioning my previous belief that spirits and witches were not real. I want to read 1 Samuel to read the story in context and find out more. I also really like magic and witchcraft (The Harry Potter series was one of my favorites to read and watch) so this is maybe something I would like to include in my story.

In the three stories about Esther, I loved how strong of a female lead Esther was. Her personality and her thoughts were more developed to me than the other women in the previous stories. In my writing, I really like the idea of having a strong, influential female lead.

Queen Esther by Edwin Long (1879)

Another story that really interested me was the story of Mary and Elizabeth. This was another part of the Bible that I had not previously read before. I did not know that Mary had a cousin that had also seen an angel and that when Mary spoke to Elizabeth, she knew she was the mother of the Son of God. I love how the Bible is so interconnected and that different books in the bible connect the stories and add more to them. This continuity and connectivity is something that I would love to include in my stories, even though I believe it is difficult to master. 

Week 2 Reading Diary: Bible Women

For this unit's reading, I read the unit called Bible Women. I was really interested in this unit because I grew up in a Christian faith-based home, but I had not really read much about the women of the Bible. Each story from the unit was from the King James version of the Bible. 

The first woman that really interested me was Eve. I have mixed emotions about Eve because she is so trusting, but to a fault. I think trust and faith in people is a great trait for women to have. However, her trust is what got her in trouble. Especially in today's society, I think it is important for women to be discerning and intelligent so that they can support and protect themselves. This is something that Eve lacked. I also think, on a deeper level, Eve can represent the struggle women in society face today between the traditional women's roles that they are still expected to uphold versus the transition towards women empowerment and being independent. Eve's trusting nature and the trick she fell victim to represents the traditional women's roles- especially the stereotype that women are easy to deceive and should be dependent on men to take care of issues. However, she is trying to break free of these and that is why she believed the snake and told her husband that they should eat from the fruit. Her having made such a large mistake could represent the setbacks that women face in their striving towards breaking the stereotypes. Maybe this is a stretch? It kind of makes sense to me?

Adam and Eve in the Garden.
Painting by: Lucas Cranach from the first half of the 16th century

I also like how many of the Bible stories had messages that underlie the actual story. For example, the story of Hagar and Sarah tells the story of patience. Sarah was impatient for a child so she gave her husband Hagar to have a child by. It was God's promise that Sarah would have a child with Abraham even in her own age. If she had had patience, she would have waited for her own child instead of having a son by Hagar, which ruined their relationship and ended up with great conflict between Hagar and Sarah. In my own writing, I would like to implement these subtle messages if possible.

Another factor I would like to include is foreshadowing. God tells Rebekah, "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels; and the one people shall be stronger than the other people; and the elder shall serve the younger." This is such foreshadowing about two future countries and the role they each will have. All of these women in the unit are such vital parts of history according to the Bible. 

One thing I would change about theses stories, if possible, is to develop the women as characters more. They are mentioned in the stories and are important, however they are not developed as characters at all. I would like to know more about their personalities and their thoughts. **Storytelling idea for either retelling this story or my writing in future stories".

Lastly, I think the story of Potiphar's wife adds an element of comic relief. To me, she is such a typical immature mean girl! She wanted to be with this guy and he denied her, so she lied about the story to make him look bad. It seems like a modern day movie and made me laugh a little bit because it was so unexpected in a book as serious and revered as the Bible.