Storytelling: Daughter of the Air (Week 14)

The Little Mermaid Statue in Denmark

She was just over two-hundred years into her service as a Daughter of the Air.  She was so close to earning her eternal soul that she could almost taste it, though her senses didn’t work the way they had before and she had little reason now to actually taste things.  Being ethereal was indescribable; it felt like being light as a feather yet having the weight of the world on your shoulders at the same time. 

She had watched over her prince during his lifetime.  He lived his life convinced that his bride was the maiden who saved him from that shipwreck all those years ago.  She had come to terms with that long, long ago.  In fact, she had come to appreciate his wife.  She took care of the prince and loved him dearly.  Both of them had mourned her when she had faded into the sea foam and appeared to die.  As she watched over the prince over the years, she came to realized that he had really cared for her during her short time on earth, despite the fact that things did not work out how she had hoped.  She still loved him, even though the prince had died long ago, but now she had come to realize that things had worked out for the best.  If she had married the prince like she originally wished, she never would have done all the good that she had achieved during her time as a Daughter of the Air. 

Her father and sisters were still alive and thankfully happy.  There were many, many children in the family now.  It made her smile to think of her father as a grandfather.  Though the normal lifespan of a mermaid was three hundred years, her family had packed as much love and memories into their time as possible.  Whenever it was possible, she tried to do as many good deeds around them as she could.  It was nice to just be around them, even if they were not aware of her presence.  Unfortunately, her grandmother had passed, fading into the sea foam.  Each year, though, her family celebrated her life. 

It was amazing to think that this incredible journey started so long ago on her fifteenth birthday, on her first journey to the surface.  She never could have imagined that her birthday would spark the search for love and ultimately the search for her soul.

Arthur's Note:

I partially chose to write about this story because I loved the Disney version so much as a child.  Now as an adult, I fought the original story so interesting.  I had heard that the ending of the original was really sad and depressing.  When I read it, though, I found it more hopeful than anything.  When writing my story, I wanted to really capture that.  So, I wrote it in the future, after she died and became a Daughter of the Air and had her reflect on her time on earth.  

Hans Christian Anderson - The Little Mermaid 

Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).

Reading Eval.

At the beginning of the semester, I was shocked by how many reading options were available.  It definitely helped me find an interest in the material. 

I really enjoyed the Twenty-Two Goblins unit, which surprised me.  I think it was the fact that it turned out to be a trickster story that really interested me.  Those are always fun to read.  I also like reading about Ovid, though I had read some of the stories before for other classes. 

I don’t know that I really had much of a strategy when it came to the reading diaries.  I mostly tried to focus on the text.  Anytime something made me pause or left me wondering about something, I wrote it down.  I also wrote down a lot of quotes that caught my attention.

I think that this class has a really good balance.  I’ve taken online classes before, and this is the first one that I felt like I knew something about any of my classmates.  The writing part was really enjoyable to me without being overwhelming.  The readings sometimes felt a little long, but it was definitely manageable, especially with the variety of reading choices we had.

My advice would be to be flexible with your plan.  For one of the assignments, I listed out all the different readings that I would like to do, but I’m pretty sure that I ended up picking completely different units when the time finally came.  This is a really fun class and choosing what stories you read was a large part of that.  

Reflections (Week 15)

Overall, I think that this course really forced me to look at things in new ways and to understand things in different terms.  Both the Storybook project and the weekly storytelling assignments really helped me with this.  It required me to get creative and look for different perspective in my writing and my editing.  That was both what I learned most from the course and what I liked most about it.  Learning about all the different mythology was really fun and interesting.  It definitely helped me to understand things about society that I didn’t necessarily get before.  I think being able to look at things from new and different perspectives will be very useful in the future, not just in school but in work as well.  It is a really good way to go about problem solving.

Reading Diary B: Hans Christian Anderson (Week 14)

Illustration by Dulac

• “We must not imagine that there is nothing at the bottom of the sea but bare yellow sand.”  The story goes on to talk about all the things that live down, deep in the ocean.  It doesn’t really mention anything scary, but I imagine there are some extremely scary things down there.  It’s almost unfathomable.
• I loved the Little Mermaid growing up, so it is really interesting to see the differences between the original story and Disney’s version.  She is quiet in the original and also is uninterested in trinkets from shipwrecks.  Instead, she enjoyed flowers.  Also, her grandmother has a very large presence in the original. 
• She was not allowed to dress as she wanted. ““Pride must suffer pain,” replied the old lady. Oh, how gladly she would have shaken off all this grandeur and laid aside the heavy wreath! The red flowers in her own garden would have suited her much better”
• When the prince falls into the water, she is excited at first.  “she thought he would now be with her; and then she remembered that human beings could not live in the water, so that when he got down to her father’s palace he would be quite dead. But he must not die.” 
• The prince didn’t know that the little mermaid had saved him.
• Her sisters play a bigger role than expected. 
• I wonder how the grandma knows so much about things on land when she too is confined to the waters
• The story really is quiet sad.  And it’s not really the prince’s fault either. 
• The ending is sad, but it is actually a lot more hopeful than I expected.

Hans Christian Anderson - The Little Mermaid part 6

Reading Diary A: Hans Christian Anderson (Week 14)

Illustration in a collection of Anderson's Fairy tales

• The Princess and the Pea is a really interesting story, but it brings up some questions.  For example, why is it that sensitivity is the only way to tell if someone is a true princess?  That doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.  I think it’s funny that the story ends by saying that it was a true story.
• I haven’t heard the story of the Emperor and the clothes before, but I was excited when I saw it in this unit.  I recently heard about it and I’ve been seeing and hearing it mentioned all over the place since then.  Now I finally get what it was all about!  Basically it is all about pride, and only a child is willing to be honest in spite of pride.
• “This is the black goblin’s fault, I am sure. Ah, well, if the little lady were only here with me in the boat, I should not care for any darkness.”
• So I suppose the tale of the Wicked Prince is about greed?  I’m surprised that God actually had any interaction.  I expected the prince to become ruined all on his own.  The fact that such a tiny gnat took down such a “mighty” prince is quite ironic.
• I didn’t realized that the story of the Little Match Girl was from Hans Christian Anderson.
• “Her father would certainly beat her”  Geez, that is intense.
• “ her grandmother had never appeared so large or so beautiful. She took the little girl in her arms, and they both flew upwards in brightness and joy far above the earth, where there was neither cold nor hunger nor pain, for they were with God.”  I’m not really sure how I feel about this.  I’m not really crazy about this story.  It’s so sad.

Hans Christian Anderson unit

Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen, translated by H. P. Paull (1872).

Storytelling: A Poor Mortal (Week 13)

A 19th-century interpretation of Charon's crossing by Alexander Litovchenko.

Charon rowed.  And rowed.  And rowed.  That’s almost all that he did.  His arms had stopped throbbing hundreds of years ago.  Now, the years passed liked days to him.  The screams and wails of the lost souls had also partially deafened him.  Long ago, he had even been able to hear the distant click-clacking of the centaurs’ hooves from so far off circle of hell.  He couldn’t hear much other than the last lamentations of the sorrowful souls he carried across the river.  His beard and head had started greying long, long ago.  Now, his beard only had specks of its natural hue; instead, grey had taken over.  Both in age and appearance, he was an old man.  

Soon, he would have to find someone else to take over his responsibility as the ferryman.  Reflecting was not something he did often, but it was something that he felt was appropriate now that he would be relinquishing his position soon.  He had been alive for far too long to care to remember everything that had happened to him.  Even if he did desire to remember the occurrences that had taken place throughout the course of his post as ferryman, there were so, so many souls that he had taken, it was impossible to remember them all.  In fact, most of them blurred together.  Few souls had interested him during his millennia on the job.  He did vividly recall one soul in particular, though.  His name was Dante, and he was a soul Chiron had yet to take.  He was one of the handful of mortals who had venture down into the Underworld for some reason or another.  

From what he recalled, he was on a quest of some sort and was with a soul that he had previously taken across the river, a soul named Virgil.  In life, Virgil had an importance about him and a way of stirring things up.  In death, the same was true.  He claimed to be a guide to the mortal who had found his way to the ferry.  Charon tried to warn the mortal Dante that his ferry was not for the living, but neither he nor Virgil would heed his warning.  Instead the guide pushed Charon, urging him to let the mortal pass.  He stated something about the mortal’s passage being fated or willed or something along those lines.  Charon remembered deciding not to argue.  He remembered thinking that if it was that mortal’s fate to see the trials of hell, fate was cruel indeed.

Author's Note:

I decided to write my story about Charon's interaction with Dante and Virgil because it really stuck out to me while I was reading the unit.  I placed the story at some point after Charon's encounter with the two of them.  I thought that doing this would give an interesting perspective.  I also got the impression the Charon had seen a lot during his time, so I really wanted to play up his age and maybe his wisdom as well.

From the Gates of Hell and Charon section of the Dante's Inferno unit

Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).

Reading Diary B: Dante's Inferno (Week 13)

Nicola Consoni's Dante al Limbo

• I wonder how many Cantos there are in this.
• The Minotaur from Crete is in the seventh circle of hell.
• “When he saw us, he gnawed himself, like someone consumed by anger inside.”  Sounds like someone with intense emotional trauma.
• He weaves in the Greek mythology almost seamlessly.  He mentions Theseus and it doesn’t seem forced or awkward.
• “the world has often been overwhelmed by chaos.”
• “we near the river of blood, in which those who injure others by violence are boiled.”
• So our desires are what lead us to destruction and hell?
• For a little bit, I think that I got Chiron and Charon confused.
• Chiron was basically the leader of the centaurs?
• “Divine Justice here torments Attila.”  So he isn’t just taking on Greek mythology.  The word “divine” makes the torture sound righteous.
• “The foliage was not green, but a dusky colour: the branches were not smooth, but warped and knotted; there were no fruits there, but poisonous thorns.”  Sounds like a dark twist on Wonderland or something like that.
• It is super interesting that Dante refers to Virgil as “Master,” especially when Virgil is being considered such a massive sinner.
• 'O Capaneus, you are punished more in that your pride is not quenched: no torment would produce pain fitting for your fury, except your own raving.' That’s interesting.  So each person’s punishment is custom fit to them. 
• It is odd how Virgil talks of Jason.  It is as if he is this great and glorious person who somehow did something bad enough to send him to hell.  The language is both good and bad, which is interesting.  

Dante's Inferno unit

Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).

Reading Diary A: Dante's Inferno (Week 13)

Sandro Botticelli's Chart of Hell

• “In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself, in a dark wood, where the direct way was lost.”  Our is plural.  Who is the other person?  I know one is Dante, but who is the other?  He came to himself?  What does that mean?  Does that mean that he becomes aware?
• He was “so full of sleep.”  That’s like a dream.
• There is some watery language
• Leopards, lions, wolves, oh my!
• “where the sun is silent.”  What?  This sounds a bit like Alice in Wonderland…
• Why does Dante want to travel through Hell?
• Does he go through Hell to escape the animals?
• “Here, all uncertainty must be left behind; all cowardice must be dead”  Interesting
• It is interesting that he is comforted by such a sinner touching his hand.
• They ignore the people who are in between
• “And see, an old man, with white hoary locks, came towards us in a boat.” Charon is an old man.
• Charon does not want to take Dante and Virgil across.
• “My son, those who die subject to God's anger all gather here, from every country, and they are quick to cross the river since divine justice goads them on, so that their fear is turned to desire. This way no good spirit ever passes.”  Good to know
• 'How can I go on, if you are afraid, who are my comfort when I hesitate?'
• Virgil doesn’t fear the first circle of hell, but rather pities those who reside there.

Dante's Inferno

Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).

Storytelling: A Bedtime Fable (Week 12)

The Wolf and the Lamb by Wenceslaus Hollar

“Mom, will you tell me a story?”  Lucy looked down at her daughter from the doorway.

“Of course, Luna.  What would you like to hear?”

“I dunno!  Just a story!”

“Okay, okay.  Calm down and get into bed.”

Luna ran across the room, almost tripping on the too-long pant legs of her pajama bottoms, and jumped unto the bed.  Her dark hair flew around her face as she bounced to a stop.  Lucy shook her head and smiled.

“Come on, silly.  Under the cover.”

Luna crawled beneath the blankets and wriggled around until she was comfortable.  Lucy sat on the edge of the bed and patted Luna’s leg.

“So, a story.  Hmm.  How about a fable?”

“What’s a fable?”

“It’s a kind of story with lots of animals in it.”

“Ohhhh.  Okay!  Tell me a fable!”

“How about the one with the wolf and the lamb?”

“Yeah!  Wolf and lamb!”

“Okay, well it goes something like this…

There once was a wolf and a lamb drinking from opposite ends of a stream.  The lamb was more than happy to share the water with everyone, but the wolf was greedy and mean.  The water flowed from the wolf then down to where the lamb was.  When the wolf saw the lamb there, he grew very angry.  He snuck up on the lamb and yelled, “Why are you drinking from my stream?  You’re ruining it!”

The lamb jumped away and answered the wolf, “But the water reaches you first, then flows to me.  Even if I were ruining it, you would never taste it!”

The wolf ignored the young lamb’s logic.  Instead, he blamed the lamb for something its father had done long ago.  The wolf was okay with using any excuse he could to be mean to the little lamb, even though he was blameless.

And I believe the fable ends with the lines,

‘To those this fable I address

Who are determined to oppress,

And trump up any false pretence,

But they will injure innocence.’”

Once Lucy was finished with the story, she looked at Luna snuggled up in her bed.  Luna’s eyes weren’t as wide as they had been before, and Lucy could tell that she was fighting a yawn.

“What did you think, kiddo?”

“The wolf was bad.”

“That’s right.  The wolf was bad.  Do you know what the moral of the story was?”

“Yeah, Mommy.  It’s bad people are bad.”  Lucy smiled a bit and tried not to chuckle at the short and sweet answer her daughter gave.

“That’s right, Sweetie.  Bad people, or wolves, are bad.”

Finally, Luna yawned.  Lucy stood up and pulled to covers up to her daughter's neck and tucked her in.  

"Alright, now.  Go to bed."

"Can you tell me another fable tomorrow?"

"Sure thing, Sweetie."

"Good, because I like the animals, even if they are bad sometimes."  This made Lucy laugh a little.

"Alright, Sweetie.  Now, seriously, go to bed.  Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mommy,"

Author's Note:

I chose to write this like a bed time story because the fables were so short, that it would work as being a part of the story itself.  I felt like a bed time story would be a good way to create a frame for the fable.  The fable included in my story is the actual fable from the Untextbook.  There were several of the fables that seemed to have a similar moral or theme that this one did, so I went with the story of the Lamb and the Wolf to include in my story.

The Wolf and the Lamb from the UnTextbook

The Comedies of Terence and the Fables of Phaedrus

translated by Henry Thomas Riley,

to which is added

a Metrical Translation of Phaedrus

by Christopher Smart.

1887.

Reading Diary B: Aesop's Fables (Week 12)

illustration from Steinhowel's Aesop

• ·         “To those this fable I address
• Who are determined to oppress,
• And trump up any false pretence,
• But they will injure innocence.” Is the moral that bad people are bad?  That’s kind of lousy.
• ·         “When one rogue would another get
• For surety in a case of debt,
• 'Tis not the thing t' accept the terms,
• But dread th' event, the tale affirms.”
• ·         “Liars are liable to rue
• The mischief they 're so prone to do.”  Once again, bad people are bad?
• ·         So the wolf thinks that it is better to be down on your luck and serve yourself than to serve another, even if they are good to you.
• ·         I wonder if the saying, “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” comes from Aesop
• ·         “The churl that wants another's fare
• Deserves at least to lose his share.”  That seems a tad bit harsh.  Everyone is jealous or covetous of other people and what they have every once in a while.  It seems harsh to punish someone for that.
• ·         Dogs are greedy but wolves are shady?
• ·         Seriously, I’m seeing a theme of “bad people are bad.”
• ·         Dogs are loyal, but greedy?
• ·         The weasel tricked the mice, even though the weasel was no longer strong.  Strength does not necessarily win a fight or a situation
• ·         “He that would have the wicked reign,
• Instead of help, will find his bane.”  I think it is really interesting that some of these fables have the moral of the story as the very first lines.  I really like that concept.  It is like a preface

Aesop's Fables (English)

Reading Diary A: Aesop's Fables (Week 12)

illustration from Bewick's Aesop

• This Fable will a general law attest:
• That each one deems that what's his own is best.  Definitely my favorite line out of that fable.
• I’m surprised by how involved the gods are in the fables
• It is interesting to me that Aesop switched a man for Pandora in this fable.  It is a curious thing to do.
• I wonder why the trees were so important to the gods
• “Those who are known to have deceived,
• When they speak truth, are not believ'd.”
• Says a man,
• "Why build you on so small a plan?"
• The Sage replies: "Though small, I fear
• There's more than room for friends sincere."
• A Boy that would not learn his Book was a little odd.  I got what it was saying, but it was silly.
• “The Fox (being one of the Pretenders) stomach’d it extremely to see the Choice go against him, and presently rounds the New-elect in the Ear, with a piece of secret Service that he could do him.”  Why is the fox a pretender?
• The fox as a trickster again.  I wonder where this idea comes from originally.
• The fox flatters the crow, then steals its food.
• We actually discussed the fox and the grapes today in one of my classes!
• “Still meditating self-defence,
• At any other man's expense.”
• “he subtle Fox herself avails
• And by his horns the mound she scales,
• And leaves the Goat in all the mire
• To gratify his heart's desire.”
• “Lion and Man, on some pretense,
• Disputed for preeminence.”  Oh wow, interesting

Aesop's Fables (English)

Storytelling: Of All Things (Week 11)

Illustration by Howard Pyle

Arthur watched as his foster brother prepared for the tournament.  His foster father was fussing with his armor.  Arthur shook his head and continued to saddle up the horses.  This was the second tournament this year, and the year was only three months in.  It was tiring work, but he enjoyed it.  He never actually participated himself, but he helped Kay practice some times.  He wasn’t particularly good yet, but he was slowly getting better at it. 

“Arthur!”  His head snapped up from his work and looked toward the voice that had called him.

“Do you need help with something Kay?”  His foster brother walked towards him quickly.  With all the armor in place, he was a bit clumsy as well.  When he finally stopped in front of him, he struggled to stand up straight under the weight of the armor. 

“I need a sword.”

“A sword?”

“A sword.”

“Okay, but why?  Didn’t you just have one?”

“Well, yes.  But it broke.  Don’t we have a back-up?”

“That was the back-up.  You lost the other on the way here.”

“What?  What kind of squire only has one back-up sword?”

“That’s all your father told me to bring.  Can we go buy one quickly?  Surely one of the vendors have something sufficient.”

“No, none of the vendors here will do.  They charge outrageous prices for shoddy craftsmanship.  From what I saw this morning, the vendor next to the inn we are staying at has a decent select.  Can you run down there before the tournament starts?”

Arthur looked at Kay incredulously.  The inn was nearly a thirty minute trek from the tournament.  They didn’t have that kind of time.  The tournament was meant to start soon.  Kay looked at him impatiently.

“Well?”  Arthur shook his head at his foster brother.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

With that Arthur took off in the direction of the inn.  Ten minutes into the trip, he came across the church.  It wasn’t much of a church really.  It was a small building with a caved in roof.  There was a small cemetery situated next to it.  Most of the grave stones were crumbling.  Only a few stones were still fully standing.  In fact, one of them was an actual stone rather than a grave marker.  Of all the things that could have possibly caught his attention, it was this little, dilapidated church. 

He stopped for a second before moving closer.  It wasn’t until he stood right in front of the church that he really took notice of the stone.  Though there was not much sunlight, a few small beams caught on something and cast a glint his way.  He walked towards it until he was standing right next to it.  With his right hand, he reached out towards it.  Once his hand was wrapped around whatever was sticking out of the stone, he realized what it was.  It was dirty, but it was unmistakably the hilt of a sword.  Of all things, he had found a sword stuck inside of a stone. 

Author's Note:

I chose to write about this particular story of King Arthur because it is one of the ones that I am the least familiar with and I wanted to explore it some.  I took a class on Arthurian legends, so this was a unit I was really eager to read and work on.  I didn't change much, but I did go farther in depth with the story.  I also left off with Arthur finding the stone because I felt like everyone knows the rest of the story, and I felt like it would make an interesting cliffhanger.

The Drawing of the Sword

King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).

Reading Diary B: King Arthur (Week 11)

Illustration by H.J. Ford

• It mentions the White Abbey.  That kind of tips me off that colors are important to the story.
• So on the morn they arose and heard Mass, and then a monk led them behind an altar where hung a shield white as snow, with a red cross in the middle of it. "Sirs," said the monk, "this shield can be hung round no Knight's neck unless he be the worthiest Knight in the world, and therefore I counsel you to be well advised!"  Once again, colors are very significant.
• Religion is really important in the King Arthur tales.  That could be good to incorporate that in my story.
• I also wonder how Mabinogion fits in with all of this.
• "Fair brother," said Galahad, "let us remove this body, for he is not worthy to be in this churchyard, being a false Christian man."
• Suddenly a voice spoke to him, and it said, "Sir Lancelot, more hard than is the stone, more bitter than is the wood, more naked and barren than is the leaf of the fig tree, art thou; therefore, go from hence and withdraw thee from this holy place."  That’s very harsh…
• “My sin and my wickedness have done me this dishonour, for when I sought worldly adventures for worldly desires I ever achieved them and had the better in every place, and never was I discomfited in any quarrel, were it right or wrong. And now I take upon me the adventures of holy things, I see and understand that my old sin hinders me, so that I could not name nor speak when the Holy Graal passed by.”  This reminds me a bit of Percival.

King Arthur unit

Reading Diary A: King Arthur (Week 11)

Tapestry showing Arthur as one of the Nine Worthies.

• So this is where to whole sword in the stone story begins. "Whoso pulleth out this sword is by right of birth King of England".
• It is really interesting to get this perspective on the King Arthur story.  I’ve read a lot of different works about Arthur, like Lanval, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Yvain.  I’ve never really gotten this take on it, so I’m excited about it.
• Sir Ector, Sir Kay, and Arthur came to participate in the tournament
• So this is where the storyline from the movie comes from
• It seems interesting that everyone would believe some random inscription on a stone.
• Was Uther Pendragon Arthur’s father in this version of the story?  If so, why was he taken away from his real family?
• Sir Kay is seneschal.  I wonder if he is good in this version.  From what I remember, Kay was not usually portrayed kindly.
• The story sticking with the Pentecost as an important and central event is interesting.
• It is interesting that the story admits that Arthur isn’t perfect and needs some much help
• Is Cameliard a version of Camelot?
• The springs and greenlife are important still
• So there are differing stories about how Arthur got Excalibur
• Arthur agrees to give the Lady of the Lake a rash boon if she will give him the sword.
• Interestingly enough, Merlin tells Arthur that he is not wise.
• Guenevere’s father gave Arthur the round table, which supposedly came from Uther, Arthur’s father.
• Gawaine is Arthur’s nephew, yet his sister’s child is also supposed to be his downfall.  Although that is obviously not Gawaine, it is a little vague

King Arthur unit

Extra Reading Diary: Through the Looking Glass (Week 10)

Illustration by John Tenniel

• “Then she began looking about and noticed that what could be seen from the old room was quite common and uninteresting, but that all the rest was as different as possible.”  This seems to be when things start really happening and getting interesting.
• So everything in Through the Looking Glass takes place after Alice in Wonderland.
• “'So I shall be as warm here as I was in the old room,' thought Alice: 'warmer, in fact, because there'll be no one here to scold me away from the fire. Oh, what fun it'll be, when they see me through the glass in here and can't get at me!’”  This seems to be awfully mean to her parents, not to mention bratty.
• The part with the Walrus and the Carpenter seems really weird and creepy.  The oysters in particular were pretty odd.
• Tweedledee and Tweedledum seem awfully rattled. 
• I wonder how the selections were chosen.  Obviously not all of the chapters are included in the UnTextbook.
• “'I said you LOOKED like an egg, Sir,' Alice gently explained. 'And some eggs are very pretty, you know,' she added, hoping to turn her remark into a sort of a compliment.”  I feel like this fits Alice’s personality perfectly.  She is kind of witty, yet kind of silly, yet kind all at the same time. 
• “'In summer, when the days are long,
• Perhaps you'll understand the song:
• In autumn, when the leaves are brown,
• Take pen and ink, and write it down.'”  I really like this.  It’s a pretty little song.

Through the Looking Glass unit

Storytelling: The Storyteller (Week 10)

Symbol of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe) People

“Come, children.  Gather around.”

           Though his eyes were closed, he could hear the pitter-patter of little feet scurrying around the room.  When he opened his eyes, most of the children had flocked to him.  Only a two stragglers were left slowly toddling their way toward him.  He waited patiently as all the young ones got situated.  The other children fidgeted habitually, unable to stay still for more than a few seconds.  Finally, the children quieted down and made an attempt to sit still.  He was ready to tell his story.

           “How many of you know the story of our people’s greatest citizen?”

           A few children darted their eyes around their peers, hoping to see if anyone knew the answer to his question.  One of the older children, a girl of about twelve, raised her hand.  When he looked at the girl, she answered him.

           “Um, was he a warrior?”  The storyteller looked at the child and smiled.

           “No, my dear, he was not.”

           “Oh! Oh! Oh!  It must have been a medicine man!”  This response came from an excited boy of seven.  He was rocking back and forth and bouncing a bit with excitement.

           “No, child.  This citizen was no medicine man.”  The boy’s face fell slightly when he heard this.

           “Was the citizen a great chief or a leader?”  The storyteller shook his head.

           “The citizen was neither chief nor leader.  No, this great citizen was something much more than chief or medicine man or warrior.  This citizen, this man, was clever.”

           A few of the children made noises of indignation.  One even protested that there was nothing better or nobler than a warrior.  The storyteller just shook his head at the child.

           “This citizen is the reason why we are able to survive throughout the winter.  Even though he is long dead, it is because of him that we are able to get through every winter.  His name was Shingebis, and he was a fisherman.”

           “But how can a fisherman save us when a warrior cannot?  How is the fisherman a better citizen?”

           “Because, child, this fisherman in particular defeated the North Wind when no other person, warrior or otherwise, was able to.  It used to be that this time of the year, when the winds turn icy and the ground turns hard, we would flee this area for one that was more accommodating.  We would have to leave all that we had built and take only what we could carry.  Shingebis changed this.  He and a few fellow fisherman stayed back while everyone else left for the winter.  These fisherman stayed as long as they could and caught as much fish as they possibly could before the North Wind drove them off.  Only Shingebis stayed behind.  His companions warned him not to stay, but he refused to give in to the North Wind.

           “Several times, the North Wind tried to drive him out and to freeze him.  It even tore away at his dwelling.  But Shingebis realized something very important.  Heat made the North Wind shrink.  Shingebis waited until the North Wind tried to sneak into his dwelling again and weakened him with the fire.  The two grappled for a long time.  The North Wind almost won.  The fight ended up outside of Shingebis’ dwelling, where the cold ran free and there was no fire.  Shingebis had to think quickly, before the North Wind regained its strength.  He suddenly had an idea.  When the North Wind came toward him again, he did not move away.  Instead, he lunged forward and wrapped himself around the North Wind.  The two struggled like this for many minutes.  Eventually, though, Shingebis saw the fruits of his labor.  The North Wind was shrinking from exertion and Shingebis’ body heat.”

“Wait, are you saying that Shingebis hugged him death?”  This made the old man laugh lightly.

“No, young one.  Not to death.  We still experience the North Wind today.  But now the North Wind retreats for us and we can now stand him more than we could before.  That is why we no longer have to move around with the seasons.  It is why we can have permanent dwellings and villages.”

A few of the children oohed and awed.  Others looked at him, as if they wanted more.  The storyteller just shook his head.  

“I will have another story for you tomorrow.”

Author's Note:
I wrote my story about the section from American Indian Fairy Tales unit called Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind. The entire unit uses the story of Iagoo, the storyteller, as a frame work for the smaller tales. I found that particularly interesting, so I chose to use that for my own story as well and explore it a little more. I also really enjoyed the story about the North Wind, so I wanted to incorporate that a bit as well. I stuck pretty close to the original story, but I summarized it more. I wanted to do a retelling of that too, but the word count would have been outrageous for the assignment.

American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned, with illustrations by John Rae (1921).

Reading Diary B: Native American Fairytales

Wigwam

• I really like how all of these stories are in the frame tale of the storyteller Iagoo.  It really gives a sense of connectivity through all the stories and adds to the experience.
• Weren’t the homes called wigwams in the previous section?  Now they are teepees?  Are both correct or is that just a consistency error?
• "No, no!" she said. "You must not harm him. See how friendly he is, and not a bit afraid. There is game enough in the forest for a brave boy's bow and arrow. Why should he spend his strength on a weak little mouse?"  I was a little surprised by this, but it was a pleasant surprise
• The mouse was once great.  That’s really interesting.
• The Dormouse sounds very important
• Iagoo is a really interesting character.  The children seem to be very attached to him.
• “Wa-bun, the East Wind, was the one who brought the news”
• I wonder why the coyote is always mentioned with “the prairie wolf” attached afterwards.
• “Except for the beautiful green pines, all the world was white—a dazzling, silent world in which there was no musical murmur of waters and no song of birds.” What beautiful and vivid imagery.
• “The boy used to dream about it and wonder what could be done. His father could do anything; some men said he was a Manito. Perhaps he could find some way to bring 
• Summer to the earth. That would be the greatest thing of all.”  Sound like he not only wants to live up to his father’s image, but like he also has great aspirations.  

Native American Fairy Tales unit

Reading Diary A: The American Indian Fairy Tales

·         Iagoo, the storyteller, seems to be a kind and generous old man.

·         Apparently coyotes are clever.  Little detail in the story, but it caught my attention
·         “Now, winter was the time for storytelling.”  Interesting little detail
·         The North Wind sounds like a real attention seeker
·         “For the King of this Land of Ice was a fierce old man called Ka-bib-on-okka by the Indians—meaning in our language, the North Wind.”
·         The South Wind was even more powerful
·         The South Wind would sit at the top of the mountain and smoke whenever the summer was almost over, smoking.  It kind of gives off a lazy, hazy image.
·         Shin-ge-bis just laughed in the face of the North Wind.  Talk about cocky.
·         “Ka-bib-on-okka, ancient man,
Come and scare me if you can.
Big and blustery though you be,
You are mortal just like me!”
·         He sounds like a bit of a clever trickster to me
·         “ As he had not been able to freeze Shin-ge-bis, he spent his rage on everything in his path.”
·         “Cheerfulness and courage can overcome even the North Wind.” Nice moral
·         “Coyote, the prairie wolf, was not a bad sort of fellow when you came to know him,”  Did he outwardly appear bad before you came to know him?
·         “At last they met Coyote, the cleverest of them all, trotting along the valley with his nose in the air, so they put the same question to him.”

Coyote

The American Indian Fairy Tales unit

read

Extra Reading Diary: Beowulf

Beowulf and Wiglaf

• Beowulf is the son of Ecgtheow and nephew of Hygelac.
• Nicknamed “the Silent”
• “he has the strength in his arms and legs of thirty men."
• Though Beowulf is a Geat, huge chunks of the story take place outside of Geatsand.
• Heorot is the drinking hall in Daneland
• Unferth does not offer to fight Grendel.  (Beowulf is more valiant that Unferth)
• “he would seek out this monster Grendel and slay him — yes! Slay him with bare hands” This preference for weaponless fighting persists throughout the story.
• “But I charge you, Beowulf, son of Ecgtheow, earl of the Geats, and my own nephew, return not to these halls if you should fail in your attempt” Seems a bit harsh.  He was the only one to even offer to slay Grendel.
• The story seems to point out age a lot
• Hygd, his aunt by marriage, seems fond of him
• 7 days of preparations and 14 men
• His aunt and uncle gave him a gold collar? What?  Necklace?
• “There were sea-lions of shaggy mane and bird-like fish with horny claws.”  And sea-serpents.
• “But they came at length to the coast of Daneland, and the sea boiled white between them and the land, and the land itself was scarred and pitted with a thousand narrow inlets, which were treacherous to seafarers unfamiliar with them. The forests that clung to the shore line were half hidden in gray mists that moved and twisted like smoke about the trees.”  Sounds violent, harsh, and darkly mysterious.
• “Prince of Weders” Weders?
• Ecgtheow and Hrothgar were friends/war-brothers.
• Wealhtheow is the queen of the Danes
• Seems like all heroes are moody. (Beowulf and Unferth)

Storytelling: The Seven Sisters of Pleiades

Pleiades Constellation 

We are the Seven Sisters.  We have been together for as long as anyone can remember and it is our intent to stay that way.  There have been many who have tried to separate us throughout the years, but none have succeeded.  Though we live in the Sky Land, we are quiet fond of the earth and all that inhabit it.  Because of this, we visit whenever the season is right.  We visit whenever the wind is calm and the lakes are still. 

One day, long ago, a frail young man happened upon us.  Because he was weak, we thought nothing of him.  He had apparently heard our singing and dancing and decided to watch from the safety of the reeds that lined the beach.  As soon as we realized we had someone watching us, we returned immediately to the sky.  Together, the seven of us discussed it and decided that it was just a fluke.  We misjudged and underestimated the young man to our own detriment.  To be safe, we decided to stay away from earth for a while, but it was only for a short period.  We were too eager to return to our lake side paradise.  We became reckless.

We watched as best as we could from our place in the sky, but we saw nothing.  We crept down from the sky and landed on the beach of the lake as quietly as possible.  Each of the seven of us searched the area around the beach.  Again we saw nothing.  With the precautions out of the way, we relaxed and enjoyed our earthly freedom.  We were there for almost an hour before anything happened.  We were dancing when one of us noticed something.  The reeds were moving, but there was no wind.  One of our sisters followed the movements.  We had all turned out attention there as well, but one of us was a few steps closer than the rest.  She parted the reeds to see what was causing the movements, but the young man was hiding there.  He had drawn us in.

As soon as our sister parted the reeds, he jumped out and caught her.  The rest of us almost panicked, but our sister was very clever.  She knew that the man wanted to keep one of us for himself, so she played on that.  She promised him that she would marry him, if only he would come with us to the Sky Land instead of staying on earth.  In his eagerness, he consented to going to the Sky Land.  Once we returned with the man in tow, we all decided then that we would never go the earth again.  That way no one could ever try to separate us.

Author’s Note:

I chose to write about the story of the Origin of the Pleiades.  I kept most of the story the same, however I added details to flesh out the rest of the story.  The original story kind of had a “happily ever after” type of ending, but that’s not exactly how I felt about it.  I wanted to keep the story the same, but play up that the man did wrong by trying to steal one of the sisters. 

Origin of the Pleiades from the British North America unit

Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson (1917).