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).

British North American: Reading Diary B

Coyote in Alaska

• The fox and hare were brothers?  That seems like an odd relationship
• The importance of dreams is emphasized in the tale of the Origin of the Chinook Wind
• Basically, the two of them did a stick up
• The Fox and the Hare seem to enjoy annoying each other.
• What is up with the trope of racing a hare?
• The young man thought the seven sisters were enchanting so he tried to take one for himself.  They kept eluding him.  He finally caught one and went to the Sky Land to marry her so she wouldn’t be separated from her sisters.
• The woman who was taken by the bears was very clever.
• It is interesting how in the previous story, bears were clumsy.  In the story with the taken woman, they seem to be moving pretty quickly.  
• So the coyote controls the aurora and the winds?
• Who are the Salmon People?
• What is the importance of staying with the Salmon People for “seven moons?”
• Salmon seem to be incredibly important as a good resource to theses peoples.  They appear a lot in their stories.
• Because the coyote wanted to have the salmon for his dinner party thing, the salmon tricked him into thinking it was winter when it was really summer.
• “Wolverene said, "You stupid bird! I was keeping a big piece for you!’ But he wasn't. This is the end”  This was by far the funniest line and I’m not sure why.  
• I love the Ojibwa tales of Nanebojo.  His name varies and little bit between stories, but he is a really interesting trickster character.

British North America

British North America: Reading Diary A

Kayaking in the Queen Charlotte Islands

• So according to the Belle Coola, we live in the middle world.
• 1.       Home of Afraid of Nothing or Home of “Our Woman”
• 2.       House of the Sun
• 3.       Earth
• 4.       Ghost Land
• 5.       Home of those who die a second time
•  A woman is the created according to the Bella Coola.  That’s really unique, but it also makes sense to me.
• Though she is supposedly a great warrior and the creator, when Afraid of Nothing visits earth, it causes death and illness.  That seems to contrast with everything we known about her so far.
• The swans saved the chief’s daughter
• Some of these tales seems familiar to others that I know and some seem similar to each other.
• The beaver seems to make an appearance in nearly all of the stories so far.
• The raven was sneaky and cruel and stole the beaver’s water
• “When night came, Raven took the baby by the heel and shook all his bones out. Then he crept into the skin and pretended to be the baby. But at night he stole out of the baby's skin and became Raven.”  This is beyond creepy.  
• The raven sounds like a prevalent animal.
• Women appear to be more important in this culture than they were in some of the ones that I previously read about.

• The fox seems to be regarded as clever across cultures.

British North America unit

Reading Plan

The Walrus and the Carpenter by John Tenniel

Week 9 – British North America

Week 10 – American Indian Tales

Week 11 – Beowulf

Week 12 – Looking Glass

Week 13- Italian

Week 14 – Hans Christian Anderson

Reflections: Looking Forward

The Original 1939 Keep Calm and Carry On poster

Going forward, I would like to start incorporating different styles of that I’ve seen from some of my classmates in my own writing.  I also really want to start considering the comments that I’ve gotten on my weekly stories when writing the stories for my Storybook.  On that same note, I’m looking forward to the comments that I’ll get on the project.  The Storybook overall is by far my favorite assignment in the class.  In regards to the readings, I’m excited about the types of reading units that are coming up.  I have a feeling that my schedule will only get more hectic as the semester goes on, however I am up for the challenge.  

Reflection: Looking Back

Over the past few weeks I’ve learned a lot.  I’ve really enjoyed the story writing portion of the class.  With that in mind, it’s no surprise that I’ve enjoyed working on my project so much.  I chose to do a Storybook, which has been a lot of fun and very educational.  I got a little stuck writing the first story for the Storybook (not the introduction), but I pushed through it and am pretty happy with how it turned out.  Looking at other people’s Storybooks has been really helpful.  Seeing how they have created their projects pushes me to do better.  As to a schedule, I don’t really have one for this class.  That may sound silly, but I’ve got a lot going on this semester and chose an online class in the hopes that I could offset that a bit.  I do a lot of work for this class either while I’m at work or late at night.  I try to make myself do at least one part of the homework a day, minus weekends.  Overall, I feel like I’ve been keeping up pretty easily.  I’m glad that I started early and got ahead, though.  That has definitely helped.  

My UnTextbook Exploration Post

Storytelling: Fire of Life (Week 7)

Red Fox taken in Parco al Bosco, near Verona

  The fox had long known the secret of the elixir of life.  The secret was contained within its inner fire, though no one but the fox knew about it.  One day, however, a man saw the fox blowing his fire.  It was obvious that man was covetous of the fox’s fire.  It made the fox wonder if given the chance the man would figure out the fire’s secret.  Finally, the fox decided that the man could handle having the fire.  He was unsure of how to give the fire to man, though.  The fox did not have words like the man did.  He would have to find a different way to share the fire.

  Eventually, the fox realized that he would have to get the man to swallow the fire like he did.  It took several tries, but eventually the man learned the ways of the fox and possessed the fire.  The fire gave the man many amazing abilities.  It allowed him to be invisible, gave the ability to see ghosts and devils, and allowed him access to the spirit-world.  The man did many good deeds with these powers.  The fox was proud of the man and was happy with his decision to share the fire.  Soon, however, the man started accepting gifts for his good deeds.  He was overcome by greed and stopped doing things out of the kindness of his heart.  Instead, he would request gold or treasure before helping people or performing miracles. 

  The fox gave the man thirty long years with his gift.  During those years, the man had grown complacent and lazy, often falling asleep with a goblet of wine in his hand.  It was then that the fox decided it was time to reclaim the gift he had given the man.  He knew he had to be clever about it though.  The man had grown accustomed to having those gifts and would not give them up willingly.  Instead, the fox came up with a plan.  He would wait until the man drank himself to sleep one night.  During his slumber, the fox would come up behind him and pat his back repeatedly until the man coughed, causing the fire to come shooting up out of his mouth.  Then, the fox would leap over the man and catch the fire into his mouth, where it should have remained. 

  That is exactly what the fox did.  Once he reclaimed the fire, the man was sorrowful and lamented his misuse of the fire.  This did not sway the fox, however.  He had learned his lesson.  Mankind was not yet ready for the secret of life. 

Author's Note:

I chose to write about the story of the fox-fire from the Chinese Fairy Tales unit.  I previously knew a little bit about fixes in Chinese/Japanese culture, so this really interested me.  While reading the original, I wondered why the fox didn't immediately take back his fire, and that is how this story came about.  I didn't change too much, but I added reasoning and details to make the story fit together better.  In the original, the fox doesn't decide to give the man the fire, instead the man is clever enough to steal it, but the fox lets him have it for thirty years.

The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Chinese Fairy Tales: Reading Diary B

Kitsunebi on New Years Night under the Enoki tree near Oji

• The tale of the Little Hunting Dog starts out with knights two inches high.  A good start
• I don’t think this is supposed to be a comical story, but the idea is very laugh worthy.
• Also, it kind of reminded me of Gulliver’s Travels
• Such a terrible ending!  The little dog was so so good and then he got smooshed.
• Why was the fox preparing the elixir of life?
• Aren’t foxes or kitsunes trickster animals?
• Why did the farmer take the animal’s fire?
• Sounds like the farmer gained some amazing abilities from the fox’s fire
• He earned money from it?  There almost always is some sort of penalty for using these types of things for personal gain…
• Does the fox let the man keep it’s fire-ball?  Because thirty years is a long time.  That seems awfully generous.
• Wait, silver foxes aren’t silver? 
• Ma expects the water-carrier to get revenge on old Wang instead of him
• Wait, so Ma saw the water-carrier’s soul?
• What goes around comes around I guess.  Old Wang kind took part in the water-carrier falling off the terrace and then the little boy who had the water-carrier’s spirit is kind of responsible for Old Wang falling down as well.
• Is seems like the story of the Maiden Who Was Stolen Away could be the start of some old “friend-zoned” story.
• It also kind of sounds like Rapunzel.

Chinese Fairy Tales