Reading Notes: Andersen Fairy Tales, Part B

I have heard of many versions of the little mermaid, one being that the prince does not fall in love with her and she ends up trying to sew her legs back together again so that she might be able to go back into the ocean and be with her family. I kind of want to take it a different way where the prince falls in love with the mermaid and tries to go into the sea to find her.

Mermaid and Mermen

These notes come from the Anderson Fairy Tales Unit  by Hans Christian Andersen.

Reading notes: Andersen Fairy Tale unit, part A

I think it would be really cool to change the story of the prince to have a feminine fatal in there rather than he trying to destroy god.

The story of the tin man is really cool but I thin it could be rewritten as more from the point of view of the tin soldier rather than the third person point of view. It could really help with talking about all the things he would be seeing for the first time, like the mouse or the paper lady. 

(illustration by Bertall)

These notes come from the Anderson Fairy Tales Unit  by Hans Christian Andersen.

Reading Notes: Italian Tales part B

I really like the first story of the sin being able to talk to animals. I think it would be great if I switched the gender and put it into modern terms.

A talking Frog

The Sexton nose is interesting as well because it goes on and on about getting on thing from another.

The last story had potential to make a new story out of but the original was boring.



 Italian Popular Tales unit. By Thomas Frederick Crane (1885).

Reading Notes: Italian Popular Tales, Part A

Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Crane

I like Zelinda and the Monster because it kind of has slight Cinderella feel to it but mostly beauty and the Beast. I really want to see how this really traditional story can do with a gender swap. 

From tumblr by theuselesstoe

I most likely will just make the three sisters men and the beast a girl. 

I like the thought of changing the last story as well. I think it is sad that the moral of the story is, those who do good are ill treated and those who do bad are rewarded. 

Story Planning: The Man and his dog

I want to write about Beth Gellert in the Celtic Story Unit , a hunter's favorite dog that he killed because he thought the dog killed his baby.  I definitely want to start my story in this way:

Jacob was a very well known hunter. People flocked to him to try to learn all his tricks of the trade. He always told them his most valued trick but they never believed him. They always thought it was something else that made him so good. He would always tell people that he is not the reason he is a good hunter but the fact that he has the best dog in the world for hunting.

I will go on and talk about how loyal the dog. Jacob thought that the dog became disloyal because he did not come when called one day. This is the point where the story will change from the original. I will have Jacob go and check to see why his loyal dog is not coming only to find out that it is fighting off a wolf that is trying to eat his child.

I am worried to do the story this way because I do not know how to end it. I definitely want a happy ending unlike how the original story is. (Still makes me tear up) I think if I have him come back right when he sees his dog kill the wolf would rather than he comes back in the middle of the fight. I have not decided. I also want to leave it on a not that you should always take your best friend with you when you can. I think I might incorporate Jacobs thoughts on how he might of mistakes the dog to have killed the kid instead of killing the wolf.

The Child and the Dead Wolf

Reading Notes Week 12: Celtic Tales, Part B

The story Beth Gellert makes me so sad.
A man wanted to go hunting with his favorite dog but would not come when called.
When he came back he found blood everywhere and thought it was his dog that ate his son. In turn it was a wolf that came and tried to kill the boy but the dog stopped him. I would want to change the story in so that he never left his dog and went to him and saw he was fighting off the wolf and so the man never ended up killing his loyal dog.

From the Original Story

Celtic Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Reading Notes week 12: Celtic Tales, Part A

comely- good looking

tawny- yellowish/brownish

My favorite story is definitely the Gold-tree and Silver-tree story. 

Since it has that snow white vibe I king of want to try a role reversal where Silver-tree and Gold-tree are actually the king and son. The king gets jealous of the son because he is toe he would be a better king but in the process of him trying to kill his son, he kills himself.

Picture from original story

Celtic Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Week 11 Story telling: Jack the Dare Devil

Jack was nibble

Jack was quick

Jack hit quite a few bricks

Jack was the coolest guy in school. He had all the girls fawning over him and he love every second of it. One of the many reasons he was so popular is he could do anything! He rode dirt bikes and was the head football player. His Achilles heel though, was that he never would back out of a challenge. Especially when the whole school knew about it. He went to a small public school that rivaled the private school in the private school the next town over. Most the rivalry was all talk but no action but jack was going to be the one that changed that.

One night at a party by the lake in between the two towns Jack had gotten in a fight with a boy from another school and decided to challenge him and his friends. The challenge ended up being about which school was better at dirt biking. He told the whole part that whoever does better at the course then whichever school they came from will be the ultimate winner. They set a time to meet up and how the scoring would go and everything was finalized. Little did they know there was a new girl who was known for her dirt biking skills back home.

The day of the race came and so both school crowded in the bleachers to see who would be victorious in the challenge. There were three boys from the other school and two including Jack from his school. All the kids went and did well but there was no definite winner. Even Jack didn’t blow everything out of the park. When everyone was bickering on who did better a biker came out of know where and came within feet of where they were standing and sprayed them with dirt from stopping so quickly. The biker put her foot down and took off the helmet and all the boys were shocked and scared at the same time. She told them if she could breeze through the course and make all of them look like they were beginners then the school rivalry had to end. They all agreed because they did not believe that she was that good. By the time she finished, everyone’s jaw was to the ground and amazed on how anyone could do so well. Jack was impressed but felt as though he was not the most popular so he challenged her to the house jump. A place a little ways off the course where only the pros go to jump. The jump is an old abandoned two story house with dirt mounds on the sides of it. She happily agreed and they were on their way there.

When they got there, jack said

“Ladies first” with a snide look on his face.

She said

“well if you insist.” With an eye brow raised and a smirk on her face.

She got to the lineup, blew a kiss to jack, and flew to the dirt mound and seemed to defy gravity when jumping over the house. She did a flip in the air and then landed perfectly in which she stopped he bike got off and took a cute curtsy. This infuriated Jack as he knew he couldn’t let a girl beat him.

He got to the starting point and took off immediately only to end up running into the brick wall of the house because he didn’t get enough speed. But no worries, the only thing injured that day was his pride.  

Jack The Daredevil

Author Note: I took the original Jack was nibble rhythm and made it into a story. i wanted to do it as though he was a daredevil at school but I wanted to have the story follow a rhythm like the original story. The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang part of the Nursery Rhyme Unit.

WEEK 11 Reading notes; Nursery Rhythms, Part A

I am very unfamiliar with most of these but I would love to put a spin on one of the oldies like Jack be nibble or Little Bo Peep.

With Jack be nibble:
JACK, be nimble,
And, Jack, be quick;
And, Jack, jump over
The candlestick

I think it would be nice if I put it in modern times were he is a dare devil at school and does stunts that other kids tell him to do.


I always thought that the five little pigs was sung differently.

THIS pig went to market;
This pig stayed at home;
This pig had a bit of meat,
And this pig had none;
This pig said, "Wee, wee, wee!
I can't find my way home."

five little Pigs

From  The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang.

Week 10 Storytelling: A Land Before People

Untouched by Man

In a time before the was no floral or fauna on the earth plain. The Raven spent days walking and exploring this vast land. After seeing every nook, he started to long to see a change in how everything looked. Everything he saw looked bare.

He went to creation lake, where his mother made the earth plain from. There he took come mud first made a plant. He was fascinated with the colors he could add and so he ended up making millions of different kinds. Next, he wanted to produce something that would help the plants reproduce. He took more mud and shaped it into tiny creatures. Many of them flew but he liked the idea of the small creatures working together to make a big impact. He created the ants and the bees with that idea in mind. He wanted then to create some bigger animals that would make sure to keep all the plants around and eat the ones that grow too much. He created many different animals, deer included. When he was creating the deer, he shaped them and held them by their bellies but forgot to add any coloring so he put them down but they already had the breath of life in them so they went off before the Raven could do anything. The deer had only completely dried on it's belly so that is why they are white on the bottom and brown on their backs.

Once he finished creating all the animals he could think of he felt as though there was still something missing. He was worried about on type of animal over powering another so he wanted to create an animal that could think more broadly and can bring balance into the world and make sure nothing gets over eaten and breaks the circle of life.

This is where he created a girl. He created he as a small child that would grow quickly but that way he could show her everything he created and tell he how to protect it. He taught her about how the bees pollinate the plants that she eats and that she should keep animals away from them so they can pollinate everything. He taught her about how the deer eat plants and to make them move if they eat too much in one area. He also told her about the predators and to let them eat the animals that have had their time come. He taught her about the beauty that the world had to offer her and she fell in love with his creation. She enjoyed everything for years but noticed that she wanted someone like her so she would not have to enjoy and experience everything alone.

She went to ask the Raven to make a partner for her. He did so and created a man but made him full grown so she would not have to wait for him to age. The woman was happy and taught the man everything she knew hoping that he would share the same love for nature that she had.

Author's note: this comes from the first two stories of the Alaskan unit:

The Raven Myth: Raven's Creation
The Raven Myth: Raven Creates the People

 where the Raven creates the world with humans. The story makes it as though the world is made for humans since a man was the first to be created but I wanted it to seem like humans should be the protectors of earth. 

Week 10 Reading notes: Alaskan Legends Part A

I like the first few stories of the Raven creating everything. Or the one where he marries a goose but then they leave him behind because he is not fast enough. I would like to make a story out of the part where the Raven was creating the world. and make it through his/her point of view and they do it because they are lonely and the want something to take care of. I would like to use the picture below to give the imagery of the beginning of the creations the Raven make.

The unit I read was the Alaskan Legends unit

Story planning Week 9:The Sioux Legends

I want to try to combine two stories into one. I really like the Mysterious Butte Story in that it told the future and I really like the story of the fat man being chased by the spiders because he was able to hid from them in the trees and trick them. I want my story to incorporate both those aspects.

I wanted to maybe have the antagonist as an evil tribe leader and the Mysterious butte foretells his demise but to try and stop it he tries to kill the man (or woman) that is supposed to make that happen. When they are being chased, they could run up to the trees and the evil tribe leader would be fooled their reflection. Upon further research, I found that Native American stories try not to have "evil" people in them. The stories are meant to be lessons to children and so the main messages in most stories are that people can do evil things but can be redeemed for it. Granted there are evil spirits in them but they usually do bad and good. The reason for that is to teach kids  that there are things that you will never know if they will do you harm of help, or both.

I would like to slightly change my story in that the Tribe leader has become cruel due to being in power for so long and then the mysterious butte prophesies his death and he tries to stop it but someone shows compassion (probably amid him trying to kill the person that is supposed to kill him) to him and he starts to remember his old ways and goes back to them and the Mysterious Butte changes and all is good. I’ll try to display the meaning of the story as, you are in charge of your actions and only you can choose what your future is. 

From the Original Story

This story will stem from The Mysterious Butte from the Sioux legends.  

Reading notes: Sioux Legends, Part B

"pemmican" is a mixture of fat and meat, such as buffalo meat or venison I like the first story and believe I can use the part about the reflection and put it into another story.

Unktomi- spider




The last story is good.It would be fun to change up the story in who fights, maybe giving the story a moral meaning.

Fire and Water fighting

This reading note come from the Sioux unit. 

Week 9 Reading notes: The Sioux Legends, Part A

wei-zi (coarse buffalo skin, smoked).

I like the story of the mysterious butte. That it acts like a prophet it can really be changed into any story. maybe combine two stories into one.  

Original Drawing in the Book

The turtle story is an interesting one as well, maybe if I could change up the ending I could give a few more meanings to the story. 

Notes from the Sioux Legends. 

Week 8 Growth Mindset

The Dalai lama

I try to bring in the growth mindset when I can but most the time its stuck on the back burner. Especially when I am distracted by my hectic schedule. One key point I have mastered in this class as well as in my other classes is that I never think that I am "not good" at something but rather sucking is the first step at getting good at something and I just need to spend a little more time on it. In most the things I do, I do use internal motivation when I am excited about something but when I feel like it is not necessary I need outside sources of motivation.

Week 8 Reflections

My favorite story I have written so far is The Voyages of Sinclair, I already had the idea of doing it and just needed to know what stories of Sinbad that I wanted to include in my remake. I am still experimenting on how to do my reading notes but what works for me best is to write down any possible ideas and things I want to research and most of the time I can remember what I wrote and do not need to look at them again. (BUT I forget everything I don't write done so they are helpful in that respect.)

I am really excited about my storybook. I am afraid on how I am going to get my thoughts and expectations of it to my audience though. having constant comment on it does help though.

My favorite types of stories are the gender reversal stories or the ones where the females end up being the heroines.

Imperfections are perfect

Week 7 Storytelling: The Tales of Congo: Why the Alligator does not eat the Salamander.

One day, a ferocious looking alligator came across a cute little salamander drinking water from her large bay area, since she was hungry, but not wanting to spoil her dinner, she decided the salamander would make a great choice. She also wanted to teach this salamander a lesson, because every animal knows that they might get eaten if they drink by her bay. When she went in for the salamander,

the salamander yelled, " Oh sister, don't eat me!"

This shocked the Alligator and so the salamander ran away back into the woods, and she went back into the water hungry.

The next day she saw the salamander and tried to go in for a snack but the salamander called her, his sister again! This time he only ran quickly to where he was just out of reach, and then walked calmly into the woods like he was trying to taught her.

All the Alligator thought was that the salamander was crazy and thought that it also was an alligator. while he did have the same coloring as her, their skin was very different and she knew no one could mistake the salamander for an alligator like her. 

The salamander 

Troubled by this, she thought about talking to some of the fellow animals, but fear of being called stupid pushed her against it. She had already been embarrassed about other occurrences in the past. Several days went by like this until her friend that was a frog had seen the ordeal happen from the log that was perch right outside her bay.When the alligator saw that the frog was there to wittiness the event, she was overjoyed! She went straight to his log after the salamander left and asked why the salamander kept saying they were related, it was driving her insane! She told him that it was highly unlikely, especially, since she lived in the water and the Salamander lived on the land. She also had doubts because she was so much bigger than him, so how could they be related?! The frog saw her frustration and thought for a few moments, chuckled and then said, "The salamander lays eggs just like you, and the hens, and the turtles, and my kind. As both of us are related in a sense, so are you and the salamander.”

The alligator now understood why the salamander said that they were related and thought that it would be weird to eat the salamander as it is weird if she ate the frog or the hen. 

Author's Note: This story came from the Congo unit, "Why the Crocodile Does Not Eat the Hen" by R. E. Dennett. The original characters where a Crocodile, a lizard and a hen. The turtle told the Crocodile that she could not eat the hen because they all lay eggs which means they are brothers.

Reading notes: Stories from Congo, Part B

(was brought up in numerous stories) fetish - an inanimate object worshiped for its supposed magical powers or because it is considered to be inhabited by a spirit. (google)
I like the story, Why The Crocodile Does Not Eat The Hen. I think this would be good to switch out the animals but still have the underlying meaning.

the last story, The three brothers is also a good on to where I could make it that the father did actually enter the town and the brothers did kill their father. 

Cutest rabbit ever!

Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort were collected in the late 19th century by R. E. Dennett

Reading notes: Stories from Congo, Part A

There were no stories that made me want to change them slightly but I did want to know what these words meant:

manilombi (could not find what it meant through the internet.


Ntenda - a Congolese politician
The last story was cool on how the younger brother outsmarted the his neighbor but could have just given him his meat instead.

I think its cool that the cassava root is grown in the Congo, It makes the best chips!

Cassava Root

Stories from Congo, collected in the late 19th century by R. E. Dennett.

Week 6 Storytelling: The King of Little men

Once upon a time there was a scholar who wanted to move to a quiet village named Emmet Village. He had been on a few walks pass this house and fell in love with it. he had heard legends that it was haunted, but did not believe it.

Forsaken Fotos

The Scholar moved into the house and the first night staying there he started to hear things. It was not till late at night so he at first though it was a dream. In the living room he could hear a war being fought. After a few tosses, he light his lamp by the  bed and went down to the loving room. 

He could not believe his eyes! There where tiny men everywhere. He could see numerous on horseback fighting each other and tiny catapults throwing rocks. The little men were starting to pick up on the Giant standing there and so chaos started spewing everywhere. All the men started running in different directions and eventually the was not a little person in sight. The Scholar tried to see where they all went but they all moved in so many different directions it seemed as though they went invisible. 

Still not entirely sure if he was dreaming up the whole ordeal or not, he went back to bed to be rested for what the morning had to bring. When morning came, he searched the whole house to see if he could find any remains from last nights events. When nothing was coming up he started to think he was going crazy. After a while he deemed the whole event a hallucination due to his lack of sleep. He spent the rest of the day in his library writing about the events to see if he could try to spin out a book about it.                                 

To his surprise  when he left to get a snack, when he came back, he saw a group of men fishing the the ink he had left sitting on a plate. He made sure to be as quite as possible so that they wouldn't notice him and he could observe how they lived. He saw that they had caught numerous fish and started to prepare them for a feast. he continued watching and saw that more people started to some up with food and decorations and then what looked like the king showed up followed by hundreds of men. After that king wearing a gold helmet came reached the ink lake what looked like another important figure in a scarlet hat came riding in with hundreds of his men. He deduced that these were the men fighting the night before and now they have or were making peace. After the dinner was other and everyone left he went back to his writing hoping that someone may believe what he has seen. Until then, he thought that what he has seen would make good children stories. 

Authors Note: 

The original story comes from The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens. The Story has the little people not afraid of the Scholar  which leads the king of the tiny people to taunt the Scholar in saying that he is poor and all this time spent learning was wasted because he his king and did not do that but is wealthy. that infuriated the Scholar and he ended up smashing them with a book and running after the others  and killing them too.

Week 6 Reading Notes: China Fairy Tales Part B

 Curious if this means some one farted- "it looked as though some one were scattering beans". This came from the Little Hunting Dog story and i feel like it continues from the last story that reminds me of Gulliver's travels. the two stories with the ogres are good to remake into another story. Maybe one where the princess saves herself, not the archer. 

Orge 

The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens

Week 6 Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales, Part A

I like the last story the most. It is about the king of Ants. I would like to change the story a bit to make it more like the one (Gulliver travel's) with the giant and gets washed up on an island with really tiny people. maybe have the scholar get tied up and held captive in his own house.

A Giant among Ants

Chinese Fairy book by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens

Week 5 Storytelling: The Voyages of Sinclair

With my time on the seas I have learned many lessons. I have been fortunate enough to stay in one piece but have numerous loyal friends die by my side. We do not have much time but I will tell you about some of my biggest Adventures.

----------   

After being home for many months I started to miss the open seas and all their wonder. I embarked on this journey not 6 months before my last one had ended, which had almost killed me. I set forth with some loyal companions for the south to go explore new lands. The first few days were uneventful but on the fifth day a terrible storm had broken our sail to where we could not fix it on the open sea. After drifting for three more days we came across an Island that looked uninhabited but plentiful. Once we got to the island we did run into people and thought they were here to help us. They were friendly at first and gave us lots of food but I had noticed they were not eating any of it.  I pretended to eat but all my other companions were too famished to notice. Once they had fed us they took the fattest and ate him! They had put drugs in the food to make us unaware of what was happening. Each day they fed us rice and coconut oil to fatten us up. I made sure to only eat the bare minimum so I would not gain any weight. They continued eating us until only I and one other was left. One day all the locals had left except for one of the elders which they had left to watch over us. I saw that this was my chance to go. I overpowered the local and brought my last comrade with me. We quickly lost sight of the elder and could not have picked a better time to escape because once we got to the beach where our ship was there was another one that had just stopped to see if there was anyone alive since the ship looked badly damaged. We got on board and grabbed as many bales of goods as we could from our ship and then left the island before the locals could do anything to us.

----------

The next voyage I had was only three months after where we ended up having our ship destroyed in a storm and I survived by holding on tight enough to some drift wood and being washed up to a mystical land. I was lucky enough to come in on a small beach between two large cliffs. After walking between these cliffs, I noticed that there were diamonds everywhere! I had not seen so many fine cut stones in my life. I was worried when night fall came what would come with it. I had found some food and water and just as I was finishing up my shelter a giant Roc (their legs look like tree trunks) comes down and grabs a snake (big enough to eat an elephant) coming from right around the ridge of the cliff.  I knew at that point if I was going to survive I needed to use the Roc. That whole night I could hardly sleep because I could hear the snakes outside slithering by, I just prayed that my shelter could hold till morning.

A Roc carrying an Elephant, by E. J. Detmold

By morning I had devised a plan on how to leave that land. I collected as many diamonds as I could and set a trap for a snake. Once I had caught it, it was only a matter of time to a Roc came down and grabbed it, which I tied myself to. The Roc had landed on it nest and I was surprised to see that there were merchants at the nest hoping that the Roc had picked up some diamonds during its trip. After they saw me I told them my story and they welcomed me to their city and helped on my way after I gave a few of my diamonds to them. The rest of the trip was uneventful and now I sit here waiting for the ship to dock before I start my next voyage.

Authors Note: I started with " The Voyages of Sinbad " drawn from Lang's Arabian Nights' Entertainments and changed it to have a female heroine.  Written in first person, she talks about her run ins with mysterious creatures and  near death experiences.

Reading Notes: Voyages of Sinbad, part B

The stories follow the same pattern as the first part. The very last story breaks the pattern making me think he is going to die but returns home. I definitely want to incorporate the last story into my rewritten story.

(illustration by H. J. Ford)

Reading Notes: The Voyages of Sinbad, Part A

The Voyages of Sinbad, drawn from Lang's Arabian Nights' Entertainments

I loved the stories even more the I thought I would! I love how he says a few times things like " I won't bore you with the details". I like how he says the reason he goes on each voyage, usually along the lines of  being bored of the quiet life. It's nice that he says what he does when he gets home to ( and always donating some of his goods) I would love to change up the story so that it is a woman instead of Sinbad. 

Hungarian Stamp

Feed Back Focus

How would you rank the three strategies in terms of their usefulness to you?

I would have to say that the Copy and delete works the best for me then the timer one. I feel as though reading out load makes me focus on saying it more than understanding it. 

Have you used any of these strategies, or others like them, in the past?

I have used the reading out load on and the timer on. the copy and delete one is interesting and definitely helpful if I want to be very detailed in my feedback.  

 Are there some other reading techniques that you would recommend?

My dad taught me one where you read through something really quickly to get the gist of it and then go through the story again to read parts that you liked or wanted to understand more. 

Feed Back

Done by Randell Monroe with the title text saying "Semi-protect the Constitution".  

Week 4 story - The Three Riddles of Genie

Off of the Godavari River a Queen ruled the Abiding Kingdom. This Queen was called Brave for all she did was done in bravery. Everyday for years a monk named Patience came and gave her a piece of fruit. Little did she know there were gems hidden in each fruit.  She found out because one day she had given the fruit to a monkey to eat instead of giving it to one of her servants.  Once she found out by seeing the monkey with the gem she asked the monk why he had given her such expensive gift and what he wanted in return. He said that he needed help with some business and that he needed her to meet him on the first night of the waning moon, by the great lake at dusk by the moon temple.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

It is the first night of the waning moon so at dusk the Queen slips out of her castle at dusk. She brings her royal sword and dresses in all black. When she sees the monk, he is preparing for a spell of sorts. When she got to him he was overjoyed and said " If you are still willing to help me then go to the wisdom tree and bring back the Genie who sits on its branches. She did as asked and came upon the wisdom tree but only saw a doll. As she grabbed the doll, a Genie came out and said " If you which to take me answer me these riddles, if you fail then beware! " She nodded in agreement and so the Genie started the first riddle. 

The Wisdom Tree

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A man once had a daughter named Coral, when she came of marring age, three suitors came and asked for her hand in marriage. Coral's father said that he could not choose his daughters fate and that he will let her choose. She did not want to hurt anyone so she waited. The three men stayed with her for 3 day an 4 nights when she fell sick and died. The three men were heart broken but still adored her body. The first man made a bed with her ashes and made a hut by her grave. The second dipped her bones in the Ganges river to make them sacred. The third traveled all across the world and found a way to bring her back. All the men came together and was able to bring her back. Now, who is her true lover? 

The Queen thought about this and then answered. " It was the first man, for he stayed with her no matter how she was." 

The Genie was pleased with her answer and started the next riddle. 

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This story is about a girl how found her brother and husband who had sacrificed themselves by decapitation to Gauri. The girl wept for both and prayed to Gauri to bring them back. She replied and said she would if the Girl put their heads back on. She did so not knowing she had switched the heads of her brother and husband. The Question is, who is her husband and who is her brother now? 

The Queen thought about this and knew the answer, " The Body that has the husband's head on it is the husband, because it is the head that is the most important member."

The Genie was pleased and moved on to the last riddle

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A Queen and her daughter get banned from their kingdom and end up in the forest lost after the king was killed by thieves. A hunter and his son are out and find the foot steps of these girls. The hunter says to his son, One of the ladies can be your wife, whichever you choose. The son said he wanted the smaller footed one and that his father could have the other since he is now widowed. They followed the foot steps and ran into the Queen and her daughter. While they agreed to marry, The Queen was the one with the smaller feet so she ended up marrying the son and the daughter married the Hunter. The riddle is, when the couples have kids, what will the kids be to each other? 

The Queen thought about this over an over again, finally she told the Genie that she did not know. 

The Genie smiled and said that she is brave for telling the truth, and for that the Genie would tell her a piece of truth. When you bring me back to the monk he will try a sacrifice you to the gods. When he tells you to lay down and to have an attitude of reverence, tell him you do not know how and to have him show you. When he does, cut his head off and the gods will thank you. 

She did ask the Genie said and when she cut off the monks head the gods came down and thanked her and said he was trying to be king of the faeries and was not a good monk. So they wanted to bestow the honor on her for she was worthy of it. 

Authors Note: The original Story is called Twenty-Two Goblins, translation by Arthur Ryder, where a king is given a task to bring a goblin to a monk but the goblin escapes each time the king answers his riddle. If the king does not answer it but knows the answer he will die but if he is stumped on the answer the Goblin will go with him. The king is needing the Goblin to bring him to a monk that has been giving him lots of gifts to return the favor. When the king is finally stumped on one of his riddles the Goblin lets him know that the monk is scamming him and how to go about stopping it. Which ends up being that he has to kill him to sacrifice him which is what the monk was planning to do with the king.

Week 4 Reading Notes: 22 Goblins, Part B

Twenty-Two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder
The ending was a twist from what I was expecting. I would definitely like to keep the ending in my story rewrite. I would switch the main characters to a Queen and a Genie, where the Genie tells the Queen that the monk is cheating her. I do like the last story which really is a mind bender, it really hurts my brain thinking about what the kids would be to each other if the mom married the son and the daughter married the father and both couples had kids. Side note, there are a lot of names repeated, I wonder if they are connected.

The Wisdom Tree

Week 4: Twenty-two Goblins reading notes, Part A

The stories in Twenty-Two Goblins (Arthur Ryder's translation of the Sanskrit Vetālapañcaviṃśati.I love all the short stories in this story and my favorite is the very first one(the three lovers). I also would like rewrite the story as if instead of a goblin it is a ghost of a beautiful woman. I like the picture below because of how ghostly the goblin looks.

Goblin in the tree

The Three Lovers - I like this story because I would have thought of the riddle in that way. I see that a son would want to honor his mother a father would want to bring her back but a lover would never leave her. I definitely want to use this story in in my rewrite.

Week 3 Story Planning: Homer's Odessey

 Homer's Odyssey, translated into English by Tony Kline. A story about the journey Odysseus took to get back to Ithaca from the Trojan War.
I really like the opening of Homer's Odyssey. I really want to add more of a back story to the Cyclops to show that what he did was not a evil thing to do, he was just trying to protect himself. Polyphemus could have acted in that way because he felt as though he was an outcast. He has different roots compared to other Cyclops and could have been isolated and become bitter because of that.

I was getting a little more backstory on Polyphemus when I came across his love story with Galatea on wiki. Love can make anyone go crazy so I could begin their love story right before Odysseus comes to see the Cyclops. Reading more into it I can add Polyphemus killing Galatea's, the sea nymph, lover Acis. (Acis and Galatea wiki).

I will start the story with a little bit of a backstory on how the Cyclops came to be as well as the culture of the cyclops, were eating people is common.Then I will say how he met Galatea ( probably saw he in the waters from afar and slowly fell in love with her) and how she slightly led him on ( she was in love with Acis as well as Polyphemus but more so Acis). Around this part Odysseus will come into the picture and stabs polphemus' eye and then he will become even more infuriated because he does not believe that Galatea could ever love him now that he is blind and that he killed the one she loved. *Spoiler alert*I will have a shocking ending that has to due with Polyphemus dealing with Galatea bringing back Acis into a river spirit . I will try to shed light on how the Cyclops live in that they maybe lawless by our standards but they do have norms that they live by.

By Stefano Bolognini -Polyphemus gets a letter from Galatea 

Reading Notes: Homer's Odyssey Part B

Homer's Odyssey: Translation by Tony Kline.
I which that they went more in depth about the Sirens. I feel as though there was no drama or suspense in that part of the story, but I do think there was more in the longer version. A good story rewrite might be to see what would actually happen if the men where entranced by the Sirens instead of being able to pass them quickly.

Clytemnestra by John Collier

I like the picture above because of how her face looks. To other she seems like a horrible person but in her own eyes, she might have felt that killing her husband is what needed to be done. 

Reading Notes: Homer's Odyssey Part A

The beginning of the story, Homer's Odyssey, translated into English by Tony Kline, talks about how the Cyclops are rugged lawless creatures but when the men actually land on the island of the Cyclops they want to go see if it is actually true. A good alternate story could be the back story of the Cyclops.
I thought it was interesting that Circe turned all the  men who had come into her house into pigs and then later when all the men where reunited she fed them meat... I wonder if that was from previous men that were drawn into her home.

Cyclops thoughts--> *are you serious right now?*

Cyclops in a Roman Mosaic

Feedback Thoughts

Knowing what to say

From, The Difference Between Praise That Promotes Narcissism vs. Healthy Self-Esteem, by Poncie Rutsch, I learned that just because one has narcissistic parents does not mean that one will become narcissistic. One becomes narcissistic because of others, overvaluing ones talents.  From, Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset, by Gravity Goldberg I learned that I should not say things, like, "I like the way you..." and to word what I am saying in a way that they can use again in a different context. In 5 Tips For Taking Feedback Like a Champ, by Megan Burneau, I agree that what really matters is how you react to your feelings of discomfort, not that you feel bad about receiving feedback that is to make you improve.  I felt as though, Why Rejection hurts so much-and what to do about it, by Guy Winch did a good job of explaining why rejection hurts and that it is okay that it always will hurt. He also made a good point not to beat ourselves up about it because that only makes it worse. I feel the best way to give feedback is to make sure it is constructive and if you are going to say something that should be improved, that you should also say the way it should be improved.

Storytelling: Homer's Iliad, Achilles untold story

Being the son of an immortal nymph and king of Myrmidons, I have always felt like an outsider. Someone who protects but is not a part of; my path in life is to be the champion of all Greeks, the noblest warrior of all. The most important thing my dad told me was to be honorable. When Paris, prince of Troy, took the fair Helen, I knew it was my time to fight since I made a promise to fight by the man that she chose to marry. Even though there were many men I would have preferred her to marry, she choose Menelaüs. I am happy that at least that she did not choose his brother, Agamemnon. When her father died, Menelaüs became the King of Sparta. The only consolation I have to fighting this fight is that Patroclus will be by my side.

We have been at war now with troy for far too long. Agamemnon has sent half our troops to go to other cities to pay for this endless war we are perusing. I knew when Agamemnon took Chryseïs, the daughter of a priest of Apollo, we would be punished. With Agamemnon being so stubborn I cannot help this cause anymore. I am tired of seeing so many men slain because of greed. I know by arguing with Agamemnon I have to stand by what I say and I know I cannot stand with one that has so much greed. 

I hope that what I am doing is the right thing. I know my mother will do anything to help me and that she will have the gods stand with me. My thoughts are everywhere right now. I worry that Patroclus will be the brave man that he always is and go fight along the Greeks without me. He is too brave for his own good. I fear that I have already lost him and I that I can hope for is that he comes back to me before he gets the taste of being a glorious fighter in battle.
I do enjoy the time that I get to spend with Patroclus when we are dining and entertaining each other. I am glad to see that old friends have stopped by, they most know that it is not them that I am mad at, but the man they stand with. We must have a feast since there are so few day we spend together now. I know that what they came for was not to feast but to bring  me back to battle, if I were to do that, King Agamemnon would not have learned his lesson. They most know that he is there reason that all the Greeks are dying.
As soon as I saw Patroclus after our friends had left, I knew what he wanted to ask me. I also knew that I could not say no to him no matter how much it hurt me to know that I was sending him to his death. He has too kind of a heart to ever stop fighting for his fellow men and I know I will lose him if I let him go. The most I can do if let him have my armor. hopefully then I can still protect him. 

look alike to Patroclus and Achilles

I knew by letting him go I was sending him to his death! I only wish that Agamemnon was able to see all the death and destruction he has brought upon the Greeks and the Trojans! I hope that by me avenging Patroclus' death is not confused by me coming to fight for Agamemnon. All that is needing to be done, is doing to Hector what he had done to my dear Patroclus. He is the one that has taken him from me. I will make him pay! 

Author's Note: I made this story sort of into first person based off of Achilles, I wanted to elaborate on his thoughts. I also felt like there was a connection that was greater than friendship with Patroclus. I read a few other sources that said others have thought the same thing but it cannot be proved anywhere. It was was not unheard of for men to desire men and women in this Greek culture as well, as said in this link.  I believe my story is best understood after a brief reading of the Iliad Rewritten by Alfred Church. , or after this sparknote version. 

Reading notes: Homer's Iliad part B

     Homer's Iliad  retold by Alfred Church, link to online reading

     The horses feel so much for Patroclus which I would not expect. I like how Zeus adds so much for foreshadowing to the story. It is nice how Achilles is portrayed as an honorable man and understands how Priam feels, or it could be that he is doing what he is doing only because the gods say to do so. There is so much anger that Achilles feels because of his dear friends death that it pushes him to drag the body of the one who killed him. I strongly believe though that he still is a decent human since he takes pity on Priam.

Priam begging Achilles, by Ivanov

Reading Notes: Homer's Iliad part A

Homer's Iliad  retold by Alfred Church , link to online reading. 

Even though the Greeks and Trojans have different cultures they seem to both care about women the same way. When Helen is taken by Paris, his father is mad that he caused all this trouble but does not question why the Greek are attacking or want to get rid of Paris and Helen. Paris seems to be very materialistic like Andromache. I am surprised with how involved the gods are with the humans and how Zeus is wary of how is wife will react when she finds out Thetis, Achilles mother, has gone to him for help.  The character of Achilles is well formed to where he wants nothing to do with Andromache because he sees him as too greedy but still let Patroclus and his men go to protect the ships of the Greeks Even if he knew that they would most likely die. He was worried about losing Patroclus and did ask him not to grow big head but knew that he was his own man and would find a way to go to battle with or without his permission.

Reading Options

     For week two, I want to read Homer's Iliad since I had read homer's Odyssey in high school and did not understand why the journey took place. I also really enjoyed the movie Where art tho brother and know that is is a different version of the Odyssey which is what I plan on reading in week three.
     Since I have such a strong Irish background I look forward to learning about the Celtic fairy tales in the British and Celtic unit. I really enjoyed the Irish story from a previous assignment that talks about leprechaun and mermaids. and I have heard about the Canterbury tales but am not too familiar with them and would like to know more about them. I really enjoy reading stories that have stories within. It makes it easier to absorb lots of short stories rather than only big one. The picture below is from on of the Celtic short stories that I thought looked very elegant.

From the short story "Gold Tree and Silver Tree"

Tech Tip: Canvas Profile

I had already changed my profile for my leadership class but enjoy changing it regularly so here is what it is now:

Dog that I wish was mine