Storytelling Week 13: The Princess and the Pea

The Princess and the Pea, by Dulac

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   There once was a Prince who wanted to meet a real princess very much. But not just any princess: he wanted to meet a princess that could identify with him, as he had grown tired of girls always asking him to marry them without knowing anything about him. He knew the reason why most of them asked: they wanted to be endowed with the riches that his kingdom had acquired over his family's legacy. His mother was the main source of his woes, as she only invited the most upwardly mobile girls in society to the citadel celebrations and parties.
   To solve his own problem he set out in the world, traveling to lands wide and far in search of a proper princess that was truly a good person at heart. However, despite all his efforts to conceal his identity, all the princesses he visited found out about him and immediately asked them to be wedded. He suspected his mother was the source of all this, as she had insisted that she come with him and knew his travel itinerary.
   So, the Prince headed back to his castle, depressed into the thought that he would either be forever alone or destined to marry someone whom he didn't love. However," he thought "if chance plays me a good hand, perhaps the princess and I will meet under the guise of luck."
   As fate would have it, an awful storm brewed up one night, one that no ordinary person, especially not a person of nobility, would be willing to risk life and limb in. Nonetheless, there came a knock at the door, and the princes attended his guards as they let the stranger in: it was a young girl, beautiful even with her clothes torn to rags. She tells the Prince that she indeed is a Princess and would very much like to have a place to rest for the night. Before she could tell her story about how she came to be in her worn and torn state, she collapses from exhaustion.
   The Prince orders that she be given as many mattresses for her bed as she pleases, and this number winds up being around twenty or so. Even though her requests throughout the night were decadent, the Prince maintained in his mind that she might be the princess he was looking for. His mother, however, caught wind of the new visitor and couldn't hold herself from intervening. She sneaked into the bed chamber where the lost princess was sleeping and placed a tiny pea under the mattresses. "This", she thought, "would prove whether she was a real princess come morning."
   When morning came, the princess was bathed and refreshed with new clothes. Then the Prince, his mother, and the princess all met in the great eating hall for breakfast. The Prince asked the princess how she slept. "Awfully dreadful!" she exclaimed, "I woke up feeling like I had slept on a rock." The Prince was curious as to why this was the case, and his mother chimed in to say that she had hidden a pea in the mattresses, and if the girl had felt the pea, she would have shown sensitivity enough to be a real princess.
   Trying to overlook this tricky intervention by his mother, he asked the princess to tell him about herself. Immediately, and without almost any hesitation, the girl said,"Well, I had heard of your kingdom's predicament, and I wanted to know if it was truly as terrible as they all say..." The Prince frowned, he knew where this was going. "... And I wanted to know how I could help. My hand is free after all." the princess fluttered her delicate hand at him in a flirty manner. She was absolutely gorgeous, but he knew that no good could come of choosing her. The Prince ate the rest of his breakfast in silence.
    Afterward, he called for a carriage to take the princess back to her kingdom. He looked to the noon-ward sun and said, "Perhaps a real princess doesn't exist. But maybe if I look amongst the commonfolk, I will be able to find a person who is not occupied with wealth or prestige. Maybe then I will find a princess: not a REAL princess, but a good person; noble in heart and soul."

Author's note: I followed the general premises of the original story, but I wanted to change the ending so that the prince wasn't as swayed as he was in the original story by superficial values and pursuits. I think it adds more to the story if the Prince was not merely focused on finding a princess, but someone who he could actually see himself with as a person.
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Reading Diary B: Hans Christian Andersen's Fairy Tales

The Little Mermaid, by Anne Andersen (1920)

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The most lengthy tale in Hans Christian Andersen's collection is that of the Little Mermaid. It starts out with a description of the Sea King and his kingdom. It also paints a picturesque image of his little daughters, with one being more beautiful than all the others. The grandmother of the princesses promised the prettiest princess, who was all curious about the world above the sea, that once she reached her 15th birthday, she could see that world.
Once that day came, the first thing she saw was a ship. On this boat, she spots a handsome prince, whose birthday the crew were celebrating. But after the celebration, the princes ship encounters bad weather, wrecking the vessel. The prince had fallen into the sea, from which the little mermaid rescued him. She brought him to shore, but once he recovered he didn't know she had been his savior.
This caused the little mermaid to become quite silent, but soon the secret was out that she was in love with a human. The little mermaid often went to see the prince after that, and also hearing news of him by the sailors that passed by. One day, her grandmother let the little mermaid onto how she could be with the prince: the prince must love her and only her. To get help she seeks out the counsel and guidance of a sea witch...

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Reading Diary A: Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales

Th• Princess and the Pea, by Dulac

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   The first tale told is the Princess and the Pee, which is about a prince that searches for a real princess. After searching for many months, far and wide, he isn't able to find one. But one stormy night, he takes in a girl who claims to be a real princess. The mother of the prince tests this by placing a pea under the girl's mattress as she sleeps. In the morning, the princess complains that she didn't sleep well at all. The prince reasons: if she was sensitive enough to sense the pea through the mattress, she must be a real princess.
   The next tale of the Emperor's New Suit, which is about a young emperor who thought so much of new clothes that he just spent all of his resources to get the best ones he could. One day, he encounters a duo of swindling merchants who claim their clothes are fabulous, but are invisible to all who are unworthy of the emperor's position, or otherwise stupid. The cloth makes its way to the emperor, who wears it foolishly, and is seen naked by all of his people.
   The story after that is the Wicked Prince, which is about a prince who wanted to greedily rule all things. Once he had ruled over all things in his continent, he claimed that he even wanted to rule over God. But as he set out to challenge God, the deity sent out a swarm of gnats. This tortured the prince, who ordered his men to cover him in wrappings. They did, but one gnat got in and continued to torment the prince. All of his men laughed at him and how he was conquered by a single gnat.

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Essay: Motifs t in the Looking Glass

Alice Meets Tweedledee and Tweedledum, by Daniel Tenniel

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There appears to be a motif of characters that make their way into the mythology of Alice in Wonderland as well as the Looking Glass: the tricksters. It would seem that nearly all of the characters encountered in Wonderland or through the Looking Glass possess this characteristic to a certain extent, and this helps keep those worlds interesting and fun.
   The first character, or characterS, in the Looking Glass to prominently show this characteristic is that of the duo of Tweedledee and Tweedledum: they evidently know where Alice wants to head off to, but they are reticent on the helpful details that simply help her on her way. They instead seek to waste her time with nonsensical puzzles and riddles, as well as games to distract her from her way. They also tell her oodles of long stories, even though Alice implores them to keep their stories short. And their first story is that of the Walrus and the Carpenter.
   The Walrus and the Carpenter both serve as tricksters in their own story-world. The first occasion comes when they trick the oysters, who are so innocent and naive that they mindlessly follow the Walrus to a secluded place where he can eat them with the Carpenter. And not only this, but the Walrus keeps the largest, most succulent oysters hidden away in his handkerchief, so as not to share them with his partner in crime.
   Another character that isn't necessarily in the Looking Glass stories is that of the Cheshire Cat: he too presents Alice with logical conundrums, with seemingly full knowledge that Alice doesn't realize the depths to which her reason has degraded whilst in Wonderland. He provides even a more complex task than Tweedledee and Tweedledum: he blatantly misleads and endangers Alice on multiple occasions without remorse. This not only makes him a trickster, but a dangerous one at that.

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Storytelling Week 12: The Walrus and the Carpenter

The Walrus and the Carpenter, by John Tenniel

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The Walrus and his business partner the Carpenter had been on Middle-Night Coast for weeks, with no sign of any real source of food or water.

   "What a dirty trick! How could the Red Queen sell us this blasted coast for us to start our sea-food eatery, with not one morsel to be found!" complained the Walrus.

   The Carpenter looked up hungrily, "Not only that, but we've both seemed thinner these past few days. Maybe once we find our sea-food bounty we should eh... try the product to eh... 'test' for quality?"

   "Right you are! Haha! Splendid idea!" replied the Walrus, looking up at the Sun and Moon, who were smiling down on the two of them. The Walrus then stubbed his flipper on one of the bigger rocks that lined the jagged coast. "Blast it!", he exclaimed, "Stop smiling, you two! You've done nothing to help our situation!" The Walrus thought it might be pleasant for their fellow patrons to have a view of the Sun and Moon both gazing down upon them while they dined, but now he was starting to find their presence quite annoying. 

   "OH! That ridge up the way looks just dandy for the foundations!" the Carpenter exclaimed. "Give up will you?... There have been plenty of 'dandy' ridges till this point, but it's not the foundations that matters, it's the source of..." the Walrus stopped "(sniff sniff) Do you smell that?" He rushed to the edge of the ridge, where he could see through the crystal clear waters into the tidal pool below, where-and-behold there were... 

   "OYSTERS, my good man! Oysters!" the Walrus cheered. All the commotion woke up Mother Oyster, who had been sleeping along side her hundreds of children, and she gave a wary eye towards the Walrus. Being in a nearly intoxicated state from lack of water or food, the Walrus collected his businessy wiles and gumption and sauntered down to greet the little colony.

   "Oh little oysters... The time has come to talk of many things - of shoes- and sealing wax- of cabbages- and kings. And why the sea is boiling hot, and whether pigs have wings." The Walrus chimed. This was all to much for the young little oysters, not knowing what from what, not knowing that the Walrus sensational words had no substance. Being as gullible as they were, they followed the Walrus to the top of the ridge, where the Carpenter had set up his kitchen shop. And in no time, the Walrus and the Carpenter had tricked and eaten all the Oysters,  every single one. 

   "It seems a shame to play them such a trick, after we've brought them out so far and made them trot so quick..." The Walrus remarked as he felt his now full belly, "I weep for you, I deeply sympathize."

   "What could we have done? We would have gone and starved!" the Carpenter responded.

   "Quite right, quite right! But this is success! We've found our fortune here! On this coast, on this ridge, we'll set-up shop in half-a-year! With such a bounty at our feet, our business has nothing to fear!" the Walrus triumphantly announced. As they built their sea side eatery, the Walrus and the Carpenter laughed and talked, but never forgave themselves about the first oysters they doomed.

Authors Note: I wanted to retell the Walrus and the Carpenter in a way that would make the reader sympathetic to them, because in the original story they are contemptible characters who only think about their selfish thoughts. On top of that, in the original telling they aren't given much background, and that's what makes them not as easy to empathize with as with the oysters who get eaten.

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Bibliography: The Walrus and the Carpenter, from "Through the Looking Glass and What Alice Found There", by Lewis Carroll (1871)

Reading Diary A: Looking Glass

The Walrus and the Carpenter, by Eve Skylar

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Through the Looking Glass appears to feature Alice as much more in control of her imagination. That or it appears to be a little tamer than what was depicted in Alice in Wonderland. Nonetheless, Alice finds herself imagining with Dinah her cat about what it would be like to live in a Looking Glass house. She imagines that simply applying a looking glass to everything that she saw would enhance its appearance and meaning in the world, as well as its liveliness (being the case for even inanimate objects).

She then encounters a series of chess pieces that inform her how it is on the world within the looking glass and explain both the wonders and horrors that are present there. Alice manages to read the White King’s memorandum of the Jabborwocky.

After becoming even more giddy with excitement about her new invention (the looking glass), she set out to explore other places and things. The next characters she meets along her way are Tweedledee and Tweedledum. They both engage Alice in logical/verbal confoundry, and despite Alice’s best efforts, do not point her a way out of the woods that she’s stumbled into. However, they then move on to tell her a bit of poetry, specifically: “The Walrus and the Carpenter.”

The Walrus and the Carpenter starts out with the depiction of a split day: one side day, the other side the middle of the night. The walrus and the carpenter walk along the sandy beach looking for prospective resources. They stumble upon a cluster of young oysters, whom they lure to their place of rest. They wind up eating all the oysters, and hardly showing sympathy for the act they had committed.

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Essay: Wisdom in Alice in Wonderland

"The Duchess with her Family" by, John Tenniel (1865)

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Despite so much nonchalance and illogical deviations in the story of Alice in Wonderland, there are a good deal of wise lessons and morals that Alice takes away from each of her experiences with the other characters.
   The first and most obvious is the white rabbit: if you follow your curiosity too far, you will inevitably find yourself in a situation you are not prepared for. This evidently becomes the case, because almost as soon as Alice falls down the rabbit hole, she notices that her way of acting, talking, and thinking have become vastly divorced from the logical reality she left behind with her sister and Dinah the cat.
   The next big lesson is from the Caterpillar, which he says quite literally: "Keep your temper." This lesson not only speaks literally, but intranarratively as well (almost breaking the forth wall). The reason I say this is because it is apparent that Alice is somewhat in control of the overarching rules of Wonderland, but has no conscious control over it. This would lead the reader to conclude that Wonderland originated from Alice's psyche. So, the cautionary advice given by the Caterpillar also serves to keep Wonderland, at least in Alice's mind, stable and unruined.
   The story of the Pig and the Pepper arrives next, with the display of a couple of morals to the chapter. The first comes in the form of Alice visiting and inquiring about the activity within Duchess' house: the Duchess is basically a butcher who exclusively uses baby pigs to make her food. This lesson could be interpreted as: if you look deep enough, you may find the truth, but there's no guarantee that you'll like it. The next character to give Alice a lesson is that of the Cheshire Cat, who confounds Alice about where exactly she would like to go. Here, the Cheshire Cat teaches the lesson of decisiveness: in order to find your destination, you must decide which path to take.


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Storytelling Week 11: Advice from a Caterpillar

Advice from a Caterpillar, by Arthur Rackham (1907)

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   Rabbit heads past me in such a hurry. Oh, why must he must always be so late? Doesn't he know that catch-up is just exhausting? No matter, I have no plans. The queen has hardly sought my council as she does Rabbit's, as useful as she's found it in the past.
   All of a sudden, a strange girl comes sauntering through the brush, her eyes wild with amazelment. What is to be amazeled about? I am simply myself: a caterpillar enjoying his vapors. But judging by the girl's look of bewilderence, she hardly knows a dodo from a dove. Sensibly I ask "Who are you?"
   "I- I hardly know, sir, just at present - at least I know who I was when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then" she replies. So indecent to use such absurd reasoning. If she wasn't who she was this morning, how can she know she's different now? Nonetheless I... play along with the poor child, "What do you mean by that? Explain yourself!"
   The unfortunate girl then proceeds to rattle on and on about nonsense. But that is all well and good, since we're all mad here. However, it's very rude to be nonsensical and to simply go nowhere with it! She insists so unreasonably for me to tell her who I am. What an awkward question for someone who has not simply introduced themselves, so I ask again "Who are you?"
   Turning herself about in a huff and marching into the dangerous wilderness, and obviously not knowing where in Wonderland she was heading, I felt it only cautionary to give her a little advice. So I call her back, and I say "Keep your temper." Everyone knows that no one gets truly mad, well I mean angry mad, in Wonderland save for the Queen. And should this little soul come across the Queen, a temper would be the last thing she needs.
   And just to make sure she is of sound mind, I ask her to recite some simple literature, something that any ordinary toddler could memorize. But oh mercy! She continues to spout nonsense and an incorrecticle recitation of "You are old, Father William..." Completely wrong!
   After I have said so, she suddenly expresses a sensible thought: to be her original size! But she does NOT stop there: apparently, according to this ruffian, "Three inches is such a wretched height." The nerve! Nonetheless, I, for the last time, offer my charitable sense to this poor, lost girl. "One side will make you grow taller, and one side will make you grow shorter," I say. She looked bewildered, and I had just about reached the end of my nerve. "THE MUSHROOM OF COURSE!" I announce, and head away. What a nonsensical girl: I hope Wonderland is merciful to her.


Author's note: This story is a retelling of the chapter in Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland where Alice meets the Caterpillar. I wanted to retell this story in the Caterpillar's perspective because the Caterpillar actually proves to be the most logical and forward thinking characters in Wonderland. Also, Alice's encounter with the Caterpillar is the first one she has with any creature in Wonderland. Not only that, but it is the first interaction she has while under the influence of Wonderland itself: in the original text, Alice admits that she is thinking nonsensically and with much contradiction during her conversation with the Caterpillar. So I thought it would be interesting to see what things would sound like from the Caterpillar's perspective. He does, afterall, give Alice the most straightforward advice out of all characters from Wonderland: "Keep your temper."

Bibliography: "Alice in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll (1865)
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Reading Diary B: Alice in Wonderland

The Mad Tea Party, by Charles Robinson

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   After her ordeal with the hooka-loving Caterpillar, Alice resumes her chase of the rabbit. Along her way, she confronts a Frog footman who is carrying a note to a fellow resident frog in a woodland house. The letter calls the residing frog to a croquet match with the Red Queen. Upon the delivery, the frog footman leaves and the resident frog sits on the porch of the house solemnly, as ruckus presides inside the place. Knowing she needs to get through the house to follow the white rabbit, Alice engages the frog in conversation. However, he's totally irate and inaccessible, so Alice bypasses his permission to enter the house and meets the Duchess and the Cheshire cat. Alice begins to notice how badly the order in the duchess' home is kept, especially when the pig baby she's caring for has its nose cut off. However, after the Duchess concludes that she must attend her appointment with the Queen for croquet, she flings the "baby" to Alice's arms as she heads out. Alice then engages the Cheshire cat in conversation about where she should go to catch the white rabbit, and Cheshire points her in the direction of the Mad Tea Party. 

   The initial impression of the tea party was one of jovial laughter and antics, however, her entrance warrants a general quarrel of riddles and logical confoundery. They then discussing the Hatter's watch and time, as if time were a real person. Then the Hatter's famous riddle comes to play:"how is a raven like a writing desk?" The Hatter admits that there is no answer to this riddle, and turns Alice's attention to the dormouse and his stories, starting with the three sisters that lived down a well. After being constantly verbally barrated by the three characters, Alice opts to leave the tea party and travel onward. 

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Reading Diary A: Alice in Wonderland

Alice and the Characters of Wonderland, by Jesse Wilcox Smith (1923)

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I know that I am making a frame tale based around the character of Alice, but I figured it might be nice to explore her world in depth as written in the literature.
   Alice starts out her adventure following the white rabbit down the rabbit hole, commenting on how peculiar the whole experience is especially when she starts her long fall. She starts wondering what she'd do if she fell to the other side of the world. Then her mind moves onto more nonsensical topics, like "Do cats eat bats?" Alice finishes her fall and finds herself once again on the tail of the white rabbit, but finds herself stuck when she comes to a door that's far too small for her to get through. She manages to find a bottle labeled "drink me", which Alice does, and becomes just small enough to fit through the door. But realizing she could no longer reach the key for the small door, she begins to cry, and can't seem to stop herself from flooding the entire chamber. After eating a cake labelled "eat me", Alice then grows tall enough to reach the key.
   Next Alice follows the rabbit into a thick forest, where she loses sight of him but encounters the company of a hooka-smoking caterpillar. As she begins to converse with the rhetorically confounding caterpillar, Alice realizes that she has become more nonsensical and dreamy since entering this strange new world. The caterpillar, however tests Alice's patience with more learning lessons, similar but more nonsensical compared to the ones her sister read to her. As Alice becomes infuriated with the Caterpillar's attitude, she stomps off, but not before the Caterpillar calls her back over again. He tells her not to "lose her temper," and then to recite more literature from her lessons. Just as Alice was about to lose her temper from this endless quarrel with the Caterpillar, he suggests to Alice to eat either side of the mushroom to grow taller or shorter for the particular height that she would like to be.

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Essay: Thematic Motifs in Native American Hero Tales

"Native American Chiefs" by, Claude Niepce 

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   There's quite a few things to be aware of when reading Native American tales about their most highly thought of heroes in their stories. Even though I say that, not all of the qualities that each hero or antagonist possesses will be necessarily idealistic according to the culture of the story. And this is true for nearly every genre of storytelling: there are some characters that break the mold. However, I will start off by try to isolate characteristics that keep on appearing despite the circumstances of the tales.
   One characteristic is seems to be at the essence of each hero in the stories is that of attunement with nature. All the heroes to a degree show that they are able to commune with both plant and animal life alike, as well as spirits of the dead, or embodiments of forces of nature themselves. They often use their knowledge of nature itself to help them succeed in their efforts. Obviously, maintaining a strong connection and wealth of knowledge about the land and the life in it was important for Native American in their most idealized figures.
   Another characteristic that is exhibited strongly in Native American heroes is that of taking great care to amalgamate their specific tribe's unique practices and beliefs into their mode of accomplishment. What makes native americans unique in this though, is that they exhibit these qualities in almost immediate contrast to other tribes' practices or beliefs, as if they want to prove something they have is superior than the other tribe. This isn't inherently the same as a pair of rival gangs in a city: instead, the heroes of each tribe immediately seem to attribute their successes to the personal qualities, practices, or beliefs that their specific tribe has.  Not every tribe has the same goals for their own salvation, their differing paths certainly shape the stories of their heroes.

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Storytelling Week 10: Retelling of BlueJay and His Companions

A Grouse 

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Bluejay, his master and companions were out one day seal hunting at one of their favorite hunting grounds, when they came across their fellow native, Grouse. After they had caught their fair share of fine seal and the resultant meat, Bluejay and his crew teased Grouse about not being good enough to eat the fat (the most succulent part of the seals) as opposed to the poorest, leanest parts. However, Grouse knew that Bluejay and his crew liked to sleep in their canoes while hunting out late. So, when they had all fallen asleep Grouse quietly pushes the all of the canoes far from the shoreline, and they drift beyond the horizon.

    The group wakes up the next day to find themselves on the coast far from their home. They see another village near the shore however. But as soon as they dare approach the encampment for help, the locals challenge the group to a show of strength, skill and willpower with members of their own tribe. The local tribe says it is merely a right of passage for their grown boys to prove their worth against members of another tribe. If the crew lose these tests, they will be killed. The crew, in quiet dismay, agrees nonetheless.
    The first trial is a climbing contest, for which the most steep cliff is selected nearby. Bluejay tells his crew that if they manage to climb to the top before the young men do, they can try to escape.Once they've all started their climb early in the morning, it takes nearly a quarter of a day for either group to reach the top. However, just as Bluejay's entire crew is about to make it to the top, one of them, Land Otter, slips on a piece of seal fat that he had kept away from Grouse as it slips out of his hip pouch. Land Otter falls into the water below, and Bluejay knows they have to come up with another plan.
    The next challenge is a seal catching contest, and Bluejay feels reasonably good about this: he and his party are the best seal hunters, and canoers, in their tribe. Bluejay tells his men that if they can canoe away from the young men, they'll be able to make it home. They all start out with their canoes on the shore with the rest of the young men, and when the elder of the tribe gives the signal they all push off to the hunting grounds. Now, when Bluejay and his crew spot a wonderful area for seal hunting they dive with their hunting knives in hand, and they manage to catch many seals (4-5 seals each). But as they all start paddling  away from the village, they all feel water leaking into their canoes. They realize that Grouse must have also poked holes in their canoes before he sent them off. So Bluejay and his crew must embarrassingly get back to the shore by swimming, far behind the young men of the tribe who already have their seals caught.
    The last trial is an endurance test: Bluejay's entire crew must stay awake for five days, while pitted against four other men from the tribe. By the fourth day, all of the men in competition were getting excessively weary. Suddenly Bluejay had an idea: he took out the seal fat that he still had in his hip pouch and threw it at Land Otter, who started yelling at him and threw a clump of fat back at Bluejay. This continued until a fight broke out between the members of the crew. The young men in competition with Bluejay's party laughed and laughed at the sorry sight. They laughed so hard that they eventually wore themselves out and fell striaght to sleep. After he was sure that the young tribe-men were fast asleep, Bluejay told his men to stop: they all had bloodied each other quite a bit during the whole ordeal, but they realized then that Bluejay was just trying to keep them awake. Bluejay then urgently whispered to his crew to break for the tribes-men's canoes to escape, and that's exactly what they did.
    However, upon seeing the shore of their home village, Bluejay and his crew see Grouse, lying on the sand, happy as could be with a fresh meal of the most succulent seal meat around.

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"BlueJay and His Companions", from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929)

Author's Note: I pretty much kept the entirety of the tale the same as it was in the original, except for the black comedy/whimsical angle. The original tale was more of a story of bravery, and this didn't really make it very interesting for me. I thought the story of Bluejay and his companions could really benefit from a retelling that was more funny, but still dark (given the situations that they find themselves in).

Reading Diary B: Native American Hero Tales

Eagle by, pixabay

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Another story in this unit is The Attack on the Giant Elk and the Great Eagle: this story starts out telling of giant animals that ate everything, even men, until the Gods decided to intervene. They made a man, Jonayaíyin, who, upon reaching manhood sought out the giant Elk. He finds the Elk in a desert, but cannot stealthily approach easily. A lizard offers Jonayaíyin his coat to blend in with the surroundings, which he does. Then a gopher appears, and advises Jonayaíyin to also dig his way to the Elk. Using the gopher's hole, Jonayaíyin is able to hit the Elk with his arrows. Even though the arrows pierced the heart of the Elk, it didn't die and instead threw itself into a tantrum at Jonayaíyin (creating mountains).But it was no use: thanks to the additional help of the other animals (including a spider), Jonayaíyin was able to beat the Elk.


A follow-up story in the unit is The Son-in-Law Tests, which is about an animal trickster named Wemicus, whose daughter is married to a man that Wemicus constantly tested in feats of skill, strength, and dexterity to prove his fitness to be his daughter's husband. When Wemicus and the man went out to hunt beaver, the daughter told the man that Wemicus would try and burn his moccasins. Anticipating this, the man switched his moccasins with Wemicus', and consequently Wemicus throws his own moccasins in the fire by mistake.
    The next challenge Wemicus puts to the man is one of sliding down a snowy hill. The daughter tells the man that the hill has many poisonous snakes on it, and gives him magical chewing tobacco to spit in front of him so the snakes won't attack.
    After this Wemicus tries to trick the man into being bitten by poisonous lizards in berry bushes, but the wife warns him of this which allows him to survive.
    Another test that Wemicus has the man do is jump over a ravine, but his wife tells him that the ravine will "widen" or "close" depending on what someone says. So when the man easily makes it over, he tells the ravine to "widen", which it does, causing Wemicus to fall (But he doesn't die).
    The final test that Wemicus makes the man undergo is that of a canoeing race. Wemicus however, has his canoe overturned, and is forever transformed into a pike.

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Reading Diary A: Native American Hero Tales

Three Crow Horsemen, by E. Curtis.

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One of the first stories to be told in this unit is Bluejay and His Companions, which is a story about the whimsical adventures of the hero Bluejay and how he manages to get back home after a run-in with a neighboring village tribe. The story starts out with Bluejay, his master and companions seal hunting, after which they tease a fellow native, Grouse, about not being good enough to eat the fat (the most succulent part of the seals) as opposed to the poorest, leanest parts. However, Grouse gets back at the crew by getting them lost at sea for a night.

    They wake up the next day to find themselves on the coast, which leads to a small village. Here, the locals challenge the group to many shows of strength, skill and willpower with members of their own tribe. The first trial is a climbing contest, which Bluejay wins for his team. The next is a seal catching contest, which Bluejay also wins. The next is an endurance test: Bluejay's entire crew must stay awake for five days, while pitted against four other men from the tribe. On the fifth day, however, Bluejay and his crew realize that the tribe's men have fallen asleep and make their escape back home.

The next story in the unit is Dug From Ground, which is a tale about parental acceptance of a boy named Dug From Ground by his non-natal mother. First off, an old woman's daughter, who is a virgin, wonders why her mother always tells her not to pick the two-stalked roots. She finds out the day that she does pick one: a baby rolls out of the ground where the root was, and the daughter takes the baby back to the village. However, the baby's now foster mother ignores him, and the baby is instead taken care of by the girl's mother. 

    The boy grows up, watching his original foster mother from afar. He notices that she goes off somewhere to watch the sun set, and always brings back a pile of acorns with her. WHen the boy gets to the age when he can hunt, the foster mother says "When he can figure out where I get the acorns from, and when he is able to kill a white dear, then I will call him my son." He does this, and hence fulfills a prophesy by the immortals of his village.

Here's the link to the Unit

Essay: Heros in American Indian Fairy Tales

Iagoo Telling Stories to the Children, by John Rae (1921)

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   The heroes featured in this unit seem to possess some characteristics that span across all the stories. They all have a sense of innocence, which is exemplified by characters like Shin-ge-bis or the children on the mountain. Interestingly, all of these characters are innocent as a function of driving the story forward: they have a "get-up-and-go" attitude whereas many of their fellow characters  in their respective stories would likely shirk the responsibility and risk of moving forward. Keeping this transition in mind, it's also interesting to note that this quality of innocence also seems to replace the Westernized-hero quality of bravery. By this, I mean that heroes in the American Indian Fairy Tales rarely seem to question their own abilities, as if their confidence was "a given". They do not doubt their ability to be responsible for their choices, so they simply do as they please.
   Another characteristic of heroes that carries across many stories is the quality of being tricksters: they often employ shenanigans on others to get what they want. However, these little pranks rarely, if ever, cause any real harm. And the tricks themselves appear to move the stories forward as well, because they force other peripheral, or at least less central, characters into action where they might not have engaged with the main plot at all. However, their reaction to the heroes' jests or tricks makes them intervene.
   Possibly the most universal trait of the heroes of the American Indian Fairy Tales was that of having an affinity with wildlife and nature in general. This is not surprising, however, because of the obvious traditional important that the Native Americans place on the treatment of and co-existence with nature. All of the characters are able to communicate and befriend animals to come to their aid if needed, and some of the characters can even transform into animals themselves with magic. The heroes further show their affinity with nature by showing a high level of interaction with spirits of nature. However, these relationships with the spirits are not always friendly, and the spirits themselves are often regarded as higher, more powerful beings, so there's occasionally tension between the heroes and supernatural beings as well.

Link to the reading unit

Storytelling Week 9: Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind

The North Wind, by John Rae (1921)

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It was a tough time for the Fisher Tribe of the Ice: they had wrangled a large batch of fish the month before, but the spirit of the North Wind had become even more intense and the cold over the land prevented anyone from fishing except for Shin-ge-bis. Shin-ge-bis was the best fisherman in the village, as well as a magical shaman and the most intelligent warrior in his village. He had seen the form of the North Wind spirit face to face, and told the spirit in the previous year that he would show his tribe how to survive even the most dire cold that the spirit could muster. However, the spirit did not like to be questioned in his prowess, and he made the cold over the World of Ice slightly more intense every day.
   However, Shin-ge-bis was anticipating that the spirit was watching his tribe suffer, sadistically enjoying that he was able to show his power over them. Shin-ge-bis knew how proud the North Wind was, and so he unveiled his new idea to further enrage the North Wind. He went out into the frozen lake where all the fishermen of the village used to fish (none had been here since it froze completely over), and used a large saw to cut a hole in the ice. Viola! In no time he was able to fish for his village and no one would starve.
   Enraged, the North Wind saw this as a sign of disrespect and called out to Shin-ge-bis as he was setting his wigwam up around the ice-fishing hole, "You dare mock me, little fisherman? I will bring a new blizzard to blow over your fishing hole!" And so a blizzard came, but the snow instead powdered over the wigwam and instead kept Shin-ge-bis out of the wailing wind. Then, as another affront to the spirit, Shin-ge-bis then lit a  fire, which turned into a massive bonfire. Shin-ge-bis knew this was further angering the North Wind, and so he challenged the spirit,"Yoohoo! If you wish to stop me, you must deal with me yourself. Your usual tricks aren't working!" The North Wind then took his man-like form and the two began to wrestle. Despite Shin-ge-bis putting up a admirable struggle, the North Wind threw him against the windward side of the wigwam, and Shin-ge-bis slumped to the ground.
   "I think you're going to need a blow stronger than that to keep me down." Shin-ge-bis boasted, taking out a heavy fur coat and putting it on. The North Wind charged at Shin-ge-bis, riding the waves of his blizzard and slamming Shin-ge-bis against the side of the wigwam. Shin-ge-bis, barely able to stand, murmurs, "Like I said, you'll need to hit me with your best." The North Wind gathered all of his strength and charged Shin-ge-bis, preparing to end it all. But Shin-ge-bis rolled out of the way, allowing the spirit to crash through the wall of the wigwam and into the blazing inferno on the other side. The North Wind spirit yelled in agony and anger, realizing that he had been tricked. As he fled into the Southeast, Summer came to the Land of Ice for the first time ever and Shin-ge-bis saved his village from starvation. Shin-ge-bis also made sure that from then on when the Winter from the North Wind came, the spirit never stayed too long.

Author's Note: I kept most of the narrative points of the original story. However, I made my version into a little bit more of a showdown fight, where Shin-ge-bis had to be more tactical with his decisions. In the original, Shin-ge-bis was more of a natural trickster who was just really clever and managed to beat the North Wind by the exact same method: making him fall into a fire pit. I just wanted to make my rendition more action-based to help keep the reader's attention. I also made the fight between Shin-ge-bis more personal between them, whereas in the original he simply outwitted the North Wind because he thought it would have been fun (even though his village's livelihood was still at stake).

Bibliography: "Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind" from American Indian Fairy Tales, by W.T. Larned
Link to story

Reading Diary B: American Indian Fairy Tales

"O-jeeg as the Fisher", by John Rae (1921)

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The next story told by Iagoo was that of the Boy Who Snared the Sun. Iagoo starts out by telling the story of the Dormouse, a creature that was bigger than all others, and he also tells about a younger world when there were a lot more animals around. At this time, there were only two people left on Earth: a boy and his sister. The boy was disabled because of dwarfism, and one day his sister made him a bow and some arrows to help him take care of himself. He takes to it well, killing enough birds for his sister to make him a coat from. The boy soon developed the spirit to travel the world, which he did but not before the Sun itself played a trick on him. The Sun burnt his bird coat as it was setting beyond the horizon, so the boy thought of a way to get back at the sun: make an aparatus to stop the sun where it was. After realizing the sun wasn't rising the rest of the animals of nature became worried and called upon the Dormouse to free the sun from its bindings. The Dormouse agrees, but is burnt down to little more than a common mouse after being under the sun's rays while freeing it.

Following this tale, Iagoo moves on to tell of How the Summer Came for Morning Glory, who has gotten tire of winter. The story is specifically about a magic man (who could transform into a Fisher (fox)) named O-jeeg who found a way to bring summer. O-jeeg was a hunter, who heard from his elders about a place called Summer, where there wasn't constantly snow and ice like where he lived. O-jeeg's son gets information from a talking squirrel on how to bring Summer through the sky to their lands, and tells O-jeeg about it. O-jeeg and his animal friends set out to find a mountain that reaches beyond the clouds to bring Summer through, and they partake the help of a Manito who shows them to the mountain after allowing the group to stay at his lodge. All of O-jeeg's friends fail in making a dent in the sky until the wolverine tries, and O-jeeg follows: they see a land with warmth, greenery, and light. They had found Summer, and as they both tried to release all of the splendor of Spring, Autumn and Summer while getting back to their world, O-jeeg did not make it back. The skydwellers shot O-jeeg through the tail while he was in the form of a fisher, and he dies soon after: his constellation lines makes up the very one Morning Glory asked about in the first place.

Reading Diary A: American Indian Fairy Tales

"The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds", by John Rae (1921)

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The first story in this unit is Iagoo the Story Teller, which introduces the muse of the stories that play out for the rest of the unit. Iagoo was a wonderfully worldly old man with a fantastic imagination, with knowledge that he was willing to share with anyone who was willing to listen. These qualities allow him to come up with tales to enthrall the children of his tribe with. During the tribe's winter hiatus, the first tale he decides to tell the children is that of the North wind and how it was fooled by a magical diver named Shin-ge-bis.

In the proceeding tale of how Shin-ge-bis Fools in the North Wind, Shin-ge-bis is called upon by his tribe to stop Ka-bib-on-okka, the North Wind, after Sha-won-dasee, the South Wind, failed to stop the North Wind from making winter come. Despite his fellow fishermen in his tribe becoming worried about how they would fish when all the lakes were frozen, Shin-ge-bis simply laughs, fishes through a hole in the ice, and pays no regard to the North Wind.
   Even though he successfully builds a large, moon-long bonfire that allows him to fish for a long time, Shin-ge-bis is forced into a confrontation with Ka-bib-on-okka. However, when the North Wind tries to send a blizzard in Shin-ge-bis' way, his wigwam collects the powder snow and actually makes a warm shelter for him. Shin-ge-bis then goads the North Wind inside where the fire is roaring away. Ka-bib-on-okka falls for the trick and Shin-ge-bis' fire melts him.

The next story, Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds, is prompted to be told by Iagoo by a young indian girl named Morning Glory who asks him if the mountains were always there (?) Iagoo tells of a Big Rock and how it lifted a girl and and boy into the clouds. Initially these two children wandered the plains of the land with the animals and the plants, at one with nature. One day, when out froliking with their animal friends, they see a big mossy rock that they both agree would be fun to climb. However, as they climbed the rock grew for some unknown reason. Tired from their efforts, they fell asleep as the rock grew, and the animals and the childrens' parents wondered where they were. Even though all animals tried to get the children down, all failed until the measuring worm tried his effort. It took a month, but the measuring worm made it to the top of the rock, found the children, and brought them back home.

Commenting Review Week 8

Image: A Beautiful Canvas of an Enchanted Forest

(Unfortunately, I don't know the source...)

I think I am making good connections with other students through the blogs. The assignments requiring longer, analytical comments are extremely insightful. I personally think there should be more of them!


The interactions that appear to facilitate better connections in an online class usually consist of: forcing each student to peer review other students’ works analytically, but not chock the schedule too much full of analysis to take up too much of the students’ time to where they can’t have creative projects/interactions with each other. Good analysis requires enough time and effort to be worthwhile, and I think this class’s set-up accommodates analysis and creativity (for those people without already horrendous schedules).


Project comments I received have been useful so far: some I agree with, some I do not. However, I still maintain consideration even for the ones I don’t agree with, because they offer a perspective that I haven’t contemplated before.


When leaving a short comment on a fellow student’s narrative post, I usually focus on thematic and stylistic aspects that I think could make their stories richer and more imaginatively fruitful. I find it hard to just say an entire 60 words that could be summarized with “I liked your story a lot!”, and I take the consideration to make sure that whatever I leave on someone’s post will give them an opinion that they can take something from, even if they don’t totally agree with me.


In revising my writing, I use suggestions from the comments experimentally: if something didn’t work in a previous story that I wrote and someone brought it up in a comment, I will usually make the change that the comment suggested in a future narrative post.

If I had any suggestions for improving the commenting component of this class, they would be 1) that encouragement of analysis in all commenting assignments was present, 2) that not just technical aspects of other’s writing should be considered, but themes and style should be explored too, and 3) that there should even be assignments about critiquing other students’ comments in order to make sure that the quality of comments is maintained.

Writing Review Week 8

Schippietaro, by Fredrick Richardson (1862-1937)

Link to image

The image above is from the retelling post of the Japanese fairytale Schippietaro, which was one of my favorite retellings that I did for the Asia/Pacific and Africa Units. 

I think the greatest writing successes in the class this semester have been in Week 4, where I did a retelling of Arabian Nights (specifically the Greek King and the Physician Douban), and my Frametale final project called In A World of My Own. They both challenged me imaginatively and on the subject of my cultural knowledge/understanding, which I took as a great learning experience.

The writing goals that I have for myself in the second half of the semester are: working further ahead so I can devote more time to research on the stories I will be doing my work over, and also making sure that I am able to cement my true writing style for narrative stories. I know that synthesis of a writing style is among the most achieved steps a writer can take, but I would at least like to get an idea of what my particular style is.

The strategy that I use to write for this class is primarily influenced by the fact that I do not have as much time to devote to this class as I would like in order to make my stories really standout and shine. What I tend to do is this: I will usually skim over a story earlier in the day that I plan on writing and outline the story in its simplest form. This allows me to appreciate the finer cultural and plot-related nuances when I re-read the story later in the day, but since I have outlined the plot I don’t have to worry about getting lost in the details. During my re-read of the material, I will usually do research related to the narrative to make my response or retelling more meaningful.

As for the strategy I employ to create a significant twist or change in the original story when I do retellings: keeping my research in mind, I will usually opt for a plot twist that makes the retelling of the story have a deeper meaning than the original. It’s usually not hard for me to see where the original story had an opportunity to give itself a deeper meaning, and I usually undertake that opportunity to alter my retelling.

There have been a few students who have writing that is superb: they are usually students who know the subject that they’re writing about very well and have put some real thought into their writing. And even though I find it rare that I see another student’s idea in writing that I have never considered before, I definitely appreciate seeing very good ideas that I need a fresh review on in other student’s writing.

I would have to say that the feedback that I am getting from the professor and other students is helping me on a technical level, but I would like to hear if either of them see opportunities in my writing that I may have not taken advantage of. I love adding more layers of meaning to my work, and I would like to see more comments on my work challenge me to do that.

The biggest challenge I face as a writer is primarily a technical one: I would like to get used to utilizing complex grammar and syntax correctly. That aspect of writing is definitely a weakness for me, and I appreciate it when people point it out to help me. But like I said before, I would like more innovative critique on the narrative and stylistic aspects of my writing as well.

I find that learning about yourself, your audience, and your writing subject through the writing process itself is the most rewarding aspect of my writing. I find it endlessly fascinating how those three main factors combat and dance between themselves, trying to find a balance that is not entirely serene as to be boring, but not entirely conflicted as to be sporadic. It’s finding that sweet spot that is essential for the author’s satisfaction to be felt.

Reading Review Week 8

                                             

"Arabian Nights", by Good Reads

Link to image

I chose this image from the Arabian Nights unit, specifically from my retelling of the Greek King and Physician Douban (in Week 4). This unit and this story really got me to think about the culture of the Middle-East at the time of the telling of this story, and I truly felt transported to a different time and place! The retelling of this story is the one I feel most proud of.

The readings that I enjoyed the most have to be the Middle-East and Asian units: they both forced me to consider cultural and aged values that were unknown to me. In order to write Storytelling assignments, I had to immerse myself into the worlds of the stories, and that experience was really eye opening.

When I read through the stories, I found that the method that worked best for me was to read each story earlier in the day (before the assignment was due). I found this effective, because when it came time to do the assignment I had already used my time to sort of daydream about what I wanted to write about.

And as far as note-taking: I made sure to first outline the stories in the most rudimentary terms possible so that I could see the entire scope of the plot. I then read the story a second time, but this time I tried to identify as many culturally and social references the stories drew upon. This way, I was able to get a hold of the values that each story was trying to portray.

I do happen to use my Reading Diary in connection with my Storytelling assignment, because the stories the I mention in my Reading Diaries tend to be the stories that I have paid the most attention to and given the most effort to thoroughly research.

When I look back at my old Reading Diaries, it helps me remember the readings and my thoughts on them very well. However, this is mostly by virtue of the effort that I initially put into the assignments.

I honestly don’t do a lot of reading for pleasure: 19 credit hours of mostly upper division sciences, as well as studying for the new MCAT, will do that to a student. But I do like studying for the MCAT actually, because it allows me to put all the concepts I have learned in my pre-medical requisite classes together in a big picture. I would have to say that the reading in this class and the things that I like to read do not really overlap. However, I do like understanding cultures from countries that I have never been to before, so this class introduced a lot of new material that I could definitely see myself investing time in the future to.

I would have to say that the suggestions for future students regarding the readings would be to outline each reading (and each story) in the most basic terms possible. This way, it’s much easier to keep track of the plot while you analyze different aspects of the stories.