Storytelling Week 10: Fire Troubles

Aya made her way into the council meeting. She didn't feel overly enthusiastic about having to attend but it was better than sitting outside in the bitter cold. Since she was small it was easy enough to weave her way through the crowd over to the side. Once she found a spot she liked she went back to focusing on her crochet project. With it being so cold outside she had been crocheting up scarves, hats, blankets and other assorted items to help keep warm. She only used the best threads available, strong but with just the right amount of give and flexibility. As she continues to work on her latest hat she occasionally tunes into the conversation around her. Something about a fire to help them survive the winter but they need some way to retrieve it. Apparently it's in a tree on an island. She thinks if the Thunders were going to be helpful in giving them fire for their cold world would it really have been so inconvenient for them to make it more accessible? There was a lot of shouting and enthusiastic offers to go and retrieve the fire. The one that stood out the most was Raven. Aya snorted at the thought. Of course he would volunteer, the big strong man who could do anything.

Aya didn't pay much attention to the meeting until a collective gasp went up from the crowd. She looked up to see what the fuss was about. When she saw Raven her mouth actually dropped open. Most of his hair had been singed off and what remained had been scorched black. He reluctantly admitted he had been unable to retrieve the fire. With that a long cycle of volunteers and failures began. After Raven, Owl who they nicknamed Screech volunteered to go. When Screech returned he was sporting new red eyes, burned when he got too close and tried to look at the fire. Next went Screech's two cousins, Hoot and Horn. They too returned without the fire but sported some very lovely new white rings around their eyes.

Deeming the fliers incompetent, Snake, also known as Racer decided to go. He swam to try and get to the fire from underneath but it was too hot for him. Upon returning he seemed to have developed a new way of walking, continuously jerking side to side as if he was afraid of being scorched. Racer's brother, Climber was next. He attempted climbing the tree but choked on the smoke and returned with his entire being was a new shade of black. After so many failures the council decided to disband for the day and regroup the next morning. Aya gathered her things and left to find a place to spend the night. Even if she hadn't been pleased with having to attend this meeting, she had been able to complete some crochet projects and had gotten some entertainment while doing so.

The next morning started out much differently. It was quiet and everyone shuffled back and forth. Not a single person volunteered to go retrieve the fire.

"This is ridiculous," Aya exclaimed. "I'll go."

Several people turned to look at her in surprise.

"I can go along the surface of the water and dive below if necessary."

"That's all well and good but how will you bring it back?" someone asked.

"Don't worry about that. Just leave it to me."

She quickly crocheted a small pouch which she wore on her back. She then headed out for the island and retrieved a single coal of the fire. She placed it in the pouch on her back and returned to the council. They used the coal to build a fire of their own and their world became warmer and a little bit brighter.

(Fire)

Author's Note: This story is inspired by The First Fire from the Cherokee Myths unit. With this story I wanted to tell it from the point of view of the character who represents the water spider in the original story. In the original story we don't hear about the water spider until she volunteers to go retrieve the fire. I got this image in my head of a disinterested character not really paying attention to what's going on until it reaches a point where people aren't sure what to do next. Then she steps up and says I might as well give it a try. In my story I do envision my characters as human but I kept their names as the animals which they represent.

Bibliography: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900).

Reading Diary A: Cherokee Stories

These stories are from the Cherokee Myths unit.

How The World Was Made: This story was really interesting to read. It's always neat to read creation stories from different cultures and learn about their views on how our world came to be.

The First Fire: I really enjoyed reading this story. It's a story that explains the origin of fire but also explains some of the physical characteristics and behaviors of some animals that we have today. It's also a great story in that after many failures and when none of the others want to venture forth one small creature agrees to try and succeeds in the task.

(Fire, by Awesomoman)

How the Rabbit Stole the Otter's Coat: This story was a great story about trickery and deception. The ever crafty rabbit came up with the plan to steal the otter's coat so he could be named the animal with the finest coat. However in the end he wasn't able to fool the other animals but he still managed to escape from them. It was really fun to read. 

Storytelling Week 9: An Impossible Tale

Detective Casey left behind the hustle and bustle of the station to begin his walk home. It was a nice evening outside, cool air and only a slight breeze. With each step he took he could feel the stress of the day fading more and more. After a day like to today he was seriously considering using some of his built up leave time to take a vacation with his wife. Lost in thought thinking about where they might like to go he tripped over a box. He stumbled for a few paces and turned to look back. The box let out a whimper. That couldn't be quite right. He stepped closer and peered inside. The whimper as it turned out had actually come from a small puppy sitting inside the box.

He reached in and pet it's head. "Hey there. Looks like you got left behind, huh?" The puppy licked his hand. He picked the puppy up and held him in the crook of his arm. "It'll be nice to have a new addition to the house," he murmured to himself. He continued home with the puppy in tow.

When he arrived home his wife was absolutely delighted with the new puppy. She immediately stole him from her husband and set about preparing a space for him. They had a simple dinner and discussed names for their new puppy. Casey fashioned a collar for him out of an old necklace. They then went down to a local store to pick up some food and other supplies for him. Upon returning home they set up the puppy in his new bed and went to bed themselves.

Casey was sleeping well so far that night. Until he rolled over and saw some strange shadows moving beneath their door that is. He sat up, rubbing his eyes so he could see more clearly. Something definitely seemed to be moving beyond his door.He swung his legs out of bed and stood up. Retrieving his weapon from his nightstand he crept close to the door, listening for sounds outside. He heard the click of nails on the floor, similar to a dog's pacing. He opened the door and peered out not believing what he saw. He opened the door further and stepped out. "That's, impossible," he breathed out.

Before him stood his new puppy. Except now, it wasn't really a puppy anymore. The puppy had grown into a dog almost as large as him. And it was pacing in his confined living room. The dog saw him and lolled it's head to the side expressing a doggy grin. The dog shuffled over to the window, which Casey only just now noticed had been opened, and returned to stand in front of Casey with something in his mouth. He dropped it in front of him and sat back waiting for Casey's reaction. Casey looked down and jumped back horrified letting out a strangled yelp. The dog had brought him a leg, a human leg. Not only that but he recognized the shoe on the leg. It was a very distinctive boot worn by a suspect he had arrested earlier that week on kidnapping charges. He looked back up at the dog who seemed to be saying, "Look what I brought you. Aren't you pleased?" Casey stumbled back into his room in his attempt to get away but tripped over a table and knocked over a lamp. He became tangled in the cord. The dog stood up and began to approach him, coming closer and closer.

Casey shot up out of bed, a layer of cold sweat covering his skin. Next to him his wife stirred and their dog, a 5 year old German Shepard named Chaps raised his head from his sleeping place next to their bed. Casey managed to get his heavy breathing under control, pushing the dream back into the depths of his mind. He wiped the sweat from his brow and swung his legs over the side of his bed. Chaps stood up and came to rest his head on Casey's knee. Casey scratched behind his ears. "You know what bud? I think it's time for a vacation."

(Questioning a Dream)

Authors Note: This story is based on The Great Dog. In the original story a man has a very large dog whom he loves in the place of a son he never had. The dog is very large in size and extremely viscous. Towards the end of the story the dog is known to go inland and kill people residing in their homes and bringing their legs back to his master. However this was not viewed as something bad but rather something good because the people inland were wicked themselves. In my story I took a suggestion from Dr. Gibbs and brought back a previous character, Detective Casey. Upon thinking about how to bring back a character and perhaps create some continuity in my stories the idea of what happened when Detective Casey goes home after his encounter with Sinbad came to me. I really liked the idea of continuing his story this is the result. I kept more of the details of the end of the story in mine. In the original the owner identifies the legs of the inlanders by the furry boots they wear. I did however choose to omit the middle details of the dog attacking someone and forcing the owner to relocate and also the confrontation with the villagers and the other dogs. In my story I also had the dog start off as a puppy and later grow to be massive in size. Also, I really wanted to do a funny image this week to go with the story which I why I chose the one I did.

Bibliography: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

Reading Diary A: Eskimo Folk Tales

This story comes from the Eskimo Folk Tales unit. 

The Giant Dog: This story, wasn't necessarily one that I really liked, but it was one that stuck with me as a possibility for what I want to do with my story idea. I got a bit ahead of myself and came up with an idea without reading the stories first this week, oops. I may switch and save this idea for another reading since it is very flexible. I thought this story was very interesting however. It was not at all how I was expecting the story to progress. At the end I'm still just sitting here going I think I really liked that but it was not at all what I was expecting and I don't yet know how to process my thoughts on it. Who knows what story I will end up writing tomorrow. 

(A very large dog)

Commenting Review Week

I think commenting on the projects and work of others is a really great way to help build connections and facilitate interactions with students in an online course. It helps students get feedback on their assignments so they can evaluate how to proceed in the future but it also means that students are actively interacting with one another despite not meeting face to face. Another thing that works really well is discussion boards. Here students can talk with others, post opinions, read the opinions of others, and discuss the material gaining a new perspective on it even when they don't have to meet in person. 

For me comments that talk about the overall progression of my story and how well it flows and connects from beginning to end are the most helpful. I have a tendency to jump around in my thought process and having others comment on the progression of my story helps me ensure that I'm writing something continuous that flows and connects. 

(upside down bats)

Reading Review Week

In reviewing my past reading diaries, I think my favorite is the Arabian Nights unit. I did half of this unit for my extra reading diary but then I went back and finished reading it because I enjoyed it so much. I loved the complexity of the layers and layers of storytelling in this unit. The way all the stories connected back to one another made it fun and interesting to read.

(Oil painting of Scheherazade from the Arabian Nights unit)

What I have found in doing my reading diaries is that it works best for me to do the reading diary as I read the unit. After reading each story in the unit I write about what stood out to me and what I liked about it. After I have finished the reading I typically narrow it down to my top 3 stories. These are the stories that I am typically considering to use for my storytelling and I generally have an idea of which story I am leaning towards to use. 

Storytelling Week 7: Balancing the Scales

Sarah seemed to have it all together. She was organized, got good grades in school, worked a steady job, was popular and very well liked. She worked hard and took pride in her accomplishments. She was also extremely kind and overwhelmingly generous in giving to other people and unfortunately there were some people who took advantage of this fact.

One day while walking home she spotted some money on the ground. Immediately she grabbed it and began searching the area for someone who might have dropped it. She was unable to locate a single person and so she decided to take the money home and decide what to do with it there. A local ruffian saw this and decided to approach her. He offered her a cheap ring, a worthless trinket he had found in exchange for some of the money she had found. He expected her to completely brush him off and continue on her way but instead she accepted the deal. She handed over half of what she had found in exchange for the trinket. The man, surprised but delighted all the same walked away whistling a pleasant tune.

A few weeks later he came across the same girl. She had been carrying a bag of apples which had apparently spilled with the apples rolling all over the sidewalk and the majority into the fenced yard nearby. He approached her and offered to help her pick the apples in exchange for a few of them. She gladly accepted but explained her dilemma with her inability to climb the fence into the neighbors yard. The man simply hopped the fence and told her not to worry that he would get them and toss some apples back to her. However he only selected to toss back the ones that had been bruised, muddied, or squashed in some way. He pocketed all the good ones and made a show out of eating one in front of her.

Sarah grew angrier and angrier by the minute. Suddenly an idea came to mind. "You know, that was some pretty impressive fence hopping earlier. I bet you can't do a flip back over it."

"Watch and learn," he called back.

But as he went to do the flip he forgot about how slippery the ground was from rain the night before. He slipped in the mud on his way to do the flip and instead of landing on the ground he went face first into the fence and then over. The result of his flip meant that several apples tumbled out of his pockets. Sarah gathered them up quickly and shoved them in her bag. The man struggled to his feet and shouted profanities at her. He grabbed her bag, pulled it off her shoulder and smacked her across the face. Sarah stumbled back and took off running.

When her friends found out what happened they became determined to balance the scales and give the man just what he deserved. They devised a plan for the next time Sarah ran into the man and then set it into action. Walking down the same street she had encountered the man as before once she saw him she let something slip out from her bag and pretended not to notice and continued walking. The man went to investigate what she had dropped thinking it might be something of value to him. It was a small round object roughly the size of the egg and as he was trying to figure out what exactly it was it exploded and enveloped him in a cloud of foul smelling gas. He coughed and sputtered, attempting to run away from the area. He ran exactly in the direction her friends predicted and as he ran he tripped over something. This something turned out to be a hornets nest! They swarmed and stung him all over. He scrambled to his feet and once again started running. He tried to run into a building to escape the hornets but unfortunately he failed to notice how low the doorway was and hit his head knocking himself out cold.

Sarah and her friends watched the whole scene unfold from a distance. Afterwards Sarah continued to work hard and show kindness to others, but she never let them take advantage of her kindness.

(An emakimono, or picture scroll of the original fairy tale)

Author's Note: This story was inspired by The Crab and the Monkey. In the original story the monkey takes advantage of the crab's willingness to share but when she outwits him he beats her nearly to death. Her friends help her get revenge when he comes back and attempts to steal fruit from her. In my story I lessened the severity of the beating and ended with the ruffian being knocked out instead of being killed as he was in the original. I attempted to keep my changes closely tied with the progression of the original.  

Bibliography: The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1903).