Reading A: Native American Marriage Tales

I decided to read Native American Marriage Tales this week because it sounded like it would be an interesting topic to read about.

My favorite story was the Bear-Woman and Deer-Woman. I really liked this story because it was written exactly like a story would be told. It is not very detailed but it has a lot of content. The lesson behind the story seems to be kind of like the old saying "do unto others what you would do unto yourself." The bear mother killed the deer woman and in return the deer children killed the bear woman. It is kind of morbid how the lesson went about but makes complete sense. It is interesting though because it seems like the bears and the deers are somehow related or are at least close friends. If I were to change the story I would probably do something similar but use humans that wronged each other, or at least something along those lines.

Bear and Deer

Story: Two Slow Runner

Once, a long time ago, a turtle and a snail happened to meet. They spoke to each other about their past and what they have accomplished. They talked about how everyone always assumes they are slow runners. Just because they aren’t as fast as a wild cat or deer doesn’t mean they are slow. They started talking about how fast they actually are and decided they would have a race to see who was faster. When they started the race the turtle went ahead of the snail right away and won the race.

"Thats not fair" said the snail, "I am used to running up and down rocks along the shore, we are on flat ground here. This is to your advantage. If we went to my home by the water, I would win the race easily. I am sure of it. Let’s go there and I will show you and if you win you can have my shell." 

After the turtles victorious win he decided he could beat the snail in any race in any place. He didn’t have much use for his shell since he’s so much larger but that didn’t hold him back.

"Fine, lets go to your home and we will race there, I am sure I can still beat you" said the turtle. 

They started the race and ran up and down the rocks. The turtle, larger and not used to the steep hills, slid down all the rocks he tried to climb up. The snail stuck to all the rocks and quickly climbed them and won the race. 

"I told you I would beat you. Now I get to keep my shell and we are even." said the snail. 

“Fine, you were right. We are both fast in our own way” said the turtle. 

Authors note
My story is based off of the story Two Fast Runners. In the original story a deer and an antelope race each other. The antelope wins the first race on flat ground and they decide to have a rerun in the place where the deer is from. Not used to weaving in and out of the trees, the antelope goes much slower and loses the second race. My story is very similar to this but with different characters.

Turtle and Snail

Reading A: Blackfoot

The first reading of Blackfoot was Two Fast Runners. I liked the way this was written, it was descriptive but concise. The story kind of reminded me of two kids on a playground racing each other and being stubborn. The Dog and the Root Digger is an interesting story also.  The starving people change into a dog and a root digger to trick a family and set free the animals they hunt. The story consisted of smaller paragraphs and dialogue. The Buffalo Stone starts with a background story and then goes into a story about the information. I like the way the story is written because it seems very traditional and educational. The story is very up lifting. The story Bear and Blueberries starts out the same way with an explanation and then a story. I like this style of writing and might try it in my next story!

antelope and deer

Reading B: Japanese Fairytales

The first story of reading B reminds me of the first story of reading A because it is about traveling and running into a difficult situation. In Schippeitaro the young boy must travel the forest, he gets lost and has to find his way. The style of writing is very direct and to the point. The second story uses a lot of extravagant words to spice up the story and make it more interesting to read. The Crab and the Monkey is about a neat crab running into a hungry monkey. The Magic Kettle was another story that started off by talking about the place the main character lived and how the character felt about that place. That seems to be a reoccurring style of these stories. In How the Wiched Tanuki was Punished there are much more characters being introduced. This story really emphasizes the characters and what they are like.

Crab and Monkey

Week 9 Story: The Two Pups

Once upon a time there were two puppies living in California. One puppy was in a home off of the beach of Malibu, while the other was located in downtown Los Angeles. These two house pets had never met before, but at the exact same time they both thought they might want to run away from home to see the rest of California. The puppy that lives in Malibu wanted to visit Los Angeles and the puppy that lived in Los Angeles wanted to visit Malibu.

They both set out on their journey after loosing their leashes during a walk with their owner. The two puppies knew nothing about traveling and had to use their sense of smell to lead them. Being a large state, California has many areas of cost and many areas of city that smell the same. The puppies both ran into the hill of which the Hollywood sign sat and knew it would be a long journey to the top. They knew once they got to the top they would be able to see the city they were going looking for. 

Once at the top they both ran into each other, they were both shocked to see another puppy without an owner. They were so happy to hear they were both traveling to each other's homes. "Too bad we are so small and young, this journey is making me tired." said the puppy from Los Angeles. "Why don't we just look at the place we are trying to go from on top of the sign? I will help you up if you help me" said the puppy from Malibu. Both of the puppies climbed to the top of the Hollywood sign.

"That is Malibu over there," pointing to the coast. "It looks beautiful but I think I can see all I need to from here, the journey is too long" said the puppy from Los Angeles. "That is downtown L.A. over there with all the traffic and tall buildings." The puppy from Malibu looked in that direction and said "wow, it looks crowded, I think I will go back to Malibu. Thanks for showing me." The two puppies climbed down from the sign and made their journey back to their owners.

Authors Note: My story was based off of the story of The Two Frogs. In this story two frogs from far away places both decide to travel to the other frogs home. The run into each other on the top of a mountain, tired and needing directions. The decided to climb on each others shoulders to look at the place they are trying to go to. Since their eyes are in the back of their heads they both end up looking at their actual home and think there is no need to visit because it looks just like their home. Since puppies eyes are not like that, I decided to make my story a little different.

Two Puppies

Reading A: Japanese Fairy Tales

This week I read the Japanese Fairy Tales. My favorite story was The Two Frogs. It was very creatively written and fun to read. The beginning starts off by talking about two frogs that live far away from each other but both decide at the same time they want to travel to the place of the other frog. Both frogs set off on an adventure. They both came to a mountain on opposite sides. When they met each other and said they were going to the home town of the other one they were very excited. I love how the story ended with the frogs lifting each other up to see their desired destination but in reality they were looking at their own home towns. The way it was written was simple and to the point. It was detailed enough to visualize but not too detailed that it bores you. I think I could rewrite the story as a different animal, maybe a house animal that run aways from home and meets another runaway.

frogs

Week 8 Progress

After looking through my blogs and my grades I think I’m doing a pretty good job of keeping up with the class. It can be kind of hard to get everything done before the due date time on busy tests weeks but over all I would say I’m doing well. I would like to use more of the extra credit assignments in the future. I also think that I need to try to do multiple assignments on Mondays instead of doing one each day. I think that would help with the course load at the end of the week.

encouragement 

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

After looking through my blog, I think that other students are posting helpful and encouraging comments. I can definitely tell when students are using the WWW strategy and it really helps me to know what they like and what I could improve.

I try to adopt the WWW comment style in my comments as well. I feel like asking questions is a good way to show how a story can improve without being too harsh.

The blog comments on the introduction posts have definitely helped me learn who my classmates are. Everyone is so different and it is fun to learn about everyone. You can also tell peoples personalities through the way they write and by reading their stories.

I think in the future I could have more engaging comments on posts, as well as taking into consideration the feedback I am receiving.

cheezburger

Week 8 Reading and Writing

After looking over the layout of my blog I decided that I wanted to change the background photo to something a little different. I have always like the darker looking blogs so I don't know why I didn't start with one like that in the beginning. I also went through and looked at my reading notes and have noticed that I have done many different styles of note taking. I think I need to do a better job of reading like a writer instead of just taking notes about the stories. I am pretty pleased with my stories so far, the only thing I would really change would be to add more detail.

As for my website I think I am off to a good start but could use a lot of improvement. I am still trying to get into the hang out writing multiple stories that feed into each other instead of just one story about one thing. I think I need to add more detail in my revisions.

I chose this image from my most resent post because I really enjoyed the story about the Monkey King. This photo also just looks so pure and comforting.

Source: Ape

Reading Notes B: The Monkey King

The second part of The Monkey King started with the monkey king taking a visit to heaven. Once he got to heaven the Lord of the Heavens gives him the title of the title of the stable master. He gets upset when he finds out that it is a meaningless title and leaves. Once he leaves the Lord of the Heavens order someone to go get him back but he fights them and they return to heaven without him. Once back to heaven they tell the Lord of the Heavens that the King of the Apes is very strong and important. The Lord of the Heavens then builds him a castle. The story then talks about all the peaches from the garden being picked. The Great Saint has too much wine and wanders off. He convinces the Ape King to steal more wine for him. There is a battle between the King of the Apes and Yang Oerlang.

Ape

Reading Notes: The Monkey King

I decided to read The Monkey King for this weeks reading. The first story is Handsome King of the Apes. This story talks about the creation of the stone ape and how he jumps through the waterfall. The next story was The Great Sea. This story talks about how the Apes will grow old. The King of the apes tries to seek out gods. The next story is Sun Wu Kung Gets His Name. The ape King is led to the saint by a wood-chopper and the saint (master) gives him a name. The next story is The Master. This is where the master tries to teach Sun Wu King but all he wants to learn about is eternal life. In Learning the Art the master teaches him the way to eternal life. In Sun Wu Kung Departs, he uses his magic to transform into a pine tree and the master gets mad that he is abusing what he was taught. In The Devil-King, Sun Wu Kung returns home to find out that some of his children had been kidnapped and taken by a devil and he had to go save them.

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