Reading A: Looking-Glass

I enjoyed reading the Alice in Wonderland section a couple of weeks ago so I decided to read more about it from the Looking-Glass unit. The story of The Looking Glass House was very interesting. In the first part of the story it was kind of hard to follow what was going on because Alice was talking about so many things at once with and not making much sense of any of it. Once she actually enters the looking glass house is when the story starts to make more sense. She sees the King and Queen and they are much smaller than her and cannot hear or see her. She tries to help them climb up to their daughter but she ends up just frightening them because they were lifted through the air without knowing how. I think I could definitely make a story of my own out of the Looking Glass House. It would be hard for me to mimic the writing style of the original story but I think it would be a nice challenge. I was thinking a way to switch up the story would be for Alice to be smaller and to not see the King and Queen.

Looking Glass House

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 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.

Source

Reading A: Ramayana

For this weeks reading I decided to read Ramayana.

The first reading was The Birth of Rama. The story begins by talking about the happy place of Ayodhya. In Ayodhya, the king Dasaratha was upset due to the fact that he had not yet had a son. He sacrifices a horse to the gods in the hopes he will receive a son from one of his three wives. At the end of the story each of his wives bear a son.

Vishwamitra is the second reading. This story focuses on the upbringing of Rama. Starting as a weeping infant and going from there.

The next story was Rama and Sita. The story demonstrates Rama's strength due to his ability to bend the bow that many have not been able to bend before him. Rama then marries a women named Sita.

The next story is Kaikeyi's Plot. Kaikeyi is one of the three wives of Dasaratha. This story talks about how she hates Rama because his mother was once a slave to her.

The next story is Rama's Exile. Kaikeyi forces Rama to leave. Rama's mother is heart broken

The next story is The Death of Dasaratha. Dasaratha dies due to the grief of Rama leaving.

The last story is Rama and Bharata. Bharata returns and learns that Dasaratha has died. His mother tries to give him the throne but he does not want it and searched for Rama.

Bharata and Rama