Week 13 Reading Diary

I have read Jacob for this week's reading. From the first part of the reading I really enjoyed The Language of Animals. Here are some parts that I really enjoyed.

"Well I must say," said the father, "that does not seem much for three years' schooling. But let us see if you have learnt your lessons properly. What does that bird say just above our heads in the tree there?"

This is one of father's line. He never trusted his son's words of Jack understanding the animal's language. Jack told the truth, and his father started to hated Jack. This was his words.

"Then the boy said, "The bird kept on saying as clear as could be, 'The time is not so far away when Jack's father will offer him water on bended knees for him to wash his hands, and his mother shall offer him a towel to wipe them with.'"

I think the father's hatred came from his arrogant. His pride probably did not allow him to understand what Jack was saying. That is why he did such a request to bandit.

Jack lived because Bandit told him a truth. Over some adventures he had, he eventually became a Pope.

"Now this was, in those days, a great honour, and people wondered why Jack's father and mother should be so honoured. But after Jack's father had offered him the basin of water and his mother the towel, Jack said to them, "Do you not know me, mother? Do you not know me, father?" and made himself known to them and reminded his father of what the bird had said. So he forgave his father and took him and his mother to live with him ever afterwards."


He eventually became what a bird told me so. I think it was interesting story.

(Bird by Peter Miller)

Bibilography : The Language of Animals from Europa's Fairy Book by Joseph Jacobs and illustrated by John Batten

Week 12 Storytelling - The Young Beowulf

The young Beowulf arrived at the camp to train his battle skills and survival skills. There was a lot of skills he could learn. Masters of the camp trained him to be more strong. Beowulf learned a lot from them.

One day, he realized that he was not learning anything from masters. He tried his best to learn, but he just could not see anything new from the lessons. Beowulf started to get bored. It was no longer fun when he could not learn a new thing.

Beowulf started to skip his lessons. He thought there were nothing more he could learn from others. Instead he decided to test our his strength. Beowulf bought some foods and went in the forest nearby.


"I will fight against the beast of the forest"


The forest was known for the beast. Nobody knew what kind of creature this beast was because nobody survived after seeing this beast. Beowulf entered the forest. He walked slowly and carefully as he approached the center of the forest.


"Is that it?"


After few days of walking, Beowulf finally reached his destination. He saw a huge cave. Inside this huge cave, there was a bear. A bear with white fur and red eyes. It was three time bigger than a normal bear.

Beowulf grabbed a stone from the ground. As he prepared his weapon, he slowly approached the cave and threw a stone inside.


"I got him!"


Soon Beowulf could hear the angry roar of the white bear. The bear was swift. With less than a second, the white bear was already in front of the young boy.


Beowulf swung his sword. However, his sword was easily destroyed by the claws of the bear. Beowulf decided to run away since his weapon was broken. However, he was not a fast runner. He was clumsy and the bear was much faster.

Soon the white bear caught Beowulf. Without an option, Beowulf charged. He decided to fight against the giant bear with his bear hands.


"He is not that strong!"


Beowulf grabbed the white bear's hands. They were surprisingly weak. Beowulf was surprised. The white bear was trying to get its hands out of Beowulf's hands but it was not working. The bear got frustrated and tried to bite Beowulf's head.


"He is really weak."


Beowulf slowly added his strength to his hands. The white bear started to cry because Beowulf's hands were slowly crushing the white bear's hands.

Before even giving the full strength, the white bear's hands were crushed completely. It could not use its hands no longer. The white bear realized it could not harm Beowulf, so he started to run away from him.


Although Beowulf was strong, he was slow. He could not chase the white bear. In fact, he did not think about chasing the bear. He was just surprised and speechless how strong himself was. Even the might beast of the forest which killed many strong men, could not fight against Beowulf.


"This is boring."


He was expecting more excitement. He was expecting to use his full strength against this beast. However, Beowulf was not able to use his full strength at all. The young Beowulf was bored of his own strength.

(The white bear by Tambako The Jaguar)

Author's note: The story is based on The young Beowulf part from the tale of Beowulf. In the original story Beowulf grew up within few sentences. The original story was based on how the young Beowulf competed with other people. However, I thought it was interesting how Beowulf later was able to fight against the creature like Gremlin. So I was thinking about the story. A story that would be similar to the battle between Gremlin and Beowulf, but instead I wanted to write about the fight that happened in the childhood of Beowulf since it was not mentioned in the original story. In the original story, Beowulf was sullen in his strength. He was never able to use his full strength. I wanted to write a story about how the young Beowulf finds out he is a strong and became very disappointed about how he could not use his full strength.


Bibliography: The Young Beowulf from The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs with illustrations by Henry Pitz (1933)

Week 12 Reading Diary - continued

The second part of the reading for Beowulf, I decided to focus on the battle scene in the story. I have already decided what to rewrite about so I want to get some general ideas that possibly would help me rewrite.

The part that I observed the most was the first battle that Beowulf had with Grendel.

"SILENTLY they fought in the fog-strewn hall of Heorot. Silently their bodies twisted and bent, this way and that, and Beowulf kept Grendel's huge hands with their long claws of sharp bone from him, and Grendel in turn sought to tear apart the quick body that slipped so easily through his arms and legs."

It was most definite that Beowulf had a strength to fight against Grendel, which is a huge monster. I could use similar situation to tell how strong the young Beowulf was because I believe he was strong when he was young as well.

There were a lot of detailed and examples in this part of the story that would definitely help me in rewriting.

"And the mighty arm of Grendel gave way in the terrible hands of Beowulf, and, with a piercing shriek that shook the gilded rafters of Heorot, Grendel stumbled forward, leaving in Beowulf's hands the gory arm."

Later in the part of the reading Beowulf actually fought against Grendel with bare hands and was able to rip his arms off from his body. What a incredible strength. This gives me a idea how young Beowulf fought an enemy of greater size than he is but he could easily defeat him with his strength which would lead him to be sullen in his strength because he was never able to use full strength of him.

(Grendel and Beowulf by N.C. Mallory)

Bibliography:  The Battle with Grendel from The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs with illustrations by Henry Pitz

Week 12 Reading Diary - Beowulf

I have picked this tale because I was familiar with the name Beowulf but have never read the tale about him. I think it was an interesting story to read for sure. I really enjoyed the part 1 of the Beowulf tale.

The first and the most favorite part of this tale was the young Beowulf. It was interesting to read about not the grown Beowulf who is famous and well-know but about the young child who would soon become a hero.

"As a small boy, Beowulf had shown such strength of body that Hygelac had early named him one of his thanes. So his mother and father gave him up, and young Beowulf went to live with his uncle to learn the arts of war and the handling of ships."

I like how he was so strong that he would have to leave the life of comfort in order to be more stronger.

"For several years he led a lonely life for so great was the strength of his limbs that even among those men of vast vigor he was a youth to be marveled at. As the years slipped by and he grew to manhood, he became more and more sullen in his strength."

For sure I want to write about what happened during these several years that would make him sullen in his strength.


"He accepted the challenge because he had been called lazy, and, in his heart, he was angry that his strength had never truly been tried."


It could be because he never had a chance to fully performed at his best because it would hurt someone. That is why he became sullen in his strength. I would really like to write about what happened and few episodes about his strength as a young boy.

(Beowulf by Herry Lawford)

Bibliography: The Young Beowulf from The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs with illustrations by Henry Pitz

Week 11 Storytelling - Arthur's death

Arthur's body collapsed on top of the pile of many deaths. He was wounded. He knew he would not recover from his injuries. Arthur saw his dear friend Sir Bedivere. Arthur gave his precious sword Excalibur to Sir Bedivere. The sword thought to itself while it was handed to Sir Bedivere.  

'You would not recover.'

Excalibur Arthur's wounds would eventually lead to his death. In fact, Excalibur was the thing that was holding the last breath of Arthur. He would have died long time ago if Excalibur was not there. But that was it. The power of healing belonged to scabbard. 

'If you had my scabbard, you would have recovered.'

Excalibur thought, but its scabbard was stolen by Morgan. Excalibur had to admit Arthur would no longer be with him in the battle. It knew that this was the end. 

'Fair well, my friend.'

Although Arthur could not hear, Excalibur said good-bye to Arthur. Excalibur did not want to leave the side of its friend. But that would be too cruel to Arthur. Even without the scabbard, Excalibur has its own power to continue the life of Arthur without curing him. Arthur would live with his wounds and pain if Excalibur stayed. 

Sir Bedivere left with Excalibur in his hand. However, he did not return Excalibur to the lake right away. He hid Excalibur and went back to Arthur to lie. Excalibur waited. Arthur would knew if it was returned to the lady of the lake, so Bedivere's lie would not work. Eventually, Bedivere picked Excalibur and threw it to the lake. The hand came out of the lake and caught Excalibur. It was the hand of the lady of the lake.

"Welcome back, my child."

The lady of the lake spoke. She knew Excalibur would be returned. She was waiting for Excalibur. 

"How was your journey?"

Excalibur answered with its thought. The lady of the lake could understand what it was thinking. She smiled. 

"I am glad you enjoyed your journey, my dear."

She gently touched the blade of Excalibur. The work of Excalibur was done. It was born to be wielded by a king Arthur. Since Arthur's journey was done, Excalibur's journey was done as well. The end of Arthur was near so the end of Excalibur was near.

"Farewell. Rest yourself in Avalon."

Excalibur slowly disappeared from the hands of the lady of the lake. Excalibur joined Avalon where his friend, master, and king Arthur joined after his death. 

(The lake by Mouser Williams)

Author's note: The story is based on the tale 'King Arthur'. It was really interesting story to read and I really enjoyed it. There were many parts that I really enjoyed but I think the most impressive and memorable part was the end of Arthur. I was thinking since Excalibur is not just an ordinary sword, it might have it own 'I' or ego. So I decided to write the story about how Excalibur would have felt during the end of Arthur. The original story is same. Arthur was wounded and he wanted to return Excalibur to the lady of the lake. Sir Bedivere lied twice before returning Excalibur to the lady of the lake. 

Bibliography: The End of Arthur from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang 

Week 11 Reading Diary - King Arthur

I really enjoyed the second part of this tale as well. Overall, this reading was very interesting and fun to read. The most interesting story of this second part of the tale was The end of Arthur.

"'Alas!' said the King, 'My time flieth fast. Therefore, Sir Bedivere, cease moaning and weeping, and take Excalibur, my good sword, and go with it to yonder water side, and when thou comest there, I charge thee, throw my sword in that water, and come again and tell me what thou hast seen.'"

I really enjoyed the battle but I think it was more interesting to read about how he died. From the paragraph above, I think it was interesting how words are so unfamiliar to me. Moreover, I think it was interesting how a king Arthur wanted to return his Excalibur to the lake because he obtained the sword from the lady of the lake.

The most interesting part about Arthur's death was returning Excalibur. Arthur wanted to return Excalibur to the lady of the lake.

"My lord,' answered Sir Bedivere, 'your commandment shall be done,' and he departed. But when he looked at that noble sword, and beheld the jewels and gold that covered the pommel and hilt, he said to himself, 'If I throw this rich sword into the water no good will come of it, but only harm and loss,' so he hid Excalibur under a tree, and returned unto the King, and told him his bidding was done. 'What did you see there?' asked the King. 'Sir,' answered Sir Bedivere, 'I saw nothing but the winds and waves.' 'You have not dealt truly with me,' said the King. 'Go back, and do my command; spare not, but throw it in.' But again Sir Bedivere's heart failed him, and he hid the sword and returned to tell the King he had seen nothing but the wan water."

I think this may be related to the power of Excalibur. Arthur could not die because of the power of Excalibur that is why he wanted to return the sword so he can rest in peace. This is my assumption so I would like to write everything about the sword Excalibur for this week.

(Arthur by Moyan Brenn)

From : The End of Arthur from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang

Week 11 Reading Diary - King Arthur

From the beginning of this class, I wanted to read this tale. I have heard a lot about King Arthur yet have never read his tale. I really like the first part of this story. It was hard for me to pick which part I would write about. However, If I have to pick, my favorite part of the story would be The Sword Excalibur.

Until now, I thought the sword that Arthur drew from the rock, that made him a king of Britain, was Excalibur. I was surprised when I was reading this part of the story because this story explained that Excalibur was in fact from the Lake.

"In a little while they came to a large lake, and in the midst of the lake Arthur beheld an arm rising out of the water, holding up a sword."

So the sword that he had was broken and he need a new sword. Merlin took Arthur to where the lady of the lake lived and she gave him Excalibur.

""Well," said the maiden, "get into the barge yonder, and row yourself to the sword, and take it and the scabbard with you." For this was the sword Excalibur. "As for my gift, I will ask it in my own time."

I was more surprised when Merlin said the sword is not as worth as the scabbard of the Excalibur. I wonder how this would have affected the fights of Arthur in the future.


""You are not wise to say that," replied Merlin, "for the scabbard is worth ten of the sword, and as long as it is buckled on you you will lose no blood, however sorely you may be wounded.""


I think this was a great story. I really like this part because I learned a new thing about the tales of king Arthur. I would like to pick a part to rewrite after I finish reading this tale completely.

(Excalibur by Matt Rye)

From: The Sword Excalibur from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang

Week 10 Storytelling - The Dog Husband

There was a girl who loved his dog. She had him around her all the time. One day, she got pregnant and her parents suspected that it was the dog that got her pregnant. They decided to burn the house and killed the dog and the daughter. They burnt their house to let their daughter and the dog to die in fire. But dog woke up before they both die. He turned into a human form and carried the girl away from the house.


"Where am I?"


When the girl woke up, nothing was left in the village. Everyone left. She was confused, but she had to move on for the sake of her babies. With the dog next to her, she moved to the place where she could start a new life.


"We need to start a new life here. You need to help me!"


She told her dog. The dog agreed that he would do anything for her. It was rough to start a whole new life but she had her dog to help her. The dog was always there for her and that all she needed.

Eventually, she gave birth to four male puppies and one female puppy. The dog and the girl were happy to see their child. However, more hunting and works had to be done by both. They both worked hard to feed their puppies until they grew up. When they were finally old enough to go hunt for whales, the dog taught their puppies.


"I think you are ready."


It was one night, the dog decided to teach puppies how to turn into the human form. He gathered all his puppies and transformed.


"You are my children. All of you can do this. All of you can have the form of human."


Five puppies were amazed by their father's transformation. However, they were not the only ones that saw his transformation, the girl, the mother of five puppies, realized that the dog could transformed that night.


"You can become a human? You are just like me? Why didn't you tell me about this? This..This..I wish you would have told me earlier!"


She scolded him and told him that if he stayed as a human from the beginning that everything would had been fine for them. The dog agreed. He told his puppies to stay as human forms as well. With their human bodies, the dog and puppies could hunt for whales more faster and better. They could catch more than enough, they shared the meat of whales to other animals and creatures around them.


One day, A crow told and brought people who left the village. They found out the dog and their puppies were great hunters that could catch enough whales for all of them. The village started to form around the house of the girl and the dog. Later the village got bigger and bigger and formed a great city. The dog, with his human form, became the master chief of the town while his children became chiefs of the town.


Author's note: This is a rewriting about the dog husband. The original story is about the girl who had the dog husband and her children. In the original story, the dog husband was killed by her parents. Therefore, the story was not really about the dog husband but it was about the wife and her puppies. The story is really similar. Her children learned how to hunt whales and eventually become the chiefs of the village which was formed by people who left the village earlier because a crow told them. I wanted to write the story about the dog husband that actually has the dog husband as a main character so title will be more relevant. I think this story was interesting but I think since the dog husband was the title of the tale, more of him should have been told in the story instead of killing him in the beginning of the story.

(The dog and the girl by Hartwig HKD)

Bibliography : The Dog-Husband from Marriage Tales from Stith Thompson's anthology, Tales of the North American Indians.

Week 10 Reading Diary - Marriage Tale

For the second part, I picked The Dog-Husband as my reading diary. I usually like the story that I read for this class, but this story was interesting yet a little weird. First of all, the name of the story is The Dog-Husband, but in this story dog husband only appeared at the beginning of the story.


"After a time she became pregnant, and when her parents found it out and knew that the dog was the cause, they were greatly ashamed and, calling the people together, they tore down the house, put out all the fires, and moved away from the place, leaving the girl to die."

I was shocked how they dealt with bestiality so casually, but that was the last scene for a dog husband. Rest of the story was about how the girl gave birth to five puppies, one female and four males, and how she tried everything to raised her children.

"Not long after this she gave birth to five dog pups, but as her father had killed the dog, her lover, she had to look after them by herself, and the only way she could live and care for them was to gather clams and other shellfish on the beach."

Then they realized that they could stay as human forms which would allow them to be more acceptable to community. At the end, they became the chiefs of people and a village because they stayed as humans and they knew how to haunt for whales.

"Then the people talked it all over and decided to go back, and they loaded their canoes and moved to the old village. And the boys became the chiefs of the village, and always kept the people supplied with whales."

Basically, the story is not about dog husband but it is more about dog children. If this story wanted to have a title for dog husband, they should have talked more about dog husband. I think I will rewrite so that dog husband is actually alive, so the story will be actually about dog husband.

(Dog by Jeff Ro)

Bibliography : The Dog-Husband from Marriage Tales from Stith Thompson's anthology, Tales of the North American Indians.

Week 10 Reading Diary Marriage Tales

I have decided marriage tales for my reading for this week. The interesting thing about this story is characters from Tales are animals. Out of all wonderful stories from the first part of the Marriage Tales, the one that I like the most was The Eagle and Whale Husbands.


This story was interesting because two human girls also appeared in the story. I like how two girls were introduced to their animals. From the paragraph one, two girls claimed an eagle and a whale as their husbands. "one of the girls said, "I will have an eagle for my husband," and the other replied, "Thou mayst rejoice that thou hast already got a husband; I will have a whale for mine." It was interesting that both the eagle and the whale came up to the shore and took one to the sky and the other one to the bottom of the sea.


It was so interesting they understood what girls were saying and immediately took them as their brides. I like from the human's perspective, the eagle was nothing but a kidnapper. "One day, when the eagle was away, she tried the length of it and found that it reached down to the level of the sea. Another day she saw a kayaker rowing along the shore and, when he came just below, she called out to him to send a boat to rescue her." So the eagle might have thought the girl wanted to marry him, but to a girl, the eagle was nothing but a scary creature. Later the eagle got shot and died.

I think the most shocking part of the story was that the eagle and the whales were not real but a spirit of the bones that girls were playing with. "Then she threw her long jacket and before he could overtake them again, they had already landed, but when the whale reached the shore he was transformed into a piece of whale-bone."

(Whale by Ken Bosma)

Bibliography : The Eagle and Whale Husbands from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson 

Week 9 Storytelling - Tests for son-in-Law

Wemicus had a beautiful daughter. Everyone wanted to marry her because of her beauty. Indeed, she could marry many great husbands. As a father, Wemicus did not like many husbands of his daughter. He thought his daughter deserved the best man out of the best. That was why he created several different tests for his son-in-law.


One day, he called half of his sons-in-law. They gathered in the forest of Wemicus, waiting for Wemicus. Instead of showing off to the meeting, Wemicus decided to bring a test to them. He attracted a huge bear that was living in the forest, and took a bear to sons-in-law.


"Any man who wants to be my son-in-law should have a strength of a bear."


He knew that was impossible. Without a single weapon on their hands, he laughed as a bear approached those men. A bear started to attack sons-in-law while they were in panic. Only half of them lived.

On that night, Wemicus gathered rest of the survivors. They were injured. Wemicus provided the medicine and foods for them. However, he did not provide any shelters for them. They were far away from home, so there was no other choice but to stay there and camp for the night.


"Any man who wants to be my son-in-law should have a skill to survive a night."


He left them as he spoke. Survivors gathered together. They tried to make fire, make a campsite. However, half of them were wounded so bad, they could not survive the cold night without proper care and warm house to sleep.


Wemicus came back to the spot where he left them. He told rest of the survivors to come with him. Wemicus took them to the river nearby. The river was flowing fast. He got on his canoe that was prepared. As he got on a canoe and crossed a river, he looked back at his sons-in-law.


"Any man who wants to be my son-in-law should across this river without his boat."


He spoke. Rest of the survivors started to cross the river. However, without a canoe, those who could not swim, and those who were too weak to stand against the flow of river did not make it. With few survivors left, Wemicus decided to throw a final challenge for his sons-in-law.


Wemicus took them to the camp site where they could finally rest. Wemicus provided what they need. Survivors were well-fed and the camp site were comfortable. Wemicus told them, now they can rest. All tests were over for them. They were approved as his sons-in-law. Survivors believed in his words. Without any cautions, they decided to have the rest that they need.

At that night, Wemicus approached their tents. With torch on his hand, he decided to burn their tents.


"Any man who wants to be my son-in-law should survive from the wild fire."


However, there was no single survivor. Everybody was too tired to wake up from the rest that they could not have for several days. Those survivors eventually died. Wemicus shook his head as if he was disappointed.


"So no man is strong enough to be my son-in-law."


He was disappointed. Wemicus noticed the deaths of sons-in-law to people around him. Many men were interested because they knew how beautiful his daughter was. Wemicus informed them that anyone can marry his daughter.


"Any man who wants to be my son-in-law shall pass my tests."


It was under only one condition.

(Canoe by nyamaru kamome)

Author's note: This story was from the Hero Tales of Native American mythology reading. The title of the story was The son-in-law tests. It was a story about Wemicus who had a daughter that had many great husbands. Wemicus gave them tests which eventually killed them, and one of them eventually survived from the Wemicus tests and be a son-in-law for Wemicus. The original story was based on the conflict between Wemicus and his son-in-law but I thought it was a great idea to write about what happened to those who died, and how those tests of Wemicus killed those sons-in-law. I saw other people from mythology group was writing about story that happened before the original story, and I thought it was a great idea and I thought this was a great opportunity to try this technique.


Bibliography : The Son-in-Law Tests from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson

Week 9 Reading Diary Continued

The second part of the Hero Tales was very interesting. I really like the story about son-in-law. This story was based on the test that Wemicus prepared for those who want to be his son-in law.

When I was first reading, I was surprised how serious his test was. From the first paragraph, the consequences of failing tests can be noticed.


"Wemicus [the animal-trickster] had a son-in-law who was a man. This man's wife, the daughter of Wemicus, had had a great many husbands, because Wemicus had put them to so many different tests that they had been all killed off except this one. He, however, had succeeded in outwitting Wemicus in every scheme that he tried on him. Wemicus and this man hunted beaver in the spring of the year by driving them all day with dogs."

When I saw this paragraph, I immediately wanted to write about this story. I want to write about details of Wemicus's tests. I do not want to write about deaths of participants, but I do want to write about how Wemicus prepared and what happened during the test. I have read some people's writing over their reading, and I thought writing what happened before the actually event was just a great idea, so I want to do that as well. The reading part of this story was great and overall part of B was great as well. I enjoyed The Jealous father as well. However, I am have picked my topic about my writing for this week.

(Canoe of Wemicus by Stephen B)

From : Stith Thompson's anthology, Tales of the North American Indians

Week 9 Reading Diary

I am reading Hero Tales from the Native American mythology tales. I was reading this tale but I thought this was really interesting how the names of characters in the tale was based on nature. I think this was based on the native culture so it is not the special case for this tale but I thought that was still interesting.

"Bluejay and his chief, with Land Otter, Beaver, and another man, used to go out seal-hunting together. In the same house with them, but at the other end, lived Grouse, who was a widower with a lot of children, and he spent most of his time in the woods building a canoe."

The one story I picked from the previous part of the Hero Tales was Bluejay and his companions. I think this was a great story. I like how bluejay and his tribes were going through paddle and departure. I think it was interesting. My favorite part of this story was when Bluejay beat the squirrel in climbing contest. 

"Then both Squirrel and Bluejay took sharp bones, so that if one got ahead he could hit the one behind on the head, and they started to climb. All the people crowded around to see the contest, for the pole was high and the two were well matched. At last the people saw them reach the top and saw one of them strike the other on the head so that he came tumbling down, and all the people shouted, for they thought it was Bluejay. But when he reached the ground, they found it was Squirrel who had lost. So now, since Bluejay had beaten their best climber, they let him and his companions go."

That was my favorite part of the story, and I thought I could rewrite something about it.

(Blue jay by Tony Alter)

From: Stith Thompson's anthology, Tales of the North American Indians

Tech Tip: Sidebar Box

I have added a HTML Box to Siderbar. It is above about me section!

Week 8 Reading plan

I have looked through choices that There are few stories that caught my eyes with title, so I choose two stories that I want to read after I look through those stories.

First story that I will read for week 9 is Hero Tales. This was the first story that my eyes catch. I really want to read this story because I am just wondering what kind of people were referred as Heroes. The story about heroes from many different tribes will be so interesting.

Second story is Marriage Tales. This one was the one that did not attract me with its title at all. Just by looking at the title, I did not want to read this one. However, when I looked through few stories, I had to choose this one as my story for Week 10. This is about animal! Not human marriage, but about animal marriage!

(Animal Marriage by D Wright)

Week 8 New Blog Ideas

I like how my blog looks right now, but some blogs attracted my attention with their formats. I think I will slowly change my blog settings with some features that I found interesting from other's blog.

First blog was Jessica's Blog , her blog was so neat and clean. I like the theme that I have picked from earlier, but I think simple background can be little helpful for readers. I think my background theme may be little too distracted or messy.

Second blog that I got a idea from was Nicole's Blog. I think it was interesting how she used colorful theme for background, but blog itself was white and black. So her stories and other stuffs that she posted could be observed more easier because her fonts were black but her posts had white background. Colorful blog theme actually helped me to focus on her posts more.

Third blog was Morgan's blog, The most interesting of her blog was her font. Not just for posts but her entire blog had an unique font for everything. Even her labels was in this interesting font. I think I can use new font for my blog as well.

Week 8 Time management

The timeline that I am using right now focuses on efficiency. For example, for this class, I read stories during the weekend, but I write diaries on that day in order to re-read some parts if I have to. I spend one hour at least for Saturday, and Sunday to read stories that are assigned the following week. I prepare storytelling during the week. I posted my prepared rewritten story on Thursday. On Friday I go over projects, project comments, and blog comments. I read observe stories and project of other and write comments on Sunday of the following week.

I am trying to manage my time by doing work ahead. Right now I am taking several lab classes that usually have reports due every week. I usually finish my report on Monday when report is usually due on Wednesday. When there are other reports that I have to write during the week, I always try to finish a day before, so I will have time to fix them if necessary.


I think I will stick with my schedule for this class for the rest of the semester since I am able to manage all assignments. With this schedule, I can also manage other classes along with this class as well.

(Clock by Michos C)

Week 7 Storytelling : The spider tales

There was a party. The part was held in the house of Nyankupon. Nyankupon prepared many stuffs for his guests. The most delicious foods were served to his guests, and the most pleasant views were shown in the eyes of his guests. All guests were having a great time. They were dancing and singing along with music. While enjoying the party of Nyankupon, three of guests gathered. First one was the bee. The bee with the golden crown on top of his head. Many other bees were following him as if they were worshiping him. The second one was the snake. His body was longer than any other snake. He had a long stick behind his back. The third one was the tiger. The tiger with weird looking eyes. 

"So how did you guys end up here?"

The bee, who was in charge of all bees in the world spoke. Others, the snake and the tiger, stayed silent. They did not want to talk. The bee figured they would not speak unless he started. 

"Bring the jar!"

The bee ordered the jar. Other bees brought the jar and placed it in front of three. 

"I came here, to Nyankupon's world, in this jar."

"A bee in a jar?"

The snake asked as if he could not believe what he heard. 

"Yes. I was tricked by the spider. This spider told me he had a dispute with Nyankupon. Of course, there was no such dispute. He lied so he could put me, and my friend into this jar. Then he sent us to Nyankupon. Nyankupon was nice enough to let us free and gave us a new hive."

"Interesting."

The snake moved his tongue. He licked the jar as if he could tasted it. 

"I was tricked by the spider as well. He told me he had a dispute with Nyankupon. I wanted to prove that I was long than the stick. When I straighten myself to prove that I was longer, he tied me to the stick and gave me to Nyankupon. He told me there was no dispute between him and the spider."

The snake showed his stick to the bee and the tiger. 

"That spider!"

Suddenly, the tiger growled. His voice was full of anger.

"That spider is the evil one! He tricked me as well!"

The tiger smashed the table with his paws. The bee quickly grabbed his jar. 

"He told me that I would be able to see some surprising sights if I sewed my eyes!"

The tiger pointed his eyes. Although most of the strings that were used to sew his eyes were gone, some of them remained. The snake and the bee shook their heads. They were all tricked by the spider.

"So what is this spider doing now?"

The bee asked. 

"I am not sure, but by giving us to Nyankupon, he got his name in all tales. People will know his name, and his name will be told."

The snake answered. Then he was trying to think of name of this spider. It took awhile but he remember what this spider was referred as. Anansi, that was the name of the spider.

(Anansi by Mariano Colantoni)

Author's note: This is the story that I wrote based on the reading of How We Got the Name "Spider Tales" from West Africa folktales. The original story focuses on how Anansi, the spider tricked others to have a permission over having his name for old tales. Nyankupon is the cheif of gods in the West Africa myth. Just like Zeus, or Odin from the other mythology, he was the most important character. However, Anansi, the spider wanted his name to be told. Because all stories that were told by men were stories of Nyankupon, Anansi had to convince him. To convince him, he tricked the bee to fly into the jar by saying he had a dispute with Nyankupon. He obtained bees in the jar which was the first thing Nyankupon asked. Then Anansi tricked the snake by saying he had a dispute with Nyankupon that the snake was not long as the stick. When the snake straighten him to prove that he was longer, Anansi tied him to this stack and gave it to Nyankupon. This was Anansi's second task, and finally Anansi tricked the tiger to sew his eyes by saying Anansi could see the most wonderful things because his eyes were sewed. Anansi completed his finally task by leading the tiger who could not see because of sewed eyes. I thought this was the most important story of West Africa Tales because Anansi Tales are the main tales in West African tales. 

Bibliography : West African Folktales : How We Got the Name "Spider Tales"

Week 7 Reading Diary : West African Tales continued

This is the second part of the reading Diary. The Moon and Stars is the first story that I want to possibly rewrite.

"ONCE upon a time there was great scarcity of food in the land. Father Anansi and his son, Kweku Tsin, being very hungry, set out one morning to hunt in the forest. In a short time Kweku Tsin was fortunate enough to kill a fine deer—which he carried to his father at their resting-place. Anansi was very glad to see such a supply of food, and requested his son to remain there on guard, while he went for a large basket in which to carry it home."

I was surprise by how Anansi appeared in the story once again. Anansi appeared almost every West African Tales. I think he might be the one who leads the stories of the West African folks, just like Odysseus from Odyssey, Achilles from Iliad. Sometimes they do not appear on the story or not the main character of the story but they are always involved in almost every story.

What I find interesting in the story was the presence of the dragon. Some of the cultures have a dragon in the story who is the symbol of wisdom, generosity, and kindness. Especially in Asian cultures, the dragons are shown as the helper of the human, the protector of the world, and the symbol of the kings who rules his people and sworn to protect his people. However, from the tale, the dragon is appeared as greedy, brutal and powerful creature. Just like western cultures.

"Soon after, Father Anansi made his appearance. He was greatly interested in his son's tale, and wished to see the dragon for himself. He soon had his desire — for the monster, smelling human flesh, hastily returned to the spot and seized them both. They were carried off by him to his castle, where they found many other unfortunate creatures also awaiting their fate.......The dragon then went off in search of more prey.....When Kweku was quite close to the top, the dragon had very nearly reached him again.."

I think I can rewrite story about dragons from two cultures or three gather up and talk about their stories.

(dragon by Ville Miettinen)

From The Moon and Stars from West Africa Tales

Week 7 Reading Diary : West African Tales

Several stories were selected for my reading diary.
First one is How We Got the Name "Spider Tales." From the tale, I was amazed how many mythology that I have read so far, had a head of the gods. For example, Zeus from the Greek mythology, and Ra from the Egyptian Tales. Just like both tales, from African tales,Nyankupon was the head of the gods.

"IN the olden days all the stories which men told were stories of Nyankupon, the chief of the gods. Spider, who was very conceited, wanted the stories to be told about him."

I like how wise the spider of the story was. Although he was tricking others to accomplish his goal, it was his ability to be clever. "Spider immediately did so. Having thus made the tiger helpless, he led him straight to Nyankupon's house. Nyankupon was amazed at Spider's cleverness in fulfilling the three conditions. He immediately gave him permission for the future to call all the old tales Anansi tales."

Second story is Anansi and nothing.
I think this story was so interesting because the story was telling how phrase 'cry for nothing' was produced. Anansi in this story is also the same character for the spider from the spider tales. He got the approved of his story because he could trick others and accomplish the task that Nyankupon gave.

From this story, Anansi did same to get what he desired. The wives. He tricked "nothing' a rich man so he would have no hard time finding the women.

"Nothing, being a rich man, wore a very fine velvet cloth, while Anansi had a ragged cotton one. While they were on their way Anansi persuaded Nothing to change clothes for a little while, promising to give back the fine velvet before they reached the town. He delayed doing this, however, first on one pretext, then on another—till they arrived at their destination."

I like how people judge Anansi with his clothes, while Nothing was a rich man who had many things that Anansi did not have.

"Nothing's wife was queen over the whole district and had everything her heart could desire. Anansi's wives could not even get proper food; they had to live on unripe bananas with peppers."

The 'cry for nothig' was created by Anansi and his trick once again. He maybe clever but he only cared about himself.

"His wife was terribly grieved at his untimely death. She boiled many yams, mashed them, and took a great dishful of them round the district. To every child she met she gave some, so that the child might help her to cry for her husband. This is why, if you find a child crying and ask the cause, you will often be told he is "crying for nothing."

(Spider by sez9)

From West African Folktales