Week 11 Story: Sun and Star

Once long ago there were a pair of siblings named Sun and Star. They watched over their friends and family from the sky to ensure that love was always flourishing through villages and everyone was able to find a partner to spend their life with. As you would suspect, sometimes the duo ran into trouble with picky bachelors/bachelorettes or a judgmental parent. They would always fix this by descending onto earth in the form of an animal or in a human disguise. One time they disguised themselves as a dirty, sick boy and his grandmother to see if the women up for marriage were kind at heart.

Their current target is an Eagle Princess who's father is so strict and does not believe any man is good enough for his little girl.

"She wants to find a husband so badly but her father never lets her out of his sight to meet people. We have to go help her." said Star.

"How should we go about this case?" asked Sun. "The father has already turned down a brave lion and a wise elephant. What is he possible looking for?"

"We can disguise ourselves as hummingbirds so we can sneak around her father and speak to the princess. Once she trusts us maybe we can convince her to leave the palace and come with us to find a suitor." suggested Star. 

"Let's go tomorrow because her father should be out hunting." said Sun.

The siblings were up all night gathering the ingredients to make a drink that allows them to take any form their heart desires. Before dawn arrived they took the potion and made their way to the Eagle Princess.

She was in her room sobbing when the two hummingbirds entered.

"I will never find a man to spend my life with as long as my father is around." cried the Princess.

"Maybe we can help you with that!" exclaimed Star.

The Princess spun around startled. "Who are you?!" she questioned.

Star and Sun had recognizable tattoos that remained on their body no matter what form they took. They both spread out their small wings to show a tiny crescent moon. The Princess knew who they were immediately after seeing these marks.

"We want to sneak you out of the palace so you can meet potential partners and tell your father who you want to marry!" exclaimed Sun.

"I already know who I want to meet! The loyal wolf seems like a great catch. Will you take me to him?" asked the Princess.

Sun and Star guided the Princess through the kingdom, carefully to not be seen, until they reached the wolf's place. The Eagle Princess introduced herself, but the wolf knew exactly who she was. They talked for hours before the siblings reminded her that they had to leave soon before the father returned.

The Princess knew what she had to do. She found her father in the woods still hunting and he was appalled to see her out of the palace.

"Sweetheart what are you doing here? This is no place for you. Go back to the palace where it is safe." demanded the King.

"Father, I am not a child anymore. I have been out all day and no harm has come to me. I want to marry the wolf and I will follow through with or without your blessing." said the Princess confidently.

The Eagle King thought this over for what seemed like eternity. "I just want you to be happy. I know the wolf will be good to you. You have my blessing."

The wedding ceremony was planned the next day with Sun and Star's assistance and the wolf and Eagle Princess lived happily together for the rest of their life.

Author's Note: The Dirty-Boy is about two daughters who do not want to marry anyone their father shows them. A brother and sister, Sun and Star, come down from the sky and disguise themselves as a sick boy who can't take care of himself and a grandmother. The sick boy wins the father's challenges and is promised both of his daughter for marriage. Only one daughter follows through with the arrangement and takes care of the boy. I thought Sun and Star had the potential for more stories, so I took the characters from the original tale and created another time where they helped two people get married.
Image Information: Two Hummingbirds Flying, Web Source: Max Pixel
Bibliography: Dirty-Boy from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson. Web Source: Native American Hero Tales Unit

Reading Notes: Native American Hero Tales, Part B

The beginning of this story, Red Woman and the Twins, was very brutal and vivid. I am wondering who Red Woman is and why she not only killed the wife, but teased the husband by mutilating her lip. I thought the names of the two boys were unique, but a little distracting while reading. The old woman and her pot was an interesting addition to the story's plot. I liked the idea of having small stories within the tale and the boys were heroes even though they disobeyed their parents countless times.

The second story includes a reoccurring theme from old tales. A father does not want to give his daughter away so easily and gives the husband challenges. This story is a little more intense because he keeps killing her spouses. The ending was a surprised, but I always enjoy when a character turns into an animal.

I had to use my imagination when reading The Jealous Father for vivid details. I did not like Aioswe's son because he let the Walrus die after he agreed to save his life. I thought having both the mother and father conjuring things to save/stop the boy from returning home was a great idea. I would not categorize anyone, except possibly the mother, in the story as a hero. It is one thing to get revenge on the man who tried to kill you, but to set the entire world on fire is a bit much.

The author included a lot of detail when describing the camp Star and Sun landed on. From the first paragraph I thought Sun and Star would be spying on the daughters and the chief, but they are sticking so well to their new characters, grandmother and grandson, it really benefits the story. I was surprised when the elder sister did not obey her father. The ending paragraph describing the younger sister's new path was so beautiful.

Image Information: Two Ravens on Wood, Web Source: Pixino
Bibliography: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson, Web Source: Native American Hero Tales Unit

Reading Notes: Native American Hero Tales, Part A

The story about the Jealous Uncle wastes no time in getting into the plot of the story. I think this really grabs a readers attention. I think the author could have added a few details about the setting, especially when he was walking through the woods with his nephew. I am wondering why the uncle wants to kill his nephews so badly, but did no harm when he thought the child was a girl. I feel really bad for the unnatural uncle's wife. He was so hateful towards his family, but they always tried to forgive him.

I thought it was interesting that Grouse caused such a big mischief in the plot, but he is not struggling on the boat himself. I am surprised the group did not make a fuss to Grouse. They were mean to him, but the journey he sent them on was a bit much compared to some teasing. I did have to use my own imagination throughout the story to fill in some gaps. Personally I would not say this story has a 'hero' because the one who saved the day also bullied someone at the beginning of the tale.


I really like the lead male character in Dug-From-Ground. The relationship between the 'son' and 'mother' develops clearly through the story. I liked the idea of the main character playing a game with earthquake and thunder because it is unique and you could create a very detailed scene with those elements involved.

When animals act as people in stories, it always makes for an interesting tale. This plot takes a turn though because the animals are the villains who eat humans. My favorite paragraph was when the spider was closing up the entrance with her web. I felt like the animals were on a side and the god/humans were on another side. There was a beautiful example of word usage when the young eagles said the mother/father returns with the rain or wind.

Image Information: Image of Bald Eagle captured by Bill Buchanan, Web Source: Wikimedia Commons
Bibliography: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson, Web Source: Native American Hero Tales Unit

Famous Last Words: My First Last Words

I did have time to do both part A and B reading this week. I did the Eskimo/Inuit reading, and I remember the pictures more than anything. The pictures would be in black and white but they would always be wearing furry, home-made outdoor clothing. I did a lot of writing this week both inside and outside of this class. I think my best writing was for my microbiology class. We had to search for an article that was relatively new covering a topic we had previously gone over in lecture. I chose to write a summary and answer questions on a reading that involved probiotics being used in powder and pill form to help with facial acne. This was our first of three assignments for this class, and I really think writing my own stories every other week benefited my ability to write a short summary of an article! I use to just try and read the story/article and then write down my thoughts. Now I keep two tabs open and write notes to myself while I read and I think that technique has helped improve my writing a lot. I enjoy reading other people's storybook or portfolio projects. I ran into one covering a food blog and it was so well put together! My other classes are going pretty well. I think this is the calm before the storm of third semester tests followed by finals.  I am worried about my ornithology class because we have to learn 150 birds from Oklahoma and be able to identify them for our final lab practical. We also have to write, and attempt to publish, a story over a neotropical bird of our choosing. My grandmother recently passed away, so next week I will be spending time with family as we celebrate her life. That means school has to get put on the back burner for a couple of days, but I am happy I will get to spend a few days with family.

Image Information: Poem from The Star of Bethlehem (and other poems) by Frederick Edward Weatherly. Web Source: Flickr

Story Lab: EmpoWord

Showing how historians, chemists and musical composers use story telling in their work makes the reading more relate-able to a wide audience. I find myself wondering what happens to the 'flat characters' as described by the author in a lot of stories or even movies that I watch. I want to work on having a few more dynamic characters in my stories moving forward. I could achieve this by having more plot twists occur in my writing. Breaking the plot into scope, sequence and pacing makes it much easier to explain how to create a more interesting story line. I thought it was interesting when the author critiqued the typical five step story plot guide. They said you could start at an action scene and then introduce characters and set the story line. I usually go for the first person point of view when writing a story, but  with my storybook project I have been using 3rd person omniscient. Choosing a word choice during dialogue for two characters is really important. The way they speak to each other can say a lot about their relationship. The most important idea I got from reading this chapter is that the first idea for writing that pops into your head is not the story you have to write about. It is okay to brainstorm until you find something you love. I really think reading this advice will benefit my stories in the weeks to come.

Bibliography: EmpoWord Chapter2: Telling a Story, Web Source: EmpoWord

Image Information: Writing Brainstorm, Web Source: flickr

Reading Notes: Eskimo Unit, Part B

'the blood poured from his clothes, and wherever they went, the snow was marked with blood' was very descriptive. I enjoyed the married woman's character a lot because she was willing to die to avenge her husband.

I loved the ending to this story. "Thus punishment falls upon the man who kills," is a strong way to reiterate the main point of the tale. I also enjoyed the included metamorphosis.


The attack on the village was very detailed. Navaranapaluk was punished for lying, but she sort of deserved that fate because she caused many women to die.


I thought it was interesting that two sisters were married to a whale and an eagle. I like the character choices in this story, but I was really confused at the end as to why the whale ended up in such bad shape.

I imagined a beautiful scene when the author was describing the houses and smoke holes in the story. The vibe of the story switches gears when the father rescues the son. I was afraid the people who took him would wake up.

When Atarssuaq attempted to throw his son in the water and let him learn to swim on his own, it reminded me of multiple movies I have seen where the father figure does this exact thing. A lot of these stories just tell if the characters have a strong relationship, but this author gives the background of why the father and son are so close.

I had to imagine a lot of the scenery in the story about Saunikoq and Tungujuluk on my own. I felt like the author could have added descriptions about the sea when either characters were out hunting.

Image Information: Inuit Family and their Igloo, Web Source: Wikimedia Commons
Bibliography: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rassmussen, Web Source: Eskimo Unit

Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales, Part A

The first story had a very descriptive paragraph describing children crawling from the bushes. I thought 'only water would burn' and 'no day ever dawned' were examples of beautiful word usage.

I loved that people kept making a place for the bear in their community as it grew older and stronger. The relationship between him and the foster mother was a strong one.

The story about the boy with a house full of ghosts took a lot of my own imagining.

 I enjoyed the way the author described the scene when Isigaligarssik shot the arrow.

'The sun was just over the houses of the village' is a really pretty description. I wonder about the relationship between the insects and the wife in this story.

The author of Atungait did a great job including natural imagery, but I found myself wondering more about their trips. I am really curious to know what foothall is.

I felt like I had to imagine what the giant dogs and people in the final story looked like on my own. So I imagined a Great Pyrennes. 

Image Information: Great Pyrennes, Web Source: Wikipedia
Bibliography: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rassmussen, Web Source: Eskimo Unit

Reading Notes: Through the Looking Glass, Part B

I love that Alice was still referring to Kitty as the Queen when she woke up. She seems more accepting of Wonderland  than she did in the first novel. The new connection formed between Alice, the Red Queen and the White Queen towards the end of the story gives more insight into the queens' roles in Wonderland. I missed some of my favorite characters in this novel, such as Cheshire Cat. However, I did enjoy the new characters introduced like Humpty Dumpty and the Red Knight. The poems all had a mysterious, wonderland vibe to them and it would be so fun to include one in my project! This novel ended with Alice telling off the Red Queen instead of running away from her like she did in the first one. I enjoyed seeing her character growth while reading through the stories.

Image Information: Illustration of Cheshire Cat by John Tenniel, Web Source: Wikimedia
Bibliography: Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll, Web Source: Looking-Glass Unit 

Week 9 Story: The Unhappy Wife

There once was a wife who was so sick of her husband she would rather die than stay married to him. She could not marry another man or run off because that was against her morals, so the only true way out of her commitment was death. The husband was awful to her and never allowed her to do anything without him. However, she knew how to get under his skin and thought of a plan to make him so mad that he would take her to the forest and kill her himself. The husband had an extreme dislike for palm-nuts. The nuts were extremely hard to prepare and even more difficult to find. The wife started asking for the food more consistently and assured the husband his family members were the ones requesting all of these nuts. The day approached where the husband broke down and asked why she needed so many nuts.

"What is the use of all of these palm-nuts? I know people are not eating this many every day!" insisted the husband.

"I told you it is your family who wants them! Now please, go gather some more!" said the wife.

The husband insisted that the wife join him on the next journey to find these nuts. When she refused, he forced her into the woods, cut off her limbs and left her there for death to find her. Although this was what the wife wanted, she began to think how evil it was for the husband to actually kill her.  When the next morning came she began singing loudly so someone would hear her. A man walking towards the woods for his daily hunt heard the beautiful voice and followed it. He approached the awful scene and immediately ran back to tell his wife what he saw. The gossip spread around town faster than you could imagine and the man was brought to justice by being placed above his wfie while they were both set to fire.

No one else could hear the wife as she whispered, "I suppose this means our marriage is over."

Author's Note: The Wicked Husband tells the story of a husband who takes his wife out to the forest and cuts off her arms and legs because she will not accompany him to find palm-nuts. Someone sees her after the disaster happens and word of it gets back to the prince. The husband was accused and set below a grill his wife was placed on. The burning of his body was his punishment. I wanted to expand on this tale and give more of a reason for why the husband would do such a thing to his wife. I also wanted the wife to have a bigger role in my story.
Bibliography: The Wicked Husband by Richard Edward Dennett, Web Source: Congo Unit
Image Information: Fire Pit, Web Source: Flickr

Reading Notes: Congo Part B

The first story caught my attention right away because the introductory characters were very strong. The maiden was very clever to talk the leopard out of getting rid of his eyes, teeth, etc.  Each character, the tortoise rat and woodpecker, had their own activity to obtain the story's plot which made the story very enjoyable. I thought it was ironic when the leopard ate the turtle because the turtle used the trap to kill the ox and eat it. The Fetish Sunga had a creepy vibe at one point and the author did a good job of setting the scene to be spooky.  When I think of a rabbit's character in a tale, i imagine a sweet or wise bunny. This story, however, had a mean rabbit who stole the antelope's water and tricked him every day. I was surprised when the Rabbit started hitting/kicking the figure. I love dogs so reading about different animals wanting to eat them was pretty unsettling. I thought it was pretty funny when the Hen called the crocodile 'brother' and he believed it at the end of the story.  The three brothers had a good ending because they did not kill the old woman who was their mother.

Image Information: African Woodpecker, Web Source: Wikipedia
Bibliography: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett, Web Source: Congo Unit

Reading Notes: Congo Part A

I think the husband from the first tale should be more appreciative of his wives all putting in effort to find him and raise him from the dead. I also agree with the latter opinion of the final paragraph. How Gazelle Got Married had an interesting plot. I liked the idea of only giving the daughter away for marriage if the man can guess their name. I thought it was ironic when Nsassi also forgot the names of the daughters. The Vanishing Wife had a very sad ending. I did not  enjoy Buite's character very much. The Jealous Wife had a main theme of karma. There were a lot of twists in the plot of Mpunia and Ngomba's story. It is really sad that a child had to die. The shortest and most disturbing story was The Wicked Husband. The husband got what he deserved for torturing his wife. Karma seems to be a reoccurring theme in this unit. I was caught by surprise when I read that the twin brothers were basically adults at their birth. I enjoyed reading this unit because all of the stories were tied together by including wives as main characters. There were a few stories that were really short and left holes in the plot. I think it will be fun to pick a story and talk about why some of the things are happening in the tale!

Image Information: The Congo Santa Ana Lake, Web Source: Max Pixel
Bibliography:  Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett, Web Source: The Congo Unit

Week 8 Progress

I am happy with my progress so far. I have missed a few assignments here and there, but I have done extra credit to put me back in the high A range! I enjoy reading the units from different geographic areas to see how their folktales are different and similar. The website has gone really well so far! I actually read the Looking Glass unit and was able to put that as an extra credit assignment. My routine has ended up working out to where I try to do one assignment every day starting Monday so that I am ahead and if I get busy one day I do not miss as assignment deadline. I really want to do more extra credit assignments each week and stay on top of the commenting assignments. I have only missed deadlines twice, but they were both for feedback. I also think the extra credit opportunities offer very interesting material that is worth reading!

Image Information: Motivational Message, Web Source: Flickr

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

The feedback I have received for my storybook project has been the most useful so far! A couple of students said that the background image behind the font for the introduction page was either hard to read or clashed with the rest of the project, so I made some changes. I think constructive comments are most useful because they help me improve my writing moving forward. The quality of the feedback I am receiving from other students is excellent! I really think the WWW and TAG assignments helped me gain techniques to use when writing feedback for other students in the class. It is so easy to tell someone what you liked about their story, but it is difficult to give suggestions on how to improve their writing. I think using a technique like asking a question in order to recommend adding a part or changing something in the story makes providing feedback much more doable. Reading classmate's introduction posts before reading their stories helps with having a connection with the writer and I think this benefits the reader's experience. I need to work on leaving more suggestions on everyone's stories instead of mainly discussing the parts of the post I enjoyed. I chose this image because I thought having this list could be useful if you are fighting with a spouse or friend. You could keep these suggestions in mind when you sit down to talk things out. This helps diffuse the situation in a healthy way. 

Image Information: Illustration from Daring Greatly by Brene Brown. Web Source: growth mindset

Week 8 Reading and Writing

I am really happy with my work so far for this course! Honestly I was really worried about having a class that involved so much writing and creativity, but the outcomes have been better than I expected. I am happy with the blog layout I chose and writing the stories are not as hard as I thought it would be. I really think reading a full unit before creating your blog post is helpful. My first story for the storybook project went really well, but I do need to add a bit more to the end before starting the next part. I would have to say my biggest accomplishment would be the Alice's Friends website. I do need to work on giving classmate's feedback because it is difficult for me to read another person's story and give criticism. The reading note strategy that has worked best for me is picking out what stands out about each story. This can mean talking about the setting or a certain character I really liked or even disliked. The strategy helps me remember which story was which and gives me ideas for all aspects of my own story. My favorite readings so far have come from the Looking-Glass stories. I think having students write stories biweekly instead of every week keeps the energy up! I should put more effort into 'reading like a writer' when I am commenting on classmate's work as the class moves forward. When it comes to writing I think I can work on my creativity skills and word usage. I chose to include the pomegranate photo because the Mythology Crash Course video was my favorite assignment outside of the unit readings from class.

Image Information: Pomegranates, Web Source: Pixabay

Week 7: A Deceiving Lake

After hunting all day to find a meal for his family, Drew had no luck capturing any meat to return home with. He stumbled upon a clear, tempting lake at the bottom of the hill he was on and could not help himself from starting down towards it. A black, glistening raven swooped down and 'cawed' right in is ear when he was about halfway down from his starting point.

"Hey! Leave me be or I will shoot you down!" shouted Drew. He took off his backpack to make sure he had his canteen. After searching through the traveling bag for a few minutes, he finally found what he was looking for. He starts his journey again but does not make it very far before the raven swoops down again, this time wrapping it's claws around the canteen and making off with it.

"What have you done! Now how shall I drink from the beautiful lake?!" questioned Drew. He became upset because he would not be able to bring food home for his children and now he had to worry about dehydration.

Suddenly, an idea struck Drew. He thought if he could spare some fish from the lake, he would have a meal for his wife and kids! The hunter emptied his backpack's contents out on the ground in front of him and was surprised to see a bowl. His wife must have placed that in  his backpack without Drew realizing. He picked up a knife to spare a fish and the bowl to drink some water. He held both items tightly close to him while hurrying towards the moving water, so the bird would not be able to take anything this time.

As Drew approached the edge of the lake, the raven zoomed down and flapped her wings around Drew's face and shoulders. He tried to swat the bird away, but forgot that he was holding a knife. A handful of feathers fell to the ground and a cry of pain followed. The raven tried to fly off but her wing was too damaged.   

Drew felt horrible because he did not mean to hurt the bird. He ran to the water and filled his bowl. As he returned to the raven he tried to give her some, but she cried out even louder than when she was cut.

"Why won't you take the water? It is so cold and it will make you feel better!" exclaimed Drew. The raven had a sad look in her eyes and Drew knew something was not right. "I'm going to spare some fish and I will give you the first one I kill!"

He rolled up his pants and walked in the stream ready to strike at the first sign of movement. He finally saw something red under a rock. As he lifted up the stone, he saw five small fish already dead. He thought this was so strange because they were small and looked healthy. He investigated more areas of the lake. He found many remains of fish and other animals. "The bird was trying to save me" Drew came to realize.

Drew returned to the raven once again and apologized. "I will take you home to my family and my wife will heal you." said the Hunter. On their trip home, Drew spotted some deer and began his hunt. He was able to feed his family after all and gained a lifelong companionship from the raven.

Author's Notes: In How the Raven Saved the Hunter, a man sees a stream and makes a cup leaf so he can drink from it. A raven comes down and knocks the leaf out of his hand to stop him from drinking. He gets upset with the raven and eventually shoots it and kills it. He feels guilty at the end because he makes the realization that the raven was just trying to save him. I did not like the heroic bird dying, so I had the raven survive in my version and the hunter still did not drink from the deadly lake. My plot was very similar to the original story, but I added some details of my own to this short tale.

Image Information: A Raven Flying Down with it's Claws Out, Web Source: Max Pixel
Bibliography: How the Raven Saved the Hunter from the Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton, Web Source: Tibetan Folktales

Reading Notes: Tibetan Folk tales, Part B

While reading the beginning of the story, it is easy to imagine all of the animals interacting, but I am having to use my own imagination to picture the scenery around them. The rabbit was clever in getting rid of the tiger at the end. The second story did not have much detail for setting, but I imagined a pretty forest when the sister came to her brothers as a bird. How the Raven Saved the Hunter had a really sad ending. I wish the hunter would have considered why the raven was knocking the leaf cup out of his hand before acting so violently. The Golden Squash had a great moral to it's story, you should help people for their benefit not your own. 'Where bounding their country was one black sea' was a very beautiful sentence. I thought the author was very descriptive when describing the mountains becoming plains. The Two Little Cats contained my favorite ending from this unit. I was really surprised when the rabbit got revenge on all the other animals and the shepherd instead of just having his revenge on the bear who killed his mom. The final story's setting included many monkeys asleep in trees and that scene was very easy to imagine.

Image Information: Monkeys in a Tree, Web Source: Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography:  Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton, Web Source: Tibetan Folk Tales

Reading Notes: Tibetan Folktales Part A

I thought the story was off to an interesting start because a big tiger was tricked into thinking a frog could eat him. The frog was very clever and the tiger was pretty naive to tell the frog his plan to eat him in the first place. The moral of the story for The Cony Who Got into Bad Company is that you will be associated with the same qualities of those you spend your time with. I really like this meaning and I think including a strong meaning within your story makes it even better. I thought having the people who showed up to watch the silly trial pay a fee that fixed the problem in the story was very clever. I did not like how the tiger and calf allowed the fox to turn them against each other so quickly when their mother's dying wish was for them to be brothers. I thought the fox dying was a bit extreme, but I am happy that their friendship pulled through. I don't know why the man turned in the guy who saved his life for stealing the queen's jewels. I am also surprised nothing terrible happened to him in the story after doing this to the main character. The Wise Carpenter was a little harder to follow, but the ending was really strong. I thought the quote, "In birth and death there is no fear, and in fear there is no doubt" was really beautiful. I do not think Drashup deserved to live happily with the woman because he tried to kill her. I wish she would not have died in such an horrid way. "Then he tied the mouth of the bag with nine knots, blew his breath upon it, said many charms and prayers over it" was so descriptive and clever to include in the ending paragraph. In the final story, the author shares the she-devil's perspective with the reader while some characters in the story remain unaware of her true identity. 

 Image Information: Red Fox, Web Source: Wikipedia
Bibliography: Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton, Web Source: Tibetan Folk Tales