Reading Diary B: English Fairy Tales

English Fairy Tales

The Master and His Pupil: When I read this story I immediately thought of the Sorcerer and the Apprentice. The master went out one day and left the pupil alone. The Pupil grew curious and tried to change an apparatus into gold and silver but couldn't. He realized that the master's book was unlocked. The pupil went over and pointed to some of the words and summoned a demon. The demon threatened the pupil to give him an order or he would be killed. The pupil told the demon to water the plant and the demon obeyed. He kept bringing water in though. The water was as high as his chest when the master returned home. The master was able to send the demon back to where it came from.

(Master and the Pupil, Source:UnTextbook)

Johnny Cake: This story is just like the Gingerbread Man. Johnny Cake outran an old man, woman, and child. It outran some diggers, a bear, and a wolf. It stopped by a fox to tease it and the fox tricked the Johnny Cake and ate it.

Mr. Miacca: A little boy ran off alone and was caught by Mr. Miacca. He called his wife to watch the boy while he went off to get some herbs to cook the boy with. The boy tricked the wife into letting him ago. A while later, the boy runs off and is caught by Mr. Miacca again. This time, Mr. Miacca watches the boy. The pot takes too long to boil though so Mr. Miacca asks for the boy's leg and chops it off and goes off to look for his wife. The boy gave Mr. Miacca the leg of the chair and that was what was chopped up. The boy runs home and never runs off again.

Reading Diary A: English Fairy Tales

English Fairy Tales

Tom Tit Tot: This story is almost exactly like Rumplestiltskin. In this story, a woman is married off to the king because he thinks she can spin five skeins in a day. For eleven months, she gets whatever she wants, but in the last month, she will be locked in a room and have to spin five skeins a day or she will be killed. A black impish person comes to her window and offers a her a deal saying that he will spin her skeins everyday and she will have three attempts to guess his name every night. If she doesn't guess his name by the end of the month, she will be his. On the last day, the king visits her in the room and tells her about a funny black imp singing a silly song with his name. The woman is thrilled and tells the imp his name and the imp runs off.

The Old Woman and the Pig: A woman found some money and went to buy a pig. The pig wouldn't climb over the stile, so the woman couldn't get home. She found a dog who refused to bite the pig to get it to jump over. She found a stick who refused to beat the dog and a fire who refused to burn the stick. Water refused to extinguish the fire and a cow refused to drink the water. A butcher refused to kill the cow and a rope refused to hang the butcher. A rat refused to gnaw the rope but a cat bargained that if the woman brought it a saucer of milk, it would kill the rat. The woman went to the cow and it asked for hay. The woman grabbed the hay and gave it to the cow. The cat was given the milk and it tried killing the rat and the cycle went down and the pig jumped over the fence and the woman was able to go home.

(The Woman and the Pig, Source:UnTextbook)

The Three Little Pigs: There were three little pigs who made their houses with different supplies. The first pig built his house with straw and the wolf blew his house down and ate the pig. The second little pig built his house with a bundle of furze and the wolf blew down his house and ate the pig also. The third little pig built his house with bricks but the wold couldn't blow that house down, so he tried tricking the third little pig. The pig didn't fall for any of the wolf's tricks so the wolf tried coming in through the pig's chimney. The pig saw what the wolf was doing and set a pot of water and a fire in the fireplace and boiled the wolf. The pig ate him for supper and lived happily ever after.

Extra Reading Diary: Alaskan Legends

Alaskan Legends

Raven's Creation: A man came out of a pea pod and was greeted by Raven. Raven transformed into a man and greeted him. Raven took him to a better location and took off to find food. Four days later, Raven returned with berries for the man to eat. Raven took the man to a creek and formed a pair of sheep in the clay. He waved his wings over the clay and they became actual sheep. He also did this with reindeer and caribou. He also created a woman so that man would not be lonely.

(Raven, Source:All About Birds)

The Flood: Raven was angry with people so he caused a flood. Raven put on his jointed hat and water started flowing from it. Raven and his mother started climbing up when the water rose. Raven's mother got in a skin of cax. Raven flew up and hung in the clouds for a few days but his tail was in the water. He fell down onto a piece of kelp and had an eagle keep watch of the tide. Raven ran into a woman and grew angry with her. Raven had told the water to go down and it did. The water got so low that the sea creatures laid on the sand. The people now had food. The people went back to their old ways and were dancing and feasting, but the invited Raven this time.

Reading Diary B: Apache Tales

Apache Tales

The Supernatural Person in the Lake: An old woman gave her son a gift, hoping he would become a medicine man. He gave the gift to the supernatural one so as to provide food for his people. He went back to his country and lived in the lake. His people searched but could not find him. The people went to war a dew later and ran into the man. He smoked with them and gave them buffalo. The people were in search of horses to bring back. The supernatural one asked them to brink back a black horse and to smoke a pipe in the direction of Sheep Horn Mountain if they were in need. The people went to fight and gathered the horses. They took the black horse to his home and it ran to the lake.

Coyote Steals A Man's Wife: A man was sitting on a rock when it was lifted to the sky. A coyote came by and stole his wife and the camp moved. Eventually, the man made it down and followed the tracks to the new camp. He came to the camp and saw that they had left again. He continued to follow the tracks until he came upon the camp where his wife was. The coyote was out hunting and he returned with a deer. The man had the coyote put stones into the fire, wrap them in fat, and swallow them. After the fourth stone, the coyote died. The man ordered his wife to bathe and had the camp move again.

Coyote Tries To Make His Children Spotted: A coyote found a deer and her fawns and asked how she got them spotted. She said they were born that way, but he didn't believe her. So she lied and told them to put them in a hole and to start a fire at the ridge. The wolf took his children and tried, but his kids were burnt. He tried pulling them out, but realized that they had been cooked. He went after the deer and set her willows on fire, but she escaped. The coyote went on his way.

(Fawns, Source: UnTextbook)

Reading Diary A: Apache Tales

Apache Tales

The First War: This story was very odd. There was a big feast and someone didn't attend and was shot in the arm with an arrow. The arrow was pulled out of his arm by the man who shot him and he gathered an army to fight the enemy. The chief jumped from horse to horse to fight and his men were all being killed. He was the last survivor and the enemy pulled him off his horse and killed him. Word was sent back to his people that everybody was dead.

Culture Heroes and Owls: Two children went to their father, the Sun, and asked for toys to play with. He gave them a hoop and pole game to play with and warned them not to roll the hoop to the north. After playing awhile, the hoop rolled to the north. They went to fetch the hoop and an owl and his wife tried to cook the children. After many failed attempts, they gave the children the toys back and the children went back to their family, where they played until sundown.

(Barn Owl, Source:UnTextbook)

Naiyenesgani Rescues the Taos Indians: Naiyenesgani proved himself to be a medicine man by changing corn into snakes. He was asked by the people to help others who have fallen into the sink hole. He took off all his clothes and asked for them to be covered in turquoise. He made some hoops and did magic with them and a ladder appeared. He climbed into the sink hole and kicked the monster and set free all of the people that the monster had held as captives.

Google Timer Tech Tip

I set up the Google Timer and I love it! When I bake something, I always set the timer on my oven, but sometimes I can't hear the timer go off if I'm in my room. Using the Google Timer has been great.  I always set the timer on the oven and also on Google. I haven't burnt or overcooked anything since then.

I don't use a timer solution, but I should probably start. I always say that I'm going to start my homework in like 20 minutes but then I end up doing it way later than I wanted to. Procrastination at it's finest... Using the timer might help me start assignments when I want to.

Extra Reading Diary: Cherokee Stories

Cherokee Stories

The First Fire: The world was a dark place when the Thunders set fire to a a tree on Earth. The animals held a council in order for them to find out how to bring the fire back to them. Many animals volunteered to bring it back. But one after one, they failed to bring the fire back. Pretty soon, the rest of the animals were making excuses to not fetch the fire. A water spider volunteered and wove a little bowl from its thread and brought a piece of burning coal back to the others. Ever since, there has been fire.

(Water Spider, Source:UnTextbook)

The Moon and The Thunders: This story has a bunch of mini stories about the sun and the moon. Every culture seems to have a different idea of how the sun and moon came to be. My favorite was the one where the sun and moon are siblings and the moon acts as the sun's lover. The moon doesn't show his face or reveal his name, so the sun rubs ash on the moon's face and the next day when the moon rises, the sun sees the ash and knows that her brother was her lover. From then on, the moon always avoided the sun, but on rare occasions when they had to be near, the moon would always make himself small as a crescent so it would be hard for him to be seen.

Tobacco and Strawberries: A tobacco plant was stolen by a goose and all the people and animals were upset. One woman was close to dying due to not having any tobacco. All sorts of animals tried retrieving the plant, but the goose kept killing them. A hummingbird volunteered and was able to bring back some tobacco leaves and keep the woman alive. In the strawberry story, a woman left her husband and he mourned for her. The Sun pitied him and set traps for the woman by placing beautiful fruits on the side of the road. It all failed until she came to strawberries, fruit that she has never seen before. She looked back and felt an overwhelming memory of her husband and decided to go back to him.

Reading Dairy B: Marriage Tales

Marriage Tales

Woman Stolen By Killer Whales: A man and woman were out fishing one day and caught a strange looking fish. The woman cut the fish up and went to wash her hands in the water. When she put her hands in the water, killer whales had dragged her into the water for killing their friend. The man followed the trail to find his wife. He got the help of Shark to find his wife. Shark distracted the killer whales and got the woman and swam away. The man and woman looked back to see Shark fighting of the killer whales.

The Rolling Head: A man lived with his wife and two kids in a small tent. Every day he would go hunting, but before he left, he would paint his wife's face and body. When the man would leave, the wife would go to the lake and have an affair with a snake. The man was curious as to how the woman got the paint off and decided to hide by the lake. He saw that his wife was cheating and killed her and the snake. He cut up the wife and cooked her for the children and left. The wife's head rolled in and scared the children. The children ran off and hid in the woods protected by bears and panthers. Villagers heard that the children had plenty of food so they went to live with them. The father eventually showed up and the children set a lion on him.

(Snake, Source: UnTextbook)

The Dog-Husband: A young girl slept with her dog at the foot of her bed. At night, the dog would turn into a human and by morning, transform back into a dog. When the girl became pregnant, her parents knew that it was the dog. The village people burnt the house to the ground, killed the dog, and left the girl. The girl gave birth to pups and provided for them. The girl found out that the pups could turn into humans and made them help provide for the family. The boy-pups became very good whale hunters and a crow came over to see what the smell was. The crow saw that there was plenty of food and tricked the villagers into coming back. The boy-pups became the chief of tribe.

Reading Diary A: Marriage Tales

Native American Marriage Tales

The Piqued Buffalo Wife: A man took advatange of a buffalo-cow and she gave birth to his son. The son grew up and would play with the children in the Indian camps and disappear at night. He wanted to find his father so he went to the chief and picked out his father in a group of men. The child took the man to his mother and they lived happily for several years. The man got angry with his wife and struck her with a hot stick. The wife and son turned into buffalo and ran away. The man was upset and went to find his family. He found the buffalo chief and was told that he had to identify his son four times in order to get his family back. On the last time, the man got it wrong and was trampled by the herd. The wife, the son, and an old bull stayed behind and found a bone that wasn't trampled and brought the man back to life.

(Headdress, Source:UnTextbook)

Bear-Woman and Deer-Woman: Grizzly Bear and Doe were both married to Chickenhawk. When they went to the river to make food, they decided to hunt each other's head for lice. Grizzly Bear said she found lice and bit Doe's head off. She went home with the head and food and cooked the head in the oven. Doe's children knew something had happened so they killed Grizzly Bear's children when they were playing. Bear-Woman found out that her children were killed and went after the fawns. Crane was fishing and let the fawns use his neck as a bridge to cross safely. Grizzly Bear followed and when she went across, Crane twisted his neck and Grizzly Bear fell in the water and drifted away.

Splinter-Foot-Girl: A group of men were out camping when one scratched his leg on a thorny plant. His leg swelled and out came a baby girl. The men loved the girl very much. A bull heard that there was a young girl and sent a magpie to the men for her hand in marriage. The men refused and the bull tried and tried again. The third time he sent a red bird and the men finally consented. The girl went to the bull and they lived together with the herd. The men wanted the girl back and had a mole and a badger steal the girl back. A tree hid the men and the girl in its branches. The buffalo herd went searching and found them and tried knocking the tree over. The buffalo got his horn stuck in the tree and the men killed him. A rock then wanted to take the girl as his wife. But because he abused his previous wives, the animals begged them to run. They tried outrunning the rock, but he overcame them. The girl told him that he was to leave people alone and to be found where the hills are. Her and the men went to the sky peacefully.

Commenting Review Week

I feel like I'm making pretty good connections with the class.  I think that talking about what you have in common with your classmates is a good common ground to start a connection. The comments that have really helped me improve my storytelling posts have been very helpful. I don't do any commenting in any of my other classes. My major isn't one that peer comments are generally important.

(A little motivation, Source: Meme Generator)

Writing Review Week

I think my best writing this semester have been my storytelling posts. I feel that some of the stories are written pretty well. My goal for the rest of the semester is to simply improve my writing. I think a good strategy is to think of what you're passionate about and to apply it to your story. Or think of something completely silly and make it work (that's always more fun and creative anyways). The feedback that I have received has been helping me improve my writing. Anything really helps! SO keep sending it! I chose this picture because it comes from the story that I think I did the best on.

(Bully, Source:Vegan Bits) 

Reading Review Week

My favorite readings so far have probably been from The Persian Tales. I really liked the stories. They were very interesting and I like how a lot of them included some type of animal. The story from that unit that caught my attention was "Susku and Mushu." It was very odd... The strategies that worked best for me was to go through and read the stories from the unit and when I found one that I really enjoyed, I would immediately go and write about it in my reading diary. I use the reading diaries when I do the storytelling assignment. I love to read in my spare time, but since class is going on, I really haven't had as much time to read as I'd like. I don't think there is an overlap in the things that I read in class and out of class. There aren't any connections from the readings to any other classes that I'm taking. My advice for future students is to GET AHEAD. Whenever you have any free time, get some reading done. I would take my iPad to class and whenever I had some free time between classes, I would always read some stories. I chose this picture because it came from one of my favorite stories from The Persian Unit. 

(Wolf, source: UnTextbook)