Extra Reading Diary: South African Folktales

South African Folktales

The Lost Message: The ants are prey to may different creatures. The different varieties of ants decided to make their homes in different places. The red ants made their home on the ground and the rice-ants lived under ground, but anteater ate them anyways. The Wagtail ants lived in trees but birds and centipede ate them. The gray ants tried flying away but birds and insects were much faster. The king ant sent a message for all the ants to unify again but the message was lost because a beetle failed to deliver.

The Monkey's Fiddle: Monkey went to work for his uncle because food was scarce. After a while, Monkey wanted to return home and his uncle thanked him with a bow and arrow that could kill anything and a fiddle that will make anybody dance. He shot a dear with his bow and arrow and shared the meal with Wolf. Wolf wanted the bow and arrow and accused Monkey of stealing it when Jackal was around. Jackal decided to hold onto until there was a trial. Everybody came to the trial and Jackal lied so that he could keep the bow and arrow for himself. Monkey was to be hung, but he played his fiddle and everybody started dancing. They were all begging him to stop and he did when Wolf admitted that he lied. The animals were afraid that he would start playing again, so they fled.

(Vervet Monkey, Source:UnTextbook)

The Tiger, The Ram, and The Jackal: Tiger was on his way home when he ran into a strange creature named, Ram. He ran all the way home in fright and told Jackal. Jackal thought he was foolish and decided that they would go eat Ram the next day. Ram saw them and went to his wife and she said to take the child and pinch him and make cry like he is hungry. Jackal tied himself to Tiger so Tiger wouldn't run away. Ram said that Jackal did a good job in bringing food home for his child. Tiger was so frightened that he ran away and dragged Jackal along with him.

Week 7 Storytelling: Anansi and Nothing

Author's Note: In the original story of "Anansi and Nothing," Anansi and Nothing were on their way to town to find wives. Anansi persuaded Nothing to change clothes. Now that Anansi was dressed in fine clothes, he found many wives while Nothing only found a wife because a woman felt bad for him. They all walked back home and when the wives saw Anansi's shack they were all disappointed. They decided to live with Nothing and his wife. Anansi was furious and decided to kill Nothing. After many attempts, Anansi finally succeeded. I decided to rewrite it because I didn't like the character Anansi or how the story ended. I don't like how Anansi took advantage of his friend and then got mad at him and tried killing him multiple times.

Anansi and Nothing
Anansi was a very poor man. He lived in a little run down shack while his friend, Nothing, lived in a lovely palace nearby. One day, they decided to go a few towns over to find some wives.

Nothing was dressed in a very nice, velvet jacket while Anansi wore a ragged cotton one. On the way to town, Anansi asked, "Do you mind if we switch clothes for a bit? I'm starting to feel a bit chilly."

"Well of course!" replied Nothing. "You don't want to catch a cold on the way to meet our future wives." So they switched clothes and on they went, continuing their journey.

As they were nearing the town, Nothing asked to switch clothing again. Anansi evaded the question and said "Actually, I'm still a little cold..." Nothing felt sorry for him and let him continue wearing the jacket.

By the time they got to town, it was too late to trade clothes. Anansi was dressed magnificently and didn't have any troubles finding a wife. In fact, he found multiple wives to take home with him.

Poor Nothing was stuck in the ragged jacket and was being overlooked. Until a sweet woman came towards him and started talking to him. They talked for ages and she decided to be his wife. She didn't care that he looked poor. She liked him for him.

So Nothing and his wife and Anansi and all of his wives all walked back home together. At the split of the road, where Nothing and Anansi would part, Anansi took off the jacket and said, "Thanks for the jacket Nothing! I really owe you one!"

Anansi continued walking but instead of going towards the palace, he walked straight to the run down shack. Nothing and his wife walked hand-in-hand towards the palace. Anansi's wives were furious.

They went with Anansi anyways, but the six wives and Anansi had to share one small bedroom and they barely had anything to eat. Nothing's wife felt sorry for her friends and invited them over for dinner.

The wives joined Nothing and his wife for dinner and saw how great he treated her. He surprised her with flowers, pulled her chair out for her at dinner, and looked at her adoringly.

The wives realized that Anansi didn't treat any of them like that and that they deserved better. After dinner, they marched back to the hut and told him that they were all leaving him.

Anansi was furious. He thought of many ideas to kill Nothing, but none of his plans worked. He decided to dig a hole in front of Nothing's door and fill it with sharp knives.

He banged on the door and shouted for Nothing to come out. But Nothing's wife begged him to stay inside.

After a few minutes, Anansi grew impatient. He was so frustrated that he started pacing and mistakenly walked right into the hole. He was so wounded that he died almost immediately.

(Velvet Jacket, Source:Dark Brown Hairs) 

Bibliography: "Anansi and Nothing" from West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair (1917).

Reading Diary B: West African Folk Tales

West African Folk Tales

How The Tortoise Got Its Shell: The chief Mauri decided to have a huge yam festival. He sent all of his servants to gather supplies for the festival and sent Mr. Klo, the tortoise to buy palm wine. Mr. Klo was very fast and a strong traveller so he made it to the palm fields of Koklovi, the chicken. Koklovi refused to sell his palm wine and said that Mr. Klo could have all the wine and pine trees if he could beat him in a fight. Both were very strong fighters, so the fight lasted for hours before Mr. Klo finally won. He filled his pot with the wine, drank all the rest, and went on his way with the palm trees on his back. The wine made him sleepy so he could not walk fast with his load. When he reached the palace, the gates were already closed. For the next two months, rain kept falling so everybody stayed in the palace. By the time the gates opened, Mr. Klo had died. He was restored back to life, but the pot and dust were caked together forming a shell. 

Elephant and Wren: There was a tree in the palace courtyard and because it was starting to overshadow the nearby fields, the king ordered it to be cut down. He offered the payment of an elephant to whoever could cut it down. Spider was very cunning and wanted the elephant for himself. A servant was ordered to stay with spider to ensure that he only use the wooden axe. He hid in his bag a steel axe and tricked the servant to run off and used the steel axe as often as he could. Finally, the tree was cut down and Spider was able to take the elephant home. He was very greedy and decided to hide it from his family. He saw a wren in a tree and decided to take that home for his children and to keep the elephant for himself. He tied the elephant to the tree and climbed up but the wren flew away. He climbed back down and saw that the elephant had escaped. He had to come home empty-handed. 

How Mushrooms First Grew: Two brothers were in debt and were tired of running so they decided to make a farm and settle their debt. They had a very nice field of freshly sowed corn seeds when a batfowl came by and ate all the seeds. The debt was then transferred over to it. He tried laying eggs to  hatch and sell for money, but a storm came and a branch from the silk tree broke off and landed on the eggs. The debt was then transferred to the tree. The tree made silk cotton to pay off its debt but an elephant came by and plucked all the cotton. The debt was continually transferred until it came upon a group of ants. They discussed together and contributed all their money and sent one of the men to go and buy linen thread. They would then weave it and sell it to repay the debt. They would often spread it out in sunshine to keep it nice. Men would often see these and call them "mushrooms" and pick them for food. 

(Mushrooms, Source: UnTextbook)

Reading Diary A: West African Folktales

West African Folktales

How We Got the Name "Spider Tales": A spider was very jealous that all of the stories told were about Nyankupon, the chief of gods. So the spider went to the god and asked if future stories could be told about spiders. Nyankupon agreed but only if the spider could bring back a jar full of live bees, a boa constrictor, and a tiger. So off the spider went and he tricked a hive of bees to go into the jar, tricked a boa constrictor and tied it to a long stick, and tricked a tiger and sewed its eyes shut and let them all to Nyankupon. He was so impressed of how the spider fulfilled the conditions that he allowed all the stories to be Anansi tales.

Anansi and Nothing: Anansi lived next to a very wealthy man named Nothing. One day, they agreed to go into town and find wives. On the way, Anansi convinced Nothing to trade clothes on the way to town. Anansi kept putting off switching clothes until they got to town. When they arrived at their destination, all the women saw the velvet coat on Anansi and flocked to him. Poor Nothing couldn't get any wives. One woman felt bad and gave him her daughter. They all walked back to the houses together and saw that Nothing was actually the wealthy one. Anansi's wives had to survive off of unripe bananas. Nothing's wife felt bad for her friends and invited them over for a feast. They were so happy that they decided to stay. Anansi was so mad that he tried to kill Nothing multiple times. He succeeded one night and Nothing's wife was so upset that she made food and took it around the district and told children "to cry for Nothing."

Thunder and Anansi: Anansi and his family were very poor and had nothing to eat. Anansi was out searching for food when he saw a tree that he could possibly get nuts from. He had to steer an old boat out to it though. He climbed the tree and dropped the nuts one by one hoping they would land in the boat, sadly they all fell into the water. He threw himself into the water and instead of drowning he came upon Thunder's cottage. He told him of his troubles and Thunder gave him a pot and said that he would always have enough food for him and his family. But he was very greedy and decided to hide it from his family. His family found out and his wife had the pot cook for everybody in the town, but under the stress, the pot melted. Announce couldn't find the pot and immediately thought of his family as the culprits. He went back to Thunder and told him of his problems and was given a stick. When Anansi asked the stick to do what it does for Thunder, the stick began beating him. Announce jumped out of the boat and had to swim all the way back to shore.

(Snake Beach, Source: UnTextbook)

Extra Reading Diary: Folktales of Laos

Folktales of Laos

A Child of the Woods: A woman went out to the forest when she was tired of mankind. When she was sleeping, she awoke to a tiger who was watching her sleep. She wasn't scared though. She continued on her journey and became one with the creatures. She ate the wild fruit and was watched over the creatures of the forest. She found a village of people who were curious about her coming from the forest and when she told them her story, they gave her riches. She lived there for a year and the village cattle were no longer being eaten. The people led her back to her people where they worshipped her.

The Spirit Guarded Cave: The people of the far north were tired of losing to their enemies so they decided that it would be better to go south and be slaves than to die. So they packed up all of their belongings and traveled south. They ate all of their food before they reached their destination and were scared that they would be killed for their valuables. One man suggested to leave all of their valuables in a cave and to come back and retrieve them when they were settled. They all agreed and had the spirits watch over their treasures. The people continued their journey to the south and became slaves, but weren't able to reclaim their possessions. Word spread of the unclaimed treasures and many people traveled from all over to try and claim it for themselves. The spirits always kept the treasure safe though.

(Forest in Laos, Source: UnTextbook)

Why The Lip of The Elephant Droops: A poor man and his wife wanted to rid of their twelve daughters, so one day he took his daughters out hunting with him. He filled a basket with ashes and covered the top in rice and set off with his daughters. He asked them to fetch water with bamboo joints and when they went, he returned home. The bamboo joints wouldn't hold the water and when they went back to their father, he was nowhere to be found. They had no idea how to get out of the forest, so they went to sleep. When they awoke, there was a woman standing over them who offered them a place to stay if they kept her daughter company. They went home with her but were told not to enter the small garden. When the woman went out for the day, the twelve girl went into the garden and saw that their were human bones. They fled and ran into a cow whom they asked to protect them. They all jumped into the cow's mouth and when the woman asked the cow if he saw the maidens he lied. The maidens went on their way and ran into an elephant who also protected them. The last maiden's clothes hung out of the elephant's mouth and when the woman caught up and questioned the elephant, she saw the garment. She then cursed the elephant's lip to forever hang down like the garment. To this day, the elephants lip hangs down.

Week 6 Storytelling: The Wittiest Wins

Author's Note: I wanted to rewrite "The Tiger and The Frog. I thought that the story was very interesting. I really liked how the frog was able to outsmart the tiger in multiple ways. The tiger was looking for a meal and found a frog, but the frog tricked the tiger into thinking that he had eaten a tiger the day before. The tiger became spooked and ran away. He ran into a fox who laughed at the thought of a tiger running from a frog. So they tied their tails together and went back to the frog. The frog once again tricked the tiger and the tiger went running again with the fox dragging behind.

The Wittiest Wins
There once was a bully who ruled the school. His followers worshipped him and everybody else feared him. Since he first started going to the school, not a day went by that he didn't bully somebody. All of the kids cowered in terror when he passed by.

He bullied two or three kids a day. Whether it was giving them swirlies or taking their lunch money, he enjoyed every minute of it. But one day he became extremely bored. He had already bullied the entire student body more than once.

He felt that it was starting to become boring. He hadn't had any 'fresh meat' in a long time. He fell into a slump. He decided to stay home from school for a couple days.

A few days later, a new kid enrolled at school. The other kids looked at him with pity. "Another kid that gets to be bullied," whispered a girl. "At least, we'll get a break for a little bit..." retorted a boy. "I think we should warn him though."

They walked over to the boy and introduced themselves. "This is Mary and I'm Luke," said the boy. "Hey, I'm Jake," replied the new kid. They filled Jake in about the bully and how he loves it when a new student comes because he has a 'new toy' to play with.

"Hm... Thanks for the warning, but I'll think of something," replied Jake. Word spread that there was a new kid at school. All the kids were secretly happy about there being another kid for him to bully.

When his followers heard of the new kid, they immediately went and told the bully. He was ecstatic when he heard the news. He had been thinking of new ideas to do to the kids at school.

The next day at school, the bully finally returned. He searched everywhere for the new kid. He didn't find Jake until lunch time.

He marched into the cafeteria and spotted the new kid. He stormed over but when he neared Jake, he could hear him yelling at Luke. "You stupid kid! You made me drop my tray!" Jake then punched Luke in the face.

"Ahhh!" yelled Luke clutching his face. Luke pulled his hands away and saw that his nose was bleeding. "You broke my nose!" The bully was surprised.

Jake turned around and saw the bully standing right behind him. "What're you looking at?" snapped Jake.

The bully not knowing what to think, took a few steps back. He didn't want to mess with another bully. While walking backwards, he tripped over a chair and fell on the ground.

The kids in the cafeteria who witnessed the altercation started laughing. The bully was so embarrassed that he ran out of the gym with his followers running behind him.

All the kids cheered when he ran out! Luke wiped his nose and said, "Yuck, I think there's some ketchup in my nose still." Mary giggled, still holding the empty ketchup packets that she had squeezed into Luke's hands earlier.

Rumors have it that the bully transferred schools and never bullied anybody again.

(Bully, Source:Vegan Bits)

Bibliography: The Tiger and the Frog from Tibetan Folktales by A.L. Shelton (1925).

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Reading Diary B: Tibetan Folktales

Tibetan Folktales

The Story of the Three Hunters: There were three hunters who lived with their wives and their sister. When they came back from a hunting trip, they brought a deer back with them. They all split the deer and the sister got part of the marrow from the deer and cooked it up nicely. The two older wives were very jealous and angry because they thought that their husbands preferred their sister, so they devised a plan to kill the sister. The younger wife wanted nothing to do with it though. So on the next hunting trip, the older wives killed the sister. There was a bird who kept chirping at the brothers. They thought it was weird and one of the brothers went to the bird and asked for a sign if it was their sister. When the bird hopped into his hand, they knew that their sister was dead. They went home and found the younger wife crying and she told them what had happened. The three hunters then killed the older wives and shared the younger wife.

The Golden Squash: There were two old men who were very good friends. One of the men was content with what he had, but the other was very greedy and wanted to be rich. One day the first man went out to his garden and found a bird who was injured. He felt bad for the bird and nursed it back to health. When it was able to fly, it brought the man back a seed and told him to take care of it. The man planted the seed and grew a very large squash. It was so big that five men had to help carry it in. When he cut into it, it turned out to be solid gold. The man was rich and he gave to the less fortunate. His neighbor was greedy and asked how he came of the seed. So he went out to the garden and found a bird and purposely shot it and broke its leg. He pretended to care for the bird and in return got a seed. He grew the seed and out came another squash. When he cut into it, an old man sent from the king of the lower regions popped out to weigh the man. The man didn't weigh enough so the fierce man cut off his head.

The Two Little Cats: There were two little cats who were going to fetch some salt for their tea. On their way home, they ran into a scary Handre. They ran and met a cow who offered to help protect them. They all ran until they met a dog who also offered to protect them. They then met a crow who also offered to help. A snake and peas also offered their assistance to protect the cats. So on they went home and each of the animals hid in a different spot. The Handre eventually arrived and went to every spot that an animal was hiding and was attacked by each one. He then fell into the cows horns who tossed him to the dog, who gobbled the Handre right up. The cats were then able to eat their meal in peace.

(Yak Butter Tea, Source: UnTextbook)

Reading Diary A: Tibetan Folktales

Tibetan Folktales

The Tiger and The Frog: There was a tiger who hadn't eaten for days. When he went hunting, he found a clever little frog who planned on eating. The frog challenged the tiger to see who could jump farther across the river. When the tiger was preparing to jump the frog grabbed hold of the tiger's tail with its mouth and sailed across with the tiger, letting go and landing further along the bank. The frog challenged the tiger to another challenge to vomit. The tiger could only throw up some water but the frog threw up some tiger hair that it had just swallowed. The frog explained that it had eaten a tiger the day before and the tiger went running. He ran into a fox who coaxed him into going back to the frog. They tied their tales together so that they couldn't run away. The frog asked the fox if he had brought the tiger as an offering and the tiger went running with the fox dragging along.

The Donkey and The Rock: There was king who ruled the land very fairly. There were also two very hardworking men who cared for their mothers. One was going to town selling some oil from a jar. He grew tired and sat down to rest. The other man was taking his donkey and two loads of wood to the market. The donkey was walking too close to the road and accidentally knocked over the jar of oil and broke it. The men quarreled over whose fault it was and took the argument to the king. The king decided to have a ruling and had the donkey chained and sent for the rock who was also to blame. People from all over came to see the case because they thought the king was crazy. When they arrived, he shamed them for coming to see a silly case and had them pay a half-cent before leaving. The money was collected and given to the man with the broken jar.

(Donkey and the Rock, Source: UnTextbook)

Covetousness: A bear was killed by a trap and when a fox was greedy and tried breaking the trap, it was killed too. A bunny was hopping around an elephant and it decided to hop around too. When the elephant was jumping around, a rock fell on it and it died. Seven robbers came by and saw the three dead animals and sat down to eat. Three were sent to get water from over the mountains. The four who remained were greedy and decided to poison the meat so that they could have the meat and ivory for themselves. The three who were fetching the water decided to poison the water because they were doing all the work. When they returned, the four men  gulped down the water and they died. The three men now had everything to themselves and ate the poisoned meat. They soon died as well. Everybody was greedy and ended up dead.

Week 5 Storytelling: The Wolf Aunt

Author's Note: I decided to rewrite the The Wolf Aunt because I didn't really like how it ended. While reading the story, I immediately thought of Little Red Riding Hood. In the Wolf Aunt, a man meets his long lost sister and she takes in him and his family. The man's wife is so grateful that she has her youngest daughter deliver some food to the aunt. When the youngest daughter gets there, she sees that the aunt has turned into a wolf and was eating a man. The little girl ran home and told her mom, but when they were trying to tell the man, he just blew it off and thought they were crazy. The wife took her daughters and left the man. When he told the aunt about what happened, she turned into a wolf and ate him. If, he would have listened to his family and believed them about the 'aunt' he could still be living happily ever after with his family. Also, if he would have taken some precautions when meeting a stranger, he wouldn't have been in this situation to start with.

(Wolf, Source:UnTextbook)

The Wolf Aunt 

There once was a family who was just scraping by. The father worked hard every day in order to provide for his wife and seven daughters. One day, while out gathering food, he came home very late. 

On his way back to his house, he ran into a woman who claimed to be his long lost sister. "Dear brother, is that you? I haven't seen you since we were young, but I know it is you. Come in! Catch me up on your life!"

He spent a few hours with his sister and she knew almost everything about him. She knew about his family and all of the hardships he had overcome to support them. "Well, dear brother, I am very well off now and I do not have a family of my own. So I insist that I provide for you and your family. It is all I can do since I have missed being in your life. Go. Tell your family and bring them here."

The man was ecstatic. He ran all the way home to tell his family the great news. "Darling, girls! I have amazing news to tell you! We will never have to worry about where our next meal will come from! I have met my long lost sister and she has graciously offered to provide for us! Come, I will take you all to meet her."

The man and his family went to the aunt immediately. The aunt was delighted to see the family. She took them all home and tucked them in for the night. 

The family loved staying with the aunt. She bought them all brand new clothes and gave them plenty to eat at every meal. The youngest daughter wasn't used to having so much food to eat that she overindulged and got sick. 

Over the course of a few weeks, the family started to put on some weight due to the good eating. The mother was so happy that her family was well taken care of. She decided to make the aunt a lovely dinner to express her thanks. 

The mother sent her husband to the market to buy a nice piece of liver. She made an elaborate dinner with nice-looking vegetables to go with it. When it was done cooking, she sent the youngest daughter to deliver it to the aunt. 

The youngest daughter ran it over to the aunt's house, but when she got there, she heard a funny noise coming from inside the house. She peeked through the window and saw the aunt turn into a wolf and eat a man. The little girl shrieked and ran back home. 

Luckily, the 'aunt' was too busy with her meal to notice the little girl.

When the youngest daughter arrived back home, she was out of breath and as pale as a ghost. "My child, what has happened?" cried the mother. The little girl told her mother about her encounter. "Oh dear! We must tell your father!" So off they went to find him.

When they found the father and told him what happened, he thought they were kidding. After a few minutes of listening to them ramble on, he realized they were being quite serious. He was furious. "How could she take us in like that and treat us like family and still plan to eat us?!" He went to the town and alerted the people.

The townspeople were also furious. They devised a plan to catch the wolf. They would sneak into her house while she was sleeping and they would tie her up and take her to the middle of the market. There the townspeople would stone her to death. 

They waited until it was late at night and all the lights in the wolf's house were off. Three of the strongest men snuck into her house and tied her up. It wasn't that easy when she awoke and started struggling. They carried her to the market and tied her to a pole. All the townspeople stoned the wolf to death and nobody was in danger of the wolf again.

Bibliography: Story: The Wolf Aunt from The Persian Tales by D.L.R Lorimer (1919).

Extra Reading Diary: Turkish Fairy Tales

Turkish Fairy Tales

The Soothsayer: There was word that the chief soothsayer's wife would be coming to the bath. A woman went home and told her husband that she would leave him if he did not become a soothsayer. The man went and pondered his situation and ran into a friend. He told his friend his troubles and the friend, who is intimate with the bath-woman, told him not to worry. The bath woman told the man to scribble words down like a soothsayer at the gate of the bath. The bath-woman took the ring of the soothsayer's wife and told the man where to find it. When the soothsayer's wife realized it she threw a fit and the man acted like a soothsayer and told her where it could be found. Everybody believed him to be a soothsayer and when the Sultana lost her ring, he was brought in again to find it. A slave had stolen it and confessed to the man and he had her feed it to a goose and then break its leg. He had the Sultan gather all of the poultry and chose the goose with the broken leg. He was promoted to chief soothsayer.

(Hodjas, Source:UnTextbook)

The Wizard and His Pupil: A young boy ran away from every school that he attended. He asked his mother to allow him to apprentice for a wizard. The boy eventually learned all that he could from the wizard and the wizard told the boy that he would transform into a ram, sell him at market, but be sure to keep the rope. The boy did as he was told and sold the ram for 500 piastres and the wizard escaped and returned to his human form. The wizard transformed into a horse and told the boy to sell him at market but to keep the rope again. When the horse was sold, the boy went home and told his mother that he would transform into a lavish bath and that she was to sell him but to keep the key. When the wizard returned home and saw the boy was gone, he was furious. He went to the market the next day and saw the lavish bath and realized it was the boy. He bid for the bath and refused to pay the mother if she refused the key. She gave it over, but the boy transformed into a bird and the wizard transformed into a falcon. The wizard chased the boy until eventually the boy killed the wizard. A king witnessed all this and offered the boy his daughter to wed and the position of vizir. 

The Liver: A little girl was to buy a piece of liver from the market, wash it in the pond and take it to her mother. When she washing it in the river, a stork stole the liver and refused to give the liver back unless she got him some barley. So the girl went to the farmer and asked for barley, but he asked her to pray for rain. She then had to go the market and get incense for the prayer. The merchant asked for shoes in exchange for the incense. She went to shoemaker and he asked for ox-leather. The tanner wanted a hide in exchange for the leather. She went to the ox and asked for hide and he wanted a piece of straw. She then went to a peasant for straw and he asked for a kiss. She accepted and gained all the objects. She gets to eat the liver with her mother.

Reading Diary B: Persian Tales

Persian Tales

Story of The Wolf Bride: A man was lucky enough to have had a son. He went to get a horoscope for him and was told that is son would be torn to pieces by a wolf. To be safe, the mad built a chamber and kept his son in it. The man taught his son to read and write and when the son came of age he was to be wed. The man's brother had a daughter and they had chosen her for the son. The wedding celebration had lasted seven days and when it was over, the girl was taken to the chamber. She somehow turned to a wolf and tore the boy to pieces and changed back into a girl not knowing what happened. When a woman came the next morning, the girl explained that she didn't know what had happened. The boy's body was carried away to be buried. "Whatever is willed by fate, that verily comes to pass."

The Man Who Came To Wake His Luck: There were two brothers, one very rich and one poor. The poor brother went to his brother's herd and found a man herding the horses. It turned out to be his brother's luck. He told the brother that his luck was asleep and where to find it. On his way, he ran into a farmer, a King, and a wolf who also had no luck. When he found his luck, he passed along the messages from the people he met. When he returned to the King who was actually a woman, she asked him to marry her and to stay and have her riches. He refused. The farmer was to dig up a jar of coins for his field to yield fruit and he asked he brother to help him and share the coins but he refused. He went to the wolf and said that he was to eat the most foolish man. The wolf then asked the brother a silly question and fooled him. The wolf then ate him.

The Shepherd Who Found a Treasure: There were two shepherds who were watching a herd of sheep. One had fallen asleep and a green fly had flown out oh his nose and settled on the middle of three rocks. The first shepherd had known that the fly was actually other's soul and woken the other and said that he would give the wages of his sheep to him if he would tell him his dream. The other shepherd agreed and told him of a treasure hiding behind a rock but had no idea if he had gotten it or not because he was woken up. So the first shepherd went to town and got his wages and gave it to the other shepherd. The shepherd fell back asleep and the first shepherd looked under the rock and found jewels. He never worked as shepherd again.

(Green Fly, Source:UnTextbook)

Reading Diary A: Persian Tales

Persian Tales

The Wolf and The Goat: This story was very interesting. The wolf stole the goat's babies by tricking them into opening the door. One ran away and hid though, so when the mama goat came back home and saw that there was only one baby goat, she got mad and found the goat and challenged him to a fight. She filled a bag full of nice presents for a man to sharpen her horns. The wolf was too greedy and just blew the bag up to make it seem full and gave it to a dentist. The dentist peeked and saw that it was just air. But instead of sharpening the wolf's teeth, he pulled the teeth out and filled them with cotton twists that looked like sharp teeth. The mama goat easily beat the wolf in a challenge and ripped his stomach open with her sharp horn. The wolf died and she took her babies back home.

Susku and Mushu: A little beetle name Susku and a mouse named Mushu who got married. Sushi fell into a river and was saved by Mushu. A little while later, Mushu asked Susku to make her a pot of soup. When he left she started to make the soup and when the blind blew, it swept her up and dropped her in the soup. When Mushu came home he saw that his wife had drowned. He then poured the ash on top of his head. The crow then shook his feathers out then the tree shook his leaves out and so on. Others pitied Mushu and Susku and injured themselves too. This story was a little weird.

The Wolf Aunt: A man, his wife, and seven daughters were very poor. The man gathered thorns every day and sold them to provide for his family. One day on his way back, he ran into a woman who claimed to be his sister. She said that she was rich and would provide for his family. He ran home and brought his family to live with the newly discovered aunt. Soon, they were well fed and clothed nicely. The wife was so thankful that she decided to cook the aunt a nice liver dish. When the youngest daughter went to deliver the dish, she saw that the aunt was actually a wolf and was eating a man! She ran home and told her mother who tried telling her husband. The husband wouldn't believe his wife and the next morning woke up alone. He told the aunt about what had happened and she turned into a wolf and ate him. If he had listened to his wife, he wouldn't have died.

(Wolf, Source: UnTextbook)

Portfolio Index

The Affair of Mars and Venus
This story is about the Greek god finding out that his wife is having an affair.

The Beggar King
This story is about a nasty king being forced out of his palace in order to (hopefully) learn a lesson.

Scherahazade
This story is about a young girl who has a plan to try and get the king to stop executing women.

The Wolf Aunt
This story is about a man and his family finding a long lost relative with money. Is it too good to be true?

Extra Reading Diary: Ancient Egypt

Ancient Egypt

Creation: Ra is the divine father and strong ruler of the gods. He had created the first two gods, the god of wind and the god of rain, who became known as the The Twins. He then created Seb and Nut who became parents of Osiris. Ra created the earth and created beings and all the things in the water and on land. Ra became the king of mankind and went among them.

(Ra, Source: UnTextbook)

The Secret Name of Ra: The goddess Isis lived among men and grew tired tired of mankind. She longed for the power of Ra. To be equal, she would need to know the secret name of Ra. She took some of Ra's saliva and baked into the dart and created a venomous serpent. The Serpent bit Ra and Ra was dying because of the venom. He asked for all of his children to come and hear the name. Isis went with his children to see Ra. Ra eventually gave her the secret name and she withdrew the venom from his body.

Ra and Hathor: Ra was growing old and he had heard nasty rumors from his people. He summoned many people to come to his side. He was dying, so Nut took form of a celestial cow and Shu lifted Ra onto his back. They went into battle and slayed his enemies when they felt that he had left them.

Week 4 Storytelling: Scherahazade

Author's Note: In the original story, the Sultan was betrayed by his wife so he had her executed. She had an affair which made the sultan very untrusting of women. From then on, he married a girl in the evening and by the next morning, he had his new wife executed. This cycle repeated until he married Scherahazade who had a plan to tell him a long story in order to keep him from killing any more women. By the end of her story, the Sultan had fallen in love with Scherahazade and made her his queen. I wanted to retell Scherahazade because I think that if the Sultan was so intent on killing every girl that he married, I don't think that he would have constantly waited for a story to end for him to kill Sherahazade. I wanted to change it up because I didn't think that is how the sultan would have actually reacted. I also wanted to show what a father's love could do when he is protecting his children or others that he cares for. I chose this picture because it shows Scherahazade telling her sister, Dinarzade, and the Sultan stories.

(Scherahazade, Source:UnTextbook illustrated by H.J. Ford)

Scherahazade
In a kingdom far off, a sultan and his lovely wife lived together, ruling side by side. He loved her with all his might. He took every moment that he had and spoiled her with the most wonderful riches in the land. One day he found that she deceived him for the past several years. She was having an affair behind the sultan's back. He had no choice but to have the grand-vizir put her to death.

He was so overcome by the treacherousness of his wife that he believed that all women were vile. He believed that the fewer there were the better.

Every evening he married a new girl and the next morning he would have the grand-vizir strangle her. The cycle repeated and every morning the vizir "would see a girl married and a wife dead" the next day.

Everybody in the town was horrified and grieving. They were grieving for the daughters and sisters that were lost and they were horrified that someone in their family would be next. They were all afraid to see who the sultan would choose as his wife next.

The grand-vizir also had two daughters, Scherahazade and Dinarzade. Scherahazade was clever and her father loved her very much. She went to her father and begged him to let her be the next girl to marry the sultan. The vizir was furious with her even suggesting the idea; he knew that she would be killed.

Scherahazade pleaded with her father and told him that she wanted to end the Sultan's barbaric practice. He eventually agreed and hoped that it would work.

So the following day, the grand-vizir went to the Sultan and told him that he wished for the Sultan to have his own daughter as a wife. The sultan was stunned. "You do realize what will happen to her? Very well. If you cannot end her life tomorrow, then your life shall end too."

The vizier went back and told Scherahazade that the sultan had agreed. Scherahazade had called to her sister and said, "As a wedding gift, I will ask the sultan to allow me to have one last night with you. In the morning, you will wake and ask me to tell one of my stories for the last time."

That evening, Scherahazade was married to the Sultan. She begged him to allow her to say goodbye to her sister one last time and he sent for Dinarzade. An hour before dawn, Dinarzade did as she was told and woke her sister. Scherahazade told a wonderful story but stopped when it was time for the sultan to begin his day.

He asked her to continue, but she said "It is time for you to get ready. If allow me to live another night, I can finish the story." The sultan laughed. "I'm sorry but I cannot. I must marry a girl in the evening and have her killed in the morning. It was an entertaining story though."

So the sultan summoned the grand-vizir and commanded that Scherahazade be killed. The grand-vizir reluctantly did as he was told. "I'm sorry, my darling daughter. If only you had listened..."

Sadly, Scherahazade's plan did not work. The sultan was so overwhelmed from what his first wife had done that he could not allow for another one of his wives to live another day to (maybe) betray him.

The grand-vizir was so upset that he mourned for her all day. News spread that Scherahazade's plan had failed. Another bit of bad news had also spread. The sultan chose Dinarzade as his next wife.

The grand-vizir was furious. "How can the sultan take both of my daughters away from me?" he cried. He knew what he had to do to save his daughter.

Before the marriage, a feast was set up for the sultan and his future wife to enjoy. The grand-vizir snuck into the dining hall and poisoned the sultan's drink. Before Dinarzade was to meet the sultan for dinner, the grand-vizir stole his daughter away and ran.

The sultan had no idea that Dinarzade had left. He continued to dinner and sat down to wait for her. While waiting, he took a sip of his drink and died.

News spread that the sultan had died, but the grand-vizir and Dinarzade were long gone before the palace guards knew what had happened. But thanks to the grand-vizir, there weren't any more women being slaughtered.

Bibliography: Scherahazade from The Arabian Nights' Entertainment by Andrew Lang (1898).

Reading Diary B: Arabian Nights

Arabian Nights

Aladdin 1: A tailor had a young son named Aladdin. The boy was lazy and did nothing and the father died of grief. One day a magician came up to Aladdin and told him that he was his long lost uncle and to tell his mother that he would be coming soon. The magician tricked both Aladdin and his mother and pretended to give Aladdin a skill to use. He took Aladdin out into the mountains and did some of his magic and produced a cave. He gave Aladdin a ring for good luck and told Aladdin to go in and bring back a lamp. Aladdin recieved the lamp but refused to give the magician the lamp until he was out of the cave. The magician was furious and sealed the cave and left Persia forever. Aladdin was in the cave by himself for two days. While praying, he accidentally rubbed the ring and a genie came out. 

Aladdin 3: After finding out that the Sultan had forgotten his promise to Aladdin to have him marry the princess, Aladdin had the genie take the groom and the Princess away from the palace every night and returned early in the morning. After a few days, the groom had asked to be separated from the Princess and Aladdin was given another chance to marry the Princess. The Sultan had asked for a huge task in order to insure that Aladdin was worthy enough to marry his daughter. Aladdin went above and beyond to prove to the Sultan with the help of his genie. He had the genie construct two palaces before he would marry the Princess. The vizir was sure that it was the work of magic.

Aladdin 5: The magician had used his magic and found out that Aladdin had not died in the cave but had escaped and married a princess and was living a wealthy life. He carried out a plan where he would beg people to switch their old lamps for brand new ones. While Aladdin was out hunting, the magician came by the palace and the Princess unknowingly gave the magic lamp to the magician. The magician made a wish and had the genie take him, the princess, and the palace to Africa. The Sultan was furious when he went to look out the window and saw that the palace was gone. He threatened to execute Aladdin if he did not bring the princess back within forty days. 

Giving the lamp away, Source:UnTextbook) 

Reading Diary A: Arabian Nights

Arabian Nights

Scheherazade: I understand where the sultan is coming from not being able to trust women and thinking that they're all terrible because of what his wife did. But I don't think it was necessary for him to marry a girl every night and have her killed the next morning. And so did Scheherazade. She took it upon herself to come up with a plan to stop the sultan from killing more girls. She involved her sister and had her wake her an hour before dawn and ask for her to tell a story before she was to be killed.

The Merchant and the Genius: A merchant was sitting down and eating dates when an angry genie appeared and threatened to kill the merchant. The merchant had thrown away a date seed and hit the genie's son in the eye with a seed and had accidentally killed him. The genie gave the merchant a year to live and then he was to come back to the same spot and be killed. Scheherazade stops her story in order for her to live another day because the sultan is curious to hear the end, but she doesn't end her story.

The Husband and the Parrot: There is now a story being told in a story to the sultan. A husband brings home a parrot who knows how to talk and can tell what has happened in front of it. The parrot tells the husband that the wife has been bad and she has some of the slaves trick the parrot into seeing a "thunderstorm". When the husband returns from his trip and asks the parrot what has happened, the parrot says that he didn't see anything because of the storm. The husband knew that it hadn't rained so he took the parrot and threw him so hard that the parrot had died.

(Schererazade telling stories, Source: Female Fortitude)