Week 12 Storytelling: Alice Wanting To Go Back to Wonderland

Storytelling: Alice in Wonderland

A couple nights ago, the craziest thing happened to me.  I woke up in a frantic sweat from a dream I had about falling down a very deep well and my adventures with a weird rabbit that worried about time too much, a mad hatter who a big giant hat, and so many more crazy people that I have never seen before in my life.

I would have thought it was all just a crazy dream from eating pizza too close to bedtime, but when I woke up with a little bottle from my dream in my pocket, I started to wonder. 

“Could this have been real?” I thought to myself as I looked at the bottle and the little bit of icing on my face from the cake I ate in my dream, too.  This was all way too much of a coincidence to have only been a dream.

I woke up, looked at my clock, and realized I was very late for school.

“I’m late, I’m so late!” I kept saying over and over to myself.  I paused for a second and knew that I had heard that before.  A light bulb turned on inside my head and flashbacks from the white-haired, red-eyed rabbit from my dream raced through my head. 

“It’s all just a dream, it’s all just a dream,” I had to keep reminding myself throughout the day.  I tried to tell my friends about it, but they all just laughed in my face and teased me about it.

“You’re crazy, Alice!” Mariah yelled to my face during my first class.

When I tried telling Becca, she said I should be put in a crazy house because something like that could never happen.  I thought for sure they might believe me at least a little bit.  At that point in the day I knew I was right about all the events that happened that night.  Too many signs reflected what happened that night that it had to have happened. 

Every night since then I have tried to look down the same special well and do everything the same as the night I fell down that deep well and found myself surrounded by bookcases, lamps, and cup-boards.  I didn’t understand why it wouldn’t happen again.  Nothing seemed to make sense anymore.  Nothing lined up to what happened that night. 

It wasn’t until this morning as I was getting on my bike to ride to school that I found something shiny on the ground.  I picked up the object and I knew I had seen this before.  It was a watch, but not a normal watch.  It said the day of the month instead of the time. 

“It’s the rabbit’s watch!” I yelled out so loud that people a mile away could hear me.  This was just what I needed to get back to the Wonderland that I was in before.  It seemed crazy but I wanted to go back.  I needed a land away form earth for a while.  As I picked up the watch, I turned it around and it read, “You’re late, you’re late! Please come back at this date!”

I turned the watch around again and November 15^th was circled in what looked like the strangely colored butter from the tea party I attended.  Why, November 15^th is only a few days away! I couldn’t wait to go back and see what other shenanigans I could get myself into and other weird and crazy friends that I could meet.

[Source]

 Bibliography:  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" by Lewis Carroll.  Alice in Wonderland Unit.

Author’s Note:

This story originated from the famous story of Alice in Wonderland that many people are fairly familiar with.  After reading the stories in the unit, I thought to myself about how her friends probably felt when she told all of them about her experience.  I decided to write a story about the situations she probably got herself into after the dream and the aftermath of the experience.  It was important to me while I was writing this story that I added many clues to portray that the story was real.  I was already familiar with the story, so I combined all of it and took my favorite parts out of the story to write about in my post.  I added the part about her finding the watch that belonged to the rabbit with the date on it to venture into the idea of possibly writing a second story to follow this one about her adventures back into Wonderland.  Maybe next time, she can bring someone else with her so they don’t all look at her crazy.

 

Week 11: Storytelling: The Truthful Bird

The Truthful Bird

It was a dark and chilly night in the season of autumn that I sat alone on the end of a branch in the middle of the forest.  This was not the first time that I sit by myself, all alone, with nothing to do except ponder how life in the city would be.   I have always dreamed about flying over all the bright lights and different colors that fill the sky each day and night.  

I image that there is so much to do in the city and so many friends to make.  Although I have my thoughts and dreams, I know they will never come true to a silly, clumsy, little bird like me.  So I just sit here, day in and day out.  I watch the sun rise and set above the trees like a worm coming out of the dirt and going back in.  

I would do anything to see more birds that I can become friends with, but this far into the forest, all I see are scary animals with bright yellow eyes and plants that I cannot name.  You see, I am not just any bird.  In fact, I have the power to make people truthful.  One might think this is a blessing, but this gift has done the exact opposite for me and that is what landed me in the middle of a dark, scary, and lonely forest.  

Only a year ago, my owner tried to use me in his village in law cases involving crimes.  I can sing my song and magically, the people would have no other option than to tell the truth.  I guess I felt good about helping out the village and locking away the guilty in jail, but after I displayed my gifts, I returned back to my small little box that my master kept in a drawer so no one could steal me.  There was one case in particular that the guilty human fought and fought against my powers until finally, after days and days of arguing, he broke down and confessed the truth.  Since then, he was set out to find me, steal me, and then exile me to a place that could never be found. 

To my dismay, the man paid a little homeless boy to steal me from my owner so he could put me in a place far, far away from the village.  Thoughts were running through my head about my life being over.  I thought he was going to chop me up and make some bird stew.  

When I was taken out of the bag, I opened my eyes to the beautiful lights and sights of London!  I remember thinking that this was all a dream or that I had died and gone to Heaven.  It turns out, the little homeless boy knew what powers I had from peeking through the windows of the courthouse and he knew that they couldn’t go to waste.  He sold me to the King of England and from then on, my life was wonderful.  

I now hang high in the entrance of the castle where I can make many friends.  I sleep on a big red pillow made out of the softest silk.  The castle cooks even make me the best worms I’ve ever had in my life.  I help out with everything I can in the castle and make the country a better place by keeping people true to their word.

Author's Note:

I wrote my story from the Natural History Nursery Rhymes from Britain. The original poem went like this...

"THE winds they did blow;
The leaves they did wag;
Along came a beggar boy,
And put me in his bag.

He took me up to London;
A lady did me buy,
Put me in a silver cage,
And hung me up on high,

With apples by the fire,
And nuts for to crack,
Besides a little feather bed
To rest my little back."

I added a lot to this poem and make it into a story about a magical bird that was trapped in a forest.  I still kept the beggar and being hung up high somewhere in London.  This story did not have much detail to what the "thing" that was hung up in a silver cage so I let my imagination run wild and created a story about a little bird.   

[Source]

Week 10 Storytelling: The Brave Old Man's Gift

The Brave Old Man’s Gift: from the Original Old Quanah's Gift

There once was a village very far north that stayed cold 10 months out of the year.  With snow covering the ground and ice all around them, the people in the village were at a high demand for coats and other things ways to stay warm.   You see, in this village, it was much like any other village where the women stayed home and cleaned and made the clothes while the men were out defending the land and fighting for new lands. 

All the men were great fighters because they grew up hunting and were surrounded by strong, brave men throughout their entire life.  The strongest and the bravest of them all was a man named Henry.  Henry, more than anything, wanted to give his whole life back to the village and he would work harder than any other fighter out there because he was so passionate about keeping the people in the village safe and making the village a better place to live. 

It was a dark and dreary day and other tribes came to invade the village.  Henry was the first to respond and like always, he fought harder than anyone.  With a great fight, comes great risk.  Henry was shot by a poisonous bow and arrow in the leg and all went down.  Many tried to help him but nothing could save his leg.  He could no longer fight and do what he had always done best.

Henry was desolate that he could no longer fight and he still wanted to help out the village, so Henry began making coats to keep the people in the village warm.   It is not like Henry to just made plain and regular coats, he wanted to make something that would portray how he felt about the village and the people.  So, he set out to find the most beautiful colors from herbs, plants, and berries that he possible could to dye the threads that he made into the coats.  Each and every coat was full of the most beautiful colors and patterns. 

He found yellow plants to reveal the beauty of the sun and blue berries to show the magnificent waters that surround the village.  He put so much time and effort into every single jacket he made because he truly believed the people in his village deserved the very best. 

After making hundreds of coats, Henry became very sick.  He was working on one last coat that was more majestic and stunning than any other coat.  He worked on that coat for longer than any other coat and he explain to the people that he wanted that coat to go to the person in the tribe that is the most worthy.  Upon finishing the coat, Henry laid there on the ground, still and cold.  He has passed away but it was the duty of the chief of the village to figure out who this coat was going to be presented to. 

After hour of contemplation and fighting within the village, it dawned on the people in the village that the person most worthy is the person that took so much pride in the village and showed so much passion for the people.  There was no other person that showed those characteristics than Henry himself.  They put the magnificent coat on Henry as they buried him in the ground.  It was bitter sweet because no one could make as beautiful of coats as he, but now he can die with the legend.  

[Source]

Author's Note:

This was one of my favorite stories that I have read this week.  I took the original story and just changed what he made and a few of the characters.  I focused on his pride and passion for the village and when he could no longer fight, he began to make coats.  In the original story, he began making the most beautiful blankets for the village.  It ended very similar to the original story, too, where the village people saw him as the most worthy person to have the beautiful masterpiece that the main character worked on for so long.

Storytelling: Week 9: The North Wind

There’s nothing better than the cold, icy wind of winter.  Those icicles everywhere around you and the beautiful color of white fills the Earth.  I am the reason why the earth is so amazingly filled with snow throughout every sun and moon.  There are very few in my land so that makes my job of ruling the land even easier!  I’m not much of a people person.  You see, my brother is the ruler of the summer with all the colors, and plants, and animals, and blah, blah, blah.  I’m so tired of everyone talking about how much they love the summer.  Growing up, no one wanted to talk to me because everyone thought I was cold.  It was my brother that had all the attention and friends.  I never thought it was fair as a child, but there was nothing I could do about it.  I don't want to be the ruler of summer. That weather makes me cringe and there's always way too much going on, too much to handle.  So now, I choose to live alone by myself and I’m loving every minute of it.

After many years of enjoying my life alone and isolated, a fisherman entered my land and overstayed his welcome.  I do not like visitors, and I like to keep the icy land to only me and the fishes under the ice-covered oceans.  This fisherman not only stayed on my icy land for far too long even after I covered him in heavy snow and ice, but he also cut holes in my icy-covered waters to catch my fish. No one comes to my land and messes up my perfectly smooth oceans.  No one comes and steals all my fish either. 

I had to do something to get him out of here, but I have never had anyone try to withstand my powerful and brutally frigid winds.  So I began to make the snow even deeper and deeper and the wind stronger and stronger.  Surely he would leave after his whole body was covered in frost bite. 

I woke up the next day and the fisherman was still there in his tent with a giant fire to keep him warm.  This was a tougher challenge.  So I spent that whole day blowing giant gusts of freezing winds towards him.  Maybe I could blow out the fire that kept him warm? Those fires always scare me anyways.  Maybe I could blow away his tent so he won't have a place to keep him safe? I didn’t care what I have to do. I just wanted him off my land. 

The next sun when the fisherman was still standing firm on my land, we began to fight.  His fire was making me melt and warm up.  I like to stay cold and that is when I am the most powerful.  I couldn’t let him beat me on my own turf.  Pretty soon, I could not fight any longer.  I had to surrender because I had no other choice.  My weak breath could not fight for one second longer.  I watched him stay there and fish on my land while I lay there on my ice and couldn’t do anything about it.

This was the day I was finally overtaken.

Author's Note:

 This is from the original American Indian Fairy Tale, Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind. I really enjoyed all the stories from this unit because I felt like each story was so creative. This is what they believed actually happened and how the seasons were created.   I took this story and portrayed it from the point of view of the North Wind.  The North Wind was the bad guy in the original story because he was doing everything he could to keep the tribe off his land in the winter, but all they wanted to do was fish for food so they would not be hungry.  It wasn't until one day that a fisherman stood up to the North Wind and finally overtook him.  His whole tribe told him not to do it because no one had successfully defeat the North Wind, but he was determined and nothing could stop him.  I kept the general story the same but changed the point of view from the fisherman to the North Wind.  I took out a few parts to really focus on the scenes that I felt were the most entertaining and imperative.  I tried to keep the Native American appeal by putting the focus on the land and the wind rather than something that was not earth-related.  As I read this story, I kept picturing the abominable snowman so I chose an image to portray how I pictured the story.

[Source]

Bibliography:
"Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind" by W.T. Larned. American Indian Fairy Tales Unit.

Week 7 Storytelling: Wilson and The Magical Little Bird

Wilson and The Magical Little Bird 

Long ago in the far away land, there lived a man named Wilson that lived in a tree house.  Covered with trees and deep in the middle of the forest, is where this man hunted for his food, gathered berries, and spent most of his time.  Although he was lonely much of the time, he liked the peace and quiet from the wilderness and often made friends with the forest animals. 

It was a quiet Thursday morning and Wilson was awaken by a beautiful song.  Wilson had lived in these same woods in the same tree house for many years and never heard such a wonderful sound in his life.  He set out to find who was singing this song. 

Only a few meters outside of Wilson’s house is where he found a bird perched on a glowing golden mushroom.  Frightened at first, Wilson gazed around the tree to hear the bird’s song and figure out how the mushroom was glowing. 

Days go by and the bird returned to the mushroom and sang the song every morning.  Wilson would wake up to the sweetest songs and watch the bird as it sang and lit up the mushroom. 

One day, Wilson wanted to meet the bird.  Typically, Wilson was never a shy man and he could make friends with the animals very easily, but this was not the case with the bird.  Wilson was nervous but finally gained the courage to talk to the bird.

The bird was friendly but did not want Wilson hearing his songs.  The little bird explained to him that the songs hold great powers.  Not only were the songs beautiful to the ear but they can also make a human never age.  Although the songs had different tunes, the lyrics all stayed the same.  “It is only himself that can control his own actions, everything is in his control,” the bird sang.  As the bird sang, the mushroom began to glow brighter and brighter.

Wilson asked the bird to stay and sing to him everyday.  Flattered by the compliment the bird agreed, but under only one condition.  Since the bird’s songs were so beautiful and the songs could make anyone stay young forever, if anyone found out about him, he knew they would lock him up where he could no longer fly free in the skies.  The bird made Wilson promise that he would never tell a soul.    

Months go by and Wilson and the bird became best friends.  The bird sang to him every morning and they lived happily and young.  As the seasons began to change, Wilson had to travel to the nearest town to gather supplies that he could not find from the forest.  As Wilson traveled, the bird stayed in the tree house and guarded the area. 

Wilson was not the most well-liked person in the town, so upon entering, Wilson knew he had to do something that would make him feel accepted.  In order to buy supplies from the general store, he had to make friends with the storeowner.  With nothing to offer, Wilson did not know what he was going to say or do to make the storeowner like him.  A light bulb turned on inside of his head and he knew he had to tell the secret about the bird, the beautiful song, and staying young forever.  Astonished, the storeowner quickly accepted Wilson into the shop, but the secret spread like wildfire.  It was all over the town and Wilson became the spotlight.  Wilson loved the attention, but deep down, he also felt very guilty about breaking the promise with the little bird.

News spread to the King of the Village and he wanted the bird at once. A private dinner was set for Wilson and the King and the King wanted proof about the bird.  Some people were skeptical about the bird but Wilson knew if he could just show the people in the village, then he would be accepted forever.  Wilson agreed to bring the bird into town and show the King and all of his people.

As soon as Wilson returned home, he and the bird set out to go back into town.  The bird sang to him the whole way. “It is only himself that can control his own actions, everything is in his control.” Wilson and the bird walked through the gate of the King’s castle and everyone gathered around.  The little bird did nothing.  The little bird did not even make a little mushroom grow.  The little bird did not sing or say a word.  The townspeople were upset and felt like they had just been played.  They gave Wilson the benefit of the doubt and gave him until sundown for the bird to sing and work his magic to keep them all young. 

At dusk, there was still no peep form the little bird.  Wilson did all he could to get his little bird to sing but nothing worked.  Furious, the King threw Wilson into the pit of dragons where he was eaten.  That next morning, the little bird found a mushroom, perched up, and started singing while the mushroom grew brighter and brighter.  “it is only himself that can control his own action, everything is in his control,” sang the little bird.  Everyone looked in awe and realized Wilson was telling the truth.  Although the little bird felt bad for the death of Wilson, he also knew that he broke the only promise that they had made from the very beginning of their friendship.  He knew the control was in Wilson’s hands and his actions would reflect the outcome of his life.  The bird explained what happened to the townspeople and then flew off into the middle of the forest where no one could find him, and the little bird was never seen again.

[Source]

Author’s Note:

As I read this story, I automatically fell in love with the original.  I loved the characters in it and I loved the message and moral behind the story.  Being truthful and sticking to your word is something that is very important especially in friendships. I believe that can make or break a friendship, too.  I kept the setting the same as the original story but changed the characters a little bit.  In the original story, there was a turtle playing a harp instead of a bird singing.  Also, I added in the part about the song and the bird being magical and keeping everyone young.  In the original story, the man was beheaded but I changed that to being thrown into the dragon cage because I felt like that was a better fit for the story since it included Kings and castles.  I wanted to keep the underlying message of the song the same, but I did reword the song to a jargon that we use today in modern times. The Hunter and the Tortoise 

Bibliography:

"West African Folktales" by William H Barker. "The Hunter and the Tortoise"

Storytelling Week 6: How The Ugly Man Got Married

How The Ugly Man Got Married (based off the original How Gazelle Got Married)

There once was a man named Robert. He wasn’t the most handsome in the village, but in fact, he was the ugliest in the village.  Growing up, his "desire to be perfect" parents always thought he was going to change from being ugly to handsome. 

“Pretty soon, he will grow out of his baby fat.” 

“Pretty soon, he will grow into his nose.”

“Pretty soon, his pimples will go away, and he will have the clearest skin.”

“Pretty soon, he will gain some muscle and won’t be as lanky.”

“Pretty soon, he will learn to have the wits that will swoop any woman off her feet,” exclaimed Mama all throughout Robert’s life. 

Although she loved her son very very much, she always hoped that he would become the handsome man who would give her perfect and beautiful grandchildren to spoil rotten.  One day, she found the perfect opportunity for Robert to get two beautiful wives!

The king of the village was a very powerful and noble man that everyone looked up to, and he had two twin daughters that he kept a secret to the outside world.  He kept them so much of a secret that nobody even knew their names.  So one day, the king realized that they would have to meet someone and marry a man some day. 

“Any man that can find out the names of my two daughters can have their hands in marriage,” proclaimed the king to the whole village. 

When Robert heard the message from the king, he knew this was his opportunity to find not only one beautiful wife, but two beautiful wives! All he had to do was figure out the names of the king’s daughters.  Robert and his dog ventured off to the castle in the middle of the village to talk to the king about the challenge to win over his daughters. 

When Robert arrived at the castle, he talked to the king to try and guess their names.

“Ashley and Rachel? Alyssa and Brooke? Carly and Mariah? Rebecca and Raquel?” guessed Robert. 

The king quickly stopped him and told him that none of those are the right answers, and he would be there for years if he kept up with that jibber jabber.

As the king released him to take a walk around the castle, his dog stayed inside.  This was no ordinary dog.  Robert’s dog could talk just like humans but only spoke when Robert spoke to him.  So once Robert left and the dog stayed inside, the King called his daughters by name down to the dining room for dinner.  

“Laurie, Landry, come down for dinner and feed the dog in the entry room, too!” yelled the king to his daughters.

The dog all of a sudden perked his ears up and knew he had to tell Robert the names of the King’s daughters.  The girls fed the dog, and he ran away to find Robert.  On his way to tell his master, the dog became very thirsty from the food and searched for water instead.  Once he found Robert, the dog had already forgotten the names of the two daughters.  The dog returned to the castle to try to find out the names of the daughters once again.

As the dog ran back inside the castle, the family was just finishing up dinner and the king, again, yelled the names of his daughters.  

“Laurie, Landry, don’t forget about the Grand Ball tomorrow night, and give more food and water to the dog,” the king yelled loudly.

The dog’s ears perked up again.  So again, the dog ate and drank the water they gave him, and he set out again to find his master. 

Once the dog found Robert, the dog immediately told Robert the names of the daughters, and they both raced back to the castle.  Robert told the king the names of his daughters.  Although the king was baffled and did not understand how Robert had figured out his daughter's names, the king did make a deal that he had to uphold.  The king granted Robert the right to marry his two daughters.  Although it took some getting used to from the two girls and Robert, they all lived happily ever after.

[Source]

Author’s Note:

This story is based off of the original story of How Gazelle Got Married in the Stories from Congo unit.  I kept the basic underlying story about how the daughters were up for marriage and whoever could guess their names could have their hand in marriage, but I added a beginning to the story and changed the characters.  The dog helped in the original story, too, but kept forgetting the names of the daughters just like in my story.  I changed the main character to a man to make the story a little bit easier to understand and added some character development of the man to know his background.  The main character is easy to sympathize with because he acts as the underdog in the situation.  No one would have expected this not-so-popular man to marry, not only one of the King's daughters but both of them! I really enjoyed this story and I loved the part about the dog helping out but forgetting the names so many times. So I kept most of that in my retold story.  Although this story would never happen in real life, I feel like I made it more relatable and a little more comical than the original story.

Bibliography:

"How Gazelle Got Married" by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).  Notes on the Folklore of Fjort.

Storytelling Week 5: Big Brother and Little Brother

Big Brother and Little Brother

Many years ago, there were two brothers that grew up together as best friends.  As they grew older, the older brother, Andrew, began to mature.  He finished school, found a beautiful wife, started a family, and moved out to a vineyard.  Meanwhile, the younger brother, Ben, had a little bit of trouble growing up and wasn’t quite ready to become an adult.

As years went on, Andrew became very successful with his company, earned millions of dollars, and his personality changed for the worse.  He became mad and uptight. He was selfish and very conceited, although, after a little convincing, Andrew agreed to let Ben stay in his house as long as he did all the chores, kept up with all the animals, and slept outside in the barn. "The only way you can stay here, Ben, is if you clean up after my animals and do all my field work for me.  As long as you continue to do my work, you can stay here and I'll look after you," explained Andrew to Ben when he begged and pleaded to stay with him. 

Andrew’s wife acted the same way as Andrew and didn’t think Ben deserved to be in their presence, so she ordered him and ordered him around in hopes that he would leave.  "Do this, clean that, wash these, and don't mess up," ordered the wife as Ben slaved away at their work while she stayed inside and didn't have to worry about anything.  If he messed up even one time on something small or failed to complete one task before sundown, the wife would beat the little brother until he cried and learned to work faster.  Although Ben was grateful for a roof over his head, he was also stubborn.  Ben was sick of being ordered around and beaten by the wife, so one day he yelled at her until she was too scared to talk to him any longer. 

The older brother came home to find his wife in the back of a closet shaking because she was scared of the little brother.  She accused him of beating her and hurting her so the older brother stormed out of the house to kill the younger brother.  Andrew wanted to make sure that could never happen to his wife again.  Ben begged and pleaded with Andrew for him not to hurt him and he tried explaining himself but Andrew didn’t believe him.  He tried everything he could for his brother to believe him but nothing was working and Andrew wouldn't stray away from what his wife proclaimed.  Something in the back of Andrew's head knew he should listen to his little brother instead, but he stuck to his wife's accusation and continued on with the fight.

Ben had nothing else to do but pray to God for help.  Running in the middle of the vineyard, Ben asked God if there was anything He could do to help him.  All of a sudden, a giant river came rushing through separating the two brothers so Andrew could no longer reach Ben to kill him.  Ben thanked God and kept running for the hills.

He found a little shack in the middle of the woods hundreds of miles away from his older brother and all of civilization so nobody could find him.  Although Ben had run away from Andrew, the connection the brothers had from when they were younger was still present.  As children, they made a pact with an angel that they would always stick together no matter what.  "Stuck like glue, you two, will be blue without the company of you," the angel said to them.  If anything were to happen to one another, the angel would send out signs to the other for protection.

One day, years after Ben ran deep into the woods, he came in contact with a disease carried by insects, lost the fight, and passed away.  With the angels above looking down on them for protection,  Andrew rapidly received signals and he knew something wasn’t right. He had to search and seek out his little brother.  After weeks of searching, Andrew found his little brother in the middle of the woods and prayed to God over him again. 

All of a sudden, right before Andrew's eyes, Ben awoke from the dead.  He awoke not in the human form but in the form of a horse that used to roam the vineyards.  The angel that created the powerful bond between the two brothers came down and explained everything that had happened to Andrew.  One could not be on this Earth without the other.  Even if Ben is a horse, they will always be together. Now, his little brother will always protect Andrew, and Ben will always be with his older brother. 

[Source]

Author’s Note:

The original story of The Two Brothers was a story about two brothers by the names of Anpu and Bata.  The two brothers were very close growing up. Bata worked for Anpu as a cowherd.  Anpu's wife came on to Bata, so Anpu decided to kill his brother.  In my retelling of this story, I felt uncomfortable talking about how the wife seduced the younger brother, so I changed it to verbally abusing Bata.  After the younger brother ran far away, he started his own life and got married, but the brothers did always have a special connection that no one quite understood.  When the younger brother died, the older brother was sent messages to let him know that his little brother had died so he had to search for him.  When the older brother found him, he tried to revive him and his soul came back as a sacred bull that eventually got sacrificed. 

In the new story, I changed the bull to a horse because it is more applicable to our culture.  The original story also had the river separating the two brothers so Anpu would not kill Bata right away.  That gave Bata time to run and hide.  I added the supernatural character of the angel coming down to bring the brothers together and add a deeper connection.  I felt like the sending of the signals needed to be done by another force that looked over them so angels popped into my mind.  I changed the setting that the original story was taken place.  The original story took place in the ancient Egypt and included a wife that seduced the little brother.  Although those aspects of the story changed, the underlying meaning stayed the same.


Bibliography
"The Two Brothers" by Donald Mackenzie (1907). Website: Ancient Egypt Unit.

Storytelling Week 4: Christopher and the Fountain

Christopher and the Fountain         

A young boy by the name of Christopher lived in a little village outside of Jerusalem.  Christopher was the smartest and most devoted and trustworthy boy in his school.  After searching for the right person to carry out this important task for months, the King of his village sent him out to find the mysterious fountain of youth.  The young boy was confused and did not think there was such a thing, but he did not want to argue with the King. 

            With friends and family nervous and skeptical about his adventure, Christopher set out to fulfill the task for the King.  It was an early rainy Wednesday morning when he left, but the King gave him no direction to where this fountain may be.  The King was selfish and did not think of others so he told Christopher to only return to the village when he gathers a gallon of water from the fountain of youth. 

            Climbing through the bushes and trees and walking across the hot deserts, Christopher still had no sign of the fountain of youth.  Years went by and Christopher learned to live off the land but continued looking for this mysterious fountain.  He began to think that this was not worth it.  He wanted to start a new life somewhere else and never return to his village, but being the devoted person that he was, he knew he had to fulfill this task. 

            One day, passing through another long desert, he fell upon a small body of water.  A body of water in the middle of the desert? Christopher knew this was something out of the ordinary.  The heat was getting to his head and all he wanted was to drink some water.  Christopher knelt down by the water and began to drink and drink until he couldn’t anymore.  All the sudden, tingles shot through his body and he had never felt more awake and energized.  Had he found the fountain of youth after many years of searching?  He knew this was the fountain and with a new jolt of energy, Christopher filled his bottle with the water and began to head back in the direction of the village.

            He brought this water back to his village and shared it with his friends, family, and the king.  After drinking the water from the fountain of youth, those people would stay young forever.  They still walk the earth today, but they stay within the walls of this small village.

[Source]

Author’s Note: This specific unit explains a lot of the Holy stories from the different religions.  Even though each story is ultimately connected, they all have different characters and different plots.  Many characters overlap, but I chose to dial into one story specifically.  My favorite was the El Khudr the Evergreen story, therefore I took the idea about searching for the fountain of youth and traveled through the adventure with El Khudr. All of these stories have a Muslim decent and this story was significant to me because it was different than all the stories that are very similar to the Christian stories.  Also, this is a very important and significant figure in the Islamic culture so it stuck out to me and I had to include it in my storytelling.  I changed a lot in this story and basically only kept the concept of the fountain of youth from the original tale.  There were more characters in the original story, as well, and I did not include them in my twist on the story because I really wanted to focus on his journey in finding the fountain rather than the only loops that were in the story.  If this story does not sound familiar to you, it had many different names to associate with different religions.

Storytelling Week 3: The Horse and His Rider

The Horse and His Rider (From the Ass and His Driver)

There once was a horse named Jack.  He was a stubborn little quarter horse that has been traveling his whole life.  Day after day and night after night Jack traveled the same roads.  It was a sunny Saturday morning and Jack was chosen to deliver a very important package to the leader of his village.  His rider, Flynn, takes these missions very seriously and will not let anything stand in the way of him delivering this important message.

Needless to say, Flynn was not the nicest person in the village so he treated Jack very poorly.  Flynn bossed and he bossed Jack around until he couldn’t handle it any longer.  “Go this way! Now go that way! No do this!” exclaimed Flynn to Jack.

As they climbed up the tallest mountain in the village to deliver the package to the leader, Jack couldn’t listen to one more word that Flynn was telling him and he was fed up with walking the same roads over and over again.  Jack thought to himself about his dreams and all the other things and beautiful sights that the world has to offer.

With a cliff up ahead, Jack only had one thing on his mind and he wasn’t going to stray from that.  He wanted to look over the cliff to see the most beautiful views of the village from the tip top of the mountain.  As Flynn and Jack walked closer and closer to the cliff, Flynn knew Jack was going to stop listening to him because he started to disobey his orders.  Flynn hopped off the little horse and started pulling Jack towards the middle of the mountain and away from the cliff.  Although Jack was little, he sure was strong and he out-pulled Flynn and tumbled down the cliff. 

Fortunately, and little did Flynn know,  Jack landed in a giant hill of hay and he was finally free from any duties! Jack could now follow his dreams to venture out and explore the world like he always wanted to do.

[Source]

Author's Note:  I loved reading these tales.  They were a quick and enjoyable read and really kept my attention.  Out of all the tales I read, this one stuck out to me the most because it made me laugh and I thought it taught a good lesson about listening to others and the importance of not being too stubborn.  The story I wrote is much different than the original story because I changed the driver to portray someone that would be looked at as a "bad guy" and the horse (which was a donkey in the original) was the "good guy" in the story. It still has the same moral as the original until the very end when the horse actually ends up being free from his stubborn ways so that worked out to his advantage.  The characters differ slightly but the main thing that I changed for this story was the perspective. I wanted to change the characters mainly to create a more modern situation.  In our culture today, we are more used to hearing about horses rather than asses or donkeys.  I also changed the viewpoint at which the story was told because when I was reading the story I felt bad for the donkey and I wondered what made him want to go his own path and tumble down the cliff. 

Storytelling for Week 2: The Gospel of Mark

The Story of Mark from a Village person

I am a man by the name of Samuel from Jerusalem.  I keep hearing about the Son of God named Jesus but I only believe what I can see with my own two eyes.   I have never met this Jesus man, but I heard he has made miracles happen.  Miracles? Or magic tricks? Is this man trying to trick us all into believing that he is so much better than us? Half of the people worship the ground that Jesus walks on but the other half are set out to kill him.  What’s so great about this man and why is he such a big deal?  He’s just like any other man in my village…right?

Many people travel through my village, but recently, I heard a very interesting story that is hard to explain.  I heard Jesus healed someone that was blind.   Unless someone was tricking everyone that he was blind for his entire life, I don’t understand how a regular man could heal someone’s blindness.  Maybe this Jesus guy is pretty spectacular after all.  Although, I need more to convince me that Jesus is really the Son of God.

Jesus is coming to Jerusalem today!  Could this mean that Jesus is coming to make miracles happen in my village? Maybe I will listen to his teachings if I’m convinced.  After hearing the stories about the people he has healed, maybe this Jesus guy isn’t so bad after all?  I was able to sneak into the temple that Jesus rode his horse into today.  I tried to eaves drop on the conversations but I was unable to make out everything.  I overheard John talking about his baptism from Jesus, but they were deciding whether Jesus was from man or if he was from the Heavens.  Well this changes it all! I need to know this answer and I will tell all my village whether or not Jesus is the real deal or if he is a hoax. 

[Source]

Many weeks went by and I still didn’t know my answer.  But how could anyone be so perfect and selfless?  He told us to follow commandments that will make us better and create a more peaceful world.  Who else would teach such a thing if there was nothing in it for them?  Questions raced through my head like a bullet coming out of a gun.  I was more confused about this than anything else I had ever been confused about.  For some reason this was more important.  After hearing about the prophecies, Jesus must be the Son of God.  There is not other explanation to explain the miracles that have happened and the teachings that he has taught and the things that only Jesus can do.  I must believe in him and follow his teachings and I know I will live a more peaceful life if I follow the footsteps of Jesus.  Suddenly, in that moment, everything became so clear.  This is what I needed to do to become who again.  I was confused and lost and now my mind is set at ease and I know exactly what to believe and understand.  This all makes so much sense.  I must go spread the word to the rest of my village and make disciples to teach about the wonderful and spectacular Jesus. 

[Source]

 Author's Note:

I read the Gospel stories of Mark for my week 2 reading diary because this is something that is always very interesting to me.  I love reading the Bible and stories from the Bible so I chose to learn and dive more into Mark.  I wrote my story from the eyes of a normal villager.  Not someone that was particularly a follower of God or Jesus but someone who was very skeptical about the whole thing from the very beginning.  I wanted to write my story through this perspective because I feel like so many people these days are very skeptical about whether or not Jesus was real or if He was the Son of God.  Samuel, in my story, did not believe that Jesus was special in any way at the beginning of the story, but soon he was convinced.