Storytelling for Week 7: How Lena Passed the Test

How Lena Passed the Test

(Scholar. Source)

There once was a history professor named Larry that dedicated his life to creating two very difficult tests. Larry was very proud of his creations. He had spent many a year forming the most perfect questions with very specific answers. The level of difficulty was not necessarily hard, but the student taking the tests would need to know their stuff. Larry did, however, add one question to the end of each test that was near impossible to answer. Only a well-rounded, intelligent individual could figure both answers out. The answers to these two questions were "why?" and "why not?". Larry decided that anyone who wanted to take his tests would have to answer these two questions first; before taking the rest of the exam.

One day, a studying Ph.D. student came to the professor's doorstep. He had heard about the difficulty of the tests and was very sure of himself in being able to accept the challenge. He offered Larry a participation fee.

"I will only accept your participation fee if you can answer these two questions before the rest of the test."

The Ph.D. student looked at the questions and could not figure out the answers so he left in frustration to see how he could figure them out.

Then a well-known scholar from a neighboring city came to the professor's house with his dog for the tests.

"May I take your tests, sir? I have come to see your handy work."

"You may only take my tests if you can answer the last question of each test first."

The scholar looked at the questions and could not figure them so he left in sadness back to his city. The dog did not follow though, he decided to make his master happy and stick around with the professor. The dog managed to overhear the professor say the answers of the two questions and he scampered off to find his master.

Halfway home the dog was very thirsty and stopped to drink from a puddle. After drinking, he could not remember the answer to the questions! So he turned around and went back to the professor's house.

Upon hearing the answers a second time, the dog headed home in determination. This time he made it to his master and told him the answers and the two of them set out for Larry's house to take the exams.

Half way back to the professor's, the two grew thirsty again and drank from a stream. After drinking they forgot the answers yet again.

The master sent his dog to Larry's house to get the answers one final time while he hid outside in the bushes. The dog returned to his master with the correct responses. This time, neither drank anything nor ate and were determined to take the tests. The two knocked on Larry's door.

The scholar successfully answered Larry's exam questions and was able to take the test. He was deemed the most brilliant scholar in the state and received a reward.

The Ph.D. student found out about this and declared hatred against the scholar. The scholar heard word of this and defeated the student with his history project and the Ph.D. student was never heard from again.

Author's Note: This story is from the Congo Unit and is based off of How Gazelle Got Married. A lot of these story units are based off of women getting married and husbands taking care of them, but I decided to make it more relate-able to us! School. Test. Professors. This is our lives everyday, so the parallel in this story to the unit story works pretty well in my opinion! I hope you enjoyed it!

Bibliography: Dennett, Richard. Notes on the Folklore of Fjort: How Gazelle Got Married. 1898.

Week 7 Reading Diary: Stories from Congo

Stories From Congo

How the Wives Restored Their Husband to Life

This is why polygamy is illegal in America. Plain and simple. With these three wives in constant competition with each other to get their husband and his food, there is always drama, even in the face of their husbands temporary death! The wives are selfish. I do agree that the best gift was the gift from Fulla Fulla who gave her husband life back, the other two's tasks would have been pointless if it weren't for Fulla Fulla.

How Gazelle Got Married

Aw this one was sweet! Guessing the name in order to have them...hmmm. I might start doing that. Guess my name and I'll date you. There. That'll keep em at bay! The dog and Nsassi are really slow though if they forgot the girls' names each time they drank water...odd. But happy ending-ish! War with an antelope? That was so random. At least he was eaten.

Another Vanishing Wife

I really enjoyed this story and the previous one, the first vanishing wife. Always listen to the wife. That is what I get from this story! Haha men are foolish and the women will stay around until the man has disobeyed so many times, then she's gone. As is the case in these stories!

The Wicked Husband

Um. No thank you. I severely did not like this story at all. He cut off her arms and legs? How could he do that to his wife? That is so horrible. I really appreciated the warning in the notes. So much.

The Younger Brother Who Knew More than the Elder

What? I thought the younger brother knew more? But the elder brother just saved the younger brother from losing his wife in the trap. I'm confused by the title. It was a good trick on the owner of the town though! They have him right where they want him!

How the Spider Won and Lost Nzambi's Daughter

What is with these animals and bugs wanting to marry human girls? This emphasizes the fact that parents can marry their daughters off to literally any one. There's so much bickering between all these creatures that are supposed o be working together, it's so weird to me.

The Turtle and the Man

Oh mah gaw why can't any of these stories make any sense? The turtle is always the good character, not the evil one or trickster one...I'm saddened by the turtle's actions. The leopard is very sneaky though, I love it! Haha the ending with the man coming into the turtle's house was weird though.

The Rabbit and the Antelope

Hahahaha what the literal heck!? There is so much trickery and killing in these stories! Guess I know what I'm writing my essay on this week! That rabbit is so rude. Starving the antelope was uncalled for. And lying to name his children? Seriously?

The Fetish of Chilunga

I always thought a fetish was something that people were obsessed with like feet or butts. This story was weird to me too, like a poltergeist or something.

Why the Crocodile Does Not Eat the Hen

That's also a trick...chickens don't lay eggs in water..sooo this unit literally is focused on trickery and lies. At least the crocodile is mature enough to not want to make a meal out of his sister.

Essay Week 6: Fear Factor

Fear Factor

(Image of fear! Source)

This week’s unit on the Chinese Fairy Tales played on a lot of fears. A lot of people, especially me, are drawn to scary stories for their thrill and capability to take the mind to places only reachable through nightmares. I personally love scary stories and movies because it makes me feel better about where I am in my life; I am in no situation comparable to these people in the stories. I especially loved this week’s unit for its play on the mind with fear. In my favorite stories of The Panther, The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess, and The Night on the Battle Field, these Chinese Fairy Tales leave a lasting impression by playing on people’s fears.

In The Panther, the fear that is used is the fear of losing a parent, especially a mother. The two daughters are left to be by themselves and their mother is killed by a panther. This leads to the second fear played upon in the story: fear of wild animals. The fears that lie in these two things are abandonment and death. The girls are all alone, they have no one anymore and the panther is likely going to kill them if they do not out smart him. It’s a huge fear. The girls just cried and cried in their sorrow and fear and did not know what to do. The merchants that helped the girls out were really good and saved them though because their fear was inhibiting.

The Girl with the Horse’s Head or the Silkworm Goddess was especially scary to because it used the idea of bestiality. That is so scary in my opinion. I don’t even want to think about that idea. The girl in the story didn’t either, that’s why her and her father killed the horse that wanted to marry her. That is how they overcame their fear; killing the source of it. Another fear that I don’t even know is a universal fear, was that the horse skin came back to life and suffocated the girl. Maybe the idea of zombies is what that refers to. I haven’t figured it out yet.

Finally, in The Night on the Battle Field, the fear of life from beyond the grave is utilized. Ghosts will always be a fear for human kind. They can’t be officially proven or falsified. The merchant in this story is literally seeing a scene from the past as if it were real life. That is absolutely terrifying. What if that is happening to us every day and we don’t realize it? He deals with his fear by running, which is a good release of extra energy if you ask me. I would have run the heck away too!

The fear factor of these stories really kept me hooked this week and I hope there are more units like this in the future. Using fear to catch attention leaves a lasting impact on everyone. The parts of life we remember are the parts that scare us the most. 

Storytelling Week 6: Cross-Dimensioned

Cross-Dimensioned

(The Alamo in San Antonio. Source)

Once there was a business man returning home to Virginia from California on a business trip. While in flight from Los Angeles, a terrible storm brewed and the flight had to make an unscheduled landing in San Antonio, Texas to wait for the gruesome weather to subside. It was late when the plane landed and the businessman did not want to sleep in the airport for the night, so went out into the city to find a hotel.

The man came across a Holiday Inn not too far from the airport and went inside out of the storm to see if there was a vacancy for him. There was a lot of resistance from the guests of the inn to allow the man to stay, but an elderly woman took pity on him and said that there was a little room available down the hall for him to spend the night. She had just finished preparing a meal for a troop of soldiers that had returned from a battle and she would not be able to feed the business man. The man, as exhausted as he was, accepted the offer and followed the woman to his room, not worrying about his empty stomach just yet.

The night went on and the man's stomach grew louder and hungrier. He tried to sleep it off, but the hunger was too intense, the storm outside was still in full effect, and there was an abnormally large amount of ruckus going on out in the hotel lobby. This trifecta was what brought the man from his bed and to the door to peek out into the hallway.

Through the crack in the door, the man was able to see that the brightly lit lobby was packed with soldiers eating food and drinking wine and discussing the war efforts that they had just completed, none of which the man had heard of.

After a while of watching and listening to the men, there grew shouts from the soldiers that the general was coming. The business man thought this odd because generals don't usually visit directly with the infantry. He watched as a parade of uniformed men marched through the automatic doors with flags and lanterns and the soldiers grew silent. The lanterns stumped him for no one used those anymore, he assumed they were for traditional effect and let his eyes fall on the general who was sporting a very long beard. This the business man could not get past for facial hair was not allowed in the military these days. In fact, as he thought about this, he saw that many of the soldiers around the room had beards. His curiosity and bewilderment allowed him to open the door a little wider.

The general's guards were at attention at the door while the leader feasted with his men and conversed quietly with his officers. Celebratory singing and intoxicated, slurred songs reverberated across the marble floor. The business man grew slightly irritated at the blatant lack of respect the troop was having for the guests of the hotel, but it was him against the possible 100 soldiers present and he knew he'd lose that battle.

Upon the completion of his feasting, the general stood up and the room silenced immediately. He looked at his officers and told them to return to their rooms for some well deserved rest and that he himself was going to lie down a while they waited for further instructions on advancement from President Jackson. This name drop astounded the business man. Barack Obama was president...Jackson had been president almost 200 years ago.

This discovery made the man slip completely out of his room and follow discretely behind the general to his room down the hall. The general's guards neglected to close the door entirely which gave the business man the opportunity to gaze inside.

 By the light of just the lanterns, the man watched as the general's guards helped remove his head and place it on the empty bed before him. The arms and legs came next, then finally the torso was laid to rest in the middle of all the appendages. A guard turned and looked directly at the business man in the door and the lantern blew out.

Terrified to death, the man fell back into the wall and scurried back to his room where he slammed the door and locked it tight. The fear that overtook him made him suffer in shakes and sweat all night. At last he saw the streaks of light that signal daybreak and sat up. After the adjustment of his eyes to the light, he saw that he was in the middle of a park. No hotel, no people, just trees and grass.

This realization resulting in yet more panic, the man sprinted down a street to another hotel where he burst in and clamped onto the receptionist's desk. The woman standing there asked if he was alright and what brought him to the hotel so early in the morning. The business man told the woman of his experiences of the night and inquired into what sort of place he had encountered. The woman looked at the man with a knowing face and said, "Sir, this is San Antonio! The battles for Texas independence came to a point here. Many of the Texan ghosts reside here and come out to play at night. They got you good." And the man's face turned as white as the ghosts themselves.
   
Author's Note: This story is based off of the Chinese Fairy Tale Unit's story of The Night on the Battlefield. I love ghost stories and therefore loved this fairy tale! I decided to change the time period from when it was told in older China and also change the setting to Texas since that's my home land! Ghost stories happen in the past and the present, so it works really well in both time periods I believe. I hope you enjoyed it!

Bibliography: R. Wilhelm, Frederick H. Martens, The Chinese Fairy Book, 1921.

Week 6 Reading Diary: Chinese Fairy Tales

Chinese Fairy Tales

The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck

Wow what a sad story. The poor princess just never caught a break. I wonder what happened to her during those 18 years of her husband's absence that caused her ill luck. She was a good, faithful person who had bad things happen to her. The fates just weren't on her side.

The Panther

Oh boy, this one was weird. How did the panther actually look like a mother. That didn't make any sense to me. Those poor girls. I wonder why they went to bed when the panther showed up? I would panic, not sleep.

Yang Oerlang

This one isn't bad! I liked it a lot actually. I love stories that explain the phenomena of the earth. Learning about why there are pearls on the bottom of the plant that saved the sun, why there is only one sun, and why the earthworms can't stand the sun. It was good!
 

The Girl with the Horse's Head or the Silkworm Goddess

Okay what? Do people just make up these stories off the top of their head? This one was odd. It hinted at bestiality, which I have not yet read in any of the units so that was new! The horses's skin wrapped itself around the girl, she died, and turned into a silk worm? Hahaha what the heck.

The King of Ants

I loved this story so so much!! It was so different and I could see the scenes playing in my head the whole time, it was awesome. I felt like the scholar watching all of this! I really want to write my storytelling for this week on this one. I haven't heard a story like this before. Awesome!

The Little Hunting Dog

This one is very similar to the last one! The Chinese Fairy Tales have a weird reoccurring motif of mini soldiers/warriors. I still like the The King of Ants better. These little warriors are very friendly though, and helpful. I'm really sad the dog died though...

The Talking Silver Foxes

Yeah this story is really confusing. There's a talking fox that people want to hurt when it's not even doing anything? And then there's a woman that is possessed by a spirit and the fox is the one that they try and kill? I am so confused. And then they killed it! But it could speak to them! So dumb.

The Night on the Battle Field

Whoa wait. I want to tell my storytelling on this one actually. I LOVE ghost stories. So much. I can do so much with this one. Being involved in an old battle field victory is so cool, I love this story. It was weird that the general's body was taken a part though.

The Sorcerer of the White Lotus Lodge

Um what? How did the sorcerer trick the soldiers? He was eaten by a giant. The only thing I can think of is that the giant was a friend or illusion created by the sorcerer. He had his wife and son eaten first so that they too would be saved and then himself. But the story seems to just kind of end...it doesn't explain how he tricked the soldiers.

How the River God's Wedding Was Broken Off

Ooo this is a good story. Killing off the people that most supported and enforced the custom. They were not eligible to be a bride but the sorcerers sure found pleasure in killing these young girls. I like when undeserving people get a taste of their own medicine. Way to go governor of the Yellow River!

Essay for Week 5: Insanity

Insanity

(Shah Abbas in Persia, Source: Wikipedia)

I am actually really stumped for what to write about for this week's essay. The stories in the Persian Tales unit are very odd. Very hard to follow. They are very entertaining, don't get me wrong, but they did not have any point or logic. It was almost as if the point of the stories got lost in translation from Persian to English. I feel like these stories were meant for children, to an extent. The death aspect of the tales are what prevent me from fully thinking they're for kids.

For example, The Wolf and the Goat, was a good story for kids. It told them to not give up on what they want. It also shows kids that moms are determined to keep them safe. The goat kills the wolf by means of over drinking water in order to get her kids back. She was so determined and not afraid of the big bad wolf because her kids were in harm's way. This was an odd story, but the ideas given are positive ones.

The City of Nothing in the World was ESPECIALLY weird and hard to follow for me. There was absolutely no point! There also was no death, which made this the most kid friendly story of them all! Kids are really good at weaving crazy stories at the drop of a hat and this seemed like a tale straight from the mouth of babes! Eggs magically turning into chickens, making poles out of needles, gigantic watermelons being fallen into, and cities inside fruits. I never would have come up with this.

The one story that made any sense was Shah Abbas and the Poor Mother. This ine was a story for kids on how to be good to others no matter the circumstances. The weird part of this one was that when the Shah was nice to the mother, it backfired and she was arrested for stealing something she didn't steal. He was nice and honorable a second time around and everything turned out really well for the mother and the kids! The bad guys were arrested and everyone lived happily ever after. This one probably made sense because bringing a bad name to the King of Iran would have been punishable by death. Either they think very highly of their king or they made a nice story about him to keep their lives. It makes sense! Raising children on the idea that they should love their rulers. It's very good.

Storytelling for Week 5- Inception: Persian Style

Inception: Persian Style

There once was a time where only God existed.

But there also was a young girl that was very accident prone and who lived in Norman, Oklahoma. One day she fell from her tree-house and cut her arm pretty badly. After a few days of healing, she went to her grandmother's house to use some antibiotic ointment.

The girl skipped her way to grandma's house only to be told that her grandma was all out of ointment! "Here my child," said Gran as she handed the girl two balloons, "Take these to the CVS on Asp and see if the pharmacist doesn't have any ointment you can trade him for."

(The Two Balloons Source: Balloons)

When the girl returned to her grandmother's house, this is the tale she told:

"I went to CVS, and on the way there I lost the two balloons. I was so upset, but I put my hands in my pocket and I found a penny. I wanted to get my balloons back, so I gave the penny to the pharmacist and he made a crow's nest out of a string.

"I climbed all the way up to the top of that crow's nest and looked all around Campus Corner to see if I couldn't spot the balloons. I saw one of my balloons had turned into one of the red telephone booths in front of Cafe Plaid, and the other was making donuts way far over in Hurts.

"So I told myself: "First, I'll go and get the donut worker balloon," and I went over to Hurts and said to the owner, "Give me back my balloon and his salary too, because he's been working unfairly for you." We discussed the situation at length and the owner agreed for me to have 200 donuts. I had no bag to hold my donuts, so I borrowed a cup from Chimey's and rode my balloon to Boyd Street because I wanted to sell my donuts.

(Hurts Donuts! Source: Om Nom Nom)

"Half way there, the balloon grew tired and I asked the people there what I should do to fix him. One of the men told me to rub grass on him and let him sleep a night. When I woke up I saw that a grass patch had grown on the balloon and that there was a huge apple also growing from the grass.

"I took my knife and cut the apple in half, only to have it fall into its enormous depths. Naturally, I put on my bathing suit and climbed into the apple to retrieve my knife. I was completely submerged in the apple and saw that there was an entire city there! I decided to grab a bite to eat from the local Pita Pitt and when I was done, I saw a piece of lettuce on my wrapper and I tried to pick it up.

"Upon picking up the lettuce, an entire train of schooner wagons came filling out! There were at least 8, but I didn't see any of the rest for I found my knife in my sun hat!"

And now my story has come to its end, but the chicken never crossed the road.


Author's Note: This week's Storytelling is based off of The City of Nothing In The World form the Persian Tales Unit. I found this story to be so extremely odd that I couldn't pass it up! You think my version is weird? Take the time to read the original!

Bibliography: D.L.R. Lorimer, E.O. Lorimer. Persian Tales: The City of Nothing in the World, 1919.