Extra Reading: Native American Hero Tales

 My extra reading was the Hero Tales of the Native American Unit.

I found the stories of the “Jealous Uncle” to be strange and terrifying for a child. I feel like most of these tales are passed down and told to generations of tribe members. I cannot imagine hearing a story about my uncle killing my siblings. In this story the young boy was the hero because he finally got rid of the mean uncle, but he also used all the resources he had to survive the obstacles that uncle put him through. I found the last of the story to be strange. I understood the significance of the eagle, but not how the child seemed to put on a suit and become one. I found this part very far-fetched and had a hard time wrapping my mind around it to create a mental image. The story did keep my attention because I was constantly worrying if the boy was going to survive or not. I do not know that I could use this story as a retelling because I don’t think I can create a scenario with an uncle that kills children. 

Hero Tales

Image from the story

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Storytelling Week 9: The Deer Ghost

There once was a man that decided to split from the tribe and attempt hunting on his own. His pray was deer that would feed his family for a couple weeks through the harsh winter ahead. He climbed up high in a tree and waited patiently with his bow and arrow for a deer to walk by.

Time went on and he did not see a single deer. He decided he would make camp that night and try again in the morning. When he went to rest for the night he heard some wrestling in the leaves near his camp. He thought it might be an intruder that could be dangerous. The man grabbed his knife and bow. He hid behind a large tree trying to hold his breath so the enemy could not hear him. By the light of the moon he saw a shadow on four legs.

The man was relieved that it was not a warrior of the woods that was there to take his belongings and kill him. However, when he studied the shadow it grew closer to camp, grazing on the acorns that were on the ground. Finally the shadow was close enough he could see the tall horns of a deer that would feed his family for at least 3 weeks.

The man thought he could manage a shot in the dark. He then pulled back on his bow string to let an arrow fly. The deer had no idea he was there and kept eating acorns. Soon the man let go when he had the perfect shot and the deer did not even flinch. How strange the man thought and he loaded his bow to try another shot. This time the deer looked up at him. The man and the deer made direct eye contact and it was if the deer could see directly into his soul. The hunter put down his bow and thought he would wait until the morning.

That morning the man had high hopes of seeing the buck he had encountered the night before. Instead the hunter saw several does that all had fawns. The tribe had always agreed to not shoot a doe that was able to reproduce or needed to provide for a fawn. The hunter waited patiently just hoping he would come back with meat. Soon a doe that was abnormally large walked out from the woods. The man pulled back and let the arrow fly from his bow. He climbed down from his tree to go harvest the deer. He suddenly felt the urge to look towards the woods in which he saw the big buck standing against the tree line.

When he went back to the tribal grounds he told all of the men about his journey. One of the elders of the tribe spoke up, “There is nothing wrong with your arrows son that is the deer ghost. He roams the woods at night to distract hunters that may be breaking the codes of the tribe by taking a deer when it is not daylight. He was struck once with an arrow while asleep by a white man. Your great grandfather nursed him back to help with certain native potions that made his life eternal.”

Author’s Note:

While reading The Man Who Shot a Ghost I thought about taking a different approach to the story. Several Native American tales have to do with animals or nature and how they are spirits. I wanted to make the deer a spirit. Another influence of this story was what is recently in the news about a young girl that shot a trophy buck. People tend to think that hunters are only about killing an animal for it to be a trophy. I think this attitude is shameful because our ancestors had to hunt for their food as well. Deer are harvested, not gunned down. If the meat is not used by hunters there are donation banks where the meat can be given to people who are in need. I also used the elder telling about the ghost story to imply that hunting is something that is passed down from generations. It should not be lost because there may be a day when every person has to provide for their own family.

The Man Who Shot a Ghost

Bibliography: “The Man Who Shot a Ghost” by Katharine Berry Judson from Myths and Legends of the Great Plains (1913).

Personal photo from my deer camera. I thought this foggy picture would represent a deer ghost well.

Reading Diary B: The Great Plains

 This week I read the Great Plains Unit.

The Ghost and the Traveler

I thought this story was really short. It differs from other stories because it does not refer to a God but instead the “Thunder Beings.” I found it a bit amusing that the man’s response to seeing the woman with no legs was that she might choke him.

The Man Who Shot a Ghost

I thought this story was very interesting because the ghost he had wounded turned out to be a person that had been shot in the head.

The Wakanda, or Water God

This story actually does use a God to show power. It was interesting to see some of the Native American customs that were shown in the story, such as painting their bodies. Many of them would use paint for war, or hunting. In this case they were trying to get their child back. I also thought it was another reference to culture about the white dog that the water god wanted.

The Spirit Land

This story was probably my favorite from this unit. I thought it showed the significance of the term “crow” to the Native American people. Their leader showed no fear and a solution to a problem.

I enjoyed reading this unit. I noticed how it was written in a different language compared to what we are used to reading, which shows the culture of the text.

I thought this image was fitting for this unit. 

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Reading plan

My tentative reading schedule will start with the Native American Unit in week 9 with Regional Anthologies with the Great Plains. I plan to continue reading in week 10 with the same unit but explore Thematic Anthologies Hero Tales. I like stories about heroes and heroines so I think I will find this section the most interesting in the Native American Unit.  In the next unit, British, I am interested in reading the hero tales; especially those about Robin Hood and Beowulf because I enjoyed the story of Robin Hood as a child. In week 12 I would read the Celtic Tales. In week 13 and 14 I would be reading the European Unit. In this Unit I would like to read Brothers Grimm since that is what inspired my storybook. I think the hunt and Crane Units would be entertaining. The Italian Fairy tales would be my next choice.

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Reflections: Looking foward

Looking Back:

In this 8 week of class I find myself being a tad behind. Last week I struggled because I had a huge lab practical and a test that consumed most of my time. I was not very successful at juggling that and doing my homework over the weekend. I usually do most of my homework at my friends or at my own home. I do not utilize the library as much as I probably should because I tend to only be on campus for short periods of time. I like the class being online and that you can work at your own pace. My favorite readings have probably been from the Aesop (Winter) Fables. I liked those because it was stories I had heard when I was a child. They also helped inspired my storybook choice. One of my favorite stories I wrote was about the Old Oak Tree. I liked that I was able to tell my audience a piece of information about my hometown.

 Looking Forward:

I would like to try new strategies such as making an actual schedule of my time. I think this would help me to get my assignments turned in on time and to better prepare for class. I struggle with donating time after work to do online assignments because I get easily distracted by other things that need to be done at home. I think this is where it would be beneficial to go to the library or another setting to do my homework. I will continue to work with new strategies to finish my work on time. I do not like worrying about homework even though sometimes it does get pushed to the “back burner.”

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Storytelling week 7: Eddie's first date

Eddie was a tremendous football player. He was well liked by all of his coaches at the university. He was the fastest running back that any of them had ever seen in their careers. Athletically he was at the top of the food chain, but with the ladies he was not as popular. He only knew how to play football. He hadn’t had a father figure to tell him how to treat a woman.

His teammates teased Eddie about his awkwardness around girls. Prom was coming up soon and Eddie figured he just wouldn’t go. He thought he would pick up an extra shift at the local 7/11 where he worked on the weekends. His teammates wanted to help Eddie get a date. They knew he wouldn’t do it on his own.

 They knew Eddie had his eye on Sabrina. She was captain of the cheerleading squad and the most popular girl in school. The boys knew exactly how they were going to get Eddie a date. He needed a new sense of fashion. Eddie looked like his mother still picked out his clothes because he wore clothes from the local thrift shop. 

The boys thought they could help Eddie if they created him a new image. So they took Eddie to the mall and bought him new jeans and a collared shirt. They also took him to get a haircut and got him some gel to put in his hair.

 The next day the boys encouraged Eddie to ask Sabrina to prom. Eddie was super nervous and did not even know how he would talk to such a pretty girl. Finally he found the courage and he walked up to her on his way to class.

 “Hey Sabrina! How’s it going?” Eddie said.

 Sabrina turned around shocked at Eddie’s appearance. “Um.. good.. Eddie?” she asked.

 Eddie knew by the look on her face she was shocked that he could clean up well. “Would you like to have dinner with me tonight, around 7?” Eddie asked. 

Sabrina still had an astonished look on her face but she managed to mumble a “sure.” 

That night Eddie and Sabrina went to the Dairy Queen for dinner.

 “Sabrina, there something I wanted to ask you…” She turned her head and looked at Eddie “ask away,” she replied. 

Eddie took a deep breath, “Would you go to prom with me?”

Sabrina looked at Eddie confused “is that why you went and bought new clothes?” 

Eddie looked at his plate, because he knew for sure her answer was no. 

Sabrina continued the conversation, “because you could have asked me with that dorky haircut and I would have said yes. Appearance isn’t everything Eddie.”

Author's Note: 

I wrote this story based on the idea of Anansi and Nothing. In the West African Tale, Anansi and nothing set out to find wives. Nothing was dressed in fancy clothes and Anansi was not because he was poor. Anansi convenience Nothing to switch him clothes, and of course Anansi received all the attention. Later when they brought their wives home the ones of Anansi soon realized they were fooled and had picked a poor husband. Nothing's wife tried to share the wealth with the others and Anansi got jealous and killed Nothing. I thought this story was a good representation that looks may make a person appealing, but they are simply not everything.  

Bibliography:

“Anansi and Nothing” by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair from West African Folktales (1917).

Anansi and Nothing


I thought this picture was important to remember because Anansi is supposed to resemble a spider in most West African Tales.
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Reading Diary B: West African Tales

West African Tales

Why the Moon and the Stars Receive Their Light from the Sun

Characters:

·         Anansi

·          Kweku Tsin

·         Dragon

·         Prisoners

·         Cock

Plot: Anansi and his son were looking for food. They had harvested a deer and Anansi left to find materials to carry it. Kweku Tsin was to stay with the deer but he became worried and started to call out for his father. His call brought the evil dragon to his location. He hid the first time but his father insisted on seeing the creature. The evil monster captured them and kept them in prison in his castle. Kweku Tsin made an escape plan that worked. The Gods were pleased and that is how he became the sun, his father the moon, and the prisoners the stars.

I liked this story. I thought it was suspenseful and enjoyed the ending about how he became the sun. My favorite character was Kweku Tsin because he never gave up and led the people to safety. He also put the safety of others first instead of himself.

How the Tortoise got its Shell

Characters:

·         Chief Mauri

·         Koklovi

·         Klo (turtle)

Plot: Chief Mauri wanted to send Klo to pick up some wine for his yam party. Klo picked up the wine but he had a few drinks, which slowed down his usually fast travel time. Once he got back to the castle they were having the party without him and it was raining. It rained for two months before anyone came out of the castle. When they finally did they found Klo dead underneath the weight of all that Mauri had asked Klo to bear. He had formed a shell from all of the earth and weight that had surrounded him. That is how he got his shell. He was later restored to life.

I enjoyed this story as well. I liked that the stories I read had meanings about life. This one stuck out to me because it could be related to a scenario in life so easily. This section might have been one of my favorites, which is why I chose two to really emphasize because it was hard to choose.  

I liked this picture of the tortoise. 

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Reading Diary A: West African Tales

How We Got the Name "Spider Tales"

Characters:

·         Nyankupon

·         Anansi

·         Tiger

·         Bees

·         Boa

Plot: To bring Nyankupon what he wanted to prove that the tales should be named after Anansi. The spider used his wit to capture everything Nyankupon wanted and sent it back to him. I thought the spider was very clever. I can think of someone people and children that are like the spider that are clever to get what they want. I was shocked at how the spider was able to convince the tiger to sew up his eyes. I was also surprised that the spider lived through those encounters.

How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race

Characters:

·         Father Anansi

·         Kweku Tsin

Plot: Father Anansi wanted to keep all of his knowledge from the country’s men because they usually came to him for guidance. He planned to hide his knowledge so he put all of it in a pot and set out to find the tallest tree so that no one could reach it. He was followed by his son who turned out to contain more knowledge than father Anansi.

I thought this story was extremely short, but it had a good moral.

Anansi and Nothing

Characters:

·         Anansi

·         Nothing

·         Nothing’s wife

Plot: Anansi and Nothing wanted to find a wife. Anansi did not have money like Nothing so he convinced Nothing to switch him clothes. All of the women were attracted to Anansi because they thought he had money.  They were tricked. Nothing was then killed by Anansi and his wife was so distraught that she fed all of the children yams so that they could cry with her.

This was my favorite tale I read because of the lesson at the end of the story. That the children were “crying for nothing.” 

West African Tales

A child crying for nothing.

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Essay: Tricksters and Fools of Filipino Tales

I chose to focus on the tricksters and fools for my essay. In the first story I read the Buñgisñgis was a trickster and a fool. He fooled the animals into cooking him dinner and making them feel threatened by his presence. However, the monkey in the story was also a trickster because he escaped from the Buñgisñgis a few times using his wit. The dog and the Carabao were the fools in the story, which resulted in death or being harmed. I thought this story was unique because the enemy received punishment as well.

The three brothers of fortune had a different twist. The trickster was harder to define but I would say it would have been the grandmother for allowing the boys to have different charms. By using their charms they were able to get what they wanted in life. This including trying to gain a wife. In a way Suan was also a trickster to his brothers because he was able to use the two halves of the girl to bring her back to life for himself. The boys showed selfish behavior about the girl and were possessive.  

In The Clever Husband and Wife the husband was the trickster. He believed he could fool the doctor to give him more money. Later his wife tried her own tricks as well to gain more money. In this story the doctor was the fool. He was so taken with the joke they continued to play that he kept them even when he found out about the mockery.

I did not find a specific pattern to a trickster and fool in the Filipino popular tales. Other than that there was usually more than one trickster and that they usually received pay back from the fool. In some stories the trickster and the fool appeared as the same character.  

Filipino Tales

I thought this MEME explained the fools. Picture Source