Reading Diary Week 14: Grimm (Ashliman)

Grimm (Ashliman)

The Singing Bone

A king sent two brothers to kill a wild boar.  Whoever brought the wild boar back would receive the king's daughter in marriage.  The youngest son who was innocent and kind hearted set out to kill the boar and with the help of a dwarf managed to do so.  The older brother ended up at a party and was jealous that his brother killed the boar.  He tricked his brother and murdered him claiming the prize for himself.  He wed the daughter of the king and years later a shepherd found the bones of the murdered brother and they sang the story of what happened.  The king found out and ordered the living brother to be drowned.

Old Sultan

An old dog was soon to be killed by his master because he was of no use anymore.  The dog's wolf friend made a plan to steal his masters baby and let Sultan save him and bring him back.  This plan worked and the master was full of joy and decided to keep Sultan around and treat him royally.  The wolf felt as if Sultan owed him a favor and went to take his master's sheep.  Sultan had told his master about the wolf and the master was able to catch the wolf in the act, saving his sheep.  The wolf was mad and wanted to fight with sultan but was frightened by Sultan's three legged cat friend and eventually they called a truce.

The Little Lamb and The Little Fish

A stepmother hated her stepdaughter and stepson.  She bewitched the children turning the boy into a fish and the girl into a lamb.  The fish swam sadly in the pond and the lamb walked lonely in the meadow.  Guest came to the castle one day and the stepmother sent the cook out to kill the lamb for dinner.  After hearing the lamb talk to the fish, the cook knew the stepmother must have put a curse on the kids.  He took them to a lady who had been the nurse of the little girl and knew it was her.  She undid the curse and sent the children away to live happily.

Death's Messengers

Death got beat up by a giant and a youth came by and helped him back up.  Death was grateful the boy helped him but could not negotiate with him.  Death made the youth a promise that he would give the youth a warning before he came to take him away.  The boy lived day by day, cheerfully.  He began to be sick and his health declined.  The youth knew Death would bring his messengers first so he was hoping to be healthy again before his time would come.  Then one day Death came and told him he had one hour left.  The youth did not realize that the sickness and bad health was Death's messengers.

Eve's Unequal Children

Adam and Eve had several children and some were beautiful and some were ugly.  Hearing that the Lord would be visiting their home, Eve hid the ugly children.  The Lord came and blessed all of her pretty children and this made Eve think that he would share his blessing with her ugly children also.  She brought the children out and the Lord blessed them also.  Eve thought that the Lord did not share his blessings equally.  The Lord explained to her that the world needs many different things to function and each child would play an equal part no matter what the position was.

Reading Diary Week 13: Italian Fairy Tales

Italian Fairy Tales

Zelinda and the Monster

A man had three daughters, Rosina, Marietta, and Zelinda.  Zelinda was the youngest and her older sisters envied her.  The man went to town and got the older girls gifts of a dress and shawl but could not find Zelinda’s rose any where other than a secret garden.  When he picked the rose, a monster arose.  The man had to die or return with Zelinda.  The monster fell in love with Zelinda and treated her like a princess, constantly asking her to be his wife.  He gave her an ultimatum that her father would die if she didn’t consent to be married.  She said yes and the monster turned into a handsome young man who had been cursed by a witch.

Water and Salt

A king questioned his three daughters to see who loved him the most.  One said as much as her eyes, the second said as much as her heart, and the third said as much as water and salt.  He was offended by the last daughter and called for the executioners.  The other sisters secretly gave the executioners a dog to kill in place of their sister.  A magician who took her to another king found the sister who was to be killed and his son fell in love with her.  Before the wedding, they had to kill the magician and she had to invite her father and a few other kings and give everyone salt and water except her father.  He was not able to eat the food without the salt and water and the daughter finally exposed who she was.  The point was proven to her father and they lived happily ever after.

Catherine and Her Fate

Catherine told her fate that she would rather live in old age than youth.  Her father’s ships had been robbed and he lost all of his money.  He then grew ill and died.  Catherine was left with no money or a house.  She left and was taken in by a noble lady who decided to leave the house one day.  Catherine’s fate came to the house and tore everything in it to pieces.  Catherine feared being killed by her noble lady and fled.  When she left her fate cleaned everything up leaving the noble lady to question where Catherine had gone.  Catherine was then taken in by another noble lady and her fate did the same thing as before.  This continued on for seven years. 

Catherine and Her Fate (cont.)

Catherine finally was able to talk to her fate and her fate led her to a castle.  She grabbed the attention of a King because she was wearing golden silk given to her by her fate.  The King fell in love with her and married her and after that Catherine enjoyed her old age.

An Incident in Rome

A wagon got stuck in a hole and the carter named, Master Francis, was sent down into the hole.  He finds a man who would only tell him his name by writing it on Master Francis's back and he can only show it to the pope.  When the pope read the writing on Master Francis, it said "I am Pilate."  When he said this, Master Francis turned to stone.  For the man in the hole was Pilate who was condemned to stay in a hole and read what he had said to Jesus Christ and never look up from his paper.

Reading Diary Week 12: English Fairy Tales

English Fairy Tales

The Rose Tree

The stepmother of a little girl asked her to get candles from the store.  Each time the girl tried to climb over the stile, a dog stole the candles.  The stepmother was angry and out of jealousy for the little girls beauty chopped off her head.  The little girls brother took the body and buried it under a rose tree where a bird sang a song everyday.  The bird sang the song throughout the town and it caused the stepmother to die.

Mouse and Mouser

A rhyme of a conversation between a cat and a mouse.  The cat is busy spinning a pair of breeches and the mouse is talking to the cat.  The mouse said it had gone to the market and bought pudding that the cat ate.  The cat then pounced on the mouse and ate it.

Johnny Cake

A little boy was told to watch the Johnny cake his mom put in the oven.  The Johnny cake jumped out of the oven and rolled away from the man, woman, and boy.  It continued to out run 2 well diggers, 2 ditch diggers, a bear, and a wolf.  A fox tricked him by pretending he could not hear and Johnny cake got too close and the fox ate him.

Fairy Ointment

Dame Goody was a nurse.  One night a man whisked her away on a horse to take his wife's baby because she was ill.  The mother handed Dame goody the baby and some ointment.  She was curious and put the ointment on her own eyes and everything changed.  The house was elegant and the kids turned into pixies.  She was able to see the old man afterwards and he punched her eye, making her blind.

Reading Diary Week 11: Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes

Tales

Babes in the Wood- two children were left alone in the woods.  There were never found and eventually died.  The birds covered them with leaves.

The Lion and the Unicorn- a lion beat a unicorn for a crown.  They were given various foods then sent out of town.

Taffy was a Welshman- a man named taffy took something from a friends house while he was gone.  They continued taking things from each other until one day his friend poked him with a poker.

Charms and Lullabies

Rock-a-bye-baby- A baby in a tree top will fall when the wind blows.

Cushy Cow Bonny- someone is milking a cow.  They are going to make gowns and a tee out of the milk.

Love and Matrimony

Jack and Jill- they climb up a hill to get water and they both tumble down

Georgie Porgie- Georgie would kiss the little girls making them cry.  When the girls later came out to play he would run away.

Relics

Willy Boy- goes to pasture to watch them cut the hay.

Little Miss Muffett- Miss Muffett was eating curds of whey when a spider crawled next to her.  She was frightened and ran from the spider.

What are Little Boys Made Of?- little boys are made of puppy dog tales and snails and the girls are compared to them as made of sugar and spice.

Reading Diary Week 10: Eskimo Folk Tales

Eskimo Folk Tales

(Inuit Family: Wikipedia)

The Coming of the Men

This story is the tale of how men, dogs, and women came to the earth.  It gave a simple explanation of how the people came to earth and also how the earth was created.  This tale also said that when men die they go to the sky to shine bright.  It talked about how the earth is light and dark.

The Giant Dog

The tale of the giant dog is about a man and his wife who never had a son but had giant dog instead.  This dog began to eat people and the man and his wife had to move islands.  The man who owned the dog realized that the dog was sneaking a way for a couple of days and would bring back the legs of the inland dwellers.  This is why inland dwellers are afraid of dogs.

The Wife Who Lied

Navaránâpaluk was from a tribe of man eaters.  She wed to a man who was from a tribe that were not man eaters.  One day she left and lied about her husband's tribe to make her kinfolk feel sorry for her.  Her family went out to kill the wives of her husbands tribe.  She got caught in her lie and was eventually killed.

Tungujuluk and Saunikoq

Two men who were wizards. One turned into a bear and the other a walrus.  Saunikog was jealous of Tungujuluk because he had a son and Saunikog did not have any children.  Using their animal forms, they both changed shape and tricked each other.  Saunikog was called out for his evil planning and with great shame he left and was never seen again.

Reading Diary Week 9: Tejas Legends

Tejas Legends

Why The Woodpecker Pecks

The legend of why woodpecker's peck. Woodpecker's were once indians.  A tribe of indians ate mescal berries after the medicine man told them not to because it would give them strange visions.  When they all ate the berries they quit feeding their children who eventually became hungry and went to search for food. The God, Manitou, sheltered the children in the hollows of trees.  He made a deal with the parents if they wanted their children back they'd be turned into birds that pecked the hollows of the trees looking for their children.

Woodpecker's Stumpy Tail

A frog warned the indians and the woodpeckers that there was a flood coming.  They didn't listen and then when the flood came the indians all got washed away.  The woodpecker flew to the highest branch it could find but it's tail still dangled in the water.  A fish swimming by took a bite out of it's tail and caused the woodpecker to have a short jagged tail.

Why Humming Birds Drink Only Dew

A heron and a humming bird owned a lake.  They made a bet that who ever could fly to the end of the lake first would be the only bird allowed to drink out of the lake.  The hummingbird could fly faster than the heron but could not fly at night and did not know it would take him more than a day to get to the end of the lake.  The hummingbird had to stop and sleep in a tree while the heron flew through the night.  The heron beat the hummingbird and that is why the hummingbird can not drink out of the lake so it just drinks the dew.

When the Rainbow was Torn

A rainbow, heavy with rain, began to sink to the earth.  It noticed too late a bush of cactus flowers.  The end of the rainbow tried to avoid the thorns but could not miss them in time.  The red, orange, and yellow colors hit the thorns and the white petals of the cactus flower soaked in the colors.

Why the Dog Ears Flop

When dogs were wild their ears stood straight up with confidence.  One day a wild dog made a deal with an indian to protect their camp.  He became friends with man but was still confident with his ears up scaring off any intruders.  A pack of wolves tricked the dog and was able to steal all of the meat from the camp.  The indians beat the dog and the dogs ears flopped and his tail went between his legs.  Now dogs ears flop when they are afraid of man.

Reading Diary Assessment

When I first began the reading diary, I thought I had to read every single story in the unit and take notes on each story as well.  This process took me a very long time to get through the reading diary assignments.  It was hard for me to read and enjoy the story because I was trying to read and take notes as fast as I could.  After viewing other students’ reading diaries and the instructions, I realized I did not have to take notes on all the stories in the unit.  I then began to read the stories in the unit and pick the ones I thought were interesting or could see myself using as my storytelling story for the next assignment.  This cut down a lot of the time I was spending taking notes.  For my notes, I just simply right a summary of events that happened in the story and if there is a lesson to be taught I will write that down as well.  Although you do not have to take notes on each story, it is still important to read each story in the unit.  In a lot of the units, the stories are consecutive and tie in with each other.  If you skip a couple of stories, read one, then skip some and read another one they won’t make a lot of sense.  It is also helpful to read all of the stories in the unit even if they are not consecutive because there is usually a reoccurring theme for that unit.  This helps me determine what types of stories are usually told and how they are written for specific countries, religions, or other topics.  It is very helpful when writing the story for the storytelling assignment to look back on my reading diary.  This helps refresh my memory but also including the links to the stories is very helpful.  Sometimes I need more detail then what I put in my notes.  The links are included in the reading diary and this makes it easy to refer back to the whole story itself.

Reading Diary Week 7: West African Folktales

West African Folktales

(Spider: Pixabay)

How We Got the Name Spider Tales

Anansi the spider was jealous that all the folk tales were about the God, Nyankupon.  The God made a deal with Anansi that if he brought him a jar of bees, a boa, and a lion then all the stories could be named after him.  He completed these task and the God named all the folktales "spider tales".

Thunder and Anansi

Anansi and his family were enduring a famine and he went to search for food.  He came across an old man at the Thunder Cottage under the water.  This old man gave him a magical pot that would supply him with wonderful food all of the time.  Instead of taking it back to his family to share, he kept it all to himself.  His family found out and stole it from him and made everyone a meal which melted the pot.  

The Moon and the Stars

Anansi's son, Kweku Tsin, encounters a dragon while him and his dad our hunting.  The dragon captures them and Kweku Tsin comes up with an idea to build a ladder out of bones to climb to the heavens.  He frees all of the dragons slaves and is named the sun, source of light.  Anansi is given the Moon and all of their friends are the stars.

Elephant and the Wren

Anansi tricks the King's servant into not watching him so he could chop down a tree with an ax.  He cuts down the tree and receives the reward of an elephant to take home to his family for dinner.  His selfishness takes over and he seeks to kill a wren for his family to eat instead.  The wren flies away from him and when he returns his elephant is gone.

Reading Diary Week 6: Tibetan Folk Tales

Tibetan Folk Tales

The Tiger and the Frog
A tired and hungry tiger is in search of food.  He comes across a frog who tricks him into thinking that the frog is stronger than him and can eat him.  The tiger runs away and finds a fox who tells him they can eat the frog.  They go back to the frog and the tiger gets scared again and runs away dragging the fox behind him.

Ingratitude of Man
A traveler saves three animals, a bird, a rat, and a snake.  He also saves a man that is with them and he thinks that only the man can be his friend and pay him back.  During the story the bird, the rat, and the snake bring him jewels, food, and save him from prison.  The man was the one who sent the traveler to prison making the traveler realize that he doubted the animals but they were the ones who were loyal.

The Man and The Ghost
A man and a ghost become friends.  The ghost goes into town as the man stays in the barley fields which the ghost is afraid of.  The ghost comes back with the soul of the Kings' son in a bag and leaves it with the man.  The man then takes the sack to the king and heals his son.  He is then given a great deal of goods.

The Golden Squash
Two old men live next to each other and  have gardens.  The first old man sincerely cared for an injured bird and received a seed to a golden squash in return.  The second old man deliberately injured a bird pretending to care about healing it in order to get the seed of a golden squash.  The bird brings back a seed and a huge squash grows but there is a man inside of it who was sent by the King of lower regions and he kills the old man.

Two Little Cats
Two little cats run into a Handre which is a very bad thing to come across.  They were afraid and found many other animals and objects to come home with them to protect them.  They stationed each animal and object around their house and hid when the Handre came.  The animals and objects did their jobs and ended with the dog eating the Handre.  The cats were able to eat dinner in peace.

Week 5 Reading Diary: Twenty Two Goblins

Twenty Two Goblins

(Goblin in a Leaf: Sketchport)

Goblins: The Three Lovers
The Brahman youths are intrigued by a beautiful girl named Coral.  She dies and the three of them profess their love in different ways.  In the end the third one is pronounced the husband as she comes back to life because he stayed with her body and endured a hard life for her after she dies. This story is told by a goblin from a dead body that the king was sent for in the introduction.

Goblins: Food, Women, Cotton
In this story, there are three brothers.  They each believe they a have a specialty in life.  The first brother thinks he has a speciality food, the second says his specialty is women and the third brother says his in cotton.  They brothers are in search of a turtle for their father when they encounter challenges to prove their specialities.

Goblins: The Four Scientific Suitors
A king named Heroic and his queen named Lotus go to the Ganges River and ask Shiva to give them children.  They have a son, Brave, and a daughter, Grace. Four scientific good looking men suitable for his daughter came to him.  They each told him their talent and the Goblin telling the story to the king ask him who they should pick.  He decides on the warrior man who still had some manhood.

The Snakes Poison
The goblin tells a story of a Brahman named Hariswami whose wife gets taken from him.  He goes on searches for her and ends up getting poisoned by a snake whose poison accidentally falls into his food.  The king tells the goblin that he believes that Hariswami was to blame for killing himself rather than anyone else.

The Generals Wife
A story about a king who was told bad things about a girl named Passion whom he was supposed to marry.  He decided not to before even meeting her and she was given to the General Force.  One day the king saw Passion and fell madly in love.  He found out that she was the one he had turned down and grew in depression.  The general heard about this and as a slave of the king offered his wife over to him.  The king did not want to let people down in his iniquity and ended up killing himself.

Week 4: Turkish Fairy Tales

Turkish Fairy Tales

Fear
A young boy begins a journey of seeking fear.  He questions it many times along the way when he encounters the dead, is almost strangled, and is faced with the gods.  He becomes the Shah because he has no fear until they place an unexpected bird in a covered flatter and the youth is frightened.

Fish Peri
A youth discovers his fathers way of making money was selling fish.  He is in need of money and begins to fish also.  He is surprised when he begins fishing and bringing the fish home, his house becomes magically clean.  He discovers that the fish turns into a maiden who he falls in love with and marries.  Then the Padishah falls in love with his wife also and tries to take her away.  The youth with the help of the maiden accomplishes every task that is asked of him in order to keep his wife.

Patience Stone and Patience Knife
A maiden and her daughter are troubled by a bird that continuously tells the young girl "she will find her kismet in a dead person."  The girl goes off into the woods with friends when she is suddenly separated by a magically appearing wall.  She discovers within 40 rooms gold, silver, emeralds, ect.  She discovers her kismet by praying and fanning over the Bey.  She becomes his wife and she sends him to find a patience stone and a patience knife.  After he retrieves these items she discovers he is fake and finds her real kismet.

The Liver
In search of liver for her mother, a young girl sets off retrieving several items in order to get the liver a stork stole from her.  She dutifully completes every task by finishing with a kiss to the peasant.

Kunterbunt
A bald man wishes to marry a beautiful princess.  He is asked to do impossible task while in the mean time the princess is arranged to marry someone else.  The bald youth cast spells on everyone freezing them where they are until he finally convinces the father of the princess to let him marry her.

Week 3 Reading Diary: The Gospel of Mark

The Gospel of Mark

John the Baptist and Jesus

John baptizes people in water and shares that only Jesus can baptize with the Holy Spirit.  John is sent into the wilderness for 40 days to fight satan.  After his days in the wilderness, John is put in prison.  Jesus continues to minister to people in Galilee.  In Galilee, Jesus encounters Andrew, Simon, John, and James.  Jesus cast out demons, heals the diseased, and heals the leper.

Jesus and The Twelve

The pharisees have a debate on what is holy and unholy on the Sabbath day.  Jesus names calls his twelve disciples.

Jesus the Healer

Jesus cast out the demon Legion into a heard of pigs and sends them off the cliff. He also heals a dying women and raises a dead girl back to life.

Death of John the Baptist

Jesus sends out his twelve disciples to preach the word of God, cast out demons, and anoint those who believe with oil.  Herod sends an executioner to retrieve the head of John the Baptist.

Miracles of Jesus

Jesus feeds thousands with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish. In Gennesaret many our healed by Jesus.  He feeds many with bread and fish again in The Loaves and Fishes again reading.

More Teachings of Jesus
Jesus speaks with the disciples about adultery and the laws of Moses.  He also speaks with the children, saying all children who believe will inherit the kingdom.  He makes a point on how difficult it is for rich people to make it into heaven because they can not give up worldly possessions in their life to follow Jesus.

More Parables of Jesus
Parable of the vineyard, husbandmen, sons, and inheritance.

The Last Supper
Jesus has the last supper where he breaks bread as it resembles the body of Christ and they drink the wine as it resembles Christ blood.

Week 2 Reading Diary: Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche: Homepage

The Captive Woman
My heart aches for both Lucius and the captive girl.  She has been taken from her wealthy family and protective home.  I would be hysterical like she is if I were stolen by thieves!  It is also detrimental that they have no food or goods to make the environment a little better.

Her Dream
To add even more heartbreak, the girl tells the old woman that she was kidnapped on her wedding day!  I can not imagine sharing a precious moment with my mother before I walk down the aisle only to be taken a back by robbers bursting into my room and taking me against my will.  The dream she has definitely does not help the situation.

Psyche's Beauty
I've heard this story a couple of times but it still astonishes me that Venus would be so envious of Psyche's beauty because Psyche did not choose her looks.  She is the way she was made and it really is out of her control.  I also do know the feeling of jealousy and since Venus is the Goddess of Beauty I'm sure it is difficult for people to be worshipping some other girl.

The Oracle of Apollo
I think this is such an interesting twist in the story that Psyche may be the most beautiful of all but she has no potential husband.  It also compares her to her "plain" sisters who have things going for them in their lives.

The Magical Palace
Oh to be Psyche right now! How glorious would it be to just be given such a glorious home?  I was as astonished as she was at the detailed description of the beautiful home and also that the place was not locked up...  Another thing that would make me raise a red flag is that all the servants and voices she heard were from invisible bodies.

The Mysterious Husband
It is crazy to think how in love Psyche is with her mysterious husband.  At first I was scared for her because of the threats Cupid was sending her way if she told anyone about her being alive.  I became relieved once he agrees to let her see her sisters but I am also expecting it to not go over well.

The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters
At first, I am in complete agreement with Psyche's sisters.  They have every right to question her and all the wonderful gifts she has received.  If I had a sister I would want to know who she was dating let alone married to!  Unfortunately, the sisters then fall in to the trap and begin to reject Psyche.  They team up and bully her saying she is undeserving of a wonderful life.

Psyche's Husband Warns Her
I would have to say that Cupid really did give Psyche a fair warning.  There is so much pressure on her also now that their future child is depending on her actions.  This was an exciting part of the story because it showed that Cupid may be revealing himself to his wife soon!

Fears and Doubts
The story has definitely taken a turn for the worse.  The sisters have convinced Psyche that she must kill her husband to become free again.  After all the warning from her husband, Psyche's naivety takes the best of her as she listens to her sisters lies.  However, I do not blame Psyche for being easily convinced.  She knows her sisters but she has never even seen the face of her husband.

Psyche's Husband Revealed
At last Cupid is revealed to Psyche! I've been waiting for this moment from the beginning of the story.  Although it does not exactly end happy, it's almost a relief that she finally knows who she's been married to and who she is having a child with.

Psyche's Despair
Those poor sisters.  It is almost karma because they tricked Psyche into killing her husband out of pure jealousy.  However, I think this is the point in the story where Psyche finally realizes the intentions of her sisters.

Venus and the Goddess
Venus learns that her son Cupid is in love with Psyche.  She is not happy about this event taking place and sets out to do some more damage.

Psyche's Prayer
Psyche approaches Ceres and Juno in hopes that will help her in the predicament she is in.  Both God's are unwilling to help because of their relationship with Venus.

Venus and Mercury
Venus has Mercury search for Psyche.  He offers a reward of kisses from Venus in hopes that all the mortal men will help look and turn in Psyche.

Venus and Psyche
Psyche is captured and brought to Venus.  After her servants punish Psyche, Venus herself beats and tortures Psyche.  Astonished by everything that is happening, Psyche is helpless and confused at Venus' reactions.

Psyche's Task
It is so heart wrenching that Psyche and Cupid are locked away under the same roof but separated from each other.  Venus sends Psyche on a dangerous mission to retrieve golden sheep wool and a  deity helps Psyche accomplish the task.

 The Third Task
Psyche is helped again by a God in order to complete another dangerous task.

The Jar of Beauty
Given the task to deliver the jar to Tartarus, by Venus.  Psyche is given very specific task on how to deliver this jar  in a successful manner.  She is also warned by a helpful deity to fight her curiosity or she will surely fail.  Psyche's curiosity gets the best of her once again as she opens the jar.

The Sleep of the Dead
Psyche opens the jar and immediately is over come by sleep.  Cupid however comes to her rescue encouraging her to finish the task asked by Venus.  He also tells Psyche that he will take care of everything else and he goes to Jupiter for help.

The Wedding Feast
With the help of Jupiter, Cupid and Psyche are allowed marriage.  Psyche then becomes immortal and gives birth to a daughter.  The robbers from the Golden Ass return as the old woman finishes the story.

The Escape
Lucius has the courage to escape from the old woman as the robbers are away again.  He fights her and is able to escape and save the young girl also.