Week 14: Famous Last Words

Hi everyone! So, this week has been pretty crazy.  I am preparing to graduate on the 13th of December, which is coming up far to quickly for my liking.  I will, thankfully, not have to enter the real world too soon, as I was accepted into the University of Oklahoma's Human Relations program.  I am looking forward to coming back to OU, especially as I will finally be getting an apartment, rather than staying in the dorms again.  This week was difficult because I have a lot of papers due either this week or the day after Thanksgiving break.  One of the papers is due Wednesday by midnight.  Thankfully, I am almost done with this paper and just have to write about 2 more pages and add citations to it.  One of my other classes has a 20 page paper that I am only 5 pages into.  Unfortunately, this means that I will be spending Thanksgiving break working on final papers.  I am, however, scheduling time to go enjoy Black Friday with my brother.  It is crazy that right after Thanksgiving break is Dead Week, followed by finals.  I hope that my professors actually believe in Dead Week and will help review this year.  Many of my professors are of the mindset that they should teach right up until the exam, which is generally cumulative, and that it is our job to review on our own.  I don't mind studying on my own time, but it is definitely nice to have a guideline so I know what to follow.  This will be my last Famous Words post, as I am almost to the grade that I want.  I just have to do a Reading Diary or some other assignment and I will be done for the semester.  This is both a good thing and a bad thing, as I will be glad to have the time I would have worked on this free, yet this was my favorite class for the semester.  I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving and Christmas!!

(Best way to study; Photo source Wikimedia)

Storytelling for Week 14: The Cruel Crane Outwitted

The Cruel Crane Outwitted

Once upon a time there was a very cruel, very rich man. He did what he could to benefit himself, not caring about how his actions might affect those around him. For a very long time he acted in this manner, not really paying attention to the other villagers, viewing them as below him. This all changed one day, however, when he discovered just how much he could gain by taking advantage of them. The day that this all began to change, for both Richard and for the poor villagers, was the day that the drought truly began to take effect. It had not rained in a week and the crops were beginning to do poorly, burning in the sunlight without any water. The villagers came to ask to use Richard's well, as the main well for the village had begun to evaporate. Richard, not caring what happened to the others, refused them at first. After turning them away, he realized that he could force them to work for him in return for having access to water. They would have to do as he said, unable to argue, so long as the drought continued. After another week of no rain, the people returned to beg him for mercy. He agreed, granted that certain conditions of his were met prior to them gaining access. He forced them to agree to work as servants within his house, as well as making them take care of his property and its orchards. Reluctantly the people agreed, knowing that they were at his "mercy" until the rains returned. After working under Richard for over a month, some of the people began to complain, saying it was unfair for them to be working so hard while Richard reaped all of the rewards. The next day, these people were not to be found. It turns out that they were dealt with by the hired thugs. A few days later a young man came from the village over, desiring to know what had happened to his brother, who had coincidentally been one of the protestors. Upon discovering the incident, Robin decided to deal with Richard. He tricked him into a game of cards, slowly upping the stakes as time passed. Eventually the house and all of its property was placed as a bet by Richard, going against the freedom of Robin and any children that he may one day have. Robin won, followed by him having the now destitute Richard thrown into the streets to be dealt with by those he had oppressed and taken advantage of.

Author's Note

I decided to tell this story as a man taking advantage of those around him, virtually enslaving them. This differed from the original story where a crane was taking advantage of the fishes' desperation to have water by offering to transport them, killing and eating them instead.

Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912).

(Crane; Image source Wikimedia)

Essay for Week 14: Lessons

This week, the majority of the stories that I read for the Indian Fairy Tales unit contained a lesson of some sort for the reader.  These ranged from lessons that should be common sense, to lessons focusing on morality and the proper way that someone should behave in certain situations. One of the lessons that I remember clearly is that you should not let your greed overwhelm you. In the story The Gold-Giving Serpent, the brahman and the serpent started out forming a solid relationship. They created a mutually beneficial friendship, with the brahman giving the serpent milk and the serpent repaying him with gold. This was destroyed when the brahman placed his greedy son in charge for a few days while he was away. The son saw that the serpent gave gold, assuming that the gold came from the ant-hill the serpent guarded, and decided that he should kill the snake to get to all of the gold. The boy tried to kill the serpent, who retaliated by biting and killing the boy. When the brahman returned he discovered that his son was dead, yet rather than taking the time to mourn his loss, he pushed his grief away and returned to the serpent out of greed. The serpent told him to leave and not return, as their friendship was destroyed by greed. The story teaches that greed can destroy, even deep bonds can fail under its power.  Another story that I thought carried an interesting lesson was The Talkative Tortoise. I thought it was interesting to see how the future Buddha used the fate of a tortoise to teach the king that it is a good thing to be able to hold your tongue. He showed him, and also used a riddle, to tell the king that sometimes it is better to be silent and listen to those around you, rather than speak all the time and overpower and suggestions that may be made.

(Image of the Buddha; Photo Source Wikipedia)

Week 14: Reading Diary A and B

Indian Fairy Tales

The Lion and the Crane
A lion was eating and ended up getting a bone stuck in its throat. It got the bone taken out by a crane, who then decides to ask for recompense. The lion says the crane is lucky to be alive after being within his mouth. The crane says he is ungrateful, flying away.

The Broken Pot
A brahman has a pot full of rice. He starts making plans on how to make money, and how he will spend the money and wind up with a wife and son. He acts as if in anger to his imaginary wife, breaking the pot. The lesson of not counting your chickens before they hatch.

The Magic Fiddle

A girl lives with her brothers and their wives, who dislike her because she cooks for her brothers. They plot to have her taken out of the way, making a deal with a Bonga to drown her and make her his. The girl drowns trying to collect water, coming back as a Bonga. She enters a branch of bamboo, eventually being cut down and made into a fiddle. She exits the fiddle and is caught by the chief of a village, who makes her his wife. When her family comes to the house they see her, but they don't recognize her. She reprimands them for allowing their wives to treat her as they did, then allows them to leave without punishment.

The Tiger, the Brahman, and the Jackal
A tiger gets trapped in a cage, where he then cries out for help. A wandering brahman passes by and is moved with pity. He agrees to free the tiger after he receives a promise from the tiger that he will not be harmed. The tiger tries to eat him once free, saying the man must abide by the decision of the first three things he sees. A tree, an ox, and a road all talk about how they provide for man, yet man uses them without repayment. He goes to die when he meets a jackal, who pretends to be stupid. The jackal goes with the man so as to discover what happened, and tricks the tiger into re-entering the cage, where they then leave him.

Harisarman
A foolish man goes with his family to find work in a wealthy man's house. They succeed, but the man is generally ignored. One day the wealthy man celebrates his daughter getting married, yet Harisarman is not invited to the party. In retaliation he hides the groomsman's horse, telling his wife to pretend he is a wise man who can use magic to determine things. He tells the men where he hid the horse, making them think it was done by bandits. The king of the region hears about this and makes him come to the palace to solve a series of thefts that have occurred. Through sheer dumb luck he succeeds at getting the thief to confess to him, then through even greater luck he solves the king's puzzle, winning a life of luxury for him and his family.

The Talkative Tortoise
The future Buddha lived in the palace of a king who would not stop talking, acting as his advisor. He used the example of a tortoise, falling to its death from its inability to remain silent, to teach the king that sometimes silence is better and that he should listen to others.

The Gold-Giving Serpent
A brahman discovers a serpent guarding an ant hill and decides that he must be a deity of some sort, leaving a bowl of milk for him. In the morning he discovers a gold coin in the bowl. This continues for a time until the brahman must go into town and places the duty with his son, who tries to kill the serpent and is bitten in return. The boy dies, yet the brahman eventually returns in order to get gold. The serpent says the bond they had was broken when he killed the boy and the brahman chose to bring him milk in return for gold, rather than mourn his son.

Pride Goeth Before A Fall
A group of ten merchants were going through a forest on their way home when they were accosted by bandits. As they were unarmed, they gave their belongings to the thieves, who then took everything but their underwear. They were then commanded to dance. One of the merchants was very clever and used the dance and singing to get the other merchants to attack the thieves, who had laid down their weapons. They overwhelmed them, capturing them and regaining their belongings.

Prince and Fakir
A king went out and laid on a crossroads, where many passed over him until he met a fakir. He told him he did this in hopes of begetting a son. The fakir made a deal with him, giving him to magic cakes in return for the promise of one of the king's sons. The deal was made and the king had two sons. The fakir returned and took the oldest, who defeated him later. The son then went on to marry a princess of a neighboring country, as she fell in love with him when she saw him bathing.

How Sun, Moon, and Wind Went Out to Dinner
The Sun, Moon, and Wind were all invited to dinner at the house of their aunt and uncle, Lightning and Thunder. They were treated to a sumptuous feast, yet their mother Star remained home alone. Sun and Wind were selfish and did not think to save anything for their mother, believing that she should take care of herself. Moon, however, brought back bits of every dish for her mother to try. As a result, Sun and Wind were cursed for their selfishness while Moon was blessed to remain beloved to the people.

Storytelling for Week 13: Fortune Favors the Bold

Once upon a time there were two men named Luke and Henry. They were best friends, having grown up together and known each other for many years. After many years of education and striving to learn the skills needed to succeed in life, these two men decided that it was time for them to go out into the world and travel. In this manner they would learn needed life skills, as well as forming connections and discovering how to take care of themselves and how to actually deal with other people. The men traveled together for over a month before they came across a stream one day. As it was a hot day, they decided to stop and rest next to the stream, in the shade of an old oak tree. They spoke of the future they hoped to have and their dreams, as well as the expectations that others held for them. Time passed quickly while they talked, leading to them setting up camp along the stream. They wanted to make sure that they were in a safe location and close to water, so this was an unexpectedly good discovery for them. Once they had set up camp, Luke and Henry spoke for a brief amount of time about random topics before going to sleep. In the morning, they discovered that someone had been to their camp while they were asleep, leaving behind a rock with a message engraved upon it. Upon closer inspection, the duo discovered that the message was actually a challenge that promised a grand reward upon completion. Luke, who was generally the more outgoing of the two, surprisingly decided he didn't want to waste his time on this. "After all," he said, "there is no guarantee that this will actually be true. It is likely that some random vagabond saw our camp and decided to play a trick on us for their own amusement." Henry, however, decided that he wanted to try to fulfill the challenge anyways. Because of this, the two came to the mutual agreement of splitting ways for a time. Luke continued on to the nearest town, while Henry worked to succeed and win his prize. He had to swim down the river through a whirlpool, followed by carrying a heavy lion statue to the top of the mountain. While the task was daunting, Henry was not scared. He fulfilled his end of the bargain and succeeded. Upon his arrival to the top of the mountain, he discovered a hidden city. The lion statue that he was carrying came to life and started roaring, bringing the people flooding out of the gates. Henry then discovered that the challenge was to find a successor for the king, who had just died. By choosing the bold path with no guarantee of success or even truth, Henry had proven his bravery and his ability to make difficult decisions with unknown consequences.

Authors Note
This is from the story Two Travelers.  I did not change very much, but I chose to emphasize the bond between the friends and how they acted rather than on the challenges faced. I thought this story was interesting because it taught the message that fortune favors the bold.

(Image of the goddess Fortuna; Image source Wikipedia)

Week 13: Reading Diary A

Introduction
- Stories being told to save the wise man Bidpai from the tyrannical king. Other versions are that he is the advising vizier to the king.

The Rustic and the Nightingale
- A rustic man grew a beautiful garden. He has a rose tree that is his pride and joy. One day he sees a nightingale destroying some of the roses on it. He lays a trap and catches the bird. The bird begs for forgiveness and says it will die in captivity, moving the man's heart and having him let it go. In return, the bird tells the man that there is a pot of gold buried where he stands, and as thanks, he should take it for the garden.

The King, The Falcon, and The Drinking Cup
- The king had a favored falcon that he loved, counting it as a main treasure. When he went hunting, he took it with him, somehow getting separated from his hunting party. He finds a stream and goes to drink from it when the falcon knocks his cup from his hand. This happens again and the king throws the bird to the ground, killing it. Then one of his attendants comes upon him and is sent for water. When he returns he tells the king that he would have died from the water, as it has been poisoned by the corpse of a dragon. The falcon had saved his life.

The Two Travelers
- Two friends are traveling together when they come across a stream with a rock in it that bears a message. It says that if they should undertake a number of ordeals, bravely facing danger, they will be richly rewarded. One of the men, Salem, decides it is a hoax and he will have no part. The other man, Ganem, decides to undertake the challenge. He succeeds and is made king as a reward for his bravery.

Week 12: Famous Last Words

This week has been pretty crazy.  I am starting to have all of my homework assignments piling up, as even though I knew they were coming up I still managed to forget exactly when the assignment would be due.  There are a lot of papers that will be due in the next few weeks.  One of my assignments is for my Bible as Literature course.  I have to find a movie or book that is based off of a story or book from the Bible and then compare it to the original tale and write a paper on how accurate it is or how far from the original message it is.  This seems like it may be fun, but I still need to decide what the original topic is going to be.  I also need to find out how many pages this paper is going to have to be.  In my other classes I have a capstone paper and a paper on poverty.  The paper for my capstone is about twenty percent done.  I need to have around twenty pages written by about Thanksgiving.  I am hoping to have enough of it done, or better yet have the entire paper finished, before Thanksgiving so I can relax when I am at home.  My paper for the class on poverty is about half way done.  I need to do more research on finding sources that are current, as well as providing more background information for my topic.  With how crazy my week has been, I have managed to start buying Christmas presents which means that I will be able to relax when it gets really hectic during the holidays. It also means that I have been able to take advantage of some of the sales that are going on.  This year I hope to be able to relax and not have to run out for some last minute gifts because I forgot someone.  I hope everyone has a great week!

(Pumpkin Pie: Image source Wikipedia)

Essay for Week 12: High School and College Writing Experience

I have taken a lot of English and writing courses over my years in high school and college.  In fact, for my first two years of college  I was majoring in English Literature! I ended up switching to International Area Studies because I did not know what I wanted to do with my life at that point.  To be honest, I am still not really sure what my plans are for after graduation.  Nothing is set in stone yet.  Anyways, at the time I loved to read and write.  I still do, but I switched my major to a minor so that I would have some more time to focus on things other than writing papers.  I love what I am doing now, but I occasionally miss the classes that I used to take.  My senior year English teacher in high school was the main reason that I wanted to major in Literature.  She is a wonderful woman who encouraged her students to do the best that they could.  At the same time, she was not really strict and she understood that things came up that her students had no control over.  Mrs. Sanchez was a great teacher; she did what she could to encourage her students love of reading.  One way that she did this was to have group discussions and allow us to decide how the book did and didn't meet our expectations.  In college, my experiences have been both good and bad.  I have had a professor that marked down on papers if you did not agree with her stance on an issue, or if you had managed to somehow get on her bad side during the school year.  I have also had great experiences, however, where my professor made the lectures fun and gave great advice on how to best improve a paper.  I don't use my writing skills outside of class very much at the moment, but I believe they will come in handy when having to write letters and such for work.  If I was teaching a writing class, one of the first assignments that I would give would be to write about something you are passionate about, such as a favorite band, sport, animal, etcetera.  I would do this so that I could see the level your writing was at.  It would give me an idea of how capable you are at writing at the beginning, as you should be able to write a lot about something that you love.  One assignment that I have generally always hated has been timed writing.  They are almost always a part of entrance tests, which I think is the main reason that I dislike them.  For that reason alone I would not give those to my students.

(Turkey stress ball; Image source Wikipedia)

Storytelling for Week 12: Quarrel of the Quails

Quarrel of the Quails

There was once a camp of girls that was built by a gorgeous lake.  One day construction began on the opposite side.  The next summer there was a new boys' camp built there.  It was a very nice construction, but the girls did not want to have to deal with more people.  In their minds, the lake and everything near it was meant to be part of the girls' area.  It wasn't supposed to be invaded by boys!  About a week after the boys' camp opened, the leaders of the two camps met and decided to have a game day so the groups of children could get to know one another.  To foster competitive spirit, they grouped them so it would be the boys versus the girls.  They put the oldest of the camp residents in charge, leaving it up to them to come up with a valid game plan to win the day.  The first game that the children decided to play was capture the flag.  In their version the kids decided that the two groups were able to take prisoners, though they would have to post guards in order to ensure that the prisoners did not escape and make their way further into the enemy territory.  The leader of the girls was smart, telling the girls working for her that they should work in squads of three so that they could help one another escape if they came across any of the boys.  The boys, on the other hand, began to get frustrated when their prisoners kept escaping.  Things changed, however, once some of the girls got in a fight after one of them tripped and blamed the other.  The one who accidentally tripped the other apologized, but it was too late.  Now that there was contention within the group, the plans for unity and beating the boy's camp fell apart.  The other girls all took sides, leading to them refusing to help their friends escape from the "prison".  This fall out led to the boys winning the camp tournament, as well as forcing the girls to apologize for their behavior prior to the defeat.  In the end, this turned out to be a good thing, as the boys and girls came to be friendly rivals and made friends with one another.  The competition became a yearly occurrence, strengthening the ties between the camps and leading to lifelong friendships.  While the struggles within the group led to it falling apart, it eventually led to them growing closer together.

Author's Note

This story is a retelling of the Quarrel of the Quails, which focuses on how working together can be beneficial, while fighting within the group can lead to everything falling apart.

Story source: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, illustrated by Ellsworth Young (1912).

(Image of a quail, photo source: Wikimedia)

Week 12: Reading Diary B

 Jataka Tales: Babbitt

Jataka Tales: The Monkey and the Crocodile
-  Mother Crocodile wants her son to catch her a monkey, so that she can eat the heart.  The son manages to trick a greedy monkey onto his back, but is foolish and tells him that he plans to kill the monkey and give his heart to his mother.  The monkey got the crocodile to take it back to its tree by saying it didn't have its heart with it.  The crocodile found the monkey again, now living in a different tree.  The monkey tricked the crocodile again, earning the crocodile's respect and promise to leave him alone.

The Quarrel of the Quails
-  The quails had a good leader who helped them discover how to save themselves from the hunter.  The hunter would bring a net, mimicking the call of the leader.  Many quail were captured.  The leader found out how this happened and figured out how to save his followers.  When the net was thrown on them, they all flew to a thorn bush, saving themselves and catching the net on the thorns.  This continued successfully until they got in an argument that divided the group.  They could not agree to all fly, leading to the hunter capturing them and selling them.

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit
-  A rabbit was asleep under a tree until he woke to the thought that the world might fall apart.  His thought was, to him, proven correct when a coconut fell next to him. He started to run and other creatures came to see why.  When he told them the earth was falling apart, they began to run with him.  This continued until the Lion stopped them, questioning why they were all running.  He stopped their running and proved that the rabbit made a mistake.  This saved the animals from continuing to try to flee from this fate.

Week 11: Famous Last Words

This week has been pretty crazy.  I am working to complete my graduate school applications, thankfully that are still being accepted for the Spring semester.  I am also working towards graduation, which means that I am stressing out about keeping grades up and making sure my GPA doesn't drop.  I will be really glad when December rolls around.  That means that all I will have to worry about are finals, as well as making sure everything goes well with convocation.  I am planning on coming back to OU for graduate school.  Hopefully I will find out in the next month if I have been accepted into the Human Relations program.  It sounds like it will be a really interesting program to focus on, particularly when looking for a job in a few years.  I am really hoping to get in, both to continue my education and to further put off figuring out what I want to do with my life for the next few years, at least regarding employment.  Right now I am working at Payless, which is fun even though it can be tiring at times.  One of my coworkers walked out a few days ago so we are hiring again.  Even with the stress at times though, I really like my coworkers, which makes working there better. The fact that I get an employee discount on shoes is a major benefit as well.  I am working on my final papers for a few of my classes, which have had us working on these papers as our midterms.  It is nice to be able to work towards these papers early, though it is not comforting to know that the teachers expect a lot more from all of the students as a result of the extra time given to it.  This week is finally over! I hope everyone has a great Halloween!!

(Pumpkins for sale: Image source Wikipedia)

Week 11: Essay on Diagramming Sentences

 (Cartoon by Scott Hillburn)

This cartoon is hilarious, both because that is how Yoda talks and because grammatical structure was one of the main things teachers stressed in elementary school.  The funny thing is that after elementary school, it wasn't really talked about at all.  Once middle school hit, it was expected that you would be able to create proper sentences.  The parts of the sentence were no longer discussed.  When I saw this cartoon I started to remember the different English classes that I would have to sit through and hope that I was able to correctly diagram the sentence.  It is ironic that I hated having to do that in elementary school, yet I have ended up getting a minor in English Literature.  Even though I do not enjoy having to diagram sentences, I love reading and writing, so my love for that overcame my dislike for correctly structuring a sentence.  Even though I do love writing, I am still not able to easily diagram a sentence.  I can set the sentence up correctly, yet I will not really be able to tell you the role that each word in the sentence is playing.  That is mainly due to the fact that it was not really talked about at all in high school.  I am hoping that I will continue to be able to love English for the years to come.  This cartoon was able to display the fear that I faced along with a lot of my classmates.  Thankfully I was able to overcome this as time passed, as I hope others are able to do.  Without those classes, I do not know if I would have developed my love for English, even though I hated them at the time.  Either way, I enjoyed the way that the comic captured the fear of being called upon by the professor, as well as using Yoda, who is one of my favorite characters from Star Wars, to showcase that.

Storytelling for Week 11: Who Shall She Marry?

There was once a beautiful girl, known throughout the land for her stunning looks and her amazing voice.  Her family was very proud of her, protecting her from those who sought to marry her and use her for her beauty alone.  They wanted someone that would take care of her.  She also wanted someone who was willing to prove that they would do what was necessary to provide for her and protect her from danger.  In order to do this, she told her family that she would marry someone who embodied the characteristics of bravery, wisdom, or cunning.  One day, each family member met someone who fulfilled her demand.  Without consulting one another, or even talking to the girl about it, they agreed that in one week the man they met could come to the palace and meet the princes in order to marry her.  The princess was stunned when she found out.  She never expected for something like that to happen, especially as she did not think she would find even one man to truly fit the characteristics that she required in order to meet them.  To discover that her family had found someone who embodied each characteristic separately meant that it was an extreme shock to her.  On the day that she was meant to meet the three men, she was kidnapped by an evil man who sought to keep her for his own.  Though she struggled, she could not get away.  In order to rescue her, the three suitors had to work together and build a chariot to follow her in.  The wise man knew how to find the evil man, instructing the others as to where he was.  The clever man built the chariot to follow the princess in.  The brave man, however, went above and beyond, risking his life to defeat the evildoer and save the princess.  When they group returned home, they argued their cases to the king.  He ended up giving the choice to his daughter, as it would be her who was getting married.  She said that while the clever man and the wise man aided in her rescue, it was the brave man who truly was at risk, placing himself in danger of death so that he could help her to escape and regain her freedom.  Without his contribution, she would have been forced to marry her captor, as the other two men were afraid of what might happen to them.  The brave man and the princess were wed and they lived happily ever after.

(Damsel in Distress; Image source Wikipedia)

Brave, Wise, Clever is the tale being retold in this story.