Week 11 Storytelling: The Fox

The Fox

            In many stories I have been portrayed as the weaker but smarter character. This doesn’t bother me because usually I get my way regardless of the obstacles. I have one very interesting story in particular that will catch your attention and make you agree with my point of view. 

It was just a normal day and I was out and about doing my daily tasks that a normal fox would do. I go out and look for food and avoid all predators or animals that may do me harm. For the most part my days are easy and relaxed. This is because I like to think that I don’t work hard but I work smart. What I mean by this is exactly what you think of it! I don’t use my brute strength or my speed to catch my prey but instead I think of ways to trick. Of course I am also not only seen as a smart animal but also a trickster with my bright and persuasive ways. 

Well, going back to the particular day I was telling you about, I had been working very hard to find food. Unfortunately that day I had bad luck finding anything and didn’t get to eat. So as the day went by, I got very tired and had to settle in a spot and just lay there. I just lay there for about two hours just chilling because the hunger had dominated me. 

With my luck I saw a little cake running down the road and I have to say it was a beautiful sight! As it ran it kept repeating this annoying phrase. “I've outrun an old man, and an old woman, and a little boy, and two well-diggers, and two ditch-diggers, a bear, and a wolf, and I can outrun you, too-o-o!” so the little cake came up to me and repeated the same phrase and when he did I was smart and acted like I couldn’t hear him. Of course I just lay there so he would have the guts to come closer. He got closer to me and repeated, “I've outrun an old man, and an old woman, and a little boy, and two well-diggers, and two ditch-diggers, a bear, and a wolf, and I can outrun you, too-o-o!” So I once again acted like I couldn’t hear him and the little cake got even closer to me and repeated the same thing. At that moment he was so close I could just gobble him up and... I did exactly that. I have to say that was one good-tasting little cake.

Author's Note: This story was written based off of Johnny-Cake found in English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890). This is another version of the Gingerbread man, which, is a story I used to hear when i was younger in school. The story is about a little cake that outruns a bunch of people including a bear and a wolf. However, when the cake gets to the fox, the fox outsmart him by acting like he is deaf and makes him get close enough to wear the fox just gobbled him up. So the retelling of my story is in first person through the eyes of the fox to see what he was thinking when he did what ate Johnny-Cake. I chose the fox as the main character once again because as you can see from the story the fox is always smart. The first person view allows the reader to see what the fox really thinks about things. So that way we can all see what thoughts go through the tricksters mind and how the fox is always able to outsmart other characters in most situations.

   

 

(A Fox)

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Storytelling Week 10: The Two Brothers

Long ago there was a father who had two sons with his wife. On a rainy dark night while the father was out hunting to bring forth food to the dinner table. A woman who practiced black magic came into his home killed the wife and threw one of the boy in a river near and the other boy on the side of the house. The father came back to his home and saw his wife dead and his sons gone. He then looked for his sons and only found the one on the side of the house. The boy was then taken into care by the father and grew up to be strong. Then one day the father told the boy, “we are going to look for your brother.” The son responded with “I need body armor for his teeth are sharp.” The father then made armor out of rawhide for the son and put it on him. The father gave instructions to find his brother by the river and specifically told him to tell his brother that they are to play a game at the house. The son then went to his brother and brought him to the house. The brother tried biting the son but seeing as he couldn’t pierce the rawhide he stopped. There after he became human again. The two brothers then continued growing together.

            One day the father told the boys do not go into the house upon the hill for there are snakes there. The two brothers then went to the house and brought rocks with them. They sat in the house on their rocks. The snakes soon began appearing and trying to enter their anal cavity but failed because of the stones in the way. The boy then smashed up all the snakes and took one with them as a souvenir. As they wlked out of the house the brother with the snake took the snake and dragged its head on the ground every few steps. This is why snakes have flat heads now. The father found out of their actions and punished them for their wrong doings.  Yet again the father told the boys not to go across the river because there was a wolf that was killing people of the village. So the boys again set fourth to cross the river and found themselves face to face with the wolf. The boy had brought sharp sticks with them and with those they were able to kill the big bad wolf of the woods.

The story of these two boy is not known by many but they were known as Thrown--by-wall and Thrown-in-river.

Authors Note: The story I original read was Lodge-boy and Thrown-Away found in Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).  The story tells that that the two boys were separated at birth but once they were together they would kill of bad people and things. In my story I decided to go along the same lines and tell a different story. The enemy I kept was the house of snakes and an enemy I changed was the big bad wolf that would kill villagers.

Crow Brothers and Father

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Storytelling for Week 6: The King and the Pirate

The King and the Pirate

There once was a poor man who went along day after day saying, “If anyone gives me a ship, I will sail the seven seas and give to them half of my riches that I scavenge.” So this poor man would go along day after day saying, “If anyone gives me a ship, I will sail the seven seas and give to them half of my riches.”
One one day the poor man was passing by the palace and the king happened to be there. The poor man repeated, “If anyone gives me a ship, I will sail the seven seas and give them half of my riches found in my voyages.” The king with a sense of honesty told the poor man, “That usually does not happen with the forgetfulness and greed in the hearts of men nowadays.”
The poor man answered, “I shall not be one of those men and I will not forget the actions of kindness done to me.” So the man went on still in high spirits repeating the same thing he had said many times before. On another day the poor man came across one of the king's naval admiral and told him, “If anyone gives me a ship, I will sail the seven seas and give them half of my riches.”  
The admiral answered, “I have seen many of my crewmen be granted the gift of a ship and all of them were filled with greed and instead they sought to kill and steal from those who only granted them good." 
The poor man answered, “I will not be like those men. Instead I will remember the good acts of those who have done them.”  So the poor man continued believing and repeating that he would sail the seven seas and give the half the riches found to the person who would give him a ship. There the poor man came across a merchant on the docks of the harbor and said, “If anyone gives me a ship, I will sail the seven seas and give them half of my riches found in my voyages.” The merchant then responded, “That is not true. I gave one of my good sailors a ship once. In return he became a pirate and stole from me.”

So the poor man discouraged sought the king once again. “Unfortunate man, will you ever forget the favors?” asked the king. “Never will I forget a benefit,” answered the poor man.
"Then here is a ship with a crew that will serve at your every command,” said the king.  So the poor man was intrigued by a pirates life rather then that of a merchants life. So the poor man ventured off on voyages becoming a pirate and with that he became richer than ever before.  When time came he did not give half of his earnings to the king and the king let it pass. The king did this because he knew eventually the poor man would have to pay up.

One day the now ungrateful man saw one of the king’s merchant ships that was carrying treasures of the king. So he seized the king's vessel and took everything it had with him. As he looted the ship other royal ships had surrounded the ungrateful man's ship. The royal ships seized the ungrateful man's ship and left him and his men for dead. Together with his crew the ungrateful man was left floating in the sea shipless and treasureless.

Author’s Note: This Story was inspired by the story The Wizard and the Beggar found in Laos-Folklore by Katherine Neville Fleeson (1899). The story of the wizard and the beggar tells of a man who claimed that he would remember the benefit of the man who would give him all the food he could desire to eat. So the story goes and tell that man eventually forgets all the benefits given to him. The wizard then gives the beggar a jewel that grants him anything he wants and the wizard keeps a jewel that allows him to fly. The beggar then gets greedy and tries to kill the wizard and steal the other jewel form him and in the end is left with nothing. My story is pretty similar because I didn't change the fact that the beggar is a poor man. The big thing I changed was the fact that he wants a ship to sail the seven seas and become rich. I keep the fact that he does not pay up to his benefactor and in the end is left with nothing.

(Pirate Ship)

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Storytelling for Week 4: Sharp Object

Sharp Object

There was once a king who had the gift of a son and he went to a monk to get the young prince’s destiny. The monk told him “The prince destiny is to die by the edge of a sharp object.”

The father of the boy went fourth and locked the boy in an underground room underneath his palace. In the kings eyes this would be the safest spot from any enemies who would try to do the boy harm. In time the king set fourth for the monk to come and teach the young prince.

In time the young prince grew old and the time to take a wife had come. So the prince had yet to leave the underground room where he lived most of his life. The king had made arrangement to have his son marry the daughter of a neighboring king. The wedding day came and the prince finally left his protected room to live life.

There the prince stood at the alter facing the woman he was to wed. There he stared at the woman who was so fine and fair. Her skin glistened in the sun, her eyes as blue as the ocean and her hair as gold as the sun. There the young prince fell madly in love.

They the went on their honeymoon to enjoy there selves being alone and together under the protection of the princess’s father. Little did the young prince know that young princess had men who would kill to be the suitor of his now wife. On the last night of their honeymoon the prince the princess went out for a stroll along the ocean. The moonlight reflected off the water making it glisten. The moment was perfect for the both of them who were madly in love. Toward the end of their stroll two men ambushed them and stabbed the young prince seven times in the back with a golden dagger.

The two men then took off and left the dagger and the young prince lying dead along with the unharmed princess. Once the sun rose up the caretakers of the princess came looking for her and found her lying there with the dead prince. So goes the story of the young prince who was to die by a sharp object.

Authors notes: The story that inspired this story was “The Story of the Wolf-Bride” found in the book Persian Tales by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer (1919). I kept a lot of the details the same as the original story. However, I changed the characters by adding a king and the young prince. In the end I wanted to show that no matter what, the destiny of the young prince was to die by a sharp object whether it is a dagger or a sword. This is sort of a saying that many people have in real life, which would be “If it’s meant to be then its mean to be.” So this story shows what it is like when something that is going meant to happen just happen such as a motorcycle accident. A person who first gets their motorcycle is bound to get into an accident because of human error. Whether it is a major or minor accident depends on the person and the situation. The point to it is that regardless of anything it will happen. I believe this is what the story is trying to tell the reader. The moral of this story is something that is interesting because although it may seem negative it is partially true.

(A golden dagger)

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