Extra Reading Diary: Nigerian Folktales

The unit I chose for this reading post was Nigerian Folktales​.  My favorite story was The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull.

This story about the disobedient daughter was a wildly creative and imaginative one.  The story was about a snooty, beautiful girl who decided she would only marry the most handsome man in the area.  This news intrigued a skull from the ghostly world and he set forth to win her affections.  This is where the story gets imaginative.  The skull decides to borrow body parts from the most handsome men around him.  Once he was finished acquiring the body parts, he won the fair maiden's affections and they got married.

Once he returned to his world, he returned all the borrowed body parts and was just a skull again.  Even though the maiden was frightened, she stayed with him and helped him and his mother for quite some time.  The skull's mother took pity on her and sent her back home on a gentle breeze.  The young maiden promised her parents that she would not be so vain anymore and would marry whomever they chose for her.  She ended up marrying her father's friend and lived happily ever after for many years.

One of the morals of this story is don't judge a book by its cover.  There are many nice looking men in the world, but just because they look nice doesn't mean they are nice as they appear.  Another moral in the story is to listen to your parents because they have you best interest at heart.  All her parents were trying to do was marry her off to a man who may not have been the best looking guy, but one that would be able to take care of her properly.  She didn't listen and ended up marrying a stranger who turned out to be something completely different from what she expected.

I like the fact that the maiden was portrayed as a brave and loyal character even under the strange circumstances of marrying a skull.  She may have been a stubborn character in the beginning of the story, but she became a very loving and devoted character to the husband that was chosen for her in the end of the story.  I liked this story because the main character, the young maiden, learned a valuable lesson and it made her a more humble person in the end.

Woman and Skull

Famous Last Words: Week 6

Well, I was hoping that this week's post would be about having a great week and not being as stressed as I have been in my previous week's posts, but it turns out it wasn't much better.  Let me apologize now, if my Famous Last Words posts seems to be mostly on the negative side.  I'm really not a negative Nancy, but this semester has been wrought with new & unexpected stressors almost every week.

I took my first Trigonometry test and it did not go as well as I had hoped.  I will probably need to get a tutor, if I want to pass this class.  My other classes are going ok.  I'm doing pretty well in my Capstone class, my TA Psychology class, and my Research Methods II class & lab.

In this class, I came across several interesting posts and storybooks.  One in particular drew me in just by reading the title.  The title was something like LSD: The Yellow Submarine.  The storyline left me with a lot of unanswered questions, but it also intrigued me enough to want to visit it again and again to see how the story progresses.  Good job, Lillian on such an interesting Storybook so far!

As for my personal life, I'm preparing for my husband to have surgery tomorrow morning (if the weather doesn't interfere with the current plan).  He is a medically fragile man & any surgery could be potentially life threatening to him.  I also found out that my oldest daughter is pregnant again with child #4 and she is a single mother.  She has asked my husband and I to adopt the child once it is born in August sometime.  This is an exciting time for us, but also stressful too because this will be a high risk pregnancy for her.  

As most of you know already, we are foster parents and already have 5 children in our home right now.  I need to graduate this semester, so I can go to work part or full time once our newest addition is old enough to go to Early Head Start (somewhere around September or October).

I know most of you are a lot younger than I am and probably have completely different stressors in your lives than I do.  Please bare with me as I post each week.  I'm just trying to survive this semester without turning into a crazy woman and writing about it seems to help somehow.  Thank you for letting me vent.

Thank You

Reading Diary A: Chinese Fairy Tales

The unit I chose for this week was Chinese Fairy Tales.  My favorite stories were Why Dog and Cat are Enemies and The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck.

In the beginning of the first story, I like how the cat and dog were friends and got along well.  They both loved their owners and their owners loved them too.  After their owners had sold their golden ring and started to lose their wealth, the cat and dog created a plan to return the golden ring to their owners.  They worked together, side by side, and did find the ring together.  On their way home, the cat ended up getting home faster than the dog and took full advantage of this fact to get all the praise and adoration from the owners.  This infuriated the dog because all he received was scolding and punishment.  In this story, I can see why that would cause a huge rift between the cat and dog.

I liked this story a lot even though the cat and dog are enemies in the ending.  The story reminded me somewhat about how some human relationships turn out.  Sometimes even someone you've known for a long time can turn on you and become your worst enemy.  I have seen it happen to some of my friends before and it's a horrible feeling for them.

Dog and Cat

In the second story about the child of ill luck, it starts out with a King's daughter who has chosen someone to marry that the King does not approve of at all.  He is so enraged at the act that he throws them both our of the kingdom to live on their own.  They barely survive, but one day the husband decides to go out and seek his fortune.  After 18 long years, the husband returns to find his wife still waiting for him.  He found his fortune and shared it with his wife after he realized she had done what she had promised.  The story ends with her only living for a short while after being rescued by her husband.

Even though this was a pretty sad story, I still liked it.  I admire the wife's loyalty, trust and honesty.  I aspire to have those same qualities in my own life, but to be honest, I'm not sure if I could have waited for eighteen long years for my husband to return.  I probably would have considered him long gone or dead after several years had passed.  I can relate to the part of the story where she chose a husband to which her father didn't approve of.  She was young and I remember doing that very thing when I was a young teenager as well.  She sounds like she was a pretty rebellious girl and that is a trait in myself that I can relate to in this story.  This story also makes me think of the Disney story Aladdin.  The princess falls in love with a beggar and her father is against it at first.  Then, in the end, they get married and share in the kingdom's fortunes.

Princess Jasmine & Aladdin

Famous Last Words: Week 5

AHHH...I'm so glad that this week is about over!  I had so many issues with getting my Portfolio Folder set up correctly for this class.  For some reason, my brain just couldn't wrap around the instruction on how to do it correctly.  At last, I think I have finally gotten it working now!  Thank goodness.  Lol

My other classes (and other family stressors) have calmed down a bit, so that is definitely a plus.  I'm actually doing better in my classes so far than I had originally thought.  Yay me!  That makes me feel better about actually graduating at the end of this semester.  I'm still worried about my Trigonometry class, but I'm taking it slow & steady.  Baby steps, right?

One thing that I'm actually looking forward to this coming weekend is my daughter's adoption party.  We adopted her on February 2nd, but with our crazy busy schedules we haven't been able to have a party for her yet.  Lots of people are coming and I'm looking forward to the distraction.

I'm also really looking forward to Spring Break next month.  I'm hoping to take the family on a road trip to see some sights around Oklahoma that I haven't been to in a long time.  It will be fun to take a family trip and "get away" for a while.  I think we may even go visit my family in Tulsa too while we are out adventuring as a family.  I think I'd like to go to some children's museums, Arbuckle wilderness, Frontier City and maybe some other places that I've heard of recently.  I think there's a place in Oklahoma that you can dig for crystals or diamonds.  That sounds like fun.

Anyway, even though some of this week was stressful, I have some great things to look forward to doing in the very near future!  Gotta love a large family and all the (good & bad) times that it brings into your life!

(Personal Photo: Our adoption hearing day!  Our new addition, Jacqueline, is the girl in the middle. February 2015)

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Extra Reading Diary--Turkish Fairy Tales

Today I chose to read the first half of the Unit called Turkish Fairy Tales.  My favorite stories were The Fish-Peri and The Fish-Peri (cont.).  This was an interesting story about a man who lost his family and didn't know what to do with himself after that loss.  He ends up catching a fish that turns into a beautiful maiden.  This story may have a sad beginning, but it turns out to have a very happy ending.  The fish maiden helps out the man with every task the King throws at him.  I like how the fish maiden was loyal to the man because he had spared her life when he found her.

My favorite character would be the fish maiden.  She is very beautiful, kind-hearted, forgiving, loyal, and helpful to the man and I admire those qualities in a person.  I like the fact that she chose to help him by cleaning his house and helping him with all the difficult tasks that the King threw at him to do.  I also admire the quality that she possesses with helping someone in need.  I can identify with this character because of her qualities.

The illustration is a perfect picture of the Fish-Peri and the man.  I think it is a beautiful picture and I think the font of the title is perfect.  The chosen font is wavy and flowing like the water and a fish's tail.  Tome, the picture also looks like it depicts a castle in the background.  In the story, one of the difficult tasks that the King asks him to do was build him a beautiful, golden castle.

Fish-Peri

Storytelling Week 5: The Psychic and the Magical Leopard

One day, a magical leopard decided to go to a psychic to find out what his future held for him.  The leopard's power was being able to speak in whatever languages the people around him were speaking.  So, the leopard traveled far and wide to find a psychic who would not be afraid of him and would tell him about his future.  He was a fierce-looking leopard with bright colored spots, large muscular body, huge paws, and long, sharp fangs.  Many people were afraid of him, so finding a psychic proved to be a difficult task for him.  This magical leopard dreamed of one day marrying a princess who was as beautiful in personality as she was beautiful in appearance.  After traveling quite a long distance, he finally found a fortune teller who would tell him about his future. 

Fortune Teller

The fortune teller was slightly afraid as first, but then realized this was a great opportunity to make some money off of the magical leopard.  As the leopard approached the fortune teller, he said, "Be not afraid...I will not hurt you IF you tell me about my future."  The psychic said, "I'm not afraid and I will be glad to tell you your future if you provide food for my family for one year."  The leopard agreed for he was desperate to know about his future.  

The fortune teller said, "Very soon, you will come across a river that is very wide and deep.  You will go to take a drink and will be swept away by the current."  Looking horrified, the leopard tried to sit still while listening to the rest of the story.  The psychic continued on by saying, "At the point when you think you are about to die, you will be rescued by a sweet, loving princess whom you shall marry."  The relief on the leopard's face was quite obvious by now even though he was still afraid of the thought of nearing death.  

So, the leopard thanked the psychic and promised that once he found the princess and married her, he would bring the psychic food every day for the next year.  The leopard began his journey, but it took him almost two weeks before he came across a flowing river.  He wondered if this would be the river the fortune teller told him about in his vision.  The leopard bent down to get a drink and lost his footing on the river's bank.  He fell into the river and thrashed about while trying to gasp for air.  He knew he must be nearing his end.  Right when the leopard was about to draw his last breath, a beautiful princess scooped him up out of the river with the greatest of ease.  She caressed his face and fell instantly in love with the leopard.  The princess vowed to stay with the leopard until he regained consciousness.

Once the leopard regained consciousness, he gazed into the eyes of the most beautiful princess he had ever seen and whispered, "Thank you for saving me.  How can I ever repay you?"  The princess said, "Marry me and I will love you until the day I die."  The leopard hurriedly agreed and they were wed the next day.  From that day forward until one year had passed, the leopard provided the fortune teller's family with food just as he had promised.  The psychic, leopard, and the princess smiled because each of them had gotten their wishes fulfilled.

Leopard

Author's Note: The story,The Raibar and the Leopard, is part of the Santal Folklore unit. Story source: Folklore of the Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas (1909).  This story is about a raibar, which is also known as a matchmaker, who meets a leopard while traveling to arrange some marriages between several families.  He doesn't want to be eaten, so he basically promises to find the leopard a mate.  The raibar ends up tricking the leopard into getting into a sack and he beats up the leopard in the sack and throws him in the river.  The raibar goes about his business of arranging marriages and forgets all about the leopard.  The leopard gets rescued by a leopardess and they end up together.  In the end of the story, the raibar runs into the leopard again and the leopard spares his life because he had found his mate.  
My story is quite different from the original storyline.  I decided to keep the leopard as one of my main characters, but chose to change the rest of the story to be more modernized.  However, I did use the part of the story where the leopard is rescued by a leopardess and the fact that they end up together.  The picture I chose is of a beautiful, regal-looking leopard.  He just looks so majestic that I thought it would be perfect for my storyline.  It also looks like to me that he is sitting near the water's edge.  The second picture is of a fortune teller.  It is a picture of a beautiful woman who looks like someone the rabiar might meet during his travels.  I also decided to use the words psychic and fortune teller interchangeably throughout the story, so I wasn't using the same word repeatedly.

Famous Last Words: Week 4

Wow, this week was especially tough for me.  I fell behind in getting my work done and ended up not being able to do any of my Reading Diaries or Storytelling for this week.  I'm so thankful for an understanding instructor and all of the extra credit options that are available to us all.  I had numerous personal life situations happen that interfered with my schoolwork, but with a husband and 6 children most people can probably understand why.  For most of the week, I felt like I was stressed out and ready to lose my mind.  Thankfully, I can look back on everything that happened and smile because I survived without being put in the looney bin!  Lol

Stressed Out

As for my other classes, I haven't found any similarities between them and this class, but I did find out that one of my children, 15 year old girl, is learning about Greek Mythology (the gods, goddesses & beasts) in one of her classes.  It is kind of nice to be able to compare what she is learning to the material in this class.  Each day, we talk about what she has learned that day and I let her read my blogs and see the story selections that we can chose from in my class.

This week for one of my extra credit assignments, I chose to include a YouTube video into a blog.  I've never really searched or looked around on YouTube much before doing this assignment, so I really enjoyed looking around at all the video options there.  Man...the video options on YouTube seem to be endless!!!!  I posted a video on eyeliner techniques on my blog!  I was fascinated with all of the makeup tutorials on there.  Since looking around on that site, I have used it for another one of my classes to help me understand Trigonometry better.  There are tons of videos on Trigonometry topics and they really did help me with two homework assignments that were due this weekend.  Needless to say, I will be watching a lot more YouTube videos from now on!!!  :-)

YouTube

Extra Reading Diary: Santal Folklore

The unit I chose for this blog was Santal Folktales​ and my favorite stories were The Raja's Dream and The Raja's Dream (cont.).

Golden Snake

I thought this was a great story.  It starts off with a somewhat sad storyline about a man who can't have children by his first wife, so he decides to marry a second woman because his first wife can't have children.  After his second wife has children by him, his first wife ends up bearing him child.  The man can't choose which son will inherit his fortune, so he kicks the first wife and her son out of the palace.  The father then has a dream about a golden, tiger, snake and monkey.  No one is able to interpret his dream, except for the son from his first wife.  He then sends all his sons on a journey to find these golden creatures.

The son from his first wife goes out on a journey to find these golden creatures while the two sons from the second wife just complain and sulk because they think there are no such creatures.  While on his journey, the son from the eldest wife meets several uncles and each one tells him to carry on and he shall find his animals.  He ends up finding a snake princess and marrying her.  After some trials and tribulations, he is given a magical ring and he heads back home.  With the help of his snake princess (who has magical powers) and the ring, he shows his father the golden animals and he is ultimately chosen as the successor to the throne.  The second wife and her children are then thrown out of the kingdom.

I love how the story ends with a happy ending with the son from the first wife being named the successor to the throne.  This son ended up with a wonderful princess bride who always believed in him and helped him every time he needed it.  The other sons were dismayed and never even attempted to look for the animals, so they were cast out.  The story has a moral to it as well.  The moral of the story was if you persevere through the trials and tribulation in your life and believe in yourself, you will be rewarded in the end.  This story also has another moral to it.  This moral is if at first you don't succeed, try and try again.  This saying also applies to the first wife's son.

Golden Tiger

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Reading Diary A: The Praying Baker

The Praying Baker in the Unit Persian Tales would be my favorite for this week.  This story was one of the few stories that had a happy ending.  Most of the stories in this unit had horrible endings with people getting eaten, killed or hurt in some way.  This story was about a baker who was asked by a King to find his ring or he would have to give his life if he didn't find the ring.  The King gave him 10 days to find it.  Upon the tenth day, the baker's wife found the ring in the belly of a fish while she was preparing it for dinner.  The baker presented the ring to the King and the Kind ended up making the baker his favorite person and gave him a huge reward.  There was quite a bit of trickery in this story as well on the part of the King.  This story had several plot twists which I thought made it more interesting.  The picture that went with the story was of a fish and I thought it was quite appropriate for the story.

I guess you could say that I wasn't really a fan of this unit overall because most of them ended up with people getting hurt in the most horrible of ways.  This main character in this story threatened the baker with death if he didn't find his ring, but he lived at the end because he had found it.   The story leads you to believe that it was because of his faith in God that the ring was found by his wife and his life was spared because of that.  I also like the fact that in this story that the man's wife is the one who found the ring.  In general, all the stories in this unit make the females out to be stupid or unworthy.  In this story, the baker's wife is the actual hero because she was the one to find the ring and told her husband to present it to the King.  The only thing that has me puzzled about the stories in this unit is that they always end with "and the sparrow never got home".  I'm not exactly sure what to make of that last comment.  It almost seems like it doesn't belong in the story, unless there is some meaning to it that I'm not comprehending.

The fish & the ring