Storytelling for Week 6: The Ogre's Great Deceit

The Ogre’s Great Deceit

“Not again!” the ogre yelled aloud.  

He had lost the girl again! He was very hungry, and this girl was his next tasty meal.  He had been chasing this girl on horseback for what seemed like hours, though it had only been twenty minutes in reality.  

He first spotted his dinner in the village.  He was spying on the girl, waiting for the right opportunity. She had black hair, was slightly plump, and looked innocent and pure in her white dress. She was the perfect meal for him. Many minutes went by and almost an hour later he finally had his perfect opportunity. The girl had wandered alone down the road, so he made his move. Disguised as a human man, he first tried to reel her in by charming her. Unfortunately for the ogre, she saw through his fake human mask instantly and bolted down the road.

Flabbergasted that she had recognized his true form, the ogre had gotten a late start on his pursuit of her.  Unwilling to give up, he kept chasing her in hopes of catching her before it was too late. He chased along down the road until he had run into a monk.

After asking the monk if he had seen a girl running down the road, the monk replied that he hadn’t.  Knowing he was lying, the ogre devised a great plan to talk him into telling the truth.

“Monk, you mustn't lie to me! For I’ve been sent by the Lord of the Heavens to kill that creature. She is not a girl, but a flying Ogre in disguise. Lying to me would be the same as going against the will of the Lord of the Heavens!”

Horrified that he had helped an ogre and terrified to go against the will of the Lord of the Heavens, the monk 'fessed up and said that the girl had run and had hidden in the hollow tree on the side of the road.

Pleased with himself for his great deceit, the ogre thanked the monk and went galloping into the hollow tree where he found the girl hiding.  She tried to run, but having nowhere to run to, she was unable to escape the ogre. She screamed for help, but the monk had already walked away and there was no one to come to her rescue.

The ogre devoured her instantly, and in celebration, took a lengthy nap within the hollow tree.

The ogre continued to use this lie on unsuspecting victims. The girl from the village had been so tasty. He assumed there had to have been something in the water, and so he decided to obtain his next few victims from the same village. After all, after such a brilliant lie, he deserved the best of the best.

Unfortunately, the village people were wiser than he had anticipated. Soon the village people caught on to his lies. Knowing he would chase one of the villagers into a place where they couldn't escape, a whole group of villagers hid in the tree, waiting for the ogre. One of the village girls was used as bait. She had the ogre chase her all the way to the tree where the ogre had eaten his first victim. The ogre only expected to find the girl hiding in the tree, but what he actually encountered would be his ultimate demise. The group of villagers that had hidden in the tree soon killed him when he entered. The ogre was no more, and his killing spree had ended where it had began.

(Ogre)

Author’s Note: In the original story, The Flying Ogre, the man running after the girl was actually a man, and the girl was actually the flying ogre disguised as a girl, or at least that was what was assumed. When I was reading the original story I thought about what it would be like to be in the monk’s position, and I wondered how he would know which character was actually telling the truth. Deciding that it would be impossible to know which person I would trust, I thought it would be fun to switch up the roles, and tell the story this way. 

The monk played the same role in both stories. Also, the original story was told from the monk’s perspective, not the ogre’s perspective. In my story the village banded together to fight off the ogre, but in the original story the only the man attacked the ogre and there was no mention of any village people. The only characters mentioned in the original story were the ogre, the monk, and the man.

I wanted to give more of an actual ending than the original story did. The original story never confirmed or denied if the girl was actually an ogre or not, or if the man actually killed her. The original ending left the story so wishy-washy, and I decided to give the story the ending I thought it deserved.

Bibliography:  The specific story was The Flying Ogre from Chinese Fairy Tales.

From the book, Chinese Fairy Book by Wilhelm (1921)

Reading Diary B: Alice in Wonderland

Reading Diary B: Alice In Wonderland

A Mad Tea Party: Isn’t Alice a kid? Shouldn’t she not accept wine so readily? I love the conversations in this story.

A Mad Tea Party (cont.): The song is the best part! I love the Hatter’s take on it. It would be so weird to live in a world where it’s always 6 o’clock.  Maybe I could write my storytelling over a modern day version of this.  

I could write a story based on the way Alice asks questions during the other story. Like, curiosity killed the cat!

Who Stole the Tarts: I like that the verdict is given in poem form.  That’s pretty fabulous.  “Take off your hat.” “It isn’t mine.”  That’s awesome.  Question everything!

Who Stole the Tarts (cont): “You may stand down.” “I can go no lower, I’m already on the floor” I like how realistically he’s taking everything.  

I know this reading diary isn’t very long.  Honestly, I like the story a little bit, but it’s not one of my favorites.  And it’s hard for me to construct a story-telling from this story.  It’s definitely different, if anything.  

(illustration by Sir John Tenniel)

Reading Diary A: Alice in Wonderland

Reading Diary A: Alice In Wonderland

Down The Rabbit Hole: Shouldn’t the fact that the rabbit is wearing a waistcoat in the first place be alarming?? Of course the rabbit seemed extraordinary - it had a waistcoat on!   

It’s weird how she isn’t even afraid of dying or getting hurt! I don’t know what kind of feelings I would have if I was falling for that period of time, but I’m almost positive terror would be one of them!

Down The Rabbit Hole (cont.):  I can relate to her missing her cat and wish her cat was with her! if anything I’m glad I read this story just for that part. :)

Advice From a Caterpillar: Bahah, this is a great conversation.  Also, I think it’s awesome that instead of causing more of a fight, Alice realized he was in a bad mood and began to walk away.  That takes a lot of maturity!

Pig and Pepper:  It’s kind of funny how they have this whole argument, and all Alice had to do was turn the door knob.

Pig and Pepper (cont.): The Duchess sounds awful!  Also, this is the strangest story.

Pig and Pepper (end):

“we’re all mad here” I really like that quote.  I love the cat’s explanation for why he’s mad.  That was fantastic.

(illustration by Sir John Tenniel)

Extra Reading Diary: American Indian Folk Tales

Extra Reading Diary: American Indian Fairy Tales

How the Summer Came: I love how wise he is.  Iagoo knows everything! And he’s so patient, which is an awesome quality. I like how the stories are informative AND interesting. Another example of how important nature was to them.  He could change into an animal! So, is he actually human?  

How the Summer Came (cont.): That boy put a lot of trust into a talking squirrel.  I’m not sure I could have done the same. It’s weird to me that the squirrel knew he had to go through Manito’s boy to get what he wanted.  If there’s so little to eat how have squirrels been surviving so far? Surely they would have died out or adapted a new eating habit by then.  

How the Summer Came (end): It’s been a long time since I’ve read a story with a wolverine in it! and the fact that he’s the one that made the first dent is awesome! And he was the first to make it through the sky, whaaaat.  That was a sad ending!

The Fairy Bride: Evil fairies… how terrifying.  It sounds pretty typical that they play tricks, though.

The Fairy Bride (cont.): This story says that she went to the forest, and disappeared before a wedding she didn’t want to have.  But then she was seen as a fairy bride.  I will probably write my story over what happened in between, and how exactly she became a fairy bride.

(Enchanted Forest)

Reading Diary A: American Indian Fairy Tales

Reading Diary A: American Indian Fairy Tales

Iagoo, The Story-Teller:

I wish I knew the secrets of the woods and fields.  That sounds amazing. “There was magic in almost everything.” I LOVE that so much.  I do hate the fact that boys get bows and weapons and girls get necklaces… I want a bow.

I love how this is the start of the stories.  This was a really creative way to start the series of stories.  

The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds:

I love that the children are happy and they aren’t in danger, but where the heck are their parents? Though, I’m pretty sure that would be the best childhood ever. Just being able to run around in the fields and stuff.  Jealous. Honestly, I think this place is my personal heaven.  

Part 2:

Ohhhh, so they DO have parents.  Awesome! “...my brains were given to me to think with.”  I love that quote! Baha, I love that the coyote said they asked the wrong question.  The worm was the hero! That’s fantastic! It kind of reminds me of the tortoise and the hare story.

(Children Playing)

The Child of the Evening Star:

I like that all of the stories put the most emphasis on the outdoors.  I wish the world now was a little more like that. I love that she says it’s the heart of men that matters, not their looks.  How wise!

The Child of the Evening Star Cont.: This is seriously a beautiful story.  

The Child of the Evening Star Cont,. Again: Eating food to undo a spell sounds great! but maybe that’s because I’m really hungry right now…

The Child of the Evening Star End: This was a really beautiful story.  I liked it so much that I don’t even know what I would do make a storytelling from it. I don’t think I could.

Extra Reading Diary: Pacific Northwest

Extra Reading Diary: Pacific Northwest

How Silver Fox Created the World:  I love creation stories! It’s interesting that a silver fox and a coyote are the ones to create things. Silver-Fox is such a sly guy.  

Dang.  Silver-Fox is assertive! But the ending wasn’t a very good one.  It left things way too up in the air.

How Kemush Created the World: Another creation story! Nice! maybe they made another one because they didn’t like how Silver-Fox created it either.  This was a pretty good one in comparison to the others.

How Old Man Above Created the World: The title alone makes me think of the christianity creation story.  I’m loving all these creation stories, though! Apparently I picked the right section to read.  I like how this one deals with creating a hole as well. I think it’s funny that the earth started out as flat when that’s what it was believed to be for so long. The ending was weird, but so far I like this creation story the best.

How Dog Stole Fire:  It took forever for the story to actually involve a dog.  I was almost worried. I don’t understand how the dog could have hidden fire in his ear, but I suppose it’s not too far off from his ability to talk, so I can’t judge.  Also, dogs can’t sweat.  Plot hole.  

The First Totem Pole:  I would be unhappy too if I didn’t get a dance.  Poor guy.  All the animals joining in kind of reminds me of cinderella.  How sweet of them! I like how the totem pole is known as the pole that holds up the sky.  Super cool.

(Kwakiutl dance)

Reading Diary B: Eskimo Folk Tales

Reading Diary B: Eskimo Folk Tales

Papik, Who Killed His Wife’s Brother:  Gotta love the eskimo gossip.  Dang! Called out by his mom! That’s intense.  I don’t think I could lie to my momma.

Ohhh, the monster attacked him.  Justice is served.

Oof, the description of what the monster did to him is morbid.

I like the meaning of the story, though.  Any man who kills his fellow without good cause will be attacked by a monster.

Maybe I can write a story of how Papik killed his wife’s brother.

The Wife Who Lied: Why would you visit your own people if they ate people?? That sounds kind of sketchy to me.

Why does she want to make war against her husband’s tribe??

Damn.  They killed her dead, that’s for sure.  If you ever want your kids to be afraid of lying, tell them this story!

Atdlarneq, The Great Glutton: I don’t think it’s fair to call him a glutton when he was forced to eat with a threat of death if he didn’t.   

How has he not died from ingesting this much food?  Also, this sounds like the most intense eating contest ever.  Also also, they must be really well off to be able to feed this guy so much food, considering food wasn’t the most prevalent for eskimos.

This story has a weird ending, too. what.

Tungujuluk and Saunikoq: They were wizards?? That’s awesome! I don’t know which I’d rather be, a bear or a walrus. Hmmm.

Why didn’t he just kill him instead of holding back?

These stories are so different.  

Mostly, I LOVE the artwork. The stories are okay.

(Inuit man in kayak)

Reading Diary A: Eskimo Folk Tales

Reading Diary A: Eskimo Folk Tales

The Coming of Men: I kind of hate that it’s titled, “The Coming of Men” and not “The Coming of Mankind”

But I love origin stories!

I love that it said, “they did not know how to store their thoughts into little black marks”  That’s a fantastic way to explain that they were oral storytellers.

“Old age does not lie.”  So much respect for their elders.  I love that.

“Let us have both light and death.” Dang.

I like that when people die they become stars.  This was definitely an interesting origin theory story.

The Woman Who Had a Bear Foster Son: Well, if this isn’t an example of accepting diversity, then I don’t know what is.

This story seems pointless.  I guess it could be about how bears aren’t meant to live in human society and shouldn’t try to do so.  Or something.  Maybe I’m not deep enough to understand.

The Insects That Wooed a Wifeless Man: I can’t believe the man still chose to be with one of the girls who had made fun of him so much before he became successful.  How are you supposed to have a happy and successful marriage when it’s based off of greed? That’s terrible.  Of course she ran away!  And why would he tell her? They always end up blabbing!

The ending was so...weird.  

The Giant Dog: The owner cut holes into the dog’s jaws? What the heck! I think that’s so unnecessary

If I was the dog I would be strong and fierce as well! Especially if someone cut freaking holes in my jaw!

I like that this story ends up being about why inland dwellers hate all dogs.  This was interesting! I could possibly write a story about the dog attacking an inland dweller and bringing a leg back to his owner, or something.

(Greenland Man)

Commenting Review Week

I feel like the comments actually allow more of a connection than most online classes allow for.  Actually, I think I’ve talked to more people through these comments than I do in my actual classes.
I really enjoy the comments that actually tell me what I did wrong or have ideas on how to improve my writing.
When I’m writing short comments I try to give general revision ideas. When I’m writing longer comments I go into detail and give specific examples.
I write my comments as I go along reading.  It helps me remember what I did/didn’t like in a story.

Any comments with constructive criticism really help me out. The comments you make are very detailed and actually help a lot.

(Pun from Pinterest)

Writing Review Week

I think my greatest writing success has been The Ants’ Revenge.  I don’t write very well, but I’m proud of this story for this class.

I don’t really have a good strategy for figuring out a storytelling.  I typically just read the stories, and anytime I get an idea I write it down in my reading diary.  Whichever idea I like the most at the end of my readings, I write about.  I try to make a point of picking out small parts in a story that I can expand upon and make into it’s own story.  It’s worked fairly well so far.  

The feedback has been very nice!

My biggest challenges probably involve getting up to the right word count.  I HATE writing stories, so word count is difficult.  I typically make my stories short and sweet, and then go back and expand on them until I hit the right word count (which is probably why most of my endings are so abrupt).

(Smiling sheep)

This is an image from my first Storytelling post, Clumsy Brian O’Lin.  I chose this image because it makes me giggle, and giggling is important.  

Reading Review Week

I really like the set up of the readings, and that we have different types of stories each week.  I like this better than being able to choose from a selection of 100+ stories each week.  That would be difficult.  

I really enjoyed the Aesop’s Fables readings.  I love the lessons learned from the stories.  I think they were my favorite readings so far in the semester.  

Actually, just kidding! Aesop’s Fables are a close second to the Twenty-Two Goblins story! I really loved that section. I loved that the stories overlapped and were related, but you didn’t necessarily have to read one before the other.  I like clever stories, and Twenty-Two Goblins was definitely clever.  

(Twenty-Two Goblins Book Cover)

I chose this image because Twenty-Two Goblins was my favorite reading so far.

My least favorite story that I read were the West African Folk Tales.  They didn’t really seem to have much of a purpose, and not all of the stories made sense to me.  I didn’t really enjoy them very much.  

I don’t really have any reading/note taking strategies.  I just write my reading diary as I go along and use that to write my story telling.  

I’m enjoying this class and the readings so far!