Storytelling Week 5: The Kitten's Big Responsibility

Storytelling Week 5: The Kitten’s Big Responsibility

“I’m so excited!” the kitten thought to herself.  

You see, today was a big day for the kitten.

The kitten’s mom worked for a lion.  Her job was to scare away the mice at night.  The mice had a tendency to steal leftover food from the lion’s mouth while he was sleeping, which would disturb his sleep patterns and make him very groggy the next day. The cat kept the mice away and worked her way up to a position of power and became a very respected member in the animal community.

Tonight, however, the cat was going away for personal business and asked the kitten to take over watch.  The cat would only be gone for the day, but without someone to watch the mice, things would get out of hand. Keeping the lion happy was the number one priority! The kitten was ecstatic at the chance to work the job.  Not only did the kitten love scaring mice, but she also wanted to prove to her mom how great of a worker she was.

That night, while she was on watch, the kitten had a great idea!

“What if I show my mom how hardworking I am by killing the mice! Then mom’s work won’t be as hard when she comes back!”

The kitten was so proud of herself for coming up with the plan. She just knew she would be praised by her mom, and maybe even by the lion himself! With her quick kitten-like reflexes, she was the perfect candidate for this job!

The lion was snoring peacefully as the kitten got to work.  She was killing mice left and right, silently creeping behind shrubs and trees, pouncing at the right moment! The mice didn’t know what hit them.  They were dropping like flies! They had never known a cat to kill them, only scare them, so they weren’t fearful for their lives until it was too late. By the end of the night, there were no more live mice left.

(Kitten Eating a Mouse)

By morning, the kitten had produced a large pile dead mice for her mother to see.  When her mother got there, she was appalled by what she saw.  She reprimanded her kitten for killing all of the mice, for she knew she would no longer have a job.  Realizing that she had never specifically told the kitten to not kill the mice, she accepted the blame.

That day, realizing the cat’s job was unnecessary now, the lion fired the cat.

The kitten felt horrible, but at least now she had more time with her mom! The cat and the kitten went on their way to find work in a new village, for they were no longer needed in this one.  

Author’s Note:  This story comes from the Tales of a Parrot unit, specifically the story, The Old Lion and the Cat.  The original story was very similar to mine. The difference in the original version and my version is that in the original version the kitten did not have its own point of view I decided to give the kitten a voice of its own and explain her side of the situation. I really like giving a voice to characters that originally do not have one in the stories.
I have cats of my own, and though cats can be jerks sometimes, I know a lot of the times when they ruin things it’s innocent.  I thought the kitten’s mess-up was innocent as well, so I wrote about it!

I also think seeing both sides of a story is really important in every day situations. I think a lot of the time when people mess up it is purely by accident or from a misunderstanding. I know I keep myself calmer when I think about this, and it's easier to let things go. Hopefully this story helps you all think about all sides of a situation, which will hopefully result in less conflict!

Bibliography: From the book, The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot by Ziya’al-Din Nakhshabi (1801)  

Storytelling Week 10: The Fairy Bride

Storytelling Week 10: The Fairy Bride

(Enchanted Forest)

There was once a beautiful girl named, Neen-i-zu, which meant, “My Dear Life.”  Neen-i-zu was a beautiful girl who was loved by all of the people who knew her.  She was different from the other girls in the tribe, though.  While other girls preferred to learn trades that would make them more pleasing wives, such as basketweaving and cooking, Neen-i-zu preferred to get lost in her thoughts and explore the forest.  She was atypical, and everyone knew it.

Neen-i-zu could spend hours in the forest, playing with the animals, walking through the trees, and lost in her day dreams. Her most common day dreams were about a life where she could stay happy in the forest forever. She would be so thrilled to live in the forest and be at peace with nature.  Her mother wasn’t pleased with this.  Neen-i-zu’s mother loved her so much and wanted the best life for her.  Her mother believed the best option was to marry her off to a hunter, so she would always be well fed.  Neen-i-zu hated the thought of marrying someone who only thought of killing animals.  It hurt her heart, but marrying the hunter was her only choice.  As much as she wanted to disobey, family came first and she could never go against her mother's wishes.

On the day of her wedding, Neen-i-zu was the most gorgeous girl around.  Everyone was excited for her wedding except for Neen-i-zu herself.  Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to explore the forest at will once she was married, Neen-i-zu went exploring into the forest one last time, just hours before the ceremony.

She slowly wandered through the forest, taking in everything around her. The trees, the little stream, and all of the animals.  She was crying sadly as she moved through the trees when she was suddenly caught off guard.  The most beautiful creature she had ever seen had peeked around a tree and made eye contact with her.  Neen-i-zu froze, unsure of what to do.  Slowly the creature, a gorgeous man-fairy, came up to her.  He gently wiped away Neen-i-zu’s tears from her cheek.  Instantly she fell in love with this fairy, and she knew in her heart they were meant to be with each other. 

The man-fairy had known of Neen-i-zu’s predicament.  He had always watched her from afar, but he had always been too shy to express his love for her.  Knowing this was his last chance, he gained the courage to approach her.  He expressed his love for her and she reciprocated, both ecstatic to have finally found true happiness.  

Neen-i-zu was so happy and they married in that moment. The marriage was a magical kind of marriage. Once they were married, the magic of the forest made Neen-i-zu into a fairy so she could stay with her fairy husband forever and live the life she had always dreamed of. The couple lived happily ever after in the forest until the end of their days. It was Neen-i-zu's dream come true.

Author’s Note:  This was based on the story, The Fairy Bride.  In the original story Neen-i-zu had the same backstory that I wrote about.  However, in the original story, Neen-i-zu went into the forest before her marriage and was never seen again, except for by her hunter husband-to-be. Her hunter husband-to-be saw Neen-i-zu walk unto the arms of the man fairy, while in her wedding dress, and embraced him. When he saw this, he assumed she became a fairy-bride and told the rest of their people.  There was actually no story of how exactly she became a fairy bride, though.  I didn’t like that the original story skipped how exactly she became a fairy bride, so I wrote my own version of how I thought it would happen. I thought about making the story dark, but I decided against it. I wanted to make the story sweet, because I thought that such a good-natured person like Neen-i-zu deserved a happy ending, especially after being so misunderstood her whole life. Also, I tried to imagine the backstory of her fairy husband, so I decided to make him shy to explain why they didn't get married until the last minute. I hope you enjoyed my version!

Bibliography:  The Fairy Bride from American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned (1921).

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)

Storytelling for Week 7: A Day Heaven Would Never Forget

Storytelling for Week 7: A Day Heaven Would Never Forget

It was a normal day in Heaven.  Nothing excited was going on, as usual, and all of the gods and goddesses were peacefully going about their daily business. Nothing unexpected ever happened, which is why today was a day to be remembered forever.  Things may have started out typical, but they did not stay this way for long.

Things were very quiet when all of the sudden there was a huge commotion in the middle of Heaven.  Everyone, gods and goddesses alike, were all shouting incoherently for everyone to hear!  This was unsettling, considering no one ever shouted in Heaven, especially not everyone.  Heaven was a peaceful place, not a college bar.

(Gods and Goddesses in Heaven)

Everyone dropped what they were doing and ran to the middle of Heaven to see what the shouting was about. In the middle of Heaven, a hemp rope ladder flew into the air from Earth! Now, the gods and goddesses were curious creatures, and wanting to know where this strange ladder came from, they all banded together and held on to the rope, pulling it up quickly.  The rope was heavy, and after dipping their heads below the clouds they saw why.  There were many men and women climbing it furiously to escape a dragon! The gods and goddesses were caring people, and because they wanted to help these people out, they continued to pull the ladder out of danger’s way.

By the time they had pulled nearly the whole rope up, over eighty people had climbed into Heaven. The gods and goddesses were pleased with saving all of these people from the dragon, but there was still one man left to go.  The man, known as Kweku Tsin, was bravely fighting off the dragon to give the others more time to escape.  Thankfully, the gods and goddesses finally pulled Kweku Tsin up to safety before the dragon could eat him.

They asked Kweku Tsin about his story.  Kweku Tsin told him how they had all been captured by the dragon and were being held prisoners until the dragon decided to eat them.  By using his wisdom, he got all of the prisoners together and made a rope to throw into the heavens, hoping the gods and goddesses would help them escape.  Then, knowing the dragon would try to kill them before they escaped, Kweku Tsin risked his own life and fought the dragon and kept him occupied so the others could make it to safety first.

He was not only the wisest of the prisoners, but he was also the bravest.  Impressed with this, the gods and goddesses decided to reward Kweku Tsin. To reward him they made him the Sun, the source of all light.  Without Kweku Tsin the other prisoners were dim and powerless, therefore the gods and goddesses made them the stars, where they relied on Kweku Tsin for light and life for all of eternity.

Author’s Note:  This story comes from the West African Folk Tales unit, specifically the story The Moon and the Stars.  The original story was about Kweku Tsin and his tale of how exactly he and his father got captured.  The story also went into detail about how Kweku Tsin came up with the plan to escape.  It also explained the details of everything he and the prisoners did to escape.

In the original story there wasn’t much information about the gods and goddesses.  All that was written was that they were impressed with Kweku Tsin for his intelligence and bravery, so made him the sun, and his fellow prisoners the stars.  When I was reading it I wondered what it would be like for the gods and goddesses to have a random rope ladder thrown into their home, and then have eighty people climb up into Heaven. So, I wrote about the story from the perspective of being in Heaven.

Bibliography: West African Folk Tales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair (1917)

Storytelling for Week 4: Pearl and the Thief

Storytelling Week 4: Pearl and the Thief

There was a young merchant's daughter named Pearl.  She was gorgeous and everything any man would want in a wife.  All of the men in the village wanted to marry her, and she had recently turned of age.

“Father, please stop.  If you talk to me about this once more I will up and die from boredom.”  

Pearl had been dreading this.  She knew the moment she officially became a woman, her father would not stop trying to set her up to be married.  She didn’t want to get married.  She wasn’t interested in boys.  No matter how attractive, intelligent, brave, or clever they were, she just wasn’t interested.  Pearl would have rather died than marry anyone. Not even a god himself could interest Pearl.

Her father had finally given up hope and stopped pestering his daughter about marriage.  It broke him up inside, but more than anything he wanted his lovely daughter to be happy.

One day, Pearl was going along, minding her own business, and she felt a sharp pain from behind.  She turned around, looking for what had caused it, and saw nothing.  She turned back around and continued her walk onto the balcony.

(Woman on Balcony)

That’s when she saw him.  The most gorgeous man she had ever seen.  She fell in love with him instantly. He was covered in dirt, grime, sweat, and blood.  He was in handcuffs and being carried to the village square to be executed.  She immediately ran to her father and begged him to save the love of her life.  

The father was baffled by his daughter’s choice.  Why must she love a thief out of all of the men in the country?!  He was confused, but he was also desperate to make his daughter happy, so he went to the king and begged for the thief to be released so his daughter could be with her true love.

The king denied the desperate merchant’s claim, and the thief was executed. Pearl was so distraught. Answering Pearl’s prayers, a goddess came to her and brought the thief back as a reformed man, so he and Pearl could live together happily ever after.

Pearl had always thought that the goddess was just being nice because she felt so badly for Pearl.  What she didn’t know was that the goddess had only brought the thief back because she was on Cupid-duty.  

Cupid, the god of love, thought it was funny to make the wrong people fall in love.  He was a bored and evil god, so he ran around the country side, hitting mismatched couples with his arrows left and right.  The goddess that saved Pearl from a life full of unhappiness had only done so because Cupid’s mother, Venus, had demanded that she cover her son’s tracks so that the other gods and goddesses wouldn’t find out.  Pearl’s story, unfortunately for the goddess, wasn’t an uncommon one. The goddess continued her duty of fixing Cupid's pranks, and Pearl lived happily ever after with her husband, the former thief.

Author’s Note:  I wrote this story based off of The Girl and the Thief from the Twenty-Two Goblins unit. The original story was very similar to my own, but Cupid didn’t play a role.  The story never gave an explanation for why the girl fell in love with the thief, only that it was love at first sight. I was trying to think of all of the reasons the girl would have fallen in love at first sight with a dirty thief. To me the only thing that made sense would have been if Cupid had done it. The couple is such an odd combination that I find it hard to believe that she just fell in love with some random thief on her own. I decided to give an explanation of my own with Cupid being the instigator. I blended in a little bit about Cupid from what I read last week, because I thought it was fitting. The original story had almost the same ending, but the goddess that saved the thief and fixed Cupid's mistakes was actually the god, Shiva. Instead the original god brought the thief back to life because he felt so badly for Pearl's heartache.

Bibliography:

The Girl and the Thief from the book Twenty-Two Goblins.

Translated by Arthur Ryder (1917)

Storytelling for Week 3: The Ants' Revenge

The Ants’ Revenge

“Eugene! Eugene! Hurry! Sound the alarm!” said the ant on lookout.  “Gah,” he sighed, “not again.”

For the sixth time today the angry goddess, Venus, was stomping around all over the poor ants’ homes. She was getting closer, as heavy-footed and loud-mouthed as ever, shrieking about how betrayed she was by her own son, Cupid, for his marriage to Psyche. “He promised he would not marry her! The one girl I told him not to! She will pay for this!”

The ants were nervous as the walls of their home began to shake, and pieces of dirt kept dropping around them. All of the ants banded together and held on tight, holding the walls of their home up to reduce the amount of damage by as much as possible. Though they only stayed like this for under a minute, the stress and anxiety that came from being worried about losing parts of their home made it seem like they were stuck in these positions for hours.

As she stomped away, continuing to curse Psyche’s name, the ants began to relax and come out of their reinforced holes.  You see, just a couple of days ago there had been a cave-in in one of the main entrance halls, so the ants were more cautious when Venus stomped by now.  They couldn’t be too careful, especially with Venus on her rampage that wouldn’t seem to end anytime soon.

Just as the ants were getting back into the swing of their regular daily activities, their scout ant, Jan, came running back with an urgent request.  “Everyone! I need your help! Do you want to get back at Venus for making us cower in our own homes?!”  

“Yeah!” everyone shrieked back.

“Okay! There’s no better way to get back at her than by helping out the girl she despises the most, Psyche.”

Jan began to explain that the vile goddess, Venus, gave Psyche an impossible task.  The task was to separate an enormous pile of wheat, barley, poppy seeds, chickpeas, beans, and lentils by the end of the evening.  Though the task was impossible for just one girl, Jan believed that if their group of ants got together and helped her out, they could have everything separated out in no time!

Because an enemy of Venus was a friend of the ants, all of the ants agreed to help out and surely, soon enough, they had everything separated in no time like Jan had said! Psyche was so pleased with their help, and because she was good-hearted, she thanked them profusely. She made them feel so at home, that they almost wanted to stay in Psyche's company, however, not wanting to get caught by Venus herself, the ants quickly scurried away into their homes, feeling good about what they had done.  That is, until the stomping grew even more intense over the next few days as the goddess grew even angrier.  

(Psyche and the Ants)

Author’s Note:  For this story, I wanted to give more of a background for the ants in the story of Venus and Psyche.  They played such a small role in the story, so it left most of the details up to my imagination, which I like.  I tried to imagine what it would be like living as an ant near people prone to throwing temper tantrums, and this is the story I came up with! My main goals were to give a better explanation of why the ants helped Psyche out, to show things from an ant’s perspective, and also write a lesson about how revenge isn't the best answer.  

The original story, Venus and Psyche, is about how Venus gives Psyche the task of separating the pile of food, knowing she won’t be able to. Venus is jealous of Psyche's beauty, and upset that her son "betrayed" her by falling in love with Psyche. Therefore, Psyche was completely innocent and did not deserve to be treated like this. In the original story, an ant was just passing by and felt bad for Psyche, so he called the rest of the ants to come and help.  I gave more of a backstory from the ants’ perspectives, and changed their reasoning for helping into revenge.

Story: Venus and Psyche

Book Title: Apuleius’s Golden Ass

Author: Tony Kline

Year of Publication: 2013

Week 1 Storytelling: Clumsy Brian O'Lin

"Brian O'Lin had no breeches to wear;

He bought him a sheepskin to make him a pair,

The woolly side out, and the other side in:

'It's pleasant and cool,' says Brian O'Lin."

There was a man named Brian O’Lin who lived in a village.  He was notorious for being the clumsiest man out of all of the village people.  Every day he would ruin a new pair of pants in one way or another.  Just yesterday poor Brian O’Lin ruined his last pair of breeches by tripping over his own feet and falling into a large pile of horse droppings.  Unable to get the stains or the smell out, Brian O’Lin had no more trousers to wear.

~~~

Brian O’Lin had no breeches to wear

After buying so many new pairs of pants in the past week, Brian O’Lin decided to try and save money by buying cloth in bulk to make his own pairs of pants. He wandered around the village in just his knickers searching for the perfect material to make his pants out of.  He needed something durable, stylish, and functional. After getting shooed away by most of the villagers because of his revealing appearance, the only person who would sell him any material was an almost blind old sheep farmer.  Having no other options, Brian O’Lin went ahead and bought a sheepskin.

~~~

He bought him a sheepskin to make him a pair

(Smiling sheep)

After returning home, Brian O’Lin tried his hand at sewing himself pants.  Being so clumsy, it took a lot of time and multiple puncture wounds from his needle before he finally had a finished product that looked acceptable (even though it was slightly tinged red from his blood).  He put the pants on, wool side in, and admired his handiwork.  He was very happy with himself until he started walking around and realized how itchy and hot these pants were.  The wool was irritating his skin! Flustered he took the pants off and turned them inside out to see how that felt.  He did so, and remarked out loud that his pants were pleasant and cool to wear.

~~~

It's pleasant and cool,' says Brian O'Lin

He loved his pants so much, he went back to the sheep farmer and bought as much sheepskin as he could, and spent the rest of the day sewing himself even more breeches.  Later that night, as he walked into town to meet a friend, he got caught in a rose bush, ripping his new pants. Brian O'Lin did not fret, for he had over twenty other pairs to change in to at home.

~~~

Author's Note: This story is based off of a traditional nursery rhyme written in The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang (1897).  Because the rhyme is about a man in sheepskin breeches, I assumed it was from awhile back in the past in a village. From there I let my imagination take over and came up with a story on exactly why he was wearing sheepskin pants in the first place.  Most of my inspiration came from being extremely clumsy myself.

Because there wasn't much of a story to go off of, the nursery rhyme was fairly short, I got to use my imagination to make up most of the story, which I love doing! I got to visualize my own village and figure out the map as I went along. My mom also sews, so I know how easy it can be to prick your finger while doing so, which is where I got the inspiration for the puncture wounds. Plus, if Brian O'Lin was that clumsy, it made sense to me that he would not only ruin his pants a lot, but also injure himself on accident. I know I definitely injure myself on accident all the time! Luckily I don't ruin as many pairs of pants as he does.