Truly Famous Last Words

Wow! What a semester it has been! I am writing this post as a sort of commemoration. You see, this is my very last post as a student in MLLL 3043 (Mythology and Folklore). It has been a pretty great semester and I am so glad and fortunate that I had the opportunity to take this course! It has been a really wonderful experience and I am proud to see that I have learned much in this course. Throughout the semester had the good fortune of taking great classes all around. It is interesting when you start in the beginning of the semester taking courses that would not seem to have anything to do with each other and then all of the sudden they are overlapping and it feels like you have had this knowledge before. I had that feeling many times this semester! I hope everyone, and I mean this, is having a great semester. I know sometimes things can get rough. Sometimes we just have to put on those big boy jeans and carry on. I am glad to be apart of this University and more broadly this awesome world. 

Good luck with finals! For now I am signing off. 

- Christian

Essay Week 11: English Fairy Tales

For this weeks reading I chose to read a fairy tales unit! I have not really read any of the fairy tale units from the sections so far, so I was initially very excited to read this section! There were two sections I could have chosen from. I decided to go with the one that felt most familiar with me. I recognized some of the stories that were in this unit and that was something I was also very excited about! It was great to get to re-read some of the stories that I have not heard since I was a child. Although, I think the stories I heard were a little different, like the Three Pigs and Henny-Penny. The stories I heard were passed down orally. My great-grandmother passed them to my grandmother and her to my mother and then to me and my brothers. I really appreciate this aspect of learning about folklore in my own family and I had never really put much thought into it until now. I love that my family was able to contribute to my knowledge of the world as a child through oral storytelling. If you are interested in reading some of my favorite stories from this weeks reading you can find that here.

I really liked reading the English Fairy Tales Unit, but I do have to say that it has not been my absolute favorite Unit, but it is still pretty good and well worth my time as a student. I am more than happy to read these tales for a grade! Haha. It seems like some of my favorite units were in week 4-6. However, I must emphasize that I have loved every unit in one way or another so far and I feel as though I am learning a lot from these story analysis!

Family Image - Taken by Myself

Week 11 Storytelling: The Man and His Dog

One day an old man came across a large lump of gold and he had no idea what to do with it! "I have no use for gold! I shall sell it at the market and get myself a dog!” So the man set out and got his dog. Walking home the man came to a bridge, but the dog refused to cross the stone bridge. He was scared of drowning and was upset at the thought of possiblity falling into the water. 

The man left the dog and walked down the road. Soon he came across a woodpecker. “Woodpecker! Woodpecker! Would you please gently peck my dog so he will go across the bridge and so that I may go home?” But the woodpecker refused. 

Man with Dog

The man continued down the road and came across a cat. “Cat! Cat! Would you please chase the woodpecker out of the tree to go peck my dog so he will cross the river and so I can get home?” But the cat refused.

The man continued down the road and came across a hawk. “Hawk! Hawk! Please, will you threaten the cat with your talons so she will chase the woodpecker; cat won’t chase woodpecker; woodpecker won’t peck dog; dog won’t go over the bridge; and I won’t get home tonight." But hawk confused. 

So man continued down the road and came across fire. “Fire! Fire! Please go and burn hawk. Hawk will not threaten cat; Cat won’t chase woodpecker; woodpecker won’t peck dog; dog won’t cross the bridge and I won’t get home tonight.” But Fire refused. 

Finally, man came across water. Water agreed to help the man, but first man had to do something for water. “If you can fetch me a home to live in I will help you dowse fire.” So man set out to find a home for water. He came across a place where water could live. It was a nice and quite ravine near his home. He showed water the home he had found. Delighted, water dowsed fire and fire then burned hawk, who then threatened cat, who then chased woodpecker, who then pecked dog, who jumped frightened over the bridge and the man made it home in time for dinner.

Happily Ever After!

Author’s Note: The Old Woman and Her Pig - I have never read this story before, but I found it to be a great read with fun with a strange concoction of words to match. I rearranged this story to be of a man’s perspective, but I wanted to leave the story much the same. I think to change this story would have really made it feel less powerful. What are awesome little story! So it begins, as you would expect, with a problem. A woman needed to get her pig across a stile so she could get home, but she couldn’t get the pig to jump over the stile. The woman ask multiple animate and non-animate object to help her and if they said no she would ask the next thing to make the chain of beings do what she ask so she could get the pig over stile and go home. Finally, cow agreed to help her if she gathered him hay. I feel like she probably would have just been better off if she had just done it herself.

Reading Diary Week 11: English Fairy Tales

For this weeks reading I have chosen to change it up a bit and pick a reading that is not familiar to what I have been doing so far. I chose to read English Fairy Tales! The last 10 Weeks I have always chosen something other than fairy tales, but I think English fairy tales have a special place in my heart as the ones I grew up with! I think I will have fun reading this selection and be able to write a great storytelling post from these stories! Below is a selection of the reading 

Reading A: 

The Old Woman and Her Pig - I have never read this story before, but I found it to be a great read with fun with a strange concoction of words to match. What are awesome little story! So it begins, as you would expect, with a problem. A woman needed to get her pig across a stile so she could get home, but she couldn’t get the pig to jump over the stile. The woman ask multiple animate and non-animate object to help her and if they said no she would ask the next thing to make the chain of beings do what she ask so she could get the pig over stile and go home. Finally, cow agreed to help her if she gathered him hay. I feel like she probably would have just been better off if she had just done it herself. 

The Story of Three Little Pigs - Continuing with pig stories! Again this story starts off with a problem. A sow, or momma pig, sent her three little piglets to find a way to build a home. So the first met a man with straw and asked if he could have some. The pig built a house of straw, but a wolf came along and knocked the house down. The next pig built his house of furze, and the wolf again blew his house down. The third pig built his house of brick, and the wolf have a difficult time trying to blow the house down. The third pig got the better of him in a very fun and laughable way!

Reading B:

Henny-Penny - I chose this story because it reminds me of my childhood and specifically it reminds me of my grandmother!!! The classic sky is falling story. Henny-Penny was hit upon the head and believed the sky was falling. She at once went to tell the king. Along her way to tell the the King she ran into many other animals. They all listened to her story and followed her to the King. All followed except fox who told them they were going the wrong way. Henry-Penny never got to tell the king the sky was falling. :/


Johnny-Cake - This was quite an interesting story, that was a lot like the Gingerbread Man. So a women made a johnny-cake and told her son to watch the oven. While not watching the oven. The oven door popped open and out jumped Johnny-Cake and he ran and ran. The boy the mother and the father all ran after Johnny-Cake. Eventually, many more people ran after Johnny-Cake but he outran them all. But the trickster fox was able to trick Johnny-Cake and eat him up. 

Johnny-Cake Running from the boy, the old woman and the old man

Essay Week 10: British North America

For this weeks readings I chose to read from the Un-textbook Native American section a unit titled British North America!!! This unit was very diverse in the types of reading I was able to get from the unit! I really like that aspect of the reading. Not only was I able to get some creation stories, but also stories about how mounts formed, how fire was made and animals stories too! I really enjoyed reading this unit! If you are interested you can look at some of my favorite stories from my blog post here. I chose this unit because it goes well with the reading unit I chose last week (Pacific NW Unit). Both of these Units were about peoples and cultures form Upper North America which just so happens to be the area I am interested in researching and working with Anthropologically and Archaeologically. I am really glad we were able to use time in this class to look at Native American Mythology and Folklore. I believe these peoples created some of the most beautiful stories I have ever herd!

It is incredible to think that we are so far along into the semester! As I sit here watching American Horror Story and write this essay I can help but think how amazing it is that the end of the semester is upon us soon. Good luck to all of you in your endeavors with the future. 

Indian Dancers

Week 10 Storytelling: All for One and One for All

    Not long ago the world was dark and there was not a light on Earth that could be seen except for one. This light was owned by the president of the world and he was greedy. He owned all the light and did not wish to share it with anyone. 
    One night, cold and hungry, the lonely fox walked up to the immaculate white house that stood proudly upon capital hill and knocked on the president’s door. “Excuse me sir” The fox muttered, “I was wondering if you could spare some light for my children. They are hungry and nothing will grow without light.”
    The president laughed at the fox and forcefully said, “You do not deserve light for you are weak and unintelligent.” It was at this moment that fox decided that if she couldn’t have a little light for herself then she was just going to take it all and force the president to live in the dark. So fox set out to cross the country and ask all the animals she passed if they would assist her in her struggle to win light for all. All agreed and together they stepped forward once again to the door of the president. When the president answered the fox kindly said, “Good evening Mr. President would you please allow us to come in?”
    The president agreed and so the animals entered his home. Once they had entered fox set up her boom speakers and played Lady Gaga. All the animals raved and danced the night away. With each step they took they stole a little more light into the sky until finally they had taken enough light to rise the morning sun. And thus light was made!

The White House

Authors Note: This story was all about how light was created on Earth. The story starts out by saying that in the beginning all of the world was dark, all but the old chiefs tepee. The old chief refused to give any of the animals light so the animals decided to take the light by craft. The animals gather and went to sing and dance at the chief tepee. They sang, “light, light, light” and soon light was stolen from the old chief and drew upwards into the sky. It was faint, so they continued to dance and sing. More and more light was stolen up into the sky until the chef in his confusion said... “let there be - light.” Now all the animals owned the light even though the old chief did not mean it.

Reading Diary Week 10: Myths and Legends of British North America

This week I am continuing on the Native American Mythology and Folklore theme with the unit British North America. I am excited for this unit because it talks about creation stories and themes from the first nations of North America. I chose this unit because it works well with the Pacific NW unit I read last week. I am excited to have the opportunity to study the culture of the Pacific NW in this new Unit!

Reading A:

How the Earth was Formed - I found this story to be a very interesting explanation of how the Earth formed! The story starts out with a human trying to catch a beaver. At first his attempts do not succeed so he decides he will destroy the dam and then when the water has drained from the lake he would then catch beaver. So the human went to the damn and poked at it with a stick, but instead of the lake draining of water the water level rose. It rose last his ankles and kept rising. The human made a raft and then made medicine from moss. The human then asked the wolf to run around the raft with the moss in its mouth and after a week of running in a circle land formed beneath the raft. The wolf kept running until he ran around the Earth and never came back. this is how the Earth was formed. 

Creation of Light - A tale of trickery! I like it. So this is the tale of how light came to be in the world. The story starts out by saying that in the beginning all of the world was dark, all but the old chiefs tepee. The old chief refused to give any of the animals light so the animals decided to take the light by craft. The animals gather and went to sing and dance at the chief tepee. They sang, “light, light, light” and soon light was stolen from the old chief and drew upwards into the sky. It was faint, so they continued to dance and sing. More and more light was stolen up into the sky until the chef in his confusion said... “let there be - light.” Now all the animals owned the light even though the old chief did not mean it. 

Reading B: 

The Making of Lakes and Mountains - Interesting story! It starts out with a women being kidnapped by bears. The women after some time wanted to escape so she devised a plan. Each morning she combed her hair she saved her hair combings and the hair oils. She also kept a whetstone. When she ran away she through the hair oils and this became a great lake. When the bears caught up with her she threw her hair combings down and these suddenly became great fallen trees that the bears struggled to get through. Next, the bears almost caught the women so she breaks a piece of whetstone and throws it. This then created the great mountains! And this is how the lakes and mountains formed. 

Kwagulth the Salmon

The Coming of the Salmon - Awesome story. It begins with a man that wished his river was full of salmon. He had a dream that with the help of all the animals he defeated the salmon people and bring their children back to the river to populate it. So the man and the animals set out to defeat the salmon people. When they arrived they found that the salmon people could not see them, but they could see their children being taken away. The man and the animals put the children into their canoe and went home to populate their rivers. 

Essay Week 9: Pacific NW

This week I read from the Un-textbook in the Native American section a unit call Pacific NW! I really had a blast reading the stories within this particular unit and I would like to start out by saying tat I would definitely suggest everyone read this unit! I was particularly excited about the origin stories within this unit. If you are interested I wrote about my favorite stories in the Pacific NW unit here. I really love the Pacific North West and that is why I was so excited to see it in the Un-Textbook. I am really glad that we get to spend two weeks on Native American Mythology and Folklore. 

Mount Hood, Oregon

Being a student at the University of Oklahoma, I have found that Native American heritage affects my life in many more ways than I ever thought would be possible. From working at the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art and with the Native American Curator there to working at the Oklahoma Archaeological Survey with Native American Artifacts and Burials it is truly inspiring to see Native culture all around me. I think my favorite story from this unit is the Native American origin story How Old Man above Created the World. I choose not to use it for my storytelling post because I did not think I would be able to retell the story with my own spin on it. Actually, that was a theme I found throughout the Native American Unit. It was hard for me to retell these stories because the originals were already so bold and interesting. I think in the end I choose to retell a great story and it worked out well. Again, I would definitely recommend this unit to anyone who is interested in reading it! 

Week 9 Storytelling: The Origin of Countries

Once in the history of the world, was a great field and that field was full of plants and crops that were precious for the life of the people who lived in the area. One day a monster of sorts came to the field and decided this is where he would like to live his life. He was a greedy creature that was interested in none other than himself. He was very large standing taller than most trees, his head seemed to scrape the clouds. He had horizontal stripes up and down his body and he wore the ugliest of all sweaters! He refused to share the precious crops with the people that lived in the area. 

One day the bulldog heard of the injustice that was happening in the plains. He decided being the most courageous and cunning of all animals to investigate the situation and attempt to help the people. He set off on his new adventure all the while trying to think of how to trick the creature. Just before he arrived at the edge of the crops he had finally rendered a plan to deceive the ugly sweater wearing monster and save the people of the plains. 

Being so cunning the bulldog started tending to the crops and this soon came to the attention of the creature. With a mighty roar that sounded like the howling of mighty winds the monster awoke and ran to the bulldog. “Why do you take MY crops?” The Monster asked. “Oh... Mr. Monster I am gratefully sorry, but I am the crops health inspector and your crops are not healthy enough for consumption. I am going to have to confiscate all your crops, but do not weep for your loss because I have brought you new crops that will be the healthiest crops ever!”

Superhero Bulldog

“Well, thank you inspector. I really appreciate it.” Said the creature. 

So the bulldog set out to harvest all of the “rotten” crops and when he finished he gave the ugly sweater wearing creature a bag of seeds. But, these seeds were not ordinary seeds they were laced with Ricin, a powerful poisonous drug that would cause instant death. 

Once the monster was dead the bulldog cut him up into little pieces. He planted the pieces in different areas of the world and this is how there came to be different countries! He also gave the harvested crops to the Plains people who waited so patiently for their crops. 

Authors Note: The Origin of Tribes - For this story I retold a story that explain the origin of Tribes. So it starts with a very pristine and beautiful lake were a giant beaver lived. Animal people wanted to fish in the lake, but they could not because the giant beaver named Wishpoosh would kill the people. A coyote decided to challenge the great beaver. He began fishing and was quickly attacked. The coyote speared the great beaver and Wishpoosh fell to the bottom of the lake drag gin the coyote with him. The coyote fought back though and soon the had created many lakes from the fighting. Finally coyote being so cunning allowed Wishpoosh to swallow him and coyote then cut open his intestines and dragged the giant beaver to shore. He cut Wishpoosh up and from various body parts created different tribes!

Week 9 Reading Diary: Native American Pacific NW Unit

For this weeks readings I choose out of the Native American Un-Textbook a Unit titled Pacific NW. If you have read my introduction post or my favorite places post you will see why exactly I have choose to read this unit in particular! The Pacific NW is one of my favorite places and it is somewhere that I would like to live at some point in my life! Listed below are some of my favorite sections I read within the PAcific NW Unit!

Pacific NW Totem Pole

Reading Part A:

How Old Man Above Created the World: Perfection. I absolutely love creation stories so it was very awesome to be able to read this particular creation story from the Pacific NW. This story starts out with an old man who was not able to reach the earth. To do so he poked a hole in the sky and sent down ice and snow. Then through the new hole in the sky the old man climbed down from cloud to cloud to reach the ground. When he got to earth he used his fingers to bore holes in the earth and plant the first trees. Then through the hole in the sky the sun warmed the ice and snow and gave growth to the trees. He gather leaves from the tress and blew on them creating birds. He took a stick and broke it into pieces. At the small end of the stick he made fish. The middle of the stick he made all other animals except the grizzly bear. With the large end of the stick he made a grizzly bear.

How Dog Stole Fire: This story starts when a man steal the two women of a shaman. The shaman dances and sings and it begins to rain, but it does not stop raining. Finally the man decides he must kill the shaman to stop the rain from killing him by drowning him. So the man goes out and beheads the shaman. The rain had put out all the fire in the land and so the people sent owl to Mt. Shasta to look for fire. Owl finally found fire in the west. It was dog who had fire. He had hidden a punk in his ear and so he gave the people fire again.

Reading Part B:


The Origin of Tribes: This was a really interesting and fantastic story that gave an explanation for how different tribes were created. So it starts with a very pristine and beautiful lake were a giant beaver lived. Animal people wanted to fish in the lake, but they could not because the giant beaver named Wishpoosh would kill the people. A coyote decided to challenge the great beaver. He began fishing and was quickly attacked. The coyote speared the great beaver and Wishpoosh fell to the bottom of the lake drag gin the coyote with him. The coyote fought back though and soon the had created many lakes from the fighting. Finally coyote being so cunning allowed Wishpoosh to swallow him and coyote then cut open his intestines and dragged the giant beaver to shore. He cut Wishpoosh up and from various body parts created different tribes!

Coyote and the Dragon: Once in a cave lived a monster who would eat people by night and return to its cave by morning. Coyote wanted to help the people who were being eaten. The monster could not be in the sun and could only come out of the cave at night. Coyote was clever and knew the monster could only come out during night, so he hid the sun behind a river. When the monster saw it was night he came out. The coyote released the sun and it blinded the monster then coyote killed him.  

Week 7: Famous Last Words

Okay. It has been a little while since I have done a Famous Last Words post. It looks like the last one I did was way back in week 4, but that is okay. I will pick up from here. So... This week has been hectic! From juggling exams and courses to interviewing and getting a new Job! I was also able to publish my first Storybook story last week! If you are interested you can check out this storybook story here.

Famous Last Words:

This week in Mythology and Folklore has been very enjoyable! I have gotten to examine other students Storybook Projects and they look great! I am excited to see how everyone's projects turn out.

This week, Week 7, I read the Congo Unit and I have to say that I absolutely enjoyed myself while reading these fun and adventurous type stories. This unit is exactly why I love this course. I did not come into this course expecting to read something like this, but I am so happy it came my way. If any of you are interested in reading from this unit I would very much recommend it. I think my favorite reading from this unit called How the three Wives Restored their Husband to Life and the Twin Brothers! In reality I really enjoyed pretty much all of the readings in this Unit! I really enjoyed reading the story about twin brothers because, well I am a twin! I would say the Congo Unit has easily became one of my favorite Units I have read so far!


This semester has been going great! It is now week 7 of 16 which means... we are almost half way done with the semester!!!! Wooo hooo! I hope everyone is having a great semester! Keep your heads above water and remember... Just keep swimming!

Reding Diary: Self Assessment

For this week I am doing a review of my last couple weeks of doing a reading diary (specifically Weeks 2-8). It is my intention to begin to identify if there is something I have been over looking or could improve upon in my Reading Diaries that I have not yet done. I suspect that one of my main problems here is going to be my lack of diversity in my Reading Diary post. Over the past couple of weeks I have really started to become repetitive in the way that I structure the Reading Diaries. this is definitely something that I would like to change in my future reading diary post.

While reviewing the instructions for creating a reading diary I did notice that there is a section on sample reading diaries. I had forgotten since I first looked at the instructions that these examples were there and I think they will really help me in revising my reading diary away from my old structured method. In my reading diaries I really stick to trying to pick approximately 4 stories from the unit to summarize, this intern usually makes all of my reading diaries about the same length. While reading from the unit I try to keep track of which stories I found most interesting. Once I have finished the read ins I usually just try to think of which stories might be the easiest to summarize. Sometime I really like a story, but in the end it is not worth the amount of time to summarize the story in the reading diary. However, I always try to include in my reading diary the story that I plan on retelling in the storytelling post. I find this particularly helpful because A, you will have a nice little synopsis of the story at hand if you need it and B, in the author’s note you are going to have to summarize the original story anyways. So it seems like a common sense thing to do.

Overall, I have found the reading diary post to be pretty helpful. They remind me of what I read each week (even if it is just a tiny snapshot of what I read). I think I have done a good job with the reading assignments each week, in that I always follow the instructions completely. I have found that because I enjoy the reading in this course I actually find it very easy to remember the stories even after a couple of weeks. When I looked back at the storytelling from week 2 I could still remember much of the story. I would definitely say that in most other classes I do not remember any of the readings. In fact, for many other classes I might not get around to the reading because I sometimes find it wasteful of time, in terms of getting the grade. for many other classes the difference between and A and a B is not made by reading the chapter, but by studying the notes/ handouts. Okay, so the reading has some impact of the grades, but honestly I have never run into a course that really focuses on the reading quite like this course seems to! It is a totally foreign approach to me, but like this questions indicate I am actually taking in the information here.

Essay Week 7: Congo Unit

This week I read from the Congo Unit in the Myth and Folklore Un-Textbook out of the African Unit! I found these readings to be very enjoyable and I am glad that I choose to read them for this week. A major factor into me choosing to read this unit was that it paired nicely with my Storybook Project of Tales of the Undead. The Congo Unit focused nicely on some magic and resurrection of the dead. I was a little sadden because I did not find any stories that I particularly want to retell. I think one of the things that I enjoyed most about this unit was the storytelling methods! All the stories were told in a new way and I found it very interesting! My favorite story in this unit was the story titled How the Lives Restored their Husband to Life! It was a great story that became a great compliment to my Storybook Project! I was really excited about that ability to include a story from the Congo Unit into my storybook project, but I have decided to not use it for this project. Overall, I am very glad I was able to pick up this Unit! I very much enjoyed the Unit and I am glad to see it in the Myth and Folklore Un-Textbook.

Malawi waYao Tribe Members

Week 7 Storytelling: The Lucky Cricket and the Starving Children

     One dark night, cold and pouring rain, a cricket clamored out of his home in a pile of crumpled old newspapers and set out in search of food for his four-hundered and sixty three children. Edward became an only father when his beloved wife, Matilda, passed away giving birth to their last son. Disgruntled from the death of his wife and forced to provide for all his children alone, Edward was, as you can imagine, in rough looking shape. His face was covered in black stains acquired from his full-time position at the factory. His hands were rough and worn, and his eyes were glazed over like he had been sleep deprived for three weeks, in fact he had been sleep deprived for three weeks!
     Edward was not the kind of guy to ask for help. He was capable of finding food for his yougins’ on his own. He finally came to a place that seemed to glimmer with hope! It was a Taco Bell!!! If he was lucky he would be able to find a freezer with food or collect enough crumbs to feed his children. He set out to start the search, but it was not long until suddenly became enshrouded with a dark shadow and as soon as it had started it had ended. Edward has been squished by an employees shoe. 

Jiminy Cricket in the original trailer for Pinocchio

    All of Edward’s children were at home starving and they hadn’t a clue what to do or how to get some food. One of the cricket siblings piped up and said, "I had a dream, that our father has died!” Next a sister spoke and said, "I had a vision about where he is I can lead us to his body.” The cricket siblings set out to find their father and search for food. When the arrived at Taco Bell and found their father deceased on the cold tile floor all the children wept, with the exception of the youngest child who said, “When I was born and I killed my mother I inherited the power to bring people back to life. So, I shall now bring Papa back to us.” Conjuring up a spell the youngest cricket worked his magic and soon the father sprang back to life. 

     With his children at his side the father led the children to a Cheesy Gordita Crunch with No Baja Sauce and Substituted Beans for Beef and everyone was happy!

Authors Note: For this weeks reading I choose to retell the story How the Wives Restored their Husband to Life. I choose to retell this story because I believe it went nicely paired with my storybook project theme of the undead. This story was very interesting and started off with A man who had three wives. The man set out to feed his wives and while he was away he decided he want to get an ox so he tracked the ox far away. When he took his arrow to kill the ox another ox came from behind and killed him too! The wives starving at home did not know what to do. One of the wives dreamt their husband was killed by an ox, another led them to his body and the third resurrected him from the dead. The woman fought over whose food he would eat first. When the man was able he said I will eat the food of the wife that brought me back to life because she is the one that allowed me to eat again.

Storybook Project Number One

Hey Guys,

I just finished up my first storybook project story. If you are interested you can check it out here.

Let me know what you think!

Week 7 Reading Diary: Congo Unit

This week I choose to do the reading unit for the Africa Unit: Congo. I am very excited to do this unit because my storybook project is going to be based on stories of the undead. This section is going to be very helpful in learning about the African traditions of the Undead and other rituals! Below is a list of some of the stories that I particularly like while reading this Unit and a description of the stories.

Reading A:

How the Wives Restored Their Husband to Life:
A man set out to feed his three wives. He want to get an ox so he tracked the ox far away. When he took his arrow to kill the ox another ox came from behind and killed him too! The wives starving at home did not know what to do. One of the wives dreamt their husband was killed by an ox, another led them to his body and the third resurrected him from the dead. The woman fought over whose food he would eat first. When the man was able he said I will eat the food of the wife that brought me back to life because she is the one that allowed me to eat again.

The Twin Brothers:
Once upon a time a woman gave birth to twins who were full grown at their birth... ouch. The daughter of Nzambi was ready for marriage and all the creature that had breath as for her hand in marriage, but she refused them all saying she did not love them. One of the Twins set out to marry the women which he did. He then set out to a town where no man returns for some reason. When he arrived their he was eaten by a women. Then his twin brother came to the city and the people thought he was the brother and was married to Nazambi's daughter. He also soon set out on a journey to the town where no man returns. He killed the woman and brought his brother back to life along with all the people who had died there. Then the first twin killed the second for a disagreement.

Reading B:

How the Spider Won and Lost Nzambi's Daughter:
Nazambi was in a predicament. She need fire from the heavens, but did not have a way to get it. Her daughter was very beautiful so the Spider, the sand-fly, the rat and the woodpecker all promised to help for a reward. Each of the creatures played their part in helping Nzambi receive fire from the heavens but she gave her daughter to the Spider. The others creatures were jealous and complained so Nzambi said I can't give her to you all so I will give her to none. Instead I will pay you all her value. And so Nzambi's daughter was still unmarried.

The Fetish of Chilunga:
Interesting "Urban Legend". This story is about a place where a fetish rules in the form of a princess. He demands that people treat him nicely and if they do not they will be imprisoned until the do so by offering gifts to him. A white man did not believe in the spirit and laughed as he brought gifts to the holy place. Then the gifts disappeared in front of him and he believed.

Below is a YouTube video I found Title A Story A Story. Take a listen to these beautiful traditional Congo Stories!

Essay Week 6: Asia Mythology and Folklore

This week I read Tibetan Folk Tales for the Asia Unit in the Mythology and Folklore Un-Textbook. I found this reading to be very fun to read. In fact, it may be one of my favorite things I have read this semester! I can definitely see the appeal to Asian Mythology. I imagine one could spend a whole semester talking only on Asian Mythology and Folklore! In the Tibetan Folk tales Unit I most definitely had some favorite stories which you can see here. I really choose this reading because I initially saw that in this Unit was some magic and I just could not resist. Looking back on my decision I could not be happier about the decision! I especially loved that at the beginning of each story was a Tibetan Proverb. It was very interesting to here these proverbs, even though some of the did not make a lot of sense until I read the story with it. My favorite story and the one I choose to do my storytelling post over was The Man and the Monkey. I found this story to be incredibly interesting. At first I was perplexed by the story and why the man would want to kill the monkeys after they had saved him. It seemed like many of the Tibetan stories were focused on the “ingratitude” of man. This is definitely a Unit that I would recommend to anyone who is interested in animals, magic, and folklore!

Tibetan Family Attending Horse Festival

Week 6 Storytelling: The Man and the Bear

              Once there live a man and his family who lived in a small city on the west coast of North America. The man was about middle aged, probably mid forties. He was tall for an American, standing over most of his peers, his hair showed signs of turning grey from stress and he had hideous large framed bifocals that outlined his eyes. He did not speak much, but his presence spoke much about him. His face was scarred with ancient war injuries and his facial expression gave a sense of emptiness. Still he was always protective of his family and his heritage. The man was in northern Oklahoma on his way meet with a realtor who was showing him some properties in a very desirable neighborhood. The man was moving to Norman, OK from the West coast for his new job in the oil fields to better support his family. 
              While he was on his way to the third property the man stopped by a pristine lake and decided this is where he would like to live! He went over to an old picnic area to take a nap in his tent. While he was sleeping the ground beneath him shook; the earth melted beneath him and he slid into the lake. Unable to swim he called for help!

Brown Bear, Ursus arctos in Norway

              Nearby the water with his family was a large and strong bear. He had the strength of twenty men, but was shorter then the average bear. Unable to swim himself the bear said, “Hold on I will use my wits to save you." The bear thought and thought about how to save this drowning man, when it suddenly became clear. He stood behind a tall  and ancient tree and roared back on his two back feet. Using all of his might the bear slammed against the tree until it fell into the water next to the drowning man. the Bear clamored out onto the fallen tree’s gargantuan trunk and rescued the man from his sure demise. 
             Grateful the man thanked the large bear. Saved from drowning the man found himself quite tired and decided that before he continued he was going to rest for a while. The man was severely tired from his struggle to survive, but could not get to sleep because the bear's family was making too much noise as they were playing Frisbee. Angry at the bear's family and with his desire to live in this beautiful area, he devised a plan to rid the place of the bears and move his family from the west coast to this new location.
            Once the Bears fell asleep for the night the man decided to capture the bears and use them as bait and food for the winter. He also though of how wonderful the bears warm skins
would feel as they kept his family warm throughout the winter!

The Man and the Monkeys & The Ingratitude of Man: 
For this story I decided to combine two of the stories I read in the Unit Tibetan Folk Tales. This story of The  Man and the Monkeys which I really based the storytelling on is describe below. You can see other descriptions from this story here. This story starts out with a man entering into the Garden of Eden. A beautiful place he eats some food and decides to take a nap in a tree. While sleeping he turns over and falls into the lake below. A monkey nearby sees the man struggling and tries to rescue him. Unable to do so he say if only I were taller and stronger I could help you. For many days the Money lifted stones to become strong until he was strong enough to help the man. He helps the man, but it was not soon after until the man begins to think the monkeys are too loud and decides they should all die so he can live in a peaceful place. So he shakes the trees they are sleeping in and they all fall to their death. The End. 

Week 6 Reading Diary: Tibetan Folk Tales

For this weeks reading I choose to read from the Asia Unit: Tibetan Folk Tales. List below are some of my favorite sections from this reading and a brief description about the readings.

Reading Part A:

The Ingratitude of Man:
A man traveling along saved a mouse, a snake, a crow and a man. All of the animals he saved were grateful except for the man. The crow to repay the man who saved him found so fine jewelry and gave it to the savior. The other man, who had been rescued, reported the theft to the king and the savior was sent to prison. Starving to death the mouse gave the man food to repay his debt to the man and the snake found a way to set him free. The man who was saved was ungrateful, but the other animals were obviously much more grateful to their savior.

Tibetan Proverb - Whatever you have promised make it not as

 changeable as a loop in a string, but as firm as a line on a rock.

The Two Devils:
Really great, but somewhat long story. In a kingdom seven sons of the king met a woman and a yak, who were actually two devils in disguise. The seven sons asked the woman to marry them and she agreed. Each year one of the brothers would die starting with the oldest. When it came to the last son the town decided to ask a fortune-teller what to do. The fortune-teller found out the woman and the yak were the devils and said this is your problem. The town killed the woman by stone and set both of them on fire.

Reading Part B:

The Three Hunters:

The Man and The Monkey

In a village lived three brothers and a sister. All of the brothers were married to a wife. The wives of the two oldest brother became angry at the sister for an "unknown" reason. They decided to plan to kill the brothers' sister. The men went on a hunt and the Two oldest brothers wives decided now was the time to kill her. The men on their way home stopped to rest. A songbird sang the same tune over and over and one of the brothers said that sounds like our sister. He said to the bird if you are my sister hop onto my hand and it did. the men cried for they knew that their sister was dead. When they returned home the youngest wife told the men what had happened and they killed the two big wives and partnered the youngest.

The Man and the Monkeys:
This story was very interesting! It starts out with a man entering into the Garden of Eden. A beautiful place he eats some food and decides to take a nap in a tree. While sleeping he turns over and falls into the lake below. A monkey nearby sees the man struggling and tries to rescue him. Unable to do so he say if only I were taller and stronger I could help you. For many days the Money lifted stones to become strong until he was strong enough to help the man. He helps the man, but it was soon after until the man decides the monkey are too loud and decides they should all die so he can live in a peaceful place. So he shakes the trees they are sleeping in and they all fall to their death. Lovely.

Essay Week 5: India Mythology

This week I read Twenty-Two Goblins from the India Reading Unit in the Mythology-Folklore Un-Textbook. I thought this reading was super fun! I loved the India Unit of the Un-Textbook and found both the readings I did from this section to be the best readings thus far! I can definitely see why someone would want to read India Epics forever! In the Twenty-Two Goblins Unit I definitely had some favorite tales which you can see here. I really enjoyed the layout and the style of this unit. The idea that this king would go back again and again to get the body and bring it to the priest was really cool. I though the goblin character was also really interesting in his character development. In this reading unit there was some very strange stories. One of my favorites was the Three Delicate Wives who were bruised by a flower petal, burned by the moon beam and hurt by the sound of a pestle; very interesting reads! Overall I really enjoyed this reading and I think it would be hard to improve on it. Going into this reading unit it was exactly as I expected it to be from the synopsis, but at the same time it was so much more (like I was saying the back story in this unit was very poetic).

Shiva Statue, Bangalore

Another thing I was very impressed with in the Twenty-Two Goblins Tales Unit was its shortness. It took me almost no time at all to read the unit! I think the stories themselves were a little longer than average, but this made it possible for fewer stories and I think made the unit an easier read. Plus, because the actual stories were longer they had more detail in them and that just adds to the fun! I was very impressed with the readings and I am so glad that I was able to read this as a part of my Mythology and Folklore Course. This is definitely a unit that I would not want to see disappear!

Week 5 Storytelling: The Perfect Match

Once upon a time in a very large and prestigious kingdom live three mighty men. Each one of the men possessed a quality that challenged even the greatest men in the kingdom. The queen who had just turned fourteen was in search of a suitor. Her father had passed away when she was a child and her mother had recently died from the bubonic plague leaving her two children with out parents or relatives. This made the eldest daughter the Queen of the kingdom and the youngest daughter princess. The royal council gave the queen two months from her coronation to find a husband. So the queen set out on her mission to find true love and find herself a husband.

The queen called a kingdom wide competition for her hand in marriage. She staged the competition to be the most competitive competition the world had seen and to demonstrate the talents she thought would lead to the perfect husband. These talents would be demonstrated by two different events and each event would be taking place on a different day.

The first event she choose was a test to demonstrate strength, for only a man with strength would be able have her hand in marriage. To test strength the queen set up a quiz. Whom ever had the highest score on the quiz would win this challenge. The men competing were perplexed.

“What is the purpose of a quiz?” They questioned the queen, “This does not demonstrate our strength... we should be lifting stones are fighting each other.”

“I am not interested in your physical strength.” The queen responded. “I am looking for a husband who has strength of mind; for only someone with a strong mind will be able to hold my attention for life.”

Irritated by the queen’s deception the men agreed to take the quiz. They took their seats in a great reading hall and began their test of strength. Before they began the queen was curious about how the men would test against her own strength of mind so she too took the exam, but in secrecy. When they finished the exams were scored and the winner of the event was sealed in an envelope and would not be announced until the final day. The next day the second event began at noon. The event was to take place in a large open field outside the castle gates. When the sun was highest in the sky the competitors lined up to take their positions in the field. In front of each of them men sat a five foot rope and an egg. The queen arrived on horse back and looked at the men.

Empress Elizabeth of Austria

“This is an event of endurance. If you are to have my hand in marriage then you must be able to demonstrate both patience and endurance. For this event you will hold each end of the rope in each or your hands. I will come and place the egg in the center of the rope and the man who can balance the egg the longest on the rope shall be the winner of the competition!”

The men began the challenge, but no winner was declared. None of the men were able to hold the egg longer than a second after the queen placed the egg on the rope.

“This is an outrage, no one would be able to complete this task!” The men exclaimed!

The queen upon her horse took the rope in her hands and asked her maiden to place the egg as she had upon the rope. For twelve hours the queen rode around the castle with the egg in perfect balance.

 When the time came to announce who would have the hand of the queen and become the king of the kingdom the queen stood up in front of her loyal subjects and announced the winner of the competition.

~ ~ ~

Who was the winner of the competition?

~ ~ ~

The queen announce that she had won the competition and would not be married to any of the men. She was the perfect match for herself. 

Her sister on the other hand choose to marry the strongest women in the kingdom because that is what she was attracted too. Go figure. 

The Three Delicate Wives: So I was originally inspired by the story of the Three Delicate Wives as described below, but I ended up adding many more elements to the story. Once I really got started writing I enjoyed the story to much and didn’t want to limit it to the one story. I would like to think of the final product as a nice mixture of many of the stories from this unit. 

This story begins at a distant land where there is a king with three wives. When the king saw his first wife a lotus flower landed in her and she was severely bruised by this instantly. The second wife was lying in bed with the King and when the moonlight shone on her skin she was severely burned! Crazy, I know Right! It gets better. The third wife is walking down a corridor an hears the pestles and the sound alone gave her bruises. OMG IKR?! So that is the story, of the three delicate wives and when the Goblin asked the King who was the most delicate the King answered The one who was bruised by the sound of pestles for she was the only one that was hurt by something that was not physical.  

Week 5 Reading Diary: Twenty-Two Goblins

For this weeks reading I chose from the India Unit Twenty-Two Goblins!  Listed Below are some of my favorite sections from the reading this week. Unfortunately because I have chosen to read another tale from the India Unit I have effectively left out the Middle-East Unit. While I wish I could do both I am still just so infatuated with the India Unit and Buddha Tales that I had to stick with it. Plus I can always go back and read the Middle-East Unit on my own!

The King and The Goblin

Reading A: 

Goblins: Brave, Wise, Clever: These stories are starting out very uniquely. I think the whole idea is interesting and I am excited to see what the conclusion of these stories are! I choose Goblins: Brave, Wise, Clever because I could really draw a connection to the tale of the Deathly Hallows! Being a big Harry Potter fan I really loved to see this connection. So this story is about the King who is trying to bring a goblin, that has taken over a dead body to a monk. The king has promised to do this. While the king is carrying the body the goblin tells a story and at the end of the story the King is forced to answer the riddle, of sorts. If the king answers correctly the Goblin will return to the tree the king found him at and the king will have to start his journey over again. If the king answers knowingly incorrectly then his head will explode. I think these are excellent stories!

Goblins: The Three Delicate Wives: Wow! What a quirky story. So this story begins at a distant land where there is a king with three wives. Already contrary to the so called “normative” culture of America, but that is a little ethnocentric of me... anyways the story continues with the king visiting each of his wives. When he saw his first wife a lotus flower landed in her and she was severely bruised by this instance. The second wife was lying in bed with the King and when the moonlight shone on her skin she was severely burned! Crazy, I know Right! It gets better. The Third wife is walking down a corridor an hears the pestles and the sound alone gave her bruises. OMG IKR?! So that is the story, of the three delicate wives and when the Goblin asked the King who was the most delicate the King answered The one who was bruised by the sound of pestles for she was the only one that was hurt by something that was not physical.  

Reading B: 

Goblins: Father and Son, Daughter and Mother: What an amazing little story. I loved the ending to this one. It starts out as all the rest of the tales. The king takes the body infested with the Goblin and carries it to the monk. On his way to the monk the Goblin tells the King a story at the end he has a riddle. In this story a Queen and her daughter are traveling in the woods. Without a husband the Queen and daughter fend for themselves and hide from robbers. A father and son are in the woods hunting when they come upon footprints. A small set and a large set. The men agree when they find the women the Son shall have the person with the small footprints and the Father shall have the women with the large set. When they find the women they ultimately marry them, but as a twist the daughter actually has bigger feet then the queen. So sticking to the agreement the Father marries the daughter and the Son marries the Mother! Pretty Funny. So the Question is What are the relation of these two couples offsprings? The King caring the goblin was stumped. The goblin let the king in on a secret. The monk was going to kill the king to get magical powers! Page Turner indeed!

Conclusion: Okay. So the monk is killed by the King because the Goblin told the King the sham Monks plans to become King of the Fairies. For this the God Shiva rewards the King by promising him the world and giving him a magic sword where while he has it everything comes true!

Week 4: Famous Last Words

Wow! What an amazing week for Mythology and Folklore! I am excited to announce that I am now “Linkedin” so to speak on the social-media site Linkedin. The more I go through my Junior year at the University of Oklahoma the more I am finding myself wanting to push boundaries and expand myself to new possibilities of social networking. I think the online sphere has a lot to offer in terms of connectivity, but I also realize that online cannot do it all. I have started a new project at the Oklahoma's Archaeological Survey, on the University of Oklahoma’s Campus, working with Oklahoma’s Longest Site also known as 34JF1! I am excited about this opportunity to broaden my horizon and begin my journey as a well connected student.

On the subject of websites I have just finished up my introduction page for my Storybook project. If you are interested you can check it out here. I have titled it Diaries of the Undead: Global Edition. It needs a lot work and a little bit of polish, but I am proud of it overall so far.

Jataka Tales: Buddha

Famous Last Words:
This week, Week 4, I have read the Jataka Tales Unit by Shedlock. I absolutely loved this unit, it was the best unit I have read yet. I would definitely recommend the reading. I was really inspired this week from the India Unit. When I enrolled in this course I was not really sure what to expect. In all reality if I expected anything it was probably a course more along the lines of greek and roman mythology. Not at all am I saying that would have been bad, I love me some Greek Mythology. I am happily surprised thought at this course overall. I have fallen in love again with short stories and if you had asked me if I were interested in Buddhist mythological stories two weeks ago I would have said no. Easily, the Jataka Tales Unit has become my favorite unit I have read. It has inspired me to stay on the India Unit and read Twenty-Two Goblins! I am excited for this new adventure and I will make sure to update you about it in my next Famous Last Words Post. I really enjoyed rewriting a tale from the Jataka Unit called The Poisonous Trees. This tale was really inspiring to me. It included many of the virtues of Buddha. If you would like to read my retelling of the story you can check it out here.

It looks like everything is going smoothly from here. The semester is in full swing now and big projects for the end of the semester are underway. This is week 4 of 16 so we are now 1/4 of the way done with this semester and I am 1/8 of the way done with my Junior year! Looks like things are beginning to fall into place. Lets just hope it stays that way.