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!