Tori's Thoughts

Myth-Folklore Unit: Fables of La Fontaine, Part B The Woodman and Mercury: -There was once a wood chopper who lost his axe -He prayed to the gods on Olympus for help in finding it -the god, Mercury, heard his cry for help and in front of the wood chopper appeared a golden axe -the wood chopper admitted that the gold axe was not his and kept on searching for his axe -then Mercury made a platinum, silver axe appeared and the wood chopper again responded by saying that this was not his axe -finally Mercury found his wood and metal (regular) axe and the man was glad to have found his axe -Mercury rewarded the wood chopper with the fancy gold and silver axes as a reward for his honesty The Woodman's Axe. Wikimedia. Story Source: Un-Textbook. The Fables of La Fontaine .

Myth-Folklore Unit: Fables of La Fontaine, Part A Tortoise and the Hare: -They challenged each other to a race -The Hare laughed at this challenge and though it seemed to easy -They both agreed, and the Hare decided he had plenty of time to goof off before he needed to start the race because he thought the tortoise would take a long time to reach the finish line -The Hare loses track of time and by the time he begins the race, the clever and focus tortoise had already crossed the finish line and won The Focused Tortoise. Wikimedia. The Dog and His Image: -The dog walked around with his juicy bone and came across a pond -When he looked into the pond he saw another juicy bone (but it was only his reflection), so he jumped in after it -He lost his juicy bone, did not find the other bone, and almost drown because of his gluttony and greed for another bone that he did not need Story Source: Un-Textbook.  Fables of La Fontaine.

Welsh Emerson Unit, Part B More Short Tales of Fairies: -Ellen was a pretty girl with a kind soul -One day she went walking and found copper  (pennies) in a drain -After this day she would walk by the same drain one a week -Every time should would walk by she would find more and more pennies -Ellen saved these pennies at home and one day her mom asked her to take her to the place Ellen found the pennies -But when Ellen brought her there, the drain was empty and there were no pennies to be found -Only Ellen was ever lucky enough to find the pennies Story Source: Welsh Emerson Unit. Walking Trail. Wikimedia.

Three Short Tales of Fairies The Craig-Y-Don Blacksmith:The town's blacksmith was a known drunk. One day three fairies confronted the man and told him to stop drinking. If he did not he would die soon, but he listened he would benefit. The man decided to change his way of life and quit drinking, so a few months later he was surprised with three pots of gold (I assume the three fairies left this for him). Fairies. Wikimedia. Story Source: Welsh Emerson Unit.

Reding Notes: Aesop's Fables (English) Unit, Part B A Wolf turns Religious: - the wolf had grown old and weak - he could not hunt because he lacked teeth and strong paws for running, since he was brittle and old - so the wolf's plan was to disguise himself as a pilgrim and go door to door and beg for food since he was no longer able to hunt for himself - when a wolf from his pack recognized him, he was ashamed but explained that he had no other option at his age This story makes me picture the wolf (dressed in Granny's clothes) from the story Little Red Riding Hood. Wolf Wearing a Bonnet. Wikimedia . Story Source: Aesop Fables Unit, Part B.

Myth-Folklore Unit: Aesop's Fables (English) The Wolf and the Shepherd's Boy: This is short nursery rhyme bout the boy who cried wolf. Lesson: No one takes a joker seriously, and it's difficult to gain a person's trust again. The Boy Who Cried Wolf. Wikimedia. The Man and the Goose: The goose laid golden eggs, and the man became so greedy for more that he did not want to wait for the goose to produce 1 egg at a time. So, the man cut the goose open. To his dismay he found zero golden eggs inside the goose. Lesson: Patience is a virtue, and one must not be come to greedy. Story Source:  Aesop's Fables Unit. 

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales Unit, Part B The Dog-Husband (Quinault): The story begins with "A long time ago, in a certain village there lived a young girl who had a dog" (I love when stories begin this way). The girl loved her dog very much. He went with her everywhere, but she didn't know that every night the dog turned into a human and would transform back into a dog before the morning came. She became pregnant and her parents figured out that the dog was also human, and that he was the father of the baby. The father/dog-husband was killed for impregnating her. She gave birth to the pups.  The dog children also were gifted with the ability to change between human and dog forms, and once their mother figured this out she ordered them to remain human. These boys were great whale hunters and so they became village chiefs and no one knew that they were the pups born of exiled woman. Girl and the Dog-Husband. Wikimedi a. Story Source: Native ...

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales, Part A  Bear-Woman and Deer-Woman: -The Grizzly Bear and the Doe did not get along -The two of them and their children went down to the river to wash up for dinner -The Grizzly Bear kills the Doe and cooks her -The Doe's children are curious about their mother, but their Aunt Grizzly just tells them to run off and play -The fawns go off to play with the bear's children -while they are playing the fawns kill one of the bear children -they then take the dead bear back to the bears mother (Aunt Grizzly) and convince her it is a skunk that they killed, and it was for her to have to dinner -The fawns tricked the Grizzly, and the Grizzly ate her child thinking it was a skunk Grizzly. Wikimedia . Story Source:  Native American Marriage Tales unit .

The Deer on the Hunt. Wikimedia. Why Deer Never Eat Men: -all the animals gathered and discussed their source of food -the wolf says that deer will be his main source of food -the deer responds by saying that deer are too quick and swift, and the wolf would never be able to catch deer and eat them -then the deer discussed that they will eat humans because there are an excess of them (specifically Indians) in the countryside -the animals were shocked to hear the deer say this because Indians were believed to be too strong and powerful, but the deer did not care and they said that deer will eat Indians anyway and no matter what the others think because the deer didn't care -After this one deer went hunting, he saw a few Indians in the woods and believed it would be simple to hunt them because there were so many of them -Once the deer began stalking his prey (the Indian), the man noticed the deer was following closely -The hunter took his bow and arrow and shot the deer, t...

Mississippi Valley / Great Lakes unit, Part A Creation: -Creator of all things had "no eyes, yet he could see. He had no ears, yet he could hear. He had a body, but it could not be seen" -The Earth began as one large ocean and then fish were created -Then fish drew up the land so man could be created to live (on land) -The Chitimatchas (the people of Louisiana) were created and were given resources and laws in order  to live -The Creator also made the moon, the stars and the sun "Sunset". Wikimedia . Story source: Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes .

Monkey King Unit Here are notes on some of my favorite stories from this section! Lord of the Heavens: -There were many complaints about the ape and how he had learned the secrets to immortal life -They were discussing the ape and how he was a supernatural being -The Lord of the Heavens was the final judge on the matter and decided the ape would not be prosecuted for his crimes The Great Saint: -The Ape offended the stable master accidentally by asking him about his title -the ape then grew angry because he was tired of being mistreated; he is a king and in his home land he was never treated so poorly as that -The Lord of the Heavens went to calm the ape by calling upon the Great Saint "The King Ape".  Wikimedia .  Story source:  The Monkey King Unit  in the Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook.

The Monkey King Unit Handsome King of the Apes: -Ever since the beginning of time the mountain was there -There was one rock on the mountain that absorbed all the power from the sun and moon light, so this rock was not average because it had supernatural creative gifts. -One day the rock burst open and an egg was in its place, when the egg finally hatched there was a stone ape inside -Eventually this stone ape began crawl and then learned to walk and finally run The Great Sea: -The King of the Apes was sad because he knew that death could affect him -The apes set out on a journey across the sea the seek immortality from the gods and spirtits -When they journeyed through many cities they could only find people who were asking the gods for wealth and honor, no one cared about life and immortality "The King Ape". Wikimedia .  Story source:  The Monkey King Unit  in the Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook.

                                                                                      Tibetan Folk Tales, Part B "Panthera leo yawn".  Wikimedia. How the Rabbit Killed the Lion -every morning all the animals would come to bow to the lion -one morning the rabbit did not feel like going to bow to the lion; so the lion was angry with the rabbit -the rabbit had to make up a lie, so the lion would forgive him and save his life -the lion believed this lie and the lion asked the rabbit to take him to this devil so she could be confronted by the lion king -the rabbit told the lion she was in the stream and then the lion jumped in and drowned The Story of the Three Hunters -the 3 brothers and 1 sister all lived together -the brothers were all married and their 3 wive...

 Tibetan Folk Tales, Part A The Tiger and the Frog - the king frog frightens the tiger away - the tiger runs off into the mountains and a fox stops him and wants to help - the fox and the tiger go to confront the intimidating frog, but both get scared and run away - did the frog really eat a tiger and is it true you can never judge a book by its cover/don't underestimate someone because of their size? maybe he was bluffing and his confidence just made him that convincing? The Story of the Donkey and the Rock-the man with the donkey is walking around the mountain, and bumps into the oil jar on the rock -the man who owned the oil was furious because he need that oil in order to sell it for money -the man with the donkey blamed the whole mess on his poor donkey -the man with the oil took the donkey to court and the rock went to trial too -the court judge was so annoyed with all of this that he made the citizens pay fines for their idiocy and for getting involved with th...

Persian Tales, Part B Fayiz and the Peri Wife: -Fayiz meets the Peri and marries her, but she warns him that if he is ever unfaithful that he will be miserable for the rest of his days -Fayiz tells the Peri wife that he misses his old wife and kids. The Peri instructs him to tell no one of where he has been or what happened (or else...), so he goes to visit them -Fayiz betrays the Peri by telling his wife everything, and the Peri finds out about this -The Peri tells him he will never see her, his wife, or children again because of his betrayal The Wolf-Bride: -The boy's horoscope revealed that he would be killed by a wolf -Years passed and the boy was fine and had forgotten of his fate -He was married, but when they were alone on the night of their wedding his wife transformed into a wolf and killed him -She then transformed back into her human self, and she had no idea how it all happened -I think this story encompasses the idea of fate and how sometimes...

Persian Tales, Part A I like how each story in the Persian Tales section begins with, "Once upon a time when there was no one but God."Also, each story ends with the same line, "And now my story has come to an end, but the sparrow never got home." I like this because it connects the various tales even though they are completely unrelated. This would be an interesting technique to try in a storybook. Below are my notes on a few of my favorite stories from the section. The Wolf and the Goat: -Wolf trick the young goats to open the door, and then he steals them away -Their mother goes to find them and fights the goat to get them back The Boy Who Became a Bulbul:  -The son was murdered by his father and then his stepmom cooked him -His sister buried him and he reincarnated into a bird (a Bulbul bird) -This bird went door to door singing the story of how he died and reincarnated -Everyone who listened to the bird's song was deceived, except wh...

Arabian Nights, Part B ("Magic Lamps". Web Source: flickr ). -Aladdin was a young boy who lived with his mother and father.  -His Father died when Aladdin was still a boy.  -Aladdin was a disappointment to his parents because he was lazy and mischievous. -A man comes to town claiming he is Aladdin's. He takes Aladdin under his wing, but he was only doing this to trick Aladdin. He was not truly his uncle but was a magician who needed Aladdin to fetch a magic lamp. -The magician forces Aladdin to enter the cave to retrieve the lamp, and he has no way to how to exit the cave. He makes a wish that helps escape and return home. -The genie in lamp grants Aladdin what he requests and helps him to finally get the chance to marry the princess.  -The magician/false uncle of Aladdin hears of Prince Aladdin and creates a plan to steal the lamp from Aladdin. -When he gets ahold of it, he uses the genie's power to move the palace and take the princess with him....

Arabian Nights Unit, Part A "One Thousand Nights." Wikimedia . Scheherazade is the new wife of the Sultan. She volunteered to marry the  Sultan, even though she knows the Sultan murders every woman the day after he marries her. But,   Scheherazade has a plan to save her life, and she thinks she can prevent any other women from being sacrificed.  The way to spare her life is by telling the Sultan many  never-ending  stories.  Her stories go on for many nights with the permission of the Sultan.  Scheherazade tells stories within stories, and her continuous stories distract the Sultan from executing her.  Scheherazade's   storying telling is all that is keeping her alive. Story Bibliography: Lang, Andrew.  The Arabian Nights' Entertainments :  Scheherazade .

Here are notes on some of my favorite stories in the Aesop Winter Unit , Part B.  The Wolf and the Shepherd: -The Shepherd notices a wolf prowling about, but he sees the wolf helping. The wolf was causing no harm or trouble to the flock, so the Shepherd began to trust the wolf. -The Shepherd leaves the wolf to watch the flock, but when the shepherd returns there are no sheep left. The wolf ate them all . -"Once a wolf, always a wolf". The Goatherd and the Wild Goats: -The Goatherd tries to impressa pack of wild of goats by feeding them generously in hopes that they will join his flock. The wild goats decline this offer because they saw how he was treating his flock and depriving them of food to try to give more to the stray goats. -Don't take your old friends for granted or treat them poorly for the sake of new friends. The Aesop for Children , with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919).

Here are notes on some of my favorite stories in the  Aesop Winter Unit , Part A. The Wolf and The Kid -The Billy Goat gets separated from his flock, and a wolf encounters the little goat alone, by himself -The little goat tricks the wolf and the wolf has to run away before he gets caught by the goat's family The Tortoise and the Ducks -The Tortoise was sad because he was a curious fellow and was unable to see the world -Two ducks agreed to take him fly him around to explore and while flying the Tortoise fell to his death The Plane Tree -Two travelers sat under a large tree and complained as to how useless this tree was since is did not bear fruit -Though the travelers were forgetting that tree was acting as a source of cool shade for the travelers; they did not appreciate the little things The Farmer and the Stork -Guests were welcome on the farm until the farmer noticed that he was being taken advantage of and that his generosity was allowing the ...