Week 6 Reading Diary B: More Brer Rabbit

Brer Rabbit and the Partridge Nest: I thought it was sad that Brer Rabbit decided to be selfish and steal Miss Bob's eggs. I also thought it was really weird that she believed everything that he said. I also thought it was really sad that she would sing about her lost children every night.

Mr. Fox is Again Victimized: I thought I could relate this somehow to Mean Girls since half of that high school felt personally victimized by Regina George and it could be my storytelling post for this week. I will work on that. I honestly can't believe that Brer Rabbit tricked Brer Fox into letting him ride him like a horse. Brer Rabbit must have brainwashed him or something! I also can't believe that Brer Buzzard fell for Brer Rabbit's trick and didn't try to fly after him when he darted for his home!

The Fate of Mr. Jack Sparrow: I thought I could somehow relate this story to Pirates of the Caribbean because when I first read the title I immediately thought of Captain Jack Sparrow. I would love to relate the two somehow, and I will look more into that so I can use this story as my storytelling post. I think my classmates would love it. It's a shame that Jack Sparrow ended up dead because he was just going to tell Brer Fox that he overheard Brer Rabbit saying that he was going to show Miss Meadows and the girls that he was the boss of him. It makes me sad that Brer Fox decided to eat Jack Sparrow instead of punishing him, because Brer Rabbit said that Jack Sparrow said that he was going to kill him and his family and destroy his house. It still amazes me how Brer Rabbit's friends always think he is telling the truth. I guess this story shows that you should just mind your own business and not tell on others.

How Mr. Rabbit Lost His Fine Bushy Tail: I think it's great that Brer Rabbit finally got what he deserved! I was actually surprised that he believed what Brer Fox told him and decided to stick his tail in the water. I guess the fish ate his tail, but I'm surprised Brer Rabbit didn't notice that they ate his tail! It doesn't really make sense to me that all rabbits have had short tails since then just because Brer Rabbit's was eaten, but maybe they all cut their tails off as a precaution.

Why Mr. Possum Has No Hair on His Tail: I still can't believe that Brer Possum believed Brer Rabbit that Brer Bear wouldn't mind that he would eat some of his simmons trees. I'm also surprised that Brer Bear, with all of the things that have happened to him and his friends because of Brer Rabbit, didn't ask him if Brer Rabbit set him up to this. I think it's weird that just because Brer Possum doesn't have hair on his tail because of an accident that his kids didn't either.

(Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings, by Joel Chandler Harris (1881), illustrations by A.B. Frost)

    

Week 6 Reading Diary A: More Brer Rabbit

The Creeturs Go to the Barbecue: I thought it was kind of mean that Brer Rabbit tricked his friends into thinking that there was a barbecue so that the dogs would chase his friends instead of him. I don't think that Brer Rabbit should've expected any less that the man noticed that some of his vegetables had been stolen and that he set his dogs to find him. I would imagine that Brer Rabbit's friends wouldn't trust him anymore.

Brer Rabbit's Frolic: I thought it wasn't fair that Brer Rabbit got out of being in trouble again by running off after he told his friends that he played the fiddle that morning. I was honestly surprised that none of the creatures tried to run off after him! I was also shocked that they believed Brer Rabbit yet again and went to Miss Meadow's. If I were them I would've told her that Brer Rabbit is the one that told them the dance was happening so he finally would've gotten in trouble!

(Uncle Remus and Brer Rabbit by Joel Chandler Harris, with illustrations (1906))

Brer Rabbit Treats the Creeturs to a Race: I wonder if Brer Rabbit knew that Brer Dust and Cousin Rain would make all of the other creeturs dirty except for him. That would be a good storytelling post, to include his thought process. I am amazed that somehow Brer Rabbit always gets out of getting punished by the other creatures, and it also amazes me that they still continue to do what Brer Rabbit tells them. I don't really understand how dust could get caught in the mud, but I guess Cousin Rain ended up winning!

Brer Rabbit and the Gold Mine:  I guess we can assume that Brer Wolf didn't really find the gold mine, he just called Brer Rabbit to come over near him so he could finally get him back for all the things he had done to him! My guess is that Brer Rabbit just went home and never came back to the gold mine because he was afraid that Brer Wolf would get him! Or I wonder if Brer Rabbit lied about the gold mine being real just so they could tear up the land near Brer Bear's house. That would be a good storytelling post! To tell the story from the point of Brer Wolf when he found out there wasn't any gold!

How Mr. Lion Lost His Wool: I think it was mean that yet again, Brer Rabbit was trying to trick his friends into taking a bath with him so they would burn all their fur off. I guess it was better Mr. Lion than them, so that Brer Rabbit wouldn't have to worry about running off. I also suppose now the creeturs won't fear Mr. Lion ever again since he got all of his fur burnt off. They probably laughed at him and were thankful that the same thing didn't happen to them.

How Brer Rabbit Got a House: I thought it was funny that the other creeturs finally got back at Brer Rabbit and hid him underneath his bed. I don't think it was very smart of them to leave the gun, the cannon, and the tub of water in Brer Rabbit's room, but I guess they didn't think of what potentially could have happened. I'm surprised that none of them decided to come back a few days later and tell Brer Rabbit that they wanted their share of the house back.

Thoughts about comments

Something that makes a comment really engaging to me is when a comment tells me what I did well, but it also tells me what I could've done better. What makes a comment really vivid and memorable to me is when people tell me parts of my story that they connected with. The comments that really speak to me and leave an impression are those that just are honest with me and tell me how I can improve my website and continue to become a better writer.

I've been doing pretty good with taking time out of my schedule to read the comments people post on my stories every week. It is something that I look forward to doing. Most of the comments I have gotten back so far just focus on things that they wonder that happened outside of my storytelling, so it was nothing I really could improve on since I have already published the storytelling post.

Week 5 Storytelling: The Life of an Ant

One hot summer day, Chase ran outside his house. It was the summer break of his freshman year of high school and he had a lot of time to spare. He brought his basketball outside with him to shoot some hoops. He saw a black ant scurrying alongside the sidewalk carrying a cracker crumb on its back. Chase hated ants.

Just as Chase lifted his worn-out Converse to smash the ant, he heard a little voice calling him.

"HEY!"

Chase looked around. No one was there. He looked around to his left and his right. There was not a person in sight.

"HEY!", that little voice called to Chase again.

This time he looked at the ground. Sure enough, it was the black ant who was trying to catch his attention. He couldn't believe it.

"An ant talking to me? Am I dreaming?," Chase thought.

"Yeah, I'm talking to you!", the ant yelled.

 "What do you want? Nothing?," Chase laughed.

"I...I...I," the ant trailed off.

"Now where was I? Ohhhhhhh....that's right! Back to killing you!," Chase exclaimed.

Chase once again lifted his Converse to smash the ant.

"This will teach him," the ant said as he quickly dodged Chase's shoe and bit his leg instead.

"OWWWWW!", Chase yelled.  

Chase felt his whole body tingling. This was so strange. He didn't know what was happening. He looked around himself as the trees, his house, and the whole world around him seemed to be growing in size.

Was he shrinking?

All of a sudden, he was the size of that ant!

Chase turned towards the ant.

"Why did you do this to me?", Chase yelled.

"To teach you a lesson."

"About what?"

"That every creature is important no matter how big or small. Now follow me," the ant said.

Chase followed the ant through some grass to an ant colony. The ant went right inside and ushered Chase in.

Chase looked around him to see a least five hundred ants around him working hard to keep the colony in tip-top shape.

"Over on your right you'll see the scavenger ants, they constantly draw new maps of the best places to get food outside the colony. Over on your left you'll see the architect ants. They constantly make new designs of ways to improve the colony's longevity. And straight in front of you, you'll see the queen ant's office. Her assistants do all of her work for her. We never see he come out of her office.," the ant said.

Chase was in awe. He couldn't believe what he was seeing! All of these ants were working so hard. They all had important jobs.

Chase suddenly felt badly for wanting to kill the ant earlier.

"I want you to meet my family," the ant said.

Chase followed the ant down a long path in the colony to a small hole in the wall. The ant crawled in and Chase did the same.

"Kids, I'm home!", the ant exclaimed.

Two small ants came out of the back room and ran into their dad's arms.

Chase smiled.

"Oh honey, I'm so glad you're finally back home," the ant's wife said as she emerged from the back room after the kids.

"Oh yeah, everyone this is Chase. I brought him home because I wanted him to meet you all," the ant said.

Chase was surprised that none of the ants looked at him weird or were afraid of him.

"Umm...hi," Chase said.

"Now let's all eat dinner. Chase, you are more than welcome to join us of course," the wife said.

The ant took the cracker crumb he had found outside of Chase's house and brought it to the table. He divided it amongst the five of them.

The wife passed a pitcher of water around the table.

Chase was having such a great time with the ant and his family. They were telling stories and laughing. Chase oddly even considered them his friends now.

All of a sudden at the dinner table, Chase began to feel very full and sluggish. He didn't want to be disrespectful to the ant and his family, but he was fighting to keep his eyes open.

The ant and his family seemed to become really fuzzy as Chase gently set his head down on the table.

When Chase woke up, he was right back where he was earlier that day: outside his house with a basketball in his hand. He stared down at the same ant traveling along the sidewalk with a cracker crumb on its back.

"Every creature is important no matter how big or small," a voice inside his head said.

He smiled and walked away and began to shoot some hoops.

("An ant carrying a leaf on a branch" Source: Freestockphotos)

Author's Note: I based this story off of The Elephant and the Ants from the Folklore of Santal Parganas by Cecil Henry Bompas (1909). In The Elephant and the Ants, an elephant looks down at some ants and says that he bets that he can beat them in a race just because he is bigger than them. The ants agree and the elephant keeps running, but every time he stop running he saw ants on the ground. He kept running and ended up dropping dead from running himself to death. The ants that he decided to race never ended up moving, but the moral of the story is to treat every creature with importance no matter their size. I also based this story off of Alice in Wonderland, because like Alice drinking the potion and shrinking, the ant bit Chase and he shrank. I also based this off of Marvel's Ant-Man because Chase gets to see that ants are friendly just like Ant-Man does. I also based the quote I repeated throughout the story "every creature is important no matter how big or small" off of Dr. Seuss's famous quote "a person's a person no matter how small." I thought it would be fun if I changed the main character to be a person. I also hope my story inspires more people to look at ants differently.

Week 5 Reading Diary B: Santal Folklore

The Tigers and the Cat: I liked that this story told a lot of background of why tigers and cats do certain things. It made me mad that the tigers wanted to eat the cat just because he didn't come back very quickly. I didn't realize that tigers and leopards eat dogs, so that was a very scary thought. I'm glad that the cat was able to stay safe in the village.

The Elephant and the Ants: This story made me sad when I read it. I thought the elephant would be the good creature in the story. I was almost certain that elephants were praised in Indian culture; that they were considered smart and gentle creatures. I think this would be a good Storytelling post because I could relate it a kid threatening to step on an ant and then the ant saying, "Why would you do that? I'm just trying to provide for my family." And then somehow the kid would shrink down to an ant's size and the ant would show him around the ant colony, and the kid would never step on an ant again. This would be different from the original story, but it would say the same thing: that we should never think that something is of less value just because it is smaller than us.

A Fox and His Wife: When I first read that Mr. Fox and Mrs. Fox were comparing how much wit they each had, I pictured Mr. Fox smirking when Mrs. Fox told him how much wit she had. It makes me sad that men often times will doubt how smart women are sometimes. It is funny that Mr. Fox did not know how to escape from the tiger, so Mrs. Fox ended up saving all of their lives. I pictured that after the tiger left Mr. Fox apologized and thanked his wife profusely for saving their lives. This would be a good Storytelling post for this week because I could somehow relate it to the TV show, The Big Bang Theory. A lot of the male characters on that show constantly make fun of Penny for how she doesn't have that much of book smarts, but she has a lot of street smarts. I could make this my Storytelling post by having Penny save them all from a situation.

(The cast of the TV show, The Big Bang Theory. Source: Flickr)

The Hyaena Outwitted: It made me sad to read that the animals decided to outwit the hyaena by killing him. I was just hoping that they would throw him outside the jungle or something like that. I guess the animals decided to kill him because they were jealous that the tiger decided to make him his dewan instead of them. I don't think that hyaenas would have learned a lessons from this experience. I think they would have just said that the other animals were jealous and would have taken revenge on them instead.

The Brave Jackal: I thought it was sad that the jackal got injured even though he was just trying to help his friend. I think if anything, the leopard should have been the one that got injured! I also found it impressive that a goat was able to scare away both a leopard and a jackal. I think that would be an interesting Storytelling post-- to tell the back story of the goat and tell how he got so brave!

The Jackal and the Leopards: I hate that the jackal was able to get away with being rude! I hate that the crocodile was too dumb to fall for all of his tricks. If I used this for my Storytelling post, I would base my story off of the jackal and the crocodile, but I think I would somehow tie it to the cartoon Tom and Jerry. Tom and Jerry always liked to play pranks on one another, so I figured this would be something that was relatable to this story!

Week 5 Reading Diary A: Santal Folklore

Ledha and the Leopard: I thought it was so sweet that Ledha decided to go back and take care of the buffalo after he got married. I feel like when most people get married, they don't really care to return to the ways of their past and they just end up starting a new life instead. I thought it was great that Ledha built a new palace in the jungle (I hoped he didn't hurt any of the animals while he built it) so he could have a place to be near the buffalo. That would be a great Storytelling assignment for this week. I could tell the same story but add in the part that when he was building his palace, he ended up harming and threatening some of the animals' habitats, and they tried to kick him out of the jungle.

The Monkey and the Girl: This story was very sad to read, I wish that the girl hadn't killed herself when she saw that her father and the other men in the village killed the monkey. This story really reminded me of Romeo and Juliet. That would be a great Storytelling post! I could tell this story like a modern Romeo and Juliet and relate it back to this story.

Ramai and the Animals: This story reminded me of The Charmed Ring that I read last week, except that the father killed the rest of his son's animals and that his wife and the palace were never stolen. I like that this story was much shorter than The Charmed Ring, but it basically told the same story. I understand that the Ramai turned down the Raja's gifts. He did not want to become famous and wanted to blend in with the rest of the public.

The Raibar and the Leopard: I thought it was nice that both the Raibar and the leopard ended up being nice to one another. I thought it was interesting that the leopard decided to return a favor for the Raibar. I think a nice Storytelling post for this week would be to take this story but add in that the Raibar was able to successfully proceed with the marriage of the two families, but ran into some trouble at first and asked the leopard for some help.

The Raja's Dream: This story reminded me of the Disney Channel TV show, Wizards of Waverly Place, because the three sons were fighting to be the heir to the throne. In Wizards of Waverly Place, Alex, Justin, and Max were fighting to all become the family wizard. I think that would be a good Storytelling post for this week because most of my classmates have probably heard of Wizards of Waverly place. Only one of the sons becomes the heir to the throne, and only one of the siblings becomes the family wizard. This could be a fun story!

(The cast of the TV show, Wizards of Waverly Place. Source: YouTube)

The Tiger Cub and the Calf: This story made me very sad that the tigress decided to eat her friend. I liked that her cub disowned her and ran off with the calf to the jungle. I think a good Storytelling post for this week would be to tell the same story but tell what happened when the cub and the calf went to the jungle. Did they ever get married? Did they just stay friends? Did the tigress ever find them? Those would be some great questions to answer in my story this week!

Week 4 Storytelling: That Modern Family episode

After a long day at school, Haley plopped down onto her bed and opened up her diary. She needed an outlet to vent to and she knew that her diary was the only one who would truly understand. She began to quickly scribble a note.

September 8, 2012

Dear Diary,

Today I met the cutest guy at school! But I don't know if he would ever like me back. He's kind of out of my league. I guess only time will tell, but I plan on getting to know him better. Gotta go! Mom is calling me downstairs for dinner. 

Sincerely,

Haley Dunphy 

September 10, 2012

Dear Diary,

Today Dylan and I sat next to each other in class. We passed notes back and forth and I think tomorrow he might come over to study together for our Biology test. I know that Luke and Alex will do their best to embarrass me in front of him when he comes over, but I have to assure mom and dad that I'm not interested in him. Who knows if they'll believe me, but it may be the only way I can hang out with him. Wish me luck.

Sincerely, 

Haley Dunphy

September 30, 2012

Dear Diary,

I apologize that I haven't written you in such a long time! That day Dylan came over went great! Luke and Alex made fun of me as expected, but I just did my best to ignore them. I think mom and dad had their suspicions too, but whatever. I like this guy and I'm going to go for him. Dylan texted me earlier today and told me that he had a surprise to give me tomorrow, and I have a feeling that he's going to ask me out on a date! Okay I'm not 100% sure but a girl can hope, right? I'll let you know how things go tomorrow. 

Sincerely,

Haley Dunphy 

October 25, 2012

Dear Diary,

Okay, okay...I'm sorry I never let you know how that day went until now! So...I was right. I showed up for school the next day and Dylan gave me some flowers and asked me if I wanted to go on a date. Of course I said yes! On our date, he brought out his guitar and played a song that he wrote for me and asked me to be his girlfriend. Of course I said yes again! My parents wanted him to come over for dinner the other night and my parents asked him a thousand questions during dinner. It was awkward and I could tell that Dylan felt like he was under pressure. I kept on looking over and saw that my dad looked like he was judging him. I can tell that he doesn't like him for some reason. It's probably because he comes off as being rebellious and he thinks that he's being a bad influence for me. I know Dylan really likes me, but I hope my dad doesn't scare him off. Please pray for me that everything will be okay. 

Sincerely,

Haley Dunphy      

November  18, 2012

Dear Diary,

Today Dylan came over to hang out with me and he saw that Luke was practicing baseball in the backyard. He went outside and started helping him and I could tell that my dad liked that. As I was helping my mom do the dishes after dinner, I saw my dad and Dylan talking in the living room. I could tell that my dad has been warming up to him and my mom too. My mom told him tonight that he is welcome over for dinner any time. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I think my family is finally starting to like him! I'm glad that they're starting to see that he can be a good guy, and that he treats me well.  I haven't been this happy in a long time!

Sincerely,

Haley Dunphy 

(The cast of the TV show, Modern Family. Source: Flickr)

Author's note: I based this story off of one of the Indian Fairy Tales, The Prince and the Fakir by Joseph Jacobs. In this story, a princess sees a prince below her window and knows that she has to marry him. When her father, the king, invites all the men in town to have to chance to be chosen by her, she chooses to marry him even though he is wearing a Fakir's clothing. A Fakir is seen as someone who rejects worldly possessions and is not seen highly by many Indians. I'm not exactly sure why the prince decided to wear the Fakir's clothes. Maybe he wanted to blend in with normal people. The princess never tells her father that he is not a Fakir, so the king never approves of their marriage but doesn't say anything. In the end, the prince and the king connected and he began to like his son-in-law. I wrote my story from the perspective of Haley Dunphy, a character from the TV show Modern Family, because her parents don't like her boyfriend, Dylan, but they begin to like him in the end. The king is similar to the dad from Modern Family, because he never tells his daughter, Hayley, that he doesn't like her boyfriend. I thought this would be a good way to retell the Indian Fairy Tale in a modern setting.