Week 13 Storytelling: The Two Friends Who Had a Drink

The sound of the young man's steps echoed through the deserted cemetery as the crisp breeze whistled through the trees. Flashes of dim light from the full moon peered through the branches and illuminated the gravestones so that he could see the names on each. He hastened to the newest tombstone where his very best friend in the world lay. He stared at the name carved in the stone and fought back tears as he knelt in the grass.

"Hi... I miss you... I know we promised we would never miss each other's birthdays so here I am... all by myself in this graveyard at night..." the young man spoke aloud as he looked around the cemetery in anxious curiosity and fear. He did not like being in such a place at night and he wished more than anything that his friend could join him.

(The graveyard at night while the young man was visiting)

As soon as he had finished speaking, he felt the ground rumble beside him and separate as the lid to a coffin flung open. Grass and dirt flew as the earth re-settled with the coffin now lying wide open and a corpse slowly rose into an upright seated position. The young man could hardly speak or turn his eyes away from the sight of his dead best friend rising from the grave. The two stared at each other for what seemed an eternity before the corpse erupted into laughter and tackled the young man with a giant hug. Their embrace wore away the shock and the two excitedly began talking and catching up on all that had occurred since the death. After several minutes of conversation, the corpse reached into his coffin and removed a bottle of liquor and two gauntlets for them to drink and reminisce. The corpse poured mighty portions for each and the earth seemed to spin around them while they drank. The young man wondered what sort of liquor he was consuming but he knew his friend would never lead him astray so it must be safe. They both quickly finished their first cups without hesitation.

"Quaff another cup, dear friend!" the dead man exclaimed as he refilled each cup and returned one to the young man.

Accompanied by good conversation, they finished the second cups of liquor and looked around them. The world looked eerily different and the graveyard appeared to be in much greater degradation. It did not fully process for the young man what was occurring so he agreed to a third glass of the mysterious liquor. The young man and dead man enjoyed themselves so heartily that at the end of the third glass they drank, they both drifted off into a deep sleep.

The young man jolted awake several hours later by the bright light of the day and the chirping of birds. He slowly sat up and looked to the gravestone where his friend had been, only to see the ground undisturbed and the gravestone intact. He wondered by what magic he had been able to see his dear friend seemingly alive and in person and regretfully realized that he had not had the chance to say goodbye after such a fun night of merriment. He rose to his feet, feeling a pounding in his temples, and wandered to the entrance of the graveyard. He again noticed that it was in significantly poorer repair and grass and vines had grown up over many of the gravestones. He exited the gate and looked to his left and right, met with giant creatures made of some sort of metal and four round legs sitting in the grass. He shook his head in confusion and carried on to return home.

As he walked, he saw a giant, winding black object pass through the grassy field and when he stepped on it, he realized it was not a snake as he had initially thought but a hard, flat surface. He heard a rushing sound and looked behind himself just in time to leap out of the way as another metal creature rolled by at a high speed. He threw himself to the ground and hid, thinking it was coming for him, but it simply passed along and disappeared into the distance. The young man was absolutely bewildered at this point so he ran in the direction he remembered his town being in. 

When he reached his hometown, he stopped in his tracks and stood still next to a statue of a man as hundreds of the motorized creatures spun around him on the black surface and blaring horns filled his ears. He saw multitudes of people walking along streets carrying small tablets with bright screens and chattering at fast paces. He whirled around trying to keep up but only become more disoriented. Finally, the young man grabbed the attention of a young woman who seemed pleasant and willing to help.

(The statue where the young man stood looking at all the people pass by)

"Excuse me, miss, can you tell me where I am? And... what year it is?" he hesitantly asked, embarrassed by his apparent lack of knowledge.

"Well, it's the year 2017 and you're at the University of Oklahoma! How did you not know that?" she quizzically asked with a puzzled look on her face. The young man stood still for a second, wondering how to even begin telling her that his dead friend had risen from the grave and given him a drink that had somehow made thousands of years pass without his realizing. So he decided to skip that part and, since he did not know anything about the town or year he was currently in, to see if this beautiful young woman would assist him.

"It's... a long story. But I'm here now and I can't seem to go back so do you mind showing me around this... university? Is that what you called it?" he said with a hopeful smile.

The pretty young lady smiled at him, clearly interested in his offer and handsome looks, and agreed before turning to walk down the street and begin her tour of the greatest university on earth.


Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales , a collection of Muscovite folklore by Ralston

Author's Note: To be completely honest, this story did not quite turn out how I wanted but I decided to follow through with it. I liked the premise of the original source story with two friends drinking the night away and many years passing by because everyone can relate to that, can't they? Only one of the friends was dead and had risen from the grave for such a fun night. I decided to make many thousands of years pass instead of only three hundred so that the young man could end up in modern times. While I was thinking of that and picturing the only cemetery I've ever been to being in Norman, I decided to place him on OU's campus. The thought of him stumbling upon the business of the south oval made me laugh and fit the idea I was searching for perfectly. While I didn't this because I liked the mystery of it, I formulated the idea of the dead man caring enough for the young man that he sent him into the future because he knew he would have a better future there and would find the woman of his dreams. Similarly, the original story had the young man traveling to find his bride when he found the grave but I wanted to remove that portion so that the beginning could simply focus on their deep friendship.

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales, Part B

The Witch Girl

• Every night, a witch girl passes through houses and kills the entire household but one man stays awake and catches her so she does not kill the house
• It would be interesting to make it a romance story where the witch has the chance to kill them all but she thinks the man is handsome

The Headless Princess

• The princess was a witch and a young boy saw her remove her own head and had to read psalms over her for three nights while she conjured up horrors to scare him
• Could elaborate from his point of view on the horrors experienced by the young boy and the sort of demons and terrors that tried to attack him

The Fox Physician

• A man's wife died and a fox told him he could cure her with a bath of oatmeal and butter, but instead he ate all of the bones clean
• It would be funny to make the items that the fox needs to cure her ridiculously long and absurd

The Two Friends

• Two friends had a pact that they would invite each other to their weddings, even if the other was dead, so one friend stopped his search for his bride to go to the graveyard and invite him
• Could fast forward more than three hundred years from the cup's drink so that he is now in modern times and does not understand what all the technology and advances are

(The graveyard at night where all the corpses come alive)

The Coffin-Lid

• A corpse rises from his coffin at night and goes into the village to kill young lads
• Would be interesting to tell the story from the point of view of the corpse because he is jealous and angry that he died so early while other young men live

The Two Corpses

• A man is chased at night by a corpse into a chapel where there was another corpse and they fight over who gets to eat the man before they fall down at sunrise
• Could expand upon telling the dramatic story of their fight over the man 

The Soldier and the Vampire

• A terrible warlock was haunting the town and killed the bride and groom at a wedding, so everyone wanted their revenge
• A soldier discovered they had to burn him and kill all of the reptiles and insects that would come out from inside him 
• Could change the story so that the healing the bride and groom did not work and the people all turned on the soldier, thinking he was the warlock

 Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales , a collection of Muscovite folklore by Ralston

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales, Part A

The Dead Mother

• A dead mother visits her baby at night and when the caretaker woman and father waited up to see why it stopped crying, the baby died at dawn
• Could expand on how the house became so scary right when the ghost mother visited

The Bad Wife

• It would be fun to change the story to a modern setting for all of the things that the wife would not do 
• Could tell the story from the imp's point of view as it went around to the houses making people ill and being very sly and cunning

The Miser

• A miser borrowed a copeck from a poor man and pretended to be dead when the miser came by to get his copeck back
• Could actually have Marko be killed by the robbers and have him be stuck following the poor man around as a ghost and seeing how happy he is, even though he's poor

Friday

• The woman did not pay due reverence to Mother Friday so it would be funny to have her enter in the night and play all sorts of pranks on the woman (like kids did at camp)

The Leshy

• A girl wandered far into a forest and was taken into a hut by the Leshy and put under its spell so that she did not remember he mother or father or how she got there
• Could tell the story of a typical day in the life in their hut while the Leshy provided for her

Emilian the Fool

• The fool caught a magical pike in his pail one day and when he threw it back in, it granted him magical powers to do whatever he pleases
• It would be interesting to rewrite this in a modern day setting with him finding some critter that isn't a fish but has the same magical powers

 (Magical Pike)

Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales , a collection of Muscovite folklore by Ralston

Tech Tip: Canvas Mobile App

I can't believe that the semester is over and I am just now downloading the Canvas mobile app! It is so cool and I wish I would have heard about it before now. I really like how the courses page is the homepage because it is so easy to navigate, especially with the bright colors to differentiate each class. The "To Do" tab is my favorite because it helps you stay organized and aware of what's coming up in the following week! I also like the push notifications option because sometimes I don't think to check and I miss important details. This way I can be reminded without having to think of checking myself. Hopefully, this will help me stay motivated for the last few weeks of school so that I don't get behind in any of my classes... Very cool app that I recommend to everyone!

Week 12 Storytelling: The Three Little Pigs' New Houses

Once upon a time there was an evil and vicious wolf who made rounds prowling the lands once a month looking for little pigs to swallow whole. Every pig was so afraid of him that they each made a house out of what they thought would be the strongest material to keep them safe when the wolf came by looking for his next meal. No one ever knew when he would be coming next so they always had to make sure they were prepared. When each pig was old enough to move out of their parent's homes, it was exciting and ceremonious for all of the other pigs to see what material they chose. On their eighteenth birthday, each pig entered the magical woods and whatever material they first laid eyes on was theirs for the taking. Some hoped for wood, some for stone, others for twigs and tall blades of grass. Each was different and the community of pigs eagerly awaited at the edge of the forest to see what the pigs chose.

However, in some ways, it was a competition to see who chose most wisely and those who felt certain of their choices knew that their houses would withstand the big bad wolf and thus did not fear his return. Growing up, every little pig dreamed of what they would one day build their house out of and the three little pigs, Ted, Stan, and Glen, who were all best friends, were no exception. All three of their birthdays were on the same day and they spent all night thinking of what material would become available to each of them when they entered the woods. When the sun rose on the morning of Ted, Stan, and Glen's birthdays, each shot up in their beds and eagerly rushed to the forest with a satchel where a crowd was gathered to cheer them on. Each took a deep breath, excitedly smiled at each other, and set off into the forest. The crowd hushed into a silence to await each pig's return.

 (Left to Right: Ted, Stan, and Glen on their birthdays)

Ted ran as fast as he could to separate himself from his friends and acquire what he believed would be the best material for his home. He searched and searched and suddenly beheld in front of him a pile of colorful and dirty plastic. The light reflected off of the material, beckoning Ted closer. He had never seen such an amazing matter in his life and knew that he would surely have the sturdiest house of them all if he chose the plastic. He scooped the plastic into his satchel and with an enormous grin on his face, walked back to the crowd at the edge of the forest. He passed Stan and Glen still running around frantically searching for their predestined material source. Stan looked under bushes and inside of hollowed trees before a glistening reflection of light momentarily blinded him. He stepped closer to investigate and realized it was a large heap of aluminum, just waiting for him to claim in his satchel. He shouted for joy at his excellent find and ran back to the edge of the forest to share in his excitement. with his friends.

Only Glen remained and he was quickly becoming frantic that he was the only one out of the three who had not yet found his future home materials. As soon as he had begun to lose all hope for his safety against the wolf, he stepped into a suspiciously malleable substance. He looked down to see orange putty sticking to his feet and he sighed in relief. It was the perfect material for him and he could build his house however he wanted. He scooped up all of the putty he could manage and flung it into his satchel before running back to the edge of the forest. Since he was the final pig to return, he was greeted with cheers and hugs from his fellow pig friends. They were all mesmerized by the colorful and beautiful finds each pig returned with and they all knew that the neighborhood of homes would be much brighter with the new homes of Ted, Stan, and Glen.

All of the pigs worked tirelessly over the next week to build the sturdiest, safest, and best-looking houses all in a row for Ted, Stan, and Glen to move into just in time for when they saw the wolf slowly approaching their neighborhood one day.  Each pig rushed into their own home and the three friends were eager, though afraid, to see if their houses would withstand the wolf. The wolf huffed and puffed and blew the first house made of sticks that he encountered down, sending the pig squealing away in fright. He then blew the second house may of hay down and snatched the pig up before it could escape. This continued until the wolf had blown down all of the houses in the village because they were not as sturdy as the three young pigs'.

(Photo of Ted's house made of plastic)

When the big, bad wolf reached Ted's house made of plastic, he huffed and puffed and tried to blow the house down but it did not budge. He quickly rushed to the next house, made of aluminum, to hide his embarrassment from his inability to blow Ted's house down, but alas, he was not able to blow down Stan's house either. So he rushed to Glen's, took one look at the mysterious putty molded into a little townhouse, and ran far away in an attempt to preserve his dignity. The pigs reluctantly exited their houses to survey the damage and were surprised to see that their houses were the only ones that had withstood the wolf. As sad as they were about the houses that had been lost, they smiled at each other with pride and rushed to the forest where they searched for more plastic, aluminum, or putty to rebuild the other pigs' houses and protect them from the wolf if he ever dared return.

Bibliography: English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, published in 1890, about folktales and fairy tales that are considered native to England and the lowlands of Scotland

Author's Note: I had fun this week taking a story that everyone is familiar with and putting my own twist on it! Originally, the houses that the three pigs made were of sticks, straws, and brick and the wolf was unable to blow the last one down. So I took the liberty of changing the materials that the three pigs used for their houses by making it a contest to see who had the best houses as well as having them use ridiculous, manufactured goods that are basically trash and would never withstand the wolf. It was funny to imagine them building houses out of plastic, aluminum, and putty and so I decided to make them actually take the wolf's huffs and puffs. I also gave the pigs generic and silly names as well as made them three young pigs who were friends. I liked the idea of a pig community that they lived in, so I expanded on that so there could be traditions and customs they have for coming of age.

Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales, Part A

Tom Tit Tot

• A wife had to spin five skeins a day or else her husband would kill her so a black little impet did the work for her every day in exchange for her guessing his name
• She spent every day guessing so it would be funny to guess the most ridiculous and extravagant names imaginable and for none of them to be right

The Rose Tree

• An evil stepmother did not like her beautiful, blonde-headed daughter so she cut off her head with an ax and stewed her liver and heart for her husband and son to eat
• She was buried under a rose tree and it would be interesting to write the aftermath and the husband and son's sorrow that she can see from inside the rose tree

The Old Woman and Her Pig

• Her pig wouldn't cross the stile so she asked many objects and animals to help her get it home
• Would be interesting to expand on the number of objects and animals she asked (dog, stick, ox, fire, etc.) so that it becomes ridiculously long and intricate

Binnorie

• A jealous princess had her sister drowned because her former lover loved the sister instead but a famous harpist found her chest bones and made a harp that sang about her death
• It would be cool if creatures in the water and even the water itself all cooperated to help bring the sister back to safety at the shore of Binnorie and catch the evil princess

Cap O' Rushes

• A father asked his daughters how much they loved him and it would be funny to use the most ridiculous analogies for each
• He turned one away whose response he didn't like and she came back disguised as a maid

The Story of the Three Little Pigs

• The wolf who wanted to blow down the pig's brick house kept asking the pig to go to various events to get him out of the house and allow him to eat him
• Could change the effects to funny modern day things like going bowling or to get ice cream

 (Picture of the wolf trying to enter the pig's brick house)

Bibliography: English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, published in 1890, about folktales and fairy tales that are considered native to England and the lowlands of Scotland

Famous Last Words: Not Ready to Graduate!

Well, to be honest, I did not really enjoy my reading for this week nor did I like how my story turned out! The source stories were fine but I had trouble imaging plot twists or ways to make the story my own. I had fun actually writing it but it definitely did not seem like my best work nor do I think the readers enjoyed it. I also had great difficulty finding images to use this week, so it was an overall trying week 11 for my story. However, I am having so much fun writing my Storybook and really appreciated the feedback I got this past week on my latest story! I have enjoyed getting to know and expand on Don Quixote's craziness and the modern day news anchors are so much fun to write about. I love that everyone is just silly and incompetent in my Storybook so I have the liberty to add all the funny little thoughts I have while brainstorming. It has been a source of enjoyment for me so far!

I also really enjoyed the Storybooks that I chose to read this week! I had already read one that I was assigned so I read one about the use of Twitter and Tindr to retell the story of Little Red Riding Hood as well as Cupid and Psyche. I loved the images and screenshots that were incorporated and found myself laughing throughout the entire story. It was such a creative idea and I look forward to checking back in later this semester. Another one I enjoyed was a combination of medical stories that made up Grey's Anatomy, which is my favorite show. While writing my feedback, I mentioned several tips for the correct uses of several anatomical and medical terms and how to make them seem more realistic... which made me realize the level of nerd I have reached. But hey, it was fun to write about and share my nerdy knowledge!

I am also currently in denial that the semester is almost over and the fact that I am about to graduate from the greatest university ever... Every time I go to an event, I think about how it is my last time experiencing such fun college things and I get pretty emotional. I'm not really a crier but I've been crying a lot lately at the thought of never seeing so many of my friends again! I like to think that I will keep in touch with many of them, but life happens and things get crazy. So I'm trying to cherish these last few weeks (which is hard with the stress of my capstone quickly approaching) while I can and appreciate all of the wonderful little things that make up OU!

 

(A picture of how I imagine graduation will be... From Indian Intern)

Tech Tip: Canvas Notifications

For this week's Tech Tip, I learned how to adjust the notification settings in Canvas! For the entire semester, I have been receiving far too many emails from Canvas and I figured it was time to change that. After watching the video on Notification Preferences, I went to my profile and adjusted what alerts I would receive and when. Most of them I actually ended up unselecting so that I would not receive summaries, but grades and conversations I changed to immediately and weekly summaries. I also found a cool option to include the newly recorded grades in the emails because let's be honest, that moment of panic trying to get the internet to load a score after seeing the notification is the living worst. Now I can see it instantly! I am excited about this Tech Tip and think it is very helpful!

Week 11 Storytelling: The Summoner and the Fiend

Hi, my name is Steve and I am who they call the Fiend. My dwelling place is in hell and I walk around on earth to collect what is mine each day. I bring those whose time has come back to hell with me at the end of the day. Some people have long been awaiting their day of departure while others are ripped from their lives before they are ready. I bring them home with me nonetheless. I receive a list each day of who and what are to become mine and I ensure that I get them. I also look like a normal human man so many do not even notice what I do and I would like to keep it that way.

However, today is different than other days however because I have stumbled across a summoner, an official of the court, who has decided to befriend me. He did not know at first that I am the Fiend so for some reason, he instantly swore to be friends with me forever and offer our houses to each other should we ever need them in the future. I have never had a friend before so I wasn't sure how to turn him down, but I greatly regret it now. He's very enthusiastic. He has been following me around on my mission since noon and asking many questions about my trade of bringing people and belongings to hell. He said he thought I was a yeoman at first so he desires to see what I actually do instead and learn from the great Fiend himself. How does he even know who the Fiend is? I thought I had been quite discrete over the years but perhaps my name has spread.

My list today is not long so it unfortunately leaves much room for conversation. As we walk to the nearby village where I will take an old lady and her twelve pence, the summoner and I come across a man yelling at his two donkeys and cursing them, wishing the Fiend to take them from him. I force myself to turn my eyes away so that I am not tempted to get off schedule and take the donkeys before it is time. The summoner looks excitedly at me, neither subtle nor inconspicuous in the slightest, to see if I plan to take the donkeys from the man. He does not seem to understand that I have a strict checklist that I adhere to each day and I would never take a life before it is time. I ignore him and continue walking, in hopes that he will settle down and the man will not think anything of my presence.

We enter the town gates and head straight to the house of the old woman whose time has come. The summoner's excitement grows with each step and he energetically quizzes me about how I plan to persuade the lady to come to hell with me. I try to satiate him with half-hearted answers so that he will shut his mouth, but he is seemingly unaware of the dryness in my voice. My annoyance at him grows by the minute and I look forward to getting the old woman and her money so I can be on my way.

I decide to let the summoner help me so that he will bother me no more. I tell him to knock on the woman's gate and tell her to come outside. He does so but she resists and stays inside, so I tell him to threaten her with a bill requiring her presence at the archdeacon's court tomorrow to answer to charges against her. She resists again on the account of her sickness, which I am highly skeptical of, and requests for someone to appear in her place, even though she does not know what the charges against her are for. The summoner, who is clearly enjoying this exchange far too much, turns to me in eager anticipation of my approval. I roll my eyes and nod my head yes, allowing him to accept this proposal. He offers to appear in court for her for the price of twelve pence and she agrees, saying she will be right out to give the money to him in person. The summoner and I wait in silence until she steps outside with a small purse of coins. I whisper that I'll show him how it's done and step forward to accept the money from the woman. The second my hand touches hers, she instantly vanishes and is transported to hell where I will shortly join her.

The summoner stands in such awe of the task I just performed that he can't help but have the largest grin on his face. So I figure that I owe him at least a firm handshake, to which he is delighted. I then wave and with coin purse in hand, I step over to the same spot in which the old woman disappeared and do the same myself. Thankfully, I never saw the summoner again after this moment but I hope that he went about the rest of his day and life normally and does not still search for me from time to time.

(Hell, where Steve is from as well as where he takes people)

Bibliography: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in a modern adaptation called Chaucer's Story Book by Eva March Tappan (1908).

Author's Note: In the original source story, the summoner encounters a man who he thinks is a yeoman but discovers he is the Fiend that roams the earth and takes people and things to hell when it is their time. He is curious about this and so he follows the Fiend as he goes to the town village to take twelve pence from an old widow and the Fiend even lets him be a part of it by talking to the old lady and convincing her to give up her money. I wanted to rewrite this story from the point of view of the Fiend himself, who I gave the harmless name of Steve, and share the perspective I imagined him having while I read the original story, which was that the summoner was very annoying to the Fiend and that he was frustrated with having him tag along and try to learn from him. I chose not to include any direct dialogue so that it could convey how disinterested the Fiend was in the scenarios before him since it is merely an everyday task he is completing. I felt sort of mean making him ignore the summoner but it was necessary for the mood I was trying to create. I hope it was an enjoyable read!

Reading Notes: Canterbury Tales, Part B

The Prioress's Tales: Little Hugh

• A young boy in the Jewish quarter sang a song so loudly that the evil Jews plotted to have him killed but instead of dying he lived long enough to fill the whole town with his song
• Instead of dying and since he called out to Christ's mother, perhaps he doesn't die in the end and the whole town is gifted with music

 Nun's Priest's Tale: The Cock, the Hen, and the Fox

• The cock had a dream that the Fox was chasing him and the Hen said she didn't like his cowardice, but the Fox could actually steal the Hen away or even woo her
• Could talk about the man who had 3 identical dreams that his friend was being murdered but since he didn't believe his dreams, they came true. Could even change it to modern day.
• The Fox steals the Cock away while he is distracted by singing and they could run off together and become best friends in some far away country

(The sneaky Fox waiting to steal the Cock away)

The Canon's Yeoman's Tales: The Priest who Learned to be a Philosopher

• A Canon told a Priest that he could teach him how to be a philosopher by teaching him to pour coal in a crucible, but he sneaked a coal with silver fillings into the crucible
• Could expand on the trickery of the Canon and make them go on ridiculous errands to satisfy the "recipe" and the Priest is none the wiser

Bibliography: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in a modern adaptation called Chaucer's Story Book by Eva March Tappan (1908).

Reading Notes: Canterbury Tales, Part A

The Unknown Bride

• A knight is punished with the threat of death if he cannot travel the land and discover what it is women want. Could make up absolutely ridiculous things that women tell him when he asks.
• Could also make him turn into an old man at the end rather than the old lady turning into a beautiful young woman once they are married
• Could change the setting to modern times searching on a college campus or in a big city

The Story of the Summoner

• The fiend, Satan himself, has to wait for people to curse things to his name before he can take them to hell with him. Could tell his story in first person or dialogue format as he travels completing his duties for the day and taking things from people.

The Promise of Dorigen

• Dorigen waited faithfully for her husband to return but was so fearful that he wouldn't that she promised Aurelius she would marry him if he could make all of the stones at the lake disappear
• She didn't expect Dorigen to complete the task with the help of a wizard so she was devastated when she had to leave her husband, but Aurelius wouldn't have her since she was sad 
• This would be an interesting story to set in present day with an impossible task 

The Pardoner's Tale: The Revelers Who Went Out to Meet Death

• Three drunk men set out to find Death who had killed their friend but they found an enormous pile of gold instead and claimed it for their own
• They all ended up plotting to kill each other and succeeding
• Could expand on their bumbling drunkenness and make them have ridiculous conversations while searching for Death and before they even found the gold

(The three drunk men trying to avenge their friend who was killed by Death)

Bibliography: Chaucer's Canterbury Tales in a modern adaptation called Chaucer's Story Book by Eva March Tappan (1908).

Tech Tip: Weather Widget

In this week's tech tip, I learned how to add a weather gadget to the sidebar of the homepage of my blog! It took me a few minutes to get the hang of it, especially because I accidentally added it to the header first instead of the sidebar, but I quickly figured out it wasn't so hard. All I had to do was paste the HTML link and add it as a gadget- simple enough! I even experimented with color schemes that I like best! I decided on a neutral tan gadget to complement the bright colors of my blog, but I'm not sure if I like it or how long I'll keep it. Regardless, I am excited I learned how to do it because I've seen the weather gadget on other people's blogs and thought it was cool! I recommend trying this out!