Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales, Part B

The Little Hunting Dog

• A scholar lived in a Buddhist temple where little knights invaded and hunted, but one day they left a small dog that the scholar kept and loved as his own
• One morning, he woke up to the dog being pressed flat as paper and dead

Fox-Fire

• A farmer-boy stumbled upon a fox breathing fire to the moon in preparing the elixir of life so the farmer snatched it and swallowed it himself
• He was able to see ghosts and demons, perform many miracles, and use his talents with the spirit-world until the fox stole it back from him one day
• Could expand on the details of one of the specific miracles performed or make him also a fox

The Talking Silver Foxes

• The talking foxes sat on the side of a mountain and tease passersby until one day, the Farmer Wang, was surprised by a fox and cracked it with his ox-whip
• A girl in the village became possessed and the foxes said they would not pray to the god of war or any other god because they only feared Wang, who afterwards sent the spirit fleeing
• An archer also came across a fox and shot it with his bow, skinned it, and sold it

Retribution

• One day old Wang accidentally pushed a water-carrier down a terrace, where he died, and left the corpse there for the town to discover
• Many days later, the water-carrier returned as the neighbor's baby and grew up, accidentally throwing a stone at some pigeons but hitting Wang, so the scene repeated itself
• Could rewrite the story so that the water-carrier returning was indeed for retribution and the character of Ma was the only one who could see him, finding himself crazy

The Night on the Battlefield

• A merchant stumbled upon an inn during a storm where he found a room and watched a procession and hearty dinner of many soldiers and a general
• When the general retired to his room, his aid helped him take his head, arms, legs, and torso apart so that he could rest
• The merchant was horrified and left the inn for another, finding out that the inn which he had first stayed was on an old battlefield and strange things happened in the night
• Could write a scary story and make other creepy things happen to the merchant during his stay

(Inn on the Haunted Battlefield at Night)

The Maiden Who Was Stolen Away

• A storm stole a young maiden away from her home and to an incredibly tall pagoda, where she was doted on hand and foot by a young man asking her to marry him
• She denied every day and then he left, but one day he left the door open and she saw that he was a hideous ogre when he flew down to earth and she was terrified
• Her brother heard of her up there, hid in wait for the "young man", and threw an axe into his arm to scare him off and save his sister
• Could incorporate some of Rapunzel's tale, with her being kept away

The Flying Ogre

• A monk saw a woman running quickly toward him, asking him to hide her until he saw a man riding an armored horse who explained she was a terrible flying ogre and he needed to kill her

The Sorceror of the White Lotus Lodge

• A sorcerer made his pupils watch a small ship and candle while he was away and they failed, so his ship capsized and he had to walk in the dark
• He turned one pupil into a pig so a thousand soldiers arrested him and his family and as they travelled to the castle, they encountered a giant who ate the sorcerer and his wife and son
• Could expand on the tasks that the sorcerer made his pupils do while he was away

 The Three Evils

• A mandarin moved to a village and was told there were three evils- a terrible dragon, a tiger lurking in the hills, and Dschou Tschu who was wild, devilish, and always starting brawls
• Dschou Tschu was enlisted to take care of all three evils so he killed both the dragon and tiger and then exiled himself (before killing himself) to rid the village of all three
• Could rewrite the story from Dschou Tschu's point of view with how hurt his feelings are that the village thinks so lowly of him

How the River God's Wedding Was Broken Off

• Si-Men came to govern the Yellow River people where there was a custom of offering a river-bride, chosen by who's family could not pay, to the river-god every year
• Si-Men carefully sent several witches to beckon the god at the next wedding and none came back, so all fearfully vowed to put an end to the tradition
• Could add to the story that Si-Men actually posed as the bride to put an end to the river-god, who unknowingly still married Si-Men

Yang Gui Fe 

• Yang Gui Fe was the emperor's favorite wife, but she and her cousin took advantage and eventually caused the emperor to be driven from the country
• His soldiers mutinied and killed both Yang Gui Fe and her cousin and she departed to a fairy land as a blessed spirit, which she was before meeting the emperor
• A magician searched for her and found her so she gave him her ring to give to the emperor and told him she would return in 12 years time and not to weep too greatly

Bibliography:
The Chinese Fairy Tales are a selection of stories from Wilhem's Chinese Fairy Book.

Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales, Part A

The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck

•  A princess with ill luck married a beggar with good luck in hopes of one day finding splendor
•  He left to find his fortune and returned after 18 years an emperor, so they lived happily for 18 days until the wife died while the husband lived on many years

The Cave of the Beasts

• A father was furious with his wife for feeding their daughters the duck eggs he found so he took two of them out to the forest and left them there
• They stumbled upon a cave full of treasures and jems belonging to a fox and wolf, so they trapped them in the kettle and took all of the treasures for themselves
• Could change the story so that the fox or the wolf escaped and actually captured the girls, but then realized they were friendly and frightened and they all live together

The Panther

• A panther devoured a mother and son and then, wearing her clothing, posed as the mother to the two daughters left at home
• They managed to scare the panther away for a little while but were on their doorstep crying for their mother and brother
• A needle-vender, a scorpion-catcher, an egg-seller, a turtle dealer, and a man selling clubs all stopped by and gave the girls a gift of each of their trade to scare the panther off with
• Could rewrite the story so that only one of the gifts was given to the girls and they had to fight the panther off with that alone

Why Dog and Cat are Enemies

• A man and wife lost their lucky ring and all of their wealth so the cat and dog planned and ventured to acquire the ring and bring it back home
• After they got the ring back, the cat beat the dog back to the house because it was able to run over the roof and the cat was rewarded for the ring while the dog was beaten for not assisting

Yang Oerlang

• Oerlang, a shapeshifter, was fetching his mother water when he returned to her dead corpse and he realized that her magic powers had failed her and the sunlight had killed her
• Oerlang avenged her death by killing 9 of the 10 suns but he did not kill the last one so that the earth could live and he was honored as a god after
• It would be interesting to change the story so that Oerlang did kill all of the suns and the world went into complete darkness

The Lady of the Moon

• Hou I was given an herb of immortality and his wife ate some of it when he was not home, floated up to the clouds, and became the Lady of the Moon in the castle there
• The emperor and two sorcerers created a bridge to the moon and saw the castle of the lady, which was filled with beautiful music that the emperor had transcribed when he returned to earth  

The Girl with the Horse's Head or the Silkworm Goddess

• A girl vowed to marry her horse if it could return her father to her from a long journey and when it did, she and her father instead slew the horse and hung the hide up
• One day, the hide swallowed the girl and carried her to a tree where she became wrapped in a cocoon and spun beautiful silk
• Could change the story so that she actually did have to marry the horse and she falls in love with him and they live happily ever after

(Girl grooming her horse as she misses her father) 

The God of War

• Guan Yu was a faithful and brilliant warrior who fought the evil Tsau Tsau but was caught into an ambush with his son where they were both slain
• He visited a monk and asked for his head to be restored, but the monk answered that it would not be fair to all those that Guan Yu had killed to not have their own heads restored.
• Afterwards, he became very spiritually active and worshipped as the God of War

The Miserly Farmer

• A bonze asked a farmer for a pear but was not given one, so an artisan bought one for him
• He ate the pear and planted it, watered it, and it grew into a magnificent tree from which he passed out many pears 
• The farmer realized after the bonze left that the pears he passed out had actually been his all along and the tree came from the wooden axle of his cart, but the bonze was nowhere to be found for him to confront him

The King of the Ants 

• A scholar lived in a haunted house where a hundred knights the size of ants galloped in to hunt with horses the size of flies
• They prepared a beautiful banquet, sang, and danced until the small knight in the scarlet hat made fun of his kingly status as compared to the scholar's poor status, so the scholar shooed them out and smoked them out of the ants' nest
• It would be fun to write more from the perspective of everyday life and struggles of the small knights in their own world and how it differs from the regular, life-sized world

Bibliography:
The Chinese Fairy Tales are a selection of stories from Wilhem's Chinese Fairy Book.

Tech Tip: Including Images in a Google Sites Page

This week's tech tip of including an image in a Google Sites page was fairly difficult for me! It took several tries for me to add the image in its own box, rather than trying to add it to the header, which threw everything off. I finally added the image by uploading it from a picture saved on my computer and added the image information below the introduction so that it wouldn't alter the aesthetic too much. I liked that I could size the image and it would show me where it was evenly spaced, but I did not like that I couldn't tell what size it would turn out to be until I published it and viewed the page later. Overall, it was not too bad figuring it out!

Week 5 Storytelling: The Snake, the Nobleman, and His Horse

[The scene is set in an open field with a nobleman who is hunting with his favorite companion, his horse. He heard several strange noises, something moving in the tall grass, and immediately reached for his arrows. His horse neighed as he whirled around to see a frightened snake hurrying towards him. Alarmed, the nobleman jumped back from the snake.]

(The nobleman and his horse hunting) 

SNAKE

Please, oh my lord, allow me to hide! An enemy with a stick is pursuing me! He wants to kill me!

NOBLEMAN

Oh yes, kind friend, conceal yourself in my shirt sleeve. No enemy will reach you there, for I will protect you!

[Just then, a devious looking man holding a sharp stick ran towards the nobleman and his horse. The nobleman double-checked his sleeve to make sure the snake was still hidden.]

MAN

You haven't by any chance seen a sneaky snake slithering around here, have you? I have been searching everywhere for him because he bit my dog and the poison killed him!

NOBLEMAN

No, sir, I have not seen a snake around here and I cannot be of assistance to you! I wish you all the best! 

[The nobleman's horse stamped its hoof at hearing the nobleman's false words, for the horse did not trust the snake, but he quickly placed a hand on the horse's back to calm it. The man was not quite convinced and searched around the field anyway, but alas, could not see the snake hidden in the sleeve. The man then went his own way in search of the snake elsewhere and the nobleman sighed with relief, letting the snake out of his sleeve.]

NOBLEMAN

Your enemy has gone and you should also be on your way, kind friend.

SNAKE

I have deceived you! You are quite ignorant to believe that a snake could be your kind friend, for you see, I have already bitten you and poisoned you.

[The nobleman suddenly felt a sharp pain and he glanced down at his right forearm to see that the snake had indeed bitten him, though he was just now beginning to feel the effects. His bite wounds began to leak blood and poison and the nobleman fell to his knees in agony.]

(The evil snake after biting the nobleman)

NOBLEMAN

How could you do this to me? I helped you and hid you from your enemy, you fiend!

SNAKE

Ah, but it is as they say, 'it is not right to do good to every person'. So when I smelled your human scent and had the urge to bite you, I did! 

[The nobleman shook his head in denial and pain as the snake chuckled to himself, watching the nobleman become weaker and weaker with the pain. The snake then turned to slither away but before he could leave, the angry horse came to the nobleman's defense. He leapt forward and smashed the snake's head into the ground, instantly killing it.]

NOBLEMAN

My dear horse, my sweet friend, thank you. You have avenged me and I can now die in peace knowing that I had the greatest horse that ever lived. Thank you for being my dearest companion.

[The nobleman sighed as the poison overtook his body and he took his last breath. The horse cried out in sorrow, knelt by the nobleman's side, and stayed with him through the night. When the rays of the morning sun awakened the horse, he galloped to the nearby town and urged several men he encountered on the street to follow him to the field where the nobleman's body lay. They too cried out when they saw the tragic scene and carried his corpse back into town to prepare him for a proper burial. While it was the saddest day the horse had ever experienced, he knew he had done the right thing and was glad to let his master rest in peace with.]

Author's Note:

I decided to try something creative with experimenting with a new storytelling style for this week's tale. I wanted to write it in a script style because I have not written a script since high school, but have always enjoyed doing it. I noticed that I was not able to include as much detail as I normally like to, making my story shorter than it usually is, but I was challenged in a different way of keeping the story flowing at a quicker pace. I ended up writing it as if it were a children's play, even if the content was a little dark for that. I kept the original premise of the story the same with a nobleman who hid a snake in his sleeve, but instead of the nobleman managing to kill the snake, I turned the tables and caused the nobleman to be bitten and poisoned after all. I wanted to expand on how evil and deceiving the snake was, but I did not want the snake to get away with it. So I created a bigger character in the nobleman's horse, who avenged his death by killing the snake and then warned the townsfolk of what had happened so that they would not just leave the nobleman's body in the field. He deserved a proper burial and peaceful ending, even if it was a little dark and sad. I was challenged by writing in this style, but I had a lot of fun!

 
Bibliography: Tales of a Parrot, an early 19th century English version of the Tutinameh and an adaptation of an earlier book written in Sanskrit

Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot, Part B

Of a King and His Sons, and of a Frog and a Snake

• The prince saves a frog from a snake one day but carves a piece of his flesh for the snake, so they both return to him in the form of humans to pay him their gratitude
• Could rewrite the story from the point of view of the frog Mukhless or the snake Khaliss and explain their frustration at the prince receiving all the glory of their good deeds

The Merchant Whose Daughter Was Lost

• The merchant's daughter only wanted to marry a man who was wise or skillful, so three men fought over her, each explaining their skill
• She was kidnapped by a fairy one day and the first used his skill to identify her, the second made a wooden horse that the third could ride to the mountain, shoot the fairy, and return her

Of a Brahmin Falling in Love

•  A Brahmin and princess met one day and instantly fell in love, but knew they could not be together, so the Brahmin sought a magician who gave him a magic ball that transformed him
• He took on the shape of a woman that the princess befriended and confided in, but when he took the ball out and explained, they ran away to another country to be together
• Could rewrite the story so that the magic ball did not transform the Brahmin back so he was stuck in the body of a woman

The Son of the King of Babylon

• A prince fell in love with a princess and he vowed to sever his head if she married him, so he did, but a Brahmin saw him and was afraid of being guilted, so he cut off his head too
• When the princess found them, she put the heads back on the bodies to revive them but accidentally put the wrong heads on the wrong bodies
• Could add to the story the point of view of the Brahmin or prince at discovering they had different bodies attached to their heads and the confusion that followed

The Merchant's Daughter

• The merchant's daughter was so beautiful that he wrote to the king to marry her if he found her fitting, but his advisors worried he would neglect the country and told him not to marry her
• But one day he saw her and was shocked by her beauty, instantly falling in love, becoming sick with love, and then dying of grief that she was married to someone else

The Nobleman who Concealed a Snake in His Sleeve

• A nobleman gave refuge to a snake being chased, but it quickly turned evil and told the nobleman he had been foolish for trusting his enemy and that he would bite him 
• The nobleman tricked him into thinking another snake was coming and bashed his head
• Could change the story so that the nobleman and the snake actually become friends

 The Soldier and the Goldsmith

• A soldier thought a goldsmith was his friend and entrusted him with a bag of gold he had found, but the goldsmith stole it and buried it in the ground, though he lied and said he didn't
• The soldier asked the Cazy, who interrogated him and knew he was lying, so he gathered the secret from the goldsmith's wife, uncovered the gold, and hanged the goldsmith

Of the Merchant and the Barber

• A merchant received a vision that beating a brahmin with a stick would change him to gold, which came true, but then he tried to beat more brahmins and they bled instead
• The magistrate brought the merchant to court to ask him about this, which he explained, and then they banished the barber being a witness, but being mad as the merchant said
• Could tell the story of watching the merchant beat the first brahmin from the point of view of the barber himself

The Frog, the Bee, and the Bird

• An elephant knocked over a bird's nest of eggs so the bird, frog, and bee plotted to pluck the elephant's eyes out and lead him to a place he falls into and could not get out of

The Elk and the Ass

• The elk and ass were grazing into a garden they had sneaked into and the ass began braying and singing loudly so the gardener woke up and bound them both as prisoners

A King Falls in Love and the End of Khojisteh

• A king fell in love with a woman and took her from her former husband and son, but she sneaked her son over as a servant and the king thought he was a lover
• When he found out he was her son, the king was elated and the mother and son were reunited
• When Miemun returned, the parrot told him everything, and he had Khojisteh killed

(The evil snake in the nobleman's sleeve. Photo from Pixabay) 

Bibliography: Tales of a Parrot, an early 19th century English version of the Tutinameh and an adaptation of an earlier book written in Sanskrit

Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot, Part A

Miemun and Khojisteh:

• Miemun bought a parrot that predicted many travelers of a caravan coming to the city and buying spikenard, so he bought it all and sold it to them himself

 Khojisteh and the Parrot:

• Khojisteh wanted to sneak out and see a prince while her husband was away and killed the second bird in anger when she was denied. The parrot knew he would die if he did not agree with her, so he piqued her interest by mentioning a story

 The Parrot of Ferukh Beg:

• The Parrot tells a story that is exactly like Khojisteh's situation in real life in which she and the Parrot are both thrust from their home, though the Parrot is believed to be dead, and he pardons the wife and reunites her with her husband
• When the Parrot in the story tells the wife to shave her head and wait 40 days, it could be fun to expand on that and create more ridiculous things that the parrot makes her do simply for laugh

The Goldsmith, the Carpenter, the Taylor... Wooden Woman

• A carpenter fashioned a wooden figurine, a goldsmith bejewelled her, the taylor sewed her clothes, and the hermit brought her to life upon which all the men fell in love with her 
• They asked the Tree of Decision who she should belong to and she was swept back up into the wood, from which she came
• Could add that the Tree of Decision was unable to divide and let her in, so she was stuck as a woman and the men had to settle the argument with someone winning

The King of Kinoje and his Daughter

• The poor dirveish loved the king's daughter and he could have her if he brought an elephant load of gold, so he asked the royroyan, who was generous enough to give it to him
• Then he was to bring the royroyan's head, but the royroyan was so generous that he offered to be dragged in with his body attached to his head. Then he was given the princess instead
• Could change it so that he did bring just his head, but the royroyan lived without his body

The Fowler, the Parrot, and her Young Ones

• The Parrot was taken from her nest by the Fowler and taken to the king to cure him of illness, but the Parrot flew away after half-curing him

The Merchant and His Wife

• The merchant was gone for six months and when he returned, he asked for a mistress to be fetched for him that turned out to be his own wife 
• Could tell this story from the point of view of the neighbor who helped them reconcile

The Old Lion and the Cat

• The lion commissioned the cat to stand watch and keep the mice away while he slept, but one day the cat's kitten killed all the mice and the lion dismissed the cat

The Commander of the Frogs and the Snake

•  The frog king, Shapoor, was banished by the other frogs and asked a snake to help him get revenge by eating them
• When all of the frogs in the well were gone, Shapoor ran away and left the snake alone waiting

Four Rich Persons Who Became Poor

• Four men walked with balls on their head and dug in the ground wherever their ball fell. 
• They found copper, then silver, then gold, but the fourth man thought there would be more and continued on only to find an iron mine.
• Could have the fourth man actually stumble upon the jewels instead of the iron and reward his patience and persistence

Besheer and a Woman Named Chunder 

• Besheer and Chunder were having an affair and her husband took her away so Besheer had to bring his friend the Arab to seek her out
• The Arab suffered a beating when he posed as Chunder to the husband while Besheer and Chunder were together, but stayed the night with Chunder's sister

(The magical parrot from Commons Wikimedia)

Bibliography: Tales of a Parrot, an early 19th century English version of the Tutinameh and an adaptation of an earlier book written in Sanskrit 

Feedback Focus

1. The first method, reading out loud, was hard at first for me to keep up, but it became easier as I went. The only problem is that I read very quickly and when I do this out loud, I sometimes focus more on the sounds and my articulations and inflections rather than the actual words themselves. I found myself doing this several times, so I imagined that I was reading it to a small child and I was able to focus easier. I think this will be a helpful mechanism if I am having trouble focusing while reading!
2. The second technique did not work well at all for me. I felt burdened and slowed down by having to copy and delete and then didn't always know what to write as a note in place. I felt the need to write something every time, even if nothing noteworthy happened. I think this piece would be helpful if the passages were very dense and I was having trouble understanding the language, but for most readings, I do not think I will use this method.
3. The third method was my favorite of the three and one I can see myself using, especially if I need to get many things done in a limited amount of time. I set the timer for 10 minutes, but I actually read the entire story in 3, so I even felt proud of myself at the end that I had beaten that time. I think this would technique will help me stay focused and on track and be more realistic with the time that I have because I usually plan to do too many assignments in a small amount of time. I like this idea!

(My favotie of the methods- timing! Photo from Pexels)

I would rank the methods in order of helpfulness and usefulness as 3, 1, 2. I was not surprised at all that I liked the method where I was racing time because I am a fast reader and like to get things done as quickly as possible so that I feel efficient. I have used the timing method in the past and it has been productive for me, so I think I will keep doing it. My favorite story that I read during this exercise was Zoology 1114 because I have taken that class and know exactly what it was like, so it was a blast seeing Adam and Eve and Satan's temptation be adapted to the OU classroom. I thought that story was very clever and it is a storytelling technique that I would like to try next!