Week 6: Famous Last Words

Week 6: Famous Last Words

This week I did not do my best in terms of writing. I did not really get into any of the stories too much, and I also waited until last minute to write my storytelling. I think this really effected me because I feel like I took a step backwards, but it is okay because I will be better next week. For sure! I have learned this week that it is not really that fun to rewrite a story if you are not going to rewrite some aspect of it. It may be a good story still, but the fun part is making it your own. That is something I plan to work on next week. 

New Brunswick, Canada

Since fall is upon us, I decided to add a few picturse of one the places I have visited that I love most. I believe that it is probably chilly and beautiful in Canada right now. Canada is the only place I have ever been that I would be okay with moving to. The people are nice, the coffee is PERFECT, and it is such a laid back place compared to the United States. I have only ever visited in the summer and the winter, not the fall. I traveled to Toronto, Ontario one summer in July and one winter in January. July was amazing because it was in the 70s and 80s. Perfect weather in my opinion since I really do not like the heat of Oklahoma summers. When I went at New Years, it was a whole different story. It snowed most of the days, and was bitter cold like I have never felt before. I went ice skating off Lake Ontario late at night while it was snowing. Needless to say I came home with a horrible, horrible cold. 

Toronto,  Canada

I really loved Niagara Falls when I went (I did this in July)! It was one of the most beautiful places I have been to. So since I know Canada is probably looking amazing this time of year, I decided to post some picture of Fall in Canada that I found on Google. Since I have been to one of the biggest cities in Canada, I would really love to travel to a less city-like city in Canada and hopefully in the Fall or Winter.

Week 6: Essay

Week 6: Essay

This week I read the Nigerian Folktales unit. I thought that it was going to be different than it was. It was one of my least favorite units thus far. I thought it would be interesting because the preview said it was about animals. I also was really looking forward to the stories that explain why things are they way they are. For example why we bury dead people or why elephants have small eyes. I guess the reasons from theses stories were not that interesting or entertaining to me like some others I have read for this class. Some of the stories were really short too and I think that creates a lack of depth and detail which creates less interesting and enticing stories.

 I thought it would be nice for something different this week to read about animals, but I think I am really more into the fairy tales like the previous ones I have read. So I think this week I am learning what kinds of stories I like and which ones I do not like which is important for the rest of the semester. This will also help me with my portfolio because it will not be fun to write stories that I do not like or am not interested in. 

My favorite story this week was probably Of the Pretty Stranger who Killed the King. I liked this one because it was kind of tragic and twisted. It was different than the typical fairytale or story. So that is why I decided to do that story for my retelling this week.

The Frog Prince

  Next week I will look for more stories like this or stories that are more centered around people and magic instead of animals and elements. I am really looking forward to the brothers Grimm unit and the British/European units later on in the semester because I feel like those are the kinds of stories I really like to read.

Week 6: Storytelling

Week 6: Of the Pretty Stranger who Killed the King

There once was a king named Botu who was very successful, but everyone hated. He was very successful and rich because of his wonderful leadership skills, but he had many enemies.This is because he went to war too often and killed far too many people, and because he often turned prisoners into slaves.

In a town nearby people were becoming very aggravated with Botu and they wanted him killed. Since he was very good at battling and fighting, they would not be able to beat him in a fight. They came up with a scheme that would surely work. They had a very old witch in their town who could shape shift into whatever she pleased. The people of town offered to pay the witch, Ursula, to kill the king.

Ursula the Witch

Ursula took the offer and changed herself into the most beautiful young woman that anyone had ever seen. She had long hazelnut brown hair and dark green eyes with rosy red cheeks and candy apple red lips. When Ursula set off to visit Calabar, where the king lived, she brought a very sharp sword that she had hidden in her boot. She stumbled into the Halloween festival that was being held in Calabar that night.

Everyone stared at Ursula when she walked by. They were in awe of her beauty and she quickly became the talk of the town. Less than an hour later King Botu had gotten word of this beautiful creature and had to meet her. It was well known that Botu had quite a thing for pretty girls. He searched the festival for less than twenty minutes when he found her and when he did, he was speechless.

Botu knew he must make Urusla his wife immediately. He proposed to her right there in the middle of everyone. Ursula, knowing this just made her job one hundred times easier, said "Yes!" before he even finished asking. They headed to the palace that second to be married and then consummate the marriage.

After the wedding, Ursula slipped some sleeping pills into Botus wine so he would fall asleep very quickly and then she could kill him and get on with her life. When they finally got back to Botus bedroom, the second he hit the pillow, he fell asleep instantly. Ursula slid the sword out from her boot and without hesitation, she sliced his head right off.

To prove that she had indeed killed the king she brought his head with her back to her town so that she would receive the money she was promised. When the king was discovered dead, no one even thought to consider that his new, young, beautiful wife had done it.

"Never marry a stranger, no matter how pretty she may be."

Authors Note: For this story I did not change much because I did not want the moral of the story to be lost. I changed the names from Mbotu to Botu and Oyaikan to Ursula. I left out the ending of the story where the witches town ends up attacking the kings town and killing almost all of their people. This is because it did not really go with the theme/moral I was going for in my retelling.

Bibliography:
Book: Nigerian Folktales
Author: Elphinstone Dayrell
Year Published: 1910
Web Source: Un-Textbook

Week 6: Reading Diary: Nigerian Folk STories

 Week 6: Nigerian Folk Stories

Of the Pretty Stranger who Killed the King:
This was a pretty good story, and it had a good moral: do not marry a stranger no matter how pretty she may be. I could change this one up a lot if I wanted to. I would like to change the end where no one thinks about or realizes it was his new wife who killed him.

The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull:
I would like to do this story because I could make the daughter super rebellious and disobedient to where the audience thinks she gets what she deserves when she ends up marrying a skull. I might even let them eat her in the end!

Why the Worms live Underneath the Ground:
I have always been interested in stories that explain why things are. This type of story is definitely something that catches my eye when I see it.

Why the Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky:
I think that this story could have been a lot better if it was longer. I could elaborate a lot more on this story and make it much more interesting!

The Lightening and the Thunder:
I liked this story because there is a lot of room for change. I could even change the thunder and lightening to two totally different elements. I could add some reasons about why the lightening (son) gets mad and what the thunder (mother) yells at him.

The Cock Who Caused a Fight:
I think it would be fun to do a plot twist with this story.

The Hippopotamus and the Tortoise:
I actually really liked this story. I thought it was kind of fun, and I liked how clever the tortoise was!

Of the Fat Woman who Melted Away:
This is about a jealous woman making a fat woman made out of wax go into the sun so that she would melt. I think it would be fun to change it up and do something about the wax woman wanting to lose weight or something.

Google Presence Tech Tip

Google Presence Tech Tip

Whenever I just googled my name as "Stephanie Renae Griffin" nothing about me came up. When I googled "Stephanie Renae Griffin Oklahoma" a few things came up and one of them was from oklavoters.com and it had my date of birth, my full name, my address, my political affiliation, and the day I registered to vote. This kind of creeped me out a bit since someone could find out where I live! Whenever I searched my name in bing, I did not find much either so then I searched "Stephanie Renae Griffin Facebook." This made me realize that there are a few other people with my name, and I could not find which one was actually me. I am kind of happy that I cannot find much about me just for privacy and safety reasons!