Showing posts with label Week 7. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 7. Show all posts

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Week 7: Essay



Week 7: Essay
The Mountain
This week I read the Chinese Fairy Tales unit. One of the stories that stood out to me was a story about a man and his seven daughters. This story was called The Cave of the Beasts. What I found really interesting in this story was the relationship between the man and his daughters, and also the daughters' relationships. When the mans wife lets his daughters eat all of his duck eggs, the man gets very angry. He decides he wants to trick his daughters into traveling over the mountain to see their grandmother. Then, he would leave them to be eaten by wild animals. I thought this was so ridiculous. He was going to kill them over a few eggs. The older daughters knew what he was trying to do, so they did not go. What was the worst part was that the older sisters did not warn the younger sisters, so they went with their father. Then the father decided he missed the girls so he went to go find them. They forgave him automatically and they all lived happily ever after. I thought this was a really weird and different way to portray a father daughter relationship. It was a lot different than most of the stories I have read for this class. 

A story that was totally different from this was The Maiden who was Stolen Away. This story was about a woman being taken away by a flying ogre, and her brother has to come rescue her. This story is what one intends to read when it comes to a story about family. Compared to the first story, this story was happier and the brother saved the day!

Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Week 7: Storytelling: The Cave of the Beasts

Week 7 Storytelling: The Cave of the Beasts

Once upon a time there was a man named Todd who was married to his wife Francesca, and together they had seven beautiful daughters.The names of his daughters were Elizabeth, Charlotte, Annabelle, Christina, Penelope, Catherine, and Alexandra. 

One day when Todd was out looking for firewood, he stumbled upon seven golden duck eggs. He brought home the eggs, but had no intention of sharing them with his seven daughters. He desired to share the deliciously golden eggs with his wife for breakfast the next morning. 
Golden Eggs
Todd's oldest daughter, Elizabeth, woke up early the next morning and asked her mother was she was cooking that smelled so delicious. Francesca admitted that she was cooking golden duck eggs, and she would let her have one if she did not speak a word of it to her six younger sisters. 

Next, Charlotte woke up and asked her mother what she was cooking. Francesca replied that she was cooking golden duck eggs. She agreed to let her have one if she did not tell her sisters. This went on and on until all of the golden eggs were eaten by all of the daughters. 

Todd finally woke up around ten-thirty that morning only to find that his precious eggs were gone. Todd was so angry that he cooked up an evil plan to rid himself of his daughters whom he now despised. 

His plan was to trick his daughters by telling them they were going to visit their grandparents who lived beyond the dark forest, but he was actually going to sneak away from them in the middle of the night and leave them to be eaten by the wild beasts in the forest. 
Dark Forest
That afternoon, Todd and his seven daughters left their house to travel through the dark forest. When nighttime came upon them, the daughters turned around to ask their father if they were close yet. When they turned around, they realized their father was gone and had left them to fight the night alone in the dark forest. 

They found a stone which they would make into a pillow. All together they moved the stone to the ground to rest their heads on it in the night. When they moved the stone, they saw that it was really a door to a glowing, eerie cave. 

The girls curiously went into the cave and found that the glow came from a collection of priceless gems, stones, and jewels. They also found feather beds with golden silk sheets, and helped themselves to a luxurious night of sleep. 
Cave Jewels
During the night, the owners of the cave, a fox and a wolf, came home to find the girls sleeping in their beds. They were too tired to eat them that night, so they decided to wait until the morning. Since their beds were occupied, they decided to blow out the fire and sleep in the pot above the warm firewood.

When the girls woke up, they saw that the owners of the cave had come home and they were sleeping in a giant cauldron over still warm firewood. Four of the girls tiptoed over to the cauldron and slammed the lid onto it while the other three collected rocks and stones to put on top of the lid so the fox and wolf could not escape. 
The Fox and the Wolf
An intense warm feeling woke up the fox and wolf, and minutes later they were dead. The girls had started a fire to cook the animals and save themselves from being eaten alive. A few days later, Todd went out to the woods in hopes that his daughters were still alive. He realized he had made a mistake in leading them to their death and wished to bring them home. 

When he smelled something delicious cooking, he followed his nose. Finally, he reached a glowing cave. He slowly crept inside and much to his surprise he saw seven young women. He felt relieved and started crying tears of joy. 

Todd said, "Oh girls, I am so glad to see you! I am so sorry I left you out here alone. Please come home to your mother and me."

The daughters replied, "Oh father, we are indeed happy to see you, too. We are quickly cooking up breakfast, and then we all shall leave this cave together. We can take all of these precious jewels with us and become rich!"

Todd said, "Oh daughters it does smell delightful. If I may ask, what are you making that smells so delicious?"

The daughters replied, "We are actually making golden duck eggs. That is your favorite right? Come here take a look. Do you think they are golden enough?"

As Todd looked into the burning cauldron, he saw nothing but a dead fox and wolf. He was very confused, and just as he was turning around to ask his daughters what they were talking about, all seven of them pushed him into the cauldron and shut the lid tight. 

The daughters said: "That is for leaving us out here to die alone. This is what you deserve!"

Burning Cauldron
The daughters then gathered up all of the jewels and gems, headed home, and forever lived a life full of luxury and happiness with their sweet mother. 

Author's Note: For this story, The Cave of the Beasts, I kept almost everything the same, except for the ending. In the original story, the daughters did not kill the father at the end. The girls in the original let the father take them home and they let him take the jewels so they could all live a happy, rich life. I was expecting the ending that I wrote to happen, so when it didn't, I decided I must change it! This ending makes more sense, and is much more interesting! Also, only the youngest daughters went with the father to the grandmother's house because the older daughters knew better. They knew it was a trick. I thought that was pretty wrong because if they knew, why did they not warn the other sisters? So I decided all of them should be tricked. In the original they traveled into the mountains, but I thought a dark forest sounded scarier. It reminds me of something out of a horror film. The same events take place in the cave with the fox and the wolf except that the animals did not see the girls when they get home. The fox talked the wolf into sleeping in the pot instead of the bed because it would be warmer. Also just for fun, I gave everyone names. None of the characters have names, but I decided to make it more interesting and give everyone a name. I chose Todd for the father because leading your children into the woods to be eaten is evil, and if you have ever watched "Breaking Bad," the character Todd is pretty darn evil. For the daughters and mother, I chose really feminine, long pretty names because they are sweet (for the most part).

Bibliography:
Book: Chinese Fairy Tales
Author: R. Wilhelm
Year Published: 1921
Web Source: Un-Textbook

Monday, September 29, 2014

Week 7: Reading Diary

Week 7 Reading Diary: Chinese Fairytales
Reading Diary A
The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck:
Wow this story was really sweet until the second to last sentence. I did not see that coming at all. This one would be fun to recreate the ending and maybe not have the wife die. Or I could keep it the same because it is twist that people would not see coming.

The Cave of the Beasts:
I did not like the way this story ended. The father leaves his daughters to be eaten by wolves in the woods because they ate his eggs, and they return the favor by letting him take all of the jewels and stones home? They should have cooked him in the kettle pot like they did to the fox and wolf! That is how I would rewrite the story!

The Panther:
This story reminded me so much of Little Red Riding Hood. IT was very similar because the wolf dresses like the girls' mother and then pretends to be her to the daughters. Explaining why her eyes are big, her face has spots, and why her feet are so big!

Why Dog and Cat are Enemies:
I actually read a story very similar to this the first or second week of class. Actually, I liked this story better! It made more sense to me. I thought it was fun and is a story worth rewriting because no one really knows why dogs and cats do not get along.

The Miserly Farmer:
The Pears
I really liked this story! It had a great message: KARMA. The farmer would not spare one pear for the poor priest so when someone bought the priest a pear he planted the seed and it grew immediately. He served all of its fruit then cut it down. When the farmer looked at his wagon, all of the pears were gone and the axel of his wagon was gone. He realized those were his fruits and the tree was his axel.

Reading Diary B
Fox Fire:
This story was very different. The farmer steals the fire ball from the fox and inherits special powers. The fox comes back 30 years later to take it back from the farmer.

Retribution:
I really enjoyed this story. The old man watches the water boy die and says nothing. So years later that water boy is reborn into a wealthy family and accidentally throws a rock at the old man. The old man dies and the boy says nothing. I would actually like to rewrite this story to where the reborn water boy purposely seeks out the old man for revenge.

The Maiden Who was Stolen Away:
This story was pretty good! I did not see the whole man turning into an ogre thing coming. I personally would have liked the rescue to be a little more detailed and grand, but it was overall a good story that I enjoyed.

The Flying Ogre:
I thought this story was going to be a little more exciting than it was. People are looking for an ogre who is disguised as a young girl. I would probably make this story more elaborate.





Sunday, September 21, 2014

Einstein Chalkboard

Tech Tip: Einstein Chalkboard
My Einstein Chalkboard

I truly believe in karma so I thought that would be a good moral to post.