Portfolio Introduction

Portfolio Introduction

For my portfolio, I added all of the stories that not only were my favorite, but the ones I felt really proud of after I wrote them. There is no theme or specific style for these styles. They are all a little bit different, which is also why I put them into my portfolio. I hope everyone enjoys these stories as much as I did!

The Legend of Geller

Alice in Horrorland

The Broken Pot

The Cave of the Beasts

The Three Delicate Wives

Week 12: Storytelling: The Legend of Geller

Week 12: Storytelling: Beth Geller

The Legend of Geller

There once was a Prince named Llewelyn who loved to hunt. He also loved to take his many dogs with him to help him succeed. One day Prince Llewelyn was wanting to go hunting because it was such a beautiful day. When he blew his horn to let the dogs know it was time to go, his very favorite dog Geller did not answer.

Geller was a dog that his father, the king, gave to him. For this reason, he was very special to Prince Llewelyn. Geller was a very sweet and gentle dog in the home, but in the chase he was as mighty as a lion. In fact, he was the best dog the prince had ever had. The prince finally called him by name to hurry up, but he still did not come. He left without him and for that reason he had no luck hunting that day.

Geller

Prince Llewelyn was very angry at Geller when he got back to his castle. When he opened the gate, Geller was running towards him to meet him. As he got closer, Prince Llewelyn noticed that he had blood dripping from his lips and fangs. Llewelyn was still very upset with Geller for not coming when he was called and so he gave him a very angry and disappointed look. Geller was very confused and sad about the way he was greeted by his master.

Prince Llewelyn instantly had a horrible and tragic thought. He had a one-year-old son whom Geller played with on a daily basis. He wondered if maybe something happened to his son while he was away. He ran inside as fast as he could.

When he got to his son's nursery, the was a room covered in blood. The walls, the floor, and the crib were all painted red. In a panic, he tore apart the room. He saw that the cradle was overturned and drenched in blood. He could not find his son anywhere in the nursery. Horrible and terrifying thoughts filled his head. He could only make sense of it by putting two and two together. He knew that what must have happened was that Geller was killing his precious son while he was away in the woods. He realized that was why Geller did not come when he was called.

He turned around and saw Geller was standing behind him with a bloody face. He screamed to Geller, "You monster! How could you destroy my son in this way?" He took his sword and plunged it into Geller's side. Geller, looking into Prince Llewelyn's eyes, let out a dying and saddened yell as he slowly lay down and died.

Baby and Wolf

This yell led to a baby's cry. The noise came from underneath the overturned cradle. His son had woken up because of Geller's dying scream. Prince Llewelyn found him, and there was not a scratch on the baby anywhere. Right next to him was a beast of a wolf shredded to pieces covered with blood.

Llewelyn had assumed the total opposite of what happened, and acted too quickly upon it. Geller did not answer to his name hours before because he was protecting the child from a wild beast who was trying to destroy him. Llewelyn was heartbroken, but he could not take back the evil thing that he had done. He buried Geller right outside of the castle where all who passed by would see the grave.

Author's Note:
The only little thing I changed about this story was change the name from "Gellert" to "Geller." I just thought that sounded better and was easier to say. I chose to rewrite this story because it is truly heartbreaking. I cannot read a story about a dog who gets killed and not get emotional. For some reason dog stories always get to me. For this reason I could not change the ending. I just reworded the story and left it alone and did not change anything at all about the storyline because I loved, but also greatly hated the story just how it was. As much as I wanted to, I could not touch or change the ending because it would take away the meaning from the rest of the story. I felt that the reason this story was so good was because it was so tragic. If I just had the prince realize what the dog had done then said "Good boy, Geller" it would have been boring. I hope I get the message across as well as the original did.

Biblioraphy
Book: Celtic Fairytales
Author:Joseph Jacobs
Year: 1892
Web Source: Un-Textbook

Week 11: Storytelling: Alice in Horrorland

Week 11: Storytelling

Alice in Horrorland

Haunted Forest of Horrorland

Once Alice had finally landed at the bottom of the rabbit hole, she fell to the coldest and hardest ground she had ever felt. She quickly stood up and looked all around her. 

All around Alice were dark trees and fog as far as she could see. She had no idea where she was or why she was there. Alice decided to walk until she found someone or something that could help her get back home. 

An hour later, she could finally see a house in the distance. She walked and walked until she eventually came up to the dark and rundown old house. She made the questionable decision to knock on the door.

Haunted House 

When she knocked, the door automatically opened. Alice quickly walked in and immediately the door slammed shut. She hurried into the next room and found a black cat with such large teeth showing a grin beyond evil. Alice thought to herself, "I did not know that cats could grin so evilly."

The cat screeched and ran off leaving Alice alone. Immediately, Alice heard the cackle of what sounded like a witch. When she turned around, Alice saw the most horrible-looking woman she had ever seen watching her. She was quite a tall, chubby woman and she was wearing a long white dress. The dress looked like it had hearts painted on with blood.

Alice closed her eyes and shook her head. "Surely I am dreaming. This cannot be real life," she thought to herself, terrified. When she carefully opened her eyes, the evil woman was still standing there in her blood-painted dress. "Welcome to my house, little girl! If you didn't already figure it out, it is haunted!" exclaimed the woman. "I am the Queen of Hearts, and I am ready to take yours," the queen screamed. 

Horrorland

Alice had never felt her stomach drop like that before. She started running towards the front door to escape the murderous queen. She slammed the door behind her but that did not stop the queen. The queen started chasing after Alice through the haunted woods of Horrorland. Alice finally found a large tree to hide behind. 

Everything got real quiet for a few minutes. Alice had a slight feeling of hope when all of a sudden she heard what sounded like a branch crack. She held her breath and tried not to make a sound, but the queen was getting closer and closer. 

Alice started to cry and could not contain herself. The queen heard a noise and followed the sound. She found the tree which Alice was hiding behind. The queen of hearts screamed "OFF WITH YOUR HEAD!!!" and took an axe to Alice, cutting her head clean off. She started laughing and used the blood to draw another heart on her white dress. She went home and waited for another victim to come knocking on her door.

Author's Note: I changed this story a lot. I decided since it is the week of Halloween, I would do a horror themed story. My goal was to make the queen like someone we usually see in horror films. I was thinking someone similar to Michael Myers or Jason Voorhees. I was initially going to just add Michael Myers into the story as the killer, but after I chose my reading unit I thought the queen would be perfect. I did not describe Alice falling down the rabbit hole because I felt it did not need to be explained, and it was not that important to my story. I really wanted to focus on the actual haunted woods and the chase. I added little things such as the cat who I changed to have an evil grin instead of a happy one. I also wanted to add in the haunted house because there are a lot of times where Alice goes into a house or is trying to open doors. I turned the meaning of queen of hearts into a very gory one. I thought it would make for an interesting twist while still having her keep her name. I changed the name of the story to "Alice of Horrorland" instead of "Alice in Wonderland" because it fits the story better, and also because of my Halloween theme. I felt that since this story is very well known, I could really change it a lot, even just simple details, and people would know the differences I made to my version. 

Bibliography:

Book: Alice in Wonderland

Author: Lewis Carroll

Year: 1865

Web Source: Un-Textbook

Week 5: Storytelling: The Broken Pot

The Broken Pot 

There once was a man named Miser. This man was very greedy to say the least. He had started a collection of rice that he had acquired while begging over the last few months. This rice was in a beautiful pot that he decided to put next to the fireplace so that he could look at it all day and night and dream of what would come of the rice. In his day dream this is what he thought:

Miser thought that if there ever was to be a famine, he would sell all of his rice for a hundred rupees. This rice would make him enough money to do something great. With this money he would start a little restaurant on the poorest street in town. It would be something small, and only the poor would step foot inside. Here Miser would sell dishes such as vegetable soup, bread, and the scraps of meat that no one else wanted. After a year he would sell the small restaurant making just enough profit to buy something bigger and better.

With five hundred rupees, Miser could afford to buy a restaurant in the suburbs of town. This restaurant would be twice as big and twice as nice. This restaurant would attract a middle class clientele, and he would make double the profit. Here he would serve people such as doctors, soldiers, and priests.  The typical menu would be mushroom soup, two different types of bread, chicken, and trout. After a year, Miser would make enough profits to sell the restaurant and end up with twice as much money.

With one thousand rupees, Miser would buy a restaurant in the center of the city. His restaurant would be three times bigger and better than the last one. Here he would serve his food to only the richest people of the land. Kings and Queens would regularly stop at his beloved restaurant for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. After two years Miser would have made twice as much money on profits and twice as much on selling the restaurant.  All together he would now have four thousand rupees.

The Broken Pot

With these rupees he would buy a mansion with a stable and many horses. Then he will marry a woman who would give a large dowry to him. He dreamed that would have a son who he would name Sarmon. Sarmon would love his dad very much, and he would always love to play with their horses. One day Sarmon would get to0 close to a horse and Miser will call to his wife to go get him. However, his wife would not be listening because she was cleaning the house. So Miser would get up and give her a large kick to get her attention.

As Miser was thinking about kicking his wife, he gave out a large kick and kicked the pot of rice. He kicked so hard that it went into the fireplace. The pot broke into a million pieces and all of the rice went into the burning flames along with his greedy dreams.

Author's Note: For this unit I decided to keep the story the same, but change the details of it. In the original story Miser dreams about buying animals and selling them when they reproduce and keeps buying nicer and nicer animals and selling them until he buys a mansion with four separate wings. When he is daydreaming this is what he does in the future: he starts by selling the rice to buy goats, when the goats reproduce, he sells them for cows. When the cows have calves, he sells the calves and buys buffalo. When the buffalos reproduce, he sells them for horses and he eventually will sell them for gold. He did not really even have to work for his fortune in the original. He just sells animals, but in my version he actually hast to work in order to gain money. I did not want him to just sit back and not have to do anything since he was such a greedy man. He deserved to have to work. In the original, Misers name is actually Svabhavakripana which means "born miser" so I just changed it to Miser for convenience, and also because miser means greedy.  I kept everything about the wife and son the same except the son's name is actually Somasarmon. I also changed that for convenience. Since he really does kick his wife, I had to keep that in there since that was the reason for his lost dreams. If he kicked his wife, he deserved to lose the rice into the fire.

Bibliography:
Book: Indian Fairytales
Author: Joseph Jacobs
Year Published: 1912
Web Source: Un-Textbook

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

Week 4: Storytelling

The Three Delicate Wives

Once upon a time in a far away sea there was a merman prince named Comet and he had three beautiful princess mermaid wives. The first wife's name was Stardust. She was beautiful with long wavy platinum blonde hair, dark pink eyes, a turquoise tail, and lips the color of a blooming peony in the spring. The second wife's name was Aurora. She was a beauty with straight bright red hair, deep purple eyes, and a green tail. The third wife, Moonstone, was a lovely brunette with sapphire blue eyes, fiery red lips, and a purple tail that was faster than both of the other wives'. 

The wives of Comet escorted him to an elaborate summer celebration given by the king, and that is when things started to go wrong.  The four had a great time feasting on all of the delicious foods the kingdom provided. They then danced the night away to the song of the summer which happened to be "Under the Sea." They were having such a wonderful time that Comet leaned in to kiss Stardust's cheek and when he did, a pearl from her hair fell to land into her lap. She screamed out in horrible pain and then passed out from her agony. She was taken home to be comforted by the palace's nurses. She went to bed and woke up the next day still a bit sore from the tiny pearl that had hurt her so badly the day before. 

While Stardust was away resting, the other three stayed at the celebration and danced until the sun came up. During sunrise a slight sun ray peeked through the water onto the dance floor and found Aurora's skin. When she felt it touch her body, she started crying and screaming. Comet asked her what was wrong and she told him it was a sun ray that hurt her so badly. When he looked upon her skin, she had severe blisters and burns all over her skin. The palace's nurses came to take her away and put magic burn paste onto her burns and she was much better the following morning. 

While Stardust and Aurora were sleeping away their pain, Moonstone and Comet stayed to enjoy the marvelous desserts and wine at the celebration. While they were enjoying their time at the party, a little fish swam by Moonstone. The fish was swimming so fast that he caused a bubble to appear in front of Moonstone's face. Just as she was taking a bite of her dessert, the bubble popped and she threw down her fork and plate. The little bubble "pop" had made such a noise that Moonstone's ears had bruises inside and out. Comet decided it was time to go home and gave Moonstone some ice to put on her ears. 

The next morning Comet contemplated on whether these princesses were too delicate for him or not. He could not believe that a pearl, a sun ray, and a bubble could hurt his lovely wives so badly. He ultimately decided that he loved all of them so very much that he could not let them go. He would have to take better care of them for the rest of their days together so that he could always be with his three true loves.

Author's Note: For this story, The Three Delicate Wives, I changed the characters from humans to  mermaids. I have always been obsessed with mermaids and I thought this would be a fun one to get creative with since there are three women. I also really elaborated on their looks. In the original, they did not do this at all, but I think it really helps your mind to visualize the story better when characters are described. Then I changed their names, but still kept them outer-space-themed because I really love outer space and anatomy. Their original names were Crescent, Star, and Moon. I also made the ways the women get hurt different to fit in with the sea theme. In the original, the first wife gets hurt by a flower petal, the second one by moonbeams, and the third by hearing a pestle. I thought being underwater would really express how delicate the women actually are. Underwater, everything is so much lighter and quieter, so this really intensifies the amount of delicateness these women have.They do not all get hurt at a party, but in different situations throughout one or two days. I took away the part about the goblin telling the story to the king because it would not have made sense unless one were to read the whole unit. The point of the story was originally to see if the king could solve the riddle of who was the most delicate, but I chose to not incorporate that into my story because I really wanted to focus on them all being equally delicate so that Comet could still love them all equally. In the original it is the one who is hurt by sound because she did not even have to be physically touched to get hurt.

Image Info:
Disney's Mermaid Lagoon as The Under the Sea Summer Celebration 

Bibliography: 

Book: Twenty-Two Goblins

Author: Arthur W. Ryder

Year Published: 1917

Web Source: The Un-Text Book