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

Week 4: Famous Last Words

Famous Last Words

Happy Birthday Jen! taken by me in Palm Beach 2012

This week was my littlest sister, Jennifer's, sixteenth birthday! We have had a fun week so far. She was nominated for homecoming attendant at Norman North High School. Unfortunately, she did not end up winning, but she was okay with that. Homecoming was actually on her birthday, too! Her birthday was September 11 so it is easy to remember. She threw a huge party here at our house last night! It was a pool party with about fifty 15-16 year olds, and it was crazy. There was blasting music, whipped cream sprayed in two girls hair and faces, ten boxes of pizzas, two cookie cakes, and 4 dozen iced cookies that said "Sweet 16" on them. It was about 50 degrees outside, but everyone had a great time and most people swam believe it or not. We had our pool and hot tub both heated to 100 degrees. Unfortunately for Jennifer she has to get the hand-me down car. It is a 2000 silver Avalon that I drove when I turned 16 and then my other sister drove when she was 16, and now Jen gets to drive it. We tell her she should be thankful she even gets a car because a lot of kids don't. She at least got a new stereo system for her birthday! Tonight we are going with our family and our grandparents to a nice steak dinner for this wonderful occasion! I feel so old now that my baby sister is 16 and driving! It is so crazy to even think about! She is such a sweet  and beautiful person inside and out. I have never heard her talk bad to about anyone or anything. She is always so happy, funny, and talented. So happy sweet sixteen Jennifer!

Week 4: Essay

Week 4: Essay Option 2

Twenty-Two Goblins

This week I read Twenty-Two Goblins. I really enjoyed this unit! This was probably my favorite one that I have read so far. I think it was fun because it was a bunch of puzzles that made me think. The stories were very interesting because even though the riddle was was at the beginning of the story and you already knew what was going to happen, you had no idea how it was going to get there. There were some that were more surprising than others, and some that were more predictable. I found myself wanting to keep reading even past the halfway mark. I finished it all in one day and also did the storytelling that day. I think these stories were nice because they were shorter than some, and also very easy to understand. I used the audio book to read along with and that really helped. I tend to start thinking and daydreaming when I read and so it takes me forever to read something. The audio book helped me keep focused and pay attention a lot more so I got done a lot quicker and finished faster. A few of my favorite stories included: "Brave, Wise, Clever," "Food, Women, Cotton," "The Three Delicate Wives," and "The Three Lovers." My least favorite stories (based on the endings) "The General's Wife," "The Old Hermit," "The Snake's Poison," and "The Girl and the Thief." I did not like some of the endings on these because the people die at the end, or something strange happened. I thought it was neat how this story was made up of little stories, but was overall one giant story altogether. Overall, I really enjoyed this unit and thought that it was a very nice read. It did not need any notes or anything and everything was pretty straight forward. The description was dead on, and that was what made me choose this unit. 

Week 4: Reading Diary: Twenty-Two Goblins

Week 4: Twenty-Two Goblins

Reading A Notes

Introduction: 
The king goes on a journey to take a body hanging from a tree to a monk. The body has a goblin in it and the goblin starts to tell a story to pass time on the journey back home.

The Three Lovers:
I liked this story, but did not like the way it ended. It ends with the goblin never confirming if the king was right on who should have gotten Coral as his wife in the end. It appears he does this in a lot of the stories though.

Brave, Wise, Clever:
I actually found this story pretty interesting. I am starting to see a pattern that the king always guesses the riddle, and the goblin escapes. I always like to guess which one the king will answer, and this time I was right! This story could be a lot of fun to change up for the storytelling assignment.

The Girl, Her Husband and Her Brother:
I found this story kind of strange. Lovely's husband could not eat or live without her, but then he randomly cuts his own head off? So confusing. It was a very different story than any I have read for this class yet. The girl puts the wrong heads on the wrong body! Then she cannot decide which should be her husband.

Food, Women, Cotton:
I liked this story because I really did not know what to expect throughout the whole story. I could not really figure out what the conclusion would be. I thought the ending was clever which is kinda cool because the whole story is about who is the most clever of the brothers.

The Four Suitors:
This story was very short, but was very similar to a few of the earlier stories in this unit. I agreed with the king that Grace should have been with the warrior because a lot of the other men had sciences that did not really matter much. For example, the man who could talk to animals.

The Three Delicate Wives:
This story was very different from the others because mostly the others are about three men and who the woman gets to be with. This one was a bout one man and three women who are his wives. I think this one would be fun to retell because I could change the way the women are delicate, and the way they get hurt.

Reading B Notes

The Snake's Poison:
I found this story interesting because it made you think. There were about five different things that the death could have been blamed on, but the one that was not mention was the one I would say. It was Love-speeds fault because he is the one who took the man's wife. If he had not done so, the whole rest of the story and all the other actions would not have happened.

The Girl and the Thief:
This story was really confusing in a way. The girl who hates men and does not want to get married, sees the thief all bloody and falls madly in love. He is killed for his actions, but she has him become undead and marries him and forever everyone is happy with him. I do not think I would want to retell this one.

The General's Wife:
The king's men go and see the most beautiful woman of the land, but tell him she is not beautiful enough for him. They do not want him to be distracted of his job to rule the kingdom. He ends up seeing her eventually, and his slave (who is married to her) offers him to her. He cannot lose his virtues so he kills himself. The slave thinks he failed the king so he also kills himself.

The Four Brothers:
Four brothers who have nothing set out to learn a science all come back with the ability to bring something back to life. One ads flesh to bones, one adds fur to flesh, one gives organs, and the last one gives the breath of life. When a lion is reborn by them, they are all killed by the lion. The goblin then asks the king whose fault is it. The king says it is the one who gave the breath of life to the lion.

The Old Hermit:
This story was kind of strange. A young boy died and then during the funeral he came to life. A old, brittle hermit did magic to put himself in the young body of the boy. He then told his family to go on and he would perform a deed to stay alive, but the hermit throws his body off a cliff and lives forever in the young boys body.

Father and Son, Daughter and Mother:
When a husband and father dies, the daughter and mother find themselves in different relationships hours later. A father and son who were hunting and stumbled upon them. The father marries the daughter and the son marries the mother. The goblin asks the king what their children's relation is. When he cannot answer, the goblin realizes he really is a selfless man.

Conclusion: 
The goblin tells the king to kill the monk by cutting his head off so that he would not recieve magic and become ruler of the fairies. The king does as he is told and so he recieves the magic and becomes ruler of the fairies and the goblin is pleased. He promises to tell the whole world of the 22 goblin stories that he had told the king.

Google Timer Tech Tip

Google Timer Tech Tip

I have never actually thought about using a timer as a way to help me get things done. I usually write up a to-do list and check things off when I have completed them. I always put the most important ones/the ones due first at the top and work my way down. Using a timer could help me in a lot of ways because I tend to spend too much time on certain things. A timer would help me to manage my time better and it would help me realize how much time I am spending on things that do not require a large amount of time. I am glad to learn about this feature of Google, and will most likely use it frequently throughout the semester.