Reading Notes: Shedlock. Eastern Stories and Legends Part C

I decided for my extra credit reading option I would continue reading the tales that I already have been. The one that caught my eye in part C was " The Man Who Told A Lie." In the story four divine beings come to the earth with these unique and precious flowers. The four beings told them that the flowers go to the person who is honest, kind, loyal, and much more. There was a Priest in the crowd who knew he did not fit any of these qualities but wanted the flowers. He decided he was going to fake it and get it from them. One by one he got the flowers from everyone. Once the divine human beings left the earth, the man immediately started to feel sharp pain in his hand. He confessed his lies and told them to take it off, in which they finally did. For my story I was thinking I would make it about a relationship. For example, I would a girl who wants to impress her boss to move up in the company. The boss will have a certain standard of who he likes to promote. This includes things like is always on time, puts in extra work, and is married. To him this is what he sees as a successful person. The girl then pretends to be married and makes up a huge lie until it gets out of control. In the end the boss will see that she is not married and that she lied to him to get the promotion that the will fire her, and she will lose the guy.

A Fake Marriage

(Source: MaxPixel)

Bibliography:

Shedlock. Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie Shedlock. Reading Part C.

Week 13 Story Planning: Greedy Makes You Needy

Character #1 – Mother – This is a mother who is selfish and greedy. She does not care about her three daughters. She did not want to have them in the first place. This mother would barely put food on the table. She did not care about her daughter’s wellbeing. She was also an alcoholic. This mother just cared about getting money one way or another. This will be the first character I reveal.

Character #2 - Courtney – Courtney is the oldest of the 3 daughters. She has assumed the role of the mother. She cooks dinner for her sisters. She makes sure their laundry is done. She helps them with homework. Courtney is a senior in college. She is also Pre-Med. Courtney has taken out a lot of loans and has had many jobs to pay for everything.

Character #3 – Jasmine – Jasmine is the second oldest. Jasmine is a freshmen in college. She does as much as she can to help out Courtney with running the house hold. Jasmine is an engineering major. She is also very hard working and determined. Jasmine is studious and very intelligent, but also has a risky side to her. Jasmine has anger management problems and despise her mother.

Character #4 – Lilly- Lilly is the youngest of the three. She is a senior in high school. Lilly like her sisters are very mature for her age. She is hard working and dedicated. She is a cheerleader. She makes good grades and is part of the honor society. Lilly is the one who has the soft spot for her mother. She is the one that is most willing to give her mother the money she makes working her part time job. Lilly is attending college after she graduates as a pre-law major.

The story will be about how this mother does not care one bit about her daughters until they become something. All three daughters will end up being successful. Then the mother will come crying to them for help and their support. She will ask for money and a place to live. She will go to each daughter, and each daughter will handle things very differently. It will show that being greedy cannot get you anywhere. This story is based off the story “The Mallard that Asked for Too Much.” The mother in this story was greedy and wanted to pluck all of the gold feathers off the bird in case the bird would not return. When she attempted to do this the gold feathers were not gold anymore and bird flew away and never came back.

The Greedy Mother

(Source: PublicDomainPictures)

Bibliography:

Shedlock. Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie Shedlock. Reading part A & B.

Reading Notes: Shedlock. Eastern Stories and Legends Part B

The story I liked the best in this section was "The Mallard That Asked For Too Much." This story was quite fascinating, and it really speaks volumes of what greed can do. In the story the husband died and came back as a golden bird. In order to still help his family, he decided one by one he will give his feathers to his family. Then the mother got greedy and told the girls that they should pluck all the feathers at once, cause who is to say that he will come back. The daughters refused to do this, but the mother did it anyways. When she plucked the feathers they were no longer gold. The bird flew away and never came back. This story kind of reminds me of the movie Tangled. Using someone else talents for your own selfish reasons. I think that in my story I will have the same plot. I could have someone rich "fund"someone for a certain period of time. However, when that person becomes too greedy, than that person will stop funding them and they will learn what greed can truly do to a person.

The Golden Bird

(Source: PublicDomainPictures)

Bibliography:

Shedlock. Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie Shedlock. Reading part B.

Reading Notes: Shedlock. Eastern Stories and Legends Part A

There were four animals and the Hare was the wisest of them. He taught the other animals virtues lessons. He told them that on their holy day they will sacrifice their own food for a beggar. When each animal gathered the food, they did not see a beggar so they kept the food for later. Finally, when it came turn for the Hare, he thought that no beggar would ever want to eat grass, so I will sacrifice my flesh.When the Gods heard this, he came down as a Brahmin to test the Hare's words. It turned out that the Hare was willing to sacrifice himself and passed the test. I wanted to base my story on a human form of this. What could be tested is friendship, and see if they keep their promise. It could be over like a boy, or something a little more dramatic. I was thinking I would have a group of friends instead of just one or two. Each friend could have a special skill. Then those skills could be put to the test by like a supervisor or something.

The Hare that Sacrifices

(Source: MaxPixel)

Bibliography: 

Shedlock. Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie Shedlock. Reading Part A.

Portfolio Index

I hope to add stories that you all enjoy reading! I am excited to see what this portfolio ends up looking like.

A Wife's Blues: This story is about a wife who had an affair because she thought her husband was dead. However, when she finds out otherwise, problems arise.

A New Hero: This story takes a feminist perspective in the type of hero that comes forth and surprises everyone.

The Battle of the Brothers: This story takes you on a journey with two brothers who were separated at birth.

Honesty if the Best Policy: This story teaches the importance of honesty and friendship.

The Circle of Life: This story explains how one life event can have a domino effect and come full circle.

Storytelling Week 12: A Transformation

There once was a little boy named Sam who always felt different. He felt as if something about himself was not right. Like his body and his mind were not one. Since a very young age Sam would tell his parents he wishes he was a girl. For the longest time his parents did not take his request seriously, until one day when Sam brought up hormone injections. His parents were surprised that he even knew what that was. After that his parents knew that Sam truly despised being a boy and was miserable. That is when they agreed to put Sam on hormone injections and start his process of transforming into a girl. 

After several years of hormone replacement therapy, medication, and surgeries Sam became Sarah. At the age of 20 Sarah had fully transformed and now felt one with herself. Sarah decided she wanted a fresh start so she transferred from OSU to OU starting her Junior year. She was excited but nervous. She did not know if she was going to tell people about her journey or just keep it a secret. Regardless, Sarah was destined for great things.

The semester was going by fairly quickly when Sarah met Brad. Brad was a junior Business major. Brad had met Sarah at an event on campus, and they really hit it off. Sarah and Brad started spending more and more time together. They went to the movies in Mechium together every Friday night, did homework together at The Bizz, and texted each other every minute they were apart. Sarah really started to fall for Brad, but she was afraid he would not accept her if he knew the truth about her. Brad also started to really fall for Sarah. Brad was not the type of person to let his guard down, but he did for Sarah. However, their strong relationship got rocky when the truth came out.

Sarah finally decided to tell Brad, he deserved to know the truth about her. It was the night of their 5-month anniversary. They were going out for dinner, dancing, and then lay out to watch the moon. The night was winding to an end and while Sarah and Brad laid there admiring the moon and the stars, Sarah turned to Brad and whispered, “I am not who you think I am." Brad immediately looked at her. She had tears in her eyes and he felt her heart beating as loud as a drum. He tried to comfort her but she continued. She told him everything from since when she was a little boy to all the surgeries she went through. Brad was shocked.

Sarah and Brad both Heartbroken

(Source: Pixabay)

He had let his guard down for her, and he felt that she had lied to him. In the moment, Brad thought that he could not possibly be with someone who was born as a male. Brad had felt that he had just gotten shot with a million arrows to his heart. He was broken and just left Sarah there. For the next few weeks they did not speak or make any contact. Then one night Brad texted Sarah and asked her if he could see her. Sarah agreed. 

When they met up, Brad explained that he might have over reacted but he just had never even met anyone who was transgender and did not know what to do in the situation. For the rest of the night Brad made an effort to get to know Sarah and understand her journey. Sarah was open and vulnerable. That night set the tone for the next few years of their life.

The summer after their graduation, Brad and Sarah got married and lived happily ever after. 

Happily Ever After

(Source: Pixabay)

Authors Note:

In the original story, there was a man named Shikhandin who was born female. He was destined to be bring Bishma to his death. Bishma would not fight a woman so he lowered his guard when he met Shikhandin on the battle field. When Bishma did not expect it the Pandava Brothers shot him full of arrows. I took this bit of the story and created my own. I made Shikhandin Sam who turned into Sarah. And I made Bishma into Brad. I incorporated the arrows by figuratively showing that Brad got shot with arrows. I made it into a love story but also a story about learning and understanding and accepting people for who they are. Bishma in the real story would not accept Shikhandin as a man. In my story, I made sure Brad would come to understand Sarah. I gave it happy ending because I hate sad endings. 

Bibliography:

This story is based on Wilson. Indian Books. The Five Tall Sons of Pandu. Reading Guide Part A & B. 

Reading Notes: Wilson. The Five Tall Sons of Pandu Part B

I chose to focus on a different aspect of this story. I chose to focus on how Bishma would not fight  Shikhandin, because he was born a woman and transformed into a man. This actually shows a lot about Bishma's personality. First that Bishma refuses to hit a woman, but also that Bishma is not willing to accept the new identity of Shikhandin. I think for my story I could actually talk about someone who is Transgender and the struggles they go through of not being accepted as there new gender. I could incorporate someone who would be Bishma who does not accept the transgender person, but in the end learns to understand the LGBTQ community and starts to understand things. I am excited for this story because it will be a good lesson to learn for others. I would also try to incorporate the bed of arrows some how, because I love that scene in the actual story.

Bishma and the Bed of Arrows

(Source: iereadingguides)

Bibliography:

 Wilson. The Five Tall Sons of Pandu. Reading Guide Part B.