Week 7, Reading Diary: Japenese Fairy Tales Unit

For week seven, I decided to read the Japanese Fairy Tale Unit by Yei Theodora Ozaki. I enjoyed this unit because the stories contained a variety of mystical creatures and exciting adventures.

The first story that really grabbed my attention was My Lord Bag of Rice. The main character of this story was an exciting warrior. The warrior was described by carrying two massive swords, a huge bow and arrow and having no fear. I loved this story because the idea of a warrior on a dangerous mission excites me.

The Fearless Warrior

In this specific story, the warrior came across a massive dragon. The dragon was so big that it took up an entire bridge! The dragon was described to have ginormous claws, a long tail and the ability to breath fire from both its mouth and nostrils. 

At first, I was certain that this creature was going to harm the warrior. As I kept reading, the dangerous creature turned into a man and actually wanted the warriors help to accomplish a mission! I loved the idea of having a scary creature actually be sensitive and kind.

The last thing that caught my attention in this story was the dragon's palace under the sea. The palace was described to be made out of white marble. Inside the palace, beautiful fish were the dragons servants. 

For my personal story, I want to incorporate all of these incredible mystical elements and creatures. I want my story to have a brave warrior that helps another creature in need. I think it would be fun to write a story that took place under the sea (similar to the castle in this story!)

I am excited to read the second half of this unit later this week!

Week 5, Storytelling: The Starry-Eyed Lovers

Once upon a time there was young beautiful couple that lived on one of the brightest stars in the galaxy. The boy, Caleb, was small in figure, but extremely handsome and mighty in strength. The girl, Lucy, was soft-spoken, gentle and lovely in appearance. The couple had grown up together and had been dating for almost five years.

On a beautiful crystal clear night, Caleb took Lucy to their favorite spot. After watching the sunrise together, Caleb got down on one knee and popped the “big question.”

The starry-eyed lovers

“Lucy, we have been dating for awhile now and I know that you are the only one for me,” said Caleb. “Will you be my wife?”

Extremely excited, Lucy jumped up and down and replied with a huge “yes!”

After the two celebrated and drowned each other with hugs, Lucy sat down and had a very serious look in her eyes. Caleb immediately noticed and sat down next to her.

“Is something wrong?” asked Caleb.

“Before you decide to marry me, there is something I need to tell you,” said Lucy.

“You can tell me anything,” responded Caleb.

“I am immortal,” said Lucy. “I cannot die.”

Wide-eyed and in shock, Caleb did not know how to respond. Lucy was afraid this would happen so she quickly started sharing her biggest secret with her soon-to-be husband.

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A few years ago, Lucy and her mother, Mary, decided to take a trip to heaven for the annual “Feast Among the Stars” celebration. Mary and Lucy put their favorite dresses on, because you never know whom you will meet in heaven, and took a cloud taxi there. Once they reached heaven, they bought tickets to the feast and entered the large, golden castle.

Inside the castle, Lucy and Mary met thousands of famous people and got to catch up with old friends. Once the angels strummed their harps, everyone took their places at the ginormous table and dug in.

The feast had every kind of food you could ever imagine! Lucy and Mary found themselves indulging in seafood paella, chicken fried rice, fried green tomatoes, fresh French toast, crab legs, shrimp sushi rolls, smoked turkey legs, garlic mashed potatoes and vegetable lasagna. After eating their massive meal, Lucy felt sick and made a run for the bathroom.

Lucy opened what she thought was a bathroom door and threw herself inside.

“Who are you?” asked the cupboard fairy.

“My name is Lucy and I am here for the annual feast,” said Lucy. “I am sorry for bothering you. I was looking for the bathroom because I do not feel well.”

“I can fix that!" said the fairy. “Here are some freshly picked cherries from the heaven’s garden. They will make you feel better instantly!”

Without questioning the fairy, Lucy ate the cherry and immediately felt better. Lucy thanked the kind creature and made her way back to the feast.

After dessert, which included zesty lemon bars, roasted pears, poppy seed cake, sugar plum tarts, peanut butter bars, banana pudding and min chocolate brownies, Lucy and her mother decided it was time to head home.

Almost a year had passed by and it was Lucy’s 23rd birthday. Lucky woke up and went on her daily morning run across the Milky Way. As she was passing Pluto, something flew out of nowhere and hit her right in the middle of her face!

Lucy's birthday 

Confused and startled, Lucy screamed.

“SHHHHHH!” said the fairy. “I am not supposed to be here!”

“What are you doing on this side of the galaxy?” asked Lucy.

“It is your birthday so I thought I should give you a gift,” said the Fairy.

“What kind of gift?” asked Lucy.

“Well… I kind of already gave it to you!” said the Fairy laughing. “I gave you the gift of eternal life when I gave you my magical cherry at the feast.”

Shocked and confused, Lucy did not know how to respond. The fairy made Lucy swear not to tell anyone of the gift she had received. Ever since that day, Lucy had kept the fairy’s secret.

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“So… do you have anything to ask?” said Lucy. “I understand if you do not want to marry me anymore.”

“You are crazy, of course I still want to marry you!” exclaimed Caleb.

Six months later, the young couple got married and went on a honeymoon to a cloud right outside of heaven’s gates. When they arrived to their hotel room, they had a gift waiting for them. The couple opened the box and inside was a single red cherry. Next to the cherry was a note that read:

“This is for Caleb, now you both can live happily ever after.”

Caleb ate the cherry and the two became inseparable forever. Not even death could do them part.

The end.

Caleb and Lucy lived happily ever after

Author's Note:  

For my story, I got the “magical cherry” idea from The Monkey King Unit. This idea came from the story named “The Queen Mother of the West.” In this story, the Queen Mother of the West has a magical peach farm. Every three thousand years, the queen’s fairies would pick her magical peaches. The queen would then hold a huge feast and invite all of the Gods and Goddesses to share them with her.

I loved the idea of a “magical fruit” and decided to incorporate into my story. Just like the ape in the Monkey King Unit, I wanted one of my characters to become immortal. Therefore, I combined these two mystical elements and created my own fairy tale by creating the "magical cherry."

In addition to the magical fruit, I also got the idea of living on a star from the Monkey King Unit. In many of these stories, the magical ape would travel by clouds. I loved the idea of soaring through the sky so I decided to add it to my own story.

Overall, I wanted to incorporate a “hidden message” within my story, In many of the stories I read this week, I found myself finding hidden life morals. For my particular story, I wanted to show my readers that “true love wins.” Although Caleb knew his wife was immortal, he loved her anyways and married her. At the end, the fairy granted his loyalty and made him immortal as well.

Bibliography:

My story idea came from the story "The Queen Mother of the West" in the Monkey King Unit. These stories come from the "Ape Sun Wu Kung" in the Chinese Fairy Book written by R. Wilhelm in 1921.

Week 5 Reading Diary, The Monkey King Unit

I enjoyed the second half of the “Monkey King Unit” readings by R. Wilhelm just as much as the first half!

During the second half of the readings, the magical ape continued with his variety of magical journeys. I found myself being captivated by the parts where the ape would travel by clouds. The descriptive language made it feel like I was doing flips in the sky right there with him!

During the second half of the readings, I noticed that it contained a lot of magical Gods and Goddesses. Some of my favorite characters throughout the second half of my readings included:
Lord of the Heavens
Lord of the Seas
Princes of the Sea
The Talking Stars

One part I didn’t like was when the magical ape met Notscha (the Lord of the Heaven's son). In this part, Notscha grew six arms that carried six different weapons. Notscha was very angry at the ape and tried to kill him.

In contrast, my favorite part of these readings was when it talked about the magical peaches. This story was about the “Queen-Mother of the West” who grew peaches that had magical powers. It described her garden to have three thousand six hundred peaches. The story also stated that the peaches only ripened every three thousand years. Every three thousand years, the Queen Mother of the West would send her “fairy servants” to pluck the peaches. Afterwards, she would hold a huge banquet and invite all of the heavens Gods and Goddesses to eat her fruit. This was my favorite part because of the rich details and beautiful imagery.

The Queen-Mother of the West

For my story this week, I want to incorporate some sort of magical fruit or “Heaven God/Goddess.” I am excited to get my creative juices flowing and to write my new story based off of these ancient Chinese fairy tales!

Week 5 Reading Diary: The Monkey King Unit

For this week’s reading I read the “Monkey King Unit” from the “Chinese Fairy Book.” The stories I read came from the “Ape Sun Wu Kung” section by R. Wilhelm.

After reading the first section of the Ape Sun Wu Kung stories, I was surprised on how much I enjoyed reading ancient Chinese fairy tales. I found that these stories have a deeper meaning than they might appear. I think that these stories be about certain creation theories or a distinct religion in China.

My favorite part about these stories was the main character, the magical ape. When I was a young girl, monkeys and their human-like characteristics always fascinated me. In these stories, the ape learned secret magical powers that would let him live forever.

One of my favorite parts of these stories was when the ape learned how to fly across the clouds. The ape had to fly home in order to save his town. In the story “Su Wu Kung Departs,” the ape flies home and saves the small ape children from an evil devil.

The magical ape was described as small but mighty. He wore yellow and red clothing with big black boots. He had every magical power that you could imagine! 

Sun Wu Kung

I also enjoyed how the stories also had unique descriptions when describing the different towns. For example, the magical ape lived on the “Mountain of flowers and fruits” and the devil lived on the “Cave of kidneys.” These small details made the story much more pleasurable to read.

For my story this week, I want to incorporate a character learning magical powers and/or becoming immortal. I also want my main character to be small but mighty and have the opportunity to save his homeland. I plan to use descriptive detail regarding his magical powers and have an "underlying message" for my readers. Overall, I really enjoyed this weeks reading so far!

Thoughts About Comments

This week, I enjoyed going back through my old comments and re-reading them. All of my comments this semester have been very respectful and genuine. My favorite types of comments are the ones that leave positive criticism for my stories. I enjoy these because it allows me to go back in and improve my story with simple edits. I also really enjoy the comments that tell me how we are alike (these are most often found in my introduction comments.) These are enjoyable to read because I feel like I can make a more personal connection with my classmates. Overall, I have really enjoyed the "comment section" of this class because I get to read interesting stories and learn more about my online classmates!

Week 5, Storytelling: Jasmine and the Genie

Once upon a time there lived a young girl named Jasmine. Jasmine came from a poor family and sold flowers on the street to earn money for a living. Jasmine always dreamed of leaving her tiny home and starting a new life in the nearby kingdom named “Teti.” The kingdom’s massive castles, winding rivers and gold pyramids had captivated Jasmine since she was a little girl. Jasmine, and the rest of the girls her age, was also completely mesmerized by Teti’s current King, King Akar. 

King Akar had dark long hair and striking brown eyes. His skin was sun kissed from working in the fields with his fellow townsmen. Akar was selfless, loving and most importantly, single. All of the kingdom loved him and praised him for being the best King in Teti history.

One morning, Jasmine went out to plant flowers for her tiny street shop. When she was digging holes for her lotuses, she saw something that looked like gold. In hopes of becoming rich and being able to help her father, Jasmine started digging as fast as she could! Once she hit the object, she pulled it out and saw that it was a gold lamp with strange writing. A little confused, she started dusting off the dirt to read the ancient script. As soon as she rubbed the lamp, smoke starting to spew from the lamp’s spout and a magical creature appeared out of thin air!

The Magical Lamp Genie 

“Finally someone found me!” screamed the lamp’s genie. “I have been cooped up in that thing for over 400 years!”

“Who are you?” asked Jasmine.

“I am Abel, the lamp’s genie!” explained the creature. “I am able, no pun attended, to grant you three wishes of your choice!”

Out of sudden shock and complete excitement, Jasmine immediately thought of her first wish.

“For my first wish, I want a beautiful purple dress to wear to the King’s annual ball tonight,” said Jasmine.

Immediately, the genie snapped his fingers and the poor, flower girl now looked like a true Arabian princess. Jasmine was clothed in a long, bright purple gown with sparkling gold embroidery. In addition to her dress, beautiful jewelry made of the finest diamonds and rubies dangled from her neck and ears. The young girl had never felt more beautiful in her entire life.

Jasmine's First Wish

“Now that I am properly clothed, I need a way to Teti,” thought Jasmine. “For my second wish, I want a gold chariot to carry me to the Kingdom.”

The genie snapped his fingers and her second wish also came true. Jasmine was so excited to get to the ball that she immediately grabbed the genie's hand and they both took off towards Teti.

A few hours later, the two new friends arrived at King Akar’s castle in the kingdom. When Jasmine opened the chariot's door, she was immediately swept away by the massive building, vibrant colors and royal couples that surrounded her. After entering the castle, she quickly became lost in an unfamiliar crowd of dancing and laughing.

King Akar's Castle

After pushing her way through the crowded party, her eyes scanned the room for something to eat. Only a few seconds later, Jasmine’s eyes came in contact with King Akar. Both Jasmine and the king knew that this was love at first sight.

The two spent the rest of the night together dancing, eating and growing closer to one another. At midnight, King Akar asked Jasmine to be his wife and the future queen of Teti.

Jasmine was so excited that she almost forgot about her third wish! The new queen found her genie and asked if she could still have her final wish.

“Of course you can have your third wish!” exclaimed Abel. “Although, now that you are queen, what else could I possibly grant you that the king can't provide?”

“My third and final wish is that you would be set free from your lamp,” said Jasmine.

Tears immediately started streaming from the genies eyes and he gave her the biggest hug you could imagine.

“Your kindness has set me free!” said Abel.

“No, genie, love has set you free,” said Jasmine as she winked at her new husband.

Ever since that night, Abel, Jasmine and Akar all lived happily ever after.

Author's Note: My story idea came from Aladdin and The Wonderful Lamp from the "Arabian Nights' Entertainments" written by Andrew Lang. In these stories, Aladdin finds a lamp that has a variety of magical powers. All of the stories in this series included some sort of king, magical powers and beautiful clothing and/or imagery. Aladdin was portrayed as a noble, lovable character. In my personal story, I wanted the King of Teti (Akar) to resemble Aladdin's character both physically and emotionally. I also wanted to end my story with a happy ending just like the traditional story of Aladdin that most of us grew up reading. Writing this story made me fall back in love with some of my favorite childhood characters. I wanted my story to be original so I decided to make the girl (Jasmine) search for the boy. Overall, I wanted to give my character distinct personalities and show the readers a different perspective of an Arabian love story.

Bibliography: Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp  is a part of the "Arabian Nights' Entertainment" series that was written by Andrew Lang in 1898. 

Week 5, Reading Diary Continued: Arabian Nights Unit

In the second half of “The Arabians Nights’ Entertainment” by Andrew Lang, I read about “Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp.”

I really enjoyed reading the second half of the Arabian Nights Units. The stories of Aladdin brought me back to my childhood. Although the stories were similar, they were also very different! These specific stories did not have the same “Disney feel” that I expected them to have.

I enjoyed the vivid colors and descriptive characters embedded within this specific unit. In these stories, Aladdin had both a magical lamp and a magical genie. Both of these characters performed different types of magic and have different powers. I thought it was cool how the genie could perform some wishes that the lamp couldn’t (and vise-versa!)

I also loved how everyone in the town admired Aladdin. These stories described Aladdin as a noble, genuine man. Throughout the stories, he fell in love with the princess and later became her husband. At the very end of the unit, Aladdin became the royal king of his town.  

Aladdin's Future Princess by Walter Crane

After reading this unit, I want my story to have a happy ending. I also want it to have details regarding gold jewelry, large castles, horses and rubies. These stories were captivating due to their imagery and exciting adventures.

I want my story to capture my audience’s attention by making my characters lovable and royal. There is something about beautiful clothing, villains and hometown heroes that can draw you into a story! I am excited to start my own story for this week!

Week 5, Reading Diary: Arabian Nights Unit

I read stories from the “Arabian Nights’ Entertainments” by Andrew Lang. I was not sure what I was getting myself into until I started reading these stories!

The first section of the “Arabian Nights Unit” was very confusing for me. These stories were confusing because they were “stories within stories….within stories.”

The main story was about a king who loved his wife very much. He gave her everything that she ever dreamed of. One day, he found out that she had been unfaithful to him. His anger led him to kill his wife. Since he was so upset, he would marry a new woman every night and then have his servant kill her. This horrific ritual kept repeating and the town soon became depressed and cursed.

One day, a man decided to sacrifice his daughter in order to stop the Sultan’s rage.

The daughter saved herself, as well as many other lives, by telling the Sultan enchanting stories. The stories then had another “story within a story.” The stories were about talking animals, genies, moral lessons and so on. Essentially, the stories had no endings so the Sultan would allow the daughter to stay alive “one more night.”

The Story of the Merchant and the Genius (Story within the story)

In this unit, I loved the magical elements and descriptive imagery. It was a little hard to stay on track with the stories, but I found them very entertaining.

I believe the story ended “within a story.” It did not exactly say what happened to the daughter, but I am assuming she stayed alive and saved her life (as well as many other lives).  

Matty's Portfolio: A Search for Love

There once was a poor village boy named Ron. Ron lived with his two parents and worked on his family farm for a living. In order to make money, Ron milked the cows, watered the plants, cared for the horses and fed the pigs and chickens every single day.

When Ron accomplished his daily duties, he would go back to his barn and enjoy a home-cooked meal prepared by his mother. Every night, his mother would tuck him into bed, say "I love you" and turn off the lights. Ron had the same routine every day, but was very content with his life on the farm.

Ron's Family Farm

One night, before his mother turned off the lights, Ron asked, “Mom, what does the word love mean?”

His mother smiled and responded, “Ron, love is indescribable. One day, when the time is right, you will discover the magical powers of love on your own.”

After hearing the word “magical,” Ron was determined to find love as soon as he could. The poor village boy fell asleep that night knowing he would start his journey for love the next morning.

Ron rose early, mounted his favorite horse and headed straight towards the magical forest.  Ron thought he could surely find the powers of love within the magical forest!

On his way there, he got very thirsty and stopped at a small pond to fill his can up with water. The second he reached into the water, a fish-fairy flew out to greet him.

The Tricky Fish-Fairy

“Who are you and what are you doing at my pond?” said the fish-fairy.

“My name is Ron and I am searching for love. Do you know where I can find it and its magical powers?” asked Ron.

Laughing to herself, the fish-fairy knew this would be the perfect opportunity to pull a prank on the young, foolish farm boy.

“Yes, I do!” said the fish-fairy. “You must keep traveling north until find the genius genie.”

(What Ron didn’t know was that there was no such thing as a genius genie. Genies were very dumb creatures that were only good at cleaning lamps.)

Excited and ready to keep searching, clueless Ron hopped on his horse and headed north. On his journey, Ron began to feel hungry. Ron saw large, colorful trees in the near distance and thought that surely one of them would bear fruit.

Once Ron got closer, he saw that they were massive apple trees. The second Ron reached up to pluck an apple, a large wizard appeared out of nowhere.

The Apple Tree Wizard

“Do you think you can just walk around and pluck anyone’s precious apples, boy?” said the wizard.

“I’m sorry,” said Ron. “I have been on a journey searching for love and got hungry on the way.”

Laughing to himself, the wizard felt bad for the boy and let him eat an apple.  Just like the fairy-fish, the wizard also saw the perfect opportunity to play a trick on the boy.

“In order to find love, you must climb the magical mountain and wait for the witch to find you. The witch will cast a spell and will then show you the magical powers of love,” said the wizard.

Tricked once again, Ron set off for the magical mountain. On his journey to see the witch, he heard a strange noise. Ron turned around to see a young girl trapped in a weeping willow's branches.  The young farmer boy jumped off his horse and untangled the girl from the tree.

“What are you doing in the magical forest alone?” asked Ron.

“I am on a search for love,” said the young girl.

“I am on my way to the magical mountain right now to find the love spell,” explained Ron. “Come with me and we can experience the magical powers together!”

The next moment, the two were mounted on the horse riding at lightning speed towards the magical mountain. They were almost to the mountain when the horse stopped suddenly in his tracks. There was a massive drop off only a few feet ahead of them.

Cliff before the Magical Mountain

Feeling determined, the two decided that they were going to have to finish their journey by foot. They jumped off the horse and made their way to the drop off. Slowly and carefully the two started rock-climbing down the cliff.

All of a sudden, the young girl’s foot slipped on a loose rock and she was dangling by only her fingertips. Without thinking twice, Ron released his hand to pull her back up. It was too late and the girl started to fall.

Ron opened his eyes, shot out of bed and was drenched in sweat. In that moment, he knew that love was like a dream. Love was indescribable, exciting and dangerous all at the same time.

Author's Note: My story is based off of a famous Turkish Fairy Tale called "Fear." In this Turkish fairy tale, the main character is searching for "fear." In the end, he realizes that you cant explain fear, but you must experience fear yourself in order to understand it. I took this theme and applied it to my story by having my character search for love. I made my character, Ron, go on many tasks and journeys in order to experience love for himself.

I also took some of the magical creatures and difficult tasks from the Turkish fairy tales that I read and applied them to my own story. In the story "Fear," the main character meets many unusual creatures on his search for fear. I applied this to my story by having Ron meet a fish-fairy and a tree wizard in the magical forest.

At the end of my story, Ron wakes up and realizes that everything was just a dream. This idea came from the Turkish fairy tale called "Kunterburnt." In this fairy tale, the text is written as though the events were actually happening. At the very end of the story, the last line says "it was just a dream." I loved how the author drew me into the story and then ended it suddenly in the last paragraph. I decided to add this element to my story to provide an exciting "plot twist" for my readers. 

Bibliography: My story idea came from the Forty-Four Turkish Fairy Tales written by Ignacz Kunos in 1913.
The two stories I referenced in my Author's Note can be found here:
Fear
Kunterbunt