Reading Diary A: Ancient Egyptian Myths

The Secret Name of Ra was my favorite story from The Ancient Egyptian Myths. I really liked the mystery the story had behind Ra’s secret name. It is cool that all his power is in his original name at birth. This story reminds me of one of favorite books, The Name of the Wind. That book discusses the ability to control the elements by finding their true name. I definitely drew some similarities with theses stories, which is probably why The Secret Name Ra ended up being my favorite story. I was a little shocked that Ra could not remove the venom himself since he is all-powerful; however, in his defense the snake was crafted from his saliva. I did like how the story didn’t reveal his name, just showed him revealing it to Isis alone. It keeps his name a mystery for others to search for. The story also left me curious as to why Isis wanted his power in the first place. Was it for a secret agenda she had? Is she going to use her new found power for the better of others? The story definitely left me hanging on that aspect, which I like! I can wonder/imagine what I want to about Isis and what she ended up doing after she obtained Ra’s power.

(Image of Ra and Isis from love-Egypt)

Storytelling Week 4: The Man and the Lamp

The Man and the Lamp

            There was man who lived constantly traveling. He has been to every country and has seen more wonders than anyone could wish to see. After seeing all those places and cultures, he was still unhappy with life.

“I have seen the world, yet I still can’t find happiness”, said the man, “Maybe one more adventure of solitude would allow me to see what happiness truly looks like so I can find it.”

 For his last and finally adventure, he decided to sail all the oceans in a sailboat. The man bought a beautiful boat to sail the oceans with. He set out from the Pacific and snaked his way around the world. He made it all the way to the Bahamas; however, things took a turn for the worst upon his arrival. The ma was caught in a huge storm and ended up being shipwrecked on an island. The man spent 3 months on the island living of what vegetation it had. One day, when the man was walking the shoreline, he tripped over an object in the sand. It was a lamp of some sort. The man thought nothing of it and threw it aside. All of a sudden a genie appeared from the lamp.

“Why did you not rub my lamp?” asked the genie. “Everybody knows you are supposed to rub a lamp when you see one!”

Being completely astonished, the man replied, “I am sorry, I did not think genies could exist.”

“Well we do, and even though you didn’t rub me, I will still grant you one wish,” said the genie.

“I thought everybody got three?” the man asked.

Are you bargaining with me, even though I didn’t have to give you ANY wishes?” the genie asked.

“Yes!” exclaimed the man.

“Whatever, I got nothing but time,” the genie stated.

“My first wish is for my boat to be restored,” the man said.

*With a snap of the fingers, the genie restored the boat*

“My second wish is for smooth sailing all the way home,” declared the man.

The genie granted that wish as well, and asked the man what his final wish was.

“I wish to learn the key to happiness,” the man said with a big smile.

As soon as the said that the genie disappeared, leaving the man utterly disappointed. The man returned home with no problems. Once he arrived home, he decided that he would stop the adventures and remain home. A year or so had past when a knock came to his door. It was a beautiful woman.

“I was told to come and find you”, the woman explained, “I love adventures and I heard you are the man to talk to.”

That moment, everything became clear to the man. Happiness in life is only found when someone else is beside you, helping you look along the way.

(image from inkspired)

Authors Note: I adopted this story from The Man Who Went to Wake His Luck from Persian Tales by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer (1919). The original story involves a man who wanted to have a better life, and his “luck” gave him two opportunities to obtain that. The man was too dumb to realize and was eaten by a wolf. I created this story from that, but made this man realize his fortune. Since this man realized his finding, he got to reap the reward unlike the man from the original story.

Reading Diary B: Persian Tales

The Man Who Wentto Wake His Luck

            This story was my favorite from the whole unit. I loved how it unfolded. I also liked how the author made luck a person; furthermore, he/she made it seem that everyone has luck, just people’s luck wakes up at different times in life. The poor brother was beyond foolish, and he definitely paid for it. His brother’s luck told him to wait for his own luck, which he did not. His own luck told him to wait as well, and he still didn’t listen. But I will say the poor brother was a nice guy, he did remember to ask his own luck about the others’ problems. He was just so oblivious to the lucky situations he had. I mean a freaking queen offered to marry him, and he was holding out for better. What is better than ruling a nation? It was a fun read, and I like how the wolf ate him. I could just see that the wolf was dying laughing at the stupidity of the guy, and the icing on the cake had to be when the wolf  “made him look”. I guess the theme to take away from this story is: shoot for stars, but be sure to realize when you reach the stars or a wolf could eat you!

(image from the BBC)

Reading Diary A: Persian Tales

There were three stories from the Persian Tales that stuck out to me in the first half of the reading. Two I really thought were cool stories, and the other I thought was super twisted. I didn’t really care for it; it is too twisted to not write about.

The Wolf and theGoat

            This story is about a mother goat, her four kids, and a wolf. The mother goes out for food and warns the kids about the wolf and told them to be carful. The wolf still managed to trick the kids, and stole three of the four. The mother goat returned to find only one, and went to go confront the wolf. She ended up killing the wolf by out smarting him. The wolf took the shortcut, and the lazy way; it ended up costing him his life. Very short and enjoyable read!

MuhammadTirandaz, The Archer

            I loved this story! The main character killed two mice, and spread a rumor that it was two LIONS. Talk about a fisherman’s lie. What was even better was that he started to believe he was a badass! A knight heard about him and hired him in the army. When the boy was in war, he lost control of his horse and was screaming (I am sure out of fear), and the enemies took it at some battle cry and fled in terror; furthermore, the king appointed him head over the army. The kid climbed the ranks so fast and did absolutely nothing to earn it. For some reason I found it so funny that it worked out so well for him.

The Boy WhoBecame a Bulbul

            This was the weird story! It is about boy who died and turned into a bulbul (bird). His stepmother said the boy and his father should see who could gather more wood, and the loser would be beheaded! The boy won, and while he wasn’t looking the dad stole some of his. The dad beheaded his son and took it to the stepmother, who than cooked his severed head!! His sister buried him and he rose as a bird. I am sure this had some neat meaning, but I cant get over the whole head chopped off and then cooked thing!

(image from DeviantArt)

Native American Stories: Brainstorming Styles

Topic: For my storybook I want to write about Native American stories. I have read many stories from the Creek nation, and loved them all. It will not be difficult for me to create a storybook about this topic. I will probably stay with just Creek stories and culture, mostly because Native American cultures and story themes very greatly from nation to nation.

Bibliography:

Book: The Hunters’ wives, Rabbit Steals Fire, and The Young Man Who Turned into a Snake from A New Fire

Author: Ernest Gouge

Year: 2004

Possible Story Styles

Present Day Creek Child: I think it would be a really cool spin to have a kid find a collection of stories from his past cultures. It would be a first person prospective and involve him (I would make the character a guy since I am a guy) discovering what info the stories hold. He would learn more about himself and his Nation. Probably involve the boy finding a new appreciation of his culture.

Camp Fire Setting: This would involve an elder passing on stories verbally to a group of people (yes a camp fire setting). He or she (haven’t decided on this gender yet) would be the storyteller for a clan and share the wisdom of the past with them.

Story Hopping: This style would be more geared for kids. Could have two or three siblings go through and relive a few stories. Kind of like how Dragon Tales does it, if that is ok to use their idea. I think this would be really fun to imagine and recreate some of the stories.

First Person Account: This style is always a fun one for me to do. I like trying to figure out what others are thinking. Telling a first person story through a character’s eyes allows me complete freedom to interpret the characters thoughts and feelings the way I see them. Considering the stories New Fire has, I can have a lot of fun with this style.

Image from Gulf Coast News