Week Six: Storytelling

There once were two travelers, one from Chicago and one from Austin.

Both loved to travel the country and take pictures. Each had an extensive collection of photos, ranging from historic landmarks to beautiful landscapes. They were both very proud of their collection, showing anyone who would stop the beautiful prints. Although these two travelers had a lot in common they didn't know about each other.

One day, the traveler from Chicago, named John, decided he would go to Austin. He wanted to see what everyone loved about the city and went on his way down to Texas. The other traveler, Adam, that day decided he wanted to see Chicago. He wanted to see the Windy City and all of the great landmarks he'd seen on TV. He set out heading north for Illinois.

Now the trip from Chicago to Austin is very long and both travelers grew tired from their journey. Both stopped about halfway, which happened to be in Tulsa, OK. John rented a hotel room and headed downtown to relax at a local pub, called McNellies. He ordered a burger and a beer and looked forward to not traveling through the night. While Adam, also stopped in Tulsa and headed to McNellies for a late dinner. Having nowhere else to sit, he asked to join John at the table. After they introduced themselves, they found they had a lot in common. Both talked of the splendors of their respective city and spoke excitedly of visiting the new city.

They ended up spending a few days in Tulsa getting to know each other: going out to eat pizza at Andolini's, see a Driller's baseball game and exploring some of Tulsa's little dessert shops on Brookside. After a few days of just relaxing and exploring, John and Adam had become good friends.

"I wish I could just see what Chicago was like so I'd know if I should continue on my journey!" exclaimed John on the third day. He was missing home and liked not having to constantly travel. Adam agreed, saying surely there must be a way to know if it was worth all his trouble. All of a sudden, Adam had an idea.

"Well you have pictures of Chicago and I have pictures of Austin, why don't we just switch and see?" Adam said. John, delighted, said that was a great idea and reached for his precious packet of polaroids. At the moment, as both John and Adam had pulled out their pictures, a giant Oklahoma wind gust blew and pushed all of the pictures out of their hands.

Frantically, both travelers ran after the pictures as they fluttered away. John grabbed whatever he saw and Adam did the same, so in the end both ended up with each other's pictures by accident. After they recovered the photos they made their trade.

But Adam, seeing what he thought were John's pictures of Chicago, but were really his own of Austin, declared, "Well Chicago looks exactly like Austin! It is not worth it for me to travel all that way to see the same things."

While John, looking at what he thought were Adam's photos of Austin, but were really his own of Chicago, agreed, "You're right. Austin looks exactly like my home in Chicago. I will just head home then."

They parted ways as friends and each headed to their perspective home, holding each other's pictures.

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Author's Note. This story is based on The Two Frogs in the Japanese Fairy Tales unit. The original story is about two frogs that want to travel to each other's city and meet in the middle. They want to know whether they should continue on their journey or just go home, so they stand on each other's backs and look for the city they want to see. However, frog's eyes are on the back of their head, so when they did that they ended up only seeing their own city. Thinking that their destination was the same as their home they both returned home and didn't continue. I changed it to humans who carry pictures and with the wind they accidentally pick up each other's photos. It makes them think that their destination looks exactly like their home. A little unrealistic, I know, but I wanted to interpret in a different way but keep the original moral and plot. Plus, I'm from Tulsa so I incorporated actual places they could have visited.

Bibliography. The Two Frogs in the Japanese Fairy Tales unit by Andrew Lang (1901).

Week Six Essay: Assessing The Unit

I really enjoyed the Japanese Fairytales unit! I had so much fun reading and learning through these stories. They were entertaining and interesting, plus none were so extensively long that I got bogged down in the length. The morals and themes of good and evil were very prevalent, but like I mentioned in my reading diary, none of the stories referenced a God or higher being as the justice-maker. Magical powers, talking animals and underwater worlds were just completely normal and not due to any type of established religion or religious views. Evil characters were punished just because they were evil and mean, not because some higher power punished them. I thought was interesting, especially after reading Bible Women and reading other fairytales that focused a lot on that religious aspect.

Additionally, I liked learning more about how the Japanese culture was worked into the stories. I learned about a Tanuki, which is a Japanese raccoon dog (picture below). The character was usually a trickster and greedy, he was always making bad things happen to good people. In most of the stories the Tanuki was punished for his actions.

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I also noticed how graphic some of the stories got. In The Slaying Of The Tanuki, he tricks a husband into eating his own wife! And in The Crab And The Monkey, the monkey beats the crab almost to death. The evil characters are pretty brutal with their jokes and many sell out their own family or spouses, like in How The Wicked Tanuki Was Punished and The Sparrow With The Split Tongue. In many of the other culture fairytales the evil characters aren't always direct family or spouses, so it's interesting that the bad characters come from so close.

I really enjoyed reading this unit and had the opportunity to see the Japanese culture through the lens of the stories. I learned about a new animal and got to see how the evil and good themes are represented in the stories.

Week Six Reading Diary: Japanese Fairy Tales

Part A: I really enjoyed reading these fairy tales. They were entertaining and fun to read. Like many fairy tales I've read, many "good" characters are rewarded for their loyalty, kindness and generosity. While "evil" characters are usually punished, which leads to the morals and overall general themes of good, bad and justice. For example, in The Envious Neighbour, the owners of the magical dog are rewarded for their actions, while the jealous neighbor ends up dying because of his evil habits. Additionally, The Sparrow With The Split Tongue features an evil, greedy wife that is mean to her husband eventually pays for her greediness with her life. Along with the themes of good and evil, there were many magical and animated characters. Many of the animals weren't really animals, but what I thought was interesting after reading other culture fairy tales, was that none of the fairy tales referenced God or a higher being for their magical properties. Many of the ones I've read previously, site a spirit or being related to a God. There characters are simply magical because they have that power. It definitely shows some differences in the cultures and their views.

Part B: I noticed many of the stories featured evil characters that were Tanukis. I wasn't sure what kind of animal this was, I had to look it up. It's a Japanese raccoon dog, which is about as weird as it sounds. Apparently, the Tanuki is supposed to be mischievous and a master of disguise. This is revealed in all of the stories in the second part of the Japanese Fairy Tales. In How The Wicked Tanuki Was Punished and The Slaying Of The Tanuki, the Tanuki tricks many of the characters. It was pretty graphic one of the stories (leading a husband to accidentally eat his own wife!), and each time the Tanuki died or was punished because of his actions.