Week Three Storytelling: Jewish Fairy Tales

Olive, the kitten, was used to getting what she wanted. She walked with her tail high in the hair and her fur always perfectly in place. Because of her sometimes snooty attitude, Olive didn't have any friends. But this suited her just fine. She was young, curious and sneaky, loving to play pranks and tricks on other animals.

She did have one loyal friend though, and he was a dog named Ranger. Ranger was older, more experienced with Olive's schemes, but didn't always learn from them. He loved to chase after Olive, or any animal that ran away from him, and was always smiling. Good-natured, but gullible, Ranger and Olive had a delicate friendship.

One winter was especially difficult, and Olive, who was already naturally sassy, became even more surly when she was hungry. One day she couldn't take it anymore, she told Ranger that their friendship had to end so they could each survive. She made Ranger promise that they would never again cross paths and must live forever a part. Both agreed and went on their way.

Ranger was hurt but didn't want to fight, so he moped away. Olive shrugged him off, and promptly went to a nearby house to the comforts of a warm fire and plenty of mice. She pawed at the door of the old wood home and was let in, greeted with a warm dish of milk and a soft carpet. By day she caught mice in an old barn and at night curled up in the chair by fireplace. Content and satisfied, Olive went to sleep every night with a full stomach.

Ranger, on the other hand, had more problems. Reduced to wandering the forests and surrounded fields for food, many nights he was starving and in search of shelter. He happened upon sheep, who allowed him to share their shelter if he warned them of wolves. Loyal and obedient, Ranger successfully scared off a pack of wolves in the night.

As Ranger continued on his journey he happened upon a wood house in the forest. Delirious, starving and desperate he went to the door to beg for food. He was let in and given a bowl of food, then he promptly fell asleep. During the night he heard a ruckus, went outside and drove away another pack of wolves. His time in the wilderness alone had harden him, given him grey hairs and made him more intimidating. When he returned the owner had awaken to the noise and thanked Ranger for his service, saying he could stay as long as he wanted as a watch dog.

When Olive awoke she was surprised to see Ranger there as well. Angered by his break of agreement, she refused to speak to him. Ranger remained bashful and timid around her, never wanting to cross her path. Olive tried many times to make Ranger leave, playing tricks and planning schemes, but the homeowner wouldn't kick him out. Frustrated, Olive resolved to just ignoring his presence and hissing whenever he came near.

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To this day, the dog and the cat don't get along in the same household, with the dog carefully avoiding the cat's path and the cat swiping paws whenever a dog is near.

Author's Note. This story is based on The Quarrel Of The Cat And The Dog from The Jewish Fairy Tales. The plot is almost the same, I just added more detail names to the characters. I liked the ending moral that this is show dogs and cats interact to this day, so I kept that idea when I retold the story. I think anyone that has a cat or a dog can relate to how they act together.

Bibliography. The Quarrel Of The Cat And The Dog from The Jewish Fairy Tales by Gertrude Landa (1919).

Week Three Essay: Writing Experience

In high school I completed the International Baccalaureate Program, which focused on overarching themes throughout the school year and taught us how to analyze, think and question things we learned in each class. Similar to AP, but in my opinion more difficult, it was less about memorizing facts and dates, and more about exploring the whys and hows of history, english, social studies and math. Our testing was all purely essay as well, with the exception of sciences and math, which featured some short answer in addition to multiple choice.

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For instance, my senior IBHL english class focused on the theme of love. Every book we read had this theme and throughout our time we wrote plenty of essays analyzing the colors, characters, motifs, etc. All of this culminated in a end-of-the-year test that was part written part oral, where we basically had an hour to write an analysis of a book passage and explain it to our teacher. Through this course, and my other IB classes, I learned a lot about writing essays about literature. I learned how to recognize and analyze elements within a novel, connect these themes to other stories and create well-written and lengthy essays in a short amount of time.

With the exception of college credit, none of this helped me when I came to OU.

Not to discredit my high school, I thought the IB program was a great opportunity. I got the best teachers, had classes with the best students and learned a lot of skills I use today. But, my writing has definitely changed since then.

I remember my first journalism writing class; Writing for Mass Media. I had to throw out everything I'd learned in an English class (namely, Oxford commas), and relearn how to use punctuation, when to use abbreviations and how to properly list states. It was a huge change for me and that class was not only difficult, but a huge learning experience. I hated that class while I was in it, but now I am thankful I learned AP style and know basic rules that I am now expected to know. I like the way I write now better anyway. Less fluff, more information. At least that's the journalistic way.

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I enjoy being able to read a newspaper or magazine and see the same rules and concepts put into play there. They write and follow the same rules as I do and they are  "in the real world." I think the essay writing I did in high school served me well and taught me many things. The IB program challenged me to think harder, delve deeper and question more often than I would have, but college has taught me a more practical, applicable style of writing that I use today.

Week Three Reading Diary: Jewish Fairy Tales

This week I read Jewish Fairy Tales. Below are my thoughts.

Part A: I enjoyed reading some of these stories, especially when they gave reasoning for phenomenons today. For example, The Giant Of The Flood revealed one story in Noah's Ark and explained why there are not Ogs today. The Og disobeyed his initial promise to Noah, and therefore the giant perished and why there aren't any now. I also enjoyed reading about what he did with the grapes that were made into wine. Sacrificing certain animals, according to the story, created certain characteristics whenever people drink wine. So now, if people drink too much, they are silly like monkeys and beasts like pigs, and if they only drink a little they are shy like sheep. I think those kind of stories are very interesting and entertaining to read.

I also enjoyed The Quarrel Of The Cat And The Dog, because of the way it showed off each animal's personalities. The cat is sassy, defensive and selfish (and anyone who owns a cat knows this is true) while the dog is honest, forgiving and caring. I liked this story because of how the animals were portrayed and how they has affected their relationship today. I thought it was a cute and accurate way to describe each of their personalities.

I thought The Beggar King was an interesting story as well. I think these themes of humility, empathy and kindness relate back to leadership skills that I've learned about in school. To be a good leader, one must also be a follower. I've learned that leaders shouldn't ask any of their followers to do anything they themselves wouldn't do, and I think through this experience the king has learned a lot more about his subjects and their lives. Sometimes rulers are too distanced from those they oversee, which gives a disproportioned idea of what life is like. This story was interesting to read because I could see the evolution of the king and how he reacted to his situation.

Part B: What I found most interesting about this second set of stories was all the elements of magic present in each story. In King For Three Days, he consults a holy man that can see into the future and predict how he will end his battle. In Higgledy-Piggledy Palace, a spirit saves Sarah from the king all because of and Abraham's prayer. Rabbi's Bogey Man ventures even further into the supernatural when he creates a Frankenstein-like character to do this chores. It makes me wonder where the story of Frankenstein came from and if any of the plot has roots in one of these stories.

I also noticed many talking animals, who turn out to be fairies or Prophets. In The Fairy Frog, the frog ends up being the fairy son of Adam and showers the couple with riches, knowledge and food. Many of these stories have these supernatural elements which reward the characters for doing good deeds or obeying.

(Fairy Frog)

Overall, I enjoyed these stories more than my last section. They are more "fun" and a much easier read. I think they hold lessons about character, which are meant to be passed on to those who read them.

Week Two: Famous Last Words

I think I honestly had more fun doing my storybook assignment (which just included brief ideas) than the main storytelling/reading assignment. I think when I first chose Bible Women I didn't realize the length of all of the stories and how much the language might throw me off from the plot line. The beginning paragraphs that outlined the story were very helpful, but in the end, reading 20 stories written in old English was difficult and made enjoying the stories harder. I still got the gist of what happened and liked reading about how women were portrayed in the Bible, but might have enjoyed another folktale more.

Doing the storybook assignment was fun because I got to see a lot of topics that I was interested in. I read plenty of stories while looking for ideas and was surprised that I liked so many. Especially the mermaid tales, they were really interesting. Through that assignment I got to read other Beauty and The Beast stories, a story about Hades and the creation of winter, mermaid myths and more of the many Aesop's fables.

(Hades and Perseph)

I enjoyed reading all of these stories and I know there are many more on each of these topics. I was especially drawn to the story of Hades and Persephone, because I like how the story ended with something that still exists today: winter. I know many Indian folktales end like that, and I always enjoyed reading about these alternative reasonings. I think stories about astrology and the stars are always fascinating because they have similar ideas and concepts. I think the storybook assignment will turn out to be really interesting and fun to write.

I have also gotten to read some past storybooks and have enjoyed seeing others' work. Everyone I've seen has been so creative and interesting. I really liked seeing how people used old myth and folktales to apply to modern context. I've seen Aesop's fables applied to Mean Girls, inside Tinkerbell's mind in Peter Pan and mermaid tales. All of them have impressed me, so I think making my own will be pretty cool.

Week Two Essay: Female Characters In The Bible

It's not necessarily surprising, but it was interesting to me the way women were portrayed in many of these stories. The first part, specifically, featured many stories that revolved around men with some female characters. Mostly sidelined as wives, child bearers and handmaids, women in stories like Rebekah and Rachel have a heavy focus on a primary male character. The woman's job is primarily to give birth to children and when she can't, she finds a way to give him sons anyway.

Furthermore, when women were unfavored by God, they were deemed barren and couldn't please their husbands with children. I think these stories show a lot about the priorities and circumstances in society during this time period (and for a long time after that as well) about how women were seen and treated. In Hannah, she is first barren and is so distraught she prays for days until she conceives. However, Hannah's husband's other wife, Peninnah, has children. In many of the stories (including Leah) one of the wives is cursed by being barren and the other has the Lord's favor, and has children. This creates a rivalry and pits wives against each other, each competing to have the most children -- especially sons. There were no stories of female friends, they only interacted in competition, which was an interesting point to the female relationships in the stories.

However, the second part of the Bible Women Unit portrayed women very differently. They are given more power, legitimized and used to seek advice. The same traditional themes of marriage, children and husbands are present, but other, more complicated story lines arise. In Susannah, she is almost sentenced to death because she is accused of cheating by two elders. At first her perspective isn't given any merit, but after an angel descends and clears the situation she is redeemed and seen as honest. Susannah is given a central part and portrayed in a positive, virtuous way.

(Susannah and The Elders, 15th Century)

I think that these common themes are associated with woman in many time periods and cultures. Seen primarily as child bearers, women throughout history have been sidelines to the desires and needs of men. These stories are an interesting take on the roles and responsibilities of women. I think it's interesting to read about how these roles and relationships have changed and evolved over time.

Week Two Storytelling: Bible Women

Susan -- Susie, for short -- had a habit for telling little white lies. Harmless, but still untrue, Susie sometimes tangled herself in a web of small lies about where she was, who she was with and what she was doing. Inherently good-natured, Susie used her lies just for fun. Instead of saying she was watching a movie with her mom, she'd tell her boyfriend that she was at the mall with friends. If she was practicing piano at home, she'd instead say she was having pizza with friends. Her lying never got her into trouble and she never lied about anything important, but her lying turned into a habit and her friends started to notice.

One day, when her boyfriend was out of town, two of Susie's friends, Adam and Charlie, decided to plan a scheme to show Susie the consequences of her lying. They told her friends, boyfriend and even her parents so that everyone was in on the scheme.

The two boys went over to Susie's to hang out, eat pizza and watch a movie. After the movie ended, Adam, asked to go to the bathroom. While he was gone, Charlie set the plan into action. He casually moved closer to Susie while telling a joke. Susie laughed at his punchline and he quickly put his hand on her leg. Susie looked at him quizzically, seeing as Charlie was one of Susie's boyfriend's good friends. At that moment, Adam walked back in the room. Seeing them sitting so close, Adam furrowed his brow but quickly looked away.

Thinking nothing of it, Susie went about the rest of the week. When her boyfriend returned she happily went to his house for his welcome home party. After a few minutes, Susie's boyfriend came up to her and said quietly, "I heard what happened with you and Charlie while I was gone."

Confused, Susie opened her mouth to speak but no words came out. "The night you two watched a movie?" he continued, "Adam told me he walked in on you and Charlie."

Susie quickly looked at Adam and Charlie. "What are you guys talking about?" She exclaimed, "Nothing happened between us!"

"I know what I saw," Adam continued, "It just didn't seem right now to tell him."

"I have no idea what you're saying!" Susie said hysterically. Now everyone was staring at her and she turned bright red. She was so confused, how had this happened? Her and Charlie were just friends, everyone knew that. But now, as she looked around the room, she felt her friends' skepticism and judgement. Tears filled her eyes as she turned away. Why hadn't Charlie said anything?

She looked desperately at Charlie, hoping he would tell everyone the truth. Nobody is believing me… She thought.

(Web source)

After hushed whispers between her friends and some awkward silences, Charlie finally stepped forward.

"She's right," he said, "Nothing happened."

Relieved, Susie looked to her boyfriend hoping he'd believe her now.

"This was all set up to show you what your little white lies do to us," Susie's boyfriend said, "We're tired of your little lies and you don't realize that it hurts when you don't tell the truth."

Shocked and embarrassed, Susie looked at her friends standing before her. They all knew about this she thought. I can't believe I've been lying for no reason.

"I never realized how harmful lying can be," Susie tearfully said, "I promise to not do it again."

Susie was truthful from that day on, and she realized how good it felt to be honest.

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Author's note. This story is roughly based on Susannah from Bible Women. In the story, Susannah is accused of being with another man while her husband is away. However, in the original story, Susannah isn't a liar, she is just wrongly accused and nobody believes her. She is accused by two elderly men who have bad intentions. Before being sentenced to death, an angel comes and saves Susannah by questioning their judgement and revealing that the elders were lying. I know my version strays from the original, but I wanted there to be a reason why Susannah (or Susie) is accused of cheating. I came up with the idea that her friends are trying to teach her a lesson and that's why they thought up this scheme. In the end I wanted Susie to be redeemed and learn a lesson.

Bibliography. "Susannah" from the Bible Women Unit in King James Bible (1611). Web Source. 

Three Pretty Girls Were In Them Then (extra credit)

Life at sea is two things: wet and boring. Eva thought this as she looked out the small, cloudy window into the grey-blue seascape before her. Sighing, she started to whistle, which was something that she enjoyed and which naturally annoyed both of her sisters -- Eliza and Margaret. Each girl had her own talents, Eliza could sing any song in perfect pitch and Margaret was a well-respect violinist with fans around the world.

Being the youngest, Eva was always in the shadow of her sisters' beauty and charm. She was jealous of her sisters' talents and thought whistling had to be one of the most overrated things someone could do.

"Why could it not be dancing?" She thought, "Or even painting?" She looked sourly at Margaret cleaning her violin bow and said, "Can't I learn to play the violin, Margaret? Way more boys like you than they do me."

Margaret was the oldest and therefore the wisest. She set down her bow and gave Eva a look,"Don't be silly, Eva. Whistling is a perfectly good talent and men are just a waste of time." Margaret was the prettiest, in Eva's opinion, she was tall and slender with light freckles dotted across her cheeks and nose. Her hair hung long and straight down her back, and years of practicing violin made her slender fingers nimble and strong. Margaret was the most serious of the three, taking responsibility and acting in place of a mom for the other two. "Sometimes too much like a mom..." Eva thought.

Just then, Eliza burst in, in hair in a perfectly messy bun on top of her head. "Helllllloooooo, sisters!" She sang and then promptly sat on a chair next to Margaret. Her eyes were wide with excitement. "You'll never guess where we're performing next." At this, Eva looked away so neither sister would see her roll her eyes. She hated performing.

"What is it now?" asked Margaret, placing her violin and bow back inside its case.

"Another wedding!" Eliza exclaimed, "We're sailing there now and will arrive tomorrow, which is New Year's Day. How exciting it will be and there are sure to be handsome men there." Eliza said with a smile. As the middle sister she was the opposite of Margaret. Playful, funny and a little bit wild, Eliza gave no regard to rules or traditions. She liked to stay up late, sleep in and defy Margaret in almost any way she could. As a flirt, she used her talent, singing, to win men over which had gotten her into trouble over the years. Eliza loved to sing and loved to show others she could sing.

Excited to finally get off the ship and stay on land for a few days, Eva barely slept that night. Most of her days were spent at sea, so celebrating a holiday on land, and at a wedding, was an exciting thought. She just wished they didn't have to perform. Eva was shy and hated standing in front of crowds. She didn't want to stand next to her sisters and listen to everyone fawn over their talents and beauty. She drifted into sleep feeling anxious, excited and dread all at the same time.

The next day they arrived, going ashore to the promised wedding performance. Eva reach for Margaret's left hand and Eliza's right hand, realizing how lucky she was to not have to stand alone.

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I saw three ships come sailing by,

Come sailing by, come sailing by;

I saw three ships come sailing by,

On New Year's Day in the morning.

And what do you think was in them then,

Was in them then, was in them then?

And what do you think was in them then,

On New Year's Day in the morning?

Three pretty girls were in them then,

Were in them then, were in them then;

Three pretty girls were in them then,

On New Year's Day in the morning.

And one could whistle, and one could sing,

And one could play on the violin—

Such joy there was at my wedding,

On New Year's day in the morning.