Storytelling Week 7: The water dance

There once was a group of animal friends who all lived out in the forest next to a lake and a river. The animals were a lion, tiger, wolf, jackal, tortoise, and elephant. They had all lived together their entire lives. They did everything together, eat breakfast, lunch and dinner, sleep, play, and relax.

The lake and river were on opposite sides of the property. The water was the animals’ favorite part of their habitat. All of the animals enjoyed bath time and loved to go for a swim when it was warm outside.  The animals would always play games in the water like colors and Marco polo. They were just like little kids. The river was their drinking water as well. It was pure, clean, and cold water.

One summer there was a frightful drought. The animals were very frightened because they did not want their lake and river to dry up. They relied on the water for drinking, bathing, and for fun. They were all so sad and did not want to play with each other.

(Drought)

As the summer went on, their river and lake started to become very low. The animals went on an adventure to try to find more water in surrounding areas. They would be gone for a day or two. However, they were very unsuccessfully in finding water.

There was only one month left of summer when the river and the lake dried up. The animals were devastated. How were they supposed to live with no water? They did not know what to do. They all sat around of a couple days doing nothing because they did not have any water.

One night, they all met up and had a meeting. They all brainstormed ideas on how to bring the water back. The lion had the best idea of doing a rain dance. They had all heard about them from friends in other areas and heard that they do work. However, they were skeptical because they did not think that dance could bring water back.

They all danced together; in a circle, in a line, with partners, individually, in every which way. They were determined to dance until they saw water. But after an hour, there was zero water. So, they all took a break to brainstorm some more. They decided to dance again and really believe that the dance was going to work. All of the animals danced and told themselves, the dance will bring back all of the water.

All of the animals danced for about two hours when all of the water appeared back in their lake and river. The animals were all so ecstatic; the dance actually brought back the water!

Author's Note:
The original story, The Dance for Water, was about a drought where the rivers dried up and the springs did not even give water. The animals did not know what to do, but looked to find drinking water. However, they were unsuccessful. One of the animals had the idea to go to the dry river to dance to bring the water back. Most of the animals danced until water was brought to the surface. However, the rabbit did not dance so the other animals believe that she should not have water. One night the rabbit got some water while the other animals were sleeping. They were very unhappy and planned to kill the rabbit. In the end, the rabbit got away free. 

In my story, I kept the original characters, but adding more to the beginning of the story to show the relevance of the water to the animals. I made it where all of the animals participated together in the dancing, and took out the part where they tried to kill one of the animals. I did not want any violence in my story.

Bibliography:
The Dance for Water
This story is part of the South African unit. Story source: South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910).

Storytelling Week 6: How the tortoise got its shell

Cute Baby Tortoise Eating a Strawberry

Once upon a time, there was a very special king. He wanted to have the biggest party with the most elaborate food, drinks, and decorations. He wanted to invite anyone and everyone. The messengers would go out and invite everyone off the streets and even send out invitations to everyone that they knew. His servants and pets were in charge of the food, drink, and decorations.

The king owned a chicken and a tortoise. The chicken was short, skinny, but very fast. Since, the chicken was so fragile, the king only asked the chicken to go around town and to gather food. The king told the chicken that he was not allowed to get anything heavy. If he needed help carrying something, the chicken should ask the tortoise for help.

The tortoise was very tall and muscular. Since, the tortoise was able to handle more weight in what he was returning to the king. The king asked the tortoise to go all the way across town to get the most expensive wine in the kingdom. The king wanted gallons and gallons of it. It was very special and the king thought that everyone would be sure to talk about the party if they had the wine.

The tortoise was more than happy to travel all the way across the town to get the wine. However, on his way back from getting the wine, the chicken called for his help. The chicken needed helped carrying some of the food. The tortoise stopped to help the chicken on the way back to the king’s castle.

Since, the chicken did not have a lot in his hands; he hurried back to the castle. The tortoise, however, was stuck walking super slow because he had such a heavy load of wine and food. The tortoise then heard thunder. He picked up his pace; however, he did not make it back in time for the party. He was across the street when it started to rain really hard. The tortoise then took shelter under the wine and the food. The moon was shining bright and the tortoise was extra tired from traveling across the town. The tortoise fell asleep.

The next morning when he woke up he had a shell on his back! All of the wine and food magically turned into a shell and the tortoise was stuck walking on all fours. He walked across the street to the castle. However, the king did not realize who he was at first. The chicken recognized his voice and they let him back in and loved him even more than before. The king had to let the tortoise know, that even without the wine, the party was a success!

The End!

Author's Note:
In the original story, the tortoise does not make it back in time because he drank too much of the wine. He then gets locked out of the party because it began to rain. The tortoise gets buried by the palm trees and the wine and the tortoise dies. However, the earthenware pot and dust caked together to make his shell. Medicines were used to bring the tortoise back to life. 

I tried to keep the main story line, but changed up a few minor details. I kept the chicken and the tortoise, but changed the god to a king. I changed up the tortoise's journey for the wine and a little bit how he got his shell. I also, did not want him to die so I changed how the story ended.


Bibliography:
How the tortoise got its shell
This story is part of the West African Folktales unit. Story source: West African Folktales by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair, with drawings by Cecilia Sinclair (1917).

Storytelling Week 5: The Lion and his Owner

(The Lion and his Owner)

Once upon a time there was a lion and an owner. The owner had gotten the lion when he was just a cub. He rescued him from being killed because the cub’s mom could not take care of him any longer. The owner fed him bottles, taught him how to eat on his own, a few simple tricks, bought him all the cool toys, and even made him his own sanctuary in his back yard. The owner would do anything and everything for the cub.

Once the cub got older, the two would do everything together. The owner would bring the lion on trips with him, walk him in the neighborhood, and even had parties for him. They were the best of friends.

The lion would help the owner around the house and in the yard. The lion would help him pick all the weeds, help pick up leaves and sticks, pick out pretty flowers, and would even water the yard and garden. The owner even let the lion come inside of his house. The lion would watch television with his owner and help him with basic chores around the house each week.

One day the lion and the owner were out in the backyard. They were prepping the yard to get it ready for spring and their annual spring cook out. They were both so happy and excited about the cookout. The weather was gorgeous and winter seemed to be long gone.

As the day went on, the two got a lot done. Planted new flowers, racked leaves, bought new outdoor furniture, and even some lawn ornaments. However, they noticed that is was starting to get super windy. Before they knew it, the nice hot shinning sun was covered by grey boring clouds. The temperature in the air turned from warm to chilly.

There was a cold front that blew in. That night they ended up getting snow! Therefore, the next morning the lion and the owner had to bring everything that was outside to the garage. This was to save the flowers and the furniture from weathering before their perfect party.

Just as the two were moving a piece of the heavy furniture, the lion noticed something. There was a bee coming near his owner. The lion was so grateful for his owner and knew that his owner was highly allergic to bees. So, the lion dropped the furniture to stop the bee from getting to his owner. However, the furniture landed right on the owner’s foot. He ended up breaking his foot, but the lion killed the bee before it got to his owner. 

"It is better to have a wise enemy than a foolish friend."

Author's Note:
The original story is about a gardener and a bear. The gardener was really nice to the bear and feed him food. The bear then fanned away the files while the gardener took a nap. There was one that would not go away, and the bear got very angry. The bear then threw a stone at the fly, but it hit the gardener as well. In the end, both the fly and the gardener die. The theme of the story was "
It is better to have a wise enemy than a foolish friend." 

I wanted to change the characters and add a different story line. Also, I did not want one of the main characters to die in the end after being so nice. 

Bibliography:
The Bear and The Gardener
This story is part of the Bidpai unit. Story source: The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Barrows Dutton,  with illustrations by E. Boyd Smith, 1908.

Storytelling Week 4: The Stupid Monkeys

Once upon a time there was a very hard working maid. She was the maid of a King who never gave her any vacations. She was in charge of all the cleaning, laundry, and even watering the plants. 

However, one day the queen requested that the king should give the maid a vacation. The king gave the maid a week vacation. The maid has never been on vacation before, she was overly excited. 

Before the maid took off on her vacation, she had to find someone to cover for her while she was gone. She remembered how smart the king's monkeys were, so she hired them for the week. Little did she know, they did not understand her directions very well. 

The monkeys went to do their first task, mop the kitchen. It took them thirty minutes to even remember where the mop bucket was. Once they found it, they poured in the soap and then added the water. They then started to mop just how the maid told them too, however, they forget to tell the king they were mopping. So the king slipped and fell on the wet kitchen floor. The king was very upset.

Soon after the monkeys finished mopping they had to start the laundry. They went up to the king's room and collected all of his clothes. They did remember they had to sort all the laundry out by whites or colors. However, one red sock got stuck in the white pile. The monkeys started the laundry, which they thought was going perfectly. Then it was time to put the while load into the dryer.Uh oh..all of the whites were PINK! The monkeys were so confused on how this happened, until they discovered the one red sock. 

The monkeys were so tired but had one more task to finish for the day. They were hoping they could finish this task perfectly with no mistakes. Their last task was to water the plants. They filled up the water can and started walking around the castle watering the plants and flowers. The monkeys remembered ten out of the thirteen plants that the maid told them about. Since they forgot to water those three plants, all three of them died. 

Overall, the monkeys thought they did a great job at doing the maids job. By the end of the week, the king had yelled at the monkeys everyday. The king also told the maid that she was never to hire the monkeys again. If she wanted to go on vacation, she had to find a new maid for the week she was going to be gone. 

(Crazy Monkey Picture)

Author's Note:
The original story is about when a king gave a holiday to all the people in his city. The king's gardner wanted to go to the city with all of his friends, but was unsure how he was going to go if he still had to water the trees in the king's garden. Then he realized that he could have the monkeys do it. The gardner asked the monkeys nicely if them would water the trees so he could go enjoy his holiday in the city. The gardner told the monkeys that, "Do not forget to water the trees when the sun goes down. See they have plenty of water, but not too much." The monkeys were happy to water the trees, but they were unsure how to tell if the trees had enough water. So the monkeys pulled up each tree to check the length of the roots to determine how much water each tree should get. However, this killed all of the trees once the gardener got back.

I chose to keep the monkeys as the main characters of the story. I wanted to keep the story-line mostly the same, however, I changed the gardener to a maid so that the monkeys could have more tasks to complete. I just came up with daily chores and made the monkeys make basic mistakes.

Bibliography:
The Stupid Monkeys
This story is part of the Jataka Tales unit. Story source: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, illustrated by Ellsworth Young (1922).

Storytelling Week 3: The Two Best Friends (The Monkey and the cat)

The Two Best Friends

(The cutest best friends)

Once upon a time there were two best friends. They happened to both be dogs that lived at a house in the city. Their names were Shadow and Lucy. They were always playing with each other, tearing things up, digging holes, and getting in trouble. They both loved their morning treats. In fact, they would go to any measure to get those treats. 

On a beautiful Sunday morning, their owner was out running errands. He forgot to give them both a treat before he left. The dogs sat in the laundry room, where the treats were located. They pondered on how they were going to get them from the shelf.

“I have a great idea,” said Lucy, “however; I am going to need your help.”

“Okay I will do anything that you need!” said Shadow.

“Okay, so I need you to jump onto the stool next to the washer, then walk over to the table, and then take a leap over to the shelf that the treats are on, and push the bag of treats down onto the ground,” said Lucy with a smirk on her face.

 With her eyes lit up, Shadow agreed.

Then Shadow with all the courage she had, took the first jump onto the stool. The stool shook a little bit, but Shadow made it safe and sound. Once the stool was sturdy, she then jumped to the washer. Shadow felt like the queen of the laundry room. She then pranced on over to the table that was closer to the treats. 

Shadow then asked Lucy, “Okay, now what is next, I cannot remember.” 

Lucy was so excited that Shadow actually got onto the table and shouted, “Now jump to the shelves!” 

As Shadow was jumping the shelves, they both heard the garage door open.

 Lucy shouted, “HURRY, knock the treats down to the floor!” 

Shadow then pushed the treats down to the ground as fast as she could, and then jumped all the way back down to the table then to the stool and then to the floor. As soon as Shadow reached the floor their owner had walked into the laundry room. The owner however, saw Shadow jump down. Shadow was in a lot of trouble and got yelled at. Just as Shadow looked behind her, Lucy had taken off with the treats and hid them before their owner could see them. Lucy was so happy because Shadow fell for her plan. However, Shadow was disappointed because she did all of that work and did not get a treat in the end. The two best friends were now, not talking to each other. This only lasted about a week though. 

 “The flatterer seeks some benefit at your expense” The Monkey and the Cat

Author's Note:

The Monkey and the cat, are both pets who were friends that lived in the same house. They were always getting into trouble together and they both loved getting something to eat. They saw some chestnuts roasting near the fire. First thing that they wanted to do was eat them, but they were unsure how to get them. The monkey came up with the idea of the cat using her paws to get them. The monkey said that he would divide up the nuts between them after she got them out of the fire. However, the monkey would eat the nuts up as soon as she pushed them clear of the fire. Then once the cat burned her paws, their master came in. As soon as their master came in, they both ran off and the cat had little to do with the monkey from then on.

 I decided to change up the characters in the story to two dogs. I thought it would be fun to use two dogs, because we all know that dogs get into trouble together. I did however, try to use somewhat of the same story line of the original story of The Monkey and the cat. I just changed up how they got the food (treats), how the owner came home, and how the story ending. Both stories share the same theme of "The flatterer seeks some benefit at your expense."

Bibliography:

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These stories are part of the Aesop (Winter) unit. Story source:The Aesop for Children, with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919).

Storytelling Week 2: Psyche's Husband Revealed

Psyche is a princess who is married to Cupid. However, she has no idea what her husband even looks like. Over the years she has just imagined what she wanted him to look like; handsome, beautiful locks of hair, and even rosy cheeks.

One day, her sisters wanted to know what he looked like. They were very confused however, Psyche could not describe him. Psyche would just make up how he looked, and her sisters caught on. They were then very worried that she did not even know what her husband looked like. Her sisters then wanted her to be safe and asked her to try to kill him. They thought he was a BEAST.

That night Psyche was so worried because she did not want to kill him. She sat in her room just thinking over and over on what to do. Then it all came to her! She thought to herself, what if I just met him and he ends up being the most gorgeous prince in the kingdom. So she pondered all night how to make a date night to meet her husband. Psyche came up with going to dinner and a movie night. That way she could get to know her husband and see what he looked like.

Cupid, her husband, agreed to the date night. Psyche was so nervous since it was their first date. She made sure she looked perfect. It was time to meet Cupid. Psyche had butterflies in her stomach and her palms were even sweaty. She was standing at the door when Cupid walked in. She was blown away. He was not a beast at all. He was gorgeous. Cupid was tall and handsome. He had long blonde hair that was glowing and blowing in the wind. He had the prettiest baby blue eyes and even had a tan that was golden brown. She could not believe that she was actually married to a guy that she had only seen in dreams.

After the date, Psyche fell head over heels for her husband. Cupid did the same. She wanted to show him off to the entire world. Therefore, she set up a family meeting, so her sisters could meet him. Psyche had to prove to her sisters that he was a prince and not a beast. They both fell in love after they shared their first kiss together. They flew off into the world together and lived happily ever after.

(Cupid and Psyche madly in love)

Author's Note:
I decided to change up the story a little bit. I kept the fact that her sisters wanted to kill her husband, however, I left out how they wanted her to. (In his sleep) Also, I wanted the storyline to be different. I changed how Psyche and her husband met. The way he looked in the story compared to my version was also different. In the end of the story, Cupid soared into the air by himself. I thought that it would be more romantic if they flew off together.

Psyche's Husband Revealed

This story is part of the Cupid and Psyche unit. Story source:Apuleius's Golden Ass, as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).

Storytelling Week 1: Mary's Garden

MISTRESS MARY, quite contrary,

How does your garden grow?

With cockle-shells, and silver bells,

And pretty maids all a row.

  

(Original Nursery Rhyme)

Once upon a time, there was a girl who lived in the country. Her name was Mary and she was quite the Mistress. She was a very beautiful woman. She would wear bonnets with a big bow every day. Her outfit would also include a dress with puffy shoulders.  eHehhhhhhhhHHeMary was a wonderful sweet woman that was liked by many despite being contrary. She was actually quite nice and very friendly. Everyone wanted to be just like her.

Everyone in the town would want to visit her wonderful garden. Mary has been growing her garden since she was a child with the help of her mom and brothers. Gardening was her favorite hobby. Mary really did not do anything else besides keep up her garden. She checks on it at least three times a day.

The main question that people would ask her was, "How does your garden grow?"

Mary had a very unique garden. She would grow and raise things that nobody ever has. It was a magical garden. Her garden was made up of beautiful flowers. These flowers were in every color and grew in every height. Next in line were the cockle-shells, these shells were one of a kind. She even had a row that was a variety of all different sea shells combined. Some of the shells were even colored. Some shells were blue, while others were pink. The garden also had beautiful waterfalls and ponds with goldfish. On each end of a row, there were gold and silver bells. The bells would ring in the wind. Even Mary’s maids would stand in her garden to help make it beautiful.

Overall, the garden was something that nobody could ever imagine. The End.

(Mary Mary Quite Contrary)

Author's Note:
This story is based on the nursery rhyme "Mistress Mary, how does your garden grow?" which is at the beginning of the story at the top. The rhyme is short and sweet and makes it easy to add to. For my story, I decided to add a few things to her garden to make you imagine what it would look like. I also added details about her living in the country because that is what I think of when I hear this nursery rhyme. I also, added many colorful things throughout my story because as a kid, I would always get asked if I have heard this rhyme. Every time I would hear it, I would think of a colorful garden.

You may read the nursery rhyme "Mistress Mary, how does your garden grow?" in The Nursery Rhyme Book on page 50, edited by Andrew Lang (1897).