Famous Last Words: Week 6

I can say that this week has been ten times better than the last two weeks. Let’s start with Monday; yes I am glad that OU did not open until 10 because my 8am class was cancelled. However, I wish that they either would have closed all day or told us the night before. I live in OKC, so I have to leave early because of morning traffic. Therefore, I was just about to leave my house when I got the call about school. I really needed extra sleep.

I am glad that we are finally getting to comment on each other’s projects. I know that we have all been working hard and using our imaginations, which actually can be tough at times. Being able to see everyone’s progress is wonderful. I am still overly impressed with how talented my classmates are, everyone is so good at using their imagination and writing stories.

Since, we are in week 6, I am feeling a little more confident in my storytelling and writing abilities. Clearly, I am FAR from perfect and can still use a lot more practice.This week, I have done most of my assignments in my office room at my house. I mainly do my assignments after work and while I am eating dinner. I think that food really does fuel my brain and makes writing a little easier.

Overall, I am enjoying this class. I am working on my project for this week still and also on some of the project comments. I am hoping to get ahead in this class this weekend, so I can focus on my other classes. I am really looking forward to adding to my storybook each week. I like my topic that I picked, and I hope that I can make my stories interesting, so that you (my classmates) will enjoy reading them.

Snowflake Picture

Essay: Western African Folktales

This unit was a little different than the past couple of units that I have read. I enjoyed this unit however. I believe that the notes provided were really helpful. The notes left a good background for the stories. In the story, How the Tortoise got its shell, the notes were extremely helpful. I would have never know that chief Mauri was God, Fida was Friday, Mr. Klo was the tortoise, or Koklovi was the chicken. Therefore, the notes played a big role in being able to understand the story.

I believe that everything that we needed to know about this unit was provided. The story length was accurate, as well as the language was easy to read. (The notes helped on certain characters).  If you enjoy titles that make you want to keep reading to find out what the story is really about, then this is the unit for you. All of the stories do use a big imagination, which I believe is what makes them interesting.

My favorite story has to be either how wisdom became property of the human race or How the Tortoise got its shell. Both of the stories, I wanted to read right away after reading the title. The title kind of left a big door open. I was impressed with both stories and how they turned out.

My least favorite story in this unit was the leopard and the ram. I feel like the first paragraph makes you think the story is going to be completely different than it was. I think that this story could have had a more exciting story line that made readers want to keep reading.

Overall, I enjoyed this unit, but it was not my favorite unit of the semester. The untextbook for this unit was easy to follow and everything was very well organized. The notes were not too much throughout the unit, they were very helpful. 

Western African Folktales

Western Africa

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).

Reading Diary B: West African Folktales

West African Folktales

How the tortoise got its shell

I have been wanting to read this story since Laura told me about it in one of my comments. I was not really sure where this story was going to go, but I enjoyed reading it. If there were not brackets explaining who was the king, chicken, and tortoise, it would have been really confusing. I am glad that they brought the tortoise back to life. 

Tortoise

The leopard and the ram

This story was interesting that the leopard and the ram were friends. However, the first paragraph had me thinking that the story line was going to be different. I was not expected the story to be about how the leopard and the ram got their food. 

How mushrooms first grew

This story caught me by the title. Of course you know that the story is not true, so you want to know how much of imagination they have. It was very interesting and could be used for a storytelling post since you can change the story line to whatever you want and just stick with the title. 

I really enjoyed this unit. It was a little different than the other units that I have been reading. However, the stories all were interesting and the titles were very catching. 

Reading Diary A: West African Folktales

West African Folktales

How we got the name "Spider Tales"

This is the first story in this unit. I was hooked by just the title. It made me want to know what the story was going to be about and it give me the feeling that this was the background for the unit. By just the title I thought it was going to be about a real spider, however, the spider is a person! The story did a great job of explaining the three things. 

How wisdom became the property of the human race

I really enjoyed this story. Just like the first story I was hooked by the title. I was really curious where this story was going to go. I think that this story could be used for storytelling because you can really use your imagination. The author had a very unique way of explaining how wisdom escaped to humans. 

Photo Information

Why white ants always harm man's property

This story was very interesting. The notes provided helped in understanding that the white ants are actually termites. This is a great story to tell why the white ants are such a pest. This could be retold in many ways for our storytelling post. 

Overall, all of the stories had very intriguing titles. They are made you want to read how and why so and so do something. I wanted to keep reading this unit and am excited about the second half of the unit.