Backup and Review: Rules of Storytelling

From Laura Gibbs

I decided to include this picture because I think I might use it myself in some upcoming storytelling. Thanks for reading, look for more soon.

Famous Last Words: The Halfway Point

This week I officially passed the halfway point for this class. This semester is definitely going by quite quickly.

Scheherazade, from Wikipedia

This week I read 1001 Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H.J. Ford. The multiple layers of meta storytelling really started to get to me by the end of the story. I think it made it more confusing than anything else. I understand that the story of Scheherazade was supposed to make things more tense and interesting for the reader. But, I think that Scheherazade should have ended at no more than two layers from reality. That would have struck a nice balance between using a unique storytelling technique and maintaining readability. As far as the second half of the reading was concerned, I found the original version of Aladdin to not be quite as interesting as the Disney version that I am familiar with. The use of multiple genies and magic objects really threw me for a loop and made things more confusing.

I also continued my telling of Sindbad the Unlucky Sailor, of which part 1 was my first portfolio story last week. I think that part 2 is going to be the ending of all adventures for my Sindbad. In my version, Sindbad does not get along with the elephants as well as he did in the original. I saw no reason the Sindbad's luck should change now. I have enjoyed writing both parts but I think it's time to move on to something new.

As far as my other classes are concerned, I am on a sort of break this week. I had a number of lab reports, tests, and other assignments due last week. Now, nothing is staring me directly in the face which I am grateful for. I am hoping to take some time to relax and get ready for the next round of assignments.

Week 5 Extra Credit Reading: European Fairy Tales Part II

This week I will be reading Andrew Lang's European Fairy Tales I. This post will cover part B.

The Giants and Herd-Boy,  by H.J. Ford

• I find it odd that some creatures generally construed as evil in modern fairy tales are not so bad in these. It seems that the father voluntarily married his daughters to trolls. 
• I really don't understand the first story. Was the point to say don't be overly ambitious? Maybe it will come to me later. 
• Why would the prince not recognize the daughter wasn't Ilonka? The reading seems to imply he's doing it to save face. 
• Hanging the farmer and his family seems like a very harsh punishment. 
• I am really having trouble understanding the point of all these stories. There never seems to be a clear moral hero in each one. The Sun Hero didn't seem to be a bad guy, if anything he was a product of his upbringing. 
• I understand the point of the Herd-boy, one should be generous without needing recognition for that greed. 
• The Voice of Death almost seems similar to Adam and Eve. The people in that land were innocent, but their curiosity killed them. 

Thanks for reading. 

Wikipedia Trail: Aladdin to Henry IV

Aladdin being trapped by the Sorcerer, from Wikipedia

I began this week with Aladdin, who was the focus of part of my reading this week. I found that his story was added to 1001 Arabian Nights by Antoine Galland in the 18th century. He was a French archaeologist focused on the Islamic world. He did some work for the French East India Company, a large trading conglomerate. It was first founded by Henry IV, the French King from 1589 to 1610. Thanks for reading with me this week.

Learning by HEART: Keyboard

From Laura Gibbs

I like the advice given in this post. Plus, it's related to something everyone is familiar with.

Growth Mindest: Leaving a Trail

From Laura Gibbs

I chose this picture really just because the cat looks so unhappy to be in such a beautiful place. But, I think the advice still stands. 

Tech Tip: Google Timer

I have been using the Google Timer feature in addition with the "Pomodoro" study technique to help with studying so far this semester. It has been helping me, I suggest everyone give it a try.

Week 5 Storytelling: Sindbad the Unlucky Sailor Part 2

I awoke suddenly, sick to my stomach due to the rocking of the ship on the waves of the sea. Hearing a loud alarm bell ringing on the deck of the ship, I shot out of my hammock as quick as my feet could carry me. I only made it a few steps from my pitiful bunk before I realized that I was locked in a cage, having been betrayed by my former Captain and sold as a slave to a rich merchant just the day before. One of the sailors ran down into the hold, screaming at the other slaves and me to take up arms, as our ship was being set upon by a group of bloodthirsty pirates. The sailor released us from the cell, and thrust crudely made swords into our hands before marching them out to the deck.

I emerged into the sunlight, only for it to illuminate a scene of chaos. Sailors all around me were swearing and lashing at the ropes the pirates were throwing onto the banisters of the deck so they could climb up the hull from their boarding craft. Suddenly, I heard a man release a scream from behind me. One of the pirates had made it up onto the deck and engaged the sailors in a brutal sword fight. It was only now that my brain decided to remind me of the fact that I was a disgraced merchant, and not a soldier or a fighter by any means. However, I had no time to give this thought any credence, as I was being attacked from all angles. I fought and I fought until the other sailors, slaves, and I encouraged the pirates to retreat back to their vessel and depart. Without a moment's respite, I was forced back into the cells with the other slaves.

The next time I saw the sun must have been days later. Sailors were ushering the other slaves and me, down onto a waiting dock. I walked for miles in the hot sun until I reached what appeared to be a large mansion surrounded by a vineyard. My new owner told me that I would be hunting elephants so that their ivory could be harvested. The next morning, I walked into the jungle and found a sturdy tree to climb and wait for the elephants to walk below me. Once I saw a group of them, I let an arrow fly. It glanced off the of one of the elephants, and they surrounded my tree in short order.

Sindbad being chased by the elephants, from Stefan Mart

The elephants wrapped their trunks around the tree and ripped it out by the roots. I fell from the branches, and then I began to run as fast as I could as the elephants chased me. I had very little idea where I should go to escape the angry herd of elephants behind me. After a few minutes, I emerged into an open field of elephants' skeletons stripped of their tusks. I used this opportunity to hide in the rib cage of an elephant, and tried to keep a low profile as the herd moved past me. These elephants must have blamed me for all of these previous deaths. That night, I fell asleep with no idea as to whether or not I would ever see my home again.

Author's Note: For my story this week, I decided to continue the saga of Sindbad the Unlucky sailor. I really wanted to include the first and seventh voyage of Sindbad in my writing. I saw the most opportunity for me to make my creative changes. I am, of course, skipping the five voyages in between, since I wanted to see my story through to the end. In the original seventh voyage, he is acting as an emissary between two governments before he is captured by pirate slavers. Then he is sold to someone who makes him hunt elephants. The elephants then lead him to the graveyard so that he does not have to hunt them to procure ivory.

The main differences are that Sindbad is already a slave when this story begins, and is forced to fight the pirates as opposed to being captured by them. The next difference is that Sindbad does not reconcile his differences with the elephants. After they uproot his tree, he is chased to the elephant graveyard, which almost acts as a monument to his sins. It is definitely not a happy ending like the original. Sindbad never makes it back home, and never becomes rich, though I haven't definitively ended the saga.  

I kept the same first person point of view for this story as I had in the first part, and as it was in the original story by Andrew Lang. I feel that it helps keep my telling of the story relatable to those who have read the original version.

The Voyages of Sindbad, by Andrew Lang

Week 5 Reading: 1001 Arabian Nights

This week I am reading The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H.J. Ford. This post will cover part B.

Aladdin and a Genie, from Tales of Faerie

• I am somewhat familiar with the story of Aladdin, but only the Disney version. I am interested in seeing just how Scheherazade changes the story from what I know to save her own skin. Changing the villian to be African seems mildly racist to me. 
• The change from a lamp to a ring is interesting, I like the idea of the lamp being a container for the genie. I suppose that the genies are magical beings, and can inhabit a ring. I also find it odd that the genie of the ring is unhappy, calling himself a slave. I wonder if he will be bitter and try to trick Aladdin. 
• Aladdin seems to be getting everything he wants, I wonder how it will backfire for him.  
• I feel like genies are maliciously compliant, the genie of the lamp has no sense of loyalty to Aladdin. 
• The magician having an even more evil brother strikes me as a really cliche way to end a story. 
• I'm surprised that Aladdin found a happy ending, usually the older fairy tales don't end as happily as the Disney versions. 

Thanks for reading. 

Week 5 Reading: Arabian Nights

This week I am reading The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H.J. Ford. This post will cover part A.

• The context that the short stories are being presented in is a very interesting element to me. Usually there is nothing really on the line for the narrator, they are just telling stories to their grand kid or something along those lines. 
• I have never considered how "genie" and "genius" are connected as words. Maybe it would be a good place to start my Wikipedia trail this week. 
• I'm looking forward to finding out how Scheherazade (she really needs a nickname) will convince the Sultan of the error of his ways and save her own life. 

Scheherazade, from Wikipedia

• The layers of meta storytelling are starting to confuse me. It's like on onion, although I'm not quite ready to cry. 
• Scheherazade is really playing a risky game here. I find her overarching story to be much more interesting than the ones she is telling to her sister and the Sultan. 
• I like that Scheherazade is seemingly trying to make the Sultan believe that he is the Genie in all these stories - smart and all powerful, but generous to those who are good to him. Flattery is always a good choice. However, she may be telegraphing too hard when the Fisherman catches the Genie in an enchanted bottle, perhaps the bottle is a metaphor for the Sultan's desire to see the end of the story? 
• I think the third level of storytelling, involving King Sindbad (possibly a promotion from lucky sailor) and his Vizir is getting to be too much for me. Perhaps Scheherazade simply means to confuse the Sultan, but hopefully it all comes together in the end. 
• I think the King meeting his death at the hands of the physician, who originally meant him no harm, is the clearest warning that the Sultan has had that something bad might happen to him. 
• I take it back, the journey the fisherman and the sultan go on seems to be the metaphor about what storytelling and curiosity can do to a person. Maybe this and the Genie trapped in the bottle both are. 

Thanks for reading with me, look for part B soon.