Week 5 Reading Diary: Jataka Tales

This weeks reading diary are shot stories come from the Jataka Tales Reading B (Babbitt).  These are ancient stories from India, the “birth tales” of the Buddha. 

The Golden Goose

-Great lesson being greedy, It was kind of the goose to give something up for their confront, do not overuse someone’s kind jester.

The Stupid Monkey

 I feel sad that the gardener only wanted to have fun for once with her friends; he would have never asked if he didn't think the monkeys were able. 

The Cunning Wolf

First thought of this story is silly,  I don't think I have ever heard of someone acting to be dead to catch a wolf. 

The Woodpecker and the Lion

This story had a really interesting twist at the end, I really enjoyed it, and didn't expect it.

The Otters and the Wolf

I like how the wolf didn’t eat the otters, which would have made me really sad.  I think it could have been interesting if the wolf asked the otters to get him a fish for some sort of favor. 

How the Monkey Saved His Troop

I can’t believe that the king  was going to shoot those monkey’s..

The Hawks and Their Friends

What a great story about friendship, but not only that but to be kind to everyone, for you never know how it could effect your life. 

The Foolhardy Wolf

This story reminded me that things happen a certain because that's just how life is.  Wolf’s never kill elephants and he should have just accepted it.

The Stolen Plow

It’s always nice to be reminded that lying is never good, and no one appreciates it.

The Lion in Bad Company

Interesting turn around making the lion need the help instead of the wolf , there at the end.

The Wise Goat and the Wolf

I always like it when the trickster gets defeated in the end! Karma is real!

Beauty and Brownie

I kind of find it funny that Beauty was the smart one and not Brownie, just because society doesn’t sometimes put beauty and brains together.

The Elephant and the Dog

What a precious story about two different types of animals that have unconditional love for each other despite their differences.

(The Elephant and the Dog)

Storytelling Week 4: The Ladybug and Caterpillar

The Ladybug and Caterpillar

(Ladybug and Caterpillar)

            In the backyard of the Maxwell’s house lived a Ladybug and Caterpillar, This Ladybug and Caterpillar are the best of friends and all of the other insects in the backyard knew it. Caterpillar was the only friend Ladybug had, all the other insects saw how ruthless Ladybug could be.  Ladybug was beautiful with a brightly colored red back sporting fun black spots.  Ladybug knew she was beautiful, and always flaunted about how awesome her wings were.  Caterpillar didn't feel the same way; she felt green and long with no wings, just a bunch of legs.  Caterpillar just felt honored to be Ladybug’s best friend that she never questioned Ladybug’s cockiness. 

            Ladybug and Caterpillar loved to play games like tag, and hide and seek, but this was because she always seemed to win.  Because Ladybug had wings she could always fly faster during tag, and since Caterpillar was so long he was never able to hide very well during hind and seek.  Usually Caterpillar never cared to lose against Ladybug, but lately Ladybug was starting to hurt Caterpillar’s feelings. 

Each time Ladybug would win (which was every time) she would chant her victory loud and proud:

“I am Ladybug, yes I am!”

“Look at my wings, oh how fast they are!”

“I am Ladybug, yes I am!”

“I am the most beautiful beetle of all!”

Even though Ladybug flaunted her fame and never treated Caterpillar like a real friend should, Caterpillar was always there for Ladybug. Until one day…

Caterpillar and Ladybug were to meet at a certain flower by the back gate to play hide and go seek together.  Ladybug waited all morning until and Caterpillar never showed.  Ladybug instantly missed Caterpillar and searched all the gardens and throughout the trees, and still never found him.  He searched and searched asking all of the other insects if they had seen him but they just ignored Ladybug.  Ladybug started to feel bad for how she last treated Caterpillar and started to realize that she was never kind to her only friend.

Ladybug sat on a rock for 14 days without Caterpillar until she saw a beautiful butterfly hovering over her.  She looked up at the Butterfly and asked

“Oh Butterfly with your wings so big and beautiful will you help me look for my friend, Caterpillar?”

And the Butterfly cried:

           

            “Oh silly Ladybug can’t you tell it is me.. your friend Caterpillar, I have been tucked away in my cocoon for 21 days!”

Ladybug cried tears of joy and told the Butterfly that he was sorry for the way he treated him when he was a Caterpillar, and that he had missed him very much. Butterfly appreciated his apology, and asked him if he wanted to play tag.

 

(Ladybug and Butterfly)

Authors Note:

I decided to write a story about learning the lesson to never take things or people for granted.  I got this idea based off the Jataka Tales for children, each of those short stories have a valuable lesson to learn, it was fun to make up my own story with Ladybug and Caterpillar teaching Ladybug to be more appreciated.   

Week 4 Reading Diary: Jataka Tales

This weeks reading diary are shot stories come from the Jataka Tales (Babbitt).  These are ancient stories from India, the “birth tales” of the Buddha.   

1. The Monkey and the Crocodile

-I like how the Monkey and Crocodile had conversations, and how they were so blunt with each other.  The crocodile was so focused on getting the monkey’s heart he didn't think though a plan, thankfully for the monkey he was able to see though the dumbness of the crocodile. 

(The Monkey and the Crocodile) 

2. How the Turtle Saved His Own Life

-This story taught me that we shouldn’t make actions against others unless we know about them.  The king and sons judged the turtle, thinking he couldn't swim, and ended up keeping him alive.

3. The Turtle Who Couldn’t Stop Talking

-I have read a story like this, so I knew that the turtle would die because he could not follow the rules, but why couldn't the geese tell him why he couldn’t talk? Maybe if they had explained to him that he couldn’t hang while talking he would have survived. 

4. The Ox Who Won the Forfeit

- When the man said “Why did he (Ox) Shame me today?” that should have been his clue that he had shammed the Ox by calling him names he had never before.  Good message about not looking at our own actions, before judging others.

5. The Quarrel of the Quails

-Because both sides of the net weren’t getting along, they were once again captured, if only they had a little but more communication they could have been saved. 

6. The Foolish, Timid Rabbit

-This is a great story to learn about not being a follower, but to be a leader.  The lion being king instead of following he ran back to see the problem to only find out that there was no problem to start with. 

7. The Banyan Deer

-The Banyan Deer showed great leadership by taking the fault so that another could live. It was sweet to read about how he would take his life so that a baby deer would not be without their mother. 

8. The Princes and the Water –Sprite

-I don't like how the princes had to leave just because the mother wanted the third son to be king.  Maybe if they had talked though this with the son they would have realized that he didn't care as long as he was with his brothers.  

9. The Kings White Elephant

-This story reminds me of the phrase ‘Pass it On’ the elephant was thankful so he made sure he could be helpful.  I didn't like how they took the baby elephant away form the kids to that played with him, just because the king wanted him.. that's annoying.

10. The Ox Who Envied the Pig

 -Great message to not envy other people for we do not know why they are doing what they are doing.  We should only worry about ourselves.

11. The Crab and the Crane

-A dark twist there at the end when the Crane gets his head pinched off by the Crab.  I was really hoping that the Crane wanted to help the fish. 

12. The Girl Monkey and the String of Pearls

-I don't blame the Girl Monkey for taking the pearls, I mean I would probably to the same thing. 

13. The Three Fishes

-I love the idea of the names of the fishes, It would have been more interesting to see that Very-Thoughtful fish was to give his life while helping the other two fish to teach them a lesson about being very-thoughtful.

14. The Tricky Wolf and the Rats

-Can’t be tricky forever… I liked how the Rats were able to overcome the Wolf’s tricks. 

Brother Grimm Stories: Styles Brainstorming

Topic: My Storybook will come from the Grimm brothers unit.  I mostly want to focus on different stories that relate back to the traditional fairy tales.  One story I think I will include will be Sleeping Beauty. In the Grimm brothers story “Sleeping Beauty’ is called Briar Rose.  Another story I have always been interested in is ‘Snow White’.  This could get complicated because of all the different styles and books of Grimm brother, but this also means I have plenty of stories to choose from.  

(Brothers Grimm Fairy Tales)

Bibliography:

1. Briar Rose, from the Grimm Brothers (Crane) Unit

2. Snow White, From the Grimm Brothers (Crane) Unit

Basically all of my stories will come from the Grimm Brothers Units

Possible Styles:

Animals as storytellers: I think it would be fun to tell these famous fairy tales from the eyes of animals.  I could get creative looking through the eyes of each of the different animals throughout the stories.  Making the animals storytellers could create a different back-story than what we are use to, because lets be honest every story have more than one side. 

Couples Therapy: I think this could be a really interesting twist to the stories.  Because most of these stories deal with a princess and prince it wouldn’t be hard to get creative with some problems that would need to be worked out in therapy.  I feel that with my major being sociology and my interest in counseling I would be able to somehow underline compare these stories to real life situations. 

Villain as storyteller: Since most of the Grimm stories have villains this could be fun to switch the story around from the princess view to the villains view.  I could even make is more understandable to why a villain has decided to be evil.  I could even make the readers be on the villain’s side instead of the ‘good’ side.  

Sequel to the story: I think this would be fun to get creative with.  Most of these stories don't have sequels, so I would be able to carry on with the story any way I wanted. For example what life is like after a prince saves a princess..  Do they live happier ever after, or do they keep running into problems??

Week 3 Reading Diary: Bible Women

For this week’s reading diary post I went with the Biblical unit “Bible Women”. These stories are a part of the Bible Women unit, story source: King James Bible (1611): Genesis, and the book of James. 

Biblical Women

Eve

-God creates all of these creates and brings them to Adam to name, that to me is pretty cool, even though God is the creator he allows someone else to name is work.  Because Adam and Eve were created to be together as one flesh, they are to not be ashamed of being naked, something we need to all remember as we fall in “love” we have to be completely comfortable with one another.  It was interesting to read that as soon as they ate the fruit they became aware of the naked bodies, and even tried to hide from God. 

Sarah

-Always found this a great story, Abraham and Sarah had to trust that God knew what he was doing when he gave them a child at such an old age, great story to learn of God’s trust. 

Hager

-Interesting story I have never heard of from the Bible.  I didn't realize that Sarah had sent Hager and her son away because she had a son and Hager’s son shouldn't be where Sarah’s son was. 

Rebekah

- Rebekah has twins with Isaac, there names where Esau and Jacob.  Isaac loved Esau and Rebekah loved Jacob. 

Rachel

-I love how in all of these Bible stories they just automatically fall in love, or just immediately start to kiss.  But then men in the bible always show good characteristics when it comes to those they love. 

Leah

-I’m learning new things all Genesis, I never realized that Jacob had so many children with two different women.  It was interesting to see that when Rachel finally got pregnant it killed her; maybe this is why Jacob had Leah

Potiphar’s Wife

-What a great example of a godly man Joseph is being, it angers me that the master’s wife would set him up to be taken to prison because he would lay with her. 

Jephthah’s Daughter

-So basically his daughter had sex and she was sent away for two month to regret that she had done such a sin.  But the neat thing is that she requested to be sent away because she wanted to repent.