Week 13 Story

A man and a woman were sitting at their usual kitchen table, enjoying their usual morning coffee, when the man noticed something quite unusual. He was about to take a sip out of his coffee, when he noticed something floating. He screamed and nearly dropped it, but was able to gather his senses enough to see what was floating. It looked to be a little version of himself! He thought he was hallucinating, and his wife had gone to her room for a few minutes so he sat their looking at this mini-me. At this point, he realized that the man could not swim in the coffee and it was quite hot, so he used his spoon to take him out and put him on the table. This turned out to be much better for the mini-me, as he was able to walk using his mini-legs.

Although he looked like he was trying to speak, his tiny mouth was too quiet for the man to hear, but, being a version of himself, he knew that he must be hungry. He picked up a crumb of his biscuit off of his napkin, and offered it to the mini-me. He also placed a single drop of water, to make sure that he didn't die of thirst. He knew that the bacteria all around would be plenty of company for the man, but warned of the pathogens that he must stay away from.

After a few minutes, his wife came back to the kitchen, holding her own cup of coffee. Before she entered the room, however, she shrieked. The man already knew what it was, and told her not to be scared, and all that this meant is that his mini-me had a new mini-friend. The initial shock subsided, and they were able to take care of these mini-people, until they started a family of their own.

Coffee is not always what it seems

Author's Note: This story was based on the Alaskan Legend about the creation of man and the raven overseeing him. In this version, the raven was the man himself, and the man was the little person. Instead of being found in the ocean, he was found in the cup of coffee. I made sure to include all the main parts of the story, in a different form, by making sure that the man took care of the little version in terms of food and water. Additionally, he must watch out for predators, which in the micro world would include bacteria.

Story source: Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).

Week 13 Reading Notes Part B

In the second half of the unit, King Arthur continues on his adventures, and eventually defeats Mordred. I thought the funniest part of this unit was when Sir Bors the Younger is introduced. I really liked his character, and so I decided to take notes about this part of the story.

Notes:

• Sir Bors introduces himself as one of the knights riding on a quest to find the Holy Grail.
• He went with the good man, and made a promise to not do wrong in life.
• One time he had a quarrel with his brother, but remembered the words of the good man, and forgave him.
• This resulted in neither being harmed
• He then met up with Percival at the end, and they exchanged stories.

Sir Bors almost killing his brother

This story is part of the King Arthur unit. Story source: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).

Week 13 Reading: King Arthur

This week, I decided to read the King Arthur unit. This is a topic that I have heard about, but only in pop culture references, so I was interested in learning more about the original legend of King Arthur. My favorite story was that of The Sword Excalibur.

Notes:

• Arthur had just returned from a hard fought battle, and had barely survived with the help of Merlin.
• He noted that he needed another sword, to which Merlin pointed out that there was a sword in the middle of the lake.
• The Lady of the Lake said that the sword was hers, and she would give it to him if he gave her something
• She just needed him to pull the sword out of the rock
• Merlin asked if he liked the scabbard or the sword better, and Arthur noted that he liked the sword better.
• The scabbard was actually worth more, because it kept him safe by keeping the sword.

Excalibur the Sword

This story is part of the King Arthur unit. Story source: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).

Week 12 Story Lab: Advice to Writers

This week, in lieu of the story, I opted to do a story lab. I always like to look at advice on how to become a better writer, as it has never been a strong suit of mine. My favorite piece of advice this week was about something very relevant to me: getting distracted.

"My downfall will be my ability to procrastinate and avoid writing. I do it so much that I had to install software on my computer to block the Internet and shame me when I inevitably attempt to check email or Twitter every nine to eleven seconds. I don’t believe you have to write every day, or at a set time for a set duration, to be a good and successful writer, but I do think you have to muster enough willpower to do it at least a few times a week in a focused way."

- Una Lamarche

Especially this semester, I have found myself getting distracted on the internet when I am trying to write, or when trying to do other things. I will start an assignment, and then pick up my phone after only a few minutes. It's an issue that I have fixed by doing similar things to the quote. For example, I will put my phone on the other side of the room, so that if I want to check it, I have to physically get up and do it, which is sometimes enough to deter me. I think this is great advice that applies to much more than simply writing. If there is something that you are passionate about, you need to have the focus to dedicate at least a few times a week to bettering yourself at that thing.

Using your cell phone too much can be distracting

Quote source: https://www.advicetowriters.com/

Week 12 Reading Notes Part B

For the second part of the unit, I continued to follow Alice's journey down the rabbit hole and into a magical land. My favorite part of this story was the trial part, because I thought it was so representative of Alice's character. She had a lot of thoughts throughout this segment, and it was a lot of fun to read.

Notes:

• As the court got ready, Alice was very perceptive about her surroundings
• She noticed a plate of tarts that looked so good
• She also noticed that there was a judge with a wig, and a bunch of creatures that were jurors.
• Alice realized that the jurors were very stupid, and she got mad and plucked one of the pencils out of a juror's (this one was a lizard) hands.
• As the trial got started, the first witness was called
• The first witness was the Mad Hatter, and he said that his hat was not his
• The King got mad and said it was stolen, but the Hatter said that he simply sells them.

Hatter, by Sir John Tenniel

This story is part of the Alice in Wonderland unit. Story source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Week 12 Reading Notes Part A

This week, I decided to read about Alice in Wonderland. I have watched the Disney movie before, and was quite familiar with their telling of the tale, but I wanted to know more about the original telling. I found that the actual story was quite different from the Disney version. Although plot elements were consistent, the tone of the story was very different. This part was the first story of the unit.

Notes:

• Alice was very bored one day watching her sister read. She noted that the book was very boring without any pictures or conversations.
• She saw a rabbit walking past, yelling that it was going to be late to something
• At the time, Alice did not think anything was strange about a talking rabbit, but later she realized that it was quite a strange phenomenon.
• She followed the rabbit down a rabbit hole, not thinking about how she would get back out
• The fall was very long, and she was able to examine her surroundings.
• She realized that the sides of the fall were shelves, and she inspected them for items
• She fell for what seemed to be forever, and thought that she might go straight through the earth and end up in Australia or New Zealand.

Rabbit by Sir John Tenniel

This story is part of the Alice in Wonderland unit. Story source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Week 11 Extra Reading

For extra reading this week, I read stories from the Eskimo unit. I had read Inuit stories, which I really enjoyed, and I wanted to learn more about myths from the region. My favorite story was one called "The Wife Who Lied."

Notes:

• Navaranapulak was a woman who came from a tribe of man-eaters, and was married into a tribe without man-eaters
• She returned to her home village with mittens on her feet to make it look like her husband had mutilated her
• Her home tribe was mad, and agreed to declare war against the new tribe
• As the tribe circled the new tribe, a woman had a strange dream that they were being attacked
• As the attack actually commenced, she was happy, but then two men dragged her away
• They cut off her arms, and she was left to die for lying.

I thought this story was especially interesting because it was a very callous way of teaching a moral. There were elements of "Boy Who Cried Wolf" to the story, and it is interesting to see how different cultures tell similar morals differently.

Ekimo mode of transportation

This story is part of the Eskimo Folk Tales unit. Story source: Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

Week 11 Story

The rush of it was about to hit her. This was why she loved what she did; why she continued to live such a dangerous lifestyle. The feeling that you got right before you were about to do something outrageous was unparalleled, and she knew that she'd gotten this one just right. This was about to be one of the largest diamond robberies in history, and the agency could trust no one else.

When she got in, she did all the things she needed to, and she had done this many times before. She checked for laser sensors, she scanned for heat signatures, and she fixed her hair. There was a routine she followed every time, and so far she had never failed. The agency gave her word that she was clear to go. She had complete confidence that she would be successful, and it's possible that she got cocky. Because when she reached for the crystal, it seemed that every alarm in the world went off.

WAA-WAA-WAA

She didn't know how this happened, as she had been thorough, but she had no time to think. This had not gone as planned, and she had to somehow get out. As she turned the corned, diamond in hand, 15 guards burst through the doors. She had always worked peacefully, but she feared that this was different. She took a deep breath, and began to work her way through the men, one by one, until the floor was littered with bodies. As she looked back, a single tear fell from her left eye, but she wiped it away as soon as it fell. This was not a job for the weak, and she had completed the mission. And since that day, diamonds have always been guarded by machine at all times, to prevent fate from repeating itself.

Author's Note: This story is based on the story of the Rabbit and the Flint Bear from the Inuit unit. I really enjoyed the story, and I thought it was a very creative way of telling the story. I changed the Rabbit to a jewel thief, because I thought it would make an interesting dynamic, and I think it worked out well. The Rabbit never had malicious intentions to the bear, but he ended up having to kill many bears. This was the same thing that happened in my story.

Story source: Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie McLaughlin (1916).

Diamond