Week 15: Online Education Review

I actually hated taking online courses until I took Mythology and Folklore last semester. Both that class and this one were so perfectly structured, yet relaxed at the same time. I allowed me to take responsibility and made me feel as though I was in charge, which is probably why I was so determined to keep up with everything. I never wanted to disappoint myself.

The class was structured perfectly. It allowed me to do everything in little increments, rather than lump everything together that just due in one day like many other online classes. This made me feel as though I was constantly achieving my goals for the class and kept me on task.

Delhi India Government (Source)

Week 15: Gen. Ed. Review

What I liked most about this class was the freedom, the creativity, the positivity, and the flexibility. So many of the Humanities classes here feel like torture because they are a requirement, but these classes were actually fun! I actually felt a real connection to this class, which is something incredibly rare. Surprisingly, this class actually taught me a lot about myself as a person. It put a lot of things into perspective for me and allowed me to be proud of my work for once.

Bunny (Source) 

Week 15: College Writing Review

As a communication major, I generally have to do a lot of writing. Unfortunately the writing for those classes are absolutely pointless, degrading, and robotic. There are almost always tricks or rules that the professors want us to use but never tell us. I cannot tell you the amount of times I followed the instructions to the letter, and then got a lower grade than I was expecting because I "did not include" something they wanted. Even though what they wanted me to include was not in the instructions.

I definitely like this class and Mythology and Folklore a whole lot more! I actually think that these two classes have improved my writing and opened a door to new experiences and hobbies I would have never been interested in trying. I definitely think that all writing should encompass an element of creativity, and it is a shame when you are not allowed to.

Letter (Source)

Portfolio Index

Welcome to my Portfolio. Below you will find links to each Storytelling in this Portfolio. Enjoy!

Feel free to leave comments on here as well! The more the merrier! :)

Chapter 1: Halloween Mystery

Chapter 2: Dinner Party   

Chapter 3: Santanu Goes to Therapy

Chapter 4: The Unknown Soldier

Chapter 5: From the Mouths of Tiger, Monkey, & Snake

Week 14 Famous Last Words

Well this week has certainly been an interesting one. Basically it is the end of the semester and that means it is crunch time. I definitely think that my writing for this class has gotten a whole lot better these last two weeks! I wish that more people in the class would read my Unknown Soldier storytelling though. I have to say that it is by far my best writing ever! I just wish that I wrote like that more often. Maybe I could expand on it and turn it into a book, just for me of course. I am going to miss this class, without a doubt. I like being able to write creatively and think in a way that I probably normally would not. Maybe I will just start a new blog and do some of the readings from the mythology and folklore untextbook and then do writing over it just for fun. When I was in that class last semester it was very difficult just picking one reading unit, and there were so many different stories and storytelling’s that you could do! So I might just do that in my spare time, I mean, why not?

Anyway, this week has certainly been interesting. I have a job interview in Dallas on Friday that I am very excited about. Hopefully it goes well and the job is a job that I actually want. I think it is safe to say that I have had a plethora of interviews, most of which have ended in them rejecting me or me being over qualified for the job. Seriously, one company wanted me to go door-to-door from 6-9pm and then work Saturdays as well. No thank you!

My other classes have been pretty stressful to say the least. Luckily there is not too much left to do, so I should be finished with everything by next week!

Pink Water Lily (Source)

Week 14 Essay

For this week, I chose to read Ryder's Panchatantra. This reading was fantastic. The majority of the stories were really fun and cute. I actually found many of them to relate to a few Shel Silverstein poems. For instance, my favorite story was Mouse-Maid Made Mouse. It was actually a really cute story. In the story a holy man and his wife are unable to have children so he uses his magical powers to turn a mouse into a girl and they raise her as their own. When the girl turn twelve-years-old, they realize that she is of age to be wed so they decide to find her a suitor. The holy man calls on the sun, but the girl does not like the sun. So the holy man calls on that superior to the sun – the clouds – but the girl does not like the clouds and the holy man calls on the wind (which is superior to the clouds). The girl does not like the wind, so the holy man calls on the mountains. The girl does not like the mountains, so the holy man calls on a mouse. When the girl sees the mouse she recognizes him as her own kind and asks to be turned into a mouse.

I think I like the story so much because it is one of those happy ending sort of stories. Anyway, it made me think of this poem by Shel Silverstein that goes…

Masks by Shel Silverstein (Source)

I found the poem to be indicative of what the story was trying to say, kind of like be yourself and do not hide who you really are.

The only problem I found with all of these stories was the random poems, or quotes, that were imbedded in them. I understood that the stories were supposed to be teaching tools to learn intelligence, but sometimes it would be confusing and not really completely necessary for the story. Sometimes the stories themselves taught a lesson and they did not really need the quotes in them, so it was kind of like a lesson inside of a lesson rather than a story inside of a story.  

Week 14 Reading Diary B: Ryder's Panchatantra

Ryder's Panchatantra

Right-Minded and Wrong-Minded:  I found this story to be very predictable. It was enjoyable, but felt tedious.

Mouse-Maid Made Mouse: This holy man turns a mouse into a girl and he and his wife raise it. Then when she turns 12 they decide that she of age to be married. The holy man summons the sun and asks her if she liked him. She replies no because the sun is too hot. The holy man then summons the clouds, but the girl does not like him either because he is too black and frigid. So the holy man summons the wind, but she finds him too fidgety. The holy man summons the mountain, but the girl finds him to be took rough and stiff. Then the holy man summoned a mouse. When the girl saw him she knew he was of her kind, and so the holy man turned her back into a mouse where she lived happily ever after. This one was definitely my favorite!

Wood Mouse (Source)

Week 14 Storytelling: From the Mouths of Tiger, Monkey, & Snake

Story of the Tiger:

Here I was just walking along the tall grass hunting for some dinner when suddenly I fell in a well. I tried with all of my might to get out, but I could not. There was nothing for my claws to grab onto and I was very deep below the ground. As I lay there resting, I felt a rather large plop on my back. I looked up and there was a monkey. I guess he had not seen the well and fallen in too.

I watched him as he tried to climb out, jumping and flipping about, until he finally exhausted himself. So we sat there at the bottom of the well and talk of our homes and told each other stories. He was just telling me something about a fruit or whatever, when something whacked him across the head. It was a snake. “Great!” I thought to myself. “Now there are three of us trapped in this stupid thing!!!”

The snake was very nice. He did not take up much room. The man who fell in after him did! He was not pleasant! The monkey, snake, and I huddled together to get away from the vicious monster…the goldsmith.

Thank god for that Brahman  saved me! Isuch a delight; he even came over to my cave later that day. It was just so kind of him to save me. If he had not randomly come across the well and pulled us out, I am sure we would have died. I decided to give him some gold jewelry and ornaments as my way of saying thank you, other than not eating him of course.

Bengal Tiger (Source)

Story of the Monkey:

I am not too fond of wells anymore. I fell into one the other day as I was swinging in the trees. I honestly thought that branch would be much stronger than it looked. Oh well. I made some pretty good friends out of it. Like that Brahman who saved me! He was a pretty swell guy, a little worn down though. It’s okay, because I helped him out. I brought him back to my home with me and fed him lots and lots of fruit! He was much more pleasant after that. I’m pretty sure he was hangry… get it? Hungry and angry…HANGRY!!!

Anyway, I hope that everything is okay with him. I invited him to come back and eat more fruit with me sometime, but I have not seen him since I took him to the tiger’s place. That tiger is a swell guy, you know? Let me sleep on top of him when that evil goldsmith fell into the well with us. That guy was CREEPY!

Indian Monkey (Source)

Story of the Snake:

Never again will I ever go hunting after frogs! Damn those things can jump!!! There I was lunging after this delicious-looking frog when all of the sudden I was falling into a deep, wet hole! What the hell!!! Then I begin to basically drown in this foot of water when a furry thing picked me up and put me on another furry thing. Once I finally got the water out of my mouth and eyes, I was able to see a monkey and a tiger just staring at me. It was a pretty uncomfortable situation to say the least.

I was stuck down there for what felt like an eternity, and those two would not shut up. No, don’t mind me, I’m just trying to sleep! They finally stopped talking when that man fell in the hole. Not really sure how they felt, but I did not get good vibes from that guy. I swear at one point I saw a blazing fire twinkling in his eyes.

That Brahman that pulled me out was a swell guy! He ended up getting into a bit of trouble, though.
Apparently the tiger (moron) gave the Brahman jewelry or something, and the Brahman brought the jewelry to the goldsmith. Well, the jewelry belonged to the Prince, and when the goldsmith saw it he went and told the King and Queen that the Brahman stole the jewelry. Obviously the royals were not happy with this and had the Brahman fettered. I had told him not to trust that evil man in the well, but does anyone listen to me? NO!!! So then I was forced to bite the Queen so I could save his sorry ass from the trouble he got himself into.

I do not enjoy biting people, but I promised the Brahman that I would help him out. My plan worked too. I bite the Queen so no antidote can save her except for the touch of the Brahman, Brahman tells them he can help, Brahman touches Queen, Queen is healed, Brahman is a hero, and I slither away scot-free. Thank god it worked! I am truly exhausted.

Naja Naja (Source) 

Author's Note. These three stories are based off The Ungrateful Man. In the original story a Brahman is kicked out of his house by his wife and told to go find food for his starving family. During his long journey, he begins to search for water and stumbles upon a well that his hidden in overgrown grass. In the well are a tiger, a monkey, a snake, and a man. The animals ask him to set them free and, after some debating, the Brahman does so. The animals let him know that they are indebted to him and they also warn him not to let the man out because the man is evil, then they go on their way. The Brahman becomes filled with guilt and lets the man out, discovering that he is a goldsmith. The Brahman visits the monkey, who gives him food, and then the tiger, who gives him a necklace and other gold. Then the Brahman visits the goldsmith so that the goldsmith may sell the fine objects he just acquired from the tiger. The goldsmith recognizes the necklace and tells the King about it since the necklace belonged to the Prince. The Brahman is then seized and going to be killed. He then asks for the snake's help. The snake decides to bite the Queen so only the Brahman’s touch can save her. The Brahman tells the King everything that happened and the Brahman is rewarded and made a hero, while the goldsmith is punished.

 I chose to write it from the three animal's perspectives because they were all included in the story, but not necessarily present the entire way through. It also allowed me to give more personality to the story through the three different personalities, as well as a back-story.

Bibliography. The Panchatantra of Vishnu Shama, translated by Arthur W. Ryder (1925).

Week 14 Reading Diary A: Ryder's Panchatantra

Ryder's Panchatantra

I was very excited when I saw that these were nested stories. I remember doing a storytelling over these last semester and loved it, so I am hoping to it again with this!

Introduction: Basically the king wants his sons to be intelligent and so they get a teacher to teach them the 5 books.

Numskull and the Rabbit: basically a lion is eating all the animals in the forest. The animals tell him to stay home and they will send one animal a say so he does not slaughter all of their families. The lion agrees saying that if he does not receive food everyday he will kill all of the animals. Each day the animals took turns sending one animal to the lion. On the day it was the rabbits turn, the rabbit decided to trick the lion. The rabbit tells the lion a story, saying that he was traveling with 4 other rabbits when they got stopped by another lion and that the other lion wanted to meet the original lion so the could fight to be king/master of all the other animals. The rabbit lead the lion to a well, the lion saw his own reflection in it, thought it was the other lion, jumped into the well to fight the other lion and died.

The Ungrateful Man: A Brahman helped a tiger, monkey, and a snake out of a well. They each pledged to help him back. He then helped a goldsmith out of the well. There was some trouble and the Brahman was to be killed. The snake helped him. The Brahman then told the king what happened and the goldsmith was punished while the Brahman was rewarded. It was a great story! I'm not really sure how to make it into a storytelling, but I greatly enjoyed it.

Asiatic Lion (Source)

Week 13 Famous Last Words

I have always had a certain philosophy about group projects, but this semester confirms how absolutely horrible they are. In one of my classes I have to do a major group project and presentation that basically makes up my entire grade, and my partner is absolutely useless. Here I am doing the bulk of the work and research and whenever I ask her a question the answer is always, “I don’t know.” It is so frustrating. So my goal for this week is to get everything done early in this class so that I can focus on all of my studies for that one. Here is hoping I can get it done.

This weekend was actually pretty exciting. I was on Sooner Scandals Executive Committee and this weekend was our show! I am proud to say that the act I was Liaison for made third place! It was an amazing time. I love being part of Sooner Scandals Exec because it allows be to see everything that is happening behind the scenes. I also get to know some fun, new, and exciting people. Being a senior definitely made the whole experience more special as well. Although, I was absolutely exhausted in the end and just passed out as soon as I got home at the end of the night.

In other news, we only have two weeks left of school before final exams and graduation. Needless to say, I am beginning to freak out a bunch. I just feel as though I have nothing done and that I am procrastinating everything so incredibly much. It just feels like there is not enough time in the day to sleep and eat and get all of my work done. I can definitely say that senior-itis is definitely kicking in. I just want to do nothing for three days. Personally, I would very much like to just sit on a beach for a week, that would be the dream.

Beach (Source)

Week 13 Storytelling: Anjika's Journey

I was once married to a man who did not love me. He decided to marry Yuktasri, who was younger than me. Yuktasri was wicked. Day and night she would spit criticisms and insults at me. I was constantly abused as she forced me to do all of the housework, smiling as she gave me just enough food to keep me barely breathing.

One day, while our husband was out of town, Yuktasri ordered me to check her hair for lice. I complied with her demand and quietly began my task. As I was tediously combing through her hair, Yuktasri sprang up and lunged toward me in a fit of rage! I looked up at her from the floor and in her hand was the entirety of my hair, which she had swiftly ripped off my head.

My eyes filled with tears as she kicked me out of the house. Now, both starving and bald, I took off in the direction of the forest. There was nothing left for me to live for.

As I shuffled along, I came across an unkempt cotton plant. I gathered together some sticks to fastened a broom and swept the ground around the plant. I did this again to a plantain tree, a very messy shed of a Brahmani bull, and a tulasi plant. I found it odd that each of them would bless me; I was just cleaning.

Continuing my journey I ran into the hut of a muni. I watched in from behind as he sat cross-legged in meditation.

Suddenly he yelled at me to stand in front of him. Needless to say I was startled that he even knew of my presence, and a little bit frightened. He asked me of my woes and I trembled as I told him of my home life. The muni told me to plunge myself once in the near by lake and then return to him, and so I did.

I immersed myself in the cool water and felt calm. I looked into the water for my reflection but did not it. Instead, I saw another woman staring back at me. This woman had long black hair and a perfectly fair complexion. She was young and beautiful. Staring down at the woman, I felt something brush against my heels. I turned my gaze to them and saw long black hair brushing against my ankles. I reached down to grab the hair and suddenly there was more, this time draped across my shoulder. I looked up, thinking that there must be someone standing above me, but there was no one. That was when I realized that the woman I was looking at in the water was me!

I returned to the muni all shiny and new. He told me to grab any whicker basket of my choosing from his hut. There must have been a hundred baskets, but I did as he requested and brought to him a modest-looking basket. When I opened it, the basket was filled with gold, pearls, and other precious stones! The muni said it would never become empty.

I bowed before him in gratitude and then he and I silently parted ways.

On my return home, I ran into the tulasi plant, the Brahmani bull, the plantain tree, and the cotton plant. Each stopped me and gifted me with something special. The tulasi plant told me that my husband would love me warmly. The Brahmani bull gave me two shell ornaments that, when shook, would give me any ornament I wanted. The plantain tree give me a leaf that, when moved, would give me all kinds of agreeable food. Lastly, the cotton plant gifted me one of its own branches that, when shook, would give me clothes made of cotton, silk and purple.

I shook the branch and sure enough a fabric of fine glossy silk fell across my lap. I put on the silk cloth and continued home.

As I approached the front of my house I saw Yuktasri. The look on her face was priceless when she realized who I was!

Honestly, I felt sorry for all of the wicked she held in her heart. I decided that I would tell her how I received all of my gifts and beauty. I then gave her clothing, ornaments, and other treasures using the gifts I had received. I did not expect her to say thank you, but I was not expecting her to just take off in a huff.

It was nice to be home again, and even more so to have the place to myself. I felt incredibly blessed and grateful to have been given such magnificent splendor.

As cleaned up the quite, empty house, I head the sound of heavy footsteps down the road. I looked out and saw Yuktasri, as bald as wicked as she looked before. She was pissed.

As she was approaching the house, so did my husband arrive home. I walked out onto our porch to greet him. The look on his face was of pure and utter shock…then he smiled. He ran and grabbed me in his arms and has not stopped adoring me since.

With Yuktasri as our maid-servant and our incredible wealth and resources still intact, my husband has loved me incessantly for all of these years and we have truly lived happily-ever-after.

illustration by Warwick Goble (Gutenberg)

Author's Note. This is the story The Bald Wife. The storytelling is basically the same from the original story, except I chose to write it from the elder wife’s perspective. The entire story is basically about how if you are kind on the inside it will shine through and if you are wicked on the inside it will show on the outside as well. In the original story, they did not have names so I decided that I would name them. Yuktasri is a Hindi name for wicked and disobedient, while Anjika means blessed for she was greatly blessed by the kindness of her heart. When I wrote it from Anjika’s perspective I decided not to place a lot of emphasis on her beauty except for when she discovers that she is now young and beautiful. By doing this, I felt as though it highlighted her kind heart and how that played a major role in her transformation rather than her physical appearance. By writing the story from Anjika’s perspective, I was able to add more detail and let Anjika’s voice have a part in the story. I was also able to better capture how awful her life originally was and how wicked Yuktasri was.

Bibliography. Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day, with illustrations by Warwick Goble (1912).

Week 13 Reading Diary B: Bengal Fairy Tales

Bengal Fairy Tales

All of the stories were great and fairly entertaining. Currently I am having issues with my creativity: I want to be creative but my brain does not.

Ocean (Source)

Week 12 Famous Last Words

For this week I feel pretty damn ambivalent. It is almost as if I am a world wind, or tornado, of emotions. Basically it went from happy, to being angry with my capstone professor and class, to happy again when my mom came to visit, to tragically sad. Definitely not one of my better weeks. Last night my boyfriend and I decided to break up because he is relocating across the country after graduation in May. Needless to say I have been a complete and total wreck for the better part of a day. Luckily for me, I have enough schoolwork and organization events this week that I will be plenty busy and have enough distractions to keep my mind occupied. That’s a positive, right?

Anyway, it was good having my mom in town this week. Since I am on Campus Activities Council Sooner Scandals Exec again this year I don’t really get to have a Mom’s Weekend because I am too busy with my involvement with that, so my mom and I celebrate Mom’s Weekend the week before! It kind of makes it more special this way because things are a little less crazy and it is almost as if there is more stuff to do. Since she arrived in the evening on Thursday, we decided we would just hang out for the evening and rest. Friday was awesome! We drove up to Oklahoma City and went and saw the Murrah Federal Building Museum and Memorial (aka, the Oklahoma City bombing.) It was truly breath taking. The rest of the day went really well. We saw an old car parade, went to go have an early dinner and drinks at a rooftop bar, and then we went to the NCAA Men’s Gymnastic national championship where we got to see OU take first!!! It was crazy! It was pretty much a rollercoaster of a weekend to say the least.

Murrah Federal Building Memorial (Source)

Week 12 Essay

This weeks readings were all incredibly enjoyable. I had the most difficult time deciding which story to do for a storytelling. This week I read the Jataka Tales (Babbitt) and enjoyed every bit of it! What I liked about the stories was that they were all so pleasantly enjoyable, yet incredibly short. I definitely could see these stories being told to children at bed time or at a campfire or sleep over. They had such amazing morals to them as well.

I found the trickster stories to be more fun and less about values and morals. What caught my attention though, was that the trickster was always a wolf. I was not sure why this was or if it had something to do with the Indian culture, but it was definitely something worth noting.

As I said before I had a very difficult time deciding what story to write about. Two that captured my attention were the story of Beauty and Brownie and How the Turtle Saved His Own Life. I found them both to be of good moral standing and great learning tools, especially Beauty and Brownie! It is so useful to see things compared in that way.

Many of the stories I read were very familiar. I am pretty sure I have read the story The Turtle Who Couldn’t Stop Talking about five times now. The one that I was not expecting to find familiar was The Princes and theWater-Sprite. The story reminded me so much of the Mahabharata when the Pandava brothers were out searching for a deer and they came across a lake where each brother ignored the deity of the river and drank the water anyway. It was not until Yudhistira answered the deity’s questions correctly that the brothers were able to go free.

Oral Storytelling (Source)

Week 12 Storytelling: Quinlan and Quinton take a Quack at Migration

Two Ducks named Quinlan and Quinton lived with their father and mother and flock of Ducks near a lake. One day their father called them to him and said, "winter is quickly approaching and the Ducks are in danger. It will be best if you fly south for the winter, and you each must lead your own team of Ducks to take with you.”

“What’s the danger, Father?” they asked him.

“When winter arrives the harsh winds, frozen waters, and freezing temperatures will make it nearly impossibly to survive. These harsh conditions will destroy all of the food we eat and make it impossible for us to fly,” the father said. “Many Ducks have attempted to survive here during the winter, but none have prevailed.”

“Shall you go away with us?” Quinlan asked.

“No, your mother and I, and some of the other old Ducks have a location we migrate to every year,” said the father. “It is a small, warm pond with enough food for us, but there is not enough food for you and your flock. You must lead your team down south to a warm pond or lake where there is plenty of food for you, and remain there until the pond here is not longer frozen. Only then may you bring your flock back here. But you must be careful. You must travel high in the sky above the clouds, because the hunters will see you if you travel low and under the clouds. And you must not fly over the villages where hunters live.”

So Quinlan and Quinton and their flocks set out. Quinlan traveled high above the clouds and did not go near any villages, and at last he led his team safely to a small lake with a great deal food. Not a single Duck was lost under Quinlan’s command.

But Quinton forgot what his father had said. Early each morning he took off to the skies with his team, flying low in the skies so that he could see the sights below. When he saw a village, he led his team right over it. Over and over again the hunters saw the V formation in the sky, and they killed many, many of the Ducks in Quinton’s team.

When winter was nearly over and the pond was finally melted, the Ducks began their journey back to their home. Quinlan led all his flock back, but idiotic Quinton traveled low in the sky, and again flew his flock over the villages. When he reached the pond only a few were left of all Quinton’s flock.

Pair of White Ducks (Source)

Author's Note. This storytelling is based on the Jataka tale Beauty and Brownie. In the original story, Beauty and Brownie are two deer that have been instructed by their father to each lead a herd of deer to a safe location from the forest while the corn is being harvested. Their father gives them explicit instructions not to travel by day and not to travel near the villages. Beauty completely obeys his father’s instructions and does not lose a single member of his herd. However, Brownie was stupid and both traveled during the day and near the villages, doing the exact opposite of his father’s instructions. Brownie had very few of his herd still alive.

I keep the story almost completely the same for my storytelling. I changed the characters from deer to ducks because ducks migrate every year. I though of this story as the first time Quinlan and Quinton were leading the migration. Since they were ducks who were leaving for migration, I decided the conditions that required them to leave should pertain to that concept. I also changed the duck’s names from Beauty and Brownie to Quinlan and Quinton. I felt as though names that began with the letter “Q” were most appropriate for a story about ducks because quack.

Bibliography. More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, illustrated by Ellsworth Young (1922). 

Week 12 Reading Diary B: Jataka Tales (Babbitt)

Jataka Tales (Babbitt)

The Golden Goose would be really cool to retell with another animal. It reminded me of that children's book about the fish with the sparkly scales. This would be fun to do with a porcupine, and alligator, a fish, a deer, maybe a snake shedding its skin.

 Many of the story's from this unit were about trickery, which are all very entertaining stories but ones I am not sure how to retell. I found it interesting that the trickster was a wolf the majority of the time (5 times actually). I wonder if this is because wolves were more prevalent than most other carnivores or if they were more difficult to deal with.

Beauty and Brownie was an interesting contrast of two different personalities. It makes me think of how different siblings can be from one another. This would also make a good storytelling. Possibly about birds migrating down south for the winter?

Children's Book (Source)

Week 12 Reading Diary A: Jatakas Tales (Babbitt)

Jataka Tales (Babbitt)


How the Turtle Saved His Own Life was an interesting story. It was about 2 princes who had a pond. The pond was filled and a turtle was in it. The boys thought the turtle was a demon so they asked their father, the King, if he would get rid of it. Ultimately it was decided that the turtle be thrown into a rough river, which was ok for the turtle because that was where he was originally from and his element. I could see this being a storytelling.

The OX Who Won the Forfeit  was a good story about moral character, second chances, and kindness. I very much liked this one and I could definitely see it being a good story to tell children.

The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking is a story I have heard many times before. I am pretty sure I have actually read at least four different versions of this story. It got me thinking, what would have happened if the turtle could stop talking?

The Foolish, Timid Rabbit reminded me a lot of the story of Chicken Little, aka "the sky is falling."

The Banyan Deer was a fantastic story! Probably one of my favorites. It reminded me of this story I had once heard about a similar situation during the Holocaust.

The Princes and the Water-Sprite reminded me a great deal of The Mahabharata! I am also beginning to see a similar theme of the moon, sun, and stars in Indian fables. Could be a good storytelling, maybe from the middle or eldest brothers perspective.

Jataka Tales (Source) 

Week 11 Famous Last Words

I would be understating it if I were to say that this week has been hectic. The business and stress have been absolutely insane. This week I actually had to drive all the way down to Dallas, Texas right after one of my classes so that I could go to a job interview the next morning. Then after the interview I had to quickly change so that I could drive all the way back up here to Norman. I basically drove to Dallas and back in about twenty-four hours!!! How crazy is that? And because of all this craziness of classes and projects and presentations and job interviews, my body has literally been running on empty so at this point I am just crashing. I literally feel asleep for about five minutes while I was typing this! I just feel as though I need a break from things. I have been trying to get ahead of everything, but some how that has backfired as well. I honestly think that I just need an entire day to sleep and then maybe my body will restart itself, kind of like a reboot button.

Anyway, Easter was pretty nice yesterday. On Saturday one of my closest girl friends and I went on an Easter egg hunt around our apartment complex. I am pretty sure the entire thing was rigged and the majority of the residents cheated. I got bored and at one point found a bunch of Cards Against Humanity cards scattered all around the back of the complex. It was practically an entire box! So she and I decided to pick them up and pair them together and leave them on the little clips outside of peoples front doors. It was really funny and a really nice way to spend some time with a good friend.

 Ukrainian Easter Eggs (Source) 

Week 11 Essay

While I did enjoy the readings (my favorite of which being the Mahabharata), the Untextbook is definitely one of my favorite options. I think what makes the untextbook option so much fun is that there is so much variety with that option because you are able to read so many different stories.

This week I read the Santal Folktales. I thought some of the stories were interesting and entertaining, but this was not my favorite unit thus far. My personal favorite was definitely the Indian Fairy Tales. The stories were not too long and not too detailed but they were incredibly fun and entertaining. I wish that I were able to read them again and do another storytelling from this unit because I just loved it so much! I had read them once before last semester for Mythology and Folklore and did, what I consider, one of my best storytellings from that unit.

Back to the Santal Folktales… I am not quite sure why, but for some reason I had a difficult time deciding what to do for my storytelling. I had to have written at least the beginnings of three different stories and I still could not decide on which one to do. The stories were just not as exciting as some of the previous units and I found them to be more difficult when thinking creatively. Unfortunately it did not meet my expectations for this week, which was a little disappointing. Usually while I am reading I will be in the middle of a story and my mind will just start coming up with a storytelling. It is like a zap or like something within me just takes over, in a creative way of course! This one unit in particular did not seem to have as many connections as previous units I have read, but they were not bad.  

Busy Street in India (Source)