Essay: Lessons for Life

A lot of the stories from the Native Americans either tells a story to explain something that has happened or to teach some kind of lesson. In the story "How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite" there is actually a bit of both. These stories were meant to give meaning to history and to try to shape their futures by teaching life lessons on what is right and wrong. These lessons started the founding for the morals that the Natives developed. If these types of stories hadn't been made there may have not been a type of order because people are inherently not good and these lessons tell you of reasons to do right.

The first aspect that I noticed in this story and even in the title is the explanation of how the rattlesnake learned to bite. The foremost important reason for this story is the explanation. The snake needed some kind of way to protect itself from people that were annoying him because he had no way to be assertive. Since he needed some way of protecting himself he went to the Elder Brother who gave him fangs to bite anyone who annoyed the snake.

The second aspect of the story is the lesson of it and what the story is trying to teach. To me the story is don't push someone so far that they have to give themselves the upper hang and could eventually do harm to someone because of the pent up aggression that they feel. The snake eventually goes to the Elder Brother to get help because people have annoyed him so much about his rattler. He is too nice to say anything about it so when the Elder Brother gives him fangs he uses them to hurt and eventually kill the first person that annoys him after getting his fangs.

A ruined southwestern village

Storytelling Week 10: Snake Bite

One day in a land far away a long time ago there was a snake that lived. This snake's name was Bo and he was nothing like the snakes today. He had the softest heart and never wanted to hurt anyone. This story is his account of the turning point in his life and why snakes are the way they are today. You may never question why snakes are so mean and have a tendency to bite you after they shake their rattler. This is a story about the long ago relative of the common rattlesnake of today and why the rattlesnakes are so mean.

Hi. I hear you would like for me to tell you why rattlesnakes are so mean and have a tendency to bite people when provoked. It all started when I grew my beautiful rattler. Everyone came from miles around to see and hear the sound it made. At first I loved all the attention that my rattler brought to me. After a few months of everyone wanting to meet me, I began to become very annoyed by not being able to have any time alone. I started to lose sleep because people would want me to rattle for them during the night. I was just too nice to say no.

One day I had finally had enough and went to the Elder Brother for advice on what to do. He took a feather from his lip and cut it into short pieces and formed teeth with them. These teeth were so sharp they could easily pierce through skin and harm anyone that I bit. He also put some kind of poison in them so that when they pierced skin they would make the victim very sick. He told me "If anyone annoys you and will not leave you alone, just simply bite them and they will eventually learn when everyone sees how sick they get and slow the bit person dies."

Later that day Rabbit came to see my rattler and to hear its beautiful sound. I told him to leave me alone but he kept annoying me. He actually got mad at me and scratched me because I refused. I did as the Elder Brother told me to do and bit him. He scratched me again so I bit him again. This went on for multiple rounds until he finally gave up and went home. Later that night Rabbit became very sick. Instead of everyone seeing it my way everyone saw me as a bad person and exiled me from the land. I went into hiding so now when anyone comes around I simply bite them to remind them to leave me alone.

This is how the modern cousin of the snake in this story came to be so mean and obtain fangs. When you are around a snake always remember the reason why they are mean and do not taunt them. You may end up just like Rabbit and regret what you did.

Modern-day cousin of Snake

Author's Note:

This story is based off the first half of "How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite." I began the story with a little background to give a good beginning to the story. The story starts out by the rattlesnake having a rattler that everyone wants to see. When he gets annoyed by everyone wanting to hear his rattler, he goes to the Elder Brother to ask him what to do. The Elder Brother gives him fangs and tells him to bite anyone who bothers him. Rabbit was the first victim and would scratch rattlesnake because he wouldn't shake his rattler. Rattlesnake bit Rabbit, which eventually killed him. The rest of the story is just written in first person instead of third person. I chose to write in this style to be able to give a better idea about how the rattlesnake thought about the situation and why he bit rabbit. I feel like it helps to give a more personal sense to the rattlesnake's character. The picture I chose is of a rattlesnake because that is what the story is about and how they became to be like the modern rattlesnake. 

Bibliography:

"How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite" by Katherine Berry Judson, from Southwestern and California Legends (1912). Web Source: UNtextbook

Reading Diary B: California and the Old Southwest

"Origin of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Range":
Crow and Hawk fought over who would sit on the highest pole and made mountains from mud they took from duck's mouth to make the mountains.

"El Capitan":
Two boys were trapped on a mountain and a Measuring-Worm was the only one able to bring them down.

"The Children of Cloud":
The cloud's sons went to meet their father and was sent back and forth between cloud and wind until cloud challenged them to prove he was their father.


"Origin of the Raven and the Macaw":
A tribe had to choose between two eggs. The stronger tribe took away the raven egg and the weaker one settled for the macaw egg. The priest became the leader for the macaw tribe

"Coyote and the Hare":
Coyote caught hare and was going to kill him. Hare tricked coyote into letting him stand to tell him something. Hare ran and entered a house and tricked the coyote and escaped.

"Coyote and the Quails":
Story about how the quail tricked the coyote into thinking he ate himself and ended up trying to bite the quail but bit into a cactus and killed himself.

"How Bluebird and Coyote Got Their Colors"
The bluebird bathed on a blue lake for four mornings and four evening until he turned blue. The Coyote wanted to do the same. When he turned blue he walked around showing off and didn't watch where he was going and fell in the dirt and became the color of dirt.

"Coyote's eyes":
Coyote asked a bird to help him get his eyes brighter but after a few times of making them brighter the bird became annoyed and kept them. The bird then gave the coyote yellow eyes.

"How the Rattlesnake Learned to Bite"
The Elder Brother gave the snake fangs to bite because people kept annoying him to hear his rattlers. The snake then killed the rabbit and the animals hid the body from coyote.

"Coyote and the Rattlesnake":
Coyote tried to out scare rattlesnake and ended up with no food and had to hunt anyway.

Coyote hunting in the snow

Reading Diary A: California and the Old Southwest

"Three Coyote Creation Story":
The creation of people by coyote and eagle. The creation of mean by coyote and fox. The destruction and resurrection of men by coyote.

"The Creation of the World":
How the Earth Doctor created the world by stretching a piece of dirt and having the help of other animals to create it.

"Spider's Creation":
The creation of earth by the spider and how he separated the humans into clans. Also how he made people in charge of different aspects of earth.

"The Great Fire":
The creation of the sun by a hawk and coyote. The coyote gave the hawk a ball of dried reeds and told the hawk to fly into the sky snd set it on fire.

"Creation of Man":
The animals got together to decide what man should look like. The coyote, tricking everyone and cheating, won the contest.

"Old Man Above and the Grizzlies":
The old man lost his daughter to the world before. She married a bear and made the new human race. When her father found out he cursed them to walk on all fours.

"Creation of Mankind and the Flood"
How Earth Doctor created the earth but then killed all the humans and animals because of over crowding. The Elder Brother then wanted to destroy humans again but the Earth Doctor warned them of a great flood.

"The Fable of the Animals":
Man decided which animals would be prey to each other and who had the most and least strength. Coyote tried to stay awake all night to meet Man first but fell asleep late and was the last one awake.

"The Theft of Fire":
The coyote devised a plan to steal the fire form two old hags and passed it to different animals until it got to the ground squirrel who burned himself and still has a black stripe to this day.

"Coyote, Tortilla, and Mesquite Beans":
Coyote tried to trick a woman into giving her some tortillas and ended up drowning.

The coyote like the one in each story

Extra Reading Diary: Aesop's Fables (Jacobs)

"Birds, Part 1":
A fox tricked the crow into dropping a piece of cheese form his mouth so the fox could eat it. Another story a crow talks an eagle into dropping a tortoise on sharp rocks to break his shell.

"Birds, Part 2":
A man captured a bird to sing to him. When the bird refused to sing the man told him he would put the bird on toast. The bird told the man if he let him go he would tell him about something much better to eat. When let go the bird flew away.

"Insects, Snakes, Crabs":
A man's son stepped on a snake's tail so the snake turned and bit him and killed him. The man tok revenge and cut off part of the snake's tail. In turn the snake killed part of the man's cattle. When the man tried to make peace the snake denied.

"Frogs and Fish":
The frogs were living without order but still happy and careless. A few of the frogs when to Jove and asked for a ruler. Jove sent a log to them. When they realized the log wasn't living they asked for a different ruler so Jove sent a start that began eating all of them.

"Nature and Inanimate Objects":
The other organs of the body got mad at the stomach for not doing any of the work. The other organs went on strike and told the stomach he had to start working harder. When the hands stopped bringing food to the mouth the rest of the body got so weak they could not do their jobs. They all agreed they would start working again.

"Human's and Gods":
A man went to a satyr's house and he warmed his hands with his breath as well as cooled his soup with his breath. The Satyr thought of this as unnatural and kicked him out for blowing hot and cold air.

A bust of Aesop

Storytelling: Small and Swift

Hello, My name is Phil and I am known as a hummingbird to most people. From day to day I live my life as perhaps the smallest of the birds. People like to poke fun at me for being so small. Because I am to small I am about to move very quickly. I move so fast that no animal can keeps their eyes on me long enough to track where I am going.

There is one tobacco plant that is shared between all animals. One day the plant was stolen. Each of the biggest strongest animals tried to go and retrieve the plant but were killed one by one. Finally when all hope was lost I went to the other animals and told them I would try to get the plant back for them. I was laughed at for being so small. At first I wasn't even been considered for the job but I kept asking and kept asking until I was given a test. A plant was place in the middle of a field and I was told to retrieve it without being noticed. With all of the animals watching, I flew quickly to the plant and grabbed a few leaves and seeds. The other animals had thought I had ran from being too scared and never saw me actually from to the plant. When I returned with the leaves I was given the job.

On the morning of the great journey I woke up and ate my usual breakfast like I do every other day. On my way to the meeting place for my great journey I thought about my trip I am about to take and what might happen if I were to be killed. When I reached the start all of the other animals were wishing me luck and hoping to see me soon.

When I left it was just a straight easy flight. Once I reached the island of the dreaded monster I had to be very quiet and work quickly. I flew right over the monster and he never even noticed anyone was near. I found the tobacco plant and grabbed as many leaves and seeds as I could handle to carry. I quickly flew back to the other animals with the leaves and seeds. The animals threw me a huge party for saving their tobacco plant and have not looked down on me for being so small ever since.

Hummingbird

Author's Note:

This story is based off of the story "How They Brought Back the Tobacco". I chose to write this story in first person instead of the third person storytelling style. The picture I chose is a hummingbird as in the one like the main character of the story.

Bibliography:

"How They Brought Back the Tobacco" by James Mooney, from Cherokee Myths (1900). Web Source: UNtextbook.

Reading Diary B: Cherokee

"The Terrapin's Escape From the Wolves":
This is a story about how a terrapin tricked the wolves by getting the wolves to trow him into the river. He escaped but broke his back and sowed his back back together but still has the scars.

"The Ball Game of the Birds and the Animals":
A story about the creation of the bat and flying squirrel and how the martin made his home in a gourd.

"The Race Between the Crane and the Hummingbird":
The crane and hummingbird fell in love with a woman. The woman told them to race and the winner would be with her. The crane won but she didn't really want to be with him so she stayed single.

"The Owl Gets Married":
a story of how a man would go off to hunt for his wife and turn into an owl. The wife found out and kicked him out of her house.

"The Huhu Gets Married":
A mother had her daughter marry a man so he could work for them. He went to work for two days and the mother hadn't seen him or any progress so she kicked him out of the house.

"The Red Man and the Uktena":
A hunter stumbles on a man being killed by a snake and kills the snake. The man being killed was the red and man gave him a gift that would always bring him good luck while hunting.

"The Snake Boy":
A story about how a boy turned into a snake because his family was jealous of his relationship with his grandmother.

"The Bullfrog Lover":
A man had the mouth of a tadpole and tricked a woman into marrying him then was kicked out of the family when they discovered what he really is.

Cherokee People in traditional clothing

Reading Diary A: Cherokee Diary

"How the World was Made":
A story about the beginning of the world and how everything became as it is known today. The sun was made seven hand widths high. The owl and panther were given night vision because they stayed awake for seven days.

"The First Fire":
A story about how the animals brought the first fire from a mysterious place onto the land they live on.

"The Journey to the Sunrise":
A story about a few men's unsuccessful journey to meet the sun and question where he is from and what he is like.

"Origin of the Pleiades and the Pine":
The story of how the star pattern "Pleiades" came to be along with the pine tree. Seven boys were punished by their mothers and danced to be sent someplace else. They were put into the heavens while one was put into the ground.

"The Moon and the Thunders":
This story is of multiple forms of what the moon and sun are and it's various characteristics. One tells why the sun is only out at night and why it has dark spots.

"The Deluge":
A version of the Noah's Ark story from the bible.

"How They Brought Back the Tobacco":
The story about the fail of every animal to get the tobacco back. The hummingbird was the only animal swift enough to steal it back.

"The Rabbit Goes Duck Hunting":
A story of how the otter and rabbit were in a competition and the otter tricked the rabbit into roping and goose and ended up in a stump without a door until he tricked a family into letting him out.

"How The Terrapin beat the Rabbit":
A story of how the Terrapin tricked the Rabbit and won the race.

"The Deer and the Rabbit":
The first part tells how the deer was awarded the prize of antlers for a race in which he won becsaue the rabbit was accused of cheating. The second part tells of how the rabbit tricked the deer into letting him shave his teeth flat.

Painting of a Cherokee Family

Reading Plan

Week 9: Cherokee

Week 10: Great Plains

Week 11: Robin Hood

Week 12: Celtic Tales

Week 13: Italian

Week 14: Inferno

Celtic Cross

Reflections: looking forward

I would like to read more stories about the native american cultures and what their belief might be. I would also like to try to read the stories in different locations throughout the remaining semester. I need to come up with a better schedule and work on a few extra assignments to bring my score up some and work toward getting an A for the class. I would like to work on these assignments in the mornings instead of at night. Also the growth mindsets seem to be a good tool to help with writing and would like to learn to use them more. With the extra credit assignments I would be doing curation  projects.

A plant growing up through solidified lava representing a new beginning

Reflections: Looking Back

This class has helped me the most for writing so far in school. It gives me a chance to write about something completely random, in a sense, and then to get feedback then to make it better. I also like to read other people's stories so that I can get a good a view of a few different styles of writing. My favorite readings are the stories about how things became to be known as they are now. Particularly how the world was started and why things were created the way they are. I haunt really created a concrete schedule for this class but I usually try to work on things for this class late in the evening. Most of the time I do my work in my room at my desk but sometimes I work in my kitchen just to study someplace else. I actually have been practicing the growth mindset things I read. Ive been trying various types of studying for this class and even others. It has helped me to keep focus on what I'm studying so that I don't get with what I'm working on.

The Beginning used to reflect my interest in stories to read

Storytelling Week 7: Watch Over

Hi. My name is Phillip and I belong to a flock of individuals known as the ravens. Every day I go out and find food for my family and look out over the mountains. Each day around noon I fly over the small river runs through a valley. The water in this river is the most appealing water you could imagine. It has the clearest water in the land which draws many people to it. It also has added minerals for flavor. Now these minerals aren't all good minerals. You see, there is a snake at the start of it that pours his venom into the river. The reason for this is a very long story, so I'll have to save it for another day. Just know the snake is punishing anyone that drinks from his river. I have watched many people come to the river to drink after a long day. Most of the animals know not to drink form this evil river. Even the tiniest drop of this water will kill someone but because most of the people that come are very thirsty they drink many cups of water from it. I try to get to the people before they drink to try and save their lives but most people either brush me off or think I'm just a crazed bird.

One day on my normal flyover I came across a man walking in the woods. I had been doing a great job of turning everyone away from the river before they could reach it but somehow this man actually had snuck past me. He looked as if he had been walking a long time and was pretty thirsty. He was headed right for the river! The closer he got to the river and the closer to death I would fly a little closer to swoop in at any time so I could save his life. I knew that once he laid eyes on the river it would be much harder for me to stop him and be would try to kill me for trying to stop him form drinking the water. When he came into eye shot of the river he broke a large leaf off a tree and made it into a cup. Once he had dipped the cup into the poisoned water I knocked it out of his hand and into the river. He became very angry with me and looked like he wanted to kill me. He walked over to the tree again and grabbed another leaf and made it as he did before and walked to the river. He filled the cup once again and as before I knocked it out of his hands and into the river. The man grabbed the nearest rock he could find and sent it flying right at me. He hit my head with the rock. Luckily he didn't kill me. It just hurt really back and made me kind of dizzy. I flew to the near tree the wait out the dizzy spell so that I could warn him again but before I had time to he dipped another cup in the water and drank it. As you might have guessed he didn't make it far from the bank before he dropped dead. I flew home and took my family some food he had in his bag. 

The raven trying to warn the man

Author's Note:

The story that I based this story off of is "How the Raven Saved the Hunter." I changed the story from third person into the first person point of view from the raven. I like stories that are in the first person because it is easier to place yourself into the story and live it like the raven who is telling the story. I changed the story from the raven dying to the man dying at the end because who likes the good guy to die in the end? In the original story the man is a hunter that is on a hunt and goes to a river and a random raven is bothering him as he approaches the river. The hunter kills the raven after the raven knocks three bowls out of his hands. Afterwards the hunter travels upstream and realizes there is a snake a the beginning putting poison in the river and feels terrible about killing the bird that tried to save his life. I changed the ending of the story to make it more of a happy ending because the good character wins instead of being killed. I chose the picture above just because it is a simple picture of what a raven looks like in case someone does not know. 

Bibliography:

"How the Raven Saved the Hunter" by A.L. Shelton, from Tibetan Folk Tales (1925). Web Source: UNtextbook.

Reading Diary B: Tibetan Folklore

"How the Rabbit Killed the Lion": The lion demanded that every animal Kotow to him. One day the rabbit didn't and the lion was angry at the rabbit. The lion asked the rabbit why he hadn't and he told him a witch delayed him. The lion went to the river to find the demon and saw his reflection. Thinking it was the demon, the lion jumped into the river and drowned.

"How the Raven Saved the Hunter": A hunter was very thirsty on a hunt one evening. When he made a cup of water a raven knocked it out of his hand. Thinking the raven did this on accident, he tried to again. The raven knocked the cup out once again. The hunter, angry, killed the raven. He thought to himself, there must be a reason for this. He traveled to the mouth of the river where a snake was poisoning the river.

"How the Scared Duck Got His Yellow Breast": A frog and a rabbit raced to the bottom of a mountain for a pot of gold. The frog had two other frogs help him to trick the rabbit into thinking he was moving faster down the hill. The frog won and recruited the duck to help him carry the gold. The duck thought the gold was so pretty that he smeared it on his chest.

"The Man and the Monkeys": A man went to a place where monkeys lived and thought it was a nice place to move his family. He fell asleep in a tree and asked a money for help. When the monkey became strong enough he helped him out of the water. The man went to sleep on the ground while the monkeys chattered above him. This annoyed him to when the monkeys went to sleep he shook the tree and made them all fall out to their death.

Tibetan Folk Group 

Reading Diary A: Japanese Mythology

"The Tiger and the Frog": The story is similar to the one told in the african unit. The frog tricks the tiger into thinking he is strong and can kill tigers.

"The Cony Who Got into Bad Company": A rabbit was running around with a rat and got him into trouble so they both got their whiskers, ears, and tails cut off.

"The Story of the Donkey and the Rock": A judge tries a rock against a donkey and charged every person own attendance an amount of money because of their curiosity and used that money to pay off a debt.

"How the Fox Fell a Victim to His Own Deceit": The tiger and fox grew up together when they found a new friend, the calf. The fox became jealous of the tiger and calf and tried to make them kill each other. The tiger ended up killing the fox and eating him.

"The Ingratitude of Man": A man helped out a rat, snake, crow, and a man. The man betrayed him and had him sent to prison while the other three helped him be freed and to survive while in prison.

"Covetousness": A fox, elephant, and bear were killed. Seven robbers found them and three split up to find water while the others prepared the food. The first three poisoned the water and the other four poisoned the food so they all died.

"The Wise Carpenter": A painter tried to get the carpenter killed by sending him to heaven. On his return from "heaven", the carpenter tells the kind the painter must now go. The painter is killed and end up with a one way ticket to heaven.

"The Man and the Ghost": A ghost stole the soul of the king's son and gave it to a man. The man dressed as a holy beggar and healed the son by returning his soul. The man was given half of the kid's riches in return.

"The Story of the Two Devils": A fake fortune teller destroyed two devils who were killing off the king's sons and was paid by being given power as string as the king's.

Tibetan Monk

Extra Reading Diary: Russian Folktales

Russian Folktales:

"The Dead Mother": A babies mother dies and every day the baby would cry until nighttime when they heard someone go into the room. The family then hid until the someone came into the room. They realized it had been the mother then went to the baby and it was dead.

"The Treasure": An old man went to burry his wife and found a pot of gold in which he paid for the funeral and a fine feast after. The pope became greedy and came to trick the old man out of his money. The sheep suit the pope wore to trick the old man was then stuck to his body and wouldn't come off.

"The Bad Wife": There was a man with a bad wife. She did not listen to him and always did the exact opposite. One day he trapped her in a bottomless pit. After a few days he threw a rope to get her out and out crawled a demon begging the man to not send him back for the wife was awful. The demon helped the man obtain countless amounts of money. Afterwards the man tricked the demon back into the pit.

"The Three Copecks": An orphan received a cat and let a merchant take it with him across the sea. When the merchant was in a inn the keeper asked for the cat and gave him a large amount of gold for it. When returned to the land he gave the orphan the gold and the boy went and bought incense with the gold and burned it. An old man appeared and gave him a wife.

"The Miser": A rich man owed a poor old man money and could not pay him back because he didn't have enough change. He then tried to trick the old man into thinking he was dead and eventually gave in and split all of his money with the old man.

"The Water Snake": A girl married a snake and when she went home for a visit her mother snuck off and killed the snake. The girl fried and told her two children to fly off as bird.

A copeck from the stories