Storytelling Week 14: Hard Lessons

Once upon a time there were two people that lived a long time ago. These two men just so happened to be brothers. One of the men was very wealthy and had more money than his younger brother who was quite poor but content with his life. The older man had all this money but was pretty unhappy because he had to work most of his days away. The younger brother only worked a half-day so that he had plenty of time to spend with his family and enjoy his youth.

One day the younger brother sat down with the older brother for lunch and they discussed their lives and how each of them was doing. The older brother was telling the younger about all of the money he had acquired throughout life along with all of the things he owned. Even though the older brother had all these things the younger brother could tell he was unhappy. The younger brother questioned his happiness, which made the older brother extremely angry. He told his brother to go away because he knew nothing of money and was in no position to give him advice.

The younger brother took these words hard and left to live in another country. He lived there for many years and raised a happy family. He still didn't have much money but yet made enough to keep his family happy and give them what they needed to grow up strong. When the younger brother became old he had heard his brother had become very ill and he wished to say goodbye to his brother. This trip took him many weeks because there were no faster ways of traveling back then. The only way to travel was to walk with a donkey carrying your food and water.

When the younger brother arrived home he was met by a group of people that led him to his older brother's deathbed. He lay there and listened to his brother tell him how he became so successful and had all this money. Later he admitted that he should have listened to the younger brother and worked less so that he could enjoy his youth and be with his family. The older brother felt sorry for the harsh words he had said to his younger brother and decided to give him all of his wealth as long as he promised to take care of his family.

This story was a good lesson to be learned and from then on it was told to every generation of the family to remind them to never work so much that all of that money and time would be wasted with no memories of having a family that survived to old age.

fox and cat

Author's Note

This story was based off the story "The Fox and the Cat." The original story is about a fox bragging about how he had so many tricks to escape dogs to a cat that said he only had and needed one. The cat asked to fox to show him tricks to escape the dog. When the fox tried to show the cat the bag of tricks held down the fox so the dogs attacked him while the cat jumped into the tree to escape the dogs. The stories are similar, both had a characters who were killed because they had too much of something that weighed them down in life while the other had just enough to let them survive. The picture I chose is from the original story where the cat jumps in the tree while the fox gets attacked. I thought this picture would give the reader a good idea of what the original story was about. I chose to write the story with people as the main characters to give a more personal feel to the reader to learn a lesson on not what to do. 

Bibliography

"The Fox and the Cat" by the Grimm Brothers, from Grimm Brothers (Ashliman) (1998-2013) Web Source: UNtextbook

Storytelling for Week 12: Discovery

Not too long ago there was a genius that was born by the name of Jim. Everyone knew this little kid was going to do great things and make great discoveries as soon as he was born because he was solving basic math equations as soon as he was one year old. He grew up being the top of his class and even graduated high school at fourteen. He even graduated from college three short years later. He had every company trying to hire him on to do research at their facilities to find a cure for diseases.

One day he actually accepted an offer from a biochemical company to look into a cure for different diseases. He worked many years to find an antibiotic that would work against bacterial infections. The company he worked for started to lose faith in him and started to pull money from his research facility because they could not see any progress. No matter the amount of begging he did to keep his funding he could not. Even though he showed scientific evidence that showed progress, the business people that ran the company did not understand the evidence and saw no progress for themselves.

Eventually he asked a member of the board of the company for a few more thousand dollars because he was so close. This member he asked favored the young scientist so he funded him the money. A month later he discovered a drug that would cure almost all bacteria. The drug would come to be known as penicillin. Just to make sure the drug was healthy for people in the long run he ran many test on animals for short and long term effects. He would not release the drug to the company because he did not know the long terms of its effects yet.

Sadly the testing took so long that another scientist that goes by the name of Alexander Fleming discovered the drug because he had worked with Jim until the company cut the funding and he had to leave. Alexander knew how to find and isolate the drug so he did it right after Jim. Alexander didn't care about the effects of the drug in the long run. He only saw the short term effects of healing any bacterial infection and published his finding immediately.

This lead to the finding being credited to Fleming. Later Jim realized that the long term effects of using penicillin would whatever bacteria being treated to create a mutation against the penicillin and to grow stronger and healthier than before. By the time Jim realized this he tried to tell everyone but no one would listen to him because he was looked at as the looser of the antibacterial race.

a mold that produces penicillin

Author's Note

This story is based off the story "Clever Elsie". I chose to write this story because I am familiar with this field of study and the discovery of penicillin. I chose to write this story about the careful guy losing and the guy in it for the money winning because that is how society is today. There wasn't actually a guy named Jim but Alexander Fleming did discover penicillin. 

Bibliography

"Clever Elsie" by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, from Brothers Grimm (1812). Web Source: UNtextbook

Storytelling for Week 12: The Illusion

There were once two different people that were very different from one another. One was a man that did not have much money for himself. His name is Phillip. The other man had all the money and wealth that he could want. His name is Robert. These two men's characters were also very different in many ways. The wealthier man was not very smart and was very greedy. The other man was more of like a modern-day Robin Hood and was very clever.

The two met on a nice sunny day because they were both in a coffee shop together. Phillip was listening in on Robert's conversation he was having over the phone with one of his clients. Robert was discussing how bad he wanted to find this special kind of gold that is supposedly lost forever. However, had heard it had recently resurfaced. While all of this conversation was taking place, Phillip's interest was increasing so he started listening closer.

Phillip started to think of ways to trick the man into giving him a large amount of money. Phillip finally figured it out and thought, "I think that I could make small bricks of concrete that are in the shape of gold bricks and coat them in gold paint." Then he restarted thinking his idea because he knew Robert would never fall for a simple plan like that and would have to be much more clever. He decided to get Robert drunk somehow.

Phillip approached Robert at his table and said, "I couldn't help but overhear you talking about how you had been looking for a rare type of gold and I think I may have just the one you are looking for." Before Robert could actually think about the mistake he was about to make, Phillip took him to a bar next door to celebrate and get a few drinks to block the judgment he might have of the false blocks. He thought for sure this would help him get away with the scheme he had planned.

After the two had been in the bar for quite some time, Robert went to the bank to gather the money in exchange for the bricks. Meanwhile Phillip hurried home to create these false bricks that he had lied about having. Robert was fast to show up to Phillip's house but somehow Phillip finished the bricks right before he had walked in.  A few of the bricks that were finished last were still drying while Robert walked through the door. Robert, picking up one of the bricks, not being able to tell they were false bricks, gave Phillip all of the money he had asked for and loaded them into his armored truck.

Before Robert could realize that the bricks were false, Phillip took the money to a local charity location and gave them the money to feed the homeless people and help with the funding for them to have jobs. This earned him a strong reputation around town because he had helped so many people that they didn't question where he got the money.

The False Gold

Author's Note:

This story is based off the story "The Priest Who Learned to be a Philosopher." The original story is about a philosopher that goes to a priest and asks for money. The priest loans the philosopher the money and the philosopher offers to show the priest a trick. The philosopher says that a priest like himself would not be interested in a little magic to get his attention. The priest becomes intrigued and offers money to the philosopher to show him how to do magic. The philosopher shows the priest two different tricks to make the priest believe he was doing actual magic. The priest begs the philosopher to show him how the magic is done. When the philosopher shows the priest the magic and receives the money he takes off before he could find out it was false. In my story I wanted to give a more modern feel for the story. I also wanted to have the thief actually end up doing something good with the money. I crossed the story form this weeks reading with the principle behind Robin Hood to give more of a familiar aspect to the story. The picture I chose is what a gold brick looks like. 

Bibliography:

"The Priest Who Learned to be a Philosopher" by Eva March Tappan, from Canterbury Tales (1908). Web Source: UNtextbook

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

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.

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.

Storytelling for Week 6: The Great Build

Hello. My name is Phil and I am what most humans call a leopard. One day I had a great idea that my son and I needed a new house. I knew of the perfect place to start a clearing and begin building my house. By the time that I traveled to the location, the lot had already been cleared and minor work had been done to start the groundwork for the house. It had look to me as if it had been abandoned for quite some time so I decided to start working from where the previous wok was left off. After a long evening of working on the house I had returned home to sleep.

The next day I came to work on my house but to my astonishment it had been completed further than I had remembered. I thought to my self that I had finished that much work but I must have just not remembered from being so tired. Because of the lack of light in the late evening I must've not remembered what it had looked like. I continued to do some of the work and had to redo some of the work. Some of the construction wasn't built the way I would have built it so some of the structure had to be torn down and rebuilt. A few weeks of this went on and I finally finished my house.

On move in day my son and I gathered up all of our stuff and moved everything to our new house. Upon arriving at our new house we saw a ram and his child approach the house. I had thought they were there to greet us into our new house. When we approached the ram and his son, they began to unload a few things and asked us what we thought of their new house. With great confusion I asked "What in the world do you mean? This is our house that I have built for months". He seemed to be very confused and told me the exact same thing! Very confused we realized the work that seemed to be done when the other wasn't around was actually being done by one another. After a few minutes of laughing and coming to a conclusion we decided that we had built the house big enough that all four of us would be able to live together.

After a few months of us living together we were still getting along very well but I became very curious about how the ram was killing his prey to get meat because he had no claws or sharp teeth to kill with. I asked my son, "the next day when we go out to get food as the ram's son how his father kills his prey". After returning from my daily hunt I asked my son if had acquired the answer that I asked of him. He proceeded to show me how the ram would back up before killing his prey and share at them with his horns. I told my son that whenever he sees a ram back up that he must be getting ready to kill.

One evening I was preparing for dinner like I do every evening. I called for my friend and his son to come join my son and I for dinner. When they were approaching the dinner table the ram slipped on the muddy ground and started backing up. I told my son to run for the ram was about to attempt to kill us. Ever since then the ram has lived in the house while we have lived in the forest.

Mr. Phil aka the leopard

Author's Note

The original story is "The Leopard and the Ram". The story is the exact same except the original is told in the third person style instead of first person. I enjoy writing stories in the first person sense because it seems to give the character whose telling the story more of a personal sense instead of just a character without thought. 

Storytelling for Week 5: The BIG Lie

Hi, my name is Linda. I live just outside a small village named Hich a Hich with my aunt. Most of the time we get along fairly well and have a good time with one another. There was one day that I was chasing squirrels through the forest outside of my house. I was looking up at the squirrel jumping through the trees and did not see the log that was crossing my path. Before I knew it I had fallen and I could feel a burning pain in my leg where I had scraped my shin. I went to my aunt for some ointment for my scrape when she proceeded to tell me she had none but handed me two eggs to take to the drug seller to trade for some ointment.

Once I was on my way to the drug seller I was looking all around and out of nowhere a squirrel jumped in front of me as if he were taunting me. I just had to chase him and when I did I fell into a hole in the ground because I wasn't looking where I was running. I had to come up with a story fast. There is no way I could tell my aunt that I had broken the eggs she had given me the same way I had injured myself in the first place. As I walked further toward the town I came up with countless stories that I could tell her. After all the stories were made up I decided to combine them all for the best story of all time.

Once I had arrived back at my aunt's house I told her my ingenious story that I created. I told her that I had misplaced the eggs when I got to the town and looked around hard until I found them fully grown into a chicken inside a woman's house. I told the woman to give my chicken back and to pay her for the work the chicken had done for her. We agreed that I would receive a substantial amount of rice in pay for the chicken's work. I strapped the rice to the chicken's back and we left from the village.

On the way back we stopped because the chicken's back was aching. Some men told me to place a burnt walnut shell on the back of the chicken and it would heal her. The next day when we woke up there was a fully grown walnut tree growing out of his back. The earth around the tree was good so I planted watermelons and muskmelons for growing. I cut a watermelon open and lost my knife. The melon was so big that I found an entire town inside of it and hidden deep within the town was my knife.

After telling my aunt of this great story she began to laugh so hard that she fell down. Once she stopped laughing she told me I wasn't to be trusted to go to town with eggs alone again.

The chicken as in the story 

Author's Note

This story is based off of the story "The City of Nothing-in-the-World." The original story is told in the third person narrative style of an all-knowing narrator. The story is the same with a few aspects of it shortened. Some of the details that were toward the end of the story made the lie seem to drag on and on with no end. The girl hurts her leg and asks the grandmother for ointment. The grandmother gives the child two eggs to take to the drug seller for ointment. After returning from the trip is when the child tells her aunt about all of the wild things that happened on her trip. I decided to tell the story in this style to give a more personalized feel for the child and what really happened along with why she lied. I also added the aunt's reactions to her story. The original story didn't have any detail about why the girl chose to lie and make up the story so I added in my own reasoning for the lie. I chose the image of the chicken because it was honestly the only thing that I could find that I liked. Also the chicken is the cause of the whole made-up story.

Bibliography

 "The City of Nothing-in-the-World" translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer from Persian Tales (1919). Web Source: UNtextbook

Week 4: Storytelling

Hello. My name is Anpu. I live in a grand house with my brother Bata. I have raised Bata as if he were my own and now he works for me and takes care of me and my wife daily. We have a stable life where as in I go to leave my home to go to work daily while by brother stays at home to work the oxen and work the ground. My wife stays at home daily to care for the house and relax.

One day I went to work like any other day but when I returned home something wasn't right. The house was dark and I could not hear my wife welcoming me home. I walked around the house looking for my wife to find her lying on the ground. She was worn and acted as if someone had attacked her or had done her wrong. I continued to ask her what had happened. She proceeded to tell me that My brother had attacked her and fled to tend the oxen. With fury I went to sharpen my dagger and set out to the barn to wait on my brother's return home so that I might kill him in surprise.

While sitting behind the barn door waiting for his return home, I heard him enter the barn and two of the oxen spoke to him warning him of my ill wishing upon him and that I wish to kill him. Bata ran hastily out of the barn, dropping the milk he had collected. After running a great distance Bata prayed to the god to stop me from chasing him so that he may converse with me to understand what my rage was about.

A great river was brought to us swarmed with crocodiles so that I would not cross it. I explained to Bata why I was so enraged by telling him that my wife told me Bata had attacked her and continued to tell her that he had been treated badly and that he wished them harm and continued to harm the wife. Bata explained to Anpu that is not what had happened that Anpu's wife approached Bata wishing Bata to come onto her because she admired his great strength but Bata denied her and told her to never speak of this for Anpu was like a brother to him. I forgave my brother and asked for him to return home but he refused saying he must now leave. I returned home with so much rage for my wife that I killed her where she sat and wept for the loss of my brother.

A dagger such as the one used in the story

Author's Note

This story is strongly based off of The Two Brothers: Part One. I chose to write this story as if it were being told by Anpu instead of third person. I wanted to give a deeper feeling of the way Anpu was effected by the events that took place in the original story.

Bibliography

The Two Brothers: Part One by Donald Mackenzi, from Egyptian Myth and Legend (1907). Web Source: UnTextbook

Storytelling For Week 3: Misunderstood Men

Hi, my name is Polyphemus. I am a greater known as the cyclops. I live on the Island of the Cyclops. Here we are very blessed by the gods and have very prosperous croups. Zeus blesses us with all the rains we could ever need. Our land is so rich that we never have to work it and we still have the best crops. Our society is so calm that we need no laws to control. We only make up our family rules. The reasoning for our bountiful lands were that the gods felt sorry for us because they forgot to give us two eyes and only gave us one which made our depth perception seem almost absent.

One day I was doing my normal chores of rounding up my sheep and bringing them to my cave for milking. These sheep weren't just any sheep. My sheep were very well fed and had the thickest wool. I brought the sheep in for milking and curdled half for storing and saved  the other half for drinking. After all of this was done I sat next to a fire I built and notice strange men in my cave. I asked them who they were and why they were in my cave. The leader of the group then threatened to take over my land and kill every cyclops that lived on it. I didn't much like this so I ate two of his men. After doing so I went to sleep knowing that none of his men were strong enough to hurt me.

The next day I woke up and ate two more men after gathering my sheep. This angered the man so much that he finally called for a truce. I asked him what his name is and he said Nobody. After we had a talk he proceeded to tell me that since we had a truce he would not kill me but would still kill everyone else! After I finished my days work I returned home and ate two more men. After this Nobody gave me a generous amount of wine and me being the nice fellow I am took the wine and happily finished the entire bowl. I passed out drunk from the wine. Later that night I woke up to a burning stick driven through my eye. The men had finally tricked me and overcame my powerful strength. I called for my fellow cyclops but when they came I had told them that Nobody had hurt me so they left. After I eventually lifted my door and left to tell the other cyclops what had happened they all left for the ocean. These actions by Odysseus made my father,Poseidon, very angry. I asked my father to make sure they did not return home eon favorable conditions. After this my life has never been the same

Odysseus gauging Polyphemus' eye

Author's Note:

This story is based off of the readings 1-4 from reading A in the UNtextbook of Homer's Odyssey. The original story is based off of first person reflections and actions from Odysseus. The story begins with Odysseus arriving at the Island of the Cyclops. Odysseus and his men explore the cave of Polyphemus and become trapped inside when Polyphemus arrives home. Polyphemus is angry with the men and eat a few of them. My story then follows along with the original story with the exception that Odysseus was the cruel one and Polyphemus was just protecting his home against the foreigners. I thought that since the original story was in first person that my story should be written in first person  because every story has two sides. I also thought the story should explain why they were given the land they had and why they behaved the way they did.  In the original, Polyphemus is describe as an animalistic being with no sympathy for the humans. In my version I described him as being more protective than animalistic and having a much more human side. The image I chose is form a museum gallery depicting the scene of Odysseus and his men gauging the eye of Polyphemus while he was passed out drunk. 

Storytelling for Week 2: The Babbling City

A long time ago in a land much different from today there lived two brothers of very old age but still in good health. The oldest brother's name was Bill and the second brother's name was Joe. Bill was seen as the more mature older brother that everyone looked up to. Joe was the younger brother that did anything Bill said to do but was still looked highly upon by the community. These two men lived in a great palace of a house on the highest hill that overlooked the city. This community was filled with curious citizens that questioned many things that God did when creating the Earth. They met in many town meetings to discuss these things that they wanted answers to and went to God periodically to question the thoughts behind the creation.

One day Bill went to Joe and asked him the most curious question. Bill asked "what do you think is beyond the clouds?" Joe answered back "I don't know, brother. I've never put much thought into it but now that you ask I am quite curious as well." Bill responded, " Do you think that the great heavens of our god lie beyond the clouds"? After spending much time conversing over the subject the two men decided to get opinions from the townsmen. The men went amongst the remaining townsmen and questioned them as to what is behind the clouds and if they would be willing to build a tower to explore. After all of this interrogating the two brothers went to the town meeting that was being held and asked if the townspeople would help them build a tower on top of their house to explore the further reaches of the sky beyond the clouds. A strong majority of the people agreed to the task and began collecting material to build the tower with. To build the tower the people used brick that was burned to harden it and slime was used as a mortar to weld the bricks together.

After a few months the tower was built nearly a mile high. God then came down to check on his people and saw the partially built tower and decided that there was no way they would see his home without his admittance through the front gates. On one of the best days of construction Bill and Joe stepped back to view the tower being built and decided it was a beautiful creation. As the two were talking, God was sitting on top of the tower and threw tiny rocks off the top but only hard enough to get his point across. The rocks struck both of the men, as they were working, on top of the head and they began talking a strange language to one another. One by one God threw rocks at each worker until he had hit each and every worker. Now there were hundreds of languages being spoken and no one spoke the same language. Construction of the tower came to a halt and everyone was very confused and decided to move to various places around the world and begin their own countries.

Tower of Babel

Author's Note

I chose this story because I thought I could tell a new story from a completely different vantage point to create an interesting post. My goal was to create a new reasoning for why there are different languages in the world and why they are scattered throughout the world. Also my goal is to add more personalization to the story by adding in characters with attributes closer to today's type of people and how they would talk and act. The reading this story came from was "The Tower of Babel." In the original story, God confused the people of Babylon so that they would not be capable of working together to make the great tower to reach the heavens. In creating this story, I thought it would be better to create some type of reasoning for why everyone could not speak the same and also why they ventured off into different parts of the country. Most people know that origin of the original story but do not question its accuracy. Many of these stories were passed along by word of mouth and had variations in their accuracy. Knowing that this story is most likely completely inaccurate I felt like it would be a fun variation the original to explain some happenings early in our history. 

Bibliography

The King James Bible, Book of Genesis 10-11

Week 1 Storytelling: From men to metal

There was once a group of people that met in a bar while discussing economical problems. The group of men were all from different backgrounds all with different views of how the country should be led. The first man declared he was in the top one percent of the social standings and focused his goals for the economy on global marketing and branching out to other countries for cheaper labor and supplies. This man declared he was like gold in society. The second man was a wealthy CEO of a small company. This man was fairly well off but not near as wealthy as the first man. His views were helping the very poor and disabled but letting the working class fend for themselves. He declared he was like silver in society. The third man considered himself in the middle class. He was an everyday working man that had a family at home. His views on society were that the very wealthy should give a generous donation to be spread among the very poor and disabled and to give more jobs to the poor to increase the middle working class. This man considered himself bronze of society. The fourth man was a humble man that made enough for himself and his wife while giving any extra he had to the poor and disabled. This man seemed to be the happiest and most content person with his life and how he was living. While he considered himself a more precious metal, society considered him as low as lead. The fifth man did not care about social issues and had no job while not having a plan to get one. This man took any free hand out he could find in life but did not contribute to the benefit of society. This man wasn't even considered a metal because he was useless. This man was called a monkey.

Homeless Man's Wishes

Author's Note:

This story is based from the nursery rhyme "I Am A Gold Lock"

I AM a gold lock.

I am a gold key.

I am a silver lock.

I am a silver key.

I am a brass lock.

I am a brass key.

I am a lead lock.

I am a lead key.

I am a monk lock.

I am a monk key!

Author: Unknown Editor: Andrew Lang Year Published: 2008 Web Source: The Project Gutenberg