Learning Challenge: Routine

For today's learning challenge, I watched the video Alike by Daniel Martinez and Rafa Cano Mendez. I really enjoyed this video! The story is centered around a father and his son. They live their life by working and going to school. As they make their way to work and school, all the buildings and other people are bland in color, while they are the only ones who have color or metaphorically, "life." The son loves to have fun and utilize his artistic abilities. However, the monotonous routine of school and the inability of him to express his art eventually drains him. He loses his color. This is also the same for the father. However, he had succumbed to this routine. Eventually, the father breaks out of his routines of continuous work when he realizes his son is following the same path as he. The father takes his son to have fun, and they gain back their color.
This video shows me not to get bogged down with work and school. Though these are important things, we also have a life to live. There is beauty in this world and it would be a crime not to go out and see it. We need an equal balance between school, work, and play. I have been focusing more on work and school. I will start incorporating more play into my life, in a healthy way.

Learn, work, and have fun: Public Domain Art

  

Reading Notes: The Merchant of Seri, Extra Credit

For my extra credit reading, I read the Jataka tale The Merchant of Seri, by Ellen C. Babbitt. In this story, there are two merchants. One merchant is good and is not greedy. While the other merchant is greedy and only wants money. They sell different plates and bowls. Therefore, one weekend they went into town and tried selling their material. The merchants decided that they would not work on the same street. However, they could work on a street that the other merchant had previously worked on.

In this town, there lived a grandmother and her granddaughter. They were very poor. They only thing that they could use to trade was an old bowl that was left behind by the grandfather. He died.

The greedy merchant made his way to the street where the poor family lived on. The granddaughter saw that the merchant was selling items and wanted to buy one. She asked her grandmother for some money. But she didn’t have any money. Therefore, she told the granddaughter to take the old bowl and trade it. She took the bowl to the merchant and asked to trade. The merchant saw that the bowl was actually gold and tried to trick the poor family. He threw the bowl on the ground and said: “This bowl is Worth nothing!” The merchant left, waiting to come back for the bowl. The nice merchant saw that the other merchant had left the street and decided to try and sell his materials here. The granddaughter took the bowl to the nice merchant and asked if she could trade her bowl for anything. The good merchant saw that the bowl was made of gold. He decided to give the girl everything he had for the bowl. He only asked for 8 coins so he could travel back home. The girl took all the merchandise and gave the merchant 8 coins. The greedy merchant came back for the gold bowl but saw that it was no longer there. He was angry and saw that the other merchant had gotten the bowl. The good merchant lived a nice conformable after selling the gold bowl.

The Merchant: flickr

Week 13 Story, The Giving Turkey

Once upon a time, there lived two turkey kings. One king turkey named Thanks ruled over many other turkeys within his region of the community. The other turkey king named Giving ruled over the other portion of the community. The kingdom was split between these two kings. However, both kings and their turkeys lived in peace.

Unfortunately, it came to that time of year when humans would come and hunt their people. The humans usually hunted in a pack of three. There were a father and two sons. The father was the leader of the group. However, he was becoming old and could not hunt for long. Therefore, the two sons decided to build a fence around the turkey community. Once the fence was built, their father could simply walk into the bound region and hunt the turkeys at ease. This went on for a couple of weeks. Many turkeys were lost. Therefore, Giving called for a meeting with Thanks.

"Hello, Thanks! It is great to see you even though we meet under unfortunate circumstances."

"Yes, Giving! It is great to see you! What is this meeting about?"

"As you can see, it has come to that time of year when the humans hunt us. However, this year, they have built a fence around our community. This has exponentially increased the numbers of our loss. I believe we should have our turkeys take a turn, sacrificing themselves. This will make the loss equal between our communities. What do you reckon?"

"Yes, Giving. I believe this is a good idea. Let us inform our turkeys."

Therefore, the kings informed their turkeys. This went on for a long time. The turkeys would go and lie down by the fence entrance. Therefore, when the humans decided to go hunt, they could just grab a turkey and be on their way. However, one day, a mother turkey had to sacrifice herself. She had a young turkey baby and she was a single mother. Therefore, she went to her king Thanks and pleaded for her life.

"Please King Thanks, allow this turn to be placed on another turkey. I want my son to know who I am. Please, let me raise him. Once he is old enough, I will gladly give my life."

"I am sorry miss, the turn has fallen upon you. You must give your life."

The mother turkey felt helpless. She was at a lost. She decided to go talk to King Giving."

"Please King Giving, allow this turn to be placed on another turkey. I want my son to know who I am. Please, let me raise him. Once he is old enough, I will gladly give my life."

The king felt sorry for the mother turkey. Therefore, he decided to give his life in place of the mother He went to the fence entrance and waited to be taken. When the hunters came for their prey, they saw that the king turkey was waiting to be taken.

The human said, "King Giving, why are you giving your life?"

"I am giving my life for a mother who wants to raise her son."

The humans did not want to kill a king turkey. They were also touched by the love the king turkey had for his people. Therefore, they decided not to take the king nor the mother turkey. The humans could settle for ham.

The pigs next door overheard the decision of the humans and prepared for war.

Turkey: Pixabay

Author's Note: 
For this story, I used the premise of the original story called The Banyan Deer by Ellen C. Babbitt. In this story, there are two deer kings that rule over their people. There is also a human king that enjoys hunting deer. Therefore, the human king's people build a fence around the deer to make hunting for the king easier. They hunted the deer for some time. The two deer kings deer decided to have their people take turns sacrificing their life. However, there came point when a mother deer needed to give her life. She went to her king and begged for her life, but the king told her she needed to give her life. Therefore, she went to the other king and told him her story. The other deer king decided to give his life in her place. Once the humans saw that the deer king was sacrificing himself, they decided not to kill the deer king nor the mother deer. They were touched by the king's love for his deer. In my story, I changed the characters to turkeys and I gave them names Thanks and Giving. I also changed the humans to a small family who hunts the turkeys. Otherwise, the premise of the story is the same.
       

Reading Note: The Quarrel of The Quails, Part B

For today's reading, I read the Jataka Tale The Quarrel of The Quails, by Ellen C. Babbitt. In this story, a wise quail is the leader of a whole pack of quails. Also in this community, lives a fowler who catches quails for a living. The fowler would increase the number of quails he caught by listening to the leader quail. When the leader quail would call out to the others, they would all come. The fowler would mimic this call and all the quails would come to him. He would then cast his net, catch all the quail, and sell them in the market. The leader quail eventually caught onto the fowler's schemes. He called all the quails together and told them the fowlers is taking many of our people. Therefore, when the fowler catches you guys, put your heads through the net and together, fly into a thorn bush. This will remove the net from you guys. Therefore, this is what the quails did. The fowler was unable to catch the quails for some time. The fowler's wife was getting angry because he was not bringing home any money. He told his wife, "The quails are working together. Once they get into an argument, they will no longer work together. Then, I will be able to catch them and bring home money." Therefore, the fowler waited. Eventually, the quails got into an argument. The community of quails then split into two sides. When the fowler cast his net over the quails, none of them would work with each other to remove the net. Therefore, they were caught and sold at the market. The fowler made his money.

This would be another fun story to cover! I would be changing the characters to a different animal and I may potentially add a twist ending.

The Quails: Pixabay

Reading Notes: The Elephant Girly Face, Part A

For today's reading, I looked over the story The Elephant Girly Face, by Ellen C. Babbitt. In this story, there is an elephant named Girly Face. The king named the elephant Girly Face because he was so nice, kind, and gentle. Everybody loved Girly Face. However, one night, a group of bandits planned on robbing the king's palace. The bandits sat outside of Girly Face's pin and said, "We will kill anybody that awakens, this is what bandits do." Girly Face overheard the bandits conversation. She believed that these bandits were teaching her how to act. Therefore, the next day when the king's men came to feed him, he killed both men. This went on for a little while. The king was worried about Girly Face. Never had he acted like this. All the king's men were afraid to go feed Girly Face. The king brought in a wise man that knew Girly Face for a long time. The wise man came to the conclusion that Girly Face had overheard bad talk. The king's guard then told the king, that there were a group of bandits that plotted their raid outside of Girly Face's pin. The king then had good men go outside of Girly Faces pin and say only nice and kind things such as, "We will never kill. Killing is bad. We will only be good." Girly Face then thought he was being taught again. He was a nice, kind, and gentle elephant after this.

I really enjoyed this story! I would like to remake this tale, potentially adding different characters and changing the premise of the reading. I may make the process of changing Girly Face back to a nice elephant more difficult. Or, Girly Face may not ever go back to a nice elephant. He could join the bandits becoming a historical outlaw.

Girly Face: Pixabay 

Story Lab: What is Myth?

For today, I will be doing a story lab. I watched the "What is Myth Video series." I will be focusing on the video What is Myth? Crash Course World Mythology #1 by Mike Rugnetta. Though these videos may be for the mythology course, I found the information provided, to be useful. Mr. Rugnetta explains the origin of the word "myth," which comes from the Greeks meaning story. There are many misconceptions that come from the word myth. People typically believe that the word myth means fake, or untrue. However, this is not always the case. A myth is a story, but it is a special kind of story. Mr. Rugnetta breaks down myths into two main points, significance, and staying power. Myths can be a way of explaining how the world originated, or how certain aspects of the world can be understood. Thus, myths have explaining power. Myths also have staying power. This means that they have been around for many centuries or even millennia. Ultimately, it is not our place to decided whether a myth is true or false.     

Myths: Sketchport

Reading Notes: The Banyan Deer, Part B

For today's reading, Part B, I read the story The Banyan Deer by Ellen C. Babbitt. The story beings by describing two great king deer that rule over their two kingdoms. One king rules over the Banyan deer, while the other rules over the Monkey deer. However, there also lived a human king that loved to hunt. He ruled over a large group of people. Every time he went hunting, he would want the people to come with him. However, people would get frustrated because they could never get their work done. Therefore, the people made a large park and surrounded all the deer by a fence. They told the king that he could go to the park and hunt whenever he liked. So, the king would visit the park and other times, he would send his cook. However, seeing how beautiful the two king deer were, he spared their life.

Many deer were dying. Therefore, the Banyan deer king sent for the Monkey deer king. He said "Too many deer are dying. Let our people take turns, sacrificing themselves for the greater good." The Monkey king agreed. However, one day, a mother deer was chosen to be sacrificed. She went to her king, the Monkey deer king and said, "Oh king please, let me skip my turn until I can raise my boy. I want him to know who I am. After this, I will give my life." However, the Monkey deer king refused and told her she must give her life. Therefore, she went to the Banyan deer king and told him her situation. The Banyan deer king decided to go in her place. As the human king arrived and saw that the deer king was going to sacrifice himself, he said to the Banyan deer king, "I thought I spared your life?" "You did, but there was a mother that wanted to raise her young. Therefore, I will be taking her place." The human king was touched by the love shown by the deer. He decided to spare the Banyan deer king and the mother deer.

The Deer King: libreshot