[Week 15] Writing for this Class

At the beginning of this class, I was very insecure about my creative writing abilities. I wouldn't say I'm great at it now, but I definitely think I've improved. Even if I can't write things beautifully, I learned enlightening things about the technical aspects of creative writing. I can pick out stylistic errors I didn't recognize before, and I can throw them in when I want to add more interest. The little lessons along the way have taught me a lot and I'm really happy with how much I've managed to take away from this class!

As far as comments go (especially for storybooks/writing portfolios), I'm used to giving constructive criticism but I wasn't sure how far I should go. I usually gave people a few tips on things they could change and then lightened up, but a lot of the comments that I got were just praise. I really love constructive criticism myself, but I know some people find it difficult so I wasn't really sure what would be appropriate. I think a little guidance in that area would be nice. In my graphic design class, we had to give "sandwich" advice. We'd say one thing we like, one thing they could change, and another thing we like. It may sound a bit "grade school," but I think that kind of format would help. 

Looking back on the semester, I suggest that students who struggle with writing do a little reading for fun in their spare time. I would take note of sentences that I thought were well-formed or unique in some way and try to use that to inspire myself to do something interesting with my writing. Staying on top of the assignments in order to minimize stress also helps. 

I would love to see myself doing more writing in the future. I have so many ideas in my head that I'd like to get down on paper (or "paper" since it would be on a computer), but I'm not sure if I'll have the time or even the confidence to approach it. But I'm going to try!

[Week 13] Essay - Philosophy of Learning and Teaching

(image from Paul Joseph on flickr)

While I don't know much about teaching and learning in general, there is one area in which I've done extensive research: the mandatory learning of the Irish language in Irish schools. Having been taken over by English, the Irish language has been in decline for many years now. In attempt to revitalize the language, a law was put into place requiring students to take Irish classes in school and to have a certain amount of proficiency in the language by the time they get out. According to research I've done and articles I've read, few students actually benefit from mandatory classes.

In general, I believe it's unnecessary and harmful to force students to "learn" something. I say "learn" with quotation marks because in many cases they don't even learn anything, they just cram in order to pass tests and get a decent grade. Requiring students to learn a language adds extra stress to their already stressful school lives which zaps them of interest they would have had for it. And when it comes to learning a language, motivation is key. 

For my senior essay, I surveyed 40 Irish people who are or had been students in Irish schools. Some of them went to all-Irish language schools, so the language wasn't really a subject to them, it was just a fact of life. Those people tended to have a much more positive outlook on the language and were far more fluent. Students who went to public schools where English was the language of instruction were more mixed. Many of them were very passionately against Irish purely because of the way the revitalization efforts have caused more stress in their lives.

Overall, everyone seems to agree that the best way to get students to learn is to make it something they actively want to learn. As more popular television shows and books become translated into Irish, young people's interest in learning the language is increasing. But if government officials and teachers continue to force it on them, I'm afraid the youth's contempt for the language will grow stronger. 

[Week 13] Reading Diary - Andersen Fairy Tales

The Princess and the Pea

-In order to find out if a girl is really a princess, a queen puts a pea under her bed. When the girl wakes up in the morning aching and complaining about how badly she slept, they know that she is a real princess.

The Emperor’s New Suit

-A superficial emperor who is obsessed with clothing is swindled by people who tell him that they will make him clothing that is only visible to people who are smart enough. Although he can't see the cloth himself, he pretends he can so that people don't think he's stupid. He ends up "wearing" the clothes in public but just walks around naked.When a child speaks up and points out his nudity, the whole crowd realizes he really didn't have anything on.

The Brave Tin Soldier

-A tin solider spends his days vying after a paper doll lady. One day he falls out of a window and ends up being put on a boat by two boys. He ends up going on an adventure (that includes getting swallowed by a fish) before finding his way back home where he is thrown into a stove. The paper doll ends up flying into the stove also and burns.

The Wicked Prince

-A greedy and cruel prince lives comfortably and prosperously. God tries to stop him but the prince declares that he will beat him. He builds huge airships to attack Heaven but is attacked by a gnat and defeated.

The Little Match-Seller

-A poor little girl desperately tries to sell matches. She gets cold and uses a match. Each time she uses one, she sees different comfortable things that go away when the match goes out. She sees her grandmother and goes up to heaven with her. The next day, the girl is found dead. 

[Week 12] Reading Diary - Celtic Fairy Tales

Celtic Fairy Tales

Connla and the Fairy Maiden

-A fairy comes to Connla and is chased off by his father's druid, but she managed to leave him with an apple. As he ate the apple, he fell more in love with her. Upon the fairy's return, Connla readily left with her against his father's wishes.

The Field of Boliauns

-A man meets a leprechaun and tries to force it into giving him a bit of his beer. When the leprechaun refuses, the man snatches him up and knocks over the pitcher on accident. He demands money instead and the leprechaun gives him instructions but ends up playing a trick on him.

The Horned Women
-A woman is terrorized by witches in the night. She does their bidding for a while but eventually a voice tells her how to get rid of them and then how to ward the house so that they can't get in again. She and her family are safe.

The Shepherd of Myddvai

-A man manages to persuade a beautiful water-dwelling woman into marrying him. The only stipulation is that if he hits her three times for no reason, she'll leave. He taps her a couple of times which she says counts toward the strikes. Then, he shakes her when she laughs at a funeral. She leaves and only comes back once to see her sons.

The Sprightly Tailor

-A tailor is asked to sew trews at night in a haunted church. He is visited by a monster that slowly rises out of the floor while he sews. The tailor refuses to stop sewing and when he finishes he runs away to deliver the trews. The castle door closed just in time for the monster to be kept out.

Munachar and Manachar
-This is one of those cumulative stories that are oh so common. Munachar is collecting things in order to get a gad to hang Manachar since he eats all of his raspberries. Honestly, I find these stories irritating.

Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

-A queen is jealous that her daughter is more beautiful than she is. She tries to kill her several times but each attempt is thwarted. In the end, the queen's plan backfires and she is killed instead.

[Week 11] Reading DIary - Welsh Tales (Emerson)

The Fairies of Caragonan
-The fairy queen and her helpers cure a man who was cursed by a witch. In return she asks for a plot of land so that she can build a ring. She also asked for him to build three walls around it.
-The man is teased while chasing a hare and is once again cursed by a witch.
-They cure the cows of a man and in return ask for his son to help them.
-The fairies use a pole and a mirror to give the boy visions. From his visions, they decide they need to go hare hunting near the mill.
-The boy goes to the mill and manages to kill the witch.
-The boy once again is used for visions. He follows them and buys and old cupboard that turns out to be full of gold.

Three Short Tales of Fairies

Craig-Y-Don Blacksmith
-Fairies appear to a drunk blacksmith and tell him he needs to turn his life around. He decides to take their advice and sobers up. One day, a  man brings a horse to him to be shod, but it ends up running away and moving the cauldron in the process. While fixing it up, the blacksmith finds money.

Old Gyilym
-A man finds some money which turned out to be a gift from fairies. Instead of using the money to be cheese, he goes out drinking. Later that night he gets taken in as a guest at a fairy house. He is punished and when he goes home his wife is mad and tells him it's no wonder they punished him since he wasted their gift.

The Baby-Farmer
-A baby-farmer finds money but still pretends to be poor. She kept two kids in good clothes and two in bad clothes. A man asks to see the kids and she brings out the badly dressed ones. When she goes to look for the well dressed children, they were gone and had been turned into fairies.

The Old Man and the Fairies

The Old Man and the Fairies
-A man falls asleep and is taken by fairies and shown their world. When he falls asleep again, they put him back where they found him. When he wakes up, his bag is full of gold. His wife is curious as to where he got the gold and he ends up telling her. But when he looks in the box for his money again, it's all cockle shells.

Tommy Pritchard
-A boy keeps finding six pences on his way to school. His dad gets angry that he won't tell him where he finds them and threatens to beat him, so the boy tells him. The next time he goes to look, all he finds is a cockle shell.

Kaddy's Luck
-Fairies used to leave a girl money every night. When she grew into a woman and had a baby with her husband, she told him about the money they used to give her. The baby was made small and never grew as punishment.

The Story of Gelert
-A prince has a dog beloved named Gelert. After the house is attacked by wolves, Gelert goes missing. The prince goes into the house to find Gelert and his baby surrounded by blood. Thinking that Gelert had hurt his baby, he kills him. It turns out Gelert had been attacking a wolf that was in the house and had accidentally knocked over the cradle. The prince is very upset and a funeral is held for Gelert.

Origin of the Welsh
-A wild tribe trains large birds called Rohs that are very fast and strong. They use them in battle to beat the Persians. The Persian king asks a magician to find a way to get rid of the birds, and the magician decides that the best thing he can do is to turn them into fairies. Since the tribal people lost their birds and were being attacked by the Persians, they decided to travel more. Many of them ended up on the British isles and that's how they became the Welsh.

Crows
-A man retells a dream he had about seven black crows seemingly warning him of his impending death. After retelling the story and going home, the man finds seven crows on top of his house. The man later dies.

The Fairy of the Dell
-The Fairy Queen of the Dell cures bewitched people of their curses. She is asked by the witch who cursed them to forgive her so she does a ritual  to get rid of the devils and cleanse the witch. The witch is thankful and asks how she can help the queen. The queen gives the former witch the ability to help others and gives her the name Madame Dorothy. She becomes a famous care giver.

[Week 9] Essay - Reflection on my Writing

(Image of a frustrated tortoise from Oskarl Kettunen. I feel like this tortoise.)

I’d like to use this essay assignment to reflect on how my writing has changed throughout the semester. When I first started I was anxious because I hadn’t written anything (creatively) in so long. I quickly became more comfortable and felt like I had all kinds of fun ideas waiting to come out of my head. But then I suddenly lost that inspiration and I don’t know what to do now. I feel like my writing has become worse than ever and it’s pretty upsetting.

                

There are a couple of things I think I could attribute this lack of inspiration to. I’ve been feeling particularly stressed out lately and I’m not really sure why. Whenever I feel overwhelmed like that I tend to just break down and stop working like I used to. I also haven’t been reading stories that really appealed to me. Usually as I read a story will pop out to me and yell, “Write me!” But lately that hasn’t been happening.

                

I’ve been wondering how I can get myself out of this rut. I think to begin with I need to work up a little more confidence. I tend to put myself down for every sentence I write and it really slows me down. I should also start looking over the reading units more carefully to make sure the stories are something I’ll be interested in. In addition, digging through others’ stories and reading more in general would probably help. My peak in inspiration took place during a time in which I was reading a lot every day so there’s probably a connection.

               

Another factor for me will be figuring out how to manage my time better. At beginning of the semester I thought I’d be getting things done early. But instead I feel like I’m just barely getting by. I need to figure out how to prioritize and juggle my other classwork. Also I have to figure out how to not fall into a senioritis slump!

[Week 9] Storytelling - Atungait's Visit

Author’s Note: The story of Atungait left the biggest impression on me. Not because it was profound or especially beautiful in some way, but because this guy just ran into a village of disabled people and stole their toy for apparently no reason. No explanation was given. He did nothing with the toy in the story. I’m so confused. So I decided to attempt to write from the perspective of one of the villagers. For your reference, here is the explanation provided for ajangat: "a game played with rings and a stick; the 'ring and pin game.'"

(Inuit artwork from Wikimedia Commons)

We were surprised to get a visit from Atungait and his wife. Happy, even! Not many people would choose to spend time with a village of disabled folk. We are seen as the lesser people in society, so it’s rare to have able-bodied visitors. What we thought was a blessing turned out to be a disaster.

Atungait and his wife generally kept to themselves. They would come out of their tent for a bit when we all played ajangat. Atungait would stare at our ajangat with hunger in his eyes. Strange that he would be so obsessed with our toy, but I suppose it was very beautiful. As we’re all disabled, there is nothing we can do all day but play ajangat. Our ajangat means everything to us, and the copper one we have now is the village treasure. We have plenty of food and plenty of fur to keep us warm, yes. But without amusement life is dull, so although it is just a toy our ajangat means a lot to us.

One day while we were playing, Atungait stood to the side watching again with that look in his eyes. It made me uncomfortable. I told one of my friends about the way he looked at it. Instead of being worried, my friend became excited. He was proud that such a fine, able-bodied warrior would admire our treasure. I tried to tell others but they all had the same reaction. And so I gave up on my warnings and the game carried on.

We were all outside playing ajangat (as ususal) when we heard loud cracking sounds. We went off in a hurry to find the source of the noise, leaving the copper ajangat on the ground. Atungait was standing surrounded by the remains of our broken sledges with a hammer in his hand. He had destroyed our sledges! Upon seeing us, he immediately ran in the direction we had just come from. We followed and saw him snatch up our copper ajangat before jumping on to his own sledge and riding off into the distance. Many tried to follow, but to no avail. Our treasure, our only form of entertainment, was taken away from us.

Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen with illustrations by native Eskimo artists (1921).

[Week 9] Reading Diary - Eskimo Folk-Tales

Eskimo Folk-Tales

The Coming of Men, A Long, Long While Ago

-Creation tale that talks about the first man and woman and how the human population grew. It also talks about how death was created in exchange for the stars, moon, and sun. Also a brief freaky zombie-esque part where a body doesn't know how to be dead.

Nukúnguasik, who Escaped from the Tupilak

-Nukúnguasik catches one of his brothers making a Tupilak. The brother dies and the other brothers decide to search for him.They find his body being eaten by the Tupilak.

The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son

-An old woman takes in a bear as her foster child. At first it's small enough that it can play with the children, but eventually it gets too strong and is taken along to hunt instead. It ends up killing a man who tried to attack it and the old woman has to part with it.

Qalagánguasê, Who Passed to the Land of Ghosts

-A paralyzed boy who lost his parents and sister sees ghosts when he's home alone. The ghosts say he will regain his strength if he doesn't tell people about seeing them, but he can't help himself. One night he is left tied to his bed while everyone else goes to a singing contest. His parents visit him (in ghost-form) and make him a ghost as well.

Isigâligârssik

-A man marries a little girl (?) and is then allowed to learn from the village wizard who only teaches to married men. The wizard somehow takes his wife away from him and mocks him every time he tries to go to a meeting. He ends up getting stabbed by the wizard. He challenges the wizard to a bow shoot-off and wins and gets his wife back.

The Insects that Wooed a Wifeless Man

-A wifeless man has trouble finding a girl and sleeping for too long. One day he helps one of the Noseless Ones and is told never to speak of the incident to anyone and he will be fortunate. He ends up hunting well, being less sleepy, and attracting women but it all goes away when he tells the story. His new wife leaves him when the fortune wears off and he follows. Weird stuff happens in which insects try to woo him and he refuses and then is with his wife again but wakes up and finds himself alone.

Makíte

-Makite leaves his home because he is ashamed that he can't hunt well. He ends up at the house of a lone-dweller (hermit?) who tries to kill him in the night. He runs away and finds a house of dwarves who warn him that inland people are coming. A flood happens and Makite ends up living there.

Atungait, Who Went A-Wandering

-Aatungait, who turns out to be a wizard who can fly, goes on a journey with his wife. He meets all kinds of people and even steals a toy from some disabled children. In the end, he catches his wife cheating on him and kills her. 

The Giant Dog

-A man has a dog that he gives the amulet he would have given a son. The dog grows super big and strong because of it. One day tt kills a man one day so the owner has to run away with the dog. Turns out the dog liked to massacre the inland-dwellers in its spare time so they all became afraid of dogs. 

Papik, Who Killed His Wife's Brother
-A mother accuses Papik of killing her son who he goes hunting with often. She drowns herself and comes back as a spirit in the shape of a bear and eats him before ravaging the town. The people manage to trap the spirit and cut it open and find Papik's torn up body.

Pâtussorssuaq, Who Killed His Uncle
-Another story about a man being punished for killing someone. A man kills his uncle so that he can be with his wife. He is only with her for a little while before she dies. Later he is killed by a fox who is actually he spirit of his uncle. 

The Wife Who Lied
-A warning to liars. A woman who isn't too fond of her new village goes home and pretends her husband has been neglecting her. The old village declare a war and slaughter the women of the other village. The men realize she made this happen and they kill her.

The Eagle and the Whale
-A woman who is in need of a husband is taken away from her home by a man who turned himself into an eagle. She manages to escape with the help of her brothers, and they kill the eagle. She is then taken away again by a whale and has to be rescued by her brothers. They kill the whale as well.

Atdlarneq, The Great Glutton
-While on a hunting expedition, a man visits a house in which women are preparing for the master of the house to return. He tries to hide, but the master has copper cheeks and can smell him so he comes out of his hiding place. He is forced to eat food until he nearly dies. Then he is freed.

Ángángŭjuk
-A woman allows her son to play outside but he goes missing. The father is angry and threatens to kill the woman, but she asks him to wait and ask a wizard to help locate him first. Eventually he is found being taken care of by inland people. The people are put to sleep and the son is rescued.

Âtârssuaq
-A son is born to a strong warrior and he is trained to be able to swim underwater for a long time. One day his father goes missing and word gets out that their village is going to be attacked. The boy uses his swimming abilities to kill the attackers by himself. 

Tungujuluk and Saunikoq
-A man nearly kills his neighbor's soon while in the shape of a bear because he was so jealous that he didn't have a son. The child runs away before anything can happen and the father realizes it was his neighbor. He takes the form of a walrus and scares the other man while he's in the shape of a bear. He learns his lesson and is ashamed.

Kánagssuaq
-A man whose family and village was starving finally manages to catch seals to eat. He had a little trouble with his kayak and another man helped him. Once he got back on his feet and was able to bring home food every day again, he took food to the man that helped him as a thank you.

[Week 8] Reading Diary - Self-Assessment

In the beginning, I wanted to write pretty detailed diary posts. I set out to write down the names of all the main characters and to give a little bit of info on each of them. As I started to write my notes, though, I realized it would take far too much time to do that while reading. So instead, I’ve started taking down notes as quickly as I can without losing too much detail. The length and style of note-taking really depends on the kind of story I’m reading. If there are a lot of shorter stories I won’t take as many notes, but if they’re longer and more detailed then I’ll try to get some of the smaller things in there too. It seems that the shorter stories tend to be more focused on one lesson so it’s easy give a little summary of them.

Lately I’ve been switching back and forth between writing paragraphs and taking notes. Paragraphs are nice because I can read the story and then write everything out all in one. If it’s longer or if I get overwhelmed for some reason, I tend to use bullet points. That way I can read a section and then summarize it while it’s fresh in my mind. With either style, I tend to feel like I go overboard on my note taking. I thought that I would need to take longer notes in order to do my storytelling assignment. Instead, I’ve found that inspiration doesn’t come from the notes I take, it comes from the story itself. So while I’m reading something will pop out at me and I’ll go, “I want to do this!” and I keep it in my mind for later. If I need a reminder of how the story goes, I can usually just read the first sentence of my notes and remember what happened.


I think from now on I’ll try to make my notes more concise. I haven’t been concerning myself with things like grammar since this is just for me, but if I made them concise and focused on grammar I think I’d be exercising my writing muscles and saving time at the same time. I also want to start adding pictures. I did it for a few of the posts but it kind of dwindled off because I get so tired of mindlessly taking notes. I need to make it more interesting!

[Week 7] Essay - Japanese Fairy Tales vs Modern Entertainment

(Creepy Japanese dolls from Wikimedia Commons)

                While I was reading the stories in the Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit, I realized that it had something in common with the other Japanese unit that I read. The stories in both of them tend to differ from the other things I’ve read for this class in that they are less tragic. Most of the ones I’ve read either end tragically or in a gory way, or they contain similar elements. The Japanese stories sometimes have sad elements but the imagery tends to be less disturbing and it usually ends on a good note. In many cases, the ending will say something like, “and he lived happily for many years until the end of their days, and their children took over the farm and it was very prosperous.”

                This was also surprising to me because in most of the modern Japanese media I’ve read or watched, the themes tend to be pretty tragic. There are many dramas (TV series) that centers on the main character’s last days before they die of a horrible illness. A lot of movies have also been made that are full of gore and horror. I don’t watch much anime, but from what I’ve seen and heard there are a lot of series that have the same kind of tragic subject matters.

                Of course, not all modern Japanese media is like this. Japan is also famous for its crazy variety shows and adorable cartoons. In my experience, though, there seems to be an equal amount of dark stories in a way that I'm not really used to seeing as an American. After reading such nice Japanese fairy tales, I can’t help but wonder if there was a reason for a shift in interest. People don’t talk about it much so I’m not sure if it’s true, but I’ve heard that there was a big shift in thinking in Japan after WWII (or earlier) similar to the shift that took place in Germany. Perhaps the dark history of their country has lead writers to focus on the darker parts of life.

[Week 7] Storytelling - Hase-Hime's Letter

Author's Note: This story is based off of the story of Hase-Hime in the Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit. It's about a princess who is abused by her jealous step-mother after her real mother dies. At one point, the step-mother tries to have a servant kill Hase-Hime but instead the servant runs away with her and his wife and lives in the mountains with them until Hase-Hime's father finds her. I decided to write this story from Hase-Hime's perspective at that point in the story because I like to think that she wasn't oblivious enough to not think about these things while away from home. The biggest change is that in the original story, Hase-Hime doesn't actually seem to realize the wine her brother drank was poisoned.

(Japanese mountains from Pixbay)

Dear Father,

                I have no way of having this letter sent to you, but there are some things on my mind that I need to at least get out on paper. Maybe I will give this letter to you when we are reunited. I’m not sure yet.

                Before her death, mother told me to always be an obedient child. She told me to be submissive of my elders and kind to those less fortunate than I, and to always behave. I think that she was very wise to teach me this, and I have tried as hard as possible to follow these rules. But there are some cases in which an elder may not deserve such nice treatment. For example, what if an elderly woman tripped a child for no reason and laughed at him as he cried? Or what if I had an older brother who would always bully me and never let me have peace? In the past I have been a good girl in these kinds of situations. I would keep silent and take whatever was dealt to me. I’m beginning to think that I should stop. Mother wouldn’t have wished for me to be treated badly, right?

                You are a good and kind man, so I don’t think you would allow harm to come to me on purpose. You have shown me nothing but love and I have no reason to distrust you. But I can’t imagine what drew your new wife. Do you not see how cruel she can be? She becomes enraged with jealous at every little accomplishment I make. Remember when my little brother died? I saw the egotistical smirk on her face when she brought the wine into the room, and the panic in her eyes when our cups were switched around. I am very sure that she had poisoned the wine and was trying to kill me that day.

                And now, I am living with step-mother’s servant and his wife in the middle of nowhere. Why? Because he was asked to take me away and kill me because I had behaved “badly.” In truth, I did nothing but succeed and make her jealous. Is that so bad? I hope that I will be able to discuss this with you upon being reunited. I just haven’t had the confidence to do so until now, and I’m not sure I will later.

Love,

Your Daughter Hase-Hime

Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).

[Week 7] Reading Diary - Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)

Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)

My Lord Bag of Rice
-Hidesato is asked by the dragon king to kill an enemy centipede.

-He agrees and is taken to the bottom of lake Biwa for entertainment when the palace is attacked by the centipede.
-The centipede is invulnerable to their weapons.
-Hidesato remembers that centipedes are weak against human saliva so he uses his last arrow, coats it in his saliva, and then shoots the centipede with it. It works and the centipede leaves the mountain and dies.

-The dragon king and his family thank Hidesato and throw another celebration.
-The family gave Hidesato "small" presents: a bronze bell, a bag of rice, a roll of silk, a cooking pot, and a bell. The servants left the presents at his house.
-It turns out all the presents except the bell were magical.
-The rice and silk never ran out. The cooking pot always instantly made whatever food was wanted.
-Because he had these things forever, he became My Lord Bag of Rice.


The Adventures of Kintaro, the Golden Boy
-Kintaro grew up to be very strong and was considered a wonder child.
-He learned to speak to animals and used them as servants.
-Kintaro and the animals play a game (wrestling) in a field.
-The hare and the monkey wrestle and the hare wins the first round. The monkey throws a fit and Kintaro lets them go another round. The monkey wins unfairly.
-After the games, they headed back home but came to a river that they couldn't figure out how to cross. Kintaro makes a bridge out of a tree that he pulled out of the ground.
-A woodcutter had been watching and wanted to figure out whose son he was so he followed him.
-Kintaro gets home and greets his mother. He tells her about the game they played.
-The old man who had followed Kintaro asked to be taken to play next time.
-Kintaro and the old man wrestle and the game is declared a draw, as the old man is very strong as well.
-The man suggests taking Kintaro to the city to have him trained as a samurai. The mother wants to do that, but she has no influential friend to help.
-The man reveals that he is a general who is recruiting soldiers for Lord Raiko's army.
-Kintaro sets out to the capital and says goodbye to his mother and his animal friends.
-Lord Raiko was happy to have Kintaro in his army. When he grew up, he became a chief.
-Kintaro became the greatest hero of the country.


The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die
-One day, Sentaro realizes that he never wants to die. He decides to try to live simply and frugally to see if he would live longer.
-He thought about the Chinese emperor who had his men search for the elixir of life for him. Mt. Fuji is said to be the home of the elixir.

-Sentaro heads off to become a hermit on Mt. Fuji, but he doesn't find any hermits. He asks a hunter where they might be, but is instead told of a thief with 200 followers who lives in the mountain
-Sentaro goes to a shrine to pray.
-Jofuku appears and tells Sentaro that he's being selfish and that it's hard to be a hermit. He says he's not suited for the lifestyle. Instead of helping him become a hermit, Jofuku tells Sentaro that he will send him to a place where people never die.
-Sentaro becomes a resident in the Country of Perpetual Life.
-People tell stories of the paradise they'll go to after death. Everyone in the Country of Perpetual Life wants to die so they can go there and be happy. When poisons are brought to the island, people desperately try to drink them but they don't die. Sentaro realizes he's in a land that has the opposite idea as his.
-Sentaro thinks it's silly and says he'll never wish to die.
-Eventually, he grows tired of living forever.
-Sentaro prays to Jofuku again and was flown over an ocean on the way back to japan when a storm hits. He almost drowns and is nearly eaten by a shark.
-Sentaro wakes up and realizes it was all a dream.
-A messenger gives Sentaro a book and tells him that Jofuku allowed him to see what life would be like if he never died. He sends Sentaro back to his home. He is taught that his selfish desires lead to no good. Sentaro goes back and lives a prosperous life.

The Goblin of Adachigahara

-A buddhist  monk gets lost in Adachigahara.

-He asks if he can stay the night at an old woman's house, and she eventually allows him to sleep on the kitchen floor.

-The woman tells the monk not to look in a certain room. Then she leaves.

-When the old lady doesn't return for a long time, the monk decides to look in the room. He finds a gory mess in the room. Human remains, blood, etc.

-The woman catches up to him while he runs from the house.

-When dawn breaks, the goblin woman disappears and the monk is able to escape. 

The Ogre of Rashomon-A town is terrorized by rumors of a man eating ogre.

-A warrior, Watanabe, investigates the rumor.

-He ends up fighting the ogre. The ogre runs away and Watanabe tries to catch it but is outrun.

-Watanabe finds the ogre's arm that he cut off and takes it back with him to show people. He becomes popular because people want to see the arm.

-Eventually, he seals up the arm because he knows that the ogre will some day come back to get it.

-Watanabe's nurse visits him and asks him if it's true that he killed the ogre. She says her wish before she dies is to see the ogre's arm, but he refuses to show her at first. After more begging he ends up giving in to her.

-The old woman snatches up the arm and turns into the ogre.

-The ogre escapes with its arm but because it was afraid of Watanabe, it never visit Kyoto again.

The Story of Princess Hase

-A prince and princess are happily married but also sad because they hadn't been able to have a baby.

-They decide to go to a temple to pray to Kwannon in Hase.

-Their prayer was answered and a daughter was born. They decided to call her Hasehime. 

-The mother dies five years later and before tells Hasehime to always be submissive to her superiors and kind to those under her.

-The prince remarries. The new wife was cruel and was mean to Hasehime. 

-Hasehime plays the koto beautifully and is invited to play for the emperor. The step-mother is asked to accompany her playing.

-Hasehime plays well but the stepmother can't play and asks someone else to take her place. She is ashamed that she failed but her step-daughter did so well.

-The step-mother poisons some wine in attempt to kill Hasehime. She takes two bottles of wine (one poisoned, one not) and gives them to the daughter and the son. The bottles were mixed up and the stepmother accidentally gave the poisoned wine to her son. He ends up dying.

-The step-mother hates Hasehime more.

-When rainy season arrives, Hasehime is asked to write a poem in order to make the rain stop. 

-She becomes the lieutenant general princess.

-The step-mother asks one of her servants to take Hasehime to the mountains to kill her, but her servant just takes her into the wild and protects her. 

-Her father searches for her and calls men together to help find her by searching in the mountains. 

-He ends up stumbling upon the house that she was staying in and they are both overcome with joy at being reunited.

-The servant told the father what happened.

-The father is angry and the step-mother is scared off.

-Hasehime ends up married to one of the court nobles and gives birth to a son.

-She is remembered in buddhist temples. 

[Week 6] Essay - The Friendly Sarcasm Punctuation Mark

(Sarcasm shirt from Acid Pix on Flickr)

                If I were an all-powerful grammar god, I would want to create punctuation marks specifically for used with text messages or social media. I have a few in mind, but I’ll just write about one of them today. I consider this one to be the most potentially useful for my emotions and I, as I’m a fairly sensitive person who tends to take people literally.

                Maybe it’s just me, but the limited amount of emotions that can be portrayed through text message make me feel like I can’t quite pick up on little signs and nuances that I rely on when talking face-to-face or even over the phone. If someone were to tease me in person, I generally know not to take what they’re taking too seriously because I can see their mischievous smile and hear the laughter in their voice. Through text message, I find myself not being able to distinguish a joking “I hate you!” from a serious one. My idea would be to have a little symbol to use to show when someone wants to reassure the person they’re talking to that they’re being sarcastic.

                This isn’t something that I would want to see in all cases. This would be more like the method of using an asterisk (*) to correct a typo online. It’s not something that would be used in literature or official documents, only between friends in a casual setting and when the user feels it’s necessary. For example, if two people are always sarcastic with each other then they might not feel the need to use a sarcasm punctuation mark. I imagine people would use it to be friendly but still polite with people they don’t really know, or to reassure their friend who may be feeling down that they’re only teasing. 

               As far as the symbol goes, something easy to access on any keyboard would work best. For that reason, I think the ~ symbol would be nice. It’s used online today to add a bit of whimsy to a statement (at least that’s how I see it, for example “hello~~~!” is more playful than “hello!”), but other than that its use seems to be fairly limited in text messaging and social media.

                The idea for this sarcasm marker was born out of my own experiences and oversensitivity. I don’t think it’s something that is truly needed, nor do I think it would be a good thing to overuse. Imagine if people started using the sarcasm symbol sarcastically! It could also be perceived as a put-down if the person being spoken to thinks they’re being treated like they’re unintelligent. But for things like text messaging, I think it would be a nice option.

Example usage:

"~I just really hate you sometimes~."

"I'm not sure realizes how ~incredible~ his eyebrows are."

"~GREAT JOB~, friend."

"You don't understand calculus because you're ~stupid~."

[Week 6] Storytelling - The Sparrow's Revenge

Author's Note: This is the story of the Sparrow with the Split Tongue as told from the point of view of the sparrow. The original story is basically the same, except it focuses on the old man. I thought it was a really sweet story (although the ending is pretty grim) so I wanted to see what I could do with it. 

(Drawing of a sparrow by StevenWorthey on Deviantart)

I soared through a thick canopy of trees, just barely grazing my feathers on the branches. I hoped I could throw off the raven who flew close behind, as I know he wasn’t after me for a friendly conversation. And he looked like he would take great pleasure in tearing me apart. Either I wasn’t quite as agile in my sparrow form as I thought, or the raven was incredibly fast and graceful. Probably the former. I hadn’t taken to flight in such a long time and now I was remembering why. Humans are easier to reason with than hungry ravens!

I was beginning to lose hope when I caught sight of an old man in front of his cottage. Forgetting I couldn’t speak as a sparrow, I tried to cry out for help while I approached him but all that came out of my beak was a screech. But it was enough and the man offered to shelter me within his hands. I was happy for the chance at refuge and glided myself into them. The man may have been old, but he was certainly not lacking in compassion or energy. He stomped and yelled at the crow until it gave up on its chase and then he took me into his house and put me in a little cage.

Having never been kept as a pet before, I found the confines of the cage to be stifling. If someone had told me before that I would be taken away from my complete freedom to live in a small enclosure, I would have scoffed at them. But it was hard to not feel like a princess with the treatment I received from the old man. Sure, I had a limited amount of space to move around in, but being in a cage inside of a house meant no nasty ravens would be eating me! And the food the man gave me tasted better than anything I could have ever found for myself in a market or the forest. I was let out every day to spread my wings and get some fresh air, and immediately allowed back inside when I was done or being chased. The old man and I formed an odd friendship, one without language or much of anything that usually goes into friendships, really. But he found peace in helping me and I enjoyed my worry-free life, and we enjoyed each other’s presence very much.

The man’s wife, however, was a different story. When she tore into my cage the moment the man left to run errands, I wasn’t surprised. I knew that she was an irrational enough woman to become jealous of a pet, and I assumed I would be fast enough to fly away from her if she tried to harm me. I was able to dodge her hands and get myself out of the cage before she could grab me, but the old woman was smarter than she looked and managed to trap me into a corner. At that moment, I was sure she would kill me. For whatever reason she instead chose to pry open my beak and slit my tongue. The pain was blinding. Before I knew it, I was fleeing to my old home in the bamboo thicket cowering in my bed in my human form. I needed my friend’s comfort but I didn’t dare return to his home to face his wife.

A few days passed and I got over the trauma enough to leave my house. Pushing my door open, I was shocked to find the old man standing in front of my house looking around puzzled. I excitedly explained to him that I was his friend the sparrow and made him come inside to visit. Hours later he stood up reluctantly, saying he needed to take his leave. Probably because he didn’t want his wife to split his tongue too. Before he left, I gave him the choice between two chests: a smaller, modest chest and a larger, fancier chest. Being a selfless man, I wasn’t surprised when my friend took the smaller chest. He would find it filled with expensive jewels and small treasures when he opened it, and I hoped it would serve as a good thank you present.

I thought that was the end of my troubles with the man’s wife, but one day she showed up at my door fuming and boastful. I was caught off guard when she pushed past me and marched into my house, demanding to be entertained. I was scared and confused, but then I remembered the trick I always had prepared for visitors such as this one. After a bit of pretend-entertaining, I told the woman she needed to leave. As I expected, she demanded a present. I didn’t hesitate when I offered her the same boxes I offered her husband. I knew she would take the larger chest, as those who are greedy and ill-of-heart tend to do. I laughed to myself as she hauled the heavy box out of my house and into the forest. She would not find treasures inside the box, but poisonous snakes that would attack her the moment she opened it. No man would regret her loss, and my friend and I could once again live our happy lives.

The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1897).

[Week 6] Reading Diary - Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang)

Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang)

The Two Frogs

- An adorable story about two frogs who happen to meet each other while on their way to each other's city. They become friends and talk on top of a mountain. Then they get the idea to stand on their hind legs using each other to balance so they can see the cities they were headed to. That way, they can tell if it looks worthwhile to continue on their journeys. They don't realize that their eyes are in the back of their heads and when they stand up, they both see where they had just come from and decide to turn back and go home.

The Stonecutter

- A mountain spirit grants a stone-cutter several wishes. He goes becomes rich, then a prince, the sun, a cloud, a rock, and then a human again. In all the forms except his normal poor human self, he found that he was unsatisfied with something. So in the end when he is human again, he realizes that he's had it good all along.

The Maiden with the Wooden Helmet

- A dying mother worries that her beautiful daughter will be harassed when she is fending for herself, so while on her deathbed she has the daughter get a wooden helmet. She tells her to wear the helmet at all times so nobody can see her face. Later, the girl ends up being seen while working by the son of the house master. He is determined to marry her and eventually, after her mother comes to her and tells her it's a good idea, she consents. She is married in her helmet but afterwards in bursts and turns into diamonds and everyone is amazed by her beauty.

The Envious Neighbour

- So sad. But justice is served! An elderly couple have a dog that they treat like a child. The dog finds treasure in their garden and the couple become rich. A neighbor gets jealous and asks to borrow the dog. The couple eventually gives in and allows it, but when the dog finds nothing but bones in the neighbor's yard, he kills it. The elderly couple is sad but the dog comes to the husband at night and gives him instructions. They end up being even more rich and the neighbor grows more envious but every time he tries to repeat what they did, something bad happens. In the end, he's locked up in jail and shunned by the community. 

The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue

- A nice old man saves a little sparrow one day and keeps it as his pet. It's happy and safe in its cage and it likes the old man. But the man's wife is basically evil and becomes jealous of the bird so she cuts its tongue. The bird flies away and the man is sad. He spends days looking for it and is just about to give up when he comes upon a little house in a bamboo thicket. A woman comes out of the house and says she is the sparrow he saved. She lets him choose between a big chest and a little chest as a present. He takes the little one and at home discovers it's full of jewels. The wife is enraged that he didn't pick the bigger one and visits the sparrow's house. She demands a gift and picks the big chest. Inside there are snakes that poison her and she dies.

The Cat's Elopement

- Two cats fall in love but because of their owners, they can't be together. They meet every night instead. One night, a dog/ogre attacks and the male, Gon, cat tries to fight it. The female cat, Koma, cries loudly from a tree until a princess comes out and saves Gon. He becomes a helpful pet to her. A while later, while wishing to see Koma, Gon sees a little kitten being bullied by a bigger cat. He rescues it and realizes it's Koma. They are happy to be together and tell their story to the princess, who happily keeps them both.

Schippeitaro

- For some reason this one really confused me. It's about a man who goes out looking for adventure and he comes across cats singing and shrieking. He learns of a dog named Schippeitaro who I think stops the (king of the) cats from eating young women. The boy helps the dog kill the cats. 

The Crab and the Monkey
- A nice crab finds some rice and trades a monkey half of it for his kaki seed. She uses it to grow a kaki tree full of fruit. The monkey stops by and gets the crab's permission to have some fruit but ends up stealing it all for himself. The crab tries to trick the monkey so she can get some of the fruit back, but he beats her up. Her friends help her set up a trap to punish the monkey and he dies.

The Magic Kettle

- A man is happy that he found a nice kettle but when he tries to use it it turns into a tanuki. Not wanting to deal with it, he sells it to a man named Jimmu. Jimmu ends up using the tanuki to make a lot of money by setting up a booth and having it dance for crowds. He wants to repay the man he bought it from so he gives him the kettle and lots of gold.

How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished

-A fox and a tanuki need money so the tanuki pretends to be dead and the fox changes into a man and goes to sell the "dead" tanuki in a village. She does so and uses the money to buy food and the tanuki manages to escape, glad that he can climb trees. Eventually they run out of money and the fox decides it's her turn to act dead. The tanuki decides he wants more food for himself and his son so he tells the buyer the fox isn't really dead and he kills her. The son ends up realizing that his father had his mother killed and tricks the tanuki into getting killed himself.

The Slaying of the Tanuki

- An old man leaves food out for his friend the hare every day but it always gets stolen or destroyed by a tanuki. The old man captures the tanuki but it manages to sweet talk his wife and kills her. It even feeds his wife to him without him knowing. When he finds out he is grief stricken and the hare decides to help him. He plays a prank on the tanuki by burning his back and then covering it in a painful salve, but the old man says it isn't enough. Together they build two boats and use them in a plan to kill the tanuki. The old man is happy that his wife is avenged.

Uraschimataro and the Turtle

- Uraschimataro saves a young turtle who in turn later saves him when he is thrown from his boat during a storm. The turtle wants to take him under the water to show him how nice it is. They traveled for three days until they arrived at a palace. The princess of the palace, Otohime, immediately falls in love with Uraschimataro and asks him to stay with her. She does stay with her, but after a while he ends up missing his parents. Otohime begs him to stay but he decides to go. He promises to do something so that he can go back to her. He had been underwater for 300 years and found out his parents had died. He opens the box that Otohime had given him and turns very old. He dies while waiting for the turtle to show up to take him back.

[Week 5] Essay - Ease of Reading

My notes for the Ease of Reading exercise:

1. 2/10 (no punctuation and improper capitalization)    7. 1/10 (caps, proper punctuation)

2. 2/10 (no punctuation, no capitalization, run-on)        8. 1/10 (no caps, proper punctuation)

3. 6/10 (no spaces)                                                          9. 7/10 (like #6 but with periods)

4. 2/10 (caps, no punctuation)                                        10. 4/10 (no spaces, every word is capitalized)

5. 4/10 (no spaces, caps each sentence)                         11. 3/10 (all words capitalized, no punctuation)

6. 8/10 (caps, no spaces, words continue to next line)     12. 4/10 (no spaces, punctuation)

(Japanese text from Wikimedia Commons)

                Number 6 was by far the hardest joke for me to read. The combination of all capitalized words, no spaces, and text that wraps around to the next line without any indication (like a dash) was brutal to my eyes. As someone who tends to skim too much, not having a visible word boundary almost makes it impossible for me to read. I don’t really mind the capitalization, though. With numbers 4, 7, and 11, I had little trouble reading because of the caps, regardless of whether or not punctuation was used. By far, the easiest texts for me to handle were the ones that had either spaces or punctuation (or both).

                I find it interesting that I have so much trouble reading text in English that doesn’t have spaces. As I’ve said in my blog several times, my second language is Japanese. It’s a language that is written in two different syllabaries (similar to an alphabet) with Chinese characters thrown in, and spaces aren’t used in writing. Sometimes I have trouble figuring out where Japanese words end and begin, but in general I can read quickly without trouble. I think this has something to do with the differences in writing systems. In Japanese, the first syllabary, Hiragana, is primarily used for grammar. The second, Katakana, is used for loan words and onomatopoeia. Chinese characters are used for nouns, adjectives, verbs, and basically anything that isn’t a conjunction, part of morphology, etc.

                English, on the other hand, has one alphabet for everything. When things run together they just look like a jumbled up mess of consonants and vowels instead of actual text. Although it’s difficult at times, maybe having three ways of writing in Japanese helps the brain quickly distinguish between parts of speech which makes reading without spaces easier. I’m taking a Chinese class right now and I can’t wait to become more advanced so that I can see if reading in Chinese is difficult despite having one writing system and no spaces. 

[Week 5] Storytelling - What Happened in the Well

Author's Note: I had trouble getting inspiration from the Turkish Tales unit, so I decided to try to rewrite a bit of The Imp of the Well from the wife's perspective. For those of you who haven't read it, the story begins with a man being followed by his wife after he tries to hide some money from her to buy himself a rope. The wife is unhappy and follows after and ends up falling into a well. The man tries to save her by dropping a rope down but he ends up pulling up the imp instead. 

(Illustration by Willy Pogany)

                A rope? A rope?! All of this happened because he wanted to buy a stupid rope?! I’m sitting at the bottom of a well, arguing with an imp, because my good-for-nothing husband was hiding money from me to buy a rope. Thankfully the imp keeps this place stocked like a normal home. There’s a kitchen of sorts with enough produce and salt to make a decent meal. A little bed made out of straw, and a shelf full of junk displayed like knick-knacks. How he got these things, I don’t know. Seeing as how I managed to trip into this well, I wouldn’t be surprised if people’s possessions fall in here all the time.

                You may be wondering why I’m arguing with an imp. Well, I did happen to land on him when I fell into the well. He’s fine, though, I barely hit him. Just crushed him a little bit. With my entire body. So he’s a little bit upset about that. But that wasn’t even my fault, it was my idiot husband’s fault. I also told him I’d cook up the veggies he’s been collecting down here for a nice dinner. He seemed appeased until he actually ate my delicious masterpiece of a soup. Complained that it’s too salty. Rude little shriveled up creature. We’ll see if I use any salt next time. He’s just like that husband of mine. Who, by the way, has yet to show that he even cares that his lovely wife is stuck at the bottom of a well with a terrible, hideous beast.

                Oh! A rope fell right before my very eyes from the opening of the well. I could faintly hear my husband shouting for me to grab hold of the rope. He didn’t forget me! He’s not entirely useless, I suppose! I try reaching for the dangling life-saver, but the imp slaps my hand away.

                “You crushed me, you used all of my food to make a disgusting, salty soup, and you think you deserve this chance at freedom?! I don’t think so. You’re just a miserable old hag, anyway.” The imp screamed at me as he got his grubby little fingers around the rope.

                I grabbed his entire body and threw him to the floor. “That’s my husband up there calling for me, not you! I’m a young, beautiful, talented maiden who doesn’t deserve to be trapped in a dark, dank, hellhole like this!”

                I must say my one and only flaw is my fiery temper. That’s what drew my husband to me in the first place, I think. Nobody can resist such a rebellious, independent woman. I would never even have thought of it as a flaw before, had this very interaction with the imp not taken place. I squeezed my eyes shut and stomped my feet while I ranted and raved at the little thing. When I finally open my eyes and took in my surroundings, all I saw was the faint figure of the imp being pulled up by the rope to freedom. Oops.

Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1913).

[Week 5] Reading Diary - Turkish

Notes from the Turkish Tales unit

Fear

-A boy searches for fear. Along the way, he runs into terrifying situations but he doesn't feel fear. Maidens drink to his health for his courage.

Fear (cont.)

-The boy is rewarded and declared shah but he still wants to search for fear. The people thought that he would be dead by morning, but found him in good health. During the morning celebration, a bird flies out of his soup bowl. He is startled and is told that that is fear.

The Wizard-Dervish

-A wizard gives a troubled king an apple to help him have a child. He says the child will belong to him (the wizard) after his 20th birthday. On the prince's wedding day, the wizard comes and takes him away. He follows the instructions of a girl who takes the form of a dove and is then married to her.

The Wizard-Dervish (cont.)

-The boy and the maiden keep putting on disguises to dodge the boy's mother. They get to an inn and the boy somehow returns to the palace and is reminded not to forget the maiden so he gets a cart and takes her back to the palace and they are wed.

The Fish-Peri

-A young man catches a fish that he deems to beautiful to eat or sell so he puts it in a well at his house. He discovers that it can come out of its skin and become a beautiful woman, so he burns the skin and marries the woman. A king falls in love with the wife at first sight and tells the man that unless he can build an impossible palace for him, he will take his wife and make her his own. The wife isn't worried and tells the man what to do.

The Fish-Peri (cont.)

-A palace, bridge, and a feast are made for the king. Now, he wanted to see an infant who was a day old but could speak and talk. A speaking baby is brought to the king and it hits him. The king gives up and lets the man have his wife.

The Crow-Peri

-With the help of a crow, a boy catches a beautiful bird and sells it to the king. The king's lala suggests putting it in an ivory kiosk but the king doesn't have ivory, so he demands that the boy get it for him within 40 days. The crow helps again by having the boy kill elephants for their ivory. 

The Crow-Peri (cont.)

-The boy is tasked with finding the bird's original owner. The crow helps the boy by telling him to get a ship to bring the fairy queen who owned the bird to the king. The king and queen meet and fall in love and are married, but the lala is mad. The queen falls sick and the king tasks the boy with getting her medicine, which he gets from the fairies. The crow turns out to be the fairy queen's former servant and is married to the boy.

Patience-Stone and Patience-Knife

-A bird comes to a woman three times while she's home alone and tells her that her kismet is with a dead person. She and her mom are disturbed, but one day the girl goes out with friends who promise not to take their eyes off of her. The girl gets trapped in a wall in which a door appears. There is a man who says if she fans him for forty days and prays, she will find her kismet.

Patience-Stone and Patience-Knife (cont.)

-The girl fans the man and sees an Arab girl. She asks her to take over for a while and in that time the man wakes up and declares the Arab girl his wife. The trapped woman is used as a cook. She asks for a patience stone and patience knife and the man goes on a journey to find them. She uses the knife and stone to retell her story. The Arab girl dies and the bird returns and tells the other girl that she has found her kismet.

The Imp of the Well

-While following her husband, a woman falls down a well. The man goes to the well intending to rescue his wife with a rope but instead ends up pulling up an imp. The imp is angry because it was disturbed when the man's wife fell onto him, and now he's thankful that the man pulled him out. The imp says he'll get the sultan's daughter sick and gives the man the cure to give the padishah in exchange for money.

The Imp of the Well (cont.)

-The man forgets his wife. He gives the padishah the cure for this daughter. The sultan's daughter is married to the man. While on his way to help another princess, the man runs into the imp who threatens to take his new wife away from him if he helps this other princess. The man lies and says the woman from the well is his wife and she got out and is following them. Then imp runs away and the princess is cured.

The Soothsayer

-After seeing how the wives of soothsayers are treated, a woman tells her husband that he must become a soothsayer. He pretends to be a hodja and tells the chief soothsayer's wife where her missing ring is (it was planted for him). She loses her ring again when a slave steals it and tells the man to find it. The slave is afraid and tells him she has it. The man tells the slave what to do with the ring and has it planted in a goose, which he tells the king to kill to find the ring inside. He becomes a famous hodja.

The Wizard and his Pupil

-A boy becomes apprentice to a magician. The magician changes himself into animals and tells the boy to sell him but to keep the rope he has tied to him. The boy does so but ends up running away and turning himself into a bath house. The magician buys the key to the "bath house" from the mother. The boy changes into a bird and the magician chases him to a king's palace, where the boy eventually kills the magician. The boy is appointed grand vezir and is married to the king's daughter.

The Liver

-A girl is sent to the market to buy liver but a stork steals it. It tells her that it needs barley to give her the liver but the farmer needs her to pray for rain to get the barley. Next, she needs incense to pray. It continues on like this with the girl having to do different tasks. She ends up getting the liver back. 

Madjun

-A boy asks his mother to go to the padishah to try to get the princess for him. The padishah says he will let the boy marry his daughter if he can gather all the birds in the world together in one spot. He meets a dervish who tells him how to gather all the birds. Next, the padishah tells him to grow hair. In the meantime, the princess is betrothed to someone else. The boy freezes the princess and her would-be husband. He also freezes her slave who went to check on them. He ends up freezing a lot of people. A hodja tells the padishah that he has to marry his daughter to the boy. They are married and the people are unfrozen. 

Kunterbunt

-The strange story of three brothers who keep running into three things (two being the same and one being different just like them). In the end, it turns out to be a dream.