[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] 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] 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] 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] 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.

[Week 4] Reading Diary - Persian Tales

These are my notes for the Persian Tales unit.

(Wedding ceremony painting from Wikimedia Commons)

1. Wolf and the Goat

A goat warns her children not to open the door for the wolf, but the wolf tricks them and kidnaps three of them. The fourth one stays hidden and tells the mother goat what happened. She goes to the wolf's house and challenges him to a fight. In the end, the wolf is killed and she gets her children back.

2. The City of Nothing-In-The-World

A girl goes to the bazar with eggs her aunt gave her to try to trade them for cooling ointment for an injury. On the way, she loses the eggs. She goes back and tells her aunt a crazy story that defies logic and physics, but is so much fun!

3. Susku and Mushu

A cute, then sad, then kind of freaky story. Starts out with two mice who decide to get married. One day, the husband mouse is cooking ash and the wife mouse gets blown into the pot and drowns. This leads to the husband mouse, a crow, and other animals/nature hurting themselves.

4. The Boy who Became a Bulbul

A boy's stepmother tells him and his father that they should have a competition to see who can collect the most wood. The winner chops offthe head of the loser. The father cheats and ends up winning. He chops off his son's head and gives it to his wife to put in a soup. The sister comes home and sees her brother's head in her soup and is distressed. The mulla gives her instructions that end up making her dead brother become a bulbul. As a bird, the brother gets revenge on the step-mother.

5. The Wolf-Aunt

A poor man is trying to get money to take care of his wife and seven daughters when an elderly woman claiming to be his sister tells him she'll take care of them. One of the daughters discovers that the woman is actually a wolf. The wife tells her husband but he thinks she just doesn't like his "sister." The wife takes her daughters and leaves, and the man is eaten.

6. Nim-Tanak, or Half-Boy

A boy is born to a king who only has half of a body. Becuase of his deformity, he is shunned. But he ends up saving his sister from a Div, which was a task that his other brothers (that were doted upon) could not do. The king then makes him his heir.

7. Muhammad Tirandaz, the Archer

Muhammad kills two mice while he is working and his co-workers tell him she should become an archer instead of wasting his talent. He gets a bow and arrows and makes a motto for himself about killing two lions with one blow. While he's out hunting, a king's guard finds him and recruits him. By mistake, Muhammad ends up leading his team to victory in a battle and he is rewarded.

8. The Praying Baker

A king sees a baker praying in the bazar and wants to test him. He gives him his ring as a promise that he'll come back and pay for bread later, but has one of his men take it the next day. The king comes back and asks for his ring. The baker explains that it's gone missing but that he'll try to find it, and if he doesn't have it by the time 10 days have passed then the king can chop his head off. The king agrees and throws the ring into water. On the 10th day, the baker finds the ring in a fish he and his wife were about to eat.

9. The Sad Tale of the Mouse's Tail

A mouse has her tail torn off and asks for it to be sewn back on, but the cobbler wants something in return. In order to get what she wants, the next person wants something else. This continues in a chain with the mouse adding on to the explanation at every place she goes.

10. Fayiz and the Peri Wife

Fayiz gets married to a woman even though he is already married. He realizes his new wife is a peri (fairy). He has sons with her and a good life, but he misses his home. The peri wife says she will leave him and take their sons if he tells anyone what she is. Unfortunately, Fayiz can't help but tell his human wife and the peri wife leaves him.

11. The Hemp-Smoker's Dream

A man smoked hemp and then fell asleep. He had a dream that a barber and two other men went on a journey to get the princess of china for him to marry. In the end, the men won her over but then fought over who would have her. The ending confuses me a bit, but I think the dreaming man accidentally hit the barber in real life and was awoken.

12. The Story of the Wolf-Bride

A man has a son and takes him to an akhund for his horoscope. The akhund says he will be torn apart by a wolf, so the father keeps his son underground away from everyone. Eventually, the son needs to take a wife and is married to his cousin. Once they're alone together, she turns into a wolf and kills him, and then turns back into her normal self.

13. The Man Who Went to Wake His Luck
A man meets his brother's (personification of) Luck and asks where his is. He tells him where to find him and the man goes on a journey to wake up his Luck who is sleeping in a cave. On the way, several people have questions for him that they want him to have answered by the Luck. One of them is a wolf. He agrees and when he comes back with answers people try to reward him but he refuses. The Luck's advice for the wolf is to eat the first foolish man he sees, so the man is eaten.

14. Tortoise Bowl-On-The-Back and the Fox

A fox and a tortoise get into a fight and decide to have a race. The tortoise gets his brother to help him cheat and pretends he won the race 28 seconds before the fox. The fox leaves the tortoise alone and is ashamed.

15. The Shepherd Who Found a Treasure

Two shepherds are working when one falls asleep. A green fly comes out of his nose and the one who is awake recognizes this as the sleeping man's soul. He wakes the man up and asks him what he dreamt. He is told of a dream in which the man finds treasure. The man who was told the dream gives the other his wages for the day and finds the treasure
that had been dreamt of.

16. The Merchant and the Saffron

A wealthy merchant buys saffron off of a man and pays in loads of jewels. Later, his luck goes back and he ends up with nothing. He wanders and finds the home of the merchant he bought the saffron off of. The other merchant supports him until his Luck wakes back up and then sends him off with money. The man uses the money to buy goods and sells them for 10x more and is wealthy again.

17. Shah Abbas and the Poor Mother

A king dresses as a derwish and finds a poor mother and her hungry children. He helps them by giving the mother a ring that she can take to the baker in exchange for bread. The baker accuses the mother of stealing the ring and takes her to the police. She has her ears cut off and goes home hungry again. The king manages to prove that she didn't steal the ring and gets onto the police chief.

18. The Apparition of the Prophet Khizr

A man who is poor and in debt goes to the king and makes him an offer that he can't fulfill. He tells the king that he will show him the prophet Khizr if he is given money. When he doesn't go through with it, the king asks his wazirs what he should do with the man. Three of them detail gory deaths, but a fourth says to give him a village and money because he has shown him Khizr. Then the man disappears.

19. The Story of the Baker and the Grateful Fish

A baker feeds the fish remnants of bread he can't sell. One day, amerchant comes to him and says he'll give him 100 tumens to work for him. He ends up tricking him and leaving him on a mountain to either get eaten by vultures or jump into the water and drown. He decides drowning would be better and jumps into the water, but the fish remember him and build a raft for him. He ends up using the same trick on the merchant to get revenge.

[Week 3] Reading Diary - Ovid II

The Ovid II

Part 1:

(Rape of Prosperina: Wikimedia Commons)

Cupid and Dis: -Venus wants Cupid to shoot Dis with an arrow to help expand her kingdom
Dis and Proserpine:
-Dis rapes Proserpine while she's collecting flowers
-Her mother Ceres searches for her and is enraged when she realizes she was raped
Ceres and Jupiter:
-Ceres goes to Jupiter and asks to have Proserpine and Dis separated. Jupiter says the only way would be for Proserpine to never eat again.
Persephone's Fate:
-She broke her fast
-Jupiter divides year into halves so Persephone spends half time with her mother and half with her husband.
Arachne and Minerva:
-Minevera wants praise
-Arachne won't praise her unless she wins in a competition of spinning
-They compete
Minerva Weaves a Web:
-Minerva and Arachne both weave images of gods
-Arachne commits suicide and is turned into a spider
Niobe Rejects Latona:
-Niobe will not worship Latona because she things
The Death of Niobe's Children:
-Latona is angry and has Niobe's sons killed
-Niobe is sad but still claims to be better than Latona
-Her daughters are killed as well
Latona and the Lycians:
-Latona is thirsty but not allowed to drink from a pond 
-She curses the men who refused her and makes them live in the swamp/pond forever as frogs
Marysas:
-Marsyas' death is retold
Tereus Marries Procne
 -Pandion allows Tereus to marry his daughter Pronce
-Tereus falls in love with Pronce's sister Philomela

Tereus Rapes Philomela
-Pandion trusts Tereus with his daughter (Philomela)
-Tereus rapes her
-Philomela is mad and tells Tereus how evil he is
-Tereus is angry and mutilates her

Procne's Revenge
-Philomela has a servant take a woven message to Pronce
-Pronce goest to the palace to rescue her sister
-Itys is killed and eaten
-Tereus is mad and he, Pronce, and Philomela turn into birds and fly away

Medea and Jason
-Medea is desperately in love with Jason
-Cupid is unable to help her

Jason and the Golden Fleece
-Medea runs into Jason and he asks her for help with his task
-Jason promises to marry Medea if she helps him, so Medea agrees.
-Jason manages to fight his way to the golden fleece. 

Medea's Spell
-Jason's father is near death so Medea is asked to make him youthful again
-She leaves on a chariot pulled by dragons to get herbs for him

Aeson Rejuvenated
-Medea collects herbs and other ingredients to help Aeson
-She replaces his blood with it and he is rejuvenated

Medea and Pelias
-Medea helps Pelias' daughters kill him
- She ends up at Corinth where Jason's wife Glauce was killed and then kills their sons
-Medea then ran from Jason and Aegeus gives her shelter and marries her

[Week 2] Reading Diary - Cupid and Psyche

Because I always worry about retaining details, I've decided to do my diary in short summaries of each chapter. I don't know if I'll keep doing this for other units, but I think it work well for me now. I'll probably write too much this unit, then too little the next, and eventually find a happy medium. :) In this case, every time something I found important popped up, I wrote it down. I didn't find that it took away from reading that way.

Cupid and Psyche Part 1:

(Psyche and Cupid by Rubens: Wikimedia Commons)

1. The Captive Woman:
A donkey (once Lucius) observes a young girl who was taken captive being brought to an encampment. An old woman tries to console her, but the girl misses the comforts of home and can't stop crying. In the middle of the night, she goes a bit crazy and starts to look for something to (presumably) kill herself with. The old woman gets mad and threatens the girl.

2. Her Dream:
The girl asks the woman to show her kindness and tells her that she was stolen away by the thieves on her wedding day, which she and the whole house were excited about. She talks about her dream in which her would-be husband is killed by the thieves. The old woman takes pity on the girl and says she'll tell her an old wives' tale.

3. Psyche's Beauty and the Anger of Venus:
The woman tells of a king and queen whose youngest daughter, Psyche, was said to be as beautiful as Venus herself. People came from all over just to see her and began to neglect visiting the actual shrines of Venus. Venus becomes angry at the attention the mortal is getting and summons her son Cupid. She leads him to the city, shows him Psyche, and explains her frustrations. Venus asks him to make Psyche fall in love with "the most wretched of men." She then goes back into the sea.

4. The Oracle of the Apollo:
While people loved Psyche's beauty, she found herself despising it. Because she was so unattainable she was not married and was left alone and depressed. Her father goes to pray to Apollo and is in return sent the message of a dark prophecy in which Psyche will be wed. He is told not to expect a child of hers to be born of a mortal, but of a winged, serpent-like creature. The "wedding" is held and the whole city grieves as if it were a funeral. Psyche has come to terms with her fate and goes to the mountain crag. She is left on the crag crying and scared, when a wind carries her down the mountain and softly lands her on a bed of flowers.

5. The Magical Palace:
Psyche falls asleep in the bed of flowers. Upon waking, she sees a beautiful, glowing palace fit for a god or demigod. As she approaches the house, a voice (claiming to be her servant) tells Psyche that the house is hers and she should take advantage of the bed and bath before taking part in a feast. She does just that. Food and drink magically appear and entertainment is provided by invisible musicians.

6. The Mysterious Husband:
While Psyche slept, her now husband got into bed with her and consummated their marriage. He left her before she was able to see him, but returned often to repeat his actions. One night, he tells her that her sisters think she is dead and will go to the cliff to look for her. He warns against looking at them. If she does, she'll upset him and bring "utter ruin" upon herself. But Psyche can't help herself from becoming depressed at the thought of her sisters being upset and about her luxurious imprisonment. Eventually, her husband agrees to allow her to see her sisters but warns her not to give in to their inquiries about his appearance. It amuses me that Psyche says even Cupid himself could not compare to her husband (Cupid).

7. The Jealousy of Psyche's Sisters:
Psyche meets her grieving sisters at the mountain crag. She takes the girls to the palace and lets them take advantage of it. They become deeply envious and question Psyche about her marriage and the owner of the house. Psyche lies about her husband's appearance and sends her sisters away with arms full of gold, but they have already gone crazy with envy. The sisters decide not to tell their parents that Psyche is alive and start devising a punishment for her.

8. Psyche's Husband Warns Her:
At first, Psyche's husband warns her once again against giving her sisters any information about his appearance. He tells her that if she does, their baby will be born mortal. Otherwise, it will be a divine child. When the sisters began to go after Psyche, her husband warns her again that they are dangerous and ready to attack her, and that for their sake and the sake of their baby, she shouldn't listen to them. Psyche becomes distraught and asks her husband once again to allow her to see her sisters. And again, he gives in.

9. Fears and Doubts:
The sisters return to the palace and greet Psyche with false affection and congratulations on her pregnancy. The ask more about Psyche's husband and are given another fake story and sent away with gifts. But this time, the sisters can tell she's lying. The next day they go back to the palace and remind Psyche of Apollo's oracle. They say her husband is a beast who will eventually devour her. Psyche is scared and forgets the promise she made. She admits that she has never seen him before and asks her sisters to save her. Psyche is told that she needs to kill her husband in order to escape him. Although she was torn between the love she felt for her husband and the fear she felt toward the beast he might be, that night Psyche prepared her weapon to kill him.

10. Psyche's Husband Revealed:
Psyche picked up the lamp and blade to strike her husband but when she did, she saw that he was actually Cupid. She examined him and his weapons. While holding an arrow, Psyche accidentally cut her thumb on the tip, which made her fall deeper in love with Cupid. As she held the lamp over him, a drop of hot oil fell from it and onto his shoulder and he was jolted awake. Psyche tried to stop Cupid from leaving but he managed to fly away. He talked about how foolish he was for going against his mother's words and trying to conceal his identity to make her believe that she had married a monster. In punishment, he left her.

11. Psyche's Despair:
Psyche met the god Pan while watching Cupid fly away. Pan tells her not to kill herself and instead to pray to Cupid. Afterwards, she walked until she ended up in her sister's husband's kingdom and asked to see her. Psyche tells her who her husband really is, and then lies and says he got mad and said he would marry her sister instead. The sister believed her. She lied to her husband by saying her parents died and then went to the mountain crag where she thought Zephyr would catch her when she walked off the edge. But he didn't and she died. Psyche then told the same story to her other sister, who met the same fate.