Reading Notes: Down the Rabbit-Hole

This week I am going to talk about Alice falling down the rabbit hole. Instead of falling down the rabbit hole, I am going to make it a secret door in her house. It will be full of things already inside of her house, but in a dimension she has never been in. Everything looks the same, but it is filled with crazy things from Alice in Wonderland.

Bibliography: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, link to online reading.

image: Secret garden door from Flickr.

Story: The Plant That Grows in Trees

Birds have been around since the beginning of time. They collect all of the seeds and berries throughout the year so they have enough food to last them in the winter. It is rumored that when a bird is little, its mom teaches the skills the bird needs to survive. There was one bird who had a bit of a different story though. This bird, named Nate, did not have a mom. In fact, he did not have any family at all. His egg fell from the tree before he was born, so his mother assumed he died. Nate was raised by a few different birds who happened to see him along their way.

He eventually grew up to witness his first winter. White stuff was falling like crazy from the sky, but when Nate realized he was hungry, he could not find food anywhere. He hid up at the top of the tree to get a better look at where some food may be.  After a few hours, he noticed a few birds gathering around a bush not to far away. Nate figured it could not hurt to see what all of the commotion was. Suddenly, birds from every corner were swooping in to see this plant. Nate flew faster to get to it. When he arrived, he noticed that it was a small green plant in the middle of winter. Everything else around it was brown and dead. The white berries on the plant were huge and it definitely had enough to feed all of the birds for a while.  So Nate decided to be brave and try a berry. He was amazed! But the plant started to talk to him. “Please eat as much as you want! I am slowly dying because of the birds. I am so sorry if I am not here tomorrow.” Nate was shocked! Usually when the plants talked they were rude and said to get away. This one was kind and giving up his entire life! Nate watched the plant get swarmed by birds who are not prepared for the winter. For hours he watched thousands of birds peck off a berry and be on their merry way. Suddenly, Nate had a great idea. “What if we move you up to the trees? We can hide you there. People will still be able to eat from your plant, but you will not die because of the tree! You will be sheltered from the cold and snow, but also can use the trees water.”

The plant seemed hesitant. He thought about it for a little bit and then decided it was worth a shot. He already knew he was going to die if he stayed here, so why not try. Nate picked up part of the plant and put him on a tree. He pecked out part of a branch so the roots of the plant were wrapped around the trees branch. It worked! The plant, now called mistletoe, is around on many trees!

Author's Note:
The original story talks about a thunderbird during the winter who decides to bring the dying mistletoe up to the tree. I wanted to keep that same theme but give the bird more of a personality and make the story more vivid.

Bibliography: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indians Legends; link to the online reading. 

Image: Bird from Wikipedia. 

Reading Notes: The Plant That Grows in Trees

Mistletoe has always been associated with winter and Christmas time. This story is going to talk about a starving bird who only eats berries and meets the mistletoe plant on the ground. I am going to talk about the bird and the mistletoe and how their friendship has lasted over many years.

Bibliography: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indians Legends; link to the online reading. 

Image: Mistletoe from Wiki Commons.

Story: When the Rainbow Was Torn

When the wind blows, seeds are scattered all around. One particular seed named Timothy flew away and was all alone. He found a spot in the dirt and after a bit of rain, became a beautiful white flower. But something was not quite right. Timothy was alone and missed having a family desperately. His best friends were the clouds that rolled by, but they could never stay for long. One day, a few mean clouds were overhead. They were fighting and angry, so naturally lightning was flying everywhere. Timothy was a little scared and politely yelled for the clouds to leave. Of course, this only made them angrier. The wind picked up as a result and seeds started flying everywhere. This actually made Timothy a little excited because he may get new friends!

Once the clouds finally decided to leave, all was calm again. Suddenly, Timothy saw a pink light up in the sky. A rainbow! Timothy had heard a thing or two about the friendly rainbows from the clouds. “Hello!” Boomed the cloud. Timothy looked around. There was literally only one person he could be talking to, and it was definitely Timothy. “…Hello?” He responded. The rainbow and the little flower talked for a long time until they got to a very sensitive subject. Timothy had always been ashamed that he was a white flower. White flowers were fine, but it was an honor to be a colorful flower. Only certain flowers were special enough to be a color. The rainbow listened and reached down to give his new friend a hug. Little did the two know, but a simple hug gave Timothy a million colors. It looked as if a rainbow had melted right onto his petals.  When the two drew back from the embrace, they noticed Timothy’s new beautiful petals. They were so excited! The two new friends said their goodbyes and promised they would see each other again soon.

After this exchange, things around Timothy started changing for the better. Because of the wind and rain, the new seeds had all sprouted into beautiful flowers. Each of them had their own personality. The six new flowers quickly became Timothy’s family. He was known as the father of the group because of his wise advice and beautiful colors. After all, only the wisest of flowers were special enough to have colors. Timothy eventually became a powerful leader in this new flower colony. He told the stories of the clouds and the rainbow. The other flowers absolutely could not believe that he spent so long alone. He inspired all of the flowers to be nice to the clouds. He taught them that even through a rainstorm, there is something at the end of the tunnel!

Timothy went down in history as boldest colorful flower.  After his death, his seeds blew away in the wind and more colorful flowers just like him were planted. Now whenever someone see’s a bold flower, they think of the lonely flower named Timothy.

Author's Note: I created this story because I love how the flower got his colors! In the original, he was on a cactus and the rainbow got stuck in the thorns. I did not like that mental picture, so I wanted to give it a more friendly approach. Having the rainbow hug the flower meant the flower could still get his colors. I also wanted to emphasize the power of niceness and how alone Timothy was.

Image: Flower from Flickr. 

Bibliography: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends by Florence Stratton. Link to online reading. 

Reading Notes: When the Rainbow Was Torn

I think I may start talking about a flower who was blown away from his family and lives alone on a cactus. His name would be Timothy and he longs to be colorful and fit in with the other flowers.  His white petals are boring and show that he hasn’t grown up yet. The point of this story would be that the rainbow wants to be his friend. When the rainbow reaches down to give Timothy a hug, Timothy catches some of the rainbows color.

Bibliography: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends by Florence Stratton. Link to online reading. 

Image: Cactus from Flower Meaning. 

Week 8 Growth Mindset

I think a weakness that I have for this class is definitely playing it safe. I feel like I have some creative thoughts, but for readers, it would not come across the way I meant it too. My biggest concern is confusing someone, or someone not seeing it from my perspective. I think I am going to try and write a wacky post. Although the comments on the story might be kind of scary, I want to be as creative as I can!

Image: Flowers from Floret Flower.

Week 8 Reflections

This class has been quite the interesting experience! I am not really sure what I was expecting, but I love how it has turned out. My favorite story so far has been... all of them! But especially the Sultan and the Fish, and Aladdin! It was super interesting to go back through my reading notes and see where they creative process started. It is so amazing how an in depth story can come from such a small spark! I am excited for the rest of this semester and all of the stories we have left to read. Since this class focuses on storytelling, it makes every week exciting!

Image: Flowers from the Floret Flower.

Story: Why Dog and Cat Are Enemies

Long ago, the dog and the cat were the best of friends. They lived comfortably together with their owners and they were happy. They spent all of their days together. Little did they know their lives were about to be flipped upside down. Their owners, Jim and Marie, were struggling to make ends meet. They were able to have food on the table for every meal, but they were not able to buy new clothes. They were barely making ends meet. Marie decided her wedding ring was worth more than anything else they had, so it would be a good idea to sell it.

So the next day, Marie headed down to the market to sell her most prized possession. This ring was not an ordinary ring though. The second she sold it, she immediately felt a change of pace. Something was not quite right anymore. This ring had magical powers that made sure families were always well fed and had the bills paid. It helped families stay afloat and they did not even know it.  The only ones that knew of this power were animals. The dog and the cat knew the family was going through hard times, but they had no idea what was about to hit them.

Marie sold her ring and was so excited. She knew they were going to have money that would last them for weeks. But when she arrived home, Jim had lost his job. Their only source of income was Jim’s job since Marie had to stay home with the kids. Without his job, they were completely lost. The cat and the dog overheard this conversation and immediately started brainstorming.  “How can we possibly get this back, Cat?” The dog questioned.  First, they had to find out who bought the ring.

The cat and the dog hurried out of their house and hoped their owners would not notice they were gone. They went down to the market and saw the shiny gold ring shimmering in the window.

The next step was getting it out of the store. The cat had an idea to get a mouse to grab it for them. The only possible creature that could fit into the crack would be a mouse. Cat walked down the street and looked for the first mouse she could find. After a small chat about how she would kill it if he didn’t get the ring, he agreed to sneak it.

The mouse worked his magic and successfully got the ring. There was only one small drawback: the alarm. Almost like a scene from Indiana Jones, the alarm went off the second he picked up the ring from its spot. The mouse grabbed the ring and sprinted back out the door. The three animals ran as fast as they could back home. Mouse and cat easily made it back to their house, but the dog was not so lucky. The dog tripped while running and broke his leg. He limped all the way home, to find the cat getting all of the praise from the owners.  Jim and Marie realized how much impact the ring had on their lives.  They were sadly mistaken though because they thought the cat had done this all by herself. The dog was so betrayed by the cat that he swore they would never be friends again. The cat took all the credit while the dog was left in the dust. And that’s why the cat and the dog can never be friends.

Author's Note: This weeks story was a little difficult for me to get creative with. In the original, it is based a long time ago. I wanted to give it a more modern twist. It gets a little confusing trying to tell the difference between each character, but I tried my best! For the ending, the dog got stuck behind the house and the cat climbed the roof, thats how she beat him home. I thought that was a little too confusing though, so I gave the dog an injury instead.

Image: Golden Retriever from Pinterest. 

Bibliography: The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhelm, link to Why Dog and Cat are enemies. 

Reading Notes: The Two Little Cats

The Two Little Cats is a story about two cats who run into a rabid Handre. It would be interesting to write about the village they live in and how scary a Handre is. I am going to talk about how the Handre's took over their land and only a few animals remain. The land is overrun by these cruel Handres, but I am going to talk about how the innocent animals took back their land.

Bibliography: Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton, link to the Two Little Cats.

Image: Cartoon Town from Google Sites.