Reading Notes: Marriage Tales, Part B

Dog in bed by Vincent Garcia

Ooh, I like how this story starts off a little scandalous. A girl slept with her dog at night, and in the midst of the night the dog changed into a boy. Over time she became pregnant. Everyone abandoned her and even killed the dog. A crow was willing to help her, lowkey. She gave birth to five pups. They could transform into humans and the mother caught them. The crow came back and spilled the beans.

There once was a land full of turkeys. There was a kind and humble poor girl. The turkeys worshipped her basically. They surprisingly talked to her. They cleaned her up she was a beauty. She did not return to them in time and frantically rushed to them. As she went away she was dirty yet again.

These stories start off with such a twist in the first paragraph. Not really sure where this last one is headed. There is one paragraph that has the word “she” starting every sentence. I think this is for emphasis. Occasional dialogue to make the story cohesive and more imaginable. Ends with a strong quote.

Bibliography: Marriage Tales by Stith Thompson

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Reading Notes: Marriage Tales, Part A

These stories start off in such a strange way sometimes… a boy is in search of his father. He called for all the men to assemble. He chose one? Not even sure it he was the one. The mom was a buffalo cow, and changes to a woman. With a strike of a fire, she turns into a cow. She was struck and ran away with the boy.

Chickenhawk had two wives. They bite each other’s heads off?

Trying to swoon girl. Girl’s parents said no. but finally they said yes to it. She moved in. Then she was convinced to leave. There are various animals playing messenger in this story.

Killer whale by NOAA

Two girls were playing with different animal bones. An eagle appears and swoop a girl up, and a whale dragged the other girl into the sea. The girl with the eagle escaped but the eagle felt lonely and was hovering. This got him shot. The girl in the sea also escaped.

Someone was in a hunter’s home. A fox appeared but was actually a woman. She claimed to be his wife. He accepted that idea, and they lived together. The woman gave off a smell. The man pointed it out. She slipped away and never came back.

A fisherman caught a fish and asked his wife to prepare it. She went to wash her hands and was dragged into the water as revenge. A killer whale was doing this in honor of his friend. A shark volunteered to help the man get his wife back. The man got his wife back and caused the shark and whale to fight.

A woman was cheating on her husband with a snake. The husband caught them at the lake and stabbed the snake. Then he proceeded to kill his wife. He took her meat home and let his children eat her up unknowingly. Gross! They seek revenge for something I don’t understand. Then the children sent out lions to kill their father.

A young woman lived with her seven brothers, little sister, and father. The sister ran off into the woods alone, and her younger sister got curious one day. The young woman was in a relationship with a bear. The little sister went back and tattled. The bear was killed. The woman was angry at her siblings, and turned into a mad bear. A bird told the children to shoot her in the head. All the brothers and sister turned into stars.



Bibliography: Marriage Tales by Stith Thompson

Reading Notes: Tales of the North American Indians, Part B

Why do these start off with murder of children? Ah, so frazzled. A killer came into a home and killed a pregnant woman and found twin boys. One was put hidden in curtains, another in a spring. This is slightly demonic. The boys found their way home to the father, went to revive the mother, and she rose from the dead.

The boys constantly did not obey their father’s commands.

There was a woman that had many husbands. This story is more descriptive of the Native American culture.

Walrus by NOAA's Ark

Aioswe had two wives. There is some sort of incest happening, and I’m uncomfortable. The father left his son, and a walrus is taking him back. The walrus had to go under if there was thunder, but the boy lied and caused the death of the walrus. He also caused the death of two older women. They elbowed each other to death.

Aw, the brother and sister’s name are Sun and Star. The title of these stories are usually named after a character in the story, such as Dirty Boy.


Bibliography: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson

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Reading Notes: Tales of the North American Indians, Part A

Woods by unsplash

The Jealous Uncle starts off with a gruesome sounding murder. He only kills boys. Child had to pretend to be a girl, but accidentally exposed himself. The uncle took him to the woods… and the boy got trapped in between wedges of wood. He escaped through sour berries and surprised the uncle with not dying. There is something demonically wrong with this uncle, oh my goodness.

Next day, the boy had to meet the uncle again. They went to get some duck eggs. The uncle pushed him to his supposed death trap. The third day, they went to fetch clams. I still don’t understand why this uncle is trying so hard to kill his nephew.

After this, Unnatural Uncle made a box and set him off into the sea. He finally landed on land and two girls appeared before him. They took them to the village chief, their father. The boy provided a whale to the land, but selfish uncle kept it for himself and wouldn’t give to the boy’s parents. He took revenge in a civil way; dropped the uncle into the ocean.

Grouse wasn’t appreciated, and received no good pieces of seal. So he tried to trick them into thinking a wooden one was a real seal? Bluejay wasn’t nearly as interesting as the murderous uncle story right before this.

Granddaughter dug up a stalk and a baby appeared. The baby claimed her as a mother. The old woman took care of him, and the young woman refused to accept this fate. The young man set forth on an adventure and made a few friends in the process.

Animals preyed on humans. Every movement seems to be happening in fours.


Bibliography: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson

Week 8 Reflections

Writer by Ramdlon

Reading: I enjoyed my reading choices! I know there were a few that I started, and immediately knew I wanted to change to something more fitting. I think my favorite has got to be the Asian weeks. It’s just interesting seeing what I find familiar. It took a couple of weeks to get used to the overall schedule, but once I got used to it, it was smooth sailing to keep up with.

Writing: The writings have been great! I love the creative freedom we have in this class. I am content with the stories I have been producing, and I definitely feel more confident in my writing. When I have problems, I turn to other readings or wait for a creative epiphany to hit me. This probably isn’t the best approach, but it works for me. A writing skill I want to master is to be grammatically correct. I tend to type the way I talk, and I know that doesn’t always make sense. The more writing we do, the more I notice my grammar is getting better.

Connecting: I admire the variety of people in this class. We have professional writers, engineers, nurses, and a crazy active mom. Everyone is so unique in their own special way. Its great seeing the different approaches they have to writing as well. I hope my feedback has been beneficial? In the second half of the semester I hope to get used to giving feedback. Personally, I feel bad giving feedback even when it’s constructive criticism. I truly enjoy everyone’s stories, so it’s hard to find feedback that helps.

Week 7 Storytelling: Fortune and Ill Luck

Happy couple by freestocks

ONCE upon a time, there was a woman who suffered a lifetime of unfortunate events. She was known to be clumsy and disorganized, but as she was growing up she noticed that she wasn’t just a klutz. She was an unlucky person in general.

Somehow she grew up with a completely opposite friend; he seemed to radiate of luck wherever he goes. She was at least lucky enough to have him in her life. The girl was raised in the bad part of the city, while the guy came from a moderately wealthy family. Somehow they attended the same middle and high schools, and that was how they became best friends. They balanced their misfortunes and fortunes out.

Later in life, they fell in love and got married. The only thing they had going for them was happiness and love. The groom’s side of the family greatly disapproved of the girl and threatened that if he were to marry her then he would be cut off from the family. So he left and they got eloped. He never thought to look back because he deeply believed this girl was worth the world.

The man had numerous friends with connections around the nation. One special person offered his vacation home for the couple to live, and this is how they started their new lives together. The unlucky women somehow lost all her belongings in the process of moving, but that did not discourage them.

The man wanted to prove that they can survive through his luck. A few days after they settled in, he decided to go to the closest grocery store and buy a lottery ticket.

Lottery ticket by jackmac34

Later that night, they tuned in to watch the announcement of the winning numbers. They couldn’t believe their eyes; the husband’s ticket matched 5 out of 6 numbers. Overall, he won about $100,000.

The next morning, he went to go claim his prize. On the way home, he stopped by the bank to deposit most of the winnings and kept a quarter of it in cash. Once the husband got back, he handed the wad of cash to his beautiful wife. She was baffled. In all her years of living, this was the most money she has ever had.

He told her to keep it safe and sound while he went to go job hunting for the afternoon. They decided that with the wife’s unfortunate luck, she should get more acquainted with the new home and area before attempting to work as well.

As she was outside watering the garden, the wife heard a commotion coming from inside. Someone had broken in. She hurriedly ran back to see what happened when a big man hit the back of her head with a stick. Instantaneously, she fell to the ground and was knocked unconscious. In the meantime, the robber found took all their valuables and money.

The husband came home two hours later with a bottle of wine to celebrate. Instead of a celebration, he found his wife on the stone cold ground. He carefully lifted her head up and noticed she wasn’t breathing. Sadly, the impact of fall gradually killed her.

Her lifetime of unfortunate events has come to an end.


Author’s Note: I decided to play with the lucky and unlucky aspect of the story. One big thing that changed was the fact that the husband was wealthy instead of the wife. Ultimately the original story had different scenes and locations, but the ending still ended with death of the wife.

Bibliography: The Chinese Fairy Book by r. Wilhelm