Week 14 Reading Diary: Lang's Fairy Tales I

This week I chose to read Lan's Fairy Tales I from The Brown Fairy Book.

The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots: This was an interesting story. Puss in Boots was a very clever character, giving his owner many great things. His owner didn't like him at first but Puss in Boots definitely proved him wrong.

The Dirty Shepherdess: The fact that the prince tried to find the only person's hand who would fit the ring reminded me of Cinderella a bit. The whole story is basically a small tweak of Cinderella, the princess has terrible parents, spends most of her life cleaning/shepherding, and the only identifying thing about her is the ring.

How the Dragon was Tricked: The story isn't just how a dragon was tricked. It is also about how a greedy king met his gruesome fate allowing the clever young man to have whatever he wanted. I think the story goes a little bit overboard with the way that the young man kills the dragon's wife.

The Young Man Who Would Have His Eyes Opened: This story is the definition of curiosity kills the cat combined with ignorance is bliss. The old wizard in the story even said that "Blindness is man's highest good." Saying that life is better not knowing some things.

Kisa the Cat: I did not expect the cat to be a princess. Part of me was also bummed that Kisa was only doing this good deed to break a curse and not out of the goodness of her cat heart. I understand that she would rather be a princess than a cat but still.

Week 13 Reading Dairy: Dante's Inferno

I chose to read Dante's Inferno this week. I have heard much about this book but have never seized an opportunity to read it.

Dante and Virgil: Learned about who Dante and Virgil where. Interested to see how Dante's trip goes.

The Gate of Hell and Charon: The idea of a ferryman for the dead reminds me of the 3rd Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Limbo: It is unfortunate for the people who lived before the creation of the proper way to pray to God. They were given no chance to prove themselves and end up in a hopeless situation.

Poets and Philosophers, Heroes and Heroines: I like how Dante reacted to seeing all of the great people before his time. In todays society it would be like a young girl seeing Taylor Swift. In some ways that saddens me though.

Paolo and Francesca: I was confused about how Dante knew who the couple was. I am assuming it must have been a well known story throughout the land.

Cerberus and Plutos: I couldn't help but to think of the Cerberus character from the Disney Hercules movie when I read this story.

Fortune and Phlegyas: I did like Virgil's explanation of Mother Fortune. She is unpredictable and you will eventually lose. The picture that went along with the description was also a nice touch, showing that you can't always hang on to that wheel.

The Fallen Angels: I was confused as to why the fallen angels would not let them in.

The Furies and the Heretics: I didn't realize that Furies are deities specific to vengance. Now the notes at the beginning of this story makes more sense.

The Minotaur and the Centaurs: I had originally thought that Centaurs were half man half horse. It was good to see that someone was "willing" to help them.

The Harpies and Capaneus: I found it a little gruesome that the sinners in this story were stuck in what I understand to be boiling blood.

The Old Man of Crete and Geryon: I liked the idea that there was a statue somewhere in the world that fed water to the circles of hell. That stream also helps shape the geography of the circles of hell as well.

Descending of Geryon's Back: This was a really cool concept. I am sure that was a thrilling ride.

Jason and the Demons: To be honest when I first read the title of the story I thought about the Jason that comes from Camp Crystal Lake. I was surprised that it was so easy to get the demons to help them.

Caiaphas: Based on the notes, I assumed that the metal coats that the tribe was wearing was equivalent the lead that was coated on the victims of Emperor Frederick II. That would not be a pleasant way to die.

Ulysses and Diomede: I feel sad for the Ulysses' family that he took another trip around the world.

The Giants: I am not sure if the giant Nimrod mention in this story is the same Nimrod from the Noah unit at the beginning of the semester. He wasn't a giant, but I wonder if there is any correlation. Virgil also makes a comment about how one language still does not rule the world. That seems to reflect The Tower of Babel story where God mixes up the language of the people so they cannot complete the tower.

Ugolino: This story saddened me deeply. I would not wish that upon anyone.

Satan: I thought the way that Satan was described was quite interesting. I also thought that the inclusion of Brutus in one of Satan's mouth was fitting to his sins.

Week 12 Reading Diary: Through the Looking Glass

This week I have chosen to continue the Alice in Wonderland unit and read the Through the Looking Glass unit.

The four or so stories that included Tweedledum and Tweedledee were quite fascinating. Those stories reminded me of the some of the times spent with my twin brother. From hanging out together, to having fights we have experienced much of what Tweedledum and Tweedledee showed in just those short stories.

I like the occasional inclusion of poems. When I read the unit, they introduced this upbeat reading style that quickened up that pace at which I was reading. I almost felt more energized after I read one of the rhyming poem sections like The Walrus and the Carpenter

Humpty Dumpty's character was a lot more snide and sarcastic than I expected him to be. Based off of the nursery rhyme that I have always heard, I have pictured him to be this helpless egg creature that falls down. In this Humpty Dumpty however, he is a pretty intelligent character (aside from occasionally making up new words).

Week 11 Reading Dairy: Alice In Wonderland

This week I chose to read Alice In Wonderland.

It was a nice refresher from the other units that I have read. Instead of being broken up into many different stories that aren't all apart of a continuous story, this unit has multiple stories that encompass the chapter of a book. I enjoyed the extra detail that could be included because it was a continuous story.

The Caterpillar character has always intrigued me. In Advice from a Caterpillar, Advice from a Caterpillar (cont.), and Advice from a Caterpillar (end), he is just as confusing and strait forward as any of the others that I have read. I like the way that the Caterpillar makes Alice wait each time he starts to smoke the hookah. Alice is a very impatient girl, and her interaction with him forces her to look at things in a different light.

The cinema version of Alice in Wonderland with Johnny Depp as the Mad Hatter was great. When I read A Mad Tea-Party, A Mad Tea-Party (cont.), and A Mad Tea-Party (end) I felt that Johnny Depp's performance was done quite well comparatively. The conversations that Alice and the Mad Hatter had were all over the place and had no real logic involved.

I think my favorite chapter was The Queen's Croquet Ground. In The Queen's Croquet Ground, The Queen's Croquet Ground (cont.), and The Queen's Croquet Ground (end) there is a lot of random things happening. I chuckled many different times whenever the chapter talked about the miss happenings with tr the hedgehogs and the flamingos. I did not care much for the queen herself. She has always been a crude character.

I was  little upset that the chapters skipped around, but I can definitely understand that it would have been a bit ridiculous to include all of the chapters in the book for us too read in one unit. Overall I really enjoyed reading this unit.

Week 10 Reading Diary: Tejas Legends Units

This week I read the Tejas Legends Units.

I enjoyed the Old Woolly Bird's Sacrifice story. i liked how the tribe would not let the old man disappear because he was to proud to be a burden on his fellow villagers. It is a good look into how the Native American culture reveres its elder.

I thought the story, The Tribe That Left Its Shoes was a clever one. It gives an interesting insight as to why the certain orchids that the story refers to have colors like the moccasins the tribe dropped. The different ways that cultures come up with reasons that things are a certain way.

The Cloud That Was Lost was a cute little story. I felt sorry for the cloud that ended up losing all of his brothers and sisters. The clouds being why you see fog early in the day and around dusk made me chuckle. I really do like the creativity that these tribes have.

Week 9 Reading Diary: Myth and Legends of the Great Plains

For week 9 I chose to do the Myth and Legends of the Great Plains.

The Creation story is one of my favorite stories in this unit. I am including this story in my storybook with the Elk telling the story from his point of view. I am excited to write that story.

The Sacred Pole sounds like it was the first creation of a totem pole. It doesn't ever specifically say that so I curious as if it is like a traditional totem pole. The tree that the create the pole out of reminds me of the tree that Prince Siddhartha sits under as he becomes the Buddha.

The Eagles Revenge was a cool story. I did not even consider that the man who was killing the people dancing could was the eagles brother. When I read the story I didn't feel that bad for the eagle because he was eating the deer that the hunter had caught.

I also really enjoyed the Three Ghost Stories. My roommate Jacob has a bunch of ghost stories that he tell time to time and these stories made me think of those. I especially liked the one about the tattoos that people needed in order to get on the correct path whenever they became ghosts.

I liked the story Wakanda, or Water God. It was a good to see a story tht depicts one of the Gods that the different tribes have. It was quite a sad story though. I honestly would have done the same thing as the father had done. Even if it was just to see my son one more time.

I always enjoy stories that explain phenomenon in real life. In the story Why the Possum Plays Dead we learned just that, why the possum plays dead. It was a nice seeing how they explain things.

The story How the Rabbit Killed the Giant reminded me of the Brer Rabbit stories. The rabbit that killed the giant was doing this deed for others which never really happened with the Brer Rabbit stories. It was nice to read about a trickster rabbit that helped others and not himself.

Week 7 Reading Diary: More Brer Rabbit

This week I chose to continue the Brer Rabbit story with More Brer Rabbit.

Like the last Brer Rabbit unit, the language is still difficult to understand. I did, however, learn an new word from Brother Bear's Big House. The word was sagaciate, but was spelled sagashuate in the reading. It is nice to learn be learning new words even with the language how it is.

In Brer Rabbit's Flying Trip, I found it to be kind of similar to Mr. Rabbit Meets His Match Again. Only this time Mr. Rabbit was ridding Mr. Buzzard and enjoying every second of it instead of being all "weak in de knees" like he was in the latter story. Mr. Rabbit always seems to know what is happening before any other character even thinks about it.

Sometimes I find it hard to believe that all of the creatures can never seem to see that Mr. Rabbit is always setting pranks on them. In Brer Rabbit Finds the Moon in the Mill Pond, he has everyone believing that they wouldn't be able to see at night anymore if they didn't pull the moon out of the pond.

I like the addition of the Jack Sparrow character. In The Fate of Mr. Jack Sparrow, it throws a kink into Mr. Rabbits kink free plans. I liked it because it made Mr. Rabbit work a little harder than he normally has to in order to pull fast ones on the different characters.

I enjoyed it when there were stories that didn't include Mr. Rabbit, it allows me to see how clever some of the other characters are. In Mr. Bear Catches Old Mr. Bull Frog, we are able to see Mr. Bull Frog for the first time and how clever he is to trick Mr. Bear in order to get away. Who knows, maybe Mr. Bull Frog is smarter than Mr. Rabbit. I guess we will never know.

It is nice to hear stories that explain some of the natural phenomenons of the world. In How Mr. Rabbit Lost His Fine Bushy Tail and Why Mr. Possum Has No Hair on His Tail, we learn why rabbits tails are short, and why possums have no hair on their tail. These stories give an interesting account as to why these things occur in real life. 

Week 6 Reading Diary: Brer Rabbit

The language was very difficult to get used to in the Brer Rabbit unit.

I found myself either, speaking the stories out loud, or listening to the Librovox audio accompanied with the unit. The Librovox audio makes it much easier to understand what Uncle Remus is saying.

When I read The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story, the first thing that came to my mind, was me waking up on Saturday mornings and sitting in front of the television to watch the Roadrunner and Wile E. Coyote cartoons. It brought back a significant urge to watch some of those cartoons again.

I was a little shocked about how much detail of the death of Mr. Wolf was shown in The Awful Fate of Mr. Wolf. Needless to say he got his just desserts though. I like how pretty much every story is a battle of the wits between the characters.

I really enjoyed Old Mr. Rabbit, He's a Good Fisherman. It is one of those perfect cons that Mr. Rabbit thinks up when he gets himself in a crappy situation from being lazy. Mr. Fox, is still just as gullible as ever.

Another great one was Mr. Terrapin Shows His Strength. He pulls one over on everyone, including Mr. Rabbit, and makes them believe that he is stronger than Mr. Bear and Mr. Fox combined. Which is a pretty big feat! So this Mr. Terrapin showed that he is stronger than a bear and quicker than a rabbit. That is one pretty talented turtle.

I was actually surprised that this unit mentioned the Legend of Noah, in The Story of the Deluge. This story has a different description as to how the earth was flooded. I thought it was funny that it was the crawfish that ended up creating the great flood.

The Plantation Proverbs were both interesting and confusing. I thought it was a cool little reading but some of them were difficult to understand. When I listened to the Librovox Audio it was a little confusing because part of it didn't match up to the text.

Week 5 Reading Dairy: Jatakas (Shedlock)

The reading unit I chose this week was the Jatakas (Shedlock).

When I read The Parrot That Fed His Parents, it caught my eye. It caused me to reflect back on all the things that my parents have provided me throughout my life. Like that parrot, I will definitely take care of my parents in their old age.

I also enjoyed reading The Bull That Proved His Gratitude. In ways I can relate that to The Parrot That Fed His Parents. The parrot in that reading is also proving his gratitude to his parents by feeding them, like the bull is proving his gratitude to the old women by obtaining money.

The Monkey that Saved the Hero made me a bit curious. There didn't seem to be a hero in the reading that was saved. The monkey king saved his entire 80,000 troupe from the water ogre. So I was a little confused at to why the title of the reading says that the monkey was saving a hero.

Grandmother's Golden Dish reminds me of a term that called "sharking' in the serving business. "Sharking" is where a waiter waits a the front of the restaurant to sit a table in their own section, breaking the certain rotation that is in place for all the servers. I one had a coworker who did this; that table of four people ended up spending 20 dollars in the entirety of their meal, and the waitress got around 3 dollars for a tip. Needless to say she was not excited about that table.

How the Antelope Was Caught reminds me of my parents dog. Every time they eat some sherbet ice cream, and are at the end of the bowl, they scrape the bottom of the bowl to get the last of it. When this happens, if their dog is in another room, he will immediately come to their side. They normally let him lick the bowl clean. It has turned into a Pavlovian response for him.

In The River Fish and the Monkey, I was surprised that the fisherman were asking such a high price for the fish when they knew not that there was a package full of money inside of it. The river spirit must have powers beyond that of just stuff within the river.

I was really confused after reading The Poisonous Trees, the stanza that the Bodhisatta says at the end of didn't make sense to me. After a while I realized that because the tree is not hard to climb, and there are plenty of fruit on its branches, then it must be bad fruit that grows. It's a clever way to realize what kind of tree that is.

Week 4 Reading Dairy: The Life of Buddha

This week I chose to read The Life of Buddha.

The first three stories of this unit (Maya's Dream, Birth of Siddhartha, Asita's Prediction) talk about how glorious the prince is and will become. I was surprised about how radiant the second two stories describe prince Siddhartha to be. There is so much joy in the world after he is born, and everything, ever the trees and rivers, become more beautiful from his birth.

The ones I enjoy most are the units about his encounters with the evils of the world. In his First Encounter he learns about old age. In the Two More Encounters, he learns about sickness and death. The prince talks about how mankind is able to seek pleasure knowing what death is. These two readings are definitely a reality check for the prince, who has seen nothing but joy his life. It also comes as a reality check for the reader.

In The Great Truths prince Siddhartha is finally starting to unravel. He cannot get the idea of death out of his mind until the Gods send him a monk that talks about his life of solitude. He finally understands what he wants to do with his life, and decides to become a monk. His mind had now become enveloped with the idea of "supreme blessedness, of beatitude, of nirvana."

Even I was saddened when I read about prince Siddhartha's exit from the palace. There is a great amount of sadness in Gopa and Suddhodana Grieve. It is hard not to feel like the prince is making a mistake. However, so many supernatural things happen for him to leave that one can't help but wonder that it is the right thing to do. I was very saddened to hear that his horse Kanthaka died from sorrow.

In the Arata Kalama the prince makes perfect sense in his reasoning for not preaching or following Arata Kalama's word. The prince asked what the difference is between indulging in desire and indulging in suffering. In each situation mankind was indulging in something, which in part is the root of old age and death.

Finally the true law comes to Prince Siddhartha's mind, in Siddhartha Becomes the Buddha. He realizes that it is an endless circle of birth to suffering to death and back to birth again. Beyond the religious implications, this reading makes a good point about cause and effect throughout the real world. Actions always have consequences, whether good or bad.

Week 3 Reading Diary: Jewish Fairy Tales

This week I chose to complement the Legends of Noah unit I read last week and read the Jewish Fairy Tales unit.

I found The Beggar King to be an interesting story. I love stories that hit home with good themes. I felt like King Hagar learned his lesson quite well. In the end of the story it talks about how wise and kind of a king he was for the rest of his days.

(Singing Beggars by Ivan Yermenyov: Wikipedia)

I was a big fan of The quarrel of the Cat and the Dog. I enjoy these kind of miscellaneous knowledge stories. I can just picture a small child asking why a cat and a dog always fight, and now I can tell a story like this one to enlighten them.

Another favorite was The Magic Palace this definitely peaked my interest as to who Elijah the prophet is. I have a feeling that this Elijah character could be mirrored with Jesus Christ. I know that Jesus was a carpenter and in the story this disguised Arab makes this marvelous structure in a single night.

The King for Three Days reminds me of a time in my high school English class. We were discussing Greek mythology, in particular oracles. I think the story was about Oedipus. Anyways, the power of oracles or prophets, and any other similar characters are so great. Yet, people in these stories consistently disbelieve what they say.

I have to say, a big reason that I liked The Higgeledy-Piggledy Palace so much was the name itself. It kind of reminds me of Alice in Wonderland and the Cheshire Cat. So much "weird" stuff kept happening to the Pharaoh because of the spirit.

(Cheshire Cat: Deviant Art)

The Fairy Frog is another story, after reading it, that you come away with a lesson learned. The main character show patience and respect for their elders even though they went through tough times. These are definitely the kind of stories I enjoy.

Week 2: Reading Diary - The Legends of Noah

Here are my thoughts on the Legends of Noah

The Ark (Genesis): This story discusses how God began to see the wickedness in man. It is here that he declares his plan to destroy all living things of sin. I did not know that Noah took his entire family including his sons wives.

The Flood (Genesis): As God continues with his plan, he begins to brief Noah. Another fact about the Noah stories that I didn't know was how old Noah actually. I'm guessing that the difference between the sons of God and men were their life spans. Once the rain, that came down from the heavens, starts and lasts for 40 long days.

After the Flood (Genesis): I was surprised to find out that the reference of the dove and the olive branch that is so often used was in this chapter. I think it would be safe to assume that this is one of the original places that it pops up.

Noah: Noah's Sons (Genesis): The beginning of this story seems to be a spoken contract with God and Noah. God says that he will no more destroy all of the living things on the earth through a flood. I was unsure of what the last part of the story was trying to convey. In Noah's drunken state his son's cover him up since he is nude. This would seem like a good act, however, when Noah awakens it seems that he is condemning Canaan, Ham's son. I am particularly confused as to why this is.

The Tower of Babel (Genesis): This was by far the most boring story of this unit. It is basically an account of all of Noah's son's and grandson's. At the end, it seems that God restrains the ability of all of Noah's kin by "confounding" their speech. So God scattered them abroad making the world a more diverse place.

The Birth of Noah: This was a very enlightening story for me. From my understanding Noah was just a regular guy chosen by God to build this ark. From this account though he did much more than that. His birth caused the cows to obey the plowman and he also invented the plow and the scythe so man would no longer have to use their bare hands. I also found it interesting that Noah was in sorts a secret named that only his grandfather called him.

The Punishment of the Fallen Angels: This was a very interesting story. It accounts for all the reasons that God uses to make his decision on creating a flood to kill everything on the earth. It goes to show how full of sin mankind is that even they can corrupt angels. It reminds me a lot of the movie The Dark Night Rises. The main reason that the Joker does what he does is in order to corrupt Batman.

The Generation of the Deluge: This story including The Punishment of the Fallen Angels gives a really good account to all the sins that had befallen the world before the flood. God in his everlasting patience allowed Noah to preach to mankind about how they should change their ways. With the story ending with the death of Methuselah it seems that the flood is about to begin.

Noah: The Holy Book: It was a nice reprieve to find a story that wasn't all about Noah.  I was wondering where the knowledge came to Noah in order to build the ark. Coming from a mechanical engineer mindset I thought that it would have been extremely difficult to design and build an ark that accounted for thousands of different animals and would still float. The weight of that ark must have been an egregious amount.

Noah Leaves the Ark: I find Noah's reluctance to leave the ark very peculiar. Before the flood he spoke to those who were begging him to let them on with such conviction about god, and afterwards he is on the fence about it all. And such the seven Noachian Laws were produced as well. Not to be confused with the seven deadly sins.

The Curse of Drunkenness: I am glad that there was a second recount of the story when Noah gets drunk off of wine. The first story didn't give much detail as to why Noah curses Ham's son Canaan. In this one it explains how Ham had spoke ill of his father as well as preventing Noah from bearing another child. Since Ham was blessed when he left the ark Noah could not put a curse on Ham himself. It was good to find that clarification.

The Depravity of Mankind: It goes to show that mankind cannot help themselves but sin. This story has similarities to the 12 apostles. I don't know if those are the same people or not. You also see the first "miracle" of God when he saves Abraham for always staying true to God.

The Tower of Babel: This is probably my favorite story of the reading. I have really not known anything surrounding the story other than just knowing its name and that it was a tower to heaven. I didn't realize that this was a thing that mankind was building wreak havoc on heaven itself. I thought that they would use it to gain more knowledge of heaven and its surroundings. Sadly, that was not the case.