Reading Diary A: Looking-Glass

Looking-Glass

Looking-Glass: Tweedledum And Tweedledee: I haven’t watched the movie Alice and Wonderland in so long that I almost forgot about Alice’s encounter with the two twin characters, Tweedledee and Tweedledum. The two little men seemed so mischievous and cunning with their directions and poems. After reading the line, “But the little men only looked at each other and grinned,” my view of them was confirmed because their pesky personalities were revealed through their simple grins. I also liked that the story inserted bits of information about Alice’s feelings after her journey. It gave the story a deeper, holistic summary.

(Tweedledee and Tweedledum - Illustration by John Tenniel)

The Walrus and Carpenter: It was cool to read another unit where some of the stories were connected to each other. I almost felt like I was reading a short novel about Alice.

In this snippet of the little men’s poem, I started realizing how purposeful each word was placed. For example, the moon was not referred to as an “it” but instead a “she”. Here is the section of the poem:

The moon was shining sulkily,

Because she thought the sun

Had got no business to be there

After the day was done —

"It's very rude of him," she said,

"To come and spoil the fun!"

There was a friendly war between the moon and the sun that reminded me of some of the Native American stories I had read a few weeks ago for this class. After reading this story, I also looked up the word “sulkily” to confirm its meaning. That then led me to look up words in the definition, so I now know more synonyms for the word “sulkily." These include ‘sullen,’ ‘morose,’ and ‘resentful.’

Reading Diary A: Blackfoot Stories

Blackfoot Stories 

Two Fast Runners: This story had its own unique writing style that was slight, but noticeable because of the short length of the story. For example, this sentence shows the style I am referring to: “So they agreed that they would have a race to decide which could run the faster, and on this race they bet their galls.” Instead of simply saying, “which could run faster,” the word the is inserted to give attention to the word faster. It made me realize how small changes can really make a difference to a reader, even if you think it is too minor to notice.  

I also had to look up the word gall to make sure I knew what the two animals were talking about as they bet who could win the race. I was correct that the word gall stood for gallbladder, but I never knew that when the name of that organ is shortened, it is referring to an animal’s gallbladder instead of a humans’.

(Antelope - Photographer Unknown)

The Wolf Man: I noticed the author mentioned what a piskun was in the author’s note. This was a helpful hint because I find myself constantly looking up the meaning of words sprinkled throughout different texts.

The man moved away from his wives to a butte. When taking Geology last semester, I learned about buttes, so if you can believe it, my Geology class helped me better understand my Mythology and Folklore class.

Man, those two wives were brutal and clearly possessed seared consciences! It made me happy though to see animals come to man’s rescue instead of the other way around. The idea of a punishing society makes me think it was the Indian’s primal form of a government or court system.

Reading Diary B: Native American Stories

Native American Stories

The Fairy Bride: This line caught my attention: “Her eyes had the look of one who has dwelt in secret places, and seen things strange and mysterious.” It made me curious to see what would distinguish eyes that have seen secret places from normal eyes.

When the hills (made by the grasshoppers) were mentioned, the Native American culture came to life. When I took Cherokee, I noticed there were many connections with nature and animals. Also, we probably learned more animal names than any other subject. Anytime another animal was mentioned, the same carefree attitude was expressed.

This comparison was simple, but creative: “Puk-Wudjies would vanish in the woods, but their footprints, no larger than a child's.”

(Michschievous Little Fairies - Artist Unknown)

The Fairy Bride (cont.): In my Languages Across Cultures class, I have been learning about some endangered languages that still use the moon to tell time. They are either nomads are live primarily in the woods. This line made me think of that method of telling time: “An Indian would say he could hang his powder horn upon it (moon), and that it meant dry weather when the leaves crackled under the hunter's feet and the animals fled before him.”

The conversation between the mother and daughter reminded me of a modern movie. I feel like fighting to be the most “wise” is an argument that commonly happens between a mother and her child. I know in my own life, I would tell my mom that I was smarter than her with driving even though I had only been driving for less than a year.

Reading Diary A: American Indian Fairy Tales

American Indian Fairy Tales

Iagoo, the Story-Teller

(Iagoo, the Story-Teller - Author Unknown)

This was the first story of the bunch, and I thought it did an excellent job at setting up the story. The first few paragraphs were intriguing because of the use of words. For example, I thought this description of the Earth was beautifully said, “ He knew the fairy tales and the wonder stories told him by his grandfather, who had heard them from his grandfather, and so on, away back to the time when the world was young and strange, and there was magic in almost everything.”

My expectations were also met after reading this bit of the unit because I was expecting the Native American stories to have natural significance and meaning.

American Indian: Shin-ge-bis Fools the North Wind

As a child, you feel like everything is so much bigger than reality shows to adults. I thought it was cute when the little timid girl thought the North Wind could hurt her. Iagoo had a peaceful, yet powerful response that as long as she is brave and cheerful, the mighty wind would not hurt her.

The North and South Wind seem to be significant pieces in many of the stories. I read this one right after I read Iagoo, the Story-Teller, so I saw the use of the common use of the wind back to back.

The names were so odd in this story, which doesn’t truly surprise me! They were actually fun to try and pronounce. For example, the King of the Land of Ice was an old man named Ka-bib-on-okka, and the South Wind’s name was Sha-won-dasee.

Reading Diary B: South African Folklore

South African Folklore

When Lion Could Fly: I learned what a kraal was by reading this story – an African village of huts. Without even knowing the story came from the South African unit, you can pick up on hints like the word kraal and take a very educated guess what unit it is from. Coming from the knowledge I do have about lions, the story gives an interested twist to the history of the creature. Once being able to fly, but now since the frog broke his prey’s bones, he must hunt on all fours. This is how I picture the lion in his most majestic stance, hunting for its game to devour, on all fours, not flying.

(Lioness and Cup - Photo by amychyde)

Lion Who Thought Himself Wiser than His Mother: This one line comes from the mother lion:

"My son! That Man whose head is in a line with his shoulders and breast, who has pinching weapons, who keeps white dogs, who goes about wearing the tuft of a tiger's tail, beware of him!"

The way she describes the Man is fascinating. We look at animals by their features, but hearing a description of a human from an animal sounds quite odd. It is something I have never really thought much about. What do humans look like to animals?

In the end, the mother was right, but the Man showed mercy on the younger lion by letting him go after he had been shot. The Man’s white dogs were about to tear him apart, but instead of killing the lion, he taught him the lesson of listening to his wise mother.

Reading Diary A: South African Folklore

South African Folklore

The Lost Message: I thought the title of this story was very fitting, but did not give away the ending. I read the Nigerian Folklore Unit last week and enjoyed it so much I wanted to read similar stories. This is why I chose to read the South African Folklore this week. The Lost Message was the first story of the unit and it met my expectations. The story had a purpose. We now know why the ants live in discord because the beetle never delivered the message of unity to them. The names of the ant groups were entertaining so that made the story more interesting as well. For example, the last paragraph introduced the Insect-king. His name spoke right to his title and role in the ant’s lives.

The Monkey’s Fiddle: This story incorporated the infamous Brer Wolf, which was one of the other units I thought about choosing. Brer Wolf’s jealousy allows the reader to learn more about the animal democracy. The court of the Lion, Tiger and other animals get introduced and the court hearing begins. With the monkey about to be convicted of a crime he did not commit, he uses his wits and plays his fiddle. This is one of my favorite parts about these folklore stories is the cunning qualities and wit about the characters.

(Vervet Monkey - Photo by Landfair)

Tink-Tinkje: This whole story was about a game between the birds of the earth. The dialogue was easy to follow, and I learned some attributes about birds of today. This story, like The Lost Message, taught the reader something about reality of animals in the last paragraph.
 

Reading Diary B: Nigerian Folklore

Nigerian Folklore

Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes

This was such a creative way to explain the different shapes of the moon throughout the month. At first, I thought I read the line wrong when it said the moon was an old lady made of meat. As the story progressed and the old woman on earth started eating away at the moon, I was reminded of the children’s story called “The Giving Tree.”

I hadn’t heard of the story until about a year ago, so in case you haven't heard of it, I will give a summary so you see the connection. There was a boy who used a tree for shade, then throughout the boy’s life, the tree continued to give him his leaves and branches and finally gave him his trunk. The story is about sacrificial giving, and even when the boy turns into an old man, the tree still provides him with a stump to sit on as he ponders about life.

I was expecting the moon story to end similar to "The Giving Tree," but it had a different ending that made more of a scientific conclusion.

(The Moon in South Africa - Photo by Raramuridesign)

How the Tortoise overcame the Elephant and the Hippopotamus

As I read this story, I was trying to think of the best descriptive word for the tortoise, and as I read the word “cunning”, it clicked! I looked up the word to get the exact definition and realized this word meant using deceit to achieve one’s goal. The tortoise might have been using chicanery, but his smarts outwitted the large animals.

Similar to the previous story, both conclusions connected to some form of science. This one had to do with the biology of the tortoise being able to live in the water and on land.

Reading Diary A: Nigerian Folklore

Nigerian Folklore

The Pretty Stranger Who Killed the King

After reading the first paragraph, I noticed the word “skilful” was spelt with just one “l”. This looked odd to me so I decided to look it up in the online dictionary to confirm its spelling. I found out that “skilful” is the British spelling, which makes this spelling just as correct as the English version of “skillful.”  

The method Oyaikan, the witch, used to kill the king reminded me of the story in the Bible of the beheading of John the Baptist. In both situations, the beheading gave one party much pleasure while seriously affected the other in a clearly negative way.

Later on in the story, we hear about the king’s head wife breaking open the door to the king’s chambers to awake him. The idea of having multiple wives, with one being the head wife really saddens me because polygamy doesn’t cherish the intimacy of marriage.

Something I’ve noticed about the readings in this class is that a simple lesson is usually taught throughout the text, but isn’t summed up until the end. Also, the lesson isn’t announced with a lengthy paragraph, but instead, it takes just a simple sentence to express the profound idea.

Why the Bat Flies by Night

(Bush Rat - Photo by Katrin Solmdorff) 

This was such a clever story, and I think this quote really sums up my reasoning why. When the bush rat asked the bat why his soup always tasted so yummy, this is how the bat replied:

"I always boil myself in the water, and my flesh is so sweet that the soup is good."

After reading many of these stories, my mind itched to write zany stories that are so out of the ordinary.

Reading Diary B: Tales of a Parrot

Tales of a Parrot

The Frog, the Bee, and the Bird, who Killed the Elephant – I was immediately drawn to this story because of the title. It had a hint of playful mystery that somehow incorporated a frog, bee and bird. Throughout the story, you are introduced to multiple animals known for their wisdom, wit and ability to create strategies, especially the bee bird and frog. The little creatures had a pretty evil plan to kill the elephant. I didn’t realize the violence would escalate so quickly, but they wanted to help out their new friend, the flea, so they did not hold back.

The journey of the day was an eventful one, which made the end of the story quite tasteful. 

“Khojisteh wanted to have gone; at that instant the cock crowed and, the dawn appearing, her departure was deferred.”

(Elephant - Author Unknown)

The Elk and the Ass – By the name of this story, you just know you have to read it! It really did have a helpful lesson in it though. The donkey and elk were grazing in a pasture that did not belong to them so they had to be quiet. The donkey, or ass at this point, didn’t think through the fact that his singing would wake up the master of the house. He belted a tune anyway. The two animals ended up getting caught, but the story doesn’t divulge what happened to them after. The parrot told this story to help his master’s wife in her predicament of accepting a veil of chastity to keep her out of trouble.

Reading Diary A: Tales of a Parrot

After reading through the Tales of a Parrot unit, I started realizing how common it is for some supernatural being to be apart of the stories. From the Bible Unit to Life of The Buddha and now Tales of a Parrot, it doesn’t matter the context, plot or characters, a God or gods are 

somehow incorporated.

(Mughal Tutinama - Author and Date Unknown)

Miemun and Khojisteh:After reading this first story of the unit, I was immediately infatuated by the idea of a wise and almost mischievous parrot. The words and thoughts of the small bird were so complex and eloquent that I knew the two together, man and bird, would be a great combination.

There were two words I actually learned from reading this little snippet. I had never heard of the words “hun” and “spikenard” so I left the story with a larger vocabulary!

Khojisteh and theParrot: This story immediately turned for the worse! But it was so unexpected that I actually enjoyed reading it all the way through. Even though the poor sharuk died a horrible death of being beaten by the woman, the surprise of the act made me more curious as I continued to read.

The Story of theParrot of Ferukh Beg: I learned the meaning of another new word, “sagacious,” which means shrewd or good judgment. This word was used to describe another parrot in Ferukh Beg’s household. I can respect the little fellow for not wanting his master to divorce his wife for her affair while he was gone for a year and a half, but marriage needs to be all about honesty so I wish he went ahead and said something.

Reading Diary B: The Life of Buddha

The Life of Buddha

Siddhartha the Hermit: This story has so many beautifully written sentences that describe settings or truths. Instead of just talking about dawn or a horse, Buddha uses descriptive words, so unusual, that they catch the reader’s attention. For example, to describe dawn, the author starts off the story by saying, “When the sun finally peered between the eyelids of night.” Later on, Buddha gives a helpful, profound teaching. He says, “Unhappiness is born of desire; that man it to be pitied who is a salve to his passions.” This is such a counter-cultural stance in our society because we are taught to please ourselves in order to gain happiness, whether that is through success, money or perfection. This instead teaches that feeding your fleshly desires is the demise to a happy life.

(Buddha Statue, Bojjannakonda)

The Tree of Knowledge: Many of the miracles in this story seem to be experienced or granted for convenience instead of to show the glory of Buddha. Some of the other miracles could belong to a fairy tale because of the good vs. evil theme. This is especially true when Mara, the Evil One, raised the banks of the pool to prevent Buddha from escaping and then Buddha prayed to the Goddess that lived in the tall tree on the bank to help him climb out.

Siddhartha Becomes the Buddha: There was one large paragraph in the story that almost threw me off because of the repetition and complexity, but at the end, it concluded that ignorance is at the root of old age and death. While I had to think on this for some time, I think this makes some sense in relation to Buddhism. From the start of humanity, men and women were ignorant, which means they needed something more powerful than themselves to save them from the darkness within them.

Reading Diary A: The Life of Buddha

The Life of Buddha

(Buddha and Mara's Demons, c. 1,000 C.E., 

File created by Asia Society - Author: Anonymous)

I had wanted to explore this unit from the first week because one of my New Year’s resolution to explore different religions in order to increase my knowledge base.

Maya’s Dream: This story tells about the beginning of Buddha’s life, which all started with a dream from Queen Maya. Going from the Biblical Unit last week to the Buddha Unit, I see quite a few similarities and differences. For example, an angel came to Mary the Mother of Jesus to tell her she would bare a son named Jesus who would be the Messiah. Buddha’s mother was approached in a very similar way–through a dream–to find out about the identity of her son. With Buddha living inside his mother’s stomach, she had healing powers over people and nature. Throughout Jesus’ ministry, he performed miracles, but only in the last three years of His life, which is a difference.

Birth of Siddhartha: Queen Maya seemed to have some connection with trees because she was continually fascinated by their beauty and splendor. After reading the birth story of Buddha, the whole world seemed like a utopia at the time. Nothing in nature or society was evil or unhappy.

Asita’s Prediction: I thought the term gifted to Buddha from the gods was odd – destroy the evil of rebirth. I am unsure if this means reincarnation or something else. In the Christian Bible, the purpose of the text is centered on being rebirthed into our new life of purity, so it is something we desire, not something we want to be destroyed.

I find it sad that Asita, the priest, was unable to know his (Buddha) message and his (Buddha) law, but it might not be revealed until Buddha ages.

Reading Diary B: Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

Leaving the Garden: The Sea of Wafer, with its clear and pure characteristics, reminds me of Purgatory because it cleanses the souls of people before they enter heaven or hell. In the story, the souls of the dead entered their mortal bodies to cleanse themselves in the water of the sea. Similar to the cross Jesus died on for the sins of the world, the sea uses people’s repentance to purify their souls.

While at first God didn’t want Adam and Eve to smell even a hint of the beautiful sea’s fragrance, he decided to send The Word down to Earth to comfort the repentant hearts of the first human beings.

Entering the Cave ofTreasures: With any sin, there is a consequence, but there is also grace. This story shows both of those things when looking at it holistically. Adam and Eve had to leave the beautiful garden and live in the vastness of rocks and sand, but God reminded them that he would come save them in five days and a half (5,000 and 500 years). This is a redemptive story that mirrors the real Christian gospel.

They Die A FirstTime:

“Then Adam and Eve entered the cave, and stood praying, in their own tongue, unknown to us.”

This first line of the story reminds me of two things. First, when the Holy Spirit arrived on Pentecost, allowing Jesus’ disciples to speak in languages they did not know, but other people understood them. Secondly, I am taking a Languages Across Cultures class where we learn the origins of languages. From a scientific perspective, the first language tuned into about 6,500 to 7,000 languages because people groups started separating to live elsewhere. After so many years, people start pronouncing words differently until the original language is no longer mutually intelligible. I am curious what tongue they are speaking in this text.

(Adam and Eve, by Masaccio - detail)

Reading Diary A: Adam and Eve

Adam and Eve

The Ideal Man:The story was centered on Adam as the epitome of pure beauty, strength and wisdom. 

“The dimensions of his body were gigantic, reaching from heaven to earth, or, what amounts to the same, from east to west.”

This quote immediately caught me off guard because I was expecting the story to be more traditional instead of imaginative, but the outlandish features of Adam made the story intriguing. The section comparing the soul and God seemed very accurate because of the mystic surrounding both of them. While you cannot see either of them, both can see you and know the depth of your being. It is quite a paradox.

As the author talks about some of the great characters of the Bible, he mentions their faults, which lead to many of their deaths. Sometimes perfection isn’t as great as it seems. This section reminded me of the movie Seven, which is about seven people who die due to their obsession with one of the seven deadly sins. 

The Fall of Satan:There seems to be a theme in this section of the stories where Adam takes the place of God’s perfection. Adam is almost his representative in full bodily form – similar to Jesus. Specifically, Adam is similar to God because of the actual story of Satan’s fall from heaven. Satan desires to be the all-knowing God and disqualifies himself from being in the heavenly realm after repeatedly disobeying. In this story though, Satan desires Adam’s flawlessness.

          When God scolded Satan for his resistance to paying homage to Adam, God burned him good. If I was told I had less wisdom than a creature created from the dust, I would feel mightily insignificant.

(Fall of Satan, by William Blake)

Lilith: I thought it interesting that the act the animals saw setting Adam and God apart was sleep. The fact that Adam had to/ could sleep meant his mortal body couldn’t resist the state of tiredness.

Reading Diary B: Bible Women

Bible Women

The Witch of Endor: I read 1 and 2 Samuel this past semester, which is where this story comes from, but I had forgotten about this section. It is interesting to me what people do in times of desperation. Saul outlawed witchcraft in the country, yet called upon the Witch of Endor out of desperation. He had been a disobedient king, who killed and became a selfish ruler to Israel, so God became silent to His calls. That doesn’t mean God didn’t hear them, but he was punishing Saul with silence. The fact that Saul went to a witch shows how hard the absence of the Lord’s voice was in his life. If he truly did not care, he would not have gone to such great lengths to reach Samuel for clarity.

Bathsheba: David has always been regarded as a saint in my mind because of his faithfulness and boldness concerning his God, but this story shows the depravity of man. Comparing this story to the Witch of Endor one above presents some parallels. In the name of lust, David sinned and continued to do so to cover up his mess just as Saul sinned out of desperation.

“And Uriah departed out of the king's house, and there followed him a mess of meat from the king. But Uriah slept at the door of the king's house with all the servants of his lord, and went not down to his house.”

This section of the story grabs my heart because Uriah was a faithful soldier. His men did not have the luxury to sleep in the comfort of their homes so when he was sent home, he laid at the door of the king’s house instead. This act is beautiful. One I do not know if I would have had the discipline to accomplish, but one I certainly admire.

(Bathseba by Gerome)

Esther: I just finished watching the TV show Reign, which has taught me much about the medieval times and the power of the king. Through watching the main character Queen Mary and her ladies, their virtue was sought after by all the young and old suitors. This reminds me of Esther’s story because King Ahasuerus had virgins line up to be chosen from to replace his wife Vashti.

Reading Diary A: Bible Women

Bible Women

Eve: This is one of my favorite Bible stories because it represents the beginning of mankind.

"And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the Garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it."

This is the first sentence of the story, which is written so poetically. God gave Adam the job to "dress" the garden. He named the animals and essentially became their caretaker just as we take care of our pets. However, he had millions under his care where we usually have about three or four.

Later on in the story, after Adam and Eve sinned by eating of the fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, God gave each gender a punishment. I had never noticed this certain consequence until a few months ago, but it explains so much. God told Eve, "Thy desire shall be to thy husband." This means God's initial desire was for both genders to experience equality, but because sin entered the world, women started to naturally feel a desire to please men. This is a huge part of why feminism is present in our world today - to fix this problem. There are also epidurals to help with the pains of childbirth, which is another punishment the woman received because of her disobedience. 

Altogether, this story brings forth much grace. After they sinned - after they did the one thing God asked them not to do - God gave them clothing to cover their shame of being naked. They had every other freedom possible, yet they deliberately disobeyed because of their curious flesh. 

 (Garden of Eden, by Lucas Cranach)

Hagar: This is such a sad story because Sarai was frustrated with her own circumstances so she told her husband to sleep with her handmaid. After she conceived a child, Sarai became an evil woman toward her. Making sure Hagar felt alone, unloved and ashamed. God loves the brokenhearted and heals those in need. He did just this when Hagar was about to leave her baby under a bush because she didn't want to see him die. He showed her to a drinking well to symbolize hope as well as to literally give her a drink. 

Leah: It is so interesting to me that the story of Leah and Rachel is so similar to Sarai and Hagar. Having their handmaids sleep with their husbands to give them children seems to be a trend.