Week 10 Reading Diary, continued: Tejas Legends

The second half of reading the Tejas Legends unit by Florence Stratton was very similar to the first half. I enjoyed the story Why The Hummingbirds Drink Only Dew because it was so out of the box! It really reminded me of the story on the tortoise and the hare since the hummingbird was so positive that she would win the race but then the heron ends up coming in at the end and winning! I liked how the humming bird actually kept its promise and I thought it was a clever way to explain why hummingbirds drink from flowers instead of water like normal birds. How The Sickness Entered The World was more of a dark tale compared to the others. I liked how they gave sickness human like qualities. I wonder what would have happened if the snake lived? I could use this as a story for my assignment this week! It was such a creepy image to imagine a snake leaving its eggs everywhere! I really liked how descriptive the story When The Rainbow Was Torn was written. I almost felt bad for the rainbow because it was split and caught in the cactus, but I was also happy that the cactus got the color it longed for! Why the Dog’s Ears Flop was one of my favorites from this section just because I love dogs! I hated how mean the Indians were to the dog just for messing up once… I feel like they were way too harsh on him!

(Photograph of cactus flower. Source: UnTextbook)

Week 10 Reading Diary: Tejas Legends

This week I chose to read the Tejas Legends unit by Florence Stratton. All of the stories seemed to incorporate nature one way or another, which was really nice. In the story When the Storm God Rides, the author did a great job at describing what the thunder bird Hurakan looked like. I think I would have been scared too if I ever encountered a bird like that! Throughout the story I wondered though why they were afraid of the storm god and the thunder bird if they were just looking for feathers? I could maybe elaborate on this in my storytelling. They also gave the reader good imagery of the God coming in anger to the Texas coast with lightening and thunder coming from all around him! I thought it was a creative way to explain where the islands around Texas came from. Why the Woodpecker Pecks immediately got my attention when it said that woodpeckers used to be Indians… It automatically made me curious as to what happened! This story reminded me of Adam and Eve since the Indians were told not to eat from the mescal plant but of course they were tempted and gave in. I also noticed a common theme of birds in the stories in this unit. This was a creative way to explain the story behind woodpeckers, why the peck at trees, and where they came from! I enjoyed reading The Cloud That Was Lost because it was such a cute story! It could be told at bedtime to children. I could use this in my storytelling to elaborate more since it’s so short. Grandmother River’s Trick like the rest of the stories in this unit had great imagery throughout! I had a vivid mental image of the cloud ringing out her wet hair to send rain down to the river to make it over flow. I thought it was a clever story about how the garfish were tricked out of the river. I also liked that the river had a personality!

(Image of Tejas Indian Legends book.

 Source: UnTextbook)

Week 9 Storytelling: Heads Will Roll

On tonight’s newscast we have breaking news of a rolling head chasing after her children! I would advise your children to leave the room because the pictures and story itself could be considered quite disturbing…

(News room Photograph. Source: Wikipedia)

Good afternoon everyone! We’ve recently received a heinous story including murder, talking snakes, and chasing heads. We’d like to call this breaking news title: “Heads Will Roll.” Our very own George Smith is out in the middle of the action talking to anyone in the area trying to get information on this crazy event. Lets cut on over to George and see if he’s received any insight on what happened earlier today…

“Thank you Veronica. I currently have one of the neighbors here who happened to see murder happen. Would you be able to tell me what happened earlier today around 10 am?”

“Well, I was washing the dishes and gazing out the window like I do every morning. We live next to a lake so our view is just gorgeous. I could stare at it all day! As I was looking out the window I saw one of the wives from my book club walk down to the lake. All of a sudden a huge snake came out of the water and I kid you not the two started talking to each other! I even rubbed my eyes a few times to make sure I was seeing this correctly. A few minutes later the wife’s husband jumped out of nowhere and killed both the snake and his own wife! The whole series of events scared me so much that I dropped the plate I was washing and it shattered everywhere.”

“Wow I can’t even imagine how terrifying that would be to watch… Did anything else happen?” asked George from the news.

“Unfortunately yes. I watched as the man cut both his wife and the snake into tiny pieces. He put them into a bag and walked back to his house. That’s the last I saw of him,” said the neighbor.

“Thank you so much for giving us a little insight to what happened. I know it must be hard to relive such a graphic sight. I now have the oldest child of the murdered wife with me. Can you explain to me what happened to you today?” George asked inquisitively.

“It was a normal day until we came home from school. Normally mom is the one who is there to greet us but she was nowhere to be found and my dad had already made us dinner. We didn’t ask any questions because we were so exhausted from a day of classes so we sat down and ate. A few hours passed and mom still hadn’t come home. Dad said that if she came back while he was gone to tell her that he had gone to get the rest of the food he hunted earlier that day. So I was sitting at the table with my siblings working on homework and all of a sudden my moms head… still alive I must add… rolled in and said “I am very sorry that my children have eaten me up” I freaked out! How could I have eaten my own mother!? I had no idea she had even been murdered! My siblings and I ran out of the house screaming and as the head pursued us. I didn’t know what to do so I drew a thick line in the sand so the head would get stuck. This worked and we ran all the way to the police station.” Said the oldest sister.

George’s mouth and eyes were wide open when the camera panned back to him. “This is just traumatizing. I’ve never heard of something so crazy in my life! I’m so sorry for the loss of your mother and I really appreciate you taking the time for this interview. Now I’m going to send this story back to the news room.”

Thank you George for piecing this terrifying story together for us. We’ve recently heard that the father has been taken into custody for further questioning and the children are currently being evaluated for the psychological trauma they have been through today. When we get more details on the story we’ll be sure to tell you on our next news segment!

~~~

Author's Note: I chose to do this week's assignment off of the story called The Rolling Head. In this story a woman would go down to a lake every day after her husband had gone to hunt to talk to a snake. The husband caught on and followed her one day and when he saw what was going on he killed both the wife and the snake. He cut both of them into little pieces and fed them to his children. The head of the murdered wife rolled to the children and told them that they had just eaten her. When this happened the children got scared and ran away but her head followed after them. The oldest child drew a line in the sand so the head would get stuck, which worked. The children had to fend for themselves for awhile so they hunted and gathered a lot of food which caught the attention of a nearby town who was starving. The people came to the children and were fed. Soon enough they left and it was just the children and the father living together, but they were mad at him for what he had done and they had lions come and kill him! I decided it would be fun to write this assignment as a breaking news story since there are so many crazy events involved. I kept the story very similar to the original but decided to stop the ending with the mother's head getting stuck. I wanted to make it more modern so I had the father going to jail and the children being evaluated for what they had just been through. 

Bibliography: "The Rolling Head" by Stith Thompson. Website: UnTextbook. 

Week 9 Reading Diary Continued: Native American Marriage Tales

The second half of The Native American Marriage Tales by Stith Thompson was very similar to the first in keeping with the animal transformation theme. I really enjoyed The Dog-Husband story because it reminded me of Toy Story. It was interesting how every night when the girl went to bed the dog would turn into a human and then before she woke up he would be a dog again. It was similar to how the toys in Toy Story would be alive when Andy and other humans were gone and then go back to “playing dead” when they were around. It was cool how they kept the theme throughout the story and even the girls children were able to transform from human to dogs. The Youth Who Joined the Deer also kept with this theme. I thought it was so interesting how the tribe would kill their own deer people and use them for food but then bring them back to life by putting the bones in water. They made it seem completely normal! I liked the imagery in the story when the chief put the buck skin on top of the man turning him into a buck for his deer wife during rutting season. I liked how the story had the man return to his original tribe to teach them how to properly hunt and respect the deer. The Girl and the Turkeys was my favorite story of this section because it was based on the Cinderella fairy tale! I liked how descriptive they were when they introduced the poor girl… it really gave me a mental image of what her character looked like. They also changed the plot around a little bit and instead of having the girl be home by midnight she was required to always remember the turkeys who helped her. I didn’t understand why the turkeys didn’t wait any longer because in the end the girl didn’t forget about them she returned! Unlike the actual Cinderella story this one doesn’t have a happy ending… I could use this in my story telling and rewrite it in a different way!

(Original Book. Source: UnTextbook)

Week 9 Reading Diary: Native American Marriage Tales

This week I chose to read the Native American Marriage Tales by Stith Thompson. I soon found that there was a theme of animals, mainly female, that were able to transform from animal to human. The Piqued Buffalo-Wife, was interesting because the man chose to wife a buffalo and had a son with her! I didn’t understand why the buffalo, the man’s wife, tried running towards him and hooking at him… but I had such a creative mental image of her turning into a woman as she did! I also wasn’t expecting the herd to trample the man if he guessed the wrong son! It sounded like a very harsh punishment to me. The Fox Woman kept with the theme of transforming animals as well. I would have been so freaked out if I was aware that someone I didn’t know was coming into my house while I was gone and cleaning it! I thought it was really creative how the fox was able to take off her skin and turn into a woman as it pleased. The entire time I was wondering why the man didn’t know he had a wife and also why the fox assumed she was his wife. I liked the story on The Woman Stolen by Killer Whales because of all the vivid details. It was cool to think of a whole underwater life of fish chiefs and all of the fish having homes! The Rolling Head story was my favorite of the first section. I was appalled when the dad ended up killing both the woman and the snake and feeding them to his children! I had a crazy mental image of a head chasing the children when the story said the mom’s head rolled towards them. I could use this one for my story telling this week because I didn’t like that the story never expanded on what happened to the mother’s head… it just moved on!

(Photograph of killer whales. Source: Flickr)

Reading Plans

While looking through the Native American choices for Weeks 9 and 10 a few stories stood out to me. The first one I'd like to read is the Native American Marriage Tales by Stith Thompson. I like that some of the stories are longer than just one page so they can go more in depth with the plot. Hopefully it'll make it easier for me when trying to write my storytelling for the week. The story about the deer bringing her human husband to live with her family seemed like it would be interesting. I'm particularly excited to read that story! Another story that caught my attention was the Tejas Legends. Since I'm from Texas I think it'll be really interesting reading these stories from the Tejas Indians. I also am excited to read about where Texas got its name! I enjoy reading about animals and nature so I think this will be a good choice for me.

(Texas Flag. Source: Flickr)

Blog Ideas

I really enjoyed looking at all the other blogs in the class. I want to pick a different background for my blog because I feel like mine is so plain! I'd still like to keep with the pink theme though so hopefully I can find something that works for me! Some of the blogs with layouts that really stood out to me were Morgan, Bri, and Cassie's. I really liked the backgrounds they chose and all of their posts were really easy to read!