Storytelling: Week 10: The Mountains

There once was a little girl and little boy who always tried to take a short-cut out of work, or would ignore their work completely. After a while their parents knew they weren't completing their chores, so they made the little boy and girl plow the land and plant all of the seeds for the upcoming spring harvest.
The parents sent the children into town to buy seeds and told them to stop for anything else. On their way they came across an old lady who told them that she was selling seeds a lot cheaper than the market was, but what they didn't know was that this women was magical. She said to the children, "These seeds are a lot better than the ones you will get at the market, they make things grow very fast, so you won't need to buy as many seeds at the market. You do need to plant them with other seeds though. If you plant pumpkin seeds with them, your pumpkins will grow to full size with in a day."
The children bought the magical seeds, and went to the market and bought very few of the other seeds their parents told them to buy. The next day the children dragged their feet while plowing the field, and they took so long that they barely had any sunlight to plant the seeds. They started to place the seeds into the ground and placed all the magical seeds into the ground, but didn't have time to put the vegetable seeds into the ground, so they decided to do it the next day.
They went inside and told their parents they finished all the work. They went to sleep, but something strange happened the land over night. It started to raise! since there weren't any vegetable seeds in the ground with the magical seeds the ground grew fast.
The children woke up the next morning and looked outside and the rows they planted the seeds were now hills. They ran outside to see the ground growing right before their eyes. The hills they saw before were now large hills. they went inside to get their parents and when they came out there was a full mountain range next to their house. They couldn't believe their eyes.

Mountains

Authors Notes: I wrote this story based off the American Indian Tale called "The Little Boy and The Girl In The Clouds." This story is being told by one of the older natives, Iagoo, who tells the story about how the mountains were made. In this story a little boy and girl fall asleep on a rock that grows while the children were asleep and the rock grows into a tall mountain. The kids get stuck up there and all the animals couldn't reach them, only the small little worm. 

Reading Diary: Week 10: American Indian Fairy Tales

Iagoo, The Storyteller
Imago was an old wise man, who was an amazing story teller. He knew why and how everything was the way it was. It was wintertime and that is the time for storytelling. All the children came to hear stories from Iagoo, but the North Wind was very strong and scared one of the little girls. Iagoo proceeded to tell a story about the North Wind.

Iagoo, The Storyteller 

Shin-Ge-Bis Fools The North Wind
The South Wind was one of the greatest times in the Indian summer. He made the trees grow and kept the land warm and kept the North Wind away, who had terrible anger and could freeze the land. When the South Wind Slept the North Wind would come in and ice the land and all the fishermen left except Shin-Ge-Bis, the diver. He could transform into a duck but was no match for the North Wind. Shin-Ge-Bis said that the North man was only a man like him, but he couldn't stand the heat. When the North Wind came near he invited him into his wigwam and made the fire big. The North Wind began to weaken and he had to leave. When he was outside he told Shin-Ge-Bis to go out into the snow to fight him. Shin-Ge-Bis knew he was weak from the heat and could make him weaker from his body heat. The fought all night and Shin-Ge-Bis won.
The Little Boy and The Girl In The Clouds
Iagoo told the story about the mountains. The story takes place in a valley of a little boy and girl. They had many animal friends and everyone got along peacefully. The little boy and girl fell asleep on a rock after a long day of swimming. While they were sleeping the rock began to rise and rose above the trees. The parents of the children couldn't find them and the animals all helped find them. None of the animals could reach them though, but a little worm said he could climb the mountain and help. they all scoffed at him, but he reached the top and guided the children down the mountain. They named the rock after that little worm.
The Child of The Evening Star
A hunter lived out in the woods and had 10 beautiful daughters. Suitors came by and married nine of the girls, but the youngest, Oweenee, who was the most beautiful was not married. She was hard to please. She was able to see the heart of men and not their faces, and she said that is what really mattered. She ended up marrying an ugly man who had a beautiful heart. This ugly man, Osseo, was actually very handsome, but cursed by the evening star. Osseo had the curse lifted, but it just transferred to his loved one. She turned old. She said as long as he still loves her she's happy. All of the sisters were envious of the new looking husband, and were happy their sister lost her beauty. Suddenly a voice of the Evening Star was singing to Osseo. All the sisters and their husbands turned into birds and Oweenee's beauty was restored. The King of the Evening Star was Osseous father and he told them that a magican on their land cursed Osseo and sent him to earth. Osseous and Oweenee decided to move to the Evening Star and while they were there they had a son. Their son always wondered what it would be like on Earth. He released birds hoping they would take him to earth,but they didn't so he shot one. When he did the bird turned into a woman and blood was shed on the Evening Star and it made them all decent to earth.

Storytelling: Week 9: Drama in Okanagon Tribe

A lot went on in the Okanagon Tribe like building, hunting and fighting, but one thing that most people were interested in was the juicy gossip that happened around the camp. One girl you knew always knew what was happening and had to gossip about it was Dara. She would always gossip when her and her friends were at work basket weaving. The latest buzz around the camp was that the chief off the tribe wanted his beautiful daughters to get married.

Gossiping at Work 

Dara came to work and of course started talking before they even sat down, she said "Did y'all hear that the chief is trying to marry off his daughters? I mean it is about time. Those girls are almost 15."
One of her co-workers said "We heard, but those girls reject every suitable man who is willing to deal with them."
"I know, I know, but this time he is holding a competition and whoever wins gets to marry them."
"What is the competition?"
"It is a shooting completion, which is great because my nephew, Coyote, is the best shooter in the tribe and I just know that he will win. They have four days to prepare and they have to shoot and eagle and bring it back to the chief."
The rest of the work day the basket weavers all talked about the competition and how they are going to prepare their sons and nephews.
The a few days later, there was a lot of talk about this new mat lodge and everyone was wondering what is was, but they knew Dara would be sure to tell them.
"Oh my Sulia. Did you guys see that disgusting mat lodge near camp? How could it have just appeared and look so old?" said Dara.
A co-worker asked "Did you look inside to see who moved in?"
"You guys will not believe this. It is the oldest woman I have ever seen and this dirty dirty boy. You can tell they haven't jumped in the river in a long time, if you know what I mean. I'm not even sure this boy can even see, he has sores all over his eyes and he just lays in bed. If he came here to enter the contest there is no way he is winning, I don't think he could even afford to make a bow and arrow. Coyote has been practicing for the past three days and is sure to win."
Later that night the shooting competition was held and Coyote lost and the dirty boy in the mat lodge won, Dara was not happy.
"He cheated. I know he did. He didn't even move from his bed, supposedly, and that's impossible. Even the chief thanks so that's why he's holding another competition to catch a fisher bird tonight and everyone knows fisher birds only live in the mountains that dirty boy can't even walk," said Dara.
Once again Coyote lost the competition and the dirty boy won by putting two traps on either side of the house. The daughters were on their way to the dirty boys house to marry him, but the older sister refused and married another boy. The younger sister went to the house and was very sad because she knew she had to take care of her sick husband.
"At least one of the chiefs daughters has a brain and didn't go to the dirty boys house. Who cares if he won the competition, he is so gross and can not provide for her," Dara started out.
But one of her co-workers interrupted her, "Haven't you seen the dirty boy Dara? He transformed into he true form as the chief of the stars! He is handsome and powerful and I even heard that he gave the chiefs daughter gold stars to wear in her hair. She is very lucky she followed through with the chiefs orders."
Upset, Dara stormed out to go see that her co worker was correct and she couldn't believe her eyes

Authors Notes: This story comes from the Native American Hero story "Dirty Boy." I didn't change up too much of the story, but told it in a new perspective. Theres always that one person who is always gossiping, so I thought it would be fun to write this story like it would have been talked about as it was going on.

Reading Diary: Week 9 Continued

Lodge-Boy and Throw-Away

A pregnant women was killed by the red women and she threw one baby outside in the spring and the other behind the curtain. The father found one of the boys and raised him but the other was wild. They changed the wild boy into a human and then they went to go raise their mother from the grave. The father warned the boys about dangerous things around their tipi and the boys always went to these things and conquered them. At the end they had to kill a long otter and did.

The Son In Laws Test

Wemicus was the father of the of a daughter who had many husbands, who Wemicus killed off. He put the former husbands through many tricks that all ended in death, but the current husband was able to defeat wemicus in every scheme. The last scheme was to beat him in a sailing race, but Wemicus’ canoe tipped over and before he died he turned into a pike fish.

Pike Fish 

The Jealous Father

Aioswé had two wives and his son was intimate with the woman who wasn’t his mother. Aioswé was enraged and decided to abandon this boy on an island. This boy escaped by riding on a walrus back to the mainland. On the mainland he had to get past a few obstacles before getting home and he succeeded. When he arrived home his mother, but Aioswé was scared for his life. They burned the forest and boiled the water , but the son and mother turned into birds and escaped.

Dirty Boy

The chief of the tribe had two daughters and put on a contest to marry off his daughters. The brother and sister, Sun and Star, came down to earth and took shape of a dirty boy who can not walk and an old women. The dirty boy entered the contest and won. The chief put on a new contest and the dirty boy one that one too. His wives were coming to his house when one stopped at the ravens house and married him. The younger sister went to the house of the dirty boy and married him and took care of him everyday. He later showed his true identity and she was thrilled.

Reading Diary: Week 9: Native American Hero Tales

The Jealous Uncle
There was an "Unnatural Uncle" who always killed his nephews, it had happened twice before. When a third sone was born to his sister they tried to tell him that he was a girl so that he didn't kill him. It worked for a while but the uncle soon found out and planned to kill the boy. The uncle asked him to get wood with him and trapped him in wood so he would die, but the boy rubbed a sour cranberry on the wood and escaped. The next day the uncle asked the boy to help him gather ducks and eggs and tried to kill him again. The boy successfully escaped. After that the uncle asked him to get clams, and the boy got trapped inside a huge clam but then escaped. The uncle then made a man sized box and had the boy get inside. The uncle set the box off to sea and it later washed up on the land of eagles. The boy married the chiefs daughter and told the chief about his parents and uncle. The chief let him take the eagle skin and go to his homeland and retrieve his parents. The boy made his uncle pay for treating his parents poorly by dropping him into the sea and making him attempt to swim to shore. The boy got his parents and returned to the Eagle land
Bluejay and His Companions 
There was a group of five companions and they went seal hunting together and gave Grouse all the lean meat and no fat. Grouse then had a seal drag these five men far out to sea. When they men realized they started paddling back and got stuck and seaweed and one of them downed. They then got to a strange shore and a squirrel challenged the bluejay to a climbing match. The bluejay won. They were then called to more challenges that they cheated and won all of them. After the horrible journey the men learned to give the fattest best seal to grouse.

Dug-From-Ground

An old women and her granddaughter happened to find a baby that called the young women mother. This women didn't accept him as her son until he killed a white deer and gathered long acorns. The boy did so and the women finally called him son. After that he set out to go to a town and found out he was more than human. He played many games and won them all. 

Attack On The Giant Elk and The Great Eagle 

In the early days there were monstrous sized animals who would terrorize and kill human, like the elk and eagle. The sons of the Sun were sent out to kill these animals and stop them. Jonayaíyin set out to kill the elk and had help from animals friends. 

Storytelling Week 7: Turtle Talk

Long ago I was just a little turtle, swimming very far out where most boats don't go, just like I did all the time. One day there was a boat out there and a boy came right up next to me and scooped me up and put me in his boat with all of these fish. When I worked up enough courage to ask the boy to spare my life, because I was so little and there was no benefit in keeping me. He was very kind and let me go without hesitation.

After this I went to the house of the sea god and told his daughter, Otohmi, about my encounter with the boy. She told me that she really wanted to meet him and thank him for his kind act, but I told her that he lived on the land. She seemed very sad and it broke my heart. 

Many years later I saw the boat again, but it was storing out and the waves were huge. Soon enough the boys boat was swallowed by the biggest wave I had ever seen. The boy struggled to get to the surface and I swam right to him. I reminded him that I was the turtle that he set free years ago. I told him I could save him, but we had to make a stop before heading back to the shore. I knew the princess would be very happy with me. 

Uraschimataro on the back of the Turtle

We traveled all the way down to the house of the sea god and his daughter. On this journey he told me his name was Uraschimataro and he was very fond of fishing, and came from a family of fishermen and fisherwomen. He seemed to care for his parents very much. 

When we reach the princess she instantly fell in love with Uraschimataro and begged him to stay. She told him if he stayed he would be able to stay young and keep his beauty forever. He was very hesitant, but he agreed. 

Over the years they grew very fond of each other, that it seemed like no time at all to them. Since I was the princess's first maid she was able to keep me the same age as she did Uraschimataro. 

One day Uraschimataro seemed very sad and I could see his sadness grow more and more with each day. Otohmi noticed this also and asked him what was the matter. He said that he missed his parents, and I could tell it broke her heart. She told me before that she was scared if he left her then he would never return. I told her that he loved her very much and he would obviously come back. 

Otohmi told him why she was worried and he chuckled a little and told her he will always come back. Because she had kept him young so many years, he needed to be able to keep this appearance whenever he was on land, but since the princess wasn't going to be around him she had to put the magic in a box for him to take to the land. She didn't tell him what was in the box though, she wanted to test his trust, so all she told him was to not open the box. 

I delivered the boy to the shore. I reminded him not to open the box and he quickly agreed, but I could tell he was too excited to see his parents. When he got off my back he ran to the town and I waited for him. I waited for many hours. He didn't return and I was very worried. 

The only person who came to the shore the rest of the day was a very old man, but I didn't let him see me. I didn't want to tell the princess that Uraschimataro do not come back, so I wanted several more days. It came time I had to tell Otahmi the horrible news and she was heart broken. She did not believe he would do that to her so in the middle of the night she snuck up onto shore, but that is a story for another time. 

Authors Notes: This story comes from the Japanese Fairy Tales: Uraschimataro and The Turtle. In the story the boy was a fisherman and saved the turtle who returned the favor saving him when his boat got swallowed by a wave. It is all about the same, but in the original story it talks about what happens when Uraschimataro gets to the land. Since I was writing in the turtles perspective, whenever knew what happened so I couldn't add it in this storytelling. 

When he reached the land he ran to his parents house, but as he was running through the town he noticed everything was a little different. When he went to his parents house and knocked a woman answered who had never heard of his parents. He went to the graveyard to find his parents gravestones that had the date on them, that was a little after the date he left to go to the house of the sea god. He found out that 300 years had passed while he was underwater. He thought that everything was some sort of spell and the box held the counter spell, so he opened it. When he opened the box he immediately aged and he went back to the shore. The turtle didn't come back for him and he died on the beach. 

Reading Diary: Week 7: Lang Continued

Schippeitero
A young man was on a journey and had to stay the night in a chapel for safety. At night cats gathered there and chanted "Don't tell Schippeitrto." He soon found out that a girl from a near by village was going to be sacrificed to The Mountain Spirit and the young boy asked who Schippeitero was. He was a dog who could kill The Mountain Spirit. He got the dog and went to the chapel and when the spirit was going to eat the girl he found the dog instead and the dog and the boy worked together and killed the spirit.
The Crab and The Monkey
The monkey made a deal with the crab to give hm rice and to give the crab a seed of fruit. The crab agreed and she planted the seed and soon had a beautiful tree with a lot of fruit. The monkey asked if he could have some fruit and the crab said yes if he throws down half the fruit to her, but instead he ate all the good fruit and threw down the rotten fruit to the crab. The crab knew the monkey would come back for more fruit so she made a plan with her friends. When the monkey came back he tried to steal an egg that exploded in his face and the he got stung by a wasp and then a mortar fell on his head and he died.
The Magic Kettle
An old man had a kettle that he started to heat up, but when he did the kettle turned into a tanuki. The man didn't want this creature in his house so he sold the kettle to Jimmu. Jimmu set up a booth and showed people the transformation and became very weather. He was an honest man so he filled the kettle with gold coins and brought it back to the old man.

Tanuki

How The Wicked Tanuki Was Punished

Because of hunters there were no animals in the forest except three: the tanuki, the fox, and their son. They were very hungry so the Tanuki transformed himself into a man and sold the fox (knowing she was alive and could escape back into the forest). But he told the seller she wasn't really dead so the tanuki could have more food for himself. The son wanted to avenge his mother so he told his father that he was very good at magic and could transform into anything, but his father said he would still be able to recognize him. So instead of transforming the son just hid and then the king came by and tanuki jumped on him thinking it was the son and the kings guards killed him. 

The Slaying of The Tanuki

The tanuki was very mean to the peasant so the peasant took him home and bound him up because he was planning on eating him. The peasants wife felt bad for the tanuki and untied him, but he killed her and made dinner from her flesh. He transformed into the wife and fed the peasant the meal. He told the peasant and ran away. The hare tried to get revenge by setting the wood that was bounded to the tanuki's back, but it didn't kill him. They had an idea to make two boats, one made of clay and one made of wood. The hare invited the tanuki to fish and he agreed and god into the bigger clay boat. When they were out on the water the hare struck the boat, breaking it and drowning the tanuki. 

Uraschimataro and The Turtle

A young fisherman of two loving parents went too far out to sea and he caught a baby turtle. This turtle begged for his life so the boy gave it to him and set him free. Later he was caught in huge waves and the turtle was bigger now and saved him. The turtle brought him to an underwater palace with a beautiful princess, the boy stayed there for a very long time and did not age. The boy soon longed for his parents and the princess told him he could go and gave him a small box. She said if he were to open the box he would never be allowed to return. the boy agreed and went to the land. Up there he rand to his parents house only to find they were dead. He opened the box and the young boy turned into an old man. He waited by the shore for the turtle, but he never came and the man died. 

Reading Diary: Week 7: Japanese Fairy Tales - Lang

The Two Frogs 
There were two frogs, one from of Osaka and one from Kioto, and they both wanted to travel and explore their land. The Kioto frog wanted to travel to Osaka and the Osaka frog wanted to go to Kioto. They met at amounting in the middle of their two towns and looked at the towns they were traveling to see to find that they looked exactly like the town they came from.
The Stonecutter
There once was a poor stonecutter, who seemed content with his life until he visited a rich mans house. After that he said to himself that he wishes he was a rich man and the mountain spirit granted him this wish. The sun was still hot for him as a rich man so he wished to be a prince so someone would hold an umbrella over his head. He found the sun was mightier than man so he wished to be the sun, then he wished to be a cloud then to be a rock. As a rock, a stone cutter came and chipped off a piece of the former stonecutter. The rock wished to be a man again and then was content with what he had.
The Maiden With The Woden Helmet
There was a family who had lost all their riches so they had to teach their daughter tot work very hard. This girl was very beautiful, but her mother gave her a wooden helmet to wear and never take off. She started working for a rich family and soon became the sick mothers maiden. This sick women had a son who thought the helmet was strange but got a glimpse of the women beauty. He then had to marry her. During the wedding the helmet fell off and revieled her beauty.
The Envious Neighbor
There was an old couple with a very loyal dog. This dog dug up gold coins for the couple. The neighbor of this couples asked to borrow the dog for a night in hopes of him finding more gold, but the dog didn't , so the neighbor killed him. The dog visited the old man in a dream and told him to make a mortar to collect rice and the rice turned into gold. The neighbor borrowed the mortar and the rice turned into smelly berries so he smashed the mortar.

Digging Dog

The Sparrow With The Slit Tongue

A very sweet old man was married to a greedy mean women. The man saw a sparrow in need and brought it into his home and kept it safe, but the women saw this bird and tried to kill it and plot its tongue. When the man found out he went out to look for it and found himself in a beautiful garden with a big house and maiden. This maiden was his spare friend and she fed him and had him pick between two chests. He picked the smaller one and it was gold coins. His wife called him foolish and went to go get the bigger chest. She did and when she opened it there were two snakes who bit and killed her. 

The Cat's Elopement 

There were two cats Gon and Koma and they fell madly in love and ran away together. They came face to face with a dog and Koma ran up a tree and Gon stayed strong like he would fight the dog. A man who worked for the princess came and saved Gon and took him to the palace. They were heart broken that they were separated. At the palace Gon saw two cats fighting and went outside to break it up to find the smaller cat was Koma.