Week 6 Review

I ended up choosing an image from the most recent blog post of this week's announcements: Sunday, February 28.

Creativity in Writing

I look at this image and immediately think about graph theory and connecting dots in optimal days, drawing path between them and different algorithms for doing so.  This is what 4 years to a computer science major has done to my brain.  That just goes to say there are many different ways of looking at am image and everybody will interpret it a little bit different.

Learning Challenge: Find a favorite empathy meme - Week 6

Being Wierd

Everybody is a little weird, some more than others.  I could immediately relate to this post, and I guess that's part of what empathy is really about. You just have to find friends in life who are the same type of weird that you are.

Week 6 Storytelling : An Unlikely Friendship

Monkey painted by Ohara Kason

An Unlikely Friendship

Every Spring Monkey chooses a new tree.  As soon as the fruit started to ripen and the flowers start blossoming, he would choose his favorite tree.  He chose a different tree every year, and would eat his fill of the wonderful fruit until the tree was barren, and their was no more fruit left.

This year he chose a peach tree, with branches hanging over the ocean.  He especially liked that the fruits were shaped like hearts. He took on the peaches in his hands and started to each.  The fruit was especially sweet and juicy this year.  Satisfied with his choice, Monkey alternated between building up a place for him to sleep, and eating the delicious fruit.

As monkey was busy working, a shark started circling below.  The shark looked up at the monkey, busy eating the fruit and started thinking of an idea.  The shark did not want to eat the monkey, you see, he needed the monkey's heart to cure the king from across the sea. The king would dye within 6 month time if he did not get the heart.  The other animals could not make the journey across he water, but shark could not go onto the land and actually catch a monkey. As he circled, he started thinking of an idea.

Shark called a greeting up to the monkey. "I am tired of eating all of this salty fish," said Shark, "won't you share some of your food with me, and we can talk over a meal."
Monkey saw no danger in giving food to the shark.  He diligently picked fruits, and tossed them down to the shark.  The shark ate them all up and kept asking for more. Every time monkey would throw down another fruit, the shark would ask for more.

Although Shark was initially just trying to start up a conversation with the monkey and stall while trying to think of an idea, he found that he really liked the juicy fruit.  The decided that since he had half a years time, there was no harm in staying there with the monkey for a few week, sharing food and stories.

Every morning shark would surface between the tree, and Monkey would throw down fruit. Several month passed this way, and the two animals started to become friends.  Spring passed into summer, and summer passed into fall.  Five month elapsed this way, full of fruit and stories. Shark began to realize that he could stall no longer.

The following morning, shark told monkey a tale of the land across the sea.  The described the fruits on the tree, and told monkey of their wonder.  The animals there were greedy and would not share with Shark, but legend told that the fruits were the best in the land.

Monkey immediately took an interest in this tale.  The tree was was almost barren with fruit, and new exotic fruits sounded extremely appealing. When the shark was to far from shore for the monkey to swim back, he confessed his true intentions, apologizing to Monkey.  Shark's eyes were full of teas, for he had truly come to like the monkey and would miss his friend.

Monkey also looked sad, as well as apologetic.  He told shark that monkey do not keep their hearts in their chest.  Instead, the great spirits hold onto monkey hearts for safekeeping.  When a monkey dies, the spirit returns the heart to the physical world in the form of fruit.  Thus the lives of brave Monkeys help keep the next generation alive.  People are sad, and often bury the hearts of their loved ones, creating new trees,  and new places for the spirits to deliver hearts.

The shark was shocked and delighted at this revelation.  Shark could spare his friend and save his king at the same time!  Overjoyed, shark quickly turned around and started swimming back to the tree.  When the pair reached the shore, monkey climbed back up the tree, and threw down fruit to the shark for the last time.  Shark gathered up the fruit, promising to return and swam quickly away.

It wasn't until shark brought back the fruit and tried to heal the king the he realized he had been tricked.  Shark swam back to the tree with the fruit shaped like hearts.  There was no sign of monkey.  Monkey had already found a new tree, never to return to the peach tree.  Shark swam away slowly and sadly, for he had lost both his King, and his friend.

Authors Note
This story was inspired by The Heart of the Monkey from Lang's African Stories.  I used the same characters, the Monkey and shark, and I used the premise of the story: The shark wants the Monkey's heart.  Other than that I took a lot of liberties and changed the story.  I would definitely encourage everybody to go read the original.  It is an interesting read, and it will help you better see how it differs from my story.

Bibliography
This week's reading is from African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books.
From The Grey Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1900) 

Week 6 Reading Diary, Continued: African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books

This week's reading is from African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books.
From The Grey Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1900)

Snake from pixabay

Hassebu

•  There are parts of this story that don't add anything for me.  Like when the boy finds his fathers books and reads them.  This seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the story.
• Hassebu does not seem like like to do any work, so why then does he help the woodcutters?  This seems like another type of work. the story doesn't explain why he prefers this work more than the other jobs his mother tried to get him to learn. 
• I like that all of the animals in this tale talk.  I wonder why the scorpion didn't talk. 
• The second Hassebu gave his promise I assumed he would break it, because that's how stories always go. 
• I still don't understand why the King of the snakes would help Hassebu who had just betrayed him.

The Heart of a Monkey

• I like that the shark and monkey become friends and help each other.  I expected the shark to try to trick the Monkey into letting him eat the Monkey. 
• There seems to be a theme of needing parts of animals to cure sick Sultans. 

The Heart of a Monkey: The Washerman's Donkey

•  Never underestimate another creature. The lion underestimated the strength of the donkey's hooves. 
• The donkey is a fool for trusting the lion for a second time. To me this is not a believable part of the story.

Makoma

• I like the idea of getting the strength of the people you defeat.  It makes for an interesting story idea.
• I predict that Makoma is acquire a lot of strength before the end of his story. 
• I wonder why Makoma killed Chin-debou Mau-giri but kept the rest of the giants as servants.

Week 6 Reading Diary: African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books

This week's reading is from African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books.
From The Grey Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1900)

Golden Jackal

Motikatika, 

• I like that this tale reverses the roles, the wife is very difficult at first, and so when the husband is thirsty, he makes equally difficult requests of his wife.
• The baby named Motikatika is surprisingly clever. He consulted his bones, managed to avoid the ogre who would eat him, but the stories always refers to him as a baby.  This doesn't sell the story for me.  Motikatika might be a child, and his is just the culture's way of referring to him

Jackal and Spring

• When the jackal told the rabbit, "If you really want me to give you some more, you must have your paws tied behind you and lie on your back so that I can pour it into your mouth," I expected the jackal to eat the rabbit. The rabbit is very gullible and I am surprised worse didn't happen. 
• The hare gets tricked in the exact same was as the rabbit, i am surprised the animals didn't learn from the previous mistakes. 

Adventures of a Jackal

• I notice a theme between these tales, the Jackal is always the trickster.  Although I do not know why the Jackal made the panther bad shoes, since it did not benefit him at all. 
• The jackal's flaw is that they always want to eat.  The panther always find the Jackal again because the Jackal is always hungry. 

Adventures of Jackal's Eldest Son

• I am enjoying reading the animal tales. Each animal has a distinct and persistent type of personality.  Although the characters been stories aren't the same, the personality traits of a single type of animal is. 
• The jackal gets completely sidetracked from his goal of reaching the bell first.
• Wow, that ending was completely unexpected. I did not expect the Jackal to get crushed to death by a stone. 

Adventures of Younger Son of Jackal

• Once again, it is the jackal's love of food that is his downfall.  These seems to be a theme between the story. 
• Often, although the Jackal is the trickster, the other animals manage to get their fair share, and outsmart the Jackal. It seems the jackal aren't the only animal with wits, but jackals are always the ones who start the mischief. 

Growth Mindset: Grow-Your-Writing-Style - Week 6

I am trying to see growth in my writing style.  This was done for the story listed in week 5, however because I am on my 6th growth mindset challenge I decided to use the week 6 label, since this will count towards my week 6 extra credit.

This week I decided to use the very first storytelling style that the storytelling assignment listed.  I happened to get 'Five Motifs' which I have not done before.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with this storytelling style, the goal is to pick five objects, characters, settings, etc. and create my own story around it.

If you are interested to see the result, please read my story called Thieves in the Night. 

Fountain Pen - Wikipedia Article

Tech Tip : Add an HTML Box to Sidebar

Today I added an HTML Box to my sidebar.  One of the options listed in the assignment description was "share some words of wisdom."  I knew right away what I wanted to add.

My favorite author died less than a year ago on March 12, 2015.  This name was Terry Pratchett.  He is an absolutely brilliant writer, and his novels are full of great quotes.  These include funny quotes, puns, and very though provoking statements.  The HTML sidebar I created includes some great quotes from Terry Pratchett, keeping his words alive.  

Terry Pratchett - from Wikipedia