Week 7 Review

This week's image was taken from Thursday, March 3rd blog post.

Claws and Clauses

I thought this image was cute, and I always appreciate a good pun. Turns out you can make a lot of different puns with grammar jokes.

Week 7 Storytelling : The Tanuki and the Fox

Tanuki - Wikimedia

The Tanuki and the Fox

Once upon a time there lived a Tanuki with his wife the fox.  They were called Tanuki and Fox, named after their primary forms.  Every morning they would go out into the wilderness and gather berries, nuts, and insects.  Sometimes they would get lucky a bring home a rodent they had killed.  Each evening they would return to their happy home and share the food with their son. 

Tanuki and Fox lived like this for many years, working hard all day to gather food, and returning to their son in the evening.  One year, there was a terrible drought.  Berries and nuts were very scarce that year. Any rodents they did catch were all scrawny, hardly any real meat on them to eat.  The rodents were suffering from the same food shortage that Tanuki and Fox were suffering from.

One day Tanuki had an idea.  There was a human village not to far from the couple's home.  The village was full of hunters who prized Tanuki and Fox furs above all others.  Tanuki told him wife that she should shape-shift into a human, and sell him in the market.  He would play dead and be sure not to move.  Tanuki would escape sometime after he was sold while Fox used the money to buy some food. 

The next day, Tanuki practiced his control, he let himself be moved around while staying perfectly limp. He slowed his breathing and relaxed all of his muscles.  He then let himself be slung over the shoulder of Fox, in her human form. 

When fox walked into the village, all kinds of eyes turned toward her, or rather towards her shoulder.  Tanukis were fairly rare and all the more prized because of it.  She went into the middle of town square and asked people what they were willing to pay.  Many people wanted a tanuki fur, so there were many offers and many bids.  The prices grew higher and higher until finally Fox sold Tanuki to a rich merchant.  She then proceeded to buy some food with the coin. 

Meanwhile, the rich merchant carried Tanuki to his home.  The merchant was quite excited with his buy, and he wanted to skin the animal right away.  He set Tanuki down on his workbench and went to fetch his tools.  Tanuki had expected to have some time alone where he could try to find an escape route.  He was dreadfully scarred. The merchant was gone less than a minute before he returned with his tools.  He reached out, planning to grab Tanuki by the tale but Tanuki leaped away. The merchant grew angry and chased after Tanuki, but the animal was too fast for him. Tanuki ran along the workbench jumped towards the window.  His clawn caught the window sill and the scurried free.

Tanuki met up with his wife that evening and told her what had happened.  Fox was horrified to hear what almost became of her husband.  They both agreed never to do such a thing again. Their lives were worth too much.  The food and money lasted the family until the next rain.  Once the rain started to fall again, food became more plentiful. Gathering food in the wilderness is much more work than buying food from a village, but the couple was happy to work rather than face the alternative.

Authors Note
This story is based off of a story called 'How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished.' In the original story the fox first sells the tanuki and the tanuki then sells the fox.  When it is the tanuki's turn to sell the fox, he tells the merchant that the fox is alive and so the merchant kills the fox right away.  His son then managed to get revenge on the tanuki by leading him to his death.  I did not like the ending to that story, so I wrote my own.  The beginning of the story is very similar, but in my version everybody survives. 

Bibliography 
How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished, from the The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1903)

Learning Challenge: Reading: love it or hate it? - Week 7

Buch : German word for Book, Image taken in a German 'Book Cafe'

When I was in elementary school I hated reading. I only ever read what was assigned to me.  Audio books are what got me hooked onto stories.  I would check them out from the library and listen to them starting in late elementary school.  It was the Golden Compass from Philip Pullman's 'His Dark Materials' story that really got me hooked.  There are still plenty of stories that I don't enjoy, but when I find the right book I really enjoy reading (reading stories or listening to them, I enjoy both).  During school it's hard to find the time, but I often read for about 30 minutes before I go to bed and it will help me relax before going to bed.

If I were a teacher, I would let students brainstorm a variety of topics they were interested in, and try to help them find books that matched these topics.  This way they would start to associate reading with things they love, instead of things they hate or are bored by. 

Week 7 Reading Diary, continued: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang)

This week's reading is from Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang). 
The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1903)
The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1901)
The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1897)

Schippeitaro

• The line "Do not tell Schippeitaro! Keep it hidden and secret! Do not tell Schippeitaro!" adds an air of mystery to the story. 
• I did not expect Schippeitaro to be a dog.

The Crab and the Monkey

•  Even in the animal kingdom, it is good to make friends.  The monkey was able to get what he wanted by tricking people, but this did not give him any friends.  The other animals collectively turned against Monkey, who got what was coming to him. 

Tanuki Kettle - Flickr

The Magic Kettle

•  This story has been pretty weird so far and I wonder where it is going.  I have to look up what a Tanuki was because it's not an animal I was am familiar with. Turns out they are adorable. 
• It's interesting that the kettle can turn into a Tanuki whenever it wants to.  It's a shape shifting kettle.

How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished

• The fox and Tanuki came up with a very clever plan, and it would have been neat to see a story of the different ways in which they work together to keep tricking the villagers. The same ploy will not work over and over against. 
• Instead, the Tanuki betrayed the fox and the fox was killed.  This was an expected twist in the story, and it made me sad.   

The Slaying of the Tanuki

•  These Japanese stories are very dark, much darker than any fairy-tales that I few up with.  Bounding a women into file powder and feeding her to the husband, yikes!!
• One story idea for this is to write a story with a different plot and characters, but try to include some horrible twist in the story like the eating of the wife to shock the readers.

Uraschimataro and the Turtle

•  Uraschimataro's life is saved because he saved the turtle. 
• The underwater princess and palace was an interesting an unexpected part of the story. 
• This story makes me wonder how long he had stayed underwater. 
• The box contained the boys youth, which was interesting.

Week 7 Reading Diary: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang)

This week's reading is from Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang). 
The Crimson Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1903)
The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1901)
The Pink Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1897)

 The Two Frogs

•  It's amusing to think that both the frogs wanted the exact same thing at the same time. The two journeys are mirrors of each other, and when they decide to look at each others town, they are just the same as their own.  
• Making two parallel worlds with two of the same people who happen to meat each other could be a fun idea for a story.

  

  Two Frogs - Pixabay

  The Stonecutter

• I have heard many different version of this tale.  I had no idea it originated in Japan. 
• If I were to rewrite this story, I would use a theme of somebody being unhappy with their current state and always looking for more things to make them happy, but I don't think I would rewrite this story with a spirit.  Although that does make a good story, it was been done many times and I would like to explore a way to retell this story in a unique way.

The Maiden with the Wooden Helmet

•  I enjoyed this story because it is unlike any I have heard before. 
• Cultural aspects of  Japan are clearly present in this story.  The girl always listens to her parents and is dutiful to them, respecting their wishes even after they die.

The Envious Neighbor

•  This story was also very new to me.  I feel like a lot of the Japanese stories have morals them them.  In this case, the couple gets help from their dog, but people who are envious and just wish to use the dog for his gold get nothing. 

The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue

•  I really like this story.  The man shows such dedication and care to the sparrow. The man has a good heart, but a greedy mean wife.

The Cat's Elopement

• This is kind of an interesting tale, with cats as main characters and their owners as other side characters.

Tech Tip: Website

This week I have setup the website for my storybook.  I will continue working on the look that my website has as the semester goes on, however I am happy with what I have done so far for the initial look of the page.

Screenshot of the current state of my website

Please visit "Carmen's Storybook" if you wish to check out my website.