No Rain Checks

As an extra credit assignment, I chose to read Water and Salt which is a part of the Italian Popular Tales unit. I wanted to read this because I am Italian! This story is about a king and his three daughters. The father asks his daughters one day how much they loves them, to which the three daughters replied: Daughter 1) "I love you as much as my eyes." Daughter 2) "I love you as much as my heart." Daughter 3) "I love you as much as water and salt." The king ordered for the third daughter to be executed for her comparing him to water and salt. The two other sisters ordered the executioners to kill a dog instead, and to take their third sister to a cave to be hidden. The two sisters ordered that the executioners take the tongue off of the dog, and take one of the clothing items off their sister to give to the king. This made the king think the third sister had been killed, though it was a dog's tongue. Much longer, third daughter was found in ...

This story is about a boy that sometimes was a troublemaker. His mom always told him that if he kept being bad, Mr. Miacca would take him from the street while he was playing outside. Mr. Miacca threw Tommy (the boy) in a bag and took him to his home. He tells the boy he's going to eat him for dinner, and tells his wife Sally that he has dinner ready. Mr. Miacca realizes he forgot herbs to put on the boy, so he tells his wife to watch Tommy while he goes and gets some. Tommy talks to Sally about if her husband always eats boys, and she says yes. Tommy tells Sally she should like pudding instead, and offers his mom's homemade pudding for her. Sally is foolish and let's Tommy convince her to go home and fetch her some pudding then come right back. Tommy was then free from Mr Miacca until he was bad once again. Mr Miacca. Photo from Wikipedia. Tommy got snatched by Mr Miacca again, and Mr Miacca is angry with him about running away. Tommy was supposed to get boiled, but ...

This story is about three little pigs that went out to seek their fortune. It's just like the classic tale. One pig came across a bundle of straw and wanted to build a house out of it. The pig did, and a wolf wanted to come in. When the pig didn't let him, he huffed and puffed and blew the house dow then ate the pig. Three little pigs. Photo from Wikipedia. The second little pig built a house out of furze, and the same thing happened with the wolf when he wasn't let in. So there was one pig left, and he decided to build a house out of bricks. When the wolf came to give the last pig the same fate, he clearly couldn't blow the house down. The wolf then tricked this pig into leaving his house the next day, telling him they'd go to a home field. The pig ended up not going, so the wolf asked him to go to a garden with him. The pig was smarter than this wolf, and he kept going to these locations earlier than the wolf to avoid any issues. The wolf was angry with...

In this story, Lady Mary is a womanizer whom many loved. She had lots of lovers, but she loved Mr. Fox the most. Lady Mary wanted to marry Mr Fox, because she loved him the most and because he was brave and rich. He wanted to marry her, too. Mr Fox told Mary they should live in his castle, but Mary had never seen the castle. When Mr Fox was out of town before the wedding, Mary went to investigate his castle. She found it with a gate that tells her to "be bold," outside of it, but no one was there. As she kept walking, the words progressed in the halls and galleries stating: Be bold, be bold, but not too bold, Lest that your heart's blood should run cold. Mary was brave, so she continued to be bold. She eventually opened a door and found a handful of beautiful young ladies all stained with blood. She realized what had been happening and quickly ran out, only to see Mr Fox dragging another beautiful woman from the gate to the door. Lady Mary hid, and watched Mr Fox ...

In this story, an old woman found a crooked sixpence and wanted to buy a little pig for it. She went to the market and found a pig, but the pig wouldn't go over the stile. The woman asked many other animals to help get the pig to cross it, but none would. After asking a series of items and animals, the old woman asked a cat to participate in a domino-type event where each object she previously asked would force the next to help the pig get over the stile. The cat told the woman she needed milk from the cow, and if she could get that she would begin the series of events to get the pig over the stile. The old woman went and fetched the milk, and then brought the milk to the cat. The cat kept her word and did as she said, and the domino effect took place, making the woman and pig able to get home that night. This reading was somewhat repetitive - I wondered if it'd ever have an ending. If I retold this story, I'd like to do it to where the cat asks the woman for something ...

Pig and Pepper Alice is continuing her way through Wonderland and spots odd creatures. First, she comes across a Fish-Footman (a fish head on a human body) and a Frog-Footman. Alice watched them interact and found it comical, so she ran into the woods to laugh. Upon returning she came up to the Fish Footman who was near the door and asked to be let in. The Footman was somewhat rude, she thought, because he just kept asking her if she thought she'd one day get in (which she obviously wanted to). After many interactions like this, she realized he was just idiotic and went in herself. Alice saw a Duchess nursing a child, a cat and a cook cooking soup that had far too much pepper in it, as everyone in the home was sneezing except for the cat. Alice is introduced to the cat by the Duchess and gets told it's a Chesire cat. Alice found it odd that a cat was grinning in the way he was. Photo of the Footmen from Wikipedia. Pig and Pepper (cont) The Duchess told Alice that all ca...

This story is about Wemicus and his daughter who had many husbands. Wemicus put these husbands through a lot, and only one of them remained because he was able to outsmart him. The daughter warned her one husband of the "moccasins camp," which is where the rest of her husbands were killed. When hanging out with Wemicus once, the husband was told that camp is where they were going. He looked for ways to combat what would happen, and he changed the moccasins hanging over the fire so that his were in Wemicus' place. This left Wemicus with no shoes and the husband left him alone there. Wemicus made shoes out of spruce and came home to his daughter and his husband, which they were upset about hoping he'd be gone for good. Wemicus continued to try to trick the man into doing dangerous things that had killed off her previous husbands. The husband kept outsmarting Wemicus, but he was never successful. The husband kept outsmarting him. Wemicus insisted on racing the man, and...

The Jealous Uncle This story is about an "unnatural uncle" who constantly kills his nephews. When boys are born to his sister, he is determined to kill them. However, when girls are born, he lets them live. After suffering deaths of her boy children, the woman got pregnant to another boy. She decided to tell the boy's uncle that the child would be a girl, and he let her live. The mom dressed her new child as if he were a girl, and his life was spared until the boy revealed to his uncle that he was a boy on accident. The uncle was determined to kill the boy, but the boy insisted to his mother that he would not suffer like his siblings before him. The uncle and the boy set out to find wood, and the child gets trapped by the uncle in the midst of a log. The child came with sour berries, however, that helped him escape the log by rubbing it on the interior. The uncle was furious and told his wife he would now, more than ever, be sure to find and kill the boy. The Jealo...

This story is about a young girl that owned a dog that slept at the foot of her bed each night. The girl loved the dog, but what she didn't know is that the dog turned into a person and slept in the bed with her each night. The girl never knew, because she was asleep. However, one day the girl became pregnant. Her parents were ashamed that the dog was the only being in her room, and couldn't believe she got pregnant from the dog. They left their daughter to die and moved away from the home. A Crow felt bad for the girl, and spoke to her to follow her hints. The girl was alone, so she waited for the Crow to reach out to her again. Eventually she was led to a fire as the Crow instructed, and not long after she gave birth to five puppies. Since her parents killed the dog that impregnated her, she had to raise them alone. The four puppies grew quickly, and when the girl would leave them alone it seemed they would sing and dance. She wondered for awhile what it was, and so she cre...

This story is about a hunter that lived alone. One day, while he was away, someone or something came into his home and reorganized everything, prepared him dinner, and other nice things. This happened multiple times, so the hunter decided to figure out who was the culprit of these nice acts. He acted like he was leaving again, but camped out to watch who entered his home while they think he's away. Photo of a fox from Google. The only enterer of the home was a fox. He figured the fox was trying to steal his food, so he went in after it. The hunter then found a woman in his clothes, hanging fox skin on a line as had did the anonymous person hung his clothes on the line before. The woman told him that she's his wife and this is her duty. The two lived together, and the hunter started to notice an odd odor. The woman said that she was the reason for the odor, and that if he didn't like that she would leave. She eventually took off her clothes, then became the skin of ...

This story is about an antelope and a leopard that are friends. The leopard bet the antelope that he could hide, and the antelope would never find him. They decided to test this theory, so the leopard went and hid. The antelope found the leopard, which made the leopard very mad. They decided to trade and have the other hide, to see if they could find each other. The antelope promised that he would eat the leopard if he found him. The outsmarted leopard. Photo from Wikipedia. The leopard searched for the antelope, but could not find him. The leopard went to town and asked others to help him search for the antelope. The leopard had four wives at this time, and encountered a dog that turned into a damsel and he fell in love with her. The woman agreed if the leopard would kill the other four women, and so he did. The woman kept giving the leopard tasks to do, and he did all of them. The leopard removed his claws, his teeth, and more per the damsel's request. The damsel then turn...

This story is about two wives that have the same husband. The two wives did everything for the one man, including taking care of his children. The two took turns taking care of the children while searching for food for the husband. One child was much brighter and more intelligent than the other child. which made the latter mad. The mother of the smarter child wanted to murder the other child while her mother was away. She prepared a weapon to do so, and did it. In the morning, the wife that murdered the child went to look at what she did. To her surprise, she accidentally murdered her own child. She ran away, and when the husband came back he created a search party to find this wife. He didn't believe she could've done that. They eventually found the wife in the woods, still holding her dead child. When the husband found what she had done, he and the search party killed the wife. This story was very morbid, but I instantly thought about how the story could be changed t...

For this extra credit reading, I chose to read "Down the Rabbit Hole," "Down the Rabbit Hole (cont.)" and "Down the Rabbit Hole (end)." Down the Rabbit Hole These three stories tell the original Alice in Wonderland story of Alice following the rabbit to the rabbit hole. I wanted to reread these stories so that I could brainstorm ideas for my storybook project! Alice was having a boring day until she saw a white rabbit that was in a hurry. Because she was so bored, she was extra interested in the rabbit. The rabbit took a watch out of his pocket and spoke that he was going to be late, which Alice didn't know if she imagined. So she followed the rabbit as it ran away. Alice followed the rabbit right into a rabbit hole that she didn't see, and fell down the long tunnel whether she wanted to or not. Down and down it went, and Alice wondered when she'd ever hit the ground... And where'd she'd be when she did. Down the Rabbit Hole (con...

For this extra reading, I chose to read " Advice from a Caterpillar " from one of the Alice in Wonderland stories. Advice from a Caterpillar In this story, Alice comes across a Caterpillar. The Caterpillar wants to know who she is, and Alice is still shaken up from all of her adventures. She tells him she feels different, but he does not understand. The Caterpillar was irritated with Alice not answering his questions, so Alice tried to leave. But the Caterpillar lured her back in by telling her there was something important he had to say. Advice From a Caterpillar (cont.) In this continuation, the Caterpillar begins a poem and Alice finishes it. She knew the entire dialogue. Once she finished, the Caterpillar criticized her and told her it was not said right. Alice acknowledges that there are some changes, but he still believes it's all wrong. The Caterpillar asked Alice what size she wanted to be, in which she answered 3 inches. She was rapidly shrinking, and the C...

For Reading B, I chose the South African tale " Elephant and Tortoise ." In this story, there are a few main characters: all powerful beings. The story starts with the Elephant seeking rain. After Rain said it was departing, Elephant spoke to a Vulture who could not provide water. Then Elephant spoke to a Crow who cast lots to produce rain. The rain fell into lagoons, but it dried up quickly. Then the Elephant came across a Tortoise, and told the Tortoise to remain by the water while it's still there. Elephant wanted Tortoise to protect what was left of the water while he was in search of getting more. South African Elephant. Photo from Wikipedia. While the Tortoise was protecting the water, a Giraffe, Zebra, Gemsbok, Wildebeest, Roodebok, Springbok, Jackal and Lion came begging for the water. The Tortoise responded, "The water belongs to Elephant" to each of them. However, the Lion did not even let the Tortoise speak before he beat him. The Lion dran...

This week, I read an African tale " The Monkey's Fiddle ." Here is a vervet monkey. Photo from Wikipedia . This Monkey lived in South Africa. One day, hunger forced Monkey to leave his land and travel elsewhere in search of food. He sought shelter with his uncle, Orang Outang, who lived in a different area. Monkey's uncle gave him two gifts: a fiddle and a bow and arrow. The bow and arrow was for food, and the fiddle was to force 'anything to dance.' Monkey ran into a Wolf first. The Wolf was also in search of food, and had his eye on a deer. Monkey  and Wolf worked together to capture and share the deer for a meal. The Wolf had put in lots of effort to capture the deer with no luck - yet, the Monkey just used the bow and arrow and successfully captured the deer. The Wolf was jealous of Monkey's weapon, and he begged Monkey for the bow and arrow. They argued for awhile, and as a Jackal came by, the Wolf claimed that Monkey stole the weapon fro...

For Reading A, I read the First Voyage. For Reading B, I chose to finish the story by reading  First Voyage (cont) . As mentioned in Reading A , Sindbad was a sailor that found himself on a foreign island alone. He quickly got acquainted with the king, who introduced him to his companions. The king promised Sindbad that he would give him what he needed, so he was not so worried. Sindbad told these new people stories about where he came from, and they got to know each other. Sindbad walked around the island daily to get accustomed to it. One day, he walked down to shore where he saw a cargo ship. He went to it and saw many packages, but more importantly, he saw that the boat looked extremely familiar. In fact, he was almost sure it was his original boat that he was on before all of the craziness happened. He knew if it were his original crew, they'd be shocked he was still alive. When going to this ship's captain, it was not who he thought it was. However, it was indeed Si...

For Reading A, I chose to read " First Voyage ." This short story is about a character named Sindbad. Sindbad grew up in a well-off home, with considerable wealth compared to the average person. Sindbad had wisdom; he knew his riches, if spent improperly, would not make him happy in the long run. Therefore, he decided to sell all that he had and become a sailor. Sindbad sailed the East Indies and traded/exchanged his merchandise. In the midst of bad weather, Sindbad and his fellow crew members came across an island. The island owner welcomed them onto his land, in which they agreed. However, the island was not actually an island as it appeared to be. A picture of the sailors after realizing the island was not grounded. Photo from the original story. The island began to be turbulent, and the sailors quickly realized what they had begun to come upon was the back of a large whale! They evacuated the mission quickly before the whale plunged back into the ocean. So...

For reading B, I chose " The Story of the Wolf-Bride ." This story comes from the Persian Tales unit. This story is about a man that's fate included having a son. The man looked into what would happen to his son during his life, and was told by an akhund that his son will be torn into pieces by a wolf. This made the man want to protect his son, so he built a chamber that he would put his son in to protect him. The son of the man grew up in this chamber, learning to read and write while growing up. By the time he was ready to get married, his wife was chosen for him and they celebrated their wedding shortly before the newlyweds returned to the chamber to spend their lives. Photo of an Iranian wedding. Taken from Wikipedia. The wife put her arms around the son of the man, and she instantly turned into a wolf and tore him to pieces. She turned back into the woman afterword, and had no idea how the transformation happened.  People found the man torn to pieces, and h...

For this week's reading A, I chose to read " U Biskurom ." I chose this reading mainly based on its name, since it was a word I was unfamiliar with. Biskurom is a young man that was genuinely good and noble. He came from heaven to help the rest of mankind, which, compared to him, they were very inefficient. Biskurom came to Earth to teach people useful skills, but the process of teaching took so long that he eventually forgot his way back to where he came from. Biskurom quickly learned that mankind was inpatient and took advantage of him, because he was being forced to do work that they could do themselves. The people one day made an item in Biskurom's image, and asked him to make the image come to life. When he could not produce this, the people were outraged and threatened him. Biskurom told the people that if he could go back to heaven to learn this skill, he would come back and show them. After much debate, mankind officially decided to release Biskurom becaus...