Week 13 Reading Diary A

This week I chose to read the Librivox Grimm Fairy Tales unit. Below are my favorite stories from the first half of the reading.

The Frog Prince

• A princess is walking around by a pond when she drops her ball. She vows that if she could get her ball back she'd give all of her fine clothes and jewelry away. A frog hears her crying and asks what's wrong. She calls him nasty and tells him what happened to her ball. He says he doesn't want her clothes or jewels. He wants her to love him and let him live with her, and in return he will get her ball back. She agrees and he fetches her ball, but as soon as it's in her hand she runs as fast as she can back home. The next day she hears a strange noise and a knock on her door. It's the frog, begging her to let him in. She slams the door in his face and runs to her father. She tells the king what happened and he told her that she made a promise, and she must keep it. She begrudgingly did what the frog wanted, and at the end of the night they went to bed with him sleeping on her pillow. When she awoke the next morning, the frog was gone and a handsome prince was left in his place. He tells her that an evil fairy cursed him and she had broken the curse. The next day they set out together to be married and live their days out in the prince's kingdom. 

The Origami Frog Prince

by Orestigami, found on DeviantArt

Rapunzel

• A man and woman are having trouble getting pregnant, but finally it happens! They live next door to a witch who has a most beautiful garden. Everyday the woman gazed into the garden and she so desperately wanted some of the greens that she became ill. She told her husband that she would not feel better until she'd had some of the greens (called rampion, or Rapunzel). So, the husband climbed into the witch's garden and grabbed some rampion. However, he got caught! He explained why he stole her greens and the witch told him that he could take as much rampion as he wanted, but when the baby was born she would take it and raise it as her own. And so it came to be, the baby was born and the witch named her Rapunzel and stole her away. She locked the child in a tower deep in the forest, and she grew into the most beautiful young girl. The witch would have Rapunzel let down her long, golden hair anytime she wanted to visit and she'd climb up and through the tower window. 
• Often, Rapunzel would sing from her window and one day the king's son was riding through the words and heard her song. He'd never heard anything more beautiful. He rode home, but couldn't get that voice out of his head so he returned. When he came back, he saw the witch call to Rapunzel to let down her hair and was in awe when he saw it fall in long tresses to the ground. The next day, he bade her to let down her hair, and she did. He climbed up, but when he entered Rapunzel was frightened! She'd never seen a man before, but he talked kindly to her, like a friend and her fears soon drifted away. She decided she wanted to leave with him, but she did not know how to get down from her tower. She told him to continue visiting her and each time, to bring a piece of silk with him. She would take the pieces and weave a ladder. He agreed to visit her every evening until she could make the ladder.
• Everything was going great until she slipped up and asked the witch why she was so much heavier than the prince. The witch was incredibly angry and grabbed her by her hair. She cut off all her hair and dragged her away to the desert. She left her there and returned to the tower where she tied Rapunzel's hair and waited for the prince to return. When he did, she lowered it down and he climbed up. She surprised him and told him he'd never see her again. He was heartbroken, and spent many years wandering around in sadness. Then, one day, he heard her singing again. He teared up and followed the sound of her voice. They cried and embraced, and the prince rescued her from her desert prison. They rode back to his castle and were married. They lived happily ever after. 

Rapunzel

by Tom Monster, found on DeviantArt

Briar Rose 

• King and Queen are having trouble conceiving. One day, the queen was walking by a pond and saw a fish that had thrown itself out of the water. She picked it up and placed it back, and the fish told her that her wish for a baby would be granted and she'd have a baby girl. The queen gave birth to a beautiful baby girl and held a great celebration wherein the whole kingdom, even the fairies, was invited. However, there were 13 fairies in the kingdom, but the king and queen only had 12 plates so they left one out without consulting her. The 12 fairies came and bestowed gifts upon the child, but as the 12th fairy went to give her gift, the 13th fairy burst in the door. She was pissed that she hadn't been invited and cursed the child that on her 15th birthday she would be injured by a spindle and fall down dead. After she left, the 12th fairy came to give her gift. She could not undo the curse, but soften it. Instead of dying, the princess would fall asleep for 100 years.
• The king hoped to save his daughter from her faith and ordered all of the spindles in the kingdom to be brought to the castle and burned. The princess grew up in grace and glory. She was beautiful and loved by all who met her. It happened, though, that on her 15th birthday she was home alone, roaming the castle and ran into an old lady who sat at a spinning wheel. She asked what the woman was doing and became very curious. She tried to spin, but was instantly wounded and fell to the ground. Everyone in the kingdom also fell asleep. A wall of thorns grew around the castle and continued to get thicker each year. 
• One day, a king's son who'd heard the story of the sleeping kingdom came to see the beautiful Briar Rose. It just so happened that it was the 100th day and the curse was lifting. Still, when he came to the castle everyone, even the flies on the walls, were asleep. He came to the princess's room and she was so beautiful that he had to kiss her. As he did this, she opened her eyes and smiled upon him. They went together to the king and queen who also woke up and the two were married and lived happily ever after. 

Sleeping Beauty

by Orelly, found on DeviantArt

Week 12 Famous Last Words

Falling into Place

It's only Tuesday and i'm already tired and ready for Friday.. well, actually.. i'm ready for May. April is seriously the busiest and most stressful month of the year for us social work majors. Our professors don't really spread out our assignments so all of the big ones are due during April. This month I have to wrap up this class, write and present my capstone paper, write a quantitative research methods journal critique, write and present a research proposal, finish up getting my practicum hours at Calm Waters, finish paying for my program fees for Tanzania this summer, apply for my student visa, and attend mandatory orientations for my MSW program. So much to do, so little time! 

Anyway, today one of the divorce groups at Calm Waters ended and I was actually a little sad. I've seen these kids come so far in the past 8 weeks! It was so hard to say goodbye when one of the littlest told me she wished groups could keep going. I saw two little girls do a complete 180. One girl was meek and always passed, refusing to answer or talk about what she was going through. She was very quiet and usually looked down for most of group. I worried about her, but as group progressed she opened up. Today, she wanted to be the first to answer. She smiled, laughed, and talked louder than she had before. She participated the entire time and was eager to continue coming to group. The other was very sad and angry. She literally hid behind her hair and curled into a ball in her chair. She never looked up and usually didn't participate. When she did, she muttered her one word answers very quietly and reluctantly. Today, she was laughing and participated openly. She also talked about how she enjoyed meeting the people in the group and wasn't as eager to leave as normal. We ended with a group hug where we stood in a circle, put our hands around each others' shoulders, and put our right feet in so that we ended up embracing. It was a great end to a difficult and wonderful group. 

My photo from our group hug today (4/7/15)

My life is pretty hectic and stressful right now, but it seems like things are finally starting to fall into place. I'm looking forward to graduation, Tanzania, and grad school! 

Week 12 Essay

This week I read the Celtic Fairytales unit which takes stories from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892). My favorite stories were Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree, Connla and the Fairy Maiden , and Beth Gellert. I liked this unit, though the way it was written made it a little hard to read. I felt like I had to read each sentence, sometimes more than once, and decipher it before moving on and establishing the overall meaning of what I was reading. I felt like I had to start over a few times and go back. I listened to the audiobook then read the story with a few of the stories and that seemed to help. I think the only information people should be aware of is that the stories are written in a way that sounds like a Celtic person talking out loud or singing.

This unit fit with my overall goals of the class because it taught me about Celtic folklore, but it didn't align much with my storybook. However, I really liked the different take on Snow White. I learned that Celtic fairy tales have a lot of strange takes on children and how to raise and protect them. It This unit is really different from many of the mythology units, its more like a storybook and that was pretty fun. This unit was not my favorite so far, but I like the Celtic stories. I think i'd like to hear them read aloud by someone of that descent, just to see if when read aloud by them, the stories really did sound like songs.

I was surprised by the Brewery of Eggshells story. It was nothing like what I expected, but still managed to tie in to the title. I liked that it dealt with mischievous little elves and showed them as troublesome, generally unkind creatures. People today tend to think of them as adorable, cherub-looking creatures who make cookies and are very ethereal. Celtic folklore sees them differently, and I can't remember why, but i've always aligned them more closely with a dark nature than a light one.

Santa's Evil Elf

by user Dront, found on 3DTotal Forum

Week 12 Storytelling

Gladys and Silva 

Once upon a time there was a beautiful queen, Gladys and her stunning daughter, Silva. They lived in a castle and spent much of their time laughing and dancing together. One day, when the pair were going for a walk through the glen, they came to a pond. 

"Silva, dear!" Gladys called to her daughter, "i'm going to rest for a while by this pond, go pick some flowers for us to put on the dinner table." 

Silva as a young lass

found on Livejournal

Silva did as her mother told and Gladys lounged by the calm waters of the pond. She glanced down at the water and suddenly saw two eyes staring straight up at her. She leaned down closer to see what it was when all of a sudden, a trout popped its head out of the water and began to speak! "Hello beautiful queen! How are you this morn?" said the trout. After getting over the initial shock of a talking fish, Gladys replied, "I'm doing well, pray thee answer me one question?" The trout nodded and Gladys said, "Troutie bonny little fellow, am not I the most beautiful queen in the world?" The trout seemed to contemplate momentarily, gazing up at the statuesque woman with long red hair, before saying, "Indeed, you are beautiful, but there is another more fair." The queen was immediately angered and demanded to know who he deemed to be more beautiful than her. "Why, your daughter Silva of course!" he replied happily before saying he had to go and swimming away without another word. 

Gladys

found on Pinterest

Gladys was enraged and full of jealousy. She summoned her daughter and they went home. Straight away, Gladys sent Silva to her chamber and ran, tears streaming down her face, to see her husband. "Oh my king! I am in the worst of sorts! Please, please help me. End my suffering and heal me of my malady!" cried Gladys. "Of course, my love, anything! You only need to ask of it, and it shall be granted. Tell me what to do!" replied the king worriedly. The queen then told him of her dark desire. She told him that the only way to cure her and restore her happiness was to bring her the heart and liver of her daughter so that she may eat it and return to her former self. 

The king was stunned at such a request, and vowed to help her, but how could he prevent his daughter's death? The queen left, practically skipping with delight, and the king began contemplating his next move. Then it dawned on him, of course! The wealthy prince from two kingdoms over! He was searching for a bride. All the king had to do was marry his daughter off while his queen was away and all would be solved.

Silva on her Wedding Day

Found on OCWedding

And so it was done. The princess Silva married prince Doche and was whisked off to her new home. The queen had been on a trip to visit her sister, and when she returned home her husband provided her with a small chest. When she opened it up, a smile immediately lit up her face, because inside was a heart and liver which she assumed could only be that of her daughter Silva. She quickly cooked them up and ate them. For the rest of her days, she lived in happiness, not knowing that she had been fooled and the fairest of them all continued to live in grace and beauty in a neighboring kingdom. 

Author's Note:

This weeks' storytelling comes from the story of Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree, which was taken from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892). I liked the original story and could see how it related to snow white. I didn't want to change much, just a few details and the overall ending. In the original, the queen tries to murder her daughter more than once (and is successful during one attempt, but the daughter is brought back) and ends up dead. However, I didn't want to write a super long story and felt like I would have had to in order to really tell the entire story, so I just ended it with the queen living in blissful ignorance. 

ReciteThis! Tech Tip

With graduation getting closer and closer, I decided for my week 14 tech tip to make a quotable picture that goes with my feelings toward graduating. 

Made using ReciteThis!

D2L Profile Tech Tip

I decided to update my D2L profile for this week's tech tip. I chose a picture of me that is more recent. I picked this particular picture because I look genuinely happy in it. I'm rocking the tiny eyes and slightly crooked smile that are signs that my smile is real. I have learned to accept and generally love my awkward little quirks. I embrace my weirdness, but feel like this picture isn't too weird for my OU D2L profile. It's also my Facebook profile picture so I can keep continuity throughout my web presences.

My picture from Valentines Day 2015

Week 12 Reading Diary B

This week I chose to read the Celtic Fairy Tales unit. The stories are taken from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892). Here are a few of my favorite stories from the second half of the reading.

Beth Gellert

• The prince had a favorite greyhound named Gellert who was gentle, but VERY fast. One day, when he blew the horn for his dogs, Gellert never came. The prince hunted without the dog, but was incredibly angry. When he came home, the dog came bounding up with blood all over his face. The prince had a baby son, and he worried that the dog had hurt his son. As he made his way to the child's room, he saw more and more blood and disarray. When he came to the room, the cradle was overturned and there was blood everywhere. The prince was sure that the greyhound had killed his son and drew his sword. He pierced the pup in his side, straight through to his heart. The dog cried out and died. Just then, a little noise came from under the cradle. The prince went to check it out and lo and behold, there was his bouncing baby boy. Next to him, lay the body of a great wolf. It dawned on the prince that Gellert had stayed behind that morning to protect the baby and had done so greatly. The prince was immediately filled with pain and grief. He cried and cried, but nothing could bring Gellert back, so he buried him outside the castle and named his home Beth Gellert in the dog's honor. 

Gelert by Charles Burton Barber

Found on Wikipedia

Brewery of Eggshells

• Once upon a time, there was a man, his wife, and their twin sons. One day, she had to run to the neighbor's place and as she was returning, she saw two elves crossing her path. She panicked and ran into her sons' room, but everything seemed fine. However, after a while she noticed that her twins were not growing. Something was wrong! The man suggested that they were not their children. The wife asked whose they were and so began a long drawn-out argument. 
• The wife decides to go to the town wise-man who told her to clear out the shell of a hen's egg and boil some potage (a thick soup) in it. Then, he said, put it in front of the door as if it is dinner for the reapers of the harvest and wait to see if the twins say anything. If she hears them talking about things way beyond the usual understanding for their age, take them and throw them into Lake Ebyr. If they don't say anything remarkable, leave them alone.
• The wife did as she was told and the children began talking in a way most unlike babies of their age. The woman grabbed them and ran to the lake. She threw them in and they splashed, helplessly until the other goblins/elves came to save them. They gave the woman her children back, and everything went back to normal.