Mythology and Folklore

Scorpion and the Rabbit A hot day is typically much warmer for a rabbit due to the hair covering its body, so as the day approached high noon and the rabbit quickly finished up its morning rounds in hopes of finding a shaded spot next to the river.  As rabbit hastily made his way across the prairie, he offered little regard to his surroundings for all he could think of was how miserably hot he was. It was then that he heard, "Hey! What were you are going, you better not step on me!"  Only slowing his pace a little, Rabbit looked around to see where the voice had come from. Just when he was about to give up he spotted a black speck following behind him.  "I am sorry my dear friend, I did not see you on my trail. I am desperately seeking a place to rest for the next couple of hours, I am so hot I fear I am about to die!"  The Scorpion laughed at the rabbit, "you are so weak, you do not deserve to be among the animals of the prairie....

The Ghost and the Traveler Reading B:  Two Teton Ghost Stories Indian alone during a storm, found a sweat lodge two ghosts were in it   Man alone at night prepared to shoot with someone approaches  Man shot a ghost that was watching him the woods, the man went to later see where the ghosts were wailing and found a wound in the skull  The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost Man sleeping in the woods for a few nights  one night a ghost approaches him and asks to smoke, then says they should wrestle if he wins wrestling the ghost said he will win against his enemies and steal some horses the man won and the ghost was right The Wakanda, or Water God Mother and father loved their son, the boy drowned playing  father so sad he could not sleep in the lodge, but on the floor, because he could hear his son crying under the ground  wanted to dig into the ground, found two men that said the water god has the son, but he ate the ...

Taken From: "Sacred Legend"  READING A: The Creation Deals with tribes Osages lived in the sky Mother: Moon  Father: Sun Osages were told they had to go live on earth The earth was covered in water  Asked the Elk for help  Elk called to help from the winds, which took the water upward Sacred Legend Again, the people start in the water  We could not see, but when we first came up we saw daylight  kind of sounds like us in the womb Found, land Lived next to a big body of water Hunted deer with clubs Didn't know what to do so found stone and chipped it into arrows and knives Eventually made fire, then learned to make a pot to cook  Learned to make hides from their kills to cover things up and wear  Basically described the origin of many Native American traditions  Corn, hide clothing, arrows, axe, canoes  The Legend of the Peace Pipes Made out of the feathers of the owl, woodpecker,...

Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language For this week's story lab I chose to focus on a trend I noticed within my writing. I need to start providing the audience with a deeper sense of the stories tone. For example, I need to deepen my narration surrounding characters emotional involvement in a story, which can be done by explaining something such as body language.  Originally, I wanted to find an article that focused on how to write dialogue, but the article I chose dealt with writing body language. The reason I chose this article is that it provides a new perspective on characters and what is going on beyond the words presented. The article listed expressions typically exchanged in conversation followed by ways to verbally express those emotions, such as being awestruck or expressing grief with body language.  This article will be beyond helpful as I continue to correct my portfolio stories, I felt that there has been emotional connection and e...

Coyote and Hare/ Coyote and Fawns Origin of the Sierra Nevadas and Coast Range The Hawk and Crow created the ranges from mud and tobacco  Hawks were the Sierra Nevadas which are bigger Had other birds help them Legend of Tu-tok-a-nu'-la (El Capitan) It is named after the measuring worm two boys were playing in water, got tired and slept for a long time the rock grew very tall  all animals tried to get the kids down but the worm was the only one who could White men call it El Capitan The Children of Cloud They went looking for their father after their mother told where he was  They had to prove they were his children  they had smilier powers  They encountered other animals on the way and were turned into mescal's  Took place near Tucson  The Boy who Became a God the boy got songs, medicines, and clothing from animals  way to long to be a tale  loads of narration, spats of simple dialogue throughout  Or...

The Creation of the World  Three Coyote Creation Stories Tells the end of the story at the beginning  coyote started the creation, eagle finished it Coyote and fox created man  Coyote brought fire  Rely heavily on animals for earth's creation  New story could be "If Dogs Created the World" waterways were created from Indians crying over those who died   Coyote seemed to save and fix a lot of earth's beginning problems  The Creation of the World Earth doctor is responsible for creating the earth, sun, moon and starts  only discusses earth creation not the creation of people  Spider's Creation Spiders were the only living creatures at one point  Spider sang for a long time and created two woman first then animals followed  then the two women (the two mothers of all) created the moon and sun and were leaders of people and the other of different nations The Great Fire; The Origin of Light Coyot...

How the North Start Came to Be Long ago in a land far, far away there lived a man with two sons of the same age. The firstborn of the twins, Sirius, was a kind gentle boy loved by all since the day he was born. His brother, Canopus, was quite the opposite. Canopus found great difficulty in growing up hidden behind his brother shadow. Not only was he full of deceit but he also had a cruel, harsh soul. Sirius and Canopus fought regularly, which often ended with Sirius begging for his brother's mercy as he knew a fight with his brother is not worth upsetting their father.  One night, their father came home to find destruction throughout the house, with Canopus being the leading cause. Disappointed and worried about what the future may hold for his two sons, the boy's father desperately prayed to God as he was seeking guidance for his two sons, but more importantly, Canopus. When God heard the prayers of the boys troubled father he was discouraged for he had previo...

The Humming-bird and the Carabao The Iguana and the Turtle later into the Filipino tales, morals are shared at the end This one was more difficult to figure out  do not trust so easily the one who trusts foolishly will be injured  This time the turtle was the trickster so that's a change  Why Mosquitoes Hum explains that a long time ago, people believed tales that gave great meaning to things yet it starts with the story of a crab  he said she said type story  The Greedy Crow Has another moral Follows greed the same as most stories  be happy for what you have  The Humming-bird and the Carabao Humming-bird played a trick on the carabo to drink the most water  had knowledge of the tide  mostly narration  The Ant Started to seem like Mary and Joseph with the snake and god God almost gave the same poison to ants as snakes then realized how much of a force ants are  Why the Sun Shines m...

Three Brothers of Fortune The Three Friends: the Monkey, the Dog, and the Carabao All three against the Buñgisñgis, Monkey ended up being the smartest but got his two friends killed  The theme of monkeys being smartest tricksters Three Brothers of Fortune Not the message I thought it would send  The last brother got the better end  he didn't pay for the charm  The Clever Husband and Wife Again, very different ending  Doesn't have a moral really, much like the rest  Sort of sends the message to always be honest to those close? The Devil and the Guachinango guachinango ends up with the most Starts with the old woman and her daughter looking for a husband, ends with devil and guachinango Very good ratio of dialogue to narration  Chonguita Begins to be like three brothers of fortune Three brothers  two marry women  one marries a monkey monkey does better at tasks  so Don Juan, who is married t...