Week 9 Storytelling: The Squirrels of OU

It was yet another beautiful, sunny day on campus. I had just grabbed some lunch from the Union and found an open bench outside. I normally don't like to sit outside because of the pesky squirrels trying to steal my food, but it was too pleasant to stay inside. I had just gotten settled when I saw a squirrel out of the corner of my eye. Before I knew it the squirrel had jumped down, grabbed my bag of chips, and ran off. I was livid. I knew this was going to happen and I didn't do anything to prevent it. I watched as the squirrel sat in the tree and mocked me while eating my bag of chips. 

Although I was mad, I decided not to let it get the best of me because it was too nice of a day. I went back to enjoying my sandwich and scrolling through social media when I noticed the squirrel sneaking up on me again. He was coming back for more. I decided to let him get close enough so that I could catch him before he had the chance to steal the rest of my lunch. He jumped on the back of the bench, and I quickly snatched him up. It took him by surprise and he fiercely tried to squirm his way out. He quickly realized that he couldn't budge and things got interesting. 
The squirrel said, "Let Me Go!" I jumped out of my seat. I couldn't believe it! A squirrel just talked to me! 
When I finally caught my breath I said, "Did you just talk?!"

Squirrel: "Yes, but you can't tell anyone that I can talk! Humans aren't supposed to know, and I'll be in major trouble if my family finds out!"

Me: "Okay, I promise I won't say anything if you tell me how it is that you can talk."

Squirrel: "Well it all started deep in Texas. A long time ago, there was a tribe of indians, the "Aggies". The tribe became obsessed with eating the mescal plant which caused hallucinations. The indians quit all of their obligations, such as collecting food, because all they wanted to do was hallucinate from the plant. One day the children became so hungry that they left camp to look for food. One of the mothers noticed that the children were gone and rounded up the rest of the parents to start searching. The parents came across the Manitou, who told them that he had hid the children in the hollow trees to protect them. He then told the parents that he would turn them into birds so that they could find their children, and when they did he would then turn them back into humans."

Me: "I think I've read about this legend before."

Squirrel: "You probably have, but there's a part the Manitou forgot to mention. The Manitou neglected to tell the parents that he turned the children into squirrels. The parents were never able to find their children because they weren't looking for squirrels. I'm the descendant of one of those children. That's how I'm able to talk."


Author's Note: This week I read about the Tejas Legends. One of the stories explains why the woodpecker pecks. In the story the indians become obsessed with hallucinating from eating the mescal plant, much like my story. They stop gathering food and drop all of their responsibilities. The children become so hungry that they decide to leave camp and go hunting for food. One of the mothers eventually notices and rounds up the rest of the parents to start searching. They come across the Manitou who explains to them that he hid the children in the hollow trees to protect them. He then tells the parents that he will turn them into birds, woodpeckers, so that they can search for their children. He will turn them back into humans when they are reunited with their children. In my story I kept the original story the same, but I decided to give it a new angle. The manitou actually turned the children into squirrels so they could fit into the trees, but he forgot to mention that to the parents. Since the parents were unaware, they never found their children, and these children eventually had children of their own. As they multiplied they began to scatter out and some even travelled as far as Oklahoma. 
Everyone at OU knows about our squirrels. They're famous for stealing food and sneaking up on you. I decided to make the setting of my story on campus, and have one of the squirrels end up talking to me, and telling me how it is that he is able to talk.

Bibliography: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton (1936).

(Woodpecker)

Week 9 Reading Diary: Tejas Legends

When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton (1936).

When the Storm God Rides

• Storm God rides his bird along the coast to collect feathers from the birds
• He creates thunder, lightning, clouds, wind and rain
• When the Indians would hunt the birds, the birds would cry to the storm god for help
• The storm god hopped on his bird and went to help
• He caused a raging storm and the waters rose over the plains
• When the water receded it dropped pieces of mud and sand and built up islands for the birds off the coast
• Today these small islands remain and the birds are safe there

How the North Wind Lost His Hair

• The north and south wind did not get along
• The north wind was an old man with gray hair that always killed the flowers and made the Indians shiver
• The south wind was young and always brought life to the flowers
• There was a time when the north wind would not leave and the south wind grew angry
• They fought and the south eventually won and pulled the old north's long grey hair out
• He threw it over the trees in excitement, this is still around today known as Spanish Moss

The Plant That Grows In Trees

• The thunder bird was hungry and could only find the berries from mistletoe to eat
• He thanked the bush for its delicious berries and the bush explained that he would not live long
• The bird then carried the mistletoe up into a tree so that animals from the earth could no longer eat and kill the plant
• He promised that other birds would do the same as him and the mistletoe would live forever and grow in the tress

Why the Woodpecker Pecks

• One young indian sneaks out at night to try the mescal plant that the medicine men eat and see miraculous things
• He convinces the other children to eat, then their fathers and then their mothers
• They all quit everything like hunting, gathering and only eat the berries from the mescal plant
• One day the children began to hunt for food and one mother opens her eyes and realizes all of the children are gone
• She wakes everyone up and they begin to search
• The manitou tells them he hid the children in hallow trees away from the hot sun and he will turn them into birds so they can find their children
• When they find their children he will turn them back into humans
• This is why the wood peckers peck

The Woodpecker's Stumpy Tail

• The old frog tried to warn the indians that a big flood was coming
• The birds listened and retreated to high trees, but the indians and the woodpecker laughed at the frog
• The flood came and washed the indians away
• The woodpecker couldn't see from the rain so he flew from tree to tree
• He landed on a tree branch that was above the flood, but his long tail was still in the water
• A fish saw this and bit the wood peckers tail off
• Leaving a jagged, stumpy tail behind

(Storm God)

Weeks 9-10 Reading Plans

For weeks 9-10 the stories I plan to read are the Tejas Legends and the American Indian Tales. The Tejas legends seemed very interesting, especially since they are credited with naming Texas. Also, I thought it would be interesting to read legends that took place so close to home. 
The American Indian Tales also peaked my interest. I thought it would be fascinating to read these tales and see if any of them match up with ones I was told growing up. There were other options I liked as well so I might even do some extra credit reading for this unit.

(Iaago)

Blog Ideas

The first blog I came across that caught my eye was Claire's blog. Her background was a beautiful view of mountains. It made me want to stay and look around on her page awhile. I'm a sucker for beautiful pictures of nature.

The second blog I came across that I liked was Maddie's blog. She picked out very unique fonts that made it easy to read and looked so much better than your typical, boring, standard fonts. I think font styles can make or break a page.

Last but not least, Matty's Blog. Another beautiful background of a crisp morning in the mountains. Like I said, beautiful outdoor pictures always grab my attention and draw me in. Also, her sidebar was transparent, which I really liked as well. You could see the mountains through the sidebar, but it wasn't too much that made the page feel cluttered.


Looking at the previous blogs, and others, I've noticed some pretty cool features. I spent a little time editing my blog in the beginning and throughout the first couple of weeks. I tried to edit as most I could to differentiate my blog from others. There's always room for improvement though, and I'll probably do a little editing as the semester progresses. 

Time Strategies

As a senior in the last semester of my college career, you could say that I have a slight case of "senioritis". Graduation is so close, and procrastination habits have become the norm for myself as I'm sure they have for others as well. Before this semester started, for this class especially, I started my work early so I could stay ahead. My lead slowly trickled away as the semester progressed, and now I've found myself behind. Every semester my goal is the same, get ahead and stay ahead. Sadly, that's never how it plays out. It's going to be hard, but my plan is to get a lot of stuff out of the way over break so that I can have a fresh lead coming back from spring break. We'll see if I actually hold my feet to the fire.

(Procrastination)

This image is my life, every day.

Week 7 Reading Diary: Stories from Congo

Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).

How The Wives Restored Their Husband To Life

• A man had three wives
• He was killed by an ox while hunting
• One wife dreamt he died
• Another led them to his body
• The third wife brought him back to life
• They decided to let him decide who's hut he would enter first
• They each cooked him a pot of food
• He chose the third wife because she brought him back to life
• Most thought he was right, others thought he should've mixed all the food into one pot and eaten it mixed together

How Gazelle Got Married

• A man had two daughters and decided that whoever could guess their names could marry them
• The antelope asked for their hand in marriage and the father said no unless he could guess their names
• The gazelle came with his dog and asked to marry the daughters and was told the same as the antelope
• The gazelle went home but his dog stayed behind
• After many failed attempts the dog finally made it home to tell his owner their names
• They went so the gazelle could claim the daughters
• The antelope declared war but the gazelle killed and ate him

The Vanishing Wife

• There were two brothers, one was married and had servants, the other was alone and despised
• The despised brother decided to flee into the jungle
• Once there he had a dream about a woman
• He awoke and remembered the dream and did as he was told to do in the dream
• The woman, servants, a house, everything he had ever dreamed of appeared
• The only request the woman had was for him to cut the heads off of the fish before he brought them to her to cook
• One day he didn't and the woman, servants and everything disappeared
• His brother just so happened to visit him after this and despised him even more and left him alone

Another Vanishing Wife

• A miserable looking child ran away from his family, who treated him horribly, and wandered to a river
• He got in a canoe there and paddled until he came across a tree that covered the river
• He pulled the leaves off and they turned into people
• One became his wife
• He was made handsome and given nice clothes and a nice home
• His family invited him home, his wife warned him not to tell of his happiness
• He told his family how he received his happiness and everything he had vanished
• The people said it served him right for not being loyal to his loving wife, but giving into his family which never treated him well

The Jealous Wife

• There was a man with two wives, each wife had a child
• The father left to go into the bush and the wives had to take care of the children
• The younger wife went fishing and left the children with the elder wife
• The younger wife's child was much more bright than the elder wife's child and that made her jealous
• She decided to kill the younger wife's child, but when she did she realized that it was her child she had killed
• She took the body and fled into the woods
• The father returned and wouldn't believe what he was told
• They searched for the elder wife until they found her singing to the dead child
• They killed her and burned her body

Ngomba's Balloon

• A girl was sick
• She went fishing and met a murderer
• She promised him that if he cured her she would feed him her fish
• He cured her and then married her
• She planned to escape
• He planned to kill her, but never did
• She finally escaped and went to her mother
• He followed and went to claim her
• Her family tricked him into a hole and killed him

The Wicked Husband

• The wife asked for more palm nuts
• The husband forced her to come with him if she wanted them
• She refused
• He drug her into the woods and cut off her arms and legs
• A hunter heard her crying and told his wife what he had seen
• Word got around to the prince and he ordered his people to get the woman
• She died just as she arrived back in town
• They burned her husband

How Kengi Lost Her Child

• Two wives grew their own crops
• They came to an agreement that whatever was born on each of the wife's land was exclusively theirs
• One wife bore a child on the other's land
• The other wife claimed the child and would not give it up
• They went to "court" and it was ruled that this was right

The Twin Brothers

• A brother travelled to a town to marry a girl
• There were mirrors that were covered and she showed him all but one
• He insisted and it was of a town that no man returns
• He left to visit the town and was killed
• His brother went looking for his twin and was mistaken for his brother
• He also went to the town but killed the woman that killed his brother and brought his brother and many people back to life
• They argued about who the followers belonged to
• The brother brought back to life killed his brother but not his horse
• His horse brought him back to life and then he went and killed his brother

The Younger Brother Who Knew More Than The Elder

• The younger brother left his town because he didn't get along wit his brother
• He and his wife came across a man and his wife living in the woods and asked to live with them
• The two had their wives dig a trap for animals and decided the younger brother would take the males and the man would take the females
• They caught many males but no females
• The wife of the younger brother went looking for wood but never returned
• The man and the younger brother went to look for her and found her in the trap
• By their agreement she belonged to the man
• The older brother went hunting and ran across them
• The man asked the older brother and he agreed
• The man jumped into the pit to kill the younger brothers' wife
• The older brother claimed the man now belonged to the younger brother so he could bargain for his wife
• The man gave up the woman and the brothers and the wife returned to their town

(The Congo River)

Week 6 Storytelling: A Mother's Instinct

Jack and Charlie met a few years ago at a mutual friend's birthday party. They immediately hit it off and became the best of friends. Even though Charlie was twelve years old and Jack was ten, they didn't mind the age difference. Jack really looked up to Charlie since he was an only child. They became inseparable. All seemed perfect, except for the fact that Jack's mother was skeptical of the friendship. One day Jack couldn't take it anymore and decided to ask his mother why she didn't like Charlie.

Jack: "Mom, why don't you like Charlie?"

Mother: "It's not that I don't like Charlie honey, I just don't think he's a very good influence on you."

Jack: "What do you mean by that?"

Mother: "I'm not sure how to explain this to you, but I just don't get a good vibe from him. I just get a feeling that he's not a good person, and that he's going to end up hurting you."

Jack: "Don't worry about me mom. I know Charlie, and I know he would never do that to me."

Mother: "Whatever you say, just don't say I didn't warn you."

A few months passed by and everything was fine. Charlie's sixteenth birthday was coming up and the two of them had big plans to go car shopping. They went on the day he turned sixteen and found the perfect car and drove it around all weekend laughing and blaring music. They were still the best of friends.

A couple weeks went by and it was time for school to start again. Charlie was a freshman this year and Jack was in eighth grade. They were at two different schools, Charlie was at the high school and Jack was at the middle school. After a few weeks into the semester, Jack hadn't seen or even heard from Charlie very much. Charlie said he was busy with schoolwork and football, and claimed that high school was a lot harder than middle school. One Friday night Jack and Charlie had plans to go see the new X-Men movie and Jack could hardly wait! Jack had his mom drop him off at Charlie's and told her that Charlie would bring him home after the movie. When Charlie answered the door Jack was surprised to see a small group of friends in Charlie's living room. Jack was bummed that it wasn't going to just be the two of them, but he also didn't mind making a few older friends.

Jack: "Are you ready to see the movie?! I can't wait! You didn't tell me you we're going to invite some of your friends to go with us."

Charlie: "Actually Jack, they invited me to go with them and I told them I would. I asked if you could come with us, but they said they don't hangout with middle schoolers. I'm really sorry, I can go with you tomorrow if you want to see it still?"

Jack: "Don't worry about it. Have a good time with your new friends."

Jack turned around and started walking home. He knew it was a long walk, but he forgot his cell phone at home so he couldn't call his mom. He was so mad at Charlie there was no way he was going to ask him for a ride either. By the time he got home the anger had passed and he burst into tears. His mother answered the door surprised to see him home so early.

Mother: "Honey, what's wrong?!"

Jack: (sobbing) "Charlie ditched me for his new high school friends."

Mother: "I'm so sorry Jack. Why don't you ask one of your other friends to go see the movie with you?"

Jack: "None of my friends except Charlie like X-Men. That was our thing."

The next day Jack walked into the kitchen while his mom was cooking lunch.

Jack: "Well aren't you going to say it?"

Mother: "Say what?"

Jack: "I told you so."

Mother: "Jack, I'm not going to be cruel. I'm sorry that Charlie treated you that way and I hope it never happens again. I love you and I would never want anyone to mistreat you. That's why I tried to warn you, so you would have your guard up."

Jack: "Thanks mom. Next time you tell me something like that I will. I love you too."

(Mother & Son)

Author's note: This week I read some South African Folk-Tales. There was one in particular that really caught my attention. It was about a lion that thought he was smarter than his mother. In the story the mother told the lion to beware of the man. The lion thought to himself, I know the man so why should I be afraid of him. He did what his mother warned him not to and went to the field where the man was. The man and his dogs attacked the lion and the man speared him. The man let him go and he went back to his mother. His mother told him again what she had said before. I decided to make my story about a childhood friendship. Growing up my mom would always tell me if she didn't have a good feeling towards one of my friends, and sometimes she would be right about them. No mother wants to see their children hurting, and no child wants their mother to tell them what to do. It's an on going battle, but I think most people can relate to this story.

Bibliography: This story is based on readings from South African Folktales by James Honey (1910).