Week 15 Story: The Huge Alligator

Image Source

Once upon a time, long ago, there was a huge alligator. The alligator was so big that his tale was as large as a school bus. The alligator lived in a swamp in the Everglades. The alligator had a huge mouth that he was able to eat any animal that came close to the swamp. He patrolled up and down the swamp looking for more animals to eat. The spot he found the most animals in was at the very end of the swamp with the cleanest water. The alligator was so big that he took up most of the swamp, therefore he was always alone. The other animals began to fear the swamp because of how many animals died there due to the huge alligator. One day, a group of woodpeckers heard about all of the harm the alligator was causing and wanted to put an end to it. They decided they would fly above the swamp and once the alligator tried to eat them they would peck its eyes out. They began their plan with a huge group of woodpeckers and once the alligator's eyes popped out of the water he began snapping at them. He took a second to notice a beautiful female woodpecker and stopped snapping. He was so captivated by her he kept staring at her. The alligator had been lonely for a long time and asked the female if she wanted to get dinner sometime. The female decided to stay longer in front of the alligator to distract him from the others. The male woodpecker noticed this and decided to attack. A swarm of them took out the alligator's eyes. The alligator screamed with anger. The alligator could no longer see to eat the animals and began to shrink in size until he was no longer.



Author's Note:
I was inspired by the Giant Crab story and wanted to make my own version. I had never done a story with swamp animals so this was fun to write. I also wanted to make the woodpeckers the heroes because I have never read a story where they are able to save the day. I kept the storyline the same for the most part but changed out the scene and the ultimate defeat of the large animal.

Bibliography:
Title: The Giant Crab
Author: W. H. D. Rouse 
Link: Story

Reading Notes: Jakata Tales: The Giant Crab

Image Source

Long ago there was a large flood. The flood was so big that it reached the top of the giant rock a Wolf was sleeping on. The water came flooding over the top of the rock and the wolf woke up realizing he was stranded on this rock with no way to leave. He began to think about how it was Friday and how people sometimes Fast. He decided he would do a fast for the day while the water cleared out. He crossed his paws and prayed during this fast. A fairy watched him do this and thought that she should figure out if he was taking the fast seriously or not. She changed her form into a little kid and jumped onto the rock with the Wolf. The wolf noticed the kid and immediately decided to eat him. He jumped at the kid and the kid jumped back not allowing the wolf to catch him. The wolf could not catch the kid so finally gave up and decided to fast again. The fairy changed back to her form and condemned the wolf for doing the fast for the wrong reasons. She cursed him by making him stay on the rock for a whole other week and he had to do a weekly fast.

Bibliography:

Title: The Pious Wolf

Author: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse with illustrations by W. Robinson

Link: Story

Reading Notes: The Giant Crab

Image Source

Setting: Lake in the Mountains

Long ago there was a giant crab who lived in the lake. The crab was a lot bigger than any other kind of crab that has been seen before. This crab was the biggest crab that ever existed. They compared his arms to an armchair and his body to a dining room table. The crab lived by himself in the lake. Any animals that would come down to the lake to take a drink of water, the crab would pinch with its enormous claws and eat them. Most of the animals that went down for a drink never reappeared again. With each animal that the crab consumed, the crab would grow larger in size. The animals began to notice that the animals that went to the lake for a drink would never come back, so the animals began to fear the lake. This became a problem because the animals had very few areas to get water from. An elephant decided he was tired of the crab so he gathered a herd of elephants and made a plan to have one elephant drink while the others watched for the crab. The elephants did as they planned and one elephant was drinking from the lake while the other one washed in the lake.  They began to leave the lake when the husband felt a nip on the leg. The wife stood by his side and asked the crab to let go of her husband. The crab looked out of the water with its eyes as big as tree trunks. The crab noticed how beautiful the elephant was and asked her for a kiss. The girl elephant looked so sweet back that the crab let go of her husband. Once the husband felt the crab let go he made a loud trumpet noise and got on the crab's back. The crab's shell began to crack and the elephant continued jumping on it. The crab was crushed to death leaving its large claws behind. The elephants carried his claws back to the city where the King used his claws for drums.



Bibliography:
Title: The Giant Crab
Author: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse with illustrations by W. Robinson
Link: Story

Extra Credit Reading Notes

 

Image Source

The Well-Trained Elephant 

-King Magadha ruler of Rajagaha in Magagha

-Bodhisatta was born an elephant

The elephant was white in color and described as very beautiful. One of the festival days the elephant proceeded around the city and the local people were excited to see the graceful elephant. The elephant was receiving a lot of praise which made the King very jealous. The king wanted to kill the elephant. The King called over the mahout and asked if the elephant was trained in which the mahout responded that it was a very well-trained elephant. The King argued with him and the mahout was insistent on that the elephant was indeed trained.

The King challenged the man to have the elephant climb the summit of Mount Vepulla since the elephant was so well-trained. The King got off the back of the elephant and the mahout climbed on with the king walking beside them. The King commanded the mahout to get the elephant to stand on three legs. The elephant did as was commanded. The King commanded him to stand on two fore-legs. The elephant once again did as he was told. The King asked the elephant to stand on one leg still testing his obedience. The elephant stood on one foot. The mahout realized that the King wanted the elephant to fall so he would tumble down to his death. The King had commanded the elephant to stand in the air. The mahout whispered to the elephant that the King was trying to trick him so that he needed to fly away to Benares. The elephant rose into the air. The mahout told the King that this creature was too good for a fool like him and wished him good bye. The elephant and the mahout flew over the town of Benares for everyone to see the mighty elephant. The King of Benares welcomed the elephant and told the elephant and mahout he was excited for their arrival. The King then divided the kingdom into three parts, one for the Bodisatta, one for the mahout and one for himself and they did charitable work happily ever after.

Bibliography: 

Title: The Well-Trained Elephant

Author: Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock

Link: Story

Story Laboratory: TED Talk Videos

Image Source

This week I decided to do a story lab instead of writing a story. I had never done a story lab before so I was excited to see what it was about! I chose to watch two Ted Talk videos and I really enjoyed each of them. The first video was The danger of a single story by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I had remembered watching this video in my high school English class and I was very impressed once again by it. I love the idea of gaining other perspectives instead of hearing one single story. I think she has a great point that if we only focus on a single story there is a chance for many misunderstandings to occur. She states that if we could listen to other stories and perspectives, we could have the chance to gather the idea as a whole of the topic.

The second Ted Talk I chose to listen to I had never heard before so it was fun to get to watch. The Ted Talk was Imaginary friends and real-world consequences by Jennifer Barnes. I thought it was a cool detail that Jennifer Barnes is a professor at OU. This video really stuck out to me because I related to many of the points she made in the story. She had mentioned that sometimes with fiction novels we attach to a character and feel as though that we are a part of their lives. We also do this with celebrities where we read so much about them or follow them on social media and feel a connection to them. She had mentioned that since she is a fiction novelist, that sometimes when bad things happen to characters she receives a lot of criticism because the reader is so upset that something happened to this fictional character. Jennifer Barnes also mentioned a study conducted at OU where people named their favorite fictional character and then someone they sort of knew at OU. They were supposed to range how upset they would be if each of those people died and found that most would be way more upset if the fictional character died than the real-life acquaintance.


I really enjoyed both videos and was glad to watch both.

Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales

 

Image Source

The story begins with a mother quail telling her little quails to be good and they would get to eat. Every time the mother and the father would come back from getting the quails insects, the seventh quail would only eat grass seed. The seventh quail was not getting enough food and was not growing. One night a forest fire started in the middle of the forest and the mother and father gathered the small quails. The seventh quail told the father and mother that it was a forest fire. The mother and father had to take off holding the little quails. The seventh quail was not scared of the fire and stood up to it. The fire shrunk back and the forest was no longer on fire.

Author's Note:
I really liked going back and reading this story. It was unique from the others and I think could be fun to retell.


Bibliography:
Title: The Forest Fire
Author: Noor Inayat
Link: Story

Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales

Image Source

The story started out in a lake with a lot of water lilies and fish. The fish had commonly met up and on this occasion, they were meeting to hear a story told by one of their own fish. The Story was about a King who ruled the lake. The fish was golden back, more gold than the rest of them were. The fish, being as gold as he was, was described as the "star of their sky". When the water got dark he was the one to light it up. One day, when it was right before a heatwave, there was no rain in the air. The lake began to shrink in size until it became a pool. There were so many fish in the pond that the birds could come and devour most of them. The King of the lake spoke to the Queen of Rain and King of Thunder and they heard his calling. King of Thunder commanded all of them to fire and the whole world shook. Lightning sparked throughout the air, heavy raindrops fell and the pool of water began to become a lake again. The King feared that the pond would dry up quickly after the storm so he prayed to the Queen of Rain and King of Thunder to do another downpour. They listened and let rain fall once again. The Queen and King came down to earth and let the King of the Lake know that the lake would never be dry again. The lake was filled and everyone lived happily ever after.



Author's Note: I went back and read this story again and loved how sweet it was. The plot was simple but it was very impactful and fun to read. I would love to create my own story from this tale.

Bibliography:
Title: the Empty Lake
Author: Noor Inayat
Link: Story