Storytelling for Week 11: Beowulf in Heaven

Beowulf in Heaven

“You may have heard about my story in the books, But I assure you that there is a big whole in it that you may not have known,” Beowulf said to the many other people that were in heaven. “There was two very important phases in my life that I feel were skipped in the book. The first one is the time period when I was training as a mere child and up to a young man. The second one is the time period after I defeated the wretched Grendel. Listen to all that took place in my like during these periods if you want to fully know my story.”

After my parents send me away to my live with my uncle I had to underdo serious training from day one. At 5 years of age, everyday, I would have to get up and do 500 pushups throughout the day.  Now at first it was challenging for me, but it wasn’t so hard because of how strong I already was. After each year the number per day increased 100, so you can imagine that when I was 20 had to do 2000 push-ups a day. I was pushed to the absolute maximum of my abilities. An important thing that I worked on during my training as a boy was my balance. Yes, I was strong and fast, but I was very clumsy. I needed to work on my hand eye coordination and my balance. My uncle came up with an idea to help. He would Make my run around in a circle and then try to climb up this small cliff. It was very hard at first, but eventually I got the hang of it. After awhile I mastered all of my weakness, and in my twenties I couldn’t have felt any better.

When Grendel was slain, the whole world knew who did it, and everyone wanted t praise me. I made sure to keep a level head and he humble toward everyone else. I soon became King and we lived many years in peace from any monster. There were some other battles amongst our people and the neighboring cities, but I swiftly took care of them. For the next 40 years or so, I had now seen any action at all. I was definitely not in my prime anymore, but I still felt good. One day a slave approached me and told me of a dragon that guards a great treasure. I couldn’t resist but to take the opportunity and go slay this dragon myself. Many of you think that I died because of my foolish men that ran away and hid while I was attacking the dragon. What really happened was that due to my old age, I was having a hard time not becoming fatigues. I also had major joint pain in my knees, so whenever the dragon swooped its tail, I didn’t have a fast enough reaction time and it stuck me to my death.

“So this is really the reason why I died, Beowulf said. “I have done many great things in my lifetime, but I must admit that the fight with the dragon might have been the most foolish thing. I knew from before that I wasn’t in my prime. It had just been so long since I fought in a real battle. I just wanted to try. Looks like it didn’t go my way.

Author’s Note

Beowulf: by Just Jared

This Week I read the Story of Beowulf in the un-textbook. For this story I wanted to fill in the reader on the details in between some time periods. If you read the story It is easy to see which parts I am talking about. The reason why I chose to write my story like this was because while I was reading it, I thought to myself. “I wonder what Beowulf did for all of those years while he was training, or how did he spend his time when he became king.” I added my own scenarios to fill in the gaps. I hope you enjoy the story..

Storytelling for Week 9: Mad Mother

Mad Mother

Once upon a time there was a woman who lived in a small village. She was about middle-aged and lived by herself. The villagers were terrified by her and gave her the nickname of “Mad Mother”. The woman has a son that she cares for very much, but a little too much. Every time the son get s a new fiancé, she kills them. Mad Mother doesn’t want to ever lose the attention from her son so she does this to try and hold her son from then. Little does she know that the son got tired of this and decided to not date again.

Three years passed and the son was miserable. He had no one to love or marry, and every girl in town was scared to even talk to him because of his mother. They all feared for their lives except one girl named Molly. Molly knew about Mad Mother and how killed all of her future daughter-in-laws, but she was determined to win the heart of Mad Mother. 

Molly dated the son after 3 years since is last girlfriend. They grew close and eventually wanted to tie the knot. The son was hesitant at first because he was afraid of the life of Molly, but she insisted that everything would be okay and that his Mother would not be able to kill her.

One day, Mad Mother invited her son and fiancé Molly for dinner. Before dinner, Mother asked Molly to come with here and hunt down a turkey to kill for the meal. As they went into the forest, molly found many turkeys, but Mother wasn’t pleased with them. She told Molly to keep going out further and further until she found a huge turkey. Sensing this was a trap; Molly had been dropping little pieces of cloth on the ground, since the beginning of the voyage. When Molly ventured out far enough Mother ran off thinking that Molly would for sure die out in the woods. Molly had to slowly track her own footsteps. Molly later arrived at the Mad Mother’s and brought back the turkey. She was astonished for she thought that Molly would be dead for sure.

The next morning Molly reached the son’s house and told him how his mother tried to kill him. She told him not to worry for she can out smart her, Molly then went back to Mother’s house and asked it there was anything she could help with. Mad Mother though about it. She had to come up with something what would get her killed. She asked if Molly could go out by the river and hunt down an alligator for a meal. Molly accepted it, and went out with Mother to the river. There were a lot of alligators, but Mother wanted a specific one. She wanted the biggest alligator in the river. Walking in the river trying to find a alligator, Mad Mother sneaked away from the river knowing that eventually she would get eaten by an alligator. Molly soon found the big alligator that Mother wanted and she brought it back to her house. Mad Mother was so astonished that she didn’t know what to do anymore and decided not to kill her. Molly changed Mad Mother’s heart and the family all lived happily together.

 Mad mother possible appearance 

(By: SeB-NeM)

Authors Note:

I decided to base my story from the Native American Hero story called The Jealous Uncle in the un-textbook. The story is about a Uncle whom the people call "Unnatural Uncle." He would kill all of his Nephews before they were a couple years of age. In the original story one of the nephews managed to survive and consistently pass all of the death traps that the uncle threw at him. In the end however, the boy ended up killing the uncle for how bad he treated his parents. In my story I wanted to change the aspect of it and make it a Mother-in-law and Daughter-in-law situation. I followed some of the elements of the story with plots and challenges, but the big thing I changed in my story was the ending. I added a happy ending in my story with the Mother finally accepting Molly. 

Storytelling for Week 7: A Needle In a Haystack

A Needle In a Haystack

Oklahoma is known for it its vast landscape, oil, and farmland. Most of the state is rural, besides some of the few cities. The town of Bixby, Oklahoma is one of these rural areas. It has roughly 21,000 people living there to date. 

On the outskirts of town a very poor man lives in a cabin by himself. His name is Anansi. Anansi was a middle age man who always found himself in trouble throughout his life. He could not hold a steady job and eventually lost almost everything. One day, while walking back toward his cabin, he saw a flyer taped on a telephone pole. There was a competition going on the next month and the grand prize was 1 million dollars! Anansi decided to attend the event and see if he could win the contest.

When the day arrived for the competition, Anansi showed up outside at the field where it was being held. About 2000 other people showed up as well. Before the grand prize competition that was shown on the flyer, there were many other smaller trivia and obstacles each contestant had to overcome. Anansi was a witty person and capable of many tricks, so the tasks were not hard for him to complete at all. He later found himself in the top two slots left for completing the competition. The crowd gathered, and Anansi and the other finalist gathered to wait for the host to announce the final competition for 1 million dollars. Then the host came out and wished the two finalist good luck. The final challenge was to find the needle in the haystack. Whoever found the needle first was the winner. The host then revealed two separate haystacks the size of normal SUV’s with the needle somewhere inside. The one on the left was the other finalist, and the other one on the right was Anansi’s. The whistle blew and the search was on for the needle. The other contestant flew into the pile of hay franticly looking for the needle. Anansi stood without moving. Since there were no apparent rules for this competition, Anansi came up with a clever plan to beat his competitor and find the needle in the haystack first. He knew that without this plan it could take him 4 hours or more to complete.  Anansi rushed home and got his vacuum and brought it back to the haystack. He lived close so it only took him a total of 20 minutes. The other finalist was still searching throughout the hay for the needle. Anansi’s plan was to just vacuum up the hay with the nozzle. When the needle would enter the pipe of the vacuum it would get lodged into the filter and then Anansi just had to check periodically if he vacuumed it up yet or not. He started to do this and in another 20 minutes he was able to find the needle. He presented it to the host and he concluded the winner. Anansi won the 1 million dollars! The host presented him the check and congratulated him.

The next day Anansi went to the bank to open a checking account and deposit all of his money. The teller said to open an account there would be a $20.00 fee. Anansi thought to himself and decided not to waste money just to save it.  He left the bank and went back home. When he got back home, Anansi hid all of his money underneath his mattress where he felt great about having possession of it. He started to get paranoid however, and began to think that maybe the bank was a good idea after all. Anansi rushed back to the bank empty–handed to tell the bank worker that he wanted to open an account. He realized that he forgot the money that he wanted to deposit and went back home. Upon arriving, he checked his mattress to get the money, but the money was gone! Someone had stolen it.  Anansi became poor again without the bank account and the money. 

A Needle In a Haystack

By Vijayanarashimha

Authors Note: 

This week I read the West African Folktales which included many stories of Anansi the trickster spider. In most of his stories Anansi outwits his acquaintances to get the better advantage. This always comes back to haunt him and in the end he is left worse than before. I did not base my story directly from the sample. Instead I made up my own story with a twist! My story is set in present day time in Oklahoma. 

Storytelling for Week 6: The Moon King

The Moon King

In the Valley of Dust and Gravel there was little civilization. The valley was completely flat and you could see for miles. Far off somewhere in the valley there was a giant boulder. This was the only huge structure within as far as the eye could see.  The boulder was the most smooth and shiny think on the earth. The energy of the night and the moon gave the bounder its appearance and life.  Suddenly one day a storm brewed and a lightning both stuck the boulder. It began to open up and out came a monkey; he was made out of complete Iron. His eyes were a bright as the Moon’s rays on a full moon. The Iron monkey was birthed form the Moon’s energy. No other being was like him.

            The monkey decided to venture out from the From the Valley of Dust and Grave and try to find other monkeys like him because he was all alone. He walked for days and days until he came across the Great Sea. He crossed it and found the island called the Mountain of Flowers and Fruit. There he met the some other monkeys. They were very welcoming and allowed the Iron monkey to stay with them for as long as he wished. They kept saying he reminded then of someone they knew and loved dearly. The Iron monkey asked who is was and they said that there used to be another monkey that ruled over us but he has been away for over 1000 years. His name was Sun Wu Kung and he was the Monkey King of the Sun.

            The monkeys then asked if the Iron monkey had a name. He said that he didn’t, so they decided to give him a trail to see if he had what it took to be there new leader. Now this task was very dangerous. The monkeys make up this test for whoever was trying to be the next king. Since Sun Wu was made from the Sun they wanted to try and honor him while making the challenge. The Iron monkey’s task was to go on top the huge volcano on the highest point on the island.  Then he needed to go inside the mouth of the volcano and retrieve the Tablet of Sunlight. This tablet would allow the Iron monkey to become their ruler. Upon retrieving the tablet the monkeys would then find a name to suit him, since he did not have one.

            So, the iron monkey made his was up toward the volcano. The Volcano was so tall that when he reached the base of it there was still a four-day journey left ahead of him.  When he reached the peak of it volcano the iron monkey slowly made his way down into the cave. He was extra careful to make sure that he didn’t slip and fall into the magma. The other monkey didn’t know for sure if he would pass or not but they hoped so. To the Iron monkey this was easy because he did not feel any heat from the magna. In fact, he slipped of the slide of the slope, but when he hit the bottom the magma instantly cooled and turned rock solid. All the monkeys were baffled!! Then the Iron monkey retrieved the tablet and left the cave. When he brought the tablet to the monkeys they rejoiced and honored the iron monkey as their new king! The last think left to do was to name him. They decided to come up with the name Moon Ru Dung, which means “The Icy Moon” in their language. This is how  Moon Ru Dung the iron monkey came to be!

Michealjackson by: Mikael c

(Looks like a monkey king)

Authors Note:

I decided to base my story of the The Monkey King. The story is about how the stone monkey named Sun Wu Kung came to be. I decided base my story off of the intro of the reading where Sun Wu was tested to become the king of the other monkeys. If you have read this story then you would have noticed that I tried to create a new main character that had opposite qualities of Sun Wu, and from this Moon Ru was born!

Storytelling for Week 5: Shahar and the Ring

 Shahar and the Ring

Once upon a time there were two brothers named Shahar and Yonatan. The two of them lived in Egypt their whole life. Yonatan was the eldest of the two and had a house, wife, and farm.  Shahar didn’t have much so he lived with Yonatan. The two brothers cared for each other deeply always respected one another.

            One day Shahar was tending the farm like he usually does. But he saw something strange. He called out, “Hello! Is anybody there, Hello!?”, but  nobody replied. It seemed as if there were a strange being standing towards the end of the farm field. It was approaching closer and closer. Once Shahar could see more clearly, he noticed that he saw a beautiful woman.

He called out to here, “Oh why Hello. I didn’t realize you were a woman. I could not recognize you from so far away. “

 Sorry for my intrusion but, I am looking for something,” the woman replied.

“Oh what is it that you are looking for? I’m sure you might be mistaking me for somebody else.  The only people that live here are my Brother, his wife, and myself.”

The woman didn’t respond. Little did Shahar know, the woman was a legendary thief, and she wanted to steal the big diamond ring Shahar had on his finger. The ring was from his mother who passed away, and it was worth at least $50,000 dollars. The woman looked and then suddenly attacked Shahar with a dagger. She struck him into the heart and he died on the spot. The thief stole the ring and fled somewhere into the city of Cairo.

By the time Yonatan came out to see what his brother was doing, he was already to late. Yonatan wept for the loss of his brother and prayed all night long to the god Ra. Ra was the god of the gods and goddesses He heard Yonatan’s prayers and decided to bring back Shahar to life so he could go pursue the woman who stole his ring. Shahar came back as a bull so the woman would not be able to recognize him. Shahar searched for days around the city until one night he spotted her. As he slowly approached her he whispered to the woman who stole his ring.

“Ha you thought you stuck me down! For I am alive and I know what you did. I will have my revenge,” exclaimed Shahar.

The woman freaked out and stabbed Shahar in the heart again. She felt relieved that he was dead again and carried on with her night. Over the next couple of months the woman was resting upon a tree on a hot summer day. Suddenly, the tree whispered to her and said, “ Ha it is me Shahar! Did you think you that you killed me before? I came back as a bull then, and now I am here as a tree.  I will have my revenge!” The woman was so freighted see burned the tree down where she stood. As she was doing this a little piece of charred wood entered her throat, and she swallowed it. The thief became so paranoid that she was unable to sleep for along time, and was constantly looking over her shoulder.

Nine months later the woman bore a child. She was married and had a husband who loved her very much. Everything seemed great and they named their child Anpu. Anpu lived a normal happy life with his family. 30 years later, Anpu went up his mother (the thief) and wanted to speak with her. He said, “Mother, ha. You thought that you got rid of me forever! It is I Shahar! First I came back as a bull, then a tree, and now your son! What ever shall you do to me now? I will have my revenge.”  The woman couldn’t believe her eyes and began to have a heart attack. She couldn’t believe who her son really was. She died minutes later, and Shahar took back his ring and said to the dead woman, “See I told you I would have my revenge! 30 years later, I have gotten my revenge."

Diamond ring by Stephen Durham

Source: Wikipedia

Authors Note:

I decided to base my story of the story of The Two Brothers that can be found in the Un-Textbook unit story called Ancient Egypt. The story is about two brothers who searched the city of the ex wife of one them who betrayed him. The brother came back as 3 different things and tormented her until the brother eventually overthrew her. The god Ra helped the brother come back to life and that is what I decided to do in my story. The main goal for my story was was to try and copy the plot and setting of the original story and I think that I did.