Week 5 Essay: Mixed Feelings

Week 5 Essay: Mixed Feelings

I have mixed feeling about the Middle East and India unit.  Some of the stories were really good and others not so much. My favorite story for these weeks was Arabian Nights. The collection of stories was an easy read and had great storytelling elements in it. The way one story would lead another, and into another again was intriguing and made we just want to keep reading it forever. Also, the famous Aladdin was featured in the last 6 pages of the story, so that was cool to get a change to read his full story.

            I think that the Arabian Nights story helped me write my best story in this class! It wasn’t my favorite story ever, but the plot and storytelling was so great that it made it easy for me to write my own storytelling post. I’m surprised that this story turned out to be way better than expected. I would go back and read it any time.

            My reading for week 5 was Ancient Egypt . I want to be honest and I really didn’t like this story at all. I actually hated it, but I guess you can’t like every story you read. First of all, I thought that this story was going be about one God/Goddess, or like an epic. As it turned out instead it was about many different goods that I didn’t recognize or get to fully envision. This leads my to my second frustration. The way the stories were written in Ancient Egyptian, It was extremely hard to comprehend. The language structure was ancient and some words I could not even recognize. Next, I thought that there were too many different stories in this unit. I was hard for me to jump from one god’s story to the next. On the Brightside however, I did enjoy the story called The Two Brothers. The story was well writing with a clear plot and motif. There was also not too much interaction with all of the different Egyptian gods besides Ra who had a small but important role in the story.

            Overall I did enjoy this unit somewhat. I really liked my week 4 stories, but not so much for week 5. I can’t complain though. Every week I am grateful to even get a chance to read all of these stories. They each help me expand my creativity, imagination, and also help progress my writing skills. I learned a lot from this unit. I learned about a lot of the different Egyptian gods and goddesses. I learned about genies, and also I learned about the true take of Aladdin and the magic lamp. I didn’t expect too much from this unit but it did reach my expectations and more. There were some great stories in it.  

The Egyptian Pyramids by PixelAnarchy

More info on Egyptain Pyramids can be found at Wikipedia

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.  

Reding Dairy: Week 5 Ancient Egypt

The story I am taking notes on is from the Un-Textbook called Ancient Egypt. It is a compilation of many stories. I decided take notes on only some of them. 

 Part 1:

• Nu was the creator of the gods
• Ra was the ruler of the gods and the creator of earth, the sun, wind, rain, etc.
• Ra ruled for years and he grew old.
• The goddess Isis wanted to be the mightiest of the gods, so she would have to somehow get Ra’s secret name that only he knows.
• When he spit on the ground Isis turned it into a poisonous serpent.
• Shu is the Atmosphere god and Nut was the goddess of the heavens.
• Seb is the earth god.  Sokar is the god of the underworld. With three human heads , serpent’s body and wings.
• Ociris was revived and became the king of the dead.
• The wax crocodile. One day a Pharaoh went toward the temple of Ptah,
• A scribe who went with the butler and the Pharaoh was told to make a small magic box. It contained a wax crocodile.  The butler cast the wax inage into the water then suddenly it turned into a giant crocodile. It then took the butler away.
• Once they got rid of it the Phararoh ordered for the scribes wife to be burned alive

Part 2:

• There were two brothers named Anpu and Bata. Anpu was the eldest of the two and Bata was the youngest.
• Bata was the workaholic. He was the the one how mostly tended the farms and crops. He lived with Anpu.
• Anpu had a wife and Bata lived with them as if he were a son.
• One day Anpu asked Bata to carry some wheat and corn over to him. As he struggled he came upon Anpu’s wife. Bata asked for assistance, but she declined stating that her hair was in a bind and she could not move. Then the wife complemented Bata and wished for them to be together.
• Bata became enraged and said that he saw her like a mother and Anpu like a mother.
• When Anpu came back she lied to him and made Anpu so mad that he wanted to kill Bata.
• Bata found out about this and ran away form his older brother. He begged to the sun god Ra for assistance and he split an area between the two boys with watch and filled it with crocodiles. Bata explained the truth, but didn’t want to come home. He stuck himself for a piece of flesh and threw it into the river.
• Then he left the live alone far away.
• Anpu killed his wife and wept for his brother.
• Ra made Bata the most beautiful wife to accompany his loneliness.
• When Bata’s wife went outside the sea spirit quickly stole a lock of hair from the wife and took it back to Egypt for the King. The king was mesmerized by the hair and demanded for the girl so he sent messengers and soldiers.
• Bata slayed them all, but one messenger was a girl and she ended up taking his wife to Egypt.
• The king was excited and he decided to cut down the Acacia, which contained Bata’s soul.
• Bata died on the spot and Anpu eventually found him.
• 4 years later he went on a search for the seed of his soul.
• He found it then planted it. Bata was alive again and the brothers embraced.
• Bata wanted to get his wife back and have revenge.
• The next day he became a bull and went to Egypt to meet the wife. He told her that he was still alive and she panicked and had the King sacrifice the bull.
• Bata came back as a tree and told the wife again what became of him. She then had the tree cut down. One of the pieces of wood fell into her mouth and she bore a child. The child grew up (Bata) and eventually took the place of the king for he died.
• He finally spoke the truth about himself and the Queen, who was his former wife.
• Bata then ruled for 30 years until his death and Anpu took his place.