Feedback Focus: Techniques

Techniques

(16700- Legend of Britomart from Web Source.)

Reading out loud:

1. The Wax Crocodile; The King, The Falcon, and the Drinking Cup; Why Dog and Cat are Enemies

• I did not like reading aloud. I do believe I have enough awareness of the story to write detailed comments, but I still do not like reading aloud. Reading out loud feels like it is breaking a barrier, the quietness of reading allows me to immerse myself in the story. Throughout reading the stories, I caught myself multiple times reading out loud, but by the middle of the story, I would unconsciously stop reading out loud. 
• I have to say The King, The Falcon, and The Drinking Cup is an awful, sad story; it automatically put a pit in my stomach. I greatly dislike stories like this. I whole-heartedly believe stories should have a somewhat happy ending because the world is shitty enough. I confess, I usually skip stories like this one because I have enough negativity in my own life that I do not want to feel worse by reading stories like this one. 

Copy-and-Delete:

2. What Makes The Lightning

• I have a similar technique for making notes, but I do not copy and paste the text into another document and then delete each paragraph. I simply have two tabs open and jot notes down when something interests or surprises me. I still like my technique better since it is less work and saves time rather than opening up more tabs. 

Use a Timer:

3. What The Heart Desires

• I loved it! The story was wonderful, I actually read it twice in the 10 minutes I did have. However, I do not think the timer technique is for me. I still originally like my technique. This technique may not have worked for me since I enjoyed the story so much I was not bothered at the idea to read it again. 

My favorite story was What the Heart Desires, it has strong women and I like the back story Glauce has with the princess' grandmother. 

Week 4 Storytelling: Wolves

(Gray wolves from EarthSky.)

There was once a little girl who was a princess, and her family's crest was that of wolves. Every evening her mother and sisters took her to the woods to sing with the wolves. The wolves accepted their songs and protected them through the night.

Now the kingdom was prosperous and was envied by many neighboring kingdoms. There was one in particular with sinister plots to over throw the kingdom.  The neighboring king was jealous of the good fortune of the Good King and soon plotted against him when the kingdoms would meet. He met them with false pretenses: "I am fortune and glad to be here for this grand meeting of kings."

The Good King did not suspect anything malicious and after hours of celebrating the union many of men fell victim to the sweet alcohol of the Good King while the Envious King and his men waited for the opportune time to strike.

The little princess enjoyed the party and could hear the wolves sing in the night, enjoying their comrades joy. The little princess did not suspect anything when the Envious King stood and the all became quiet. The Envious King saw his chance when many of the men were drunk and unable to fight against his men. He commanded his men: “Now while they are drunk, they shall fall to my rule and their family slaughtered. Kill them!"

Her mother said nothing as the Envious King's men started murdering the neighboring kingdom's kings and families, she simply shoved her daughter under the table and told her to run: "Run my daughter. Run to the wolves."

She made her slow way out of the parlor, but she did not make it out to the woods before she was caught by the Envious King himself. 

“A princess shall become a peasant, and you shall roam the earth without the luxury of your previous life.”

The Envious King was cruel and held her before her father, mother and her sisters as they were killed brutally by the Envious King’s swordsmen. She cried as she saw her mother and sister fall to the ground lifeless.

The parlor was red with blood, and now the wolves howled with sorrow at their companion’s deaths.

The Envious King thought it irony the princess would soon meet her end at the crest animal of her house.  He could saw the golden eyes watching from the forest as the girl stumbled into it. He heard the wolves abrupt howling and signaled the death of the Good King’s heir.

Many years past, and the Envious King soon became unsatisfied and envious of other kingdoms. He planned to siege the other kingdom at dawn before the neighbor king could prepare for an attack, but when he opened the gates he was surprised when four dozen wolves were standing watching the Envious King and his army. A greater surprise came when a woman entered from the forest and her howl commanded the wolves to surge forward and his men were devoured one by one. 

The Envious King was the only man left in the palace. He opened his eyes to see the woman standing over him. She opened her mouth and spoke: "You threw me to the wolves, and I came back as their alpha."

Author's Note: I read the Persian fairytales translated by David and Emily Lorimer: the themes were revenge and disguises plus the use of wolves. I wanted to incorporate those themes in my story. I also tried to write my story using the Persian writing style, I do not think I did well. I most likely will not use this style again.  

Reading Notes: Persian, Part B

Fayiz and the Peri Wife:
- A married man, who was true-hearted and honest, and very handsome (how long will this last?).
- Knowing the identity of your spouse is on a need-to-know basis: trick!
- She willingly suspects her human husband to be unfaithful while cursing him to have sorrows for the rest of his life if he is unfaithful to only her... 
- This story reminds me of Psyche and Cupid's love palace in the beginning of the story, but the Peri actually kept her vowels and never let her human husband see her or their sons again.

The Hemp-Smoker's Dream:
- A dream story. 
- Demanding the king's daughter with only a handful of men... while a king has an army.
- Seventy pots of ash, not the soup.
- The arrow went all the way from China to under the chenar tree to the west.
-  This was an interesting story.

The Story of the Wolf-Bride:
- You cannot cheat death or fate.

The Man Who Went to Wake His Luck:
- The embodiment of one's luck
- A woman king! and then the reason the people will not obey her is ... because she's a woman. Great.
- The wolf ate him! He forgot to ask his Luck for his own fortune, and walked away from people who would have given him his fortune.

Tortoise Bowl-On-The-Back and the Fox:
- This story is similar to the Fox and the Hare who race each other.
- But the tortoise is smart than the fox this time around.

The Shepherd Who Found Treasure:
- The green fly is the soul..
- an iron bridge, great abyss, white water
- jars of gold/jewels are used many times throughout a majority of the Persian stories

The Merchant and the Saffron:
- fortune man soon turned into a man with nothing.
- good fortune will return (luck will reawaken) if you are fortunate to others

Shah Abbas and the Poor Mother:
- I am so tired of men being the main character of stories. 
- Well, I suppose this man is decent, but the others are not.
- I am glad that the woman and the children were able to be taken care of by the Shah while the Darogha and the Baker were killed for their deceit!

The Apparition of the Prophet Khizr:
- "I made such and such an arrangement with the King, and now what harm will it be if I, a single individual, die? You at any rate will love on in comfort." This does not happen often. 
- Baker's are common theme in Persian stories
- I am refreshed that the King kept the fourth Wazir who spoke of mercy and generosity.

The Story of the Baker and the Grateful Fish:
- Those who you are generous to may show you kindness later in life.
- a Lot of these stories are about revenge and disguises. I will probably write my story based on the themes presented in the Persian stories.

Bibliography: Persian Tales, translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer

Image: Fish by Jeremy Cai from UnSplash

Reading Notes: Persian, Part A

"Once upon a time there was a time when there was no one but God... And now my story has come to an end, but the sparrow never got home."

The Wolf and the Goat:
- Four children: Alil, Balil, Ginger Stick and Black Eyes
- The animals possess human qualities and are described as doing human actions: throwing, carrying and climbed.
- The topic of the wolf's teeth being pulled never came back in the story and the sparrow was never mentioned in the beginning of the story, so I am confused on why those scenes were important to the story.

The City of Nothing in the World:
- This little girl is a pathological liar...
- I am so confused on what is going on in this story. Maybe if I had previous knowledge of the mythology and cultural meanings I would understand, but I have no idea what this means. The sparrow was mentioned again, so I am beginning to think it is a metaphor.

Susku and Mushu:
- Mushu is the mouse and Susku is the beetle.
- They have human characteristics.
- They are getting married. You'll sleep in your arms and I'll beat you with my tail.
- The human and the mouse converse easily.
- ladders of gold
- Instead of being burned to death making her ash soup, she drowned.
- Ashes symbolism
- Everyone is sad, and each are showing sadness in their own way.
- Oh my, that was intense. Why did the farmer feel compelled to spear himself?
-  Why is this happening?

The Boy Who Became a Bulbul:
- "'You two ought to lay a wager to-day and agree that whichever of you collects the more firewood should cut off the other one's head.' The father and son agreed to do this." - WHAT, WHAT, WHAT!!! WHY?
- The boy collected more, and his father stole some of his boy's stash...
- THE FATHER AND STEP-MOTHER ARE CANNIBALS
- The little girl is the only sensible one.
- The little boy turned into a bird and took revenge on the evil step-mother and father then gave his sister sweets.
- I like this story. It is the only story that makes sense so far!

The Wolf-Aunt: (oh my goodness, werewolves)
- And of course she the antagonist of the tale.
- such and such is a way of telling if people are telling half truths or just straight lying.
- "Go and carry this to your aunt." When the child reached her aunt's door she peeped in before entering and saw her father's sister had turned into a wolf and was eating a man." - Very Little Red Riding Hood.
- Faith in your spouse is key to survival.

Nim Tanak, or Half-Boy:
- Magical apples representing the bodies of the babies, since one of the mothers ate only half of the apple she resulted in half a boy.
- The boy was still allowed to live at the palace, but never entered is father's presence.
- THE DAUGHTER WAS HUNTING WITH HER BROTHERS
- but she became a damsel...
- I understand that the two other brothers were not going o save their sister, but Nim Tanak was and I understand the differences in eating and drinking habits played a role in determining the Div's victory and defeat, but I do not understand how.

Muhammad Tirandaz, The Archer:
- I wish I was as lucky as Muhammad.
- I just do not understand why they did not ask him to perform or provide evidence of his feats.

The Praying Baker:
- Lets see if this baker is sincere in his prayers, if he's not I will kill him. The employed: try to get the ring back. If he succeed, he will be reward. If he loses, he's be decapitated. WHAT
- The baker was sincere and it's a happy ending!

The Sad Tale of the Mouse's Tail: 
- This mouse is having a hard time. I think if it was not a cumulative story, the mouse would have her tail sewn on faster. I think when the mouse tells the others what she is doing for the other characters in the story, they think they can get something for themselves.

Bibliography: Persian Tales translated by David Lorimer and Emily Lorimer.

Image: Red Whiskered Bulbuls from Web Source