Essay Week 14: A Place for Grace

What is incredible to me is the place that grace holds among these stories. Most stories have some element of grace in them, whether that is abundant grace or grace that is lacking. The Italian Popular Tales unit is full of all kinds of examples.

When the stories with varying levels of grace are juxtaposed like they are in the storybook, it truly highlights the role that grace plays. I will go into detail on two stories that are in the storybook and elaborate on the role grace plays for each.

The Ingrates 

In this story, there is a man, a snake, and a fox. The man helps the snake from under a rock, but then the serpent wants to eat the man. They both inquire with others what is right, and the fox basically tricks the snake back under the rock and all is how it started. Now, instead of thanking or repaying the fox for saving his life, the man ends up killing the fox. The moral of that story being that evil is repaid to those who do good. Basically, this story lacks grace. You know how when you are eating something while on the beach, at some point you accidentally get a few grains of sand in your mouth and you are left with it grinding in the teeth? That is how I felt at the end of this story. Where is the redemption?

The Story of Crivoliu

In this story, a brother and a sister end up having a son together and he ends up being raised in a different place. At some point he finds out how he was conceived and pays his penance for his parents sin. Long story short, he ends up becoming pope. Later, his parents come and confess their sins to the pope. Instead if being bitter, he forgives them and they all lived happily ever after. In other words, full of grace. You know how you feel on a hot summer day when your mom pulls out a sleeve of frozen iced pops and that sweet, frozen nectar hits your hot tongue? That's refreshing, just like this story.

Both of these stories, grace plays a role. I think to me I realized that we all in some form or fashion long for redemption, and that comes through grace. I find both stories equally entertaining, but I truly enjoy when grace is present. It also reminds me to show grace as often as possible!

Image Credit: NBC News

Storytelling Week 14: The Three Brothers

There once were three brothers. They all three were adventurous, studious, brilliant young men who were trying to fight their way into the world of business.

The three of them decided that it was wise to go all in together because there is strength in numbers.. as well as less business risk. They looked into a variety of options for their business and decided on an industrial equipment sales company that would distribute as well as repair manufacturer equipment to smaller "mom and pop" companies. The three of them drew up a business plan and got to work.

Half a year down the road, the business was up and running. The three of them had poured all their effort into the structure of the company as well as into building up a broad clientele base. The oldest brother saw a ton of potential in the company and had been in charge of the legal side of the business. When it came time to divvy up the profit, the oldest brother greedily thought it the right time to tell the other brothers they had been "written out," meaning that they were not owners of the company and therefore would receive nothing for their work.

Enraged, the other brothers fought him in court, but to no avail due to the eldest brother's infallible contract work. The two of them counted their losses and set to work again, their entrepreneurial spirit as alive as ever. The middle brother proposed a new business, one that managed, bought, and sold real estate properties. Seeing the potential, the younger brother agreed. They both made a promise that they wouldn't let the same thing happen that had the last time. They hired out a contract lawyer to do the work.

So they set to work, and the business was again up and running within the first year. After they had acquired enough properties, the middle brother turned over a new, yet ugly leaf. It turns out that the contract lawyer that was hired to do the work had been paid off by the middle brother to write the youngest out of the contract. The same thing happened again. When it came time to reap the reward of their hard work, the middle brother kicked the younger one out.

Dejected and hurt after being kicked out of two businesses he had rightfully started, he set down and rethought his approach to business-building. He analyzed the markets like never before, and tried to combine that with all of his passions. He started out, this time with no other business partners, to build his very own outdoor adventure store. It would offer access to all extreme sports, renting out equipment, as well as selling high-end retail.

Again, the business thrived within the first year. The youngest brother was happier than ever, and found himself almost glad that he had been thwarted by his oldest two brothers.

Five years later, the youngest brother had grown his company into an empire, with store locations all around the nation. The market turned unfavorable and the middle and eldest brothers had been "wolfed" by the downturn. By the end, the youngest brother was the only one still standing, taller and happier than ever.

Image Credit: Real Adventure

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Author's Note: This story is based on the Three Goslings from the Italian Fairy Tales book written by Thomas Crane in 1885. This story is also very well known in the states as "The Three Little Pigs." Here, I gave it a modern twist by changing the pigs into three brothers, and the wolf into the volatile market. I thought instead of dying physically, as the goslings did in the story, I would have the brothers' careers die instead. In this day and age, some people would argue that that death is just as bad (although it isn't). I like that the third brother combined his passion for business and passion for adventure and opened an outdoors store; this is something I hope to do one day, too!

Reading Diary B: Italian Round 2

The second half of the Italian Popular Tales unit proved to be just as fun as the first! There were a few of the stories that I had heard before, but with a twist. For instance, The Three Goslings is the equivalent of The Three Little Pigs. A lot of the stories, however, were very new to me and in my opinion had a variety of lessons.

I found An Incident in Rome to be entertaining yet serious. It is a story where a group of men stumble upon this hole in the ground. A man descends into it to find a door and a man sitting in the room behind it. After a series of events, we find out that this man is Pontius Pilate, who is neither saved nor condemned. He is to stay and read over and over the sentence he gave to Jesus Christ. It is no light subject matter, that is for sure!

My favorite of the unit was The Feast Day. This is a story about how a cat, a dog, a maiden, and her husband all get stuck on the top of the house. They are later saved by a friend who came to visit and managed to pull them all down. The reason it was my favorite is really just because it is a story that in context means something completely different present day. They use the following expressions:

"... Where the deuce are you fastened?"
"Where the deuce have they hidden?"

I find this entertaining because a lot of college kids use similar expressions. I don't know if this is the style of story from which that slang term originated, but it added such value to the entertainment of the story. Not to mention the way that it ends:

So he gave a great pull: the cat's tail was loosened, the cat fell into the dog's mouth, the dog into his mistress' mouth, the mistress into her husband's, her husband into his friend's, and his friend into the mouth of the blockheads who are listening to me.

I just like that the author used the term "blockheads" to finish of a great story!

Image Cred: StripGenerator

Reading Diary A: Italia What, These Are Some Good Stories!

Read Italian Fairy Tales, the first half, today. It was right up there with some of my other favorite units in the class. I think I have come to the conclusion that I really enjoy the middle ages where there are kings and enchantments and the works.

The beginning of this unit had the story of Rapunzel, but not Rapunzel. It was an Italian Rapunzel whose name is The Fair Angiola. What I liked about this story is that it reminds me of the movie Tangled (happened to watch it this past weekend). But it truly does help paint the picture whenever we have something to which we can compare the imagery used in writing. I picture the old witch very similar to the old lady in Tangled!

Image Credit: YouTube

I also thought that The Ingrates had a very interesting ending to its story. In it, there is a serpent trapped under a rock, and a man helps him escape. The snake then wants to eat the man. They seek advice of those around them to see what is fair. Eventually, they ask the fox, and the fox tricks the snake back to being trapped from under the rock and frees the man. Then, the man gives the fox a gift that actually contains dog inside. The fox opens the gift and is killed by the dogs. It definitely is an ending that is bittersweet. I like it because it is different- not that prefect happy ending. But I also think it is so sad that so much injustice was done. Although it was entertaining, to say the least.

Extra Reading Diary: The Little Mermaid

I read The Little Mermaid from the Andersen Fairy Tales Unit. It was broken into six parts, but goes through the entire story of the Little Mermaid.

My first observation is just how different it is from the Disney movies. Granted, I have heard that a mall ion times- that Disney always "Disneyfies" their stories to always be a happy ending. I would say the end of this story is a sad ending, and it was sad the way the prince called her "my dumb foundling." It just kind of paints a picture of the little mermaid being pathetic and like a little puppy dog. Also, the ending is of course completely different! How she doesn't actually end up with a prince, but she floats into the air to become a "daughter of the air." Just all around different!

Another observation is how descriptive the stories really are. Especially Part 1. The way the undersea kingdom is described makes me want to visit. It is vivid detail and creatively thought up! For instance:

Outside the castle there was a beautiful garden, in which grew bright red and dark blue flowers and blossoms like flames of fire; the fruit glittered like gold, and the leaves and stems waved to and fro continually. The earth itself was the finest sand, but blue as the flame of burning sulphur. Over everything lay a peculiar blue radiance, as if it were surrounded by the air from above, through which the blue sky shone, instead of the dark depths of the sea.

I just can picture the colors and the intertwining creatures! The way that Andersen uses color to truly enhance the imagery makes me want to write the same way. Although... to be of equal stature would take quite a bit of time and some extremely favorable circumstances!

 Image Credit: Disney Blogs

Storytelling Week 13: Desserted.

"Scoot it over towards me!" Brady directed, indicating with his hands the stool that stood between him and his older sister Jamie. 

"No, I think this is right!" Jamie responded. Getting on her tippy toes and stretching her legs as far as possible, she was barely able to reach the first step on the bottom of the stool. Climbing up step after step, she had made it to the very top of the stool. Extending her hands as far as possible, they came just short of the cookie jar.

Earlier that morning, the toddlers' mom had spent a few hours making all kinds of baked goods for the party they were hosting that night. She forbid Brady and Jamie from touching them until the party, something about "spoiling" something or other. However, the kids just saw this as a challenge. They watched as she placed the last of the cookies in the tall, crystal jar and scooted it to the back of the counter. Bring it on, Brady thought. He was already devising a plan.

Mom had gone back to her room to 'work on bills', which the kids knew really meant that mommy was taking a nap. By their approximation they had around thirty minutes to retrieve the cookies. Their first attempt being to take the stool out of the pantry and see if Jamie was tall enough to reach the jar.

She wasn't.

"What are we gonna do now?" Brady asked. "That was my best idea!"

"I know! Let's see if we can get one of the stools from our bathroom and put it on top of this one!" Jamie exclaimed excitedly.

They ran to their bathroom and took one of the stools they used to see the mirror when they brushed their teeth. Lugging it behind the two of them, they came to the kitchen and pondered how they were going to get it on top of the other stool. In the same manner as the first time, Jamie climbed as high as she could on top of the first stool. Brady did his best to shove the other stool as high up as he could, managing to also climb on top of the first stool. The two of them, while balancing together, managed to lift and place the second stool on top of the first. The best news? The top of the second stool was even with the countertop!

Jamie began to climb as Brady tried to stabilize. She got about halfway up, but accidentally took a step a little too far to the left, throwing Brady off balance, and sending the two of them toppling down to the tile. The commotion was too much- and Mom came running out of her room.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING?" she was breathing hard and fast. "Oh..." she said quietly as she digested the situation. Then she began to chuckle and chuckle and chuckle. "Not today, you two!" And with that remark, she swept up the cookie jar and put it in the very top cabinet- forever out of the reach of her two little cookie monsters. (Well, until that night anyway!)

Image Credit: The Cripple Gate

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Author's Note: This story is based on The Fox and the Grapes from the La Fontaine Aesop's Fables unit. The original story is short and sweet:

Rosy and ripe, and ready to box,

The grapes hang high o'er the hungry Fox. —

He pricks up his ears, and his eye he cocks.
Ripe and rosy, yet so high! —
He gazes at them with a greedy eye,
And knows he must eat and drink — or die.
When the jump proves to be beyond his power —
"Pooh!" says the Fox. "Let the pigs devour
Fruit of that sort. Those grapes are sour!"

I like this idea of having something that is so sweetly desired almost dangling in front of your face, and then realizing that it isn't going to happen. When I first read this I immediately thought of my cookie jar days, and knew immediately that it would be a fun story to write. Obviously, the cookies represent that grapes and the toddlers represent the fox. It was just out of reach for both stories! Not really a central theme or lesson, just a fun story!

Reading Diary B: La Fontaine Fables

Read the second half of Fontaine's Aesop's Fables. The second half was much like the first. It grouped the fables and broke it down by the animal involved in the story. I liked a lot of them but for some reason my favorite part was in the story The Bear and The Amateur Gardener.

"The bear, with thoughts the same,
Down from his mountain came;
And in a solitary place,
They met each other, face to face."

This is an excerpt from the story where the bear and the gardener are about to "face off" if you can call it that. At the end the bear ends up living with the man and everything is great. But at the very end a very trivial instance made the bear kill the man. It just teaches to be aware of your surroundings and intentions of your friendships.

I guess the reason why I liked it so much is that it seemed to me like a very dramatic face off between the two. Like I can just imagine the bear clambering down the mountain side and coming to a complete stop right as the man has his chest puffed out standing tall in the middle of a mouton meadow. The creatures of the forest stand in awe to see the outcome... it could be a cool movie scene, that is for sure!

If I were to imagine this scene, here is how I think it would end up:

Image Credit: io9

Reading Diary A: La Fontaine Fable

This week it is the La Fontaine Fable unit that has a hodgepodge collection of the various fables from Aesop and others. They are organized based on the animals that are in the stories, and I really enjoyed a lot of them, but will highlight them here:

The Hen With The Golden Eggs

I haven't heard this little rhyme in years, and I think it is clever, funny, and I like the message behind it. Essentially, it is about a farmer that owns a hen that produces a gold egg every day. He was foolish and decided he wanted all of the wealth it offered at once, so he cut it open. Only, he didn't find any golden eggs, of course, and now was left with a dead hen. I think this is interesting because shouldn't a farmer know how chickens and eggs and all that mumbo jumbo works? I do love the idea behind it, which is counter to the American culture of 'get rich quick.' Hard work and patience ain't all that bad!

The Horse and the Wolf

This story is essentially about two wolves being curious about the creature of a horse, for they had never seen one! So one day they went up to the horse and asked him what sort of creature he was and for his name. The horse told them they could read about who he is on the bottom of his hoof. Eventually, one of the wolves came forward to read the bottom of the hoof and the horse smacked him, causing four teeth to be knocked out! The whole reason I liked this story was that it reminded me of this trick:

"Does this cupcake smell weird to you?"
*Person #2 leans over to smell cupcake*
*Person #1 smears it all over Person #2's face"

You end up looking like this guy.

Image Credit: Karen Russel Photography

Essay: Nobility or No Ability?

I find it very interesting that in the Arthurian legends there is such high value placed on the "noblest" of all the people, or at least whoever the crowd of people designates the "best man." What is crazy to me, though, is that most of the time these people aren't even anything special at the beginning. Arthur was a foster-brother of a friend of a knight, a nobody in the kingdom. He had no special abilities, yet, as the saying goes, 'greatness was thrust upon him.' (Although not literally, because if he were literally thrust by a sword then none of these stories would even exist.) He became a great king whenever he was chosen. He became the best man of all whenever he was chosen. He became noble when he was chosen.

This quote from the end of the story The Drawing of the Sword it states:

"Then rich and poor fell on their knees before him, and Arthur took the sword and offered it upon the altar where the Archbishop stood, and the best man that was there made him Knight. After that the crown was put on his head, and he swore to his lords and commons that he would be a true King and would do them justice all the days of his life."

I think it is crazy how at the beginning of this short story he was not confident in his ability to be king, in fact he says, "'But why am I the king?'" But whenever someone is chosen, they live up to their new identity. Arthur lived up to be the king that he was now suddenly revered as.

The same for Sir Galahad in Sir Galahad and the White Knight. There was a shield that would only allow the best knight in the world to carry it:

"Sirs," said the monk, "this shield can be hung round no Knight's neck unless he be the worthiest Knight in the world, and therefore I counsel you to be well advised!"

If a knight who was not the worthiest in the world tried to use it, then ill would befall him every time. Sir Galahad did not believe he was the best knight in the world, but the shield soon made it clear that it was made for him. So he took it and used it, later becoming (arguably) the best knight in the world. He was the one who eventually succeeded in his quest for the holy grail!

These are two instances where there is distinction made between those who are the best or the most noble. I think it is very cool to see, though, that you don't have to be the obvious choice or have been raised in a certain way to be chosen for greatness! I have a theory that every person on this planet longs to change the world, longs to be a hero. Deep down, we all want to partake in greatness. These instances in literature tell us that we CAN be a part of greatness even if we have no obvious ability to do so!

Image Credit: Lisa Congdon Blog

Storytelling Week 12: I'm Banking On It

Arian was a young, attractive, and hard-working twenty-three year-old. She worked part time for J.P. Morgan as a bank teller, as well as was finishing up her Masters in Counseling from SMU. She was the most genuine and honest girl in the world. 

Her and Carter had been dating for almost three years now. They met at the bank where she worked when they were both juniors in college. He graduated with a degree in Sales and Entrepreneurship and his one-man startup business he started the week after graduation has turned into one of the most successful small businesses in Dallas.

Carter fell in love the moment he met Arian, and knew he wanted to marry her immediately. Though he could afford one from Tiffany's, her dream engagement ring was a simple gold band with a simple small diamond on it. She also absolutely loved surprises, so he knew he had to go big since her ring was so small! But surprising Arian proved to be no easy task.

He knew that popping the question at a fancy dinner wasn't really what she would want, so he took a different approach. 

His office building was right above the bank where she worked, and she would occasionally come help him out with the smaller tasks if she had some time off. One day, she went up to visit him and asked if she could help in any way before work.

"Yeah, actually, I need to put something in my safe at Chase downstairs," Carter said in a pretend stressful tone. He handed her a briefcase full of signed documents and legal papers that are integral to the operation of his business. 

Taking them downstairs, Arian realized that she didn't actually have clearance to the safe itself, even though she worked there. I'll just get my friend that does have clearance to do it later, I don't want to stress Carter out. She left the briefcase under her desk and went back to do some teller work.

Minutes later she got a call from Carter. "Hey honey, were you able to get the documents put in my safe? They are really important!" 

She didn't want to stress him out, but had to be honest, "No, sorry Carter, I don't have clearance. I'll have to get my coworkers to do it later."

"Is there any way you could ask now? I just really need to make sure this is done right away." Carter said, his plan working perfectly. By this time, he was downstairs peeking around the corner. Ready to spring into action.

Arian approached her coworker, asking if it was okay to deposit Carter's briefcase even though she doesn't have clearance. Her coworker knowing all about the plan, told her she could go ahead and deposit it herself. Carter was right behind her, and got to watch everything play out perfectly.

Arian went to his safe, about the size of a microwave, and typed in the code. It opened with a click, and sitting right in the middle was a picture of her and Carter with her dream engagement ring with a short note telling her how much Carter loved her. She began to cry and turned around to see Carter down on one knee. 

"YES!" she screamed as all of her office mates clapped and cheered!

It may not be the most romantic, but it sure surprised and was perfect for Arian!

Image Credit: Etsy

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Author's Note: This story is very loosely based on The End Of Arthur from the King Arthur unit, original story written by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H.J. Ford in 1902. In the original story, King Arthur asks Sir Bedivere to throw his sword Excalibur into the nearby lake. He doesn't want to do it, but tells the King he did. King Arthur knew he didn't and told Sir Bedivere he HAD to go throw the sword into the lake. I wanted to kind of use this same concept, where Carter asks Arian to do a task for him that takes a few times to accomplish. That's basically the only thing I kept the same, though. I wanted to write a happy story where there is a happy ending and the story is more relatable. Where, in the original story, everyone dies. 

Reading Diary B: King Arthur

Ah, the quest for the grail! The entire second half of the King Arthur unit is entirely focused on the knights' search for the Holy Grail. The stories jumper from one knight to the other and back to the first. All of the stories are interwoven and by then end you half half of an idea about what happened to half of them. It is beautiful chaos!

Basically, by the end of these stories, I have come to realize that Sir Galahad is the greatest and that Monty Python's version of this is a bit off. I can't imagine what it would have been like to live in the stone ages where jousting and swords were a normal. I would much like to see a jousting tournament, that's for sure!

One thing that surprised me from this unit was how futile the search for the grail truly was. I thought there would be more of a purpose to going, but hundreds of noble knights lost their lives from searching after an object they saw once for a few minutes. Then, once obtained, what even is the prize? The pride coming with it... but then the knight who gets it is the one who is holiest and most humble? So pride wouldn't really be too great of a prize. We see all of this from the way Sir Galahad goes!

What a crazy story that truly is a classic!

A hodgepodge of quotes from the brilliant Monty Python version of King Arthur and the search for the Holy Grail.

Image Credit: Etsy

Reading Diary A: King Arthur

"He likewise told the King many things that should befall him, and warned him always to keep the scabbard as well as the sword Excalibur, and foretold that both sword and scabbard should be stolen from him by a woman whom he most trusted." from The Passing of Merlin from the King Arthur unit.

King Arthur has been a longtime fave of mine. I read all of Arthurian legends in high school, and am happy to have this unit bring back some memories. Plus, there is a really good country song called "Guinevere" for you country music lovers out there. Of course I have to listen to it as I type this! (Listen to it Here) I had long forgotten about a lot of the specific people involved, like Sir Tor and the role that Merlin played and how he died.

The quote I included at the beginning is from when Merlin is about to leave Arthur forever in pursuit of some wicked maiden, and he tells Arthur about all of the bad things that will come of him. I thought this was interesting, and it brought to mind the phrase: "ignorance is bliss." And now I am thinking it actually might be true. I wouldn't want to hear about all of the evil that will befall me, especially if it was something like my crazy half sister coming to murder me in my sleep but stealing my magical scabbard and running away with it instead. I'm better off not knowing that!

Looking forward to the second half!

The magical sword, Excalibur.

Image Credit: Wikipedia