Week 9, Reading B: How the River God's Wedding Was Broken Off

As in most of history, those who hold power will try and keep it by creating fake customs that keep the rest of the population in fear. Such is the setting of this story, until a wily governor arrives to stop the situation. This story, How the River God's Wedding Was Broken Off, comes from The Chinese Fairy Book, by R. Wilhelm.

Reading Notes

• A district on the Yellow River was ruled by a governor called Si-Men Bau.
• The people in the district held the River God in high esteem.
• The witches and sorcerers who lived in the area declared that every year, a young woman must be selected as a bride, otherwise the weather would be bad for the year and there wouldn't be a good harvest.
• Whenever a daughter in a wealthy family came of age, the sorcerers and witches would say she should be the bride.
• The family would then try to bribe the sorcerers and witches, until they finally ordered the family to buy a poor girl to cast into the river.
• The sorcerers and witches would keep the bribes, of course.
• If a family didn't offer a bribe, the sorcerers and witches would order the daughter be thrown into the river to be the river god's bride, with wedding gifts and all.
• When Si-Men came into office and heard about this custom, he told the sorcerers and witches he wanted to come along and see the custom, as well as honor the god, so that the god would shower pleasantries on the people of the district.
• Upon the day, Si-Men dressed in his finest and rode in his chariot to the place where the bride would be forced into the river.
• Everyone from the district was there, including the sorcerers and witches, and there was music and singing.
• The river-bride was sitting in a coach adorned in jewelry, and tearfully telling her parents goodbye.
• Right before the river-bride's coach was pushed into the stream, Si-Men interrupted and declared that someone must go into the river and fetch the river-god to retrieve his bride.
• He ordered a witch to go into the river to fetch the god, and when she hesitated he had his servants grab her and thrust her into the water.
• An hour passed by without anything happening.
• Si-Men declared that the witch was moronic for not understanding her directive, and ordered a sorcerer to go into the water.
• Like the witch, the sorcerer hesitated and thus was forced into the stream; another hour passed by without event.
• Si-Men pretended to be upset about this turn of events, and started to order another sorcerer to go into the water.
• However, the remaining sorcerers and witches threw themselves on the ground before Si-Men and begged for mercy, and swore they would end the practice of a river-bride that day.
• Si-Men sent the river-bride home to her family, and thus the evil practice came to an end.

The Yellow River is one of the largest rivers in China. (Source: Wikipedia)

Week 9, Reading A: Why Dog and Cat are Enemies

Every culture has an explanation story, and a popular one is why cats and dogs don't get along. China is no exception: this translation of "Why Dog and Cat are Enemies" comes from The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhelm.

Reading Notes

• A man and his wife sold a lucky gold ring for cheap, not knowing its true value or that keeping it meant they would always do well.
• After selling it, they start to grow poorer and poorer, until they run low on food.
• Consequently, their cat and dog also go hungry.
• The cat and dog discuss among themselves what to do.
• The dog realizes the only recourse is getting their owners back the ring.
• The cat responds that the ring has been locked up in a chest.
• The dog develops a plan: the cat must catch a mouse and threaten it to naw its way into the chest and pull the ring out.
• And so they proceed: the cat catches a mouse, and with it and the dog set off for the house that holds the ring.
• On their way they come to a river, and the dog carries the cat across on his back, since the cat can't swim.
• Everything goes as planned: the cat takes the mouse to the chest, the mouse chews its way in and pulls out the ring, and the cat takes the ring and goes back to the dog.
• The dog swims across the river again with the cat on his back, and then they set off for home.
• The dog is stuck running on the ground, since he can't climb, and has to run around houses.
• But the cat can climb the houses and run over the roofs, so she makes it home before the dog does.
• When she arrives home and presents the ring to the couple, they praise her and declare they will treat her just like their child.
• However, when the dog makes it home, he's punished for not helping to get the ring home.
• The cat just sits by the fireplace and doesn't do anything to correct the couple. 
• When the dog realizes the cat is going to allow him to be cheated from his reward, he tries to fight her.
• And that's why the dog and cat are enemies.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Week 8: Reflections on Reading and Writing

Despite my apparent lack of interest in the class, I promise I do enjoy this! (Shout out to mental health issues and a brain that can't function). 

People who say recipe ingredients shouldn't be substituted are wrong. (For the life of me I cannot find a specific artist to credit. This particular image came from Pinterest.)

Overall, running a blog is pretty enjoyable, to be honest! It's something I can do on my own time, and of course no one is going to lecture me for putting my own feelings on the subject in. Sitting down to read and take notes over stories a couple times a week is oddly enjoyable for me.

One thing that does annoy me is that, when putting pictures into the blog, they occasionally overlap once posted. I cannot figure out how to make the post column wider, so it might just be something I have to deal with.

Why are you overlapping like that, picture. (From my blog)

The project website is, for lack of better phrasing, still a work in progress, but I think I can pull it into something I'm satisfied with. 

Writing for the story posts is pretty interesting. It's definitely a stretch on my brain, but I think I'm doing okay with rewriting them. I've been trying a different technique every time, from making the story second-hand telling, or from a certain character's view. I know that, if desired, we can change the outcome of the story, but I think I prefer keeping the main story intact and adding in details from after the story ends to make for fun twists or anything like that. I probably need to work on adding in more details so the story isn't simplified too much. That is probably something I'll fix within my portfolio. 

I definitely use my reading notes, they're pretty helpful! Since I just summarize in bullet points, it makes it really easy to reference when I'm rewriting. That way I can make sure I still get the main points of the story, but it leaves me free to add in my own parts.

As far as what can change in the future..... Obviously I need to work better both on time management and actually completing the assignments. I suppose this is the place to say, "Better late than never," but it's not really. I'm behind, but I may be able to catch back up to where I need to be.

To end, here's one of my favorite images from my posts:

(Source: Ceil on DeviantArt. From my rewriting of the story of Narcissus)

I really like the contrast in the picture. It does a very good job of showing the story of Narcissus and what the outcome was. It was well executed.

Week 7, Reading A: The Twin Brothers

In the Congo, family and sibling rivalries are common, as is demonstrated in The Twin Brothers, from the Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort, by Richard Dennett.

Reading Notes

• Twin boys are born almost fully grown (the poor mother), each with his own fetish, a charm for magical powers.
• The elder one, Mavungu, decides that he wants to set out and explore.
• Meanwhile, the daughter of Nzambi is at marrying age, but he won't make her marry anyone unless she says so. 
• A bunch of animals ask for her hand, but she turns them all down.
• Mavangu hears of this and decides he wants to marry her.
• He uses his charm to turn a bunch of blades of grass into different tools (a knife, a gun, a horn, etc.) until he is ready to travel.
• Mavangu sets off, and the charm helps to feed him along the way by providing food  and a place to sleep upon request.
• Nzambi's daughter falls in love with Mavangu upon sight, and they are quickly married.
• The next day, Mavangu sees that the hut has mirrors all over the place, but that their all covered.
• He tells his wife he wants to see the mirrors, and she uncovers all but one.
• Each mirror reflects a different village, including his home one.
• Mavangu demands to see the last mirror uncovered, and his wife initially refuses, telling him that everyone who sees the last one wishes to travel there, but never returns.
• However, he insists and she reluctantly shows him.
• Naturally, Mavangu wants to travel to the town as soon as he sees it, and despite his wife's pleading he does just that.
• Mavangu travels by horse until he comes close to the town, and meets an old woman on the outskirts.
• He asks her for fire to light his pipe; she tells him to tie up his horse and to come and get it.
• He ties his horse up tightly, and as soon as he comes near the old woman she kills him.
• Meanwhile, Mavangu's twin brother Luemba wonders at Mavangu's long absence, so uses his charm to turn blades of grass into tools and sets off on his brother's trail. 
• When he arrives, Nzambi mistakes him for Mavangu, as does everyone else, and they refuse to listen to Luemba's claim that he isn't his brother.
• That night, Luemba uses his charm to take his sister-in-law out of his room, so he doesn't sleep with her.
• The next day, Luemba asks and is shown the mirrors like his brother, and upon seeing the town reflected in the last one realizes his brother is still there, and decides to go rescue him.
• None of his in-laws are happy, but relent because, mistaking him for Mavangu, they realize that if he can return once, he can return again.
• Luemba traces his brother's path and comes across the old woman as well, asks for fire, and is given the same answer as his brother.
• Unlike his brother, Luemba only ties his horse up lightly, and then kills the old woman.
• Luemba finds the bones of Mavangu and his horse, and uses his charm to resurrect them.
• The two brothers then use their charms to resurrect hundreds of other people who suffered the same fate.
• Luemba and Mavangu head back to Nzambi's town with their followers, and Luemba informs Mavangu of what happened when he was dead.
• Then they start to quarrel over who should have the followers.
• Mavangu feels he should, as the oldest, while Luemba feels that none of them, including his brother, would be alive without him.
• Mavangu kills Luemba in anger and leaves his body behind with his horse, taking the followers back to Nzambi's town and being welcomed.
• Luemba's horse takes his charm and uses it to resurrect Luemba.
• Luemba promptly seeks out and kills his brother, which everyone agreed was his right to do.

Twins are significant in African mythology, as they are believed to represent the balance of the forces in the world. (Source: Myth Encyclopedia)