Story Lab: Parasocial Relationships

A short time ago, when I was in the middle of work, my client asked me if i knew Robert Pattinson. And guess what? I said yes, just only I watched the film series of Twilight, in which Robert Pattinson got the leading role of vampire Edward Cullen (OMG! I love him so much). Actually, I didn't have "real" relationship with him.
Parasocial Relationship

Dr. Jennifer Barnes referred this phenomenon as the parasocial relationship in her TED Talk video
"Imaginary Friends and Real-world Consequences: Parasocial Relationships". Parasocial relationship is the relationship that you form with someone you don't actually know by consuming media about that person.

She dressed two questions:
First, why do we care so much about fictional characters?
Second, what effects do the relationships we form with these characters have on us?
Jennifer also excerpt the definition of "Alief" from Gendler, 2008 that it is "an automatic, gut level, belief like attitude that may contradict an explicitly held belief."
The authors also pointed out the effects of these relationships, fictional griefs.

Reading Notes: Italian Popular Tales unit, Part B


The Language of Animals

This story is part of the Italian Popular Tales unit. Story source: Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane (1885).
Dog's language

A young boy, who spent a long time in school, was sent back home because he appeared very intelligent and outstanding. The father was proud of him. However, the boy was ironic and sarcastic because he mastered as learning languages of animals. The father was disappointed and therefore ordered his servants to kill him. The servants released him and instead took the heart's dog to their master.

The boy wandered in the forest and encountered the treasurer of the prince. Because he could understand the dog language, the dog warned about the assassins would enter to the castle. He let the treasurer knew the assassins would come soon. Thus, the treasurer avoided the accident.
Then he moved to the city. There he heard the frog's confession, that because the princess threw a cross into a fountain, caused the frog croaked. The princess, in turned was sick because the noise from the frog. The king was thankful him because he had save the princess

Next, he came to Rome with three companions. When they rested under the oak, the block of bird sang a joyful song. The three companions asked why this happened. The young boy said that among them there would be a Pope. It turned out that he became the Pope. The Pope reminded about the sin that his father made, but he forgave his father. 

Reading Notes: Italian Popular Tales unit, Part A


The Fair Angiola

This story is part of the Italian Popular Tales unit. Story source: Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane (1885).
Angiola and the Prince

Angiola was a first daughter of the women in the town, who lived near the old witch. Because of being captured of stealing the jujubes with grew in the witch's garden, she consented to gave the witch her first born, whether a daughter or a son, when the baby reached seven year olds. 

When Angiola was seven, she moved to the witch house. The witch loved Angiola like her daughter. She raised Angiola in the high tower with no door. Angiola grew up so beautiful with her hazel hair, long and smooth. The witch used her hair as a rope to pull her from the ground to the tower by calling
"Angiola, fair Angiola, let down your beautiful tresses and pull me up."

One day, a prince who hunted near the tower was curious about who could live in the tower. After he saw a witch was pull up to the towel, he intimated her voice and being pulled up. Seeing her beautiful and graceful, the prince felt in love with her and asked Angiola to be his wife. She agreed

After Angiola offered bribes for the chair, the table and every living things in the tower into silence, she ran away with the prince. Angiola also took three magic balls with her.

Knowing that Angiola was unfaithful on her, the witch ran after them, but she was prevented by three balls, with transformed into the great mountain of soap, great mountain with snails, and the mighty torrent. Filled with angry, the witch catched a spell to transform Angiola's face to a dog's face.

Angiola was so bitterly with the new appearance and could not saw the King and the Queen, she hid in the small house deep down in the forest. The price always came to see her whenever he had chance. A dog, that followed Angiola during the run, felt pity to Angiola. The dog turned back to the witch and begged her for the cure. Although the witch hated Angiola for being unfaithful, she gave the dog a flask of water to transform Angiola to her beautiful appearance.
Angiola and prince lived happily thereafter.

Week 13 Story: Alice in Neverland

The journey to Netherland
One day, Alice and her sister sat on the bank and enjoyed the comic book. Alice thought that book was very weird since it didn't contain any words in it, just plain drawing pictures. Alice imagined the scenes that the pictures left in her mind.

Suddenly, she saw a very pretty butterfly flying very close to her. Alice noticed that the butterfly was two size bigger than normal. Alice was so surprise as she saw that butterfly came closer to her and look at her wristwatch and murmured, "Uhmm, we still have a plenty of time." Alice didn't hear anything wrong, but who are "we"?  "Me and the butterfly", she thought.

She knew in the world of fairy tale, animals could talk like people, but this was the first time she heard a word from a butterfly. She wondered where the butterfly come from.
Following the butterfly, there came a door. The door with nothing attached on and imposingly stood in the middle of the forest. Alice looked for the butterfly but no sign to be found. 
The magic door

"She probably behind the door," said Alice.
Alice looked for the key, but only saw a perfume bottle with a tag "try me" on. Alice didn't hesitate to spray a bit a flower fragrant on her and pretty much enjoyed it. Suddenly, a pair of wings appeared from her back and the door opened. 

She stepped through the door bravely and the view in front of her was completely different, not in a forest but in the garden with colorful blooming flowers. There she found a butterfly. The butterfly seemed very happy to enjoy the nectar. All the sudden the butterfly flew up to the sky. Alice's wings also started to flap and her feet was off the ground. Alice flew into the air like a bird. The butterfly flew for a long, long time.

During the fly, Alice noticed there were many things floating around her. She tried the honey bottle in a floating table and it was very good. She saw a book, and a radio also. A raven flew passing her made she remembered about her dog at home. Who would feed him as she could not be back home? And she wondered when the fly would be done?

Alice looked up at the sky. She noticed the differences. The sky was hiding behind the wide circle, just like she was inside the giant well and tried to come back to the ground. Alice was right. It turned out that she was living in a space in the bottom of the giant well. As she touched the ground, Alice didn't hesitate to discover her new world.
"Welcome to Netherland," a welcome sign in the road side stated.
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Author's Notes: 
I simulated this story based on the original Wonderland: Down the Rabbit-Hole is part of the Alice in Wonderland unit from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).
The original story told about Alice, who saw a Rabbit that was in hurry to go somewhere and she decided to follow the Rabbit. The Rabbit was in hurry as he took out the clock from his waistcoat pocket and run. With all the sudden, Alice fell onto a rabbit-hole, which pretty much like a tunnel. Along the fall, she saw a floating bookshelf, a map, and an empty bottle Orange Marmalade. Alice was pretty much enjoyed the "journey" until she threatened herself that the fall would never ended. Then she worried about her cat, if she wouldn't be back home. After a long fall, she finally touched the ground and she realized that she was in the middle of the hall. She bravely went forward and ended up being stuck in a locked room. She drank a bottle titled "Drink me" and her body shrinked into a tiny little girl. She then turned into a giant when she ate the cake named " Eat Me". Fearful of being transformed several time, Alice cried out loud.
I made my story all contract to the original using the leisure butterfly compare to the hurried Rabbit, a fly versus the fall. I found more interesting if Alice actively sought for her own adventure.

Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland, Part B.

Who Stole the Tarts?

The Court

This was the first time Alice attended the court, with the Queen and the King on their throne, but she knew every position in that court including the jury and the judge through her knowledge. The court was held to find the thief. Alice heard the Rabbit called out loud for the witnesses. 

The first one was Hatter, who brought his breakfast to the court (a cup of tea and bread). The king almost executed him because he couldn't answer the king's question but luckily he got released. The second witness was the Duchess's cook. Alice knew it was her because everyone sneezed at the same time while she walked in because she brought with her the pepper box. 

In the middle of the session, the Dormouse made a noise and therefore being suppress by the Queen causing confusion for everyone. During the court, Alice was growing back to her normal size but it wasn't that noticeable. Suddenly she heard the Rabbit called out the next witness, which was her, Alice.
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Wonderland: Who Stole the Tarts? is part of the Alice in Wonderland unit. Story source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland, Part A

Down the Rabbit- Hole

One day, Alice and her sister sat under the trees and enjoyed their reading. Alice saw a Rabbit that was in hurry to go somewhere. Alice was curious. She left her sister and follow the Rabbit. There would be some important event happened that caused the Rabbit rushed. He took out the clock from his waistcoat pocket and hurried look at it. 

With all the sudden, Alice fell onto a rabbit-hole, which pretty much like a tunnel. Along the fall, she saw a floating bookshelf, a map, and an empty bottle Orange Marmalade. Alice was pretty much enjoyed the "journey" until she threatened herself that the fall would never ended. Then she worried about her cat, if she wouldn't be back home. Who would feed her cat?

After a long fall, she finally touched the ground and she realized that she was in the middle of the hall. She bravely went forward and ended up being stuck in a locked room. She drank a bottle titled "Drink me" and her body shrinked into a tiny little girl. She then turned into a giant when she ate the cake named " Eat Me". Fearful of being transformed several time, Alice cried out loud.
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Wonderland: Down the Rabbit-Hole is part of the Alice in Wonderland unit
Story source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865)
Giant Alice in Wonderland

EC: Wikipedia Trail

I wanted to explore the first man and women in the world. So I browsed on Wikipedia "Adam and Eve."  I was really surprise to know that in the Islamic version, Eve was the one unfaithful first. The I discovered that Adam and Eve's first children was Cain and Abel. Cain was a farmer while his younger brother was a shepherd. Because his envy, Cain killed Abel. I wanted to discovered why Cain did that so I clicked on "murdering his brother". Then the article Fratricide appeared. This was the Latin word of "killing". It turned out the Cain and Abel was the first murder case in the history. There, I looking for "Mythology of Ancient Rome" as our course include many of legend from Roman.
The First Mourning (Adam and Eve mourn the death of Abel); oil on canvas 1888 painting by William-Adolphe Bouguereau

Story Lab: Story Revision

Legend has it that an deity must underwent forty-nine incarnation to become god. This is his last life. He had passed forty-eight eternal cycle of birth, suffering, death and rebirth. This time, he became an ordinary person to experience and to understand all of the sufferings and hardships of an ordinary person. He would be able to enlighten the supreme power whenever he thoroughly understood the rule of "birth, old, illness and death", and the law of "causes and effects." However, success or failure depended on whether or not he could overcome the temptation of seven human feelings (joy, anger, love, hate, sorrow, passion, and love) and the six root afflictions (application of thought, examining, decision, energy, rapture, desire).

The Supreme and Eternal one and the Creator tested him by let him reborn in a poor family of Kapilavastu kingdom, which was ruled under the King Suddhodana. In a day of his reincarnation, the hermit Asita received a good omen by observation the special phenomenon of the stars. He immediately came to the king and reported that the sky appeared a new star, which was super shine and big and surrounding that big star was many little stars. Asita predicted that there would be a supreme lord whose his reborn would soon make this country better.

The King ordered his guards to find the newborn. What a strange coincidence that a whole kingdom  appeared only one pregnant woman and no newborn was reported around this time.
Buddha walked on a lotus. Picture from Wiki

A month had passed, the pregnant women gave birth to a boy, but unluckily, she died after that. The King soon adopted him and officially named him Prince Siddhartha. Prince Siddhartha was being nurture by the Queen. Astonishingly enough, all lotus flowers in the kingdom were flourishing, spreaded a soft aroma when Siddhartha was brought into the world. Prince Siddhartha appeared healthy, and pretty much handsome little boy and surrounding his head was a light pale pink nimbus, exactly like the color of the lotus. Anywhere he came, lotus was born, people was happy. The whole kingdom felt highly enthusiastic. The king decided to open a three-day party to celebrate his newborn. The King also brought the nature mother of Prince to the national Buddhist temple to worship.
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Author's Note: In this story lab, I just revised the grammar for this story, and no specific change of the content.
Based on the Life of Buddha: The Birth of Siddhartha by Andre Ferdinand Herold, I changed the context a bit. The original version didn't mention about the seven feelings and six root afflictions. I personally believed that a Buddha should be born in a normal way to understand a normal life.
 Andre Ferdinand Herold told that Maya, a Queen, dreamed about the elephant that entered to her womb. She became pregnant and later born to Prince Siddhartha under the precious tree. She died about seven days later.I added the lotus because most of the Buddha i know (via pictures and movies), used to sit and meditate in Buddha's throne made from lotus. 
Also, in the original story, the hermit Asita came to the king to see the Prince because he heard about the birth of Siddhartha. Then he told that the Prince soon became a supreme Lord Buddha.

Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales; Part B

 King O'Toole and His Goose

This story is part of the Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892).
Saint Kavin was making the "old"goose as good as new

Long time ago, there was a king named King O'Toole. He used to be a strong person, who loved hiking and hunting. However, time passed and he changed to an old man. He had never go hiking and hunting since his health did not allow to. He got bored when life was just so leisured. He used to walked along the riverbank to think about everything. It turned out that his best friend was a goose, since a goose diverted him. The goose catched fishes for the king and go diving and swimming around the pond to divert the king. However, time passed and the goose became weak, old and no longer could divert the king anymore.
There came Saint Kavin, who disguised to a boy, to try the King. Saint Kavin offered to transform the old goose to the youth one if the king agreed to give him all the ground the the goosed flies over. The king agreed and he kept his promise when he saw the goose flies more strong than before. Saint Kavin had touched by the king's truthful and he decided to support the king until the king had died.

Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales; Part A.


Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree

This story is part of Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs  (1892).
Gold-tree was the only daughter of Silver-tree and the king. However, Silver-tree envied her daughter beauty as the trout in the glen pointed out that Gold-tree was the most beautiful women in the world. Silver-tree then pretended to be ill and ate the heart of Gold-tree since Silver-tree spoke to the king that this was the only cure. It turned out that the heart was actually belonged to a wild goat in the forest, while Gold-tree moved abroad as she married the prince of another kingdom.
As the trout insisted that Gold-tree still was a most beautiful and hadn't die yet, Silver-tree entreated  the king to see her daughter. Silver-tree put the poison tag into her daughter's finger as Gold-tree locked herself in the room. Gold-tree died.
Silver-tree asked the trout again about the most beautiful women in the world and the only answer she received was "Gold-tree." Silver-tree discovered that Gold-tree was saved by the second wife of the princess. Silver-tree one gain went abroad to see her daughter.
This time, Gold-tree and the second wife of the prince came and met Silver-tree actively. Silver-tree offered Gold-tree a drink as a custom of the country. The second wife of the princess knew that this was a poison wine, so that she spoke to Silver-tree to drink a sip first. As Silver-tree put the wine to the mouth, the second wife struck the wine to Silver-tree. Silver-tree died immediately.
And they lived happily ever after.

Week 11 Story: Raven




Back in a time there was no earth and no people, the earth today was just a vacant space in the galaxy. There was a place in the galaxy called the Heaven, a different world that was separated with everything, floating in the air. Heaven was a place of a few giant residents. No one knew their origin, they just lived there many any years even before the earth was form. It was called Heaven because it was such the most beautiful place, where the rivers were never dried and flowers were never wither. The giant people were slow aging and they all knew magic at birth. However, just only one baby was born in thousand years.

Raven was five hundred years old, but still was a baby boy. He was intelligent and a dynamic person. He got bored because there was nothing fun in here because everything were so perfect but he didn't have any friend. He just wandered around everyday to find fun things to do. One day, he wondered what would happen if he dropped a pea out of the Heaven, and he did.

Several days passed, a vine grew up from a pea. It grew so fast, in three days it reached the Heaven. He thought if the vine could not live down there, that must be a safe place. Therefore, he transformed to a Raven, with a black feathers and a sharp beak and flied down. This place was dark so he lighted the light first, the place had nothing on it except his giant vine. He had a new idea. He would tried to make a new world based on the image of the Heaven, but smaller version.

He turned back to Heaven and took some clay. He formed a man and then a woman from that clay, and he breathed the breath of life for both. The man and the woman were as small as his hand. The man and the woman were functioned after three days. So Raven put the man and the woman inside the pod of the pea. Next, he created mountain and river.

He called his new place Earth. To make the earth more cheerful, he formed fishes, reindeers, flies, mosquitoes, mouses, sheep. He also planted many trees for woods and timbers, trees for fruits and many cereals for foods. He prepared everything to welcome the new people.

And three days had passed, the first man dropped down of the pod of the pea. He was surprised at first, and Raven came to help him. Raven taught him to collect fruits to eat, found clean and clear water to drink. Later, Raven showed him how to make a house from the woods. Raven also taught him to defend with wild animal and catch the fishes for food. He also made careful recommendations to the first man to teach other people everything he taught the man today, so the later generation would survive by themselves.

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Bibliography: Alaskan Legends unit. Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).

Author's Notes: The Raven Myth doesn't mention anything about the origin of Raven and where he came from. I am also curious why the Man came from the pod of the pea, so I took a position to tell the origin of Raven and the subsequents. In The Raven Myth: The Skyland and the Sea, Raven took the first man to see the skyland, where people there was just small. I then altered them to the giant one and chose that place to be the one that Raven came from. I also took the idea from Jack and the Beanstalk to transform the Earth to a miniature world for Raven.

Reading Notes:Alaskan Legends unit, Part B.

This part of Alaskan stories contains many creation stories and also stories about the spirit world. These stories are part of the Alaskan Legends unit that are collected from Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).
Back to the early time, when there was only one woman in the earth around with so many man. Of course, many man wanted to marry her. She lived in a South. A man came from the northland married her, and both living in happy. One day, the son of the headman broke into their house to kidnap the woman. As the son of the headman carried her to the north side, the husband ran after to take her back. The son of the headman hold the upper part and the husband caught the woman by her feet. Both pulled her until she was teared into two parts. Both then made the woman completed by carved wood to attack to each part. The woman in the north side, with her lower part making by wood, was not doing good with things that related to her feet such as dancing, while very good as sewing and embroidered. The woman in the southland was a good dancer, but was not skillful with her hands since they made by wood.
Dancing
 Conversely, the woman in the north side, with her lower part making by wood, was not doing good with things that related to her feet such as dancing, while very good as sewing and embroidered. 
Hand embroidered

Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends unit; Part A

The Raven Myth is part of Alaskan Legends unit from  Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911). The Raven Myth simply narrates the creation of the world, of human and animal.
Raven

In the Raven's Creation, Man, a first human, was created from a pea pod of the giant beach pea. He drank water from the pool and ate salmon berries and heath berries which Raven brought for him. Raven, who in turn a human like Man but appeared under Raven's shape, had wings and beak. Raven showed Man about the sheep herd that Raven was created and many other animals. Raven also formed a girl from clay so that a Man would never be alone.
Raven created the shrewmouses, the mosquitoes, and the flies so that the earth would become more cheerful. He also created babies so that there would be more human on the earth. The baby boy and baby girl were growing so fast, just three days to become a man and woman. That was how Raven created people. Raven taught them people how to hunt, gather foods, and built house.
Raven took Man to see the skyland and the sea. It appeared much different than where Man lived, much beautiful, better planet but also the most dangerous place with monsters. the Man lived there three days and turned back to his home. He saw that the home now grew into a large village with so many people. So he and Raven taught the new people things that they supposed to know to support for their life. As the population growth, people killed much more animal. Raven got angry. He ordered a reindeer to come to the village, killed people and damaged the houses. Final, he decided to limit the day by placing people in dark. That how the sun and the moon appear. In the dark, people got rest and producing no activities but sleep.

Story Lab: Languages

Sources: Allie Vandersanden
I am not good at English, but when my family and I moved to the United States five years ago, I taught my mom and my dad one simple sentence. That was "I'm sorry! I don't know English." That sentences my parents used almost everyday whenever there was someone tried to ask or tell them somethings.
Back to the time when my parents just got their driver licenses, the most important problem was how they could fuel up the gas tank. It was such an easy task that people do regularly, but it was not that easy for my parents . They couldn't paid the gas using debit/ credit card at the pump since they didn't even understand the words on the screen. So they chose the "old method", paying the attendant inside the station. My parents couldn't remember the long sentences. To make it simple, there was the structure, "Pump number. Dollar amount. Please!" That actually works very well for both. "Pum number three. Thirty five dollars. Please!"
One day, my dad got home with his excited face. He told that  he overpaid for the gas and he came to the attendant, saying, "I'm overpaid. Pump three." He felt so happy because they could understand what he said.
Language barrier also creates so many awkward moments for me too. When i studied at Oklahoma City Community College, my professor in a Reading course told us a story, then all of my friend laughed so hard, except my sister and I. It turned out that it was a joke story. Inevitable awkward moments happens regularly since i am not influent in one's native language, in my case, English.
The video Does Grammar Matter?, Andreea S. Calude raises a question that are worthy to know, that is "Why it is matter if people can understand what's being said?" The video also explains the concept of prescriptivism and descriptivism and how speaking and writing have their own different rules.
The point here is if every people use the standardizes rule, it is easy to connect people all around the world together without interruption. It is also important in many formal situation, too.

Reading Notes: American Indian Fairy Tales, Part B

Sitting in the teepee was Iagoo and Morning Glory and her little brother Eagle Feather. In front of the fireplace of a freezing day, Iagoo told the children the myth of Dormouse, how could Dormouse become a small little mouse as of today. To be able to access the reasons, Iagoo started to tell about the Boy who Snared the Sun, which belonged in the American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned.

Dormouse
The story went back to the beginning of the world when there was more animals than man, and those animals was o big compared to man. The only people left was the girl and the little brother like Morning Glory and Eagle Feather. The girl was stronger than her brother since the brother was a dwarf.
One day, the brother shooted enough birds to make a coat that would be useful for the winter. However, the bird's skin of the coat, which was still fresh, shrinking under the sun, made the coat tighten and tighten. The little boy was angry and decided to catch the sun using the rob that made from her sister's hair. He snared the sun
At a result, darkness was all around, and the animal found way to release the sun. They came up with the idea that only the Dormouse, the biggest one, could resolve the problem, but the Dormouse was in his six months winter's sleep. The other animals had to ask Thunder to wake him up.
As Dormouse came closer to the sun to nibble the rob, the hot burned his back. Eventually when he released the sun, most of his body was burned into ashes, leaving a much smaller living creature like the normal mouse today.

Reading Notes: American Indian Fairy Tales, Part A

Iagoo, a story-teller in the series of American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned. Iagoo entertains the children by telling them so many bedtime stories. One of its is The Child of the Evening Star.
Source: cieliterature

The story narrates about a girl named Oweenee, the youngest and most beautiful girl in the family of ten sisters. her nine sisters are already married to nine mans, each of them are very strong, wealthy and handsome. Can not imagine how happy these nine sisters are.

About the youngest girl, she denies every propose that came to her. She said she is not gonna married one that not love her by the heart, despite of how wealthy, how happy they are. Finally, she finds the one that she is looking for. His name is Osseo. Oweenee's sisters start to chatter about the appearance of Osseo, as he is ugly and poor. They smile so ironic and sarcastic about her sister, but did not know that Osseo is a son of the King of the Evening Star. He was being cast a spell to come to the earth under the ugly appearance.

However, as the spell is being break, he turns into the most handsome and strong guy among the others, her wife, Oweenee became older and no longer a beautiful girl. However, they still agree to live with each other. As the King of the Evening Star finds his son, he summons Osseo back to the home of the Evening Star. Oweenee beauty is regained.

Week 9 Story: The Pain of an Immortal

Source: True Happy

The Pain of an Immortal
A Japanese Sentaro, who had inherited a huge fortune from his parents, became a billionaire at the age of thirty two. He owned many endless rice fields, and many facilities as well as precious jewels. At first, he was happy because of his wealth, he bought a bigger house, a new car, and everything he wanted without considering the prices. He brought his little family (his wife and his son) to many different places and interested in trying different cuisine. They went on a lot of cruise to the West and celebrated a lot of parties just for risk people.

But, the joy and the pleasure did not last very long, Sentaro felt tired after so many days stay out all night for the parties. Sentaro's health did not allow that. He felt himself growing weaker with age. Then, he started worry about his death and his fortune after the death. Sentaro had heard about the legendary of the King who sought for prolong life with the "Elixir of Life" magic. Although he was not totally believe in the tale, he still prayed for it every night before sleep.

At the age of forty, his business went down a bit, but he didn't care much about it. He kept thinking about the Elixir of life. He wished if there was some power to give him what he wanted in exchange for the money.

At his Fifty year-old, he felt the pain when the Death eventually took his wife away.  She got a blood cancer. Despite of how much money he put on the treatment, there is no medical solution to cure. This was the first time he clearly experience the pain of losing his close relative. And he knew  that the Death would come for him, one day. He continued to pray.

Another ten year passed..

And another ten year had passed...Not only nothing happened to him, but also his business grew larger and larger. Sentano could not describe how happy he was to attending his son's wedding with his strength. He thanked to God that replied to his desire.

At the age of eighty, his friend, one after another passed. He eventually felt alone and he also forgot to wish every night for a Perpetual Life like before. He still lived with his son.

Then, one again he experience the pain of losing his only son when he turned to ninety. Sentano had never thought that he would be the only one saw his loves passed away with his own eyes. This was the first time he experienced the pain of a long-lived. He had quit to wish long time ago.

Now, only him was left in his big and luxury house. His business growth bigger. He had a lot of money, but there was no one joined him. People who belong to his generation had went to another life.

Now, he realized that he had been forgot how to live in a right way because he scared of the death, the thing that everybody would experience in some point in time, and valued money. He was supposed to be happy with his little family giving the chance that he had inherited, but he was not. He forgot to enjoyed his happy life with his wife and his son. He wished, one again, let him go with them so he could build a truly happy life forever. It is meaningless to live alone with the money.

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Author's Note: I modified the story based on The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die. This story is part of the Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit. Story source: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).Sentaro in the original version wishes to have a perpetual life, so he sought for a hermits, he could fill his desire. Then a God, Jofuku, ordered a paper crane to take him to the immortal life, where people had never died. However, in this world, people believed that the only truly happy life is the life after death, where they could come to the Paradise. Therefore, they sought for many way to die including drink a toxic chemical or eat the poisonous foods. However, despite of their desperate to die, they still alive. Sentaro after along time lived there, got bored and no longer wanted a immortal life.
It turned out that the whole adventure was just a Sentaro's dream that the God Jofuku relied to his desired. Jofuku wanted to show him that  his desired was not mortal.

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit; Part B



Source: Fandom
This story is part of the Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit. Story source: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).

Watanabe was a brave warrior in the band of five knights. One time, he heard one of his friends saying that the residences in the Rashomon was terrified by the ogre. The ogre killed the people who set the foot to the occupied place.Watanabe could not ignored this. He prepared everything to find the orge.
At he headed to the gate of Rashomon, the ogre stood behind him and seized his helmet. He suddenly cut off the arm of the ogre as he grabbed it. Then, the ogre ran in painful. Watanabe brought the ogre's arm as a booty, but really worried that the ogre would be back one day to take the arm back. He made a steel box, hard and safe, and hid the arm in it so nobody would know it.
One day, Watanabe had a special guest coming to his house. He was very happy to meet his nany, who had been out of contact for so long. The nanny came and asked to see the ogre's arm for one last time. Although, Watanabe was skeptical to show, but could not denied the begging of his beloved nanny. He opened the box and allowed the nanny see it in the distance.Unfortunately, the nanny came closer to the box and picked up the arm and turned herself into the big ogre. 

Watanabe  realized that this was the same ogre he fought with last time, and aimed to cut off  the ogre's head this time. However, the ogre ran away and disappeared.
Although Watanabe lose a chance to kill the ogre, the people of Rashomon thanked to him since the ogre was no longer dared to come to this land.

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit; Part A

The Man Who Did Not Wish To Die
Source: Google
This story is part if Japanese Fairy Tales Unit by Jei Theodora Ozaki (1908) along with the story of My Lord Bag of Rice and The Adventure of Kintaro. Among these three, i very much enjoy "The Man Who did not Wish to Die", since it teach me a mortal lesson, which is live in the present, and let go of the past or future.
The story told about a rich man named Sentaro. Although he lived in a prosperous life, he was not happy. He spent most of his time a day just worrying about the death, afraid he would lose everything he had because of the death. So, he seek for an immortal life.
Some legendary had told that there was a King, who also had the same desired, ordered his courtier to bring him the hermits living in the peak mountains. So they could teach the King how to have the "Elixir of Life".
Knowing that, Sentaro left the home and sought for the hermits.
Although there was no sign for the hermits, Sentaro still headed to a immortal world on the paper crane, which was created by a deity. In the place Sentaro headed, people all sought for the dead because they believe the life after dead is the most happy life in the Paradise. However, Sentaro still felt excited to begin his new perpetual life and to growth his business in this new land.
Time passed...things happened... Sentaro recalled his original life with his family. He got bored with this immortal life since time passed by with no impacts on him. He felt meaningless to live a life like that forever.
He really wanted to come back home.

Week 8 Progress

So far, i am very much enjoying this course. However, i feel like i need more time. Since i am a foreigner, it takes me much longer to to read, to understand and to write in English. I always spent around eight hours a week for reading and writing, but still didn't have time for extra credit. Plus, the workload this semester is so heavy. I feel a little bit stress when the exam week is  approaching. I am waiting on some holiday events to spent more time for the project (which i am truly interesting in).
I know i can do it, but still need some motivation from people around. 

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

At the beginning of the course, most comments i received was just about the praise and the compliment on how well i got with the posts or stories. I was happy to hear that, but then one friend (anonymously) showing me i got some grammatical errors in the posts, i thanks her about that. This was a five star rating comment i got because i want to improve my writing. Then, when we talk about the "WWW" and "pretend" strategies, the comments got more and more helpful to me. It allows me to know what others really thinking about my stories and then i can make my stories more appeal to others.
On the other hand, the feedbacks i gave to other are also improved over time. First, i just gave some summary feedback (like how well the post is, how about the idea....). Now i do gave so many in-depth feedbacks for future understanding.
Leaving and receiving comments on blogs really help connecting me to others people. Since this is an online class, and i'm personally not good at remember the name, blogs provide much more information about my friends out there. Based on the way people writing the stories, one can say about the characteristics of the "author". Is he or she optimistic or pessimistic? Because, those storytelling are being told based on what the "author" wanted but actually not happen in the original version. It is really based on the perception of each person.
So far, i am satisfy with the project's introduction. However, i will make changes throughout the project for more appealing and corresponding to the development of the story.
This is the picture from the Feedback Cats. I like the picture because i'm really a fan of cat. Well! I am also like the quote. One of my professor back in Vietnam told me that "if i fail, i will try again and again and again and again... until success. But if you fail, what should you do?" It is always a big question to answer. "I may fail, but i am never a failure"

Week 8 Readings and Writing

I have never think i will create another blog by myself since my first blog was abandoned (actually, the first blog was created following the trend of Yahoo! blog, and may be just one or two blog posts on it). When i look at my new blog, i am very proud since it is a hundred percent English. (Yup, I know a lot of grammar mistakes here, but it is a big jump ^.^. I'll have revise them again and again). I have never read a story in English before just because i am so lazy to translate, rather than read the vietnamese version of it. This semester is a chance for me to learning english through stories. I am also surprised about those stories that i make up.

I would say that one of my favorite story is Adam and Eve Unit. I took me two days to finish the reading only. The story is written in ancient language style, ti made me hard to understand the words without actually translate them (English is hard, but ancient English is must harder). It is my favorite since it make me curious about Lilith.
What if the "touch time" are actually hidden opportunities for me to learn more? That's what i want to say for myself. This picture is inserted in Week 6 Story Lab. It's inspired me to try all my best  for everything i want.

Tech Tip: Twine

After reading the story of  Mouse-Bride (written by Laura), in which she used the very fun and interesting way to tell the story, I really wants to give Twine a try, and i did.

I planned on using Twine to create a simple story of "The Dream of One's Life" and then embedded to the blog post. Unfortunately, things didn't work well for the first time. Although i finished working on the Twine, but i couldn't embedded to the blog, no matter what i did follow the instructions or even used Google help. It's been two days just to find the way to embed to my blog, but i gave up (and still don't know what i did wrong) and do the simple "Twine play" instead.

Here is the structure  of "The Dream of One's Life" using Twine. I did post the story itself as my storytelling week 7. Notice the circle of theo people's dream.

Reading Notes: Folklore of Laos, Part B

Follow up part A, part B contains a selection of Laos Folk-Lore from Katherine Neville Fleeson.

In the story of The Wizard and the Beggar, the poor man insisted to the wizard, the dog and the buffalo along the road that he would not forget the merit of the person who helped him today. The wizard then gave him the "wishing jewel", so the poor man could have everything he wanted. However, because of his greedy, he and his neighbor intended to kill to wizard and took the "flying jewel", which enabled a person to fly. As a result, the wizard took back the wishing jewel flying away, leaving the two poor mans.

The Legend of the Rice explains why people today must gather the rice from the field. Long time ago, when the rice and every grain were larger, the rice ripen and fell from the stalks, rolled into the villages to the granaries. One day, a widow got mad the the rice because it ripen and rolled to the granaries, which were not ready for use yet. Then the rice swore from this day on, it would waited on the field for people to come and harvested if needed. The giant rice then broke into many thousand small grains.
Rice Field


 The Blind Man, who pretends himself normal, deceived and married the girl. Although many things happened, the wife still didn't suspect the true. However, the father suspected through how he could't find a door to run in the fire, how he couldn't know he touched the ground when climbed out of the well. The father came and tested him by asked him to find the buffalo, but he couldn't. He then ran away. He associated with a palsied man, so one would be the eyes and one would be the feet.  One day, suddenly a venom of a snake dropped to his eyes, and he restored his eyesight. Running to the home, his wife was so happy.

Week 7 Story: The Dream of One's Life

source: Cartoon


The Dream of One's Life
Mr. D

Mr. D, a zemindar and also a richest person in the town, one day takes a walk around the riverside, which will soon be his property, admires of his wealthiness. He suddenly sees a farmer, who lies down in the grass field as his feather bed, crosses his legs and whistles with full of joys.

A zemindar fetches a sign, full of sorrow. He wishes he can have more time to enjoy like the farmer, Mr.R.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. R

He is a farmer, who has exposed to the sun and rain for the whole time, worrying about the crops. The harvest soon comes the reaping, but if it keeps sunny like the last several weeks, he will not have enough money from the harvest to pay for the landlord. 

It is a beautiful day. The weather is so mild out. The forecast predicts that it will rain for the next two or three days. Despite of its good new, he still looks sorrow. He lies down and thinks: "I wish i can own a land, so i don't have to worry about paying the rental". 

He looks far down to a small land along this riverside, whose owes by Mr. E.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr. E

Receive an inheritance from his parent, Mr. E now is the owner of this small land. However, the land is useless for him, since he is a miner but his land doesn't contain any mineral. The land is left alone without pruning, digging and nourishing. Therefore, there weeds growing chin high in that place.

Mr. E, who just returned from works, drinks a sip of water with all the heavy breathing, sits down and thinks about his future. He gets tired of the manual labour. He really want to work in an office, dealing with the paper works like Mrs. A.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mrs. A

Mrs. A is a legal assistance in a small bank of the town. She has been working here for five years. Although she gets bored of being around the walls, putting pen to paper, and fingers to keyboard, she works really hard for promotion from her job. 

Mrs. A stares off into space and certainlly looks to the office space of her boss, Mr. M. The room is empty. Mrs. A really wants to have a life living like her boss, who travels a lot on business and participates in many business parties.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Mr.M 

Mr. M is a manager of the bank. He's gonna be the branch manager when the new bank branch open in a few weeks. This time is touch for him. He has to go out a lot for business. He was sent on a risk management teaching courses in Belgium and just got back last day. Today he has to receive special guests from the parent company.

Mr. M goes back to the office after finishing the first meeting. He sits down the swivel chair, spins around and stops when confront the window thinking. He has another meeting at 1:00 pm and he should works overtime tonight so he can follow the schedule. But he misses his family.

 e hadn't spent more than an hour a day with them for a while. His son misses him so much, too. He wishes he have more time. Then he thinks about Mr. S.

--------------------------------------------------------------------Mr. S

Although Mr. S is in his late fifty, he is an idle person. He always complains about every jobs that he took and keeps changing from a miner to a farmer to a worker. Recently, he quit the job at a bank because he got bored. Now he stays at home, playing with his children. 

He has a lot of time so he wakes up late, plays until night and goes to bed late. His biological clock just doesn't want to work properly. 10:00 am, and he yawn drowsily with tiredness. 

Although he is fun playing with the kids, but her wife seems to not happy. She worries about the uncertain future, how can she raises up the kids without his financial assistant. 

He is thinking:"I wish i can win a lottery, become the richest people in the town like Mr. D, so he don't have to work or to worry about money anymore".

-------(And the circle just go around and around, never stop)-------



Author's Notes: This version is based on the idea of The Man in the Moon in Laos-Folklore Unit by Katherine Neville Fleeson (1899). In The Man in the Moon, the Blacksmith, who always complain of his life, wishes to change the others multiple times. God hears his wishes, turns him into the stone, stone-cutter, and the sun. God gets weary of his changing, then changes him one again into the Moon forever.

Take this idea, i converts a bit to account the dreams of every person. Since "the more you have, the more you want", a rich person want to have time to relax, poor people wishes to have more money. Busy people want to take a day off, while those unemployed really want to have a job.

Therefore, people all around the world have different sorrows, but all relates to others about their "dreams". Although i am not rich, but i have time to enjoy my favorite book, in which others may be a "dream".

Reading Notes: Folklore of Laos, part A

This week, i am inspiring by the Folklore of Laos by Katherine Neville Fleeson. Reading through part A, i find very interesting with those stories, including The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars, The Man in the Moon, and The Parrot and the Minor Bird.

In the Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars, the spirits, who lived in the mountain, wanted money. So they brought some mortars back into the town near them, and forced the residents to buy the mortars back although these mortars had no use to them. Because its big and useless, people in the town just left them scattered over the street.

The Man in the Moon is the story about an blacksmith, who always jealous someone or something are enjoying the life better than him, complains to God about this. First, he wishes he can become a stone,  then a Stonecutter because a stone are being hurt by a stonecutter. He wishes to become a moon, then complains about its coldness. God transforms him into a sun forever.

In the Parrot and the Minor Bird, the Sao bird, which know the language of man, was punished by the owner because of speaking the true that the owner stole his neighbor's buffalo. The Sao bird therefore warned the Parrot and the Minor Bird not to speak other than the owner teaches. Therefore, nowadays, the Parrot and the Minor Bird just echoes the words of man.
The Mynahs bird.

Week 6 Story Lab: The Power of Creative Constraints

TEDed Video: The Power of Creative Constraints, by Brandon Rodriguez.
I find the quote "What if the road blocks are actually hidden opportunities?"is related to pretty much the ideas behind the video about creative constraints, that is to deal better with hard times.

We usually faces many difficult decisions that sometimes beyond our capabilities. In a condition of limited resources, we have to manage things in a better way to achieve our goals without any wastes.
Creative freedom always faces with creative constraints (such as time, cost, knowledge...), and, of courses, creative constraint applies to all of the majors and across fields. However, these constraints, sometime are "hidden opportunities", that once we go over this, there will be innovation.

The video shows the example of the landers viking 1 and 2. In order to arrive to the surface of Mars, they have to rely on thrusters, in which in turn spills out the chemicals and contaminates the Earth's surface. 
That is a constraint. Scientists finds the airbag system as a solution and also stop burning contaminated fuels. But latter, we question that what is the appropriate size of the airbag?

"Constraints are't a boundaries of creativities, but the foundation of its"

Reading Notes: The Monkey King Unit, Part B

In part B of The Monkey King Unit, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921), Sun Wu Kung was appointed a stablemaster of the heavenly steeds by the Lord of Heaven. However, Sun Wu Kung angried when he knew that this was the lowest rank position, he escaped the heaven and called himself " The Great Saint Who is Heaven's Equal"(The Great Saint)
With his empty title, Sun Wu Kung idled day by day. He ate the peaches, drunk the nectar and swallowed the pills of life (Laotzse)  He latter was punished by the Buddha, be imprisoned under the mountain until a monk came and helped him out (The destiny of Sun Wu Kung).

Reading Notes: The Monkey King Unit, Part A

I am a great fan of "The Journey to the West", so i decided to read The Monkey King Unit, which comes from The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).
Sun Wu Kung in The Journey to the West. Source: Zing

This story is about a monkey who was born from the stone, and gradually grew and became a Handsome King of the Apes. He then later named Sun Wu Kung by his master, who taught him the kung fu and incantations. After years of learning, Wukung finally mastered the magical transformations and somersault on the clouds and many other arts (Sun Wu Kung Departs). Later, he used his powerful skills to save his apes from the Devil King

As a King of Apes, he seeked his own weapons that are worthy with his power. He came to the Dragon King, a Water and Weather God, to ask for a weapon and an armor. However, he found no weapon that suited for him except the golden rod, which weighted many thousand pounds and shone with a red glow. (The Dragon Queen).

Week 5 Story: Buddha's Reborn.

Legend has told that the deity must undergoes Forty-nine incarnation to be cultivated into the future bliss. This is his last life, to become an ordinary person and to understand all of the suffering and difficulties. When he really understands thoroughly the rules of "birth, old, illness and death", and the law of "causes and effect" he will be able to enlighten the supreme power. However, success or failure depends on can he overcome the lure of seven human feelings (joy, anger, love, hate, sorrow, passion, love) and the six root afflictions (application of thought, examining, decision, energy, rapture, desire).

Like many others, he reborn into a normal family in the Kapilavastu kingdom, ruled under the control of King Suddhodana. In a day of his reincarnation,  the hermit Asita came to the king and report that the sky appeared the new stars, which appeared super shine. Asita said that there will be a supreme lord who his reborn will soon make this country better.

The King send his guards to find the newborn. What a strange coincidence that a whole kingdom just appear only one pregnant woman.
Buddha walked on a lotus. Picture from Wiki

Month passed, she gave birth to a boy, but unluckily, she died after that. The King soon adopted him and officially named him Prince Siddhartha. At the same day, all lotus flowers in the kingdom are flourishing, spread a soft aroma. Prince Siddhartha appeared healthy, and beautiful. He also appeared with a light pale pink nimbus, just like the color of the lotus. Anywhere he came, lotus was born, people was happy. The whole kingdom felt highly enthusiastic. The king decided to open the three days party to celebrate of his newborn. The King also brought the nature mother of Prince to the national Buddhist temple to worship.
.........................................

Author's Note: Based on the Life of Buddha: The Birth of Siddhartha by Andre Ferdinand Herold, I changed the context a bit. The original version doesn't mention about the seven feelings and six root afflictions. Because of the limited in English, I can't take into account many things about Buddhism that I know. However, I believe that a Buddha should born in a normal way to understand a normal life.
In the story of Andre Ferdinand Herold, Maya, a Queen, dreamed about the elephant that entered to her womb. She then later pregnant, then born to Prince Siddhartha under the precious tree. She died about seven days later.
I add the lotus to the story because most of the Buddha i know (via pictures and movies), all sits and meditates in Buddha's throne made from lotus. 
The hermit Asita heard about the birth of Siddhartha. He came to the king to see the Prince. He told that the Prince soon became a supreme Lord Buddha.