Storytelling for Week 9: Radha and Krishna

Radha and Krishna 

Radha just started junior year of high school and was turning 16. “This year was going to be a great and momentous year” – she told herself in the morning. Radha met up with her friends. They caught each other up with what they did over the summer while walking to school. It was really like any first day of school. They saw some familiar faces and some not so familiar faces – it was a pretty big school. 

Being a junior meant that Radha would be taking some upper-division courses, which means that she may have some classes with seniors. Radha did not really think any of this. Until in her afternoon class a senior boy walked into her class and sat next to her. She could not take her eyes off of him. He had black waving hair and he smelled of jasmine. 

As the teacher of the class was calling out attendance, Radha waited and listened for his name. The teacher called out the name “Krishna” and the boy next to her responded “here.” So his name is Krishna. Radha could not think of a better name for the boy sitting next to him. Throughout the whole class they did not exchange one word. Radha was too shy to say anything anyways.

After the first day of school was finally over, Radha met up with her friends to walk back home. She used this opportunity to them all about Krishna. She talked all the way from school to her house. She really adored him. Her friends could tell how much Radha liked Krishna just based on her expression while she was telling them about him so they tried to give Radha some advice on how to them talking. They suggested pretending to need a pencil to borrow or needing help with the class homework. These all were good suggestions but it was a matter if Radha was willing to do them.

Weeks went by and still Radha and Krishna had not exchanged even one word. The longer Radha waited to talk to him the harder is getting the courage to talk to him. 

One day during class the teacher announced that she was going pair everyone up for project they must complete by the end of the semester. As the teacher was calling out the pairs, she said Radha’s name and to her surprised she also said Krishna’s name. It was destiny. This could quite possibly be the beginning of something amazing. 

(Radha and Krishna)

Author's Note: 

My story is loosely based on the poem "The First Passion of Radha" from the Coomaraswamy. Songs of the Love of Radha and Krishna. When first reading the original poem, it reminded me of a school girl crush. This inspired me to modernize the story. I kept the idea of how Krishna is superior to Radha. In the original story Krishna is a God this makes him superior to Radha. In my particular story I just made him into a senior which is still superior to Radha. She is only a junior. I also kept the  main idea that Radha adores Krishna. I just modernized it into a schoolgirl crush. I ended the story the way I did because I wanted the reader to make up his own conclusions of what happens next.

 "The First Passion of Radha" from coomaraswamy. Songs of the Love of Radha and Krishna by Bidyapati (1915). Web Source: Public Domain.

Europa (Jacobs) -- Extra Reading Diary

Europa (Jacobs) Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this unit. My favorite story from this unit was most definitely the story about Belle in the Beauty and the Beast. This version of Beauty and the Beast was a little different from the Disney version that we all grew knowing.

This version of the "Beauty and the Beast" began by introducing Bella and her family: her father and two other sisters. Her father who is a merchant sets on a journey for business. As he is leaving he asks Bella what she would like him to bring back for her. She replies that she would like a rose. Bella's father seeing a beautiful garden with roses decided to seize this opportunity to retrieve a rose for Bella. Little did he know that the garden belonged to the Beast. Unfortunately, the Beast caught the merchant stealing the rose and thus threatened him. He must bring Bella to him in return for him sparing the merchant's life. The merchant reluctantly obeyed the Beast. The merchant brought Bella to the Beast. The Beast treated Bella well. The Beast's kindness towards Bella was evident. Eventually, the Beast and Bella became close. One day, Bella was looking for the Beast. She found him on the ground dead. Saddened by this, Bella professed her love for the Beast. Just as she was confessing her love for him, the Beast became a handsome young prince. (An enchanted magician turned him into a Beast and only love could turn him back). The Prince and Bella then lived happy together ever afterwards.

(Bella professing her love to the Beast)

Storytelling for Week 14: Cabbage Stalk

The Cabbage Stalk

    There once was an old poor couple. They did not have much but they were happy. They at least had each other. One day the old man went to the market to get some groceries; it was like any other day. He came upon a beggar. Despite not having much, the old man gave the beggar an apple. The beggar gave the old man seeds in return. These were not any ordinary seeds; they were magical but the old man was not aware of this.
 
    The old man returned to his wife and showed her the seeds the beggar gave him. The wife disregarded them and threw them outside. They carried out their day as if it was like any other day. They did their chores and at the end of the day had dinner with what little they had and went to bed.

     The next morning, the seeds that the wife threw outside grew into a little cabbage stalk. The cabbage stalk continued to grow each day. One day it was as tall as the old couple's home. The couple did not really know what to do but to watch it grow.

     It finally stopped growing once it reached up to the sky. The old man driven by curiosity decided to climb the cabbage stalk. When the old man finally reached to the top of the stalk, he found that he was in another world. Who knew that there was a whole other world up in the sky. While wandering around, the old man came upon a barn.

    Inside the barn were hundreds of golden eggs. He took two eggs with him and climbed down the stalk. He showed the gold eggs to his wife and his wife was overjoyed for now they will no longer be poor anymore.

    The next morning the old man set out to climb the stalk again to retrieve more gold eggs but with his wife this time. As he climbed the stalk he was carrying his wife. They finally reached the top and he showed her the barn full of golden eggs. Driven by greed, the wife grabbed as many eggs as she could. Eventually, the old couple decided to return home.

    The husband began to climb down the cabbage stalk with his wife but the weight of the many golden eggs made him lose his grip on his wife. The wife fell to the ground with the golden eggs. The husband finally made it to the ground where he found his wife dead with the golden eggs.

After grieving for a time, the old man went on with his life with boundless wealth but no one to share it with.

Author's Note:
My story was based on the story of the The Fox Physician  from the Russian Folktales. In the "The Fox Physician," a cabbage stalk is grown by the old couple. Driven by curiosity, the old climbed the cabbage stalk. He climbed all the way to the top which was above the sky and into the heavens. While he was in the heavens, he found a mill and in the mill was cake and a pie. After he ate his fill, he climbed back down the cabbage stalk and returned home so that he may tell his wife all that he saw. Hearing all that that her husband saw, the wife wanted to go up as well.So the old man carried his wife in a sack up the cabbage stalk but as he was climbing he lost his grip on the sack and the woman fell to her death. Not knowing what to do, the old man asked for help from a fox. The fox rather than actually trying to save the wife, ate her. This left the husband alone and in poverty. for my story, I kept the old couple, the cabbage stalk, but I left out the fox. I wanted my story to focus on the relationship between the old man and and his wife and how their lives were affected by the cabbage stalk.

Russian Folktales-- Reading Diary A

Russian Folktales Table of Contents

The second half of this was just as entertaining and dark. One of my favorite stories was the story of the The Fox-Physician. The story begins with a husband and wife growing a cabbage stalk. The husband's cabbage stalk grew so tall he had to cut a hole into the barn's ceiling so that the stalk may grow through it. It grew even taller -- so tall that it reached to the heavens. One day the husband climbed the cabbage stalk and visited the heavens. While he was up there, he visited a mill and was astounded that people actually lived in the heavens. When he finally returned to Earth, he persuaded his wife to climb the cabbage stalk with him. He climbed the stalk with her in his arms but eventually his arms gave out and the wife fell to the ground and was smashed into pieces. A fox stumbled upon the husband grieving and offered his help. The fox demanded a bag of oatmeal and butter and to leave him alone with his dead wife. The husband waited and waited until he lost his patience and barged in on the fox eating the remains of his wife. And that is pretty much the ending of the story. It is pretty sad but I found it to be really entertaining because it was full of surprises. It kept me on edge.

(Fox)

Russian Folktales -- Reading Diary A

Russian Folktales Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this unit even though it was kind of dark. It was very entertaining. One of the stories that I really enjoyed was the story of the The Dead mother.

“The Dead Mother” is about a mother that dies giving birth. She leaves the child to her husband who does not have a clue about how to raise or nourish a child. He hires an old woman to help him raise the child but the child rejects the old woman. The baby continued to cry except during a great part the night. During the night the baby was quiet but as soon as morning approached the baby would cry. The mystery of the baby not crying at night spurred questioning. The husband, the old woman, and friends stayed up one night to find out the source of the baby’s quietness. They discover that the source of the baby’s quietness is his dead mother. During the night, the dead mother feeds the baby. When the dead mother finally finished feeding the baby and left, they found the baby dead.
Another story that I enjoyed was the story of The Bad Wife. This story is about a husband who is married to a bad wife. Whenever the husband asks for favor from his wife, she does the opposite. She also likes to call names such as “thief.” This angers the husband to the point he plots her disappearance. He tricks his wife to go into a bottomless pit. The wife is stuck in the pit forever and the husband is free to live a more peaceful life.

(Dead mother's tombstone)

Andersen-- Extra Reading Diary

Andersen Table of Contents

I really enjoyed the Andersen stories. They were very entertaining. One of my favorite stories was the story of The Wicked Prince.

The story began with introducing the prince to the reader. He is described as a conquer. His goal in life was to conquer as many countries as possible and to make others fear him. He was successful at this. He gained so much wealth power from his conquests; he began to become haughty. He thought that he could defeat anybody -- including God. The prince was still not satisfied when he conquered all of the lands. He wanted more. He wanted to conquer God. He built a ship that had hundreds of eagles attached to it. The purpose of this was permit the ship to rise up towards the sky. On the ship, the prince rose higher and higher into the sky until he finally came upon an angel that God had sent. The prince being the ruthless person he is began attacking the angel. As a result the blood of the Angel burnt into the ship, causing the ship to sink back to Earth. The prince did not give up. He tried to conquer God for a second time. God sent a swarm of gnats in response. A single gnat found itself underneath the prince's clothing and was able to conquer the prince. Now the prince is known for being a mad prince who wished to conquer God but failed to do so because he was overcome by a single gnat.

(Wicked Prince)

Storytelling for Week 12: The Frog and the Princess

The Frog and Princess
There was once a princess who was very beautiful. She was not like any ordinary princess. She enjoyed the outdoors and observing the creatures that lived near the pond in her garden. At school, her favorite subject was biology and thus was always interested in observing the frogs, fish, and ducks that were at her pond.
It was like any other day; she was at her pond observing the creatures when her shoe accidently fell into the pond. The pond being deep and all, she could not go after it to retrieve it. So she cried for her father gave her those shoes.
A frog hearing her cries pitied her. The Frog approached her and said “Princess I will retrieve your shoe on one condition that you take me back to your home and marry me”
The Princess shocked that a frog was speaking to her did not know what to say. The Frog repeated himself. The princess had to think about it but eventually accepted his offer, thinking that she could just run off and leave him once she gave her her shoe. The Frog gave the Princess her shoe and immediately, the Princess ran off with her shoe, leaving behind the frog.
The Princess was home studying for an upcoming biology exam when she heard a knock. It was the Frog. The Princess did not know what to do and so ran to her father asking for advice. He advised that since she made a promise to the Frog, she needs to keep it. She obeyed her father and allowed the frog into her home.
The reminded her that she also promised to marry him. The princess replied to the frog that she did promise to marry the Frog but she did not specify when. So because there not a specific deadline to marry the Frog, the princess replied that she will marry him in a year. The Frog was not too happy about this but agreed to it.
During this time, the Frog and Princess spent a lot of time together. He showed the princess his home, the pond, and taught her everything about the creatures that lived there as well. The Princess enjoyed this. Eventually the Princess fell in love with the Frog. The Princess had never met anyone so kind, smart, and loyal.
One day while spending time together, the Princess kissed the Frog and instantly the Frog turned into a handsome Prince. The Princess fell in love him even more. They married and lived happily ever after.

(The Frog Prince)

Author's Note:
 This story was based on the story of The Frog Prince. I kept the main concepts of the story but made a few changes. For instance in "The Frog Prince," she drops a golden ball but in my story I had the Princess drop her shoe instead. I felt like it was more "fairytale-like" than a golden ball. In my story, the frog retrieves the shoe call on two conditions: the Princess takes the frog home with her and marries him. In "The Frog Prince," the retrieves the golden ball on the condition that the Princess takes him home with her, shares her food with him, and allows him to sleep beside her. I also added a reason why she was at the pond all the time, which was because she was interested in biology and thus enjoyed observing the creatures and their habitat. I also included more about their courtship. I wanted the reader to see that they grew into falling love with each other -- that is why I emphasized that they did not marry until a year. Another difference between my story and "The Frog Prince" was that in "The Frog Prince" the curse was broken not be a kiss but by allowing the frog to sleep over at the princess's home. I felt like a "true love's kiss" was a lot more romantic and magical.

"The Frog Prince" from the Grimm (LibriVox)  by the Brothers Grimm (1876). Web Source: Sacred Texts.