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.

Cherokee Stories Extra Reading Diary

Cherokee Stories Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this unit. One of my favorite stories was the How the World was Made. This story was obviously about how the world or Earth came to be. I have always enjoyed stories about the beginning of time or Earth because everybody has different beliefs and perceptions of this concept. The different stories about the beginning kind of reflects the values and beliefs of the relevant cultures and that is why I find it interesting. In this particular telling of how the world came to be, it describes the world as  floating and being held by cords. And it describes men and women came after animals and plants.


I also thought the story of The First Fire was interesting. A lightning struck a sycamore tree and sparked the first fire. All of the animals admired this new creation. They all wanted to capture it. The Raven, the little Screech-owl, Hooting Owl, Horned Owl, and the blacksnake attempted to capture this fire but failed to. But then a water spider appeared asserting that she could bring the--  fire back. She spun a thread and wove the thread into a tusti bowl and attached it to her body and journeyed to the fire. Upon her arrival at the fire, she placed the fire into her bowl and came back. And that is how we go our first fire.

(Strawberry

And my third favorite story was the story of the Origin of Strawberries. This story begins with a man and woman who fall out of love. The woman leaves the man but the man follows her. The man still wants her. The Sun pitied him and tried to help him win his wife back. He does so by springing up a bush of strawberries in front of the woman. The woman picks up the strawberry and turns west and her memories of her husband resurfaced, causing her to miss him. She returned to her husband and they went home together.

The Hunter and Fox-- Storytelling, Week 9

The Hunter and the Fox
Once there lived a hunter. He was known as the greatest hunter in the land. He was a skilled archer and trapper. There was nothing he could not hunt and capture. He kept many of the skins and heads of his capture creatures as trophies to remind him of his achievements.

Although he was an accomplished hunter, he was a lonely hunter. Every day from a day of hunting, the hunter would come home to an empty home. He had no one to talk to. It is not fun when you have a lot of things but have no one to share it with.

One day when the hunter returned from a trip, he noticed that his home had been visited in his absence. It was not like any common break-in for nothing was taken or missing. The home actually looked better than it had ever looked. It was cleaned and organized. The confused hunter thought nothing of it until it happened again.

This time not only was the housed cleaned but there was also dinner ready on the table. The hunter could not ignore this any longer.

One day the hunter pretended to go away on another hunting trip, but was actually hid himself in a bush and waited for the intruder to arrive. Eventually a fox appeared. The fox entered his home and transformed into a beautiful woman. The hunter approached this woman and asked her if it was her who was cleaning his home and making him dinner. She responded that yes it was indeed her that was cleaning and cooking for him.

As a hunter, his first instinct was to kill this creature/woman but he could not help but admire her beauty. He let her go but he threatened her that if she should return he will be forced to kill and hunt her like the rest of the animals. The fox-woman ran away in fear from hearing this.

After the fox-woman finally left, the hunter returned to his normal routine of hunting and being alone. As the weeks went by, the hunter’s home became messier. Looking at the mess, the hunter began to miss the fox-woman and her company. The hunter felt lonely.

Feeling lonely, the hunter decided to hunt or search for the fox-woman. Weeks passed by and still no luck of finding the fox-woman for the fox-woman was so heart- broken by the hunter she hid herself.

Being the best hunter, the hunter eventually found the fox-woman and asked for her forgiveness. The fox-woman could see that the hunter was genuine and thus accepted his apology. They embraced and the hunter told the fox-woman that he loved her. Hearing this the fox turned into a beautiful woman.

(Fox-Woman)

 Author's Note:
This story was based from the the Fox-Woman from Marriage Tales. In the Fox-woman, the hunter comes upon an intruder but she is not like any other common intruder. She does not steal or break anything. Rather, she cleans and cooks. The hunter curious about this intruder decides to hide out until the intruder arrives. Upon the intruder's arrival, to the surprise of the hunter he discovers that it is a woman but she is not any ordinary woman. She is a fox-woman. She is a fox when she wears the fox skin and is a woman when she takes it off. The hunter confronts the fox-woman. The fox-woman responds by telling him that she is his wife. The hunter is unable to accept her as she is and therefore rejects her, causing her to run-off. My story was based off this story but I made a few changes. For instance, my story has a happier ending. The hunter and the fox-woman end up together. My story was more a love story. My inspiration came from the Beauty and the Beast. Like the beast from Beauty and the Beast, the fox-woman becomes human after learning that she is loved.

"The Fox-woman" from the Native American Marriage Tales by Thompson (1929).Web source: Sacred Texts

Marriage Tales-- Reading Diary B

Marriage Tales Table of Contents

I really enjoyed the second half of this reading unit. A particular story that I thought was interesting was the story of the The Dog-Husband. This story was about young girl who befriends a dog but this was not just any ordinary dog. Eventually the girl and the dog's relationship became romantic and late at night the dog would transform into a human. The young girl then becomes pregnant, bringing shame to her family. She eventually gave birth to five dog pups: 4 male and 1 female. Even though they brought shame to the girl she still loved and cared for them. One day, though, the girl caught her children in human form. This was good news to the young girl. The young girl advised her children to remain in human form; they obeyed and now the village does shame them.

(Dog)

Another story that I enjoyed was the The True Bride. The story actually kind of started like a Cinderella story, which I found kind of humorous. For instance, the young girl had an evil stepmother who make her do tremendous amounts of work. While out running errands for her mother the young girl ran into her relatives. Her relatives pitied her and gave her the gift of gold. Whenever she spit a nugget of gold would come out. As soon as her stepmother found this out she sent her other daughter to the relatives to perhaps receive this same gift but her daughter disrespected them. So instead they gave her an unfortunate gift. Every time she spits a smelly toe nail comes out. Good things come to those that are humble and kind.

Marriage Tales-- Reading Diary A

Marriage Tales Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this unit. One of the stories that I enjoyed was the The Fox-Woman. This story was about a hunter who discovers that someone is entering his home. At first, he believes that it is a fox who is breaking into his home but something is strange about this break in. When the hunter returns home he finds his home put in order as if a wife lived there. He eventually discovers that it was indeed a woman.

Another story that I enjoyed was the The Woman Stolen by Killer Whales.This story was about a woman who is kidnapped by fish to avenge their fish friend. The woman's husband was no match for the fish and therefore sought help. The Shark offered to help. The Shark was able to save the woman and bring her home to her husband.

The third story I enjoyed was the story of the The Rolling Head. This story was about a wife who met up with a snake behind her husband's The husband eventually figures out where his wife has been sneaking out to. Angered by this discovery, the husband kills his wife and cooks his wife. The children unaware that it is their mom, eat the meat their father offered. The children find out that what they ate was their mother. They were so distraught and betrayed by this discovery they had their father killed. They had lions jump on him. Even though this story was gruesome. I still thought that it was interesting. A lot of the events that happened in the story caught me off guard so it kept me interested.

(Snake)