week 10 story: when a rabbit and a possum search for wives

In the early stages of life, a possum bumped into a rabbit on a stroll outside and ended up they becoming lifelong friends. They did everything together even though the rabbit became irritated with the possum every now and then due to the fact that he could quite keep up. Besides the times of irritation, the two seemed to be inseparable. 

As time passed, the two saw others getting married and moving onto the next stage in their lives. They began to wonder what their futures are going look like and, to say the least, they weren't pleased with what they were imagining.

"We need wives like our friends," explained the rabbit. The possum agreed as that seemed to be all of the village animals' main source of happiness during this chapter in their lives. 

Immediately, the rabbit and possum sat down to start exploring their options.

"Tammy?!" shouted the rabbit with excitement.

"Taken," the possum sighed. 

"Lola?" the rabbit continued.

"Keep trying," the possum mumbled. 

They went back and forth for nearly an hour as they listed every woman in town. There seemed to be no hope.

"Oh, oh! I know! How about I go to the next village over and tell the chief of town that they must all marry immediately?" the rabbit shouted.

Although hesitant, the possum was not completely opposed to the idea. They sat in that same spot for the rest of the afternoon creating a script and timeline for the events to take place. The plan was set to begin the next morning.

The next morning came along and it was time to get going. The rabbit was so excited when the began their journey that he didn't even realize that he had left the possum in his dust. By the time he arrived at the door of the courthouse, he noticed his friend was no where to be found, but it was too late. The townsmen saw him and asked him what his quest was.

With little time to think, he continued on with the plan and announced that everyone must marry immediately. He was beyond nervous as he didn't think they would buy into his plan. 

A minute of silence passed and the rabbit snapped, "well, what are you waiting for?!"

The whole town stirred up in chaos as everyone paired up. Luckily, there was one woman left over and she was linked up with the rabbit. The rabbit was trying desperately not to expose the ear-to-ear grin trying to surface.

As the rabbit got back on the stand to announce his goodbye, rattling was heard from the bushes. 

"Who is hiding in that bush?" asked the rabbit.

Slowly, a girl possum crept out of the bush in tears. Almost at the same time, his possum friend arrived exhausted. 

"Don't cry, sweet girl! Look at this handsome gentleman that just arrived. This must be destiny!"

From then on, the possum couple were the happiest in the village!

(Photo from WikiMedia.)

Author's Note: The original story was about a rabbit and a possum that each want a wife, but can't seem to find one. They decided that their best bet was to go to the village over and pretend to be on a council. They were going to tell them that they all must marry at once in a hope that they themselves will become married. 

As they traveled to the next town together, the rabbit moved much quicker and outran the possum. He tried to wait, but the people in the village noticed him and took him to the council lodge. The rabbit went on to deliver his news to the chief and he passed the message along to the people.
Immediately, everyone, including the rabbit, found a mate. By the time the possum got to the village, there were to wives left for him. So, the rabbit traveled on to the next village. This time, he told the chief that there must be peace at once. The animals all began to fight, but the rabbit got away quickly. The possum reached the lodge and all the animals began to gang up on him and they hit him so hard that he just decided to play dead.
This is the reasoning behind why possums play dead.
To me, this story did not flow very well. For that reason, I took out the whole possum playing dead theme and just expanded on the animals finding wives. 

Great Plains unit: Why the Possum Plays Dead by Katharine Berry Judson.

week 9 story: the foolish iguana

Once upon a time, there was an iguana and a turtle that bumped into each other by a pond. They apologized and ended up becoming friends. The two made it a ritual to go and fish together at the same pond every single day.

Time after time, the iguana would complain about how slow the turtle was moving. Each time, the turtle tried to explain that it is physically impossible to move as fast at the iguana can. Still, the iguana would continue on. He tried to give the turtle tips and even tried to push the turtle once. No matter what, he did not believe that it was impossible for the turtle to move quicker.

As the days passed, the turtle grew irritated with the iguana's constant remarks and he started to plan ways to get the iguana out of his daily routine. He felt so bad as the iguana would talk to him about how he had no friends, but he just could not take it anymore. He needed the best possible plan to get rid of the iguana in a polite way.

After getting a headache over all of the brainstorming, the turtle ended up visiting his father for advice. The father thought that it would be perfect for him to be the reasoning for the turtle to part from the iguana. They sat and brainstormed plan after plan until one seemed to be decent.

The day finally came that they planned to get rid of the iguana and the grandfather set out on his route to the pond. Once the iguana and turtle got to the pond, the father slowly crept in demanding that this pond was only for turtles and that the iguana must leave or he will be cursed. The iguana scurried off before the father could say another word.

(Photo by WikiMedia.)

Author's Note:
The original story started out with the iguana and turtle being good friends that always go fishing together. The iguana invited the turtle to go to a different pond that he knew of. When the owner of the pond came out, the iguana got away, but the turtle did not. The owner took the turtle and tied him up. The turtle went to look for his friend and, when he found him, he found out that the old man wants him to marry his daughter. The iguana wanted to marry his daughter and took the turtle's spot. But, when the old man came back, he tried to hit him and he ran off. He came across his turtle friend again and he was listening to his grandfather rubbing two bamboo pipes together from a tree above. The iguana went up out of curiosity and got injured. 

I changed it and just made it a bit more simple as I felt many of the details in the original were not bringing the story together. I also took out the whole marriage part and changed the turtle against the iguana in the end.

Filipino Tales. Filipino Popular Tales: The Iguana and the Turtle by Dean S. Fansler.

week 7 story: why dead people are buried

It's October 3rd  2017, and my Papa just passed away. When I asked my mom why people are putting him into the ground, she told me he is super old and ready to go to heaven. I don't think she understood my question...

Sometimes people give me silly answers to my questions because I am "only 6." I think 6 is pretty old though. I mean I am already in first grade! Papa used to tell me that I am an "old soul," and I think I am because Papa was always right.

Anyway, I really am curious as to why people decided to put other dead things into big holes in the ground. It just doesn't seem to make sense to me. I want to be able to see my Papa even if his soul is up in heaven. 

"Mom look, there's a dog!" I shout. She seems too sad to walk away from my Papa's hole, so I am just going to go by myself to pet the dog. His tail is wagging so much that I know he is going to be a nice one!

As I got closer, the dog said, "I heard you asking your mom why your Papa is being put into the ground earlier...you weren't too content with her answer, were you?" WOW! This is THE coolest dog ever! I always ask my dog to talk to me and he ignores me, but this one is talking and treating me like an old person!

"You're exactly right, Mr. Dog!" I replied. 

He sat down with me and we talked for almost 30 minutes. I asked him if he knew the real reason why people get buried into the ground and he knew so much information about it!

He told me that a long time ago, when our creator was still around, a dog was commanded to go share with the people of a village that if you bury someone in the ground and sprinkle wood ashes over them, they will come back to life.  

The dog went on his was to tell his people, but he got distracted along the way and could not remember all of what his creator told him. He just sat down waiting to see if he would remember because he didn't want to walk all the way back to the creator to ask him again.

In the meantime, the creator was curious as to why he hadn't heard back from the dog. He insisted on letting the people know this information and tried to send a sheep their way instead this time. 

The sheep int the long way to the village and confidently told them that the creator commands the people to bury the dead in the ground. Unfortunately, the sheep forgot to mention the part about sprinkling wood ashes over them in order to bring them back to life. 

After 2 days had passed, the dog finally remembered the command and sprinted into the village to spread the word. By this time, they had already heard from the sheep and did not believe anything coming out of the dog's mouth.

So, that's why people that have passed away are buried in the ground and never come back to life.

(Photo from Wikipedia.)

Author's Note:

The original story just included the portion about the creator sending the dog and then the sheep to spread the news about spreading wood ash over the bodies after burying them to bring them back to life. I just thought it would be interested to have a little girl telling the story because I feel like that's a perfect question from a curious child.

Nigeria Unit. "Why Dead People are Buried" by Elphinstone Dayrell.

week 6 story: the wolf in good company

Today, what I thought was going to be just my average hunt turned into a little situation. My wolf pack and I were getting ready for our nightly hunt when things got a little tricky...

My grandpa always tells us what areas to avoid and what areas to focus on for our hunting trips, but sometimes he is just plain annoying. When you are barking orders at me and I am starving, I can't help but to block you out...sorry grandpa!

Anyway, as usual, I zoned out during our pre-hunt meeting and was on my way through the dark woods to find some dinner.

Everything was going great. I heard some hefty footsteps and decided to get in the zone. These footsteps sounded like a fine meal for me.

As I got closer and closer, my heartbeat grew louder and louder. I finally crept up to my favorite part of the hunt -- the reveal. Quickly, I threw back a large branch and met my prey...or what I thought was my prey.

Standing in front of me was a lion with paws as large as my face. Immediately, I scanned my brain for a plan. 

"Great lion, I am so sorry to cross paths with you. My dad has told me what route to take, but I am just a young cub and I must have taken the wrong turn. Please don't eat me. I will do anything" I said in the cutest baby cub voice I could make. 

As this lion didn't know any better, he thought the wolf was innocent and invited her to his den.

After they arrived, the lion left to go on an errand, and while he was gone, the wolf wiped out his whole kitchen. Before her left, he put a note on the door, "tell your father I saw hello," and off into the woods he went. 

Once the lion got back he said, "man, I should've listened to my grandad and not trusted the wolf!"

(Photo from WikiMedia.) 

Author's Note:

This story is based off of The Lion in Bad Company by Ellen Babbit. It starts out with a wolf running into a lion and begging for his life. The lion goes against what his family has told him and gives into the wolf. 

Later, The wolf talked the young lion into going to the river and killing a pony for him and the wolf to eat. The father reminded the son that those ponies belong to the king and that lions that steal from the king don't live long. 

The pony tasted so good that the lion continued to kill ponies until the king found out what was happening to them. The king had a tank built in the town, but the lion was so foolish that he followed to the tank and continued the killings. Then, the king had the ponies stay in their stables, but the lion continued. 

Finally, the king ordered an archer to shoot the lion. Once the lion was shot, he yelled out to the wolf and realized that he had been tricked. The wolf was following all along just to get the lion killed so he could return to his normal life back in the woods.

In my version, I told is more from the wolf's point of view and did not have the lion die. In the end of my story, both the wolf and the lion have learned a lesson as well.

Indian Tales Unit: The Lion in Bad Company by Ellen Babbit.

week 5 story: the foolish wolf

Once upon a time there was a wolf looking for trouble.

The moon was shining bright, and there was not a cloud in the sky. He was bored of simply hunting for his food and wanted a challenge. 

"What a better night to spice things up than tonight?" he thought. 

As he walked along his hunting path, he gazed near and far looking for inspiration when a loud noise caused him to come to stop. Slowly, he crept closer and closer until he found the source. It was a pack of goats that had just chopped down a tree.

The wolf saw this as a sign. His challenge must have something to do with this pack of foolish goats. 

"Who would leave their home and make so much noise at this time of night? They are asking for it..." the wolf thought.

Without breaking a single branch under his paws, the wolf made his way to the goat's living quarters. Just as he thought, not a soul was home.

One by one, he went through each of the goat's belongings. He was so excited, he got a little carried away. Before he knew it, he was trying on their clothes, playing their instruments, and cooking their food. 

All of this fun wore him out to the point that he decided to take a little nap in one of the goat's beds. 

Over an hour passed and the wolf woke up in a state of confusion. He was now hanging from a tree!

"What a fool you must be to travel to our home alone and create so much noise so late at night!" a goat shouted.

"Not again..." the wolf sighed. 

(Photo by PixaBay.)

Author's Note:
This story was about a wolf that snuck into a momma goat's home while she was running an errand. He tried to steal all of her babies, but one was able to run and hide. Once the mom returned, the baby that hid let her know that the wolf had come and stole his brothers. The momma goat then went and told the wolf that she would fight him for her babies. He agreed and, as they walked to their fighting place, the momma goat offered the wolf to drink water from a stream in preparation for the fight. Foolishly, the wolf drank until he was so bloated he could barely jump across the stream. The momma goat stabbed him in the stomach with her horn and won back her babies.
I changed the story by having the wolf steal from a family of goats while they were bonding away form their home. Like the original, the wolf's foolishness gets him into trouble.

Persian Tales, translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer and illustrated by Hilda Roberts (1919). The Wolf and The Goat.

week 3 story: the wolf that lied

As the morning grew closer and the wolf grew tired and hungry, he was desperate for food. He had gone far too long without a meal and had a plan of action in place.

He carefully crept to the village just on the outskirts of the dark woods where he scavenges each night to find his last resource for food -- humans. As he neared, visions of his brother being shot by a farmer flashed through his mind. The nerves began to rise.

"There must me some other way," he thought as he continued to tremble through the woods.

After brainstorming for 100 yards and reaching the village, an idea popped into his head, "Maybe I can make friends with one of my cousins -- a dog!" 

This was his new mission: make friends with a dog in order to then steal his food.

As the wolf wondered through the village, the sun slowly began to peak over what was once his dark kingdom. As the roosters crowed, he looked closely for dogs to befriend. 

"Ah-ha!" he said to himself as he saw a beautiful Golden Retriever looking his way.

The wolf approached the dog with ease and greeted him with a kind, "Hi there, cousin!"

Excited to meet a new friend, the dog welcomed him over the barbed wire fence that was keeping the wolf out. What he didn't explain to the wolf was why he could not cross the barbed wire from his end.

As the owner approached the dog to feed him, he jumped back startled. Luckily, the dog and wolf made their plan of how to act when the owner approached them so he would know not to harm the wolf.

The dog's tail was wagging from side to side as he received "kisses" from the wolf. They pranced and played until the owner made it close enough to pet the wolf. He could not believe what he was experiencing!

He put out two bowls of food and disappeared. 

"YES!" the wolf shouted. 

The dog looked at him with confusion, "Have you not eaten anything?"

In an effort to be kind and care for his cousin, the dog even offered the wolf his own bowl of food. The wolf was so excited to eat, he didn't notice the owner sneak up behind him. He felt a little tug on his neck and, despite his natural instinct, he continued to eat.

The owner kept refilling the wolf's food bowl as he could see how slim he was due to malnourishment. The wolf was well-fed and ready for bed.

"I'm going to get some rest now, cousin. You know, I usually only sleep during the day, so I am exhausted!" said the wolf.

The dog showed him the barn where he could cool down and sleep until night time comes and he is re-energized.

As darkness dominated the village, the wolf arose from his slumber. 

"Time for action," he thought to himself as he crept past the dog.

He slowly made his way back to the fence from which he entered and was ready to make a run for it. 

"Thanks for the food, suckers!" He thought as he took a running lunge to send his body over the fence.

"HOOOOOOOOWL," came bursting out of the wolf's mouth.

(Image from Flickr.)

He had been shocked! Confused and in pain, he tried again, but the second time hurt even worse. The dog woke up and sprinted towards the wolf.

"What are you doing? Do you not remember my owner putting a shock collar on you? He told you not to go anywhere. Why wouldn't you listen to him?" The dog shouted angrily.

The wolf was speechless. He had no recollection of those words and could not believe what he was hearing. How could this be? In a matter of seconds he realized all that he had sacrificed for some dog kibble.

As the wolf dragged his feet back toward the barn, he mumbled, "I guess it's true, what comes easy is never worth having..."


Author's Note:

I based my story off of The Dog and The Wolf from Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs. This story has a wolf meeting his cousin, which is a dog just as I have in my story. He stumbles past him as he is trembling with hunger. The dog offers him to join him and be fed by an owner and not have to worry about scavenging for food, but the wolf refuses. 
In my version of the story, I have the wolf seek the dog out of desperation without realizing all the he will lose. My version of the wolf is so hungry that he can't think of the consequences following his actions -- he just knows he needs food fast.

Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs; The Dog and The Wolf.

week 3 story: the chaos of man without God

In 2017, the United States was full of sadness. The climate was diminishing, the unity was breaking, and the people were left brokenhearted. 

Each person felt as though there was something missing from their life, but they could not pinpoint just what it was. All everyone could agree on was the fact that they needed to make a change and quick.

As usual, no one acted on their promises to seek out the cause of the sudden increase in madness throughout our nation...except for one student organization on the University of Oklahoma campus in Norman.

This organization was a mixture of philosophy, religious studies, and environmental science majors that wanted to make a difference in our world. 

Following Hurricane Harvey destroying Texas, the environmentalist majors had a breakdown. Nothing they wrote out added up to the disaster that took place. Where had this power come from? Who is causing this on our people?

Immediately, the religious studies students bit back. They did not like the idea of blaming a person, as they knew the person they were alluding to was God. 

"He would never put such disaster upon us at a time of brokenness!" Blurted one of the young women.

In a peaceful manor, the philosophy students chimed in, "Let's all take a step back for a second...what if we are looking at this all wrong?"

Confused, the religious studies and environmental majors gave the philosophers their attention.

After hours of conversing ideas, the three groups of students came to a consensus as to why our country has been under such distress.

In the first chapter of the bible, God provides his people dominion over the earth. So, they decided that none of this has anything to do with the man upstairs wishing harm upon our people. Instead, they picked up a bible and began to dissect every verse starting from page one.

They stopped after Genesis 1-2. They figured out what has been causing the increase in chaos throughout the lands. 

In those verses, God talks about the creation of the heavens and the earth, which most Christians believe, and he also mentions that on the seventh day He rested. 

In today's age, we often forget to rest and give praise to God on Sundays. Even the most Christian of Christians will miss church due to other obligations that arise. 

"This has to be it!" they all thought to themselves. 

Later that week, the organization reached out to the news with their thoughts organized into a presentation. They gave them permission to be on air for the whole world to hear as they knew that even those that did not believe in God would do whatever it takes to stop the chaos of the world.

One month passed since their presentation and, to say the least, they were heard. Stores closed on Sundays, buses drove locals to worship God, and happiness was on the rise.

Who knew, all we needed was a little God to fix a lot of problems.

(Creation of Adam, by William Blake)

Author's Note:

The story I read was about the creation of the Heavens, Earth, Adam, and Eve. It included the seven days of creation and ended with Eve being created from Adam's rib. I found it to be quite difficult to base a story off of this topic, so I tried my best. I have been working on my own faith and definitely fall in and out of the habit of attending church, so I figured I would make a little story around Sundays. I tried to demonstrate the chaos of our generation and the fact that there are some days that I feel like I don't have time to eat much less attend a church service. I used that idea and made it be the cause of basically everything bad that's happened in a short span of time (I know, dramatic). Then, of course, the world goes back to giving the people time to breath and worship every Sunday and all is sunshine and rainbows! 

Story source: King James Bible (1611): Genesis 1-2.

week 2 story: the lone indian vs. the horse-riding ghost

As the tribe prepared for war, there was one member pushed to the side -- the lone Indian. The lone Indian was barely old enough to be of any help and had not yet developed fully in size. Because of this, he was left in the dirt as the men cut down trees for firewood and skinned buffalo for food and clothing. He grew tired of his skills being under-minded, and decided to take matters into his own hands even though the older men warned him of the horse-riding ghost that protects the woods from wanderers. 

As he strayed from his pack, the night crept in. Fog lingered along his path, almost too thick to see through. He did not let this frighten him and kept on his way in an effort to find some source of food large enough to bring back and feed  his tribe. 

Two hours passed and the lone Indian became tired. He cut some branches, gathered some brush, and sparked up a fire to keep him light throughout the night. Only an hour had passed when a gust of wind shook him awake and nearly put out his fire. He immediately grabbed more brush to re-ignite the fire and was startled when he looked up to see he was under a burial scaffold. Chills covered his body as he knew he was in trouble.

This is an image of the burial scaffold the lone Indian awoke to.

(Photo by Wikimedia Commons)

"Were the men telling the truth about the horse-riding ghost?" He whispered to himself.

"Why yes, they were and you were too ignorant to listen to your elders, weren't you?" said the horse-riding ghost from afar.

The lone Indian trembled to his feet and began to scroll through his memory in an effort to recall what the men told him to do in order to defeat the ghost. As the ghost drew near and came into sight, a spark arose from the fire and landed on him. The horse rose onto its' hind legs and quickly moved away from the fire. 

"That's it!" the lone Indian thought to himself.

He finally remembered that, in order to defeat the horse-riding ghost, he must set him on fire. He ran faster than ever and grabbed as much brush as he could with his bare hands to throw onto the fire while the ghost was recovering from the burn. As the fire climbed higher, the ghost drew in close again.

All at once, the horse lunged through the fire to attack the lone Indian and, by instinct, he grabbed a piece of wood from the burial scaffold and jousted the ghost right off the horse's back and into the fire.

The lone Indian fell to the ground in relief as the ghost screamed in agony . . . he had been defeated. 

The sun began to rise, and the lone Indian remembered that the attack was happening on his tribe within the hour. He grabbed his supplies, hopped on the horse's back, and grabbed as much brush and wood as he could as he galloped back to his tribe.

When he returned, his tribe bursted with joy. The men could not believe the courage the lone Indian had displayed as he rode into their campsite on his trophy. No matter the outcome of the attack that was to come, he knew today would go down in history as he discover that he was the first ever to defeat the horse-riding ghost. 

Author's Note:

This story was inspired by, "The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost." The story starts out with a young that went out along a warpath alone. Each night, he was called out to by a ghost in some way. First, the ghost lifted his leg to cut it, then he awoke to a burial scaffold, and finally the ghost demanding food from the young man. The story ends with the young man having to wrestle the ghost which allows him permission to steal horses. I changed the story by making the ghost ride the horse and I made the story take place in one night.

Bibliography:

"Myths and Legends of the Great Plains" by Katharine Berry Judson (1913). Web source.