Week 9: Review

This week's favorite image from announcements came from Saturday, October 24th. Mind you, it is a growth mindset image that Professor Gibbs posted, but it really made me smile so I am including it on my review today. I just love cats. :)

Extra Reading Diary: Eskimo Folk Tales

(An old man and his big dog)

I chose to do an extra reading diary this week. The unit I chose to do is the Eskimo Folk Tales. Below are the stories I enjoyed reading.

The Coming of Men, A Long, Long Time Ago: This story captured my interest because everything fell from the sky. Also, it does not tell you explicitly how men were made. Light and death brought many things to man and explains how when men die, the go up to the sky and shine brightly. I really liked this story because it was short and sweet.

The Insects that Wooed a Wifeless Man: The saddest part of the story to me: In the evening, his wife began again asking and asking, and, seeing that she would not desist, at last he said: "It was in this way. Once . . . well, I woke up in the evening, and rowed out, and heard a man crying for help, because his kayak had upset. And I rowed up to him and righted him again, and when I looked at him, it was one of the Noseless Ones. 'It was a good thing you were not idling about by the houses,' said the Noseless One to me. 'I had but just got into my kayak,' said I."

And thus he told all that had happened to him that day, and from that time forward he lost his power of hunting, for now his old sleepiness came over him once more, and he lost all.

The Giant Dog: The reason I picked this story is because it was very hypocritical for the inland-dwellers to make the dog the bad guy when the people are not so great themselves. There is more information about the dog, which is something that I really like. We know things such as how the man gave him the amulet, how he killed the three dogs, and much more.

Week 9 Storytelling: When Beaver Shared Fire

(A campfire)

Many ages ago, Beaver stole fire from the Pine Trees. He did it because the winters were so cold that all of the animals and plants almost froze to death. The Council of Animals nominated Beaver because he was silent and swift.

Animals were not the only ones who wanted fire. Only Pine Trees had it, and the other trees wanted it too. The Council advised that Beaver should not share fire with others. They wanted the fire just for themselves because that is what the Pine Trees did. The Council wanted to ensure that Pine Trees would not be able to steal it back. Beaver felt that it was wrong to not share fire after he stole it, so he came up with a plan on his own.

Beaver worked with all of the other trees to trap Pine Trees and share fire with everyone. Beaver thought that it should not be owned exclusively by one party.

So on the day that the Council of Animals picked to steal fire, Beaver stole it, but using his plan.

Beaver hid in the bank, near the fire and when the Pine Tree guards were not looking, he stole fire and ran away. Pine Trees pursued him as he had hoped and whenever they got close, Beaver would run from side to side making the winds slow them down.

Beaver ran for miles and miles until the Pine Trees got tired. Actually, they got so tired that the Pine Trees just stopped on the river banks to live there forever. This is why there are dense forests in the Pacific Northwest.

However, a few trees still went on after Beaver, but he was far too fast and they eventually gave up.

On his way to the hiding spot of the Council where he was planning to meet all of the animals, he would stop along the trees and share a little bit of fire with them. He planned his trip so that he would run ahead of schedule and could share fire with other trees without the Council knowing.

He did not share enough fire that the Council would know it was gone, but he ensured that everyone could have a little of their own.

When he made it to the safe spot, no one had known about Beaver's deviation in the plan and no one ever figured it out. All were happy during winter because all had warmth. Thanks to Beaver, that is why some woods burn better than others.

Author's Note: I chose to write about When Beaver Stole Fire. I found this story to be really cute and quippy. The original story isn't much different from mine, but I thought I would expand in some areas and tell why Beaver shared the fire with other trees.  I made it where the Council of Animals did not want to share fire because of how Pine Trees always wanted to keep the fire to themselves. So I made Beaver a beacon of good moral and let him share the fire with everyone but made it where no one knew. I wanted Beaver to plan with other trees to show that it was a collaborative effort on his part.

Reading Diary B: Pacific Northwest

Here are the few readings I picked to write about from the second half of the Pacific Northwest Unit.

(Coyote)

Chinook Ghosts: I was a little confused at the end of the story. It was kind of sad that the ghosts bought the blue jay's sister and he spent so much time looking for her because he did not know where to go. I was just generally confused about the story. I think I will read it again tomorrow to try and see if I understand it better.

Coyote and the Dragon: It's interesting how they said that evil was to come of the white people taking the bones of the dragon away. I've also starting wondering why coyotes are strong protagonists of Native American stories. In many of them they seem like saviors or at least positive figures of the stories.

Reading Diary A: Pacific Northwest

I've always been interested in living in the Pacific Northwest, and so this week that is the unit I chose to read. Below are a few of my favorite stories from this unit.

(A North American Beaver)

How Silver-Fox Created the World: I think this was my favorite out of the creation stories. The best part was at the end when coyote was saying that there should be 10 moons for winter so that way he could eat, but silver-fox put his foot down and said that there will only be two moons for winter. All creation stories have common tropes and I've heard a lot of them, but this one was different enough from other creation stories that I was really into it when reading it.

How Beaver Stole Fire: In this story, pine trees has the secret of fire. It was so cold that the animals plotted to steal it so they wouldn't freeze to death at night. This story really captured me because it is not just about how eventually humans got fire, but it tells how the surrounding woods got so dense and why if you use certain trees, you can make fire.

Woodrat and Rabbits: At first I was a little weirded out by this story. Why would a woodrat want to fight and then kill a rabbit? Then I realized that once you got to the end of the story, the message in the story was very clear. To me the message was that the woodrats got what was coming to them because they sought out their end by doing what they did. I felt like this story was don't seek out violence (or anything bad) and not expect to pay the price.