Week 2 Story: The Lion, The Little Boy, and The Turtle

Once upon a time, there was a little boy who was walking along a river in search of colorful pebbles that he had been collecting for almost 2 years. Along the way, he heard a noise that kept getting louder and louder with every few steps he took and then a scream of “HELP!” got his attention. Intrigued by the desperate calling, he decided to venture into the jungle and figure out what it was that was begging for help. Pushing his way deeper and deeper into the brush and trees, he came upon a huge lion that was trapped in a cage.

“Little boy, little boy please let me out of this cage!” pleaded the lion.

“I’m sorry, I wish I could help you but… you are a huge lion and king of the jungle. How long have you been in there?” asked the little boy.

The lion, furious and impatient, tried to answer the question the nicest way possible to not scare him away and replied, “Far too long my little friend, I beg you to let me out of this cage.”

“Well that means you’re probably hungry and I have heard stories about you lions having ate humans before” assumed the little boy.

“Just as you said I am king of this entire jungle and if you let me go I promise to not eat you, and will offer my protection for your entire village, as I know you guys are having problems with the enemy” said the lion.

The little boy knew about the troubles his village was having with the enemy and was convince with the offering of the lion. He unlocked the cage and the lion quickly grabbed the little boy and said to him while laughing, “How clueless you are! I am king and I offer nothing to nobody! You will be a great dinner tonight.”

“Please oh lion, please do not eat me and let the judgment of others decide my fate! I will ask the first two things I see of what justice I deserve!” cried the little boy.

The lion knew that after telling the story to the others, they would not side with the little boy, as they would be afraid of contradicting the lion’s verdict. So the lion gave the boy an hour to get his answers.

First the little boy came upon a worm and after explaining his situation the worm responded “What a fool you are little boy! You humans use my species as an object and stab us with sharp hooks to get food for yourselves! Go on and be happy you have lived your life well fed above ground”.

Desperate for a different answer the little boy asked an old turtle that was strolling along near the river. “Did you say a lion is trying to eat you? My years of hearing are done little boy I can hardly understand what you are saying so pick me up and take me to that lion” said the old turtle.

“My king how great it is to finally see you I am the old wise turtle that helped cure your little cub not too long ago”.

“Ah yes wise turtle I never had the chance to thank you for that favor” said the lion.

“Do not worry my King, this little boy was telling me about the situation but I am old and my hearing is almost gone. Would you please replay the whole scenario to see what exactly is going on” asked the old turtle. The turtle knew beforehand that the lion was not very smart so before they got to the lion, they made a deal where he would help the boy if he took him across the river.

The lion was a bit skeptical but thought the turtle was of trust and replied, “Sure I guess I could do that for you wise old turtle” and he started to walk to the cage explaining what had happened.

“So you were inside of the cage how could you not get out my king? The door is still open, I’m sure you are not that dumb” said the old turtle.

Offended by the question the lion shut the door and tried explaining how it was when the little boy first saw him. “This is how it all started..”

“And this is how it will never start again” replied the old turtle.

(Male Lion in a Zoo: Flickr)

Authors Notes:

The original story was about a tiger being trapped in a cage when a Brahman discovered it there. The tiger tricks the Brahman into letting him out of the cage and quickly grabs him to eat him. The Brahman pleads for a resolution where he asks three questions to the first things he sees to see what kind of justice they think he deserves. After asking the road and a tree, he tells the story to a jackal who is ultimately the one who helps him. He tricks the tiger into getting back into the cage by asking foolish questions that end up aggravating the tiger. My version of the story is basically the same except the characters are different. In my story the tiger is a lion, the Brahman is the little boy, and the jackal is the old turtle. I enjoyed the original story very much and that is why I decided to write about this story. 

Bibliography:

"The Tiger, The Brahman, and The Jackal" from Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Trickster and The Storm God

The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal is a trickster story that was very amusing to me. I was impressed by the writing and cleverness of using certain objects as characters in the story. Although it would involve some thought to create a story such as this one, I believe it would be one that I would enjoy writing. While reading the story I could almost picture everything that was being told. That to me is something that I would like to carry on onto my own story. Once I start picturing the story, I am engaged and want to keep reading so I would like to do something similar. 

 

(The Tiger Pleading to the Brahman: Fairy Tale)

Another story that I enjoyed reading was under the "Tejas Legends" category called When the Storm God Rides. The story talks about how the hurricane came to be called and how the islands in the Gulf of Mexico were formed during a massive hurricane storm. The storm was caused by the Storm God riding Hurakan on his way to Texas to protect the birds from the killer Indians. I was drawn into this story basically because I am familiar with Texas and Mexico so the word "Tejas" stood out to me. I will probably be viewing a lot of the stories under this category and see if I can find any other story that will help with my project.

Reading Options

Inferno: Cerberus and Plutus

I am interested in the European modules since I have heard some intriguing myths from there. I am somewhat familiar with Cerberus and I'd like to read more about his stories.

Persian Tales: The Boy Who Became a Bulbul

I have seen quite a few of Persian movies based on past times and they have been some of my favorites. This story as long as The Wolf and the Goat were fun to read and somewhat reminded me of when I was a young child hearing stories.

Tejas Legends: Pasiano, Hater of the Rattlesnake

This is a story that I am almost certain I have heard before. There was a time when my grandpa would take care of my cousins and I and would tell us stories from his childhood. Most of them were dedicated to giving life lessons and to learn certain things about culture. 

(Cerberus: Gods and Monsters)

Time Strategies

The hours provided seem to fit perfectly with my schedule. I think once I get going after a few weeks, the schedule will be easier to handle and predict what I need to do next. Time management is something that I have always been working with. At times I feel like I am doing great and keeping everything on pace as I planned, but there is always that one day or two that feels like a slump cause other things popped up. I have always been a person that likes to do and get things done by a certain times. It seems a little complicated to explain but I'm always thinking of assignments and work that has to be done by a certain day and I set sort of mini-goals based on time. I estimate how long a certain assignment will take me and I add another 15 to 20 minutes just in case I under valued the time it would take to complete it and it almost always works out. The first article I read was The Myth of Too Busy by Tim Grahl. My favorite quote from his article was "Busy is something that happens to us. Prioritizing our time is something we make a choice about". I could not agree more with that statement. I personally admit that I waste a lot of my time on unnecessary things such as social media (but never football). The second article I chose was 4 Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination by Peter Banerjea. I am more than guilty of procrastinating throughout my life and not just on homework. The main thing I took from his article is that at times we are going to be challenged with some big projects, but nothing will help us if we don't start on the project. I agree with him that getting started is always the hardest part, but once we do start on the project, it actually doesn't seem as hard as to what we thought it might have been. I've taught myself that doing more and thinking less, will help one along the way.

(Procrastination Meme: Wanna-Joke)

Technology Tools

I'm looking forward to exploring any kind of new technology tool that could be useful for this class, or in the near future. I'm not the best person behind the keyboard so I would like to learn as much as I can from the different tools provided. Bookmarking has already helped me a ton on these previous assignments for week one so I plan on getting more familiar with it as I go on. The Image Editing and Graphics Creation tools are two that really interest me because images will always be a part of something I want to do. I would also like to try the Audio Recording if I have a little extra time just cause it seems fun.

(Technology: Paige's Meme)

Class Assignments

First and foremost, I love the extra credit opportunities for this class. I'd never had a class before this one that would provide sufficient extra credit in case I had to miss an assignment due to an emergency or just in general. There are two extra credit exercises that caught my attention. The first one is Tech Tips and the second one is Wikipedia Trails. Tech Tips is something I feel I could learn a lot from since I don't really know much about online tools. Any time I get on any of my social media, I always end up clicking on different links or pages that gets me somewhere totally different from where I first started so I feel Wikipedia Trails will be interesting.

(Extra Credit!? : Make A Meme)

My Thoughts on Growth Mindset

This was my first time hearing of Carol Dweck but I had been familiar with the concept of the growth mindset. One of my previous professors was pretty engaged on that subject and would refer to it throughout the semester. After watching her videos I have a better understanding of what the professor was trying to get to us. It also makes sense on why his exams were so difficult! I do believe that if there is no challenge in certain performance, one will not learn much about what he/she is trying to accomplish. The only successful way to learn is to try to go beyond what you know and ask questions that will help you comprehend the subject to a better degree. That is something that I have figured out throughout my years in college.

(Never Quit: MakeAMeme)

Introduction to a Future Chemist

Hello everyone, my name is Juan and I am currently a senior majoring in Chemistry and Biochemistry. I have lived in Oklahoma all of my life and love it here. If I were to guess, I would say I'm one of the few that would love to spend the rest of their life in this state. You see, I was born and raised in Oklahoma. I come from a small country town with a population of about 2,500 people. After hearing that, most people usually say things like “what is there even to do there” or “I bet you can’t wait to get out of there”. I usually just respond with a simple smile or sometimes I just tell them it’s not as bad as it seems. I can’t necessarily say anything else because, I mean, every person is different and has been through different situations throughout their lives. In reality, there are obviously less entertainment venues, shopping stores, and restaurants to choose from. But think about that for a minute and ask yourself, “Do I really need those certain things to live happily?” Your answer may very well be “yes” but not for me. Like I said before, I live in a small country town where everyone knows each other and is familiar with one another. That is something that will always be important to me and for my family. There is a sense of security and awareness when you actually know your neighbors all around you. Going out of town a little bit you run out of asphalt road and start traveling on the red dirt roads made from shale, or as we call them “the back-roads”. After about a 5-minute drive passing green pastures, tall cottonwood trees, and creeks my farm is on the side of the road. My dad and I have raised livestock ever since I can remember on about 250 acres of land. Cattle and horses are our pets and I have a few picture of each that I’ll post below. We have traditional rodeos about twice a year where about 600-800 people show up from various places in the country. It’s a beautiful site to see so many people together having a good time as the sun sets on the horizon. I could keep going on and on about my hometown but I'll just keep it at this and upload the few pictures below!

(Little Spot Calf)

(El Moro the Sire)

(Brothers from El Moro)

(Angle from Rodeo)

(Little Nephew Learning Young)

Career Goals: I’m currently majoring in Chemistry and Biochemistry and set to graduate next semester. There are different areas that I have looked into, as far as what I want to do after I graduate but the oilfield has always been my calling. Other than farming and veterinary, I have experience in the oilfield from working with my dad in jobs such as: work over rig, hydro-testing, acid pump trucks, and fracking. I’d like to be a field consultant or work as a chemist.

TV: I’ve always been into adventure/action movies. My favorite movie series would have to be Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings. Those are two that I could watch over and over again without getting bored! Game of Thrones is also one that I have been starting to enjoy but I am still far behind before I get to the current season’s episodes that everyone is talking about.

(Hogwarts: Flickr)

(Gandalf: Pexels)

My Storybook Favorites

The first story that caught my attention was Three Labors of Hercules. As a child I was fascinated by the strength and courage he displayed while completing all of Hera's tasks in the movie Hercules. It is one of my all-time favorite movies and one that will stay in my memory for a very long time. Once I clicked on the Introduction link, I knew that I would enjoy the story. The narrating theme of the story is a classroom setting at Hogwarts, which of course is the school of wizardry and witchcraft in Harry Potter, and happens to be one of my favorite movie series. The introduction is very well written and captivates the reader if he/she is familiar with Harry Potter. The design was very simple but the pictures posted went along great with the story.

(12 Labours of Hercules: Top Greek Mythology)

Scrolling down the list of stories, the next one that attracted me was Wilderness Legends from the Alaskan Frontier. As mentioned in my favorite places post, Alaska has always been a special place to me. The abundance of wilderness and the variety of wild animals amazes me, so the title for this story immediately stood out to me. After I finished reading the introduction, I wanted to keep reading out of curiosity of what may come next. The design of the page was dark and I thought it complimented the story well as I think of a raven as living in a dark world. The story was great.

(Foggy Lake: Flickr)

Lastly, for my third story, I went with Robin Hood: A Trip Back in Time. It's easy to explain why I was intrigued by the title. Robin Hood was one of the best stories/movie as I was growing up. In fact, I could say that I either watched movies, or read books about him over 10 times as a child. The introduction left me with a lot of questions that I wanted to find answers to. From the title the part "A Trip Back in Time" had me curious to see if the story was going to be from before he was a hero. I thought the design of this page was awesome and something that I could maybe come back to as a reference for my story.I like the color of the page and how the words stood out in bright white.

(Robin Hood Fights Little John: Rochester)

Zacatecas and Alaska... My Two Favorite Places

Chalchihuites, Zacatecas. Although there are many beautiful pictures I could upload from this place, I chose this one simply because I am fond of it. It's a picture I took, while the moon was rising over the sierra, from our home in Mexico where my father was born. I went 2 years ago and before that it was 8 years. I hope to go back after the semester is over!

(Backyard View from Mexico Home)

Alaska. I've never been to Alaska before but I have always dreamt of going ever since I was a little boy. The scenery and wildlife that I would see on the television were just unreal. I am from a small town in Oklahoma and I've always enjoyed the outdoors, so here are a few pictures of the outdoors from Alaska.

(Delta Wild and Scenic River: Pixabay)

(Denali National Park: Max Pixel)

First Post

August 22, 2017 Testing.