Reading Notes: Jataka Tales, Part A

The King's White Elephant

This is a story where I would like to use a horse character, such as a black stallion, instead of the White Elephant. There are many uses for a horse that helps mankind just as the elephant figured out how he could help out the workers. I need to think a little bit about the setting so I put the horse in a workable condition where he would work best. I imagine something like at a farm where a nice looking strong horse is trapped or hurt and the farmers see him just in time to save him. The horse then promises to help them for their generosity and introduces his young son, a black stallion. After working for the farmers, just as his father did, a King happens to stroll through the small village of farmers and notices the black stallion. Then he negotiates a price for the stallion.

(The King on His White Elephant: DJ Paradise)

Bibliography:
Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt: link to Reading A

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Link to Portfolio.

Week 4 Story: The Old Miser and His Gold

Special Note: The current version (longer) is in my Portfolio. Link to Portfolio.

Once upon a time, there was an old Miser who would hide his precious gold next to a tree behind his house. The gold was placed in a jar and dug into the ground with a mat covering the fresh dirt that the Miser would dig up weekly. The Miser would dig up the gold and gloat over his earnings every Saturday. He had a mirror nailed to the tree where he would pretend that the person in the mirror was a different person, and would converse with himself.

One Saturday morning, while he was arguing with his mirror image over who’s gold was brighter, he spotted a young man spying on him through the mirror. Quickly thinking, he pretended as if he didn’t see him and kept on gloating over his gold. He dug up his gold, put the mat over the ground, and walked back inside his home cheerfully. He glanced over to where the boy was but he was already gone.

He knew the boy wouldn’t dare steal his gold during the day and would come back during the night. He acted quickly by setting up a trap where a rope would pull anything that stepped near the mat where the gold lie under. He disguised the trap by putting leaves on top of the rope as well as putting multiple ropes that looked like vines, hanging from the tree so he wouldn’t suspect anything. The old Miser went to sleep comfortably, knowing that nothing could escape from his well-designed trap.

By about midnight, the Miser was woken to a loud screaming noise. He knew exactly where it came from as he caught the boy trying to steal his gold. So confident he was of his trap, that he even made himself a cup of coffee before going out to see the boy hanging up-side down from the tree. The Miser had to be a little wiser about his hideouts moving forward.

(The Young Man Spying on the Miser: Flickr)

Authors Note:

This story is very similar to that of The Miser and His Gold but with a better ending for the Miser. In the original story, the Miser gloats over his gold on a weekly basis as well but does not notice a man spying on him. The next week when he goes to gloat over his earnings, he finds nothing in the whole. The robber had run off with his gold and left nothing. I felt bad for the Miser so I made my story where he noticed the robber and caught him in the act. 

Bibliography:

 "The Miser and His Gold" from The Fables of Aesop by Josheph Jacobs.Web Source.

Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables, Part B

Jacobs 63. The Miser and His Gold -

This is a good story where I could use the Miser's experience from losing his gold, as an example. I could add on to the story by having the Miser plan for trying to trap the person who stole his gold. He learned from his mistake by boasting about his gold and exposing his hideout, so now he would do the same but knowing someone else would be watching. He digs up a deep trench except for one little aisle where he can walk to his gold hideout spot and disguises the trench. He does this by putting cardboard over the trench then dirt, leaves, and grass over it as if there was no trench. Once it is ready, he goes to his gold and digs it out to gloat over it for a whole week. Finally, the next morning the thief is in the trench begging for forgiveness.

(The Thief Looking Over the Miser and His Gold: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography: 

Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs, link to Reading B

Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables, Part A

Jacobs 4. The Lion's Share 

This is a story that could be told in many ways. Instead of portraying the lion as the evil beast, he could be a nice lion rewarding each of his hunting comrades. I could also use people instead of animals and using a bank setting where they rob the bank. The mastermind of the robbery stays with all the money, while the gunmen, locksmith, and driver get nothing. The mastermind has to have some type of an advantage over his partners so that they don't try to fight or make anything out of it, such as video tape evidence that he obtained from the bank.

(The Fox Taking His Share in Front of Lion: Pinterest)

Bibliography: 

Aesop's Fables by Joseph Jacobs: link to Reading A

Feedback Strategies

I'll be honest I don't feel to confident in my ability to give feedback, simply because I myself am not a very good writer. I believe if we use the feedforward strategy, it helps gain some more confidence in people. Although, the way to really get to someone is usually critiquing their work not so much "praise". There are certain ways to do both together and in a nice way.

 The first article I read was Try FeedForward Instead of Feedback by Marshall Goldsmith. I felt like everything about this article was very helpful and was similar to my thoughts. He states, "It can be more productive to help people learn to be “right,” than prove they were “wrong.”" and I could not agree more. We all think differently and I believe we help each other by trying to understand one person's viewpoint, instead of going completely against theirs. It could actually even help the person giving the feedforward by gaining certain different thoughts and a different perception that they may had not already known.

The second article I read was The Difference Between Praise and Feedback by MindShift. This article was spot on. It all starts as we are babies growing up and it has everything to do with how the parent raises his or her child. If a parent only says, "good job!" or "try a little harder" to their child, then they will only try to do that certain thing again. But if one says something in detail such as, "that crossover and dribbling skill look even better in the game than in practice!" then the kid will want to keep practicing because they see that they are improving. In the article Carol Dweck is quoted saying, “Praising strategy and focus and improvement gives them actionable information and a reason to try hard.” I believe and agree with this one hundred percent.

(FeedForward is Better: Ace-d)

Topic Research: Grizzly Bears

BNA: Grizzly Bear and Coyote by Katharine Berry Judson -

This story is about how Grizzly Bear and Coyote agreed to make the length of the days and nights to both of their benefit. They also agreed to making winter 12 full moons after Coyote tricked Grizzly Bear. I could do a lot of different things here such as change the characters and the settings, but I believe it would be better to lengthen the story to where they agree upon the whole year.

SW/CA: Old Man Above and the Grizzlies by Katharine Berry Judson -

The Grizzlies used to walk on two legs and talk just as humans do back in this time. This story explains of how they began to use their hands as feet whenever they were punished by the Old Man Above. The Grizzlies did a good deed in saving the child's life, but allowed one of their sons to marry the little girl. It was Old Man's fault for not thoroughly giving the instructions. I like the way these stories are about how certain animals, such as the grizzly bear, got to be how they are today. I could use certain characteristics from the grizzly bear to say how they got certain things.

The Grizzly Bear's Medicine by George Bird Grinnel -

This was a very long story but it was my favorite one that I found. The story was about a poor little boy that was the son of a past chief whom was stripped of command after doing nothing and people ridiculed and humiliated him and his family. The poor boy was innocent in all of this and was ready to give his life up. He goes into the big cedar trees where the chief ordered no one to go because there was something killing the villagers there. The poor boy, being so depressed, decided to go so he could be killed from whatever it was that was in those woods. He goes into a cave and talks to the she-bear and her cubs, and finally meets the bad grizzly who has been killing the villagers. To make it short the boy is accepted into the Bear's family and given the power of the medicine bear, as long as he does certain things the grizzly asks of him. He does everything and gains all the power of the bear and the people from his village respect him and offer him to be chief. This story was pretty awesome and I feel I could write more up on it since I found it so interesting!

(Medicine Bear Furious Seeing Poor Boy in Cave: Sacred-Texts)