Week 13 Storytelling: Uhtred Goes Hunting

Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg, had just finished preparations for the upcoming winter and was minded to go on one last hunt the next morning. He gathered his six, strong pointer hounds right before the sun was rising, and set forth towards his favorite hunting ground called Willow Forest. There was a myth that hunters’ who would go into Willow Forest would never come back as mountain lions would eat them. The myth never phased Uhtred and he had been going to Willow Forest ever since he could be out on his own.

Once he arrived to Willow Forest, he quickly unleashed his pointers. This hunting ground was filled with rabbits and deer since it was avoided by mostly all the hunters. His pointers chased the rabbits and deer until they separated one and would grab ahold of it until Uhtred caught up to them. As Uhtred was following the growls and barking of his hounds, he heard a howling sound from a pack of wolves in the distance. His pointers quickly retreated to him frightened and whining from the loud sound they had heard from the wolves. Uhtred was surprised and decided to see what all the fuss was about that his hounds were making. He walked towards where his hounds had been and spotted the wolves. The wolves had killed two deer and were just sitting on top of them. Uhtred picked up some stones and threw them at the wolves, eventually scaring them off. His hounds quickly pounced on the already dead deer, acting as if they had been the ones to catch them. As Uhtred was tying the deer’s legs together to drag them off, another man approached him.

“How could you to do such a thing?”, askedthe mysterious man.

Distraught, Uhtred quickly drew out his sword and asked him who he was.

“I am Lord Ragnar, King of the Danes. It’d be best if you untie the deer and go back as where you came.”, replied the man.

Uhtred withdrew his sword after the Ragnar stated he was King of the Danes. The Danes were known to be terrible people with a lot of ambition to kill and take land. Uhtred wanted no part in an argument with a Dane and apologized to Ragnar knowing swords would be drawn either way.

Ragnar was a hard man to please and would not accept his apology as he felt insulted. They both came to an agreement that he would pardon Uhtred as long as he did him one favor. Ragnar had a magical potion with him that would exchange a person’s image with another person. He told Uhtred that he would not make it another winter in Dane country because of how harsh the conditions were. Uhtred agreed to exchange lives until the end of winter, and then they would meet on a certain date back in Willow Forest.

The time passed and as Uhtred was suffering the harsh and unbearable weather conditions with the Danes, Ragnar was taking advantage of the more tolerable conditions in Bebbanburg. When the date of the meeting came to exchange back to their normal lives, only Uhtred showed up as Ragnar fell in love with Uhtred’s land and wife.

(Pointer Dogs: Pinterest)

Author's Note:

The original story is called “Pwyll Goes Hunting” in the Mabinogion Unit. Pwyll takes his dogs hunting to Glyn Cuch, a part of his dominions. He lets his dogs go to start the hunt but after a while notices the sound of other hounds in the area coming in the opposite direction. He approaches his hounds standing on the edge of a glade staring at the other hounds that he had heard. The other dogs had captured a stag but Pwyll scared them off and orders his dogs onto the stag. As he orders them onto the stag, another man approaches him and asks him what he thinks he is doing. The other man is King Arawn and is angry with Pwyll but then Pwyll asks how he can redeem himself. The King then tells him about a situation he is in back in his Kingdom that involves King Havgan. Havgan is always contradicting Arawn and both of them are set to duel a year from this day. Arawn tells Pwyll to take his form with a special potion and go in his place to fight Havgan, then in a year come back to switch their forms again. Pwyll agrees as this is the only way Arawn will forgive him. For my story I tried to follow the same script but with different characters and a different twist. Uhtred is “Pwyll” and Ragnar is “Arawn” in my story. Instead of Ragnar having a dispute back home, he is just tired of the harsh living conditions that the winter will bring. He tells Uhtred he will forgive him if he takes his place just for the winter. Once the winter is over Ragnar does not come back as he has fallen in love with Uhtred’s wife and his land.

Bibliography:

"Pwyll Goes Hunting" from Mabinogion Unit by Lady Charlotte Guest. Web Source.

Week 11 Storytelling: How the Ponca Discovered Horses

Long ago, there was an Indian tribe that lived in what today is known as the state of Nebraska. They called themselves the Ponca and had been living in the area for many years. One day, the men of the tribe went on a hunt for buffalo. The men of the tribe would always go to the same location where they previously had killed buffalo because they would always come back. This time, there were no buffalo in the area and the men started to hesitate. Led by their chief, Standing Bear, he commanded that they go a little further over a mountain to see if they could spot any from above. Not too far in the distance, they could see the herd of buffalo running around with other animals not familiar to the Ponca.

(A Herd of Buffalo in Nebraska: National Geographic)

The herd of buffalo finally escaped the odd animals, but a few had been killed off. They then saw a man jump off of the animal and the Ponca realized that these animals were being controlled by other men not from their tribe. Standing Bear was furious seeing that his tribe was being robbed of their game. He ordered his men to shoot their bow and arrows towards the other men to try and scare them off. They did not even flinch because they had never seen bow and arrows before. The weapons that these men used were simply clubs made out of animals they had killed. One of the men with the strange animals mounted his animal and rode towards Standing Bear and his tribe. He did so calmly with a hand in the air as if he was saying he was going peacefully. Standing Bear then started to approach the mysterious man and yelled “Go no further for my men will pierce you with arrows if you and that creature take another step.”

“I am Short Horn of the Padouca tribe, why is it you have come into our territory?” asked the man on the animal.

Standing Bear looked around at his men and together they started laughing “Your territory? The Ponca have owned this land for many many years and have never had such encounter with man and beast.”

“This here is called a horse and it is friendly to mankind” replied Short Horn. “I see that we talk the same language, could we sit down and talk as peaceful men?”

(Ponca Indians Meeting on Horses: Texas History)

Standing Bear nodded and Short Horn jumped off of his horse. They talked for a good hour or so and got along just fine. Standing Bear offered Short Horn that he and his men could come to his village to celebrate their alliance. Short Horn was honored and gathered his men and horses then followed the other tribe back to their village. They had brought back two of the buffaloes they had killed to have a feast that same night.

The two tribes gathered around fired and had a great night getting to know one another. Everybody was in high spirits and then Standing Bear made an announcement, “My people come together as our new friend Short Horn has asked for the right to marry one of my descent to unite both tribes as one.” Everybody shouted and danced in excitement but there was one man who did not look so happy.

Short Horn’s younger brother had been watching the horses and keeping a distance from the people. “What fool my brother is whenever our people are waiting for the days killing to feed the tribe” thought his brother. 

He had always been envious of Short Horn since his older brother had the command and now would marry another woman. He quickly got together a few of his men and started insulting them and making them feel bad for agreeing to come to this village while their own tribe was starving. He convinced the men that they would all wake up dead in the morning for all Standing Bear and his tribe wanted was their horses. As soon as the feast was over and everyone was fast asleep, Short Horn’s brother and the men attacked. They left nothing but bloodshed and burned the village to the ground. Short Horn had been killed by his own brother, and the command of the tribe was now his.

Author's Note:

The original story is called “Tradition of Finding Horses” and it involves both of the Ponca and Padouca tribes as I mentioned in my story. The Ponca were following the Missouri River and finally crossed it after finding a shallow spot. Once they crossed, they spotted the Padouca and would eventually have several battles with them. The Padouca were mounted on horses and the Ponca thought that the man and horse were one whole beast until a man was shot off his horse during one of the battles. Everyone stopped fighting and one of the Padouca came up to the Ponca and asked him who they were. They finally settled for peace after one of the Padouca told them a spirit had come to him out of a grave and taught him how to speak the Ponca’s language. Both tribes taught each other what they knew and the Padouca even gave some of their horses to the Ponca. Once the Ponca knew how to ride horses they went to war again with the Padouca and ended up running them out of the area and stealing their horses. I didn’t really know how to go about my story so I tried making it a little similar to the original story. I introduced two characters (Standing Bear and Short Horn) for each tribe and added some dialogue to the story. In the end once the two tribes agree to form peace, the brother of Short Horn is gets jealous and ends up gathering his men. They kill all the Ponca and retain their horses, then he is the leading commander of the Padouca.

Bibliography:

"Tradition of Finding Horses" from Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Source

Week 7 Storytelling: Escaping the Hacienda

Once long ago, in a little town that lay in the midst of a valley in middle Mexico, there lived a wealthy family in a hacienda. The owner of the hacienda was a well-respected man throughout the region and the people of the town treated him as royalty. The hacienda provided the town with work and food for the families so it was no surprise that the people of the town were loyal to the owner and would inform him of any news in his interest.

One day, a little boy and his father were walking next to a stream just outside of the town in search of deer tracks. As his father was a little more focused on the tracks, the little boy spotted two horses and quickly let his father know. They both noticed that the horses were not just any ordinary horses, but horses of the hacienda. The father of the boy knew that something was out of the normal since the horses were never ridden to this part of the town. They approached the horses and glanced over beyond them to see the daughter of the hacienda owner wrapped around the arms of a peasant showing affection to one another.

In great astonishment, the father quickly sent his son to the hacienda to deliver the news to the owner. Once the boy got to the hacienda he started shouting for the owner to come out while trying to gasp for air. Once the owner received the news of his daughter, he was greatly depressed and disappointed but in fury at the same time. He decided to wait for the two to get back to the hacienda as the sun was already coming down. They arrived shortly after and the peasant got a hold of both horses to take them back to their stalls. The owner stopped the peasant as soon as he started his walk to the stalls and ordered some of his men to capture him.

Everyone from the hacienda knew what was to happen to the peasant. The number one rule that the owner established whenever the hacienda was made, was that no peasant or villager would be allowed to converse with his family without his consent moreover have any relationship with any member of his family. The punishment for disobeying the owner’s laws was a death sentence. The men placed the peasant against a wall and had three gunmen in front of him ready to receive the execution order from the owner. The owner’s daughter quickly ran to the peasant and latched onto him as to protect him from the gunmen and pleaded to her dad that if he would just banish him from the town, she would accept any man he choose for her to marry.

The owner quickly became delighted by hearing her say this as he had already a person in mind from a very wealthy family. He agreed to banish the peasant from the town and even let him take the worst horse from the stables, for he wanted the peasant to go far away. The daughter of the owner was relieved at seeing the peasant go free because earlier in the day whenever they were together, they had planned to escape the very same night.

When the night came around and the moon was shining bright as can be, the daughter of the owner gathered her sheets and tied them together from her room balcony. As she threw down the end of the sheets, she saw her peasant waiting at the bottom on top of his horse. She mounted the horse and they rode of together, in search of a new life together.

By the time her family from the hacienda noticed she was missing, it was already mid-day and they were long gone.

(Hacienda in Mexico: Wikimedia Commons)

Author's Note:

This story follows the same principle as the story "The Lovers' Leap" by Katherine Neville Fleeson. Both of the stories consists of a daughter choosing to run away with her lover due to the negligence of consent by the father of the daughter. In the original story the setting is in Asia, and I decided to make mine in Mexico. There are numerous stories that my father and other friends have told me where the father does not approve of a certain individual for his daughter, and the man ends up taking her away without consent. It is something that to this day still happens so that is why I decided to base the story in Mexico. In the original story the couple is forced to go without seeing each other for a long time until the father of the girl is convinced that she has forgotten her lover so he makes a feast for her planning to find her a husband. During the feast she ends up running away with the boy but they are spotted so the father and the men chase them onto the edge of the cliff. Thinking they have captured the couple, they both decide to jump with the horse over a cliff and die together. I wanted to switch the ending up to where the couple lives on together and escape successfully so that is what I did in my story. 

Bibliography:

"The Lovers' Leap" from Folklore of Laos by Katherine Neville Fleeson. Web Source. 

Week 5 Storytelling: The Black Stallion

There once was a village of farmers, who dedicated every day of their lives to provide food for their families and the King. The labor they would encounter daily was exhausting and rigorous. Once they harvested their crop, they would carry the produce on their backs all the way to the village, which was about two miles away. They would be out on the fields before the sun came up, and would not go back to the village until sunset.

One day while the farmers were gathering the bundles from their corn harvest, a wounded horse approached them desperate for help. The village quickly fetched the village doctor to see if he could do something about the horse’s infected wound. The doctor made some herbal medicine for the horse and by the next day the horse was no longer feeling any pain from the wound.

During his couple of days of recovery, the horse would watch how the farmers would struggle to get to and from home on their weary two feet. The horse thought to himself, “These farmers have made my pain go away, and now maybe I can repay them by helping them carry some weight since I am stronger with my two extra feet.” After a few days of helping the farmers and being well fed, the horse found himself enjoying the company of the men so he thought “I shall bring my herd to establish a new home here with the farmers as they can feed us and care for any health issues we have.”

The next day the horse came back with all his herd to the village after telling them of the great hospitality he had received from the farmers. The farmers had no idea that the horse they had cured was the leader of a herd, and were in disbelief seeing all of the horses willing to help them. They were astounded that their hard worked days were now going to be a lot easier to handle with all the help.

Along with the heard there was one horse who stood out over all the others. This horse was a black stallion who stood firm, bigger, and was a beautiful black color that would shine from a mile away. This was the leader’s son and was the heir to his father. The farmers were in awe by his beauty and insisted that this horse had to be shown to the King.

The King received news about the black stallion horse and he wasted no time traveling to the village. Once arriving at the village, he saw the stallion playing with the children and giving them rides wherever they pleased. The King was speechless as he had never seen such a species who was so big and strong but so kind and loving.

He quickly talked to the farmers to negotiate for the stallion and they told him that if the stallion was willing, he could keep him as a gift in exchange for letting them harvest their crops for themselves to make a living instead of getting by day to day. He agreed and took the black stallion back to the kingdom where together they would take part in multiple wars in years to come.

(The Black Stallion: Pixabay)

Authors Note: 

This story is very similar to "The King's White Elephant" by Ellen C. Babbitt. In that story there is an injured elephant who goes to some carpenters for help because he had a splinter in his foot that they took out. The elephant was very happy and thankful for the carpenters generosity and helped them pull out trees, and roll out logs for as long as he could. One day he notices he is no longer strong nor young so he brings his son the white elephant to work with him. After he would work during the days the young white elephant would go to the river to play with the children. One evening while the white elephant and children were playing by the river, the King happens to go down the river and sees the elephant. He then talks to the villagers and negotiates a price to take the white elephant back home where he would care for him for the rest of his life. My story is similar just with different characters. The white elephant is a black stallion in my story and the carpenters are farmers. 

Bibliography:

"The King's White Elephant" from the Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. Web Source.

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.

Week 3 Story: The Start of the Mexican Revolution

Once upon a time, during the year of 1884, Manuel Gonzalez Flores gathered his counsel for a brief meeting. The reason for this meeting, was to discuss Sara’s (his daughter) coming of age. He knew that the time had come for her to fall in love and marry soon. He acknowledged that since she was the most beautiful girl in the region and daughter to the President of Mexico, men from all over the country would come try to win her heart. So, once he informed his council of his thoughts he told them they had to take an oath and he said, “My dear comrades, the time has come for my girl to choose her husband and I ask of you to respect her decision. If any man tries to steal my lovely daughter from her husband, you shall all do whatever it must take to bring her back to him.”

After a few months passed and numerous men proclaimed their love for Sara, she chose Porfirio Diaz as her husband. Her father passed shortly and Porfirio took command of office. They were enjoying life and happily married until in 1910, when Sara met Francisco Madero at a ball. The two laughed and drank the night away while her husband was busy discussing busy business affairs with high-rank officials.

Surely enough, Madero had convinced her to go back home with him using his elegance and charm. Madero was of the north where the people were beginning to revolt against President Diaz and his government over land disputes and the current system they lived under. They rode for 5 days until they arrived at their new hacienda.

Diaz was outraged over what had taken place. He could not believe that his Sara betrayed him like that and the fact that is was with a Northman made it even more unbearable. He immediately called for a council the next morning and reminded him of the oath they had taken, if such an even would to occur. Among the men in the council was Venustiano Carranza, a man who had previously served for Madera and knew him very well. The Mexican Revolution was about to begin, over the love and betrayal of a woman.

(Francisco Madero with his wife Sara Perez: Latin American Studies)

Authors Note: 

This story retracts much from the story of the Iliad by Homer. Both involve a beautiful woman being the cause of a dispute, in this case Sara. The plot is set in Mexico before the Mexican Revolution and I used different characters such as Porfirio Diaz, Francisco Madero, and Venustiano Carranza.a In Homer's Iliad, Helen is the woman who marries Menelaus the brother of Agamemnon. They are happily married until Paris from Troy takes her away and causes the brothers to gather their allies and men to fetch her. This is the beginning of the war to come between the Greeks and Trojans. 

Bibliography. "How the War with Troy Began" from The Iliad by Homer. Web Source.

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.