Story: Tibetan Folk Takes

We have an odd kind of case on our docket today. I'm not even sure we have the facts straight, even now. I'm going to try to piece it together here before we file a real report.

It started out after there was a painter who was burned to death. While someone seems to have caused this, by obviously lighting the fire that ended up killing the painter, it also seems like said painter did not struggle. He was not forced into the fire; there was not a single sign of struggle. However, it does not seem to be an act of suicide, either. This was certainly confusing, to say the least. We knew we had to talk to some witnesses.

There were a few witnesses at the scene. One of them was a carpenter, but he seemed a little weary of speaking with us. That was noted. There were a couple of other people willing to speak with us. They said that the painter needed to get to heaven because there was something waiting up there for him to be painted? This seemed a little out there. I knew we had to speak to the new king, but kings are not usually willing to speak to law enforcement. Yet, I knew that the king probably had a piece of the puzzle that we needed to make sense of this whole thing.

We politely asked for an audience with the king and didn't hear back for a long while. In the meantime, we did some snooping with the carpenter but he was very unwilling to speak with us. We actually were able to talk to the king before the carpenter. The KING! No matter.

We met with the king and he gave us what we were looking for. He had told us that the painter had brought him a letter, supposedly from his father, which expressed his father's wish for a temple to be built in heaven. For some reason, the king believe this came from his father, and the painter led him to believe that the carpenter (that we can't get a hold of) was the only one to do it. He then ordered the carpenter to be killed so he could go to heaven to build such a temple. This had gone through and later the carpenter came back from the dead. He came back clothed in beautiful robes and it seemed as though he had had an incredible experience. However, the temple was unpainted. To which he called on the painter (the victim) to go to the temple in heaven and paint it for the king's father.

This seems to be when the painter (the victim) was burned in a fire, apparently to go to heaven to paint. Obviously, the question must be, how did the carpenter "come back to life?" Was he actually burned to death? If not, how did he deceive all the witnesses, including the king?

These are the questions that need to be answers, and we need to talk to the carpenter. Hopefully then we'll be able to get to the bottom of this.

Author's Note: I took one of the individual stories from this folk tale unit and looked to use a completely different type of storytelling than I ever had before. This story obviously had a plot point that was a crime, so I thought a detective's perspective would be helpful. The original story goes along with the story that the detective tells, but goes a bit further to answer all his questions. The carpenter, before being "burned to death," dug a tunnel from the burn site to his home. This way, he was able to escape into the tunnel and hide out in his home. While he was "in heaven," he was actually in a back room in his house making the beautiful robes that he eventually came back in. This tricked the painter into believing that he had actually died and gone to heaven, and that it may not be so bad to die. He was burned at the burn site, but did not have a crafty plan like the carpenter.

Bibliography: Tibetan Folk Tales, by Albert Shelton. Link to reading here.

(Detective, web source: Pixabay)

Reading Notes: Tibetan Folk Tales Part A

Tibetan Folk Tales, by Albert Shelton. Link to reading here.

This unit is a lot like Aesop's Fables. There are a lot of individual stories that often have a moral or a general lesson in them. This certainly makes it harder to decide how to retell this story. The best approach must be to simply choose one of the individual stories and make it my own.

Many of the stories have either animal versus animal stories, man versus supernatural or man versus animal themes. There are many different kinds of animals, along with goddesses and devils thrown into the mix. These stories may give me a chance to practice my Facebook simulating skills. I could make different posts/profiles for the animals and have the counterparts within their individual stories comment things to show how the plot progressed. This could also be used with the men in the various stories and have the animals or other characters in their stories comment on their posts.

I think I like the stories with just animals more, just because I like Aesop's Fables so much. I love the kind of humor seen within these stories and the quirkiness that only animal characters can give. I'll probably focus more on those stories when thinking about my Story post. I especially enjoyed the first story with the tiger and the frog, with the frog outsmarting the tiger, and the story with the fox bringing about his own demise. These are classic animal fables, both with a moral at the end which is constructed by the plot.

While I did like the animal stories the best, I really enjoyed the story with the carpenter too. I thought this was a really good example of a folk tale/legend type of story. Most of these stories always include an aspect of trickery and, while usually they don't end up with someone dying because of the trick, this one's ending was particularly well done in my opinion.

(Tiger meets the "King of Frogs," web source: Flickr)

Wikipedia Trails: From Alice and Wonderland to Masculinity

Alice in Wonderland:

I started here because I did an extra credit reading for my Storybook over the first half of the Alice in Wonderland unit. This article gives a complete overview of the story of Alice, from her meager beginnings as a story to her massive success following the various adaptations of the original story. I was actually just looking to do a little research on the story on this site, but remember that I could be extra credit points for just a few more clicks!

Hookah:

I was looking through the previous page, Alice in Wonderland, for an interesting next step to take and saw the link to this page and wondered what kind of information it would have; it turns out it has a WHOLE BUNCH! I have seen many hookah places around the Oklahoma City area and have visited some on occasion, but this particular page gave a lot of insight to the international cultural phenomenon that is hookah. I particularly liked the country by country analysis of the place of hookah in their culture.

Tobacco:

Not a far step from hookah is tobacco, as tobacco is often used in hookahs. I knew that this was going to give a whole lot of information about all the different kinds of ways people use tobacco. This crop also has a very rich history in our country, with many colonies depending on it to sustain their wavering economies.

Masculinity:

This was an interesting leap from tobacco to masculinity, but not that surprising. Traditionally, smoking or chewing tobacco has been seen as a man's hobby in many societies. Often, it was seen as promiscuous if a woman were to smoke. As said in the article, since about the mid-1800s, smoking tobacco has been seen as a sign of "masculinity and power."

(Hookah in a restaurant in Nepal, web source: Wikimedia)

Tech Tip: Link Check, 1-2, 1-2

Google Sites is turning out to be a really neat interface to set up my Storybook. Adding a new page this week was actually a semi-exciting experience!

All of my links worked great when I tried them; no problems there. I'll definitely be interested in discovering some different design/layout templates. Looking at some of the older Storybooks has inspired me to really get creative!

Check out my website here: sites.google.com/kimberleybishopok

Alice in Wonderland Part A

Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll. Link to reading here.

A lot of this half of the unit was similar to stories that appeared in the Disney version of this tale. Alice falling down the rabbit hole, eating and drinking random items to shrink or grow, meeting the Caterpillar atop a mushroom, and talking with the Cheshire Cat.

One part of this story, and the only part that was not present in the movie to my knowledge, confused me a bit. The part with the Duchess in the home. She's sitting in the middle of her kitchen supposedly holding a baby. This baby just turns out to be a pig wrapped up and the Cheshire Cat does not seem the bit taken aback by this? Also the cook in this home is literally just throwing pots and pans and other things across the room toward the Duchess holding the so-called baby? I can't say that I determined what the point of that part was.

I didn't find too too much (YET!) that I'll want to include in my Storybook. Of course, I'll want the very beginning of Alice discovering Wonderland and falling down the hole. I think the social media platform that I've chosen will be a really cool medium for this story, the more I read it. I'll make Alice a hair older than she is supposed to be, so she's a teenager. Especially younger teens spend a lot of time on their phones on social media sites. I know that I see some of my posts from freshman year of high school and I say, "Did the entire Facebook world NEED to know that?" So, having her track her kooky adventures via Facebook status is really going to be fun. I think some of the bigger name characters will be good for interacting on the Facebook statuses with Alice. Like, if Alice were to make a post about making it into the garden with the Caterpillar and comments on how odd the Caterpillar was, he could comment in a contemptuous manner. Stuff like that.

I'm excited to read more of this story!!

Reading Notes: Arabian Nights Part B

Arabian Nights. Link to reading here.

It was interesting to try to determine similarities to the Disney version of Aladdin. Aladdin was my all time favorite movie when I was a child, and, of course, I was heartbroken to find out that Abu and Iago were not in the original!

I also found that Aladdin rubbed me the wrong way some of the time. I suppose that may the same as in the movie, as well. I think it's also interesting to think about the transposition from the story being in Asia and the movie being in the Middle East. I found that to be odd, but I'm not really sure I could figure out why that was the case. I also found it challenging to follow the two genies, and couldn't figure out why the genie from the lamp could do some things that the genie from the ring couldn't.. I also feel like Aladdin had a lot more wishes that should have been allowed?

I can see Jafar's character in the magician, when he moves the palace and takes the lamp from Aladdin and takes Princess Jasmine for himself. It seems like Jafar is a combination of the grand-vizir and the magician.

I thought that the magician's brother seemed to be a completely extraneous character, and the story could have ended before he showed up. This is especially because this all happened in the last story.

I think the princess' vantage point would really be cool for this story. Can you imagine how you would feel if you were married to one man and then all the sudden, as if by magic, you appeared in the bedroom of another and he simply slept in the same bed as you? I'd be pretty freaked, for sure. Following her from the palace in Asia to being magic'ed all the way to Africa and visited by some creepy dude? I think I could have a lot of fun with that one.

(Dreams of a grand palace, web source: Wikimedia)

Reading Notes: Arabian Nights Part A

Arabian Nights. Link to reading here.

Alright, this is a super long segment. There are a lot of different things going on here, and following the different intertwining story lines is definitely difficult. The many layers of the story are certainly confusing as well. BUT, I kind of just constructed a story map as I went. Which helped a ton.

Although I read a whole mess of stories this week, there's a whole lot to work with. Some of the stories are pretty funny, probably due to the ridiculousness of it all.

My favorite, I think, was the story with the young king of the Black Isles. I actually laughed out when it mentioned that the king is beat by a buffalo skin every single day. I probably shouldn't have laughed, but I did anyway. But that tale has interesting complexities, with the Sultan's plan to deceive the enchantress. I think telling the story from a different vantage point, like the King or the enchantress herself or even the slave that's being held in the tower unable to communicate. This could put an entirely new spin on this story and make it something new or fresh.

I think another idea would be to use the story of the Greek king and the physician and then the physician's revenge. I'm not entirely sure how I would make this one my own just yet. I like the greater story of the king being mistaken and then revenge immediately being taken on him. I also like the supernatural concept of the severed head and the book. Again, I'm not sure on this yet. I'll be thinking on this while reading the other half of the reading.

(Fisherman & the Genie, web source: Wikimedia)