Week 10 Reading B: Inuit Folk Tales

I don't really understand the story of Tungujuluk and Saunikoq. It seems to veer off of what it was originally about halfway through. It starts with Saunikoq being jealous and trying to kill Tungujuluk's son, but he apparently gives up on that after failing once. It then follows Tungujuluk getting revenge for that, except I don't think he actually knew that Saunikoq was trying to kill his son and not just scare people, since his revenge is basically just playing a trick on Saunikoq, who then runs away forever.


(Two Wizards)

Week 10 Reading A: Inuit Folk Tales

I liked the story of the Coming of Men because it handled the concept of death in a way I've never seen before. Rather than being a punishment for some crime, death was chosen by a human as a trade off to get light. The world couldn't really get started until people could die, and it was acknowledged that a world in which no one dies would be overcrowded and terrible. I also like how all the choices were made by women. And one of the first things humans did was decide they wanted dogs, which is relatable.

                              
                                  (Visit Greenland, Flickr)

Week 9 Reading A: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)

The story of Kintaro focuses on his childhood a lot more than most other hero stories I've read. Rather than going on about his heroic deeds and how he became a samurai, it recounts what seems to be a fairly ordinary day when he was eight, ending with him being recruited into samurai training and a brief summary of his adult life.

                                                      
                                                                      (Kintaro Doll)

Week 8 Progess

I'm pretty happy with my progress so far. My weekly routine is okay for the most part, but I tend to put off doing my project/comment/feedback until the last minute instead of doing them at the time I planned when I made my schedule. I also haven't done any of the extra credit assignments. Moving forward, I'm going to try to get back on my planned schedule and find time to do the extra credit.

                                     
                                                         (Inspirational balloon)

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

1. For the most part I've found the feedback and comments I've received to be very helpful. I sometimes struggle with knowing how much explanation I need to include in my writing, so comments that ask questions or point out something that was confusing are a good opportunity for me to see how I can improve in that respect.

2. I think my feedback to other students has been pretty good, although they would be better able to answer that than I am. I usually try to start my comments with saying what I liked about a person's story or project, then move to any points I think could be improved.

3. I feel like I've sort of gotten to know a bit about some people whose blogs I've been assigned several times by the randomizer and some people who have commented on multiple stories on my blog just by seeing the types of stories they write and what they like or dislike in my stories. I haven't really had any ongoing conversations with anyone through the comment section. I think my introduction and blog tells people as much about me as I would reveal in any other class.

4. I want to work on leaving more questions over things I didn't understand in the story in my feedback, since those types of comments have been helpful to me.

                                
                                                                   (Feedback Cat)

5. I chose this picture partly because I think the cat's cute, and partly because I've noticed a pattern in the feedback I've received of people being confused by things that I thought were clear, which has lead me to realize that I often don't provide enough background or explanation in my stories.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

Overall, I think my reading and writing assignments are working out for me pretty well so far. There have been a few stories that I think I could have done a better job on, but for the most part I like the way they've turned out. My favorite reading so far has been the Japanese mythology unit. I didn't know much of anything about Japanese myths going into the unit, so it was fun to read so many unfamiliar stories and learn about a new mythology system. I'm happy with the way my project is progressing so far as well, although I'm never quite sure if any project is going to turn out well until I'm finished.


This is my favorite picture that I've used in a story so far. It's from my Persephone story, and I like the way it captures the dualistic nature of Persephone as both a goddess of spring and growth and the queen of the Underworld, with the different colors on her dress and the bright sunshine on the right contrasting with the gloom on the left.

Moving forward I think I need to start working on my storytelling posts earlier than I have been. I'm a procrastinator by nature, and I think that making myself move past this and leaving myself more time to work on my stories will make me happier with the results and less stressed while writing every week.

Image: Persephone, Queen of the Underworld 

Week 7 Story: Amaterasu

The sun goddess Amaterasu and her brother, Susanowo, had what might generously be called a rocky relationship. Susanowo would not listen to reason, he caused problems for the mortals on earth and the other gods in heaven constantly, and he influenced his children to take part in his trouble making. He also had a habit of barging into his sister's palace, demanding her hospitality, trying to pick a fight with her, and terrorizing her attendants. Amaterasu's job ruling over the heavens would have been difficult enough without having to deal with her unruly little brother, and she always dreaded the times when he would show up at her palace gates.

And so, when he started one of his visits by bursting directly into the room where she was working on a thunderbolt, clearly in the mood to start a fight even more than usual, she decided that she truly wasn't in the mood to deal with it. She left to hide in a cave and give her brother time to get over whatever had caused his little temper tantrum. Hopefully seeing the consequences of a few days without sunlight would make him hesitate to be so rude to her in the future.

Amaterasu couldn't say exactly how long she stayed in her cave. It was hard to judge the passage of time when the inside of the cave was always bright with her radiance and the outside was perpetually dark. It couldn't have been more than a week at the very most when the sound of beautiful music began drifting into the cave.

Going to the mouth of the cave, Amaterasu saw the goddess Uzume doing a celebratory dance outside. Amaterasu had always been very close with Uzume, and the other goddess was a talented and lovely dancer, so Amaterasu sat in the cave's entrance to watch.

When Uzume's dance ended, Amaterasu called out to her. "What are you celebrating, Uzume?"

"Oh, haven't you heard?" Uzume called back, a mischievous smile pulling on her lips. "I have found a sun goddess to light our days and lead the heavens. Isn't that wonderful?"

Amaterasu narrowed her eyes at this strange and confusing answer. "Have you? I suppose that's good, then, though I can think of no one suited to the job."

Uzume's smile grew and she walked over to sit across from Amaterasu. "Oh, she's perfectly suited," she said. "Not to mention beautiful. The most beautiful goddess of them all, in fact."

Amaterasu raised an eyebrow. "So, you're appointing yourself to the position?"

Uzume laughed. "Oh no, not me. Here, I'll show you who it is. Truly, you'll be amazed."

Uzume pulled an ornate gold frame from her robes and held it out for Amaterasu to see. Amaterasu's own face stared back at her, the sun goddesses light reflected dazzlingly off of a mirror.

Amaterasu chuckled and rolled her eyes. "You're a terrible flirt," she said, standing up and offering a hand to Uzume. "If you wanted me to return you could have just asked."

Uzume grinned as she took Amaterasu's hand and pulled herself to her feet. "Where's the fun in that?" she asked. Her smile faded slightly before she spoke again. "You will come back, won't you? Things are not going well without you."

Amaterasu nodded and began walking back toward her palace, hand in hand with Uzume. "Yes, I'm coming back. I was always planning to, and if Susanowo hasn't learned his lesson by now, I doubt he will."

Uzume's smile returned in full force. "Wonderful! Everyone will be so happy to have you back." With that, she ran toward the palace, pulling Amaterasu along with her.


                                              (Amaterasu emerging from her cave)

Author's Note: This story is based on The Miraculous Mirror. In the original, Amaterasu flees from Susanowo because she is afraid of him. Then Uzume tells her that the god's have found a new sun goddess who is more beautiful than Amaterasu and shows her a mirror. Amaterasu thinks her reflection is her replacement, rushes out of the cave to fight it, and the cave is sealed behind her. I thought that it didn't make any sense for Amaterasu to fall for a trick like that, so I turned the mirror thing into a joke between her and Uzume. I also had her leave because she was fed up with Susanowo instead of afraid of him, because I don't think the literal queen of heaven would be that easily frightened.