Famous Last Words Week 4

This has been a very strange week for me, and as I sit here and reflect on everything that has happened this week – both in this class and in my life in general -- I’m pretty thankful that today is Friday. I can definitely say that.

I actually had to create a website for one of my other classes this week. We’re going to be using it for client work we’re doing in Public Relations Writing. The sites we made for that class are powered by WordPress and registered as domains through OU, so the creation/customization process was a little different than the process I went through for this class. Still, I was glad I had experienced something similar in this class. Even though details were different, I felt a certain sense of familiarity and that made me feel less intimidated by the whole process.

I feel like I did a lot of my assignments early this week (and, as I mentioned before, it’s been a crazy week and a lot has happened since then), so my closing thoughts this week are kind of all over the place. I apologize for that.

I chose the Persian Fairy Tales unit this week and I enjoyed reading most of those stories a lot. It was nice to have a change of scenery, so to speak, after reading Ovid units for two weeks. I was definitely surprised by how much action and gore some of the fairy tales had. That’s not something we’re used to seeing in most familiar Western fairy tales.

I haven’t completed my storybook assignment for this week yet, but I plan to get to that later tonight. I started earlier, but I just wasn’t happy with the way things were looking. Thankfully, we have the option to choose Storybook or Portfolio, so if I continue to struggle, it’s nice to know that I won’t have to drag myself through ten more weeks of something that just isn’t shaping up the way I want it to. I think the Storybook is a lot more exciting, so I’m going to try to make that work. We’ll see.

(Cheesy TGIF graphic, Wikimedia Commons)

Essay Week 4: Memories of Writing

I distinctly remember learning to write the alphabet, which for me began super early (pre-school and pre-K) but hit really hard in the beginning of first grade. I was a very eager student and I always liked school as a child…until my first grade teacher began trying to correct my ‘writing posture’ which was essentially the way I held my pencil. I understand that some ways of holding a pencil may be more comfortable than others, but I still to this day don’t believe that one way of holding a pencil can be more correct than another.

Regardless, I was told that I held my pencil wrong. I gripped my pencil super low and rested my pencil on the side of my ring finger nail, which I guess is a no-no. My teacher tried and tried to break me of this habit, but I wasn’t having it. My way of holding a pencil worked for me and felt most natural to me. However, my teacher didn’t give up. She made me use these special training pencil grips, like the ones pictured below.

I hated those pencil grips! For a while, I stopped doing my writing at school because I refused to use them. I would take almost all of my schoolwork home where I could do it comfortably with my grip-less, naked pencil. I’m sure nobody has excellent penmanship in first grade, but these pencil grips totally destroyed my penmanship. My writing was almost illegible because I couldn’t control the flow of my handwriting in this mandated position.

Long story short, my teacher was fighting a loosing battle. For a while, I struggled through her insisting that I use the grips, but I think she eventually caved. It’s possible that this could have gone on for the entire year of first grade, but I never changed my ways.

Almost fifteen years later, I still hold my writing utensils ‘incorrectly’. I do have a small bone spur on my right hand ring finger, so I guess I’ve paid a price for my stubbornness, but I wouldn’t change anything. This is how I’ve written 

from the moment I started writing, and I’m sure this is how I’ll write forever.

(Pencil training grips, Amazon.com)

Storytelling for Week 4: The Story of the Wolf-Bride

There was once a man who had a son. His son was the greatest gift he had ever received, and the man cherished his son beyond measure. He never wanted to let anybody or anything harm his son. He wanted to protect his son forever.

One day, the man went to the akhund to get the boy’s horoscope. The man was excited to hear the horoscope. He felt confident that the akhund would tell him that his son would grow up to be a great man with countless riches and immeasurable success. However, this was not the case. Grimly, the akhund told the man what he had seen in the stars for the boy. According to him, the boy was fated to be torn to pieces by a wolf.

The father, visibly upset, ran home to take all the precautions imaginable. He worked for months on an underground chamber to keep his son safe. The chamber was airtight and impenetrable with multiple security features designed to keep the outside out. The setup was not fancy but it was also not uncomfortable; the man loved his son very much and he understood that his son shouldn’t be punished for something he couldn’t control.

Still, the man went to great lengths in an attempt to ensure he’d never see the day where his son’s predicted fate came true. His son was never allowed to go outside after dark and was very rarely allowed to go outside in the daytime. On the rare occasions when the boy was allowed to come up for some fresh air, the father and several other men from the village stood watch and kept him in sight.

The boy didn’t go to school. His father convinced an akhund to teach his son from the safety of the shelter. The boy enjoyed his lessons because they brought some interaction into his life. Over the years, the boy learned to read and write and developed more or less normally. The father’s paranoia began to fade, and he decided that it was time for his son to marry.

The father found a girl and arranged the wedding. The boy was very excited. Finally, he would have someone to keep him company every day! The wedding celebrations lasted seven days and seven nights, and at the end of the week they brought the bride to the underground chamber to her husband and left the two alone together. Both father and son seemed happy and at ease.

But a happy ending was not in store for the boy after all. As soon as the boy put his arm around his new wife’s waist, the girl turned into a wolf and tore the boy to pieces. As soon as the deed was done, the girl returned to her normal self. She was overcome with shock and guilt. She could not comprehend what had happened or how it came to be. She sat on the floor, as if paralyzed by emotion, for the entire day.

The next morning, some women came to check on the bride. When they saw the scene in front of them, they all gasped. "Girl," they asked, "how has this come about?"

"I don't know," said she, "but I know this much, that I turned into a wolf and tore him, and then again I turned back into myself."

The women raised shrieks and lamentations, and they carried off the youth's body and buried it, and men said: "Whatever is willed by fate, that verily comes to pass."

(A gray wolf, Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography:

Book: Persian Tales

Author: Translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer, illustrated by Hilda Roberts

Year Published: 1919

Web Source: Persian Fairy Tales

Author's Note: This week, I chose to base my retelling on The Story of the Wolf Bride. The original story is very short, so I dramatized and extended some parts for my retelling. I kept the core idea the same: the son was fated at birth to be torn to pieces by a wolf, and nothing that happens in his life can change this. I kept the ending the exact same because I felt the wording and the sentiment in the ending was especially powerful. 

Week 4 Reading Diary: Persian Fairy Tales

I've found my strategy for the previous reading diaries to be a bit cumbersome, so I've decided to pare my reading diary down and make brief notes on a few stories that stick out to me. This week, I'll be reading Persian Fairy Tales.

The City of Nothing-in-the-World
This story was very interesting to me. It was super descriptive and creative, but also very hard to believe. Could it all be just an excuse a little girl crafted because she lost two eggs? I think that's pretty likely. Children have such active imaginations!

Susku and Mushu
I thought this story was fun to read and I really liked how it became an accumulation story at the end! I didn't really get why the mother would cut off her thumbs and turn them into griddle cakes? Also, after she cut the first thumb off, I think it'd be pretty difficult to cut the second thumb off, but that's a technicality.

The Wolf-Aunt
The background information given about this story really helped me to enjoy the story itself more. As the notes at the beginning point out, this story is told to children to encourage due distrust of their father's sister. I found it kind of sad that people would want to scare their children into disliking a family member, but I see how this story could effectively do that.

The Praying Baker
In this story, the idea of God's will is illustrated through the baker's journey to find the ring. He prays several times in the story, saying "Whatever God has willed, that is, and only that shall come to pass." The baker is a good man and a man of faith. In the end he is able to get the ring back, so the king spares his life.

Story of the Wolf Bride
I liked how this story utilized the idea of astrology and fate. No matter how careful the boy and his parents were, they could not avoid the fate he was predestined for. This story was pretty short, and I think if I chose to do this for my retelling this week, I could embellish it.

The Story of the Baker and the Grateful Fish
My favorite part of this story was when the fish recognized the baker as their friend and aid, so they formed themselves into a raft and carried him to safety. I also really liked the ending, both the baker and the master ended up getting what they deserved.