Week 10, Storytelling: How the Thunderbird Saved the Mistletoe

How the Thunderbird Saved the Mistletoe

Mistletoe

 

Hi! I am a mistletoe. I grow in tree tops. But at one time, ages ago, I grew on the ground. I will tell you how this came about.

I was liked by many woodland creatures. I am green year round and I produce delicious white berries in summer, but also in the winter when all other berries were not to be found. It sounds like a wonderful life, right? Well, unfortunately it wasn’t. I love that my berries are enjoyed by so many, that is what they are there for, and I love to share them However, I was constantly having my branches stepped on, rubbed against, chewed on, and often crushed. This hurt me, a lot. I began fear for my life every day.

Eventually my leaves became droopy and some of my branches were broken. I was really quite a mess. I was becoming very sad. Then one day the magnificent Thunderbird happened by. He stopped to eat some of my berries and was very careful not to hurt me. He was even kind enough to thank me for sharing. He noticed my droopy leaves and asked me why I was so sad. I told him how I was afraid that I might die soon because of all the woodland creatures stepping and chewing on my limbs and breaking my stems.

The Thunderbird must have really enjoyed my berries for he found it in his heart to help me. “I will save you,” he said to me. “I will take you from the ground to the treetops where the ground creatures cannot find you.” He carefully carried me to the treetops. He placed me gently into the fork of a limb. Then he brought some soil from the ground and placed it all around my roots.

“Now you will be safe from the creatures that were harming you,” he said. “Only the birds can reach you and they will not hurt you.” But I was afraid that my seeds would fall to the ground and would suffer the same fate as I did. Then the Thunderbird had an idea. He wiped his bill, which had some of my berry seeds stuck on it, on the limbs of the trees. The seeds stuck. Now my seeds would also grow in the trees as I now was.

We mistletoe are safe thanks to the wonderful Thunderbird. I am so grateful. His generosity and kindness saved all mistletoe from a terrible fate at the hands of the woodland creatures on the ground.

Author's note: I took this from The Plant that Grows in Trees. I didn't change the story any. I just wrote it as if the mistletoe is telling the story. I thought it would be nice to have the mistletoe tell how miserable it was on the ground where the danger was and how grateful it was to have the Thunderbird move it into the treetops.

Bibliography:  Story source: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936).

 

Week 10, Reading Diary: Tejas Legends cont.

Story source: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936).

 There was only one story today that really caught my attention.
 
Old Quanah's Gift - I absolutely loved this story. I loved how although Quanah was injured and was no longer a warrior, he found a craft that he enjoyed and was wonderful at. He made this craft of weaving beautiful blankets into his career became well known all around. At his death everyone realized just what he gave to the society, how he had influenced everyone around him. He was wrapped in a special blanket he designed and buried in it. Afterwards a new flower grew that had the beautiful colors from his blanket. 

Indian Blanket

Week 10, Reading Diary: Tejas Legends

Story source: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936).

When the Storm God Rises-Of course I would like a story that involves a storm god. This story is about how the islands off the coast of Texas in the Gulf of Mexico came about. I enjoyed that it was the god deciding to save some birds from being hunted by the bad Indians. He caused a flood to drive away the Indians. As the storm waters receded, it deposited sand and mud into the gulf and created islands that became the birds new home and the Indians could no longer reach them.

The Plant that Grows in Trees- This is a cute story of how mistletoe came to grow in trees. The Thunderbird really enjoyed the berries of the mistletoe. So to protect the plant from being crushed by forest creatures, he planted the mistletoe in the trees.

Mistletoe

Week 9, Reading Diary: British North America continued

Story source: Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson (1917).


Turtle and Thunder - The story about how a turtle was struck by lightning but didn't know what it was. He called for help and asked several animals to show their strength. He decided that some little turtles were the ones to be able to help him. Then his little turtle friends were struck by a rock that had fell on them. After finding out that the Thunderbird caused it, out of fear the turtle decided to stay in the water whenever a thunderstorm is near.

Turtle

Nanebojo and the Geese - Nanebojo wanted to catch some ducks and had his grandmother make him a sack. He took the sack to a hill near the lake and climbed inside it. He rolled down the hill, laughing the whole time. He held the ducks interest and soon they wanted a turn. He also got the attention of some geese, who also wanted to try. This was a cute story how he eventually tricked the geese to getting into the bag and he carried them home.

the Geese

Week 9, Reading Diary: British North America

Story source: Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson (1917).

This week's stories were primarily origin stories.

 Coyote

 
Grizzly Bear and Coyote -  I enjoyed this story about a grizzly bear who wanted it dark all the time and a coyote who wanted light. The coyote was great at tricking the grizzly bear to agreeing that the sun was around half the year and the dark half the year.

Grizzly Bear

Why the sun is bright - This was a story about how you were originally able to look at the sun. A boy had a robe made of bird plumage that was really bright. The sun wore one that was made of goatskin. The sun traded the boy robes and now because of the bright robe made of bright bird plumage, the sun is now too bright to look at.

Week 8: Blog Ideas

I checked out a few different blogs and here are a few that had features I liked.
Alexandra - This is one of the blogs that uses widgets. I would really like to add a weather widget to my page.
Madison - I liked how this blog had links at the top of the page. It looks nice and seems easier to find than having them listed on the sidebar.
Caitlin - I liked that the title of the blog is in a different font. It makes it look fancier.

There were several blogs that have the background stay in one spot when you scroll. I need to figure out how to do that. I really like it when the background doesn't move. I'm going to have to work on adding some features over spring break so that it looks nice when we all return.

Don't forget daylight savings this weekend

Time Strategies

I have thought about changing my schedule, but I think that my daily Sunday - Friday plan is working fine for me. I haven't been exactly where I had hoped to be with it, but this layout gives me a little flex room. With family, work, and school, doing a little bit each day seems to be best for me. I had to drop one of my classes this semester. I am disappointed in myself, but it has lifted some of the stress of this semester.

It's not over

That being said, I will retake that class again in the fall. Next time I will be ready. Other than the one class, I have had a pretty good semester. I'm ready to reward myself with a couple good movies that are coming out soon. If you read my intro, then you know I really like comics and this is the year of Hero vs Hero. There are 2 coming out this spring. I have provided links to the trailers in case anyone is interested in watching it.

 Batman vs Superman Dawn of Justice Trailer                Captain America Civil War Trailer

Week 7, storytelling: Why Dogs Hate Cats

Why Dogs Hate Cats

 

My dear pups, “why do dogs hate cats so much”, you ask? Gather around and I will tell you the tale that my father told me. This story has been passed down from dog to pup for many generations. It was a long, long time ago. Back then dogs and cats were actually friends. 


There once was a dog named Max. He lived with this nice human couple and their cat, Mittens. Max and Mittens were friends. They played together, ate dinner together, and even slept next to each other in front of the fireplace. The humans took very good care of them both. 

Max and Mittens 

One day the humans noticed a hole in the lady human’s bag that held a key to a very special box. There were teeth marks all around the hole in the bag and rat dropping on the ground nearby. A rat had taken the key. This box must have held something truly important, because the humans were very distraught that the key was missing.


Max and Mittens did not like seeing their human friends so unhappy and set out to hunt for the rat. Max and Mittens searched the house but did not find the rat. They then expanded their search to the yard. After a while Max picked up the rat’s scent and he and Mittens took off in the direction of the scent. They came to the creek, but Mittens could not swim. Max took the cat upon his back and swam across the creek. They came upon a barn and went inside. The rat’s scent led them to a small area behind some boxes. Max was too big to reach in behind them, but Mittens was able to fit and went inside and found the key. Mittens took the key from the rat. Max and Mittens were happy that they were able to find the key for their humans. Now they could be happy again.

Old Barn

Max and Mittens raced home as fast as they could. Max again helped Mittens cross back over the creek. Once on the other side, Mittens took off as fast as he could, holding the key. Max could not keep up. He was too big to run under the fallen trees like Mittens did, and had to run around them. He could not run over the houses like Max, and had to run around them as well. Mittens returned home long before Max did. When Max finally caught up, the humans were praising Mittens for finding the key and returning it to them. Mittens was given extra treats and the humans were lavishing their attention on him. Max went in expecting the same loving treatment as Mittens. After all, they had worked together to find the key. One could not have done it without the other.


But it was not extra treats and attention that Max received. Max was scolded for not helping Mittens bring back the key. He was tossed outside in the cold without food. Mittens didn’t do anything. He just sat there in front of the warm fireplace and purred. Max grew angry at the cat for not saying anything. The cat robbed him of his share of the reward. It was then that dogs realized that cats are very selfish and from that day forward, they were enemies.

Sad Max

So remember pups, if a cat ever tries to convince you to be friends, beware. They will betray you the first chance they get. 

Authors Note: I took this story from Why Dog and Cat are Enemies. I changed the story somewhat. In the original story, the humans had a magical ring that whoever owned it would always have enough to live on, but they sold the ring not knowing it was magical. Otherwise the story is pretty much the same. I wanted to tell it from the dog's point of view in a story that was passed down from generation to generation. 

Bibliography:  Story source: The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).