Portfolio Guide

Story of George and the Apple
This story is about a high school boy, George, who receives a magical apple that will help him find love. George receives this apple from a nerdy boy at his school when George helps him in a fight. This is my favorite story in my portfolio. I believe I really captured the meaning of the original story, which allowed me to write a really good story in my own way.

Story of Tying Tiger
This story is about a Tiger and his mango tree. A tricky little spider wants the tiger's mangos and he tricks and plots his way to get some.

Story of King Sun Wu Kung. 
This story is about a young orphan monkey who at first is very lost but ends up inheriting a beautiful kingdom filled with gold and waterfalls.

Week 7 Storytelling: Tying Tiger

Tiger sat perched on his land admiring his delicious-looking mango tree. He always wanted a mango tree and finally one grew on his land. He was so excited to eat the yummy fruit and share with his friends. Tiger was smelling his mangos when Anansi, a poisonous creature, snuck up on him admiring the mango tree. Anansi asked Tiger if he could have a mango because he really wanted one. Anansi asked the question as if he was sweet and not a cunning liar. Tiger told Anansi that he wasn’t giving any mangos away to such a horrible creature and was only sharing them with his friends. Tiger was nervous to say this to Anansi but he had been mean one too many times for Tiger to handle. Anansi walked away while staring at Tiger with such a chilling look Tiger got the goose bumps. Anansi told Tiger he would regret his decision.

Later, while Tiger was sleeping he woke up to a sharp pain in his side. He tried to move around to see what was causing so much pain on his tail. He saw Anansi leaning up from stinging Tiger and soon Tiger lost control of his body and passed out. A few minutes later he woke up and realized he was tied to his mango tree and noticed Anansi was in his tree eating all his mangos. Tiger was curious why he wasn’t dead considering Anansi stung him, but Anansi told him he didn’t string him hard enough so he had to wake up to see Anansi eating his precious mangos.

Tiger began to get quite upset and struggled to break himself free. Anansi told him there was no use in trying because the knot was so tight an ant couldn’t even escape. Tiger noticed that this very old man walked by every day at the same time. Tiger would bribe the man with a mango to untie him. As Anansi sat and ate the fruit, Tiger thought about his plan and what he would do once he got out.

Anansi finished with his mangos and returned to his house. Tiger waited for the man to come by at his usual time. When he did, Tiger bribed him with the mango and the old, frail man agreed considering he was very hungry. The man untied Tiger and Tiger gave him his mango as promised. The man went on down the road and Tiger sat by his tree thinking of ways to get back at Anansi.

Later that night, Tiger was headed to Anansi’s house to take his revenge on Anansi when he noticed something strange. The man’s hat was outside Anansi’s house. Tiger rushed in, scared the man was going to be harmed. Tiger looked inside and saw the man dead on the floor. Anansi told Tiger that no one gets away with deceiving Anansi.

Tiger was so upset and couldn’t believe what Anansi had done. He wanted to kill Anansi for killing the sweet old man. One night when Anansi was sleeping Tiger came into his home and killed Anansi for taking that sweet, old man’s life. Tiger didn’t like what he had done but Anansi had hurt an innocent man.

Tiger's Mango Tree. Source: The Untextbook.

Author’s Note: Jamaica Anansi Stories are written in African dialect that was a bit tricky to understand. They are very hard to understand and grasp what is going on, but I am going to try to retell the story as best I can in my own words. I didn’t use any of the dialect in my story even though I did find it interesting in the first one, but it made it hard to follow. I had to add some detail to add up for the parts I didn’t understand.

In the original story, Brer Tiger has a mango tree on his place. Anansi asks if he can buy a penny worth of mangos from Tiger. Tiger said no, but Anansi really wanted a mango so Anansi tricked Tiger into thinking that he needed to tie himself to the mango tree because a storm was coming. Once Tiger was tied up, Anansi climbed up the tree and ate some mangos. Many people walked by Tiger and he asked them to let him loose. No one agreed aexcept Mr. Duck. Anansi saw this go on and tricked them both into thinking Anansi was Mr. Duck's brother and when they found out he wasn't, they ran him out of the house. They let him in the house when they thought he was Mr. Duck's brother for tea.

The original names are hard to understand so I made it easier in my retelling of the story. I wrote my own story with a more modern tone. I think it makes it easier to follow and understand the story. My story differs from the original because I added more detail and extended the story a little. I added that Anansi tied up Tiger rather than the Tiger tied himself up like the original. I was confused what was going on in the original story so I added my own story where I was confused what was going on in the original. I hope you like the story and find it easy to read and follow along. I think my more modern way of telling the story will really help.

Bibliography: "Tying Tiger" by Martha Warren Beckwith, from Jamaica Anansi Stories (1924).

Storytelling Week 6: King Sun Wu Kung

There once was a young monkey named Sun Wu who woke up surrounded by thick lush grass and he didn’t remember how he got there. The last thing he remembered was popping out of a stone egg to a very bright light. The light almost blinded him causing him to close his eyes. The next thing Sun Wu knew he was waking up lying in the grass. Sun Wu wondered how much time had past since he last remembered, maybe a week or two. Sun Wu wasn’t sure what happened to him or how he got there. He looked around and didn’t see anyone or anything except tall green trees and the bright blue sky.

As he wondered what happened to him, Sun Wu began to walk towards the biggest tree in the jungle. He started to look around for anyone or anything, but there wasn’t a sound for miles. Then all of a sudden Sun Wu heard a loud “squawk!” A large beautiful red, blue, and green bird came swooping down and perched himself right in front of Sun Wu.

“What are you doing here all alone? Where is your mother or father?”, the bird asked.

Sun Wu stumbled back and told the bird he didn’t know if he had a mother or father. He just woke up in the grass over there and doesn’t remember what happened to him. The bird was concerned for Sun Wu.

“A small monkey cannot be in the jungle along with no friends or parents. Come fly with me to my house so you can rest and eat and we will try to figure out how you ended up in the jungle alone,” said the bird.

Sun Wu was apprehensive. He didn’t know this bird at all, but then again he didn’t know anyone and he was very hungry.

So, Sun Wu hopped on the bird’s back and they began to fly over

the jungle. Sun Wu was amazed at how beautiful it was from up high. In the distance, Sun Wu could see something very bright and shiny. They got closer and closer to the gold mystery when the bird finally said, “O.K., now we are home.”

Sun Wu was amazed when he saw where the bird lived. It was a huge glamorous mansion made of gold and white diamonds. There was water flowing from the rooftops and the gold and diamonds were reflecting in the water creating the most beautiful sight. They flew through the waterfall. Sun Wu was amazed. He had never seen anything so beautiful before. Sun Wu asked, “You live here?” The bird responded and said, “Yes, my wife and I live here all alone. I am King Bird of this land and have no one to take over once I die.”

Sun Wu couldn’t imagine living in a place this beautiful. They flew through the gold doors and into the kitchen where the bird’s wife was cooking dinner. The bird informed his wife that Sun Wu was lost and unaware of how he ended up here and needed a place to eat and sleep. The Bird’s wife was excited to have company around.

The next few days the bird and Sun Wu searched the jungle for anyone who might know what happened to Sun Wu. They had no luck. They couldn’t find anyone who knew Sun Wu. The bird turned to Sun Wu and told him not to worry.

“You can stay with my wife and me in our castle. We have plenty of room and get very lonely,” said the bird. Sun Wu was grateful for the offer and accepted. The bird and his wife grew a very fond bond for Sun Wu and after dinner one night told him one day he will take over the castle and become King Sun Wu.  The bird said to Sun Wu, “We may never find out how you got here or where you came from but what matters now is where you are going.”

Monkey King Sun Wu Kung on the waterfall.
Source: Untextbook.

Author’s Note: I based this story on The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung in the Asian unit, but my story is very different than the original. In the original story, King Sun Wu Kung is born in a miraculous way from a stone. He was born with powers and trained to be a powerful warrior with amazing strength. Eventually, Sun Wu becomes monkey king by crossing over rushing water on a bridge. The other monkeys said if anyone was ever clever enough to do that they would make him monkey king. While I really did enjoy the original story and its many levels, I wanted to tell a simpler story using a few of the original stories elements. The story is about a monkey who eventually will become a king but he gets there in a very different way. I did this because when I saw the picture that I used in my post I envisioned a very different type of monkey with a very different story. I used the original story’s elements of a monkey, stone egg, and a waterfall. Other than that, the story is completely different. Maybe in the future I can add more on and explain that this story is what would have happened if Sun Wu would have done something different.

Bibliography:  “The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung” edited by R. Wilhelm, from The Chinese Fairy Book (1921).

Portfolio Week 9 Storytelling: George and The Apple

Damien and George were two brothers who just moved from Nevada to California. They were about to start their first day at their new school. The brothers were both juniors who loved to play lacrosse. Damien played the guitar and George played the drums. They were nervous to start their first day but excited to make new friends and join the lacrosse team.

George and Damien walked into the front doors of their new school ready to start a great semester when George heard a commotion going on down the hallway. They were late to their first class because they were checking in with the principal. So George was surprised to hear anyone in the hall. When he ran down there, he found a small boy with thick-framed glasses being pushed around by one of the big football players. George assumed he was on the team by his big red and blue letterman jacket with a football patch on it.

George got down on the ground with them and started wrestling the football player off the innocent boy. Damien stood there and let his brother handle this one because he got suspended from their last school for fighting.

It took George longer than he thought but he finally got his hand in between the boy’s neck and the football player’s arm. He broke them up and asked why they were fighting. The football player walked away without answering the question.

The boy in the glasses said, “Thank you so much. I don’t know why he was beating me up, but I need to repay you."

George told the boy that he didn’t need to repay him. He was just glad the boy was OK. The boy insisted on repaying George with a lucky apple that the boy claimed would help George find true love. George took the apple to make the boy happy, but was very unsure if the boy's gift would actually work.

George went back down the hall to his brother and explained the strange encounter he just had with the boy. Damien took the apple to inspect it and didn’t believe the boy either. George threw the apple in his backpack because the boy was still watching and he didn’t want to hurt his feelings.

George and Damien continued to their classroom. When they walked in, George made eye contact with this beautiful blue-eyed brunette named Jamie. George knew at that moment he would fall in love with this girl and marry her. He thought to himself, “Maybe it’s just the apple making me crazy, but I am going to marry this girl.” For the next years George and Jamie dated and were as happy as ever. They were so in love and couldn’t wait to get married. Ten years later George and Jamie married and George would never forget that day that nerdy boy gave him the apple and changed his life forever.

George and Jamie had three children together. They grew old together. They loved each other every day for the rest of their long lives.

Author’s Note: I wrote this story after reading the story The Red Man and The Uktena. In the original story, there are two brothers. One day the one brother encounters a man being strangled by a snake. The man asks the brother for help and he shoots the snake, killing him. He saved the man’s life and he wanted to repay him. He repaid him with a medicine that would cure his brother and with an animal skin that would make him always be able to find game. I changed my story and made it about love. I thought it would be a good idea to keep the same theme from the original story, extend help and you will be rewarded, but to change the characters, plot and setting. So I made the story about two brothers starting a new high school. They save a boy from a bully and the boy repays the one brother with an apple that will help him find true love. The apple does help him find true love and he ends up marrying Jamie. I really enjoyed reading this story and writing my own interpretation. These stories were easy to understand and read and therefore it was easy to create my own story.

Bibliography: "The Red Man and The Uktena" by James Mooney, from Myths of the Cherokee (1900).

The Red Apple.

                                                                    The Red Apple.