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).

Storytelling Week 14: A Hellish Dream

Garrett didn’t know where he was. He was officially lost after trying to find his way for two hours. “Great,” Garrett said to himself. “I have no idea where the hell I am in these dark ass woods. Why did I think it would be a good idea to walk to this party…FIVE MILES AWAY?”

Illistration by Matthew Anderson. 

As Garrett was walking in what he thought was the right directions, he noticed a bright light in the distance. It was getting closer to him. He was officially freaked out, but kept walking towards the light. The closer it got he realized it was a man. Garrett was scared, but there was something familiar about this man. He got closer and closer and then he realized it was Michael Jackson, his favorite artist of all time. But wait…he was supposed to be dead.

Garrett rubbed his eyes and looked again, yep it was Michael all right. Michael told Garrett that he needed to lead his through a place that he must see in order to one day be in a better place. Garrett was hesitant. “The ghost of Michael Jackson was asking me to go somewhere with him…um hell no,” Garrett thought to himself.

But something inside of him told him to go with him. Michael explained on their journey that they were going to tour hell. Garrett was so confused and freaked out, but was also curious.

He agreed and walked with Michael further until they got to a gate that had inscripted on it “abandon all hope, you who enter here”. Garrett was scared but Michael explained that they were about to see the different levels of hell and the various reasons people ended up there. He told Garrett that he would see angry people, scary people, and people laying there content with where they are. Then they entered the first level.

Michael explained that people in this level were there for vanity. These people cared too much about what they looked like and not enough about the people they were. This level was sitting in chairs forced to look at themselves without blinking. Their eyes were bleeding and they were in so much pain. They moved on to the second level.

The second level was for people who spent too much time using cell phones. The people in this level were forced to constantly talk. Most of them couldn’t anymore so their throats were on fire. They looked so miserable, Garrett thought.

The third level was filled with gluttons, people who consumed too much junk food. They were forced to sit in heating lamps. Their skin was burning off and bleeding.

The fourth level was filled with liars, people who lied on the Internet and to one another. This level was forced to hear constant buzzing in their ears. Their ears were bleeding and they were crying from pain.

Garrett heard the buzzing. It was hurting his ears so bad. He couldn’t stand it. The buzzing got louder and louder. Garrett didn’t know why he was hearing this too. He started to shake back and forth. The buzzing is getting louder and louder. He just wanted it to stop.

Finally it stopped as Garrett opened his eyes and realized he had been dreaming. The buzzing was from his alarm clock. He looked around in a panic sweat and realized it was just a dream. He picked his Inferno book up off the floor. Garrett guessed he must have fallen asleep while reading for his test tomorrow. “I better be really ready for that test now,” Garrett said to himself.

Author’s Note: This week I read Dante’s Inferno. I read the book in high school and honestly enjoyed it. I thought it was a very interesting take on what hell might be like. And that is still true today. I enjoyed this condensed version and was glad I got to refresh my Inferno knowledge. For those of you who haven’t read Dante’s Inferno, is it a story about Dante who gets lost in the woods and runs into Virgil an old Italian poet and they take a journey through hell or inferno, the Italian word for hell. They encounter 12 different circles of hell and each circle has people who committed the same sins, as the circled progress the sins get worse. The first circle is the pagans and the last circle has Lucifer. So each circle get progressively worse and worse. I decided to write a very condensed version of the story because it is so long and would take forever to retell the whole thing and it also wouldn’t make much sense to just tell the story from one section. So that is how I decided to write mine this way. I wrote mine with a very modern approach. I think its interesting to take old stories and write them in a modern way. I also used sins that have more to do with modern society. I decided to end my story in a very different way, as a dream because I think it is a very interesting and shocking twist. In the original, Dante gets out of his tour of hell and returns to Earth. In my story, Garrett also leaves hell and returns to Earth just in a very different way. I hope you enjoy.

Bibliography: Inferno. Divine. Dante Alighieri. 1400.