Online Education Review

(Just a silly little gif I found) 

As you can see from the gif I posted, I really enjoy online education for the simple fact that I don't have to get up early and try to learn while still trying to wake up. The joys of online education is I can work on my own time and set my own pace. Online education is also flexible because I can go anywhere and work on my online work. I have taken other online classes, but none of them have been as organized at this class. I love that most of everything is off of D2L. I also found everything to be so much easier in this class because the foundation was laid out at the beginning. I feel like other online courses can be really boring because most of them only want me to read something each week, write a couple of sentences in a discussion board, or write short assignments. I can honestly say this is the first online course that genuinely allowed for me to be as creative and free to express myself as I wanted. I also had the most interaction with a professor in this online course than any other. Which is a plus in my book. A professor who is able to connect with their students without actually physically being there really says a lot. The declarations are also a huge part why I love this class. I like that we hold our own grade in our hands. The extra credit was also great. If a lot of online courses were set up like this course then I think I would be more inclined to take A LOT more online classes. 

Portfolio Guide

Love Triangle

A story about the infidelity of a Bible woman, Bathsheba with King David, and the outcome it has for her husband Uriah.

Encounter of Life

This story is about a young Prince who learns as an adult about the world suffering. 

Sleepy John

A story about a very studious boy named John who has a bad habit of sleeping at night with his day clothes on.

The Widow's Revenge

This story is about two widows who get revenge when they meet a trickster. 

Supernatural
Sam and Dean work to solve a case about a "vengeful spirit" by the name of Lady Mary, who they think tries to kill her fiance, Mr. Fox. 

OU General Education Review

(Just a funny meme. )

So I am supposed to do a general education review, but I am not actually taking this as a general education humanities credit. This is an elective for me. I got into this class because my roommate strongly recommended this class because she really enjoyed it. I also needed an elective and did not know what to take. I found that I like writing, so this class seemed perfect. I especially enjoy writing when I am passionate about what I am writing. This is why I regret taking this class this semester. The reason for this is because I had so much going on this semester. With anatomy and my other online courses, it was tough to keep up with the assignments every single day. I did not really get to enjoy this class. I wish I could have gotten more into the storytelling because I really enjoyed a lot of the readings. What I think I will remember most from the class is being mindful of grammar mistakes and proofreading more. This class has really helped me with that. 

College Writing Experience

(Meme. )

Before this past school year, I thought I was a pretty good writer. I am a pretty good writer, just not as good as I thought I was. This class has taught me that I have a long way to go before I am a good writer. I am a psychology major, and it is important to be a goof writer because many psychologist do have a report their research, and also share their findings. This is not an easy job. This is why I take classes that are writing intensive to keep me on my toes. Another course that showed me that my writing needs work was in my meteorology class. Boy was the paper that I turned in rough. The professor tore my paper to pieces. I kind of felt down as a writer afterwards because no other professor had given me a low grade on a paper before. Not even in English Composition, and so I was shocked. The experience definitely humbled me and showed that I needed to be better as a writer. 

If I were to design my own course that had do with writing and my major, it would probably just be similar to the psychology capstone that I took. We basically just researched and wrote about popular topics pertaining to psychology. I think when a person loves what they are writing is when they write their best. I know what I am not passionate about what I am writing about, then I tend to make more mistakes. I feel I experienced this a lot in this course. It was very fun, but I had moments were I just was not feeling anything I was writing. 

Essay: Sisters in The Little Mermaid

(Ariel and her sister as kids. )

One of the most tragic parts of this story is the bond the little mermaid shares with her sisters comes to an abrupt end. In the beginning of the story, all of the sister shared a common bond of wanting to know what the land around them looked like. One of my favorite parts of this story is when each mermaid on her fifteenth birthday would look at the land. Each one would then come back down in the waters and tell everyone what they say. The best part about it was each of their birthdays was during different seasons, so they all saw different things. However, for the little mermaid, her adventure was much different because she saved the prince that she immediately fell in love with. She risked everything for him. The little mermaid even gambled with the idea of never seeing her sister, father, and grandmother never again just so she could be with the prince. But he did not marry her to give her an immortal soul. Even when her sisters tried to save her, she still chose the prince. This is what made the story of the little mermaid so sad. The little mermaid gave so much and ended up getting little in return. If you would to read the real story of The Little Mermaid, I would definitely encourage it. It's a really good read.  

The Little Mermaid

Reading Diary B: Anderson Fairy Tales

(A beautiful graphic of The Little Mermaid.)

The second half of the unit tells the story of the Little Mermaid. The story is generally the same to the Disney movie with the exception that there is not a happily ever after ending. The ending in this story is quite sad and I was quite taken aback by how sad it was. Still a very great story though. The story is really long, so I will summarize the major parts of the story. In The Little Mermaid, the youngest mermaid on her fifteenth birthday is old enough to go up to shore and see what the earth looks like and the creatures on it. She sees that a prince in drowning and saves him. Although, he does not know that she saved him and she feel sad. The little mermaid than goes to the sea witch to turn her into an immortal being. Although becoming immortal comes with a cost. The little mermaid must lose her tongue and she will lose her fin and have legs, and sharp pain in her feet. Also, if the prince does not love her and marries someone else then she will die. Knowing all this, the little mermaid decides to become a human. The little mermaid meets the prince and he grows fond of her and remembers that she looks like the girl who saved his life. He still ends up marrying someone else, and the little mermaid dies. Although she is then in a spirit world were she had to a chance to obtain a immortal soul after three hundred years. The ending was so sad. The little mermaid saved the prince and she could not even tell him that or about how she felt about him. 

If you would like to read The Little Mermaid, click here.

Reading Diary A: Anderson Fairy Tales

(The Emperor's New Suit )

I really liked this story about the emperor and his suit. The story is about an emperor who loves to dress well and buys many clothes for himself. The emperor hears about two designers who have a new cloth that no one has worn before and is unique because it can only be seen by the owner who wears it. When the emperor meets the two designers, they show him the cloth, but the emperor does not want to say anything. So the emperor falsely says he can see the cloth. They then prepare to make a suit for him which he invisibly puts on and walks around naked for everyone to see. Everyone else sees that the emperor is naked, but does not dare to the emperor. I thought this was funny because the two swindlers are obviously tricksters and they were able to get over on the emperor. I really recommend this story. It is a pretty funny read. If you would like to read, just click the link above. 

Week 13 Famous Last Words

(From one college student to the next. )

So as you may see from the lovely meme above, I had my own personal seat on the struggle bus this past week. This past week and the weeks to come have and will be overwhelming. I utterly dislike the end of the semester because every professor wraps up their class the same way. You either have a bunch of papers, lots of tests between dead week and finals week, or you have so many menial assignments you start to wonder when you will be able to study. The past week was not as bad compared to what I have waiting for me in week 14. One thing I am happy about is this class seems to lighten my stress load from other courses. I am also sad that I did not get to enjoy this class as much as I should have. It still has not really hit me that this  and my other classes will be done in two weeks, but I am relieved because I need a break from school. It has been a really rough semester with taking 17 hours. I will never do this again. Anyway, if you are on the struggle bus, then I hope that you all conquer these last two weeks. This is especially true for all the graduating seniors. Good luck!

Week 13 Tech Tip

For this week, I added the weather gadget to my blog. I think it's pretty cool and will be adding it to future blogs I may have.

Essay: Parents and Children

I really liked the story about Clever Elsie in this weeks reading. For this weeks essay I thought I would change it up and write about parents and children since there was not really a trickster and fool in this story. In this story Clever Elsie is close with her parents and family. Her parents are looking for a man to take Clever Elsie's hand in marriage. However, they know no one will have her if they think she is not smart. So Hans comes along and is interested in Clever Elsie. To get to know Clever Elsie better they have dinner where Clever Elsie is sent to get beer. Upon her discovery she finds an axe and cries because she thinks about what if her and Hans were to have a son and he was killed by the axe. So she weeps until some one comes down to check on her. Clever Elsie's mother and father come down and weep with her when she reveals why she is crying. I thought it was really funny that everyone ended up crying in the end except Hans. I could just picture exaggerated cries from each family member. One more louder than the next. This is not something you see all the time. Some behavior I feel are common to most parent and child relationships is pushing your children to be with someone. It seems the older you get the more inclined your parents are to want to know about your love life and when you're going to get married and have children. I think that was definitely apparent in this story. Anyway, I would really recommend this story and unit. If you want to read, click here.

(Clever Elsie)

Reading Diary A: Grimm unit

(illustration by Walter Crane)

For this week, I chose the reading unit Grimm. One of my favorite stories was about Clever Elsie. I liked this story because everyone thought that Clever Elsie was so clever, but I did not really agree. In the story, Clever Elsie's parents want to marry her off, but no man will have her unless she is smart. So a man by the name of Hans comes to court Clever Elsie. Hans decides if he want to marry Clever Elsie by having dinner with her and her family. At the start of dinner Clever Elsie's mother asks her to get some beer, but Clever Elsie never comes back up from getting the beer because she is crying. The reason why she is crying is because she thinks that an ax will kill her and Hans future son. So each person one by one comes down and asks Clever Elsie what is wrong and sit and cry with her until Hans is the last one at the dinner table. Hans comes down and sees all the commotion and decides he will marry Clever Elsie. The ending of the story I did not really understand, so in my storytelling this week I will probably change the ending.  

Grimm unit (read it!)

Essay: Trickster and the Fool in more English Fairy Tales

(The Old Witch)

In this weeks reading, the trickster and fool is one of the girls and the witch from the story The Old Witch. What makes the girl the trickster could of been out of pure luck or because she had a plan. Who knows. In the beginning, the girl leaves home to find good fortune. On her way from leaving her town she encounters some bread that has not been taken out of the oven for seven years. So she takes the bread out. She then meets a cow that has not been milked in seven years as well. So she milks the cow. Finally, she meets a tree that has fruit that has not been picked for seven years. Just like the others, she picks the fruit off the tree. The girl continues on her trek and meets an old witch who allows her to clean for money. The witch has one rule. Never look up the chimney or something bad will fall down. So there girl forgets and looks up the chimney. When she does, a bag of money falls down. The girl then makes a run for it with the witch chasing after her. Luckily for her, the tree, cow, and the oven with which the bread was baked in all helped to hide the girl. She was able to live a successful life with all the money. Honestly, I thought the witch was pretty foolish to think the girl would not look up the chimney. It was even more foolish of the witch to put money up the chimney. Someone was bound to disobey and find the money.

This story is a really good read. I would recommend the English Fairy Tales if you are bored or cannot find a good section to read. If you would like to read, just click in the caption above, and it will take you to this story and its unit.

Week 12 Storytelling: Supernatural

(Sam and Dean Winchestar)

On one Sunday night, Sam and Dean Winchester were driving down I-35 in search of their next hunt. They had just finished putting a vengeful spirit to rest by burning the remains of the deceased so they would not be able to harm anyone again. Hunting supernatural things is what they do, and they are pretty darn good at it.

"Sam, what do we have next?" said Dean, concentrating on driving down the dimly lit road. Sam was about to answer when all of a sudden he got a phone call from their Uncle Bobby, who is also a hunter of supernatural beings.

"What's up, Bobby?" said Sam, wondering why he was calling after they just left his house not long ago.

"Sam, do you remember that awful man Mr. Fox who had the vengeful spirit after him?" said Bobby in a hurry.

"Yes, what about it?" said Sam confused.

"Well, it looks like you boys did not burn the right body because Mr. Fox was found dead just a few hours ago," said Bobby.

Sam then looked at Dean and told him "Dean turn the car around now!" Sam said suddenly, forgetting he was on the phone with Bobby. "Alright, we are heading back. Thanks, Bobby," Sam said.

"Alright, you boys be safe," said Bobby, ending the call. He also knew that Sam and Dean could handle this on their own.

"So what happened?" said Dean.

"Mr. Fox was killed, so Bobby thinks we should go back and check things out," Sam said, contemplating how they could have burned the wrong body. Sam recounted the story behind why they had to burn the vengeful spirit.

The vengeful spirit that was after Mr. Fox was a woman by the name of Lady Mary. She was very rich when she met Mr. Fox. She thought that she and Mr. Fox were in love when he asked her to marry him. However, one thing she had noticed was that she had never been to his home. 

One day, when Mr. Fox was out of town, Lady Mary decided she would go to Mr. Fox's home just to look around. As Lady Mary walked to the door, she saw a sign that said "Beware of walking through this door." She did not know what to make of this, but still walked inside. Lady Mary walked around for a while and did not see anything out of the ordinary. Lady Mary saw Mr. Fox had nothing to hide until she came upon another door that told her to "KEEP OUT!" Lady Mary opened the door, and she was horrified by what she saw next. The room was filled with dead women that Mr. Fox had married and then killed. Lady Mary knew this because each woman had on a wedding dress. 

Lady Mary shut the door and started to take a run for it out of the house. She was going to go tell her brothers what Mr. Fox had done, but she heard a strange sound. Lady Mary went to hide and saw Mr. Fox had come through the door dragging another woman toward the dreadful room. However, greedy Mr. Fox saw that the woman had on a beautiful diamond ring, but he struggled to get it off. Mr. Fox had such a difficult time that finally he decided to just cut her hand off. When he did, the hand flew in Lady Mary's lap. Mr. Fox then continued to drag the poor woman into the room. He planned to find the hand later. 

Lady Mary used this as her chance to run out of the house. The next day, Lady Mary was surprised that Mr. Fox had decided to host a lunch at his home before they were to get married the next day. So she and her brothers went to his home where they had planned to confront and kill Mr. Fox. While they were at the table eating, Lady Mary told Mr. Fox about a dream she had where she recounted everything that happened at his house. Mr. Fox denied everything. Lady Mary then took a sip of her wine, and then held up the hand of the woman whom Mr. Fox killed. However, Lady Mary suddenly dropped the hand and became very dizzy. Lady Mary's brothers went to her side for help, but they were also dizzy until they all dropped dead. Mr. Fox had poisoned them all and took all of their money. 

As Dean and Sam were arriving back in town, Sam realized something. All this time, they had thought that maybe Lady Mary had acted alone in trying to kill Mr. Fox. Lady Mary's brothers could have also tried to help her since Mr. Fox had killed them as well.

"Dean, I think I know who killed Mr. Fox!" said Sam suddenly.

"Who?" said Dean.

"We never stopped to think that her brothers would help her kill him," said Sam.

"Oh, I thought about it, but honestly that man was sick and he deserved everything he got. If we were not wanted in several states, I would have turned him in to the police for killing all those women," said Dean. Sam nodded in agreement.

The boys then found the grave of Lady Mary's brothers and burned their bodies next to where they had burned Lady Mary. Sam then called Bobby to let him know what happened. "I can't believe you idgits didn't think to burn the boys' bodies," Bobby said feigning that he was upset. "Yeah, yeah, Bobby. Mr. Fox had it coming. What case do you have next for us, Bobby?"

Sam and Dean then went cruising once again for their next case.

Bibliography:
 English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).

Author's note: I had a lot of fun with writing this storytelling. The original story that I retold is based off a story in the English Fairy tales, titled Mr. Fox. I was also inspired by the show Supernatural and its characters Sam, Dean, and Bobby. When I was reading the story about Mr. Fox, I felt like it could have a supernatural feel to it, so I ran with it. In the original story, Lady Mary is a rich woman who falls for Mr. Fox. Lady Mary and Mr. Fox are going to get married. Lady Mary realizes she has never been to Mr. Fox's castle, so she sneaks inside and finds out that he has been killing women and storing them in a room so he can take their riches. Lady Mary is mortified by her discovery and tries to run out of the house. She realizes, though, that Mr. Fox in in his castle. He is dragging a woman, and he cuts off the woman's hand so that he can get the diamond ring off  of it. The hand lands in Lady Mary's lap, but Mr. Fox does not look hard enough to find  the hand. So Lady Mary leaves the castle to confront Mr. Fox the next day. Mr. Fox denies everything, until Lady Mary pulls out the hand, and then her brothers kill him. For my story, the general theme is still the same except Mr. Fox does not die at first. He poisons Lady Mary and her brothers. They then become vengeful spirits who try to kill him. Sam and Dean had originally thought that only Lady Mary was after Mr. Fox, but her brothers were as well. I changed the ending for my own retelling of the story because I thought it was a bit boring that Mr. Fox just died and that was the end. I also wanted to make the story more fun and add a supernatural feel to the story.

Reading Diary A: More English Fairy Tales

(Red fox.)

For this weeks reading I decided to finish reading the English Fairy tales. I really liked the firs set of stories, so I figured why not. Two of my favorite stories from the first half of the reading were Scrapefoot and The Old Witch. The first story is about the three little bears and a fox names Scrapefoot. There is a big bear, middle bear, and small bear. The three bears live in a castle where Scrapefoot  sneaks in. Just like the classic Three Little Bears, nothing is just right until Scrapefoot gets to whatever belongs to little bear. When the bears catch Scrapefoot sleeping in the little bears bed, they throw him out of the window. 

The second story is about two sisters who go to find their own fortune. When one of the girls is on her way to find money she encounters bread that has been baking, a cow that hasn't been milked, and a tree that has fruit that has not been picked all for seven years. She she helps each of them out. Finally, she meets a witch who allows her to be a servant for money, but tells her to never look up the chimney or something bad will happen. So there girl forgets and looks up the chimney and a bag of money falls down. So the girl leaves, but the witch is right behind looking for the girl. As she is running, the tree, cow, and the oven with which the bread was baked all helped to hide her whenever the witch got close. She eventually ran off with the money and got married and lived happily ever after. However, he sister got greedy and decided to do the same thing her sister did and steal from the witch. But her sister did not take the bread out of the oven, milk the cow, or pick fruit from the tree. So when it became time for her to hide, no one would help her. The witch found her and she was left to walk home empty handed. 

Famous Last Words

(Anatomical skull)

This week felt good because for the last few weeks I have been studying the human skull in order to do well on my skull quiz in anatomy. The skull quiz was this past Wednesday and I feel like if I did not ace it then I definitely still made an mid to low A hopefully. I felt good about this because I did not do as well as I would have liked to on the first bone quiz where we were required to know all other bones and their structures. Also, this week I was also was able to write a storytelling post that I really had fun writing (even though I did not get to post it this week). I am really bad at starting a storytelling post and never finishing them before the deadline. I guess I need to work on my time management a little more, but it is so hard when you have others classes that also require day to day assignments/studying, and then you throw in working part-time and it is just a mess. Honestly, I wish I could enjoy this class a bit more, but I have some much going on this semester. Anyway, I am looking forward to next week and what it holds for me. 

Essay: Trickster and the Fool in English Fairy Tales

In this weeks reading, a story that had a trickster and fool was the story about The Rose-Tree. In this story the evil stepmother is definitely the trickster and the beautiful step daughter is the fool. The stepmother hated the beautiful daughter of her husband because she had lost her candles. She was also jealous of the girls beauty. So pretending not to be angry, the stepmother tells her stepdaughter to lay her head on her lap so that she can comb her hair. Although, she says that she cannot part her hair without wood and an ax. So the foolish daughter gets the supplies for her stepmother, which ultimately leads to her demise. In the end, though it seems like the characters switch places and the girl becomes the trickster and the stepmother becomes the fool. At the end of the story, the girls brother buries her and cries over her grave everyday until she turns into a beautiful tree. The tree then sings a song, and the bird listens and sings the song to three millers, jeweler, and a shoemaker. So somehow this very strong bird is able to carry a gold watch and chain, red pair of shoes, and a millstone around its neck. When the bird gets to the girls home, it knocks the house with millstone and the boy and father come out and receive their gifts. However, the foolish stepmother thinks she is getting a gift and runs out the door only for the bird to drop the millstone on her, which also leads to her death.

The bird dropping the millstone on the stepmother

Reading Diary B: English Fairy Tales

My favorite story from the second half of the reading was "The Fox." This story is quite funny because it has an ending that is super hilarious. In this story, there is a women by the name of Lady Mary who finds a man by the name of Mr. Fox. They both agreed to get married, and that they would stay at his castle. Although, no one had seen Mr. Fox's castle, including Lady Mary's brothers. So one day Lady Mary found Mr. Fox's and she was troubled with what she found. In the house she found dead corpses of women he had previously wed. Disgusted an d frightened, Lady Mary goes to leave, but then she sees Mr. Fox and hides. She sees Mr. Fox dragging one of this victims to the room where he has killed his past wives. But before, Mr. Fox sees that the woman had large diamond ring on her finger. He impatiently cuts her hand off and it goes flying into Lady Mary's lap. When Mr. Fox cannot find the hand, he gives up and continues to drag the woman in the room. Lady Mary then rushes out of the house, and when she sees Mr. Fox on their day to wed, she looks very pale. She then tells him about a very bad dream about what happened in his castle. The whole time Mr. Fox denies he's ever done anything she dreamed, but then she pulls out the hand, and then Lady Mary's brothers kill Mr. Fox. This was a very scary story and I could totally see this being a show whenever I was reading it. One way I was thinking about possibly retelling this story was by changing the the characters and making Lady Mary the villain in the story and also her brothers are also in on it. 

Reading Diary A: English Fairy Tales

One story that stood out to me this week was "The Rose Tress." It seems like some of the stories I am interested in always have a trickster and fool. This story is about an evil stepmother who is jealous of her husbands first child from another woman. The reason why she is so jealous is because the daughter is very beautiful. One thing I liked about the description of the daughter is it was so descriptive that I could picture her in my head. I kind of pictured Snow White. The story is also very similar to that of Snow White, minus the fact the in this story the father is alive and well she has a brother. So one day the step mother pretends that she is a loving mother and wants to comb her beautiful daughters hair. However, she told her that she could not part her hair without some wood and and axe. The foolish daughter went and got the tools for her stepmother that ultimately led to her demise. The stepmother than cut out her liver and cooked it in soup that she gave to her husband (the girls father) and he ate it. The brother would not eat the soup though. Later her brother ran out of the house and buried his sister and cried over his sisters grave until his tears made it to the box. He continued to cry days later until his sister grew to be a beautiful rose tree. What I loved about the ending was the everyday the tree would sing about what happened to her, and there would be a bird listening. Then the bird sang the song to three millers and they created a milestone, a pair of shoes, and a gold watch and chain for the bird to carry back to the house where the girl died. In the end, the girl gets the last laugh when she tricks the evil stepmother, by giving her brother the red shoes, her father the gold chain and watch, and then when the stepmother thinks she is getting a gift, the bird drops the milestone on her. The irony of this story is just too great. I think there are many ways that I could retell this story. 

The Widows' Revenge

Once upon a time, there was a sneaky man by the name of Unktomi. He was a trickster who loved to prey on a person's weaknesses. On the first day of Spring, Unktomi devised a new plan to trick a couple of widows. On his way to the widows' home, he found a large tree that held large vibrantly red plums. Unktomi then took every plum off of the tree and continued on his trek to the widows' home.

After several hours of walking, Unktomi finally made it to the widows' home, and he was ready to execute his plan in full effect. Unktomi knocked on the door and patiently waited for the widows' greeting. The widows opened the door with their babies on each of their hips.

"Hello, Mister, how may we help you today?" said one of the widows.

"Good morning, ladies, my name is Unktomi and I believe I am your long lost brother," said Unktomi falsely. Unktomi always pretended to be a family member of each person he tricked. Just like many other victims of Unktomi, the widows did not question whether he was family or not.

"Come on in, brother. We would love to get to know you better!" said the widows eagerly. So Unktomi walked in their home and pulled out the delicious-looking red plums that he found. Since the widows had lost their husbands, there had not been much food to eat for them because they had to put their children first and eat whatever was left. So the widows wondered where exactly their brother got the red plums from.

"Brother, where did you get these really large plums?" said one of the widows. Unktomi was happy to answer because his plan was working just like he wanted.

"Sister, I found these plums not far from here. In fact, there are still plenty of plums left on the tree," Unktomi said, knowing that he had picked every single last plum off the tree. The plum tree was also located miles away from their home.

"We would love to go out and get some plums, although we do not have anyone to watch our children this afternoon," said the other widow, defeated. Unktomi smiled and said, "I can watch your babies while you two are out. I will feed them and have supper ready by the time you two return." The widows were delighted and left right away to find the plums before nightfall. 

With the widows gone, Unktomi continued with his plan. He walked in the babies' room and removed each of their heads one at a time. He then cooked the babies with other vegetables in a large pot and waited for the widows to return. Upon the widows' return, Unktomi greeted their sad faces as they walked in through the front door. 

"Sisters, why are you so sad? Did you not find any plums?" said Unktomi, faking his surprise. 

"No, brother, we did not find a single plum. Something sure does smell good in the kitchen though," said one of the widows.

"Why yes. I found some meat and cooked a stew for you to eat. Do not worry about the babies. They are sleeping and you can check on them after you have appeased your appetite," said Unktomi. The widows went on to eat the stew, and later checked on their babies. One of the widows picked up her baby and wailed when she realized what Unktomi had done. "Oh no! Our poor babies!" shrieked one of the widows. 

Unktomi heard their cries and raced out of the widows' home to hide, but the very angry widows chased after him until he jumped in a hole inside a tree. The widows (being very familiar with the tree) knew that there were several ways for Unktomi to escape. The widows then waited for him to come out. Unktomi found another hole to escape from and he dressed up as a random stranger. He walked up to the widows and asked them what was wrong. They told him what Unktomi did and the stranger went in the hole to see if anyone was still down there. While he was in the hole, the widows grabbed him up and tied him to the tree. Unktomi then realized that they knew all along that it was him, and this was the last time he would pull a trick on an innocent. The widows set the tree ablaze and they vowed to never trust anyone again. The end. 

(The two widows)

Bibliography:

 Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie McLaughlin (1916).

Author's note: This story originally came from The Myths and Legends of the Sioux. In the original story, Unktomi uses red plums to trick two widows. Both of the widows have a child and they leave their children with Unktomi so they can look for the plums that Unktomi found. While the widows are out, Unktomi cuts off the heads of their babies and uses them in a soup that he cooks for the widows. The widows eat the soup, and then check on their babies to find what Unktomi has done. When they find him, he is hiding in a hole, but he sneaks out of the back of the hole in the tree and pretends to be a stranger. He then told the widows it is safe to go in the tree and he traps the widows in the hole and sets it on fire. What I set out to do for my own story was to retell the story and keep the general theme, but to also change the ending. I like a story that has a good karma-filled ending, and I did not like how Unktomi came out the winner in the end after all that he did to the widows. So in my ending, the widows have the upper hand, and they are privy to Unktomi pretending to be the stranger and they get him in the end.

  

Essay: Trickster and the Fool in Myths and Legends of the Sioux.

My favorite trickster and "fools" in this unit was the story with Unktomi and the two widows. Unktomi is very tricky because he was able to fool his widows so cleverly. Unktomi starts off his adventure by find red plums, and tricking the two widows with the red plums by making them think that they could find the plums easily. He also tricks them into think that he is their brother, and so the two widows trust Unktomi with watching their children. While the widows are out, Unktomi kills their children and uses them in a soup that he's cooking. When the widows return, Unktomi tricks them yet again by telling the widows to not check on their babies and eat the soup he made first. Like who does that? So then Unktomi leaves the two widows before they found out what he's done. When the two widows finally do find their babies, then are sad and angry and want to kill Unktomi. When they find out where he's hiding, they get tricked again by a stranger who lures them into a hole where Unktomi is, and he sneakily comes out the whole and traps the two widows into the hole and sets it on fire. In this story, I consider Unktomi and the stranger the tricksters, and the two widows were the ultimate fools. I would really consider this read, I really enjoyed it! Here is the link to the story: click me :)

(Loki, the ultimate trickster)

Reading Diary B: Myths and Legends of the Sioux

Out of all the stories in the second half of this reading, I think I was more fascinated with the ruthlessness of Unktomi in the story of him fooling the two widows. The story starts off with Unktomi finding some red plums on his walk through the forest. With the plums, Unktomi planned to trick two widows by enticing them with the red plums and watch their babies while they went out to find the plums. He also pretended to be their brother. While the two widows are out finding plums, Unktomi kills their babies and eats them in a soup. When the widows return empty handed, Unktomi tells them not check on the babies because he just put them to bed, and not to bother them until they're finished eating the soup that he cooked their babies in. When they realize what Unktomi has done, they try to kill him, he he crawls into a hole. A stranger tries to help them catch Unktomi, but the two widows end up in the hole and Unktomi escapes and traps them down in the hole and sets it on fire. I think if I were to retell this story, I would definitely change the ending. I am a sucker for karma, so I feel like Unktomi should face his demise. 

(Plum tree)

Sioux unit.

Reading Diary A: Myths and Legends of the Sioux

In this unit I thought the story of the lost wife was something I could write about this week. The story is about a woman who escapes an abusive marriage, and so she leaves her village. Upon leaving her village she meets a man and he leads her to a village of wolves. The man is the chief of the wolves and they help her stay alive for a year. During the time that woman is missing her family and husband are worried and have been looking for her. They find her and she eventually goes back with them. The husband also wants her to come back and live with him, but she refuses for awhile, but they reconcile in the end. I have so many ideas to twist this story some way. In this story there is the woman lives with wolves for year, and this made me thing what is she became one of them. Like a werewolf. Like maybe her meeting a new man, he introduces her to his family (wolves) and offers to turn her. Or she could be bitten and turned and not even know. There are so many ways I can twist this story! I would really recommend the first half of this unit. The stories are very insightful and I enjoyed reading them. 

(Girl surrounded by wolves)

Sioux unit.

Reading Diary A: Indian Fairy Tales

(The north wind attacking Shin-Ge-Bis)

I really enjoyed the story about Shin-Ge-Bis (I am going to call him Shin for short) and the North Wind. I thought it was cowardly for Shin's friends to leave him outside during winter by himself because they were scared of the North Wind. Luckily, Shin had a great attitude about defeating the North Wind. He was able to live for several moons (the Native American way of telling time) on his own. Shin was also able to catch fish even though the ground was frozen solid. The North Wind was not happy that Shin stuck around though, and devised a plan to get rid of him. The North Wind attempted to blow out Shin's fire and freeze him, but he ended up creating a snow covering on the place that Shin was staying to allow him to be warmer and Shin laughed at the foolish North Wind. The North Wind very upset at this point challenges Shin to come outside and battle with him. Shin comes outside and they tussle with each other until eventually Shin beats the North Wind. I thought this story was really cool. I really liked the bravery of Shin, and a possible storytelling post I could set out to tell is to make him a hero of some sort to save his family or village. I think that would be really cool. 

Here is the link to the Indian Fairy Tales.

Commenting Review Week

The commenting portion of this class is very cool. I like that we get to connect with other students and see other writing styles. It's also fun commenting on introduction posts and learning where people are from and what they like and stuff. It's also fun finding similarities between myself and another classmate. Some of the most interesting posts have come from Introduction posts. Especially since a lot of us in this class seem to be majoring or minoring in Psychology and we all seem to get paired for commenting. Comments have also been very encouraging because sometimes I do not feel very confident in my writing and then I will read my comments about my stories and others point out the good things that they liked about my story. When I comment on other people's blogs I tend to focus on the very best things that I love about their stories. And if I do see something that I am confused about, I will ask a question about it. Which is also the reason why I also like the comment wall. I like that there is separate place for questions and positive comments, or to connect with other classmates and talk about whatever we like. Overall, I have enjoyed the commenting so far this semester.

(Just a silly little meme. )

Reading Review Week: Writing Review

(Old typewriting)

I am not going to lie, I am really struggling with the storytelling posts this semester. Writing stories is all new to me, and what I am thinking I am having the most challenge with is getting started with writing a story. I also find it hard to end a story. The last storytelling post that I wrote about Prince Siddhartha, I had a lot of trouble trying to come up with a decent ending. Sometimes I think I have too many ideas to change a story as well. Like I will start writing a story one way and then sometimes I do not like it and start over. The reading has been helpful for strategies in helping me write a storytelling blog posts. Also getting inspiration from other students storytelling posts helps as well. Feedback from other students has been pretty helpful as well with my storytelling posts. Although, it is kind of discouraging when students find issues with something in my stories that do not line up with feedback from you. But I have also had some students give me great feedback, and said I should change some things that you pointed out in your emails. Overall, I have had a good experience with writing. I just hope to end the semester, I can write a lot more than I did in the first half of the semester.

Reading Review Week: Reading Review

When looking back on the readings I really enjoyed, many of them were very recent readings. Some of my favorite series of stories came from the Chinese Fairy tales, African stories, Life of Buddha, and Arabian nights units. For many of them I only enjoyed the first half of some of the readings. I am not sure why that was. I would always read the first half of a reading and then feel really bored with the second half and have a hard time finishing it. I did not feel this way about the Chinese Fairy tales and Arabian nights units. I also really liked the African stories unit and wish I could have done the other half of the reading because I really liked every single story in the first half. Some note taking strategies I use for my reading diary posts are I usually try to connect stories from our readings to possible storytelling posts of my own. I feel that by doing this I can have many ideas on what I want to write for a storytelling post. Reading diaries are also helpful because sometimes I forget some parts of a story, and going back to the key parts of the stories helps me remember important parts on the stories. Sometimes I do read these stories for fun. Some stories are very relatable in a sense, or I am familiar with them and just want to read them again. There are also some stories that I have read and I could not get any inspiration for writing a storytelling post. One thing that I might change about the dynamic of the reading diary is have more options of readings. There have been weeks were I really could not find a reading that I was really into or it took me awhile to find one that I liked. Having two options each week is great, but sometimes I wished I had the earlier readings first because I have really enjoyed the reading recently.

(A meme that I thought was pretty funny. )

Reading Diary B: Chinese Fairy Tales

(Chinese Pagoda)

The Maiden Who Was Stolen Away

The thing that captured my attention about this story was the picture of the huge pagoda. It is so beautiful. I can imagine that the sight from the top has got to be so amazing. I would love to go the China and go to the top of one someday and just look at the sights of China. In the picture above you can also see how beautiful the pagoda is. It's so colorful and full of life.

 What was interesting about this story was the the main female character (maiden). She was captured by an ogre who was posing as a boy, and he then tried to trick her into marrying him. When she said no, the ogre locked her up at the top of a pagoda. Each day he asked her if she would marry him, and each day she said no. One day the maiden was able to alert a bird that she was locked at the top of the pagoda and the bird went to her family. Her brother then killed the ogre and saved his sister, the maiden. A lot of people probably would have given up and just married the ogre, but she stuck with her decision and found enough courage to try to get away. 

Chinese Fairy Tales unit.

Reading Diary A: Chinese Fairy Tales

(Chinese leopard)

The Panther

This story is about a panther who eats a mother and her son, and then poses as the mother in order to eat the rest of her children. The children figure out that the panther has eaten their mother and brother and they are very frightened. They end up scaring the panther off, but are afraid for when the panther comes back because he will be mad. But then, a couple of people come along and help them keep away the panther for good. What I liked about this story was the defeat of the panther in the end. I thought the development of it was really cool and would love to retell it in a different way.   

Why Dog and Cat are Enemies

What I liked about this story was the quarrel between the cat and the dog came to be. It seems like many people get into arguments and they become enemies and they keep that animosity going. This also reminded me of the classic cartoon Ben and Jerry. It is crazy how something so small can make people enemies,  

The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck

The most interesting theme in this story is the loyalty that the wife and husband show to each other. In this story a prince's daughter is looking for a husband, but she finds a man that her father does not approve up because the man is poor, but has good luck. Although, she is still adamant about marrying the man, and so she does. When they become married, they both struggle to live and the husband goes away to seek his fortune. For eighteen years the husband is gone, and he is now an emperor. He also comes back for his wife who is only getting by with little money from her mother because her father has still disowned her. But when she sees her husband, she does not know it is him and he asks her would she marry someone else. The wife says no and that she will wait for her husband until she dies. Very happy with her answer he takes her and shares his great fortune.  

The Cave of the Beasts

The interesting thing about this story was the selfishness of the father. When the father goes to gather wood for his wife and seven daughters, he finds seven duck eggs. But he does not want to share the eggs with his daughters. The father gives the eggs to his wife and the daughters each come and ask for an egg, but the mother tells each daughter that if she gives each one an egg if they do not tell anyone. Later, the father is upset and decides to leave his daughter out in the woods for the fox and wolf to eat them. While the girls are out in the woods they find a cave that is filled with jewels, a fire to keep them warm, and a couple of beds. Not knowing the the cave belongs to the fox and wolf, the girls end up killing the fox and wolf by making a bigger fire when they find out that the fox and wolf are in the cave, After time goes by, the father misses his daughters and goes to find them. He then finds them in the cave with all the jewels and they then become wealthy. I thought the ending was lacking in karma. I believe the father should have not had a happy ending considering all that he did. I am thinking of creating a different ending if I retell this story.

Chinese Fairy Tales unit.

Essay: The Trickster and the Fool

(Two sons of the Jackal)

The end of the second half of the reading had a pretty surprising trickster among its midst. When I was reading I always expected the jackal to be the trickster, but he actually got outsmarted by the hedgehog. I guess technically because of the Jackal's demise he would be considered the fool. The funny things is though is that I considered the jackal the trickster all the way until the end of the story. What made the hedgehog the trickster was that he was tricked by the jackal at first when he took and hid the two jars on honey that the hedgehog found and planned to share. The jackal then continuously lied to the hedgehog in order to feast on the honey himself where he had hid it. When the hedgehog confronted the young jackal, he denied it, but eventually fessed up to hiding the honey jars. After this, the hedgehog had a trick up his sleeve. The hedgehog then invited the jackal to dinner that evening. When the jackal showed up, the hedgehog told the jackal he had to hide because the hedgehog had unexpected visitors, While the jackal was hiding, the hedgehog pushed a huge rock and crushed and killed the jackal. This is when the hedgehog became the trickster and the jackal the fool!  I was very surprised to see the little hedgehog have the guts to kill the jackal. The irony behind it all is the jackal also never even saw it coming. I also find it interesting how a both of these characters switched roles. This is something that I would like to attempt to write in one of my own stories. 

African Stories by Lang

Adventures of Jackel's Eldest Son

Reading Diary A: African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books

(The tricky jackal.)

This was a really cool half reading! I enjoyed literally all of the stories in the first half of the African stories reading. My favorite though was the beginning of the story. How it starts is with the episodes about Motikatika. The most interesting thing about this story is the plot twist at the end. The story starts off with a sick wife and her husband tries to nurse her back to health by bring her honey and water, but he has to make several trips before getting the right water. After this, the husband falls ill, and asks  his wife to make several trips to get water for him. On the final trip to get water, the wife gets water, but then a ogre pops out. The ogre tells the wife that since she has taken water from him, he will eat her child and she is the shave the sides of his head and put white beads around his neck so the ogre will know it is him. The wife also tell him to yell "Motikatika!" Although, the wife has a plan. She gathers all the children and shaves their heads and puts white beads around all of their necks. When the time comes, the ogre calls for Motikatika, but sees all the children who are all the same. The ogre then feels defeated because he knows he will be in trouble if he eats an innocent child. So the wife says she will send her son to the field the pick up some beans and the ogre shall find him there and eat him. Little does the wife know, the Motikatika persuades the father/husband to dress up like Motikatika and the father ends up getting eaten by the ogre. The ending blew my mind.  Mainly because of this last line: 

"It is only just that he should be eaten, and not I; for it was he, and not I, who sent you to fetch the water."

African Stories

Comment Wall

(Kevin Durant and I. Best day ever!)

Please leave comments or questions here!

Ready. Set. Go!

Essay: Parents and Children

(Buddha meditating.)

I really enjoyed the encounters of Prince Siddhartha. What really captured my attention was the relationship between the Prince Siddhartha and the King. I found it pretty interesting that the King kept Siddhartha sheltered for so long. Siddhartha's father was so successful in sheltering him that he was an adult before he knew about the world's suffering. His father was still so protective that he even attempted to keep Siddhartha away from the crippled, sick, and dying. I felt this was important to the theme because the whole basis of the episodes on the encounters revolves around Siddhartha's ignorance to suffering. It was crazy reading about him learning about these things like a small child, because usually you learn about these things at an early age. I also found this to be a little overprotective of the King considering Prince Siddhartha's age. When Siddhartha finally did learn of old age, illness, and death he felt deeply saddened by this type of suffering people have to face. He also felt that he could find a way to stop it. When Siddhartha planned to leave home, the King could not reason with his son because he had kept him so sheltered, so he never learned that you cannot stop someone from dying, getting old, or being sick when he was younger. For example, I once had a conversation with someone who was home-schooled and they were not privy to a common phrase that had to do with homosexuality, unassumingly so because they lived a sheltered life around their family. Which is fine, but it sort of makes them ignorant to other types of people sort of like Siddhartha. I would definitely recommend the first half of this reading because it relatable to a lot of people. It also has a weird supernatural twist in the beginning that was kind of cool.

Buddha unit. 

Week 5 Storytelling: Encounters of Life

In the land of India, there lived a young Prince by the name of Siddhartha. Prince Siddhartha was destined for greatness from the day he was born, much to the dismay of his parents'. His parents, the Queen and King, loved Siddhartha so much and did not want anything to taint their young son. In so doing this, they kept Prince Siddhartha away from the all the bad in the world. The Prince stayed inside his palace and received everything with its confines. Prince Siddhartha lived this way until he grew to be a young adult.

One day, though, the flowers that bloomed so beautifully as spring approached tempted the Prince to finally leave the palace and explore the world. Prince Siddhartha went to the King to let him know that he wanted to leave the palace the next afternoon. 

"Father, I would love to explore outside of the palace tomorrow. Is that alright?" said Prince Siddhartha. 

The King, having protected his son from the outside world for so long, felt a little antsy about letting his son leave the palace. The King also felt that he could still shelter young Prince Siddhartha away from world, or so he planned. 

"Yes, son, I agree. You should be able to explore outside of the palace. Just let me know when you want to leave, and I will have a chariot waiting for you," the King exclaimed. 

"Thank you, Father, I will leave tomorrow afternoon," said Siddhartha gleefully. 

The King, pondered what he could do to keep Prince Siddhartha away from the ordinary encounters of life. The King then thought that he could order all those to clear away from where Prince Siddhartha would be riding on his chariot. And so it was done the next morning. Little did the King know, the Gods had other plans for Prince Siddhartha. The Gods made sure that Prince Siddhartha would have three real world encounters for him to learn all that his parents had sheltered him from. 

Later that afternoon when Prince Siddhartha left for his exploration outside the palace, he was fascinated by how beautiful the land of India was. On Prince Siddhartha's way up a long stretch of road he saw a man walking alongside the road. The man was very old with a hunchback and gray hair, and a cane to help him walk. Always being in the palace, the Prince was not aware of old age. Also, seeing the older gentlemen made Siddhartha wonder if he would grow to be that old someday. He pondered it, until he came upon another older man who was noticeably ill.  Once again, the Prince was taken aback by the sickly look of the man. The Prince began to wonder again and asked the charioteer if being sick was normal for all people and the charioteer replied to him honestly. Prince Siddhartha then began to think about all the terrible things people face and ordered his charioteer to take him home. Although, on the way back to the palace, Prince Siddhartha saw four men carrying a corpse to a funeral and asked the charioteer to stop at once. He asked the charioteer what happened to the corpse, and he explained to the Prince the lesson that everyone will face death, and that is what happened to the man whom he saw. Prince Siddhartha, very shocked by this revelation ordered his chariot to be returned to the palace.

Once back at the palace, Prince Siddhartha returned to his room, and he felt greatly depressed about all that he had learned.  The King learned about what had happened during Prince Siddhartha's ride outside the palace, and he felt bad for hiding so many things from his son. He attempted to bring great entertainment for his son consisting of having his maidens entice Prince Siddhartha by dancing and flirting with him, but he still felt sad. When Prince Siddhartha woke up one morning, he devised a plan to end all suffering in the world. In order to accomplish this, though, he had to leave the palace for a while.  When Siddhartha was leaving the palace, the King tried to stop him. Prince Siddhartha told the King, "Father, if you cannot keep me from being old, getting sick, or dying, then please do not stop me from leaving." The King could not promise any of those things to his son, so he did nothing but let his son go off on his own and learn for himself. 

(Prince Siddhartha encounters a sick person)

Author's note: The original story this was based on was from "The Life of Buddha" unit in the UN-textbook. Specifically, I based my story on the three encounters of Prince Siddhartha. During his encounter he learns about old age, illness, and death. Prince Siddhartha had not previously known about these types of suffering in the world because he was sheltered from the outside world by his mother and father.Prince Siddhartha's father even tries to shelter his son when he does leave by taking away all the crippled and elderly, but the Gods make it so Prince Siddhartha still encounters everyday ordinary people. When Prince Siddhartha returns to the palace for the last time, he is depressed. The King tries to cheer him up with entertainment, but it does not work. In the end, Prince Siddhartha feels that he needs to find a way to end the world's suffering, so he leaves home. His father tries to stop him, but he still leaves. I kept the general theme of the story, but changed the way Prince Siddhartha learned about the world's suffering a little. I made it to where he learned all encounters in the same day. What I set out for this story is to show how someone can live a sheltered life and be ignorant to everything around them. I recently had an experience with this when a friend of mine was not familiar with a common phrase that is used very commonly because they lived a sheltered life growing up. 

Bibliography:

 The Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922).

Reading Diary A: Life of Buddha

(Prince Siddhartha and his encounters)

I really like the episodes about the encounters that Buddha had with life. What really interested me about these particular episodes in this storybook is that Prince Siddhartha's father tried to shelter him from the bad things in the world. The reason the King had done this is because Prince Siddhartha has lived a sheltered life of luxury and was not aware of the evil and bad things in the world. One day he finally leaves the palace after he is an adult. When Prince Siddhartha would go on his daily ride on his chariot, the God's responded with the Prince still seeing some of the bad things in the world. One of the first was old age. Prince Siddhartha learned that he would one day grow to be old and he became depressed and did not want to continue his ride on the chariot. Upon his other sighting the King again tried to shelter the Prince when he left the palace, but the God's revealed a sick person on the second sighting and a corpse to represent death during the third sighting. After the sighting the Prince was sad about these sightings and thought about them often even when the King tried to cheer him up. Prince Siddhartha then began to think about the ways that he could help the world not suffer from all that he had seen. 

Life of Buddha

Week 3 Storytelling: Love Triangle

In the beautiful land of Israel, there was a king by the name of David. He seemed to think he could get whatever he wanted, including women. One day, King David was walking the land when he saw a woman bathing and could not keep his eyes off of her. The woman was the most beautiful he had ever met since his last four wives. He then walked a little closer to see that the beautiful woman was none other than Uriah's wife Bathsheba. King David thought to himself "I will have her!" Although he did know it was wrong to go after a married woman, King David sent for Bathsheba to come to his living quarters, and that night they made love together, and Bathsheba was to soon carry King David's child. 

Several months later, Bathsheba's husband Uriah returned to Israel after fighting in a war. She was so nervous to tell him that she was with child. Bathsheba cooked her husband Uriah a very big meal that night in preparation of telling him about King David's child she was carrying. 

"Uriah, are you ready to eat?" said an antsy Bathsheba. Uriah appeared in the doorway, and noticed that his wife seemed like she was flustered. 

"Is there something wrong, Bathsheba? Because you look like you have something on your mind," said Uriah as he sat down at the table to eat and also worried about his wife. "Actually, Uriah, I do have something to tell you." But Bathsheba was interrupted by a knock on the door. Bathsheba got up and went to open the door and saw two of King David's guards. 

"King David will speak to Uriah right away!" said the one of the guards. Bathsheba wondered what King David would want with Uriah, but she went and got him from the dinner table. "Uriah, King David would like to speak with you, this instantly!" Uriah then made the trek to see King David right away. When Uriah finally made it to the castle, King David greeted him.  

"Hello there Uriah." said King David.  

"Good evening, King. What can I do for you?" said an eager Uriah. 

King David sighed, contemplating whether or not he should tell Uriah about the baby or let Bathsheba tell him. After thinking for a short time, the selfish King David decided to tell Uriah anyway.  

"Bathsheba, you wife is carrying my child." said a forthright King David. 

Uriah stood in place, utterly shocked with no words. He felt a mix of emotions. He felt angry and hurt that his wife would stray while he was off fighting in a war, but he also understood that she was lonely. Uriah loved Bathsheba with all his heart, and he wondered why King David decided to tell him. So he voiced his concern. 

"Why have you told me this, your Highness?" said Uriah. 

"Because I want you to leave Bathsheba, so I can make her my fifth wife!" King David said boldly. 

Uriah was furious. How dare King David take his wife from him? So Uriah defiantly responded "I will not leave my wife, because I love her, and she will remain with me." And so Uriah left to go home to Bathsheba. He did not speak to Bathsheba about his conversation with King David or her infidelities because he had to go back to fight again. He planned to talk to her when he returned, but little did he know he would not be living much longer. 

Uriah died during the war, at the hands of King David putting him in the front line to be killed. Bathsheba mourned her husband's death, and in this moment of weakness King David married Bathsheba. The Lord heard Bathsheba's cries and learned what King David had done all in greed. To pay for what King David had done, Bathsheba lost their child, and they were both sad. Later they had a wise son by the name of Solomon. 

(Bathsheba, King David, and their son Solomon)

Author's note: This story was inspired by the King James Bible (1611): 2 Samuel 11. I chose to retell this story because I thought the original story was very interesting and different from other Bible women stories. My goals for this story were to keep the general theme, but put a little twist on things. In the original story King David sees Bathsheba bathing naked and lays with her. She is then carrying his child, and when her husband returns, King David tries to get Bathsheba's husband to quit fighting in the war to be at home, but Uriah does not enjoy the comfort of being at home while the army is still fighting. Uriah feels it is wrong to stay at home, and does not comply with King David's wishes. King David then has Uriah killed by giving him a letter to give to his general that says for Uriah to be killed. When Uriah dies, King David marries Bathsheba. The Lord learns of what King David has done and punishes him, with Bathsheba losing the baby. They soon have another son by the name of Solomon. I chose to change the story by making King David a selfish man who is not concerned with other's feelings and who is only out to get what he wants. I also wanted to make Uriah more a part of the story by showing the he loved and understood Bathsheba, even though she made a mistake, and it ultimately cost him his life.