Week 14 Reading A

Well the Russian stories were not what I expected at all! I figured they would be darker than they were but I guess that just comes from the historical facts that I know about Russia. I did like how throughout the first of the stories that the same characters were used and it made it feel like I started to know the characters. I think that this would be a great thing to focus on this week especially because I have thought about making one final story to add to my portfolio. If I were to add another story to my portfolio I think that I would have to do another Alex story. I have really enjoyed the stories that I have made with Alex the Reaper and I think it would be cool to have one more story. So for that aspect, it would be good to focus on making the readers focus on feeling more comfortable with who Alex is and knowing more about how he came to be.

Story idea of Alex fighting another creature

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Bibliography: "Russian Fairy Tales" by W.R.S. Ralston Webtext

Week 13 Storytelling:

The warrior was weary from his travels. Zarc had traveled for weeks through the desert on his own. He only had a canteen full of water and a pouch with a small portion of food. Zarc portioned his food and water and made it last for the two weeks that he wandered. The day that he ran out of food and water was the day he found an oasis was the day his life changed.

Zarc was banished from his community because of a minor mistake that cost him. He had misplaced the leaders knife while on a hunt and the leader banished him for it. He was sent out into the desert which meant a death sentence because no one ever made it out of the desert alive.

The oasis sat in front of him but he did not think it was real. In his mind his eyes were playing tricks on him. Though he was thinking this he still walked towards it hoping that he was wrong about the trick. As he approached the water line he was ready for nothing to be there but instead was greeted by a cool feeling on his feet and ankles.

The water was cool and clear. It was definitely the purest water Zarc had ever seen. He plopped his body down and completely submerged his body in cold water. He thought that he could not possibly be alive. As he was thinking this he saw a glistening object towards the middle of the pond. He was intrigued but decided to walk out to it. The object was just barely beneath the surface of the water and as he approached it the water began to pulse. He went to reach for it and grabbed it out of the water. As soon as it was out of the water the oasis disappeared right before his eyes. The object was a sword. It was the sharpest sword in the land and it was his.

He took this sword and continued his journey through the desert. A few days passed and Zarc did not see any civilization. The blade was becoming heavier and heavier with each step through the desert but Zarc did not let it go. He started dropping other objects like his food rations and water. The Blade was the last thing that Zarc had. There was no civilization anywhere around him when he took that final breath that day. Once he passed away the sword created another oasis around the lifeless body of Zarc. And a town could be seen in the distance from the oasis..

The Mysterious Oasis

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Author's Note: This story is from the King Arthur unit and came from the  Excalibur story. The original story had Arthur coming from a battle that made him tired. Arthur had lost his sword as well and was in search of another. He traveled to find one and ended up at a lake. He saw the Sword being held by a hand out in the middle of the lake and had to ask the lady of the lake if he could take the sword and she said yes so he went out and grabbed the sword. The sword brought him good luck. That is where my story differs, the sword in my story was a burden and it caused a man to be greedy and create his own demise. The way he just gives up his food and water shows that greed can make individuals not see clearly and make the wrong decision. I thought this was the best idea to show how I perceive greedy people and it really brought a strong image to the table. I enjoyed writing this story and hope it was enjoyable!

Bibliography: "The Sword Excalibur" from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang Webtext 

week 13 Reading notes Part B

The second part of the reading was interesting. The battles were so intense and it made the stories super interesting to read. I thought the best part of the second reading was how they ended the story of King Arthur. He had passed and then weeks later so did his faithful knight Sir Lancelot. The story ending was sad but it left the reader with a good feeling. It showed that just because people die does not mean that people have to stay grieving and be sad about it. I thought that the messages that the second part of the reading were great and I will make sure to consider that when writing my story. Having a hidden message within my story could bring out a better more interesting look on the portfolio. I want to write a story that finishes off my portfolio project on a really strong note.

Battles of King Arthur

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Bibliography: "King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table" By Andrew Lang Webtext 

week 13 Reading notes Part A

This week I chose to read the King Arthur Stories. I chose well this week for sure. The way the stories were structured was great. I really liked how one of the stories that I had heard during my childhood had changed so much. At first the style of writing was a little difficult to read but I was able to adapt quickly to the style and it made the reading more interesting. I think that this week I will write a story on how the sword was pulled, or maybe how Arthur found his wife. There are so many options to chose from in this story set that it makes it hard to chose which story I want to base my story off of this week. That being said, my imagination has ran wild while I was reading. I wanted to make more than one story by the time I had finished reading all of the stories. The detail of each one had my brain analyzing so much information that I did not know which direction to go. But by Thursday I will have a better idea of which story I want to create. 

King Arthur's Battle gear

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Bibliography: "King Arthur's Tales of the Round Table" By Andrew Lang Webtext

Week 12 Story telling: The Hell From the Past

He was hiding from the beast. The beast was the most feared thing in the land. It stood over ten feet tall and it was not of human descent. The beasts grin showed its devilish teeth and as he spoke the man trembled.

"I smell the fear radiating from your soul," said the beast in a deep voice. 

The man was not the type to fight. This man was known as Xavier. He was born into a safe home but at the age of five he had lost his family. Living on the streets ever since, he learned to hide from the things of life that scared him. This though seemed like he would not be able to escape this monster by hiding. Still hiding he listened to the beast speak:

"Your scent is familiar, have we met before boy?" 

The beast ripped a tree from the ground and smashed it against another. Angered by the chase he yelled "you are just postponing the inevitable!"

The beast knew he was getting closer to the boy because the smell of the boy was growing stronger. The beast finally realized how the smell was so familiar and laughed. He said "Ah yes, the family of four. I killed three but a young boy was quick enough to escape my grasp. It's been what eleven years now?"

The boy froze. He stopped trembling and remembered that day. He ran and ran without looking back. The only thing he heard that day were the screams from his family as they were ripped apart limb by limb. He remembered feeling helpless. Wishing he could do something to stop the beast. That feeling turned in to a suppressed anger. It built up each day. There was not a day that he didn't think about it. 

Angered now he made a fist, there was so much anger. He started to feel different. His body temperature was rising. It was an abnormal temperature because he looked to the left and saw bush beside him catch fire. Xavier was confused by this but was not afraid of the beast anymore. He stepped into the line of sight of the beast. 

The beast again grinned and said "You think your inherited power will help you? It did not help your family before when your father tried to use his magic on me."

"W-w-what magic?" Replied Xavier.

"Oh you don't know do you? Your family was the last of the supers, they were the last threat to me and I almost eliminated them but only you were left" said the beast. 

The anger kept flowing through Xavier as he listened, the power he felt became greater. Without thinking his legs started moving towards the beast at a sprint. Xavier was surprised. It was like something else was controlling him. The beast tried to react but it was too late. Xavier struck the beast in the jaw and sent him flying through the air. The beast hit every tree in his path and finally came to a stop after tumbling on the ground. In an instant the beast was sprinting towards Xavier. The beast struck Xavier in the chest but did not affect Xavier like he expected. The beast was shocked. 

"How is that possible?" Exclaimed the beast. 

Xavier paid no attention to this but was only anger more by the blow to the chest that he had just received. He started at the beast again and they both started to exchange powerful blows. With every hit that the beast landed Xavier seemed to grow in strength. The punches that he hit the beast with started to do more damage and broke through the thick bones of the beast. Xavier began to lose control and blacked out. When he awoke there was a desolated forest around him. The downed trees were covered in blood and flesh. With no explanation Xavier was unaware of what happened. Then a voice inside his head spoke to him. 

"I took over" said the voice.

"Who is there?" replied Xavier as he looked around. 

"There is no use looking around, I am a part of you. I was asleep until your anger woke me. This is late for you to wake your inner power." replied the voice.

"My power? What do you mean?" asked Xavier.

"Well my name is X, I am your power.. Well not so much just a power but basically a second spirit attached to yours which gives us the ability to do things that normal humans cannot." 

"What kind of things?" Xavier asked.

"Well Xavier we have a lot of stuff to practice, we will get you caught up in no time, but for now we need to leave here. The amount of noise we created last night surely sparked some curiosity." Replied X.

Xavier began to run, towards the mountains and there he began to learn how to use his power. His new life started and he was no longer scared. 

Xavier and his new found power 

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Author's Note: The original story was "The Battle with Grendel" from then Beowulf stories. I took the idea of Grendel and made my own beastly character. The original story showed Grendel as this horrid creature not like anything from this world that devoured humans. The fact that Beowulf wasn't affected by Grendel and his magic was like he had a super power. That is where my idea of the powers came from for the character Xavier. I wanted to create another hero that was unaware of his ability and overcame the fears that he held before. Working through them and facing his greatest fear, the beast. The battle was the most important part of the story and I intentionally ended the story abruptly because I want to make another story later on explaining what Xavier does with his new found power and if he used it for a good purpose or a bad one. 

Bibliography: "The Battle with Grendel" from The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs Webtext

Reading notes Week 12 Part B

Reading B was interesting to look at today. I especially got really into The Battle with Grendel. The Imagery was really vivid in that story. I liked how it explained that a spell kept the soldiers of the kingdom asleep. I do not know how that would have been possible that Beowulf was exempt from the spell but it was and the battle was intense. I especially liked the fact that it described Grendel in detail and I saw the image of Grendel grow as I continued to read. The fact that he became an uglier beast with every small detail that was added was enough for me to keep reading. I think for my story this week I have decided to recreate this story in my own way and make it another Alex the Reaper story. Possibly a new hero will come into the portfolio. There would be a lot of opening left for the last story if I decided to make another hero because then for the final story I would be able to make a heroes meeting story.

Grendel and Beowulf

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Bibliography: "The Battle with Grendel" from The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs. Webtext

Reading notes Week 12 Part A

This weeks reading was interesting because I chose to read the Beowulf stories. For the Part A reading, I thought it was great. I read Beowulf in high school and it was a very difficult text to read because of the style of writing. In the reading this week it was re-written to a more modernistic language which made it easier to understand contextually. While it was not exactly the same, I did enjoy how the stories were told. The warrior himself is seen as a mighty an powerful being as usual and is arrogant as ever. I think for this weeks storytelling assignment that I will try to write in this style. Giving the background information first while being very detailed in who the characters are and what their purpose to the story is. Even though I think the story will be longer this week it will be worth it because I think that it will be really interesting to read. I am looking forward to reading the Part B of the stories because I saw that Grendel comes into the stories.

Beowulf in Battle

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Bibliography: "Beowulf" from The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs Webtext

Reading Notes Week 11 Part B

Part B reading was a little different. The repetition was not as bad as the Part A reading and it made it a little less frustrating to read. What was different about these stories is that a lot of them could have been a bunch of interesting details leading up to a ending that made sense, but when it came time to end the story it would take a turn in a completely different direction. The Children of Cloud is a good example because the boys are just coming and going between their parents places and somehow get turned into agave plants. It was looking like they were just going to go home but instead got turned into plants. I thought this was an interesting style of writing and was intrigued at first by it but learned to enjoy it throughout the reading. There was also really cool ways that things were explained in how they were created. I think there could be some details changed and possibly have a really good story. I might just do an extra story this week just for fun!

Represents the Lightning cast down by Cloud

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Bibliography: "Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest" By Katherine Berry Judson Webtext