Mythology and Folklore

( Phayre's Leaf Monkey by Tareq Aziz Touhid)   There was once a great mountain. One side was always bathed in warm sunlight, and the other was covered in a cool shade. It was in this soothing shade that a Crab lived. She was happy to live where she did, and a had a home in the ground that was the tidiest one around. One day, she was leaving her home and found a pile of rice by her door. Delighted she looked around to see if it was anyone else's and then started to store the rice away in her home. She wasn't the only one with her eyes on the rice though, above her, in the trees, Monkey had just caught glimpse of the rice, his favorite food! He picked a seed from his pocket and leapt down and greeted Crab.  "Hello, would you be willing to trade for some of your rice?" he said. Crab thought about it for a moment and responded, "Yes, let me see what you have." "I can trade you this fruit seed for half of your rice." Crab initially wanted to reject...

( Red Crab with Eyes by Arjit Chowdhury)   The Crab and The Monkey by Andrew Lang: Characters: The Crab Lady, Monkey, Wasp, Egg, Mortar Crab: is a nice lady and happily gives people free things. She makes trades that probably aren't the best on face value, but she thinks long term. Monkey: wants to chill and is very greedy. Also is a liar. Plot:  Crab is living peacefully on the darker side of a mountain. One day, a pilgrim had forgotten some rice by Crab's home. She was excited and started moving it into her house. Monkey then comes down and because he loves rice, asks Crab to trade half of her rice for a seed. Crab takes the deal and the monkey heads off happily and goes to the bright side of the mountain for a long time. Eventually, the monkey returns and sees a tree full of fruit next to where Crab lives. He asks Crab if he can have some fruit. She says yes, but just make sure to get some down for me I can't climb a tree. Monkey goes up and starts stuffing fruit into ...

( Wooden Fence by Idlir Fida) The Envious Neighbor by Andrew Lang: Characters:  The old man and old woman, their neighbor, their dog The old couple: They are a good pair of people. Kind to a fault and honestly a bit too trusting of the people around them. The neighbor: Very jealous and greedy of what his neighbors got from their dog. Does not respect personal property at all Dog: just a good boi Plot:  One day the old man is digging in his yard and his dog gets his attention and tries to get him to dig in a particular spot. The old man does so and finds a chest full of golden coins and the couple is now quite wealthy. The neighbor sees this and is jealous so he asks to borrow the dog. He lets the dog loose in his yard but it doesn't find anything for a while. A bit later the dog starts pointing at an area and he digs it up and all he finds are some old smelly bones. This makes him very angry so he goes and kills the dog. He then goes to the old couple and tells them the dog ...

 I am pretty happy with my progress so far. I've kept with the course and not missed an assignment. I do wish I had worked ahead though. I started off a week ahead, but I quickly fell back to being just in time. I think as the semester ramped up, I definitely let these assignments slip a little bit.  Looking forward, I want to see if I can find more time to work ahead rather than just going with whatever is due that day.  (Personal photo taken Oct 15, 2020) I've been working on studying the parts of the face and I think I've been improving with these lips. A lot of what has helped me is thinking about how goes around a round object. This and working from references to see how things are actually supposed to look, rather than what my mind thinks they look like, are the biggest factors in trying to get better for me. 

 I think the feedback I've been receiving has been pretty good. The better ones are definitely from the 150-word assignments where people use the WWW or TAG method. Storytelling has never been my strong suit so the class has been helpful for me.  I hope the comments I've been leaving have been useful. I try to focus more on any questions that the reading has left me with. Things like questioning why people did what they did. I like the WWW feedback method the most. Mostly because it's really easy to remember,  The intro posts have been an alright way to get to know people. I think it's definitely less of a connection than being physically together for a couple hours every week. For an all online class though I think it works. I think with feedback, a lot of people are scared of being harsh or mean, so they may not give feedback fully. I think I need to read more critically because I definitely also do this. ( cheezburger ) I chose this image because this is definitely t...

 I think this course has helped me become better at thinking through my ideas and expressing them in a more presentable way. I'm alright with my blog and project website. I think if I had more time to dedicate to the class I would use it to dive a bit deeper into the customizations and really try to make it more unique. I think my writing overall tends to be a bit rambly and I have trouble staying on a topic and presenting a cohesive story. I think this is reflected in my first storybook story as I keep switching perspectives and styles. My favorite reading so far has been the voyages of Sindbad. He always gets os lucky and he seems to be pretty thankful to be alive. Reading notes definitely help me write the stories. I should probably take more detailed notes though as I feel like I forget a lot of information by the time I write the story.  Looking forward, I really need to work on my time management skills. I'm in my last semester and I really should have figured this out b...

( Jomblang Cave by Thomas Fuhrmann)   The Devil's Lair The Monkey King Sun Wu Kong stood before the mighty entrance of the Devil-King's lair. He had taken Sun Wu Kong's kin and had to be put in his place. This could not be forgiven. As the Monkey King entered the underground chamber, the servants of the Devil-King trembled. Sun Wu Kong's terrible rage and battle prowess was well known. They didn't know if even their own King could defeat him.  "Hey!" bellowed the stone ape, "Give me back my kids!!" evidently he wanted to try negotiation first. Stammering, the Devil-King responded, "Wait don't you want to fight me?" He had not expected the legendary Sun Wu Kong to reason before using his brawn. "Of course, but I'm trying to control myself so they don't have to see your sorry state after I'm done with you." The Devil-King didn't even know how to react. He just stared in disbelief. "How could he be so ca...

( Sun Wu Kong by Lone Lanrete) Notscha, Son of Li Dsing by R Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens: Characters: Monkey King Sun Wu Kong, Prince Notscha, Li Dsing Sun Wu Kong: feeling pretty mad because he went back home. Feels disrespected by everyone in heaven because he was tasked with just watching the horses. He came home and is now being hunted Prince Notscha: The son of Li Dsing. Tasked with bringing the Monkey King in to be imprisoned in heaven. Evening Star: Advisor to the Lord of the Heavens. Wants to placate Sun Wu Kong. Plot:  Sun Wu Kong is chilling at his old kingdom. The Lord of the Heavens learns about what happened with Sun Wu Kong declaring himself equal tot he heavens and leaving Heaven because he felt like the position he received was below him. The Lord of the Heavens sends Li Dsing and his little son Notscha. When htey get to Sun Wu Kong's palace, the Monkey King sees them and calls Notscha a smol boi. Notscha feels embarrassed so he decides to fight...

( Sun Wukong by Nod Young)   The Devil-King by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens: Characters: Sun Wu Kong, Devil King Monkey King Sun Wu Kong: Loves to have fun and has an overall goal of making himself and his monkey subjects all immortal. Devil King: stole a bunch of Sun Wu Kong's kids. Wanted to fight him, but he wasn't home and the monkeys tried to fight him off but failed. Plot: The Monkey King Sun Wu Kong returns to his monkey subjects after learning the secret to eternal life from his master. When he gets back, the monkeys tell him of a great and terrible Devil King that attacked them looking for him. The Devil King had taken many of Sun Wu Kong's children. Understandably, the Monkey King was not too happy about this. He set off to save his lost children ad give the devil-king a lesson. He goes to the cave and battles the demon king. Sun Wu Kong has the precursor to shadow clone jutsu and easily wins. He burns down the lair and returns to his kingdom...

( Orient Sweets by  Shuhrenataxmedov )   After my many tragic ventures out at sea, from whale islands to Rocs dropping mighty boulders on our ships, I needed a change of pace. With my wealth having ballooned and my family secured, I looked to other parts of my life to fulfill myself. I have taken a liking to the sweets that they sell in the markets. Though my wife extremely disapproves of this new affliction because I have grown a bit inactive and plump since deciding to no longer go on my voyages. She absolutely forbade me from going down to the market and partaking in my indulgences. I knew that if I were to send a servant to fetch them for me, they would invariably inform her of my misdeeds, so I persevered to venture out on my own and in secret.  I convinced my wife that I would be in the study and not to disturb me as I attended to my work. I knew that this would not work for long and I needed to be quick. As I walked to my office, I thought of various ways to escap...