Essay: Always Wanting More

In stories and in our present day society we always see that reoccurring role of the person who is never satisfied with what they have. They are always in search of more money, a higher social standing, or the latest and greatest IPhone. The story The Stonecutter perfectly exemplifies man’s desire to always have bigger and better things.  As you probably figured the main character within this story is a stonecutter. He comes upon a glorious house one day while working and wishes he could be rich just like the owner of the house. A mountain spirit hears him and grants him his wish. After this point he became angry that even a rich man such as himself cannot protect himself from getting a sunburn. He then wishes to become the Sun, and so he does. He feels powerful for a brief duration of time but becomes angry when a cloud covers him denying his rays from shining on the Earth. He then becomes a cloud. As a cloud he is angered over the fact that no matter how much rain he produces he can’t chip away at the mighty mountain. So he becomes the mountain. One day a stonecutter approaches him and begins cutting away pieces of him. So what does he turn into next? That’s right, a stonecutter. No matter what being he was, he always saw one that was more powerful in its own way. His selfish ways kept him from seeing the cyclic nature of this so he kept wanting to be “more powerful”. He didn’t realize how foolish he had been until after he came full circle. At least he, unlike most, actually came to his senses. The Stonecutter vowed at the end to never be so selfish and ignorant again in wanting more and more for himself.

Wanting More

Week 7 Storytelling: Young Love

Over the years two childhood friends, Michael and Sarah, grew very close to one another. They met on the playground at school one day and became inseparable. In their teens when they were looking to go to college the two longed to remain together because they were in love. Unfortunately, however much they loved each other didn’t matter to their mothers. Each mother saw the potential her child had and wished them to go to a certain university for their specialty degree. Unfortunately for the two the colleges were on opposite sides of the country. The summer after graduation the two decided to run away so that they could stay together. They snuck out in the middle of the night and met up at the local park.

They didn’t have much money but they knew nothing could stand in between their love. They spent a couple of days on the move going from motel to motel, distancing themselves from home. One night they were making their way to their next stop when they were jumped by some gang members. Sarah hid behind a dumpster while Michael tried to fight them off. It was a heroic but foolish effort because he was outnumbered 3 to 1. H knew he had to protect Sarah though. Some other men walked by, saw the struggle, and drove the gang members away. They took Michael to one of their apartments so he could get some food and rest.  He was beat up pretty badly and didn’t think of Sarah as he was half carried by the men. Once at the apartment he was shown to the guest bedroom and passed out on the bed.

Meanwhile back in the alley, Sarah was still hiding behind the dumpster. The shock of such a traumatic event paralyzed her. She couldn’t even speak when the other men took Michael away. Without realizing she ever went to sleep she awoke to the sounds of traffic in the morning still hidden behind the dumpster. She had no money, no food, and no belongings. Everything the two had was in a backpack carried by Michael. Alone in a foreign city Sarah was scared to death. She walked into a nearby diner and explained her situation to the manager. He laughed in her face and kicked her out when she asked for some food.  This happened again and again for days until she was forced to dig for scraps out of the trash. She was filthy, starving, and completely hopeless that she would ever see Michael again.

She began living her life on the streets. Making it by on what she could scavenge out of dumpsters. One night when she returned to her normal sleeping spot there was a man in her spot. When the man saw her he attacked her and threw her onto the ground pressing her face into the pavement. This was the lowest of the low points in her life when she didn’t even care what he did to her or if he even killed her. Before she knew it the man was no longer on top of her. She turned around in time to see another man punching him and scaring him off. She was overcome with happiness when she saw the face of her savior. It was Michael! The two embraced and promised to never be separated again. She was taken back to the apartment he was now living in with the man who helped him so many nights ago. He was a very kind man and said he would be more than happy to have Sarah as well. She discovered that the two had been searching for her nonstop since that one fateful night. Michael and Sarah became best friends with the man and his girlfriend. They all went on to live out the rest of their days together and happy.

Author’s Note: The original story is called The Cat’s Elopement from the Lang Japanese Fairy Tale unit. In the original story the two lovers were actually cats. Their owners were so fond of them that neither would part with them so that they could live together in one household. The two ran away and were separated after being attacked. A servant of the princess stepped in and took the male cat back to her. He lived with her but missed his wife every day. One day he stepped in between a larger cat fighting a smaller one and discovered it was his love. She went back with him to the palace where they lived for the rest of their days. In the original story it followed the male cat and didn’t tell the reader what happened to the female cat while he was at the palace. I chose to write the story in a more modern context and use people as the main characters! Another big difference was that during their time of separation I detailed the female’s point of view. I wanted to show the struggles she would have encountered all alone in a different place.

Kitty Cat Love

"The Cat's Elopement" by Andrew Lang, from the Pink Fairy Book (1897). Web Source: Untextbook

Reading Diary B: Japanese Fairy Tale

I did not specify in my previous post that the JapaneseFairy Tale unit that I chose was the Lang one. Within this second half there were several stories that had a tanuki as one of its central characters. In all of the stories it never gave an explanation as to what exactly this being was. In the story The Slaying of the Tanuki, an illustration was given detailing the appearance of the beast. It was a very odd creature that possessed qualities of several different beings. Based on these stories I would assume that the tanukis were popular pieces of Japanese storytelling. In each piece they played the role of the trickster and/or villain. I didn’t enjoy this half of the unit as much as I did the first one though. With the first unit I was captivated by most of the stories. In this one I really didn’t feel that way about any of them. I guess I will be picking a story from the first half of the unit for my storytelling assignment!  

The Tanuki

Reading Diary A: Japanese Fairy Tales Unit

This week I chose to read the Japanese Fairy Tales Unit. There were only a few stories but they were all really intriguing. My favorite was probably The Envious Neighbor, although it was pretty hard to choose just one! Within this story there is an old couple who never had any children so they gave all of their love and affection to their dog. The dog never left their side and one day it discovered buried treasure. The jealous neighbor then borrowed the dog in hopes that he too would get some treasure as well. The dog instead only found bones so the man killed him. After his death the old man had reoccurring dreams in which his dog visited him and gave him commands. When the commands were followed the old man came into a great deal of wealth. The neighbor grew more and more envious each time this happened and did the same thing the old man had done. Instead of gold however he would get stinky berries, and imprisonment for hurting the Daimio. The old man and his wife went on to live a very rich life while the neighbor became hated by all those who knew him because of his wicked ways. Someone really needs to figure out what breed of dog this was because I want one!

Wise Words