Week 10 Storytelling: Left Behind

The old man watched as one by one, people ascended into the upper world. There were four ladders placed in position for people to climb up, each of a different color. As more and more people went up, the makeshift ladders began to wear down until there was only one ladder left. By the time the last of the people had gone up, the last ladder, too, was worn out. The old man looked at his equally old wife and wondered what they were going to do. They were too old to make it up these ladders into the upper world, and even if they could, there were no working ladders left to make it safely.

"Take us out!" yelled the old man. "Don't leave us here!"

The people stopped and looked back at the old, feeble couple but did not make an effort to take them out. After all, they all thought the couple wouldn't survive the journey upwards anyways so it was a lost cause. They kept on walking and began to explore the new world without any more thought of the old couple.

The man looked at his wife in disbelief, fuming over the fact that they had been left behind. "Why would they do that? Why were they leaving us behind in this godforsaken underworld?" he thought to himself.

The old woman called back up to the people, "You will come back here to us."

The people who heard the woman wondered what she meant. Surely they would have no reason to go back to the awful underworld. They took the old woman's words as nonsense and paid no more attention to the old couple. Little did they know that the woman was a witch who knew spells that could do unimaginable things to people. She had lived happily in the underworld with people she trusted, so until now, she had no reason to use spells or even let people know she was a witch. Things had changed today, though, and the old couple knew that the others were not to be trusted anymore. It was time to take action and get even.

While the others were up exploring the water-laden upper world, the old lady was hard at work preparing her spell. While the others knew what water was, they had no idea what rain was or why the upper world was covered in so much water since they had lived in the underworld their whole lives. The witch, however, knew of stories that talked about great storms causing lots of chaos. She wanted to cast a spell that would cause a storm so bad that the others would be forced to back down in order to survive.

Twenty minutes later, the spell was complete. "Make the storms rage and batter the upper world until the others have no desire to stay there!" she exclaimed as she finished the spell.

In the upper world, the people noticed that the sun was rapidly vanishing behind a wall of thick, dark storm clouds. To them, this was a novel experience and had no idea they were in for the biggest scare of their lives. As the clouds grew darker, the wind began to pick up until it was howling. Then came the sheets of rain just being dumped from the sky. Thunder rumbled across the sky as it was lit up with blinding lightning strikes. Within seconds, the people were soaked with no shelter in sight. They were bewildered that water was pouring down from the skies. As they looked up in shock, large balls of ice began to fall and knock people out. They yelled out in pain, trying to protect their heads from the painful onslaught of hail. In the distance, a funnel-shaped cloud was beginning to descend to the ground, and with it came strong winds and lots of debris. In fact, there was so much debris and so much wind that people were picked up into the air and thrown hundreds of feet into the air before landing in a crumpled heap.

The only option was to go back into the underworld if they wanted to survive. The remaining people fought their way back to the entrance of the underworld just as the tornado was about to swallow them up. They closed their eyes and jumped blindly back into the underworld. The fall was so deep that most ended up being knocked out upon contact with the ground. After opening their eyes, the first thing the people noticed was the old couple calmly drinking tea as if nothing had happened. The old man looked like he was clueless,  almost as if he was under the spell of the woman. The old woman had a creepy smirk on her face as if she was amused.

"I told you that you'd be back," she whispered to the people before letting out a wicked laugh.

Tornado; Wikimedia Commons

Author's Note

In the original Apache creation story, people in the underworld discover a mountain that has reeds that grow up into the upper world. Unfortunately, four girls go to the top and tie the reeds in knots so that they stop growing. This leaves the people unable to reach the top. However, they have four ladders that they use to get to the upper world. After all the ladders have been worn out, an old man and woman are still left in the underworld. They call out to the others trying to get them to help, but ultimately they are left behind. At this point of the story, the old couple is left behind and eventually become rulers of the world of the dead. The manner in which they become rulers of the dead was not mentioned.  I wanted to focus my story on them and how they felt about getting left behind in the underworld. I also wanted to portray them as sinister and wanting to get revenge for the selfishness of the others. I thought it was fitting to make the old woman's character an undercover witch so she could use a spell. Also, since we are now right in the middle of tornado season, I thought it would be a great idea to somehow incorporate that into story for this week. Ultimately I decided to have the old lady/witch cast a spell in order to cause a tornado that would drive the others back into the underworld. 

Bibliography

The Emergence from Apache Tales by P.E. Goddard

Reading Notes (B): Apache Tales

The Supernatural Person in the Lake

A woman gives a boy a present that will make him the medicine man. With nothing to eat, the boy leads the men into corralling antelope into the river so they could kill them for food. After three days, the women tells him to stop since they have enough food and asks to have the present back. I thought that was absurd because who asks for people to give their presents back?! He tells her he gave it to the supernatural one and she curses him. He left to his own country and lived at the bottom of a lake in a tent.

Apache medicine man; Wikipedia 

The Man Who Travelled with the Buffalo 

One person survived the heat but was dying from thirst while out on a war expedition into enemy territory. He falls asleep and upon waking up, he hears Ravens talking about these men who had killed the buffalo. They mentioned the killing of very many buffalo. The man was very thirsty and set off to find water. A prairie dog gives him some and he is off following the buffalo and sleeping with them at night.

Coyote Steals a Man's Wife

A coyote steals a man's wife. The man then chases after them in order to get his wife back. Each camp of theirs he passes by, nearby dwellers tell him he is getting closer and closer. Finally, he finds his wife and orders the Coyote to swallow hot stones wrapped in fat. After swallowing four of these horrible stones, the Coyote falls dead while running. The husband tells his wife to bathe. After obliging and finishing her bath, they leave due East. I thought this story would come in handy for the storytelling assignment this week. It's almost a comical concept of this Coyote stealing a man's wife, although I'm not sure if it was intended to be portrayed in that manner.

Bibliography

Apache Tales by P.E. Goddard

Reading Notes (A): Apache Tales

The Emergence

This story begins in the underworld, which I thought was pretty interesting. The people then come up from the underworld to the earth that we know today. I found it to be pretty unique that the Apache believed that people originally began in the underworld before coming up and inhabiting the earth as we know it today. The people used ladders to climb a great mountain into the upper world. As they climbed up, the ladders wore out, leaving an old couple behind in the lower world. I noticed that the number four was mentioned multiple times in this beginning story. I'm beginning to think it's a theme that the Apache believe in.

The First War

Again, I'm seeing the number four pop up multiple times throughout this story. It may be a traditional number that is sacred to them that has a specific purpose. It may be auspicious is some regard. I could use this theme in my story for the week and build off of it. A grandson kills his grandfather in the first war because the grandfather initially shot the grandson in the arm with an arrow,

The Culture Heroes and Owl

Two companions ask their grandmother to make them something to play with, She defers to their father, who seems to be the sun, and they go to visit him. He makes them a hoop and pole game with arrows and warns them not to roll the hoop toward the north. Of course, they roll the hoop to the north and it ends up in a fire at the house of Owl. The Owl chops up the kids and cooks them in a pot of stew to eat, but the kids seem to be alive and fine! The Owl lets them go with their hoop and pole and they continue to play until sunset. This was interesting, although I didn't know if there was supposed to be a point to this story. Definitely good material that I could use for my story this week. I think I know what I will be writing about!

An owl looking into the distance; Wikipedia

Bibliography

Apache Tales by P.E. Goddard 

Reading Notes (B): California and the Old Southwest

Origin of the Sierra Nevadas

At a time in the world in which there was nothing but water, Hawk and Crow were perched on a pole that stuck far up out of the water. They would take turns sitting and knocking each other off the pole for ages. They created other birds that prey on fish, while also creating Duck. Duck died with mud from bottom of the water in her beak. This mud is what Hawk and Crow used to begin making the mountains. Crow's mountain range was bigger than Hawk's. This is why the Sierra Nevada Range is larger than the Coast Range.

Legend of Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La (El Capitan)

Two boys go down to the river for a swim. Afterwards, they fall asleep on a boulder near the banks of the river. They sleep so soundly that they don't realize that the boulder has been growing each and every day up until the point that they graze the surface of the moon. Their village and family members can't find them no matter how hard they look. All the animals try to jump as high as they can in order to bring the boys back down, but to no avail; they all fail. Then comes a tiny measuring worm who steadily climb up the boulder until he has traveled much farther than the lion's highest leap. At last, he reaches the top and awakes the two boys and brings them safely back to the ground. The rock is then called Tutokanula, the measuring worm or El Capitan.

The Children of Cloud

A gorgeous young woman gives birth to twin sons. Their father is Cloud, who lives far away. One day the boys question their mother about their father. She tells them of the Cloud being their father. The boys travel to the house of Wind, who is their uncle, so they can visit their father. Wind says to go to the next house, where Cloud lives. Cloud sends them back to Wind and tells them that he has something to tell them. This repeats four times before Cloud tells the twins to prove that they are his sons. He tests them and they prove they are his sons. They are thunder and lightning. This would be a cool story to build off of and has some unique ideas that I could use for my story this week.

Clouds with thunder and lightning; Public Domain Pictures

Bibliography

Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson.

Reading Notes (A): California and the Old Southwest

Three Coyote Creation Stories

Coyote began the creation of Earth, but Eagle completed it. Coyote and Fox created man; ultimately men die. Coyote also brought fire into the world in order to save the Indians from freezing. Coyote killed nine out of ten moons in order to save the Indians from freezing at night. He also killed all nine out of ten suns in order to save the world from burning up. There's only room for one each. A flood came and destroyed everyone and everything except Coyote. He planted feathers at each Indian village and there trees sprouted that turned into people. This is how the world was inhabited once again. This is a good idea for my story this week. I could make up my own creation story and use bits and pieces of this one in order to help it flow.

The Creation of the World

An Earth Doctor creates the world, including the trees, mountains, water, grass, etc. The sun and moon are made of ice. He also created the stars and the entire Milky Way galaxy.

Stars in the Milky Way; Wikimedia

Spider's Creation

A spider creates two women from two parcels by singing. More people appeared, as well as animals, birds, and insects. The spider continues to sing until the creation is complete. The two women are were mothers of all. Utset is the mother of all Indians, while Nowutset is the mother of all nations. The people are divided into clan by the spider. The spider also creates the cloud people, lightning people, thunder people, and rainbow people in order to create rain on the new Earth. The two women create the sun and the moon and also the star people so they can light up the world at night when the moon is not so bright.

The Great Fire/The Origin of Light

A man loves two women and wished to marry both of them. The women laugh at him and he proceeds to build a tule boat so he can escape before he sets the world on fire. It's a massive fire that only Coyote is able to put out after much work.

Bibliography

Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson.

Tech Tip: Blog Profile

For this assignment, I completely removed the profile on the sidebar. I didn't think it was necessary to keep and thought it took away from the main point of the blog, which are the stories and other posts. Other than that, I like how my blog is set up so I didn't change anything else!

I think online identity is important. There's also a lot of potentially vulnerable information posted online that almost anyone can access these days due to technology. That being said, I think the less information stored online, the better. It's also good to frame your online identity in the way you want others to perceive you. It's one of the keys for getting a good job since potential employers are known to search social media to see what kind of person you are. So in summary, it's good to limit the type of information included in your online identity to the things that really matter (which is different for everyone).

Week 8 Reflection

Hey all, I hope everyone's semester is going well so far! I've enjoyed this class as the semester has gone on and am looking forward to reading more great stories. I decided to take this class as a follow-up to Epics of India, and I have to say, I have not been disappointed. I think the reading notes are extremely helpful in the sense that they help get ideas flowing through the brain. When I read stories each week for the reading notes, I automatically start thinking to myself about the different ideas and styles that I can use in my own stories. Needless to say, I think it's an integral part of this course that helps students write great, successful stories. I think my favorite reading so far has been about the immortal monkey king, Sun Wu Kung, and his extremely eventful life.

I'm pretty happy with the stories I have written so far this semester. They could all use some improvement, but with all the excellent feedback I have been receiving, I think everyone plays a big part in how great the stories ultimately turn out. As a writer, I've learned that it helps my relax and unwind. It's one of the assignments that I actually enjoy doing out of all the classes I'm taking this semester. There's just something about stories that I think can be extremely moving and influential and that's why I think I love reading for fun so much. They have the ability to take the reader some place else and just entertain people. I'm really looking forward to reading the Native American units in the upcoming weeks because I know they think really abstractly which makes me want to think outside the box more. I can't wait to finish off the semester strong and read more amazing stories as the semester comes to an end!

Writing; Pixabay