Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales; Part B

For part B, the first story that caught my attention was the Fox-Fire. It had to do with a farmer stealing something from a fox. What the fox had was very powerful, and in time it gave the farmer great abilities. The farmer became very wealthy and had many powers. One evening, however, the fox came back for what was rightfully his and stole his power back from the farmer. I think there are a lot of things that could have been added to make this story more interesting. I did like the fact that the farmer had the power of invisibility. I think it would be cool to make a character invisible in one of my own stories. Supernatural powers are always fun to play around with and give to different characters.

(Fox)

The next story I enjoyed from this segment was called Retribution. It was about a boy watching the accidental death of a water boy. He saw it from his window and did not say a word when the body of the boy was found. Although the death had been accidental, there was a man that saw it and did not report it to anyone. The boy didn't report it either. Years went by and nothing was said, then the boy who was now grown, saw a figure that looked like the man that had died. He discovered it was more like a spirit that lived there. Things took a strange turn as the boy accidentally killed the man who witnessed the water boy's killing. I think it would be interesting to cycle a story for turn of events such as this one.

The last story from this section that I would like to touch upon was about the maiden who was stolen and trapped at the top of a building. The building was called a pagoda. The maid was stolen by a cyclone and brought to the top of the building. The man seemed normal and nice, but gave her an ultimatum. She refused to go with the man she did not go. He then held her there hostage, but brought her everything that she needed to be successful. She stayed up there for a while, as the man had trapped and made it impossible for her to get down. Every day that he came to visit, he asked if she would like to go with him, but she refused. One day, the man accidentally left the window open and she was able to look down below. The man transformed into some weird creature and she cried out for help. Since she was so high, no one could hear her. Instead, she threw down her clothes hoping that someone might find her. Her family did, and eventually came to her rescue and injured the man that stole her. I think it would be fun to add on to this story or change it up a bit. I thought about making it more drastic and saying that something happens to the man that stole her.


Bibliography: Chinese Fairy Tales

Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales; Part A

The first story in Part A was very interesting. It was about a princess who had bad luck and had to choose someone to marry. She chose to marry a beggar who had good luck. Although her parents (mainly her father) did not approve, she was sent off with the beggar anyways and lived a rough life with him. Eventually, the beggar decided to go off and look for his fortune, while the wife stayed in their hut and in a horrible lifestyle. Eighteen years later, the beggar returned, but this time he did not look the same and was instead a king. The wife did not recognize him, but stayed loyal to her husband. The king finally told her who he was and they went off to live in the castle. The happiness didn't last long though. The wife suddenly got ill and died. I think that this story could be taken in a new direction. I could switch the roles and give the girl good luck and the guy bad luck. I also like the idea of a happy story and then suddenly turning something in the wrong direction. That would be cool to do to my readers. I might have to include something like this in my next story!

The next story about daughters, their father, and cave creatures. The story starts off in one direction, as the father finds seven eggs, but wants them all to himself and not for his daughters. The daughters end up eating all the eggs so the father is unhappy. The father takes some of his daughters to "grandmas" house, or so he tells them. They actually end up being left in the woods to fend for themselves and to not get eaten by a fox or a wolf. The daughters somehow outsmart the fox and the wolf in their own cage and end up killing them. They find their jewels and then the father finally comes back because he misses them. This part of the story I didn't necessarily like all to much. I think if I was to change it, I would definitely change the ending up so that the dad doesn't get any of the jewels. I think it would be hard to forgive my father if he left me to die in the woods for eating an egg. I would like to maybe make him have some karma.

The last story for part A that I enjoyed was about a dog and a cat. Their owners had owned a gold ring and whenever they had that, they had enough wealth to live. They did not know this, so they ended up selling the ring for a small amount of money and eventually went poor again. Their dog and cat suffered as well because they were not fed. Then, the dog and cat came up with a plan to get the ring back. They would use a mouse to go retrieve it. They did this, and used each other for help. When they finally got the ring and were bringing it back, however, the cat went off with it and brought it home because he was able to get home quicker. The cat was rewarded by the parents and they were mad at the dog because they thought the dog did not help at all. This is why they think dogs and cats are not friends.

(Dog and cat) 

Bibliography: Chinese Fairy Tales

Tech Tip: Canvas Notifications

For this Tech Tip, I decided to set up my Canvas notifications for my classes. After downloading the Canvas app, I have been getting a lot of unnecessary notifications for when people post their discussion and for when a teacher uploads a document. I thought this would be a good lesson for me to learn how to set up and configure things just how I want them to. I really just want to receive notifications for when a grade has been added and when a teacher comments on something. I usually check canvas out daily for each of my classes so I don't want random notifications. After watching the tutorial, I found it helpful that I am able to customize my Canvas to receive notifications for certain things only. It was helpful because it allows me to minimize the notifications I receive for unnecessary things. I would recommend setting this up!

(Grade marking)