Reading Notes: Tejas, Part A

When the Storm God Rides

I liked this story a lot. It's always cool to me when stories like this one use characters (like the storm god and Hurakan) to explain natural phenomena like hurricanes and thunderstorms. Also, they explained the formation of islands off of the Gulf of Mexico, which was a cool bonus.

I could see a story written in a similar format but used to explain a different natural phenomenon.

How the North Wind Lost His Hair

Again, this story has another great characterization of natural occurrences.

The Plant That Grows in Trees

Short and sweet! I wonder if there's any factual backing to this story? Probably not, but it makes for a nice tale.

Why the Woodpecker Pecks

Woah, that was quite the twist at the end. Also, this story makes for good anti-peyote propaganda. Story idea: write a similar folksy tale but that warns against the dangers of another drug, like heroin or marijuana.

The Woodpecker's Stumpy Tail

For some reason it didn't occur to me to think of birds as having tails. After doing a quick Google search, I can confirm that the Woodpecker has a strange, jagged one.

Old Woolly Bird's Sacrifice

The story never goes into how long the rest of the tribe lasts because of the elders' great sacrifice, but I guess we are to assume that they were "saved" by the actions of Old Woolly? I could see some sort of survival story (maybe post-apocalyptic?) ending with the elderly people sacrificing themselves for the younger ones for the good of the whole.

A Tribe That Left Its Shoes

 I really like how these stories are written. I found it a little curious that the stories refer to all of these tribes as "Indians", but I guess there might not be a better word for the translation? Or maybe the specific tribe or tribes that were involved have been lost over the years?

Anyway, here's another survival story that gave me the idea to write an account of a family escaping a volcanic eruption! Would be kind of cool.

The Cloud That Was Lost

The cloud being drunk by the flowers provided a nice visual.

The Swift Blue One

"Horse language" stuck out to me in this story. What else can be communicated by horses? Can they talk to humans, or can humans just give commands?

Grandmother River's Trick

Illustration of the Woodpecker

via the UnTextbook

Bibliography: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends by Florence Stratton. Source.

Week 8 Growth Mindset

GM Strengths

In general, I'm a pretty growth-mindset-oriented person. I really gravitate towards the idea of self-improvement and enjoy learning about a lot of different things. I accept that change is a necessary part of life. Though it is often very hard to deal with, I ultimately think change is for the good.

GM Weaknesses

This section is going to be somewhat longer because I am a persistent self-critic. Whenever it comes to school, I have a hard time keeping my growth mindset. With due dates and midterms, it's hard for me not to think of everything as a grade. I often have to remind myself why I'm even in school. I have passions in my schoolwork, but I tend to lose sight of them when there's a cold, numerical evaluation attached to every effort I put forth.

The Next Step

For the next half of the semester, I'm going to try to tie my passions out of school to my academic coursework. This will require more effort, certainly, but I think it could work to my advantage. Since I have to spent a certain amount of time on academics, I might as well try and enjoy myself and push myself to do better.

With this, I would also like to stop neglecting my outside hobbies and passions. I can't remember the last time I read a book for fun or played a new video game.

I miss books.

Image via pexels

Week 8 Reflections

1. Reading

I've done a pretty good job of taking notes on the readings. I don't take notes on every story, but I try to find interesting narrative choices or characters to cling onto.

I will say that sometimes I'm not always looking forward to a story. In the weeks where I didn't write a story, a large part of it was because I didn't really have any inspiration from the readings I did.

For the next half of the semester, I'm going to try out a few different note-taking styles instead of just trying to take notes on every story within a reading.

2. Writing

My stories have really been hit or miss. Sometimes I get really into the idea that I've thought up, but other times, it seems like a complete struggle to get words out. I'm not sure why this is. I think I just need to start doing more of it and maybe increase the quality of my note-taking.

If I spread out my story writing over a few days, it should be easier. It'll be like I'm exercising my writing muscle more than just doing it in one large chunk over the week.

3. Connecting

I have a hard time giving criticism. I often find very easy mistakes, like typos and misspellings, but the bigger mistakes, like story choices and writing advice I'm not so good at. It might be due to the fact that I'm not a great writer myself, but really I have no idea. Also a lot of this stuff is subjective, which makes it harder to give valid criticism.

via Flickr user Celestine Chua

Story: Goku and the Yemma Fruit

Goku and the Yemma Fruit

Many years from now, there exists a galaxy not too unlike our own. In this galaxy, there is a very, very small planet inhabited by one of the wisest beings to ever exist - King Kai. It's a modest planet, stretched by a smooth, green grassy carpet. The only creatures that live alongside King Kai are his trusty companions - Bubbles the monkey and Gregory the talking cricket. There are a few apple trees sprinkled sparsely throughout King Kai's planet, but other than that there isn't much vegetation to speak of - except for King Kai's mystical forbidden garden of Yemma Trees.

In this not too distant future, Earth is still the primary location of the human race. Not much has changed - technologies have come and gone, nations built and torn down, but the fundamental structure of society would be recognizable to even the most out of touch human beings of today. However, the human world was recently shaken up by an unusual meteorite crash. Within this meteor was an extraterrestrial by the name of Goku. 

Goku is a Saiyan - a human-like, warrior race that is intent on taking over - or destroying - the entire universe. He was sent by his people to destroy Earth. However, Goku was sent while he was still well into infancy, and therefore had no knowledge of his bloodthirsty mission or the warmongering Saiyan culture. He grew up to be a silly, pure-hearted, happy-go-lucky boy who loved eating and fighting the strongest people in the world. 

Goku grew to be the strongest fighter on Earth. He trained hard every day, but he wanted to learn more about fighting. He consulted his teacher, Master Roshi, and asked him what to do. Master Roshi told him the story of a great, celestial being by the name of King Kai. His wisdom and knowledge of martial arts was unrivaled in all of the galaxy. Eyes twinkling with desire, Goku immediately hopped aboard his flying cloud Nimbus and set off for the Kai's planet. 

With a great thud, Goku landed on King Kai's planet. 

"WOOOOOOOW. So THIS is the great King Kai's planet!" he said in awe. 

"Yes, so it is. And who might you be, monkey boy?" muttered an irritated King Kai.

"I'm Goku! Nice to meet you strange, blue guy!" laughed Goku, scratching the back of his head. "Could you help me find King Kai?" 

"HOW DARE YOU.. YOU LITTLE URCHIN! I AM the King Kai, and I am most certainly NOT STRANGE!!" he yelled, with tiny clouds of steam blowing out of his ears. 

With this, Goku was on the floor laughing. "Hahaha, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Hahahaha! You just look a lot different than I was expecting mister King Kai! Hahahaha!" 

With this, the King Kai was irate. His most trusted adviser, his pet monkey Bubbles, was able to calm him down though. After a few moments of deep breathing, the King Kai spoke again. 

"So what is it I can do for you Goku?" he asked. 

With a moment's delay, Goku jumped to his feet, straightened up, and responded. "I want to learn how to fight from you sir!" 

Now it was King Kai who couldn't hold it together. "HAHAHA! You want me to train you? You're clearly still very young and immature, much too undisciplined to be my pupil!" 

Goku frowned. In the whiniest voice possible, he pleaded. "Awwww, c'mon Mister Kai, please teach me! I'm very strong, plus I've trained a lot already! Nobody on Earth challenges me." 

"It's KING Kai to you pal. And while that might be true, the answer's still no!"

The desperation in Goku's face doubled. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? I won't let you down, I promise!" 

King Kai glanced at Gregory, his cricket friend who only shrugged in response. With a deep sigh, he finally gave in. "Fine. But I'm going to give you a trial task to see if you're really ready for my training." 

"I'll do anything!" affirmed Goku.

So King Kai charged Goku with guarding his sacred garden of Yemma Trees. These trees held the Yemma fruit, a magical berry that when consumed, granted the consumer mighty strength and the ability to teleport to anywhere the mind could think to go. He explained to Goku all of these mystical properties of the Yemma fruit, which is why he needed them to be guarded. King Kai also it very clear to Goku that he was forbidden from eating any of the fruit himself. 

Goku stayed strong - for a few hours. Unfortunately, Goku's stomach was severely uninformed of the restrictions placed on the delicious Yemma fruit and began to bellow. Goku doubled-over and let out a loud moan.

"Aw man, this sucks. I must stand firm and guard this fruit, but I'm also sooooo hungry!" he thought. "I could probably sneak one of the hidden fruits higher in the tree, but that stupid monkey is nearby."

He thought for a moment, then his face lit up with an idea. Sending his Nimbus over to Bubbles the monkey, he used the flying cloud to pick him up and carry him to the other side of King Kai's estate. 

With that, Goku scaled one of the taller Yemma trees and yanked one of the more hidden fruits from the top. He bit into the reddish-yellow delicacy and his eyes popped. 

"WOW! These are SUPER delicious!" he exclaimed. "Maybe I'll try just one more..." 

And he try one more. And then another. And before Bubbles could make his way back from the other side of the planet, Goku had eaten every single apple in King Kai's garden. The Kai himself had just been on his way out to check on Goku, and when he saw the utter decimation of his Yemma fruit population, he nearly fainted.

After what felt to him like an eternity, King Kai regained his senses. Then, he got mad. 

"GOOOOOOKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Goku leaped up, still chewing the last few Yemma fruit before he called his Nimbus over to him. With the strength of the fruit, he leaped straight up, and before King Kai could follow him, he used to fruit's special ability to transport himself back to his bed on Earth. 

This wouldn't be the last time these two crossed paths, and Goku continued his childish antics while still striving to become the greatest fighter in the universe. He didn't earn his training on that day, but one day he would. 

Drawing of Goku by DeviantArt user Jaxaly

Author's Note: This story in a mixture of the reading I did this week in the Monkey King unit and a cartoon that I watched while growing up - Dragonball Z. There were a lot of similarities in the characters of Sun Wu Kung and Goku (childish, wanting to learn and grow stronger, unable to obey), so I thought I could rewrite one of Sun Wu Kung's adventures into a Goku one. 

A lot of the world from Dragonball Z is the same, but I changed some details about King Kai's planet so that he would have a garden, just like the "The Queen-Mother of the West" in Sun Wu Kung's world. 

Bibliography: Stories from "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhems, translated by Frederick H. Martens. Source.

Story: Goku and the Yemma Fruit

Goku and the Yemma Fruit

Many years from now, there exists a galaxy not too unlike our own. In this galaxy, there is a very, very small planet inhabited by one of the wisest beings to ever exist - King Kai. It's a modest planet, stretched by a smooth, green grassy carpet. The only creatures that live alongside King Kai are his trusty companions - Bubbles the monkey and Gregory the talking cricket. There are a few apple trees sprinkled sparsely throughout King Kai's planet, but other than that there isn't much vegetation to speak of - except for King Kai's mystical forbidden garden of Yemma Trees.

In this not too distant future, Earth is still the primary location of the human race. Not much has changed - technologies have come and gone, nations built and torn down, but the fundamental structure of society would be recognizable to even the most out of touch human beings of today. However, the human world was recently shaken up by an unusual meteorite crash. Within this meteor was an extraterrestrial by the name of Goku. 

Goku is a Saiyan - a human-like, warrior race that is intent on taking over - or destroying - the entire universe. He was sent by his people to destroy Earth. However, Goku was sent while he was still well into infancy, and therefore had no knowledge of his bloodthirsty mission or the warmongering Saiyan culture. He grew up to be a silly, pure-hearted, happy-go-lucky boy who loved eating and fighting the strongest people in the world. 

Goku grew to be the strongest fighter on Earth. He trained hard every day, but he wanted to learn more about fighting. He consulted his teacher, Master Roshi, and asked him what to do. Master Roshi told him the story of a great, celestial being by the name of King Kai. His wisdom and knowledge of martial arts was unrivaled in all of the galaxy. Eyes twinkling with desire, Goku immediately hopped aboard his flying cloud Nimbus and set off for the Kai's planet. 

With a great thud, Goku landed on King Kai's planet. 

"WOOOOOOOW. So THIS is the great King Kai's planet!" he said in awe. 

"Yes, so it is. And who might you be, monkey boy?" muttered an irritated King Kai.

"I'm Goku! Nice to meet you strange, blue guy!" laughed Goku, scratching the back of his head. "Could you help me find King Kai?" 

"HOW DARE YOU.. YOU LITTLE URCHIN! I AM the King Kai, and I am most certainly NOT STRANGE!!" he yelled, with tiny clouds of steam blowing out of his ears. 

With this, Goku was on the floor laughing. "Hahaha, oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Hahahaha! You just look a lot different than I was expecting mister King Kai! Hahahaha!" 

With this, the King Kai was irate. His most trusted adviser, his pet monkey Bubbles, was able to calm him down though. After a few moments of deep breathing, the King Kai spoke again. 

"So what is it I can do for you Goku?" he asked. 

With a moment's delay, Goku jumped to his feet, straightened up, and responded. "I want to learn how to fight from you sir!" 

Now it was King Kai who couldn't hold it together. "HAHAHA! You want me to train you? You're clearly still very young and immature, much too undisciplined to be my pupil!" 

Goku frowned. In the whiniest voice possible, he pleaded. "Awwww, c'mon Mister Kai, please teach me! I'm very strong, plus I've trained a lot already! Nobody on Earth challenges me." 

"It's KING Kai to you pal. And while that might be true, the answer's still no!"

The desperation in Goku's face doubled. "Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeease? I won't let you down, I promise!" 

King Kai glanced at Gregory, his cricket friend who only shrugged in response. With a deep sigh, he finally gave in. "Fine. But I'm going to give you a trial task to see if you're really ready for my training." 

"I'll do anything!" affirmed Goku.

So King Kai charged Goku with guarding his sacred garden of Yemma Trees. These trees held the Yemma fruit, a magical berry that when consumed, granted the consumer mighty strength and the ability to teleport to anywhere the mind could think to go. He explained to Goku all of these mystical properties of the Yemma fruit, which is why he needed them to be guarded. King Kai also it very clear to Goku that he was forbidden from eating any of the fruit himself. 

Goku stayed strong - for a few hours. Unfortunately, Goku's stomach was severely uninformed of the restrictions placed on the delicious Yemma fruit and began to bellow. Goku doubled-over and let out a loud moan.

"Aw man, this sucks. I must stand firm and guard this fruit, but I'm also sooooo hungry!" he thought. "I could probably sneak one of the hidden fruits higher in the tree, but that stupid monkey is nearby."

He thought for a moment, then his face lit up with an idea. Sending his Nimbus over to Bubbles the monkey, he used the flying cloud to pick him up and carry him to the other side of King Kai's estate. 

With that, Goku scaled one of the taller Yemma trees and yanked one of the more hidden fruits from the top. He bit into the reddish-yellow delicacy and his eyes popped. 

"WOW! These are SUPER delicious!" he exclaimed. "Maybe I'll try just one more..." 

And he try one more. And then another. And before Bubbles could make his way back from the other side of the planet, Goku had eaten every single apple in King Kai's garden. The Kai himself had just been on his way out to check on Goku, and when he saw the utter decimation of his Yemma fruit population, he nearly fainted.

After what felt to him like an eternity, King Kai regained his senses. Then, he got mad. 

"GOOOOOOKUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU!" he screamed at the top of his lungs. Goku leaped up, still chewing the last few Yemma fruit before he called his Nimbus over to him. With the strength of the fruit, he leaped straight up, and before King Kai could follow him, he used to fruit's special ability to transport himself back to his bed on Earth. 

This wouldn't be the last time these two crossed paths, and Goku continued his childish antics while still striving to become the greatest fighter in the universe. He didn't earn his training on that day, but one day he would. 

Drawing of Goku by DeviantArt user Jaxaly

Author's Note: This story in a mixture of the reading I did this week in the Monkey King unit and a cartoon that I watched while growing up - Dragonball Z. There were a lot of similarities in the characters of Sun Wu Kung and Goku (childish, wanting to learn and grow stronger, unable to obey), so I thought I could rewrite one of Sun Wu Kung's adventures into a Goku one. 

A lot of the world from Dragonball Z is the same, but I changed some details about King Kai's planet so that he would have a garden, just like the "The Queen-Mother of the West" in Sun Wu Kung's world. 

Bibliography: Stories from "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhems, translated by Frederick H. Martens. Source.

Reading Notes: The Monkey King, Part B

The Lord of the Heavens

The gods are very forgiving in these stories, unlike the stories from Greek mythology. Although the servants in heaven (I'm not sure if this meant gods or just people who worked in heaven) were quick to condemn Sun Wu Kung, the North Wind god and the Lord were very forgiving of his behavior and gave him a position in heaven.

The Great Saint

Unfortunately, Sun Wu Kung didn't really know that he was doing servant work so the work that he did is kind of invalidated. His outrage is unfortunate because it shows he hasn't really learned the ways of the heavens.

Notscha, Son of Li Dsing


The power of the Monkey King is much greater than  I thought. I wonder why the gods are not more powerful than him?

The Queen-Mother of the West

Saint seems like a real punk. Also, the forbidden fruit is a common theme in stories like these. (Like Adam and Eve).

Laotzse

I really like how clever Saint is, even though he is using his cunning to deceive people. I hope he doesn't end up dying, but he is acting much like a "lovable scamp" character in this narrative.

Yang Oerlang

What an exciting chase between the two shape shifters. It would be cool to do a scene like this in a story where there are even more species, like across a galaxy or something. Maybe like a bounty hunter sort of deal?

The Destiny of Sun Wu Kung

I wonder what Buddha would have done if Sun Wu Kung would not have written his name in his hand. The logic doesn't exactly make sense to me anyway, but I guess having a great, strong arrogant being taken down this way makes us humble.

Xi Wangmu, the Queen-Mother of the West via the UnTextbook

Bibliography: Stories from "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhems, translated by Frederick H. Martens. Source.

Reading Notes: The Monkey King, Part A

Handsome King of the Apes

I wonder what the meaning here is of "stone". Is the stone ape made out of stone? Also, I'm not sure if this really is Sun Wu Kung. I really like the idea of a waterfall hiding a cave because it reminds me of the Incredibles, which is one of my favorite animated films.

The Great Sea

It's always interesting to me when an author builds up a a "good" character like the Monkey King, but then later he has the character commit some sort of random, bad act. It makes the character more realistic, but always leaves a bad taste in my mouth. In this story, the part that gave me this feeling was when the Monkey King knocked the fisherman down and stole his clothes to blend in with the humans.

Sun Wu Kung Gets His Name

Ah, so the reference to the "stone ape" just means that he was born of stone. Also, I wonder how old Sun Wu Kung is at this point because he spent 8 + 6-7 years at least traveling trying to find out the "great truth" of immortality.

The Master

I really like stories that involve teaching various disciplines. I can imagine writing a story that involves a quest similar to Sun Wu Kung's where the main character is as focused on a particular goal as he is. It's pretty inspiring.

Learning the Art

It's funny how Sun Wu Kung misinterpreted the master's teachings. It's so typical of someone young and inexperienced in the world, and also seems to make fun of traditional tales where everything has to mean something significant.

Wait, what? Oh, I guess he really did mean for Sun Wu Kung to come to his bedroom at night? That was a strange exchange.

I feel like if I had been whispered a magical truth, I definitely wouldn't be able to sleep right after.

Sun Wu Kung Departs

Aww, poor guy. The master seems unreasonably angry, but he also knows much more about the powers and their capabilities, so I understand his decision.

I wonder if these secrets are actually a result of the behavior or if the behavior just complements controlling the powers and is the only reason a power would be given. If a secret power can just be given to someone, are there evil groups in this world that have these powers as well?

The Devil-King

Boo, that fight was kind of lame. The Devil King didn't even fight back really.

The Dragon-King

Apparently stealing is okay? It seems like Sun Wu Kung is trying to play god here.

Why does as weapon need to be heavy? This is a weird progression.

The Dragon-Queen

Well, I am really not very happy with Sun Wu Kung's character now. He's very determined, but his determination leads to him upsetting a lot of innocent people. The Dragon King tried to appease him, but even then Sun Wu Kung was not very grateful and just demanded more difficult things to obtain.

The Nether World

Now he is heaven-born? I thought he only assumed that he was born of stone?

So, I bet a conflict is coming with the Lord of the Heavens soon because it seems a lot of upset people are turning to him and complaining about Sun Wu Kung. I don't think they are entirely in the wrong by doing so.

Chinese painting, from the UnTextbook

Bibliography: Stories from "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book edited by R. Wilhems, translated by Frederick H. Martens. Source.