Storytelling Week 12: Ashley's Regret

Author's Note: This week's storybook post was inspired by one of the many tales of The Twenty Jatakas Tales.  I focused my story off of the different stories in reading A named “The Golden Feathers.” This story is about a family who is very poor and the father set out to find riches to return with.  While he was finding fortune to bring back to his family he was turned into a goose with golden feathers.  He went back to his house and gave his family one feather telling them to sell it and that he would be back.  Before he retuned one time the mother decided that they should take all the feathers in case he never returned.  When this happened all the feathers turned white and were worthless.  This is a good lesson about learning that you have enough and to not be greedy.  The mother also learns that it isn’t smart to take advantage of the help being received.  Read my story about Kate and Ashley.  Here Ashley learns how important it is to not take advantage of people when they offer to help. 

 Ashley's Regret 

Kate Maxwell has always been one of the smartest girls in school.  Not only was she smart but also she was extremely nice and loved helping people. Ashley on the other hand struggled with school but was extremely popular.  Kate and Ashley lived on the same street so they saw a lot of each other out of school as well as in school.  

They weren't much of friends expect maybe a wave here or there or a “Hello” while passing.  One day during school Kate found Ashley crying in the girls bathroom.  Kate being the nice person she asked her what was wrong.  Ashley explained to her that she was failing her algebra class, and that if she did fail she wouldn’t be able to cheer on the squad.  Kate knew that very upsetting to Ashley since she was cheer caption and all.  Kate offered to help Ashley in her math class every day after school.  

Every day Kate would walk down to Ashley’s house with her algebra homework.  At first Ashley was very interested in learning what Kate was trying to teach her.  She took notes and was very organized with all the information Kate was giving her.  It didn't take long for Ashley’s grades to start to rise.  Once this happened Ashley figured out that since she took her homework over to Kate’s house every day she could trick Kate into doing the problems for her.  Kate thought she was helping Ashley but really she was just doing the problems for Ashley.  Ashley started to take advantage of Kate and found sneaky ways to get Kate to do the problem for her as a demonstration for that type of math problem.  Ashley would make comments like “I just don’t understand” with the most confused and sad look on her face.  This would make Kate feel bad for so she would tell her not to worry and show her how to do the problem.  Ashley stopped taking notes and worked more on her sad puppy dogface instead of learning how to do the problems. 

Ashley’s final grade for algebra all depended on her final test for the class.  Since Ashley was making good grades on all her homework, she didn’t even stop to think that she would be on her own for the test.  The test day came and when Ashley received her test on her desk she quickly realized that she didn't know how to do any of the problems because she was having Kate do them all for her.  Ashley ended up failing the test and the class, resulting in her not being able to be a cheerleader anymore.  Ashley regretted not paying more attention to Kate while she was helping her, but has learned to never take advantage of help that was being offered. 

(Photo Source) 

 Bibliography: The Golden Feathers tale in the book The Twenty Jataka Tales by Noor InayatRetold by Noor Inayat.  
 

Storytelling, Week 3- 'Princess Isabella

Princess Isabella 

In a kingdom tucked away in the highest mountains lived a little princess named Isabella.  Princess Isabella lived with her parents, the King and Queen, on the tallest mountain overlooking the kingdom.  Isabella and her parents were the only ones that lived in the tallest mountain, alongside the trees and animals.  Her parents moved her away from the village when she was born, because they had heard story after story about princesses being harmed or taken, and they didn’t want to take a chance of that happening. 

((The Castle looking over the Village, Photo Source)

As Isabella grew older and older she grew lonelier and lonelier..

Isabella loved her parents, but those were the only real people that she ever came in contact with, unless it was time for the doctor to make his monthly trip to give the princess her check-up.  Not only was Isabella isolated from the village; her parents gave her certain boundaries, and she could only travel so far away from the castle.  Isabella loved to be outdoors climbing trees, feeling the grass between her toes, and smelling all the beautiful flowers, but she always wondered what went beyond her limit.  Isabella was never sure what would happen to her if she were to go past her boundaries. Her parents always just told her that there was nothing special about going any farther, and that it would be a waste of time for her.    

The closest thing to a best friend Isabella were her dolls and the animals that roamed the castle and the castle yard.  Every day she would take time to visit all of her animal friends.  The first stop of the day was the caterpillars and ladybugs.  She would always bring them a piece of lettuce for them to eat, and they would always compliment how beautiful they were.  Next she would visit her pet pigs and horses.  One of her favorite things to do was comb and braid her horses’ hair, and they loved her so much for that, they would tell her stories of what was beyond her boundaries of the kingdom. The pigs were one of her favorite animals because they would tell her funny jokes and she would roll around in the mud with them (even though her mother hated that).  Lastly she would bring carrots to all the bunnies and they would cuddle with her with their oh so soft fur.  The only animal she wasn’t allowed to be friends with were the birds.  Her father, the King, told her that they are evil and will trick you into danger.   She listened to her father and never listened to the birds until one day a yellow bird told the princess that he would take her beyond her boundaries and have her back before sun was down. 

 Because Isabella was lonely and dreamed of the land beyond her limits, she quickly agreed and ran off with the bird for an adventure.  The bird was showing her all sorts of new things she had never seen before.  She got to see a pond and talked to the fish about what it is like to swim she smelled new flowers and climbed new trees.  It was starting to get dark and the princess suggested that they head back to the castle, but the bird insisted on eating some berries before they headed back.  The bird told Isabella that he must fly to get the berries and that he would be back shortly. She was to wait for him in that exact spot.  As she waited, she started to hear the bush leaves crumble, so out of curiosity she looked in the bush to see what was making the noise.  As she pulled back the leaves she saw a little squirrel that told her that the bird was only planning on killing her with poisoned berries, and that she must follow him back to the castle.  Isabella was surprised to hear this because she had such a nice day with the bird she couldn't believe that he was evil.

The sun was almost down, and she remembered what her father said about the birds being evil, so she decided to follow the squirrel back home.  The squirrel rushed the princess back so that the bird couldn't stop them before she reached the castle.  Once they reached the front step of the castle Isabella thanked the trustworthy squirrel and told him to come back and that they could be friends. 

After the princess's adventure with the bird she realized that there is evil in the world, and understood why her parents brought her to the kingdom.  She became content with all of her animal friends and never wished to leave her boundaries again.      

Author Note:

This story is based off PDE Ramayna part C.  In my story the animals help Isabella, and even save her life.  There isn't much about my story that relates to PDE Ramayna and none of the characters are the same and the story line does not fit the theme of Ramayna.  One of the only resemblance is that some of the animals in Ramayana were helpful. A squirrel helped Rama and his army of monkeys and bears who were building a bridge.  The squirrel brought tiny pebbles and grains of sand to add to the bridge. I always find it fun when you can bring an animal to life with communication, and this is why I chose to create my story around helpful and evil animals. This is a similarity between my story and the Ramayana.  Jatayu and Sampati, the monkeys, the bears, were all animals who communicated.  The purpose of this story is to show and learn from Princess Isabella that rules are sometimes made for our safety, and that we should respect them even if we don't understand them. Princess Sita learned a terrible lesson when she stepped outside of the circle boundary that Lakshmana drew around her. Both Princess Sita and Isabella learn how important it is to follow rules. Learning to follow rules is an important lesson for a young child; this lesson is something that is carried throughout life, and once you learn this lesson life can get a little more organized. The image I chose is to represent the castle that Isabella and her family lived in looking over the village.  I picked this because I thought it offered a good setting to picture when reading about Isabella and her adventure.   

Bibliography:

 The source from this story, “Princess Isabella” is Public Domain Edition: Ramayana Part C. 

Portfolio Guide

Heart Full of Hate
This is a story of a boy who loved the girl next door. Rob and Sally have been friends for a long time, and once Sally got popular she didn't have much to do with Rob.  Sadly Rob loved Sally more than just friends, and just had to accept that Sally would never love him.  Once he accepted this Rob got a spark of revenge, and set out to ruin Sally's current relationship.

Princess Isabella
Princess Isabella is one of the most loved little girls. Her mother and father loved her so much they were willing to do anything to keep her safe.  Her parents the King and Queen knew of horror stories of kidnaps and killings happening to Princess, so to keep her safe they moved her to a tall mountain, with strict rules. Isabella being, young and lonely, broke the rules, this is where she learned how important rules can be.

Ashleys Regret 
This is a story about two girls.  One girl named Kate is very smart and extremely kind.  The other girl named Ashley struggles with school and is really popular.  Kate and Ashley have lived on the same street for years.  Ashley starts to fail at school and must get help or she will have consequences.  Kate kindly offers to help her, but read to see how Ashley takes advantage of Kate and how it leaves Ashley full of regret.

Storytelling Week 2: Heart Full of Hate

Heart Full of Hate

 

(Broken heart: Symbolizing the Rob)  

There once was a boy named Robert. He mostly went by Rob, unless his friend Sally was talking to him.  She always referred to him as Robert. Sally was actually the only person Rob would allow to call him Robert; this was because Rob thought Sally was the prettiest girl he ever did see. Rob and Sally had lived by each other their whole lives. In fact they lived just three doors down from each other, and because they lived so close Rob and Sally’s parents carpooled to school ever since they were in kindergarten.  When Sally and Rob were younger they were the best of buds.  You could always find them outside climbing trees or playing street hockey.  Growing up Rob would do anything Sally asked because he never once stopped thinking she was the prettiest and wisest of all girls. It wasn’t until about sixth grade when they stopped being such good friends. 

You see Robert was more of a shy, quiet kid, while Sally was wild and loud.  Sixth grade was the first year that you could choose where you wanted to sit during lunch.  Rob was pretty nervous that he wouldn't have anywhere to sit, but he was sure that Sally would sit with him!  When the bell rang for lunch, all sixth graders hurried because they were excited to be sitting with all their friends.  When Rob made it into the cafeteria, he scoped out the room in hopes of seeing Sally waving for him to come sit down.  After standing in the doorway getting bumped into person after person, he finally saw Sally sitting with a group of people.  With a sigh of relief, he started walking towards her table. Approaching the table he yelled for Sally, “Hey! Hey Sally!!”

As he yelled her name, the other kids at the table whispered to Sally, “You know this nerd?”

As Rob reached the table, everyone was staring at him including Sally.  Rob then again said hello to Sally as she just sat there in silence.  A boy named Reese broke the silence and shooed him away saying, "Get lost, nerd!"  Rob couldn't believe that Sally had just ignored him like that, but from then on out he knew that they wouldn't be friends anymore. 

The worst part about Rob and Sally not being friends anymore is that they still had to carpool to school every day.  Through middle school and all the way though high school.  The car rides in the morning were never too bad until junior year of high school.   You see until then they always had a parent in the car, and never had any awkward silence.  Junior year Sally got her driver's license and they started taking her dad’s regular cab small truck.  The first day Sally drove, Rob sat in complete silence the whole way. Actually the first month they sat in complete silence.  This was Rob’s most dreadful 23 minutes of his day.   

Sally had been dating Reese for two years--yes, the same kid Reese that booted Rob away from the lunch table in sixth grade.  Rob hated that Sally and Reese dated, and out of jealousy his heart filled with hate over the years, so much hate that he became evil.  He set out to ruin their relationship. 

Rob had a plan, and the first step was to become friends with Sally again, and Rob knew exactly how to do that.  One morning Rob broke the dreadful silence for the first time.  All Rob could get out at first was “Hey Sally," and a confused yet shocked look came across Sally’s face as she responded softly, “Hey.”  Speaking those short words to Sally brought up more emotions than he expected, but the hate in his heart was so strong that he stuck to his plan.  He explained to Sally that he didn't care that they weren’t friends, and that he only wished for decent conversations in the mornings.  Sally giggled with relief and was happy to hear that he didn't hate her, and agreed to talkative mornings.  And just like that step one was complete.

The next step for Rob was getting an invite to one of Sally and her friends’ parties.  This step took the longest for Rob.  It took a few mornings driving to school for Rob and Sally to get comfortable with each other.  Finally after two and a half weeks Sally decided to ask Rob to come to a party at her house after that week’s basketball game. 

The final step for Rob to ruin their relationship would happen during this party.  Rob had an evil plan to set up Reese to cheat on Sally.  Standing by the punch bowl Rob started talking to Katie, a beautiful girl with strawberry blond hair, and knew that she would step up and take the job he had to offer.  Katie only said yes to seducing Reese if Rob would do her homework for pre-calculus the next month. Of course, to Rob that was worth her service, and he agreed. 

It didn’t take long for drunken Reese to agree to Katie’s offer and that's when Rob swooped in and grabbed Sally.  He explained to her that he needed to talk to her immediately and led her to the same room Reese was.  And just like that his plan was complete. Sally felt that her life was over because her heart had been broken. Even though Rob had made Sally sad he found joy out of being evil, by taking away Sally’s love for Reese.

Author's note: 

I strayed a lot from the original story. My main focus from the PDE Ramayana story was the part from the ‘Golden Deer.'  Ravana was a demon that tricked Rama and Sita multiple times because he wanted Sita for himself. That is what happens here with Rob, Sally, and Reese.  Rama was living in exile with Sita when Ravana planned his tricks. Ravana lured Rama away with the golden deer, he told the golden deer to fake Rama's voice, and he also pretended to be an old brahmin so that Sita would invite him in the house.  These tricks are very different than the ones that happen in my story.  Rob gets a girl named Katie who acts as the ‘Golden Deer’ in this story to trick Reese into cheating on Sally with her.  My goal with this story is to explain that there can be a golden deer in any situation.  People will play hateful tricks on one another. No one thought of Rob as a bad guy, but he is still the one that sent the golden deer. Not saying you shouldn’t trust people, but you should always be aware of how you treat people for they could send the golden deer your way. Overall the purpose of this story is to remind people to always treat people kind even if they aren’t the same as you, or you feel that you are more popular than someone.  We should try to treat people the way we would want to be treated.

Bibliography:

"Heart full of Hate"comes from covering the story Public Domain Edition: Ramayana, focused on Reading part B Number 33 The Golden Deer.