I chose to read Folklore of Laos for my extra reading diary this week. I was leaning towards it since I read that it was full of animal tales, which happen to be my favorite kind. I am encapsulated by the animal stories since they have to capture the personality of an animal and personify it to make it relatable. It was definitely an enjoyable read!
Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops: This was quite an interesting story to read. I personally have never noticed that an elephant's mouth droops before reading this. I admired that the 12 abandoned girls were able to realize that their parents did not want them and they did not fret about it. They were never concerned with trying to reunite with their parents. The girls were read to take on the world. The cannibal was also an intriguing element for the story. I am still kind of confused as to why she did not immediately try to make a meal out of them. She also was not the wisest of character either. She was easily tricked and left them unattended so they could escape.
The Parrot and the Minor Bird: I really enjoyed this story. The sao bird seemed so wise and calculated in it. The thought of a bird that actually does speak its own mind is something that I have never even thought of. I am just accustom to the birds that can mimic what they here. This was a very elegant way of explaining why a bird like the parrot only says snippets of what it has heard a human say instead of saying what is on its mind. I also liked how the sao bird never once lied in the story. It always spoke the truth about what it saw, even though that was its downfall when it went to court and was tricked by its master.
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Japanese painting of the minor bird)
I really enjoyed reading Jamaica Anansi Stories this week. I have never read any Jamaican stories before this. It was a bit of a challenge to get used to the dialect in the stories, but they were still great nonetheless.
Horse and Anansi: This was a very interesting story. Anansi seems to play the trickster quite often. He is always looking out for number one. He also seems to have a way of talking any other animal into doing whatever he advises to do. I was glad to see the goat come back and redeem himself in this story. I had thought from the previous stories that he was one of the more gullible animals in the culture. He even outfoxed Anansi while he was trying to pull the same scheme that he had pulled on the horse. I really like how Anansi is capable of being tricked himself. I was beginning to think that he always had his way in every story.
Fire and Anansi: This was another intriguing story about Anansi. He seems like such a foolish character, especially in this story. He heeds the advice of no one and thinks he is right. I really enjoyed seeing his wife, the ground dove, warn him about how bad idea it was to have fire over to their house. It was very gratifying to see that the dove was right and escaped getting burned. I am interested by the dove since she is the wife of the very difficult Anansi. The dialogue between the characters was very difficult to follow in this one.
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Ground Dove)
I decided to go with Jamaica Anansi Stories for my reading diary this week. I was excited to read about some Jamaican stories since I can't recall reading any stories from that culture before.
Sheep and Anansi: This was an interesting read for me. It took me a few reads to completely understand the language and meaning. Anansi does seem like the trickster of the Jamaican culture. He is constantly pulling the wool over the sheep's eyes. It was also interesting to see that sheep was such a gullible character. He constantly got swindled out of getting to eat house after house. I am curious if that is a quality for the sheep to have in more of the Jamaican tales. Anansi also appears to be a very self-centered character.
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Sheep)
Long-Shirt: This was one of the most unique stories that I have read in this class. There are so many interesting pieces that make up this puzzle of a story. The talking shirt aspect of it was very interesting. I loved how it was so loyal to its owner that it would call out who was wearing it. I am thinking about writing about the shirt for my storytelling post this week. I have so many questions about this magical garment. Anansi still seemed like quite the trickster in this story. Anansi even shifted the blame to the oblivious goat. Anansi seems like he is only looking out for himself. I also liked how the goat was covered in this story as well. It was a very interesting explanation for why the goat smells bad. I thought it was a very humorous approach to it.
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