Week 5 Story: Unlikely Friendship

Carson the Siamese cat lived deep in the jungle in a cave surrounded by thick trees and tall grass. Not many other animals even noticed it because it was disguised with all the forestry. Carson was a scared, nervous cat who rarely left her cave in fear of being attacked by one of the many dangers in the jungle. She was a small, raggedy looking cat with matted fur and a few bald spots.
One day, a lion named Reggie was roaming through the jungle and he noticed Carson's cave through a gap in the trees. He began to explore the area and sniff around for a potential meal. Meanwhile, Carson hid between some rocks, shaking with fear, trying not to make a sound for the lion to hear. After Reggie had looked around and found nothing interesting to do, he decided he would stay for a while, if nothing else the cave would offer a dry and warm place to sleep. Eventually, Carson got so hungry she had to escape from her hiding spot to find a mouse to eat. She waited until she thought for sure the lion was asleep, but as soon as she stepped out from the rocks, his eyes popped open. She ran as fast as she could, trembling with fear.

"Wait! I'm not going to eat you!" Shouted the lion.

Tired of running, the cat had to stop for air. She turned around slowly to see how far the lion was from her. To her surprise, he was right behind her. He said, "you can stop running, you're much too small and skinny to be worth eating.. you don't have to worry about that."

Carson sighed with relief to hear that. For some reason, she believed the lion. She responded and said, "Maybe we can even be friends, I could use some help around the cave."

The next day, the lion even shared his prey with the cat, giving her the best meal she had eaten since she began life in the jungle. By the time a few weeks had passed, Carson had gained almost 10 pounds, her fur was becoming thicker and shinier, and she had gained more confidence than she ever had before. Carson also opened her cave up to the lion and they lived together in happiness. Not a day went by that they didn't go on an exploration to a new part of the jungle, making memories and telling each other stories from before they met. They made friends with some of the birds and other animals that lived around them. They were happier and healthier than they ever thought was possible and although they got some strange looks from the other animals, they knew their unlikely friendship was the biggest blessing they could have ever gotten.

Lion

(Photo from: Tales of a Parrot- The Old Lion and the Cat)

Author's Note: After reading the story, "The Old Lion and the Cat" from The Tales of a Parrot, I was inspired to write about these animals. In the original story, the cat helps out the lion by keeping the mice away from him at night. They help each other out despite their many differences, so I thought I would recreate the concept and make it my own. In my story, Reggie and Carson build a friendship that lasts a lifetime.

Bibliography: Tales of a Parrot: The Old Lion and the Cat by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi

Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot, Part B

The story Of a King and his Sons really stood out to me because of how the snake and the frog were able to take human forms. The snake wanted to repay the human because he fed him a piece of his flesh and he turned into a human named Khaliss, who ended up sucking the poison out of the King's daughter who was bit by a snake. The frog also took human form with the name Mukhless, which means candid. In his frog form, he jumped into a pond and brought out a ring for the prince to propose to his girl. Both of the animals showed respect to the humans. At the end of the story, both the frog and the snake (in human form) confess who they actually are to the prince, who to my surprise wasn't shocked when he heard they were actually a snake and a frog. 

The Prince

(Photo from: Of a King and his Sons)

Bibliography: Tales of a Parrot by Ziya'al Din Nakhshabi

Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot, Part A

As I read the story, I noticed there are a lot of metaphors throughout it that compare people's features to the moon and the sun. As I continue reading, the parrot character is introduce and I realize he has human-like qualities and is able to communicate and predict things that are going to happen. The story in this book that was most surprising to me was The Parrot of Ferukh Beg because the merchants wife plucked all the feathers off of the parrot because he told the merchant of the affair that was going on. I was astonished by the cruelty she showed toward the bird and eventually the parrot made her shave her head and all the hair off of her body as punishment for what she did.

(Photo from: The Parrot of Ferukh Beg)

Bibliography: The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot by Ziya'al-Din Nakshabi

Feedback Focus

I think I would rank these feedback strategies starting with my favorite technique, reading aloud, then using a timer, and copy and delete would be last. I personally prefer to read things out loud whenever possible because it helps me really engage and stay focused on what I'm reading. I find that my mind doesn't wander as much when I'm reading out loud as it does when I read in my head. Using a timer is my second choice of feedback technique because it encourages me to stay focused and read something all the way through without stopping because the time is going. It is easy to step away from reading something and take breaks from it (especially if it is long), but timing myself causing me to stay focused longer than I normally would. I ranked copy-and-delete as my third choice because I found that stopping to take notes after every single paragraph was very distracting and took me a lot longer to read the actual story than it normally would because it was hard to focus in on the next paragraph after I had just finished taking some notes on the previous one. I will definitely continue using all of these methods, especially reading out loud and timing myself.

(Photo from: Pixabay)

Storytelling Week 4: OU's New Student

"Oh my gosh, President Boren just tweeted that Buddha is coming to OU this semester!" Reagan exclaimed. 

"There's no way.. Isn't he like super important?" Ashley scoffed back at her. 

"IDK, he said it, not me," she replied. 

It was the first day of the Spring 2017 semester and Reagan and Ashley woke up tired, already unmotivated, and not prepared for class. "Can I borrow a piece of paper? I forgot to get school supplies," said Reagan. The girls had been too focused on planning their spring break trip to think about the classes they were enrolled in. They walked part way to class together and then went their separate ways to different buildings. As Ashley walked through Gaylord, she noticed the OU Daily was posted in the usual place on the wall and the headline said, "Buddha arrives on campus," with a photo of a normal-looking young man below. She still thought there was no way he was ACTUALLY Buddha. 

Later that evening, Ashley was walking home from the Union and noticed a ton of students gathered on the South Oval. She stared at her phone screen and tried to walk by without getting noticed; she hated getting approached on campus to look at flyers or getting asked to donate to organizations. This time she heard something out of the ordinary, it looked like one long line was formed behind one table. Intrigued, she got closer to check things out. She saw someone she knew in line and the boy excitedly said, "This guy said if we speak with him, we'll all get 4.0's!!" 

Ashley thought it was just a frat boy wanting some extra attention so she continued to head home without thinking further about it. Over the next few days, Ashley noticed all of the study areas on campus like the BIZ, the Union, Starbucks on Campus Corner, and the study areas of class buildings were more full than ever. There were more students in the library on regular class days than she had ever seen, even during finals. She sat down with a study group because everyone was making her feel like she should do some homework. "Why are there so many people here?" she asked. 

"Buddha has been sending out tips on how to be better college students! Look he even made an app for it!" a girl said. The app consisted of study tips, time management information, diet plans, and homework advice. It even suggested to stop drinking, go to sleep early, and exercise. "Was he trying to steal all our fun??" she thought. It's as if the entire campus had turned into boring, actual college students. 

As time went on, it got worse and worse. By the time midterms came around, Boren sent out another tweet, "Most 4.0's in the history of the University of Oklahoma, proud of our students for working so hard!" Ashley and Reagan were literally so deprived of fun they thought they would do anything to go to a party. They even tried to throw one and no one showed up! They were sick and tired of studying; they knew something had to be done.

They were determined to get Buddha to transfer so they could have their fun back...

(Photo from: Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold)

Bibliography: Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold

Author's Note: This story is based off of "Siddhartha becomes the Buddha" from the book Life of Buddha that I read for this week's reading assignment. While I was reading more about Buddha, I was thinking about my previous knowledge of him, which I realized wasn't very much. I knew that I had seen decorative Buddhas before and heard you are supposed to rub their bellies for good luck. I thought I would put a modern spin on the story of the birth of Buddha by incorporating the "here in Oklahoma" storytelling idea that was listed for the class. I figured all of us college students could use some of the teachings/lessons Buddha has to offer since college can be quite the struggle. Some readers may think the twist Buddha brought to OU is a miracle, while others may have the character Ashley's mindset and think it is absurd or unnecessary. I definitely changed up the tales of Buddha a lot, but kept his character intact. I had fun writing something unexpected and unusual for a story with Buddha in it. I wanted to do something that had never been done before, that would also be relatable for all of our classmates.

Reading Notes: Life of Buddha Part B

Siddhartha Leaves: The character Kanthaka is introduced in this story. I find him very interesting because he is described as a "magnificent animal". The prince asks the horse to share his strength and speed with him and then preceeds to ride him into the city with no intentions to return to Kapila.

Siddhartha the Hermit: In this story the hero says if he enters the hermitage it would be to destroy death and old age. My favorite part of this story was the quote, "unhappiness is born of desire." For some reason these words really stood out to me because of the deep meaning they hold.

Gopa and Suddhadona Grieve: Gopa is in despair in this story because the prince has disappeared from the palace. At the end of the story, the horse Kathaka falls dead.

Siddhartha and the King Vimbasara: In this story, the hero says, "desires are like poison." Throughout the entire story, desire is explained as an awful thing, which to some extent is very true. I think desire is a lot like temptation, which can be seen as an evil or wrongdoing.

Siddhartha Deserted by his First Disciples

The Tree of Knowledge: In this story, the Saint has a series of 5 dreams and I am left wondering what each of them means. In the end, the hero confesses his only goal is knowledge.

Siddhartha Becomes the Buddha: This story goes over the explanation of birth, death, and existence. The metaphor, "the Earth was like a great flower," stood out to me in this story. I think this mean that the Earth is constantly blooming into something greater, but you have to take care of it. At  the end Buddha comes to life for the first time.

(Photo from: Life of Buddha- Siddhartha Leaves by Andre Ferdinand Herold)  

Bibliography: Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold 

Reading Notes: Life of Buddha Part A

Life of Buddha

Maya's Dream: In this story, Maya has the ability to cure the sick, and allow the deaf to hear and the blind to see.
Birth of Siddhartha: In this story, the queen gives birth to Buddha in a flower garden. The birth was peaceful, but it was prepared very extravagantly. Everyone became happy, cured of illnesses, and freed from evil.
Asita's Prediction: A very powerful baby boy is born. The hermit Asita cried at the sight of him, but says the child will be of great glory.
Siddhartha at the Temple: Maya ascended into the sky with the Gods. There is a lot of metaphors and imagery throughout the story, making it is to have a picture in your mind while reading. Siddhartha grows a lot and he is showered with extravagant presents. As Siddhartha and the King was through the temple, all of the statues come to life.
Siddhartha's First Meditation: In this story, Siddhartha is learning from Visvamatra. One day, the teacher tells him there is nothing he needs to teach him and Siddhartha ventures into the village in response. 5 hermits exclaimed what Siddhartha would be capable of...
1. "His law will refresh the world."
2. "His law will bring light into the world."
3. "His law will bring the world safely into harbor."
4. "His law will set the world free."
5. "His law will bring deliverance from birth and death."
Then the Prince Siddhartha mediates and all the children remain quiet for him.
First Encounter and Two More Encounters: My favorite part of this story was the description of the city decorated with streamers and garlands and the description of the King's chariot arriving in the city. I found it interesting how only rich and pretty people were allowed to be there at the time.

(Photo from: Life of Buddha- Maya's Dream by Andre Ferdinand Herold)

Bibliography: Life of Buddha by Andre Ferdinand Herold