Essay for Week 2: Tricksters and Fools of Aesop's Fables (Jacobs)

     Tricksters and fools are a common theme in Aesop's writings. Often, the character of the Fox is represented as a clever trickster. However, this is not always the case; sometimes the Fox can be seen as a fool to a more clever animal. Looking specifically at the The Fables of Aesop rewritten by Joseph Jacobs, we see many examples of both tricksters and fools.

     In the fable, The Lion in Love, we see the lion made to be a fool by some tricky humans. When the lion falls in love with a beautiful maiden, he approaches her parents and asks for her hand in marriage. The maiden's parents convince the lion that if he removes his claws and teeth, the maiden will marry him. However, when he returns with his claws and teeth removed, the parents laugh in his face! They had tricked the lion into removing the only things that could get him his way.

     Although the Lion was seemingly a fool in The Lion in Love, in the story The Lion, the Fox, and the Beasts, we see the Lion take the role of trickster instead. In this fable, the Lion feigns sickness and summons all the animals to hear his dying wishes. It is only the Fox who notices that all the animals who enter the Lion's den never come out again!

(Red Fox: Wikimedia Commons)

     In The Fox and the Stork, we see the Fox play a trick on the Stork by inviting him over for dinner and serving soup in a shallow dish from which the stork cannot eat. It is ultimately the Fox, however, who ends up looking like a fool when the stork in turn serves the fox dinner in a long narrow-necked jar.

    This isn't the only instance we see the Fox's tricky ways turned around on him, either. In The Fox, the Cock, and the Dog, the Fox attempts to lure the Cock down from his perch by saying that a universal truce has been declared between all animals. The Cock responds to this by telling the Fox to wait for his owner's dog to come congratulate the Fox on the news. The Fox wisely decides to leave instead.

     We see the Fox's true trickster come out when he makes a great fool of another animal in The Fox and the Goat. In this fable, the Fox finds himself stuck inside a well. When the Goat passes by, he claims there is a drought coming and that he sought out the well to insure he had water. After he convinces the Goat to join him in the well, he climbs the Goat to get out! He then leaves the poor goat trapped in the well, even mocking him as he leaves.

Storytelling for Week 2: The Country Mouse and the City Mouse

Once upon a time, in a large red barn far into the outland, lived a country mouse. He lived a quiet life, keeping to himself, eating what seeds and stems he found and sleeping in a simple bed of hay. One day, the country mouse received a letter from his cousin in the city.

"Dear cousin," the letter read. "It has been far too long since we have seen each other last. I'll be leaving the city tomorrow to visit you! I expect that this letter should arrive a day before myself so that you can make preparations for my arrival."

The country mouse was ecstatic. He hadn't seen his city cousin in years! He set out gathering seeds, roots, leaves, and stems to prepare a feast for the city mouse.

        (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
 

The next day, the city mouse arrived at his country cousin's home. They exchanged hugs and greetings and soon were chatting like they had never spent time apart. After a time, the country mouse invited his cousin inside to see the feast he had prepared.

"What is this?" asked the city mouse.

"Why it's your feast!" replied his cousin.

"This? This is nothing but twigs and grass! Do you have no cheese or bread? No meats?" questioned the city mouse.

"I've never heard of such things. These seeds are some of the finest in the whole field!" said the country mouse with a frown.

"Oh cousin, how do you eat this trash? Soon I will have you come to visit me and the city and I will show you what real food is."

Soon the city mouse left to return to his city home, and his country cousin followed shortly after. When the country mouse arrived at his cousin's home, he was greeted by a fantastic smell.

"Come in, come in." said the city mouse.

Inside, the country mouse found something like he had never seen before: cakes, cheeses, breads and meats of every type. The two mice began devouring the cuisine before them.

"See cousin! Isn't this better than grass and sticks?" the city mouse asked.

The country mouse was about to agree with the city mouse when a large booming bark interrupted his thoughts.

"What was that?!" the country mouse asked, very startled.

"Ah, it's only the dogs of the house. You'll get used to it."

"Only!" shouted the country mouse.

With the country mouse's shout, the door flew open as two dogs stormed inside. Quickly, the two mice scurried away for safety.

"I'll be going now!" said the country mouse.

"Why? What's the problem cousin?" inquired the city mouse.

"I'd rather have sticks and leaves in peace than meats and cheeses in fear." retorted the country mouse.

Author's Note: This story is based on The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse from the Fables of Aesop by Joesph Jacobs. Web source. In the story the "town mouse" goes to visit his country cousin and is displeased with the food, saying it can't compare to the great food that he eats in town. However, when the "country mouse" goes to visit the town mouse, he discovers that there are loud noises and dangerous animals, and returns to his country home.

Week 2 Reading Diary: Aesop's Fables (Jacobs)

Here were some stories that stood out at me from Aesop's Fables (Jacobs) 

Lions, Part 1 From this section, The Lion and the Statue in particular caught my attention. In this fable, a man and a lion debate the relative strength of men and lions. The lion goes on to say that the statue of a man defeating a lion proves nothing, as it was made by man. This story reminded me somewhat of a well known saying "History is written by the victors."

Lions, Part 2  I particularly liked the story The Lion, the Fox, and the Beasts in this section. In this story many animals go to visit the supposedly sick and dying lion, but never come out after they enter his cave! Only the fox notices that the paw and hoof prints only lead inwards and not out. You never be to careful!

Foxes, Part 1 I thought the story The Fox and the Stork presented a good tale with a moral that applies universally. In this story, the fox plays a prank of sorts on the stork by inviting the stork over for dinner and serving soup in shallow bowl that he was unable to eat from. The stork then returns the favor by serving dinner to the fox in a narrow necked jar. Don't dish it out if you can't take it!

Mice In the story The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse the "town mouse" goes to visit his country cousin and is displeased with the food, saying it can't compare to the great food that he eats in town. However, when the "country mouse" goes to visit the town mouse, he discovers that there are loud noises and dangerous animals! I think this can describe a lot of "country" and "town" people as well! Some people would trade convenience for quiet and others can't stand it.

Hares I think the story The Hares and the Frogs is especially applicable to many people in the 21st century. In this fable, the hares are so terrified of everything that they decide to drown themselves than live in their miserable state. However, when they get to the lake, they see that the frogs are even worse off than themselves. What you may perceive to be a major problem in your life may actually be very minor problem when compared with other peoples' troubles.

Birds, Part 2 I really liked the The Fox, the Cock, and the Dog from this section. In the story, the fox tries to trick the cock into coming down from his perch by saying that all animals now have a truce. The cock, however, turns this around on the fox and tells him to wait for the farmers dog coming up the road. It's satisfying to see someone's own trickery turned on themselves!

Humans and Gods I found the tale The Man and the Satyr particularly funny. In this fable, the Satyr sees the man blow on his hands to keep them warm, and then blow on his soup to cool in down. The Satyr is seemingly freaked out and sends the man away, saying he will have nothing to do with creature who can blow both hot and cold! I guess it is odd when you think about it.

People Wise and Foolish, Part 2 I think the fable The Man, the Boy, and the Donkey presents a particularly wise message. Throughout the tale, each person they pass criticizes the way the use or don't use the donkey. To make a long story short, you can't please everyone! Trying to do so will only harm you.

Week 1: Famous Last Words

So the first week is over already. It went by pretty fast! Although the first week of classes can always be kind of stressful, I think I enrolled in some pretty good classes this semester, and it should be interesting. I am intrigued by the "famous last words" blog posts, I wonder what it will be like to look back at the end of the semester at all that I have written here.

I've definitely learned a lot this week, and one of the most useful things I learned about was the Google re-use filter. Essentially, when using Google image search you can select a "re-use" filter so that all the results included are free of copyright protections. This will be great for future projects this semester and for classes throughout the rest of my college career. I've also learned a lot about blogging in general: how to make one, how to create posts, leave comments, imbed images and more. Through the tech tip for the week, I also learned how to change the template for my blog.

I've done quite a few blog posts this week, but I think my best writing was done in my storytelling post. I wrote a story inspired by "The Fox Without a Tail" but added more detail and changed the ending. I spent some time on it, and overall I'm satisfied with how it turned out.

 (Source: Wikimedia Commons)

I read a fantastic storytelling post by Emily Groff "The Fat Man of Bombay" I really enjoyed this story; it was very well written and the details were superb. I liked how she took a relatively simple rhyme and turned it into a descriptive tale.

Overall, this week has been a good one. Although it's sad to see the summer go, I think I will enjoy my classes this semester, and I had quite a bit of fun for my birthday yesterday.

Blogger Templates Tech Tip

After browsing through the different template options, I settled on the "Awesome Inc" design, but in white. I definitely prefer simplicity and muted colors over crazy and colorful blogs. The template I chose was very similar to the default template, but I prefer the font of the "Awesome Inc" design.

Week 1: Introduction

Hello class! My name is Cody Whatley. I'm a Junior at the University of Oklahoma studying chemical biosciences. My hope is to use this undergraduate degree to apply for medical school. Pursuing a career in medicine has meant that my college career so far has been filled with science classes; General Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry, Physical Chemistry, Biology, Physiology and more! Right now I'm Organic Chemistry Lab, Principles of Physiology, Physics II Lab, Intermediate Spanish, and of course Mythology and Folklore.

In my free time, I volunteer at a small free clinic in eastern Edmond off of I-35. Most of my time here is spent filing charts, handling faxes, and receiving test results, but when things are slow I get to shadow our volunteer physicians and help with patient care. I also like to read books and watch T.V. My favorite show would have to be either Hannibal or Game of Thrones. True Detective comes close but I'll have to see how next season goes!

I also work for the Oklahoma Blood Institute as the mobile supply clerk. This mostly entails working alone at night making sure all the trucks are supplied with the appropriate equipment to go out the following day and perform blood drives all over the state. I also have to maintain supply levels in our stock room to ensure we have enough of all the equipment to meet the weekly donation projections.  For a shameless plug here, if you haven't already donated blood in the last 56 days, donate! Also check out our Marrow Donor Program. Marrow donation can now be painlessly and without having to be sedated through peripheral blood stem cell collection, a process which is very similar to a blood donation. Taking marrow from the pelvic bone is no longer the only option, and you could save someones life!

(Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Week 1: Storybook Favorites

The first story book that caught my attention was Robin of Sherwood: Sherwood's Side of the Story I've always been a fan of various robin hood tales, and I thought it would be interesting to see this classic story told from a different perspective. I was certainly surprised to see in this version that it wasn't the people of Sherwood telling the story, but Sherwood itself! I think the authors inclusion as the forest as an ally of Robin Hood and his men was a fantastic new take on a classic story. I really enjoyed the added character of Major Oak.

Scrolling down the story book list, another story caught my eye: The Deep, the Dark, and the Unknown: H.P. Lovecraft From a long list of fairy tales, the title of this storybook certainly stuck out! This storybook contains various excerpts from H.P. Lovecraft short stories, albeit with alteration. I thought the diary entry format for the second story was very well executed. Having a first person stream-of-consciousness, in my opinion, makes the story a lot more frightening than having a narrator describe it. I also enjoyed the author retelling a super natural story from the view of a skeptic in "Interview with Dr. R Fenton"

The last storybook that I looked at was Tracking the Werewolf After reading through this storybook, this one was definitely my favorite. I appreciated that the author was able to combine a number of stories from numerous sources into a single coherent story. It tells the story of an old man looking back to the past to an event in which he encountered a werewolf. What starts off as a younger version of the narrator finding a manuscript explodes into a frightening tale. The ending leaves the possibility of the story to continued.

Week 1: Un-Textbook

Here are a few sections from the Un-Textbook that caught my eye.

Aesop for Children (Winter): I've always like these stories, so this is an obvious interest for me. The free audio book and kindle ebook are also a plus!

Tutinameh, or Tales of a Parrot: This sounds like an intriguing one. I'm interested to see what stories the parrot could tell to keep his owner from leaving and cheating on her husband.

The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung: "The Monkey King" is certainly a title that sticks out at me. It sounds like the protagonist is pretty wild so this would be of definite interest.

Ballads of Robin Hood: I don't know how anyone could not like robin hood. I'm more familiar with modern adaptations, so it would be interesting to see the classics.

Brothers Grimm (Crane): I've always heard these original fables were somewhat dark compared to the disney stories, but I've never read them myself.

Week 1 Storytelling: Mendax the Fox

Mendax struggled and strained to free himself from the jaws of the trap that he now found himself in.

Despite his effort, the jagged teeth of his captor remained unmoved; Mendax now knew he would not leave this trap whole.

"It could have been worse" he thought.

 

 (photo by James B Brown)

It was simply a tail after all, and many foxes had lived before without tails. If it had been his leg in that trap, he would be done for.

However, he also remembered the mocking and ridicule that those tail-less foxes faced from all the other foxes.

With great sorrow, he pulled one last time and freed himself from the clutches of the brutish device, leaving his tail behind in its iron grasp.

Rather than return and face the jeers and taunts from his fellow foxes, Mendax set out into the forest alone.

For several weeks he remained isolated in the forest, until one day an idea struck him.

Mendax soon returned to the other foxes and called a meeting, claiming it was of great importance.

Once all the foxes were gathered, he spoke:

"My fellow foxes, too long have we suffered for our tails. Countless numbers of our brothers have fallen simply because their tails had become lodged in fences and foliage, or because the heavy weight of their tail hindered their ability to run from the hunter's hounds"

"If you value your life, you will join me and be rid of your tail forever."

The other foxes began to ponder what Mendax had said. It was true; only last week Velox had been caught by the tail by a particularly relentless welsh hound.

One by one the foxes began to cut off their tails. As the days passed, it was the foxes who had retained their tails that were subjected to taunting and teasing.

 Mendax felt happy; his guile had turned his fate around on those who would have mocked him.

As winter approached, Mendax found himself once again surrounded by his fellow foxes. However this time, it was they who spoke:

"Liar!" someone shouted from the crowd. "We found your tail in a trap in the woods! You didn't cut it off, you lost it! You tricked us! Now every night we freeze without our tails to wrap around ourselves!"

Mendax looked out at the crowd and noticed that all the foxes now had fallen tree limbs fastened to the remaining stubs of their tails. These replacement tails could not keep the foxes of the forest warm without fur, however.

"Get him!" one of the foxes yelled.

The foxes quickly swarmed Mendax and began ripping out his fur, attaching the abducted pelt to their stick-tails with syrupy tree sap.

Mendax shouted and struggled, but it was too late. The foxes laughed at the now naked Mendax as they walked into the forest with their new tails.


Author's Note: This story is based on the fable "The Fox Without a Tail." by Æsop from The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Æsop for Children. Web Source. The fable tells of a fox who loses his tail and unsuccessfully tries to convince the other foxes to cut their tails off as well.

Week 1: My Favorite Place, Maui

Maui: Picking my favorite place was no difficult task. Although I have only been able to visit one time, I think I could spend the rest of my life in Maui and be perfectly happy. Every part of this island is beautiful, and the weather is perfect.

 (Iao Needle, Maui: Wikimedia Commons)

(Maui Coast: Wikimedia Commons)

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