Famous Last Words Week 13

Here’s a little bit of Matrimony for you……

Love

So this past Friday my friend got married. I think marriage is an amazing thing for everyone. Well everyone except me. Maybe it is because I am a total prince in my head or maybe it is just because I am a total attention…hmmmm what’s the word I’m looking for….. but I have never been the one to want to get married. Still this was a great day to see my friend get hitched and the place was amazing. It was just outside of Norman in Goldsby, and the place was a Barn. This was no ordinary barn though, it had a helipad, the inside was absolutely amazing. It must have cost millions to build.

So I am sitting there and watching the bridesmaids make their way up front, and then the little flower girl comes out. Now I love kids because they are just honest. Nothing is too big a moment for them. The little flower proved this point. I am sure they practiced over and over again with her to walk up to the altar and toss flowers on the floor along the way. This little girl was having none of that. She stepped out and grabbed one handful dropped it on the ground and that was it. She said “Ta hell with this” and just walked up tossing no more flowers. I couldn’t help but laugh.

My laughter was soon changed to a grin the size of Alaska when my friend Kel Kel stepped out from behind the curtains. She was so beautiful. Not because of the dress, the hair, or the makeup, but because of how happy she looked. I have never seen my dear friend smile like this before. It was simply one of the most amazing feelings inside to see my friend look this happy. She wasn’t looking around. Her eyes were straight ahead focused on the man she was about to marry. Funny thing is I had never her soon to be husband, but I just had to catch a glimpse of the man that had put this amazing smile on my friends face. When I turned my head I saw the way he was looking at her. In my heart I could truly tell that this man was someone that truly loved my Kel Kel, now his Kel Kel with all his heart. I couldn’t have been more happy for them as they said their “I Do’s.”



Then it was time to party…..but that my friends is another story……

Picture Attribution

By Jeff Belmonte from Cuiabá, Brazil (Flickr) [CC BY 2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Essay Week 13

A Grimm Tale

I did the Grimm Tales Hunt unit for this week. This was a great unit because it had some stories that most readers would be familiar with and it also had some other stories that readers would not have heard of before. The version by Hunt was also a strong version because it had all the elements that a reader would have expected a Grimm story to have, Hunt did a great job of capturing the themes but also the feel of the stories (not sure if that makes sense). The pictures throughout the stories were also new to me, so I found them to be another interesting part of the Unit. This unit has something for everyone and the best thing about it is that I had fun reading these to my two little nieces over Skype so it was fun to bring these stories to a new generation.

Picture Attribution

Arthur Rackham [Public domain or Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Story Telling Week 13

The Little Ginger Boy

Gingerbread Family

There was once two Ginger people. They lived in a gingerbread house. They wanted a Gingerbread Family. They asked Hostess for a Ginger child. They told Hostess that even if the Ginger baby was only the size of a gumbdrop they would love him. So they oven was heated to 325 degrees and 90 minutes later a Gingerbaby the size of a gumbdrop popped out. The Gingerbread family was so happy.

They Ginger parents loved the Ginger boy with all their chalky candy valentine hearts. As a matter of fact their hearts even said “I love You,” well one of them said “You’re Great,” but all the rest of the Hearts said “I love you,” except for the ones that said, “Be Mine,” which is sorta the same.

One day the father was working in the Tootsie Roll garden and needed help. His son asked if he could help and the father said that he was too small, but the little boy insisted and eventually the father let him help. Soon enough a bunch of Nerds came a long and asked if they could have the Ginger boy that was the size of a gumbdrop. The father said no at first, but the little boy said it would be ok if the father gave him to the Nerds because he would soon return and then the father agreed.

The nerds all bounced around with excitement and they headed down the road with the Gingerbread boy. When the nerds were not looking the Ginger boy ran off and hid by the Hershey lake. The Nerds look high and low but could not find the boy. After a little while the Ginger Bread boy heard the laughing of some taffy so he went to see what was so funny. The taffy or better known as the Laffy Taffy were planning to break into the factory down the road from Willy Wonka’s place. After hearing what the Taffy were up to the Ginger Boy chimed in and told them that he could help. So off to the Right Side Twix factory they all went.

When they got to the Right Side Twix factory the Taffy Stretched up all the way to the top window and tossed the Ginger boy in to it. Once inside the factory the Ginger boy began to yell “The Left Side is here, they are trying to steal our secrets” and everyone in the factory came running to the window. The Laffy Taffy were scared of being caught so they ran. In the commotion the Ginger boy jumped into the wrapping paper and took a nap.

When he woke up he had been mistakenly wrapped up into one of the Twix Wrappers. Being as small as a gumbdrop afterall, no one had noticed. He began yelling from inside the wrapper and someone was scared. Being very superstitious Mr. Mars decided to shut down all the factory and ordered all the Twix opened and rewrapped. Just when the Ginger Boy was opened the Krispy Kreme army attacked and stole all the Twix candy from the factory.

The Ginger Boy knew he had to think quick so he started talking and soon one of the Kripsy Kreme soldiers noticed. He told the soldier where there were more Twix that were easy to capture, but he also told the soldier that if the whole army attacked that the soldier would not get any credit for the plan so it was best if the soldier went by himself.

Then next morning just before dawn the soldier and the Ginger boy in the Twix wrapper from the Right Side Twix factory just down the road from the Willy Wonka factory next to the Hershey lake left for the place where more Twix could be captured. The boy took the soldier to his house and told him the only way in was to jump down the icing chimney. They soldier was worried about the heat but the boy told him it would just be enough to warm him up and make him softer so he could fit down the chimney better. When they got into the house the boy screamed “Mom. Dad. I am home.” Both his parents came running so happy to see their little boy. The Krispy Kreme soldier was angry because he had been tricked, but that was no problem for the Ginger parents. All they did was eat him, because what is better than a warm Krispy Kreme donut first thing in the morning. And they all lived happily ever after.

Author's Notes

I based this on the Thumbling from the Grimm Stories. The story is about a little child born the size of a thumb. Two men buy him from his parents and he goes on an adventure and eventually ends up back home. I did change the story quite a bit, but still it is pretty true to the original. I invite you all to check out the grimm stories.

Bibliography

The Thumbling from Margaret Hunt's Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

Picture Attribution

By Orsotron (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Reading Diary Part A Week 13

The Thumbling

The Brothers Grimm Unit

I love all the Grimm tales. I was familiar with most, but the one I found really interesting because I have never heard of it was “The Thumbling.” A husband and wife want a child to liven up their house. The say that even a child as big as a thumb would be fine. The wife has a baby after nine months the exact size of a thumb. They love the child. The child grows up and wants to help his dad. He hops on a horse and talks in its ear and takes the horse to his father, who is working in the forest. Two men see him and buy him from his father. The boy is a trickster, and escapes the men by crawling into a mouse hole. Then he comes across two robbers looking for a way to steal someone’s riches and tells them he will help, when the men place him in the persons house he starts yelling to wake everyone up. The thumbling then falls asleep on some hay and then is eaten by a cow. In the cows belly he yells and the woman milking the cow is frightened and the cow is killed. When the thumbling is crawling out of the stomach of the cow, the stomach is eaten by a wolf. He tells the wolf he knows where there is more food and the wolf goes to a house and crawls in and eats all the food. When the wolf tries to leave he is too fat, and the boy starts yelling. This is his parent’s house and they hear him inside the wolf and kill the wolf and they all live happily ever after.

Picture Attribution

By Philipp Grot Johann (1841-1892) (http://ru-book-illustr.livejournal.com/231754.html) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Robin Hood Ballads Essay Week 12

Movie Robin Hood

This week I read the Robin Hood Ballads unit. I think of all the units I have read so far that this was probably one of the most unique units. The entire unit was in song form, so reading it was like reading some old time poetry. I had a very Chaucer feel to it. One of the great things about this unit is that a lot of them had an embedded Youtube video of someone singing the ballads, so that added an extra dimension to this unit. I have always loved movies and tales that involved Robin Hood, so it was a no brainer for me to pick this unit. In the unit the stories that were presented were all pretty familiar to me so there were no real surprises for me as far a new knowledge. However, because they were in the forms of ballads I was able to enjoy these stories on a whole new level. Though they were in ballads they were not hard to understand or follow. The pictures in the unit were another part of the unit I enjoyed. Some of the artwork I had never seen before, actually most of it was new for me. I was always familiar with the Robin Hood I have seen in the movies so to come across other art work that was influenced by the legend, if that is accurate because there is some argument that he was an actual person, was interesting to me. I had never thought of the cultural effect that Robin Hood had on that region, but now after reading the stories in the unit, seeing the artwork, and hearing the songs it is clear that Robin Hood is as big a part of the culture as the Arthurian legends.

Picture Attribution

By United Artists, cinematographers Arthur Edeson & Charles Richardson (http://douglasfairbanks.org/robin1.jpg) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Story Telling Week 12

How Robin met John

Robin Hood and Little John Meet

Robin Hood needed a break so he left his men. He was just worn out from all the robbing of the rich and giving to the poor, not to mention the tights. The tights were way toooooooooo, well, tight. He wasn’t eating, he was stressed out, and he and Maid Marian had gotten into a quarrel over some young adult novel about, of all things Vampires. True story. So being that he was tired, he decided to take a walk. 

As he was walking he wished he had a pair of Air Jordan’s instead of the ugly leather shoes that were so in fashion during that period. Still he did enjoy the walk because the fresh air helped to clear his mind. Not to mention it was fresh air, I mean have you ever been around a bunch of men in the woods, let alone a bunch of merry men? 

Little John, around the same time that Robin Hood decided to take a walk also thought that he could use a break. Though he had not yet met Robin Hood, he had heard of him and had thought about his own life. He thought about all the time he had wasted eating, drinking ale, eating, and reading a dumb young adult novel about Vampires of all things. He was terribly embarrassed about it. The eating that is. 

Robin came to a bridge and wanted to cross it, unfortunately for him, so did Little John. They both decided to cross the bridge at the same time. When they met in the middle the stopped and looked at each other. Now there was no need for either one of them to be in each other’s way, but it was customary in this day and age to for no apparent reason challenge a person to a fight when you saw them. Even though there was plenty of room for both the men to pass on the bridge, they were men of custom.

Now Robin Hood was a fair fighter. He had a sword and Little John had a wooden pole. Robin would never unfairly attack another man, unless that man had money or if that man was outnumbered, or if that man had money. Being that he was a fair fighter Robin threw down his sword and picked up a wooden pole. 

The two men fought. Well not so much as fought as closed their eyes a swung wildly at one another. Little John knocked Robin in the water and as Robin stood there in the water soaking wet and still hating his tights and wishing he had a pair of Air Jordan 1’s looked up to see his merry men arrive not looking as merry as they could be looking.

They men readied to attack Little John, but Robin stopped them. He walked up to Little John and congratulated him on the duel and invited him to live with them in his camp. Little John asked about their supply of food and ale and when he found out they had plenty agreed to live with them. And that my friends is the very true story of how Robin Hood met Little John.

Author's Notes 

This is a retelling of when Robin Hood met Little John from the Robin Hood Ballad Unit. Of course I did take quite a bit of license with this story, but the stories were in song form and there is a bit of humor to the stories so I tried to mirror that silliness in my story. The main aspects of the story all there. This is from the Ballad Little John.

Bibliography

"Little John" from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads collected by Francis James Child

Picture Attribution

Louis Rhead [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons

Reading Diary Part B Week 12

Robin and Maid Marian

Robin comes across a Bishop and Robin is in disguise. The Bishop tells Robin that he is taking him to the king, and robin begs for mercy but the Bishop says no. Then robin blows his bugle and his men appear, the Bishop begs for mercy but robin says no. Then little john and Robin steal the man’s gold and make him dance while they escape.

A Woman hides Robin Hood from the Bishop. This is another retelling of how Robin robbed the Bishop. It is pretty much the same story but in this story Robin is dressed as an old woman I think. They rob the Bishop and Little John makes the Bishop sing so that they can escape.

This is the story of Robin and Maid Marian. The story starts out telling how rich and noble and beautiful Marian is. Marian goes into the woods looking for Robin. She is in disguise and so is Robin so when they meet they begin to fight. Robin admires her vallour. They both discover that each is in disguise after a while and then they celebrate. This story ends with Robin and Marian living together.

Picture Attribution
Robin Hood and Maid Marian (poster, ca. 1880)Category:Robin HoodCategory:Maid Marian