Week 11 Essay: Not Your Typical Leprechaun Story

Leprechaun
Source: optionmillionaires

This week I read the Celtic Fairy Tales. I am going to take my first stab at Option Two for this essay assignment: “Assessing the Reading Unit”. So first off, did I enjoy the reading unit? The simple answer to this question would be “yes.” However, it is my duty to elaborate, so hear goes nothing.

I did enjoy reading through the Celtic Fairy Tales, mainly because I have realized that I kind of like reading literature from cultures other than my own. It is always very interesting to me to get a glimpse of what types of things are important and highlighted in the literature of other cultures. Also, it was refreshing to read stories about the notorious leprechauns that did not involve a pot of gold or Saint Patrick’s Day, which is typically what I think about when hear the word “leprechaun.”

Secondly, how did this reading choice fit my overall goals for this class? Well, as I mentioned earlier, I have enjoyed reading stories from various cultures. When I originally enrolled in this class, I did not have any particular “goals” in mind. However, as the semester has progressed, and the reading units have diversified, I have found myself wanting to gain as much knowledge about other cultures as I can while I am in this class. I feel like this class has given me the opportunity to virtually study abroad, which is great—this route saves me money, and my family does not have to worry about me getting kidnapped while in a foreign country! Ha!

Lastly, how did this reading unit fit my expectations? I have often found that I approach the reading assignments without any specific expectations. Of course I expect that I am going to be exposed to stories that I have probably never read before, but other than that, there is not too much that I am looking for. However, this “no expectation” system has worked out quite well for me, because each week I have been quite satisfied with all of the reading units! 

Week 11 Storytelling: How the Leprechaun and the Man Came to Live Together

Laughing Leprechaun
Source: openclipart

There once was a man and his wife who had two darling twins. The man and his wife absolutely adored their children, but then one day, something very peculiar happened. While the man was away at work, the wife was home alone with their two children. The wife was in the nursery singing a lullaby to her two precious babies, when all of sudden, there was an abrupt knock on the door.

The knock sounded very urgent, so the wife quickly scurried to the door to see what was the matter. She opened the door and looked out onto the porch, but saw no one there. Then she heard a voice, “Hey, down here.”

She looked down to see a leprechaun standing on her porch! The wife was very much taken aback by the small man standing on her porch. She had always heard the neighbors gossiping about the leprechauns that lurked in the shadows of their quite suburban neighborhood, but had never seen one herself.

Keeping in mind all of the horrible things she had heard about these devilish little pests she hesitantly said, “Is there something I can do for you?”

“Actually, yes there is,” replied the leprechaun. “I was wondering if I could come in and use your restroom?”

“Uhhh…sure,” replied the wife. “Come on in. It is the second door on your right.”

The wife was torn. She had heard so many awful things about the leprechauns, yet she felt it was the wrong to turn away someone based only on the gossip she had heard from other people.

A few minutes had gone by, and the leprechaun still had not come out of the bathroom, so the wife went to check on him. The bathroom door was wide open, but the leprechaun was not in there; panic immediately set in. The wife rushed down the hall to the nursery, and what she saw stunned her.

The leprechaun was standing on the rocking chair whispering something over the twins. The wife screamed. This startled the leprechaun, and he immediately jumped off the chair and ran out of the house.

Just about the time the leprechaun was running out the front door, the man was coming in. “What’s going on here?” he demanded.

Hysterically the wife replied, “That thing! He’s done something to my babies!”

“Now, now, calm down. I’m sure it’s nothing. The babies look fine.”

The wife calmed down. After all, her children did look fine. And as time went on, things were fine, for a little while at least… It had been about six months since the leprechaun had been in their house, when the wife noticed that the children were not growing out of their clothes. She thought this was very peculiar for such young children to not be growing, so she took them to the pediatrician. The pediatrician ruled that the babies had contracted a rare growth-stunting virus.

Knowing exactly how her children had contracted the virus, the wife vowed to herself that she would find that leprechaun, and make him reverse the curse he had put on the babies.

After tirelessly searching for three weeks, the wife was finally able to track down the leprechaun. Turned out, the leprechaun was a very lonely man who desperately desired a family. He hoped that by putting the spell on the babies that the man and his wife would give up the babies and he could raise them as his own.

After a nice long talk, the wife and the leprechaun came to an agreement. She would allow the leprechaun to move in and join their family, so long as he reversed the spell he put on the babies and vowed to never do anything like that ever again. And it was from that day forward that leprechaun and man lived together in harmony.

Author’s Note

In the original story, Brewery of Eggshells, the plot is basically the same. A man and his wife have twins. However, in the original story, the wife gets called over to the neighbor’s house and just sees the leprechaun when she is coming back. Much like in my story, the twins do not grow, so the wife goes to the Wise Man to ask what she should do. The Wise Man tells her what to do, which involved throwing the children into a lake if they spoke of things beyond their knowledge. Of course, this is what happened. The wife threw the children into the lake and the leprechaun in turn rescued the dwarf children, and in return, gave the wife back her children.

I decided to change the intentions of the leprechaun and therefore change the ending of the story. I thought it made it more original and it gave me the opportunity to create my own Celtic Tale.

Bibliography

Book: Celtic Fair Tales

Author: Joseph Jacobs

Year: 1892

Web Source: Un-Textbook

Week 11 Reading Diary: Celtic Fairy Tales

Celtic Fairy Tales 

The Horned Women

I thought this story was very interesting. It sort of reminded me of the Disney movie "Hocus Pocus". Although in that movie there were only three witches versus the twelve in this story, for some reason that was the first thing that came to my mind. I thought it was a really convenient time to read it since Halloween is right around the corner!

The Sprightly Tailor

Another spooky story! I feel like this one would be a story that could easily be transformed into a scary story that would be told around a camp fire. The tailor was so courageous in this story, so I was glad that it all paid off for him in the end!

Munachar and Manachar

This story was very entertaining to read since it was a "cumulative tale." I liked how everything continued to build up; it reminded me of other children's stories or songs that I was familiar with growing up, so it was nice to be able to connect these foreign stories to my own culture!

Beth Gellert

Such as sad story! It was interesting to see how pets, dogs in particular, are viewed in the Celtic culture. Much like the American culture, they are used in hunting activities, but are also expected to act as watch dogs. It just made me so sad that the prince did not fully investigate the situation before he killed his dog!

The Tale of Ivan

I really enjoyed this story. It reminded me of an extended Aesop fable since it had so many morals. I also liked that it had a little murder mystery; it gave the story a nice twist! Additionally, it made me happy that Ivan not only followed all the advice that the master had given him, but also was rewarded for it.

Brewery of Eggshells 

This story was rather short compared to the majority of the other stories in this unit. However, it did not lack in plot or detail. It was also very interesting to finally see leprechauns incorporated into the stories! This would be a fun story to retell with some modern twists.

Week 10 Essay: Bad Blackfeet

This week I read the Blackfoot Stories, and one of the things that really stood out to me was the “bad guys”. There were several villains that Kut-O-Yis, a warrior Indian born from a buffalo’s blood clot, had to face. There were four different stories pertaining to Kut-O-Yis and the bad guys he battled. However, I will be focusing on the bad guy in the story Kut-O-Yis, The Blood Boy (cont.).

In this story, the son-in-law of an old man and his wife was the evil doer. Although he was similar to the other bad guys in that he was oppressive in nature, there was one thing that was very different about the son-in-law. He started off as a “good guy”; he loved his wives very much and always provided for them and their parents. However, something changed and he shifted to the dark side.

The son-in-law was notorious for requesting that the old man go out and help him hunt by driving the buffalos out of the log-jam of the river. The old man always obliged, but was never rewarded with any of the meat from the killing. Once Kut-O-Yis was grown and he saw how the son-in-law treated the old man and his wife, he took it upon himself to be the one to put a stop to his tyranny.

One day Kut-O-Yis and the old man went to the log-jam without the son-in-law so that whatever they killed, they could keep for themselves. Once the son-in-law heard that the old man had gone down to the log-jam without him, he was very angry and set out to kill the old man once and for all.

The old man and the son-in-law had a brief battle that Kut-O-Yis watched from a hiding place. Once the old man and the son-in-law had shot each other four times with their arrows, Kut-O-Yis stepped in to end the battle. The son-in-law was very afraid of Kut-O-Yis and tried to deny that he had ever treated the old man badly, but Kut-O-Yis would not be fooled and killed the son-in-law.

In the end, similar to other “bad guys”, the son-in-law died a coward, begging for his life to be spared. Once Kut-O-Yis had done his deed for the old man and his wife, he went on to battle the evils of the next camp.

Blackfoot Indian, painted by Karl Bodmer.
Source: Wikipedia

Week 10 Storytelling: Bobcat Tales

Bobcat kittens
Source: Wikipedia

Hello, friends. My name is Lauren. I am bobcat. You probably have an image in your head of what I look like: bobbed tail; flat face; long, slender body. But I am here to tell you that I have not always looked this way. You see, I used to have a long bushy tail, much like the fox’s. I also used to have a long snout, much like the wolf’s, and a round, sturdy body, like the tiger’s.

You may be wondering how I obtained the appearance I have now. It all comes down to Old Man, the toughest Blackfoot Indian I have ever met. Old Man had spent many hours roasting prairie dogs. I knew he had put much effort into preparing his feast because I had watched him toil over the fire pit all afternoon and evening. After he finally finished his work, he laid down to take a nap.

I knew I had to be patient and wait for him to fall into a deep sleep before I tried to steal some of his prairie dogs. He woke up once when a raven was flying over. But after he realized it was just a raven that posed no threat, he dozed back off. He then woke up a second time when there was a coyote lurking in the distance. However, he was not concerned with the coyote either, so he fell back asleep.

I realized that this was my chance. After waking up two times and dismissing the nearby creatures, I knew he would not wake up again when I crept over to steal some of the prairie dogs.

So, I snuck over to the campsite Old Man was sleeping at. Carefully and quietly, I began eating the prairie dogs. I ate until I had my fill but I decided to grab up a few extra to take back to my cave. Just as I thought I had made it away safely, I heard Old Man yelling from behind me. Next thing I knew he was chasing after me, but I was too full from eating all those prairie dogs to run away from him.

Before I knew what had happened, I found myself laying on a rock. My tail had been ripped off; my snout had been smashed in and was bleeding, and my body felt like it had been stretched out like a rubber band that had lost its elasticity. And that my friends, is how other bobcats like myself came to look the way we do.

Author's Note

In the original story, Bobcat and Birch Tree, the story is told by a third person narrator. The plot is basically the same, but includes an additional component that tells how the birch tree obtained its striped appearance. I decided to tell this story from the bobcat's point of view, just to change things up a little bit! Although the bobcat maintains the same basic story as to how it gained its appearance, I thought it would be more personal to hear it from the bobcat's perspective.

Bibliography

Book: Blackfeet Indian Stories
Author: George Bird Grinnell
Year: 1915
Web Source: Un-Textbook

Week 10 Reading Diary: Blackfoot Stories

Blackfoot Stories 

Bobcat and Birch Tree

I thought this story was very interesting. I always like to read about how things were "created" in different cultures, or at least why they look the way they look. It brings up an interesting question: What did the bobcat and the birch tree look like before the old man got ahold of them?

The Red-Eyed Duck

Another story of origin! It was intriguing to read about how the horned grebe got its red eyes according to the Blackfoot tribe. I also liked this story because it incorporated song and dance. It is nice to see what art forms are important to different cultures.

Kut-O-Yis, The Blood Boy (end)

I thought this was the most interesting of the Kut-O-Yis stories since the evil things he was battling were women. Typically I think of men as being the powerful ones or the tricksters that threaten others in a culture. However, from what I read of the Blackfoot stories, women seem to possess a substantial amount of power.

Week 9 Essay: Tribute to the Tejas

Bee Bush
Source: pixabay

This week I read the Tejas Legends. Although the stories were all very unique in their different characters and plots, there were some recurring motifs. Perhaps the most prominent motif was characters in the stories turning into a plant of some kind.

I did not have any previous knowledge of the Tejas Native Americans, so I did not necessarily have any expectations for what I might read about in the stories. However, after reading through a few of the stories, I began to pick up on various components of their culture.

As mentioned above, the characters in the stories often turned into plants. This recurring motif was most common when a character was faced with death or actually died.

For example, in the story Maidens Who Broke a Drought, there were young girls who were sacrificing themselves to the great serpent in order to end the drought their tribe had been faced with. The young girls were going to jump off a cliff together where the great serpent was waiting for them at the bottom. As the girls jumped from the ledge, the goddess who watched over the girls noticed their bravery and took pity on them. As a result, the girls did not actually die, but were instead turned into bee bushes.

In another story, Old Quanah's Gift, there was an elder member of the tribe who was faced with death. Before he was on his deathbed, Quanah had been working on a particular blanket for many years. It was a beautiful blanket that featured a sunset and all of its lovely colors. The members of his tribe always asked him what he was going to do with the blanket, and he always told them he would reveal the blanket’s purpose when it was finished.

Fortunately, Quanah had finished the blanket before he died and told some of the men of the tribe that the blanket should be given to the most worthy member of the tribe. The tribe unanimously decided that Quanah was the most worthy member of the tribe. So after he passed, he was wrapped in the beautiful blanket before he was buried. After his grave was covered, a new flower bloomed, the fire wheel flower. The tribe was very thankful for this because it allowed them to still enjoy the lovely colors featured in the blanket.

Through the recurring motifs of this unit I learned a few things about the Tejas Native American culture. The Tejas Indians valued and honored those who were hard workers and who were brave. They also cherished nature as it often served as a reminder of important figures in their tribes. 

Fire wheel flower
Source: Wikipedia