Story: The Man Who Wished to Die

Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908)
Based on the story: The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die

Paper Crane by Andreas Bauer

There once was a man who was bored of life and took pleasure in the thought of death. He had heard stories of people who were very happy and wealthy but lived short lives. He decided to try and find the life of these people he so longed to be. He first sent someone else along to find these people, but when they didn't return, he decided to look for them himself. Soon, he stumbled across a shrine and prayed for seven days. He then was approached by someone who told him that the people he was searching for lived in solitude in a far off land. The person gave him a little paper crane, which grew and grew until it was big enough to carry him and fly over to this land. When they arrived, the crane folded back up and placed itself in his pocket. The land was nothing like the man's home land. Everyone there was very welcoming, but sadly all of them dreaded the inevitability of death. They were all unable to enjoy their lives luxury because they felt that death followed them everywhere they went. They thought that the grass was greener on the other side of the fence so to speak, just as the man did. They tried all sorts of medications, teas, and exercises in order to attempt living longer, but still people would die at young ages. The healthier they tried to be, the earlier their deaths would come! After a while, the man was able to fit in comfortably with the new people, and even had a growing business. He was basically the only happy man in all of the land. But after a while, life became monotonous, and he was curious about his home land. He was tired of living a so called perfect life, but still being surrounded by the sadness of death. He decided to pray, until he felt the little crane begin to unfold in his pocket. Soon, the crane was back to its large size and the man was able to get back on it's back. But while crossing the sea on the way back to his homeland, the weather began to turn sour. The paper crane was unable to fly in the heavy rain and wind. They both began to dive bomb towards the water, until they both came crashing into a large wave. The man was frightened and his fear was heightened even more when he saw the fin of a shark heading right for him. Just when he was about to be face to face with the shark, the man woke up! He had been dreaming in the shrine the entire time! Then, an angel appeared before him and told him to remember this life lesson. He went back home and lived out the rest of his long life happily and without envy.

Author's Note: I really liked the overall theme of this story. It is common to envy other people, and this was a great example of how we should be thankful for what we have. The original story was actually the opposite, in which the man did not want to die. The people of the new land tried many ways to die because they were sick of living long lives of unhappiness. The ending of the story essentially remained the same in which an angel came to warn the man of heeding the lesson, and the man returned home.

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)-Part A

Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908)

Tree Bridge

My Lord Bag of Rice: One day a warrior was on the search for adventure when he came across a bridge on a beautiful lake. A huge, sleeping serpent dragon was blocking the bridges path. The brave man simply stepped over its coils and continued on. That is, until a man appeared behind him in the place of the dragon. This was the dragon king and he had asked the warrior to kill his mortal centipede enemy who keeps stealing the king's family members. 

My Lord Bag of Rice (cont.): The warrior felt sorry for the king, and agreed to help. The king led him to his beautiful palace under the sea. They feasted and watched dancers, until a sudden noise appeared. The two rose to their feet and looked to see the centipede in the distance. The king was afraid, but the warrior was not. He drew is bow and arrow firing at the monster. The first two arrows hit perfectly, but did nothing to the monster. Then he remembered that human saliva was deadly to centipedes. So with his last arrow, he put it in his mouth before shooting and killing the beast.  

My Lord Bag of Rice (end): The king and his family were all safe, and greatly appreciated the warrior. Again they feasted and this time begged him to stay longer with them. They let him leave, but not before giving him two bells, a bag of rice, roll of silk, and a cooking pot. All of the gifts were magic, and were used to help many people of the warrior's village. The rice was always replenished, silk never ending, and cooking pot always making delicious food. 

The Adventures of Kintaro, The Golden Boy: There once was a warrior who married a beautiful woman. He unfortunately gained many enemies before his death, so his wife had to flee. She ended up having a child, who was remarkably strong. He never made human friends, but used the animals as servants and messengers. One day, they decided to play around and have a little friendly competition. 

The Adventures of Kintaro (cont.): The monkey and hare were the first to wrestle around. The monkey lost due to some back pain, and the boy rewarded the hare a rice dumpling. The monkey was a sore loser, and wanted to try to win. The monkey pulled on the hare's ears and won that round, getting the prize. Then the deer lost a round to the hare. They decided to take a break and came across a river. So the boy uprooted a tree to make a bridge for all of them 

The Adventures of Kintaro (cont. again): A woodcutter had seen what had happened and was amazed. The boy returned to his mother's cottage for the evening. He told her of the games they played and they debated who was the strongest. Then the woodcutter approached, asking to join the boy in a game of strength. The two arm-wrestled for a long while until a draw was declared. 

The Adventures of Kintaro (end): The man was impressed with the boy, and asked the mother why he had not decided to become a great Japanese warrior. The mother claimed the boy as wild and dangerous to those humans around him. The woodcutter then declared that he was really a general disguised as a woodcutter to find strong young men. The mom and his animal friends were sad to see the boy go off to become a great warrior, but they were proud of him as well. they boy grew to be one of the greatest warriors of all time and provided for his mother in her old age. 

The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die: There once was a man in his thirties who was not poor nor rich. One day, the thought of death crossed his mind and he was upset about it. he had heard of people living long lives, but also heard of those who were very happy and wealthy but lived short lives. For example a great king, who wanted to find the elixir of life. He sent off a man to find it, but he never returned from Mount Fuji. So the king decided to go for himself, looking for the hermits who live forever. He came across a hunter, who wouldn't tell of the hermits. So he decided to go to the shrine. 

The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die (cont.): He finally got to the shrine and prayed for seven days. Finally he was told that hermits did not live a long life of luxury, but off the wilderness. And now the king would go off and do just this. A crane flew him to a new land, that was very unfamiliar to his own. The people there were inviting and nice, but actually were unhappy to be burdened with immortality. They thought the grass was greener on the other side. They even tried to poison themselves to death, but they were actually restored to health. 

The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die (end): In this place, there was a man who could make a potion that could turn your hair a little grey and upset your stomach. The king was the only happy person in the land as his business grew. But after a while, life became monotonous, and he was curious about his home land. He prayed to go back, and then the crane came back to take him home. Unfortunately, the weather made the crane fall into the sea. The man fell off and was about to be eaten by a shark.... when he woke up! He had fell asleep while praying at the shrine. An angel appeared before him. and told him that he needed to remember this lesson on life. He went back home and lived out the rest of his life meaningfully and gave up being vain. 

Week 8 Progress

I am happy with my progress so far and I am most proud of myself for getting everything turned in on time without struggling to do assignments at midnight. So far, I enjoy storytelling the most, and although I haven't done any of the extra credit assignments, I may look into doing them in order to finish up the class early. Some changes that I may make for the second half of the semester are schedule changes due to some upcoming medical school interviews. I want to try and challenge myself by reading faster this semester. I feel that I can improve my reading speed with this class and really take advantage of this classes resources. I haven't had too many technical difficulties this semester, but I will of course continue to try and improve.

Some Motivation by Pat Lyn

Week 8 Comments and Feedback

So far in the semester, most of the comments I have received have proved to be feedback that is really helpful. Sometimes I have a difficult time finding small mistakes such as grammatical errors or image issues, and I really appreciate the help that my peers have given my thus far. The most useful comments tend to be the ones that are more critical in nature, because it gives me the ability to change some things up. Of course I love and appreciate praise, but when mistakes are pointed out I feel that I can grow more as a student.

Blog posts make it easy to get to know people in an online class, and I feel that this semester has proved just that. All of the introductions I have read so far have been really detailed and I feel that I have met these people in person. I also really like when people comment on my introduction and can relate to me as well.

Some changes that I would like to make personally are to be more critical to others. I know that constructive criticism helps me, and therefore it probably helps my peers as well. I tend to focus more on the positives of other's stories and projects, but I need to try and add any helpful tips as well instead of avoiding "negativity".

In the Dark I seek the Light

I chose this image because like I stated above, sometimes the best feedback isn't always praise. I felt that this overtly dramatic cat picture captures that idea nicely. 

Week 8 Reading and Writing

So far, this semester had gone really well for me in regards to this class. I found myself struggling less to think of creative stories as time passes by, and I actually look forward to reading new stories every week. So far, the Jewish Fairy tales have impacted me the most, because I am actually able to take advantage of them by use in another class. I have to write a final paper in my History of Judaism class, and I have decided to write about the deeper meanings behind the fairytales and how their lessons overall reflect what I have learned in class. After looking back at my own writings, I have decided that my story The Quarrel of the Sun and the Moon is my favorite so far. I really enjoyed the feeling I had after writing it, as I felt that I had created a story that could fit into some of the original story line-ups due to it's ability to explain something that we know non-fictionally in a fictional way. Looking forward, I want to try and branch out a little more and try to rewrite stories that I am least familiar with. I enjoy a writing challenge and therefore I can't wait for what is to come. 

Sun and Moon from the Nuremberg Chronicle by Hartmann Schedel (1440-1514)

I chose this image because it was used in my favorite story, the Quarrel of the Sun and the Moon. I really love how the artist made the faces reflect very human like emotions. 

Story: The Man and his Wife

Based on Tibetan Folk Tales: The Man and the Monkeys by A.L. Shelton with illustrations by Mildred Bryant (1925)

A Cop and Lamborghini by Richard Masoner

There once was a man who won the lottery. He would no longer have to work, no longer have to cook or clean up after himself, and could buy anything he wanted. One day, the man fell asleep in his large and comfortable memory foam bed. While he was asleep, a burglar came into his home in order to hold the man hostage for ransom. His maid saw what had happened when she showed up to work the next morning, but she wasn't strong enough to fight back for him. She decided to go to the at home gym upstairs and work out until she was strong enough to fight the burglar. She drank protein shakes and constantly weighed herself in order to see how much muscle she was gaining. Finally, she was strong enough to fight back and save the man. He was quite shaken up after being freed, and the maid suggested a good workout in order to relieve some stress. After working out, the man was very tired and laid down to rest on the hard floor of his gym. Meanwhile, the maid was in the kitchen making them protein shakes with the blender. The blender was so loud and annoying, and the man thought it would be much easier to relax without the maid making so much noise. He thought to himself, I should just fire this maid and have my girlfriend move in with me. So, when the maid left for the day he texted her and told her she was fired... knowing that without the money he paid her, she would be unable to provide for her own family. He was happy with his decision and went to go and get his girlfriend in his bright red Lamborghini. Little did he know, the neighbor of the maid was a police officer who dearly loved the sweet maid next door, as she looked after his children when he worked late shifts. When the cop saw the man in the Lamborghini, he pulled him over for speeding, driving while under the influence, resisting arrest, and assaulting a police officer. The man was thrown into jail for the rest of his life.

Authors Note: This was one of my favorite stories from the Tibetan folk tales, and so I decided to completely change it up. Instead of a man finding the garden of Eden and killing monkeys that helped him, I decided to try and modernize the story to reflect a rich man who is punished for being a back stabber to the person who rescued him. In the original story, the man is eaten by the monkey king that is turned into a snake, but as you can imagine I didn't think that ending matched with my revised story.

Reading Notes: Tibetan Folk Tales-Part B

Tibetan Folk Tales by A.L. Shelton with illustrations by Mildred Bryant (1925).

An Adorable Rabbit

How the Rabbit Killed the Lion: One day, the rabbit didn't feel like getting up from the grass to bow to the king (lion). But then the lion appeared before him, so the rabbit lied and said that a she-devil scared him. When the lion asked if she harmed him, he said no, but that the devil yelled about how she was the ultimate ruler that could kill the lion. The lion was not happy with this idea, and decided to go and prove to the devil that he was the best of them all. So the rabbit took the lion to the stream, and when the lions reflection was visible, the rabbit shouted that the devil was there. The lion jumped in to kill his own reflection and drowned.

The Story of the Three Hunters: There once were three married brothers and one sister. After a hunt, the men and their wives ate and gave a leg to the sister. The sister made delicious marrow, and the wives were so jealous that they wanted to kill her. The youngest brother's wife didn't agree with the other two, but they still decided to move forward with the plan without her. The brothers were still out on a hunt when they killed her, and her soul entered a bird. When they came home, the sister was gone and they confirmed the killing by the third wife. So they killed the first two and shared the third wife among them.

How the Raven Saved the Hunter: There once was a very poor hunter. He was very tired from a long day and he came across a stream on the mountain he was on. He decided to make a cup out of a leaf so that he could drink. When he raised it up to drink, a raven flew by and knocked it out of his hand. He thought it was an accident until it happened again. So he angrily shot the bird dead. He followed the stream and found out that it was from a snake, soiled with dead bodies. Then he felt bad because the raven had saved him and he killed it.

The Golden Squash: There was once two old men; one was good and one was bad. The nice one saw a hurt bird one day and nursed it back to health. The bird then flew away and came back with a special seed for him. It grew and grew until it was ready to be pulled. It turned out to be made of solid gold, that he could help the community with. The bad man was jealous and decided to shoot a bird in the leg and nurse it back to health. The bird came back with a seed as well, but when it grew and grew... he cut it open only to find a man inside. He weighed/judged him and decided to cut his head off.

The Man with Five Friends with Different Colored Eyes: A man told his son to choose friends based on their eyes, and to only tell his wife secrets when they had ten children. The son grew up and the dad died, but the son didn't listen to what his dad warned him about. The wife and him got in a fight and just like the dad said, she went against him. Then four of his five friends went against him as well. But the friend who fit the bill for what the dad wanted, was wise and helped to get the son out of trouble.

The Story of the Violinist: There once was a family of three sons. One writer, one a carpenter, and one learned how to play the violin. The father wasn't pleased with the violinist, and kicked him out. So he went to a new country where he broke up a fight. The king was happy with him and sent for a woman to bring him to the palace. She told the boy to ask the king for a hen, with hopes that he would get the princess who was so pretty that she covered herself in chicken skin. So he did just that and gained a wife, They moved to a kingdom where there was a wicked ruler, and they decided to invite him for dinner after plotting a plan. The princess shed her skin and when the king saw her, he wanted to trade wives with the son. So they did, but in the midst of it all, the son was conspiring with the old wife. They were able to open the gates of hell and lead the king and his men inside. Then the musician and his queen lived happily ever after.

How the Sacred Duck Got His Yellow Breast: One day a rabbit and fog were playing around when they found a gold pot. They fought on who saw it first, and decided to race for it. The frog however, decided to cheat because he knew he was slower. The cheating worked and the rabbit lost. However, the fog had no way of getting the pot down the mountain. A duck came by and said he could help if he had half of it, and so he did.

The Two Little Cats: One day, two cats needed salt for their butter tea. But on their way, they saw a monster who would eat them. As they ran, they came across an army of animals who said that they would protect the cats from the monster. They got home and set up a series of booby traps for the monster when he came. Everything worked out successfully and they were able to kill the monster, and they were able to be at peace.

How the Wolf, the Fox and the Rabbit Committed a Crime: One day a wolf, fox, and rabbit came across a wizard. They decided to trick him so they could get his pack. Their plan worked, and they all convened at a meeting place. The wolf got boots, the fox got a bell, and the rabbit got all the food. But the wolf's boots caused him to be caught by the shepherd and the bell scared the fox babies to death.

A Rabbit Story: There once was two families of son and mom; rabbit and bear. The moms dug roots for food, but since the rabbit was faster, the bear killed her and cooked her up. The rabbit son saw and swore to get revenge. So he got an arrow and killed the bear son. Then he knew the mom would come after him and so he asked the tiger for help. While the rabbit was hiding in the tiger's ear, he munched on some roots. But he told the tiger it was his eye balls, and the tiger decided to eat his own eye balls if the rabbit would be his eyes. But he lead the tiger to fall off a cliff, told the shepherd to get the dead tiger, told the wolf to kill the sheep, and told the raven to pick out the baby wolves eyes. The rabbit had done so much harm that he ran away.

The Man and the Monkeys: One day a man came across the perfect garden of Eden and decided to stay there. He decided to sleep in a tree, but fell out of it and into a lake. A little monkey who saw was too small to help, so he worked out every day until he could save the man. The man was tired and able to sleep, but on the ground. He wasn't able to sleep though with all the monkeys in the tree, and so he shook all the trees so that the monkeys would fall out and die. The man then wanted to get his family to come live with him, but the monkey god punished the man instead by turning into a snake and eating him.