Week 13 Storytelling: The Finale

Grammy Ronni looked up. She had been staring the pile of mail for ten minutes and still could not believe that her daughter Avy had finally sent a postcard from Germany to her. She hadn’t heard from Avy in almost a year and was glad she was doing well. Mr. Savage had never been Grammy Ronni’s favorite, but he made Avy happy and that was what mattered. They had had several children, six in total, and all girls! Avy always wanted a big family so Grammy Ronni was glad she was able to fulfill that wish.

               The postcard had an alternative message to it though. Although Avy was happy, it appeared her daughters were going out every night and they couldn’t figure out how! They had hired almost every babysitter in the country and none had been successful in finding out how they were getting out of the house. Avy had sent the postcard requesting her mother’s help. Grammy Ronni was not sure if she could leave her son David, but decided she had to do something! So, she told David that she was going to have to travel to see Avy and would be back within a month’s time. 

               Grammy Ronni packed her bags and drove to the airport, still queasy about the decision of leaving Jonathon unattended. Once at the airport she requested the earliest flight to Germany and was told it would be an hour before she could board. Grammy Ronni passed the hour by picking up a tourist book on Germany. She read as much as she could while waiting for the plane as well as on the nine hour flight to Frankfurt, Germany. 

Frankfurt Airport from thousand wonders

               Once in Frankfurt, Avy and Mr. Savage picked up Grammy Ronni.

“Hi mom! We’re so glad you came, we have lost just about all hope in trying to discover our daughters’ secret.” Avy ran up and gave Grammy Ronni a hug and Mr. Savage gave her a hug as well after. 

“Well, I had to come and help my daughter! David has had me long enough, and I haven’t seen you in what feels like forever!” Grammy Ronni, Avy, and Mr. Savage grabbed her bags and drove to their home.

       Once at their home, Grammy Ronni was introduced to all of the daughters: Elsa, Anna, Julie, Rose, Cora, and Ronni. Grammy Ronni was very honored to have had her name passed down to Avy’s daughter. They enjoyed the afternoon and soon it was evening. Avy pulled her mother aside.

“Mom, please try to watch the girls and see where they go. I am very worried that if we do not figure this out they will be kidnapped, or worse!” Avy was in obvious duress about the situation and Grammy Ronni could not have that. 

“Don’t worry I will figure this out!” So Grammy Ronni went and gave each girl a kiss goodnight and silently slipped into a chair in the corner of their room. She then began to snore loudly so that the girls would think she was asleep!

      Slowly the girls began to slide out of their beds and get dressed in beautiful dresses. They slipped on their shoes and opened the large window in their room. As the last one climbed out Grammy Ronni carefully began to follow them. They walked to a large lake and waiting at the shore line, were six young men in boats! Each girl climbed in a boat and they were rowed across the lake to a beautiful gazebo filled with lights and music. Grammy Ronni found a boat a ways down the shore and quickly rowed to the gazebo to get a closer look for herself! Once there, she took a cup from the party to show Avy and Mr. Savage. She watched the girls dance and enjoy themselves, until they went to their partners and asked to return home. Grammy Ronni quickly hopped in her boat and rowed away before the girls could notice. 

     The next morning Grammy Ronni told Avy and Mr. Savage everything she had seen and gave them the cup. This was more than enough evidence for Avy and Mr. Savage. They called their daughters in and asked each of them if what Grammy Ronni had told them was true. The daughters each said yes. Avy then asked the girls if instead of going to dance, they would bring the boys to their house for dinner so that Avy and Mr. Savage could meet them. The girls agreed and were glad they were not being punished!

     That night the girls each brought their dancing partner to meet their parents. The boys were gentlemen and brought flowers and a small gift. Avy and Mr. Savage met each of them and welcomed them into their home. After dinner the boys went home and the girls stayed asleep that night.

Grammy Ronni stayed another week to travel and reconnect with her daughter. Avy thanked her profusely for helping them find out where their daughters were going at night. Grammy Ronni was glad to know that the girls were not in trouble and that she had been able to help them. At the end of the week, however, Grammy Ronni flew back home, with gummy bears for Jonathon and a stuffed black bear to be friends with Mr. Piddles. 

Author’s Note:

This week I based my story off of the Twelve DancingPrincesses by the Brothers Grimm. I really liked this story because it had a lot of description. The images of the princesses were also very well done and I loved the imagery evoked from it all. I wanted this to be my last story for my portfolio and I wanted to tie Avy and Mr. Savage into the Grammy Ronni storyline. I had already predetermined that Avy would be Grammy Ronni’s daughter, but I wasn’t sure exactly how I would connect all the dots. The Twelve Dancing Princess story seemed to be perfect though! I changed a few things from the original story, however. In the original there are of course twelve daughters, which seemed a lot of children for today’s world. So I cut the number in half to six! I also made the suitors a babysitter, so that the girls would not be marrying at too young of an age. I liked that the girls ended up with their ‘princes’ because in the story they don’t and it made me a little sad to see the girls not have a happy ending. I also wanted to end with Jonathon getting treats and Mr. Piddles having a new friend!

Week 10 Storytelling: The Adventures of Jonathon & Mr. Piddles!

Grammy Ronni knocked on the door and her son David answered it. 

"Hey mom, thanks again for doing all of this babysitting. I know Jonathon loves seeing you and I appreciate it more than you know." David invited her in and called out to Jonathon. "JONATHON? GRAMMY RONNI IS HERE."

Jonathon ran down the stairs holding Mr. Piddles and gave Grammy Ronni a big hug.

“Hi Grammy, thank you for babysitting me today.” Grammy Ronni hugged Jonathon and then walked into the living room to set her purse down.

“Of course sweetie! I thought we might go to the park today if you and Mr. Piddles are up for it?” Grammy Ronni always had good field trip ideas for the two adventurers.

“Yea, yea, yea! Mr. Piddles needs some outdoors time!” Jonathon ran back upstairs to change out of his pajamas. 

“Okay well, I have to head out to catch my plane, but thank you again for doing this. I will see you tomorrow!” David grabbed his suitcase and jacket just before Jonathon came bounding down the steps. “Hey buddy,  I have to head out now but I’ll be back tomorrow okay?” 

“Okay dad, have a safe trip! Oh! And here, Mr. Piddles wanted to give you a hug for luck.” Jonathon wrapped Mr. Piddles’ paws around David’s neck.

“Thank you, Mr. Piddles. Well, I’m off!” David then left the house and drove to the airport. 

“Okay Jonathon and Mr. Piddles, are we ready to go to the park?” Grammy Ronni immediately turned her attention to the young boy and his polar bear. Jonathon nodded vigorously and they headed off to the park.

Once at the park Jonathon and Mr. Piddles ran out to their favorite spot on the edge of a forest!

“Mr. Piddles what should we do today? I think that exploring the woods could be fun.” Jonathon turned to Mr. Piddles (now a well and alive polar bear). 

Mr. Piddles in action (actually Ice Bear on Bare Bears from tvtropes

“Well Jonathon, I think exploring the woods sounds awesome. We could even try to find some fish!” Mr. Piddles was always up for exploring, especially if there was a chance for fish.

So they were off into the woods, not going too far out of Grammy Ronni’s sight. Jonathon started to collect some of the wild flowers around the area. Mr. Piddles thought of the perfect way to prank Jonathon. He ran over to Jonathon to help him pick flowers.

“Hey Jonathon I’ve heard that this area of the woods is where a famous witch was buried! Do you think we’ll see her burial grounds today?” Jonathon stopped in his tracks.

“What?! No! I don’t want to see some old, dead person’s body! That’s gross, and I have school on Monday. I can’t be killed off by some crazy, old witch!” Jonathon crossed his arms and waited to hear Mr. Piddles’ thoughts.

“But what if she could do something really cool, like do your homework for you?” Mr. Piddles knew Jonathon couldn’t resist that idea. 

“Hmm… Well I guess that might be worth it… Okay, let’s do it!” Jonathon and Mr. Piddles shook hands and then split up to search for the woman’s body.

What Jonathon didn’t know was that Mr. Piddles had just made up the whole story! There was no witch’s body, but Mr. Piddles had plans to surprise Jonathon as the witch. As Jonathon searched for the woman’s body, Mr. Piddles covered himself in mud, hid under a pile of leaves, and began to wail like what he thought an old witch would sound like.

“Mr. Piddles is that you? Where are you?!” Jonathon started to get worried because he hadn’t seen his friend in a while. 

“ Noooooo, Jooonnnaaathoonnn it is Iiiiiii Ms. Morganaaaaa!” Mr. Piddles began to move around under the leaves. 

“Mr. Piddles! I could sure use your help! Ms. Morgana please don’t hurt me, my friend talked me into finding you!” Now Jonathon was really scared! He started to run away from the moving leaves and back to the park where Grammy Ronni was. Mr. Piddles realized he had succeeded in scaring his friend, but maybe too well! He got out from the leaves and Jonathon began to run even faster! Finally Jonathon made it back to the safety of Grammy Ronni.

“Grammy― Ronni―there’s a―witch trying to kill me!” Jonathon was exasperated from running back to Grammy Ronni, but had to tell her what was going on! Just then Mr. Piddles popped his head out from the forest and Grammy Ronni saw him. 

“Oh Jonathon, look it’s just Mr. Piddles covered in mud and leaves! See, just go and grab him. I bet he can explain.” Grammy Ronni had grown used to the two pranking each other. 

Jonathon ran out and saw that it was Mr. Piddles! Mr. Piddles apologized for scaring him, but also laughed a little at how scared Jonathon had been. Jonathon picked him up and they ran back to Grammy Ronni.

“You were right Grammy, it was just Mr. Piddles planning a trick on me!” Jonathon held the dirty Mr. Piddles by a single paw to keep himself from getting dirty.

“Here Jonathon, put Mr. Piddles in this plastic bag until we can wash him off. Do you want to go get ice cream? I think that might be the perfect way to end our day of adventure?” Grammy Ronni got a plastic bag out from her purse and carefully placed Mr. Piddles into it. 

“Okay Grammy! Thank you for taking us out today!” Jonathon took the bag with Mr. Piddles in it and whispered to him, “I told you we would get ice cream!”

Grammy Ronni smiled and thought to herself, “Another successful day with Jonathon and Mr. Piddles”. 

Author's Note:
This week I wanted to try and take a few elements from the Sioux stories as well as a few specific details from the story A Little Brave and the Medicine Woman. I really liked how that story combined both the mischievous elements of the Sioux legends and the societal element of the Medicine Woman. I thought having Mr. Piddles act as the little brave who surprises the other boys by pretending to be the medicine woman come alive! I also thought that this would be a great time to have Jonathon and Mr. Piddles go on an adventure. I really loved reading Calvin and Hobbes when I was younger so I thought they could develop a similar relationship, with Grammy Ronni within running distance of course! I hope to continue building on these relationships and hope to see more cool stories develop out of the legends and myths we are reading in class!

Week 11 Storytelling: Avy and Mr. Savage

Avy looked up from her laptop and there he was, the man of her dreams. He had gorgeous flowing locks of dark brown hair and brown eyes with…

“AVY! GET UP! YOU’RE GOING TO BE LATE FOR YOGA!” Avy’s roommate yelled up to her.

Avy looked at the clock and realized she was just daydreaming again about the mystery man of her dreams. This was the second time she had seen the man and she kept wondering where she had seen him before. Avy had just taken a Psychology course and learned that everyone you see in your dream, you’ve seen at least once before in real life. 

“Dreaming about McDreamy again Avy?” Hannah was a large Grey’s Anatomy fan and took every opportunity to make references in real life. 

Patrick Dempsey as McDreamy from The Wrap

“Yea… He keeps popping in at really weird times, and I can’t figure out where I’ve seen his face before…” Avy started to daydream about McDreamy’s face again, when Hannah slammed Avy’s breakfast smoothie down in front of her. 

“Here drink quick, you’re already running ten minutes late for your yoga class.” Avy grabbed her gym bag and ran out the door. 

Once Avy arrived at the gym she hurried to her class, she had a favorite spot for her mat. Avy continued to sip on her to-go strawberry smoothie until Henry, the teacher, arrived. Henry and Avy had been friends for the last year when Avy started taking yoga. Henry had helped Avy relieve chronic neck pain and succeed in becoming a lifelong yogi. After class finished, Avy rolled up her mat and went to grab her gym bag. She looked at her watch and realized class had gone fifteen minutes over today, she would be late for work if she didn’t hurry.

“Ugh,” Avy had run into a guy with her yoga mat. The guy fell over and his face was covered with dark brown hair. 

“Sorry! I’m in a hurry and didn’t see you! Again I’m super sorry!” Avy would have helped the man up if she hadn’t been in such a hurry. Instead she ran out the gym door and back to her apartment to shower, change, and get to work.

Avy worked at a travel agency, helping people find new places to explore. She had joined the agency two years ago after graduating college. She had large dreams of traveling the world, but currently had to repay student loans instead.

Inside a travel agency from Travel Brokers

Ding, ding. The bell on the door rang, indicating a new customer had arrived. Avy turned to look and it was the man from her dreams, McDreamy! He had the dark brown hair and deep brown eyes. Avy had to meet him in person.

“Hello! My name is Avy, can I help you with anything today Mr…?” Avy reached out her hand to shake his and awaited his name.

“Savage, Mr. Savage. And yes, I am looking for a traveling consultant. Can you help with that?” Mr. Savage shook Avy’s hand and looked around the agency. 

“Oh, um, of course right this way.” Avy directed Mr. Savage to her desk and sat down prepared to search for his traveling dreams. 

“So where are you thinking of traveling today? We have guides and deals for just about every place you can imagine, McD―Mr. Savage.” Avy waited while the man continued to look around the office.

“No, I think you misunderstood madame, I want someone to travel with me to help guide my travels as we go. I have gone on several trips and have been quite lonely without a companion. This agency was recommended by a friend Henry this morning and I thought I would try it out. Are you not interested? I would pay you for your time and compensate for the travel and food?” Mr. Savage gazed into Avy’s eyes searching for an answer.

Mr. Savage (Ed Westwick) from fansshare

Avy couldn’t believe her ears. This gorgeous man wanted her to travel the world with him, and he would pay her! Avy daydreamed about her adventures with McDreamy until Mr. Savage cleared his throat.

“Oh, well I will have to double check exactly how that would work but I am very interested. Exactly where would you be traveling through? I am fluent in Spanish, German, and French which can be of use.” Avy internally thanked her mother for pressing her to minor in three languages. 

“Mostly Europe, but I also have plans to travel through China and Japan at some point in the next three years. If you are available I would like to start planning now?” Mr. Savage could not believe such a beautiful woman would be willing to travel with him. And she seemed intelligent, unlike the last woman his assistant had hired. 

“Of course! Let me grab my materials and we can begin.” Avy pulled out her notebook and several guidebooks for Europe. They continued to work through most of the afternoon on their plans and scheduled flights for the following week.

                                      Two Years Later

Avy looked at Artell, she couldn’t believe that in the last two years they had gone from travel companions to husband and wife. Their wedding had been a beautiful ceremony in a Tuscan garden set for the gods. Both of their parents couldn’t believe how quickly the couple had grown together, but they both knew that it had been love at first sight.

Author’s Note:

I loved reading the Faerie Queen unit by Mary Macleod this week about Britomart and her search for her dream man. I really liked so many aspects of the entire tale. It made it very difficult to choose what to include and what not to include. Eventually I settled on a modern day retelling of a woman looking for her McDreamy, which who wouldn’t want Patrick Dempsey as their traveling companion? I've recently been on a Grey's Anatomy and Gossip Girl kick, so I wanted to incorporate both McDreamy and Chuck Bass into the man of Avy's dreams. Traveling the world, all expenses paid, with a gorgeous man would be my ultimate dream! The elements I decided on to add  from Britomart's story were: Sir Artelle’s disguised identity as the Savage Knight and how Britomart had an enchanted spear that knocked Artelle off of his horse. Instead of a magic spear, however, Avy has a yoga mat to knock over Mr. Savage. I also thought including the moment when the two meet and don’t recognize each other would be cute for this story as well. I am excited to look more into Britomart’s legend and what else she and Sir Artelle accomplished during their reign!

Week 9 Storytelling: Mr. Piddles Comes to Life

Mr. Piddles! from stuffedark

“Grammy!!!” Jonathon called from his room.

Grammy Ronni was babysitting Jonathon once again while her son was traveling for work. 

“Yes, dear?” Grammy Ronni stood up from the living room chair and walked to Jonathon’s room.

“Can you tell Mr. Piddles a bedtime story? He had a nightmare and can’t fall asleep.” Jonathon waved Mr. Piddles, a stuffed polar bear, at Grammy Ronni. Mr. Piddles had been a gift from Jonathon’s father after his last trip to Alaska. 

“Of course, Jonathon, Mr. Piddles deserves a good night's rest.” Grammy Ronni sat down on Jonathon’s bed, cleared her throat, and began to tell her story.

“Once upon a time, there was a woman who lived in Alaska―”

“That’s where Mr. Piddles is from!” Jonathon never could contain his excitement during story time.

“Yes, Jonathon, now be quiet or Mr. Piddles won’t be able to hear the story,” Jonathon nodded his head and snuggled down into his bed.

“Now where was I... oh yes! A woman in Alaska was very lonely and struggled to find food. The men of the village would go hunting, but there was very little food to go around. One day the hunters brought back a large amount of fish and behind them came a small polar bear cub. They told the woman that the cub had followed them while they had been fishing and there was no mother bear to be found! 

“Well, I can take the cub,” the woman said, “but he will need a name. Perhaps Mr. Piddles will do!”
Jonathon laughed and whispered to Mr. Piddles, “That’s you!”

“The hunters gave the cub to the woman and she led him to her hut. She shared the few fish that she had with him and he curled up on her bed when they went to sleep. After several weeks Mr. Piddles became very large. All of the other villagers came to know the woman and her pet, Mr. Piddles. The woman even talked to Mr. Piddles as though he was a human!

“Mr. Piddles, today we are going shopping, so we have to put on your collar. Otherwise the villagers might think you are a stray polar bear.” She had woven him a pretty collar out of rope so that he would not be attacked. 

Mr. Piddles would nod and let out a small growl so that the woman would know he understood her. They walked through the village every morning and eventually the villagers grew to know Mr. Piddles and the woman. However, one day a stranger came and couldn’t believe his eyes! A domesticated polar bear had never been seen before in his village. He immediately ran home and told everyone in his village about the strange bear and woman he had seen. Soon word spread and one of the villagers wanted to kidnap Mr. Piddles, for he had become quite the expert fisher! 

So the man and one of his friends snuck back to Mr. Piddles’ village at night. They crept to the woman’s hut and placed a handmade leash on Mr. Piddles. Mr. Piddles was very confused because he did not know these men. He decided to go with them though, because he liked to go on adventures. 

After they left the village for a day, though, Mr. Piddles had had enough! The men had fed him fish and treated him well, but he missed the woman who had raised him. Speaking of which, the woman was very upset about the missing Mr. Piddles! She had never gone a day without Mr. Piddles since she had adopted him. 

After another day at the new village, Mr. Piddles began to roar and pull against the leash. This broke very easily because after all Mr. Piddles was a polar bear! He quickly ran back to the woman’s village and found her hut. He popped up onto his hind legs and gave her a big hug! Mr. Piddles had been very worried about the woman and was glad to be at home. The woman returned the hug and the village decided to celebrate Mr. Piddles’ return with a fish festival the next day. Mr. Piddles was very excited when he saw all the fish the next day at the festival. The whole village celebrated and so it came to be that every year on March 23^rd they celebrated Mr. Piddles. The end!”

Grammy Ronni turned to look at Jonathon and he had fallen asleep- this time snuggled up with his new best friend Mr. Piddles. 

Author’s Note:

This story was taken from the Eskimo story titled: The WomanWho Had a Bear as a Foster-Son collected by Knud Rasmussen. I really enjoyed reading the story, and thought it would perfectly transform into a bedtime story for Jonathon. The tale was about a woman who adopted a polar bear cub whose mother was killed by the village’s hunters. This seemed a little too gruesome to include in a bedtime story, as well as the ending in which the bear gets killed by another villages hunters.  To still include the other village I thought I would make it a kidnapping for the bear’s fishing expertise! Mr. Piddles is the name of my neighbors’ cat back in Mustang. I would babysit him when my neighbors would travel, so I have become quite fond of the little fellow. I thought it was about time that Jonathon had a stuffed animal to snuggle up with in bed and this was the perfect time to do it! And if dad is away traveling, he must be bringing back gifts for his son occasionally. It also reminds me a bit of Calvin and Hobbes so maybe there will be Jonathon and Mr. Piddles adventures!