Week 7 Storytelling: The Diary of a Heartless Monkey

Dear Diary,

     Today I met a shark beneath the tree I eat fruit at. He seemed very nice, so I fed him some of the fruits. I got very tired though and eventually had to stop. We talked for a while about his family and where he lives. It sounds like his home is an incredible place to live. I also picked up some big leaves to patch up the hole in my bed. It's been getting bigger and I think these leaves will fix it perfectly!

Till Tomorrow,

Monkey



Dear Diary,

     Today the shark and I talked about his home some more and about our families. We both ate more of the fruit from the tree for lunch. After hearing so much about the shark's homeland he has asked me to come visit! I was very cautious however, because I don't want to get stuck underwater. He promises however that I can ride on his back the whole way and will stay dry. I finally agreed because I desperately want to see the world he has been telling me about. And the leaves were a perfect fit, no more hole in the bed!


Till Tomorrow,

Monkey


Dear Diary,

       Today was an absolute disaster! To begin with the shark and I had some fruit for breakfast and then shipped off to his homeland. Halfway there he tells me that the only reason he is bringing me there is to try and save his king. They have been told that only a monkey's heart can save him from his illness. In a moment of panic, I lied and told him that I had left my heart on the shore. I told him that it was very normal for monkeys to leave their hearts behind in safety while they travel. Somehow the shark believed me, so we turned around and went back to the shore. I quickly climbed up the tree and told him I would come down once I had found my heart. Instead, I ate some fruit and took a nap. Finally the shark yelled at me and woke me up. To try and convince him to leave me alone I told him a story! It was about a donkey too silly to realize a lion wanted to eat it! The donkey had left its farm and grown quite fat eating all of the grass in the forest. A rabbit convinces it that a lion, silly I know, would want to marry it. Eventually, I had talked so long that the shark decided to leave!  I will have to tell my other friends about this terrible nightmare!

Till Tomorrow,

Monkey

An African Monkey from animal wildlife blog

Author's Note:

For this storytelling I decided to write about the Monkey and Shark tale from the African Stories by Andrew Lang. I liked this story because it had a story within a story, as seen by the monkey talking about the donkey and lion. I also liked how clever the monkey was after he found out the shark's true intentions. I also thought it would be interesting to rewrite the story from the Monkey's perspective in a diary form. We would get more of his personal thoughts and important issues this way.

Week 7 Reading Diary: African Stories Lang (cont.)

The first story in this round of tales is about a boy who who grows up and decides he wants to become a physician. He somehow gets stuck in a hole because some of his friends leave him there to die! I like the part of this story that relates to the King of Snakes, although he is killed in the end. He helps make the boy a success. This story also reminds me of some of the Turkish fairy tales I've read previously.

The next story is about a monkey and a shark. The shark receives fruit from the monkey and the become quick friends. I do always enjoy stories about animals! But this one takes a twist when the shark tries to take the monkey to his home so that the shark sultan can have his heart. The monkey bravely convinces the shark that he left his heart back at the tree they became friends at and tells him a story to try and distract him. The story proves the monkeys point and he gets away at the end.

The last story is about a man who defeats many giants and sets off to find a place to call home. However, he ends up getting caught in a battle with someone of equal strength and power. Eventually, Mulimo, the Great Spirit, sends them up to the skies to become gods because they are too good to remain human.

the monkey and shark tale from Andrew Lang illustrations

African Stories by Andrew Lang

Week 7 Reading Diary: African Stories Lang

I decided to read the African Stories by Andrew Lang to get a view at the African fairy tales.

Jackal from Wes Phalan

The first story is about a man and wife and their child. The wife is very thin and frail and the husband runs many errands to fetch things for her. They then switch places and the wife bumps into an ogre, that she promises her first child to. The child however, is a wizard. He uses bones to tell him what he should do to escape the ogre. He collects the village children his age and prepares them like his mother prepared him. I like that the child is outsmarting the ogre, although I feel bad that the ogre has been cheated out of a meal. In the end the ogre accidently eats the father, because the child switches their blankets. I like that the moral of the story is that you must pay the consequences of your actions.

The next story is about a Jackal and other animals collecting water. It reminds a lot of the story about the chicken who bakes pies and everyone helps, but one animal. That animal then doesn't get any because they didn't help. But in this story the Jackal tricks the rabbit and the hare to tie themselves up so he can get water. The tortoise is the only one smart enough to not believe the jackal.

The third story is also about a Jackal, but is also about his friend the hedgehog. It is also about the jackal tricking a panther! However, in the end the panther gives up trying to chase them. The jackal gets his punishment though, because he is killed by a greyhound after being tricked by a shepherd. The hedgehog knew it was a greyhound, but the jackal wouldn't believe him. I liked this tale because it shows that you are not always the smartest person in the room and being overly confident can kill you.

The next two stories are about the jackal's sons. The elder won is in a fight about a green cloak. He manages to escape with it though. I liked this tale because of  where he meets another lion and hyena. He is clever enough to learn from the death of the hyena that he should give all of the food to the lion. I did not like the ending of the story though, because the elder son also gets killed by the hedgehog, who crushes him with a big stone! The younger son seems to get a better deal in the long run! He tricks a sheep into doing the work for him while growing corn. He tries to give the sheep only one share, but the sheep gets the greyhound to scare the jackal. This works and the sheep gets her fair share!