Tech Tip: Fotor Collage

I decided to use Fotor this week to create a collage of some of my favorite things (which, coincidentally, are all related to ocean) to try and take a minute to relax. I'm super stressed going into this week so I thought this would be fun!

Week 12 Story: The Haughty Woman

Once upon a time, there was a woman named Blair who laid around her mansion all day as her brothers waited on her. She never lifted a pinky to help with any of the household chores, she couldn't even make toast for herself. Her brothers didn't seem to mind her laziness, though, as they enjoyed the work and led quite the lavish lives themselves. Day in and day out, she would tell her brothers what she wanted them to do for her that day and they would return with gourmet food and shopping bags in hand.

Despite Blair's poor attitude, there was no denying her beauty. Her beautiful brown hair flowed like the waves of the sea and her skin was the shade of honey. All the men in town admired Blair and her good looks, wishing that they could take her hand in marriage.

A young man named Augie was particularly enamored with Blair. The problem was, Augie was not a ladies man by any aspect of the imagination. He was likable enough and everyone around town stood up for Augie if anyone had the audacity to say something mean to him. On a day where he felt particularly filled with confidence, Augie went to Blair's house after her beefy brothers had left and knocked on her door.

(Matt Bennett as Augie; Image Source)

"H-h-h-hi Blair!"

Blair just glared at him.

"I'm just gonna spit this out before I chicken out, would you like to go to the zoo's black tie event with me tonight?"

Blair scoffed in disgust and slammed the door in Augie's face. She couldn't believe that a guy like that would ever dare ask someone like her to go to the benefit night. Augie was saddened by this dismissal, but he decided he would go to the event, with or without a date.

When Augie showed up that night, news quickly spread how Blair treated him earlier that day. Everyone there was outraged with Blair's behavior and avoided her the whole night. She had her riches and beauty but she would never have friends or love with her bad attitude.

Author's Note:
This story was inspired by The Jackal Would A-Wooing Go by W.H.D. Rouse. The original is about a haughty lioness who is offended when a jackal asks for her hand in marriage. In the original, the brothers go after the jackal and end up dying from their ignorance and the jackal dies of fear, but I decided that in this story, I would just stick with Blair becoming an outcast. Her beauty couldn't make her friends or win her love.

Reading Notes: Rouse Jatakas, Part B

Spend a Pound to Win a Penny
By: W. H. D. Rouse
A monkey steals a bunch of peas from men below his trees while they tend to their horses, but then accidentally drops one. He is in such a greedy state that he goes after that one pea without realizing that all of the other ones are falling in the process. He searches and searches for the one pea until the men come back and throw stones at him, and not until he clambers back up his tree does he realize that he lost everything else. Instead of being so consumed with one thing that went wrong, he should've focused on everything else he had.

Union is Strength
By: W. H. D. Rouse

A hunter lures quails to him by imitating their call, and then netting them all when they gather. The quails begin to work together to fly all at once and take the net with them, then escape from it later by landing on a bush where the net gets caught. The hunter begins to worry because he's not getting any sustenance, but he figures that the quails will soon begin to quarrel and argue. Sure enough, a petty argument begins and the quails no longer work together, allowing the hunter to kill them and eat them all. 

The Jackal Would A-Wooing Go

By: W. H. D. Rouse

It's actually kind of sad to read all of these Indian stories written in the past when animals like lions and elephants were so prevalent in the area, but now lions are confined to few parts of Africa and elephants have had such drastic decreases. The conservationist in me is saddened about how the animals that once inspired these stories are no longer in the areas they were written. In this story, a jackal proposes to a lioness and offends her greatly. She was insulted that a measly jackal would have the gall to propose to a queen like her. Her first two brothers get offended quickly and go after the jackal, but die when they try to jump at him while disregarding the crystal. The third brother realizes there is crystal protecting the jackal and scares him to death just by calling out to him. The sister is not at all sorry about her two brothers having lost their lives, along with the jackal who really didn't try to cause harm. Nobody else ever proposed marriage to her because she was so snotty. 

(The haughty lioness; Image Source)

Lacknose

By: W. H. D. Rouse

Three little boys want to persuade a gardener who has no nose to give them some flowers to take home. The first two boys try to flatter the gardener but end up insulting him about his nose. Because they beat around the bush and were trying to please their way into getting what they wanted, they ended up being rude and didn't get anything at all. The third boy simply asks for a posy and the gardener is so pleased that he doesn't have any tricks up his sleeve and is simply honest that he sends the boy home with a bunch of flowers. 

Reading Notes: Rouse Jatakas, Part A

The Giant Crab
By: W. H. D. Rouse
This story is about a monstrous crab who tortures all the animals coming to one of the only lakes around to drink. He kills the innocent animals and feasts on them until a pair of elephants decides they've had enough and they trick him then kill him. I pictured the crab as Tamatoa from Moana, a giant crab who is only out to benefit himself and doesn't care about anyone else!

(Tamatoa; Image Source)

The Dishonest Friend

By: W. H. D. Rouse

A man steals his friend's plough to sell as his own, and when his friend finds out he takes matters into his own hands. He takes the dishonest friend's son for a "walk" where he actually places him in the home of another friend, but tells the father that the son was taken away by a hawk. Of course, the dishonest man knows a hawk didn't steal his son, but the man uses this to make his point that obviously a rat didn't eat his plough. In the end, the dishonest man returns the plough, gets his son back, and learns that he should be more honest. 

The Mouse and the Farmer

By: W. H. D. Rouse

A farmer takes a liking to a resident mouse, bringing him dinner every night and enjoying his companionship. When the farmer's cat tries to kill the mouse, the mouse makes a deal that he'll bring the cat juicy meat every night in exchange for not eating him. The mouse grows skinnier and skinnier and when the farmer notices, he decides to kill the cat rather than coming up with some other solution like giving the mouse and the cat both meat. A little extreme.

The Pious Wolf

By: W. H. D. Rouse

This story is actually pretty deep, talking about the problem of people pretending to be pious and put on a holier-than-thou act, when in reality they go back to their own ways in the snap of a finger. The wolf claims he's going to fast and is so holy, but the second a temptation comes forward he turns into his normal self. 

Typing Game Tech Tip

I started by playing the Ninja Cat game, which I thought was fun! I got frustrated a few times because the game wasn't picking up the letters I was typing so I would have to go back and redo it. I then played the TypingRace game which I liked a lot better since it was full sentences with capitals and the like. I've always really enjoyed typing and had fun during computer classes when they brought out those blackout covers for the keyboard. Everyone else groaned when we had to do that, but I thought it was fun, probably because my parents really emphasized being good at typing when I was at home from an early age.

Reading Notes: Babbitt's Jataka Tales Part B

The Elephant Girly-Face
By: Ellen C. Babbitt
An elephant hears bad men talking about killing and being mean, so he resorts to killing the keepers and being very cruel. Upon discovering this, the king sends mean to talk kindly near him, and the elephant reverts to its kind ways. This story has a two-fold meaning, first showing the influence our talk and action has on others. We must be cautious, especially around the impressionable, to not sway them to do our bidding. Second, we must be wise in not falling prey to doing whatever we hear around us, the elephant was only doing what he heard, but that didn't make it right.

The King's White Elephant
By: Ellen C. Babbitt
After the carpenters help an elephant with his injury, he helps them with their work every day and his son, the white elephant, is raised to do the same. Because of this, they both get a good and full life and then his son ends up as a prized possession of the king. They repaid their debt and it worked in their favor in the end.

Granny's Blackie
By: Ellen C. Babbitt
Blackie sees that Granny is growing old and feeble, so instead of playing with the children like he liked to do, he goes off to find work. He gets paid a good price for moving wagons across the river and makes sure to get fair pay to take home and surprise Granny. Blackie is happy that he cvan help Granny and makes sure to work hard to help her live comfortably.

(Blackie going to find work; Image Source)

Reading Notes: Babbitt's Jataka Tales Part A

The Monkey and the Crocodile
By: Ellen C. Babbitt
The crocodile tricks the monkey onto his back before revealing his plan to eat his heart. The monkey quickly says that he left his heart in his tree so he won't be able to indulge the crocodile. The stupid crocodile takes the monkey back to the tree to retrieve his heart, where he is safe. Later, the crocodile tries to trick monkey again, but he is outwitted a second time.

The Merchant of Seri
By: Ellen C. Babbitt
An old woman tries to trade a golden bowl for something brass or tin for her granddaughter, not realizing the worth of her bowl. A greedy merchant tries to convince her that her bowl is worth nothing so that he can come back later and get it for nothing, conning the woman and her granddaughter. Another merchant comes through afterwards and informs the woman of her treasure, giving her all his money and product to have the golden bowl. The greedy merchant is angry when he returns to collect the bowl for nothing, and the kind merchant is well off for many days to come.

(The grandmother's gold bowl; Image Source)

The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking
By: Ellen C. Babbitt
Two geese are carrying their turtle friend on a branch between them, where turtle is holding on. They tell him not to talk on the journey, but he can't resist opening his mouth. Of course, he falls and dies, illustrating the dangers of speaking without thought.

The Ox Who Won the Forfeit
By: Ellen C. Babbitt
This is a sweet story about an ox who works hard for his kind master. When one day the master brags and gambles that his ox can pull a heavy load, he takes it too far and whips his ox and calls him names. The ox doesn't move an inch. After a heartfelt conversation that night, they go back the next day and when the man treats the ox with kindness, the ox easily moves the load and wins back the man's money two-fold. This goes to show the power of kindness.