Saturday, September 28, 2019

Week 7 Reading A: Anansi in Jamaica

There are so many stories in there that I like, including lots that have Brer Rabbit parallels.

Tying Tiger. I love the story about Rabbit and Lion and the hurricane, so I could retell this story to develop that part which is told only really quickly here.

The Gub-Gub Peas. Using a piece of writing to deceive someone who can't read is a great trick, and I like how Anansi pretends to be oh-so-educated like that to trick the watchman, and then pretends to be oh-so-ignorant to trick the lion. I could definitely retell this pair of stories with Brer Rabbit as the main character.

Tiger as Riding-Horse. This story is so popular but I've never really gotten into this one.

Tiger Catching the Sheep-Thief. I think this story is hilarious; the first part is kind of like the chain tale about trading up, although that part of the story is not fully developed, so I could do that. 

Tiger's Breakfast / Tiger's Bone-Hole. The tiger's breakfast story is a little confusing (although we can definitely see Anansi playing with him in his usual mean way), but I really like Tiger's Bone-Hole. I don't know a Brer Rabbit story like that one, so maybe it would be fun to make one up using the Rabbit instead.

Eggs and Scorpions / The Christening. I like the firefly in the eggs story! I don't think I have any Rabbit and Firefly stories! And of course the christening is super-famous. Sooner or later I need to try to write my own version of that one.

Eating Tiger's Guts / Monkey and Anansi. I love the eating tiger's guts story with the child who wants to tell the truth. And Monkey and Anansi is one of my favorites; I think telling that one with Brer Rabbit and some other would-be trickster, like fox, would be fun, especially since fox has a long enough tail that he could play the role of Monkey, using the Brer Wolf says grace model too.

Sheep and Anansi / Rabbit and Anansi. The "show me trouble" story here is intense, and it already involves Rabbit. Maybe I could combine that with the traditional story about Brer Rabbit and the crocodile "show me trouble" story since that is one of my favorites.

New Names, I LOVE THIS STORY. This might be the one that I decide to do. It has a really strong African theme; it connects up with Brer Rabbit story about selling mothers. I think I might do this one with Brer Rabbit characters. Plus stories based on names and guessing names are so much fun.

Long-Shirt. This story is hilarious with the talking shirt; there's really nothing like that in Brer Rabbit (although there is that story about the magic pot that comes to life!)

Shut Up in the Pot / House in the Air. And of course I also love the Cutta Cord-La story, and all the ones about "house in the air" (like the one with the snake too). So, if the new names story does not work out, I could definitely do this version of Cutta Cord-La, blending the Jamaican story with Rabbit characters.

For a picture, here's Brer Blinkie: fireflies!


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