Week 12 Story Lab: More Storybook Research

I did some research already into the Spider (Gizzo) stories in two books by Arthur Tremearne, and now I am going to read through his 50 Hausa folktales series to see if there are any other stories there that I didn't catch already. A key feature here is that he gives credit to his sources! 

1 The Spider, the Hippopotamus, and the Elephant. SD: in book.

2 The Spider, the Hyena, and the Corn SD: in book.

3 The Malam, the Spider, and the Hyena SD: in book.

4 How the Spider outwitted the Snake BG. Spider paralyzes Snake so that he cannot bite Spider when he comes to collect a debt.

5 The Snake and the Dove Outwit the Spider BG. Spider fools Snake into thinking he is dead, but Dove tricks Spider into revealing himself.

6 The Spider Has a Feast BG. Great story about mock funeral where the goal is to startle the mourners so that they trample each other, and then Spider eats them.

7 How the Spider Obtained a Feast M: in book.

8 The Spider Outwitted by the Tortoise BG. This shares a lot of motifs with the story about Hyena and Spider visiting the king, but with a more clear revenge plot and Tortoise triumphs in the end.

9 The Spider and the Rubber Baby BG: in book (this also has the Half-Man).

10 The Jackal's Revenge on the Spider BG. Another good revenge story, this time with jackal triumphing in the end. 

11 The Lion, the Spider, and the Hyena BG. Great story where Spider gets Hyena to take the blame for eating Lion's ram.

12 The Cunning Spider and his Bride UG: in book.

13 How Spiders Were Reproduced BG. Great story where Spider tricks and kills Lamb, but Kid outwits him. In the end Spider is smashed so there are many Spiders.

14 How the Woman Taught the Spider Cunning SD. VERY COOL story about the quest for wisdom but with a lot of twists and surprises, and in the end the woman does not grant spider more cunning.

32 The Boy who Refused to Walk M: in book.

50 The Lucky Youngest Son SD: in book.

One of the characters in the Jackal's Revenge story is the francolin bird, which is a new character for me. It's a bird found in Africa and also Asia; Wikipedia.

francolin

Week 11 Famous Last Words... 4 weeks to go

I just spaced out last week and forgot to do the Famous Last Words for Week 10... so here we are: Week 11, and that means just four weeks to go. I've got my little "retirement countdown clock," and it says just 27 days from now. There are always a lot of graduating seniors in these classes, and I feel kind of like a graduating senior this semester, ha ha, since retirement really feels like graduation, moving on to something new. 

Working on the African Trickster Storybook (I'm basically done!!!) has really helped me to keep refining my focus for this new career to come, and I think I will be spending the whole next year working on African folktales, using that as the whole foundation to build on as I go forward. Reading a book today by the German folklorist Sigrid Schmidt really inspired me today. She did exactly the same kind of work that I want to do, gathering lots (LOTS) of stories and just paying very careful attention to what the stories say and what they do. I found three more of her books in English (all the rest are in German), and those will be such a perfect way to get things going in May. I will have four of her books to work with when summer gets going and I am ready to plunge myself into a world of African stories:

Tomorrow I'm going to spend the day working on getting ready for the DomainsxOER conference presentation that I have week after next. My idea is to play a game of bingo, and then there will be Latin "victory" badges for the winners, women and men... I created a Latin randomizer with 1000 different combinations, and Bryan Mathers is going to create a graphic for me to use in the badge; he's doing all the graphics for the conference, so I had written to ask him if that might be possible, and he said yes! I did a Zoom with him on Friday (that was so cool: he is in London, and it was so nice to actually talk with him in person), and I am excited to see what he will make. Maybe it will be ready when I do my last words next week! Here is Bryan's website: I am such a fan of all his work:

Visual Thinkery

I went to the Domains conference in 2017 in Oklahoma City (that was actually the last time I was in Oklahoma), and then again in 2019 in Durham (just down the road from where I live, so that was so easy!)... I will really miss getting to see all my Domains friends in person for this conference, but I'm really excited about getting to do this keynote. I'll have more to say about that next week. 

The full interactive online programme is now available for #OERxDomains21 registered participants to view at https://t.co/m3mv08vhSf #OER21 #Domains21 #OERxDomains pic.twitter.com/9ecDvTsmf1

— OER Open Education Conference (@OERConf) April 9, 2021

But for now: it's Saturday night and I'm just going to veg out and watch TV. My husband and I have been on a Bogart-binge lately (inspired by watching the Ken Burns Hemingway documentary last week). Tonight it's Casablanca.