Week 6 (Storytelling): Kai-Lan

 

(Laotian Wedding Tradition; source: Our Journeys Within)

January 7, 1707

“To my one and only Kaipo,

It has been many months since our last meeting. I constantly think about you and the past times when we were together. Remember when we used to gaze at the stars or when we found that lost puppy? I recently saw that puppy with its family and she looked very happy! I wish I could feel just as happy. I miss your handsome face looking at me. I miss your strong hands holding mine. I miss your calm voice steadying my heart. Ever since my father forbade me to see you, you are all I can think about.

I hate my father. He and his servants are constantly watching me. My father is frequently boasting to others how he drove you away. He invites many suitors into my home. He is expecting me to marry one of them. However, I refuse all of them. You are all that I want. No one can compare to you. Our love is stronger than any distance that keeps us apart. I will never betray our love or you.

We have been apart for too long. These past months have felt like centuries to me. Time moves so slowly when you are not around. I cannot wait anymore. My father is hosting a feast for all in the province tomorrow night. Please come. I must see you. I must be with you.

Love,

Your Dearest Aelan”

The next night, the feast was held. It was possibly grander than any of the king’s feasts. People from all over the province came to enjoy the festivities. They were everywhere and the room was filled with constant laughter and merriment. Everyone was enjoying the party except for one, Aelan. She constantly kept an eye out for her dear lover. However, she could not find him. Dismayed, she stepped outside into the garden to get away from the crowd. Suddenly, she heard shrubs shake and turned around to see her lover, Kaipo, standing there in front of her. She ran to him and they embraced. Tears filled her eyes and it felt as if they had never been separated at all. Kaipo looked lovingly into Aelan’s eyes. Right then, he pleaded her to elope with him. She did not think twice before complying. They both jumped on his horse and while they did that, a servant saw them trying to escape. He immediately told Aelan’s father and a search party was formed.

Kaipo and Aelan went far past the city limits and into the dangerous and rocky mountains. The two lovers came to a huge canyon and had nowhere to go. The search party was catching up to them. They were trapped. Kaipo and Aelan looked at each other and nodded. They both decided that they would rather die together than be separated again. So, they jumped. They were so close to making it to the other side, but their weight was just too much. The couple and their steed fell into the river at the bottom of the canyon. The search party saw this. The river was two hundred feet below the top of the rocky canyon, so there was no way the couple could have survived. They decided that there was no reason to continue and they returned home. However, by the will of God, the couple and horse fell into the river and survived the fall. They scrambled out of the river with a few bruises, but very much alive. The couple was so tired that they laid on the riverbank and looked up into the stars. They lived happily ever after.

Author's Note - The original storyline comes from Lovers' Leap in the Laos Unit. For my past storytellings, I usually do a modernization of the plot, but this time I did something different and tried a love letter style. In the original plot, the lovers do not make it over the cliff, but I wanted to have a happier ending than that. Then, in my original storytelling, I wrote that the couple made it over to the other side of the canyon, but I realized that it was a bit predictable so I changed it for my portfolio to the way it is now. I actually like my new ending a lot and I think it is more interesting. Other than that, I kept the story basically the same. For the title, I combined the lovers' names together. In Laotian, "Kaipo" is a male name meaning "sweetheart" and "Aelan" is a female name meaning "flower." I know that it is pretty cheesy. In fact, my whole story is pretty cheesy. I imagined the lovers to be around sixteen or seventeen years old so I figured that I could get away with it. This reminded me a bit of Romeo and Juliet as I was reading it so I added the detail about the stars. Star-crossed lovers usually have tragic endings because the stars controls people’s fates, but like I said, I wanted a happier ending. Therefore, in the end, I just had the couples stare at the stars as a triumph over what their fate should have been. 

If you are having trouble deciding what unit to read next week, I highly recommend the Laos Unit! It has some really good stories and many have surprising endings. The diction and wording are also easy to read! If you have any suggestions for what I should read next week, please leave a comment below!


Book: Laos Fairy Tales

Author: Katherine Neville Fleeson

Year Published: 1899

Web Source: Project Gutenberg

Week 6 (Essay): First Memories of Writing

I remembered when I started out to write, my parents had bought me a book to practice writing my letters. This was before I was in school so they taught me my first word, Paula. Yep, my first word that I could write was my name, which I think is pretty standard. I was so good at writing it that I wrote it on my closet door with a sharpie. My parents were not too happy about that. When I came into elementary school, I practiced my print writing a bit more. Then I moved onto cursive writing. I was never really great at cursive writing.

Last year, I was looking through a lot my old assignments and found some of the elementary projects. One of them was a storybook. I remember in 4^th grade, my teacher made us write a storybook about animals and it had to include a moral. I think we were learning about Aesop’s Fables at that time. We had to come up with a rough draft, edit it, and do all the illustrations. It was a lot of fun. My story was about two horses in love. They were galloping through the woods and come across a wild and scary bear. They bear was three times the size of the male horse. However, he stood his ground and protected his love. The moral of the story was “It’s not the size of the person that matter, but the size of their heart.” I’m not sure why that was never published. It was a great read and the illustrations were top notch!

Anyway, I never had any computer writing assignments in elementary school so I’m not exactly sure how or when I learned to use the keyboard. Nowadays, everyone is using a keyboard. Even my little cousin who is a toddler understands the basics of a computer. It’s a bit weird how things are changing so much in such a small span of time. What if schools remove paper and pens completely? I am a little bit afraid about that future. Sure, computers and technology is cool, but there is something special about writing with a paper and pen that you just don't get with screens.

Week 6 (Reading Diary): Laos Unit

Laos Unit

Many of the stories in the first half have common themes throughout each such as unconditional love, emphasis on nature, and reincarnation. These stories stood out to me the most from this unit.

Child of the Woods This story reminded me a bit of The Jungle Book. Mainly because there is an adolescent that goes off into the jungle and lives with wild beasts for some time before returning to human civilization. I felt a bit of shivers from reading this for some odd reason.

Origin of Lightning This story was very unique. I am glad I read it. It had reincarnation within it, which I have found to be very common in many Asian stories. Another common thing I have been seeing is MULTIPLE WIVES!!! It was a common practice in the olden days, but nine wives?! Really? Anyway,  it was a really sweet story! I am feeling a little bit gushy after reading it.

Lovers' Leap This story was a bit sad. The general theme reminded me of Romeo and Juliet. This theme is seen in a lot of current stories.

The Faithful Husband and The Faithful Wife  I found it interesting how these stories are back to back. These stories reflect the values of Laotian people. It is an example of what they believe a faithful husband and wife should act.

One Woman I did not anticipate the ending at all.  I expected the usual theme of bad deeds being punished and those that wish to do to evil being outsmarted themselves like in The Wizard and the Beggar. It was interesting to read a story that was completely the opposite.

To Aid a Beast This story reminded me a little bit of The Lion and the Mouse. Though the ending was surprising to me, it has been a common theme that people are quick to condemn and kill for the wrong judgement.

The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated I really liked this story. This story contained two common themes of the meek receiving riches and those who are not appreciative and expecting of riches are punished or suffer. I found it strange that their parents died at the end because that is probably not what they would have wished but the parents are the moral of the story, not the boys.

The Fortunes of a Lazy Beggar I found this story very interesting due to the parallels it draws between a rich prince and a lazy beggar. Though the beggar is transformed, he wonders to himself that he has once again become the same lazy person on the inside, but now he is revered due to his riches.

The Blind Man This was my favorite story. The blind man is very endearing in the story and though he deceives his wife by pretending to be able to see, he does his best to earn her love. Naturally, he is rewarded for his spirit with the ability to see at the end of the story.