I loved reading these stories, and eventually writing my own (below). I was able to use my knowledge from C LIT 400 (theory of literature) while discussing Propp's "Morphology of the Folktale", as he has a very structuralist approach and believes all folktales contain the same structures. One of my weekly assignments was even posted for the whole class!! I also was able to have a zoom meeting with the professor, Veronica Muskheli, and she was so nice!!!! She's working on her PhD, so we talked about how we were both studying (and procrastinating)!
Once there was an old woman who lived by the sea, unmarried. One day she told me the following story:
“I once took my friend out to catch fish for dinner,” she said. “It was a rainy, grey day, and we were starving. We went out on my little wooden boat that my father had built and each rowed as hard as we could. We reached the very center of the ocean. We fished for over an hour and had not caught enough even for one portion. We were rowing backwards when suddenly a large golden fish splashed in front of us. My friend said, ‘Leave it alone, we will make kasha instead.’ I put out my net and the fish tossed so much with so much power that I could not pull it into our little wooden boat. My friend said, ‘Let’s go already, I’ve had enough.’ I was about to put my net out again when I became frustrated and picked up my oar instead. We then heard, ‘Ha! Ha! Ha!’ A resounding noise from in front of us, from the bottom of the ocean. We both tightened our grip on the oars, rowing backwards as fast as we could. We ate kasha for dinner for a long time afterwards.”
I ate with her too, and the milk rolled down my whiskers but never went onto my coat.
My influences for this story were the stories compiled by Linda Ivanits about the Vodianoi (pg. 182-185). The simplistic style of my story and short length were influenced by most of the tales we have read in this class, while the third to first person transition was influenced by the story #58 on pg. 183 (Ivanits). The ending is influenced by many stories we have read compiled by Afanas’ev, which include the narrator speaking for the first time at the very end of the tale (for example, the narrator is sometimes eating in the final wedding feast).
Once there was an old woman who lived by the sea, unmarried. One day she told me the following story:
“I once took my friend out to catch fish for dinner,” she said. “It was a rainy, grey day, and we were starving. We went out on my little wooden boat that my father had built and each rowed as hard as we could. We reached the very center of the ocean. We fished for over an hour and had not caught enough even for one portion. We were rowing backwards when suddenly a large golden fish splashed in front of us. My friend said, ‘Leave it alone, we will make kasha instead.’ I put out my net and the fish tossed so much with so much power that I could not pull it into our little wooden boat. My friend said, ‘Let’s go already, I’ve had enough.’ I was about to put my net out again when I became frustrated and picked up my oar instead. We then heard, ‘Ha! Ha! Ha!’ A resounding noise from in front of us, from the bottom of the ocean. We both tightened our grip on the oars, rowing backwards as fast as we could. We ate kasha for dinner for a long time afterwards.”
I ate with her too, and the milk rolled down my whiskers but never went onto my coat.
My influences for this story were the stories compiled by Linda Ivanits about the Vodianoi (pg. 182-185). The simplistic style of my story and short length were influenced by most of the tales we have read in this class, while the third to first person transition was influenced by the story #58 on pg. 183 (Ivanits). The ending is influenced by many stories we have read compiled by Afanas’ev, which include the narrator speaking for the first time at the very end of the tale (for example, the narrator is sometimes eating in the final wedding feast).