Portfolio Guide

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First Portfolio Story: Greek Invasion

• Story with a twist on the usual battle between Greeks and Trojans. Achilles must fight the greatest warrior in the land, Hector. Who will prevail?

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Second Portfolio Story: Origin of Camilla

• Odysseus is used to being the man in charge. Never anything to stop him. After he is trapped by Circe, an unlikely hero named Camilla must emerge to rescue her crew members.

(Romeo and Juliet  --  Snapshots of the Past)
Source: Flickr

Third Portfolio Story: Lil Romero

• Romero has his eyes set on the most gorgeous girl in his class. He never has the courage to talk to her and doesn't know what he should do. You'll find out that he is willing to go to great lengths to win her over. Will she fall in love with him?

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Fourth Portfolio Story: The Old Man and an Aching Tooth

• This is a story filled with Blackfoot Indian folklore characters that are set up in an accumulative telling style. An old man can fix his tooth ache, but an unlikely sequence of events may just be the thing to help him. (Probably my favorite style to write. I would highly recommend trying it out!)

Week 10 Story: The Old Man and an Aching Tooth

One day there was an old man sitting by a campfire, with his donkey. As he properly seasoned his supper, he noticed that his tooth had a terrible ache. He tried everything to cure the ache. He attempted pulling the tooth out with his hand. Then he tied a string to it and his donkey, hoping the donkey could pull it out. Not even the strength of the donkey could make the tooth budge. Eventually he gave up and sat to eat his supper that was warming over the fire.

When he put a spoonful into his mouth, it scalded his tongue, which caused him to spit the hot liquid onto the grass nearby.

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There was a butterfly in the grass that was sprayed by the liquid, causing it to fly away from its resting place.

The butterfly flew off eventually encountering the Indian hero, Kut O Yis, who was practicing his archery skills. The presence of the butterfly caused Kut O Yis to overshoot his target by a few inches.

The arrow flew off in the distance and struck a horse in the rear. At the surprise of the arrow, the horse bucked, whinnied, and neighed.

Eventually, all of the noise coming from the horse awoke its owner who was startled by the horse's reaction. Wondering what had happened, he grabbed his revolver out of its sling and let loose a couple of warning shots.

The old man's donkey was scared by the warning shots from the horse's owner, which made it kick out its hind legs.

As the donkey kicked out its hind legs, it accidentally hit the spice can by the fire pit. The can was propelled back into the old man's face.

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The spice can released a cloud of dust, which hit the old man in the face. After sniffing in the spices, the old man's nose was tickled quite a bit.

With a tickled nose, the old man realized that he needed to sneeze. So he turned back to his left and reared his head back to sneeze. He wasn't polite when it came to sneezing, so as he lurched his head forward to let out the force of his sneeze, his mouth met the boulder of which he was unaware.

The connection between the rock and his teeth caused the aching tooth to be knocked straight from his mouth. In shock and a bit of pain, the old man felt around in his mouth and realized the aching was gone.

To this day, the old man hasn't had a toothache.
This is all thanks to the supper that scalded the old man's mouth.
Causing him to spit on the butterfly.
That flew away and distracted Kut O Yis.
Who missed his target with his arrow.
That ended up in the hindquarters of a horse.
Which woke the horse's owner.
Who fired off his gun.
Leading to the old man's donkey being startled.
That kicked the spice can over.
Causing the old man to sneeze.
Right into a boulder that knocked his aching tooth out.

Author's Note: I was inspired to attempt this story style after looking through the different types Dr. Gibbs gave to us. I combined the technique from the accumulative stories with some of the characters in the Blackfoot stories. In the accumulative stories, there are two styles that I built off of. I used the story, "This is the House that Jack Built" to help create a conclusion to my overall story, and I kind of followed the old woman's tale for the rest of the story. Instead of creating my own characters, I used my reading from last week (Blackfoot Stories), and implemented a few characters from those stories. The old man was a popular supernatural character in the Blackfoot tales, so I wanted to make him my main character. Kut O Yis is a hero from the stories who uses a bow. I thought it would be funny to have him be in the background as part of the sequence of events. The butterfly was a symbol for the "butterfly effect," which was how the story's plot unfolded. Truthfully, most of the other things I included in the story were added in to complement the characters I had already used. I just tried to match what I thought would be appropriate for the time frame of the stories.

Bibliography: Accumulative Stories in The Nursery Rhyme Book edited by Andrew Lang
                         Blackfoot Stories by Grinnell

Week 7 Storytelling: Lil Romero

The bell rang out loudly as the clock struck nine o'clock sharp. All of the students in the classroom were seated quietly as Mr. Ryder began to lecture the kindergartners. Everyone in the classroom paid full attention, except for one student seated in the back of the room, Romero. 

He tried listening to Mrs. Ryder each day, but couldn't help staring at Julia, the brunette in the front left of the room. Romero has had his eyes on Julia since pre-K and knew he was destined to be with this girl. He longed for her attention day in and day out, always trying to build the courage to talk to her but never would.

(Kindergarten  --  MJGDSLibrary)
Source: Flickr

In Romero's mind, he thought that if he could give Julia a gracious gift, she would fall madly in love with him. So for the past three weeks he had been stealing knick-knacks from other students in the class. Items he had stolen ranged from Bobby's pencil grips, all the way to Cassandra's pencil holder.

Even with all of the different items Romero had stolen, he still felt as though he needed to take something better to give to Julia. This is where the bejeweled bracelet on Sara's backpack came into the picture. Romero had seen Ben give this bracelet to Sara and she loved it! Romero knew if he could get his hands on it, Julia wouldn't be able to resist him.

Over the past two days, Romero had devised a plan to take the bracelet from Sara. The best option seemed to be that when class was let out of school, Romero could "accidentally" bump into Sara to distract her, and snatch the bracelet off of her bag. Today was the day to act.

As the clock notched closer to the end of class, Romero began to feel anxious. He had to remind himself that he was a pro and he had done this many times before. The bell rang and Romero jumped out of his seat and darted into the hallway to get into position. When Sara came out of the classroom, Romero shot towards her, ready to take the crown jewel. Before he could bump into Sara, he was dragged backwards out of nowhere. Romero turned around completely bewildered as to what had just happened. 

His eyes were met by the glare of Principal King.

"Follow me to my office, now," Principal King commanded.

Romero knew he was in for it. He followed the principal down the hall with all of the other kids watching him, including the love of his life, Julia.

As the principal sat next to Romero, he let out a long sigh.

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"Romero, why have you been stealing from the other students? You know that's wrong and now you have to face the punishment. You will be placed into detention for the next month and then will return to Ms. Wilkerson's class."

Romero didn't bother trying to explain himself. There wasn't anything he could say to make up for what he had done. With thoughts of Julia, he left the principal's office and went to the detention study.
~
A month passed by and Romero was finally allowed to return back to the normal classroom. He walked into Ms. Wilkerson's classroom, sat in the back, and decided to take a look around. 

What he saw filled his heart with a feeling he hadn't experienced in an entire month. In the middle of the room was a blonde, Julie. Romero knew he loved this girl more than any he ever could.

Now if only he could get his hands on a necklace... 



Author's Note: In the original story, Twenty-Two Goblins, many riddles were told to a King on his journey. I found one, "The Girl and the Thief," that intrigued me. Basically, a thief has been stealing from citizens and the King orders him to die. A girl falls in love with him and is heartbroken when he is  killed. He comes back to life and they live happily ever after. I put a youthful spin on the riddle. It reminded me of Romeo and Juliet, so I made a love story with grade-school children. I thought it would be more lighthearted with a younger character line up. The thief, Romero in my story, wants to impress Julia (his classmate), so he steals things from other kids to give to her. The king in my story is the principal, who finds out he has been stealing and orders him to move classes (be killed). Sadly, he has to learn his lesson and remain in the other class and isn't "brought back to life" like in the original. I thought it would comical to end the story with the possibility of Romero returning to class with the same bad habits. Romero thought Julia was the love of his life (as many kids do), but then is easily wooed by the new girl he sees in Ms. Wilkerson's class. I also included the original author's name in my story with Romero's first teacher.

Bibliography: Twenty-Two Goblins, by Arthur Ryder
                         The Girl and the Thief (in Twenty-Two Goblins)

Week 4 Storytelling: Origin of Camilla

The sea sprayed over the ship's deck, casting a shadow of salty mist on the crew, myself included. We had just evaded the wrath of the cyclops, Polyphemus, only to have our captain, Odysseus, further test the cyclops by rubbing our escape in his face.

When will he learn?

Originally, our crew held fifteen strong, but after our recent encounters, we were down to six. It was a woeful reminder now to come back to the ship and gather around the table to eat. Too much space. Odysseus sat down at the head of the table to discuss our next journey before we went back to Ithaca.

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"Alas, men! We made it out alive! Where to next? The mountains of Grapito perhaps? I hear the light snowfall contrasting the crisp evergreen trees is gorgeous this time of year."

The other crew members gave input, but I kept quiet. I try not to say much, considering I was only able to join the crew disguised as a male named Camith.

"So, Camith, do you agree we should visit the Island of Circe?" Odysseus asked.

"Umph." I shrugged in agreement, trying not to show I had completely lost track of the conversation.

"Good, we should arrive in the next couple of days."

Three days later we made it to the island with little clue of what inhabited the island. Not even Odysseus was sure if there was anything to fear. We all had similar reactions to the scenery of the island. It was truly exquisite. The trees were a thick green color and the various flowers, many of which none of us had seen before, were spread delicately as if placed perfectly in a picture.

As we journeyed to the island's center, the men's attitudes and actions became more and more affected. They were under the slight influence of a spell. Through the brush and trees, I could see a mansion where a woman in all white stood waiting for us to greet her.

"Stand with courage, men. I can handle any foe that marks us as prey," Odysseus reassured us.

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With that, he took off towards the house, with the crew close behind. As I was about to follow, I saw a light out of the corner of my eye, so I went to investigate. The glowing orb hung in mid-air and as I approached, it transformed into a woman's head.

"Camilla, you have a challenge lying ahead of you. Your crew is currently under the influence of Circe's magic, and you must save them," the head explained.

"How do you know my name? How am I supposed to save them?"

(Diana  --  Benjamin Watson)
Source: Flickr

"I am the goddess Diana. Circe's magic only works on men. Use this to your advantage. Break the lust stone on her staff and your friends will be free to escape. You have a great future where you will learn more, but now, you must complete this first task." And with those words she was gone.

I pondered everything she said as I made my way back to the mansion. I guess the only thing I could do at this point was figure out how to break that stone.

I entered the looming front doors and immediately saw my comrades in a zombified state. They never took their gaze off of Circe. Not even the "great" Odysseus. I could see they were looking at the staff in her hand. I wondered why at first, but then realized the bright red stone on the top of the staff must be the lust stone Diana discussed.

"Well, hello there, traveler. Come, sit and eat with us. I'm sure you are famished from your great adventures," Circe coerced.

As to not arouse suspicion, I acted as I had seen my crew members did before, but I feigned eating anything knowing that the food would still work against me.

"How lucky of me to have so many guests on this fine evening. Too bad none of you will understand me now. It is only a matter of time before you are in a trance forever," Circe declared.

One by one she led the crew members out of the dining room into a cellar where she kept what it seemed like about twenty other servants. Why did she need so many? This was my chance to strike.

She guided me into the cellar with a broad steel door. As she went to shut it, I snatched the top of her staff and squared it in between the door and the frame. All it took was a little force and the weight of the door did the rest. The stone shattered into dust and Circe let out a shrill call. Looks of despair and confusion covered her face as she crumpled, as the stone had, into dust. At the same time, my crew members came out of their entranced states, also confused as to how I'd saved their lives. I gestured towards the door, signaling that I'd explain as soon as we were far from this place.

As we arrived back at the ship I turned to the crew and took off my disguise. Their utter disbelief said it all.

"Camith? Who are you?" Odysseus asked.

"Well, up until about midday today, I thought I was a girl who would do anything to go on an adventure. Even sneak into a crew of all men. Now, I'm not sure. I was told I had great things in my future, so it is up to me to figure it out."

No one seemed to know what to say, but I knew what I had to do. I said my farewells to the crew for they could not travel on this adventure with me. I chose a smaller ship on the shore (from the other travelers who had come and stayed at Circe's Island) and sailed out to the open water.

It's time to discover who I truly am.


Author's Note: In the original story, Odysseus' first person viewpoint is used and he is the star. He ends up escaping from Polyphemus, which is where I began my story, and then defeats Circe on her island after she has turned the crew into animals (she does not die). My original plan was to include Polyphemus into my story, but I didn't want to take away from Camilla's character. I changed the original by letting a minor crew member character take the lead in the end to save the day. In the original, Odysseus was always the hero, with little talk of the crew's actions , so I wanted to change that. The only good that came from the crew members in the original was from them being first to die instead of Odysseus.I chose to write an origin story for Camilla who finds out by Diana what her destiny is. Camilla replaces Odysseus job in the original, by defeating Circe. It seemed unrealistic to me in the original to have him be able to defeat her, so I thought using a female would be the perfect fix. I have the backstory to Camilla in the bibliography if you want to check that out. I ended it with her leaving the crew with the possibility to write another story about her next adventure to find out who she is.

Bibliography:  Homer's Odyssey, Tony Kline; Britannica (Camilla background)

Week 2 Storytelling: Greek Invasion

The sun rose up over the ocean as the horns blew in unison. Achilles arose from his sleep, which seemed like a restless night given the urgency of the day. The Greeks would be bringing the battle against the Trojans, led by the great warrior Achilles.

Many doubted Achilles’ ability when compared to Hector, the greatest prince of Troy, even though the Greek hero was one of the most skilled warriors known to man. The only person who truly believed in Achilles was Patroclus, Achilles’ best ally and friend.

Achilles suited up with his armor and grabbed his bow, as he was about to set out to find his friend.

“Achilles!” Patroclus called. “How was your rest last nightfall? Great adversaries await us within the Trojan walls. Hopefully you are ready.”

“Ah, Patroclus, as usual you jump straight into conversation about war.” Achilles exhaled. “When will you greet me one morning with talk of peaceful things, such as the weather or food?”

Patroclus shrugged. “There will be plenty more mornings to discuss those trivial matters, but the day is too grand for that now. Let us go gather the cavalry. We have a city to conquer!”

Achilles followed Patroclus out of his tent with the prayer that Patroclus' optimism in battle would prove true.

(Zeus, Nike, and Athena  --  Jennifer Leung)
Source: Flickr

Zeus and Athena watched over the battlefield as the war transpired. Athena looked over to Zeus, knowing that he would be yearning to intervene in the battle as he usually did.

“Athena, you know I cannot let Achilles beat Hector,” Zeus said.

“No, you must not intervene with this war. Let what is meant to be, be,” begged Athena.

“Fine. Hector is too fierce an opponent for Achilles to overcome. Surely, the Trojans will win the battle.”

 ⏩

Many hours passed as the war waged on. The once golden sand on the battlefield was now red, covered in both Greek and Trojan blood. All around were bodies of fallen soldiers with arrows and spears protruding from their bodies. Many of which were not yet dead, but lying and waiting for the darkness to take them. Surrounded by the sounds of pain from injured soldiers and grief from the comrades who watched their closest allies perish.

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Finally, as Achilles neared the Trojan walls, he met eyes with Hector. He checked his quiver to make sure he had arrows left and gripped his bow fiercely, ready to find out what fate would bring.

Although many other skirmishes were going on within the war, everyone began to slow their actions, looking in awe upon the two great warriors. Soldiers from all around cleared the area around Achilles and Hector.

Patroclus stepped up behind Achilles, ready to help him take Hector down.

“No, Patroclus, I must do this on my own. If I am to perish today, I will do so with respect on the battlefield.” Achilles motioned Patroclus to stand back.

Time stood still while every eye looked on anxiously awaiting the first strike.

Hector brought up his shield in anticipation of Achilles' arrow and was just quick enough, as the golden arrowhead met the middle of the shield. Hector knew he needed to get closer to Achilles to gain the advantage.

Achilles fired relentlessly as Hector dashed left and right, hoping to catch a piece of his skin. 

Hector reached his intended destination at the foot of Achilles, seemingly unscathed. Achilles switched his strategy to defend against his opponent's quick strikes. Hector was bearing down on Achilles, within seconds of defeating him, but then his left leg gave out as he planted to swing his sword for the finishing blow. Hector crashed to the ground with shock covering his face.

As he looked down to find what could have caused his downfall, he said, "What have you done to me? No one man can defeat me in battle."

(Achilles  --  floratheexplora)
Source: Flickr

Every soldier looked to Hector's ankle to see the arrow protruding through his Achilles tendon.

"You were a great adversary, Hector, but you underestimated my abilities," Achilles stated.

As he finished his sentence, Hector struck out at Achilles with his sword in his final attempt to win the fight. Achilles was too quick and dodged the blow while thrusting an arrow into Hector's stomach.

Achilles had done the seemingly impossible by killing Hector. Both the Trojan and Greek warriors were shocked by what had happened. All except Patroclus, who smiled, knowing all along his friend was worthy of more respect.

The war was all but over at that point. With their leading general killed, the Trojans felt no need to fight longer, for they would lose either way.


Later that night, as Achilles lay in his tent, Patroclus entered ready to feast and drink with the hero.

Knowing what Patroclus was about to ask, Achilles put his hand up and said, "Not tonight, my friend, we will feast tomorrow, but tonight I rest."

Patroclus did not bother arguing and turned to walk out.

While shifting out of the tent Patroclus murmured, "I will wake you in the morning, with talk of the weather."

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Author's Note: Because the story was quite long, I focused more on the main feud between Achilles and Hector. Since it was such a pivotal moment in the actual reading, I decided that I wanted to surround that concept with my own tweaks. In the original story, Hector was made to be the underdog against Achilles. I wanted to reverse that just to make it as though Hector were the better fighter. I thought the original story was predictable in the way Homer had the better fighter win (not that mine was so unpredictable). Homer also let the gods intervene in the battles more than I had expected, so I wanted to alter that. Hermes and Athena were both influential in the deaths of Patroclus and Hector in the original. Athene deceived Hector by making him think he had his brother to fight with him. Hermes flipped Patroclus' chariot when he was on a killing spree in the battlefield. Without the gods interfering, it would show a true test between the warriors. Although I kept the same overall concept with who won the fight, I changed the sequence of the fight, especially with the way Hector died. Homer just had Achilles kill him without specifying a particular body part. Usually, Achilles' weakness is his Achilles heel, but I decided to make that strength for him in the fight. In the original story, Achilles drug Hector's body around after he killed him. I wanted Achilles' to be more merciful, so I cut that out of my story. In the original, the warriors continue the fight even after Hector dies, but I wanted to change it because it was so morally demoralizing for them to see their greatest fighter die. The images I chose were to help the reader imagine the views of the gods talking, and also the sight on the battlefield.

Bibliography: Homer's Iliad retold by A. J. Church