Which Do I Choose?

The elements I like about stories and storytelling is the fact that there are so many to choose from. I get to read or hear stories that I find interesting and enjoy, rather then just reading and listening to the same old story over and over again. For example I have a wide variety that ranges from: horror, fairytales, drama, mytsery, legend, myths, and so on. By having this wide variety I get to to imagine the settings and characters the authors have described. I like how at the end of story I can read and feel a different emotion becasue I probably relate to some of the problems the characters might be confronting with in the story. To my surprise I also like how I can find the charatcer as my hero because they dealt with the problem they were facing just like in the two stories "Ali Baba" and "The Boogeyman."

Both "Ali Baba" and "The Boogeyman" faced the problems they had. While they faced thier problems I got to use my imagination and feel two different emotions at the end of thier stories. "Ali Baba" is a fairytale to me because it dealt with the magical words, openings of caves, treasures, and the usual happy ending. This story begins with Ali Baba being a poor man then turning into a rich man and his slave girl Morigana gaining her freedom. One day Ali Baba found hte forty thieves and their hide out which had treasures beyond our imaginations. He heard the magical words "Open, Sesame" and watched as cave opened and the forty hiteves going in. He then heard the words "Shut, Sesame" and watched the cave closed as the forty thieves were leaving. When the forty thieves were done Ali used the magical words "Open, Sesame" to open the cave and take some of the forty thieves treasures and then used the magical words "Shut, Sesame" to close the cave. When I read this I pictured a cave opening and a man standing there with his hands up in the air saying "Open, Sesame." After he took some of the treasure the forty thieves found out and began looking for him. When htey finally found him they tried to kill him but failed because his slave girl Morgiana found out thier plan and killed them before they could kill Ali. After the forty thieves deaths thier Captain tried to kill Ali as revenge for his gang but like them he failed and died too. Morigana killed him during her knife dance. When I read this I saw Morigana dancing with the knife and then throwing it into the Captains heart. At the end of the story I felt happy for both Ali and Morigana because Ali didn't die and Morigana was set free and married Ali's eldest son.

While reading Stephen King's "The Boogeyman" I felt it was a legend, horror, and myth story. It begins with a man named Lester Billings who came to see Doc. Harper to tell him the story of how his three children really died. While he told Doc. Harper his story, he was nervous and kept smiling a half smile. As I read this I pictured a sweating man that looked guilty with a scary smile that kind of freaked me out. As he told the his story he described how his three children would scream whenever it was time for bed. They would tell him "No Daddy, the Boogeyman." But he would ignore them and when he did all three of them ended up dead. I was sad when he described the deaths of his children. I could picture the first kid Denny dead on his back white as flour, Shirl who was all black because she swallowed her own tongue, and Andy who wa shaken so hard that his neck broke and blood dripped from his ear. He also explained how he saw "Awful slumped shoulders and a scarecrow head and could smell something like a dead mouse in a pop bottle (pg 103)." When Billings was done telling Doc. Harper everything, Doc. Harper told him to make an appointment for anohter visit. Billings said "Yes" and went to but on one was there, so he went back to tell the Doc. But when he arrived he found the Boogeyman holding a mask. After I read that I got scared and was surprised because he told everything tothe Boogeyman of what he saw and now was going to die. It was sad.

The elements I like about stories and storytelling are how we have a wide variety to read and hear. Whether we like horror, fairytales, drama, mystery, legend, myths, or anything else, they are out there to be read and heard. They make us use our imaginations rather then just doing it for us. I also like how older and younger people can read stories that relate and help them find heroes they would never have thought to have. Finding something you never thought you would be interested in and then find out you enjoy it is what stories and storytelling is all about.