Tag Archives: Tiger

Sep10

Tales from the Chinese Zodiac: The Year of the Dragon

Posted on September 10, 2016 by marion

Tales from the Chinese Zodiac: The Year of the Dragon

Characters from the Year of the Dragon

YEAR OF THE DRAGON

Chin, Oliver. The Year of the Dragon, Tales of the Chinese Zodiac. San Francisco, CA: Immedium, 2012

In a mountainous cave, two dragons tended their first egg. Slowly, it began to crack until a baby dragon emerged. The parents named him Dominic and introduced him to the Emperor and the Empress and their court.

“Remember,” they told him, “dragons are special.”

Dragons could do things others couldn’t: play ping-pong, pick oranges and roast marshmallows.

One day, Bo invited Dominic to his swimming party. Across the river, a team of villagers were practicing for the big boat race. No one wanted to teach Dom, Bo and their friends how to row but the kind Emperor lent them his spare canoe.

The friends tipped it over on their first try. Everyone along the river watched and laughed at them. Undaunted, Dom had an idea.

Dom turned himself into a dragon boat and the friends practiced diligently.

Finally, the day of the festival arrived. Dom and his friends were ready for the race. Dom made himself straighter than an arrow, making them faster than all the other boats except the Imperial boat. One last push and Dom and his friends surged through the Dragon Gate.

The race was close. Who won? The judges decided that Dom and his friends won by a nose!

Shadow Theater made of recycled materials

Shadow Puppets:

Emperor

Empress

Dominic the dragon

Bo, a boy

friends

judges

Act out The Year of the Dragon. What other races can Dom, Bo and their friends compete and win? Do they prove that dragons are really special?

Sep6

Tales of the Chinese Zodiac: The Year of the Rooster

Posted on September 6, 2016 by marion

Tales of the Chinese Zodiac: The Year of the Rooster

Characters from the Year of the Rooster

THE YEAR OF THE ROOSTER

Kimmel, Eric A. The Rooster’s Antlers, A Story of the Chinese Zodiac. NY: Holiday House, 1999.

A long time ago, the Jade Emperor decided to measure time and name each of the 12 years of the Chinese Zodiac after an animal.

He would choose only the wisest, bravest, swiftest and most beautiful animals.

All the animals hoped they would be picked especially Rooster with his bright red comb, multi-colored feathers and coral antlers.

Dragon, however, wasn’t sure if he would be picked because of his baldness. Centipede cut a deal with dragon. He offered to get Rooster’s antlers so Dragon would be picked but Dragon had to promise to give him many legs and powerful jaws. Dragon agreed, grateful that he wouldn’t have to defend Centipede like he used to do.

Centipede gave Rooster a sob story about Dragon’s baldness and asked to borrow Rooster’s antlers. When Dragon finished with them, he would return them. Dragon, Centipede assured Rooster, just wanted the Emperor chose him as one of the 12 animals of the zodiac.

When Centipede brought the antlers to Dragon, Dragon strutted and in front of his mirror. He also carried out his promise to Centipede and gave him lots of legs and powerful jaws.

Jade Emperor summoned all the animals together and announced his choices to represent the Twelve Earthly Branches. The Emperor placed the Dragon 5th on his list and placed the Rooster 10th. Rooster was crushed.

Rooster demanded his antlers back but Dragon refused, laughing at him. Next, Rooster got into a fight with Centipede. Centipede thought his new jaws and legs would defeat Rooster but he was no match for Rooster’s beak and ability to fly. Centipede crawled under a rock in fear that Rooster would hurt him.

From that day on, roosters have hated centipedes and pounce on them and eat them. Rooster continued to pine for his coral antlers, sitting on a fence, flapping his wings and crowing loudly, “Ku-ker-keru! Dragon, give me back my antlers!”

Shadow Theater made of recycled materials

Shadow Puppets:

The Jade Emperor

Dragon

Rooster

Centipede

Act out The Year of the Rooster. What would happen if Dragon had returned the antlers to Rooster? The tale would have ended differently! Act out a different version of the story.

Aug30

England 1976 Part III

Posted on August 30, 2015 by marion

England 1976 Part III

Spending a day at Hyde Park was like spending a day out in the country – well, almost. Hyde Park is one of London’s largest parks. It was the site of the Great Exhibition of 1851 and is famous for its Speaker’s Corner. The day we were there, someone was on his soap box going on about something but when you’re on a two-week vacation you don’t have time for political and philosophical discourse. In 1976, it looked like a beach not an urban park (although now, a lot of urban parks also look like beaches. Visit my August 31, 2014 Cleveland blog by clicking the travel musings link and see what I mean.)

www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/hyde-park

The London Zoo is the world’s oldest scientific zoo. It opened in London on April 27, 1828 as a center for scientific stud but it didn’t open to the public until 1847. The London Zoo was one of the biggest zoos I ever saw up to that point in my life. www.zsl.org/zsl-london-zoo