Extra Reading Diary: Tejas Legends

Since this week was so crazy and I didn't have the opportunity to do both reading diaries, I decided to go ahead and finish up reading the second portion of the Tejas Stories for my extra reading diary this week. The last half of the stories were just as fun as the first half!

One of the stories that immediately caught my attention was How Sickness Entered the World. Being a microbiology major, this was intriguing because I was curious to see how other cultures originally thought illness was created. The Germ Theory of Disease is such a widely studied phenomenon, but there are so many different ideas that have been formulated prior to this knowledge; so naturally, I had to find out. I thought it was interesting that the men in the story wait so patiently for the messenger to arrive, and in the end, the snake that they end up killing is the messenger. The idea that partner of the snake came to lay the eggs full of "sickness" inside the camp was crazy! I definitely wouldn't have wanted to cross paths with an angry snake like that!

(Brittany Spaniel with Floppy Ears)

Another story that I enjoyed was Why the Dog's Ears Flop. I have always loved dogs in all shapes and sizes, so I thought I would check this story out. I loved that this story was created to show the significant difference between the "strong and brave wolf" and the "cowardly, ashamed dog". I've always viewed dogs as loyal and strong, and knowing that their ancestor is a wolf has always lead me to believe that they are just as brave. I did think it was sad that the end reason of why the dog has a drooping tail and floppy ears was the result of abuse.