Mythology Blog

Today I chose to read the second Lang unit. I took notes over "The Cottager and his Cat" from because I enjoyed "Puss in Boots" so much from the first unit. I wondered if it wouldn't be a similar story and it turned out to be true! This is two stories now that I have read in which cats bring the character great luck, and to me that just reinforces my love of them. So here are my notes. Characters: Rich old man, his wife, his son, the king, and many hut inhabitants  Setting: tumble down cottage not fit for pigs, the forest, other huts, the Great Hall of the Palace Plot The old man was rich even though they lived in a hut  He got ill one day and died  In a dream, a man appeared to the son telling him half the the father's gold was ill gotten so he should give it back to the poor and throw the rest into the sea, keeping only what floats When he did this, six shillings floated up wrapped in paper He worked in his garden with his mother for the n...

I am doing some week 15 assignments here during dead week to fill in some missing points. Because I read the first Lang unit last week and enjoyed it so much, I decided to read the second Lang unit this week. Of the stories that I read here are my notes over "Blue Beard" which I found quite exciting! Blue Beard was very rich, but considered ugly and terrifying for having a blue beard I would like to research to see if this is a reference to something else, because it is so strange  He also had had many wives previously and no one knew what happened to them  One of his neighbors had two daughters and he wanted to marry one of them  Neither of them wanted to marry him and kept playing him off on the other  To persuade them, Blue Beard invited the family and many others to one of his estates and they partied for a week After that, the younger sister decided he wasn't so bad and they were married  Blue Beard has to go away on business so he gives all...

Hi there! For this weeks reading I chose to do the first Lang Unit because the stories come from all across Europe. I was immediately drawn to the first story in the unit, "The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots," because I have seen Puss in Boots as a character in other works but had never heard his story. The picture to the left, is an illustration for the Mother Goose Story Book version of the story. This is the moment that the cat calls for the kings carriage to stop and save the "Marquis of Carabas" from drowning. I would like to use this picture and others of a similar style if I use this story for my writing this week. Speaking of which, here are my reading notes for this story: A miller left his property to his sons  The mill to the older son, a donkey to the middle son, and a cat to the youngest  The youngest says he will likely starve since all he can do is make a muff out of the skin of the cat To save his own skin, the cat comes up with a plan and tel...

For my second reading this week I chose the Mabinogi or the Mabinogion. I chose it because the description sounded interesting and the stories didn't seem to be any that I knew. I didn't realize that all of the first part of the unit was about the same character, but I am glad that it was. I haven't read many stories this year that are that continuous so I found it refreshing. I chose the picture above because this is what I imagined the horse that Arawn was ridding when he entered the clearing. Because this is such a long story, I would likely only write a story based on a portion of it. Because of this I chose to take notes over "Pwyll Goes Hunting" and "In the Stead of Arawn." Here are the notes I took while I was reading: Pwyll, Prince of Dyved, Lord of the Seven Cantrevs of Dyved Pwyll wanted to go hunting and chose to do so in Glyn Cuch He got to Glyn Cuch let his dogs go and started after them He hears other dogs barking that aren’t his...

Hi! For my first reading this week I read Aesop's Fables. I have always thought these were fun stories and enjoyed some of the lessons they teach. One in particular that I read was about listening to one's parents which I think is really important, because that is how we learn to be adult and keep ourselves safe. However, this story was told from the perspective of two lions, a father and son. The father tells the son when he is young not to go picking a fight with humans because he will lose. Later when the little lion is older, he disregards what his father taught him, and goes looking for a man to grapple with. When he finds the man, he is tricked into putting his paw in a trap and to get free he loses his claws. While this is a great lesson, I thought it was kind of backwards. If anything I think that humans would be wise to avoid picking a fight with lions. So if I were to rewrite it I would put the characters in the opposite position. I would have a father tell his ch...

This week I chose to read the Celtic Fairy Tales (2) unit which included the story of "The Children of Lir." Here are the notes that I took while reading: The five kings of Ireland met to decide who would be the king ofthem all. King Lir thought it would be him but King Dearg was named instead. King Lir didn’t yield to Dearg, but instead returned to his home. Instead of letting the other kings kill him, Dearg sent King Lir his three daughters (or sisters?) Lir chose the eldest who gave him four children and then died Dearg send him Oifa, the first wife’s sister, and they were married Oifa did not like Lir’s children because she was jealous of their father’s affection for them Oifa tried to have them killed, but when that didn’t work she turned them into swans After turning them into swans she goes to Dearg’s court and when he asks her where the children are she says the Lir was afraid to send them Dearg sences that something is up and sends a messenger to Lir...

Hi! This week I chose to read the “Fairie Queen: Britomart Unit” upon the suggestion of Laura, our professor, and I was not disappointed! This unit is about the female knight Britomart. In the story she has set out to find another knight that she saw in a mirror that Merlin gave her father. On the way, she runs into Prince Arthur and Sir Guyon. I just so happen to be writing my storybook about Merlin from the King Arthur legends, hence the reading suggestion from Laura. I loved the story over all and can’t wait to read the next half of the unit. Until then, here are some of the notes I took over the first half: How Sir Guyon Met a Champion Mightier than Himself Arthur and Guyon ridding around “to relieve the weak and oppressed, and to recover right for those who had suffered wrong” Out in a field some knight comes riding towards them Shield golden with lion on it   Guyon wanted to have the honor to joist the approaching knight   This is apparently not ou...

Hi there!  For the second reading this week I chose to read the stories in the Great Plains unit. These stories come from    Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson. I chose to take notes over the story A Tradition of the Calumet which tells of their use of a ceremonial pipe. Here are those notes:  Lived in the North by a lake and along a river  Many warriors "the Mysterious One"  Great nation, hunted widely   from the "Big Water in the Sunrise" (The eastern coast possibly?) to the "Mountains in the Darkening Land" (Mt Laurel and others in that chain)  Chiefs and old men hold a council  Runners come to the council  Council decides they will attack the Great Nation for "scalps and horses" A big white bird flew in and landed above the chief's daughter  She heard a voice  "Call all the chiefs and worriers together. Tell them the Mysterious One is sad because they seek the...

Hi There!  This week I chose to read the Pacific North West Unit. I took notes over "Why There Are No Snakes On Takhoma," "Chinook Wind," and "How Silver Fox Created the World"  because I thought they would be the stories that I could adapt well. Of those I have included here my notes over "Chinook Wind" that I took while reading.  Chinook Brothers (5): Warm Wind Lived on Great River Walla Walla Brothers (5): Cold Winds Walla Walla = “the meeting of the waters”         Grandparents live at Umatilla “the place of the wind-drifted sands” The brothers fighting caused hardship for the people. “blew down trees and raised great clouds of dust” Walla Walla Brothers suggested they wrestle and whoever loses gets their head chopped off Coyote was the judge of the contest Coyote told the Chinook Grandparents to put oil on the ground Coyote told the Walla Walla grandparents to put ice on the ground The ground was slippery...

Hi! This week I chose to read the Blackfoot Unit. Of the stories, I enjoyed the "The Wolf Man" and "The Camp of the Ghosts" the most. In both of these stories I enjoyed the morality and lessons that the plot seemed to support. They reminded me of Aesop's Fables although they seemed to be more complicated lessons than those addressed by Aesop's. For a story this week, I would like to use similar plot lines to convey similar lessons and morals. Additionally, the view into Blackfoot society and culture was interesting. I would like to do my best to maintain the aspects of their culture in my story. I think that to make it original I could gender swap the characters, or modernize the tale. I have paper notes that I took while reading the stories that I can review when it it time to write my own story. Here are just some of the plot points that I wrote down for each of the stories.  "The Wolf Man" The two wives are lazy and only socialize Th...

Hi there!  Previously I had read the first half of the Japanese Mythology Unit. I liked the stories and was interested to see how Yamato’s adventures turned out. So, for this reading I decided to finish up the unit.   This time though, I was not as fond of Yamato’s stories as I was of the other stories in the unit. Yamato treated his poor wife Tacibana so badly. It really made me sad even though it made for a good story. I wish that at least in the end Tacibana would have just abandoned Yamato, but instead she sacrificed herself for him. Like I have said in many other posts, I feel like women are just really getting the short end of the stick in so many of these stories. The few instances were women don’t get taken advantage of it seems like they are generally portrayed as mean, evil, or nasty in some way. What a horrible dichotomy. Evil or victim. Of the other stories I read for this unit I enjoyed “The Jewel of Heart’s Desire” the most. Although it played into th...

Hi!  Let me just say that I really enjoyed this unit! One of the things that I have liked the least from other readings is how they aren't very just. The bad guy keeps winning. So, reading these stories and getting to see the bad guy lose at the end of most of them was so refreshing.  I also liked that in the stories about the Jackals some characters overlapped, like the hedge hog and the greyhound. Especially since it gave more meaning to the actions in the later stories by creating a more complex backstory than I have seen in other readings. This isn’t something that is easily recreated in a story for my blog just because there isn’t a guarantee that anyone reading the story has read any of the other stories and putting two plots inside one story would be a lot for a blog post.  For a story this week it would be interesting to see what could be done with the first story about Motikatika. I think that I would probably stick to my general theme of mak...

Hi! I missed the second reading for this week, so I am making it up today with these reading notes over Japanese fairy tales. This reading included three stories, one of and Ogre, a Goblin, and a Princess not unlike the story of Cinderella. All three of these are from Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki, who is pictured above with her husband. Out of the three stories, I liked the story about the Princes Hase the best, so I took notes over that story specifically. Here are those notes. The story of Princess Hase is told from a third person perspective. In the story there is very little dialogue. In fact, the only dialogue in the pieces, is that of the step-mother right before her poisoning attempt backfires and at the end when Hase’s father finds her hiding in the mountains. I think that this sparing use of dialogue at the worst and best point in the story is an interesting style choice that creased a stronger connection to the story at those points. I think that ...

Hello! Earlier in the semester I got to read one of the stories from the Japanese Mythology Unit and really enjoyed it. So, when it was on the list of options for this week I was excited to get more into it. So, I chose it for my part A reading. I think the neatest part about these stories is that they start out with the creation of the earth and the gods and then continue through time to explain the creation of humans, Emperors, and then stories of the Emperor Yamato. Out of all the stories I think that I enjoyed the stories of Yamato the best. At the beginning of his story, I liked it because there was something relatable about him dreaming of a beautiful mermaid and a cave that he never found after waking up. To me it reminded me of when you are having a great dream, you wake up, and although you try to remember what made you wake up feeling so happy, you can’t. It feels like if you just tried hard enough maybe you could find the memory, but you can’t. That is how I imag...

The above photo is of Ra the Sun God of Egypt as depicted on the Tomb of Nefertari, Queen of Ramses II, c. 1298-1235 BC, Egypt. As you may have guessed, for today's reading I chose to do the Egyptian Myths and Stories unit because I saw it after doing the reading for last week and was bummed that I had passed it up. Luckily for me, this week is still focused on the Middle Eastern and Indian Units.  I really enjoyed all of the stories in this first part of the reading, as I do many stories about ancient deities and religions. I think I enjoyed these stories particularly though, because they were so unfamiliar to me. Although I knew of Ra the sun god, I had never heard the stories surrounding him and the other Egyptian gods. I think the most I ever knew about Ra and the others was a kids TV show about King Tut on Discovery Kids.  Of the stories I really liked "The Secret Name of Ra" and "The Wax Crocodile." I enjoyed the first one mostly for the cunni...

Hi there!  I decided to continue reading the Persian Fairytales unit for the second reading of this week because I enjoyed the first half so much. Interestingly, the second half contained stories that seemed to make more sense to me, or at least connect more. Some of the stories that I liked the most were "The Shah Abbas and the Poor Mother," "Fayiz and the Peri Wife," and "The Merchant and the Saffron."  I think what I liked the best about "The Shah Abbas and the Poor Mother," and the "The Merchant and the Saffron" was the kindness of certain characters. In the first it was the Shah and the second, the Saffron Seller. In many of the stories I have read for this class there is a lot of injustice or unkindness and sometimes just really bad luck that the stories are centered around, and while both of these stories have those traits they also have characters that try to improve the situation. These stories seem to be lesson...

Hello!  This week I chose to read the Persian Tales unit and was not disappointed. Some of these fairy tales like “The Boy Who Became a Bulbul” and “The Wolf-Aunt” reminded me of the Brother’s Grim Fairytales in their more original forms. The others seemed a little more child friendly like we might expect of fairytales today. Thinking of my story for this week, any of them could make a fun base for writing, but I think that the ones that would be the best to work with would be “The Boy Who Became a Bulbul,” “Nim Tanak,” or “Muhammad Tirandaz, The Archer.” For “The Boy Who Became a Bulbul” I would make the circumstances of the boy’s death make more sense to a modern reader, not just based on a bet with his father that he willingly submits to. I would also want to somehow bring the boy back, maybe instead of the Bulbul growing out of the stalk, he does. Or maybe his father doesn’t kill him but hides him instead. Either way I would like for the boy to live. For “Nim T...

Hi there! This week I decided to read more classical material, and chose more of Ovid's Metamorphosis because previously I read Pygmalion. I went ahead and started with the first book because that seemed logical. So notes will follow, but first I just want to throw out there that Juno and Jupiter are both horrible, and I think that they make better villains than they do gods. Which honestly, could be a pretty good story, so maybe I could do something with that. Okay, now for the notes: Because this is the second week that I have read classical stories, I thought I would do some digging into classical characters, places, and beings that I'm not familiar with by following any available links and such. Nereid: (female) Nymphs of the sea (Aegean particularly) that are associated with the beautiful and kind things about the ocean. They are the daughters of Nereus and Doris, and unlike the more familiar sea creature Sirens, they can be helpful to sailors. One of them, Thetis, i...

Hello! For this week's first reading I chose to read  Cupid and Psyche  from the list of classical readings. This story is actually a part of a larger novel,  The Golden Ass , by Apuleius and translated by Tony Kline. In this excerpt, the fairy-tale of Cupid and Psyche is being told to a kidnapped young woman by an old woman who works with the thieves that kidnapped the first, making it a story nested within another.  This kind of nesting creates an interesting dynamic between the story and the reader because the reader must not only filter everything they read through the perspective of the old woman telling it but also look at it from that of the young woman hearing it. This adds a layer of intrigue to the fairy-tale that might otherwise not be there by calling into question the motivation of the narrator and the effect that it may be having on the fictional audience. I think that this is an interesting plot device when you look at the fairy-tale...

Hello!  I couldn’t quite decide how to start these notes, so I decided I would stick with that theme and take style notes over how the stories in the anthology were started. Many of them started with some form of “ once upon a time,” or “one day” this included the stories in, The divine, Tricksters, and the Fairytales sections. This is a beginning I think a lot of us are familiar with from fairytales and has almost become a cliché in some ways. Unless I was going to write a fairytale, I don’t think that I would use this tool to start a story and even then, I might not. The other stories in the anthology had what I called a “ cold start ,” to distinguish them from the stories that used the “once upon a time” start. There were a few similarities that I noticed. The stories in the Origins section were a very cold start. For instance, “ The Man in the Moon ” only states that there was a blacksmith that didn’t like his job. We don’t learn anything about who he is as a p...