Myth and Folklore

This website is incredible! Before I knew it I had been surfing through the pages for hours. Each time I clicked on one, there would be several other intriguing links on that page that I then wanted to follow up with, and I went in circles connecting ideas and learning about the versatility and breadth of tropes in stories. I've included notes about a few of my favorites below! Killer Rabbit I was immediately drawn to this article, because the title brought to mind the famous scene in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" when the Killer Rabbit of Caerbannog rips apart the knights attempting to enter the cave. I love the idea that a creature known for its cuteness and fluffiness can double as a a fierce adversary. In the words of the author, "beware the cute ones." Jizzed In My Pants When I saw this page I couldn't resist clicking on it. I am a huge fan of The Lonely Island, and they have a music video called "Jizz in My Pants." (To my delight,

"Mom, can we have some cookies?" Zara looked at the eighteen children prancing around her, their eyes filled with a youthful longing for sugar. She had already baked sixty trays of cookies that day, and it hadn't been enough for even half of her children. She had so many children by now that she couldn't remember the exact number, although it totaled somewhere in the 4000s. Her apron was covered in ribbons of butter and dusty trails of flour, and she couldn't fathom rolling out one more ball of dough. "Tomorrow I will have cookies for you my children. Now run along to your other siblings." With disappointed sighs, the pack ran into the woods, where they knew they could find several hundred of their brothers and sisters. Zara's overzealous fertility had been the result of seemingly benign encounter with a fish. As the first woman of earth, Zara had lived peacefully among the valleys and hills that rolled across the land. All was quiet and still

The Owl Gets Married  -A widow tells her daughter to marry a good hunter for a husband -A good hunter comes along, and the mother recommends to the daughter that she marry him  -The woman and hunter move in together -The hunter goes out to hunt, but instead goes to fish and returns with only three measly catches  -Returns the next day with two scrawny lizards -And again the next day shows up only with scraps from another hunter's kill -The next day the woman followed out of suspicion -When she came to the river, she saw her husband transform into an owl -The woman felt foolish for having married an owl instead of a man -She hurried ahead and when her husband arrived home she asked where all the fish were that he had caught -He tells her an owl swooped them away -The woman then accuses him of being the owl and sends him away -Alone in the woods, owl wallowed in grief until the only flesh left on his body was on his head  The Crane and the Hummingbird

How the World Was Made -The earth is floating in a sea of water, suspended by cords hanging down from the sky vault -When the earth grows worn out, everyone will die and the cords will break -The earth will sink into the sea -The animals once lived above the sea, but were crowded -They sent a beetle to explore what was below the ocean to see if they could find a new place to live -When beetle disturbed the mud on the ocean floor it grew into earth -The land was soft and wet, so the animals sent birds to investigate where they could go -When buzzard went down, the swooping of his wings along the muddy ground created mountains and valleys -That is why Cherokee country is so mountainous -When the animals came down it was dark, so they set the sun on a track to go around the earth every day under the sky arch  -At first the sun was too close and scorched the animals -They raised it until it was seven hand breadths above the earth  -The mountain streams lead to th

This website is absolutely wonderful! It includes lots of fascinating articles that address both very broad and very specific questions about writing. Some of the concepts addressed were ones I would never have thought to seek advice on, but I found to be very helpful. I have included notes on a few of my favorites below! Character Arcs Or Character Development? What’s The Difference? -Character development: how a character changes over the course of a story; linked to plot -Example: Bilbo Baggins; begins his journey in fear and at the end looks at the world with a new sense of wonder -The hero's journey: when a protagonist is reluctant to begin their journey, but by the end has changed to become almost a new person -CD can be positive, negative, or regressive -Can cover for the failings of a story -Character arc: the structure of how a character changes within a story  -Essentially, character arc consists of segments where the character is undergoing distinct chan

The Man Who Traveled With the Buffalo -A group is tired from outrunning an enemy -Most die, but the survivor sleeps under a tree -Ravens living in the tree converse about the men of the group, who had been killing buffalo -The man is thirsty and journeys to a prairie dog village -One of the prairie dogs brings him water -The man sees a buffalo calf and journeys with him -They come to a group of buffalo and camp with them -When the man wakes the buffalo are gone -He journeys after them, camps with them once again, and in the morning finds them gone -This cycle repeats several times -The chief buffalo speaks to another one of the buffalos about his wife -This buffalo declares that if there is anyone braver than him, he should be entitled to marry his wife -The man is given arrows by the chief buffalo -The man and the other buffalo then engage in battle The Animals Race -The men of the world congregate to run a race to the edge of the world, where a pret

The Cultures of Heroes and Owl -Kubatc'istcine and Naiyenesgani are companions who go to visit their grandmother -They ask her to make something to play with -Grandmother tells them to go to their father -Their father, the sun, gives them a hoop and pole game and arrows -Tells them not to roll the hoop north -They inevitably do, and it lands in owl's house -Owl's wife chops them up and put them in a pot of boiling water; they tell stories -When she tries to skewer them, they jump out of the pot -Owl determines they are using magic not to die -She then puts them in the ashes and lays a fire on top of them; they tell stories -When she fails again to retrieve them as a cooked meal, owl lets them go -They run home with their toys The Swallowing Monster -A girl finds a dead deer by a lake where she and others are camping -This happens four times, and each time the deer is eaten -One of the campers spies the monster killing the deer -Various m

Long ago, a man named Sribatsa and his beautiful wife Ayana set out on a journey to traverse the lands of the earth. The evil eye had been cast upon Sribatsa due to an unfortunate run in with Saturn, the god of bad luck, and he and his wife had decided to leave their home in search of safe lodgings until the eye turned away. But one day as they were making their way through the woods, a horrible fate befell Ayana.  While Sribatsa and Ayana were crossing a river among the trees, Ayana slipped on a rock and fell into the water. She did not know how to swim, but the waters had mercy and did not drown her; her beauty was too rare and too pure to submerge forever beneath the river's rippling surface. The waters instead gently cradled the water-logged woman and placed her on the shore. A group of nearby sailors observed this incident, and believed the woman had special influence over the river. They were envious of her power to control the waters, and kidnapped Ayana to steal t

Looking Back I am very happy with my progress so far in this course, and I am on track in terms of completing assignments and keeping up with points. I am most proud of the stories I have written based on the weekly readings; I've had a lot of fun experimenting with new styles of storytelling and getting creative with my plot choices. I also really like how my storybook is coming together. It took me a little longer than in the previous course (Epics of India) to decide where I wanted to go with it, but I'm happy to have found my groove. I've done a few extra blog comments, but I'd like to try and utilize the extra credit option more going forward.  Looking Forward As of right now there is nothing I would like to change in terms of my approach to the course. Regarding my writing, I want to continue to experiment with different stylistic choices. I'm thinking it might be fun to try narrating from an unexpected perspective; I tend to default to the omniscient vo

Feedback In In general the comments I have received thus far have largely been positive, but many of them focus on praise rather than on suggestions or critiques. I think having more balanced feedback would help me to think about my writing in new ways. The most helpful comments I have received so far have been questions that ask me to consider how I could expand on my story, or what alternate versions of it might look like. One comment even made me want to go and write another story based on an idea the commenter honed in on from my first! Feedback Out I put a lot of care into reading others' stories and leaving comments that I feel will be helpful to the author. I try to always say something positive and point out elements of the story that I particularly enjoyed, while also including constructive feedback on elements I felt could be improved. I try not to overwhelm my comments with too much information, but rather be concise in giving useful suggestions. Seeing how others struc

Looking Back So far, the reading and writing assignments for this course have been going very well for me. I am enjoying all of the story genres I've chosen to explore, and it is amazing getting acquainted with tales from around the world. I particularly love when there is overlap between different stories, and I can draw connections between the cultures where they come from. I've found a lot of inspiration for my own stories, and have had fun reworking the folktales I've read or framing elements of them in a new way. I like the look of both my blog and my storybook website, and I try to find interesting images each time I post to make them eye-catching. I believe my biggest accomplishment so far has been to go out of my comfort zone and experiment with satirical writing. My style tends to be more serious and descriptive, but I have found that going out on a limb and personifying vegetables or explaining the look of the naked mole rat has been a great adventure into anothe

The Origin of Rubies -A queen with four sons loves the youngest best and spoils him -She and her fourth son are made to live in a separate house by the other sons -The youngest son is spoiled and takes whatever he wants -He boards a boat that is not his and sets off on it with his mother  -Sails out onto the ocean, encountering a whirlpool filled with marvelous rubies  -The prince gathers many rubies, but, entreated by his mother to throw them back, he tosses all but one back into the sea -He and his mother dock near a major city and take up residence in a hut -The boy plays marbles with the sons of the king, using his ruby in place of actual marbles -The princess observes the ruby and wants it for herself -The lad is brought to the king, and the boy tells him he found the ruby in the ocean  -The princess puts the ruby in her hair and asks her parrot how she looks -The parrot replies having only one ruby looks ridiculous  -The princess goes into the grief cha

The Evil Eye of Sani -Sani (also known as Saturn) god of bad luck -Lakshmi goddess of good luck -Sani and Lakshmi argue over who is higher in rank -As all the gods and goddesses are equals, they decide to find a human to settle the dispute -Sribatsa is the wise and rich man they seek out -He places Sani on a silver stool and Lakshmi on a gold one -Sani infers that this means Sribatsa values him less and casts the evil eye upon him -Sribatsa and his wife leave their home; they come to an uncrossable river with a ferryman -The ferryman takes tries to transport the mattress they have brought and stored all their money and jewels in, but a giant wave overtakes the ferry and it disappears -Sribatsa and his wife Chintamani travel to different villages, but each time become loathed by the villagers for their superior skills -Chintamani is carried off by boatmen who believe she has special powers -Sribatsa follows the river until he finds a cow that nourishes him with milk day and