Myth and Folklore

“It’s her.” These were the simple words going through Britomart’s mind as she gazed at the fair maiden before her. The wicked Enchanter turned and raised his staff to deliver a death blow to his prisoner, the maiden who stood bound to a pillar by magic rope. Britomart lunged between them in the nick of time, raising her sword and mortally wounding the Enchanter with a fierce blow. As he fell to the ground and life slipped away from him, the ropes around the maiden went limp and slipped off her frail body. Her skin had turned blue where the tight bonds dug into her skin. “Noble knight! You have freed me from a life of misery in this vile place. How can I ever repay your kindness?” Britomart heard these words, but could not comprehend them as she stood gazing at the maiden through the metal plate surrounding her eyes; she had seen this face before. Many months prior, Britomart’s father, the King, had given her the gift of a magic mirror, which he had gotten from ...

The Soldier and the Devil -A soldier is going home with threepence -He distributes each coin to a different beggar, each one in worse shape than the one before -When he left the forest he was granted three bonns by the Lord for his charity -He chose a pipe always full of tobacco, a purse always full of gold, and a knapsack that he could easily capture anyone in with a few simple words -He went to a mill and asked for lodging, but the only available room they told him was haunted by a devil -The devil appears and plays cards with him -When the devil tries to tear him apart, the soldier captures him in his knapsack -He leaves with it in the morning and asks a blacksmith to give the devil a good beating before he lets him go -He hears of a lady who plays cards and always wins -She is frustrated that she cannot win all the money from the soldier and steals his three magic gifts during the night -He goes along his way, eats half an apple and grows horns, and then eats half a pear...

Sleepy John -Sleepy John slept everywhere -One day he fell asleep in a cart, whose owners returned and put him in a cask, which they left in the forest -When John awake there were wolves surrounding the cask, and John feared for his life -When one of the wolves stuck its tail through a hole in the barrel, John grabbed on -As the wolf ran, the cask trampled along and frightened the wolves, who ran away -He meets a hermit in the mountains who offers him shelter -The hermit says he will die in three days and asks John to bury him -The hermit then gives him gifts -A stick: wherever he points the stick with a desire to go, he will find himself there -A knapsack: whatever he desires will be inside -A cap: that will make him invisible -John hears how the Queen's dancing slippers are being worn down every night -He goes to the King to accept the challenge of tracing her -Once she thinks he is asleep in a room adjacent to hers, she sets off -John is able to follow because of ...

Grammar and Usage This page offered insightful quotes from authors about different nuances related to grammar. The split infinitive came up in several quotes, and as I had never heard of this concept, I looked it up. The best example I found was a line from Star Trek that began "to boldly go..." All of the quotes related to this concept seemed to agree that infinitive splitting was absolutely alright despite notions that it is grammatically clumsy and/or incorrect. As Lederer states, it can add just the right "shade of meaning" in some cases. Many of the quotes also seemed to recommend against the use of adjectives, which I found very interesting, as I grew up in a school environment where lavish descriptions were encouraged. I particularly liked Fadiman's quote on the topic: "The adjective is the banana peel of the parts of speech." Give it the First Energy of the Day This snippet of advice offered by Salman Rushdie was wonderful and very relata...

A Mad Tea-Party -The March Hare and Mad Hatter are having tea at a large table outside of a house -The doormouse is asleep between them, and they are using him as a cushion to rest their elbows on  -They are huddled together at one corner of the table screaming "no room!" when in fact there are many open chairs -Alice sits down at the end of the table and is offered wine -Not seeing any, Alice inquires where it is, and the March Hare boldly declares there is none -Alice is annoyed by his lack of manners -The Hatter declares Alice's hair "wants cutting" (hair personification??) and Alice remarks he should not make personal comments -The Hatter asks "why is the raven like the writing desk?" -Alice is delighted to have a riddle to solve, but is berated by the two other tea partiers for how she goes about declaring she will solve it -Even the door mouse chimes in despite his drowsy state  -The Hatter takes out his pocket watch to see...

Down the Rabbit-Hole -Alice is sitting by her sister on the bank of a river -Her sister is reading, but Alice is very bored -She is contemplating making a daisy chain when suddenly a white rabbit runs by her -The rabbit is muttering to himself about being late, which seems quite natural to Alice at the time  -When the rabbit takes a watch out of its waistcoat pocket, it suddenly occurs to Alice that this is a strange sight -She follows the rabbit as he disappears under a hedge -Alice jumps into the rabbit hole behind him and finds herself falling a long way down -She is able to examine a multitude of cupboards and bookshelves in the sides of the well as she falls  -Alice begins wondering aloud how many miles she has fallen into the earth -She begins wondering if she might fall clear through the earth, and end up in a country such as New Zealand or Australia -She is a very curious little girl and imagines such wild things as she continues to fall Advi...

How Britomart Rescued a Fair Lady from a Wicked Enchanter -Britomart hides in the strange castle  -The next evening, she enters the strange room where the charms of the previous night had passed into -She finds a maiden bound by chains to a pillar within  -The Enchanter, who rules the castle, sits within drawing strange symbols in blood -This is one of many charms he has tried to use to win the lady's love -Still she refuses to give into her tormentor -When the Enchanter sees Britomart, he runs at the lady with a knife, intending to kill her -Britomart swoops in and knocks him down -He wounds Britomart, but in turn she swings at him and brings him to half death -The lady begs her not kill him, for only he can undo the chains and suffering she is bound by -Britomart forces him to undo the enchantments that ensnare, and as her chains fall she is returned to perfect health -They leave the castle to go to the lady's lover, the knight Scudamor -Unfortunat...

Sir Guyon -Prince Arthur and Sir Guyon are traveling together having epic adventures -they were glorious and honorable, and aimed to reprieve the weak and oppressed -One day a knight began spurring toward them across an open plain  -Sir Guyon want to face the attack, but was knocked from his horse -He felt a deep sense of shame, but what he did not realize was the that spear that threw him was enchanted, and no man could have resisted it -The other knight was secretly a maiden, the princess of Britomart -She was on a quest to find the knight Artegall, whose glory she had seen in a magic mirror -She disguised herself as a knight, and her nurse disguised herself as her squire -Sir Guyon rose to go after the attacker on foot, but his attendant warned him against it -Sir Guyon and the knight were then reconciled and swore friendship -Knights did not always fight out of malice, but out of the desire to test their strength and manliness -It was considered a valua...

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 th...

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 l...

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...