Myth and Folklore

I enjoyed reading part A of this week's assignment, so I jumped right into part B! My favorite story from this part was Robin Hood and Maid Marian. It is nice seeing Robin Hood be in love. It is a different kind of story than the other original sources. It is nice having a different style of story. When they must part, it makes me instantly think of ways for them to get back together. Will he come find her? Will he use a disguise so they can be together? Will they completely forget one another and go back to their regular lives? I love when stories make me question what the ending will be. This shows that it truly draws me in and makes me want to continue reading (which doesn't happen too often!). They both took matters into their own hands to find one another. It is sad that they are fighting with one another! I hope that neither one of them gets seriously injured! They end up together! This gives me hope that other classic stories can have good endings like this as well. I ...

I have seen Robin Hood movies before, but I have never read the actual story. I am aware that he steals from the rich and gives to the poor. I chose to read these stories because I want to see exactly what he does rather than a generalized idea of it. Robin Hood The Ranger was a great story. I like how the stories rhyme. It adds an extra special element to the story that others don't have. There is a little dispute going on between Robin and the ranger. There seems to be a power struggle between the two men. They take out their weapons and begin to fight. Robin Hood has some trouble, but never gives up. I think that I could take this same concept and make it more modern. Maybe I could have two kids in school that oppose one another and instead of having weapons they could be playing 4 square. I really enjoyed this story. Like I mentioned, this is the first Robin Hood story that I read in more detail and I liked it a lot. I also liked reading Rescuing Three Squires. I think t...

Dogs I saw the title of this part of Aesop's Fables and knew that I wanted to look more into it! I think stories that are written about dogs can peak anyone's interests. Dogs are such great animals. I would love to write another story about them. Although these stories are short, I like how descriptive they are. They truly tell a story in a short period of time. I think that I could attempt to choose a subject and then write my own fables about them. It would be difficult to make them rhyme and make it a good story, but it would be much different than anything that I have done for this class! dogs  from the story Cats and Weasels I also really like cats. I think that cats are so special and having them involved with stories makes it much more enjoyable. Being cautious of a double tongue is something that a lot of people could learn. I feel as if sometimes people think another person is going to do one thing because of what they say, but they do the exact opposite. It is ...

I really wanted to read some of Aesop's Fables at some point, so I'm glad that I am able to do that this week! I really like how the story is a rhyme. I think that it makes it different from all of the other stories that I have read this semester. I decided to choose some fables that I really enjoyed reading and take notes on them. People I am familiar with some of those fables. The boy who cried wolf is a story that has an important lesson about lying. I could see myself taking this story line and idea and creating a more modern day story about it. This would be fun because it is creative and is a story line that many people are familiar with. It seems as if all of these stories serve a greater purpose and have a moral to the story. I could see myself taking any of these stories and creating a new story based on the moral. Boy Who Cried Wolf The Fox and The Stork From the little description, I thought that this would be a fun story to read. Foxes are notorious for bei...

The Dog-Husband The beginning of this story seems like any other story between a girl and her dog, that is until he turns into a man during the night and sleeps next to her. I am just imagining this in real life. I wonder why the dog turns into the human? Was he cursed to live his life as a dog when it is daylight? Okay she just got pregnant from the dog man. This is strange. Her parents were not happy with this and essentially left her for dead. The girl gave birth to dog pups. The dog man is dead because the father of the girl killed him. It is sad that not only did the parents leave the girl for dead, but they killed her love. Turns out the dog pups can also turn into humans. I am very curious as to how the dogs turn into humans and why they do. Is there something that must happen before they can transform? Maybe I could write a story on this and it could explain how this happens to a lot of people/dogs. This story has many twists and it ends up that the boys become the chiefs of t...

Bear-Woman and Deer-Woman Wow this story is brutal from the beginning. The bear tricks the doe into thinking that she has lice in her hair. It was actually sand, but when she went to "clean" it out she killed the doe and then cooked her head! The doe's children knew this and played a trick on the bear. Eventually the doe children ran away to go tell on the bear but the bear chased them but did not succeed in catching them. This story was a little confusing because it just took a random turn. I think that a story that I could tell from this story would be the bear children and the doe children talking after the doe children think that the bear woman is cooking the doe woman. This would be an interesting conversation because it would be the different children accusing each others mothers of being mean and killing one another. deer  before she was killed The Fox-Woman This story was very interesting. A woman lived in a fox's skin and was cleaning a random man'...

I think that it is cool how these legend stories are essentially origin stories for many beliefs or customs that the Alaskan Native American people have. The Chilkat blanket was interesting to read about. I enjoyed reading the story about the land of the dead. All of the different shades are fascinating. It shows that what you do in life affects your afterlife as well. The idea that the last person you think of when you die helping you out in the afterlife is a sweet idea. It is very nice. Maybe I could write a story about this. Take my own spin on the initial and original story. The Boy in the Moon made me wonder what it would be like to climb up into the sky. This is a cool concept. In the story it isn't the greatest thing, but it would be cool if humans could do that. It is nice that the boy followed her up into the sky. He was kind of pressured because of the girls brothers, but he still went after her. The girl turned into the sun and the boy turned into the moon. It is sa...

I have taken a couple classes at OU that revolve around Native American history and culture. They have all been very fascinating and good to learn about. I think that taking classes like these should be a requirement as Oklahoma has many tribes and a large Native American population. I am looking forward to reading some stories from Native American culture. The description of everything in this reading list is fantastic. I am able to visualize everything that is happening. It can be easy for older stories to be difficult to visualize because of the use of different language, but this is not the case. I am able to see what it happening and I really enjoy that. Raven Raven's Feast was a story that I got inspiration from. It was really the interesting the reason why the raven had a feast in the first place. I think that if I were to write a story from this story, I would write about the feast itself. I would include who was there, what they talked about, what each person left w...

How the Rabbit Killed the Lion This story title intrigued me because how does a rabbit kill a lion. It seems as if many of these folk tales revolve around an unlikely animal doing something to an animal that is much more powerful. It is interesting because small animals like rabbits are usually underdogs, but this is not the case. This sounds a lot like the elephant story. The rabbit didn't want to get up to serve the king, just like the wolf, and the lion came to confront the rabbit, just like the elephant did. The rabbit must think of ways to save themselves. Ultimately the lion was drowned, just like the elephant. I think that it is interesting that there are such similar stories in folk tales. I think with either of these stories I could write a story from the dying animals last moments. It would be interesting to know if they knew that they were tricked right before they died or if they truly fought until death. The Two Little Cats I think that it is so cute that the cats...

This week I decided to read the Tibetan Folk Tales I like the approach of reading all of the stories, but specifically looking at my favorites. This way I can read more in depth about what I like and then write about it too! The Tiger and the Frog It seems as if the frog has tricked the tiger. I see what the frog is doing here. An interesting part of the story is at the very beginning. It talks about how this story was when animals all understood each others languages. This would be a cool concept to write about. I could take this small line and write about how animals began to create their own language. It would show an evolution as to why they are needing separate languages and I could be very creative in my writing. I like this idea! The tiger is just scared of everything. This story turned out differently than I had originally imagined. I hope that the frog is only intimidating and not truly mean. How the Fox Fell Victim to His Own Deceit The title of this story drew me in....

I plan to take notes the same way that I did yesterday. I really enjoyed reading these folk stories so I look forward to reading the rest of them.  The Story of the Lightning and the Thunder I like how creative this story is. It is something that I never would have thought of on my own. It is interesting that the King made the son lightning. The ram was in trouble for constantly lighting the forest of fire, yet he turned him into something that can still light stuff on fire. Lightning is dangerous and can damage people and other things! I like the idea though that the sheep/mother is scolding the son/ram to calm down and rebuking what he is doing.  lightning Why Dead People are Buried Dead people were supposed to be able to come back alive by putting wood ashes on them. This is the message that the dog was supposed to send but he got distracted. Eventually the King sent the sheep out to deliver the message but he too got distracted. Soon after the sheep made u...

I think that learning about folk stories from different places and different cultures is really interesting and intriguing. The Nigerian Folk Stories drew me in immediately because it mentioned that animals are used a lot in their stories. I absolutely love animals so I look forward to reading how they are involved. For anthology stories like these, I will choose some of my favorites and write my thoughts on them. Why the Bat Flies at Night The Bat in this story was conniving and mean to the bush rat. The bush rat honestly wanted to make some good soup for his wife, and the bat seemed to take advantage of that. Due to the trust that the bush rat put into the rat, he ended up cooking himself in the boiling water until he was dead. I believe that the bat was in the water when it wasn't too hot, but told the bush rat something different. The bat knew what he did was wrong because he knew to hide so no one could find him. Bats coming around at night due to not being caught is an int...

So far, this story seems like a straight continuation of Part A. The first story has the same premise. The King is carrying the goblin and the goblin tells a riddle. The King continues to know the answer so the goblin keeps going back to the tree. It is honestly getting a little old. These are fun stories to read, but it is definitely not my favorite.  The King trying to figure out the riddle I decided to look more in depth into the story/riddle labeled The General's Wife. This way I can analyze a story more and use an idea from it to make my own story. I also want to see if I will be able to solve the riddle. Hopefully I will! The Brahmans are sneaky. I think that something will happen to them at the end for lying to the King. This seems like a cute love story. I like the phrases that they used. The King's whole body being shaken with love is a sweet image to picture. It is interesting to see the Force would just give up his wife like that. It is as if he assumes she...

After reading the introduction I am a little confused. Why would a powerful King do what the monk says? I get meeting him at the cemetery but agreeing to go somewhere else and bring back a dead body that was hanging from a tree is rather strange. A goblin inside of the dead body is super strange. But I guess that this will set up a very interesting story! Goblin From the description it seems as if the goblin is trying to keep the King occupied. Maybe he is working with the monk. Maybe I am reaching too much with this story. I like the idea of telling riddles. I could see myself writing a similar story to this. I could find a riddle online and have someone try to figure it out. In my story it was differ, but I am not sure how quiet yet.  My favorite story is Brave, Wise, Clever. That is because it discusses Rama and Ravana. I read the Ramayana when I was in Epics of India and I really liked it!  If I were the King, I would be getting extremely tired of the gobl...

Well I somehow messed up the Part A reading because I read the ending! Oops! So I think for these reading notes I will figure out where I went wrong and comment more on specific stories rather than big picture. Maybe this will help me in writing an additional story that the parrot told Khojisteh.  Something I didn't mention in the last reading post was my liking to how the story used both dialogue and storytelling all in one. This gives opportunities to use some variation in creating a story. I like this idea and would incorporate it if I choose to create a new story for the parrot to tell.  a snake from the story The Nobleman who Concealed a Snake in His Sleeve is an interesting story. To me, this story is definitely using some foreshadowing as to what will happen to Khojisteh at the end. I think that the man is Miemun and the snake is Khojisteh. The snake comes to the man and they are essentially working together, kind of like a marriage. Then the snake back st...

The description of this story immediately drew me in. A parrot telling stories is a fun idea, especially when the storytelling is to stop the owner from committing adultery.  Khojisteh is very lonely while Miemun is gone. She eventually sees a Prince and plans on going to be with him. She discusses this with the sharuk, the other bird, and after Khojisteh doesn't like what she hears, she kills the bird. This is pretty intense. I did not expect for this to happen. The parrot is very smart though, and cunningly creates a story for Khojisteh to hear so that the parrot won't get murdered and to hopefully stop Khojisteh from cheating. This is a very interesting story. I honestly have no clue what kind of story the parrot will tell.  a parrot The parrot tells stories and Khojisteh continues to put off her meeting with her lover. I feel like the parrot is a doing a great job of helping both his owners out. I am very curious as to what will happen when Miemun returns home. ...

Starting off Part B, I realized the format of the stories are different than the way I would write. The sentences are very long. It is as if the writer decided to extend the sentence solely due to commas. I am not a big fan of this, but I could use this idea in making my sentences contain more. I know that I can make my sentences too short sometimes so this will broaden my writing skills.  Wow, Venus is a little crazy. She is enraged once she knows that Cupid is in love with Psyche. Venus seems to threaten Cupid by saying she will take away his powers and give them to some other boy. She also mentions how reckless and stupid Cupid must be to go against what she told him to do. This seems like she is manipulating the situation. There seems to be a lot of manipulation in Cupid and Psyche. Venus definitely wants revenge.  Venus Mercry and Venus set out a warning to all of the mortal men to help find Psyche. They promised a big reward that they all wanted. This part rem...

This is a much different approach to storytelling. The young woman is captured and is in torment. The old women eventually begins to tell the story of Cupid and Psyche. This set up is different than previous stories I have read. I do like the way that it starts, but I do not see myself telling a story this way.  I like the way that the story was told like a fairytale. The start of the story reminds me of "Once upon a time", a classic way for fairytales to start. Psyche seems to have it a little rough. She is a beautiful girl, but no one wants to marry her. This seems like something that will tear her apart. I like the way that the old woman that is narrating is using the sad story of Psyche weeping. It shows how she is using what is happening in the story to reflect real life. This is a clever way of making the story and real life parallel one another. I could see myself using this kind of story telling. It would be much different than previous stories I have done. The man...

The idea of having the main character see a ghost is interesting. It draws an emotion when Odysseus is talking to his ghost mom. He then wants to know the truth from the Theban Teirisias. This could create a different kind of story because it will show Odysseus' emotions. If I were to expand on this conversation it would allow Odysseus to be able to feel what is going on. He is usually very brave so this would break some barriers.  a  ghost A large portion of Part B deals with ghosts. Writing stories from either a ghosts perspective or how the ghost got to be there would be fun! In a story using ghosts, I could take the stories from the Odyssey and reimagine them, or I could make up completely different stories. This is still using the Odyssey for inspiration but not having it be based on the reading stories as much as it could be. It is different than other ideas and thoughts that I have had. I like Odysseus' ghost mother. Using a character like her in a story would ...

Right from the beginning of the story there is a lot of description. This is a nice touch as it allows the reader to see exactly what the character is seeing. In this case, we are able to be there and see what Odysseus is seeing. I could use the story of the Cyclops and change it up a bit. The idea of using giants in a story seems like fun. I do not think that I would make the Cyclops as vicious. Using the idea of being frightened of a giant off of mere sight but once the characters begin to have a real discussion, then it is shown that the Cyclops is nice and that a person should not be judged for their size. Another idea would be to tell the story from the Cyclops point of view. It is always interesting to take a story but tell it differently. This would be very different as the "villain" would be able to tell exactly why they are doing what they are doing. An additional angle that I can take the story is to have the men blinding the Cyclops fail. This way the Cyclops wo...