Reading Notes: Russian Fairy Tales Part B

I am continuing my reading of Russian Fairy Tales.

There is this story, The Headless Princess, that I was disturbed by but actually admired too. I like how brave the priest's son was in how he handled the witch princess. He stood with strong resolve even when she was conjuring horrible things all around him. He was brave even at such a young age. I'm glad in the end the king believed the priest's son when he told him what his deceased daughter was capable of doing. It worried me at first that he might not believe that his daughter was capable of such things.

I am noticing throughout all the readings in this second half, there is a lot of stories where the dead come alive in the night to torture the living in one way or another. It always comes down to one person being more clever or more brave than the deceased person. Horrifying but very interesting to think because that is one of the biggest things I'm afraid of. When you have to encounter and evil that is dead or not human, how do you hurt it?

The Fox-Physician made me feel bad for the poor old man. He was trying to be helpful throughout the story and just kept running into issues. When he realized that the cabbage lead to henna where there was abundant food and drink he just wanted to share his discovery with the old woman. Just like in other stories and genres, the fox plays the cunning character as he fools the old man into letting the fox be alone with the old woman so he can eat her. What would have happened if he had opened the door and caught the fox as he was cooking the woman and preparing to eat her? Something to consider.

Russian Fairy Tale

Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales Part A

For this week's readings, I will be looking at Russian Folktales.

Right from the start of this section, all of the stories were dark and somber. Not in a Brothers Grimm way, but in a twisted, evil way. Strangely enough I love it! I really enjoyed the story The Treasure mostly because justice was served. The pope was punished for being greedy and deceitful but I wish the old poor man would have gotten his money back or received some sort of compensation after all that the pope and the town had put him through after the loss of his wife. At the end of the story, the authors assumes that the skin of the goat melded with the pope by an act of God, but what if the wife who had died was actually haunting the pope and after seeing how he tricked her husband, she cursed him to live life like that. That could be an interesting re-telling.

The story The Miser honestly had such an odd ending I really didn't have an opinion of it. I was hoping that greedy Marko would get his punishment either by having to pay the copeck to the poor man or that he would tragically die and the wife would pay the poor man. Towards the end I really thought that maybe Marko was dead but instead he and the poor man just divided the loot the robbers left behind. And even after all that, Marko never paid the poor man?! I would tell that story so differently, which is exactly what I may do in my next story telling assignment.

I was intrigued by the story Friday because it seemed to have some biblical background to it. Since the woman was working on Friday instead of resting and, in turn, honoring Mother Friday, she was punished. It reminded me how many different sects of Christianity and other religions emphasize resting on holy days as a tradition. Now they never really punish someone for not doing so, but usually they are social reprimanded. Instead, this woman gets an eye full of saw dust. Even though it was extreme, I just liked the overall simplicity of the story. Most of all, I liked that the woman learned her lesson quickly and didn't have to be punished over and over before getting the point.

Russian Fairy Tales

Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

Reading Notes: The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales Part B

I am continuing my reading of The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales.

The story about the fox and the cat was interesting to me because for once the fox seemed like he was actually going to do a good deed. While he was still fairly cocky when telling the cat that he had a bag of hundreds of tricks while all the cat could do was climb a tree, the fox did offer to teach the cat. However, I was not surprised when that back fired on the fox and the dogs got to him and not the cat. Sometimes we think we are big and bad when in reality we boast too much and ignore what is going on around us. I didn't like how short this story was because it seemed like there should have been more to it. It did seem to get the main point across though. I may rewrite this using humans.

The story of the little brother fish and the little sister dear broke my heart. It had a lot of common parts from fairy tales about princesses in it. There is a wicked stepmother who abuses and dislikes the children and bewitches them in some way. The cook could be compared to the huntsman or any number of subordinates who don't follow the wish of the evil step mother and do something to help the poor child or children instead. The peasant woman could be compared to the prince who does his best to rescue or save the person in trouble and the wise woman could be similar to a fairy god mother who works her magic to make things right again. I really liked all the parallelism in the story. Stories like this one feel like the recipe for a basic chocolate cake. It has the same common ingredients no matter what and the outcome is always the same except for maybe a few fancy details here and there.

Simeli Mountain was a kind of sad, messed up story. It made me think of Aladdin when he enters the cave and finds all those treasures inside it. The poor man shouldn't have become so greedy or have treated his brother so harshly and he would not have gotten stuck inside the cave. Sometimes we need to learn to appreciate good fortune in our lives. Whether its by a stroke of good luck that we gain immense fortune or just being grateful for what we have, greedy of any kind can corrupt and destroy your life. It could be interesting to create my own story about a tale where greedy nearly ruined a man's life, consuming him completely. I could get really creative with this.

Simeli Mountain

Bibliography:The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L. Ashliman (1998-2013).

Reading Notes:The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales part A

For this week I am reading The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales.

The first story of the cat and the mouse threw me for a loop in the beginning. It is much more common for the cat and mouse to be enemies or predator and prey but this story depicts them as sharing house together. As the story goes on though the sneaky nature of the cat is revealed and he takes advantage of the poor mouse being so understanding and kind. It reminds me too much of relationships both friend based and romantic, where one person is so willing to bend over backwards to please their friend and the other one abuses that kindness by taking advantage of them. I'd like to retell that story but where the mouse gets some kind of revenge instead on the cat.

Between the story about the mother with the 7 goat kids and Little Red Cap, I must say I liked the story of the goats better. At the end of that story, there was a kind of moral like listen to your parents. A lot of the times, parents tell us what we should or shouldn't do and we always back sass them. As I've gotten older, I've begun to realize a lot of that is because they have either made those mistakes themselves or they have seen someone else do it and they just want to keep us safe. It would be fun to retell this story in a creative way. Maybe not animals or humans, but instead it could be inanimate objects like food or something.

I liked the story The Elves the best. It was about good deeds being repaid and that always makes me happy to read about someone doing good for others. It was an interesting twist that the Elves were the ones to receive presents and they were so deserving of it after all their hard work. This could inspire a story about a kind act being done for someone who does good deeds and asks for no recognition for them. Especially with the holiday season, why not write a story about peace on earth, goodwill towards men and all that jazz right?

The Elves

Bibliography:
The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L. Ashliman (1998-2013).

Reading Notes: The Looking Glass Part B

I am now continuing to read The Looking Glass.

The story about the two knights fighting to have Alice as their prisoner was a fun description. I think my favorite part was that the chess pieces act as normal characters (such as knights fighting or how the King and Queen were acting in the first half of the story) but then they realize that they are actually just chess pieces and break character (this is like when the knight said he wouldn't take Alice as a prisoner because his turn was almost over. I also think it was super cute that the knight who won was way over prepared as far as what he had on his horse. It made some sense because that is basically where he lives, so having things like a beehive for honey or a mouse trap somewhat made sense. He strikes me more as an over prepared boy scout though at the fact that he has shark guards around his horse's ankles.

What I liked most about the story of the knight was that even though he kept falling off the horse, he never felt dismayed and got right back on. It was meant to be funny or odd I'm sure but I saw it more as encouraging. The knight was determined to keep riding his horse and never give up and I liked that a lot about him. It could make for an interesting story to write about someone who isn't great at something but they keep trying. Maybe they even preserver and end up being the best.

Something that I loved, and possibly over analyzed, was the interaction between the White Queen, Alice and the Red Queen. The Red Queen became upset with something Alice said, and like most of us have done before, she followed it up with saying that she didn't mean to say that. The Red Queen makes a good point saying "'That's just what I complain of! You SHOULD have meant! What do you suppose is the use of a child without any meaning? Even a joke should have some meaning — and a child's more important than a joke, I hope." I took this to mean that people don't give children enough credit when they say something. Children should be listened to because a lot of the time they speak the truth since they are young and not as corrupt. Additionally, children should be taught young that what they say matters and words can really effect people so they should choose their words wisely. Again, I am possibly over analyzing this but it really struck home with me. 

Alice, the Red Queen and the White Queen

Bibliography: Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (1871).

Reading Notes: Looking Glass Part A

For this week, I will be reading the Looking Glass series.

I specifically chose this section to read because I saw the movie "Alice in Wonderland" by Tim Burton and I also loved the original Disney movie. So reading the very original version by Lewis Carroll seemed like an interesting and fun story to get into this week. 

The first story when Alice enters the Looking Glass is about her interaction with the chess pieces, specifically the White King and White Queen. I liked this because it was such a different perspective to have them afraid of her instead of the Disney movie and Tim Burton movie where Alice is fearful of the Queen of Hearts. It is interesting that they cannot see or hear her and yet she can touch and interact with them without her knowing. It's like she is still outside the Looking Glass but somehow found a way to interact with the would inside it. Very cool perspective.

The story about Tweedledum and Tweedledee makes me smile without a doubt. They have manners and emphasize that when they meet her, but at the same time are ignorant of social cues like when Tweedledee decides it is best to tell poor Alice the longer story when she is trying to get on her way. The illogical logic of the two brothers is something really interesting actually. Everything is a contradiction but at the same time is truthful or at least makes some sense. You can tell Alice is really having to stop and think about these things too, which makes what they are saying even more interesting. They have a tendency to point out the obvious but in such a way where you have to reconsider even the most basic of things such as where rain will fall if you are underneath an umbrella. 

Humpty Dumpty was a rather annoying character in my opinion the way that he was always giving Alice a hard time. He kept correcting her and even confusing her when he would try to tell her what she was saying, doing or thinking was wrong. Honestly, it got kind of annoying. What I did like out of that story was that unlike the remake or the Disney version, Humpty Dumpty was the one who introduced Alice to unbirthdays instead of the Tweedle brothers. 

Alice looking through the Looking Glass

Bibliography:

Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll (1871).

Reading Notes: Robin Hood part B

I will continue reading Robin Hood for this week's reading notes.

The story where Little John went begging had me somewhat confused. It sounded like he went and begged and then robbed from other beggars which sounds totally uncharacteristic for Robin Hood and his band of merry men. I've been having some trouble understanding these stories and occasionally have to re-read some of them. But then other passages within this story I understand completely. Hopefully soon I'll be able to understand this type of writing well enough to only read the stories once and maybe even write in that fashion for upcoming stories.

As much as Robin Hood can be a scoundrel when he outsmarts other officials, I like that he helped that poor widow woman and in return she hid him from the Bishop. This idea that all of the underdogs in the series of stories all look out for one another is more in line with the Robin Hood cartoon and movies that I am used to watching.

I thought it was very funny and in common Robin Hood fashion that when he and Little John captured the Bishop, they not only took his money but bound him and his horse to a tree in the woods. To Robin, it is not just enough to steal from him but he wants to embarrass him too.

By far my favorite story out of this section was Robin Hood's Golden Prize. I thought it was sad and ironic that Robin had to make the friars promise things that they should already be following. Things such as not sleeping with men's wives or even just being generous to the poor. I do side with the fryers though when they lied to Robin about having money. For all they know, Robin could have been a thief dressed as a friar and they didn't want to give him their money. I do believe Robin was right in how he judged their character since they likely were planning to keep the money for themselves. This is one of those stories that shows the decent side of Robin compared to other stories where he just seems to be a petty thief who wants to fight and cause mischief.

Robin Hood and the Friar

Bibliography: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child (1882-1898).

Reading Notes: Robin Hood Part A

For week 11, I chose to read the ballads of Robin Hood.

The structure of the storytelling is much different than what I am used to reading because it is all in ballad form. I chose this because I like the challenge and I am hoping that by reading it, I will be able to use that form later on when it comes time for me to do my story telling assignment. The first story took me aback because I am used to the more modern portrayal of Robin Hood as a hero to the poor and destitute. In the first story, he is portrayed more as a gangster than as some nobel hero.

The Robin Hood I am more used to comes out more in the story about him and the The Ranger. I like how at first the ranger was against Robin and even stated that he was in the forest to protect it for the king, but in the end he sided with Robin and even joined his following. The quality I like best here is that Robin doesn't just try to kill him but instead battles him and admiring his strength and loyalty, Robin invites him to join the group instead of just killing him. Robin is a very inclusive character and I respect that greatly.

One of my favorite stories from this reading section is how the Shepard beat not just Robin Hood in battle, but went on to defeat Little John when Robin called in for back up. I talked about, in my past reading notes, how much I love reading about the underdog winning a fight. In this case, an underdog beat and underdog since Robin is an outlaw as is Little John. Unlike the other stories where Robin concedes the battle, the Shepard actually beat him in this one!

Lastly, I like how the battle between Robin, Little John and will against the three strange men was depicted almost as lighthearted fighting. They continued the battle and witty banter for three days and all drank together and bonded. It reminds me of little boys who fight and play games on the playground but in the end are all just friends having a fun time. I may take one of these tales and retell it with children as the characters and they are all just playing a game of make believe at recess. It would be fun and light hearted like a kids bedtime story.

Robin Hood and Little John

Bibliography: 

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child (1882-1898).

Reading Notes: American Indian Fairy Tails Part B

I will be continuing with my reading of American Indian Fairy Tails.

One thing I found interesting in the story of The Boy Who Snared the Sun was that even when he did a few things on his own, he still resorted to asking his sister to do things for him instead of doing them for himself. She was the one who stitch the skins of the birds together to make him  coat after he had killed them all. If she had not done that for him, he would have dead birds but would have been cold. The sister had started out worried that when she left, her brother would not be able to defend or take care of himself. By the end, he was demanding her services and she was compliant! I did not like that she started out as a strong, independent female lead and once again fell into the role of the compliant, quiet female being ordered around by men. I'd like to retell this story with her give him hell and telling him to solve his problems on his own. That would have been a fun plot twist.

Something that is really interesting is that each animal is known for some specific trait whether it is the bear for his strength, the beaver for his laugh, or the coyote for his wit. It explains why we associate those stereotypes with each animal with a fun background story. Background stories are always something fun to play with because you can make up whatever reasoning you want to explain why things are the way they are.

I was shocked in the story "How the Summer Came" with how dedicated the father, O-jeeg, was willing to do whatever he could to make his son happy. This just exemplifies the way parents love their children and it really touched my heart. It would be fun to do a storytelling where the parent maybe goes out of their way or even puts themselves in danger to create a better life for his/her child. Something to consider for later on when I need ideas.

Storytelling from Native Americans

Bibliography:
American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned, with illustrations by John Rae (1921). 

Reading Notes: American Indian Fairy tails Part A

This week I chose to read American Indian Fairy Tails.

I like the cockiness of Shin-ge-bis and how confident he is that he can outsmart the North Wind. He is very clever and knowing how to fish in the winter and being bundled up but I had a feeling from the start that his confidence could be his downfall if he wasn't humble enough. This story had the moral that positive, happy energy can over come even the coldest and darkest of times (i.e., the North wind). This was a cute telling of it because it was not straight away obvious that the lesson would be about positivity winning out over darkness. It made an even great impact that the other fishermen left Shin-ge-bis because they did not believe they or even he could over come to North wind. It goes to show that even when others doubt themselves and you, there is still hope.

Iagoo is such an interesting character. He is old and wise and a story teller and would make for a fun narrator for one of my story telling assignments. One thing that had me curious though is why he seemed so spaced out before Morning Glory came over to snap him out of it so he would tell the children a bed time story. It would have been interesting to hear what his thoughts were at that moment; if they were something deep or if he was pondering what story he wanted to share with the children next.

Honestly, one of the reasons I chose this section to read for the week was because in my portfolio review group from this past weekend I read a storytelling based on The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds. The story peaked my interest enough that I decided to go through and read the original story for myself. I guess you could say that student did a top notch job of engaging the readers. I think it was funny how the Coyote won't answer the parents question of how their son and daughter got up on the rock since he doesn't know the answer. Very political, he changes the question to be more about how to get them down, which I can't argue is a very important question in their circumstance.

Native American Storytelling

Bibliography:
American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned, with illustrations by John Rae (1921). 

Reading Notes: Southwestern and California Legends Part B

I am continuing in my reading of the Southwestern and California Legends for this week's Native American readings.

Coyote and the Hare

The story about the measuring worm Legend of Tu-Tok-A-Nu'-La (El Capitan) was a really interesting story. It had one of my favorite qualities about these folklores in that it had a lesson to learn in the end. The small creature ended up being the one who was able to do the difficult task and save the two young boys on the top of the mountain. Those plot twists at the end of the story is one of my favorite things. I may try to integrate the concept of the unlikely hero into my next story that I write (although I feel like this some what applies to the story of the fish, the hunter and the fisherman that I continued writing this week).

I already read the two stories about the Coyote being fooled by both the Hare and the deer. The Coyote seems to be a common factor in a vast majority of Native American stories, however, these stories are different than the first few that I read. Instead of the Coyote being portrayed as clever or even the creator of the earth, in these two stories he is portrayed as foolish and overly self-confident. In the story about the Coyote trying to kill the Hare ( Coyote and the Hare ) I thought the story was going to follow more along the lines of the big bad wolf trying to blow the house down on the three little pigs; I prefer the way the stories plot line actually went. This makes me think of the way that the Coyote is portrayed in the cartoon of Roadrunner and Willy Coyote. I like the idea of reversing the roles of the hunter and its prey to the prey winning out over the hunter. It is similar to the other story about the measuring worm where the unlikely character ends up doing something incredible or saving the day. After all, everyone loves and underdog. 

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson (1912).

Reading Notes: California and the Old Southwest Part A

This weeks readings are based on Native American Folklore and I have chosen to read California and the Old Southwest.

What really stood out to me was that all the stories were from different tribes from the same region. It was interesting to get to read all the different version of the story of how the earth was created. The tribes included similar factors such as the Coyote playing a big role in a lot of the stories. Across all the stories, all the main characters are animals. This explains why Native Americans have such a big respect for nature and animals. Some of the creation stories sound similar to stories found in other religions like Christianity. There were multiple stories about a flood, which was also a big event in the Bible.

Bear climbing the mountain

Something that was cool was that all the stories gave explanations for why things are the way they are today. Such as the frog spitting fire into the drift wood explaining why driftwood would start a fire when two logs were rubbed together. Also, the squirrels being burned by the fire explained why his tail was curled as it is and why squirrels in that region have the black (ash) marks down their backs. I usually prefer stories to have some sort of moral to them or a lesson to take away. However, these stories, in a sense, did having something to learn from the stories but instead of being value based they were explanations of the world around us. This might be something fun to try in my stories. I compare it to the musical 'Wicked' which went back and went back to explain what events led up to the movie "The Wizard of Oz."

One thing that confused me in all the stories was that whoever it was creating the world, whether it was Coyote or the Spider, they kept destroying the world over and over. It seemed to be a reoccurring theme that there was always an initial disappointment with how the earth was created and that it needed to be scrapped and done from scratch. One a few of the stories did something to save some of the humans who were already on the earth. What if the story was that the creator was initially pleased with his creation and he didn't destroy it and start over? It would likely be a boring story but maybe another plot twist could occur that would be less drastic but still interesting.

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of California and the Old Southwest by Katharine Berry Judson (1912).

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales Part B

I will continue on with reading Japanese Fairy Tales.

The story of the Ogre of Rashoman is the classic playground example of "I double dog dare you". It is one warrior calling another warrior a liar and then is goaded into proving his point by doing whatever dangerous thing the other warrior warned him about. These types of stories usually end the same way with the warning of the first person being true and being foolishly denied by the other person. This reminds me of one of my favorite Christmas movies growing up called "A Christmas Story" where Flick gets his tongue stuck to a flag pole because he doesn't believe that it will stick. Of course in this instance he is sadly mistaken and he has to wait for the fire department to come and unstick his tongue from the flag pole. One parallel between this story and the story previous about the priest and the goblin cannibal is that both incorporated a deceitful old woman. Both were able to trick the men in the stories into believing they were old and innocent and meant them no harm. Just like in all the old Disney movies where the old woman or witch is the villain, you can't underestimate someone just based on their appearance. This could make for a fun story to write but maybe instead of the villain being an old woman whom everyone believes is fragile and innocent maybe the villain could be another type of unsuspecting person.

Ogre of Rashomon

In the story of Hase-Hime, it very much mirrors that of Snow White and a majority of other princess movie produced by Disney. The wicked stepmother is jealous of or does not like the step daughter for her beauty, success and the adoration of the people so she sets forth a plan to destroy her. What I like about this story that makes it different though is that the stepmother is struck down by karma with either her plans failing or her son dying. It is a more justified story that those other Disney ones where the step mother gets away with her evil plan right off the bat. This would be a fun concept to play with.

Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairytales Part A

For my week 7 reading I chose to read Japanese Fairy Tales

I found it strange in the first story that the mighty dragon god could be so scared about a centipede. Normally, those types of creatures would have reversed roles whether it is in the real world or a story. I liked the change up though and it made the story a little more originally. The unlikely creature being the most powerful was a good change of pace from what would normally be expected from classic story telling. I wonder if this has anything to do with how the Japanese viewed the creatures culturally; maybe the viewed insects as powerful creatures and dragons more common?

The story of Kintaro, AKA "The Golden Boy" starts off so sad. It makes me think of Jungle Book and how Mobley ends up making friends with the animals in place of humans. The choice of animals with whom he surrounds himself with makes sense. The bear, deer, monkey and hare are all animals that are used often in old wise tales. I like how throughout the story the author used Japanese words but put the english translation into parentheses. It made the dialogue between the characters more realistic sounding and helped set the scene as truly taking place in Japan. The story of Kintaro becoming a great warrior makes me think of Hercules. Some differences is in the story of Hercules, he sought out his mentor Philoctetes while Kinatro was sought out by the general of the emperor.

In the story of the Man Who Never Wanted to Die, I liked that they talked about the blow fish and how the people on the island ate it to try and poison themselves to die. In Japan, the blow fish is a delicacy but it also posts a health risk if not cooked correctly. This is interesting that such a tradition is in a story as old as this one. The overall story is a classic case of "you don't know what you've got till it's gone."

One over all thing I really liked about this section of reading was that each story was about two or three parts and then a different story started. This reading set was like a book of short stories. Majority of the stories I've read for this class have been long, ongoing stories about one individual and all the trials and tribulations they go through. This was a nice change of pace and I found it much easier to keep up with what was going on in these shorter stories compared to the longer ones.

Bibliography: 
Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki (1908).

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology Part B

In this reading notes, I am finishing the second half of readings for the Japanese Mythology section.

It bothers me a lot that Yamato grew tired of his wife because she was too devoted to him. He put in all that time and effort chasing her and then when the chase ended, he decided he wanted to pursue the mermaid instead. It would be fun to hear a story told from the Princess's angle. What it must have been like to be left alone in a palace all the time while her husband ran around hunting and doing God knows what else. Definitely a story idea.

I like how at the beginning of the stories, there is a short poem that either recaps what is going on currently or foretells what will happen in the story. I'm not very good at poems, but this would be a fun challenge to try for my Portfolio. Write a poem and then tell it in greater detail with dialogue as a story.

Yamato going to battle

The details of the battle that Yamato led were very interesting. It would be interesting to tell the story from a different perspective, say maybe the steed that Yamato rode into battle on? Or better yet, tell the story of what his wife is thinking or doing while he is off in this battle to get the golden apple for the mermaid.

Once again, Yamato is visited by karma after speaking cruelly to his beautiful wife. He deserved to be duped by the beautiful siren and lose possession of the Sacred Sword because he was not responsible with it. For some reason, it seems like Yamato will never learn that when you do ill unto others, ill is dealt unto you as well. Maybe one day he will make a mistake severe enough that he will learn to do the right thing and treat others how he wants to be treated.


Bibliography: 
Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legendby E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology Part A

This week I will be reading Japanese Mythology.

Compared to Roman and Greek gods and goddess, I am having an extremely hard time trying to keep all of the gods in this story straight. I do like that their names have a literal meaning when translated to English. One story that I really liked in the beginning was "The Heaven Descended". It was one of those stories where karma comes to bite you in the butt.

I like how throughout the stories, there are poems or short ballads about what is going on. The break in reading kind of helps me get an idea of what all I just read and the poems do a good job of summarizing what just happened.

The description and detail in the Fortunate Fish Hook really made the scene come to life. Especially in the feasting scene, the description of the luxurious place settings and food were so detailed I could picture it. I also like how in this story, the Princess mutually consented to become Prince Fine-Fades wife. Usually, the male requests the princess's hand and the father consents to give her away, but I like that the Prince and Princess decided to get married and then got the fathers blessing. It was a lot more modern than how earlier in the story the marriage between Izanagi and Izanmi where they had to redo their marriage because the woman spoke to the man first.

Izanagi and Izanmi 

The story of the "Rescue of the Princess" sounded like a reverse little mermaid! Instead of the mermaid seeking out the human it was the other way around. He waited for her on the rocks of the shore hoping she would come back just like Ariel waited for Eric too see her. It was also very clever of the Priestess to disguise Yamato as a maiden so that he could sneak behind enemy lines and destroy them. It makes me think of a reverse Mulan with the male pretending to be a women instead of a female dressing like a man to be warrior.

Bibliography: Japanese Mythology unit
Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legendby E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

Reading Notes: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories Part B

I am continuing on with my reading of Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories.

The story of the Two Brothers is such a sad one. The fact that the older brother would believe his devious wife over the younger brother who helped him so much in the fields is beyond me. I appreciate that the sun god Ra was able to separate them and show Anpu that Bata was telling the truth. I'm also noticing a trend in the use of the crocodile as a type of justice symbol. In the story of the Pharaoh and the scribe and now here between the two feuding brothers, the crocodile seems to be the constant fact when there is a debate of right and wrong or a needing of justice.

It frustrated me that the girl wife that was given to Bata by the gods decided not to listen when Bata asked her to stay in doors so that harm would not befall her. In this section again I am seeing parallels of other stories with how the lock of the girl wife's hair made its way to the kings washing area. The smell was so sweet and intoxicating just like the hair was of the maidens after Isis had finished braiding it. I really like how the story of the brothers came full circle with Bata being brought back to life with the help of a seed and some water. Just like how in the beginning seeds seemed to be a factor in his falling out with his brother Anpu.

For the life of me I cannot understand why the girl wife keeps trying to kill Bata. First she discloses to the king that he as in the highest bloom on the tree, then she says she wants to eat the liver of the sacred cow which is actually Bata in disguise. She was created for Bata by Ra but it seems that she has other plans in mind. That would be a fun story to tell in a modern sense; like a bride whose hand was given to a man by her father but she gives him so much grief to try and keep him from going through with it.

The story of king Nefer-Ka-ptah and The Book of Thoth was entertaining; I really liked the part where he had to face off against the snake that was immortal because it made me think about how Hercules had to get creative when he wanted to kill the Hydra. With the Hydra, every time Hercules cut off one head, two would grow in its place, while with the snake, the head and body just kept coming back together as if they were magnetic.

Part of the Book of Thoth

Bibliography:
Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Reading Notes: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories

This week, I chose to read Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories. I had a hard time at first keeping up with all the different names for the god Ra but eventually caught on. Immediately, I noticed the similarities between both the Egyptian gods, the Roman gods, the Greek gods, and even the Christian god. Just like how the Christians speak of three gods in one and the trinity, Ra has 3 different names; although, his correlated with the placement of the sun in the sky.

Ra

I was skeptical when I was reading the story about the reveal of Ra's secret name. Most of me was convinced that Isis was going to betray Ra in someway and instead of healing him she was going to let him die and use the power of his secret name to become the new ruler of all the gods. That could be an interesting, dark twist to the plot line to take it in that direction. I also was bummed in that story that we didn't get to know what the actual secret name for Ra was. However, it did keep the master and intrigue going.

One section of the story confused me a lot. In The Journey of Isis, Ra sent the seven scorpions to be her protectors yet she has no control over them and they seem to do more harm then good! They first bite the child of the woman who would not let Isis stay with her, which at first I understood. However, they go on to bite Horus, Isis's son, and she being unable to bring him back to life, has to summon the power of Ra to restore him. The scorpions seem to have backfired as a means to protect in this story.

Isis's protector

The irony in the fact that Osiris was trapped in the box he made was not lost on me. Nor was the fact that this is obviously the story behind the mummification of Pharaohs and the amount of effort and money they put into the coffins that encompassed them after they died.

Bibliography:
Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Reading Notes: Arabian Nights Part B

I am continuing on with reading Arabian nights and in the second half of these readings I get to the part that drew me in to the story in the first place, stories about Aladdin and his lamp! Something that was unique compared to the Disney version was the fact that Aladdin had his mother around during the story. I like this better because the mother played a role that supported Aladdin but did not parent him to where he lost his hero like qualities.

Aladdin was a lot more assertive in these stories than the movies. The way he used the genie's to break up the princess and her first husband so that he could have her rubbed me the wrong way. How the princess did not recognize that he was the man who had did that and yet she married him anyways is beyond me. If I could go and re-write the story, I would have the princess reject Aladdin for the way he had handled himself earlier by kidnapping her and sleeping next to her while he betrothed slept outside in the cold. It would be an interesting turn of events for the princess to be a strong female lead like Jasmine was in the Disney version.

The way the Genie of the Lamp was willing to warn and help Aladdin when he knew that the magicians even more evil brother was the one who had been corrupting the thoughts of Aladdin's wife was a winning point for me. It was curious though that the Genie of the Ring had such a small role in this story. I wish he would have had more opportunities to shine and be helpful like the Genie of the Lamp. Not just in granting wishes to Aladdin, but be able to help him in friendly ways like the Genie of the Lamp was able to. That also brought the question to my mind of why the first magician wanted the Genie of the Lamp but did not care to go for the Genie of the Ring. Was there a difference in power? That would be a cool story tell! The power struggle between two genies (possibly brothers?) to be the most powerful one in the entire universe. This is something I may look into.

In conclusion, I'm glad the story did end happily ever after with Aladdin getting then princess, his genies and his castle. At least that factor was the same between the original stories and the Disney version.

Genie of the Lamp

Bibliography: Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

Reading Notes: Arabian Nights Part A

This week, I chose to read Arabian Nights by Andrew Lang. The first thing about this book that drew me in was that it had the story about Aladdin and the Lamp! Aladdin is one of my favorite Disney movies so that drew me in.

One of the first things I noticed I like about the story was the strong female lead, Scheherazade. She was clever in the way she tricked the king into keeping her alive so that she could continue to tell her stories. She was also extremely courageous and brave to ask her father to have the king marry her so that she could save the rest of the women in the kingdom. I definitely respect her and the strong will she has. In my story writing, I would like to incorporate a strong female lead instead of the usual damsel in distress. 

I found it interesting how the writer was able to keep the multiple levels of stories straight. The deeper the levels went the more sure I was that I was going to get lost or confuse the plot lines. However, the author did a great job of keeping each level of story individual yet incorporated with the overall plot. On the other hand thought, I do not plan on using this style of writing whenever I write my story. While it was interesting and very unique, I felt like some of the time I was more focused on keeping the stories straight in my head then I was on absorbing the story. 

Each story had a similar lesson thought about trust and trickery. Trust is a hard thing to gain back once you lose it and in a lot of these stories, the sultan/king or higher power usually was to suspicious of the other people. In the case of the Genius (AKA the genie) he was too arrogant with his power over the fisherman and it ended up biting him in the butt. I love stories that have life lessons or morals to them because you not only feel entertained but you also feel like you grew a little bit by the end of it. 

Sultan

Bibliography: Arabian Nights by by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).