Mythology and Folklore

For the extra credit reading this week, I decided to watch the Crash Course series part on Goddesses and Gods . I chose this section of the series because I have always been interested in the gods and goddesses and their origin stories. I really enjoyed him using the terms 'Earth Mom' and 'Sky Dad."It was really interesting to learn about the archetypal gods as I did not know too much about that beforehand. ( Drawing of Aphrodite, Athena, and Artemis )

I chose to continue to read the second part of the LibriVox unit because I enjoyed reading the first part. The second part contains stories that I am not as familiar with, but I still enjoyed. However, I still think that I will be using the first part of the unit to write my story for this week. I did enjoy the story of the Queen Bee . I don't think that I had heard that one before. ( The Queen Bee )

 I chose to continue reading stories from the Brothers Grimm for the last week of this semester. This week I chose to do the LibriVox unit because it contains stories that interest me. I chose to focus more on the story of Rapunzel  because I enjoy the story that I already know, and was interested to read the original version. I also chose to focus on this specific story because I really enjoyed modernizing Cinderella last week and think that I would like to do something similar with Rapunzel this week.                                                                                           ( Rapunzel by Huw )

For the extra credit reading notes for this week, I decided to watch the Mythology Overview Crash Course videos. I really enjoyed the overview about the true definition of myths versus what we often think about when we think of myths. I personally love myths the most when they have large significance and a reason why something came to be. Creation myths have always been my favorite. I found it extremely interesting in the second video of the set about the Nazis and how they justified their crimes using Herder's pro-German ideas.            Greek Gods on Mount Olympus

For this reading, I chose to continue reading The Brothers Grimm, which was translated by Lucy Crane, because I really enjoyed what I read in part A. This section of the reading contains the classic story of Snow White. I really enjoy the more classic and well-known fairy tales so I think that I would like to do my storytelling on either Snow White or Cinderella. I like the idea of modernizing them because when I was growing up I loved watching modern versions of popular fairy tales. One of my favorite movies for a while was A Cinderella Story with Hillary Duff and Chad Michael Murray! I also loved Sydney White that starred Amanda Bynes and was based off of Snow White.  Snow White via Pixy

 For this week, I decided to read the Brothers Grimm , which was translated by Lucy Crane, because I have always been interested in how strikingly different the Brothers Grimm fairy tales are compared to the ones we read today. I chose part A of the Crane portion, because it includes the classic story of Cinderella.  Cinderella, or Aschenputtel, is a classic that has been rewritten time and time again. Most of the rewrites of this tale are focused on modernizing the content. I think that it would be interesting to do another rewrite that is even more modern, and perhaps in a different setting. Maybe the wicked step-mother sends all of the girls to boarding school but Cinderella has to earn her tuition there?  Cinderella by Elena Ringo

 For this week's reading, I decided to read the first part of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, which was written in 1865. I chose this unit because growing up, I really enjoyed watching the movie adaptations of Alice in Wonderland, but I have never read the novel. I really enjoyed the whimsical writing style as well as the story content.  One of the thoughts that I had while reading the story was to retell it but reverse the characters a bit. By this I mean to have Alice as an animal and the white rabbit as a person, etc. It could be fun to explore Alice being turned into different animals when she eats the treats rather than shrinking and growing.                      Illustration of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I chose to read Folklore of Laos part B for the reading today because I really enjoyed reading part A yesterday. Like part A, it was written by Katherine Neville Fleeson. I really enjoyed the first story in this section, The Wizard and the Beggar. I like that the moral of this story is that being greedy and ungrateful will often leave you with less than you had before. If the beggar had been grateful and satisfied with just the one magic jewel, he would still possess said jewel and have everything that he desired. Because he was greedy, he is now without the magic jewel and in the same position he was in when he met the wizard in the first place. I think that it could be interesting to retell this particular story in a more modern way. I could potentially make it more of a comedy, and perhaps have the main characters be a bratty teenager and her parents.  I also enjoyed the story of The Magic Well. I have heard or seen many stories in the past about magic wells or wishing wells, a...

For this reading I decided to read the Folklore of Laos Part A by Katherine Neville Fleeson. I decided to choose this set of stories because I enjoy myths and folktales about various animals. I like that the stories depict such a serene picture of the nature surrounding the characters. I also like that nature is the main source of solitude in a lot of these stories.  I really enjoyed the story of The Mountain Spirits and the Stone Mortars. I have always been interested in folktales and myths that reveal the origin for something in the modern day world. The explanation of the stone mortars being strewn about because of mountain spirits is very intriguing. For this same reason, I also thoroughly enjoyed reading the story of Why the Lip of the Elephant Droops, The Origin of Lightning, and the rest of the stories in this unit. Photograph of a baby elephant

The Cave of the Beasts , by R. Wilhelm was an interesting story to read. It was a bit darker than I was expecting. I think that it would be interesting to rewrite this fairy tale with a bit of a darker twist, where perhaps the daughters do not let their father into the cave. They could keep their newfound riches to themselves. This would make the moral of the story that greediness often leads to loss of wealth rather than gain.  Pile of Jewelry Why Dog and Cat are Enemies by R. Wilhelm also really interested me. As someone who owns a cat that absolutely hates dogs, I find this story very entertaining. I think that it would be fun to retell this story using the same basic idea, but a more modern and exciting backstory. Cat vs Dog by Mauro  

I chose to read the Tibetan Folk Tales this week because they touch on animal tricksters. For my storybook, I am exploring mythological creatures, and one of them is the trickster. In this group of stories, I really enjoy that all of the animals can talk to and understand one another. I also find it interesting that the animals featured in these stories are very humanlike, living in houses and wearing clothing. These stories focus on animals who have a natural ability and urge to trick people, rather than a supernatural trickster.  The Cony Who Got Into Bad Company by A.L. Shelton  would be interesting to explore from a human perspective, with all human characters. I think that all of the Tibetan Stories would be interesting to retell with humans in place of animals, and more modern surroundings and issues. King of the Frogs via pixabay

For the first section of reading I chose part A of Arabian Nights , which is told by Andrew Lang. I chose this because portions of it relate to my storybook topic. I think that the organization of this set of stories is pretty unique, and resembles the movie Inception , considering that it is a story within a story within a story. What most people think of when they hear the term 'genie', obtained from needpix ) The first story- the story of Scheherazade really captured my attention. I thought that it was a very interesting concept that the main character, Scheherazade, essentially tricked the antagonist of the story, the Sultan, into keeping her alive day after day. I think that adding a modern twist would be an interesting way to retell this story in my own words. Perhaps, instead of Scheherazade waiting to finish the story each morning, she and her husband could be watching a television series that they are engrossed in. Each night, they watch an episode, and she convinces h...

I really enjoyed all of the stories about Persephone and Hades , as well as all of the stories about Arachne . Both of these stories are taken from Ovid's Metamorphoses, which was translated by Tony Kline. Both of these are stories I have heard before, but catch my attention every time nonetheless. Because they always catch my attention, I think that these would be very interesting stories to retell in a more modern way. I like that all of these stories focus a lot on imagery and setting of the scene. For the stories of Persephone and Hades, I would use more modern language, and spend some more time introducing the characters. I kept getting confused about who was who and where they fit into the story. A big part of the reason I kept getting confused about the characters is the fact that they are using their Roman names. I would probably change it to their Greek names. For the stories of Arachne and her confrontation with Minerva, I would consider telling the story in a much more m...

I really enjoyed the story about tricksters; The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal by Joseph Jacobs. I enjoy stories about tricksters and other mischievous creatures. I really like how the author slowly leads the reader to the realization of what is about to happen before it is officially revealed. It was a little bit confusing at times since it was written in a fairly modern style, yet some parts utilized older language. I think it would be interesting to have a version that is a bit more focused on the internal dialogue of the jackal. I also think it would be interesting to discover what happens next, like does the jackal then threaten or eat the Brahman?  I also enjoyed the fairy tale; The Three Roses by Josef Baudis. It was very reminiscent of The Beauty and the Beast, with a bit of a twist. When I was reading the story, I thought that it would be fun to have a surprising twist at the end, such as the mother giving the basilisk one of her other daughters that had demanded ma...

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3: Ovid's Metamorphoses Week 4: Cupid and Psyche Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: Ancient Egypt Week 6: Khasi Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7: Japanese Mythology Week 9: Lang Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10: British North America Week 11: Inuit (Eskimo) Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: Nursery Rhymes Week 13: Alice in Wonderland Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14: Ashliman Week 15: Hunt I am really excited to read and learn more about mythology and I particularly enjoy stories about demons and supernatural creatures. For example, I am very excited about weeks 10 and 11, when I plan to read about Inuit tales of supernatural beings. One thing I may be interested in doing for my storybook is comparing real legends of supernatu...