Mythology and Folklore

Updated story! Dear Diary,  Mother Gothel is really starting to bother me. She insists on keeping me as separated from the rest of the world as possible. She home schools me, keeps the doors of the house locked at all times, and all of the windows in my room are sealed shut except for the single round window that sits about seven feet up the wall and is way too small for even me to climb out of. The only times I have ever seen the outside world in years were by stacking some of my thousands of books on top of one another in front of the minuscule window. If she had it her way I wouldn't even be able to write in this diary. Mother doesn't even know that I know what the internet is. She thinks that I have only ever heard about cell phones and computers because she uses them. Of course, I am not allowed anywhere near her laptop or her cell phone. I can never admit that she dropped her old cell phone one day on her way out of my room and I noticed it and grabbed it. I hid it betwee...

Updated story! Dear Diary, It all started when my dad met her.  We were doing just fine on our own. Sure, we missed mom, but we had each other. He was all I needed, but I guess I wasn't enough for him. Heather, my step-mother (but I like to call her my step-monster) came with suitcase upon suitcase of useless crap, as well as two daughters just as awful as herself. Gabriella and Amanda would kiss a literal frog before ever showing me an ounce of mutual respect, even though I've been nothing but pleasant (okay, maybe neutral) towards them. The three-headed monster has been around for ten years now, and it only got meaner after dad died. I'm still mad at him for driving after drinking when he knows a drunk driver is what killed mom. And I'm even more mad that he didn't leave a will and now I'm stuck with Heather and her disciples treating me like a maid.  "Ella, do the dishes!" "Ella, clean out the gutters!" "Ella, condition my wigs!"...

Updated story! Once there was a young man who saw the world around him in shades of black and white. Now, this young man did not know that there was anything different about the way in which he viewed the world. One day, he went into town to the market, needing to buy a few items for dinner, including a lemon.  Normally, the market had signs near each pile of fruits or vegetable noting their name and price. However, there were no signs in sight this time. The young man asked a kind looking older woman if she knew which pile of fruit were the lemons. The woman looked a bit confused, and hesitantly said "the yellow ones".  Now this certainly puzzled the young man, who asked what 'yellow' was. When she told him that it was a bright color, he became even more confused. He had never seen anything like what the woman described as 'yellow', and knew something was wrong. He asked her a few more questions, and found out that there were many colors in the world that he ...

For this week's story laboratory, I chose to do some background research for my storybook project. I have tentatively decided to write about the Djinn, tricksters, and vampires. Tricksters In mythology: are archetypal characters, and break both physical and societal rules. Can be cunning or foolish or both. They are found in many cultures. The trickster (or clown) is an example of a Jungian archetype. Wikipedia Crash course on tricksters In Supernatural:  Tricksters  are a type of mischievous beings or demideities with the ability to warp reality and make real-looking objects and people out of thin air. Supernatural Wiki Episodes: 02x15, 03x11, 05x08, 13x20 Image of Archangel Loki from Wikimedia Supernatural trickster from Supernatural Wiki Vampires In mythology: creature from folklore that subsist by feeding on the vital essence (typically blood) of the living. Are recorded in most cultures. Are considered undead in European cultures. Wikipedia In Supernatural: bloo...

Current version at  my portfolio name is Athena, goddess of wisdom and war. Once, long ago, I had heard rumors of a young mortal girl in the village of Maeonia who thought that she was the most skilled weaver to have ever lived. She went by the name Arachne, and -to be quite frank- was nothing all that special- the definition of a mere mortal. She did not come from a noble family, nor did she have much money. She was good at weaving, I will give her that, but definitely not good enough for her to claim that no one else could compete with her. As you likely already know, I myself am quite skilled in the art of weaving. I can depict beautiful scenes with the yarn in a fraction of the time that it would take most mortals. One day, I decided that I had had enough of her attitude. So I left my home on Olympus and went to pay Arachne a little visit. Of course, I could not let her know who I was before I challenged her, as anyone with a brain would refuse such an unfairly weighted game. ...