Mythology Blogs

 Fairy Ointment I was quick to click on this story because I used to love reading about fairies and other mythical creatures when I was growing up. I was very pleased to see that this story was very intriguing and reminded me of similar stories from my childhood. The story began by introducing a nurse named Dame Goody. One night she awoke from her sleep and went downstairs to see a small, strange looking man asking for help with his sick wife. Although she was suspicious, she decided to help him because that was the nature of her job. So, the two hoped onto the back of a horse and rode fast until they reached a small cottage house. Inside the house, she saw a sick woman with children playing on the floor besides her. The mother gave her a baby boy and asked her to rub ointment on his eyelids, and the nurse did so but was curious as to why. When no one was looking, she rubbed the ointment on her right eye as well and when she opened her eyes the small cottage transformed into a eleg...

 The Old Woman and Her Pig When I read this story, it seemed as if this was written to be more of a riddle than a story. The way the story flowed and the sentences were structured was a bit unusual compared to most stories. However, I really enjoyed reading it because it seemed like something I might have heard in my childhood.  The story began with introducing an old woman. She lived in a little house and she noticed one day that it was dirty and needed to be swept. So, she decided to clean the house and while she was sweeping, she came across a crooked sixpence. After discovering the pen, she decided she wanted to use it, however, she had no animals to put in the pen. To solve this dilemma, she went into town and bought a piglet. On her way back from the market with her piglet, the piglet was hesitant and would not go over a stile on the ground. So, in order to fix the problem she goes and finds a dog and asks the dog to bite at the pig so the pig would go over the stile. Af...

 The Dog Husband This story was very different from others... to say the least. It began with a girl who had a dog. Every night the dog would sleep at the end of her bed. However, in the middle of the night the dog would turn into a human. When morning came, the dog turned back from human to dog so no one was aware of the situation. After some amount of time, the girl became pregnant and the parents concluded that the only possible way was that it was the dog. So in order to punish the girl, the father killed the dog and the girl was left in a burning house to die. The entire village moved away, but little did they know that the girl had received help from Crow and had survived the burning fire. Living alone, the girl eventually gave birth to five pups, four males and one female. As the girl and her children grew up, the boys became more mischievous. The girl would catch them doing mischievous acts that would bring more shame to their people. The girl then guided the boys to a more...

 The First Woman I really enjoyed reading native american stories because they seem very different from the folklore's I have read previously in this class. This story begins with describing a village that is made up entirely of men. It is known that a ways away there is a woman that lives all by herself. One day, a man decides to travel all the way to go meet the woman. He arrives to her house and he marries her quickly. At the same time, another man gets the same idea to go meet the woman and make her his wife. When that man arrives, he sees the woman with the other man and thinks of a plan. That night, he sneaks into the house and grabs her. He pulls her by her arms and drags her out of the house. The sleeping husband is woken up by the noise and runs out to save his wife. He grabs her by her legs and pulls in order to get her away from the man. Unfortunately, the two men were in a 'tug-of-war' situation and ended up pulling so hard that they ripped the woman into two ha...

 The Boys Who Were Not Appreciated This title of this story caught my attention because it seems as if it is a mystery to what the boys will do. I initially guessed that the boys would be taken for granted and treated wrongly, and they would come back to get revenge on those who wronged them. However, it turns out I was wrong.  The story begins with introducing the two brothers. The elder one tended to the younger one when the mom was working for food. The boy's father had died, and the mother married another man who was very cruel. Over time, he turned her against her sons and began to neglect them. After a long day of waiting for their mother to return with food, the boys were extremely hungry. When the mother and her husband finally returned with rice, the husband refused to let the mother share any with her children. In fact, she kicked them out of the house altogether. The boys ventured until they found a widow who let them sleep, but they were quickly on the move looking...

 A Child of The Woods Usually I prefer to write stories which are based on elephants, or animals in general, as the main character. However, after reading this story I found I really enjoyed it and wanted to write notes so that I could remember and refer back to it again in the future. This story begins with a stranger that visits a large village in the middle of a jungle. There is one elderly woman that is loved by all the people, so he asks her why everyone admires her. She then answers by telling him the story of how she arrived here.  When she was young, she grew up in a typical village surrounded by people with whom she did not like. She describes growing more angry the longer she lived there. So, one day she fled to the forest to escape the feelings of hatred and the men in her village. She ran fast and far, never tiring. Eventually she laid down to go to sleep under a tree- not afraid of the beasts in the forest. She awoke in the middle of the night to a tiger standing ...

 Why the Bush Cow and the Elephant are Bad Friends I was drawn to this story because of how it mentions elephants. Since I have decided to do my storybook website on elephants, I am always excited to read and take notes on stories that involve elephants. In this story, an elephant and a bush cow never got along. The elephant always boasted about his size and strength. With the elephant talking on and on about his greatness, it made the bushcow ashamed because he too believed he was strong and to be feared by animals and man. The situation was then taken to the chief, and the chief recommended that the two animals fight it out to determine who the toughest, strongest one would be. As the fight neared, the bush cow went towards the market and started tearing up the ground and making a scene. He asked animals that passed by if they knew where the elephant was. After some time, the elephant was heard trumpeting down the streets and soon came into the sightline of the bushcow. Once they...

 The Elephant and the Tortoise The story begins with a greedy elephant that has a reputation of devouring everything at feasts-even leaving similar sized animals, such as hippos, with a very small amount of food. A tortoise decided that he would be the one to put a stop to this behavior, and came up with a plan in which to do so. One day he arrived at the elephant's house and ate a delicious snack right in front of him. Predictably, the elephant asked for some of his food, but the tortoise said that the elephant must give up an eye in order to eat it. Agreeing, the elephant allowed his eyes to be painfully slashed out. The elephant ate the snack and was not satisfied, so he asked for more. The same deal took place- more snacks for his other eye. The tortoise then left, leaving the elephant blind and feeling deceived. The elephant went around town asking for other animals to lend him their eyes, but everyone said no except for the worms. The worms were glad to have been noticed and ...

 The Elephant and the Ants I immediately knew I would like this story due to the fact that it had elephants in it. However, due to my past experiences reading stories about elephants, I guessed that this one would be no different in the way it portrayed the elephants. It seems as all stories leading up to this portray elephants and the largest beasts that are unruly and unkind to others. When I began reading, it was no surprise to me that this is how the elephant was once again displayed.  The story begins with an elephant walking up on two ants burrowing and tells them he will trample their work. The ants take a stand for themselves and tells the elephant to not be rude to them just because they are small, and there are surely other things that the ants are better at than the elephant. The elephant says that this is nonsense and ends up accepting a challenge from the ants to have a race. They end up starting the race right then and there and the elephant storms off. After spr...

 The Killing of the Tiger This story intrigued me because of its title. I love stories with animals in it, but this one did not seem to be a happy ending for the tiger just based of the title. However, when I began reading it I quickly found myself intrigued in the story and wanting to read more. The setting for this story was in India in a period where all animals and men shared the same language. There was a road that many villagers would travel down, but a tiger was attacking the people and killing anyone that passed. As a result, the road became abandoned and no one dared to travel down it. The townspeople pleaded to the king in order to send soldiers to kill the tiger, and he acknowledged that something must be done. He first asked the soldiers but not a single one dared to go face the tiger. He then gave the same offer to everyone in the town. A poor man was the only one that accepted the request, knowing the prize would be half the kingdom. The king signed the deed but figur...

 The Frog, the Bee, and the Bird, who Killed the Elephant The story began in the same format as all of Nakhshabi's others. Where Khojisteh and the parrot are talking and then the parrot goes into a story. In this instance, Khojisteh is wanting to leave to go meet her lover, and the parrot says that he will help unite them. However, Khojisteh does not know how the parrot would do so, so in response the parrot tells a story of how three small animals took down an elephant. His point being, if those three can accomplish their 'impossible' task, then why can the parrot and Khojisteh not do the same? The story the parrot told began with a bird that had recently laid eggs in a tree. An elephant, unknowingly, brushed up against the tree and knocked down all of her eggs-killing them all. Understandably, the bird was distraught and wanted revenge on the elephant. After rounding up friends and venturing to see the wise frog for a plan, the bird, bee, and frog were prepared to take do...

 The Old Lion and the Cat      This article immediately caught my eye because the title mentions animals. However, when I first started reading I was confused why it started off with talking about people. I then realized this was a 'story inside of a story'. The main idea is that there is a parrot that lives with Khojisteh, and gives her advice about different situations. Khojisteh noticed the parrot was deep in thought and asks him what he was thinking about. The parrot responded how he was thinking about Khojisteh and her husband and how she might repent her actions. He then began to tell her a story of a mouse and a cat. That is where the title comes from. In this story, an old desert lion would get shreds of meat stuck in between his teeth. Mice then would scurry up to him when he slept, and eat the pieces of meat out of his teeth. This caused the lion's rest to become disturbed and not sleep well. A friend of the lion, a fox, said that he should 'hire' a cat to...

 The Fairy Frog From the title I did not know what to expect from this story. However, as I started reading I really enjoyed the story. It started with a son, named Hanina, going home because of news his parents were sick. His parents, on their deathbed, gave a request for their son to obey following their death. He was to wait seven days after their death then go into the local market and buy the first thing presented to him- no matter the cost or burden. He agreed to obey their request and after their death, he mourned them for seven days and then on the eighth he went into town for the market. An old man approached him and told him to buy his product for 1,000 gold pieces. The cost was so high, basically everything he owned and he was not allowed to even know what the man was selling him. Agreeing to the purchase, the man told him not to open the product until the feast later on. Once the feast came and Hanina and his wife finally opened the product and were disappointed when a ...

The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog Having seen many "quarrels" between cats and dogs, this story intrigued me. In my experiences, dogs have always been interested in cats and have tried to be friendly, while cats are the ones that swat and hiss the dogs away. Before reading this story, I predicted that the cat would be the villain and the dog would be the good character. I was surprised when the story began as the cats and dogs originating as friends, having an inseperable bond. However, when winter came and food was scarce, it was the cat that decided the two should part ways. The dog tried to resist the separation, however the cat was not going to change her opinion. On top of splitting ways, the cat insisted that they never cross paths again- as it was 'bad business'. Reluctantly, the dog agreed and went on his way into the cold wild. The cat found her way straight to Adam's house where she caught mice for him and ended up getting fat. The dog was not so lucky. He ...

 The Fish Who Helped Saint Gudwall From the title of this story, I was anticipating some sort of event that put Saint Gudwall in danger and a fish that would come and save him. It turns out that is basically what happens. Two men find a new place to live near the sea, secluded from the rest of society. The men lived in peace watching the sea every day. However, one day a storm came and the men's home was no longer safe because the harsh waves were given access to it. This part of the story was the most interesting to me because it depicted the sea as a living creature, describing it as having a rage and being cruel. The men were finally able to escape the sea, but were stranded with no one in sight to help. However, the fish noticed the men's helplessness and acted together to save them. So, each fish carried a single grain of sand until they had build a barrier in the sea blocking the harsh waves from the men. The barrier would last through every season so the men could live i...

Saint Kentigern and the Robin: From reading the title, I thought that the robin would play a larger role in the story than it did. However, from reading the story I quickly realized that the focus of the story was not on the robin, but what it represented. This story is about a group of boys who are constantly trying to find a way to get the favorite boy, Kentigern, in trouble. Kentigern is kind, smart, and obedient. Despite all the boy's attempts, they are never able to succeed in their mission of getting Kentigern in trouble. In their last attempt, they decided to kill Saint Servan's robin and blame the death on Kentigern. Saint Servan believes that it was Kentigern that had done the terrible deed, until Kentigern revives the bird by praying to God. The boys are then exposed at the culprits and are punished for their actions. This story reveals how kindness and honesty prevails and how evil deeds will be caught and punished in the end. If I were to re-tell this story, I would...

 Reading Notes: Fables [The Lion's Share  by Heighway ] The Lion's Share The Lion's Share was an interesting read due to, in my opinion, the setup of the story. The lion and three others go on a hunt where they successful kill a stag for food. One would think that since there were four of them, the rewards should be split four ways. It seems that is what happening at first, with the lion telling the others to cut the stag into fours. However, once it comes time for dividing up the stag, the lion announces that he will be taking all portions for four different reasons: being the king of beasts, being the arbiter, participating in the chase, and his intimidation factor. The fox responds by saying that the Lion shares the labors, but not the rewards. The character of the lion in this story is one that is selfish and entitled. He gladly will accept help when it comes to difficult tasks (such as the hunt), but uses his power and reputation to secure the rewards all for himself....

UnTextbook Tentative Plan Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3: Cupid and Psyche Week 4: Saints and Animals Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: Ancient Egypt Week 6: Tales of a Parrot Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7: Japanese Mythology  Week 9: Nigeria Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10: Tejas Week 11: Marriage Tales Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: Celtic Tales Week 13: Canterbury Tales Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14: Librivox Week 15: Russian Interests Looking through all the options, I was overwhelmed with the variety and amount of interesting stories available. I am definitely very excited to read these stories. The stories that caught my eye the most were about animals. I am a big animal lover and really enjoy reading about them. Other stories I picked li...