Mythology and Folklore

(Eyes Crazy Funny from  Pixabay ) Author's Note: For this story, I chose to recreate the Italian tale of the Man, the Serpent, and the Snake. They key elements of the story are still there, but in this case I chose to replace the characters in the story with humans, and place it in modern day Britain. This gives the story, in my opinion, a more humanistic feel (obviously, I mean, it's with humans instead of animals). The characters of the horse and greyhound are portrayed a little differently though. One key term that is good to know is "bobby". In this case it is not a name, but rather a term that is used in the UK for a police officer sometimes. One day, a businessman was on his morning walk to work. As he strolled by the coffee shop he frequented, he noticed a Crook chained to a nearby lamp post. "Oi, mate, help me out o' this jam wouldja?" The crook asked the man. "Absolutely not you dimwit," the man started, "If

(Cat and Mouse from  PublicDomanPictures )  For this set of reading notes in the Italian section, I decided to look at the story of The Cat and the Mouse. The reason I chose this story is that it is very... odd, to say the least. I think I don't fully understand it. For me, most ambiguous stories seem to have an end that has some metaphor or something like that, and perhaps there is one that I am missing. But with this story, it sort of just felt like things dragged on and on for too long, and then just sort of stopped. Maybe the underlying theme is something to do with gossip? How things get around? I'm really not sure to be honest. I think that as far as my notes go with this story, I think it's going to be more of a "what not to do" for me. I think I should refrain from dragging out my stories or having short, abrupt endings that don't really make much sense for the readers without some explanation.  Bibliography: The Cat and the Mouse, from

(Northern-Watersnake-2-Returning-to-Rock from  Wikimedia Commons ) For part A of this week's reading notes, I chose to focus in on the story of the Man, the Serpent, and the Fox. I chose this story specifically because of the characterization within it. In the story there are two figures that represent cunning typically in stories: the fox and the serpent. Both are known in folklore to be personified as witty. Here we see a serpent trick a man into freeing him so that he may eat the man. They go ask a few different people whether the serpent should be allowed to. Two characters say yes: the greyhound and the horse. Both believe they are to die because of man, so both perhaps hold a grudge towards man for this. The greyhound believes those who do good will find evil, so it is simply the man's fate. The horse believes he is wronged for aging, so he thinks the man should die because he was wronged by man. These grudges are not directly mentioned, but seem to be implied th

(The Riddler from  Wikimedia Commons ) Author's Note: Inspired by the section we have had this week based on riddles, verbal puzzles, and paradoxes, I chose to spend some time coming up with a few riddles of my own to share with everyone. I have always enjoyed riddles and brain teasers, so it makes me happy to share a few of my own on here. At the bottom I'll list the answers in order so that people can see if they're right or not! --- I am one, we are two, As I move, so do you. In the light, by my side, In the dark, run and hide. What are we? --- What a bore, what a bore That loudness that's in store Positively agitating Could even drown out a war Restful? Hah, please! It sounds like angry bees! Buzzing away the night and day My mind is not at ease! What is the riddle about? --- Deep, deep, deep A sign of restful sleep Deep, deep, deep After counting sheep Deep, deep, deep A body well at ease Deep

(Hark Hark (Marks's Nursery Rhymes) from  Wikimedia Commons ) This week I chose to read the Nursery Rhymes unit, and chose to spend a good chunk of time mulling over the riddles and paradoxes sections. I chose to be specific on this section because riddles stimulate creative thought. I was hoping to take this reading and stimulate my creative side with it. There were several instances in the riddles section where I was stumped and had to look at the answer to figure out what it was looking for, such as the walnut riddle. There were also a few times in the paradoxes section where I had to read over the passage again, to make sure I understood it correctly, especially the "I WOULD if I cou'd" paradox. I think that these types of writing are very stimulating to the mind, and could possibly include some riddles of my own in my future writing.  Bibliography: The Nursery Rhyme Book, edited by Andrew Lang, from  UnTextbook

(OOAK Ken Doll re-root from Flickr ) Author's Note: For this story I chose to take the story "Creation of Man" from Catherine Berry Judson's book. In the story, all the animals come together to decide how to best create man, but they all want man in their own image. They start to create their own renditions of man, but all fall asleep before they finish. While they sleep, the wise Coyote destroys their renditions and finishes his own, creating the image of man. For my story, I chose to retell it in the form of a toy company arguing how to create the next best-selling male doll. I shortened the story a bit to avoid too much repetition, but may extend later on. For this StoryLab I chose to take the advice of one of my classmates and adjust punctuation in a few places to make the writing flow a little better. "We need a new male-styled doll, one that's gonna rock kids all over the world," President Coy said.  His advisers and designers g