Mythology and Folklore

(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...

(Dragon Face from  PublicDomainPictures ) For these reading notes I chose to focus on the dragon's characteristics as a monster to potentially use in some of my stories. I really enjoyed the description of the dragon, as it gave me a good feel for how the creature was meant to look. Below I've listed the description of the dragon and marked specific parts of it. "Over ten ells in length it measured from the proud head to the poisoned tail-tip, and its vast body was covered with scales of brass as big as plates and thicker, each, than three fingers*. Its forefeet were armed with six-inch claws of razor edge and helped support a head so large and terrible that Beowulf marveled for a moment at the size. Its eyes were of green fire, its wide nostrils belched red flame and steam*, and the immense jaws dripped livid ooze as they snapped in hideous savagery*. So great was the issuing heat that Beowulf held up his shield, else he would have perished upon the spot....

(Chris Hemsworth by Gage Skidmore from  Wikimedia Commons )   For this section of reading notes over the story of Beowulf, I chose to take the Hollywood casting option. The potential candidates and explanations I lined up for Beowulf are as follows: Chris Hemsworth. Chris Hemsworth for me just sort of looks the part. On top of that, he has experience in playing mythological characters that are very gruff and strong. 2004 Brad Pitt, or more specifically, "Troy" Brad Pitt. This one actually has a more characteristic explanation. In my opinion, Brad Pitt's performance in "Troy" was outstanding, and I think he represents the quality of acting needed to portray such a character. Bibliography: Strafford Riggs, The Story of Beowulf, from  UnTextbook