MYTHOLOGY & FOLKLORE BLOG, SPRING 2021

 Important things to remember: Supernatural Stories Witches at the Cross The witches lived lively in other places, but they liked climbing up and down the cross by the Road to Mala Cerma Joe Hilma heard this and took his horse see He took chalk and made a circle around himself, then he saw the witches coming He removed himself from the circle and they began to come after him They chased him on his horse for a long way They finally could not catch him, so one of the witches through a burning broom at him and it burned the door next to him He had seen enough of the witches The Witch and the Horseshoes There was a farmer's wife, and she was a witch There was a feast every Eve, and when they burned the brooms the witch had to go She anointed herself with ointment and flew  A farmhand saw this, and took the ointment after her and flew too She turned herself into a white horse to allude him, but he saw her trick He mounted the horse and took it to the smith, and told the smith to sh...

 Important things to remember: The Three Roses A mother had 3 daughters, and she was going into town to the market 2 of the daughters demanded a lot of things, but the third daughter said she did not need anything except for 3 roses She went to the market and bought as much as she could, carrying it all home at nightfall However, she got lost in the dark and found her way to a palace She came upon a large garden, with pretty roses that not even a painter could mirror A beast (basilisk) was guarding the roses, and said she could take 3 roses in exchange for her daughter The beast threatened to tear her to pieces, so the mother agreed to exchange her daughter for the roses she picked She returned home and gave the roses to her daughter, and told her they were expensive so the daughter had to go to the castle to pay for them She took her daughter to the castle and she loved it there The beast told the daughter she had to stay there and nurse him for three hours a day, and she did for ...

 Important things to remember: The Witch Girl A horseman road into a village and asked if he could stay the night, which he was answered with "If you don't fear death" He then saw many people crying and he asked why, they said that death comes around at night and if it looks on your house you will be in a coffin the next day The horseman stayed awake that night, and right at midnight the window opened and a witch dressed in all white came in She snuck towards him and he surprised her and cut her arm off She fled and he hid her arm in his cloak and went to sleep The next morning the villagers were so excited to see no one had died One of the villagers was saddened, because her daughter had become ill in the night and lost her arm The horseman showed the arm of the witch he had cut off, and the girl was ordered to be drowned The Warlock  A man with 3 sons was about to die, so he told his 3 daughter-in-laws that the first 3 nights after his death one of them would have to lo...

 Main characters: Non-continuous stories Important things to remember: The Dead Mother A husband and wife lived happily in a village and everyone envied them The wife bore a son but right after she died The husband hired an old woman to take care of the baby, but it would not eat or drink it would just cry The lady decided to stay up all night and see if anything was wrong with the baby Three straight nights she heard someone come in and check on the baby, and so finally she brought out a light and saw the dead mother in all the clothes she was buried in The dead mother rushed out quickly, and the old woman found the baby was dead now too Friday  A lady did not pay reverence to Mother Friday, and spun flax until she fell into a deep sleep Mother Friday came in and stuffed her eyes with dust while she slept, and the lady woke up unable to see and in distress She begged for Mother Friday to forgive her and fix her When she fell back asleep, Mother Friday came back during the nig...

Main characters: Alice The Hatter Secondary characters: March Hare Dormouse Important things to remember: A Mad Tea-Party Alice sat at a big table with the March Hare, the Hatter and a Dormouse They fought for a long while, about if Alice was invited to the table, about the time and butter, about Alice's hair The Dormouse was asleep during all this Continued The Hatter poured hot tea on the Dormouse to wake him The Hatter asked Alice if she had solved the riddle, which she or the hare had not He went on to say he did not know the answer to the riddle as well They went on bickering about time and the queen, then got bored and made the Dormouse tell a story End The Dormouse continued with the story, but it was a confusing story about a well The Dormouse fell asleep again and the Hatter had to pinch him to wake him up to continue the story The Hatter told Alice not to talk, so she got up because she was sick of the tea party She left, went back to the table with the key, ate a mushroo...

 Main Characters: Alice Secondary Characters: The Rabbit Important things to remember: Down the Rabbit Hole Alice was bored sitting by her sister reading a boring book She saw a rabbit with a coat and watch, she was confused and followed it down a hole She fell for a long time, she thought she fell to the center of the earth or through the earth completely She kept talking to herself and was glad no one heard her because she sounded silly Continued She kept falling, continuing to think and talk to herself She missed her cat and fell asleep dreaming of her cat when she finally got to the end and fell into a pile of sticks and dried leaves She looked up and it was all dark above her, but she saw the rabbit hurrying around a corner again, talking to himself about how late it was getting She followed the rabbit around the corner and found a long hall lit up by lamps, filled with locked doors She found a key on a table that only fit in to unlock a small door behind a curtain She could n...

 Main characters: Different Dogs, as the stories are not continuous Important things to remember: Dogs The Hungry Dogs The dogs had a plan to get a lot of food The dove into the tide and tried to drink all the water to expose the food This ended in their demise  The Dog, Treasure and Vulture A dog found treasure when digging up bones He stood over and watched the gold, through hunger and finally died A vulture came and said it is good, and the real riches were in his head The Old Dog and the Huntsman The dog and the huntsman had hunted together for many years One day the dog went after a boar, but when trying to bite his ear his teeth were decaying and he was old The huntsman saw the dog return unsuccessful and reminisced on the times when they were both young The Old Dog and the Huntsman, via  source Aesop's Fables "Dogs" , via http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/aesops-fables-dogs.html

Main Characters: Differing because the stories are unrelated Important things to remember: Fables about People - short fables The Wolf and the Shepard's Boy A Shepard boy yelled to the people a wolf was coming, but when they came the wolf was not there Next time the Shepard boy yelled a wolf was coming, no one came and the wolf ate all his sheep The Man and the Goose A man had a goose who laid eggs of pure gold He cut the goose open looking for gold, and found none Socrates and his friends A man was building a house, and someone asked why it was so small He replies that it is small, but probably too big because people will show up there A boy who would not learn his book A book in school was told to say the first vowel He would not, and when asked not he said that he is resolved and knew he would have to say more if he said the first The Boy who cried wolf, via  source Aesop's Fables, via http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/aesops-fables-people.html

 Main characters: Aioswe The Son Secondary characters: The Walrus The Mother People and animals of the forest Important things to remember: The Jealous Father A man named Aioswe had 2 wives, and found marks one one of his wives and he assumed his son was intimate with his unnatural mother He took his son to an island to hunt for eggs, but then paddled off and left him confused and alone A Walrus found the sad son crying and agreed to take him back to the mainland on his back The Walrus told the son to warn him if he heard thunder, and the boy agreed, but lied when thunder came and said it was not thunder More thunder came on the ride and the Walrus dropped the son in the water, which was now shallow, but lightning killed the Walrus The lightning was conjured by Aioswe  On shore, an old woman sent by the son's mother told him of the dangers he would encounter headed home, and gave him a winter coat to protect him The Jealous Father Part 2 On his journey home, the son came acros...

 Main characters: Unnatural Uncle The Boy Secondary characters: The Wife of Unnatural Uncle The Parents of the Boy The Eagle People Important things to remember: The Jealous Uncle Unnatural Uncle would kill his nephews once they would reach a couple years old, he did this to two nephews The wife of the Unnatural Uncle told him the next born was a girl when it was actual a boy, so he agreed to let the "girl" live This child grew up dressing and playing with girls, but the Unnatural Uncle always noticed the boyish figure The Uncle realized he was a boy, and took him to the woods to search for wood He trapped the boy in between logs and left him there, but the sour cranberry in the boys pocket was so sour the logs opened up The boy brought wood by the Uncle's house, and the Uncle vowed to kill him The Jealous Uncle Part 2 The Uncle took the boy to search for eggs and ducks, and pushed him into a trap The Uncle left him for dead, but did not know the boy had eagle-down in his...

 Main Characters: Rabbit Tashka and Walo The Sun and Moon Secondary Characters: Other animals, due to non-continuous stories Important things to remember: Two More Rabbit Stories Rabbit and Panther Rabbit was very boastful, and wanted to be a medicine man He set up shop on top of a hill, made a path to the hill and gave a shot to his wife He began to boast about how fast he was and sang if a panther came he could run away fast A panther heard his boasting, and hid by the path, and sprung on the rabbit when he came by and before the boastful rabbit could speak he was eaten by the panther Rabbit and Bear Rabbit had his friend Bear over to his brier patch and fed him cane to eat Bear had Rabbit to his tree dwelling to eat next, and fed Rabbit black bugs Rabbit made a comment about the quality of the food, so Bear said he would kill Rabbit Once Rabbit escaped, he told Bear that whenever the dogs hunted him, he would lead them to the home of the Bear so they would shoot Bear Why Deer Ne...

 Main Characters: A god figure in many different forms Manabush Secondary Characters: People and animals of the earth Important things to remember: The Earth-Maker The Earth-Maker was sad there was nothing, so he created a piece of earth from what he was sitting on, then creating grass and a man named Tortoise Tortoise made war on earth, so he took him back and sent a Hare instead Creation The Creator of All Things had no eyes but could see all, and he created earth underwater with fish first A crawfish brought up the mud to make land, and man was created Man was created before woman, giving man tobacco The Creator gave them bows and arrows, taught them to make fire and to honor bones The animals were smarter than man and gave them council The Great Flood A new world was made when Manabush balled the earth and tossed it into the water In the new world, many men went as animals to the Sky-World and came back with many new gifts from above The Origin of Tobacco and Maple Sugar Tobacc...

 Main Characters: Brer Rabbit Brer Fox Secondary Characters: Brer Buzzard Brer Bear Important things to remember: Old Mr. Rabbit, He's a Good Fisherman Brer Rabbit got in the bucket of a well to take a nap, and fell down in to the bottom of the well in the bucket Brer Fox saw this and assumed it was purposeful, and that Brer Rabbit had money stored down there Brer Fox went over and yelled down to him, and Brer Rabbit told him he was fishing Brer Rabbit convinced Brer Fox to join him, and when he hopped in the opposite bucket, Brer Fox's larger weight pulled Brer Rabbit back up Mr. Rabbit Meets His Match Again Brer Rabbit and Brer Buzzard counted their crops together, and found Brer Buzzard had none They made a plan to raid another gold mine, but things took a turn and Brer Buzzard was going to leave Brer Rabbit behind Brer Rabbit promised that he had another gold mine back home and that he would divide it with Brer Buzzard if he flew him back Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear Brer Fox fi...

 Main Characters: Brer Rabbit Brer Fox Secondary Characters: Miss Rabbit and the chilluns Mr. Wolf Important things to remember: The Calamus Root This whole story is written in very broken/old English Brer Fox had always tried to eat Brer Rabbit, but they decided to make up and be friends and have dinner together at Brer Rabbit's house Brer Fox claimed to be sick and said Brer Rabbit should come over instead Brer Rabbit went over but was unsettled and left to get a calamus root to season the chicken they were to eat When he left he saw that Brer Fox was not actually sick and was faking to try to lure him in The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story Brer Fox devised a plan to trap Brer Rabbit, and created a tar baby and placed it in the road When Brer Rabbit came by he tried to talk to the tar baby but it did not talk back He punched the tar baby for being disrespectful and then got stuck to it Brer Fox came out of the bushes laughing, and said they would have dinner together How Mr. Rabbit was ...

Main Characters: The Stone Ape/ Sun Wu Kung The Discerner/The Master Secondary Characters: Other apes The wood-chopper The master's disciples Important things to remember:  Handsome King of the Apes Mountain of Flower and Fruits, great rock, magically burst and a stone ape was hatched The stone ape was able to hop through the waterfall and found an iron bridge, and was crowned king of the apes, and he remained untroubled for 300 years The Great Sea The king of apes was saddened one day when he thought of death, so he went out in search of those who are except from deaths power - Buddha, the blessed spirits and the gods He found his way across the sea to Asia, where he stayed hoping to learn more, and acting as a human But he found all the people only cared about money and honor, not life, so he went out again to the sea after 9 years in Asia Sun Wu Kung Gets His Name The ape came upon a wood-chopper when he reached land, who was singing a divine song The ape thought he was divine b...

 Main Characters: Sindbad the Sailor Secondary Characters: King Mihrage Roc Other sailors/merchants/captains Great beasts such as giants, snakes and eagles Important things to remember:  First Voyage Stories told in first person Sindbad sold his riches to join merchants at sea The merchants stopped and traded at islands, but weather forced them to stop on a random island However, this island was actually the back of a sleeping whale Sindbad was flung out to see while holding onto a piece of wood, and finally came upon another island He met one of the grooms of the King of the Island and went to a cave and ate  King Mihrage made Sindbad at home, but soon Sindbad went to find other merchants After learning more about the island and sailing, he returned to find his old ship at the port The captain did not recognize him but soon after did and gave him all his stuff Sindbad gave it as gifts to the King and the King returned the favor with many gifts Second Voyage Sindbad wante...

 Main characters: Odysseus The Cyclops Circe Secondary characters: Odysseus' men Hermes Important things to remember: The Land of the Cyclopes  Odysseus and his men came upon the island of the Cyclopes'  The land was good but the conditions were bad, but the Nymphs guided the goats towards them and they had plenty to eat Prisoners of the Cyclopes Odysseus took 12 of his best men out to explore the island They came upon the cave of a cyclops, and ate some of his cheese, lit a burnt offering and waited for him to return so they could reason with him The Cyclops returned and trapped them, eating 2 of the men The Cyclops Defeated The Cyclops ate 2 more men, then left for the day, leaving the crew trapped in the cave Odysseus made the men cast lots to determine who would try to blind the Cyclops with him When the Cyclops returned, he seized 2 more men to eat when Odysseus went to him and offered him wine they got from Ismarus Odysseus told the Cyclops his name was "Nobody"...

 Main characters: Noah God Secondary characters: Shem, Ham and Japheth The wives and other family of Noah Methuselah The fallen angels Important things to remember: The Ark (Genesis) Noah was 500 years old at the time of this Man was corrupt in the eyes of God, but Noah found favor with God Noah did not just randomly assemble this idea, God established a covenant with him and gave him a guideline on how to create the Ark The Flood (Genesis) Everyone just remembers how Noah got the animals "two by two", but he was also told to get seven of the clean beasts The flood did not occur until Noah was 600 years old, it took a long time to complete building the Ark The rain lasted for seven days, flood lasted 40 days, and the waters prevailed for 150 days After the Flood (Genesis) After about a year on the Ark, Noah sent out doves to see if the water had gone down enough Once, off the Ark, Noah sacrificed every clean beast as an offering to God Noah's Sons (Genesis) God establishe...

 This reading was a good opening story to go with because it shows the importance of personification in some stories: - this story allowing any animals and object to talk opened up more clarity to the situation - repetition, native jargon, and expressive adjectives are good in writing as needed - any character, no matter when introduced can have immense importance - giving the audience a clear protagonist, antagonist, and hero helps capture the audience, as I was sitting here reading and rooting for the Brahman and happy that he had a hero in the jackal  - backstory is not always needed, if the story has a good hook - the clear outline of this story was an individual helping another, getting betrayed by whom he helped, then having an outside party make it all right again The Tiger, the Brahman and the Jackal  illustrated by John D. Batten Source:  Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912)   Tricksters: Tiger, Brahman, and Ja...

Choose from  CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units  for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3: Noah and the Ark Week 4: Homer's Odyssey  Choose from  MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units  for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: Ancient Egypt Week 6: Sinbad Choose from  ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units  for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7: The Monkey King Week 9: Brer Rabbit Choose from  NATIVE AMERICAN units  for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10: Mississippi/Great Lakes Week 11:Hero Tales Choose from  BRITISH and/or CELTIC units  for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: Aesop's Fables Week 13: Beowulf Choose from  EUROPEAN units  for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14: Inferno Week 15: Czech I decided to start off the first 2 weeks with 2 stories I am very familiar with. I wanted to use these stories as a way to ease into these assignments, getting my grounding from stories I already know. However, this will also give me a chance to dive back into these stories and maybe pi...