Mythology and Folklore

In the heavens far from our known galaxy, there lived a very lazy celestial being. He found it too tiresome to try to create anything new, unlike his neighbors who kept themselves busy forming new galaxies and expanding the boundaries of the universe. He preferred to remain among his wasteland, where other creators tossed their defective and broken pieces of sun, moon, and stars. One day as he was lounging around, he asked a passerby to toss some food in his mouth, as he hungered but could not bring himself to move a single limb in search of food. With a wry smirk, the passerby approached, but instead of food, he poured a handful of stardsust into the lazy man's mouth. Eyes closed and tasting this, the lazy man new he had been fooled and with a heave, he hefted himself up enough to grab a nearby star and hurl it at the passerby. The traveler just laughed as the star hurled into the depths of space, but the star travelled with purpose, gaining energy and becoming brilliant as it spe...

I liked Part B's reading more because of how mischevious some of the stories were. One had an interesting prose of "One woman in deceit and craft is more than a match for eight men" and proceeded to describe how one woman had played a handful of dudes to building houses for her and then sold them as slaves and pocketed the money. Unlike the first unit, there were a number of deceitful people who lived profitably by cheating others, but they're written in such an entertaining way that you don't see them as a bad person. Perhaps because it was always a woman or a young boy doing the deceiving, someone who didn't have a lot of their own. It stuck a chord on how beneficial cleverness is, imbeciles who have a lot are nothing in competition next to someone witty. I also particularly liked  The Lazy Beggar , who had nothing and yet ended up with everything. The ending really stuck in my mind: "when a poor man does nothing, he is called a lazy beggar, but when a ...

I have really enjoyed reading about Laos   folklore so far during this week. I actually began reading the Japanese unit, but the writing style was a bit more difficult to follow, and all the gods are much more other-wordly compared to the spirits in Laos mythology. What I really enjoy about it so far is that the everything feels very grounded to earth, versus other Asian mythology when the spirits and whatnot are very celestial. Also, nothing is too heavy or "end of the world" centered, but instead Laos folklore deals a lot with problems in daily life and quirky stories that explain how certain things in the world are, or how they should be. A favorite of mine is The Spirit Guarded Cave   which addressed colonialism. That was also one reason I chose a South-East Asian unit rather than East Asian, which more people are familiar with. SEA faced a lot more issues from European settlers. This inspired me to a broader range of issues in my own storybook, white supremacy being one ...

This week, I read Chapter 2 of Empoword, a writing resource for college students. It was a great crash course of sorts for the basic elements of composing a story or narative, with thorough outlines on how to keep the plot moving, sequence, pacing, scope, and reflection. I found the refresher on point of view especially helpful, since I am planning on writing my storybook from a third person limited point of view (from little Egan's perspective!). What I really want to try incorporating are the examples given that illustrate proper characterization and flow. I really worry about writing a boring narrative that sounds like the same old story people have read before. This website gave tips on how to include more and specific details that help the reader share the vision that the writer is trying to create. It is much more effective to talk about the unique traits of each character, understanding that the reader will imply the rest (obvious traits), and make them memorable. Characte...

The conclusion of Twenty-Two Goblins was really satisfying; it turns out the goblin was rooting for the success of the king all along and was testing him to slay the fake monk. This reading followed the same pattern as Part A, stand alone riddles that the king must solve. What I really liked about the ending was that the king did not know the answer to the final riddle, but he stayed silent which showed his character. To this, the goblin found him worthy of the power the rogue monk was trying to get. I like the lesson a lot: knowledge without character, and vice-versa, is weak. The translation is very easy to read and flows  seamlessly. The writing style does not take any attention away from what is happening in the plot, which makes it all the more easy to follow and understand. I think this kind of writing is very necessary for a story that largely consists of riddles. The imagery in the ending, describing the monk's ritual, was super creepy and effective. It was also very straig...

This week's reading is very similar to The Tales of a Parrot that I read last week. It consists of individually standing chapters that are riddles which a king must solve. I love these kids of stories because I am engaged and am trying to figure out the riddle myself. What I love about Twenty-Two Goblins  is the characters in each riddle are usually quite one-dimesional. The pretty damsels are prettier than Greek Godesses, enough to woo any man that sees them. The wise men are completely wise, the brave men can slay any enemy, the loyal are loyal regardless of the situation. Because of these characteristics, their actions truly do speak louder than any words and reveal their character wholly. I used to not like characters written this way, but as a plot element it is really effective. It allows the king to make the correct deductions every time, which shows his thoughtfulness and logic. I think writing using this straightforwardness for characters can be really impactful for my own...

Deep in the jungle lived a mighty lion. In his old age, while he found that his claws and muscles still served him, his teeth were weary. After a meal, bits of meat would remain and during his slumber, mice would scurry about feasting on these scraps. This greatly disturbed the lion's sleep, and despite his best efforts, they persisted. He tried scaring them with his mighty roar, but the mice's brain were too small to remember this scare for any long amount of time, and after a few minutes they returned to him. The lion tried snapping them up to intimidate them, but the dumb mice seemed to not know any distinction between the flesh of the lion's prey and the flesh of their own. After many restless nights, the lion consulted his advisors. "In your kindom," stated a fox, "there are a number of cats, one who is especially skilled in chasing away mice. Perhaps the mice see you as far too omnipotent to comprehend as a threat, but a cat is their natural predator....

I read this entire reading in one go, that is how entertaining it was! I am sad to say that the second half did not intrigue me as much as the first half; there are only so many ways to retell the same message, and after twenty stories, I was losing interest in the style. The ENDING though was what really blew me away. Throughout the reading, Khojisteh never actually went to her lover. The parrot had kept her from departing with his stories, and many of them implied that the wife would be okay as long as she remained loyal to her husband. But it turns out the parrot was out for revenge all along. It was the wife that got fooled in the end. All his precautions were true, but it does not dissuade the fact that emotionally, the wife had already cheated on her husband. Emotional sin, even without action, is sin nonetheless. The parrot was distraught that Khojisteh killed the sharuk, his beloved companion, and this whole while was repressing his feelings and scheming to get back at her. Thi...

Tales of a Parrot have been so entertaining to read so far! I'm not bored at all and am thoroughly enjoying each one. One reason is because the chapters can stand individually; although there is an overarching plot, the individual stories can stand alone (kind of like Law&Order SVU or other crime show). Another thing I really like is that each chapter has a moral , but not each are directly related to the wife's conflict of loyalty and fidelity. The parrot uses strong irony  to make a point. His stories often end with one of the characters ending in misfortune and learning a lesson as a result of his or her foolish actions. There is always one person who is fooled (like Chunder not knowing the Arab slept with her sister). One thing is ringing true through all of them: nothing good comes from betraying friendship . Not listening to your friends' advice is fatal (but cheating on your spouse is permissible it seems, although it inconveniences others). Also, I am pretty ent...

Welcome to the comment wall for my Storybook project ! Please feel free to leave any and all feedback, suggestions, ideas, likes, dislikes, funny jokes, puns... Camping Hedgehog; source: Azuki  

This week, I opted out of doing a story retelling in pursuit of something more stimulating like superheroes and vampires. Lucky for me, the Writers Write  have both! This website has a bunch of useful tips and guidelines on how to achieve a certain type of story or perspective. The first article I read initially tempted me because it said it had a 10 step formula for writing a love tragedy, perfect for Valentine's day next week (which I have never and will never partake in because it is a consumerist holiday meant to take money from people trying to buy affection). It basically spit out the plot of Twilight mixed with Romeo and Juliet , so that was fun. From there, I went on to learn from a man we all know and love, the creator of the MCU. Stan Lee himself (RIP) gave six steps for superhero writing , and these are super useful for this class I think. One that stuck out to me was "write what you love to read". I sadly judge a book or writing rather quickly; if the writin...

Content wise, part B of this reading was not as interesting to me as part A. Like the first half of the reading, it was very much focused on the human wandering and willingly offering themselves to suffering. In each story I read, the human faced trials with nature , which the animals helped them with. One thing that I found really interesting was that while some saints chose to wander for a long time or a very difficult location to call home, others would have fine houses and cloaks. The differences in practice were very interesting; Saint Francis would barely eat and would not even touch money, but Saint Ailbe had a princess as an adopted mother and lived comfortably. Still, each one was described as having a very pure soul and morally upright in every way. Another thing that was interesting is that these stories defy normal scientific fiendings, like Saint Ailbe being rescued from the wolf pack but being able to grow up like a normal person. As a person of science, this is the b...

This unit was really fun to read; the language was very easy to understand and all the stories were very straightfoward. There was no really overarching moral.  Saints and Animals  was just that, a recounting of famous saints and their legends which involve animals. There was a mutual understanding that the saints were completely good . Because of this simple fact, it made it much easier to believe that they could control animals the way they could. I would love to also include animals in my storytelling, but perhaps not in this way. In each of the four tales discussed in Part A of this reading, the saints commanded the animals. To be fair, they were doing it for the greater good of the people, and the animals were more than willing to do what needed to be done. I think I like more friction and deeper relationships and communication  between the animals and humans. Rather than being completely good , I think it is more realistic for people to be inherently good or evil , ...

I really liked reading the article How to Give Feedback Without Sounding Like a Jerk   by Adam Grant because it gave tips on a more practical ways to give feedback without beating around the bush with unnecessary praise. No one likes being a "feedback sandwhich", where the meat of the criticism is given in between two slices of praise. Instead, there needs to be equal communication, and Grant identifies the ways to do his are: expalin why you're giving feedback, take yourself off the pedestal, ask if the person wants feedback, and having a transparent not manipulative dialogue. This is great, especially for college kids. I think too often we are overly considerate of the other person's feelings, which can come across putting their emotions over their intelligence. Being deliberate about feedback and letting the person know it comes from a place of support, not criticism, is most effective in delivering ways to improve.  The second article I read came from Parents m...

This week, I chose to focus on doing more research on Aesop’s Fables. I have wanted to do my a project over them from the beginning, and I personally think the highest quality writing I can do will be over multiple short stories as opposed to a longer project. Following this, I want each one to have a specific moral that (hopefully) the reader can take something away from. I read a lot of his stories over the week and have stuck with a few that I would be interested in developing more. One that I originally read was The Belly and the Limbs . Essentially, individual parts of the body stop functioning in rebellion against the stomach, but all starve to death in the end. I like this fable because it can be applied to so many organizations whose teamwork is essential for the success of the whole. What I thought of most was how politics function; I know so many people that do not educate themselves or vote on important issues even though could only work to hurt them in the end. Jus...