Reading Notes:Italian Popular Tales Part B

The second portion of the reading for Italian Fairy Tales was less intriguing overall, with one story in particular sticking out in my memory. An Incident in Rome again involves religion and the mysterious ways that it can operate within our own world. While the tale was more mysterious rather mischievous like the previous day, it still had me wondering how the tale would end and capture my attention. However, for my personal writing style I believe the story from the prior day concerning the Devil and his marriages to three sisters is the most appropriate for me. A story of outwitting the Devil provides ample routes for creativity, while still retaining the core source material.

Bibliography: Italian Popular Tales, Thomas Frederick Crane 

Image Information: The source of creative writing 

Source: Flickr   

Reading Notes: Italian Popular Tales Part A

Reading a fairy tale with one of the main characters being the devil certainly was an intriguing option and one that I had been hesitant to read up to this point in the semester. With this being the last week to complete a reading assignment it meant it was now or never for me to finally read a story where the devil plays a part. I will admit when choosing this section I had no intention of focusing on How the Devil Married Three Sisters, but the name alone was too alluring to dismiss. Naturally a story that concerns the devil would not be complete without this entity participating in form of deception against a mere mortal of our world. Reading this story I cannot help but wonder, how awful these parents were to allow this man to marry not one, not two, but three of their daughters one after the other with the previous wife missing under strange circumstances. The story ends with a surprising twist whereas the three sisters turn the tide against the devil and effectively drive him back into hell. This story could be modernized easily, and would translate well into a modern setting. 

Bibliography: Italian Popular Tales, Thomas Frederick Crane (1885) 

Image Information: Devil's Hole 

Source: Flickr  

Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman) Part B

The stories from today were all new to me and it certainly was interesting to be introduced to some of the lesser known Brothers Grimm tales. These did not grab my attention in quite the same way as the more famous tales that I have grown up hearing and visualizing. Due to my unfamiliarity with the stories no specific one jumped out and grabbed my attention quite like the previous day did with the story of Rumplestiltskins. Because of this general lack of excitement over the source material on my end it was an easy decision to base my story this week around the tale I am most familiar with, rather than venturing into unknown territory in search of fresh material to use. I know this is the simple way out of my situation, but I also believe it provides me the greatest opportunity for success on this given assignment. 

Bibliography: The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales, translated by D. L. Ashliman 

Image Information: A writer conducting research 

Source: Pexels  

Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman) Part A

These reading notes assignments have become almost second nature to me after completing 12 weeks of this course, so I have narrowed down the process in determining what information will be beneficial to me concerning my story post for the week. The Brothers Grimm fairy tales are relatively familiar to a majority of Americans, whether they realize this simple fact or not. Disney has been bringing this classic tales to the theatre screen for decades now and it has left a lasting impact on western culture in general. The story I chose to read for today was one that I was familiar with from my childhood, Rumpelstiltskin. This will more than likely be the basis for my writing this week as it is a story that has stuck with me as I have grown up over the years. Hopefully my writing this week will do justice to the original work created by the Brothers Grimm.

Brothers Grimm statue in Hanau, Germany 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography: The Grimm Brothers'Children's and Household Tales, translated by D. L. Ashliman  

Reading Notes: Robin Hood Part A

Robin Hood. A classic tale that has been rewritten countless times to where it is becoming harder to determine which of the stories is the original, and where the imitations began. This telling was presented in a poetry format, divided into four line sections. This is an interesting style to me, as it is one of the few times aside from high school literature classes that I have been exposed to poetry of any form at all. The stories of Robin Hood are wonderful examples of classical literature set during medieval England. However these stories have been told in more ways than I could possibly ever count, so I had an epiphany, why not transfer the core characteristics that make the Robin Hood stories so beloved into a modern age. The core characters can remain, as can the manner in which the come to know one another, simply adjusted for the modern day. Or I can always tell a traditional Robin Hood tale in an unusual style than is traditionally found. Both options have wonderful potential, with tomorrow's reading determining where I will inevitably take my tale.

Bibliography: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads, Robin Hood, Francis James Childs(1882-1898)

Photo: The statue of Robin Hood in Nottingham Castle, England.

Source: Flickr 

Reading Notes: King Arthur Part B

The final section for the stories of King Arthur and his knights has Arthur dying in combat. Should this be the end of his adventures and thus the end of his legend? While it is a fine way to bring his mythos to an end, the courageous warrior dying on the field of battle, I do believe there is more that can still be told by capitalizing on the mythos that has been created with the Arthur Legend. I would not be starting with a fresh slate, rather one that has simply just been through the first round of revisions. Arthur has already lead a venture in search of the Holy Grail, so this campaign is out of the question. Perhaps he leads his knights on an expedition into Scandinavia, to root out the Viking hoards that have been invading mainland Europe in search of gold and treasures, who have now set their sites on the British Isles. The proper and righteous King Arthur with his knights, fighting back the band of invading forces from overtaking his way of life and preventing further harm to his countryman, a proper addition to the every growing legend of King Arthur and his knights.

Photograph Info: King Arthur and his knights surrounding the round table 

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography:King Arthur Tales of the Round Table, Andrew Lang (1902)  

Reading Notes: King Arthur Part A

The stories of King Arthur and his knights are classic tales that almost any person growing up in the English world has heard at least once during their lifetime. The Authurian Legends are some of my favorite from my childhood and bring back fond memories of first seeing the stories depicted in animated form, then later on reading the stories myself for the first time during middle school.

The narrative of this portion of the Arthur legend presented no overwhelmingly new information for me to grasp, rather it added more detail to information that I was already familiar with. I see no reason in retelling the events of how Arthur came to be King of Britain, when this is already a story that is known all too well by many Westerners, rather I intend to create a new adventure for Arthur and his knights to embark upon. Will the story be focused on a crusade to the Middle East or perhaps an invasion of Normandy? As of now I am unsure of the direction I will take with my narrative, but I am sure after another session of reading my decision will be made for me. 

Photo Information: A classical depiction of King Arthur

Source: Wikimedia Commons

Bibliography: King Arthur Tales of the Round Table, Andrew Lang  

Reading Notes: Great Plains Part B

The classic image of the Plains' Indian hunting a buffalo 

source: Wikipedia

 A trend that I have noticed during our time spent these past two weeks reading Native American stories is that there is a great reliance on tales with a rabbit being the main character. Stories concerning a rabbit as the main animal character have been a trend during the course of the semester, showing the importance the animal retains in cultures both here at home and abroad. The reading today really cemented that I do not want to write another story based around a rabbit whatsoever and that I will instead focus on the Ponca story from Monday explaining how they came to be in possession of horses and learn the skill of riding. This presents an opportunity for creativity and expanding upon an already interesting tale. 

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains, Katharine Berry Judson (1913) 

Reading Notes: Great Plains Part A

The tribal flag for the Ponca Nation of Oklahoma 

source: Wikimedia Commons 

The selection of a story from this tribe was a simple no brainer for me since it is the namesake of my hometown, Ponca City, Oklahoma. The story is simple and to the point of describing how the Ponca tribe came to be in the possession of horses. Trying to imagine the site of seeing a horse for the first time in person would be intimidating no doubt, even more so with a screaming adversary atop its back thundering toward you with the intent to kill you. The disruption of the encounters between the Comanche is interesting, the author calls the Comanche"terrible fighters, but I am curious if this means deadly or unskilled. I originally leaned to this meaning unskilled due to the description of their crude bow and arrows, however if they were so unskilled then how could they continue to fight the Ponca Nation so furiously and consistently? I think it would be interesting to provide greater detail as to how the war was fought or how long it may have happened. Even further background information could be provided to describe how the Comanche came to acquire the horses and learn to ride them with such a high level of skill.   

Bibliography: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains:Tradition of the Finding of Horses, Katharine Berry Judson (1913)   

Reading Notes: Myths of the Cherokees Part B

The creator of the Cherokee Alphabet, Sequoyah 

source: Wikimedia Commons

I chose this specific image for the simple reason that we may not have these stories present for our reading today if it were not for this man here, Sequoyah. He created the alphabet that would allow for the Cherokees to track their history and stories in a more permanent form, compared to the prior practice of maintaining history through oratory purposes. Yes, these stories may have still made it to the present day, however they may not have arrived with the amount of detail that is found currently. The story that truly resonated with me from the second part of the reading was The Terrapin's Escape from the Wolves. A story of overcoming adversity and working toward a goal is nothing new to this course. This classic tale is one that can easily be reprimanded and used for my own creative purposes in creating a more modern take on a traditional story. There will still be aspects noticeable from the original story in my modern retelling, withholding the lessons intended to be passed along by the Cherokee Nation's elders. 

Bibliography: Myths of the Cherokees, James Mooney (1909)     

Reading Notes: Myths of the Cherokees Part A

The Cherokee Nation like many other tribal nations from the North American continent has its own specific stories pertaining to the world's creation and a variety of different topics. Animals play a central role in the storytelling process, being presented as humanoid in nature concerning their ability to speak and operate in a normal society similar to our own. The stories in the first half of this reading are surprisingly similar to the initial creation story of Christianity, with further cultural explanations for how the tribe came to be introduced to sunlight, fire, weather, and other features of nature itself that would affect members of the tribe on a daily basis. Focusing on a retelling of the discovery of fire would be an interesting story approach that does not lead me to trying to present a new story concerning the creation of the world, according to this specific tribe. The discovery of fire could potentially be made by a young tribe member who goes onto to become a chieftain in the nation, or may even be on the road to redemption when he or she discover the tool that would make the ultimate difference in the lives of their tribal members. 

Bibliography: Myths of the Cherokees, James Mooney  

Image: The Great Seal of the Cherokee Nation, source: Wikimedia Commons 

Reading Notes:Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria Part B

Benjamin Franklin as he is working on a piece of literature

source: Wikipedia

Finishing the final series of short stories has given me the direction I wish to take this week's planning period down. These folk tales provide a greater connection to this african nation and hopefully I am able to convey this message with my story writing for the week. Presenting a folktale that is able to convey a cultural message to an audience that is largely unfamiliar with the nation will be no easy task certainly. Now will story be longer than 500 words? No, but the minimum word count will be reached by writing five separate stories with minimum lengths of 100 words, with the maximum limited to the 200 words. This will meet the minimum requirement, while also guaranteeing the stories will come in under the maximum number allowed.  

Bibliography: Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria, collected by Elphinstone Dayrell 

Reading Notes: Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria Part A

Map delineating the northern and southern regions of Nigeria 

source: Wikimedia Commons

This reading was a collection of different traditional stories from the river delta region in the southern region of the country. The stories were collected by a British colonial official named Elphinstone Dayrell who resided in Ikom, near the Niger River Delta. The stories are similar to other local folktales of differing nations where the message is intended to educate the reader on situation, provide a lesson, or simply produce a form of entertainment for the reader. The collection offers stories focusing on kings, animals, common folk, and mysterious events that become central to the culture of the region. A retelling of these stories is likely with possibly a different message being conveyed to the reader, or a similar one with greater detail than the original offered. 

Bibliography: Folk Stories From Southern Nigeria, collected by Elphinstone Dayrell   

Reading Notes: Jamaica Anansi Stories Part A

Reading a series of short stories is nothing new in this course or in the area of culture's individual folk stories that are passed down through the generations. Constructing a story around the misadventures of a scheming and mischievous animal would allow for creativity to be brought to the forefront. Constructing a series of smaller more direct tales would allow for different stories to take place in a variety of different ways, with a wide range of characters being present in the story telling phase. Do I tell a series of smaller stories that are all intertwined in one way or another? Or do I instead approach it as a series of short stories, each with the intention of teaching a lesson to the reader in the end?

writing sunset, Rome, Italy

source: flickr

Bibliography:Jamaica Anansi Stories  

Reading Notes: The Voyages of Sinbad Part B

Finishing the final readings on the stories pertaining to his 5th through 7th voyages provided more ideas for further development of a story. For my story post this week I plan to take a more creative approach to a Sinbad story with bits being borrowed from the tales of Aladdin and more modern Hollywood films set in the Middle East. Inspiration will also be drawn from turn of the 20th century British explorers who made their way through the desert in search of lost items of antiquity.

A lone man wandering through the Sahara Desert

source: Wikipedia 

I plan to send Sinbad on a journey through the desert with a small contingency of individuals helping him along the way as he searches for a lost item that will be determined at a later. With the previous stories being told in a first person perspective, perhaps I could tell the story through diary entries that Sinbad keeps during the march through the desert. The diary perspective will allow for a more detailed story and for greater insight into the thoughts of Sinbad during this difficult adventure as he undertakes the challenge of uncovering the lost item of antiquity. 

Bibliography: The Voyages of Sinbad     

Reading Notes: The Voyages of Sinbad Part A

Reading a story presented in a first-person style concerning the dramatic adventures of an individual is making their way around the known world. Sinbad is an intriguing character in classical literature and presents ample opportunity to begin weaving a new adventure for him on the high seas or potentially crossing a dangerous desert to obtain a rare item at the end of his quest. Sinbad is an interesting in his own tales, going forth with one of my own with him as the main protagonist could be interesting and far more entertaining to complete compared to attempting to create a creationism story that was possible this week when reading the mythos of ancient Egypt. So far my stories for the course have been presented in the third person perspective, with no dialogue, and straight to the point with limited insight into the mindset of the characters that the story revolves around. The first person perspective would provide a new challenge and one that would allow for me to bring more insight into the thoughts of my main character's mental state. Plus with the similarities of this story to that of Homer's Odyssey, a previous reading of mine, there are already ideas for a story beginning to form.  

(Sinbad the Sailor, The Enchanted Island 1894)

(source: flickr) 

Bibliography: The Voyages of Sinbad   

Reading Notes: Egyptian Myth and Legend Part B

(Great Sphinx of Giza and the pyramid of Khafre)

(source: WikiMedia Commons) 

The second portion of my readings focused more on stories that in the end search to teach the audience a lesson that can be utilized in their lives in a variety of different ways. The possibility of writing a story with this form of direction is much more enticing compared to constructing a series of gods who would represent different aspects of an individual's life that is deemed of high importance. Creating a story around two brothers potentially going on an adventure or struggling through a specific issue would allow for a wide variety of creativity to be used in a more comfortable manner than a creationism story. Writing a story with the intent of sharing a lesson with the audience would provide a quality opportunity to input dialogue into my story, a first for myself and a writing style that would test my abilities and stretch my comfort zone to new levels of challenging myself as a creative writer overall. If I do decide to not write my story using the basis of Homer's Odyssey than undoubtedly telling a story of two brothers, with a lesson being learned by the reader as the end result of the narrative experience would be my go to option from this section. 

Bibliography: Egyptian Myth and Legend, David Mackenzie (1907), http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/egypt-two-brothers-part-one.html 

Reading Notes: Egyptian Myth and Legend Part A

(Ra the Egyptian god of the sun and kings)

(source: WikiMedia Commons)

With the first two weeks subject matter being fairly familiar to me from previous experiences it definitely was far more difficult to begin choosing where to start my reading for the week. Ancient Egypt was the subject matter that most caught my attention; mostly due to the Brendan Fraser series of Mummy films and my roommate’s recommendation on the story, he is Egyptian himself. I do find it uncomfortable to consider writing a story centered on a pagan religion and retelling a story in a manner that is presentable for the time period of the writings. Using the multiple gods or creating new ones with similar positions in the universe for the reader to interpret seems to be something that is not quite suitable for my form of writing or comfort either. As I read more into the post it becomes clear this is a background in history focused on the meanings and purposes each god serves. If I were to write a new story using a similar method of a variety of different main characters it is likely my storytelling would come across more in the way of a comedy. I could use each character as a quasi retelling of the pagan god it originates from, with a setting in a similar Middle Eastern nation like Egypt, or even possibly a setting in another desert area such as Nevada here in the states. After introducing and providing the background of the characters the story could then shift to a more narrative driven, with each new story being told focusing on a different one of the main gods or characters from the narrative universe.

Bibliography: Egyptian Myth and Legend, Donald Mackenzie (1907), http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/egypt-creation.html