Week 15: Writing for Myth Folklore

Because I had taken the Indian Epics class last semester, I was familiar with the set up for this class. I knew what to expect out of the assignments, but I was surprised that this class required a little more writing, although I was completely fine with that. In Indian Epics, we were required to take quizzes over the reading we did. Instead, for Myth Folklore, we are able to create a Reading Diary to take notes about the stories we were reading for each unit. I think I liked this option better because the Reading Diary helped me substantially on the Storytelling for each week. I can't think of one time when I did not refer to my Reading Diary when writing my Storytelling. The Reading Diary allowed me to look back and remember what I read the day or two days before. I chose to create a Storybook for this class which I really enjoyed doing. I love the idea of creating our own stories from original stories. I love seeing everyone's creativity, and it allowed me to try to use idea from my classmates. Maybe one suggestion for storybook comments would be to require every comment to include a suggestion for how the student could better their Storybook. A lot of people comment was great encouragement, but I noticed few students gave suggestions on how to make the story better. Some students may be uncomfortable with telling someone that they should fix something, but I think constructive criticism is a good thing.

Week 15: Reading for Myth Folklore

What I really enjoyed most about this class in relation to the readings was how much control we had on what we were going to read. I love that we are given options, very good options at that. I think the amount of choices we had to pick from each week was great. I also like that the readings were separated by two weeks. The two week separations based on the area that these stories originated from allowed for us to be able to relate our reading for those two weeks. I think we were given a good amount of information about each unit, which helped in deciding which unit to read. Of course, I think a more lengthier introduction for each unit would be nice, but I do not think it is that necessary. The only unit I did not really enjoy reading was the Celtic Fairy Tale unit, but honestly it was not that bad. I just did not enjoy it as much as I enjoyed the others that I read. Half way through the semester I decided to try to pick units that had the audio available with the unit. I liked choosing this option because it helped me to better comprehend the stories I was reading. My advice for future students would be to look through the stories for each unit and pick units that are closely related. I think picking units that are similar makes the readings more enjoyable.

Week 12 Essay: Celtic Fairy Tales

The unit I read this week was called Celtic Fairy Tales. I did not think it was completely horrible, I just did not enjoy it as much as I enjoyed other units. I did enjoy reading the story about King O'Toole and his goose. It was sort of strange in the beginning, but I grew to like it towards the end. A man with a pet goose is a little weird, but I liked the basic message behind the story. St. Kavin in the story kind of reminded me of God in a way. It seemed like St. Kavin just came to test the king and make sure he would keep his word. In return, he blessed the king. It was a happy ending for the king and goose, so I really liked it! It was probably my favorite story out of the whole unit and that is the story I decided to use for my retelling. I am not sure if any background information is necessary because other people might enjoy this reading more than I did. If I could go back, I probably would have read a different unit because I just realized that this unit was the last one I have to read for this semester. I am a little sad to end my readings on a unit I did not enjoy that much, but oh well. I did like that it was a very easy read. Some of the units can be hard to understand, but the language of these stories were very simply. It was also nice to be able to listen to the audio while reading along yourself. At least, that has proven to be something I enjoy about some of the units. I hope other people enjoy this unit more than I did.

Thumbs Down

Source: Wikimedia

Week 12 Storytelling: A Man's Best Friend

German Shepherd

Source: Flickr

There once lived a man named Kenny O'Toole, but most people from his town referred to him as Ole Man Toole. He was a happy man, until he lost his whole family to a tragic accident. The only surviving member of his family after the passing of his beloved wife, Margaret, and their two children, Ben and Katie, was their loyal German Shepherd, Buddy. Immediately after the death of Ole Man Toole's family, he become sort of a recluse. That was, until something miraculous happened. No one's sure how such a thing could happen, but it did!

You see, Buddy became Ole Man Toole's best friend. Of course, they were already close before the passing of his family, but after that, Buddy never left his side. They did absolutely everything together. With no family to take care of, Toole lacked the desire to work, and so he and Buddy spent their days in the forest. They fished and hunted and camped and hiked and all that fun stuff. I guess you could say he did all those things to keep his mind of the death of his family. And with Buddy always by his side, he never needed anyone else.

As all things do, Buddy grew old, as did Ole Man Toole. It saddened Toole to know that one day soon his faithful pup would pass just like his family and leave him all alone, until the day everything changed. Ole Man Toole was trotting through the forest with Buddy, trotting slowly of course because Buddy wasn't able to move as quickly as he could before.

"Oh hi there! May I do you a favor?" said the strange man Toole had never seen in the woods before.

"Umm, sure."

"Excellent. I would love to restore you dog here to his youthful self!"

"You can do that? Oh yes, please do. I'll give you anything you want!"

"Anything, huh? How about everything you own?"

"Done!"

"Are you sure? You're not going to go back on your word?"

"Promise. Cross my heart and hope to die." Toole didn't have to think twice about this decision. Buddy was the only thing he had left in this world. He could care less about possessions.

With the wave of his hand, the strange man brought Buddy back to his energetic and playful self again.

"Oh thank you so much! Here are the keys to my house. I could never thank you enough."

"No need sir. I was merely testing you. Thank you for staying true to your word. You will be blessed." And with that, the strange man disappeared, and Buddy lived until the death of his beloved owner, Ole Man Toole.

Author's Note: The story I used for this retelling is called King O'Toole and His Goose. In the original story King O'Toole has a pet goose. The king and his goose grow old which saddens the king. He runs into an unknown man, who turns out to be St. Kavin, the greatest of saints, who offers to make the goose young again. The king promises everything he owns to have his goose restored back to its youth. After the restoration of his goose, he offers his possessions to St. Kavin who denies them and tells the king he was only testing him. He blesses the king and his goose for his truthfulness to his word. I decided to make my story about an old man who lost his family. I changed the goose into a dog because that seemed more fitting as a pet.

Bibliography:
Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892). Source: Myth Folklore Un-Textbook

Week 12 Reading Diary: Celtic Fairy Tales

Celtic Fairy Tales

After doing the first half of the reading, I think one of my favorite stories from this unit so far is The Horned Women. I think the reason I like it is because it was so strange. Here is some lady who has women with horns growing out of their heads walking into her home uninvited and making themselves comfortable. Not only that, he demand the lady make them a cake, and when she tries and fails to fetch water to mix the cake with, she is told by a voice from the well to utter a sentence that sends the witches back to where they came from. The voice also tells her to protect her home from the witches because they will try to return. It turns out the witches made cake with the blood of the lady's children so one of the things the lady does to break the enchantment the witches had over her and her family was to put of piece of the cake in each sleeping family member's mouth. The witches try and try to get back into the house but are unable to do so. This was such a strange story but I enjoyed it.

My favorite story from the second half of this unit was King O'Toole and His Goose. At first, I was a little unsure of how I felt about the story, but towards the end, I really liked it. St. Kavin sort of reminded me of God in this story. The king was unaware that the man he was talking to that offered to make his goose just like new again was the greatest of saints. Although he did not know the identity of the man, he still stayed true to his word offering his land in exchange for the restoration of his beloved goose. It turns out the saint was simply testing the king. Because of his truthfulness, the king and his goose were blessed for the rest of their lives.

Week 11 Essay: Welsh Fairy Tales

I really enjoyed the readings for this unit. I felt like many of the stories had good messages behind them. My favorite story I read this week was The Story of John O'Groats. I think I liked this story such much because it had a happy ending. I do not have children of my own, so I can only imagine what it's like to have a child who is walking down a path of destruction and no matter what you do, you can't change them. I like that even though the son in this story may have caused strife with his father because of his irresponsible spending and relations with harlets, the father still loved his son. He loved him so much, and expected that he would spend all of his inheritance after his father passed, so he stored up money for his son to live off of when he spent everything else. He knew he could not just give it to his son because he would end up spending all of that too. Instead, he did something that I would describe as tough love. Some might read this story and think the father's plan was a little cruel, but I believe that was the only way to make the son change his ways. He left a note for his son explaining he should hang himself and end his misery. The son was so upset about losing everything that he attempted to do so with the noose his father left. The father did not attach the noose to anything, so the son did not die. He did however learn his learn, got married, and never gambled again. What a great story! I would encourage everyone to read this unit, especially this specific story.

Welsh Fairy Tales

Source: The Public Domain Review

Week 11 Storytelling: The Plan

Noose

Source: Black America Web

Babes and beer. That's all he cares about. He carries on with his life without a care in the world. If I don't do something now, that wayward son of mine will spend all of his inheritance after I pass, and then what will he do? Things sure would be different if his mother was still around. God rest her sweet soul. After his momma passed, he's never been the same.

I've got an idea! I'll have my worker build me a hut, and this is where I'll store up some gold for my son as security just in case (and I'm sure he will) he spends everything he owns and is left to be a beggar the rest of his life. Not my son! But it can't be that easy. If he knows this back up gold is here, he will never spend it wisely. I must think of a way to give it to him without actually "giving" it to him. Maybe teach him a lesson.

I figured out the best plan! Here's what I'll do: I'll give my son a key to the hut and tell him to go there when he has spent everything. Knowing him, he won't think twice about the hut (he hated that place), and he'll probably lose the key anyways. When he arrives at the hut (without the key) he will have to fight his way in. Once he's in, he'll see the noose I have set up. He'll then notice a piece of paper nailed to the door from yours truly stating "You've spent it all. Fulfill your father's wish and end your misery." Of course, at this point, because he will be so upset about losing everything, he will probably attempt to hang himself.

I know what you're thinking. Cruel father, right? Well, that's what he gets. I love my son very much, and if you knew him, you'd understand this is the only way to force him to leave his old life and become a responsible human being. Anyways, after he falls to the ground and realizes he's not dead (the noose wasn't attached to anything), he will find the hidden gold, and hopefully he will realize his foolishness and finally do what I could only have wished of him when I was still alive. GROW UP.

The End.

Author's Note:
This storytelling is from my favorite story this week called The Story of John O'Groats. It's a story about a lord who passes and leaves everything to his prodigal son. As predicted by his father, the son spends all his inheritence and is forced to give up his estate to the factor. He goes to the hut his father built and attempts to hang himself because of a letter found written by his father. After his attempt, he realizes the father only did this is teach him a lesson, and he finds the hidden gold from his father. I decided to tell this story from the point of view of the father. Hope you guys like it!

Bibliography:
Welsh Fairy-Tales and Other Stories by Peter H. Emerson (1894). Source: Myth Folklore Book