Chinese Fairy Tales: Reading Diary A

Twin Dragons, Luck

• To choose a husband, the child of ill luck threw a ball of red silk.
• She basically chose the beggar and royally pissed her father off
• He was gone for 18 years?  Wayyyyy too long.  At least she had the mother to help her.
• Her death seemed totally pointless.
• The dad wants to leave his daughters to the wolves for eating his eggs?  Harsh
• What on earth was the moral of that story?
• Is the tale of the panther supposed to be like little red riding hood?
• A lot of these remind me of tales that I know
• The dog and cat fight because of the ring, but what about the mouse?
• Interesting that there were originally supposed to be 10 suns.
• Mothers seem particularly important
• There is more than one tale about the reason for having only one sun?
• The cassia tree is more beautiful than the moon
• I wonder what the connection between horses and silkworms is
• What is the importance of white horses?
• The farmer does not seem too generous
• Though the farmer was not willing to share one pear, the bonze was willing to share all of his pears.
• Why did he cut down the tree?  That seems like a lot of work for a tree that he just grew
• Tiny knights.  Very interesting
• The ants were rude to the scholar and the scholar smoked them out.  Nice

Essay: Unheroic Hero

Enoshima

The tale of Yamato really stuck out as being very male-centric.  Many times, it is the women who are doing huge deeds, yet they tend to get little to no credit for their efforts.  Yamato is seemingly the hero of the tale, but it seems that the women are the ones that have most of the qualities and virtues that would be desirable.  Often, he seems foolish and rash.  In fact, the tale refers to him as reckless.  Not only that, but almost as soon as the story starts, it calls Yamato “fickle.”  For a tale that is supposedly about his heroic deeds, it oddly admits his shortcomings.  Though the tale admits this, it still overlooks the women continuously.  

The siren, for example, uses her mind to best the “hero.”  Of course, she gets no credit for this.  The siren in the story actually tricks Yamato.  Though she is most definitely an antagonist, it is completely skimmed over that she outsmarted him in a sense.  Her cleverness is never mentioned.  Instead, it is mentioned the Yamato finally realizes that she has been using him. It is almost as if he is getting credit for being duped.  

Even more so than the siren, there is Tacibana.  She is so extremely devoted to Yamato, yet he treats her horrible, once again demonstrating how much a hero he is not.  The three most commonly used words in regard to Tacibana are devoted, faithful, and brave.  Somehow, though, Yamato seems to be the one labeled a hero and the one to get most of the glory.  She saves Yamato numerous times until she finally dies for him, sacrificing her life for his.  It is not until the end of the tale that he starts to respect her and treat her right.  Unfortunately though, it was too late.

The tale of Yamato from the Japanese Mythology unit

Storytelling: Devoted

Empress Jinju Goes to War

My husband was a great warrior and adventurer in his time.  In fact, he is still revered throughout all of Japan.  He was not, however, a good husband.  I have had centuries upon centuries to think about my life.  The only real regret that I have is that I was so devoted to that jerk.  I was so devoted to him that I died to save him.  What a waste.  In the moment, I didn’t think about all the crap he had put me through.  All I thought was, “oh no, I can’t let my husband die!”  It was really stupid of me. 

The fool had been cheating on me with a siren.  Not only that, but the siren was only using him and he never suspected a thing!  The creature put him through many trials.  First off, there was this boar.  Then there was this evil deer thing.  I mean, really, having an evil deer as one of your great trials?  Come on, that’s pathetic.  There was even this great fire that almost killed him.  Not only that, but his own horses almost trampled him to death as well.  If it wasn’t for my dumb butt saving him and all his men, he would have been dead meat.  To make matters worse, I received extreme burns while saving him from the fire.  Did I get even a small thanks?  No!  Instead, he told me that I was hideous and he told me to stay hidden away until my burns healed and my scorched hair grew back.  Screw him. 

Somehow, he got the Goddess of Love and Mercy to help him on his journeys too.  I’ll never understand that one.  The man didn’t know the first thing about love.  Soon, he realized the siren had fooled him.  As soon as he figured it out, he just had to go and confront her.  The creature wrapped him up and almost drowned him.  She refused to give him up.  It was only through my devotion to him that he was saved.  I helped him and then got attacked by some dragon.  That definitely was not my day. 

After my husband woke up, he defeated the dragon.  Thankfully, things eventually settled down.  I thought, finally, that maybe things could get back on track and we could repair our relationship.  Nope.  He just had to go on one last adventure, then he swore that we would live in peace.  I should have known better.  I mean, history doesn’t lie.  So he went on his “final” adventure.  Turns out he was going to fight the siren’s dad.  Not only was it the dragon he thought he defeated, but he was the God of the Sea!  What a stupid idea it was to take on that type of creature!  The dragon almost killed him.  He would have died for sure if I hadn’t jumped in the water and sacrificed myself instead.  I was such an idiot.

Author’s note:  The story I focused on was the tale of Yamato.  While reading it, I was really irritated with how terrible Yamato was to his wife and how often she had to save him.  Despite that, he got all the glory and she was still crazy devoted to him.  I wanted to write my story about her realizing how terrible he actually was.  I made sure to include all the main points and adventures that Yamato goes through, because I think it was an important part of the story.  .

Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

Japanese Mythology: Reading Diary B

Illustration from the Romances of Old Japan

• “the fickle Yamato”  Interesting description of him
• ““Mortal, behold Benten, Goddess of Deathless Love,” sang the mermaid.”  The names of these gods and goddess are really interesting.  Is deathless love the same as undying love?
• “Suddenly she cast him from her: “To win my love thou must dare death,” she demanded imperiously.”  Does this play into her name, deathless love?
• I like how so much of this tale seems to be either songs or poetry
• I wonder why, of all birds, he asks the stork to help him?
• One of the labors is the demon boar
• “Here the chieftains welcomed Yamato with feigned hospitality, inviting his warriors to a deer-hunt upon the moor.”  Why was it feigned?
• Yamato kind of reminds me of Odysseus
• Yamato is a huge jerk to Tacibana
• Wait, Susa-no-wo is evil?
• The part with the siren kind of reminds me of Lanval.
• A demon deer?  That seems a little odd.  I’ve never heard of deer being anything other than gentle.
• He finally wants Tacibana?  Bleh
• Seriously, what is up with all the serpents?  It’s like every story I’ve read this far has had one.
• Tacibana is the one to save Yamato from the siren
• “Reckless Yamato, thou hast adventured upon my ever-verdant Sea Plain and defied my father, the God of Ocean. Therefore shalt thou perish, else another victim be granted me.”  I feel like reckless is a very accurate description of Yamato
• Tacibana died to save Yamato

Japanese Mythology (Reading Diary A)

Izanagi and Izanami at Taka-jinja Shrine

• “High in the uttermost realms of the limitless chaos above”
• Izanami is generous to mankind.  She gave them many things and knowledge
• “At the same time there fluttered downward from the heavenly firmament a night-blooming flower, which slowly unfolded its translucent petals and became the Moon.”  Such beautiful imagery. 
• Why is it bad for women to speak first?  And did he just randomly and at that moment decide to marry her?
• The eight islands of Japan came from the two
• Yamato
• Tsukushi
• Iyo
• Tsushima
• Ahaji
• Shikoku
• Oki
• Lado
• “To these she gave eternal dominion over the fairest of lands and bestowed upon them godlike powers: Wisdom, Valour and Craft, Justice, Mercy and Love.”  It is interesting that the text refers to these qualities as godlike powers
• Susa-no-wo wants a human to be his wife?
• Why did the daughter get turned into a comb?
• Interesting how there always seems to be a serpent in the origin stories
• He and his bride wed in the province of Izumo
• The pheasant seems to have an important job
• Apparently Amewaka has an evil heart?
•  “When thou givest this to thy brother spit thrice thereon and hand it to him with averted face saying, ‘‘Tis a hook of poverty, of ruin, and of downfall.”  That’s kind of what the older brother deserves for being so rude and cruel
• “If thy brother be wroth, bring forth the Jewel of the Flowing Tide, and the waters shall drown him. But if he craveth thy forgiveness do thou display the Jewel of the Ebbing Tide and the waters shall sudden recede and therewithal thou shalt save him.” Justice to the extreme

Thoughts About Comments

So far in the semester, I’ve gotten a lot of comments.  From my perspective, the comments on my storytelling posts have been particularly helpful.  More than anything, the comments that point of the highlights of my work and also point out what could be improved help a lot.  Those types of comments help me figure out what I’m doing right and help me keep moving in that direction.  I really like it whenever the comments get really specific as well.  If a comment is too broad, I can get the general sentiment, but I can’t really fix anything or I don’t know what to focus on.  These are all things that I try to keep in mind when writing my own comments for other people.  I try to pick out one or two things that really stick out to me and write about them.  To improve, I could be a little more specific.  

Essay: Twenty-Two Goblins

The story of the Twenty-Two Goblins operates on a very interesting plot twist.  The goblin, who originally seems to only be interested in causing the king mischief, is actually stalling the king in order to protect him.  Throughout the course of the story, the goblin seems to be the main source of conflict, especially within the frame story. In fact, it is through the constant trials that the goblin puts the king through that it becomes obvious that the king’s most prominent virtues are patience, determination, and perseverance. 

 The monk, who initially appears as a good person who is in need of the king’s help, is actually sending him on a quest to help the monk being a ruler.  It is not until the end of the story, when the goblin has told the king all of his riddle-like stories, that it is revealed the goblin is actually a force of good and the monk is a force for evil. 

Interestingly enough, the tales that the goblin uses as riddles seem to only further the virtues of the king in the frame story.  Though the king’s answer never seems satisfactory to the goblin, after each time the goblin returns to the tree the king still seems more and more virtuous than before.  Throughout the entire story, the goblin seems to be something of a trickster.  He often antagonizes the king, though it does nothing to break the king’s resolve.  To a reader, it becomes seemingly obvious that the goblin is the antagonist, or the “bad guy.”  In the end, however, the goblin reveals why he gives the king all those seemingly insignificant riddles and forces him to trek back to the tree in order to retrieve the body again.  It is because of the goblin’s cleverness that the king is able to defeat the monk and good wins.  It is the plot twist, that something that was perceived as bad was actually good, that makes the story.  

Twenty-Two Goblins

From the Twenty-Two Goblins unit of the UnTextbook

Storytelling: Dead Men Tell No Tales (Week 5)

Veta hanging in a tree by Harshad Dhavale.

I had barely been here more than a day or two before my body was disturbed.  As a spirit, I couldn’t physically feel it anymore, I could sense it.  I looked down from the heavens and watched as a man dressed in fine, ornate clothing struggled to climb back down the tree he was perched in.  Beneath the branches of the tree laid my body.  It was as crumpled as a pile of old laundry!  He must have just cut me down!  It was nearly shameful.

To add insult to injury, he threw me over his shoulder like it was nothing! Even worse than the man was the little goblin that decided to inhabit my body!  Didn’t he know that that belonged to someone?  Couldn’t they have just buried me like any respectable person would have?  Instead, they went on something of a journey.  The goblin talked incessantly.  How ridiculous.  It was rather strange watching the body that you identified as your own talking of its own accord.  Not only that, but he spoke only riddles!  At the end of each story, he would ask the man if he knew the correct answer.  The man seemed confident that he did know the answer several times.  He must have been wrong though, because each time he answered, the goblin would laugh and disappear back to the tree.  The finely dressed man would only shake his head and return to the tree.  He did this time and time again.

Watching the exchange became something of a game for me.  Each time I would guess how far the determined man would get before the goblin used his magic to return my body to its original position in the tree.  Each time the man would answer one of the goblins questions, poof!  I would be right back where I started, with the goblin still using me.  It was dreadful, but I had no choice but to become desensitized to it.  After all, there wasn’t much I could do about it from my place in the heavens. 

I couldn’t decide whether the man for determined or stupid.  Either way, he returned to the tree to cut me down and started back on his way.  I expected this to continue in an endless loop for the rest of eternity, but the goblin surprised me.  He told the man of some sort of monk.  This monk supposedly had planned on using the good, determined man as some sort of sacrifice and planned to become a ruler of some kind.  Not only that, but the goblin had used his magic and his riddles to delay the man (who actually was a king!) from returning to the monk and being killed.  Who knew that goblins had some good in them?  Then the goblin gave the king instructions on how to vanquish the wicked monk.  It was all very convoluted, especially for my tastes.

Finally though, the goblin left me then.  The king continued to carry me until we reached the monk’s lair.  I thought that the king would destroy the monk quickly, but that was not the case.  Instead, he allowed the monk to desecrate my body!  It was quite disrespectful, not to mention extremely perturbing!  Before I could truly process what had happened, the king had outsmarted the wicked monk and was being praised by all, including the stupid goblin!  Whatever, at least someone got something good out of the whole ordeal.  I supposed it didn’t matter too much.  After all, I was already dead.  I just wish the stupid goblin would have told the answers to a few of those riddles…

Bibliographic Information:

Twenty-Two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder, with illustrations by Perham W. Nahl (1917).

Author's Note: For my story, I used the tale of the Twenty-Two Goblins.  In the original, the reader sees more from the point of view of the king.  It also includes a lot more about the goblin and the monk.  Vishnu is also mentioned, though not as often as the others.  Each riddle is it's own section of the reading.  In my retelling, I chose to gloss over a lot of that and focus on the frame story or the main story.   I did this because I wanted to preserve the essence of the story.  I tweaked the story by creating a new character, the spirit of the man whose body the king has to bring to the monk.  When I first started writing, it seemed a little too heavy, so I tried to write it in a way that wasn't so dark.  In the end, I tried to use a little bit of humor and exaggeration to accomplish that.

Twenty-Two Goblins: Reading Diary B

The Girl and the Thief from the UnTextbook

• “The Brahman who died because Poison from a Snake in the Claws of a Hawk fell into a Dish of Foodgiven him by a Charitable Woman. Who is to blame for his death?”  That took me a second to wrap my head around
• What is the significance of the “swami” ending to a name
• “Nothing is impossible to the brave and determined man”  This seems to be the moral of the larger story.
• It is interesting that this story doesn’t revolve around getting a girl like most of the others do, though it does involve losing a girl
• Why did the king pretend to be a thief and then just leave?  Seems awfully anticlimactic
• “ He showed more than human valour.”  That seems like a rather odd thing for a thief to show
• “But the more he scolded, the more determined she became”  Determination
• When Shiva grants Pearl the boon, she makes relatively selfless wishes
• “he immediately slipped from the king's shoulder and escaped to his home. But the king was not discouraged” Persistent, isn’t he?
• Giving away your wife like that is rather creepy.  At least the king seems to understand that
• “No great man stops in the middle of the hardest undertaking.”
• All of the stories have multiple people that come together somehow.  Might be significant
• It seems like the stories are all interconnected.  I’m pretty sure that some of the names of people and places are repeated
• At first, it seemed like the magician was going to bring the boy back to life and be a hero.  Instead he basically stole his body and his old life
• “The king paid no attention to the terrible witch of night, clad in black darkness” where did the witch come from?
• Hmm.  It’s a tad odd that there are character’s whose names have the word lion in them considering the fact that every mention of lions up to this point has been negative
• So the goblin was actually helping the king?  Nice plot twist
• The king doesn’t seem too concerned about finding out the correct answer

Twenty-Two Goblins: Reading Diary A

The King and the Goblin from the UnTextbook

• The king seems to be awfully generous.
• Why does the goblin decide to tell the king a story
• “So they stayed there all three of them day and night, feasting on the beauty of her face”
• There seem to be a lot of stories with marriages as the central driving force
• Lots of mentions of the moon
• The names are really interesting.
• Spotless, the dad, is extremely comforting to his son, White
• ““People honour this goddess with all kinds of living sacrifices. Why should I not win her favour by sacrificing myself?" And he fetched a sword from a deserted inner room, cut off his own head, and let it fall on the floor.” Um, what?
• There seems to be a pattern of three
• The king is surprisingly devoted to bringing the goblin back
• “Discouragement never enters the brave heart of a resolute man.”
• This was the only tale that revolved around four people instead of three.  Interesting.
• The interest in the stars and the moon seem to be really significant, but I’m not sure why.  It seems to be associated with beauty and other good things though.
• “The very delicacy which is so great a virtue, is positively inconvenient”
• It seems like a running theme throughout all the stories that the values, virtues, or gifts actually become somewhat worthless in the grand scheme of things.

Storybook Website (Tech Tip Website)

Here is the link to my website for my Storybook!
The Secret Life of Titans

Essay: The Two Brothers

Set and Horus adoring Ramesses in the small temple at Abu Simbel

The tale of the two brothers is particularly interesting.  Part of the story operates on the love and loyalty that lies between the brothers.  The other part of the story operates on the converse; at the beginning, the older brother takes on the role of a paternal figure.  Though this is a pattern seen often enough, it is very much played up in the story.  The fact that that love between the two brothers is flipped almost instantaneously creates a very interesting contrast with the steadfast loyalty that appears toward the first part of the tale.  Another interesting aspect of the story is the loyalty that Bata displays toward his older brother.  No matter how angry and murderous Anpu becomes, Bata still cares for his brother.  In fact, he grants his brother complete forgiveness even after all the atrocities that he has attempted to commit against him. 

Once the bridge is gaped between the two brothers, the love that they had for each other is restored.  In fact, it is particularly ironic that the brother who once vehemently wanted to commit fratricide later mourns the loss of the brother he sought to kill.  It is interesting that there appears to be such love and loyalty between the brothers initially, but Anpu doubts his brother and believes the lies that his wife spreads.  It would seem that someone who has such a strong familial connection to their sibling would be more likely give them the benefit of the doubt. 

Fortunately for the brothers, Bata’s deaths do not signify the end for him.  In fact, Anpu helps Bata after he returns to life.  It is also interesting that the younger sibling seems to have a bigger purpose than the older brother.  Not only does Bata appear to be a harder worker, he also seems to be more generous and loyal than his older brother.

The Two Brothers (from the UnTextbook)

Storytelling: Brotherly Love (Week 4)

The Apis bull, photographed by Michael Holford

Ben watched the cattle grazing on the hill.  Most of the herd were cows, but there were a few horses and an ox.  The ox was his favorite.  It lounged lazily under the shade of the ancient sycamore tree.  Ben loved to watch the animals roam throughout the pasture.  There was nothing more peaceful.  Occasionally he wished that he owned the land himself, but he was honestly content working the land for his brother.  He even helped him with his work from time to time.  In fact, Ben was waiting for his brother to meet him at that moment.

He was standing against one of the fence posts when his brother walked up to him.  Andrew carried a post hole digger in one hand and a plastic bag in the other.

“Hey, bro.  Ready to rebuild some fence?”  He walked over and set the digger down on the ground.  “I brought some sandwiches.  Sally made ‘em.”

Andrew untied the plastic bag and dug around until he found one of the sandwiches. 

“Hey, will you run back to the house for me?  I forgot the water bottles.”

“Yeah, sure.”  Ben pulled off his gloves and dusted off his pants.  The house wasn’t too far, just over the hill a ways.  He walked in the door of his brother’s house not ten minutes later.  His sister-in-law sat at the kitchen table eating a bowl of cherries and reading a magazine.  When she heard him enter the room, she smiled.

“Did you get the sandwich I made you?  Egg salad is your favorite, right?”

“Oh, yeah, it is.  Thanks!”  He turned his attention to the refrigerator and opened it.  He grabbed a couple of bottles from one of the shelves and closed the door.

“Will you stay with me for a little while?”  Ben looked toward her from his place by the door.  She had a pouty look on her face and her shoulders slumped a bit.

“Are you okay?  I’ve gotta head back and fix the fence soon.”

Sally stood and walked slowly toward him, looking more feline than feminine.  She walked toward him until he was stuck between herself and the wall.  When she reached him, she reached out with her hand and touched his face. 

“Sal, what are you doing…?”

She kept leaning closer and closer until Ben finally had to grab her and hold her away from him.  It was then that Andrew walked in the house with the intention of finding out why his brother had not returned.  When he walked in, what he saw stopped him cold.  Sally was the first to react. 

“Andrew!  Make him let me go!  He’s hurting me!” 

Ben hands let go almost instantaneously.  Before he could tell his brother what really happened, he came at him swinging.  Ben tried to back away and tried to explain the truth, but his brother could not be reasoned with.  He was forced to run.  Andrew chased him all the way to the creek.  Ben was only able to escape by crossing the water and praying that his brother still had his fear of water.  Once on the other side of the water, his brother yelled curses at him.  Ben sat down on the bank of the creek and prayed.  That night, he walked to the neighbor’s house and slept there. 

Not long after Ben had crossed the creek, Andrew had returned home.  He wanted to believe that everything that had happened was not true, but he wasn’t sure what to believe.  He slept on the couch that night and dreamt.  His dreams were filled with memories of his brother.  He had several of them, but the last one was the most important.  In the dream, Andrew sat on the couch and watched the exchange between his brother and his wife.  He woke up sweating.  Though he had been confused when he had fallen asleep, nothing seemed clearer than his brother’s love and loyalty. 

It took him a few days to find his brother.  When he found him at the neighbor’s house, he begged for his forgiveness.  Ben looked at his older brother with the biggest smile and just nodded.  

Author's Note:

I chose to write about the tale of the two brother's because it really stuck out to me when I was reading about it.  I tweaked the story a little bit so that it was a modern retelling.  I did this because it is something that I could easily see played out today.  In fact, I'm sure that there a tons of pop cultures references to this kind of thing.  

Bibliographical Info:

The Two Brothers from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Ancient Egyptian Myths: Reading Diary B

Thoth on a sarcophagus

• Bata slept out with the cattle
• He could hear the thoughts of animals?
• Oxen were noble
• The situation between Bata and Anpu’s wife reminds me of a couple of stories from Arthurian legends, especially with Guinevere and some of his knights.
• Why is the panther such an angry animal?
• One brother tries to kill the other? Hmm, that awful familiar
• What is up with the theme of fish eating body parts?
• Bata provides a way for his brother to gain forgiveness
• Anpu’s wife is randomly killed after the confrontation between the brothers
• Why does Bata’s newly created wife have to die quickly?
• Anpu, who once was super eager to kill his brother, mourns him and is deeply anguished over his death
• The soul of Bata was in a seed and he came back to life when the seed was put in water
• Bata seems to always change form
• The younger brother, Bata, takes the thrown before the older brother.  That’s a bit strange
• What is the House of Life?
• A laughing priest seems really creepy.
• The Book of Thoth sounds incredibly powerful
• "Give me the royal barge, O my father, that I may go to the Southern Land with my wife Ahura and my son Merab. For the Book of Thoth I must and will have."  Why is he bringing the his family to search for this book?  He also sounds very greedy for knowledge
• Seriously, what is up with the angry panthers?

Ancient Egyptian Myths: Reading Diary A

Statuette of Osiris sitting, on display at the Louvre

• The world started as a great waste of water.  Interesting
• Ra came from Nu, but is greater than Nu
• Shu = wind god
• Seb = earth god
• Ra was the first king on earth
• He had a secret name
• Isis wasn’t crazy about the humans and really wanted to be equal with Ra
• Isis baked Ra’s saliva in with the earth?  It becomes a serpent
• “I am Khepera at dawn, Ra at high noon, and Tum at eventide.” Interesting repetition.
• Interesting that there is a serpent in another creation story.
• Even Ra, who is the mightiest of the Egyptian gods, turns to his parent (sort of) for advice
• Another mention of a great flood.
• Ra decides that he can’t live among the humans anymore and needs to live in heaven.
• Why are snakes and reptiles generally disliked in mythology?
• Ankh is the symbol of life
• Another river in the underworld
• Osiris basically takes Ra’s place as ruler of Egypt
• Isis was incredibly smart and wise
• Osiris was killed by his brother
• Scorpions were Isis’s protectors
• Anubis is kind of Isis’s stepson? I guess?
• Horus is Isis’s son
• Horus was killed by a scorpion for some reason, but brought back to life
• Horus lost an eye in the battle with Set, but Thoth healed both of the leaders
• After all the battles and war, the gods were the ones to decide who ruled Egypt
• Osiris become the Judge and the King of the Dead after Isis brought him back to life

Brainstorming Storybook Styles (Week 3)

Epimetheus by Peter Paul Rubens

Topic: My Storybook will be about the children of Clymene.  I was thinking of doing something like a family reunion or maybe like a day in the life of the separate children in modern times.  I would definitely include Prometheus, Atlas, Phaethon, and then maybe a story combining Epimetheus and Menoitios.  The story of Phaethon is one that I would pull from Ovid’s Metamorphoses.   With Prometheus, there is the obvious story about him stealing the fire, but I think I will focus on him being a champion for humanity and being subjected to his punishment.  For Atlas, I will go with the most famous story.  As punishment for being against the gods, he was to hold up the heavens.  Also, I want to include something about him being tricky.  The last two are a little bit harder to find stories about.  Menoitios was sent to the Underworld as punishment for siding with Atlas and the titans.  Epimetheus was supposed to help Prometheus full the earth.  He created the animals and married Pandora.

Bibliography:

The story of Phaethon:

Prometheus: 

Prometheus Theoi Page 

Atlas Theoi Page

Possible styles:

I think that I would like to tell the stories from the third person (omniscient) points of view of the children of Clymene.  I think that I will try to set it as if the characters are preparing for a family reunion.  It would give them their own individual stories and perspective while still focusing on the group as a whole.  I also think it would make for a really interesting story.  I am thinking that I would like to connect the stories with a frame-tale.  I think the frame would be something along the lines of all of the characters sitting down over dinner and then the individual stories would be them recalling their days. 

Another possibility would be to center the stories around Phaethon’s funeral and I could use that as the frame for the other stories.  This could be interesting, however it might be harder to tie in each individual story.

Another possible style would be Menoitios watching or hearing about his siblings from within the Underworld.  This version would be more of a storytelling than the others.  I could do this one from the first person point of view and have someone tell him about the happenings with the others.

                The last possibility would be for a frame-tale from the first person point of view of Clymene, looking down on the happenings of her children.  This would be fairly easy to do, however it would probably be less creative than the other options I’ve listed out above.

Extra Reading Diary: Ovid III

The Race by Noel Halle

• Eurydice was bitten by a snake
• “What, then, could she complain of, except that she had been loved?”  Interesting.  Even though Orpheus’ love made him turn back and kept her frommou coming back, it came from a good place.
• Apollo loved Hyacinthus, but he died.  Apollo mourned him greatly.
• Pygmalion thought most women were wicked.
• Venus’s admiration for Pygmalion was fair and she heard his prayer.  The statue came to life.
• His reaction to her coming to life is interesting
• Golding’s translation of Ovid was very much a cautionary tale, especially from a religious standpoint.  It is interesting to see that other translations have bits of that, which is shown in the story of Myrrha.
• “Cupid denies that his arrows hurt you, Myrrha, and clears his fires of blame for your crime”
• It is very obvious that Shakespeare was influenced by and pulled from Ovid.  Several of his plays come to mind when reading Ovid
• The whole story of Myrrha is creepy. 
• Interesting that she is still pregnant while she is a tree
• Adonis is her child
• It is interesting to see a woman being a competitor.
• Adonis didn’t think to thank Venus, even though it was not out of malice intent

Storytelling: World Aflame (Week 3)

Phaethon by Hendrick Goltzius

Gods and goddesses should never swear by the River Styx.  Never.  Especially when they don’t know exactly what they are promising.  One might be curious as to why I feel so strongly about this.  I shall tell you.  In all truthfulness, I had never given much thought toward the doings of the gods.  They were on Olympus.  They had their duties and lives, and I had mine.  I liked it that way and the gods didn’t seem to mind either.  Unfortunately, I was fated to bear witness to an extraordinary happening.

It is widely known that the gods and goddess are not often largely involved in the lives of their offspring, not in the way mortals are.  Some gods, however, do carry affection for their children and do try to show it in whatever manner they may.  Phoebus Apollo is one such god.  Clymene, the oceanid, bore him a son whose name was Phaethon.  When Phaethon’s parentage was questioned, he set out on a quest to prove his birth.  Upon his entrance to the palace of the Sun, his father knew him right away.  Though Apollo had been absent from his son’s life, he had great love for the boy.  He promised him riches and great fortunes, the likes of which only a god could give.  He promised the boy anything he desired, if it was within his power.  He swore it all by the River Styx. 

The child, foolish in his youth, asked to drive his father’s chariot.  Immediately, the father begged his son to take back his request, to ask for something else, to ask for anything else.  Unfortunately, the son would not rescind his request and the father, as a god of Olympus, was bound to his oath. 

So Apollo tutored Phaethon in the ways of the chariot.  He try to teach him the tamest paths and the surest ways to calm the fiery horses.  He even gifted to him an ointment to protect him from the flames and heat.  Despite Apollo’s instructions, Phaethon was not prepared for the task he had requested.  Even the path his father had pointed out was dangerous.  Phaethon lasted longer than anyone other than Apollo would have.  Eventually, fear struck him and he let go of the reins.  Phaethon had fallen out of the sky. 

The aftermath is what I bore witness to.  The heavens and the earth were both ablaze.  Thank Jupiter my dwelling was far enough from the smoke and flames.  Entire cities and peoples were wiped away with the fire.  The sky was bright.  Brighter, redder, angrier than ever before.  Never more brilliant and never more deadly.  The earth turned black with soot and ash.  Soon, once the horses found their way back, the sky turned black too. 

So great was Apollo’s anguish for his son that he did not return to the sky for some days.  The mortals who managed to escape the flames were subjected to an extended period of darkness, the lengths of which none had known before.  It was fate alone that allowed me to survive the dangerous ordeal.  Soon though, somehow, the sun rose again.

Author's note:

I chose to retell to story of Phaethon through the eyes of someone who witnessed the event but was somewhat removed from it.  I thought about making it from the point of view of Apollo, but I felt like he would have been too close to the story for what I wanted to do.  One of the main reasons that I chose to do it this way is because I was genuinely surprised when I was reading the original.  Apollo seemed to care so much more than some of the other gods that I have read about.  I wanted to capture that.  I hope that using a narrator who wasn't particularly fond of Apollo or Phaethon would help display how good intentions don't always work out that way.  I didn't change much.  I added the narrator, but I kept the rest of the story the same.  The only part of the story that I didn’t go into much detail with is the part about Phaethon’s origins and his time before he went to meet his father.  From the point of view that I was using, it seemed like the narrator wouldn’t have cared so much about his beginnings as he would have cared about the wreckage.

Word: 517

Bibliography:
Ovid's Metamorphoses translated by Tony Kline in 2000.  UnTextbook
Stories;
Phaethon and the Sun
Phaethon's Ride
The Death of Phaeton

Ovid I: Reading Diary B

Perseus with the head of Medusa by Benvenuto Cellini

• Tiresias changes gender by seeing two snakes mating?
• He settled an argument between Jupiter and Juno.  He agreed with Jupiter and Juno was pissed.
• Juno made him blind, but Jupiter made him see the future to make up for it.
• Echo had a body, but lost it and became only a voice
• Echo distracted Juno and was basically the watch guard for the nymphs who were with Jupiter
• Narcissus is a bit of a butthead to Echo
• Ironically, when he thinks that his reflection is leaving him (rippling) he calls it cruel to leave somehow who has loved him.  He, however, is cruel to those who claimed to love him.
• Wait, does he beat himself to death or does he just mysteriously melt away?
• Pyramus and Thisbe are the basis for Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet
• They live in Babylon
• “No one had discovered the flaw in all those years – but what can love not detect?” Interesting quote.  It really stuck out to me.
• They were supposed to meet by a mulberry tree
• ““Unhappy boy, your own hand, and your love, have destroyed you! I too have a firm enough hand for once, and I, too, love.”  Another line that really stuck out to me when I was reading.  This is right before Thisbe kills herself
• Good guy Apollo (Sol or whatever other names he has in the story)
• “There the two lay shamefully bound together, and one of the gods, undismayed, prayed that he might be shamed like that”  What god is being talked about here?  Dionysus?
• I’m super curious about Atlas.  Isn’t he supposed to be holding up the heavens?  How is he able to do all this if he is holding everything on his shoulders?  Did he take a break?
• Atlas just didn’t want his stuff stolen and told Perseus to go away.  The Perseus acted like he was going to give Atlas something.  Surprise! It was Medusa’s head and Atlas was turned to stone (Atlas Mountains)
•  “‘O, you do not deserve these chains, but those that link ardent lovers together”  Okay, Perseus was a bit of a flirt

Ovid I: Reading Diary A

Peter Paul Rubens' The Fall of Phaeton 

• Deucalion is the son of Prometheus.  (I can use this if I do my storybook over Prometheus)
• The flood resembles the flood in the Bible
• I think it is very interesting that there is an acknowledgement of the uncertainty of the goddess’s meaning
• Juno: “‘Either I am wrong, or being wronged”  Clever wording
• “Shame urges him to it, Amor urges not. Amor would have conquered Shame.”  Does that mean that love is more important/powerful than shame?
• Mercury is super gentle and friendly with Argus until he lulls him to sleep, then immediately off with his head.
• Clymene is the mother of Phaethon.  Isn’t she the mother of Prometheus and his brothers too?  So she is an oceanid?
• Gods swear by the River Styx
• What? Lucifer is in this?
• Apollo seems to be a very concerned father.  This is really surprising
• A lot of the stories in Ovid are connected in small ways. 
• Phaethon is buried in Italy
• Apollo is deeply upset by his son’s death.  He basically quits bringing the sun and daylight into the sky
• ‘Here, surely, my wife will not see my cunning, or if she does find out it is, oh it is, worth a quarrel!’ Jupiter = massive creep
• Yeah, the gods of Olympus should not be giving out quite so many rash boons.