Reading Diary A: Dante's Inferno (Week 13)

Sandro Botticelli's Chart of Hell

• “In the middle of the journey of our life, I came to myself, in a dark wood, where the direct way was lost.”  Our is plural.  Who is the other person?  I know one is Dante, but who is the other?  He came to himself?  What does that mean?  Does that mean that he becomes aware?
• He was “so full of sleep.”  That’s like a dream.
• There is some watery language
• Leopards, lions, wolves, oh my!
• “where the sun is silent.”  What?  This sounds a bit like Alice in Wonderland…
• Why does Dante want to travel through Hell?
• Does he go through Hell to escape the animals?
• “Here, all uncertainty must be left behind; all cowardice must be dead”  Interesting
• It is interesting that he is comforted by such a sinner touching his hand.
• They ignore the people who are in between
• “And see, an old man, with white hoary locks, came towards us in a boat.” Charon is an old man.
• Charon does not want to take Dante and Virgil across.
• “My son, those who die subject to God's anger all gather here, from every country, and they are quick to cross the river since divine justice goads them on, so that their fear is turned to desire. This way no good spirit ever passes.”  Good to know
• 'How can I go on, if you are afraid, who are my comfort when I hesitate?'
• Virgil doesn’t fear the first circle of hell, but rather pities those who reside there.

Dante's Inferno

Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002).

Storytelling: A Bedtime Fable (Week 12)

The Wolf and the Lamb by Wenceslaus Hollar

“Mom, will you tell me a story?”  Lucy looked down at her daughter from the doorway.

“Of course, Luna.  What would you like to hear?”

“I dunno!  Just a story!”

“Okay, okay.  Calm down and get into bed.”

Luna ran across the room, almost tripping on the too-long pant legs of her pajama bottoms, and jumped unto the bed.  Her dark hair flew around her face as she bounced to a stop.  Lucy shook her head and smiled.

“Come on, silly.  Under the cover.”

Luna crawled beneath the blankets and wriggled around until she was comfortable.  Lucy sat on the edge of the bed and patted Luna’s leg.

“So, a story.  Hmm.  How about a fable?”

“What’s a fable?”

“It’s a kind of story with lots of animals in it.”

“Ohhhh.  Okay!  Tell me a fable!”

“How about the one with the wolf and the lamb?”

“Yeah!  Wolf and lamb!”

“Okay, well it goes something like this…

There once was a wolf and a lamb drinking from opposite ends of a stream.  The lamb was more than happy to share the water with everyone, but the wolf was greedy and mean.  The water flowed from the wolf then down to where the lamb was.  When the wolf saw the lamb there, he grew very angry.  He snuck up on the lamb and yelled, “Why are you drinking from my stream?  You’re ruining it!”

The lamb jumped away and answered the wolf, “But the water reaches you first, then flows to me.  Even if I were ruining it, you would never taste it!”

The wolf ignored the young lamb’s logic.  Instead, he blamed the lamb for something its father had done long ago.  The wolf was okay with using any excuse he could to be mean to the little lamb, even though he was blameless.

And I believe the fable ends with the lines,

‘To those this fable I address

Who are determined to oppress,

And trump up any false pretence,

But they will injure innocence.’”

Once Lucy was finished with the story, she looked at Luna snuggled up in her bed.  Luna’s eyes weren’t as wide as they had been before, and Lucy could tell that she was fighting a yawn.

“What did you think, kiddo?”

“The wolf was bad.”

“That’s right.  The wolf was bad.  Do you know what the moral of the story was?”

“Yeah, Mommy.  It’s bad people are bad.”  Lucy smiled a bit and tried not to chuckle at the short and sweet answer her daughter gave.

“That’s right, Sweetie.  Bad people, or wolves, are bad.”

Finally, Luna yawned.  Lucy stood up and pulled to covers up to her daughter's neck and tucked her in.  

"Alright, now.  Go to bed."

"Can you tell me another fable tomorrow?"

"Sure thing, Sweetie."

"Good, because I like the animals, even if they are bad sometimes."  This made Lucy laugh a little.

"Alright, Sweetie.  Now, seriously, go to bed.  Goodnight."

"Goodnight, Mommy,"

Author's Note:

I chose to write this like a bed time story because the fables were so short, that it would work as being a part of the story itself.  I felt like a bed time story would be a good way to create a frame for the fable.  The fable included in my story is the actual fable from the Untextbook.  There were several of the fables that seemed to have a similar moral or theme that this one did, so I went with the story of the Lamb and the Wolf to include in my story.

The Wolf and the Lamb from the UnTextbook

The Comedies of Terence and the Fables of Phaedrus

translated by Henry Thomas Riley,

to which is added

a Metrical Translation of Phaedrus

by Christopher Smart.

1887.

Reading Diary B: Aesop's Fables (Week 12)

illustration from Steinhowel's Aesop

• ·         “To those this fable I address
• Who are determined to oppress,
• And trump up any false pretence,
• But they will injure innocence.” Is the moral that bad people are bad?  That’s kind of lousy.
• ·         “When one rogue would another get
• For surety in a case of debt,
• 'Tis not the thing t' accept the terms,
• But dread th' event, the tale affirms.”
• ·         “Liars are liable to rue
• The mischief they 're so prone to do.”  Once again, bad people are bad?
• ·         So the wolf thinks that it is better to be down on your luck and serve yourself than to serve another, even if they are good to you.
• ·         I wonder if the saying, “a wolf in sheep’s clothing” comes from Aesop
• ·         “The churl that wants another's fare
• Deserves at least to lose his share.”  That seems a tad bit harsh.  Everyone is jealous or covetous of other people and what they have every once in a while.  It seems harsh to punish someone for that.
• ·         Dogs are greedy but wolves are shady?
• ·         Seriously, I’m seeing a theme of “bad people are bad.”
• ·         Dogs are loyal, but greedy?
• ·         The weasel tricked the mice, even though the weasel was no longer strong.  Strength does not necessarily win a fight or a situation
• ·         “He that would have the wicked reign,
• Instead of help, will find his bane.”  I think it is really interesting that some of these fables have the moral of the story as the very first lines.  I really like that concept.  It is like a preface

Aesop's Fables (English)

Reading Diary A: Aesop's Fables (Week 12)

illustration from Bewick's Aesop

• This Fable will a general law attest:
• That each one deems that what's his own is best.  Definitely my favorite line out of that fable.
• I’m surprised by how involved the gods are in the fables
• It is interesting to me that Aesop switched a man for Pandora in this fable.  It is a curious thing to do.
• I wonder why the trees were so important to the gods
• “Those who are known to have deceived,
• When they speak truth, are not believ'd.”
• Says a man,
• "Why build you on so small a plan?"
• The Sage replies: "Though small, I fear
• There's more than room for friends sincere."
• A Boy that would not learn his Book was a little odd.  I got what it was saying, but it was silly.
• “The Fox (being one of the Pretenders) stomach’d it extremely to see the Choice go against him, and presently rounds the New-elect in the Ear, with a piece of secret Service that he could do him.”  Why is the fox a pretender?
• The fox as a trickster again.  I wonder where this idea comes from originally.
• The fox flatters the crow, then steals its food.
• We actually discussed the fox and the grapes today in one of my classes!
• “Still meditating self-defence,
• At any other man's expense.”
• “he subtle Fox herself avails
• And by his horns the mound she scales,
• And leaves the Goat in all the mire
• To gratify his heart's desire.”
• “Lion and Man, on some pretense,
• Disputed for preeminence.”  Oh wow, interesting

Aesop's Fables (English)

Storytelling: Of All Things (Week 11)

Illustration by Howard Pyle

Arthur watched as his foster brother prepared for the tournament.  His foster father was fussing with his armor.  Arthur shook his head and continued to saddle up the horses.  This was the second tournament this year, and the year was only three months in.  It was tiring work, but he enjoyed it.  He never actually participated himself, but he helped Kay practice some times.  He wasn’t particularly good yet, but he was slowly getting better at it. 

“Arthur!”  His head snapped up from his work and looked toward the voice that had called him.

“Do you need help with something Kay?”  His foster brother walked towards him quickly.  With all the armor in place, he was a bit clumsy as well.  When he finally stopped in front of him, he struggled to stand up straight under the weight of the armor. 

“I need a sword.”

“A sword?”

“A sword.”

“Okay, but why?  Didn’t you just have one?”

“Well, yes.  But it broke.  Don’t we have a back-up?”

“That was the back-up.  You lost the other on the way here.”

“What?  What kind of squire only has one back-up sword?”

“That’s all your father told me to bring.  Can we go buy one quickly?  Surely one of the vendors have something sufficient.”

“No, none of the vendors here will do.  They charge outrageous prices for shoddy craftsmanship.  From what I saw this morning, the vendor next to the inn we are staying at has a decent select.  Can you run down there before the tournament starts?”

Arthur looked at Kay incredulously.  The inn was nearly a thirty minute trek from the tournament.  They didn’t have that kind of time.  The tournament was meant to start soon.  Kay looked at him impatiently.

“Well?”  Arthur shook his head at his foster brother.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

With that Arthur took off in the direction of the inn.  Ten minutes into the trip, he came across the church.  It wasn’t much of a church really.  It was a small building with a caved in roof.  There was a small cemetery situated next to it.  Most of the grave stones were crumbling.  Only a few stones were still fully standing.  In fact, one of them was an actual stone rather than a grave marker.  Of all the things that could have possibly caught his attention, it was this little, dilapidated church. 

He stopped for a second before moving closer.  It wasn’t until he stood right in front of the church that he really took notice of the stone.  Though there was not much sunlight, a few small beams caught on something and cast a glint his way.  He walked towards it until he was standing right next to it.  With his right hand, he reached out towards it.  Once his hand was wrapped around whatever was sticking out of the stone, he realized what it was.  It was dirty, but it was unmistakably the hilt of a sword.  Of all things, he had found a sword stuck inside of a stone. 

Author's Note:

I chose to write about this particular story of King Arthur because it is one of the ones that I am the least familiar with and I wanted to explore it some.  I took a class on Arthurian legends, so this was a unit I was really eager to read and work on.  I didn't change much, but I did go farther in depth with the story.  I also left off with Arthur finding the stone because I felt like everyone knows the rest of the story, and I felt like it would make an interesting cliffhanger.

The Drawing of the Sword

King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang, illustrated by H. J. Ford (1902).

Reading Diary B: King Arthur (Week 11)

Illustration by H.J. Ford

• It mentions the White Abbey.  That kind of tips me off that colors are important to the story.
• So on the morn they arose and heard Mass, and then a monk led them behind an altar where hung a shield white as snow, with a red cross in the middle of it. "Sirs," said the monk, "this shield can be hung round no Knight's neck unless he be the worthiest Knight in the world, and therefore I counsel you to be well advised!"  Once again, colors are very significant.
• Religion is really important in the King Arthur tales.  That could be good to incorporate that in my story.
• I also wonder how Mabinogion fits in with all of this.
• "Fair brother," said Galahad, "let us remove this body, for he is not worthy to be in this churchyard, being a false Christian man."
• Suddenly a voice spoke to him, and it said, "Sir Lancelot, more hard than is the stone, more bitter than is the wood, more naked and barren than is the leaf of the fig tree, art thou; therefore, go from hence and withdraw thee from this holy place."  That’s very harsh…
• “My sin and my wickedness have done me this dishonour, for when I sought worldly adventures for worldly desires I ever achieved them and had the better in every place, and never was I discomfited in any quarrel, were it right or wrong. And now I take upon me the adventures of holy things, I see and understand that my old sin hinders me, so that I could not name nor speak when the Holy Graal passed by.”  This reminds me a bit of Percival.

King Arthur unit

Reading Diary A: King Arthur (Week 11)

Tapestry showing Arthur as one of the Nine Worthies.

• So this is where to whole sword in the stone story begins. "Whoso pulleth out this sword is by right of birth King of England".
• It is really interesting to get this perspective on the King Arthur story.  I’ve read a lot of different works about Arthur, like Lanval, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, and Yvain.  I’ve never really gotten this take on it, so I’m excited about it.
• Sir Ector, Sir Kay, and Arthur came to participate in the tournament
• So this is where the storyline from the movie comes from
• It seems interesting that everyone would believe some random inscription on a stone.
• Was Uther Pendragon Arthur’s father in this version of the story?  If so, why was he taken away from his real family?
• Sir Kay is seneschal.  I wonder if he is good in this version.  From what I remember, Kay was not usually portrayed kindly.
• The story sticking with the Pentecost as an important and central event is interesting.
• It is interesting that the story admits that Arthur isn’t perfect and needs some much help
• Is Cameliard a version of Camelot?
• The springs and greenlife are important still
• So there are differing stories about how Arthur got Excalibur
• Arthur agrees to give the Lady of the Lake a rash boon if she will give him the sword.
• Interestingly enough, Merlin tells Arthur that he is not wise.
• Guenevere’s father gave Arthur the round table, which supposedly came from Uther, Arthur’s father.
• Gawaine is Arthur’s nephew, yet his sister’s child is also supposed to be his downfall.  Although that is obviously not Gawaine, it is a little vague

King Arthur unit