Week 5 Story: Sinbad's Fifth Voyage

 A New Take on an Old Tale

Sinbad was on the road again, he always seemed to be on the road. After the fall of Old America over a hundred years ago road travel had become unreliable at best and deadly at worst. The first couple decades were the worst, at least that's what the old timers said. No one could travel safely even within the old states as the whole world devolved into anarchy and chaos. Then humanity started to get itself back off the ground and rebuild. People had congregated in some of the old cities and making progress as a people. They reconstructed the cities into more beautiful forms of their old selves, at the expense of stripping the other cities for parts and resources. This process continued until only twelve cities remained in New America. Because they had used their neighbors for parts, they were roughly equally distanced across the country, leaving huge swaths of the land ungoverned and wild. 

Few people dared to brave this expanse as it was filled with outlaws and other undesirables who threatened robbery or worse at every bend in the road. Yet, the cities still needed to trade and people still needed to move between the cities. Planes became impossible to use because of the severe storms which spawned across the land, caused from years of radical climate change. The storms did not affect the cities to the same degree, developments in architecture accommodating the new constraints, but forced most cross-continental transit to be on the old highway system. And that's where people like Sinbad came in. They would set out in their transport vehicles with cargoes from one city and deliver to the next in a massive trading system.

Sinbad specialized in carrying the most expensive cargoes from destination to destination. He had carried nuclear power rods from New Orleans to Los Angeles, scientists from Pittsburg to Denver, and wealthy elites from Chicago to Seattle. His success had hinged on incessant vigilance on the roads, watching for robbers or storms on the horizon. While most transporters would make several stops on any trip at secure way stations along the roads, Sinbad never stopped. Instead, Sinbad used extremely strong coffee to keep him alert on the road. It was a closely guarded secret of his and had lead to his success and a great accumulation of wealth over the years. 

The only problem was that Sinbad had become horribly addicted to the stuff. He would go weeks on end without sleep, always ending in a comatose-like crash which would last for days. He had tried to get the monkey off his back several times, but it kept pulling him back in. Anytime he would get close to stopping, saying that he never would drink it or go on the road again, the lure of it would pull him back to it and the road. He simply could not get enough of either in his life.

On this particular trip Sinbad had decided it would be his last, for real this time. He had already had two close encounters with robbers on the road and he was only halfway through a four-part trip. He had picked up the package in Newer York, taken it to Atlanta for some big-wig to look at, and was now taking it to Oklahoma City for another person to inspect before he could finish the trip by dropping off the package in Phoenix. He was quite close to OKC and was looking forward to the rest stop in the city. He was driving through the gutted remain of an old town he thinks used to be called Normal, or something like that, when he drove into the trap. 

Usually, highway robbers were very overt, with large barricades or collapsed bridges blocking the roads. Rarely did they use trickery or strategy, and they never did so well. So, when Sinbad saw an old man waving in distress on the side of the road he never suspected trickery. Not really thinking, he pulled over. His momma had raised him right and had told him to always help the elderly. 

In all truthfulness, he should not have been surprised when the old man pulled an ancient handgun out and demanded that Sinbad drive him to the city. Wildlings rarely entered the cities and experienced the fruits of civilization, but hijacking a transport was the surest way. Not knowing what to do, Sinbad got in the driver seat at gunpoint and started driving to the city. He expected that the old man would kill him as soon as they reached their destination, but he did not know what else to do.

He looked down at his coffee and took a large, nervous gulp. He kept his eyes averted from the old man as he took another swig. It helped calm his nerves some, and he started to worry less about the situation. However, the old man saw that Sinbad was drinking something and, surely not having had anything decent to drink before in his life, swiped the coffee out of his hands and took a sip. His eyes widened with amazement and proceeded to drink more and more deeply. 

The coffee did not seem to have the same affect on the man as it did for Sinbad, however. He became very jittery, very quickly, yet he continued to drink. After a few more minutes it seemed like the man was about to explode with energy. A few minutes later, he lay slumped over in his seat as Sinbad pulled the transport to the side of the highway. The old man's heart had literally exploded from the caffeine, and Sinbad pulled him out of the car and dumped him on the side of the road.

Not believing his luck, Sinbad got back in his transport and continued on his way to OKC to deliver the package. Now he knew for sure that he never would be on the road or drink that coffee again after this trip!

Author's Note 

This is a highly adapted version of Sinbad's Fifth Voyage. Sinbad was an Arabic merchant who would travel all over the world by ship and make excessive amounts of money on his adventures every time, despite constantly coming into trouble on the seas. This particular story is adapted from when Sinbad was shipwrecked on an island with an old man who held him hostage by riding on Sinbad's shoulders and locking his legs around Sinbad's throat, threatening to choke him if he misstepped. He would ride on his back for many days, seeking to pluck the fruit out of the trees on the island. During this time Sinbad had made wine for himself to ease his troubles; wine that, once the old man drank it, caused Sinbad to escape. I wanted to focus heavily on the crutch Sinbad had in wine to ease his passage in life, much like the coffee (a personal vice of mine) did for future-Sinbad. He wanted to shake the coffee off as much as the original Sinbad wanted the old man off his back.

Image Source 1: Flickr 

Image Source 2: PxHere

Story Source: Andrew Lang's adaptation of Arabian Nights

Reading Notes: Sinbad, Part B

 Notes from the Fifth Voyage

Collection of Sinbad's travels By Andrew Lang

(Image Source: Pixibay)

Plot Points 

• After washing ashore on an island after a shipwreck, Sinbad begins exploring the paradise
• He wander around the island for several days, living off the fruits of the trees, until he comes to a stream and sees an old man knelt beside it
• Pitying the old man he stoops down to offer to help him cross the stream
• The old man, surprisingly nimble and wiry, leaps onto Sinbad's shoulders and locks his ankles around Sinbad's throat
• Unable to dislodge the old man and struggling perpetually for breath, he is forced to carry the old man on his back around the island for many days
• The man would eat fruit from trees and even sleep with his ankles around Sinbad, never allowing respite
• One day, in misery Sinbad plucks some grapes and stuffs them in a gourd to ferment
• After many more days of distress, Sinbad returns to where he stashed the gourd and begins to drink deeply
• Seeing Sinbad become drunk on such little wine, the old man swipes the gourd from him and quaffs down the rest
• The old man becomes very drunk very quickly and Sinbad is able to make his escape to the shore again

Reading Notes: Sinbad, Part A

 Notes from the First Voyage

Collection of Sinbad's travels by Andrew Lang

(Image Source: Snappy Goat)

Plot Points

• Sinbad comes into a large sum of wealth by inheritance in the city of Baghdad 
• He lives an affluent life until he decides that he is wasting his prime years on frivolities 
• He plans on leaving for a long trading expedition in order to sell off much of his wealth to give to the poor
• He finds and hires a captain who takes him and a crew into the Persian Gulf where they rest on an island
• When making a fire on the island, it comes to life as they realize it was a sleeping whale
• In the ensuing madness, Sinbad is left behind by the crew and drifts aimlessly on the sea
• He comes ashore a new island where he is taken in by some horse herders
• Once the herders take him back to their capital, Sinbad makes acquaintance with other traders and finds his very own crew!
• Having been reunited, he sells those possessions which were his and gave many gifts to the king of the island
• He also told the king his story and, amazed at the tale, the king gives Sinbad many remarkable gifts in exchange which greatly multiply his wealth.

Storybook Plan

Quick Note:

 I accidentally did the majority of this assignment already in a previous post. The link to that post is here if you want to see the original post but I will summarize the specific places it applies also in this post.

(Image Source: Pixy)

 Sources:

For references to the Greek Underworld I will largely be using Theoi for character concepts and Wikipedia for details on geography and general themes. For Norse afterlives I will be referencing Ancient History Encyclopedia. The same will hold true for the Aztec afterlife. Finally I will be using a large discussion board as my primary source for Hawaiian afterlife. 

Plot Points:

I plan on having my character visit multiple afterlives/underworlds in search of the one that is his best fit. He will definitely be visiting the Greek Underworld, the various Norse afterlives, the Aztec version of heaven and hell, and the mysterious Hawaiian afterlife. There will also likely be references to Egyptian and/or Hindu afterlives or afterlife deities, though the extent and mode of these references is still in its infancy.

Narrative:

I wanted to make a story which helped explain many different Underworlds/afterlives and the best way I could think of tying them all together is essentially having a car salesman approach. Sounds kinda silly, but I promise it makes at least some sense. I was going to have one "Culling Deity" (a term of my own to refer to gods which are responsible for capturing or guiding souls) try and help a problematic soul find its appropriate afterlife. With this in mind, I was planning on having Thanatos, the Greek god of death, take a soul to each of his eligible underworlds and try to sell him on one, highlighting the good and bad points of all. 

Comment Wall

Storybook Link: Click here 

 

(Image Source: Pixnio)

Week 4 Story: The Woodcutter's Axe

 A Tale of an Honest Man

Once there lived a simple man who was a woodcutter by trade. Our Woodcutter would go into the forest near his village every morning and fell a number of trees which he would then log and sell for his livelihood. He was content with his lot, despite the fact he always lived near the edge of poverty. He sustained himself well, but one bad season could be irreparable. There were a number of other woodcutters in the village with whom he was quite good friends, despite their obvious disdain for their profession and less-than-desirable reputation as gamblers and cheats. Notwithstanding his company kept, our Woodcutter was a good man who enjoyed his life.

One blustery autumn morning, he took his axe in hand and made for the forest. The axe had been his only means at maintaining his quality of life since he had been a youth. The old, weathered handle was simple oak, but was smoothed with years of usage and was as familiar to him as his own hands. Once he arrived in the section of the forest he was to begin cutting, our Woodcutter took a few moments to scout the few trees he wished to fell that day. Having taken a moment to plan, he set to work. And work he did, all day he worked diligently felling the trees and deftly moving to the next. He worked until the sun began to lower on the western horizon. 

He was nearly finished with his final tree at this point and set himself to finish it quickly before the sun set, for he had not expected the chill weather and had not dressed well or brought any gloves. As a result, his hands were quite cold and his grip occasionally slipped on the handle of the axe. Hurrying to finish, he began throwing heavy strokes at the final tree. It was on one particularly powerful strike that our Woodcutter allowed his grip to loosen slightly and, with a cry of distress, let the axe fly off through the trees. Then, with an even greater cry from the Woodcutter, it fell with a loud splash into a deep pool of water.

      

Seeing his only means at providing food and shelter for himself disappear beneath the chilly waters, the Woodcutter began to cry loudly into the forest. He could not believe that the world was so cruel as to take his livelihood from him in such an unceremonious way. His crying was so loud that even the gods heard him. One of these gods, by the name of Mercury, came down to see what was causing such a terrible noise. Seeing the Woodcutter knelt by the edge of the deep pool with trees felled all around him, the god approached the man and asked what had happened to cause him such despair.

Upon hearing the story, and the man's numerous proclamations of his devotion and austerity in life, the god had an idea. He told the man he would retrieve the axe and immediately dove into the water. Mere moments later he returned with a golden axe and proffered it to the man. Our noble Woodcutter told the god that this axe was not his. Pleased, the god lay the golden axe on the bank and dove into the water again. This time, he returned with an axe of solid silver. Still keeping honest, the Woodcutter said that this axe was not his either. With a wicked, pleased grin on his face, Mercury dove a third time. And this time he returned with the simple wooden and iron axe which the man loved so dearly.

With an excited shout, our Woodcutter told the god that this indeed was his axe. Having tested the man's veracity, the god proffered all three axes to our humble Woodcutter; his own so that he may return to work and the ones of precious metals so that he need not work as hard in the future. Beside himself with joy and disbelief, our Woodcutter repeatedly thanked the god and began the trek back to his humble shack. He stopped there long enough to deposit the axes and made his way for the tavern where he often supped with the other woodcutters. There, he told them the story of the day and, they, knowing the man to be truthful to a fault, believed him. However, instead of being happy for their friend, they were jealous of his newfound wealth and sought to find similar prosperity for themselves.

With avarice in their hearts, the other woodcutters took to the forest early the next morning. They tried to recreate the fortune of our humble Woodcutter by hiding their axes under bushes or in the hollows of trees and crying loudly of their misfortune into the forest. Mercury descended to each of these woodcutters but, being well-versed with trickery and thievery, he saw their desires. However, he would play along until the point he proffered the golden axe to the woodcutter. When they would exclaim that the gracious god had found their lost axe, he would confront them about their avarice and treachery. At that point, Mercury would beat the men in the woods and tell them to never return to the wood again, for our humble Woodcutter was now the master of these woods and all that was within them was now his by right.

Author's Note

The original story did not go into near as much detail as this retelling, and that is primarily what was changed to the story. I fleshed out the motivations, and backstories of the characters and added more detail to the events. The only changes outside that to the original story was that I added more reward to that which had been given to the Woodcutter. In the original, his only reward was the golden and silver axes. By adding his lordship I wanted to denote that not only was he a good and truthful man, he was greatly more so than those who he shared his life with. In a setting such as that, it is all the more noteworthy when one lives well while living in proximity to those who do not. Thank you for reading!

Image Source 1: Pixibay

Image Source 2: Snappy Goat 

Story Source: Aesop's fables, illustrated by Milo Winter

Reading Notes: Aesop (Winters), Part B

 Mercury and the Woodsman

Collection of Aesop's fables illustrated by Milo Winter

(Image Source: Pixibay) 

Plot points

• A woodcutter goes into the forest to begin the day's work
• He toils all day long to fell many trees and begins working on the last he intends to cut for the day
• Struggling to swing the last few strokes at the tree, he lets his grip relax and the axe fly into a nearby pool
• The woodcutter is distraught, for the axe was his only means at providing for himself
• Suddenly, the god Mercury appears beside the pool and asks why the man wails so loudly
• Upon hearing the woodcutter's story, Mercury dives into the pool and resurfaces with a golden axe
• The woodcutter claims the axe is not his own and Mercury dives again
• This time the god surfaces with an axe of silver, again the woodcutter claims it is not his
• A third time the god dives, but this times returns with the rugged axe of the woodcutter
• The god is impressed by the woodcutter's honesty and awards the man with all three axes for his candor
• Upon hearing this tale, many woodcutters from town attempt to recreate the fortune of the first by hiding their axes in the woods and wailing loudly
• At each instance, the god appears and goes through the same motions
• The woodcutters, however, greedily claim the first, golden axe was their own
• As punishment for their avarice, Mercury promptly beats the living daylights out of them and sends them home bruised and axe-less

Reading Notes: Aesop (Winters), Part A

 Roads Tales

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The Ass and His Driver, plot points

• A donkey thinks he knows better than his owner as they move along windy trail in the mountains
• The donkey sees the pair's final destination at the bottom of the mountain
• He tries to get there as soon as possible, by going straight over the cliff
• His owner attempts to stop him
• The owner realizes the supreme foolishness of the donkey and lets him go his own way

The Oxen and the Wheels, plot points

• A pair of oxen drag a cart heavy laden up a mountain path
• They do so without complaint and faithfully
• However, the wheels of ht cart complain loudly and frequently at the weight they hold
• The oxen then accuse the wheels of unduly complaining when they are the ones truly doing all the work

The Gnat and the Bull, plot points

• A bull is going up a mountain trail when a gnat lands on the tip of his horn to catch his breath
• The gnat rests a few minutes and then takes off
• The gnat realizes it was rude to land without the bull's permission and stops to ask his apologies and say his thanks
• The bull proclaims he never even noticed that the gnat had even been there

The Plane Tree, plot points

• Two men walk along a path and see a Plane tree there and move to rest under its shade
• They then begin to proclaim how useless a Plane tree is, as it bears no fruit 
• The tree then speaks to the men about how foolish they are to deride that which gives them their shade in the noonday sun

Feedback Strategies

(Image Source: Pixibay)

 Article 1: How to Give Feedback Without Being a Jerk

At first, I really did not agree with this article. When I was being taught how to edit my peers' work in school, the method teachers always wanted us to use was the standard "feedback sandwich". I have personally used and enjoyed success with this strategy at many point and thought it was very good. This article claimed that this strategy is good only fo the one issuing the feedback and rarely for the recipient. Once that clarification had been made, I began to see the error in my though process: the sandwich was good for me but I wasn't paying attention to how it helped my peers. In hindsight, when I would edit the same students' papers multiple times I would often find similar mistakes from one revision to the next. Before not I had just considered it lazy writing, but I am now compelled to ask whether it was my inefficient feedback which may have resulted in repeated errors. I would often praise the aspects of the paper I truly did appreciate, but I did so from a mindset not of showing appreciation; instead the mindset was mollification. All this considered, I intend on applying the more open discourse of editing and feedback in areas of my life to see if they do work better!

Article 2: How to Provide Feedback When You're not in Charge

What I most enjoyed about this article was the dissection of the different forms of feedback. I have never considered appreciation as a form of feedback, but this article provides a good argument supporting that idea. Appreciation is essentially purely positive feedback which serves to highlight what one did well at a task. Somewhat related to this idea is coaching. Coaching as feedback is meant to show how one could improve on what they are already doing well. This could mean pushing a writer to the next level or an athlete to scoring higher or running faster. In all these cases, the person is doing good, but coaching shows room for improvement regardless of the level one is at. The final form of feedback is evaluation, the most involved form of feedback. Evaluation is meant to show either where one is doing something wrong and needs to change or is how a person performs in relation to others. These may seem very different, but they are not inherently. In many ways, the most difficult aspect of performing is relation to others and improving that can improve many aspects of how one performs in any given situation.

Topic Research: Underworld Stories

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Plot point 1: A man named Atticus (This name deriving from the Latin meaning "one from Attica", a region in Asia Minor and a common crossroads of history/cultures. This name is meant to play into the struggle of this character in his story.) has recently died and has entered into the sorting station of the Underworld (details not yet solidified for this location). Here he meets Death, the Greek personification, who has taken a special interest in Atticus's case, as he does not sort well into any of the Underworlds. His cultural and experiential background is so diverse that he is eligible to enter into many of the Underworlds and Death is determined to make sure he is placed in one. They enter into a tour of the options for Atticus in the Underworld.

• Likely will make note of other "Culling Gods", as I tentatively refer to them. These gods are those responsible for capturing or directing deceased souls in their respective mythologies. The list of gods I may reference so far includes, but is not limited to, Yama (Hindu god who captures souls with a noose and beats them with a stick while taking them to the Hindu version of Hell known as Naraka) and/or Anubis (Egyptian jackal-headed god who was both the protector of deceased souls and guide in the afterlife). I like these two because they show two very different interpretations of death, one as harsh and another as comforting.
• Additionally, at each Underworld destination I will explain Atticus's relationship to that particular Underworld and why he is eligible for judgement in that afterlife. I think I will leave the question of whether he goes to the "good place" or the "bad place" in each Underworld undecided, allowing for the judges of whatever Underworld goes to to decide his fate after he has made his choice.

Plot Point 2: Death and Atticus begin visiting Underworlds and Death leads them first into his home turf Hades. Here they have a nice tour of the endless fields of Asphodel (where the average Joe goes after death), Elysium (where heroes go), and the Fields of Punishment (for the bad dudes). 

Plot Point 3: Not satisfied with Hades, they move on the the next set of Underworlds: Hel, Valhalla, and  Folkvangr. These realms are all aspects of the Norse afterlife, with different souls going to each depending on how they died and which gods favored them. Though, at this point Death is frustrated with Atticus and thinks he is too picky about his afterlife.

Plot Point 4: Not desiring fighting in the afterlife or rotting away in Hel, Atticus and Death go to the next Underworld: Tlalocan and Mictlan. Mictlantecuhtli was the god of the Aztec hell and was the final destination for all souls who died uncourageous deaths (not necessarily cowardly deaths, but simply not in a heroic way). He gives his pitch for his Underworld and, dissatisfied with his salesmanship, they move on to Tlaloc who represents the good side of the Aztec afterlife. His pitch is much better than Mictlantecuhlti's, but still not good enough for Atticus.

Plot Point 5: Weary, Death takes Atticus to one final Underworld: Lua-o-Milu. In Hawaiian myth, this is the entrance to the Underworld, with little known about what lies beyond, not even Death knows for sure (here I will explain how traditional Hawaiian religion has largely been lost in history).

Week 3 Story: Mice Tales

 Tales of Muris the Mouse

Story 1: Belling the Cat

Once there was a peculiar young mouse named Muris. He was not overly smart, nor was he overly brave; but, upon occasion, he did have the most exemplary moments of any tiny mouse's life. The first of these happened when he was quite young. You see, the mice of the farm had congregated in the back of the storeroom to discuss the threat the Cat posed to the community at large. The mice crowded near the burst case of strawberries and were nibbling at them as they presented one idea after another on how to handle the issue. Some less-than-brilliant mice recommended making a large mouse trap with which to catch the Cat, though this was disregarded for none of the mice knew how to make the trap. Another, even more foolhardy, recommended negotiating with the Cat; luckily the elders put an end to that very quickly. At last young Muris stepped forward and presented his own idea: to put a bell around the Cat's neck! 

The mice cheered at the idea, for brilliant it was. With a bell on its neck, the mice would be able to hear the Cat coming from afar and flee before it arrived. Muris also volunteered to be the one to place the bell himself and committed to doing it the very same evening. The elders cautioned him about the teeth and claws of the Cat for the rest of the evening and, prepared for the adventure, Muris set off to the barn. He snuck inside quickly and quietly, reaching the sleeping Cat mere minutes after leaving the mice. He slyly slunk up the Cat and deftly tied to bell to the collar. With a small breath of relief, Muris set back to the mice, where they prepared to accept their new hero.

Story 2: The Country Mouse and the City Mouse 

The second tale of Muris was some time later when one of his cousins, Mus, came to visit from the nearby city. The cousin and his family had fled from the tyranny of the Cat some months prior, but that situation had been solved now. When Mus arrived, Muris welcomed him to his hole in the wall and presented him with the finest feast he could muster. Muris lay the choicest bits of bacon, beans, and butter before his city-dwelling cousin. Though, much to Muris's surprise, Mus refused to eat any of the mean country fare. Instead, he claimed that city fare was far superior and he would take Muris into the city so he could enjoy what real food tasted like. Dubious and somewhat offended, Muris agreed to accompany Mus to the city because he was family. 

When they arrived the next day, Mus took Muris into the back room of a fine restaurant where they commenced feasting on the fine fare. They ate scraps of sweet meats, chocolate desserts, and decadent cheese to their hearts content. As they finished, they heard a scratching and snuffling at the door. When Muris inquired to Mus about the sounds, he answered it was the large guard dogs owned by the restaurant to chase mice away. At that moment, the dogs burst in and the tow mice fled in terror! While Mus fled deeper into the city, Muris fled back to the country and vowed never again to go into the city full of such beasts again.

Story 3: The Lion and the Mouse

The third tale of Muris happened directly after the second. While fleeing, Muris payed not attention to the path before him and ran along the spine of a slumbering Lion. With a start, the Lion pounced and pinned poor Muris. The Lion was not overly hungry and, luckily for Muris, agreed to release the mouse after his intense pleading for his life. The Lion did so more because he did want to have to bother with such a small morsel, but Muris promised the Lion a favor if ever they should cross paths again. Neither thoughts the opportunity would arise until a chance encounter put them in one another's path the very next day.

Muris was roaming the edges of the berry fields near his farm when he heard a very unlionlike mewling from the nearby forest. Curious, Muris entered the wood and found the very same Lion tied in a net at the base of a tall oak tree. Muris saw his opportunity to even his debt and chewed the Lion free from his bonds. In extreme gratitude, the Lion thanked the mouse for his kindness and promised that he would be rewarded for his actions.

Story 4: The Married Mouse

The final tale of Muris is a sad and tragic end to the little fellow. The Lion he had saved proved extremely gracious as he gave Muris his sister as a wife. How anyone thought that this marriage would end well is still a mystery, but all involved were excited with the arranged marriage and took it willingly. However, mere hours after the vows had been spoken and the newly wed couple arrive at their new home, poor Muris got in the way of his much larger wife. When trying to open the door for the Lioness, she stepped on him. Unfortunately, Muris died quite suddenly and did not experience the joys of his odd marriage, but such is often the way with folktales. 

Author's Note

This collection of stories was based of many disparate mice tales from Aesop which featured different mice in each tale. I sought to bring all of the tales together by creating a singular heroic mouse for the stories to follow. There was one slight problem, however; the different mice had vastly different personalities in the tales. As such, I had to standardize the character somewhat to a middling mouse who is neither overtly heroic or cowardly. For example, the first tale originally ended with no mouse being brave enough to tie the bell to the Cat. Additionally, the Lion from the third story has no ties to the fourth, but I married the two tales to add greater continuity.

Image Source: Snappy Goat 

Story Source: Aesop's Fables by Jacobs

Reading Notes: Aesop (Jacobs), Part B

 Nature and Inanimate Objects

Assembled fables are from Aesop are compiled by Joseph Jacobs alongside a tale from Shakespeare's Coriolanus.

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

The Man and the Wood, plot points

• A man walks into the forest with an ax head
• He asks the trees to please supply him with a single branch, which they offer freely out of kindness
• The man attaches the proffered branch to his ax head and proceeds to chop down many trees

The Tree and the Reed, plot points

• A large oak looks down disdainfully at the little reed by his roots
• The oak tells the reed that it must grow deep roots, lest someone pluck him out of the ground
• The reed says he is content with his roots, much to the chagrin of the oak
• A large storm comes through and twists the trunk of the tree, breaking the tree into pieces
• The reed survives because it could bend with the wind

The Wind and the Sun, plot points

• The wind and the sun are arguing who holds more sway over man
• A traveller comes down the road and the two decide he will determine who is right
• The wind blows at the man with all his might, in an attempt to get the man to remove his cloak
• The man tightens his cloak all the more to shield himself from the wind
• The sun's turn comes and he bend all the lights he can muster at the man, also attempting to get the man to shed his cloak
• In the oppressive heat of the sun, the man tears his cloak off

The Two Pots, plot points

• A clay pot and a brass pot sit side-by-side on the banks of a river
• The rain falls and the water rises, carrying the two pots downstream
• In the tumult, the clay pot shouts "Stay away Brass Pot, lest you shatter me!"

The Belly and the Members, plot points

• One certain day the members of the body notice that they do all of the work for the body, but the stomach gets all the food
• Outraged, they determine to go on strike until the stomach gives them what they say as their due portion
• As they strike, the whole of the body goes weak from starvation and the members realize the stomach had been working just as hard as they all along

Reading Notes: Aesop (Jacobs), Part A

 Mice Tales

Assembled fables from Aesop compiled by Joseph Jacobs and Walter Crane

(Image Source: Pixibay)

Belling the Cate, plot points

• Mice gather en masse to discuss their common enemy, the Cat
• Many mice offer many solutions, but none are believed to work
• A young mouse proses tying able to the Cat, so they can hear his coming
• All like this plan but fear putting it into action

The Town Mouse and the Country Mouse, plot points

• A country mouse hosts his cousin mouse from the city
• Country mouse offers the best he can to his cousin in the peace of the country
• Dissatisfied the city mouse insists the country mouse return with him to the city for fine dining
• Once in the city they feast on delicious foods from the back of a restaurant 
• Several dogs chase off the two mice and the country mouse decides he prefers peaceful contentment to dangerous city life

The Lion and the Mouse, plot points

• A mouse runs up and down the length of a lion, rousing him from sleep
• The lion pins the mouse and contemplates eating him as a snack
• The mouse pleads for his life, offering a favor in exchange
• The lion releases the mouse and they part ways
• After a time, the lion becomes trapped by some hunters and fears his imminent death
• Along comes the same mouse who chews the bindings off the lion, allowing him to escape and repaying his debt

The Married Mouse, plot points

• Mouse marries a lioness
• Mouse gets stomped on by his wife...

Thoughts on Feedback

 Feedback Articles

(Image Source: Wiki Commons)

One aspect of the article "A Fixed Mindset could be Holding you Back at Work" by Anna Kelsey-Sugg and Ann Arnold, that I found most interesting was how excessive positive feedback results in a brittle person incapable of overcoming adversity. The part of this most intriguing was the usage of the word brittle, primarily for the mental image it conjures of one's mind literally breaking. Having come from an environment which was most definitely contributing to excessive positive feedback, I can understand how accurate this image it. Oftentimes when confronted with. a situation where one does not believe that a chance at success exists, it is very easy to simply shut down. and this applies even more in situations of feedback where it appears as if someone is actively criticizing your work. In those situations, it is antural to throw up barriers both to defend oneself from criticism and to help keep you form having to do the thing which you were criticized for in the first place ever again. 

Retaliation to negative feedback is a prominent theme in Tim Herrera's article "Why it's so Hard to Hear Negative Feedback" and focuses primarily on people's defensiveness in the face of negative feedback. In the article, Herrera cites several studies which show people actively avoid feedback for fear of getting critiqued. The primary reason for this, as the studies suggest, is because people do not tend to believe that other are actually actin in good faith. Instead, they fear that people are being overly critical with the intent of tearing one another down. From personal experience, I can wholly understand this sentiment. When a peer edits your paper, one's inclination at the first critique is to see how they were wrong to say what they did and to defend your own answer; not because they necessarily are wrong, but because the very fact they say there is something which needs editing implies they are trying to critique the person and not the paper. 

Topic Brainstorm

 Topic 1: Underworld Stories

(Image Source: Glowworms Cave)

Across every ancient culture and many modern cultures is the belief in an afterlife or underworld. In each culture there were different requirements for the entering into a "good" afterlife and a "bad" afterlife. In this project I would like to create a fable about an individual who Death incarnate has taken a special interest in because even Death does not know where this person's soul belongs after death. I would like to use this as a framing narrative to explore and explain the nuances and niches of different Underworlds. I will most definitely be using the Greek version of Death as my tour guide of the Underworlds (using the less-than-common depiction of him as a handsome youth) but am open to tweaking his character based on the details of other Underworlds. Tentatively I plan on visiting Hel/Valhalla (Norse), Elysium/Asphodel (Greco-Roman), Mictlān/Tlalocan (Aztec), and Lua-o-Milu (Hawiian). 

Topic 2: Ageless Bystander

There have been innumerable moments in time historians would die to be able to witness and know actually what happened and what part of the myths may be true and which were simple fantasy. I would like to create a new story with a new ageless character who has been able to witness some of these truly unknowable events and create my own version of events that actually happened there. One of these stories has to be the tale of Atlantis, as it is one of the most hotly debated tales from mythology as to its validity in history. Other stories I would like to research and include are the Trojan War, the Battle of the Horatiī and Curatiī, and the truth of the Roanoke Island Colony. It is likely that none of these mysteries will ever be solved, so I am not afraid of taking some creative liberty and building on some of the most wild speculations of those myths and tying all of them to gather through the eyes of this character who has lived to witness it all.

Topic 3: Thousand and One Nights Retelling

Some of my favorite stories that I have heard in recent years have been those included in One Thousand and One Nights. I would like to to chose four of my favorite stories and retell them in a way very similar to our weekly Anthologies. Of the stories in Arabian Nights, I plan on including at least one Sinbad tale, the tale of the Valley of Diamonds being the most likely. Besides that one story, I do not know which stories from Scheherazade I would like to retell mostly because I like so many of the stories. I plan on skim reading through several of the stories in the next few days to get a rough grasp of which I like the most before I commit to any one of them.

Topic 4: Civilization Building Gods 

Many mythologies tell of gods who helped cultivate early human civilization, guiding them towards a stronger future. These gods are often forgotten when compared to the powerful nature gods like Zeus and Poseidon or the primordial gods like Hades and Demeter. These civilization creating gods are much more nuanced and focus on helping humanity grow in very specific ways that vary between civilizations. One of the most prominent examples of these Builder Gods is Prometheus, not technically a god but fulfills this role, as he brought fire to mankind to help them grow. Other gods which I would like to retell their story is Thoth of Egyptian mythology and how he was assigned the task of creating hieroglyphs for men to remember their past, Xipe Totec (Aztec agriculture deity) who would sacrifice himself so that mankind would have seeds to sow for their yearly harvest, and the Hindu god Ganesha who is the overseer of all beginnings and his efforts to aid the enterprises of men.

Week 2 Story: Beauty and the Basilisk

The Three Roses 

Once there was a mother who lived alone with her three daughters. Her husband having passed away some years ago the mother worked arduously to provide for her family. She mended neighbors’ clothes, grew herbs on their small plot of land, and even worked occasionally at the local tavern, all to help support her daughters.

It was one night working at the tavern that a visitor to the small community left a sizable tip for her. Ecstatic at the gift, she returned home to her girls. When she arrived home, she became determined to use the money to give her daughters gifts, a largely absent commodity. She asked the oldest daughter what she wanted and the girl immediately spouted out a long list of things she had always dreamed of owning. Unabashedly, the second daughter replied with a list very similar to her elder sister’s. 

Beginning to fear that the tip would not be large enough to cover the desires of the girls, the mother turned to the third and youngest daughter. This girl claimed to be content with the provision of her mother and wanted nothing more. Surprised, the mother asked again and was then told that if the mother insisted on a gift, let it be three simple roses.

Her head whirling with the oddity of the night and trying to remember the lengthy lists two of her daughters provided, she went to bed with the intention of going to the market in the nearby city the next morning. The market within held everything on the lists of the two older girls and the money left to the mother by the traveller was barely sufficient to cover the gifts. Heavy laden, the mother began her trek back home as dusk fell.

On the road home the realization that she had forgotten the simplest of gifts for her youngest daughter overtook the mother. In guilty desperation, she cast her gaze to the countryside around her. In unbelievable luck, she had stopped next to a large estate on the roadside with a magnificent garden. Thinking that the master of the house would not miss three simple flowers, the mother snuck into the garden. 

Within she found the most beautiful of rose bushes. Quickly, she cut three of the largest off and turned to leave the garden. However, standing in the gateway was a large basilisk who stared at her with large, yellow eyes. The basilisk spoke and made a demand of the mother to either give her own life or to bring her daughter here as a price for the roses. Trembling with fear, the mother hastily agreed to bring a daughter to the beast the very next day.

At that, the mother fled from the garden as quick as her feet allowed. Once home, she hurriedly explained to her youngest daughter the agreement, while the older two excitedly rifled through the pile of gifts. Quite surprisingly, the young girl agreed to go with her mother the next morning, an air of calm emanating from the child. Flustered by the whole scenario, the mother went to bed with dread in her heart for the fate of her daughter and hate for her own cowardice.

Despite her misgivings, the next morning she gathered her daughter and her things, and they left for the estate. As they walked down the track, the mother determined she would make amends for her cowardice and save her daughter from the beast at the first opportunity. Once at the estate, the basilisk met them at the same gate as the night before and ordered the girl into the house and for the mother to leave. Crestfallen, the mother gave her daughter what she feared may be her final hug and left.

She did not go far, however, she merely walked down the track and then into the woods, and there waited for night to come. Once night had fallen, she crept back to the estate and peered through a large set of windows. Inside, she saw the most bizarre of scenes. Her daughter was very much alive but was holding the head of the beast in her lap as the rest of it lay curled on the floor. And so the two remained all night long. When the sun began to rise the mother fled the estate again, for fear of the beast and for lack of opportunity to rescue her daughter. 

She returned the same evening after having returned home and rested during the day. Much to her surprise, she found the same bizarre scene with her daughter and the beast. Astounded the beast had let the girl live this long, she returned yet again on the third consecutive night but, this time, to a much different scene.

Inside she heard the beast shouting at the girl to cut off his head with the sword the beast had drug into the room. The girl seemed reluctant as first, but the beast threatened her until she did as he bade. Despite the gruesome slaughter, the girl remained in the midst of the mess while a serpent slithered out of the decapitated corpse. As it slithered, it called out in the voice of the beast for the girl to strike his head off yet again. This time the girl did so without hesitation.

Relieved that the threat was gone, the mother prepared to enter the estate and pull her daughter from the ghastly scene as one final surprising thing happened. The bloody body of both the beast and the serpent melted away, as did the sword the girl was holding. In the place of the body stood a princely man.

He told the girl of a curse which had been placed on him many years ago that required a pure heart to break. He then asked the girl if there was any way he could repay her for breaking the curse. She replied with one simple phrase: “All I would like is three simple roses.”

Author’s Note

Reading the original story left me deeply unsatisfied as there was no explanation for many of the events which happened, such as why the mother was going to the town, and the motivations for all of the characters’ actions were never explained. I sought to add a little more detail to the events which surround the mother going to town in the first place and sought to generate a better understanding of one character by focusing on the mother’s perspective throughout the story. All that being said, I understand and appreciate the mysticism of a fantasy tale and tried to keep an air of that in my retelling by leaving the youngest daughter a mysterious enigma to everyone, as she was in the original story. 

(Image Source: Daron Hagen)

Story Source: The Three Roses by Josef Baudis in The Key of Gold

Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

 Beauty and the Basilisk

by Josef Baudis in The Key of Gold

(Image Source: Picryl)

Major Plot Points

• Mother asks three daughters what gifts they would like from town
• Oldest two ask for many and extravagant gifts
• Youngest asks for nothing but three simple roses
• Mother goes to town and buys all the gifts but forgets the roses
• On return trip home through countryside she remembers 
• She finds roses in the garden of a country estate
• She is confronted by a fearsome basilisk who demands the mother's daughter as a price for the roses
• Distraught, the mother returns home and tells her daughter the price for the roses
• Surprisingly, the daughter agrees to go to the basilisk's home
• Once there she is told that she must hold the basilisk in her lap for three nights or the beast will kill her
• Confused she agrees to this 
• On the third night the basilisk demands she take a nearby sword and cut the beasts head off
• She refuses on account of her kind heart
•  The basilisk issues a new round of threats which result in convincing the girl to kill the beast
• Out of the decapitated beast's body slithers a snake which the girl also cuts the head off of
• From this body comes a richly adorned prince who proceeds to ask the daughter for her hand in marriage as she had freed him form a curse

Themes

• Wicked sisters
• Pact with the beast
• Ransomed daughter
• Held hostage by the beast
• Break the beast's curse

Week 2 Reading Overview

Reading Schedule 

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3: Aesop (Jacob)

Week 4: Aesop (Winter)

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5: Sinbad

Week 6: Ancient Egypt

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]

Week 7: Monkey King

Week 9: China Folktales

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10:  Cherokee

Week 11: Great Plains 

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12:  King Arthur

Week 13: Beowulf

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Ashliman

Week 15: Russian

(Image Source: Wikimedia Commons)

I am so excited about so many of these units that's it's difficult to narrow it down to a few! Many of my choices on this list come from a podcast I listen to called Myths & Legends which narrates short versions of many folktales and mythologies. While I love this podcast, it often leaves the stories open-ended and leaving the listener wanting to know more. The reasons for this are understandable, one guy can only put out so much content a week; but it has left me desiring more from some of my favorites. 

Likely the two I am most excited to read are the stories of the Monkey King and of King Arthur. Both of these are quite large collections of stories and, as a result, have left me with much to be discovered in them. Additionally I am excited for the Cherokee and Great Plains stories for multiple reasons: foremost I believe that Native stories are quite unique and very underrepresented in culture, secondly I am both Cherokee and Osage and would like to know more about the stories of my ancestors! That is the main reason I chose the image I did for this post; the Coyote is often the trickster in Native stories and is one of my favorite characters from my scant interaction wit hNative tales.