Pa(tel) me about Myth and Folklore

I finally made it to my last reading notes of the semester! That's crazy. I was honestly thinking about find some shorter stories to read so I could get done quick. However, I'm glad I decided to read Inferno for this last week's reading. As I was reading, I learned that some of the circles have different levels to it which I think is interesting because that just adds even more depth to the entire "inferno" of hell. I got really confused during these part B readings so I had to use Wikipedia to help me figure out what these circles were about. The Seventh Circle is divided by three rings, which house all of the violent people. Dante and Virgil have to first go around the Minotaur from the Sixth Circle to get to the Seventh Circle. First ring: for the people who do violence against neighbors. Second ring: for the people who do violence against self. Third ring: for the people who do violence against God, art, and nature. The Eight Circle of Hell is c...

I remember having to read Inferno back in sophomore year of high school. I thought it was cool back then because I used to read a lot back in high school. I wanted to read it again because I forgot almost all of it. The one circle I remember a little more about is the Third Circle because that was the one I had to do a presentation on. The Third Circle is where the gluttonous people reside. They are basically bombarded with rain, sleet, and hail all the time. Cerberus, the three-headed monster, guards the gluttons who are lying in the dirty, tainted water. He claws them and flays them which makes them howl like dogs. And this is basically how the souls in that circle of hell spend their whole time. When Cerberus sees Dante and Virgil, he tries to attack them but Virgil saves them by stuffing Cerberus's mouth with mud. And while Cerberus is busy trying to eat the "food", Dante and Virgil escape around him and go to the next level. Inferno: Cerberus and Pluto . from Da...

The Princess and the Pea by Hans Christian Andersen translated by H.P. Paull The story starts with a prince who says he wants to marry a real princess. He goes around the world and meets so many princesses but he finds it hard to tell if they are the real deal or not. One stormy evening a princess comes knocking on their door. The wind and rain make her look really disheveled so they are skeptical about her being a real princess. The queen decides to test her. She goes and puts a pea under twenty mattresses and the princess was to sleep on those. The next morning they ask her how she slept and she says that she slept awfully because she felt something hard in her bed. That's how they knew that she was a real princess because only a real princess could be that sensitive. So the prince and princess end up getting married and the pea is put in a museum for all to see.  The Princess going to the top. Source: The Squirrel Basket .

The Twelve Huntsmen from Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm translated by Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes I thought this story was really interesting and fun to read.  The story starts off with a prince who is with his beloved maiden. One day he is called to his father's deathbed. The king says that you have to promise that you will marry whoever I name. So the prince agrees to it and afterwards he is crowned as the new king. Then after he was done mourning, he had to go marry the princess that the king wanted him to marry.  When the first maiden found out about, she gets scared and asks her dad to find her eleven other girls that look like her. When the girls were found, she made them all dress up as huntsmen including herself and then she went to her lover and asked him if he wanted huntsmen. The prince doesn't realize that it's his first girl but he still agrees to keep them all. The king had a lion that knew all the secrets. He told the king one day...

Rapunzel from Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm translated by Edgar Taylor and Marian Edwardes I love the story of Rapunzel. From what I know of the original fairy tales by the Brothers Grimm, they are not as happy or comedic as the Disney versions. So as I was reading, I knew there was going to be some things that I was going to be kind of shocked about. The Disney version of Rapunzel is called Tangled and so I was comparing and contrasting to that whilst reading this story. The biggest difference in the Brothers Grimm version and the Disney version is the Prince/Flynn Rider.  In the Brothers Grimm version, the guy who "saves" Rapunzel is the prince who hears singing often when he's in the forest. He sees the tower but doesn't know how to get up until he sees Gothel call out to Rapunzel to let down her hair. In the Disney version, the guy who "saves" her is Flynn Rider/Eugene, who is a thief. He actually steals Rapunzel's crown th...

The Miser from Russian Fairy Tales  by W. R. S. Ralston This story is about a rich man, Marko, who is a cheapskate and a moujik who just wants Marko to pay him back. The story starts off with Marko the Rich walking by a beggar on the street. The beggar asks him for money but Marko just keeps on walking. He sees a poor moujik behind him give the beggar a copeck.  - moujik- a Russian peasant - copeck- a Russian money unit  Marko asks the moujik to give him a copeck to give to the beggar because he felt ashamed. He says "he didn't have any change" even though he's a rich man. The Moujik gives him one and asks when he should come to get the money. Marko says to come by the next day. When the Moujik goes back the next day, Marko tells him to come back the next day because "he really doesn't have change today." He comes back again the next day and Marko says the same thing and tells him to come again at the end of the fortnight. Whe...

Mr. Miacca  from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs I thought this story was so weird and funny at the same time. It starts off with this boy named Tommy, whose mother tells him to never go around the corner alone because Mr. Miacca will get him if he does. Tommy being the bad boy he is, doesn't listen to his mother and goes around the corner. Mr. Miacca catches him and takes him home. He tells Tommy that he's going to have him for supper. He remembers that he didn't get herbs so he calls his wife, Mrs. Miacca, to watch over Tommy while he goes and gets herbs. Tommy starts talking to Mrs. Miacca and asks her if Mr. Miacca always has little boys for dinner. She says "Yes, mostly if little boys are bad and get in his way." Tommy says "well doesn't he eat anything else like pudding?" and she says "I love pudding but she doesn't get it often." SO Tommy says that his mother makes pudding and that he can go and get it if she le...

The Three Little Pigs from English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs The Three Little Pigs. Source: Greenville Symphony Orchestra .  The story of the three little pigs is one that we all know from way back in kindergarten, or even earlier. I realized that I only remember the children's version of the story. I don't remember ever reading about how the third little pig was tricked into going to all of these places by the wolf and in turn tricking the wolf.  The wolf and pig trick each other back and forth a few times. The first is when the wolf tells the pig that there is a field where he can find nice turnips. He tells the pig to be ready by 6 am and they can go together but the pig gets up at 5 and already gets the turnips before the wolf can show. This angers the wolf so he tries something else. The second is when the wolf tells the pig that there is a garden where he can find a nice apple tree. He tells the pig to be ready at 5 am this time but the pig ge...

The Adventure of Sir Percivale from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang Percival. Source: Wikimedia Commons . Sir Percivale pursued adventures of his own and once when he was about to lose his life, he was saved from his enemies by Sir Galahad. He didn't realize it was Sir Galahad at first but then he eventually came to the realization. Sir Galahad had gone and followed the enemies into the forest to keep fighting while Sir Percivale waited by a tree. While he waited, a yeoman came by and asked if he had seen a knight on a black horse. The yeoman says the knight had taken his steed and if his lord finds out, he will be killed. Percivale says he will help find the knight. The yeoman gives Percivale his hackney so he doesn't have to go on foot. When he does find the knight, the knight in turn spears the hackney and so the hackney falls down and so does Percivale. Percivale tries to get the knight to fight him and the knight doesn't listen...

For this week's readings, I am reading the King Arthur unit. I remember reading stories about King Arthur, Morgan le Fay, and Camelot back in elementary school through the Magic Tree House books and some other books I can't remember right now. King Arthur. Source: Wikimedia Commons . I found this story about King Arthur and Morgan le Fay so interesting because I remember her as being this nice, protector of Arthur. However, in this version of King Arthur, I read about how she hated him and wanted revenge from him. King Arthur killed a knight in battle one day and that knight just happened to be the one that Morgan loved.  One day Arthur had went out somewhere to rest after coming back from a battle. Morgan decided to go to where he was resting. When she reaches the Abbey of nuns where he is resting, she asks the nuns to not wake him. The nuns didn't want to disobey her so they left her alone.  When she goes inside to see Arthur, she sees that he has his swo...

The Dog-Husband from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson  The story starts off with a young girl who is very fond of her dog. It was a common custom that the dog slept at the food of the bed at night. Every night the dog would change into a human and sleep with the girl, and would turn back into a dog before everyone woke up in the morning. One day the girl gets pregnant and when the parents find out its the dog, they burn the house down and move away and leave her all alone. This Crow had pity on her and helped her. She gave birth to five puppies and her father had killed the dog, so they didn't have a father. She looked after them all by herself. Puppies. Source: The Guardian . The secret was that the four male puppies and one female puppy could turn human like how their father could. So one day when the mom was suspecting that there was something going on, she pretends to go out of the house for work, and comes back to her house to see what wa...

The Fox-Woman from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson The fox-woman. Source: Animals . This week I'm going to read Native American marriage tales. The one from this unit that I really liked reading was this story called The Fox-Woman. This story is about a hunter who comes home after a few days to find his house had been cleaned up and everything was put into place. It kept happening again and again when he left the house that one day he decided that he was going to stay back and watch to find out who was doing this. He pretended like he was going on a hunt but instead hid somewhere so he could see who was going to enter the house.  He sees a fox enter and thinks the fox is probably after food. When he goes inside his house, he sees a  beautiful woman and the skin of a fox hung up nearby. When he asks her if she was the one who did all of these things, she says yes because she is his wife and it's her duty to do all of these thi...

The Making of Lakes and Mountains from Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Barry Judson I realized I really like the "creation" or "making" stories the most out of all of these stories. This one I read was about how lake and mountains were made. The story is about how a woman made the lakes and mountains using hair oil, hair combings, whetstone and red ochre. Then she also got some wood.  The woman was kidnapped by bears so as she's escaping, one of the bears watches her and goes with her. She piles wood on him and escapes.  The ways she made the lakes and mountains: Poured hair oil- which became a big lake Threw down hair combings- became a mass of fallen trees Broke off part of the whetstone and put it in the ground- it became a big mountain Threw her whole comb and stuck it into the ground- became a big mass of mountains She pours the rest of her hair oil and throws all of the hair combings- turned into a big lake...

Creation of the Earth from Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Barry Judson The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. Source: Steemit . For this week's Native American readings, I decided to read the stories from the British North America unit. One story that I really liked reading was this story, Creation of the Earth. I thought it was really interesting how the Sun, the Earth, and the Moon and the Stars were personified. They were portrayed as actual people instead of objects.  One day the Earth was scolding her husband, the Sun, because he was too hot and he was making the house too hot. The Sun eventually gets tired of it and moves away. The Moon and the Stars also follow him. She was left all alone so she started crying. An Old Man came by and saw her crying so he asked her what was wrong and she told him everything. The Old Man goes to the Sun, and tells him he simply cannot run away and hide because there will be other people eventual...

Why Tigers Never Attack Men Unless They Are Provoked by William H. Barker and Cecilia Sinclair The Tiger. Source: Wikimedia Commons . I really like reading this story about how a tiger and a man became friends. The story starts off with a man hunting in the forest when he comes across a tiger. At first they're both afraid of each other but eventually they talked and became friendly. They agreed to live with each other. For two weeks, the man would stay with the tiger in his home and vice versa. The tiger brought his cub along with him, and the man's son and the cub became friends as well. One day, the man's father died and so the tiger went to the man's house to be with his friend.  As the tiger was making his way back home, two of the man's friends were waiting to kill him, They shoot the tiger and he is injured. He was confused and wanted to know if his friend, man, knew about this or if his friend was the one that wanted him dead.  Th...

How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race by William H. Barker and Cecelia Sinclair.  Anansi and the Pot of Wisdom. Source: Storynory.   For this week's reading, I'm doing the West Africa unit. I had seen some people who wrote about the spider Anansi so I wanted to read those stories as well. One story that I really enjoyed reading was How Wisdom Became the Property of the Human Race. I thought it was so ironic and funny. Father Anansi is the main character. He possesses all of the wisdom of the world. One day when the men of the country offended him, he decided to punish them. His idea of punishment was that he would go and hide all of the wisdom from the world so that only he had all of the wisdom. Anansi's son, Kweku Tsin, began to suspect his father so he follows his father when he leaves the house with his pot. This pot had all of the wisdom. Anansi goes and finds the tallest tree that no one could easily climb. He kept trying to climb it but ke...

The Flying Ogre from The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhelm Tall trees in the forest. Source: Wikimedia Commons . For Part B of the Chinese Fairytale readings, this story was one of my favorites. I thought it was a fun little story to read!  The story starts off an old Buddhist monk. He loves to wander in lonely places, and one day he wanders into an area called Kuku-nur where he finds a thousand feet tall tree. The tree was hollow that you could step into it and look up through the tree at the sky.  He comes across a girl in a red coat, unbound hair and barefoot, running super fast. She comes up to him and begs him to help her and tells the monk how a man is following her trying to get to her, and if the monk doesn't tell the man that he has seen her, she will be so grateful. The monk starts walking ahead and comes across a man who is riding an armed horse. He was the one who was looking for the girl. He stops the monk and asks him if you've seen the gir...

The Panther from The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhelm Black Panther. Source: Public Domain Pictures For this week's African and Asian stories, I decided to go with the Chinese fairytales. I found all of these so fun to read because they reminded me of fables I read when I was in elementary school. They were fairytale-like but also had an overall message as well. One of my favorites from Part A was the story about The Panther. I don't know why, but this particular story reminded me of a cartoon. Almost like an episode of Tom and Jerry.  The story starts off with the mom and son going to visit the grandmother, and they leave the two daughters at home. The mom and son come across a panther who continually tells them to take rest break with him. The panther wants to comb through the mom's hair and she lets him. He ended up clawing off a little bit of skin and eats it. The mother asks him to stop but the panther likes the taste of it and claws off another big...

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp from Arabian Nights' Entertainment by Andrew Lang Aladdin is my one of my favorite Disney movies, so I was really excited to read this. I'm mad at myself for not being able to read it on time for the Part B reading earlier this week bu it's fine. I'm getting it done now. Aladdin finding the lamp. Source: Digital Trends . When I first start reading, I saw some similarities from the Disney version but I definitely saw a lot more differences as well.  Some big differences I noticed in this version of Aladdin compared to Disney's Aladdin: A magician who pretends to be Aladdin's uncle is the one who tricks him into going into the cave. In Disney's version, it is Jafar who tricks him.  This story of Aladdin has his mom playing a big role whereas in the movie, Aladdin doesn't have any parents. He's an orphan. THERE IS NO ABU IN THIS BOOK. The vizier wants the princess for his son, not for himself like...

Arabian Nights:  The Story of the Young King of the Black Isles from The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang "Stories from the Arabian Nights". Source: Flickr .  For this week's reading, I decided to read the Arabian Nights unit. I have to be honest, it was mostly because I love Aladdin and I knew Aladdin came from the Arabian Nights stories.  One story that I really liked from Part A was The Story of the Young King of the Black Isles.  This story is about a king who finds out that his wife doesn't love him anymore and the events that occur after that. The King, who isn't named in the story, finds out one day while he is being fanned by two of her maids that she doesn't love him anymore. They say that she wants to kill him if she could because she is an enchantress. The king watches her and finds out its true when he badly wounds one of her favorite slaves. His wife begs him to build a palace in the garden. There she ...