Mythology and Folklore (Spring 2021)

  Pretty Flowers and Bear Pals     "Don't wander too far Ian!" Ian ignored the yell of the head of the orphanage and continued on his way into the forest to look for pretty flowers. He liked to collect flowers and then press them in his journal he had gotten last Christmas. Each page had at least three flowers pressed, as Ian did not want to waste any of the space among the pages. After wandering for five minutes, the young boy saw a path he had yet to travel down. Ian quickly changed the path of his footsteps and began to head down the newfound path. Wow! So many new kinds of flowers!  The path was lined with flowers of all colors, shapes, and sizes. Most of which the boy had never seen before. Ian quickly unzipped his jacket and tied it into a makeshift bag so he could carry all the flowers back with him. Just around the bend, he could see a GIGANTIC flower, and it was his favorite color too! The boy took off running towards the huge purple flower, only realizing t...

  The Life of Buddha  (by Andre Ferdinand Herold) Siddhartha Becomes the Buddha Siddhartha had left his home, becoming a hermit and experiencing other things In meditation, S sees the awfulness of rebirth He contemplates the reason for existing and has a waterfall of thoughts connecting existence to tires to desire to sensation to contact to the senses to name and form to perception to impression to ignorance So he concludes ignorance is the root of death, old age, suffering, and despair Concludes that leading a life of holiness will lead to suppression of desire and thus end the endurance of birth and suffering    after this contemplation, Siddhartha was now Buddha Siddhartha Deserted by His First Disciples S decided to meditate by the Nairanjana During this time, he stopped breathing because he was so engrossed in thoughts The Gods thought him to be dead, and his mother, Maya, who now lived among the Gods came down to see him and wept and spread flowers over his bo...

 For this week, I decided to do the readings of The Life of Buddha  (by Andre Ferdinand Herold) because I am interested in using the idea of the story-telling method of the jakartas. These stories are all told by one individual, the Master, which is Buddha. In my own storybook, I am using a village chief as the overarching story teller. Maya's Dream  and  The Birth of Siddhartha   Tells the story of the family Buddha picked to be born into, a family of a king and queen Maya was suddenly able to heal all kinds of ailments Queen Maya insists that her child be born amidst flowers, and the king, Suddhodana, allowed this request The garden was embellished with silver and gold A whole procession brought Maya to where she would have her child A cleansing light traveled throughout, healing all Buddha was originally given the name Siddhartha Asita's Prediction Buddha was to be the one who saved the people from rebirth Asita tells the king he received this honor because o...

      At this point in the semester, I think I have been pretty happy with the way I am progressing, though I haven't had the chance to do extra credit. The assignments that I enjoy the most are the reading notes and story writing, and my project of course! One thing I think I could work on though is my weekly routine, as I tend to be kind of inconsistent with completing my assignments. Working on my blog and website for my storybook have gone better than I thought, considering how technologically challenged I am.     Going forward, I want to try doing some extra credit work. I also want to try connecting some of my previous short stories with later short stories, combining elements from different stories together. As for my blog and website, I am content with their content and layout so far, so I hope that trend continues. A cute kitty hanging in there, just like I will!

      The feedback from other students really helps, as they have a totally different perspective and can provide suggestions. I also have a tendency to mess up small grammar things, which I don't really notice when I reread my stories myself, so I appreciate it when those little mistakes are pointed out. I would like to think that I have gotten better at leaving feedback as the weeks have gone by. I have always been pretty bad at noticing little mistakes, but I do tend to comment on the content of stories and make suggestions on how to expand the story.     Reading new introductions every week is really fun because I get to see all the different personalities that are in this class. It is also cool to read someone's intro and then read their stories because you can better see their personality shining through. For my own intro, I am glad that I get to hear about people with similar interests and stories, as my small town really had limited diversity.   ...

  Looking Back     I think the reading notes are really helpful for writing stories, as I tend to have vague impressions when I don't actively read and take notes. So far, I am still pretty content with the layout of my blog and website, but this might change as the semester goes on. For my reading notes, I have found a way to look out for the main points of the stories instead of getting caught up in little details. I think having the goal of 'reading like a writer' really helps when taking notes because I think of what the main components of the story are. So far, I really enjoyed the stories from the    Twenty-Two Goblins  and the premise of the king having to solve riddles that show how intelligent he is, but also cause him to work harder. My puppies are my happy place when I need a break from school work and writing! (Original image featuring our girls: Quinn, Stormy, and Toph) Looking Forward     So far, I am pretty pleased with my progress ...

      Samantha and Cameron had lived across the street from each other since they could remember. When they were younger, they had sleepovers at each other's homes just about every weekend. No one at school would believe that though, as the two are constantly at each other's throats when they are seen anywhere in the same vicinity. Sam is the captain of the girls' volleyball team and she is a member of the swimming and softball teams. Along with excelling in sports, Sam was also at the top of her class, scoring As since childhood. Like Sam, Cameron excels in several sports, captain of the boys' baseball team and part of the football and track teams. However, Cameron falls a bit behind in academics, and Sam loves to hold that over him. Why do they fight any chance they get? Well, even Cameron might struggle to tell you that. It is just how it has been for the past decade. On the flip side, if you ask Sam, she can pinpoint the exact moment their rivalry started. ~~~~~~~~~...

  Stories from Wilhelm's  Chinese Fairy Book The Maiden Who Was Stolen Away     I chose this story because it slightly resembles the tale of Rapunzel, but with very different circumstances. A beautiful maiden was swept away by a cyclone onto the top of an impossibly tall pagoda Up there was a young man, who appeared to be a student The student asked if she would marry him, as it seems they were meant to be since the cyclone swept her up The maiden said no to marrying him, so the man trapped her at the very top, bringing her food and drinks along with clothing and jewelry; blocking the exits with stones and destroying some of the steps every day, the man would ask the maiden if she would marry him, but her heart never changed and she still said no One day, the man forgot to lock a window, so the maiden saw him leaving, turning into an ogre with wings to get down to the ground before turning into a man again Shortly after, she saw a wanderer at the base of the tower an...

 Stories from Wilhelm's Chinese Fairy Book Why Dog and Cat are Enemies The feud between cats and dogs has always been well-known, and this is the classical origin of this feud from Chinese fairy tales A man and his wife had a golden ring that ensured they have enough to get by in life The couple didn't know about this and ended up selling the ring After selling it, they continually became poorer The couple had a cat and dog who had a meeting to figure out what to do to help their owners The dog says the cat should get a mouse and get the mouse to chew through the chest the ring was kept in The cat caught a mouse and the two travelled to the house with the chest and ring There was a river that they had to cross on the way there and the way back, with the cat riding on the dog's back because it couldn't swim On their way back to their owners, the cat carried the ring in its mouth and when they encountered houses, the cat went over and the dog went around So, the cat arriv...

  For this week, I am doing some further research on the Buddhist jataka tale of a community of carpenters exiled to an island where half of them are later killed by a flood. Details from the Buddhist flood myth: A thousand families of carpenters in a town near Benares Would take advanced payments for building beds, chairs, or even homes, but would never make anything The people harassed these carpenters daily, so they decided to move Some of them went into the forest to cut down trees to construct boats and they launched down a river, retrieving their families in the night, and headed to the ocean They reached an island in the middle of the sea with plenty of plants, with fruit trees, rice, sugar-cane, and more Another man was there who had been shipwrecked and he lived there for a while and roamed naked with long hair The carpenters were wary if the island was haunted by demons, so 7 men prepared to explore the island While these men were exploring, they heard the happy singing o...

    Twenty-Two Goblins , Arthur W. Ryder (1917) The King who died for Love of his General's Wife; the General follows him in Death. Who is more worthy? A merchant had a beautiful daughter named Passion that he insisted the king, King Glorious, marry So the king sent out men to check out the qualities of this woman and report back The men saw that she was extremely beautiful and had many good qualities, but feared that this would become a distraction to the king so reported that she had bad qualities The king then said the merchant out to give his daughter to General Force for marriage instead During the spring festival, the king saw Passion, the woman he had rejected, and was lovestruck, even passing out The king had the men who said she had bad qualities exiled The king wasted away because of his love for Passion when the general learned of this, he offered his wife to the king, saying it was only right However, the king said he would not be wicked and commit such sinful thin...

  Twenty-Two Goblins , Arthur W. Ryder (1917) The Brave Man, the Wise Man, and the Clever Man. To which should the girl be given? A riddle was given to the King Triple-Victory by the goblin, which the king successfully solved, causing him to have to return to the sissoo tree to once again retrieve the body the goblin took over The daughter of a king, Moonlight, was very beautiful and full of charm and said she would only marry a man that was brave, wise, or clever Her father found a clever man on his way to make a treaty for war and peace with another king Promised his daughter to this man who made a chariot that could fly Appointed marriage for 7th day But the girl's brother had also promised her to a brave man with excellent skill with weapons and appointed marriage for 7th day, after consulting star-gazers The mother ALSO promised the girl's hand in marriage for the 7th day to a wise man, who told her about the past and the future when the 3 men arrived, Moonlight had disapp...