Mythology & Folklore

The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds El Capitan It seems that the children think they can't ask Iagoo questions, but he explicitly says that he like the questions, no matter how hard it was. So why are the children afraid to ask? What happened that made the animals and men not get along anymore? This sounds kind of like a Garden of Eden/ Adam and Eve type of creation story Could be uninteresting route to look at the zoo angle and rewrite it in modern day with that spin on it Was this a punishment to the children? Why did the rock take them so far away from their family? This sounds a lot like one of Aesop's fables  The real rock is called El Capitan, so that could mean the worm was the captain of sorts of this quest to get the children Bibliography: The Little Boy and Girl in the Clouds from American Indian Fairy Tales by W. T. Larned  link to online reading

Interviewer: I’m here with the birds responsible for the wedding of the young girl born from a wound in a mans leg, and the cruel buffalo who wore down her parents. These birds delivered the messages between the two parties, and they’re here to give us their side of the story. Lets start at the beginning with the magpie who delivered the initial proposal. Magpie: The buffalo heard about the girl and that she was very beautiful. He decided, somewhat hastily, that he wanted to marry her. So he sent me to ask the men for her hand. They said no initially because she was too young. I could tell he wasn’t giving up so easy, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to convince them, so I told him to send a lovebird, who would be much more persuasive. Lovebird: I tried two times to get them to agree to the marriage, but they still wouldn’t accept it. I even tried to lie to the buffalo so I wouldn’t have to go back, but he knew I was lying. So I panicked and told him to send the “fire-owner”, who...

The True Bride Seems like every culture has a Cinderella/rags-to-riches story How are these four men related to her? Thats a pretty humorous take on the stepsister, to have her spit toenails instead of nuggets of gold Is there no consequence for her ability to make gold for everyone? She is pretty generous with her ability What happened to the actual baby she gave birth to? They think its strange that she gives birth to cats and snakes, but it doesn't seem like they are as shocked as they should be. Is it fairly normal to give birth to animals? Wow her husband is a malleable man. Is he not impressed with her ability to spit gold anymore? Now he just wants a child? I also don't see why killing her was the only option. She could have just left and gone to a new village or something. They didn't need to kill her Why did the stepmother wait so long to poison the children? She could have done it right when they were born There is a lot of spit in this story Wild...

Splinter-Foot-Girl Was this common, for a child to be born out of a wound? They didn't seem shocked really that a child just appeared like that Is her father the one whose leg she came from? Proud of the men for refusing because she is too young. That is uncommon in most older stories Oh never mind. They conceded eventually Why does everyone use birds as the primary method of communication? Maybe you could tell the story from the perspective of the birds or the flies, who are just messengers and observers throughout all of this Maybe a series about the things that serve as messengers, like the birds, stone, tree, etc This girl can't catch a break Why didn't they seal the rock underground before now if they knew he abused his wives? Buffalo Bibliography: Splinter-Foot-Girl from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson  link to online reading

Ndoza’ntu, Songa’nzila, and Fulla Fulla had been waiting all day for their husband Nenpetro to come back. He had left many hours ago to kill an ox for their dinner. He hunted every day for their food, bringing back whatever he could find, whether it was an antelope, a monkey, an ox. It was really whatever he had found that day. But today he had wanted ox, so off he had gone. But now the three women had begun to wonder where he was. Not out of necessity, but out of a combination of annoyance and boredom. The women had been gifted with special abilities. Ndoza’ntu had the power of dreams, Songa’nzila had the gift of guidance, and Fulla Fulla had the ability to raise the dead. Ndoza’ntu took a nap as a way to pass the time, and during her nap, she dreamed of their husband lying on the ground after he was attacked by an angry ox. She told the other women of her dream when she woke up. The three of them pondered what their next action should be. “I suppose we should go get him”, said N...

How the Spider Won and Lost Nzambi's Daughter Why did she put this requirement on people? Why should they want to get the fire for her? Badly dressed? Is the fire something he just gives out to anyone who asks for it? What is the danger of them being imposters? Interesting that the animals are all willing to help without getting anything in return Same concept as the last story, where they all fight over the prize because they each thought they had earned it Wow he really put a price on his daughter  Nzambi Mpungu Bibliography: How the Spider Won And Lost Nzambi's Daughter from Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort  by Richard Edward Dennet  link to online reading

Pronghorn Antelope Will these personas of the dreamer, guide, and raiser of the dead be relevant later in the story Why didn't he shoot the ox in the first place? These women should be a little more independent How many days passed between his death and the dream? I agree that he shouldn't have picked any of the women specifically What if her had picked a different woman? Or no woman at all? Maybe the women get angry at his choice and leave him? Bibliography: How the Wives Restored Their Husband to Life from Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett  link to online reading

So far I am doing alright in terms of progress. I have a pretty set schedule. I should probably start taking advantage of the extra credit, just to boost my grade a little. I think my favorite assignments are the readings, because I love learning about different cultures through their mythology. Going forward I am going to try to work on being a little more proactive and trying to get things done in the days before the due dates instead of on them. Hang In There

Overall I think they feedback I've been getting is good! They have useful suggestions that I have used to improve my writing. As for my comments, I think they are also productive. I definitely take away some tips and ideas from reading other peoples stories. I feel like generally I've interacted with almost everyone in the class in one way or another. Going forward, I think I should work on time mostly with my comments. I tend to leave them until the last minute and I think they would be more productive if I spent some more time on them. You can learn from criticism I chose this picture because I think criticism is an important part of feedback and it is especially important to learn to take the criticism well and use it constructively.

I've enjoyed the reading and writing assignments I've done so far. Creative writing is very outside of my comfort zone, but it is interesting to explore my abilities in that way. The reading notes are helping me, especially when choosing which reading to base my story off of. The image I chose was from my notes on the story of Aladdin: Aladdin in the Magic Garden I liked this one because it was very true to the original story, which was set in Asia. It also jumped out at me because it was very colorful and busy, and I felt like it was the best fit for the story. Looking forward, I don't think there is much more that I can get out of the stories. Maybe I could improve my creative writing abilities, but it's not my strong suit, so who knows if I can get any better haha.

Sentaro's Journey The paper crane carried Sentaro over hills and mountains and rivers and oceans until he was finally dropped in the middle of a busy street with buildings taller than any he had every seen. Everything was shiny like metal, but not like any metal he had ever seen. He spun around, taking in his surroundings, and as far as he could see there were tall buildings and people and strange moving machines on wheels unlike he had ever seen. He stopped a person and demanded to know where he was. They gave him a strange look and told him he was in a place called “New York City”. He decided that this must have been the Land of Paradise the hermits had told him about. But strangely, no one was smiling, as he had assumed they would be. They looked rushed and unfriendly. But, he thought to himself, maybe that meant that everyone was content with their own lives enough that they didn’t want to concern themselves with other people’s lives. He began to walk down the street looki...