Mythology & Folklore

Mars and Venus What is Vulcan's aim with this net? Is he trying to catch Mars or Venus? Oh he meant to trap both of them to embarrass them. Thats really harsh Interesting that there's a joke in there. it's unexpected, but still pretty funny Idea for a story would be from Vulcan's perspective, and maybe it was not the first time so he is not hurt by it, just looking for revenge Mars and Venus Bibliography: Mars and Venus from Ovid's Metamorphoses  translated by Tony Kline  link to online reading

Woman on Her Death-Bed Why does the red nose mean his loyalties lie elsewhere? Is she just ill? And how did she get so sick so quickly? Did no one see that she was headed toward a fatal illness? Wow that story took a very unexpected turn An obvious story would be to retell it from the wife's perspective, as she sees her husband try to move on while she isn't even dead yet. Or maybe she wasn't even dying, and was just kind of sick and her husband just made an assumption This is really a great story, in terms of twists, and the overarching theme that men are hypocritical and selfish Bibliography: Woman on Her Death-Bed from The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre translated by Walter K. Kelly  link to online reading Image source:  Heptameron

The Emperors New Suit How did he get appointed/ keep his throne if he is such a careless ruler? What purpose do these people have for lying? Does he pay them or are they just looking to shake things up in the kingdom Does he not have any advisors that thought this was a bad idea, or tried to tell him that the people were lying? Story idea: A frustrated advisor to the king who is always trying to convince him not to believe things like this These swindlers are good! They even got the priest to believe he was stupid They really tricked an entire castle full of people into lying to each other Does the king now think that his whole kingdom is stupid? If he thought that from the beginning why would he have agreed to wear his clothes? Seems like he did it to test his own judgement, but he seems like the type that wouldn't want anyone to question his judgement The Swindlers Bibliography: The Emperors New Suit from Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen

Dogs and Cats The Dog and the Shadow These dogs aren't super smart. First with the meat, then the hay All of these lessons are very important, but I'm used to longer stories to teach them, like tortoise and hare The story about the cat being changed into a woman is weird. Imagine seeing your new wife try to catch a mouse at your wedding I think theres a few goods story ideas in these fables, it would just mean expanding the stories and adding more fluff to it Bibliography: Dogs and Cats from The Fables of Aesop  by Joseph Jacobs  link to online reading