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

The Twelve Dancing Princesses What is the kings plan if none of his daughters marry? Would any of them become queen? Seems kind of harsh that if they fail he kills them. Why can't they just fail and go back to their lives? I have a feeling that the princes dad wouldn't be okay with another king killing his son. Sounds like a recipe for war Why does this old lady know the princess's tricks? And why does she have a cloak? Could be an interesting story to have her be a family member or old servant that knows how the princesses sneak away. Maybe she wants them to stop so she reveals all this to the soldier These princesses are kind of mean for deliberately causing all these men to lose their lives just so they could go dancing Maybe old woman from above could be one of the sisters in disguise, who doesn't want to send men to their deaths anymore They should probably be listening to the youngest sister, because she's right to be so concerned  Why can't the...

Briar Rose The fish is an interesting way to tell her she's having a daughter Its kind of weird that they want a daughter but not a son to be the heir to the throne, unless it's a progressive society where they actually let women rule Yikes, how did they choose which fairy to leave out? Was she particularly bad, or just unlock in this instance? I'm sure that the old lady is the evil fairy. But if she could magically create a spindle, why did they even bother removing all of them from the palace? Why did they all fall asleep? Was that another gift from the fairies? So this prince just got really lucky and didn't have to prove himself by cutting though the thorns If the spell was that she was supposed to sleep for a hundred years, why didn't she just wake up when the hundred years were up? Why did she still  need true love's kiss? Did they all know they slept for that long or did it just feel like they blinked and a hundred years had passed? Briar R...

Looking Glass-House Alice is such  carefree girl, and seems to have no issue with the people who now "can't get at [her]", but that is a very concerning statement  I like the chess pieces. It could be an interesting story to look at the perspective of the chess pieces, to the large girl watching them and trying not to scare them Oh so they are scared of her. That story would be interesting too, the pieces just minding their business until a giant hand picks them up and moves them in the air super quickly I've read this poem before, it's a very interesting one. The floating thing is another thing that would concern a normal person. but Alice seems fine with it and questions nothing Alice Bibliography: Looking Glass-House from  Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There  by Lewis Carroll

Sir Galahad and the White Knight Why are they trying to get the shield if they know it will kill them? Why would Galahad agree to that? Oh so it's like an excalibur type thing, but with more deadly consequences Story idea: What the nuns and the priest think of all this. Why do they let people try the shield if they know they will die? Maybe it could be funny from the nuns perspective, like "Oh good, another Knights thats going to try the shield?" Why did Galahad just ignore that foreboding voice? Good for him for freeing the castle but they kind of glossed over that whole thing His friends' story was glossed over too Sir Galahad Bibliography: Sir Galahad and the White Knight from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table  by Andrew Lang

King Arthur and Morgan le Fay Why was the knight she loved fighting Arthur? Was this a Romeo and Juliet/star-crossed lovers thing? Why didn't the nuns want to disobey her? Because of her magic or because she was Arthur's sister? Forty horses? How did that happen? Did Arthur not notice the brand new blocks of marble? Story idea: What the nuns were doing/thinking throughout all of this? SO Morgan had her own kingdom to rule? Were the two at war, and thats how Arthur encountered the knight?  I would think that Arthur would have been wiser than to just accept a gift from Morgan, considering what had literally just happened Story idea: The journey and end of the messenger girl who brought the enchanted crown to Arthur Morgan le Fay Bibliography: King Arthur and Morgan le Fay from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table  by Andrew Lang  link to online reading

Fairy Ointment Is she the only one looking after these sick people and babies? Is she in a hospital or something? If "business is business" does that mean she is getting paid for taking care of these people? That is a really cool ointment to have, but what purpose does it serve? Are pixies bad people? Why does she want to leave so quickly? Are all pixies thieves? Is that a common thing for pixies? Oh wow, he blinded her? That seems super harsh considering he's the one stealing So I guess pixies are really bad people/creatures in this storyline/universe Could be a good story idea to look at if she hadn't said anything, so that she saw pixies all the time, but never confronted them, just picked up their messes, or warned people they were going to steal from them Fairy Ointment Bibliography: Fairy Ointment from  English Fairy Tales  by Joseph Jacobs  link to online reading

The Unknown Bride What happened to all the fairies? Why did all of these women begged for this knight's life is he had disrespected a woman? If this was a serious enough thing to be killed over, why were they all okay with it? Finding out what women wish for is an impossible task, but I am assuming the Queen knows that "We women cannot conceal things"? Gross What happened to the twenty other women dancing in the field? Wow this knight is a jerk. She literally gave him the answer that would save his life, and e promised he would do what she asked, but now he's backing out Of course she was actually beautiful. Even though he was really mean to her, he changed his mind at the last minute and got a reward for it. Story idea: write from the old woman's perspective, but when she changes into a beautiful woman, she leaves him because he is the worst Queen Guinevere Bibliography: The Unknown Bride from The Chaucer Story Book  by Eva March Tappan  link t...

The Princess and the Pea The Princess and the Pea Does he mean real princesses in the sense that she must be perfect,or actually literally real, like there are women who are faking it? What are the odds that the perfect girl ends up at your door in the pouring rain? Why is sensitivity the mark of a true princess? An interesting story to take could be: A girl knows a prince is looking for a wife, and knows that she will be tested in some sort of way, so she sneaks to the room where she will be sleeping and sees the queen put a pea between the mattresses. So she lies in the morning and pretends like it kept her up all night and everyone believes her Or it could be told from the perspective of the queen, who is over protective of her son and has been filling his head with silly things that "real" princesses do, and this is the girl she finally likes enough to let marry her son Bibliography: The Princess and the Pea from Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christia...

The Fairy Bride This description of her reminds me of most fairy tales, where the main character is described as peculiar or strange, and their parents just want them to be like other girls and fit in Gnomes and fairies? Could be something there in the gnomes having a specific job and the fairies just create mischief This sounds a little like Pocahontas. She was supposed to marry a hunter who she thought very little of for his savage ways I like that she doesn't want to marry this man because she basically thinks he is boring. All he talks about is hunting and she seems to not find that very interesting She is too young to know what is good for her, but not too young to get married? I would like to hear what happened to her once she walked into the grove. They only tell us what the members of her tribe and her almost-husband saw Grove Bibliography: The Fairy Bride from American Indian Fairy Tales  by W. T. Larned  link to online reading

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

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

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

Notes on Aschenputtel: Before starting the story, I assume aschen = ash, ash = cinder, so it is the Grimm brothers version of Cinderella Not the traditional ugly stepsisters, as they were "beautiful and fair in appearance". The ugly stepsister trope seems to come from them being ugly at heart Why was her father just okay with all of this? They took away her bed and he didn't do anything about it She should use her bird-wishes to wish for some improvement in her home life. But maybe she is too good at heart to wish for things like that Seems like all the stuff with the lentils was overkill. The stepmother was going to say no from the beginning, so why even pretend to be considering it? Silk shoes instead of glass, when did that change in the story happen? Was the glass slipper image Disney's doing? A three day festival instead of just one night Now she has gold slippers, but still no glass slippers Grimm stories are much more grim (haha) than the fairy tales...

The Story of Princess Hase Interesting that they were okay with a daughter, when it would seem more likely they wanted a son to carry on the family name Also interesting that she is basically telling her daughter to forget her, and treat her fathers new wife as her mother A "model woman" is submissive and kind Sounds very Cinderella-esque, with a kind child and a wicked stepmother  So now that the stepmother has accidentally killed her own son, she will hate the princess even more What has made this girl so talented? Interesting that she got a military position as a woman The part about the servant being sent to kill her is very Snow White-esque Living in a cottage in the forest to stay safe is very Sleeping Beauty-esque  So the king did want a son anyway. Seems to me that a lieutenant in the military would make a very good queen Interesting use of the term "active life" Japanese Fairy Book - Ozaki Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theo...