Famous Last Words: Not the End All, Be All

This is my last post for Mythology-Folklore, and honestly it’s a little sad. This week I took advantage of the extra week of reading and writing to make up for some things I missed over the semester.

I really liked the Russian folktale unit I read this week. And honestly, I’ve liked most, if not all of the readings for this class. They’ve all been incredibly interesting. My only wish is that I would have read more (and maybe gotten that extra reading credit, haha).

I’m content with my story this week, I feel like it has a note of finality and wrapping thigs up that is a little poetic to it being my last story for the class. I regret missing a couple of stories, writing them has been one of the best things about this class. I love creative, fictional writing, but I never really get a chance to do it. Having it be for a grade helped me really make that time.

I finished my capstone this semester, yay! I don’t graduate until next spring, though. I took capstone early because I want to study abroad next spring and won’t be here to take it. Fingers crossed I get into my number one pick, Ireland!

Today (Friday) I am going to the OU Creatie awards because I used OU Create this semester to host my twine story. I’m really excited and I hope I won something! If I didn’t, it’s still a good time to meet other students and people who work with OU create. I’m sad that I might not get to meet Keegan, he’s really been a huge help this semester (along with Dr. Gibbs).

Well, this is it! I’m officially done! This will give me the last points I need for the grade I want, and I’m satisfied with how this semester went. Even though class is over, I plan to keep this blog up, and maybe even use it for brainstorming because I definitely want to re-vamp and expand Dungeons & Decisions.

(Goodbye on maxpixel)

Week 15 Storytelling: The Two "Friends"

Many, many years ago, in a small village, there lived to young men. They were as close as two people could be. Some referred to them as brothers, but they shared a different sort of bonded love. Because of how close they were to each other, neither young man had married by the time all the other young people in town had married. They were more than content in each other’s company. 

One day, one of the young men became terribly sick. His partner was right by his side every second, waiting on him hand and foot. Even the strong bond the young men shared was not enough to stave off the inevitable coming of death.

Many months after mourning the loss of his partner, the still living young man met a young woman whose time he enjoyed sharing. The two grew close, and about a year later, they made the decision to be wed.

On his way to the place where he would marry his bride, the man passed by the cemetery where his first love was buried. He decided to stop and pay his respects.

(Jay's Grave on Wikimedia)

Sitting in front of his partner’s grave, the man talked about his new engagement. He sat there for many minutes, telling old stories and new. At the end of his talk, he stood and looked over the grave. As he turned to leave, he spoke: “Comrade, dear. I invite thee to my wedding.” He knew he would never marry this woman here his partner still living, but he liked to think his partner would like to see him happy now.

As soon as the young man spoke these words, the grave shifted and began to open. From the hole, the dead man rose up. He smiled, as much as he could, and responded: “Thanks be to thee, love. Let us act upon this happy chance. Come into my new home and drink in celebration with me.”

The living man was surprised and he explained that the entire wedding procession was waiting for him.

“Eh, dear! Surely you can spare a moment for one last drink with me,” the dead man replied.

The living man thought for a moment. He had heard stories of people drinking with the dead. Every glass was rumored to make a hundred years of time pass. As he looked to his fallen partner, he remembered the time they had spent together, and how he had wished many times he could spend just one more day together.

One could argue a hundred years is better than a day.

The living man looked back to the gate of the cemetery where his procession was waiting for him, and he turned his back to them and stepped into the grave.

“Surely, you know what this means?” the dead man questioned him.

The living man smiled and answered him, “I do.”

(Festival Meadow Drinking Glass on maxpixel)

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Author's Note: In the original story, the two friend promise each other that whoever gets married first will invite the other to his wedding, even if the second man dies. One young man does die, and the living man goes on to get engaged. The day of his wedding, the living man passes by his friends grave and invites him to the wedding. The dead man raises up and thanks his friend, inviting him in for a quick drink. The living man accepts, thinking it will not take very long for one drink. The has three drinks, and three hundred years pass by. When he emerges, everything is different. He eventually makes it to a town where someone explains that three hundred years ago, a groom went missing, never to marry his bride. 

In my story, I wanted to change the relationship between the two men. They are lovers, and the living man consciously chooses to spend however many hundreds of years with his partner, instead of getting married. 

Bibliography: "The Two Friends" from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887). (Web Source)

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales, Part B

The Two Friends

I'm not exactly sure why, but as I was reading this story, I was already coming up with a way to retell it. The two friends were so close that they promised each other to invite the other to his wedding, even if he had died. Which, since it was mentioned, it happened. But I kept imagining that maybe the two friends were close enough that they didn't need to be married, until the other died. And maybe then the still living friend went on to finally want to be married one day. He could then stop at his friend's grave, wanting to share the news but missing him. The dead friend rises and convinces his living friend to stay for a drink or two since they have missed each other so much. The living friend agrees, thankful to see his friend again, but then comes to find that three hundred years had passed by in his absence. 

I'll throw in more details, but I think that will make the story have more of an impact, in my opinion. 

(Wedding Seating on pxhere)

Bibliography: "The Two Friends" from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887). (Web Source)

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales, Part A

Emilian the Fool

This was my favorite story from the first part of this unit. The fool, who everyone treated badly, came upon good luck and was granted the power to have whatever he said happen. That seems like a Very powerful thing to me. I liked how at first he only used it to do the things the wives had asked of him. He never did anything bad or harmed anyone. I'd definitely like to have a power like that. 

For re-telling this story, I might make it so someone keeps this gift a secret and uses it for a long long time. Maybe by using this gift they create all sorts of things, creatures, anything! That might be fun! Maybe the pike plays a larger role than only granting the gift. Maybe the person keeps the pike somewhere and has to return to it to continue their powers. Then I could explore what happens if they forget or cannot return to the pike. 

(Northern Pike on flickr)

Bibliography: "Emilian the Fool" from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887). (Web Source)

Week 14 Review: Things I Forget To Do

Breathe

The graphic I chose for this week is the gif of a clock with markers to tell you to breathe in for three seconds then out for three seconds. This is really relevant to the week I had. I felt like I constantly had a million and one things going on, and sometimes I forget to watch my breathing. Another technique I like to use is in through your nose for three seconds and our through your mouth for five seconds. This is something I learned while taking the Sho Hei Ryu style of karate for six and a half years. It helps regulate your breathing and pulse! 

(from the Slow: Three Seconds HEART post)

Sleep

While I was growing up, my mom has always stressed that it was important that I sleep enough. I always took her word for it. She's my mom and it felt nice to sleep. This video, by Claudia Aguirre explains some of the reasons behind why people need to sleep. It was really interesting to listen to and watch, especially learning about the guy who stayed awake for 11 days in 1965. I think my longest record for staying awake is two days, and I definitely felt horrible before I finally got some sleep. I used to use an app called SleepBot that tracked how long I slept, how much I moved around, and if I talked in my sleep. It was pretty cool, and I'm not really sure why I stopped using it. I do want to start keeping better track of my sleep from now on though. 

Tech Tip: OU Create's Wordpress and Adding Navigation Links

Before this semester I had never used OU Create or Wordpress, so this has been a lot of learning. When choosing a site to host my project on, Dr. Gibbs suggested that I check out OU Create because it's platform is friendly to hosting the HTML file I needed because of my Twine story. The first day I looked into it, I was really overwhelmed. For this Tech Tip, I'll be specifically showing you how to add header links in the Wordpress application of OU Create, because it took me a hot minute to figure it out.

Setting Up OU Create

Every member of the OU community has access to OU Create! Once you create your account and log in, you will see a page similar to this: 

For this example, you'll want to click on Wordpress and go through the set up for that. This will include picking a domain name. The one I use for class is dungeonsanddecisions.oucreate.com. 

Once the application is installed, you'll click on "My Applications" and then on your domain link that has /wp-admin/ on the end of it:

This takes you to the editing/admin side of your site. It should look something like this:

Setting Up Header Links

Once you're on the admin homepage, you'll click "Appearance" in the left-hand column. This will take you to a page with six pre-loaded themes you can use, or an option to make your own. For my project, I use the "Twenty Seventeen" theme. 

Once you pick your theme, you'll click the blue "Customize" button that shows at the bottom of the theme. 

This should take you to what looks like your site page, but with a control panel on the left side of the screen. Click on the "Menus" option. Once in Menus, there should be a choice labeled "Navigation" with "(currently set to:)" and either Top Menu, Social Links Menu, or nothing. 

Click on Navigation. There will be a place to name the menu if you choose, and a button that says "+ Add Items"

There will be a list of pages and posts after you click "+ Add Item" to choose from. Choose what you want to add to the Navigation Bar, and you should see it automatically added to the left under what you have your navigation bar titled. 

NOTE: If you have not created any pages, posts, etc. yet, there will be no items to add. Create a tester page/post if you need to. 

This will update on the preview of your page in the background. Once you are done, don't forget to hit the blue Publish button at the top of the control panel. After you have published, you are all done! 

I hope this helps! 

All pictures were screenshots done by me from my personal view of the OU create website. 

Famous Last Words: Finishing Up My Storybook and a Drag Show

Storybook

I did it. My last story in my storybook is in and I feel really proud of myself. This week, my story was the final encounter with Sedna, with only one player remaining. I chose to wrap up things this way for a few different reasons. For one, writing one player character meant I could write more about them, instead of a short amount about multiple characters. Secondly, I wanted it to feel like everything truly was leading up to this. This was the end, whether it went good or bad because there was only one person left. Had I had more time or more words to use, I would expand the story and maybe have four or five stories, but this semester didn't really allow for that sort of thing, haha. Overall, I'm very pleased with what I accomplished. 

Crimson & Queens

If any of you have heard about, or went to, the Drag Show, Crimson & Queens, thank you! I have been part of a three student committee planning this show since Fall. Things have not always gone our way, and true to show biz, we had numerous complications the day of. But, despite all that, we put on a fantastic show! We had three student performers, three local queens from Norman pride, a local queen from OKC hosting, and our headliners was Kennedy Davenport from Ru Paul's Drag Race. The event was co-sponsored/hosted by the Gender + Equality Center (where I my internship) and the Union Programming Board. Our LGBTQ Program Advisory Board was essential to putting on the show and we definitely could not have done it without them helping out Thursday night. A huge HUGE shout out to Chris and Jerry, the other two members of our trio. We went through a lot this semester to make this show happened, and we freakin' crushed it. 

(Planning Committee: Me, Kennedy Davenport, Chris Ebert, and Jerry Lessley. taken from Jerry's instagram)

(Some of our volunteers at the end of the night, ft. Kennedy. taken from Jerry's instagram)

Week 14 Storytelling: Dante in the Ninth Circle of Hell

(Rocky cave from pxhere; edited by me)

Dante watched as Virgil floated over the dangerously sharp rocks as he made his way to a two-story-tall black iron door. Dante walked behind him, but his still-living, mortal feet were sliced on contact with the razor sharp floor.

It took a few minutes for Dante to navigate the floor in a way that he would be cut as little as possible. When he joined Virgil by the door, the soles of his feet were bleeding. He looked up at Virgil, who smiles reassuringly down at him.

Without saying a word, Virgil pushed the large, black door open and floated inside the ninth circle of Hell. 

(Venice - Campo Pescaria from Wikimedia)

Standing outside the door, Dante imagined what horrors might be inside. He thought back to the monsters he had seen over the past couple of days. Giants, harpies, all of the eternally damned. He knew this final circle of Hell was were Satan himself resided.


Dante had grown up hearing the stories of Satan. A huge creature that made giants look small. Three heads, six eyes, three wings, and three mouths endlessly chewing on those who committed the worst crimes while on Earth.

As he stood in front of the cracked-open door, he could feel the cold nerves settling in his stomach. But, Virgil had already gone in, and Dante was there to follow him and see all nine circles of Hell.

So he went in.

At first Dante was blinded because it was so much brighter inside the door. Before everything was dimly lit by unseen lighting that gave just enough of a glow so one’s eyes could adjust to the dark. But this light was bright white, almost luminescent.

When his eyes adjusted Dante was astonished. Before him were linoleum floors, so shiny he could see everything reflected in them. Paintings and tall pillars alternated down the long hallway in front of him. There were furniture arrangements scattered about, creating small sitting areas. At the end of the hallway, Dante saw Virgil hovering next to a large table that someone was sitting behind. The two chatted idly.

(European-Style Walls And Pillars Design For Hotel Lobby from 3dhousedownload.com)

This was not what Dante was expecting.

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Author's Note: Dante’s Inferno is a classic. Everyone has either read it or at least heard about it. In the original story, Dante is led by Virgil through the different circles of hell, learning about the creatures that dwell there and how it all came to be. In the ninth circle of Hell, Dante and Virgil originally see Satan, with his three heads, chewing on Judas, Brutus, and Cassius, all traitors when they were alive. After seeing this final scene, Dante and Virgil climb up Satan and reemerge on Earth. In my retelling, I wanted something different. When I was think about what to write, I remembered Elizabeth Harper’s storybook that I read at the beginning of our class. She wrote about a new perspective of the underworld as a sort of office where Hades is the boss and has a new secretary, Kyle. I really enjoyed this new imagining of Hell and I thought it was great. So I wanted to incorporate that into my story by having Dante find the ninth circle of hell to be a hotel/office setting. I think it makes the story funny because the lead up of the rest of the story is dark and grim and horrifying, and then you get a different sort of “horror” with working in public service.


Bibliography: "Canto 34: Satan" from Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002). (Web Source)
“Hero Visa Pending” by Elizabeth Harper (Web Source)

Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno Unit, Part B

Satan, Judas, Brutus, and Cassius

Since beginning this unit, I have been looked forward to seeing how the different levels of Hell progressed and who or what would be at the very end. I figured it would be Satan himself, but I didn't expect him to have three heads and be a giant to giants. I also never imagined that he would be using his mouths to chew on some other famous historical people. I think it's interested that the three men were all infamous for their betrayals. I wish that the story would have made some comment about why specifically they were there, but if I had to guess it would be that. 

Once I got to the end and was a little surprised, it made me think, "What was I expecting?" and I am not sure I really have an answer to that. After finishing this unit I'm a little concerned with writing a story for it just because I have no idea what I would re-imagine Hell to be like...but, I guess we'll see. 

(Inferno by Gustave Dore on Wikimedia)

Bibliography: "Canto 34: Satan" from Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002). (Web Source)

Reading Notes: Dante's Inferno Unit, Part A

The First Circle: Limbo

Before this, I had never read any of Dante's Inferno. I had heard about it plenty of times with it being a classic, of course. What surprised me pretty early on was the concept of the first circle of Hell. From what I have understood growing up, limbo is an in between space where souls go when they can't go to heaven or hell. But, in this story, it is the place where good people, who died before Christianity was a thing, spend the rest of eternity. It just strikes me as sort of unfair. They have to live here just because Christ hadn't come about yet? And yes, a few were saved, but only a select few. I think I would rewrite this to be completely different just because I really don't think this would be...good? fair? right?

(Foggy Lake Mist on pixaby)

Bibliogprahy: "Canto 4: Limbo" from Dante's Divine Comedy, translated by Tony Kline (2002). (Web Source)

Tech Tip: Adding External Links in Twine 2.0

Hello and welcome to my second Tech Tip involving Twinery.org!

Since my first story using twine, I have been trying to figure out how to add external links, or link that when clicked will take you to an outside webpage. I wanted to use this to revise my stories and add in links to my other stories, for those who want to read them in a very continuous manner. When looking at different websites, including Twine's own Wiki (lightly outdated) I could not find anything that worked.

Finally, I found a Twine Help Forum (found here) with a problem post asking for help regarding external links. From this post, I finally code the line of code I needed to create an external link:

(link-repeat: "LINK NAME HERE")[(open-url: "http://insertyourlinkhere.com"]
I edited the code taken from the forum so you can better see where things would go, such as what you want the clickable link to say and where to put the url you want to go to.

This can go in a twine passage along with everything else. Here is an example of what it can look like from an editing point of view:

(Screen shot of a passage where I used an external link to a Dice Roller)

This took me an embarrassingly long time to figure out, but now that I have it, I plan to go back and edit my stories to include links back to my Story Web page, as well as links that lead straight into the other stories. 

I hope this helps someone else!

Reading Notes: Welsh Fairy Tales (Thomas), Part B

Owen Goes a-Wooing

I like this short story because while it is only 400 words long, it told a story full of different kinds of magic. The mansion under the lake that Owen floated to was great, and there was some sort of time magic going on as well. When Owen arrived to Siwsi, he found out he had been gone for months, rather that a few hours. It makes me think of the time magic in C.S. Lewis's The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. But in that story, when the siblings think they have been gone for years upon years, they find that back home they were gone for merely hours. This sort of time magic has always been really fascinating to me because I think it can really alter a story and the characters perceptions within it. 

(Old Clock Close Up from Wikipedia)

The Martyred Hound

This story was sad and ironic. The King thinking the dog had eaten his heir, killed the dog, only to find out the dog had actually saved the child by killing a wolf that had gotten in. This story was also relatively short at 600 words, but even within that time, I felt intense sadness when it was revealed what happened. The dog and the King had such a strong bond, it was sad the King killed him needlessly. 

(Enzo the Italian Greyhound on flickr)

Bibliography: "Owen Goes a-Wooing" and "The Martyred Hound" from The Welsh Fairy Book by W. Jenkyn Thomas with illustrations by Willy Pogány (1908).

Reading Notes: Welsh Fairy Tales (Thomas), Part A

Arthur in the Cave

When I read the short explanation before the story, I already knew I would like this story. There's a popular book series that's fairly recent called The Raven Cycle. These books are all about a group of teenagers searching for the sleeping king of Wales. In the book, the King isn't Arthur, however... or at least they don't call him Arthur. They call him Glendower. I love the series (though I haven't finished it yet) so I was excited to read the tale that inspired the books. I've always been a lover of fantasy, and a sleeping King is a fantastic story that I absolutely love. 

In the original, I thought it was really interesting that King Arthur was woken up, and then he decided to listen to the sorcerer saying it was not time to wake up. Truthfully, I expected Arthur to get mad we was woken up for nothing and maybe fight and/or kill the intruders. 

(King Arthur by Charles Ernest Butler on Wikimedia)

Tech Tip: Starting Twine, Saving, and Backing Up Stories

Hello and welcome to a very basic Twine introduction. I learned a lot about Twine from Keegan Wheeler when Dr. Gibbs connected us to talk about Twine. I've also learned a lot from Twine's Wiki and the YouTube series listed in a blog post Keegan made that you can read here! I wanted to write up my own tech tip from the perspective of someone who has only recently begun using Twine!

1. Getting Started

Twinery.org is the official website for starting your own twine story. On the front page, there is different information about patch updates, downloads, and more. Something I really like about Twine is there is the option to use it online. This means you don't have to download any sort of program to create your stories. 

Something very important to note about this is that the information is saved to your browser. This means that there is no login username and password that you use to access your stories. It is just saved to whatever internet browser you're using, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc. This can sometimes cause a problem with working on projects from multiple computers. 

For example, if I save my work in Google Chrome on my work computer (where I get a lot of my school work done), I won't be able to just open my project on my personal laptop later, even if I am using Google Chrome. There is a solution, though! Which leads me to...

2. Saving and Backing Up Stories

Backing up Twine stories is very very important. Since everything is only saved in your browser, one cookie/cache clear will wipe out everything saved in Twine. This is why "publishing to file" is your best friend. Here is where you can find it when you're editing your story:

Publish to file will download an HTML file to your computer. This HTML file will allow you to always have your work backed up, as well as allow you to edit your story in multiple browsers. 

Going back to my earlier scenario, if I am working on my project on my work computer, but want to work on my story on my laptop, I can use publish to file. Once I have the file, I can email it to myself. Then, on my laptop, I download the file from my email. Then, I go to twinery.org, click "use it online" and I will click "import from file" on my homepage: 

You will be able to upload the file you downloaded from your email and pick up editing where you left off! 

These are just a couple of things that I thought would make a good Twine Tech Tip post, since they are important and things I find myself using most often. I hope they helped you understand Twine a bit! 

Reading Notes: More Celtic Fairy Tales, Part B

"The Legend of Knockgrafton"

This story was about two different men with humps on their back. The first, Lusmore, was a kind man. One night he heard fairies singing and sang along with them. The fairies liked this so much that they removed his hump, gave him fine clothes, and improved his life. The second man, Jack Madden, was more mischievous and rude. When we heard about Lusmore, his family brought him to the fairies. When the fairies started singing, he interrupted their song instead of singing along. For this, the fairies punished him by giving him Lusmore's old hump, so that Jack would have two humps.

To me this story was a tale about being kind in life. Those who are kind in life are rewarded, while those who are not are punished.

(Fairy Bridge from Wikimedia)

Bibliography: "The Legend of Knockgrafton" from More Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Reading Notes: More Celtic Fairy Tales, Part A

My two favorite stories from this reading were "The Fate of the Children of Lir" and "Dream of Owen O'Mulready." The first story was a bit longer and told the story of the four children of King Lir who were turned into swans because his second wife was jealous of them. The children were to remain as swans for 90 years until two specific people were married. This story sort of reminded me of Swan Lake, because, you know, swans. I think it could be an interesting story to retell. Maybe with an ending where the children don't have to wait 90 years to turn human, just to die immediately.

(The Four Swans, Waltham Cross, Hertforshire by Christine Matthews on geograph.org.uk)

The second story was about a man who had never had a dream. His master gave him instructions on how to have a dream, which Owen O'Mulready followed. He did have a dream, but it was the sort where you sleep walk...or sleep climb? And he ended up dropping his shoe on his wife's face, waking her up. She woke him up and Owen decided he didn't want to have any more dreams. As someone who used to sleepwalk, I would always go to bed afraid I would get up in the night and get myself hurt. Maybe I could re-tell this story with a difference circumstance to O'Mulready's dreaming/sleepwalking. 

Bibliography: "The Fate of the Children of Lir" and "Dream of Owen O'Mulready" from More Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1895).

Week 11 Storytelling: Mondamin

Many, many years ago, there was a young man who, at the beginning of spring, began his yearly fast. This fasting was a tradition for his tribe, and the young man was proud to take part in it. However, his father was not a skilled hunter, which meant that there was normally no food in their home, anyway.

While his father went out daily to hunt, hoping to catch something to eat so there would be food when his son’s fast ended, the young man would wander the forest and wonder at the different plants he found there.

After fasting for the first four days, the young man became weak with hunger and decided to lay down inside of his tepee. He got comfortable on the floor, staring up at the light let in by the small opening at the top. He watched the dust float through the beams of light for many hours.

Suddenly, a handsome youth appeared inside the tepee with him. The human man could tell that this stranger was from the Sky-land because of his elaborate green and yellow robes that flowed around him and the soft plume of feathers in his hand. The young man could not help but think how truly beautiful this man from Sky-land was.

“The Great Mystery has sent me so that you may learn all that you wish to know,” the handsome stranger explained. “To gain knowledge, you must wrestle me.”

The human man explained that he could not wrestle, for he was too weak from fasting. After convincing the man that this was indeed the only way to gain knowledge, he accepted. After a few minutes, the handsome stranger said that was all for that day, and left silently.

The next day, the stranger came again, still in his beautiful green and yellow robes, and wrestled again with the young human man. After a few minutes, the handsome stranger said that was all for that day, and left silently. After the stranger was gone, the young human man reflected on how he seemed to best the stranger when wrestling. He wondered how, and what he might learn from him.

The third day came and the two young men wrestled once again. Finally, the stranger stopped. “This has been enough. You have prevailed.”

The young men settled in on the floor comfortably and began to talk. “The Great Mystery has decided you are worthy enough to gain the knowledge you seek. Tomorrow, after I have come and we have wrestled once more, you must throw me down, strip me of my robes, and bury my body in the ground.”

The human young man began to protest, but the handsome stranger spoke over him. “From this place where you bury me, keep it well. Do not let weeds and grass grow over where you have laid me there. Also, you must not eat until after we have finished wrestling tomorrow.” After he spoke, the handsome stranger rose gracefully and vanished. The young human man stayed sitting there for a while, thinking on what was asked of him. He did not want to bury the beautiful stranger. He had come to think of him as a friend.

When the next morning came, the young man’s father brought him some food he had caught, for it was the seventh day of fasting. The young man declined the food and waited patiently for the handsome stranger.

When evening came, so did the beautiful stranger. The two young men wrestled as usual, and at the end, the beautiful young man from Sky-land stayed on the ground, waiting for the young human man to do what he was told.

Minutes went by, but nothing happened.

The beautiful young stranger sat up and found the young human man standing across the tepee from him. “My friend, why have you not continued?”

“I do not wish to bury you. You are my friend, just as you have said,” the human man responded.

The beautiful young man got off of the ground and smiled. “I understand your concern, but I will be all right. It is my purpose to come here and do this for you. So that you may gain the knowledge you are seeking.”

“I do not know what I am seeking, so how will you aide me in this,” the young human man questioned his friend.

After a long pause, the beautiful stranger turned friend spoke. “I do not know, but it is what I was sent here to do.”

The two young men talked about this for a long while, well into the night. By the time day broke, they had reached an agreement.

“I will bury you,” the young human man said. “And I will accept the knowledge you leave behind.”

Both young men were saddened, but they accepted that the beautiful young man from Sky-land had a purpose to fulfill.

The young human man buried his friend and tended to his grave daily to make sure no weeds or grass would grow there. He visited right until it was time for winter to come. On the last day he was to visit, the young man found that from his friend’s grave, a tall plant had grown. The plant seemed graceful and was as bright and colorful as his friends robes has been, with silk-like hair in places.

This is how we came to have Mondamin, also known as corn.

(Maize Corn Field on max pixel)

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Author's note: In the original story, the human boy wrestled the stranger without question, buried him, and from his grave corn grew. In my story, I wanted there to be a little more depth so I explore the option of the two actually becoming friends. I still wanted the outcome of the stranger being buried and corn growing, though. 

Bibliography: "Mondamin" from Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1914). (Web Source)

Reading Notes: Mississippi Valley/Great Lakes Unit, Part A

My favorite story, or should I say stories, from this part of the unit were the two stories about the origin of corn. One is from the Ojibwa people and the other from the Odawa people.

In the Ojibwa story, there is a beautiful stranger sent to wrestle with a human boy. The boy was fasting, but as he wrestled the stranger each day he grew stronger. Eventually he defeated the stranger who instructed him to bury his body. From where his body was buried, corn grew. 

The Odawa story was similar in that it involved wrestling, and the winner buried pieces of his fallen foe, and from that corn grew. 

I was interested to see that wrestling and burying your opponent was common among these stories, and it got me thinking as to if other corn origin stories would have those things as well. If I choose this story to re-tell, that is something I would want to look in to. 

(Amazing Maize on Wikimedia)

Bibliography: "Mondamin" from Myths and Legends of the Mississippi Valley and the Great Lakes, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1914). (Web Source)

Week 10 Storytelling: Raven

Before there were humans on Earth, there were Animals. Animals like Bear roamed the silent forests, Snake slithered across fallen leaves, Beaver built sturdy dams, and so on. One such Animal was Raven. Raven was different from some of the other Animals because he could create things. Beaver might have been able to create dams, but Raven could create plants, new animals, and anything else he wanted. 

When Raven first started creating, he created grass. Before, the land was covered in dirt as far as the eye could see. Raven found this rather boring, and wanted something better. So, Raven landed on the dirt and used his beak to pull at it, as if pulling something out of it. After a few tries, Raven pulled up a single blade of fresh, green grass. He continued this way for years and years until grass grew in most places.

(Agriculture Grass on Wikimedia)

After creating many types of plants, Raven decided to create something more. He started small and created a caterpillar. He did this by taking a small bit of wet clay from the ground and wrapping it in a dark green leaf from one of the trees. He flapped his wings over the small form and watched as it started to wriggle with life. Over the next few days, Raven watched the caterpillar closely, studying its movements. 

(Papilio machanon Caterpillar on a leaf from Wikimedia)

Eventually, Raven wanted to create something bigger. Starting with tiny mice, Raven began creating all sorts of animals. Bears, snakes, beavers, and more were created day after day. It took many years, but Raven created all the different animals, one animal at a time. This filled Raven with great pride, and he spent many happy years among his animal creations.

One day, Raven decided his life could be better if he gave some of the other animals the ability to think like he did. Raven chose one animal of each species, and granted them a sort of higher thought. These animals became known by their names, Bear, Snake, Beaver, and so on, just like Raven. All of these higher animals made up a great court which operated under Raven. And so it was for many millennium. 

(Kamchatka Brown Bear from Wikimedia)

Years and years later, Raven was flying through a forest that rested on the edge of a beach when he saw something strange. A large pod had been hanging from a vine, similar to when caterpillars transformed, but much larger. Raven flew closer to investigate. As he drew nearer, he noticed the large pod was broken open at the bottom, and beneath it in the sand was a strange creature.

Raven landed on the sand beside the creature and looked over it curiously. Being the creator of all other creatures, Raven was confused because he certainly did not remember creating this one. While he was pondering, Raven remembered something. Using his wing, he lifted his beak which suddenly transformed into a type of mask and was lifted away from his face. It had been thousands of years since Raven had changed from his bird form, and he had forgotten what his other form felt and looked like.

Now that he was transformed, Raven could see this strange creature very much looked like his non-bird form. Raven shook the creature awake. When it woke up, it seem dazed and unsure of where it was. After talking for a bit, Raven called the creature Man, and decided this man was to be the first of many. 

(People on pixabay)

Over the next few years, Raven taught Man how to navigate the world they lived in. Raven even created more men and some women so that Man could have a community. Raven and Man went on this way, teacher and student, until the day Man could teach what he had learned to the other people.

As humanity expanded, Raven was always there watching, proud of the people, animals, and plants he had created.

(Planet Earth by Dawn Hudson on publicdomainpictures.net)

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Author's note: In the original story, Raven creates all sorts of animals, plants, and non-living things. He finds Man on the ground one day, where Man had broken out of a pod. Raven then takes Man and creates many animals for him to hunt and eat, and explains which animals are good to catch. Raven eventually makes Woman out of clay for Man. More men and women are created and they all live together while Raven continues to teach Man different things about the world.  

I wanted to tell more about the world before Man came to be. In that way, I guess this is sort of a prequel to the original story. I also wanted to challenge myself to keep the story shorter this time, instead of right at the max word limit. 

Bibliography: Bibliography: Alaskan Legends Unit from Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911). (Web Source)

Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends Unit, Part B

My favorite story from this reading was "The Land of the Dead." I thought the journey through the Land of the Dead in the story was really interesting. The idea that people who did certain things in life, like hit dogs or pull up grass, have punishment like things related to that after death is something that I think can be found in different legends. I know I have heard different ideas about hell and how people would be punished according to their wrong-doings on Earth, similar to this story. In the Alaskan legend though, all of these different people were in the same after-life together.

I think this story could be interesting to re-tell from the perspective of someone who has just died, similar to the original. Walking through the land and seeing those who have died before them.

(The Ghost Town of Falk by Bureau of Land Management on flickr)

Bibliography: "The Land of the Dead" from Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911). (Web Source)