( Susa-No-Wo the Serpent from MrPsMythopedia) "The Labors of Yamato - The Dragon" reminiscent of the labors of Hercules from Greek myth Hydra chose this unit because I have a novel idea in the works rooted in East Asian mythology begins with Yamato descending Mt. Fujiyama with the Sacred Sword realizes that Benten the sorcerous did not love him and was using him to retrieve the sacred sword before he could return home to Tacibana the one who loved him he had to confront Benten he goes to their meeting place and sees Benten's golden scales beneath the jade-green water he dives after the siren (Benten) and is swallowed by a giant wave he sinks like a stone he sinks and feels himself being "enveloped in the folds of a loathly serpent" Benten sings her siren song that says she will hold him forever he can only be saved by a beautiful goddess that loves him more than Benten Tacibana in the depths, he begins to hear Tacibana whose...
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"The Soldier and the Vampire" a soldier goes to his native village on furlough stops at his friend the miller's house to visit drinks into the late evening - the sun had set the miller begs him to stay the night so that he does not run into trouble on the way to the village in the dark the soldier refuses and asks why the miller is so worried the miller tells him a great warlock has died and comes back to life after sundown and wreaks havoc the soldier leaves anyway on the way to the village, he sees the warlock near a fire at the foot of his grave sewing boots the soldier stops and asks the warlock what he is doing the warlock asks the soldier why he has come the soldier says to see what he is doing the warlock then invites him to a wedding in the village when they arrive at the wedding the warlock revels and is merry after a while, the warlock becomes angry and chases everyone away he then draws blood into vials from the bride and groom's palms...
(Leshen from The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt) "The Leshy" I liked this story the most out of this unit because I recognized the Leshy creature's relation to the Leshen monster in The Witcher video game and book series. A leshy or leshen is a humanoid creature that has both animal and plant-like qualities and is usually male animal-like qualities can include antlers like a deer or hooves like a goat tree-like qualities can include horns made from tree branches and leaves attached to the hair or skin of the creature. in this story, a priests daughter goes missing in the woods for 3 years a huntsman and his dog are wandering through the woods and come upon a leshy sitting on a fallen log the leshy looks both old and young and the huntsman notes this in his mind but does not say it out loud the leshy reads his mind and answers that he is old and calls himself the father of the devil the huntsman shoots the leshy in the gut but he does not die immediately drag...
"Seven-Headed Serpent" a modern Greek tale reminiscent of Greek mythology Hydra (multi-headed dragon) Minotaur (sending young people to be eaten) a king sets out on an adventure finds a land inhabited by animals also, rivers flowing with precious stones kills the lions resting near these rivers push inland and come to a talking lake the lake warns them that their king will soon awake and instructs the men to take off their clothes and lay it on a path so that the king may walk on a soft surface the men do so because the lake claims it will save their lives the king awakes and exists his castle with an entourage of animals, walks on the soft surface, demands to know where the clothes came from the men came forward and told their story the king (seven-headed serpent) said that they must send 24 youths from their homeland every year for him to eat as a punishment for daring to set foot on his land men return to their land and bring youths as promised for year...
(Greek Dragon from Dragon Types ) "How the Dragon was Tricked" Greek dragon story tells the story of a clever and handsome young man so handsome that his older brother is jealous older brother ties the youth to a tree in hopes that he will starve to death an old man (with a humped back) driving his flock of sheep passes by the tree and asks why the youth is tied to it tells him he was tied to the tree to straighten out his back tells the old man he will do the same for him is he unties him the old man unties him and the youth quickly ties the old man to the tree and runs off with his sheep meets a horse boy and a driver of oxen on the road and persuades them to go on adventures with him this sets off a series of events in which the youth becomes ever cleverer eventually, the king hears of the youth's exploits and wants to meet him the youth meets the king and the king threatens death because he has broken the law with all of his pranks and t...
(Connla the Fiery Hair from Tooele Transcript Bulletin) "Connla and the Fairy Maiden" Connla the Fiery Hair son of Conn of the Hundred Fights meets a maiden only he can see who professes her love for him and asks him to go away with her plains of the ever living no death, no aging, everyone is happy hillfolk the king and others can hear the maiden but cannot see her Conn calls his druid Coran to cast spells so that the maiden cannot take his son maiden disappears but throws an apple to Connla before she goes after meeting the maiden Connla will not eat or drink anything but the apple regenerates everytime he eats it also will not speak when spoken to overwhelmed with longing for the maiden a month later the maiden visits Connla again on the plain of arcomin Conn asks Connla if he wants to go says he is caught up with longing for the maiden. eventually, Conn agrees and Connla and the fairy maiden cross the sea in her curragh or ...
Takes place in or around Bamborough Castle King, Queen, Son, Daughter Son - Childe Wynd Daughter - Margaret Childe Wynd leaves to seek fortune mother dies in his absence King mourns wife "long and faithfully" comes across a beautiful woman while out hunting falls in love and makes her his wife sends word home to the castle that he is bringing a new queen Princess Margaret not happy about her mother "being replaced" when her father arrives home she hands over the castle keys dutifully to her stepmother one of the King's knights exclaims that she is "the loveliest of her kind" this upsets the stepmother mutters under her breath "I'll soon put an end to her beauty" this part reminds me a lot of Snow White Stepmother/New Queen noted witch goes to the dungeon to cast a spell "three times three" and "nine times nine" on Princess Margaret note the importance of the number three and mult...
Reading Notes Week 11: Myths & Legends of the Great Plains, Part B, "The Indian Who Wrestled with a Ghost"
(Owl at Night from Random Thoughts ) "The Indian Who Wrestled a Ghost" - Teton Story I actually read this story at the beginning of the semester and wrote my first story about it. But I was having trouble staying under 1,000 words so it was not added to the blog stream for people to read and comment. this story tells of a young man who goes on the warpath alone he walks for a long while until he comes to a clearing in the woods he hears an owl calling in a lot of Native traditions owls are seen as omens of death foreshadowing he makes camp in the clearing and at midnight he is disturbed by the wailing of a woman crying "my son! my son!" the man covers himself with his blanket and plays dead as the woman approaches the woman lifts his leg and he lets it fall as if he were dead the woman pulls out a rusty knife to cut off his foot he jumps up and scares the woman away when he gets up in the morning he notices a burial scaffold in the clearing and...
Reading Notes Week 11: Myths & Legends of the Great Plains, Part A "The Ghost's Resentment" and "Three Ghost Stories"
"The Ghost's Resentment" A Dakota tale tells the story of a man who warns his father and his father's two friends not to disturb the burial scaffold of a young Dakota man the father does not listen and says that he and his friends will go to the scaffold and cut off pieces of the burial tent to make robes because they have no robes the man asks his wife to fetch him a piece of white clay so that he may cover his skin with it - making himself look like a ghost the woman refuses and tells her husband to let the old men make their robes the man is persistent and she eventually gets the white clay the man whitened his whole body with the clay and went to the burial scaffold took a different route than the old men and traveled faster when he reached the burial scaffold the man climbed in the burial tent to wait for the old men when the old men reached the burial scaffold they decided to smoke a pipe with the deceased before cutting pieces of the tent t...
"The Smart Woman Chief" in this story it says that in the beginning women and men were made separately women were made first and had the most intelligence knew how to tan hides and make good clothing like moccasins were the first to use the piskun (an enclosure on the edge of a cliff that they drove buffalo into so that they would fall off of the cliff and die - a hunting method) men were made second and were not as smart as the women but were physically stronger men and women did not know the other existed for a time lived in separate camps and never saw one another Old Man stopped at a men's camp and stayed there for awhile he was the first to discover women in his wanderings he came across two women herding some buffalo through their piskun over a cliff As Old Man drew closer to the women they became afraid because they did not know what he was - so they played dead when Old Man reached them he thought they were really dead and searched all over t...
"The Wolf Man" Blackfoot werewolf story a man with 2 wives wives are "wicked" do not cook, always away from home, unappreciative of the husband when he brings home meat husband decides to move away from the village in hopes that the wives will cook and do their duties if they have no one to socialize with the women are upset that they aren't near the village - decide to kill the man on a butte where the man usually sits atop a buffalo skull surveying the land the women dig a pit and cover it to camouflage the hole and place the buffalo skull over the pit the man goes to the butte to sit on the skull like he does every night falls into pit stuck in pit and thinks he will starve to death women leave and return to the village pretending to mourn wolves discover man in pit wolves, coyotes, foxes and other night predators decide to dig him out once the man is rescued the wolves invite him to be theri brother an old blind wolf heals the man...
"The Moon and the Stars" WEST AFRICAN DRAGON! Anansi and his son go out hunting Kweku Tsin, Anansi's son quickly kills a fine deer his father goes to fetch a basket to carry the meat home in takes a while, Kewku Tsin calls out to his father thinking he is lost a dragon answers instead of Anansi Kweku Tsin runs and hides in a cave Anansi comes back and asks what happened Anansi wants to see the dragon for himself dragon reappears because it smells human flesh captures Anansi and Kweku Tsin and takes them to his castle other prisoners are there guarded by the dragon's servant and great white rooster the rooster alerts the dragon whenever something happens like prisoners trying to escape Kweku Tsin comes up with a plan to escape makes a ladder and throws it up to heaven assured that the gods will anchor it the prisoners kill and eat many cows and save the bones distract the rooster with food also get a magic fiddle They throw the rope to heav...
( Orlando Jones as Anansi/Mr. Nancy in American Gods ) "Tit for Tat" This story tells of Anansi's greed there is a famine in the land Anansi's son Kweku Tsin finds a good hunting place hunts the animals and sells the meat to hungry villagers becomes rich from the sales Anansi becomes jealous of his son and is determined to find this hunting place Kweku Tsin will no tell his father because he knows of his father's wicked ways Anansi sneaks ashes into Kweku's bag and pokes a hole in it so that it'll make a trail for him to follow Anansi discovers Kweku's hunting place and kicks him out Kweku is determined to get his hunting place back Kweku Tsin makes a dummy-like image and hangs it in the path back from the hunting ground after Anansi has slaughtered the animals and is trying to return to his village to sell the meat he runs into this image thinks it is an angry god offers it some of his meat, then half of his meat, then all...
"The Man and the Ghost" A man walks down a steep mountain pass meets a ghost the ghost turns to walk with the man man is frightened but didn't show the ghost The pair come to a river no boat or bridge to cross they must swim the man makes a lot of noise crossing - splashing etc. the ghost makes no noise at all ghost asks the man why he makes so much noise in the water the man replies: "Oh, I am a ghost and have a right to make all the noise I want to." ghost offers friendship and mutual aid man agrees the ghost asks the man what he is afraid of the man says nothing even though he is quaking inside the man asks the ghost the same question ghost says nothing but the wind blowing through the barley fields the come to a town the ghost says he is going into town the man says he is tired and lays down to sleep in a barley field the ghost wreaks havoc in town and steals the soul of the king's son brings the soul to the man in ...
Reading A (Ra from Smite found on Smite Wiki ) "The Secret Name of Ra" Ra has many names that men do not know the secret name gives him power given to him by his father, Nu Isis, Ra's daughter is jealous of her father's power wants the secret name so she may have the power formed a spear made from Ra's saliva and earth the spear turned into a serpent Ra walks the same path every night Ra was very old one day while he walked the path he encountered Isis' serpent the serpent bit him he became very ill he summoned all his children to him to "pronounce words of power" to heal him All of his children came, including Isis, nothing healed him Isis tells her father that the only way she can heal him is if he tells her his secret name of power Eventually, he agrees The power transfers from Ra to Isis Isis gets the power she desires and heals her father he was no longer in pain but he was without his power Storytelling...
(She Wolf by Hchom. ) "The Wolf-Aunt" This story tells the tale of a poor man, his wife, and his seven daughters The man cuts thorn bushes to sell as firewood to support his family they are still very poor and were always on the verge of starving one day on the way to the bazar he ran into a woman who claimed to be his lost sister was sing with no children, but very rich offered to take care of the man, his wife, and 7 daughters the man hurries home and tells his wife the man has them all pack up and move to his sister's house the wife says they should cook the sister something nice to show their appreciation send the husband to buy a liver cooks the liver and sends one of the daughters to deliver it to her aunt daughter catches her aunt in wolf-form and faints mother rushes to her aid daughter comes around and tells what she saw mother tells her husband about what his sister really is a wolf says she moved them all there to fatten them up...
Reading Notes: Jewish Fairy Tales Part B, "The Sleep of One Hundred Years" and "The Rabbi's Bogey-Man"
"The Sleep of One Hundred Years" Rabbi Onias is travelling to Jerusalem the city ravaged by war, the first temple destroyed travelled by camel with a basket of dates and a leather bottle of water did not eat in case he came across someone who needed it more the land around the city was deserted except for a man planting a carob tree at the bottom of a hill must replant his destroyed vineyards so that the land may live again Onias passed the man and continued his journey reaches the top of the hill and sees the once beautiful city of Jerusalem is now destroyed begins to weep lays down at sunset with his head on his camel falls into a deep sleep sleeps for days, then weeks, then months, then years birds and wind dropped seeds around Onias as he slept grew into a thick hedge around him hiding him from sight date in his basket fell out and grew a large date palm that provided shade slept for 100 years awoke and stretched aching bones very confused ...