Mythology & Folklore

Dragon Myths (Red European Dragon from dragonwisdom.wikia.com ) (Chinese Dragon by Dongjun Lu ) I have loved dragons since I was very young. It probably stems from the fact that I also love fantasy stories and novels. I am a writer that specializes in genre fiction, specifically sci-fi and fantasy writing. I have actually been researching dragon lore on my own before I started this class because I am using different types of dragons in several of my stories and novels-in-progress. My previous knowledge of dragons is mostly from works of fiction and a mythology class I took as a freshman in high school a million years ago. I know a bit about the European and Chinese variations of the dragon but I would like to see where else dragons appear in mythology around the world if they do at all. I would like to learn more about dragon mythologies so that I may portray them accurately or flip the typical dragon story on its ear and make it new and unique. If I choose to focus on...

(Night Owl by Lee Romao ) As I gathered my meager belongings   I wondered what hardships I would face on my journey. I rocked back on my heels and stared into the crackling fire. The flames flickered and threatened to die. The dying fire caused ghostly apparitions to dance in the shadows. I sat staring at these shadowy figures for a moment longer then returned to my work. I gathered some dried buffalo meat mixed it with wild berries and rendered fat for this would be my only nourishment along my path. I sharpened my knife against a stone and affixed it to my belt. I then packed my pouch with tobacco and emptied my pipe. I tied my pouch to my belt as well. After I had gathered my few belongings I wandered to the stream and filled my skins with the cool water. The moon shone overhead and its beams danced in the ripples on the surface of the water. I stood and regarded the beauty for a while before returning to camp. The fire I had abandoned had all but died when I returned...

(Owl at Night from quora.com ) I chose this one because I love Native American mythology and I would like to know more about the subject. I really like that native tradition is often passed down through storytelling. While I was reading this story I noticed how much better it sounded when read aloud. This aligns with the storytelling tradition. It felt like a story meant to be told around a fire or to a gathering of children underneath a tree. I really enjoyed the style and would like to try it in my own writing. The personification of animals i.e. the owl saying "halloo." is a great tool stylistically and allows for some creative freedom. I also liked the repetition within the story of the young man "drawing near a wood;" some variation of this is repeated throughout the story. Repetition is also used to create suspense. The young man hearing some mysterious noise is repeated throughout the work. Another stylistic choice that stood out to me was the symbo...

Units of Interest Monkey King I really like East Asian/Chinese Mythology and I have heard of the Monkey King so the title caught my eye I have also watched the foreign language films The Monkey King and The Monkey King II on Netflix Celtic Fairy Tales I like anything Celtic so this one caught my eye Russian Folktales This one caught my eye because I don't know anything about them and I would like to know more I also like that a lot of these stories are on LibriVox! (LibriVox Graphic from  LibriVox )