"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...
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(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 ...
(Laidly Worm Illustration by Amanda Sartor ) Far away in Bamborough Castle lived a beautiful young maiden. Princess Margaret lived happily with her mother and father, the King and Queen, and her adventuring brother, Childe Wynd. While Childe Wynd was off adventuring their mother tragically died. Princess Margaret and her father mourned her deeply but word never reached Childe Wynd. After her mother’s death, Princess Margaret took over her mother’s queenly duties as her father was still mourning. He was so distraught that he left the castle on a long hunting trip. It was too full of memories. While the King was away, Princess Margaret grew into an even more beautiful young woman and a great leader. She ruled over the castle and surrounding areas with strength, beauty, and grace. But soon, this would change. One evening, in a small clearing in the woods in which he hunted, the King stumbled upon a beautiful maiden. She was all alone in the clearing - her hair shining silve...
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...