Drew Myth & Folk

The story I read this week came from the Europe Unit: Russian Folktales section. The specific story that popped out to be was The DeadMother . This was a very interesting story that did a great job at grabbing the reader’s attention throughout and until the end of the story. The story began with a child being born and shortly after the mother died. The father new the child needed a mother figure in its life so hired an old woman. The would only cry during the day and wouldn’t take food, but then would sleep sound at night. The old woman was confused why this could be. So the Woman stayed up one night to figure it out, and what she found out finally after many people helped her catch this was the dead mother was knelt by the child’s bed and was feeding it. But then when the onlookers turned the light on the dead mother walked out of the room and when they went to the child, they saw it was dead as well. Really the only thing I could gather from this story as an external meaning as tha...

The section that drew my attention for this weeks reading notes was the Europe Unit: Fables of La Fontaine. The particular story from this was The frog who wished to be as big as the Ox . This was a very interesting poem that really had a deep meaning. In the poem the frog saw the ox and asked the sister if he stretched if he was as big as the ox. The sister said no, so he stretched more and then asked again. She said now so he stretched and puffed again, but then cracked beneath the strain and burst and then flew into little bits. The deeper meaning I got from this was never try to be something that you are not, because trying to be something other than who you are will only hurt you in the end. (This image depicts the Fable. Source: Frog and the Ox )

The story I chose for this reading notes came from Aesop’s Fables: Yet More Birds Section. The story that really drew my attention from this section was The Owl and the Sun . In this section there was an owl that was looking at the sun. While it was looking at the sun, it asked the sun why it had to be so bright and had to stare right at the owl at that rate. The sun replied asking if it thought it was reasonable the whole world should be deprived of the greatest blessing in nature, to gratify the owl. And the plot that I acquired from this story was that envy and detraction will have some onlookers that say against it. Meaning that some peoples wants will have onlookers disapproval of it. (Image is of an owl, Source: Owl )

The story I chose for this week reading notes came from the Aesop’s Fables: More Asses in the British Celtic unit. There was a specific story that drew my attention from this section, and it was The Ass’s Wish . In this specific story there was an Ass that was always dreaming. He was always dreaming of things that were better that were coming, such as in winter he was dreaming of warmer weather and fresh grass. And then in sprig he was dreaming of summer, but after summer he dreamed of fall because of all of the work in the summer. But then there was a lot of work in the fall so then he is back to winter, where he started dreaming of the future in the first place. One of the quotes at the end of the story really explained the story well. This quote said, “An unsettled mind can never be at rest.” I believe this is the main theme or plot for this story, that a mind that is always thinking of what would be better will never be content and happy. (Image is of two Ass's doing wor...

The story that I chose to read this week came from Aesop's Fables. This story was called Wolves . The section of the story that really interested me was the Wolf and the Lamb. In this section the Lamb and the wolf have a confrontation where the lamb stands up for himself saying that he did not stir up the wolfs drinking water. The wolf realizes his mistake and then tries to call the lamb out on something from six months before. But the lamb says this was not he that it was the ram, but still sore the wolf tore the lab apart. What I got from this story as that even when someone is in the right, there are nasty people out there that will make it their job ti ruin yours. (Image is of a lion and a lamb, Source: Lion )

The story that I am choosing for today's reading notes comes from Aesop’s Fables: The Gods. The poem that really caught my attention was TheCarter and Hercules . In the story fable teaches the wagon driver a lesson who learns that when gods help them, it helps themselves. This is an interesting take and is really something that the driver found out because now he probably has a totally different view of the Gods. (Image is of Hercules, Source: Hercules )

The Story that drew my attention for today came from the British North America Unit. The stories title is Turtle and Thunder . This story is about a turtle that lived all alone in a lake. One day this turtle kept having something hit his head. So, he went to the woods to find help.   He turned down many of people that offered help but finally came upon a plethora of little turtles. He brought the little turtles back to his lake, and then he went home. Then a big stone fell down and killed all the little turtles. Turtle went to see what happened and he saw a big bird overhead. This bird was the thunder bird, and since this day turtle stayed in the water when there was a storm. The plot that I got from this story was that the turtle needed to not try to fix a problem that mother nature was providing and maybe if he had used some of the other animals help his problem would be no longer. (This is what I imagine the Thunder bird is. Source: Bird )

The story that this reading note will be conducted over the Creationof Light from the British North America. In the story light was only upon the Chiefs teepee, and the animals wanted light as well. The chief continually denied them light. There was a young fox that started chanting khain which means he cries for daylight. And everyone else was chanting light. The chief tried his best but he was getting tired from this and then the animals continually chanted. The light started to steal the sight and the chief accidentally said let there be – light. He meant to say no light. But then the light took the sky. The plot I took from this was if you become tired you may not complete your job to the best of your abilities. (Image is of the Fox Character: Source: Fox )

The story that drew my attention for today's reading notes was the story of The Boy in the Moon . This story came from the Alaskan legends section of the Native American Stories. This was a very interesting story where there use to be four brothers that had a sister. They were friends with a boy. then one day the boy fell for the girl. One day the girl saw a ladder and decided to ascend it. With this the girl started to float away. the boy saw this and started to run after her but could never catch her. The girl became the sun and the boy became the moon. that is why if you ever notice the sun and moon are always chasing and opposing each other. no matter what the moon can never catch the sun. and when ever the moon is weak the sun gives it more. The plot that i got from this was that no matter how fast you chase those you love, you may never catch them, but no matter how far you are from them you can still help them as the girl helps the boy when he is low on energy. ( The im...

The story I chose to read for the first reading this week was the Raven's Feast . This story came from the Alaskan Native American Section. This was a somewhat difficult read in understanding what was going on throughout the story.  But from what I gathered in this story the Raven was having a Burial feast for his mother that recently died. In the story the raven invited the Gonaqadet because it had a special hat and blanket. This was interesting because it really did not go into much more detail of what this character did. So fir this story i did not really put a underlying plot from it. (The Picture is of a Raven, Picture Source: Raven )

The story that drew my attention in the African Tales came from the Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria. The story is  The story of the Lightning and the Thunder.   This story was very interesting in that it put a story to lightening and thunder. The Story rendered a plot that the sons destruction ended in banishment from earth. And even though the destruction is not right in front of you can still see its affects from a far. In this then mothers discipline when she raises her voice is what we hear as thunder today. And the destruction being don’t by the ram is what we view as lightening today. (Picture is of the ram in causing his destruction with lightning, Source: Lightning )

The story that drew my attention in the African Tales came from the Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria. The story is The Fish and the Leopard’sWife .   This was a very interesting story where the main theme I got from it was do not betray those who are close to you, because they will not directly hurt you but will make you pay for a long time. In the story the leopard was friends with the fish. But the leopard would often time go out of town. Whenever the leopard was gone the fish would go make love with his wife. The leopard came home early one trip and found this. He did not want to deal with the fish directly, so he asked King Eyo to deal with it. The king made it so that fish could only live in the water and if they left the water they would die, as well on top if a fish was caught it was always eaten. This story was interesting in that the entire fish community had to pay for the wrong doing of the one fish. (Picture is of a leopard, Source: Leopard

The Story that I this week came from the South African Unit. The story was The Elephant and the Tortoise by James Honey.   In the story the Elephant asked of different birds to make rain and the only one that did was the crow. But then the lagoons dried up except for one, the elephant saw a tortoise near the water and ask him to remain at the water while he went a-hunting. The tortoise turned down many animals from drinking from the lagoon until lion showed up. The tortoise was beat up by the lion and then the animals drink from the lagoon. The elephant got back and saw this then the elephant swallowed him whole. The tortoise then tore off the elephant’s liver, heart and kidneys and the elephant died and the tortoise crawled back out. The story that I got from this was do not bully others into doing your own work. (Image is of an African Elephant, Source: Elephant )

The African Story I have found myself writing about this week comes from South African Folktales. This story is called The Lost Message by James Honey. In the story there in the forests of Africa are may different ant faction, or many different species of ants. All of them had predators that they could seem to not defend from so they held a meeting with all the ant leaders. They wanted a place where all the ants could live and be protected from all of the predators. Through all of the discussion the ants can to no solution and split back up. But going back to normal ways they ran into the same problems with the same predators The insect king saw the ants struggles and send the message of unity to them via a beetle but this beetle never made it to the ant colonies so the ants still live in discord and are still preyed on among other animals. (Picture is of an Ant: Source: Ant )

The story that I have chosen for today's reading notes was the Elephants and the Ants . This story comes from the section of the Santal Folklore Unit. In the story there is two ants and an elephant. The ants challenge the elephant to a race to because the elephants says that there is nothing that the ants could beat him at. The Elephant started the race and when he stopped because he got tired, he looked down and saw two ants. He would set off running and kept seeing the two ants. He finally collapsed and died, but little did he know every time he stopped it was two different ants. The plot that I got from this story was that we should never bully nor cheat men happen to be born stupid. (Image is of an Indian Elephant, Source: Elephant )

The story I chose to read for today's reading notes was TheMonkey and the Girl . This story came from the Santal Folklore section. In the story there was a girl that fell for a monkey. But the girls parents did not approve of this so they killed the monkey. The dad decided to burn the monkey like the corpse of a man. The girl was watching and distracted everyone standing around and then blinded them with sand. When they were clearing their eyes the girl jumped in the fire and burned with the monkey. So the plot I took away with this story was that doing a quick fix to a problem will backfire in the end. And this plot if from the perspective of the dad losing the daughter in the end. (Picture is of a monkey, Source: Monkey )

The Story I have chosen for this weeks reading notes is The Three Fish from the Bidpai Fables.  In this story there were three fish. One Fish was very intelligent and often used his wits. The second Fish was semi smart and sometimes used his wits. The third fish seldomly never used his wits. Two fisherman saw these fish and said they were going co catch them. Without thinking the smart fish swam for the outlet. The second fish played dead so the fishermen would not want him. the third fish sank to the bottom where he was easily caught. The Moral of this story was stay on your toes and always be thinking ahead. (This picture is from the the story of the fish being caught. Fish )

The Story I have chosen to read for todays reading notes is the Poor man and the Flask of oil . This story came from Bidipai. This story had a simple story of greed and thinking too much of what could be. In the story the old man had a kind neighbor that gave him a small flask of oil. He was grateful for the kind gift and put it on the shelf. He began to think of what else he could have if he sold this gift. But he messed up and the oil got knocked over and spilled, so he was back to having nothing and being poor. What I got from this story was that you should be thankful for what you have, and don’t take it for granted. (Oil in a flask, Source: Oil )

The story I have chosen for today's reading notes was The Fox and the Crow from Aesop (Jacobs). This was a very interesting story in that it has a very true plot to it that I think everyone should read with an open mind. In the story the fox tricks the crow into dropping the cheese in his beak. He does this by saying how the crows voice must surpass the other birds and that he would like to hear one song, when the crow lifter her head and began to caw the cheese fell out, and the fox quickly snatched it up. The Fox told the crow with a smirk I will give you advice, do not trust flatterers. This was a very good story in that I was almost saying don’t be so open to everyone, because not everyone has good intent. And some people may only be out there to hurt you or steal from you. (A crow with cheese, Source: Crow ) Story Source: The Crow and The Fox

The Story I have chosen to write notes over was Lions Part one From Aesop’s Fables. The Part of the story that I was drawn to was when the lion was telling the other animals what his share would be. He started out by telling them to quarter the animal, after that he said the three quarters were for him and for the fourth quarter, he would like to see who would dare lay a paw on it. Pretty much he is bullying the other animals to get his way. As the fox walked away with his tail between his legs he mumbled something under his breathe that kind of foreshadowed the story. The fox said “You may share the labors of the great, but you will not share the spoil. This was very interesting to me in that the fox although scared of the lion, believed that because of the lions inconsideration of others, something bad would happen to him. (Picture is of a Lion, Source: lion ) Source: Lions Part One