Week 9, Reading B: How the River God's Wedding Was Broken Off

As in most of history, those who hold power will try and keep it by creating fake customs that keep the rest of the population in fear. Such is the setting of this story, until a wily governor arrives to stop the situation. This story, How the River God's Wedding Was Broken Off, comes from The Chinese Fairy Book, by R. Wilhelm.

Reading Notes

• A district on the Yellow River was ruled by a governor called Si-Men Bau.
• The people in the district held the River God in high esteem.
• The witches and sorcerers who lived in the area declared that every year, a young woman must be selected as a bride, otherwise the weather would be bad for the year and there wouldn't be a good harvest.
• Whenever a daughter in a wealthy family came of age, the sorcerers and witches would say she should be the bride.
• The family would then try to bribe the sorcerers and witches, until they finally ordered the family to buy a poor girl to cast into the river.
• The sorcerers and witches would keep the bribes, of course.
• If a family didn't offer a bribe, the sorcerers and witches would order the daughter be thrown into the river to be the river god's bride, with wedding gifts and all.
• When Si-Men came into office and heard about this custom, he told the sorcerers and witches he wanted to come along and see the custom, as well as honor the god, so that the god would shower pleasantries on the people of the district.
• Upon the day, Si-Men dressed in his finest and rode in his chariot to the place where the bride would be forced into the river.
• Everyone from the district was there, including the sorcerers and witches, and there was music and singing.
• The river-bride was sitting in a coach adorned in jewelry, and tearfully telling her parents goodbye.
• Right before the river-bride's coach was pushed into the stream, Si-Men interrupted and declared that someone must go into the river and fetch the river-god to retrieve his bride.
• He ordered a witch to go into the river to fetch the god, and when she hesitated he had his servants grab her and thrust her into the water.
• An hour passed by without anything happening.
• Si-Men declared that the witch was moronic for not understanding her directive, and ordered a sorcerer to go into the water.
• Like the witch, the sorcerer hesitated and thus was forced into the stream; another hour passed by without event.
• Si-Men pretended to be upset about this turn of events, and started to order another sorcerer to go into the water.
• However, the remaining sorcerers and witches threw themselves on the ground before Si-Men and begged for mercy, and swore they would end the practice of a river-bride that day.
• Si-Men sent the river-bride home to her family, and thus the evil practice came to an end.

The Yellow River is one of the largest rivers in China. (Source: Wikipedia)

Week 9, Reading A: Why Dog and Cat are Enemies

Every culture has an explanation story, and a popular one is why cats and dogs don't get along. China is no exception: this translation of "Why Dog and Cat are Enemies" comes from The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhelm.

Reading Notes

• A man and his wife sold a lucky gold ring for cheap, not knowing its true value or that keeping it meant they would always do well.
• After selling it, they start to grow poorer and poorer, until they run low on food.
• Consequently, their cat and dog also go hungry.
• The cat and dog discuss among themselves what to do.
• The dog realizes the only recourse is getting their owners back the ring.
• The cat responds that the ring has been locked up in a chest.
• The dog develops a plan: the cat must catch a mouse and threaten it to naw its way into the chest and pull the ring out.
• And so they proceed: the cat catches a mouse, and with it and the dog set off for the house that holds the ring.
• On their way they come to a river, and the dog carries the cat across on his back, since the cat can't swim.
• Everything goes as planned: the cat takes the mouse to the chest, the mouse chews its way in and pulls out the ring, and the cat takes the ring and goes back to the dog.
• The dog swims across the river again with the cat on his back, and then they set off for home.
• The dog is stuck running on the ground, since he can't climb, and has to run around houses.
• But the cat can climb the houses and run over the roofs, so she makes it home before the dog does.
• When she arrives home and presents the ring to the couple, they praise her and declare they will treat her just like their child.
• However, when the dog makes it home, he's punished for not helping to get the ring home.
• The cat just sits by the fireplace and doesn't do anything to correct the couple. 
• When the dog realizes the cat is going to allow him to be cheated from his reward, he tries to fight her.
• And that's why the dog and cat are enemies.

(Source: Wikipedia)

Week 8: Reflections on Reading and Writing

Despite my apparent lack of interest in the class, I promise I do enjoy this! (Shout out to mental health issues and a brain that can't function). 

People who say recipe ingredients shouldn't be substituted are wrong. (For the life of me I cannot find a specific artist to credit. This particular image came from Pinterest.)

Overall, running a blog is pretty enjoyable, to be honest! It's something I can do on my own time, and of course no one is going to lecture me for putting my own feelings on the subject in. Sitting down to read and take notes over stories a couple times a week is oddly enjoyable for me.

One thing that does annoy me is that, when putting pictures into the blog, they occasionally overlap once posted. I cannot figure out how to make the post column wider, so it might just be something I have to deal with.

Why are you overlapping like that, picture. (From my blog)

The project website is, for lack of better phrasing, still a work in progress, but I think I can pull it into something I'm satisfied with. 

Writing for the story posts is pretty interesting. It's definitely a stretch on my brain, but I think I'm doing okay with rewriting them. I've been trying a different technique every time, from making the story second-hand telling, or from a certain character's view. I know that, if desired, we can change the outcome of the story, but I think I prefer keeping the main story intact and adding in details from after the story ends to make for fun twists or anything like that. I probably need to work on adding in more details so the story isn't simplified too much. That is probably something I'll fix within my portfolio. 

I definitely use my reading notes, they're pretty helpful! Since I just summarize in bullet points, it makes it really easy to reference when I'm rewriting. That way I can make sure I still get the main points of the story, but it leaves me free to add in my own parts.

As far as what can change in the future..... Obviously I need to work better both on time management and actually completing the assignments. I suppose this is the place to say, "Better late than never," but it's not really. I'm behind, but I may be able to catch back up to where I need to be.

To end, here's one of my favorite images from my posts:

(Source: Ceil on DeviantArt. From my rewriting of the story of Narcissus)

I really like the contrast in the picture. It does a very good job of showing the story of Narcissus and what the outcome was. It was well executed.

Week 7, Reading A: The Twin Brothers

In the Congo, family and sibling rivalries are common, as is demonstrated in The Twin Brothers, from the Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort, by Richard Dennett.

Reading Notes

• Twin boys are born almost fully grown (the poor mother), each with his own fetish, a charm for magical powers.
• The elder one, Mavungu, decides that he wants to set out and explore.
• Meanwhile, the daughter of Nzambi is at marrying age, but he won't make her marry anyone unless she says so. 
• A bunch of animals ask for her hand, but she turns them all down.
• Mavangu hears of this and decides he wants to marry her.
• He uses his charm to turn a bunch of blades of grass into different tools (a knife, a gun, a horn, etc.) until he is ready to travel.
• Mavangu sets off, and the charm helps to feed him along the way by providing food  and a place to sleep upon request.
• Nzambi's daughter falls in love with Mavangu upon sight, and they are quickly married.
• The next day, Mavangu sees that the hut has mirrors all over the place, but that their all covered.
• He tells his wife he wants to see the mirrors, and she uncovers all but one.
• Each mirror reflects a different village, including his home one.
• Mavangu demands to see the last mirror uncovered, and his wife initially refuses, telling him that everyone who sees the last one wishes to travel there, but never returns.
• However, he insists and she reluctantly shows him.
• Naturally, Mavangu wants to travel to the town as soon as he sees it, and despite his wife's pleading he does just that.
• Mavangu travels by horse until he comes close to the town, and meets an old woman on the outskirts.
• He asks her for fire to light his pipe; she tells him to tie up his horse and to come and get it.
• He ties his horse up tightly, and as soon as he comes near the old woman she kills him.
• Meanwhile, Mavangu's twin brother Luemba wonders at Mavangu's long absence, so uses his charm to turn blades of grass into tools and sets off on his brother's trail. 
• When he arrives, Nzambi mistakes him for Mavangu, as does everyone else, and they refuse to listen to Luemba's claim that he isn't his brother.
• That night, Luemba uses his charm to take his sister-in-law out of his room, so he doesn't sleep with her.
• The next day, Luemba asks and is shown the mirrors like his brother, and upon seeing the town reflected in the last one realizes his brother is still there, and decides to go rescue him.
• None of his in-laws are happy, but relent because, mistaking him for Mavangu, they realize that if he can return once, he can return again.
• Luemba traces his brother's path and comes across the old woman as well, asks for fire, and is given the same answer as his brother.
• Unlike his brother, Luemba only ties his horse up lightly, and then kills the old woman.
• Luemba finds the bones of Mavangu and his horse, and uses his charm to resurrect them.
• The two brothers then use their charms to resurrect hundreds of other people who suffered the same fate.
• Luemba and Mavangu head back to Nzambi's town with their followers, and Luemba informs Mavangu of what happened when he was dead.
• Then they start to quarrel over who should have the followers.
• Mavangu feels he should, as the oldest, while Luemba feels that none of them, including his brother, would be alive without him.
• Mavangu kills Luemba in anger and leaves his body behind with his horse, taking the followers back to Nzambi's town and being welcomed.
• Luemba's horse takes his charm and uses it to resurrect Luemba.
• Luemba promptly seeks out and kills his brother, which everyone agreed was his right to do.

Twins are significant in African mythology, as they are believed to represent the balance of the forces in the world. (Source: Myth Encyclopedia)

Story Lab: TV Tropes

Exploring the world of TV Tropes turned out to be much more exciting than I would have initially thought. Especially since I did this with my boyfriend and his roommates. Reading through various tropes, having discussions about what makes a trope a trope, and listing different examples proved to be hilarious, especially when someone was able to guess a trope before I found it on the list.

Some of the tropes that we found hilarious, in no particular order:

How many sitcoms operate. (Source: TV Tropes)

In a simple explanation, the idiot plot is a plot that occurs solely because everyone is an idiot and doesn't question what's going on. According to the article, this can be done intentionally (and can come off very well when done so), and can also be done unintentionally. In the cases of the latter, usually the intelligent question is ignored in favor of driving the plot forward.

Those explanations that aren't really explanations (Source: TV Tropes)

The Voodoo Shark trope is when the creators of the show catch a plot hole, but roll with it anyway for reasons. Usually there's an acknowledgement of the hole in some or fashion, either by explaining it with nonsense or having the characters question it without getting a reason (see the example in the picture).

Those episodes that "tackle" the tough issues (Source: TV Tropes)

Everyone knows what a Very Special Episode is: where the characters go through something tough and difficult, but through the love of their friends and family pull through. The episodes that have issues like eating disorders, drug abuse, abuse from a loved one, death, etc. Although more often than not, especially in sitcoms, the entire thing is portrayed completely inaccurately. 

I don't even know if this one needs any explanation (Source: TV Tropes)

Hahaha, mental illness is hilarious! (Source: TV Tropes)

This is a trope that is basically using "schizophrenia" for humor (the quotes are there because it's just what the creators labeled schizophrenia. Rarely is it what would actually be diagnosed as). While once in a while it might be handled tastefully, more often than not it's better left alone.

"No way that's real, it looks so different in the movies!" (Source: TV Tropes)

This is kinda the whole, "Truth is stranger than fiction" mindset. People don't think something is portrayed accurately (even when it is) because it doesn't fit what they think is real. An example would be saying an Main Actor's accent sounds fake, and that Other Actor has a better accent, even when Main Actor has that accent in real life and is from that Country, while Other Actor isn't. 

Overall this was very fascinating, and it's very easy to fall down the hole and get lost in the website. As the website states on its front page, tropes aren't necessarily bad! If done correctly they can be very good. They're needed to make a story, no matter what in the end. Hopefully I can use this site in my stories to make sure I don't follow a trope incorrectly.

Comment Wall

http://storiesretold.oucreate.com

(Image source: CNN)

Reading Notes, Part B: Khasi Folktales, The Leap of Ka Likai

In a similar tone to Greek/Roman myths and the Grimm Brothers tales, The Leap of Ka Likai, from K. U. Rafy's collection of Khasi folk tales, features a stepparent jealous of a child and some cannibalism.

Reading Notes

• The Leap of Ka Likai is the name given to a waterfall in India.
• It's very pretty, but it's known for giving off a loud, angry sound where the water hits the bottom of the mountain. 
• This story is about why it gives off such a sound.
• In a village on the hills above the falls, Likai was happily married with an infant daughter.
• But when her husband died, Likai ended up marrying again, mostly for the sole purpose of making sure her daughter would be cared and provided for.
• Her new husband, not the best man to begin with, was angry at the attention his new wife gave his stepdaughter, and when he found out that Likai married him solely to ensure care for her daughter, he swore to hurt the child in some way.
• So the man refused to do any work and made Likai go out, and when left at home would abuse his stepdaughter.
• One day, when Likai had to leave for a longer period of time than usual, the man killed his stepdaughter and cooked portions of her into a dinner.
• When Likai came home, she was suspicious of her husband's seemingly generous mood, but accepted his excuses for the child's absence and ate the dinner without question.
• Afterwards, she went to chew on a betal leaf as she usually did, and found her daughter's severed hand in the basket. 
• She questioned her husband, who told her everything, including that she had eaten the flesh of her daughter.
• Likai went mad with grief and threw herself over the falls; the sounds that echo up from the bottom are said to be echos of her cries.
• Her story is also used as a warning for any widows with children who are considering marrying again.

The Nohkalikai Falls in the East Khasi Hills (source: Wikipedia)

Reading Notes, Part A: Khasi Folktales, How the Dog Came to Live with Man

Stories that tell the origin of something are always pretty interesting to me, so naturally I was drawn to the Khasi Folktale about How the Dog Came to Live with Man, from K. U. Rafy's collection. This is something that a lot of cultures visit a lot, but I like this take on it. It implies that the dog is crafty, which is usually not the case in other stories.

Reading Notes

• The most important fair of all has arrived, and according with degree, each animal must bring something of some sort of value that can be sold.
• Man was an enemy of the animals, so he wasn't invited.
• The dog, being ironically lazy, didn't want to make something himself like the others, but instead decided to wander the countryside all day looking for something he could pass off as his own.
• At the end of the day, he chanced upon a house where a family was eating fermented Khasi beans.
• Being nice, the wife invited the dog to eat with them, which he gladly did.
• Afterwards, realizing he could take the Khasi beans to the fair, the dog bargained with the family and ended up leaving with a clay pot of beans strapped to his back.
• On the way to the fair, he bragged so much about his jar that the other animals were all very curious to see what he had.
• Unfortunately, when the dog finally uncovered the jar, a bad smell came out; all the other animals made fun of the dog, and eventually destroyed the pot and trampled the food into the ground.
• The dog tried to get the governor of the fair, the tiger, to intervene, but was just told off.
• The dog eventually lost his temper, cursed all the animals, and ran away, where Man consoled him and offered the dog a place in his home.
• The curse worked, because the stench of the food clung to the other animals, and so the Dog was able to track them for Man when out hunting.
• Later, when Man had tamed Pig, he noticed Pig and Dog being lazy and decided to put them to work, sowing furrows in the field.
• The Pig did a lot of the work, while Dog lazied around and jumped all over the furrows the pig had made.
• Eventually the pig got tired of this, and complained to Man, who was loath to believe that Dog would be so lazy.
• When Man inspected the work that had been done, he found the tracks of Dog all over, while only a few tracks of Pig's
• Man decided that Pig had lied, and to punish him, made him sleep in a small separate shack and eat slop while Dog got to stay in Man's house and eat a normal dinner.

Ktung rymbai, also called tungrymbai; it's made from fermented soybeans (Source: Treebo)

Week 5: The Parrot Lied, I'm not a Cheater

First of all, I just want to say that I don’t think I get a fair rep in this story. Somehow the stupid parrot is the hero and I’m the villain. “Oh, evil Khojisteh was a whore who was going to cheat on her husband! The parrot stopped her!” No, the parrot was a nosy bastard who acted like my husband could do no wrong. I just wanted someone to talk to apart from a stupid bird.

            I don’t think anyone considered that I was left along for six months before I saw Khwaja from the window. Six months where I had to stay in the house and couldn’t talk to anyone. Don’t get me wrong, the servants were nice, but they had other duties to tend to beside entertaining the mistress of the house. Miemum just left me alone, and I got bored and longed for actual human company, with someone who was my equal. While the stories the parrot told were nice, it didn’t reveal its true intelligence until later, so the stories were like clouds: fluffy with no substance. 

            When I finally saw Khwaja out of the window, I didn’t want to see him out of a desire to cheat on my husband. I did love my husband; I just wanted some company. Khwaja and I managed to exchange some notes without the parrot seeing, and he confessed to me that he was similarly bored: he was in town for business as well, being a prince, and was tired of the dealings that went on throughout the day. He also made it clear he wasn’t interested in more than my companionship (in fact, he didn’t like women at all in any way but that). 

            I also don’t know how the sharuk died. I know the parrot lied and said I killed the sharuk out of anger, but the thing was dead when I walked in the room. The only waving around that happened was when I grabbed it from the cage and shook it, to make sure it was dead. It may not seem rational to you, but it is how I reacted at the time. 

            Then the parrot started telling those stories, to stop me from leaving. I’m still not sure why, exactly. There was no lost love between me and the parrot of course; I think he just planned to use this knowledge in the future. But the stories were a lot more interesting than what he had previously told, and despite myself, I listened every night. I listened until the sun came up. I was waiting for the night when the parrot finally ran out of stories, but before that happened my husband returned. I was glad to see him, for as I said, I did love him. But apparently he didn’t love me. As soon as the stupid parrot opened his mouth and lied his feathers off, my husband believed him. I’m lucky I escaped with my life.

            Yes, I did manage to escape. I’m sure my husband will say he killed me. After all, he wouldn’t want it to be known he was bested by a woman. Although I am lucky that vase was near me. Throwing it at him gave me enough time to run out the house and to Khwaja. Khwaja has agreed to take me back to his home land, and to protect me if need be. We leave the day after tomorrow, as was already scheduled. Soon I shall be free.

            I suppose the real question is, why am I writing this down? Once I’m done, I’ll stuff it into a stone vial, seal it with wax, and hide or bury it somewhere. It may seem pointless. But I want to put my story out somehow. It may never be found, but maybe it will. And people will come to know that I am more than just an unfaithful wife who was tricked by a parrot.

The lying parrot (Source: The New Arab)

Author's note: As I mentioned in a previous post, I found the ending of the story (Tales of a Parrot, by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi) to be incredibly unsatisfying. The parrot tells Khojisteh stories night after night to stop her from going to visit a neighboring prince, and once her husband Miemum returns, the parrot immediately tattles, and Miemum has Khojisteh killed. As was common at the time, Khojisteh was treated as a plot device, and the reader wasn't given a chance to actually get to know her. The ending is very abrupt: it was literally just "The parrot tells Miemum everything upon his arrival home, and Miemum immediately kills Khojisteh." This frustrated me so much that I decided to rewrite the story from Khojisteh's point of view. Many of the stories had the similar moral, however vague, of how cheating is bad. I thought Khojisteh deserved a turn to explain her side, and to become a three dimensional character.

Reading Notes, Part B: Tales of a Parrot, A King Falls in Love and the End of Khojisteh

Yesterday I took notes over the beginning of Tales of a Parrot by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi , and today I'm going to take Notes over the End. It's titled A King Falls in Love and the End of Khojisteh, and it's the last portion of the story. So, as a reminder, Khojisteh is the wife of Miemum, who's away on business. Khojisteh wants to go see a neighbor who she finds attractive, but Miemum's parrot stops her every night by telling a story she finds interesting.

Reading Notes

• Khojisteh tells the parrot to leave her be and let her go see the neighbor, but the parrot manages to trick her into hearing another long story.
• In this story, a king raids a nearby kingdom to get the emperor's daughter for a wife; it works (shocker)
• The wife has a son who she gets separated from as part of her marriage, and was warned by her dad not to mention her son to her new husband.
• But she misses her son, and wants him to come live with her.
• One day she lies to her husband and says her father has a slave who is good at distinguishing jewels, and he decides to send a merchant to fetch this person; in private she tells the merchant the truth, that the person he is to fetch is really her son, whom she wants to come live with her.
• The merchant does so.
• When the king leaves on a day errand, the queen calls her son to her and shows him affection.
• The king's porter sees this and tells the king, who immediately thinks the queen has brought her lover to the castle.
• The king wants revenge and orders the death of the son; but executioner questions the son, and upon being told the truth, decides not to kill him.
• Instead, the executioner hides the son and lies to the king that he carried out the order.
• The king is still irritated over the whole thing, and the queen isn't sure what to do about it.
• One day, the queen talks to an old woman about the whole affair, and the old woman explains she can fix everything. 
• The old woman gives an amulet to the king and tells him it makes someone tell the truth in their sleep.
• Then the old woman immediately tells the queen to fake being asleep and to tell the king the truth when he puts the amulet on her.
• Everything goes smoothly, and the king and queen find out her son is still alive, and everything is fine again.
• Meanwhile, the parrot has managed to stall Khojisteh into the morning, so she still doesn't leave.
• That day, Miemum returns home, and the parrot basically immediately tells him everything, and Miemum kills Khojisteh.
• I have to add that this is a really stupid ending. Clearly the author just wanted to convey these short stories in one book for whatever reason, and as soon as the stories were done he was like "welp, gotta wrap this up in 200 words or less!"
• Although a quick Google search showed that some people have retold the story so that, while Miemum is initially angry, the parrot tells a story of forgiveness and Miemum ends up reconciling with Khojisteh, so I suppose it depends on what version you read.

The parrot stalling Khojistah from leaving (Source: Culturama)

Reading Notes, Part A: Tales of a Parrot, Khojisteh and the Parrot

The Tales of a Parrot collection by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi is in some ways a different version  of 1001 Nights, but instead of a woman telling stories to stay her execution, a parrot is telling stories to stop his master's wife from cheating on him. This story, Khojisteh and the Parrot, is how the wife finds herself with an eye wandering to a different man, and how the parrot decides to try and subtly stop her from doing anything.

Reading Notes:

• Miemum, the husband and owner of the parrot, must leave to go on political business, apparently (I'm assuming so since he's a prince).
• His wife, Khojisteh is very sad about this and won't eat or sleep
• For the next six months, the parrot tells her pleasant stories to make her feel better.
• But, at the six month mark, Khojisteh looks out a window and sees another prince who's visiting the area.
• Both find the other attractive, and the prince sends Khojisteh a message asking her to privately meet him that night.
• That evening, Khojisteh puts on her finest clothes and jewelry and decides to tell the sharuk about what's happening, assuming the sharuk will basically give Khojisteh her blessing.
• On that note, I have no clue what a sharuk is. The only thing Google gave me was a mythological bird that apparently rescued Sinbad the sailor, which doesn't really fit with the story.
• But apparently the sharuk is a bird, because the sharuk chastises Khojisteh for her actions and Khojisteh ends up pulling the sharuk from her cage and killing it.
• Khojisteh then goes to the parrot, who, not wanting to die like the sharuk, placates Khojisteh and subtlety mentions the parrot of Ferukh Beg, which gets Khojisteh's attention; she asks for the parrot to tell the story.

Khojisteh talking to the Parrot (Source: Wikipedia)

Week 4: When Luck Runs Out

I start this story by telling you that I’ve been lucky. I survived to manhood in Ancient Greece, which is no small feat. I was one of the warriors who was picked by Odysseus to travel to Troy. I managed to survive a war that lasted for ten long years. Finally, I’m headed home to Ithaca. I’ll see my son and wife again; I’m sure my son is a man in his own now.

            Odysseus is a little funny, but he is a great leader. After all, he managed to keep us alive for so long. Those of us on his ship anyway. The others were destroyed a while back. It’s a little hard to keep track of the days and weeks, or even months, on the ocean. One day bleeds into the next. Although some of them stand out. Like the monster we encountered, with the one eye. That was terrifying, especially when he ate a couple of the men. But I’m lucky that I survived that too, I guess. 

            We’re finally back on the ocean again. I don’t know exactly why Odysseus made us go to the land of the dead, but after one last talk with Circe we’re headed home again. Odysseus tends to get distracted, but I know he’s as homesick as the rest of us. Circe gave him some advice apparently. There are these things called Sirens up ahead; Odysseus said they sing songs so beautiful you try to reach them on their island and end up dying. But, him being him, he wants to listen to their song. So all of us now have wax in our ears so we can’t hear anything. A couple other guys tied Odysseus to the mast. I can see him from my position at an oar if I turn my head the right way. A few minutes ago he was just standing there, but now he’s struggling, pretty badly too. I’d think he’d hurt himself if I didn’t know how tightly bound he is. 

 *********************************************************************************

It took a while, but Odysseus isn’t struggling anymore. He’d told us that meant we were out of hearing of the sirens’ song. It does feel nice to take the wax out of my ears. You don’t realize how much you rely on your hearing for balance, especially on the ocean. 

I know there’s more dangers ahead. I wish Odysseus would tell us exactly, but he’s been a little vague. At some point there’s a monstrous whirlpool by some cliffs. Or a monster that is a whirlpool. After he was removed from the mast he gave a speech, told us not to worry and to trust him, basically. All of us do, especially since he's led us this far. Now that we're approaching the whirlpool, he's gotten more specific. Apparently we’ve got to stick as close to the cliffs as we can without actually hitting them. It’s the only way to avoid getting sucked into the whirlpool.

That whirlpool is terrifying, now that we’re close. I can feel the blood drain from my face, and saw it reflected in my companion’s face. I catch a glimpse of Odysseus, and had enough time to wonder why he was in his armor on a ship when it happens.

Something tight and sharp grabs me by the shoulder, and suddenly I’m lifted into the air. My screams mingle with those of others, and I manage to see that a horrible, monster has grabbed me with only one of its heads. There are others also caught by the heads, and we’re all screaming desperately as the monster drags us into the cave. I catch a last glimpse, impossibly, of Odysseus, standing there in full armor and looking after us as we die.

I guess my luck finally ran out.

(Source: The Book Palace)

Author’s note: This is the last segment of Kline's translation of The Odyssey that’s available for the readings. Everything up until this part has been backstory: Odysseus is explaining his tale to the Phaeacians, whose shore he washed up on. From there Odysseus eventually makes his way back home. All in all, he was gone for ten years fighting the Trojan War, and it took him another ten years to get back home.

Odysseus’s journey took a long time for various reasons, but one of them is because of the interference of the gods. The aforementioned cyclops is a son of Poseidon. When Odysseus injured the cyclops, Poseidon cursed him and interfered with his trip home. In the end, none of Odysseus’s men made it home with him.

I ended up taking the perspective of one of the sailors for that reason. It’s miraculous that a lot of them survived the war to head home (initially there were twelve ships that left Troy; as mentioned in the story all but Odysseus’s ship were destroyed). I liked the idea of one of them making it so far, and thinking they were so close to home, only to miss out. There’s a lot more in the Odyssey that I didn’t mention, because it would take too long, but the same idea is there.

Reading Notes, Part B: The Odyssey, Sirens, Scylla, and Charybdis

Having managed to escape from the cyclops, Odysseus and his men sail on, encountering the witch Circe on her island. Eventually, they escape from her as well, but with warnings of the sirens and the two sea monsters, Scylla and Charybdis. This story, from Kline's translation of Homer's Odyssey, sums up the last of his adventures, after which it returns to the present setting (Odysseus telling his story to the people who found him washed up on shore).

Reading Notes

• Odysseus explains to his men that he wants to hear the sirens' song (although he doesn't appear to explain why) and what he has planned for them.
• The sirens' song lures men to their death (the sirens eat them)
• The crew all stuff their ears with wax, and Odysseus is tied to the mast of the ship.
• Although he is enchanted by the sirens' song, he can't break free of the ropes, and as the men can't hear him, they don't obey his order to let him free.
• They free him after they're out of range
• This gets copied a lot in various fictions
• They go towards the two sister sea monsters, Scylla and Charybdis
• Odysseus was warned of them by Circe, but he doesn't totally obey her instructions about staying unarmed.
• Charybdis is a whirlpool, while Scylla is a six-headed monster.
• The ship is so focused on avoiding Charybdis that Odysseus loses six of his crewmen to Scylla, who eats them, one per head.
• Odysseus describes the site as the saddest thing he's seen on the sea (this from a man who fought a ten-year-long war).

I feel like Odysseus was probably tied more securely to the mast than is shown. (Source: Wikipedia)

Reading Notes: The Odyssey, Prisoner of the Cyclops (Part A)

Homer's Odyssey has often been recreated and retold throughout the years. One story that shows Odysseus' famous wit and cleverness is the story of the Cyclops, although this reading focuses on how he and his crew became prisoners (Source: Homer's Odyssey, by Kline)

Reading Notes

• Homer takes VIW (Very Important Wine) with him off the ship, because his gut told him too (whatever you say bro)
• The language is very flowery and detailed, as to be expected (he goes into a lot of detail about how important the VIW is)
• His men want to rob the so-called savage whose cave they find and enter, but Odysseus says no, because he wants to see how hospitable the savage is
• Although they still start a fire without warning and eat the savage's food, so I don't see how that's any different than what his men wanted, apart from leaving them vulnerable.
• Apparently the giant isn't very observant, as he entered the cave with some of his flock, sealed it, milked the goats that came inside, and treated the milk, all before seeing the intruders (I get they slipped into a corner but still)
• Odysseus introduces himself, and lies to the giant about where the ship is because the giant shows no pity to him or the others (he also gives a really long introduction)
• The cyclops kills two of his men, eats them whole, and then falls asleep with no worry about the little men trapped in his cave.
• Odysseus' first thought is to kill him, but realizes that would be stupid, as he and his men can't move the rock blocking the entrance.

Odysseus and his men eventually manage to free themselves from the cyclops, but not without danger (Source: Wattpad)

Brainstorming Topics: What to Choose

As someone who reads fairly regularly, it is definitely difficult to decide try to narrow down what topics I want to conduct. I think one area would be Scottish folklore and myth, especially after spending a month there. There's also Greek/Roman mythology and the Horsemen of the Apocalypse. I think it would be interesting to do something a little more modern, like Alice in Wonderland or the Land of Oz.

So, in order of mention:

1. Scottish mythology

Arthur's Seat in Edinburgh, Scotland. It's assumed that it was named after King Arthur, although there's no clear source for it. (Source: Wikipedia) 

I will say, right off the bat I don't know a ton about Scottish mythology, although like everyone else I know about some of the creatures of legend (ex: the Kelpies and the Loch Ness monster). Scotland also plays a large part in Arthurian legend (I got to climb Arthur's Seat while I was there, which is supposedly named after the king). I want to keep my topic broad and not narrow myself too much, but for now I'll probably stick with mythological creatures, structures, and Arthurian legend, although I may expand later on.

2. Greek/Roman Mythology

Disney's portrayal of the story of Hercules and the rest of the gods is in no way accurate. We watched it in my Latin class in high school to ridicule it. (Source: Disney Wikipedia)

Greek/Roman mythology is just interesting in general. A lot of words used in the English language come derived from sources in Greek/Roman mythology (such as narcissism from Narcissus). I took Latin in high school and also went through a pretty big Greek mythology phase as a kid, so I think it would be fun to revisit. I think I'll focus more on stories about the gods themselves, rather than on demigods or mortals. The gods are more fun to rewrite, especially since, when you consider that like 90% of the problems in Greek mythology were caused by Zeus being unable to NOT cheat on his wife.

3. The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

(Source: Reddit)

So the idea of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is really interesting. It has its roots in the New Testament of the Bible, but in a way it's expanded into its own idea/mythology. The general consensus is that the four riders are Famine, Pestilence (Disease), War, and Death. They've been explored in some book series (which I read and thoroughly enjoyed) and TV shows (any Supernatural fans out there?), but they don't always get as much attention as other mythology and folklore. I think it'd be fun to expand upon that, and write/rewrite some stories from the view of the Four Horsemen.

4. Modern Day Stories*

The original poster for the musical Wicked (Source: Bananaroad.com)

After pondering between Alice in Wonderland and the Land of Oz, I think I'll be going with the latter. Something about Oz in its original format is a little more appealing, and while there are great versions/retellings of Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, I think I like the idea of going through Oz a little more. There's also a lot more original source for it, since Baum wrote a total of 14 books originally, although it's been expanded upon a lot both during his life and after he passed. There's also the spinoffs, mainly Wicked, both the book and musical. I think this gives plenty of source.

*The original Oz series are now public domain, so it's free to read online versions of them from anywhere; I just linked to one site.