Reading Notes: South African Folktales, Part A

For this week's reading, I did the South African folktales by James Honey. Nearly all of the short stories in this reading had the character Jackal. In all the stories that Jackal is in, he is very cunning and seems to outwit all the other characters that he comes into contact with. He does this in all of his stories and even when he is caught and condemned, he still finds a way out of his sentencing. 

For my future story-telling, I want to develop a character who is cunning and always gets away with whatever he's trying to do. Also, I'm going to keep the characteristics of Lion and use those characterisitcs in another character who is going to oppose Jackal's character. As for the rest of the characters, I'm still deciding on what to use their characteristics for. If anything, they will be supporting roles for either Lion's character or Jackal's character.

Additionally, I want to build on Lion's and Jackal's relationship to each other. In the short stories, they are usually presented as uncle and nephew, but there's not any real depth to their relationship besides this. In my story, I want to develop their bond so the deception and/or trickery is that much more heart-wrenching to the audience. I also want to build up the relationship of Jackal to his family.

Obviously, Jackal cares considerably about his family in order to betray his uncle (Lion). It seemed to me that Lion and Jackal had a pretty good relationship; they hunt together and share the spoils. Although Jackal does get the crappy end of the stick, it's still a decent long-term investment. With that being said, I want to make Jackal's reason(s) more believable for him to betray a decent deal that he had with Lion. It might make sense to make this into story that is set in the present day...




Bibliography: South African Folk-tales by James Honey

Image: Jackal, Wikipedia

Week 6 Storytelling: Sapphire Boy

The Discerner was a wise man who knew a great many things about a great many things. He was never stingy with his knowledge, but he only shared his knowledge with those who he deemed worthy.

Because of this, he was able to make the most disciplined disciples in all the land. Everyone from villages near and far flocked to go have a chance to learn from him.

After many years of teaching countless disciples how to attain enlightenment, the Discerner found himself feeling sad. Although he had many accomplished disciples, he did not have a son to call his own.

The Discerner, being so wise, chose to make a pilgrimage to the Mountain of Birth in order to have his son. After performing an intricate ceremony, the Discerner was able to use the Mountan of Life to draw forth a precious strain of sapphire.

Immediately, the strain of sapphire began to move and take the form of a boy. Overjoyed, the Discerner began to teach the Sapphire Boy his ways and knowledge.

Within a short amount of time, Sapphire Boy grew and learned all that the Discerner had to teach. But because of his quick learning, Sapphire Boy never learned the value of having patience.

Because of his lack of patience, Sapphire Boy had trouble whenever he attempted to meditate. The Discerner eventually noticed Sapphire Boy's hard time and taught him all kinds of techniques that would aid in his meditation, but nothing helped.

Frustrated with himself, Sapphire Boy stormed off and found a place among the humans who regarded Sapphire Boy as a deity. Sapphire Boy quickly fell into the role of the humans' deity and began to think of how he could conquer the rest of the world.

The Discerner, upon seeing this, became distressed because his own son had failed at being his disciple. Despite this, however, the Discerner could not bring himself to take action against his own son.

While the Discerner contemplated on what to do, Sapphire Boy set out with his human followers to conquer the neighboring cities. Utilizing his vast knowledge of everything, Sapphire Boy first taught his humans how to organize their armies in order to outflank and outmaneuver their enemies in the most efficient manner possible.

Then, Sapphire Boy's army came to a completely walled city that seemed impenetrable. The humans decided to give up and just go home with their spoils from the first cities they conquered. But Sapphire Boy proceeded to teach the humans about siegecraft and how to use the equipment. After this, the humans made quick work of their enemies and attained more spoils than they could carry.

Dismayed, the humans wondered how they were going to carry all their treasure back home. Noticing their dismay, Sapphire Boy showed the humans how to make load-bearing devices that would allow them to carry much more than was natural.

One by one, the rest of the human cities fell to Sapphire Boy and his conquering armies. Realizing that Sapphire Boy was not going to stop until the Heavens themselves were conquered, the Discerner devised a plan to stop Sapphire Boy.

Gathering all of his disciples, the Discerner informed them that they would have to wage a single last defensive at the gates of Heaven itself in order to stop Sapphire Boy's advance. Agreeing with their master, they mustered at the gates of Heaven and waited for Sapphire Boy to approach.

Without wasting time, Sapphire Boy quickly advanced on Heaven's gates. However, the humans were no match for the Discerner's disciples, and they were quickly disposed of, except for a few.

Feeling the surge of confidence, the Discerner ordered a hasty assault against Sapphire Boy and his remaining humans. Without a proper strategy, the Discerner and his disciples rushed in for the kill and fell prey to Sapphire Boy's trap. They were caught in a pitfall that had no bottom and that could only be created in the Heavens. However, as the Discerner fell for the rest of eternity, he only felt pride for his son's accomplishments.

Author's Note: In the original story (The Monkey King), the Monkey King is born as a stone egg from the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits and eventually seeks out a saint in order to learn the secret to eternal life so that both he and his family of apes will not have to fear Death. The Monkey King finds his teacher and learns extremely fast, but he has a "monkey mind" that deters his focus from his spirit. He ends up getting banished and goes back to his ape family and proceeds to do many incredible feats. He even goes so far as to march up to the gates of the Underworld and take the book of life from the ten princes of the Underworld. He then strikes out all the names of his ape family and thus defeats death. I did not do part B of this reading so I don't know how the Monkey King ends up being stopped on his crazy adventures. Because of this I improvised on the ending and wrote it how I saw fit.

Bibliography: The Monkey King translated by Frederick H. Martens

Image: Bottomless Pit of Heaven

Reading Notes: Monkey King, Part A

For this week's reading, I read part A of the Monkey King Sun Wu Kung. This was one of my favorite reads so far because of the adventures and knowledge that Sun goes on and learns. I also found it intriguing how Sun is able to cause as much commotion as he does without any repercussions. From taking weapons by the use of magic to intimidating Death in order to keep his ape family from dying, it's just insane.

One interesting detail that I kept thinking about though, was how Sun was not already a saint or god due to his being born of divinity, so to speak. I also found myself wondering why Sun was the only one who was hatched via the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits. I guess it could be that there's a time delay in between births...? However, I'm thinking of giving Sun an antagonist who is possibly a younger brother who is born out of necessity in order to stop Sun's antics. 

More details that I was thinking of changing was what Sun was made out of. Instead of being made out of stone, he could be made out of metal, which is more durable than stone. How this relates to anything, though, I have yet to contemplate. Additionally, Sun and his apes are not subject to the rule of man. This is something that I could play with in some way, shape, or form.

Another important detail is the Discerner, Sun's teacher/mentor. From the stories, it seems as if the Discerner is/will be the only one who will be able to take on Sun and beat him. Obviously this would go against a possible little brother of Sun's rising up to defeat him. So, I could have the Discerner teach/mentor the possible little brother as well.

Finally, an intriguing detail that I'd like to play around with is Sun's "monkey mind." This lack of focus in Sun gets him into trouble with the Discerner and ultimately leads to his expulsion. Too often do brilliant people get ahead of themselves and end up causing their own demise. This is something that I want to build upon in my story.










Bibliography: The Monkey King Sun Wu Kung translated Frederick H. Martens

Image: Sun, the Monkey King from the Monkey King Unit

Week 5 Story: The Great Father

Before time began, there was the Great Father. Now, the Great Father existed only by himself and did not need anybody else to keep him company. However, one day the Great Father got the idea to create something just to see what would happen. So, he took a piece of his own chest and molded it into a figure that was similar to his own likeness. He thought long and hard and decided to name this figure, Prota, because he was the first creation ever.

Unlike the Great Father, Prota instantly began to feel lonely even with his father there to keep him company. Because Prota was made from a piece of the Great Father himself, Prota could do everything that the Great Father could do, and more. Prota began by making a dwelling place for himself and his father, then he made the Earth and the stars, and finally he created the lesser gods and organic beings. Prota was extremely pleased with himself and proclaimed himself the king of all the Earth. The Great Father however was starting to question his initial creation.

"You must destroy your creations," the Great Father said, because he could not understand why Prota had created all he had. Taken aback, Prota protested, "No, father! They keep me company so that I will not be lonely." But unlike Prota, the Great Father did not experience loneliness, so he began to cause massive tsunamis and devastating earthquakes in order to destroy Prota's Earth. Seeing this, Prota immediately began to fight back against his father in order to stop his acts of destruction.

Prota hurled massive fireballs at the Great Father, which threw the Great Father off-balance. After quickly regaining his balance, the Great Father immediately closed the distance between himself and Prota. Grabbing Prota by the throat, the Great Father shouted, "this is your last chance! Come with me or be destroyed forever!" But Prota broke his father's grip and threw him down to the Earth. 

With a crash that shook the entire Earth, the Great Father slammed down into Egypt. All the humans and creatures who were within a thousand miles were instantly killed by the impact. The rest of the Earth's population were roused by the godly battle and took up their arms and manned their chariots. Prota arrived shortly after the Great Father crashed down on Earth and ordered the humans to stop and let him handle the fight because they would only get in the way. Reluctantly, but obediently, the humans watched in awe as the two gods fought each other to decide the fate of creation.

Being in the presence of his own creations, Prota gathered all his strength and dealt a crippling blow to his father. Staggering, the Great Father fell back and gave in to defeat by the hands of his son, Prota. Standing ready to deal a death blow to the Great Father, Prota thought of his own creations and had mercy for his father. Surprised by this merciful act, the Great Father apologized for his attempted destruction of Prota's creations and requested to be Prota's mentor and advisor in the ages to come.









Author's Note: I got my idea for this story from the Ancient Egypt, part A reading. In the reading it describes how Nu, the Great Father, created/born Ra who ended up being even stronger than Nu himself. Nu went on to create all sorts of things, from the heavens to the humans. What I was trying to explore with this story was to write about how Nu (Great Father in this story) felt and might have acted to his son doing/performing greater things than even he could do. As always, please feel free to write comments that will help me to write better and more interesting stories in the future!

Bibliography: Ancient Egypt by Donald Mackenzie

Image 1: Ra

Image 2: Nu

Reading Notes: Ancient Egypt, Part A

For week 5, I decided to go with the Ancient Egypt readings, because who doesn't love a good story from the times of the ancient Egyptians?!

Much like most other stories about mythology, the Ancient Egypt readings begin with stories about the creation and go on from there, detailing how everything came about. A detail that I found interesting was how Ra, the sun god, was more powerful than Nu, the Great Father. If I were to tell a story from Nu's viewpoint on how he felt about this particular detail, I feel as if this would be an interesting story to tell. Also, I could even write more in detail about how Nu got his beginning, which would be interesting, seeing as how he was the beginning. Additionally, I could expound upon how Nu felt about Ra creating other gods besides Nu and Ra.

I also think it's interesting that although time flows differently for the gods, they still do get old and theoretically die? This could explain some of the reasoning for why the other gods keep trying to usurp each other. Just like humans can't stand to wait for their turn on the throne, how much longer do the gods have to wait in order for them to rule. If the Egyptian gods feel the same emotions as humans do, then war and rebellion between them is inevitable, despite their godhood.

 




If anything, a war among them would be devastating to the humans who wouldn't be able to stop and/or intervene in the war without getting themselves absolutely decimated. With that being said, some gods do seem to be much more powerful than other gods, take for example Ra, who can create basically anything by speaking or thinking it into existence. Which leads me to another thought, how was Isis continually beaten back by Set, when she knows Ra's Secret Name of power? Telling a story from her point of view and how she decides to use that power could also be an interesting starting off point.









Bibliography: Ancient Egypt by Donald Mackenzie


Image 1: Ra, Wikipedia

Image 2: Isis, Wikipedia

Tech Tip: Creating a Google Site

This tech tip EC assignment was actually pretty fun. I've always wondered what resources were out there that would allow one to create a website, but I've never taken the time to actually go out and attempt to make one. This class has given me a reason to make one and now I know that my very own Google just so happens to be one of the resources that I can use in order to make websites. Very Cool!

The process of creating the website was pretty straightforward and I didn't have any problems, besides figuring out how to change the font color of my banner text. I'm still in the process of trying to do that, but I'll update this page when I do figure it out! As for everything else, Google may not be the most intricate of website building resources, but I'm sure it's one of the simplest, since making my website didn't take but 20ish minutes to do.

Image: Google website screenshot, My Google website

Week 4 Storytelling: The Three Service Members

There once lived a mighty warrior, a Marine, in fact, who had two friends, one was a seaman and the other was an airman. Now, the Marine was very brave and feared nothing, creature or man. The seaman was very intuitive, always knowing where to go and how to treat wounds. And the airman was very smart, knowing how to solve problems and being able to create wonderful devices that were handy in a pinch.

The three of them, although from different branches of services, were like the closest of brothers. Because of their abilities and teamwork, they never failed a mission; they were allowed to choose whatever mission they wanted to go on. One day, a senior officer took notice of their abilities and began to give them extra days of leave and extra bonuses to gain their favor. After having received multiple days of leave and multiple bonuses over the year, the three took notice of the senior officer's generosity and decided to approach him and give him thanks.

"Good morning sir! and thank you for your generosity," the airman said. "Yes, thank you sir, you're not like those other officers," said the seaman. The Marine, wary of approaching officers, simply agreed with the others and said, "thank you, sir." After all these things were said, the officer spoke up and said to the three, "You're welcome gents! I just have one favor to ask in return." The Marine whispered to his friends, "I knew it was too good to be true..."

The senior officer, knowing of the three's high mission success rate, asked them to accept a mission that required them to go behind enemy lines and bring back a high priority target. Reluctantly, the three accepted, partly because they wanted to continue receiving their benefits, and partly because this was a chance to truly outdo themselves. This would be their most difficult mission yet, but the Marine was not phased at all by the mission details, so the other two did their best to appear as he did. So the three packed and left that same day with no fear of failure and every reason to believe that they would succeed, as always.

The three easily made their way through enemy territory, without alerting a single enemy, and proceeded to retrieve the target. When the target regained consciousness, he said to the three, "we can't take the same way back! They'll have set traps for us!" "No problem," said the seaman, "I can find us any amount of ways to get out of here!" So the three, guided by the seaman managed to move safely through enemy territory for a while.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, appeared a great wall. The Marine, brave and fearless as he was, instantly began to start beating on the wall to break it down. Dumbfounded, the airman said, "hey Marine! you can't punch through that wall! I'll make something to help us get over the wall." Not in the least embarrassed for his actions, the Marine stood guard over the target while the airman built his device. Once it was built, the four of them scaled the wall and made it to the other side.

They continued to move through enemy territory undetected until they spotted an enemy battalion of soldiers. The seaman said, "I can guide us around them and we'll be home free." The airman said, "the smart thing to do is to cover and conceal ourselves and wait for them to pass." But before any decisions were made, the Marine charged down the hill shouting "do ya'll wanna live forever?! Follow me!" Being so brave and fearless, the Marine rushed into battle without thinking of the outrageous odds of success stacked against him. However, the enemy had never faced a Marine before in battle and he easily dispatched of the entire enemy battalion, with only his M16 and bayonet.

In awe and disbelief of what had just happened, the target decided to reveal to the three who he was. "I am a four star general and I want you three to work for me," he said. But the three were reluctant because they didn't want to lose their good benefits from working for the other officer. So, the general made them a deal. "Take me back, but when you do, immediately get discharged and then i'll reenlist you guys under my command." The three friends did exactly as they were told and once they were back in the services, they went on top secret missions for the general and got all the leave and bonuses they could ever want.







Author's Note: I got my inspiration for this story from Twenty-Two Goblins. In the original story, there's a king named Triple-Victory who decides to help a monk retrieve a corpse, but there's a goblin in the corpse who keeps telling the king riddles that he must answer in order to keep from getting his head split open. Eventually, the king is stumped by a Great Riddle, but the goblin admires the king for his unrelenting efforts to deliver him, so he tells the king of the monk's true intentions to use him as a sacrifice. So, the king takes the goblin's advice and kills the monk and ends up being granted great dominion over everything, worldly and magical alike. In my story, the "king" is played by the service members from the three branches, the "monk" is the senior officer, and the "goblin" is the general. As I was writing this, I couldn't help but give the best parts to the Marine, because why not? This story actually turned out vastly different from my original thoughts, but I like it nonetheless. I hope the outrageous happenings are enjoyable to read!




Bibliography: Twenty-Two Goblins by Arthur Ryder




Image: Three service members in their alphas, Wikimedia Commons

Reading Notes: Twenty-Two Goblins, Part B

This story, Twenty-Two Goblins, didn't end the way that I thought it was going to end. In the end, the Goblin ended up helping the King to kill the Monk, who turned out to be a bad guy. Although this little plot twist wasn't super crazy, I was still caught off guard by it. I thought for sure that that the King would end up finding a way out of the Goblin's curse and then would stroll along and finish the job that he set out to do for the Monk.

As was with the Part A reading, there were some common themes that connected all the riddles, which I will not repeat here. The way that I interpreted all these riddles was that the Goblin was attempting to break the King's will to keep coming back to retrieve the corpse that the Goblin was possessing. In the end, only the Goblin's Great Riddle was able to stump the King, but the King was able to still display his wisdom by remaining silent because he could not give an answer and he would not deceive the Goblin either. This led the Goblin to have admiration for the King and thus helped him kill the corrupt Monk who was planning to steal the Goblin's powers by force.

With all that being said, I don't know if I want to continue with the military theme or go with a different theme altogether. Since I am in the process of making changes, I am thinking about telling this story from either the Goblin's or Monk's point of view. From the Goblin's point of view, the story wouldn't change dramatically, however, it would take on a different perspective. If I told the story from the Monk's point of view, I feel as if the story would have a more dramatic change, because the Monk was not present during any of these riddles and/or the plan for him to be killed.







Bibliography: Twenty-Two Goblins by Arthur Ryder

Image: The goblin in the tree

Reading Notes: Twenty-Two Goblins, Part A

For my part A reading this week, I stuck with my original choice of Twenty-Two Goblins. In this story, there is a wise king, a monk who asks for the king's help, and a goblin (vetala) who is possessing the body of a corpse. I noticed some common themes right off the bat. For instance, there's usually three main characters in the goblin's riddles/stories and the king is made to answer to the best of his ability or else his head will be split open by the goblin's curse. Also, the names of the characters in the stories are either virtuous or named after something elegant (Triple-victory, moon, Virtue-banner, etc.).

Without having read part B of Twenty-Two Goblins, I would venture to guess that the goblin knows of the king's wisdom and uses this to his advantage so that he will not be taken to the monk. However, I also think that the wise king will figure this out and do something in order to keep the goblin from telling his stories in the first place. Since the title of the story is not called Infinite Goblins, I assume that on the Twenty second story, the epic conclusion will take place and we will find out what happens to everyone. I look forward to this because my predictions are riding on it.

As for developing new stories out of this one, I think I will limit the amount of times that the main character has to go back and restart his mission. This would obviously be for the word limit of the story post. Additionally, I'd like to keep the naming method of Twenty-Two Goblins because it allows you to sort of guess what the riddle is going to be about without spelling out the riddle. Another change would be to the setting/environment that the story takes place in. I'm thinking about using a military environment in which the main character has to keep going back in order to retrieve what he really needs.

Finally, if I do decide to go with a military environment/setting, I might change the use of magic to hallucinations caused by chemical agents/warfare or even PTSD. Doing this would allow me to write a story that still uses fantastical elements, while still making the story believable. However, I'm sure i'll have more ideas/direction after reading part B Twenty-Two Goblins.







Bibliography: Twenty-Two Goblins by Arthur Ryder


Image: The wise king carrying the goblin

Week 3 Story: Homer's Iliad, as told by Yoda

Ah! Hello there young ones! Yoda, I am. A Grand Master of the Jedi I am... long ago, however, that was. A force ghost am I now. Learn about tragedy today, we will, about a story with great heroes. Mhmmm...

Long ago, before even I was born, a beautiful woman named Helen there was. So beautiful was she, that lust, men did after her. More so than any others, a young prince, Paris, did he lust after Helen. In the dead of night, took Helen away did Paris. Unknown to his older brother, Hector, did Paris do this. Angry! Hector was, to the point of murder, Hector was. Love Paris, did Hector. Take away Paris' prize, Hector could not. Mhmmm...

Lead to, the end of Troy this would. Months later, the allied Greeks landed at Troy, they did. Fought hard, both sides did. A great disturbance, many deaths there were. Leader of the Trojans, Hector was. Hero of the Greeks, Achilles was. But met in battle, they had not. Mhmmm...

Not for lack of trying, did Hector and Achilles battle. Keep them apart for their own safety, did the Greek gods do. The favorite son of Zeus, Achilles was, let him die at Troy, Zeus did not want. The honored patron of Apollo, Hector was, let him fall to Achilles, he would not let. Mhmmm...

Trained in sword fighting, by Achilles, Patroclus was. Arrogant and foolish, Patroclus was. Took the armor of Achilles, Patroclus did, to fight against Hector he did. Lost! Patroclus did. Enraged, Achilles became. Rallied the Greeks to take Troy, Achilles did. Mhmmm...

Slay many men, both Hector and Achilles did. To get to each other, their goals were. Reach each other, they finally did. Hard fought the battle was, but Zeus, the greater Greek god is he and defeat Hector, Achilles did. Revenge for Patroclus, Achilles got, but quenched, his anger, was not. Mhmmm...

Dragged Hector's body across the dirt, Achilles did. To satisfy his revenge, Achilles wanted to do. An emptiness did Achilles feel, for revenge, satisfy him, it did not. To get Hector's body back, King Priam wanted to do. Help him, messenger of the gods, Hermes did. Overcome with sympathy for King Priam, Achilles was. Give back Hector's body, Achilles did. Mhmmm...

A tale of loss and tragedy this was, young ones. Give into their emotions, Paris, Hector, and Achilles did. Fall to the dark side they did. Consumed by their hatred and anger they were. Guidance, they did not have, but learn from their mistakes, you can. Learn from this lesson, you must, or share the same fate, you will! Mhmmm...

Remember, young ones, there is no emotion, there is peace; there is no ignorance, there is knowledge; there is no passion, there is serenity; there is no chaos, there is harmony; there is no death, there is the force. The Jedi code this is, and follow it you must, always. Especially you, young Skywalker. May the force be with you. Mhmmm...







Author's Note: I got my inspiration to write this story from reading Homer's Iliad in the classical readings for week 3. I actually kept the original storyline of the Iliad the same, but I used Yoda as the storyteller. I did this because I was trying to figure out what kind of storytelling style that I wanted to tell this story in and I happened upon a Yoda webpage, which influenced me to tell it using Yoda. I wanted to use a part of history and have Yoda tell it in order to teach the new generation of Jedi. Although Yoda is a force ghost in this story and addresses Skywalker by name, there is no indication as to which Skywalker this is, since there were multiple Skywalkers, besides Anakin and Luke. This is relevant to the Star Wars universe because in Legends, both Luke and Jacen fall to the dark side, after the events of episode VI.


Bibliography: Based on Homer's Iliad by A.J., Church

Image: Original Yoda puppet, Flickr