Folks of All Mythology

    There were a lot  of stories I liked in this unit. Most of them were really interesting, or concepts within the stories were really interesting. Two of the concepts I liked from Part B were the Ojha (exorcist) and rubies transforming from drops of blood because they hit Siva's head.     Something that really caught my attention in Part B was the story "The Bald Wife." The basic idea of the story isn't new. I'd say there's at least one story like it in every culture.     Premise      There are two females (sometimes girls, sometimes women).       One is good, kind, and selfless, and the other is evil, cruel, and selfish.       The good female makes a hard journey.      On the hard journey her kind, selfless, humble qualities endear her to magical things (plants, animals, spirits, people, etc.).      At the midpoint in her journey, she is given the largest blessing o...

  Good Luck vs. Bad Luck...Or simply just  Luck? Setting out on their journey. 1912. Warwick Goble. (Source:  The Evil Eye of Sani )     "The Evil Eye of Sani" is split into three parts in the unTextbook. The first part introduces the heroes: Sribatsa and his wife Chintamani. Sribatsa is subjected to the Evil Eye when he admits Lakshmi, goddess or Good Luck, was better than Sani, god of bad luck. Sribatsa tries to leave his wife for three years while he's subjected to Sani's Evil Eye, but she refuses and insists their lots are shared as they're married. Part two covers their forced separation and bad luck, and part three covers their reversal of luck as the Evil Eye is turned away after the three years Sani said he would give them.     My favorite parts are part one and the end of part three.     Reading about how luck is personified, or ruled over at least, as two separate entities is interesting because I think it's very much a Western idea...

 And the Threads of Stories Go On     The Goblin always left where he wanted to, and to the Sands of Many Stories did he go. In the sands were fine jewels. Each shined under the sun and glowed under the moon. Each facet presented to him another world, a story.     He tapped the center, and the jewel opened up for him. Into the world, he was transported within the blink of an eye. The characters stopped and stared. Their bickering halted, their problems paused, and their ponderings ceased.     They looked around the vast, luminous cavern. The walls sparkled and shined a bright yellow. The floor was bathed in a bright red, and the finest curtains made of warm light kept everyone from the cold of their dazzling prison.     It was time again.     The Goblin stood before them presently and waited until he was sure all their attention was on him. He held his arms wide and smiled. "There has been one to answer your riddles."     ...

      "Twenty-Two Goblins" continues to be one of the more fun sections so far this semester. Part A was good, but Part B had more stories and moments I liked.  My favorites were two stories plus the last bit of a third one. Not to mention I got both the riddle and  its reason correct from "The Four Brothers!" Mostly correct, anyway. My reasoning for the last brother being at fault was slightly to the left of the King's reasoning, but I did get the general gist right! Perham W. Nahl. 1917. (Source:  The Four Brothers )     The first story I came across and liked was "The Girl and the Thief." Most of the stories in "The Twenty-Two Goblins" were love stories, but this one really struck my romance streak (not exactly easy). I think perhaps it was the love at first sight trope (which I'm not usually into) combined with the King's answer on why the thief cried  and  laughed. Mixed with the fact the Thief takes his second chance at life t...

     For the fifth week of this course, I've chosen "Twenty-Two Goblins" from the Frametale Stories unit. Its two main characters are King Triple-Victory (from here on out, he'll be referred to as the King) and the goblin. Picture of Vetal hanging by a tree and Vikram in the background. Harshad Dhavale. (Source:  Wikimedia Commons )      Favorite Things How each story is like a snapshot of someone else's life. How each story leaves the protagonist, and sometimes their family, in such a dilemma that only wisdom and a certain way of clever thinking could go about to solve, both of which the King has. I'd like to think that each of these stories holds real people inside them who are forced to repeat the story over and over again until someone, like the King, solves their riddle. I think it would be fun to see how the rest of them get on with their lives in an epilogue-ish sort of thing. I like the use of both English words as names and names that sound li...

  House in Misty Woods. (Source:  Wallpaper Flare )     For my story about the evil Baba Yaga triplet, I'll be using  Project Gutenberg . For the morally gray Baba Yaga triplet, I'll be using  Russian Folk-Tales . For the good Baba Yaga, I'll be using  Wikisource — Márya Moryévna .      I'm thinking about doing a fourth story centered on one of Baba Yaga's servants (day, sun, and night). If I do that, I'll be using  Russian Folk-Tales  again.     Aside from the potential fourth story which will be from a servant's perspective, all the stories will be from the hero's POV. It's not something I wanted to change because I feel it would be the best way to tell the story. I'm also thinking of keeping them in the past because I want to put signs up that all three heroes just missed meeting each other by like half an hour. I thought that would be a nice humorous tie-in, since the Baba Yaga is supposed to be hard to find, and ...

  Dark, creepy woods. (Source: Pikist ) My  Storybook  Project