Week 14 Story: The Live Mother

Once there was a very happy couple that lived in a small village.  After a few years, they bore a child.  Shortly after the child was born, the mother got sick and died.  The father was quite and distraught and did not know how he as going to take care of the baby or feed it.  He decided to hire an old woman to care for the baby. 

Nothing the old woman did could calm the baby down.  It cried all day and night and refused to eat.  However, one night the baby stopped crying as if it was being fed.  The old woman thought this was very strange so she stayed up one night to see what it was that was happening.  That night she saw someone come into the house after midnight and go up to the baby's room where the baby would immediately stop crying. 

The next day, the old woman told the baby's father about this and he decided to gather other people in the village to stay up one night to try and figure out who it was sneaking into their house every night.  That night when the mysterious figure went into the baby's room, the villagers shined a light in it's face.  They gasped in terror as they saw that it was the dead mother. 

What happened next was quite magical.  After the mother saw that she had been seen, she looked down at her baby, and life suddenly consumed her and she became living once again.  The mother, father, and baby lived happily until the baby was grown. 

Happy Mother and Baby.  Web Source. 

Author's Note: My inspiration for this story comes from the Russian Folktales Unit.  The story was called The Dead Mother.  I kept the majority of the story the same except for the ending.  In the original, when the mother saw that she had been seen, she looked down at the baby and then disappeared.  They then saw that the baby had died.  I thought this was a very dark ending so I wanted to make it happier by having the mother coming back to life and living happily with her husband and baby. 

Bibliography: Russian Folk Tales by W.R.S. Ralston. 

Week 13 Story: Alice and Humpty Dumpty

While Alice was walking along the forest she came to a tall wall with a weird looking egg sitting on top of it.  Alice found this quite odd and went up to the egg who introduced himself as Humpty Dumpty.

"Oh! Humpty Dumpty from the nursery rhyme!" Alice said.

"Nursery rhyme? I do not know what you are talking about." said Humpty.

Alice warned Humpty that it might be safer for him to get down off the wall, so that he doesn't fall and break.  Humpty was sure that this would not happen and told her that even if it did, the King promised to send all his horses and all of his men.

"Yes, but they won't be able to put you back together again." said Alice.

"Why must you talk so much nonsense?" Humpty said.

Alice didn't want to cause an argument so she gave Humpy a compliment on his belt he was wearing.  This frustrated Humpty becasue he was wearing a cravat, not a belt.  He told Alice that she was quite unintelligent for mixing up the two and that she best be on her way.  Alice was angered at this point as well and said "Fine, until we meet again."

Humpty replied back, "Even if we did meet again, I would not recognize you.  Your face it too ordinary. You have two eyes, a nose, and a mouth just like everyone else.  It would be better if your mouth was above your eyes."

Alice decided to ignore this comment and walk away.  As she was  muttering under her breath to herself about how grumpy Humpty was, she heard a large crash behind her.  She quickly turned around and saw that Humpty had fallen off his wall and broken into a million pieces. 

"Hmph!" she said.  "Serves him right for being so rude!"

Alice and Humpty. Web Source. 

Author's note: My inspiration for this story came from the Humpty Dumpty section in Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll.  I kept my story mostly the same but elaborated in the middle section when Alice and Humpty are talking about his famous nursery rhyme (that is not so famous to him).  In the original I found it interesting that Humpty did not know that he was a storybook character and so I added dialogue between him and Alice to better explain that.  I kept Humpty's grumpy character the same because I thought it was an interesting take.  For the ending, the original text mentions the large crash but never says what it was.  I decided to go ahead and tag on the ending of Humpty falling off the wall as "karma" for being so rude to Alice. 

Bibliography: Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll.  

Week 11 Story: The Turtle Who was Not Afraid of Thunder

Once there was a turtle who lived happily in a lake.  However, he had one problem.  Something kept hitting him while he was in the water.  One day, he came out and tried to investigate what it was but could not find anyone.  

Instead he called out "who will help me?".  The first to respond was deer.  Turtle asked deer to show him his best fighting skills to defeat whoever it was hitting him.  

Turtle was not impressed by deer's skills and called out again, "who will help me?"  Next to respond was bear.  Turtle again asked him to show his best fighting skills and again, turtle was not impressed.  

He called out one more time, "who will help me?"  This time, an army of little turtles arose and showed turtle their best fighting skills.  Turtle was very impressed and knew they would be the ones to defeat his bully.  So turtle went back down into the water while his army awaited the return of the bully.  

The next day he awoke to his army of turtles yelling for him to come out and look.  Turtle arose from the water and saw a lonely bird a tree dropping rocks into the water.  "This is Thunder Bird!" one of the turtles said.  Turtle knew that Thunder Bird was the only one of his kind and was very lonely, but also too shy to make any companions.  It turns out that he had been dropping rocks into the lake in hopes that turtle would come out and talk to him.  

From that day forward Thunder Bird and the turtles were great friends and Thunder Bird provided protection for the turtles during thunderstorms.  

The Friendship between Turtle and Thunder Bird. Web Source. 

Author's Note: This week's story is taken from "Turtle and Thunder" from the British and North America Tales unit.  I kept the beginning of the story the same up until when the turtle army takes stance to wait for whoever it was dropping rocks.  In the original story, the bully drops a rock on the turtles and kills them all.  Turtle comes out from the water and asks his neighbor who did it and his neighbor responds that it was Thunder Bird and that he was very afraid of him.  From that day forward Turtle stayed hidden under the water during thunder storms.  I thought that version of the story was a little morbid so I wanted to make it happier.  I portrayed Thunder Bird as a lonely bird wanting to make friends who eventually makes friends with the turtles.  From that day on, he provided protection for his friends during thunder storms.  

Bibliography:   Turtle and Thunder from Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson. 

Week 10 Story: The Dolphin Stolen by Indians

There was a happy dolphin who lived in the lake outside an Indian tribe. The dolphin often leaped around in the water because he was very content with his life. The Indians who were troubled with the hardships of living off the land took note of this and made a plan to capture the dolphin in hopes he would bring some of his happiness to the tribe.


That night, as the dolphin leaped out of the water, the Indians threw a net around him and brought him to shore. Dolphin's fellow dolphin friends quickly took notice of his his absence and set out to find where he had gone.  As they were spying upon the village they saw that the happy dolphin had been captured and was being held hostage.  Unable to rescue him themselves because the Indians would surely know what they were trying to do, they relied on their land friend dog, for help.  

The next day dog ran into the Indian's tribe and started knocking things over, running as fast as he could through the tribe and wreaking havoc.  This was enough of a distraction for the happy dolphin to make his escape.  While the Indian's were doing all they could to capture dog, the happy dolphin was able to escape and jump back into the water.  

The happy dolphin and his friends celebrated and played together in his safe return.  They then migrated away from the Indian tribe never to be caught again.  The tribe continued in their misery for the rest of time, and the dolphins celebrated for eternity. 

The Happy Dolphin. Web Source. 

Author's Note: My inspiration for this story was taken from "The Woman stolen by Killer Whales" from Tales of North American Indians by Stith Thompson.  In the original text, a Native American Woman was washing her hands in the water when a killer whale grabbed her and drug her down to their killer whale home.  The woman's husband found out and made a plan with shark to rescue her.  The shark distracted the killer whales and during this the woman was able to escape and go back to her husband on land.  I changed the story to where a dolphin was captured by humans instead of the other way around.  

Week 9 Story: The Slug

There once was a man named Hugo. Hugo lived in a humble house with his wife, Margot. Hugo and Margot were a very happy couple and had very little to dispute about. That was until one day, a slimy, fat slug crawled out from under the refrigerator and into the middle of the kitchen floor. Hugo and Margot, a fairly young and newly wedded couple, had never encountered a slug before, and neither of them knew what to do. They both screamed at the fat brown squishy body inching its way across the floor leaving a slime trail behind him. Hugo, not knowing what else to do quickly grabbed a bowl off the counter and tip toed over to the intruder. Carefully and with haste he dropped the bowl on top of the slug, trapping him momentarily until they could figure out what to do. Margot ran to the computer and googled "what is a brown squishy slimy insect type thing". The first thing that popped up was an exact replica of the disgusting creature trapped under the bowl. "It's a slug!" she screamed. "It says we should sprinkle salt on it to kill it!". "Oh no," said Hugo. "I used the rest of the salt on my french fries last night." Margot exchange an annoyed look at Hugo before he abruptly said "I'll grab the key's," and made a mad dash to the store.
 

Margot thought it would be a good idea to keep watch of the slug while Hugo went to buy more salt so that it did not cunningly escape.  It seemed like hours before Hugo returned, and when he finally did with salt in hand, Margot was very relieved.  However, they still had the big battle of killing the slug.  Hugo scooped a big cup of salt out of the bag and approached the bowl on the floor. "Okay, on the count of three lift the bowl and I will dump the salt." "One.......Two.......Three!" Margot quickly lifted the bowl and Hugo dumped the salt all over the little guy.  What followed was quite disgusting.  The slug began to squirm and smoke and ooze even more slime than before.  It was like it was melting like the Wicked Witch in The Wizard of Oz! After a few minutes the slug stopped smoking and laid there in a giant gooey puddle.  Hugo and Margot learned two valuable lessons that day- 1.  It's a good idea to get the house sprayed for pests, and 2. always keep a never ending supply of salt nearby just in case. 

The Slug.  Web Source. 

Author's note: My inspiration for this story came from "My Lord Bag of Rice" from the collection of Japanese Fairy Tales written by Yei Theodora Ozaki.  In the story there was great warrior named Hidesto.  Hidesto was given the task by the Dragon King to kill and evil centipede that had been terrorizing his kingdom. This was no feat for the the brave warrior Hidesto, however when he first attacked the centipede, he found that his arrows simply bounced right off the centipede.  He then remembered that human saliva is toxic to centipedes and the next arrow he shot, he first put it into his mouth to coat it in saliva.  This arrow went right through the centipede's brain and killed him.  In return the Dragon King gave Hidesto a bag of rice that never seemed to run empty.  When reading that human saliva was toxic to centipedes, it reminded me of how salt is toxic to slugs and inspired me to write the story of Hugo and Margot.  I wanted the story to be funny and whimsical, and I can imagine a newly wed couple trying to figure out the feats of owning a house together and encountering things like gross, slimy slugs. 

Week 7 Story: Brer Rabbit and the Tar-Baby

One day Mr. Fox decided he wanted to play a trick on Brer Rabbit.  Mr. Fox went to the market and bought a large tub of the sweetest and stickiest molasses he could find.  He then went to a path that Brer Rabbit frequents often and constructed a Tar-Baby made from molasses.  Admiring his work, Mr. Fox retreated to the bushes to watch and wait for Brer Rabbit to come by. 

It didn't take long for Brer Rabbit to come along on his way. Brer Rabbit could smell the sweet molasses from down the road and was immediately intrigued by the Tar-Baby.  Coming nearer, Brer Rabbit saw that the Tar-Baby was indeed sweet, delicious molasses and he was tempted to taste a bite.  Brer Rabbit knew he shouldn't touch the Tar-Baby as he didn't know who he belonged to, but he couldn't help himself and decided one tiny bite couldn't hurt.  Sticking out his tongue he licked the Tar-Baby, however when he tried to pull away, he found himself stuck! The wolf jumped out of the bushes and burst out in laughter at the stuck Brer Rabbit.  "I've got you again Brer Rabbit!" exclaimed Mr. Fox.  "Have fun getting yourself out of this one!".  

Some say that Mr. Bear came along and helped Brer Rabbit free himself from the molasses prison, and others say he didn't.  

Mr. Fox constructing Tar-Baby. Web Source. 

Authors note: The original story is written in the dialect of Uncle Remus, so the first big change I made was simply telling the story in normal dialect from a narrators point of view.  This makes it much easier to read and understand.  I didn't want to change the story too much because it is a very famous and classic story, however in the original text Mr. Fox makes the tar baby from turpentine and Brer Rabbit ends up stuck in it after getting angry that the tar baby would not talk back to him.  I wanted to take the anger out of it and switched the tar baby to being made out of yummy  molasses that Brer Rabbit couldn't resist.  I decided to leave the ending up to reader's imagination like the original text. 

Bibliography:  The Wonderful Tar Baby from Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris.

Week 6 Story: The Ungrateful Mother

Once there was a Brahman who lived with his wife and mother.  It is traditional in the Indian culture that the son continues to take care of his mother into old age.  However, the Brahman's mother was a real witch and made life unpleasant for The Brahman and his wife. 

One day as the mother was out on a walk cursing to herself about daily inconveniences, Sarita a friendly nature dwelling ghost came to her.  Sarita asked why the mother was so unhappy and the mother just continued to complain.  Sarita saw that the mother was ungrateful for her son and daughter-in-law and took the mother in law and locked her up in her woodland house.  Sarita then dressed like the mother and made her way to the Brahman's house.

At the Brahman's house Sarita was a completely new version of the mother.  She helped around the house, thanked the Brahman and the daughter-in-law, and was pleasant to be around.  Both the Brahman and his wife were relived with the mothers new change of character.  However, after some time the wife started to notice strange things about the mother.  She was able to do things more quickly than a woman her age should be able to do, and she would stay up all hours of the night.

One day the Brahman saw his mother swimming and singing in the nearby pond and he knew he had to confront her, because all of her life she has never been able to swim.  The Brahman asked his mother who she was and Sarita confessed saying that she came across his real mother in the woods and was burdened with her negativity and wanted to make life better for both him and his wife.  The Brahman, thanked Sarita but said that as nice as its been to have her pleasant spirit around, that he must have his real mother back.  Sarita agreed to let his mother go if as long as she promised to change her attitude towards life and be thankful for her son and daughter-in-law. 

Back in the woods Sarita took The Brahman to his mother who was quite afraid.  The Brahman told his mother that Sarita has agreed to let her go as long as she changes her outlook on life.  The mother, willing to do anything to be free once again agreed and was let go by Sarita.

Back at their house the mother became much happier, helped with chores and made life pleasant for the Brahman and his wife just like Sarita had done.  They all lived happily together for quite some time. 

My character Sarita, the friendly woodland ghost. Web Source. 

Author's note: In the original tale entitled The Ghostly Wife, the wife of the Brahman is replaced by am evil ghost.  At first neither the Brahman or his mother know what has happened but eventually the mother notices the wife doing strange things such as sticking her limbs through walls and into fires.  The mother and Brahman call upon and exorcist who burns turmeric and expels the ghost from the wife's form.  The ghost takes them to where she has thrown the wife into a hole and they rescue her short from death.  After recovery, the Brahmam, his wife, and his mother live happily ever after.  I changed the story to have the mother be the one replaced and I also reversed the roles of the evil ghost and nice wife- to having the ghost actually be a friendly ghost and the mother being evil.  I used a name generator to come up with the name of Sarita. 

Bibliography: The Ghostly Wife from Folktales of Bengal written by Rev. Lal Behari Day.

Week 5 Story: Sinbad's Second Voyage

My second voyage started out good, but I should've known it wouldn't last.  After sailing for 3 days we came to an island to rest.  Bountiful with lush greens and flowers, there seemed to be no human life.  Overtook by it's beauty I began to explore the island.  Unfortunately, seeming as though I was overtaken by the beautiful scenery, I wandered too far and lost my way.  After many hours I finally made to the top of a hill where I could overlook the island and see where I was.  What I saw was very disheartening.

Sailing away in the ocean was my ship, along with my crew. How could they forget about me? I tried to cry out to them but it was no use, they were gone.  Unsure of what to do next I sat down with my head in my hands.  Next thing I know I am being picked up off the ground and hoisted into the air by what seems to be ginormous claw.  I looked up, and sure enough I was being carried away by a giant eagle to my death.  I thought about throwing myself into the sky to plummet to my fate, but before I could do so, the eagle dropped me into its big next and flew away. 

In the nest was a giant egg that could easily crush me.  Great, I am going to be baby food when this egg hatches I thought.  However, relieved that the mother eagle was gone momentarily I sat down leaning against the egg trying to formulate a plan.

Not soon after I pressed my back up against the egg, the egg pushed back! Oh no, it's already happening I thought to myself.  The egg began to shake some more and begin to crack open revealing a baby chick inside.  New with life, the baby chick stretched out of its broken shell and rubbed its fuzzy head against me.  To my surprise this was the cutest, sweetest chick I'd ever seen!

Usually baby chicks can't fly until they are at least a few months old, but this chick magically stretched out its wings and flew out into the sky and circled right back to the nest landing next to me.  If only I could get it to carry me down from this nest and into that nearby valley before I have to deal with the wrath of the mother eagle.  The starts must have been in line for me that day because no later that that thought popped into my head that the baby bird scooped me up by my turban, flew me down out of the nest and to the nearby valley and set me softly on the ground and then flew away. 

To my relief, I was greeted by a group of travelers who were also on the island trying to collect great riches.  I explained to them my misfortunes and they agreed to let me travel with them back to Bagdad. 

Me being whisked away by mother eagle. 

Author's note: Inspired by the original second voyage from The Voyages of Sinbad by Andrew Lang, I put my own personal twist on what took place.  In Lang's version, Sinbad falls asleep on the island and wakes up to see that his ship and crew are gone.  While he is walking the island trying to figure out what he will do next, he finds a giant fuzzy white object that turns out to be an egg from a giant roc.  At nightfall the roc settles upon the egg and Sinbad attaches his turban to the roc's foot in hopes that it will carry him away to somewhere with humans in the morning.  His plan succeeds and in the morning he is carried away by the eagle.  

Week 4 Story: My Great Love Story

We have all heard of Cupid. You know, the chubby baby with cherub cheeks and golden curls that goes around and shoots people in the butts making them fall in love? Well that version of cupid is only a wives’ tale my friends. And I would know, considering I am none other than Cupid himself.

Like I said my name is Cupid, I am 22 years old and you would think from looking at me that I pretty much have it made. Living in a giant palace in the clouds, being the god of love and attraction, I must be pretty happy right? Wrong. You see, as I’ve spent so much time helping others with their love life’s and happiness, mine has fallen by the wayside. I recently broke up with my one and only true love Psyche, a mortal woman that I met by accident while I was on a mission. Back to the shooting arrow thing, like I said most people just think I shoot arrows into people’s butts and I’m on my way, but trust me it is much more complicated than that, and no the arrows do not go in people’s butts.

So, you’re probably wondering why we broke up. Well you see, my job can be quite demanding at times and if I said I was good at time management I would be lying. Essentially cancelled dates, not calling enough, basically not putting enough effort into the relationship is what got me where I am now. Don’t get me wrong, I really do love her, but I’ve been going through a lot lately and it doesn’t help that my mom Venus (a.k.a Aphrodite the goddess of love), doesn’t approve of my divine/mortal love affair.

Anyway, since the breakup, I’ve tried dating around trying to fill the void that Psyche left, nut no other woman compares to her. I really want to try to win her back (that should be easy considering I’m the god of love, right?) but there’s just one problem, she has a new boyfriend and I’ve heard he is quite the catch. Apparently, he takes her on lavish dates, they spend tons of time together and he is the “sweetest man she has ever met”. (sometimes being able to listen in on mortal conversations is a bad thing).

But need not worry, I have come up with a master plan to win her back, but first I must win over the approval of my mother. If you know anything about Venus, you know that her love life hasn’t been roses and butterflies either. She got stuck with this real drag of a god that she never truly loved named Vulcan. To fill her need for love, she took on a great lover named Ares, (god of war). Let’s just say that that didn’t work out for her very well in the end when Vulcan found out about it. It’s true that she doesn’t approve of Psyche because she is mortal, but in reality, I think the bigger issue is that she is jealous that I have found great love like she never has. So, my plan is to get rid of that dweeb Vulcan, help get my mom and Ares back together and then go win back my girl.

Vulcan is the god of forge and metalworking so he’s not the brightest, but does he know how to fashion some nets! I figured that it wouldn’t be too hard trick him into one of his own. So that’s just what I did. Late one night I snuck into his shed and took one of his finest nets that he had woven himself. Using my charming powers, I cast a charm of lust and love over the net and laid it out in front of his house for him to awake to. The next morning sure enough, Vulcan awoke from his sleep and came stumbling out of his house to take on another day. Although, instead of taking off towards the shed like normal, he immediately saw the beautiful net and was enchanted so much by it he didn’t even realize it was his own work. “This must be the work of a great craftsman, far better than I and I am a god!” Unable to resist due to the charm Vulcan stepped onto the net to get a better look and the next thing you know he was hanging from a tree entangled in it. With Vulcan angry and confused, I came forward and told him that if he did not free my mother of her misery by leaving this place and never coming back, allowing her to have the great love that she deserved, he would surely hang there for eternity and suffer. Vulcan, who didn’t really love Venus much either gave in and fled the land leaving nothing behind.

I then went to my mother and explained to her what I had done. At first, she started crying and I thought to myself, surely this is not out of sadness? But then she raised her face and I saw that they were tears of happiness! Now free to go find Ares and live happily ever after she expressed her gratitude to me and in return gave me her blessing to win Psyche’s hand back and marry her if she will have me.

Now onto the biggest part of the plan, winning Psyche back. After Venus’s blessing I flew immediately down to earth to find Psyche and profess my love for her. Barging in on a date with her new man, I flew in, grabbed her from her seat and looked her straight in the eyes and said these worlds, “My love, I know that these past few months I have not given you the attention that you deserve or have I put in the effort into our relationship, but after you left me I realized just how lost I am without you. I have gotten my mother’s blessing and if you will have me, I want to whisk you away to the clouds and marry you, making you immortal and we will live happily ever after in the clouds in our grand palace. There is no one else that I would rather share my life with and I promise to never neglect you again.” A small tear fell from Psyche’s eye, and I gently swept it away. Awaiting her response, I looked over at her new boyfriend who looked quite dumbfounded and confused. After a moment of pause, Psyche said to me, “My dearest Cupid, how my heart has yearend for you to come and whisk me away, yes! I will take you back and be married to live happily ever after!”

So that’s it folks. Psyche and I flew back up to the heavens leaving a shocked ex-boyfriend behind and were wed in great celebration and feasting. So far, we have both been the happiest we’ve ever been and I cannot wait for ever after with her.

Psyche and I basking in our love. 

Author’s note: In the original story, Cupid and Psyche from Apuleius’s Golden Ass, Psyche is a girl that Venus despises because she tried to take on the identity of Venus on Earth as being the most beautiful in all the land and people worshiped her. Cupid, sent to doom Psyche to a lifetime of loneliness and wretched loves fell in love with her instead and brought her to his castle where he came to her only at night to hide his identity from her, and she loved like royalty during the day alone. Cupid warned Psyche that if she ever tried to find out his identity she would lose him forever. However, Psyche was tempted and one night gazed upon him by candlelight and saw that it was Cupid. Cupid fled and Psyche was left at the wrath of Venus. She had to complete many tasks in order to try to win Venus’s approval but it wasn’t until pity of the other gods helped her out and Cupid and Psyche were wed.

Bibliography: Cupid and Psyche from Apuleius's Golden Ass translated to English by Tony Kline.


Web Source for photo: Wikimedia Commons. 

Week 3 Story: The Lonely Cyclops

The Lonely Cyclops 

After Odysseus and his men had won the great battle of Troy, their fight was merely over.  They still had a great distance to travel back to their homeland.  There was no telling what they would come across and what monsters they would face.  

After about five days in the Ocean they came to a great island, flowing with green trees, water and growth. “This is the home of a great monster” warned Odysseus, “But we are running low on food and supplies, so we have no other choice but to stop and try to gather more.” Odysseus prepared his men for what they may face and began to explore the island, swords drawn and ready to attack whatever may come at them.  

As they were traveling through the brush they came across a large clearing with a giant cave.  Odysseus told his men to prepare to attack as this was surely where the great monster lived.  Suddenly, a huge giant walked out of the cave. He had one eye, wore nothing but sheepskin shorts and looked like he was tall enough to sit on the clouds.  “Cyclops” said Odysseus.  Gripped with fear, he tightened his grip on his sword and was about to call on his men when the Cylops with his great booming voice yelled “Hello! How wonderful it is to see fellow life on this island! From where do you little people come from?”  Confused, Odysseus explained how he and his men had traveled a great way after winning the battle and were on their way back to their homeland when they came across the island.  “Wonderful! I have been plagued with great loneliness on this great island by myself and now we can all live together in great joy and harmony, and I will keep you and take care of you forever!”  

Odysseus tried to explain that they were just merely passing through and could not stay for more than a day or two and the Cyclops became very sad and began to cry.  His tears fell like rain and soaked Odysseus and his men.  I will be stuck with this loneliness forever, let me at least feed you and your men and restock your supplies while you rest before carrying on with the rest of your journey” cried the Cyclops.  

After two days of rest and feasting, it was time for Odysseus and his men to leave the kind and hospitable Cyclops.  However, Odysseus was heart warmed by the Cyclops’ kind spirit that he had a great offer for him.  “Cyclops, I know you have been plagued with great sadness and loneliness on this island by yourself and you have shown me and my men such kindness and compassion that I want to ask you to travel back with us to my homeland and live with us forever in peace and friendship.” The Cyclops cried out in happiness and together they all set out for home, the Cyclops protecting them from everything that came their way.  

It wast then that the Cyclops was lonely no more, and him and Odysseus’s people lived happily together in harmony until the end of time. 

The Island. Web Source. 

Authors note: In the original text by Homer, the Cyclops is a great monster that is no happy with Odysseus’s arrival.  He traps them in his cave and eats his men throughout the time they are there.  Odysseus and his surviving men are able to escape by tying themselves to the underbellies of sheep.  When setting sale from the Island the angered Cyclops throws a giant stone at the ship, merely missing it.  Odysseus and his men are able to continue on their journey just barely, leaving the cyclops behind.  

Bibliography: Homer's The Odyssey, translated by Tony Kline. Web Source. 

Week 2 Story: The Benevolent Sister

The Benevolent Sister

Once upon a time there was a young woman named Abigail. Abigail lived with her mother and three other sisters in a small-town house deep in the forest. One day, it came to be known that a grand fair possessing all kinds of clothes, linens, jewelry, fine foods and special goods would be coming to the city nearby. The girls mother who was one to fancy high quality goods decided to attend. Before she left to head to the fair, she asked what she may bring back her daughters as a gift. The first daughter asked for the finest dress she could find. The second daughter asked for the shiniest pair of earrings she could find, and the third daughter asked for the best smelling pie she could smell. When the mother asked Abigail what she would like for her to bring back, she said that no gift was necessary, just her safe return.



While searching for her daughter’s specific requests at the fair, the mother fretted her decisions and spent many hours scouring the vendors for the finest items she could find. After finally deciding on the perfect items she realized that she lost track of time and it was nearly nightfall. Despite her worries of the nearing darkness, she decided to make the trek back to her daughter’s anyway, so that their gifts did not spoil. Halfway through her trip, night had completely taken over and the mother lost her way unable to get back on track. She eventually came to an abandoned castle, one that she never knew existed, and one that looked like a treacherous monster could be waiting inside. She tried to turn around and head away from the eerie castle, but it was too late. He had already seen her.



Standing before her was a 10-foot-tall hairy beast with a twisted face, gnarled teeth, and claws that could easily rip her to shreds. “How dare you come into my sanctuary!” proclaimed the beast. The mother tried to explain that she lost her way coming back from the fair and that it was a mere mistake, but the beast was angered. “You will now forever be enslaved to me as my prisoner for as long as you live!” screamed the beast. “No! cried the mother. “What if you could have one of my daughters instead? She would be by far more beneficial to you than I would”. “Fine, send her to me by sunset tomorrow, if not I will come destroy your entire family.”



The mother ran home and told the daughters what happened, and that Abigail must go to turn herself into the beast. Without an ounce of hesitancy, Abigail set off for the rotting castle. Upon arriving to the castle, the beast told Abigail that she would be his prisoner and would need to do whatever tasks he told her to do. The first task she was made to complete was to comb the beasts fur with her fingers every day for a month. Again, without an ounce of hesitancy Abigail did what she was told. At the end of the month long period, the beast brought Abigail to his lair and said that he must show her something. What Abigail found was an entirely different life depicted in beautiful paintings and pictures on the wall of a beautiful castle, gardens, and more. The beast said to her, “You have shown loyalty and bravery to me this past month and in return all of this can be yours, you just need to complete one last final task.” Ready to do what she was told the beast said, “Stab me in the heart, spare me anymore misery in this horrible place.” At first Abigail did not want to compete this task as it was out of nature for her, but eventually the beast got her to oblige. She took a sword given to her, raised it above her head and screaming plunged the sword into the beast’s chest. There was a massive explosion and when the flames subsided, standing there was no longer a treacherous beast, but a handsome prince. “You have saved me from this spell I have been trapped in for many years, as promised all of this is yours and I would love to take your hand in marriage.” Thrilled, Abigail and the prince were married in their beautiful castle and they lived happily ever after.



If only we could all learn to show humbleness and bravery like Abigail, maybe there would be a great castle waiting for us as well.

The Grand Castle. Web Source. 

Authors note: Originally taken from the story “The Three Roses” written by Josef Baudis, this version is a rendition done by myself. In the original text, Mary (Abigail) asked for three roses from the market. It was picking these three roses that the mother came across the Basilisk (beast). The mother promised Mary to the beast in order to spare her life. Once with the basilisk Mary was instructed to nurse him for three hours every day. After that she was told to cut his head off. Protesting, she finally cut his head off and inside was a terrifying serpent that also instructed her to cut its head off. Once cutting off the second head the serpent changed into a beautiful youth and said he must marry her. They were wed were many guests came and they danced and sang.





Bibliography: “The Three Roses” from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis. Web Source.