Mythology and Folklore 101

In the town Cabul lived the daughter of an esteemed aristocrat. His daughter Zerah was one of the most beautiful women in the entire city. Her eyes were sparking, her teeth were pearly white, and on top of that she had a wonderful personality that drew everyone to her.  Zerah was always the talk of the town. She had men trying to court her from cities both near and far. Even when she was in the comfort of her own home she would constantly have men come to her door in attempts to win her heart. Eventually, Zerah became so fed up with men constantly chasing her she decided she was going to go on a much needed vacation.  Zerah packed up her belongings and told her father she was going to be gone for a few weeks. Her father was worried about her safety so he sent two men with her to protect her along her journey. As Zerah began her journey she constantly had to deal with men following her and change her course of travel so they would lose her. As Zerah and her men were trying to lose tra

Reading Part B: The Merchant whose Daughter was Lost Bibliography:  Tales of a Parrot unit. Story source: The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot, by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi (1801).  Link to Story As soon as I read the title of this story I immediately thought of the Movie 'Taken' with Liam Neeson. I think if I was to choose this story that I would make it similar to the movie and add some more action to it while keeping a similar storyline to the original story. I would probably make the daughter someone that traveled to a differnt country and all of the men there thought she was the most beautiful thing they had ever seen. Instead of the dad being in America like in the movie I will make him an important public figure. I think having this perspective will make it a little more interesting. Maybe instead of the men who are courting her rescuing her I may have the dad go FBI agent on them and he would rescue her.  ( The Movie Taken )

Reading Part A: The Parrot of the Ferukh Bag Bibliography: Tales of a Parrot unit. Story Source: The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot, by Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi (1801).  Link to Story I really like the farm tale stories. Last week I read the Arabian Nights story and there was also a parrot as a part of the main storyline. If I was to use this story for the assignment due Thursday I think I would make it relate to modern times. I really like the idea of giving parrots human characteristics. I have always been intrigued by how parrots can repeat what you say to them back to you. So I may take advantage of that by making the parrot seem more human-like. I may go into more detail on how the parrot made the wife his servant in order for him not to tell her husband that she has been cheating. I think it would be unique to end the story by the husband finding out about the wife cheating instead of her just getting away with it.  ( The Parrot )

Reading Part B: Arabian Nights unit. Story Source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).  Aladdin Growing up as a child I really enjoyed the Disney Movie Aladdin! I think this story was interesting because you can kind of see where Disney got their inspiration from for their movie. You can definitely see how Disney tends to only focus on the positive details of a story, even though in reality all stories have their obstacles. I think if I was to retell this story I would tell it in the perspective of the princess and how she felt. Or I may tell the story in the perspective of the evil Magician. I really liked reading these stories though because they were the "adult version" of the Disney movie Aladdin.  ( Aladdin & Jasmine )

Reading Part A: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).  The Parrot and the Ogress After reading the short stories in the Arabian Nights Part A section  I think I want to focus on the story about the Parrot and the Ogress. The direction that I may go for my storytelling is to have the husband actually find out that what his wife did to the parrot. I may make the "punishment" she did to the parrot more relatable to situations now versus the ones given in the story. I did not really like how the wife punished the bird but I think maybe I can tie it to a bigger moral of the story being that the wife was jealous of the parrot or that she was mentally insane.    ( The Parrot )

Here is the link to  my Storybook website: https://alannastorybook.blogspot.com/

Life After Being A Giant.... After being injured by Moses the Giant Og life changed for the worse. No longer was Og the ruler of the giants he was not just an average human being. Og soon realized that it would be more difficult to adapt to being a human versus a giant that was used to towering over everyone.  Og was stunned by the fact that Moses who was much shorter and not at as strong as Og was able to strike him and change him into being an average human. Og said to Moses "how could you do this to me, was there any other punishment you could have given to me". Moses responded with anger and frustration saying "no Og you broke your word to the Father Noah who saved your life when the floods were coming, after all,  you could have died years ago you are lucky you have been a giant this long"  Og soon realized that he was going to have to adjust to being a regular human. Although Og was free of his "servant" duties he would have to establish

Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919).,  Link to Story I really liked reading the Jewish Fairy Tales. I grew up reading all of these Bible stories so it is interesting to read different twist that the fairy tales add to the stories. I think that it could be interesting to write about what would have happened if Sarah had chosen to accept Pharaohs offer and fall in love with him. I feel a little weird changing a Bible story, but in this instance I think it is just adding on to a fairytale. Another route that would be interesting to take would to expand more upon what Abraham was feeling when Sarah was at Pharaohs Palace. I think this one is a little bit less interesting to me than the Part A reading story that I read. I think that this one does not have as much detail you could expand upon.  ( Abraham and Sarah )

Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919).,  Link to Story  After reading the Part A Jewish fairy tales the one that stuck out to me is  "The Giant of the Flood". I really liked this story because it added an interesting touch to a story most of us all know very well. I think that it could be interesting to write more about the Giants Life after the flood. It would be interesting to write maybe about how he turned into a mortal and the struggles he had to face instead of him perishing after breaking his promise to Noah. I think that it would make for a good story if I wrote about how Og the king of the giants had to go from being king to just a regular person.  ( King Og )

Topic Research  I have chosen to write about Italian Myths and Ghost stories. I am going to base my story in Venice, Italy. I really think the city is a perfect setting.  Story Option #1: I am going to base my story during the Mari Gras Carnival that typically happens at the end of January until the first week or so in February. Since I studied abroad there I think it could be fun to have a group of college kids experience Mardi Gra, but during their stay, they have a few situations where they have some 'ghostly experiences'.  Story Option # 2 Next option would be for a group of college students to go to Venice during Mardi Gra, but this time they travel back in time and experience Mardi Gra. This option would not have as many ghostly twists it would just be more about the students experiencing the history of Mardi Gra. Story Option #3 My last option would be is that Mardi Gra is not going to happen this year due to some foreseen situation that I have not come

Article # 1 How to Craft Constructive Feedback ( Link to Article ) Giving feedback can be very challenging, not to mention you have to think critically about what you want to say. I read this article and it was a bit confusing. I thought this would be a good article based on the title, but I was not impressed. In my opinion, I think that you have to pair a negative situation with a positive one. Although I have not had too many one-on-one situations where I have had to give someone feedback I think it is easier to do when the person has had a set of standards given beforehand that you can use to craft what you want to say. After all, feedback is key to growing as a person.  Article #2 Specific Feedback Helps Them Grow ( Link to Article )   I really liked this article, the author had some really good tips. They were more geared to students but still applies to multiple situations. I think one of the more important tips she said is that feedback is goal-oriented. Meaning that

( Hollywood Sign ) Los Angeles, Californa is home to many A-list celebrities whom all are extremely beautiful and very well dressed, but in the hidden hills of Hollywood, there were three women whose beauty exceeded that of everyone. Anytime the three women would make an appearance on Rodeo drive everyone would be so mesmerized by them, but one of them stuck out more than the other two and her name was Venus. Psyche skin glimmered when the sunlight beamed down on her and she had the most graceful walk that even if you had no idea who she was you would stop and stare. Psyche had over 90 million Instagram followers and the most artistic pictures. She was internationally known and everyone wanted to be her.  Although most people would just talk about how jealous they were of Psyche there was one person who could physically not stand her presence. Her name was Venus. For the longest time, Venus was the one who would be considered the 'show stopper' but as time went on

Reading Part B: Tony Kline,  Apuleius: Venus and the Goddesses,  Link to Stories Characters: There are a lot of characters that were added to the story such as Mercury, Sorrow, Ceres, and Juno just to name a few. Plot:   As Part B begins you see that Venus finds out about Psyche and Cupid's relationship and is not very pleased. Psyche starts to realize what trouble she has gotten herself and begins to pray to other gods. Psyche is then being sought after by the god Mercury, who eventually finds her and brings Psyche back to Venus. The story that stood out to me the most was "Venus and Psyche". Here you see that  Venus is still very angry with Psyche and she is torturing Psyche while she is pregnant with Cupid's offspring. She is explaining how angry she is about the illegitimate child being conceived and that she may not even let it be born because Cupid is immortal and Psyche is mortal. Venus has no faith the Psyche can live up to being  proper wife and mother,

Reading Part A: Tony Kline,  Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche,  Link to Stories Characters: King, Queen, 3 daughters, the goddess Venus, Cupid (Venus son), and  The Nereids, Portunus,  Salacia, Palaemon, and Troops of Tritons. There were a few more that added as the story went on.  The youngest daughter was by far the prettiest of the 3. Some would compare here to the goddess Venus.  Setting: The city in which the King and Queen ruled. The Main Plot: The youngest daughter's beauty was compared to that of Venus. So much that she brought people from all over to come to her city and visit her. Each day they would flatter her with gifts. Eventually, it got to the point where people were no longer visiting Venus' shrines. As time went on the real Venus slowly became enraged that she was no longer receiving attention, but instead, Psyche was. In response, Venus called upon her son Cupid to seek revenge on Psyche and to make her feel miserable. She recruited other ruler