Mythology and Folklore 101

How Cormac Mac Art went to Faery Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales (2) unit. Story source: More Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1895). Link to Story The Celtic tales for me have not been as interesting compared to the other readings we were required to read. I think for this story I would use the general idea of the storyline but that is it. My direction if I was to retell the story would be to have Cormac still go and search for his wife and daughter but he would have the assistance of a fairy to get them back. Although from my understanding of the story he found them they were not able to come back with him and no one believed him that he found them. In my story, I would have Cormac find his family and be able to take them back home but no one would believe that a fairy helped him. Fairy

A Dream of Owen O'Mulready Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales (2) unit. Story source: More Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1895). Link to Story For this story, I think it would be fun to have Owen travel in time to a different destination since he is just stuck working and only lives with two other people. I think I would change the storyline to Owen having a dream of escaping and through the dream, he is able to experience a different city. Throughout, the dream he thinks of a real idea of how he can escape and be able to live with other people. The original storyline was a little boring to me. In the end, I think I would have him attempt to start his escape plan before the story ends. 

Arthur In the Cave Bibliography: Welsh Fairy Tales unit. Story source: The Welsh Fairy Book by W. Jenkyn Thomas with illustrations by Willy Pogány (1908). Link to Story I like this story because I this story because from what I can remember in high school we read stories with King Arthur. I am pretty sure they were in the Canterbury Tales because I remember reading about the roundtable. Again, that was a long time ago but I still recall doing projects with King Arthur. This story reminds me of Sleeping Beauty because like King Arthur the princes was sleeping and was never going to wake up unless it was done by that of her true love. Instead of being woken up by a lover in this story King Arthur was woken up by someone ringing the bell. I think if I was to retell this story I would focus more on adding detail about the sorcerer who clearly did not want to have King Arthur wake up from his deep sleep. Maybe add more detail about what he did to try to stop that.   ...

The KIng's Disguise and Friendship with Robin Hood  Bibliography: Robin Hood unit. Story Source: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child (1882-1898). Link to Story The Robin Hood stories are a bit different from other ones that I have read just because of the way they are written. The language and format are very different. If I was to retell this one I would go in the direction that the king dressed up in order to catch Robin Hood and stop him from doing any more mischievous tricks. I would keep it very similar to the original story but change the language so it is easier for the reader to understand. In the end just like he always does Robin Hood will escape from the king's trickery.  Robin Hood

Allen and Dale Bibliography: Robin Hood unit. Story source: The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child (1882-1898). Link to Story After going through the different stories in this section I found that I recognize the majority of them. Even though I knew most of the stories pretty well I had a harder time thinking of an original idea for my version of the story. Maybe this is because I am so used to how the stories were originally written that my creativity is limited.  If I was to rewrite this story I think I would base it on the movie " Wedding Crashers" because in that story Robin Hood being the trickster he crashes a wedding. In my story, I would have him crash the wedding and still keep the same storyline that he impersonates the musician as the wedding. I would also have someone as his sidekick to dress up as the minister.  In the end, I would still have the wedding turn out to a happy memory but along the way the bride does notice Robin Hoo...

The Dog Husband  Bibliography:  Native American Marriage Tales unit. Story Source: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929). Link to Story This story reminded me a lot of the fox-women story, but in this one, the dog is able to take the form of a human. I think that if I were to retell this one I would have the children that Crow birthed be able to choose if they want to become human, but even if they were to do that they would not be accepted by their people for a very long time and that they would have to earn this right to do so. I think that I would keep the same premise that in the end, the boys became the chiefs of the village after going through a very long acceptance period by the village. I would make the girl the so-called "queen" of the village and have all the females look to her for guidance.  Four Dogs

The Fox -Women Bibliography:  Native American Marriage Tales unit. Story Source: Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson (1929).  Link to Story I really liked this story and I think there is a lot of room for improvement because it was so short and lacked a lot of details. I think if I was to retell this story I would include more details on how the fox-women looked and instead of the story ending in her leaving I might make it more about their love life. I would want to make it more about how the man was accepting of the fox-women and how they were able to live their lives cohesively together. I would go into more detail about how the fox-women was able to change back and forth between women and a fox so she could fulfill her fox and women needs.  Fox

The Huhu Gets Married  Bibliography: This story is part of the Cherokee Myths unit. Story source: Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900). Link to Story I really liked this story because I felt like it is every mother's dream to see if her future son-in-law has what it takes to be her daughter's husband. It would be kind of fun to make it a story about how the mother puts her future son-in-law through a series of test versus just having him go to the field to work. I think that through the tests his true character would show and that in the end, he was not the right person for her daughter. I really like this scenario because I think that too often women do not take into account their mothers opinions of their significant other and sometimes the mom ends up being right. Personally though if my mom didn't like my future husband I would not marry him. Another thing I may do in the rewrite is not had them get married because divorce is just as sad.  Mar...

The Iguana and the Turtle  After reading this story it reminded me a bit of the Turtle and the Hare. I like both stories the moral in the Turtle and the Hare better, but this one was more comedic so to say. I think if I was to retell the story I would sort of make the moral relevant to the sang "if you all saw your friends jumping off a cliff, that does not mean you should." In the end the iguana was foolish and the turtle ended up bailing on his friend. I think the story ended abruptly so I think I would start off by summarizing the story and then go into more detail on how the iguana learned that you should not always do what your friends are doing and that you need to know who your true friends are. Another way I could go with the retelling of the story was to add on if the old man had actually wanted the turtle for to marry his granddaughter and if there was someway he could make the turtle/iguana a human. My last idea would be if the turtle had gotten away and ...

The Poor Man and His Three Sons After reading this story I think that I could potentially change the gifts to make them something more interesting and maybe more modern. I was thinking of having the story taking place during modern times. I have not thought of what I want to change the gifts to, but I was thinking that instead of having them go to different towns to sell the gifts their dad gave them that I would have them use a more modern platform such as eBay. I think I would also want to go into more detail about their life after the brothers became rich and maybe have them buy a huge house in Los Angles with their fortune. I like to incorporate a moral of the story and in this instance, I think I would make the moral that if you are patient you too can receive good luck and fortune but that it is important to always remember where you came from.  Good Fortune Bibliography: This story is part of the Filipino Tales unit. Story source: Filipino Popular T...

How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished After reading the introduction of this story it sort of reminded me of the Hunger Games. I think that I like to compare these stories to movies that I have watched in the oast for my inspiration. If I was to rewrite this story I think I would go in the direction that I would make it where the humans would be hunting the animals and the animals were the ones who had to fight back in order to survive. So in comparison to the movie the animals would be the ones who were being hunted. I think I would just need to be careful on how violent I make the story. Similar to that of the original story I think I would still have the animals be able to transform into humans as a form of defense. Instead of making it a story of revenge I would have the plot be more like survival of the fittest between the humans and the animals.  The Hunger Games Bibliography: This story is part of the Japanese Fairy Tales unit. Story Source : The Crims...

The Two Frogs This story was very simple compared to those of the previous units. I kind of like that because then I am able to be more creative when retelling the story. After reading this story I think that I would maybe change the frogs to another animal of my choosing. Even if I keep them as frogs or if I change them to another animal for an example a turtle when they meet each other half way to the journey to the other frog's town I may have them somehow turn into humans. I think this makes it a little bit more interesting instead of them just going back to their towns after they realize that the towns are the mirror image of each other. When they turn into humans I will have them be twins and switch lives with each other, similar to that of the movie " Parent Trap". I really enjoyed this story and the simplicity of it allowed for me to be a bit more creative than normal.  The Two Frogs Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales unit. Story Source: The Violet F...

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 )

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 )