Myth-Folklore Blog

The main idea or point of this project is just to have people enjoy and learn about trickster stories from different cultures.  The storytelling style that I'm going for is a dialogue between different characters as well as these characters retelling some of their stories from their perspective.  It will most likely start with all of them discussing at a table arguing who is the better trickster and then one of them will speak up and retell one of their stories.  Then after the storytelling, it will cut back to dialogue between the characters until another one speaks up.  This will continue until each trickster has gone twice with the second storytelling more intense (or at least a story with a bigger consequence) than the first storytelling.   For Anansi's stories, I will be combining a couple of stories into one bragging point (story) for this specific trickster as the stories are pretty short.     Anansi will start off talking about how they tricked the tiger so many times b

Comment Wall For Trickster Storybook Thanks for the feedback! My Storybook (Till Eulenspiegel by bernswaelz via pixabay )

(Till Eulenspiegel via Wikimedia Commons ) Storybook Layout: For Anansi's stories, I will be combining a couple of stories into one bragging point (story) for this specific trickster as the stories are pretty short.     Anansi will start off talking about how they tricked the tiger so many times by combining these specific stories ( Story 1 , Story 2 , Story 3 ).  Then Anansi will later use these set of stories ( Story 4 , Story 5 ) as a larger bragging point. For Till Eulenspiegel's stories, I will use two stories with the first being "How Eulenspiegel Healed the Sick" and "How Eulenspiegel Danced on the High Wire" from this source . (If I could get maybe one more source or more stories for this trickster, it would be much appreciated) For Coyote's stories, I will be using two stories with the first being " Coyote and Grizzly " and " Coyote and the Dragon ". (If I could get a couple more reliable websites for stories on this trickste

  ("King for Three Days" by Gertrude Landa via UN-Textbook ) The second story that I chose to focus on for this week is “ King for Three Days ” by Gertrude Landa (1919). In this story, a cruel warrior and general wished to purge the Jewish people which he eventually accomplishes, but at a great cost. I chose this story because the warrior learned a lesson in the end similar to the other story that I chose this week. In the stories for the second part of the reading, I noticed that rabbis were very common in these tales and this one was no exception. In most of the stories, the rabbi was typically some sort of sage or wizard that had great insight and knowledge above most others. They usually forewarned the main character of danger or helped to teach them a lesson. In the case of this story, the arrogant warrior gets taught a lesson and becomes humbled by the end. Another common thing about this tale and others in this section is that the characters and setting are base

("The Beggar King" by Gertrude Landa via UN-Textbook )  The story that I chose to focus my reading notes on this week was " The Beggar King " by Gertrude Landa (1919).  I really enjoyed this story because it showed the importance of having a certain level of humility.  In this story, a very prideful king put himself above others and believes that he is the most important being.  Then a genie decides to teach him a lesson by pretending to be the king thus making the king live a normal peasant life.  The king then goes through struggles and ends up learning his lesson until he eventually returns to be a humble, wise king.  I feel as if the plot story is quite common as it starts with someone that has a negative trait/aspect to them which is then fixed by putting them into someone else's shoes.  There is also a magical element that allows them to be put into someone else's shoes, in this case the genie, in most stories with this kind of plot.  The ending also s

The two articles I read for this blog were " Try Feedforward Instead of Feedback " by Marshall Goldsmith and " How to Give Bad Feedback Without Being a Jerk " by Adam Grant. Throughout these two articles, I learned about this idea of feedforward where instead of giving feedback while sandwiching it between compliments, you can instead give suggestions on what to do in the future. This way is not only effective in improving someone’s work in the future by giving good suggestions, but it also is more effective in getting people to actually listen to the advice you’re giving them. This strategy is new to me as I am definitely the type of person that gives compliments first and then tries to give feedback in the politest way possible. However, this new method of feedforward seems helpful and I will definitely give it a try when giving feedback. (Feedback via Feedback Padlet )

Idea: I am planning on doing the project about Tricksters competing with each other to see who has the best tricks. Ideally, I would use two stories for each trickster with first story being somewhat tame and little while the other story is a very large/impactful trick as the tricksters become more competitive. The story will be a dialogue between the characters below retelling their tricks. (Anansi via Wikimedia Commons ) Anansi (Caribbean) – For these stories, I plan on the first story to be about Anansi and the Tiger as they are rivals and for the big second story, I am planning on using a story on how Anansi tricked Death. These stories are a little shorter so I may have to combine a couple of stories together.  ( Link to resource) Till Eulenspiegel (German) – The first story for this trickster would be the story of how he fooled the director of a hospital into thinking he was able to cure the sick (“How Eulenspiegel Healed the Sick”) as it was a small trick that ended up gett

The Cats and the Dog      There once was a group of cats who were abandoned by all and living on the streets. They wandered the streets together scrounging for food and usually came up with loads of food. One day, all the cats split up to look for food. They looked around at houses, in the trash, everywhere you could think of. The cats all got together at the river and all of them came up empty. The cats looked at each other dejected and began to sulk until one cat noticed a lone dog looking for food by the river. The cats asked the dog, “Have you had any luck finding food?” The dog replied, “No, I haven’t found any food for the past three days.” The dog then ran off in a hurry as he desperately need to fill his stomach. In their heads, none of the cats could even think of the last time that they had gone three days without food. They all looked at each other and realized that they were quite lucky and that someone always has it worse than you. ("cat" by grey via Fl

The stories that I chose to focus on in the second reading for this week is the stories about nature and inanimate objects from “The Fables of Aesop” by Joseph Jacobs (1894). These types of stories are unique and different to other stories I have read because the author gives inanimate objects a voice. Typically, in stories, I am used to people and even animals having a personality and voice, but I am not used to plants or the sun talking. In these stories, the inanimate objects are portrayed quite similarly to animals in other sections of “The Fables of Aesop” as they are able to communicate with others and have their own personality. (The Wind and the Sun by Walter Crane (1887) via UN-Textbook ) These stories are similar to the others in the way that they all have a hidden message. My personal favorite story in this section was about the belly and other parts of the body. In this story, I interpreted the meaning to be that sometimes you need all the pieces of a puzzle to make

     The stories that I chose to take notes on this week were from  The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs (1894). The particular section of the unit that I focused on was the section on Hares because I enjoyed the hidden messages of the stories the most. As is typical with many of Aesop’s Fables, all the stories have a hidden message in them that relates back to real life advice. In the stories about the hare, you can see the hare with all different personalities as it is timid in the first story, confident and humble in the second story, and as a social butterfly in the third story. In the stories about the Hare, there are many different interactions with the hare and other animals. There are no humans in these stories, but the different types of animals represent humans and the type of personality traits that people have. (Stories of the Hare by Walter Crane (1887) via UN-Textbook )      The length of the stories is quite short compared to other stories but are very typical of A

The two articles that I read were “ Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt in Creative Work ” by John Spencer as well as “ A fixed mindset could be holding you back — here's how to change it ” by Anna Kelsey-Sugg and Ann Arnold. When reading these two articles, I couldn’t help but notice the multiple references to the growth mindset and how it relates to feedback. Having a growth mindset really changes the way you look at feedback because since you are willing to improve, you are able to take the feedback that you receive to help better yourself. In terms of feedback in general, I actually really enjoy receiving feedback as I feel like it helps me learn more. I like knowing exactly what I did wrong so that I won’t miss it the next time I see it. I think personally, I like more negative feedback a little more so that I know what I can improve on, but positive feedback never hurts. Overall, I think that feedback is really important in learning and improving one’s self. (Feedback Cat b

  (Loki and Idun by John Bauer via Wikimedia Commons ) Topic 1: Tricksters  (This link seems helpful as it lists a bunch of different tricksters from various cultures)      This topic sounds fun because I really enjoy tricksters in stories because they are not only clever, but they also bring a twist into the story. Loki is a well-known trickster in Norse mythology but that is the only specific trickster that I know of. Otherwise, I have little to no knowledge of any other trickster stories, so I am hoping to learn more about this type of story because they’re pretty entertaining. My idea of retelling the stories of various tricksters is to make them all sit down and argue about which one of them played the best trick. They will argue and tell one of their stories in hopes to be named the best trickster. Topic 2: Legendary Creatures                                                                                                                                                  (Thi

   (Old Castle by Tanya K via Flickr )      The young prince of a large kingdom once got lost in the slums of the kingdom after straying away from his caretaker. The slums were known to be dangerous as crime was commonplace in the area. Guards from the city were present in the slums but many were corrupt and overlooked crime if given money. The prince was now alone in this dangerous place and looked all around for the exit of the slums to get back to the city. Unable to find the exit, the prince decided to go ask a guard for help. The young child explained to the guard that he was the young prince of the kingdom and that he had gotten lost, so he needed help getting back. After looking around for hours, the prince’s clothes had gotten dirty and the guard upon seeing these clothes, thought the prince to be just another poor commoner. The guard told the prince that if he needed help, he would have to pay to which the prince replied that he had no money. After the prince replied,

The stories that I chose to take notes on and that stood out to me the most were from The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs (1894). Throughout the stories in this section, the main character that was the focus of every story was the lion. However, the lion was portrayed differently in every story. In the first story, the lion was portrayed how we typically picture a lion, being both powerful and prideful. In the second story, the lion was portrayed to be more friendly and thankful while in the third story, the lion seemed to be wise. Finally, in the fourth story of this section, the lion was portrayed to be head over heels in love. This change of the personality of the lion made it seem as if it was a different character in each story and gave us a brand-new perspective on the character every time.  ( The Lion and the Statue by Crane)   These stories also seem to have a similar goal that they want to present in the story as all of the stories have an underlying message to them.

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4. Week 3: Saints and Animals Week 4: Aesop (Jacobs) Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6. Week 5: Sinbad Week 6: Twenty-Two Goblins  Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.] Week 7: The Monkey King Week 9: Laos Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11. Week 10: Alaska Week 11: Cherokee Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13. Week 12: English Tales Week 13: Celtic Tales Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15. Week 14: Crane Week 15: Librivox   When reading and looking through the unTextbook, I found a lot of sections that looked interesting to me.  I am only familiar with Greek mythology so I think this could be a great opportunity to branch out and learn about mythology/folktales from other cultures. If I had to choose one unit to be excited for, it would be the Middle Eastern and Indian unit because it sound