Famous Last Words Week 7

Well, it's been another one of those weeks where I didn't get as much writing done for this class as I wanted to. But I got tons done for another class! This week was spent working on a rather large paper for one of my major lab classes. Unfortunately, I spent so much time focusing on that paper alone that I didn't get much reading done for this class (or assignments for any class, for that matter).
The paper was due Friday, so after that was turned in I treated myself to the extended edition of the Lord of the Rings! I had never seen the extended edition before, and it was wonderful. Really long, but what else is to be expected from a film of one of the most epic trilogies of all time?
I think my favorite scene in the Fellowship is when our travelers venture into Lothlorien and Frodo meets Galadriel. When I saw the movie for the first time in theaters, I was transfixed by her ethereal beauty. Watching the movie now, that same wonder and awe still holds true (but some of the effects are really outdated and it takes away from the magic).  I remember wanting to be her for Halloween once, but I think I changed my mind at the last moment to be a zombie instead. Oh, the fickle mind of a child.

Who wouldn't want to be an Elven queen for Halloween?

Image: LOTR Wiki

Looking ahead, some thing I'm really excited for (as I'm guessing most everyone is), is spring break! My friends and I plan on going to Miami and I'm super excited because I've never been before! Of course, I think everyone will still be studying while we're down there. Maybe that way I can get some actual writing done! 

There's still a lot of work to do before I can hit the beach, however. The week before the break I have an exam, a group project, and yet another big paper due. Yikes. Thankfully, we're coming up on week 8 in our unit and have time to take a little bit of break so I can prepare for the upcoming hell week. Maybe I can squeeze in a few episodes of Lost Girl too, while I'm at it. 

Now that I think about it, I haven't commented about all the snow we've had this weekend. Honestly, the roads here are so much worse compared to Colorado, but that's probably because Oklahoma doesn't prepare for the Snowpocalypse. I went out and walked around for a while, enjoying all the white, but I couldn't sled or ski in it. I'm ready for the warm rejuvenating breath of Spring. 

Extra Reading Week 7: Nigerian Folk Tales

This time I read some stories that were completely foreign to me - folk tales from Nigeria. I have never read folk tales from Africa (except for the ones about Anansi) and was pleasantly surprised to find these stories so original and strange. Here are notes on just a couple of stories, but I highly suggest everyone go and give them a read here!

The Rebellious Daughter Who Married a Skull:
This tale reminds me a lot of the one I read earlier this week about Anansi and his friend Nothing going into town to get wives. Both of these stories show just how foolish it is to marry someone without first actually getting to know them - something I would think is common sense, but apparently needs to be re-iterated in a folk tale.
This girl is the daughter of the king and is the most beautiful in all the land. She won’t take any man’s hand in marriage who isn’t beautiful like she is. This poses a problem because there isn’t any man in the country who can counter her beauty.
So this skull - yes, a skull - from the spirit land decides to go get her hand. He borrows body parts from his friends and creates a pretty attractive meatsuit and goes off to get the princess’ hand in marriage. She agrees upon seeing his beautiful face, but her parents are hesitant. Eventually she declares that she is going to live with him in his own country. Of course, once she’s there he sheds all of his borrowed parts and she sees him for what he truly is - a skull. Mortified, but helpless, she resigns herself to her fate.
Like all good wives, she takes care of his decrepit mother. The mother grows fond of her and knows the spirits of the land will eventually come to get her, so she asks a rogue wind to take the girl away back to her own home. The wind complies, first coming as a tornado and then a soft breeze. When the girl is back home a party is held for 8 days, celebrating her return.
I suppose the true moral of this story is, ‘don’t trust a book by its cover,’ but really. I think the best moral found here is to be kind and respectful to your elders. You never know just how they might be able to help you.

The Elephant and the Tortoise:
This story was very bizarre. This is a story explaining why the elephant has such small eyes in proportion to its body. I would think it’s because living out in the savannah, with so much sun, it would be more beneficial to have small eyes that couldn’t so easily be burned. But that’s not the case.
The elephant comes to feasts held by the king of the land and always eats too much. In that time, the elephant had huge eyes, much more fitting for the proportion of his body. The tortoise sets about to put a stop to this by tricking the elephant into letting him cut out his own eyes, claiming that they are a sweet treat. Thus the elephant goes about blind for a few days, asking fellow animals to lend him their eyes, but of course they’re like, “Uh, no. I need my eyes.” So then, a worm comes along one morning and greets the elephant. The elephant, being blind (but not deaf) replies with another greeting. The worm is flattered that so mighty a creature would pay attention to him, that he agrees to let the elephant borrow his eyes for a day. 

Unfortunately, the elephant’s eye sockets seal shut around the worms tiny eyes, and worm is blind forever and the elephant has tiny eyes in proportion to his body.

The elephant and his tiny eyes

Image: Wikipedia

Reading A Week 7: Anansi

For this reading I chose stories about Anansi from the West African Folktales Unit and got to know the trickster of African legend a little better. Bottom line: he's pretty much a selfish jerk.

How Wisdom Became Property of the Human Race:
In this short story, the people of the world upset Anansi and so he vows to punish them by taking wisdom away from them and hanging it up high in a tree. He puts all the wisdom in a pot and tries to climb the tallest tree he can find with the pot hanging in front of him. Of course, this gets in the way and he finds himself frustrated because he can’t get more than a little ways up without becoming hindered.
His son, Kweku Tsin, watches for a while and then says, “Did you ever think about hanging the pot on your back?”
Anansi, irritated and tired, throws the pot on the ground out of frustration because apparently his son has more wisdom than he does.
And that’s how the humans acquired wisdom. See, it’s okay to be a smart-alec every once in a while. Look how it benefitted us!

Anansi (MrPsMythopedia)

Anansi and Nothing:
This story was clever in its own little way. In some ways it reminded me of the myth of Odysseus and his men tricking the cyclops and escaping, but not entirely.

Anansi lives in a crappy little hut while his neighbor, Nothing, lives in a great palace. Somehow they’re friends they decide to go get wives from a nearby town one day. Nothing, of course, is decked in full regalia. Anansi is in his rags. Because Anansi is Anansi, he convinces Nothing to let the two of them exchange clothes. Nothing does so, and when the two of them stroll into town, Anansi has women practically begging to become his wife. Nothing, still dressed in rags, has pity taken on him by a woman and she gives him his daughter. They all go back to their homes and Anansi’s wives are shocked to discover that he actually lives in a hovel. Nothing is greeted by his servants and his wife is looked upon with much envy.
After a few days, Nothing’s wife takes pity on the women because all they can afford to eat is unripe bananas and peppers (what a strange combo) and she invites them over for a feast. Of course, his wives decide to stay in the palace.
Enraged, Anansi enlists the help of his rat friends to dig a hole in front of the palace doors, where he then fills it with sharp knives and broken bottles. Then he tricks Nothing into coming outside, where he trips and falls into the death pit.
Nothing’s wife, distraught, mashes yams and feeds them to the children of the city to help her cry for her husband.
SO NOW… whenever a child is crying and they’re asked what they’re crying about, they say they are crying for nothing! See? Hahaha… cute little origin story right there.

Thunder and Anansi:
In this tale we learn that Anansi is greedy and selfish. After attempting to get some coconuts, Anansi throws himself into the sea rather than go home empty handed. He finds himself on the sea-floor in front of the cottage of Thunder. Thunder asks him why he has come and Anansi tells him that he and his family are starving. Thunder, taking pity on him, gives him a magic cooking pot.
Eager to test it out, Anansi brings it back onto shore and recites the magic words: “What you used to do for your old master, now do for me.” Lo and behold, food appears! He scarfs it down and thinks to keep it only for himself and not share any with his family, lest the magic wears off too quickly.
His family soon becomes suspicious as to why they keep getting thinner as Anansi gets plumper. His clever son, Kweku Tsin, rummages around Anansi’s room while he’s gone and discovers the cooking pot. He shares the pot with his entire family and to punish Anansi, they bring it down to the village to cook for everyone. The pot gets too hot from cooking all these meals and melts, so the family decides not to say anything about it.
Anansi comes home, can’t find his pot and, knowing his family had something to do with it, goes out to to Thunder’s place again, telling him a sad tale of why he no longer has the pot. Thunder, being wise and immune to false truths, gives Anansi a stick. This time when Anansi recites the magic words, the stick starts to beat him.
I thought this was a great story on the morals of greediness. As I read these stories, I find myself disliking Anansi more and more. How could you keep food from your starving family? I guess that must be a trait of tricksters.

Famous Last Words Week 6

This week was yet another roller coaster ride (I seem to have a lot of those) and next week won’t be much easier. This past week I had my first paper for capstone due and, like an inexperienced freshman, I waited until the day before it was due to really work on it. Granted, I thought the results section would be easier to handle and write out, but Lawdy it was not. Don’t worry, I learned my lesson. I have another paper due this Friday (for a different class) and I started on it last Wednesday.

One of the bright points to this week was that my Grandpa came into town! He drove all the way down from Colorado to visit friends down here and to deliver me some delicious Colorado honey and some unrendered lard (courtesy of my strange mother). I got to spend some time with him this weekend, which was very nice. I also made quiche for the first time in forever for one of my dear friend’s birthdays.

I also watched Scott Pilgrim vs. The World for the first time in YEARS. I had forgotten how much of a great movie it was! I was also really surprised to learn it was kind of a flop and the makers of the film lost about $13 million from making it! It’s just such a good movie, I never would have expected that!

Go watch this right now.

Image: Amazon

Looking back, I think my best writing this week was the storytelling I did, “The Lawless Heart.” I adapted it from “Urashima Taro and the Sea Turtle,” a japanese fairytale.  Of course, the biggest complaint I have about it is the word count limit. Gets me every. Single. Time. How can I put the description and detail I want to make a story come alive AND have a good, conclusive ending in only 1000 words? It’s impossible, I tell you!

But I digress. This week was incredibly busy, but I got everything done and I’m proud of myself for it. So I’m going to sit back with my roommate and watch the rest of the Oscars. Have you seen the dresses this year!? Incredible!

Week 6 Storytelling: The Lawless Heart

There was once a small but productive town at the foot of a mountain. Its citizens were hardy mountain-dwelling folk and their export consisted mostly of lumber and high-mountain grain like amaranth and quinoa.
As with all towns, crime was an issue. Thankfully, crime in this little town was kept to a minimum by the respectable chief deputy, who rode tirelessly through the town on his horse, keeping everything in order. He had been the guardian of the town for years and loved his job. His eyes were hard, but his heart was kind.

One day, as he was trotting through the main plaza while merchants pitched their wares, he caught sight of a woman with matted hair in old, ragged clothes trying to sneak away a loaf of bread.
“Stop this instant!” he shouted.
She looked up at him with wild eyes and took off through the plaza, narrowly avoiding other merchants. The deputy urged his steed after her, jumping over whole carts and people.

He chased her for blocks and finally cornered the woman in an alleyway.
 As his horse approached her, she threw up her hands in helplessness, pleading, “Please, I am hungry and my people have weathered a hard winter. I only steal because I am so poor I have no shoes for myself or my children, and we have not had anything substantial to eat in weeks. For once, turn a blind eye to my poor wretched soul. We have suffered enough.”
The deputy felt a twinge of remorse for the woman. Sighing, he stroked his coarse, black mustache and locked eyes with the woman.
“Take it. But only this once. I keep an orderly town and intend to keep it that way.”
With that, he backed his horse out of the alleyway and back out onto the street.

The Dimitor Mountains

Image: wikipedia

Many years passed and the deputy did not see her again. His town was still in order and crime was at the lowest he had ever seen. After ensuring his other officers were stationed to where the plaza would be looked after, he decided to take time off by riding out into the mountains for the weekend.
He had ridden fifteen miles out of town with his horse and was nearing a part of the forest he was not familiar with. Dusk approached, so he let his horse graze as he set up camp for the night, gathering logs from fallen pine trees for fire.
Suddenly, he heard a startled whinny and hurried back over to his campsite. A huge grizzly bear, bigger than any he had ever seen was attacking his horse! He ran, yelling and waving his hands to scare it away but the bear turned its attention away from the horse to him. The officer drew out his hunting knife as the bear charged him, only to have the beast stop mere feet from him and collapse. He let out a long, shaky breath and noticed a spear shaft sticking out of the shaggy brown back.
Looking up, he saw a familiar face… fuller, healthier, with cleaner hair and better clothes than he last remembered.
“These parts of the woods are dangerous if you don’t know your way around,” she said grimly, walking over to yank the spear out.
 “Help me skin this guy and quarter him up - I don’t live too far from here and your horse needs to be tended.”
Wordless, still shaken from his life-or-death experience, the officer nodded and skinned the beast. The moon was high as he followed the woman back to her camp.

They arrived to a makeshift village of shacks and tee-pee style tents. This woman didn’t live in a town, but a commune! Mildly horrified, the officer avoided eye contact with the members and followed the woman to her tent.
She laid down her quarter of meat on a clean hide and looked at him. “If you were anyone else, I would have turned a blind eye. We don’t like strangers in these parts. We’re a proud, free people that live by our own rules.”
Her eyes gleamed defiantly. The officer nervously stroked his mustache and sighed.
“While I don’t agree with your way of life, I am eternally grateful for you saving me. I don’t know the way back to my town, but I will not burden you for any longer than necessary.”
The woman’s hard eyes softened and she lightly touched his shoulder. “No one should be lost or without a home. We’ll mend your horse and give you shelter until you can head back.”
So the officer stayed in the commune for a month until his horse was better. By then he had learned the lawless ways of the nomads and had begrudgingly found himself liking them more and more. They had a comfortable structure all their own - even without government, they were a happy, thriving community.

The Buffalo Commune in New Mexico, 1967

Image: Summer of Love

A month turned into two. Then two months into six. He had fallen in love with the lawless woman and had nearly forgotten about his town, until one day he decided to head back.
“You musn’t,” she begged. “You’ll never come back!”
He assured her that he would return, and not to worry. As he headed back on his horse with a crude map, she wept.
After a hard journey, he came upon familiar streets. He climbed off his horse and fixed his deputy badge to his shirt proudly and strolled down the main street, looking around at boarded windows and empty yards.
Suddenly, a sharp pain gripped him and he looked down to discover an arrowhead protruding from his chest. Gasping, he fell to the ground, coughing back blood as it welled up in his throat.
He looked up and saw two rough men coming towards him, smirking.
“Ain’t no lawmen been here for a while. This town is ours now, deputy,” he heard as he took his dying breath.

Author's Note: 

The word count gets me every. Single. Time. GAH! I wanted to add so much more detail and explanation to this story, but, as always, I would exceed the word count by doing so. At least I got most of what I wanted out of it. 

This story is based on the Japanese fairy tale, "Urashima Taro and the Sea Turtle." In the original story, Urashima is fishing and spares the life of a baby sea turtle. When his life is in danger many years later, he is saved by the same sea turtle and is taken to an underwater palace where he falls in love with a beautiful princess. 

Urashima stays at the palace for an unprecedented amount of time and begins to yearn to see his parents. The princess begs him not to go, saying he'll never return if he does, but he assures her he'll be back. Of course, when he goes to visit his parents he finds out he's actually been gone for three hundred years and everything he once knew is no more. 

I tried keeping to the original theme of the story, but I think this one adopted a new moral all its own: that certain community structures might work for one group of people, whereas others need to be governed and have set laws to function correctly. I think there are some communes out there that work very well (mostly due to their small community size), but larger communities need to have law and structure to operate and function. 

The ending to this was rather quick, but again I blame the word count. It's so hard to wrap things up when you're really wanting to make it juicier. Oh, well! Such is the way of things. 

Bibliography

Title: Uraschimataro and the Sea Turtle

Book: The Violet Fairy Book

Author: Andrew Lang

Year: 1901

Read the original story here!

Week 6 Reading B: Tibetan Folk Tales

I no almost nothing about Tibet, but I've always been drawn to it. Maybe because it's such a quiet place shrouded in simple mystery. I would like to visit someday and traverse the little mountain towns if the altitude doesn't kill me first. The fairy tale stories from this little-known country offer good morals (for the most part). Others are just that - fairy tales.

Covetousness:

This story was short, but was packed full of morals. In the end, almost all the characters featured in it died due to their lack of foresight and good morals. Keep in mind that all these stories are taking place in the same vicinity.
A hunter strings up a bow which will kill any animal that triggers the string loosing. First it kills a bear. A fox comes along, rejoices at all the meat he can eat (bear meat is pretty good; I can testify to this), and tries to undo the bow string so no other animals are killed. In doing this, he himself is killed. The moral of this is that, ‘one should not be greedy when there is already plenty.’ Personally, I think this is a poor way of presenting this lesson, but I didn’t write the tale.
The second moral comes in the form of an elephant attempting to jump like a rabbit he sees hopping along in a gulley. In doing this, his immense weight causes a large boulder to fall and crush him. The moral of this is, ‘Don’t do what you are not fit enough for (fitted for).” While this might be harder to view in terms of humans (seeing as how we’re of one single species, whereas the elephant and rabbit are not), it is nonetheless a good moral that (hopefully) stems from common sense.
The third moral is basically, ‘Work together, don’t be lazy.’ Seven robbers come across all these dead animals, rejoice at the meat, and start the cook it. Seeing as how they need water, they gripe and fight about who is going to go get it. Finally, four men agree to it and go to fetch the water while three stay back and cook the meat. Both parties decide to poison the other and nobody survives. The area becomes a massive multi-species graveyard.
Overall, I was pleased with this story. In 500 words it summed up three great morals, all having to do with the perils and consequences of covetousness.

Now just imagine this guy trying to hop like a bunny. 

Image: Audubon Institute

The Man With Five Friends with Different Colored Eyes

This story was… odd. I didn’t like the way it was told because it transitioned too quickly from one event to the next without much leeway. The morals weren’t nearly as good as the first story either.
A man is told by his dying father two rules he should live by to be happy in life. The first is to not trust his wife with any secrets until after she has borne him ten children. Ten children? Yikes. Ain’t nobody got time for that. The second is that he should not trust a man if he has light colored eyes.
So his father dies, he marries a woman and she soon bears him a son. So pleased is he by this, he tells her some secrets anyway. He also has five friends, only one of which who has dark-colored eyes.
Wanting to see if what his father told him was true, he spends good money on a hog on the way home, kills it, puts it in trousers and tells his wife he’s killed a man when he gets home. They bury him in the pond together. Soon thereafter they get into a fight and she tells the official about the man he killed. He’s soon put in jail and the only one of his friends to bail him out is the dark-eyed one (with some pretty heavy bail money).
The man, once freed, tells the official that it’s really just a hog in the lake and he talks about the test he put his wife and friends through to see if they were trustworthy. The official, so impressed by his wisdom, gives the man presents and praise. How is any of this realistic? A guy plays an elaborate prank on his wife and friends and gets promoted to be a chief? Out of most of the fairy tales I’ve read, this story is not only lacking in moral, but also the most unrealistic. Good thing it's just a fairy tale. 

Bibliography

Title: "Covetousness" and "The Man with Five Friends with different colored eyes"

Book: Tibetan Folk Tales

Author: A.L Shelton

Year: 1925

Read the stories here!  

Week 6 Reading A: Japanese Fairy Tales

For my first reading this week, I went straight for the Japanese fairy tales (by Lang). I've never really had the chance to read fairy tales from Japan, so I was really interested to see what of their culture spilled over into their writings. I have to say, they were certainly entertaining and definitely carried that 'fairy tale' vibe.

Schippeitaro: 

A young man comes of age and goes off looking for adventure! He vows to not come back until he’s made a name of himself doing some heroic deed.
Alright, so men get to choose what they want to do, but what about the women? Are they just stuck at home tending to the chickens or weaving (or whatever someone would do during that time period in Japan)? I wonder if there are any stories about girls coming of age, dressing up as men, and going to have their own adventures in Japan.
Anyway, the young man goes into this dense forest and finds a chapel to stay the night in. He’s woken up late in the night by the clamor of a bunch of cats dancing in the full moon. They keep yelling, “Don’t tell Schippeitaro!” He watches them and tries to get back to sleep. Anyone who has ever heard a cat yowling knows that this is a difficult feat.
Waking up in the morning, he finds a town nearby and sees a woman weeping. Curious, he asks what’s going on. Apparently, an annual sacrifice is made where a maiden is chosen to be offered up to the Spirit of the Mountain, who will eat her in return for keeping the town safe. The maiden will be offered to the Spirit in a casket. He then learns that Schippeitaro is a dog owned by the prince of the land.
The young man convinces the prince to let him borrow his dog for the night and tricks the Spirit of the Mountain into thinking he’s about to eat the maiden in the casket when, lo and behold, Schippeitaro is there instead! Both the young man and Schippeitaro kill many of the evil cat creatures and have a celebratory feast from the town in their name.
So here’s what I don’t understand - did the cat demon-creatures have a run-in with Schippeitaro before and that’s why they fear him, or do they just know the prince has this big dog named Schippeitaro that will most likely eat them? Either way, it wasn’t highlighted very well in the story. I was confused about just that, mostly. Other than that bit of confusion, this was a fun, light-hearted story to read.

Schippeitaro, by Frederick Richardson

Uraschimataro and the Turtle:

This story was a classic fairy tale. A young man who is very good with navigating his little ship through turbulent waves catches a little turtle one day among his full net of fish. The little turtle implores him to let her go, and, having a kind heart, the young man obliges.
One day, many years later, his ship is caught up in whirlwind and crashes. He struggles to get out of the wreckage, succeeds, and starts to swim for shore. But the turtle he saved all those years ago is huge now, and tells him to get onto her back and she’ll take him to shore.
That doesn’t happen. She instead takes him to see all the beautiful wonders of the ocean and finally, to the palace of the Princess of the Sea, Otohime. Uraschimataro falls in love with the beautiful princess and ends up spending an unknown amount of time with her.
Of course, as is the case with all fairy tales, he wants to go back to his loving parents and see them, but the princess begs him not to. Finally, after lots of convincing and promising he’ll come back, the princess concedes and gives him a golden box. As with all fairy tales, there’s just one condition. If Uraschimataro opens the box, he can never return to her.
So he goes back to his hometown and discovers three hundred years have passed in all his time with the princess. And as with most tragic fairy tales, he opens the golden box and is engulfed by a violet mist, withering him and turning him into an old man. He is soon taken by death, but not before telling his story to the village children.
So my thought the entire time during this story was, “Is this guy even human?” A sea turtle takes him down into the depths of the ocean for THREE DAYS and he doesn’t even have to come up for air. Maybe this guy was a fairy to begin with and he didn’t even realize it. Regardless, this was a good, classic example of a tragic fairytale.

Urashima Taro by Edmund Dulac

Bibliography

Title: "Schippeitaro" and "Uraschimataro and the Sea Turtle"

Book: "The Violet Fairy Book" and "The Pink Fairy Book"

Author: Andrew Lang

Year: 1897

Read the stories here!

Week 5: Famous Last Words

This week was pretty hectic. I had my first exam in Physiology of Microorganisms, which is one of the hardest classes of my last semester (woohoo senior year!) and I studied my butt off for it. One of my friends, who is extremely brilliant, helped me understand the pathways and mechanisms over the microorganisms we had learned about and nearly made my head explode from dropping so much knowledge on me. If it wasn’t for him, though, I probably wouldn’t have made the grade that I did (which was pretty great - no complaints)!

Unfortunately, at the same time this was happening, I was also starting on a paper for my capstone class about the characterization of a certain type of bacteria we had isolated, preparing for an exam in one of my hardest lab classes, AND battling a head cold that left me feeling like crap. Bright side to this is that I got a looot of sleep… but as a consequence, I neglected my reading and writing for this class. I was able to crank out a few stories, but I’ve been extremely underproductive in comparison to the last few weeks. Oh well.

Academically, this past week has been more productive in some areas than others. I did well on both of my exams and am feeling confident about my writing abilities for this paper (because it’s due tomorrow, hahaha). Outside of school, I caught up on a lot of sleep and missed working out because this week was so busy and I was sick.

But yesterday made up for all of that! I worked hard on Friday so that I could spend all of Saturday with my boyfriend. Cliche? Very much so. But worth it! We had originally planned on going ice-skating, but the rink was jam-packed with other couples and kids. Seeing as how we’re both not great skaters, we decided to go on a nature hike at the Sutton Wilderness Area. If you’ve never been and you live in Norman, go check it out! It’s a nice little secluded spot of woods for when you want to get away from the city vibe.




Lake in Sutton Wilderness Area
Image: Kb0kqa on Flickr

Then we came back to my place and I made roast beef. It was my first time making it, so I was really apprehensive, but it turned out delicious!

All in all, this week was ridiculously busy, but productive. Onwards with senior semester!

Here’s my recipe for the roast beef (super simple and delicious!)
You’ll need:

• One large baking pan (glass or disposable aluminum)
• One beef rump roast (1.5 - 2 lbs)
• 2 large baking potatoes
• 1 large yellow onions
• 3-4 celery stalks
• 3-4 large carrots
• Marjoram, Thyme, Parsley, Salt, Pepper, and minced garlic. 

Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Dice all the vegetables up after you’ve washed them and lay them in the baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and add salt, pepper, marjoram, thyme, and parsley. Toss in the minced garlic. Salt and pepper the roast and then brown it in a skillet (with a blend of vegetable and olive oil - the smoke point is higher than if it was just olive oil).

Once the roast is browned, sprinkle all the green herbs and minced garlic on it and rub well. Lay it in the middle of the baking dish atop the vegetables and cover the pan with aluminum foil. Stick it in the oven for 45 minutes. Take it out and add 1.5 cups water to the pan, cover, and put it in for another 45 minutes - 1 hour. Take the pan out, uncover, crank the oven up to 400 degrees, and let cook for another 30 minutes (or until a meat thermometer registers the roast at 160 - 170 degrees.

This was super easy AND delicious! I love foods that you can toss in an oven and forget about. This is one of them!

Extra reading Week 5: Khasi fairytales

While I did read more than just one story, this blog post is mainly about the fairytale, "The Tiger and the Monkeys" because it was so similar to one of my favorite stories from the Norse myths.

The Tiger and the Monkeys:

So as people may know, I’m really into Norse mythology. As I was reading this tale, I kept referring back to a similar Norse tale with Thor and Loki fooling the giants.

The tale begins with Tiger, king of all the animals, taking a leisurely stroll through the jungle. He hears this beautiful music, and can’t find the source of it because it’s coming from a tiny insect. Because he’s an insolent and ignorant king, he doesn’t realize it’s coming from Shalymmen, the tiny insect. Instead, he asks the monkeys above where the music is coming from and, because one of the younger monkeys is a clown, he says it’s his sisters’ singing.

Tiger’s like, “Alright then, you’re now my brother-in-law because I’m going to marry your sister.”

I’ve never understood this type of logic in fairytales. “Oh, I’m enraptured by your beauty, I shall marry you! Your voice is beautiful, I shall marry you!” You’re going to spend the rest of your life with someone you barely know based on one character quality? Come on. I guess that’s why they call them fairy tales.

Long story short, the monkeys trick tiger by decorating a clay image of a monkey in wedding finery, making sure the head is loose. Tiger comes along, puts a string of Betel-nuts around her neck (I guess Betel-nuts are part of some sort of wedding ritual among the Khasi people), pulls too hard on the necklace and takes the head clean off.

Truly, who could resist a bride so beautiful?

Image: Susan Bowswer's Pinterest

The monkeys gang up on Tiger and a bloody battle ensues. And that’s why, to this day, Tiger fears only the monkeys in the jungle.

This is very similar to the story, “How Thor Lost His Hammer” in Norse mythology. Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, is stolen by the Jotuns (giants), and when he and Loki go to bargain with the Jotuns to get it back they’re like, “Yeah, you can have it, as long as our king can marry Freyja.”

Freyja, of course, is like, “No.” 

So all the gods and goddesses of Asgard come up with a plan to steal back the hammer.

Thor gets decked out in wedding garb, impersonating Freyja, and Loki acts as one of his handmaidens. 

The beard is so inconspicuous.

Image: Wikipedia

They go to the hall of the Jotun king and a great wedding feast is held. Thor’s face is kept veiled the entire time so the Jotun king doesn’t see ‘Freyja’s’ beautiful face. So when the time comes for the ceremony and the ‘I do’s,’ the hammer is brought to the bride and Thor snatches it, revealing himself and laying waste to the Jotun king’s great hall.

While the story varies, the plot is almost the same. In both cases the family of the bride-to-be tricks the groom and has their revenge.

Week 5 Reading A: Life of the Buddha (Little Prince Siddhartha)

This week for my reading I chose to read about ‘The Life of Buddha’. I took the Indian Epics class a year ago and had my fill of the Ramayana and Mahabharata, so I decided to stray away from traditional fairytales and read about the famed Siddhartha. I’ve also always been curious about buddhism in general, so I figured these stories would be good to read.

Maya’s Dream:

So Queen Maya and King Suddhodhana are the parents of Siddhartha. Before his birth, Queen Maya is visited in a dream by many Gods and Goddesses, singing and praising, and having a grand ‘ol time.

She awakes feeling freed from all earthly troubles and worries, completely blissful. She tells her husband about the dream in private in the wood outside their palace. He calls upon the brahmans (wise men) to interpret the dream and they proclaim that the King and Queen will birth a son who will grow in nobility and then go to see the suffering of the world and strive to put an end to it. The King and Queen rejoice and there is much celebration - the poor are given food, the thirsty are given drink, and all the women receive nice perfumes and flowers. Reading this, I imagined it in my mind like a grand Bollywood movie. Flower petals falling from the air, smiling faces everywhere, the sitar playing gaily in the distance… The way the celebration is described in the story, it’s no wonder Bollywood films are so colorful.

This is how I imagine Siddhartha's birth was celebrated.

Image: The Merchants of Bollywood

The Birth of Siddhartha:

Most of these stories are reading like a grand Bollywood dream. Queen Maya somehow knows her son is about to be born and wants him to be born surrounded by flowers in bloom. So the King sends his servants out to drape silver and gold ornaments on the trees outside, his wife dresses in fine silks (a poor choice for a woman about to give birth, if you ask me), and everyone in attendance is decked in their best. So she goes out, wanders about the trees, stops to sniff a blossom, and poof - baby Siddhartha is born. No pain, no fuss. Birds sing, the sick are cured, the world is rid of all its sorrows. Just by this little prince-baby being born. Incredible. Cue more colorful Bollywood dancing.

Asita’s Prediction:

Asita, a wise and learned man in the ways of the spirit, comes to visit the baby-prince Siddhartha. He tells the King that his son will indeed seek to end suffering in the world, and he is sad because he will not be alive to hear the teachings of the Buddha. Honestly, to be burdened with such knowledge, to know that you’ve missed your chance to learn from one of the best teachers of all time… that would sadden me quite a bit, too.

Siddhartha’s First Meditation:

Little prince Siddhartha is told to go learn from Viswamithra, the wisest sage (gurus) in the land. I’ve read about Viswamithra before in the Ramayana - he’s a very popular choice for teaching young princes. There seem to have been so many wonderful teachers in Hindu mythology. I think I would have liked to study under them.

Seeing Siddhartha’s brillaince, Viswamithra is stunned and decides there is nothing he can teach him. So little prince Siddhartha goes to sit in a field under a clump of trees and meditate. He emits some sort of glow when doing this - I’m not sure why (or how for that matter). Many people stop to stare in awe at him and praise him. I’m also not sure why this is happening, either. I also notice it doesn’t mention which tree he meditates under. I’m pretty sure it’s important to know what kind of tree the Buddha meditates under in case I want to replicate the same results.

An ivory carving depicting Siddhartha meditating

Image: Wikipedia

Bilbiography: 'Life of Buddha,' by Andre Ferdinand Herold (1922). 

Read the stories here!

Week 4 Extra Reading: Sindbad the Sailor!

The Voyages of Sindbad

The voyages of Sindbad are told from a first-person narrative. Reading these, I tried to calculate the probability of the tall-tale actually taking place.

Voyage 1:

In this voyage, Sindbad and his men set up camp on an island out in the middle of the ocean for the night. But when they try starting a fire, the island reveals itself to actually be the back of a ginormous whale! Many of the men try to escape, but many more die. Sindbad is left behind by his crew and clings to a single plank of wood as life support until he drifts up to an (actual) island and happens upon some of the King’s men grazing his horses. The men take him to the king, he is reunited with his crew who has come to trade with the king, and everybody has a happy ending.

Now I’m not sure an entire crew would be able to make camp on the back of a whale, but I wonder if the resting back of a whale could be enough room for at least a few people. The awakening would still be rude, of course, but maybe it would be fun to camp on a whale for a night.

Voyage 2:

This voyage is definitely a bit harder to believe because Sindbad ends up stranded on an island with giant eagle birds. Because he’s crafty, he sneaks up to one and uses his turban to tie himself to the leg of the bird. Then, he’s carried across the island and unties himself in a valley of diamonds! Unfortunately, the diamonds appear to be in a land of giant snakes.

I’m all for believing giant animals still exist, but diamonds? Out in the open on the ground? No way. I don’t know much about crystal chemistry, but I’m pretty sure diamonds are harvested from veins of coal that have seen too much pressure and heat. They don’t just pop up out of the ground like that.

Sindbad plans his escape from the roc nest

Image: Virginia Frances Sterrett

Voyage 3:

This tale sounds a lot like the one I read in ‘The Odyssey’, when Odysseus and his men land on the island of Cyclops. In this tale, Sindbad and his crew land upon an uncharted island where these hairy dwarves hijack their ship and strand them on another island. Sindbad and his crew wander the island and find a castle that they venture into. They soon discover it’s littered with human bones, and then I giant comes in and eats the captain. I don’t know what it is, but something humanoid cannibalizing another human just gives me the major creeps.

They escape the same way Odysseus and his men did - stabbing the giant in the eye with a red hot poker. Then they escape on driftwood rafts with the other giants trying to avenge their giant brother and throwing large boulders at the escaping sailors. I suppose this in itself is another great example of storytelling!

The giant from the third voyage decides which sailor he will eat that night.

Image: visiteveryday

Bibliography
Book: Arabian Nights' Entertainments
Author: Andrew Lang
Year: 1898
Read the stories here!

Storytelling Week 4: What's the password?

The leader of the most successful mafia in town, Ron had almost everything he wanted. Power, money, women… and if he didn’t have it, there was almost always some way to get it. He ran a network of crime throughout the city, just under the grid of law enforcement (at least the ones he couldn’t pay off in the first place). His members were all loyal to him and specialized in the best of mafia-related skills - weapons, computer hacking, internet security breaching, counterfeit money, etc. The citizens might not realize it, but Ron was king of the city.

But little did he know, one of his subjects was not as loyal as he would like to have believed. Her name was Islene, a dusky arabian beauty specializing in espionage. She had gotten into the business with a lust for gold and no glory and had risen in the ranks to be in Ron’s inner circle. She was in direct contact with him and was one of his most trusted partners in crime.


Ron divided the mafia’s earnings fairly, but kept the bulk of their gains locked away in a vault with a passcode that only he knew the key to. He didn’t trust anyone else with the passcode and kept it’s openings and closings tightly guarded.


Islene was as beautiful as she was crafty. Her loyalty was only to herself and she craved the money and power that lay within the vault. She vowed to get it by any means necessary - even if it meant putting other lives in danger.


She came up with a devious plan and put it into action on a day when she knew nobody else was going to be around the vault save for the guards. It was cunning and diabolical and she grinned at her own evil genius.









The original mob boss, Joe Mantegna


Image: Wikipedia





One day while Ron was out of the country in Italy visiting family, she called him saying it was something urgent. Annoyed, he went out onto the terrace and opened his phone.


“I told you to only call me in emergencies,” he hissed into the phone, irritated.


“This IS an emergency!” Islene yelled, panic rising in her voice. “I’ll explain quickly - I came in to check on everything and I heard a commotion coming from the vault room. I went in and the guards were dead and two men were in there with a bomb. I managed to take both of them out but the bomb is still going and I don’t know how to disable it!”


Ron processed this a moment, taking a deep breath. He exhaled slowly, rage and fear rushing through his body.


“How much time is left on the bomb?” Ron asked, keeping his voice steady.


“I-I don’t know… I think only a few minutes, maybe five at best.” Islene said quickly.


Ron swore and slammed his fist down on the balcony ridge. “Dammit, Islene, is nobody else there?”


“No, I checked, and there’s not enough time to call anyone. Ron, you know I would never ask this of you unless the situation was dire. I need your passcode so I can take as much as I can out of the safe.”


Automatically, “No. Absolutely not.”


“Please, Ron. I would never ask this of you, I swear it!” Islene pleaded desperately.


Ron swore again and, gritting his teeth, knew he had no other choice. “Fine. I’ll give you my passcode. Take as much as you can, but for God’s sake, get out of there alive.”


He told her the passcode and she hung up without even saying goodbye.




Ron called Islene a few minutes later and received no answer. Minutes turned to hours, hours to days, and days to weeks. Islene had tricked him. There had been no bomb, robbers, or dead guards (though she had incapacitated them when she went to go collect the vault money). She had taken away his power by fooling him with her cunning scheme.


Author's Note: This was a story from Egyptian mythology. In the original story, Ra's true name is known to only himself and it is the source of great power. Isis, desiring to know his name and thus the source of such power, tricks him and poisons him. Since she's the best healer out of all the deities, she tends to Ra and tells him the only way she can save him is if he tells her his true name. Ra resists at first, reluctant to have anyone else have access to such power. However, having no other choice but death, Ra tells her his true name and she restores him back to full health. Isis doesn't abuse the power of having his name like Islene does with the passcode, but I figure the retelling would be a little bit more realistic. Perhaps I could have drawn out the story a bit more and had Islene wait until a later date to take the money and run, but I felt the story made more sense this way.


Bibliography:

Title: The Secret Name of Ra

Book: Egyptian Myth and Legend

Author: Donald Mackenzie

Year: 1907

Read the story here!

Week 4 Reading B: Moar Ancient Egypt!

Instead of taking notes on the whole second half, I decided just to summarize and comment on the story 'The Two Brothers' (which incidentally I titled one of my own retellings last week)!

The Two Brothers:

Okay, so this story is interesting. Two brothers, Anpu and Bata, live together. Anpu is the elder, has a wife, land, oxen, the whole shebang. Bata, for some reason, has chosen to live with his brother and tend the farm for him. He leads a pretty simple but laborous life, tending to the oxen and sowing the fields. But one day, he goes in to gather seed for the field he’s just plowed and his brother’s wife is making the flirty eyes at him. Disgusted and outraged, Bata refuses her and runs back outside. Then Anpu’s wife feels she’s been humiliated and makes it look like Bata beat her when Anpu comes back in. I don’t understand this woman. She has a loving and successful husband, and his brother who may as well be like her child. Can she really be that bored?

Anyway, Anpu tries to kill Bata, Ra intervenes, plays the mediator, and tells Anpu that Bata is innocent. Bata, angry with his brother for not believing his innocence in the first place, runs away to land with acacia trees (but beforehand he tells Anpu that he'll put his soul in an acacia blossom if he ever needs him again).

His elder brother laments and dices up his wife, letting the dogs eat her (a bit drastic, if you ask me).

Meanwhile, Bata makes a hut under an acacia tree and the Gods are like, ‘you know, it’s kind of lonely out here. Let’s give him a wife.’ So they give him a lovely wife and Hathor is jealous of her beauty (because Hathor).

Then while Bata is out hunting one day, his wife steps outside and the sea spirit tries to steal her. She rushes back inside the hut, but that trifling acacia tree gives the sea spirit a lock of her hair. The sea takes it to the palace of the king, and it smells like perfume (for some reason, even though she lives in the desert amongst wild beasts). The King must have her! So he sends men, who are killed by Bata, and then a woman, to collect the mysterious nice-smelling woman. She’s brought back to the palace, tells the king all of Bata’s secrets (such loyalty), and he goes and cuts down the acacia tree which holds Bata’s soul. The moral of this part of the story is to never trust your secrets to pretty women.

Anpu discovers his brother is dead and goes to his acacia tree, searching for his soul. He finds his soul in a seed and takes the seed back to his house and places it in a pitcher of water. This seed absorbs the healing powers of the water and restores Bata back to life (keep this in mind if someone you love dies prematurely). 

An acacia blossom, where Bata said he would transfer his soul to.

Image: Wikipedia

I’m actually really curious about Ancient Egyptian necromancy. In many of the myths it was a common theme for the Gods to restore life. What other tales of necromancy are there, I wonder?

Concluding the story, Bata’s soul goes from Bull to tree, finally to boy. His ex-wife tries to finally get rid of him in each carnation, but he’s too crafty. When he’s born unto a woman, the King falls in love with him and names him Prince. When the King finally passes away, Bata gathers everyone around and tells what was done to him by his ex-wife and finally has his revenge.

He and Anpu live the rest of their days as royalty.

Honestly, this story was long, but very interesting and entertaining. I never knew what was going to happen next and it raises many questions for me about the role and magic of necromancy in Egyptian mythology. Is there really a way to put my soul into something and be reborn from it? Ah, what mysteries abound.

Bibliography: 'Egyptian Myths and Legends' by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Read the stories here!

Week 4 Reading A: Ancient Egypt

This week I chose to read about the stories from Ancient Egypt (mainly because Ancient Egyptian mythology has always fascinated me!)

Creation:

As with most all creation stories, first there was nothing. Well, not really nothing. There was a vast expanse of water, called Nu. From this water came the chief Egyptian deity Ra, and all he saw and desired to come into being, came into being. He created Shu, the Wind God, and his consort Tefnut, the Goddess of rain. Then he created Seb, the Earth God, and Nut, the Goddess who is the dome of the Earth.

When he was done with all this, he became the first King upon Earth and then took a mortal form and walked among men. See, it’s from myths like this that come the stories where Gods walk among humans and still influence their lives today. Who among us might be an undercover deity?

The God Ra by erebus-art

The Secret Name of Ra:

I admire Isis’ cunning. Desiring the secret name of Ra, she deliberately poisons him and, being the chief healer, tells him that the only way for her to cure him of the poison is for him to tell her his true name. Ra doesn’t realize that Isis is the one who actually poisoned him, so he goes ahead and tells her his true name. Such diabolical cunning. I admire this.

Ra and Hathor:

Ra is getting old and the humans are talking about overthrowing him. Upset and angry, Ra bids all the primordial Gods who were with him before humans came into being to visit him in a secret meeting.

He asks them what he should do about his creation of mankind (it kinda reminds me of a young parent asking how to properly discipline a child). The older Gods tell him to throw down his eyes on men and it will become Hathor. Sure enough, his eye is thrown and Hathor goes through and razes the land, putting fear into the hearts of men.

Ra decides he’s not mad at men anymore, so he floods the land with beer. Hathor sees her beautiful reflection and then gets drunk off the beer-flood. The men who worship Ra repent and follow him into battle again.

The Sun’s Journey:

Ra decides to no longer dwell on Earth and instead moves up to the heavens. There, he tells Thoth to go live in the Underworld and write down the sins from the souls of men.

The rest of the story goes on to describe the journey of dead souls to the Underworld. They’re carried on a barque by Ra and he travels along a river to the door of the Underworld, guarded by Isis. Then he drops off the dead, goes about his merry way out of the dark place, and the dead souls are sad because he’s leaving them. So Egyptian souls are carried along a river to the Underworld, too? This sounds a lot like traveling the river Styx to get into Hades…

Osiris:

Osiris is the God-King who succeeds Ra. He is born and Ra retires. Apparently before Osiris came to rule, men were barbarians, and he established law, justice, wisdom, and peace. Way to go, Ra. Leave a mess for Osiris to clean up.

Then he and his wife, Isis, teach men the art of agriculture, and everyone has food and all the people of the land are happy. Meanwhile, Set (Osiris’ brother) is jealous of his fame, and seeks to turn the people against him. Sibling rivalry is always fun!

The Death of Osiris:

Most obvious diabolical plot of all time: Set brings a ‘decorated chest’ (coffin) to a feast of Osiris’ and, because it’s so richly decorated, every man wants the chest for himself. Set proclaims that any man who fills the chest with his body can have it. Of course, he’s tailored the chest to Osiris’ body measurements, so when he lays in it to try the game, BAM, he’s shut in and dies. War and bloodflow ensue. His coffin is tossed into the Nile and goes into the Ocean. Isis, being the badass that she is, sets off with a band of guardian scorpions from Ra to find her dead husband.

Seriously, how is that not obvious? A decorated chest of human proportions is brought to a feast and nobody thinks that Set, Osiris’ obviously jealous brother, is trying to harm him? The Gods must be crazy.

The Journey of Isis:

Oh my goodness, this is almost EXACTLY like the myth of Demeter looking for Persephone after she’s been abducted! She goes off to a distant land, disguises herself as poor, is taken pity on by a wealthy native, and is taken into the home to care for the child! At night, she tries to give the child immortality by putting it into the flames (never really understood how that worked, otherwise I’d be jumping into every fire pit I found). The mother finds the babe, rescues it, denies it immortality, etc. This myth is is pretty much the same with both cultures, which I suppose makes sense because Egypt and Greece engaged in so much trade (culturally and industrially)!

Bibliography: 'Egyptian Myth and Legend' by Donald Mackenzie (1907)
Read the stories here!