The storybook project I’ve decided to work with is that of the magical objects. I feel that magical objects play a very important role in many myths and legends, but where do they go after the tale has been told?
I already have an idea of a setting for my storybook, but now I have to figure out a style. I’m almost certain I want to do a frametale style of storybook, but my mind isn’t completely made-up on this yet. Possible objects of interest are the Ulûñsû'tï from Cherokee legend, Excalibur from King Arthur, the Merlin’s magic mirror from the tale of Britomart, Sampo from the Kalevala, and various artifacts from Norse mythology. These are just the ones I know about already, but I’m hoping to expand my knowledge and get a better idea about different artifacts across cultures as the semester goes on.
1st writing style:
This is the one I’ve been thinking of the most. With this first style I want to tell the stories of the magical artifacts from their own point of view, so this would definitely a first-person narrative. I feel this would give more depth and character to the storybook because with each story there would be a different artifact telling it. This opens up so many possibilities for different characters, personalities, dialects, and other great additives to give a story life! With this style I could either go with frametale or anthology, but I haven’t decided yet.
2nd writing style:
This style would be very, very similar to the 1st writing style, but instead of a first-person POV, I think this would be from a third-person POV (for the most part), in where the stories of the magical artifacts would be recounted and told by someone else. I’m imagining the setting for this story either being in a curious antique shop, or in the wagon (or trunk) of a traveling salesman peddling his wares. The time/place setting aspect of this is still undecided. The drawback to this is that I don’t think I’d be able to incorporate as many diverse characters in this story as I would if I were telling the story from the object’s POV.
3rd writing style:
This has the potential to be really fun and would allow me the freedom of combining elements of both the first and second writing styles. With the 3rd writing style, I’m thinking of going deeper into the category of magical objects and instead of just ANY magical object, using magical weapons that were wielded by famous figures in the stories (the spear Gungnir as wielded by Odin, Excalibur by King Arthur, etc.) Unfortunately, this style would narrow down the across-cultures theme I was going for (for now anyway, because I only know of a few famous weapons, and those were wielded by heroes from Europe). I can imagine telling this story by these famous figures from stories gathered around a table at a pub, recalling days of old with their best and most trusted weapons.
4th writing style:
I could completely eliminate all cross-culture variation and just do an anthology of the various magical artifacts presented throughout the Norse myths, because there are A LOT. How I would lay out this storybook is a bit tricky, however. I could go with something similar to writing style 1, where the tales are told from the POV of the artifact in question, or I could tell the stories by way of the artifact’s maker! Many famous magical artifacts in Norse mythology are forged by the dwarves (usually after they’re teased by Loki), so maybe I could tell the story from a third-person storyteller POV also.
The Fenris Wolf, bound by the chain Gleipnir
Image: Unita Nightroud
Bibliography:
Title: The Uktena and the Ulûñsû'tï
Book: Myths of the Cherokee
Author: James Mooney
Year: 1900
Title: The Drawing of the Sword
Book: King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table
Author: Andrew Lang
Year: 1902
Title: The Magic Mirror
Book: Stories from the Faerie Queene
Author: Mary Macleod
Year: 1916
Title: Forging the Sampo
Book: The Kalevala
Author: Elias Loenrott
Year: 1907
Title: Skáldskaparmál
Book: The Prose Edda
Author: Arthur Gilchrist Brodeur
Year: 1916
Link: http://sacred-texts.com/neu/pre/index.htm
