Week 13 Story: In the Ever After

Update: This story has been added to my portfolio! Follow the link to see the revised version.



"Another hard day," August asked with a smile as he climbed into the giant bed.

"Well, I must say raising three crazy kids is way more difficult than herding sheep," chuckled Ella.

August leaned to give Ella a kiss on the forehead but before he could reach her he heard the pitter patter of tiny feet running down the hallway. "Uh oh" he sighed, falling back into his pillow. "It looks like we have another nightmare victim on our hands."

Before he could even finish his sentence their youngest daughter Amelia came flying into the room and jumped on the bed.

"The monsters are back daddy!" she exclaimed as she hid her face in his chest. With a laugh Ella onc explained to her daughter that there is no such thing as monsters and there was nothing to worry about at all.

"Let's get you back to bed sweetie," August said.

"Noooooooo,"  Amelia yelled. "Not without your story, Mommy!"

"Ok, fine" Ella responded lightly. "I suppose I can tell my story."

Once upon a time there lived a happy couple in a great castle. The couple was deeply in love and through the years tried to have many children, but only had a single daughter, Amelia.

"That's my name!" squealed Amelia.

"Yes, sweetheart. Amelia was your grandmother" August said before taking over the story.

Anyways, for years the family lived in the palace full of love and joy. Eventually Amelia fell in love with a young man, and  they married. Shortly after the marriage they announced that Amelia was pregnant, and everyone in castle was elated by the news. While her husband was away, Amelia gave birth to a baby girl. Unfortunately the delivery did not go as planned and even though she did not live to see her only daughter she had time to name her. In grief, Amelia's mom died of a broken heart and the Lord refused to accept his granddaughter. He said that she was the reason for the death of his wife and his daughter and that she was not welcome in his castle. In his anger he told Amelia's husband not to come back to the castle, since nothing was left there for him.

Luckily for the baby girl,  Ella, Amelia had a loyal nurse that took in Ella and tried to feed her and clothe her as much as she could afford.

This worked for years, but in her old age the nurse died before Ella was fully grown.  Ella continued to live on the streets but never became discouraged by her situation. Ella was very generous and she often gave what little she had to other people in need. In fact, one evening Ella was walking through a nearby meadow when a stray sheep came her way. Being kindhearted, Ella leaned down to pet the sheep and told it that she would help it find its shepherd. It took a full day of walking nearby meadows but finally Ella spotted young shepherd tending to a flock of sheep.After Ella returned the sheep to the relieved shepherd they began to talk. The young shepherd explained that he was an orphan and offered Ella a job, helping him with the sheep. Overjoyed with the opportunity, Ella accepted and within the next few weeks the shepherd and Ella became great friends.

One day they were walking through a country town and heard of a grand ball that the King was hosting. Ella, never having been to a ball, greatly wanted to attend but was embarrassed of her shepherds clothes. The shepherd was quick to reassure her and insisted that they go together. "Who cares what we wear?!"  he exclaimed. "We will have fun nonetheless!"
Reassured, Ella and the shepherd began the two days journey to the castle. Not an hour into their journey they stumbled upon a strapping young and gallant man mounted on a grand white stallion. Might I add that he was quite handsome!"

Ella started laughing at her husband's retelling of the story. Giggling she said, "Oh really, he was all that handsome? I remember him looking rather confused and lost. I will take it from here."

So anyways, Ella offered help to  handsome young man. She gave him food and water and suggested that they travel together to the castle. There was an immediate spark between Ella and the man. Even though he was clearly wealthy he was not too proud to ask a commoner for help or to travel with a flock of sheep.

When they reached the castle the young man said he must go, but hoped to see them both at the ball.

After tending to the sheep Ella and the shepherd gathered the courage to enter the great ball, remember that they are still dirty from the fields and smell of sheep. As soon as they walked in the lords and ladies all began to snicker and laugh at these commoners. In embarrassment, Ella turned to run to the door but before she could make it she heard a familiar voice yell, "Wait!" As soon as she turned around she recognized the young man from earlier, only now he had a crown on! She assumed that he was wealthy, but a Prince!?

He ran to her and gave her an embrace before turning to the crowd to explain to them that Ella was more kind than all of them, and they should be ashamed of themselves.

Ella was impressed at the Prince's reaction, but before she could say a word the shepherd stepped forward.

"I have seen this woman choose kindness over bitterness again and again, and now her inner beauty will match her clothes.And as for the Prince, he has proven to be a kind and understanding man. The two of them will have countless blessings"

In an instance Ella's shepherd's clothing was transformed into a beautiful dress and the shepherd disappeared.

Although they never saw the shepherd again, the two truly did live happily ever after.

"Well, it looks like she has passed out," August said while looking at his sleeping daughter.

"I guess it is just that good of a story," Amelia said with a smile.

(Castle Beyond the Meadow, credit to slipdem)

Author's Note
In the original story, Tattercoats, an old lord loses his daughter when she was birthing his grand daughter. He was so upset at the loss of his daughter that he swore to never look at his grandchild and he neglected her. The grandchild had a nurse maid that took care of her but was ultimately forced to live on the streets where she befriended a goose herder. In the end she makes it to a ball with the goose herder and the Prince falls in love with her even though she is poorly dressed. The goose herder then turns her tattered clothes into a beautiful dress. In my version of the story I really wanted to emphasize that Ella truly had a great personality and won over the Prince with more than her looks. In accordance to this, I wanted the Prince to be appreciative of her personality and to be kind as well. Even though this is a fairy-tale I was inspired to create a version of the story that shows the happily ever after, rather than eluding to it. By adding a small narrative of a "here we are now" theme to the beginning of the story, I hoped to capture this.

Bibliography

More English Fairy Tales, Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1894) link

Week 10 Storytelling: Silent Forest

Silent Forest

Once upon a time there was a young couple, Jay and Catari, that lived just outside a great forest. Their love was as big as the great pines that surrounded their humble home and it ran as deep as the crystal clear streams that flowed out from between the trees.

One cold winter, when the forest was white with snow and the streams were frozen solid Catari became very ill. Jay did everything in his power to save his beautiful wife but no healer could rescue her from her fate. 

In his grief Jay hiked into the great forest to find a place to mourn his wife's death. For hours he wondered through the thick pines and soon the sun began to sit.  As he tried to find his way home he became more and more lost until finally he noticed a change in the scenery. As he looked around he realized that all of the trees around him were dead, and there was no sound of birds or any living being. As he continued to walk through the lifeless forest he found a path that he had never noticed before. As the sun faded in the distance he followed the eerie path between quiet trees until he came upon a decrepit long house with smoke starting to rise from the chimney. Grateful to find shelter just as the sun set, Jay ran into the house and was surprised to see many people huddled around the fire. Even though she had her back towards him he instantly recognized Catari.

"Catari," he yelled as he ran to embrace her. "I can't believe I found you!"

When she turned around to embrace him her face was pale and even though she was near the fire she was as cold as ice.  For a moment Jay saw happiness in his wife's eyes but it almost instantly turned into fear, since she knew what happened to the living when they found this place. 

Catari held the embrace for a second before explaining to him that he had wondered into the Silent Forest. With tears running down her face she told her love that he could only stay for the night. since he was still living.  

That night Catari showed Jay around the village. She took him to a nearby lake to see where the children fish, but all Jay saw was broken down canoes with holes in them surrounding a stagnant pond. The children of the village proudly showed off what they had caught but all Jay saw was skeletons of fish and twigs in the nets.

As the night continued Jay began to realize the truth that his wife had spoken, this place would never be able to sustain a living person.  Even though he knew he could not stay past morning he waited until the sun had nearly rose to tell his wife goodbye. As he paddled away in one of the dilapidated canoes, water began to fill the small boat. Before he knew what was happening the water had overtaken him and the canoe was completely underwater. Unable to breath Jay struggled to swim to shore, and passed out on the bank just as the sun was rising.

When Jay woke he was in the same longhouse as before, but it was strangely different. Instead of being old and worn down the house seemed to be brand new. As he tried to stand he heard to whistling of birds and the laughter of children just outside the door. Confused, Jay stepped outside and saw tall lush green pines surrounding the village. In the distance he saw that the stagnant pond had turned into a gorgeous clear lake. As he turned to take in the scenery he saw Catari running towards him only now she was no longer pale.When she jumped into his arms he felt her warmth and in that instant he realized what had happened. In his panic he had swam back to the shore of the Silent Forest. Since the sun rose on him, he had died and was destined to stay in the ghost forest with his wife from that point on.

(Silent Forest, credit to Jaymantri at pexels)

Author's Note

This story was based of the tale, Chinook Ghost. Chinook Ghost is about how a ghost wanted a wife and so he bought the blue jay's sister and took her to the land of the dead. After many questions and much searching the blue jay found his sister and she was surrounded by skeletons. At night the skeletons came to life and were ghost. The blue jay became mischievous and played pranks on the ghost so they banished him. He ended up dying and when he returned to the land as a ghost everything was in pristine condition, unlike when he went to the land when he was alive. In retelling this story I wanted to emphasize the different ways the land of the dead can be perceived. Specifically, I thought it would be interesting to do Jay's view of the land of the dead before and after he was actually dead. I also wanted a stronger connection between the two main characters so I created a new character, Catari, to be the love interest of Jay.

Bibliography

Myths and Legends of the Pacific Northwest, especially of Washington and Oregon. Katharine Berry Judson. (1910) link.

Week Nine Story: Alora's Journal

Update:

This story is now on my portfolio. To see the revised version follow this link!

October 27, 3181

To be honest I am not sure how to start this, so I guess I will start from the beginning. My name is Alora. I am part of an expedition team that travels the universe in search of...something. The Captain hasn't really told us what we are looking yet because apparently we are not fully trained. Anyways, after I screwed up a tiny bit of the last mission and may or may not have nearly died I have been commanded to write in this thing. So here I am. Writing in this stupid journal. Apparently it is supposed to help me "connect" to my gift, but it seems to just be an annoyance so far. 

October 28, 3181

Hey, there. It's me again. Today my assignment is to explain more about my gift and my sisters. Remember, the whole "connecting" bull crap. So I am a dreamer. Not in some optimistic way, more in a I kinda can see the future/past/present in my dreams. My younger sisters are all gifted too, which is why we were recruited for this mission thing. Utarra is a guide. That means if you tell her to find anything, she can create a map in her mind and lead you to it. The only issue is she has to have a connection to the thing she is finding. Next is Artemis, the huntress. She has some amazing skills with a bow and arrow, but is always getting herself in trouble. Finally there is Eva. The all powerful life giver. Although all she has given life to so far is a couple of dead plants and maybe a fly or two.

October 29, 3181

Today was kinda weird. I had a dream about Artemis getting killed on a hunt but she hasn't left the ship since the last mission. I told the Captain and he said there is nothing to worry about. Probably just a flashback to the last mission.

October 30, 3181

Today we start another mission. Thank god, because I am sick of being on this ship. Artemis is supposed to go do some basic tracking on a small planet and observe the wildlife. When she gives us the all clear we are going to do a few training exercises and exploring. It is pretty routine but I am excited to see a new planet.

November 4, 3181

Well, it has been a few days since I have written. The Captain said I needed to write everything that happened to clear my mind. So here is the short version. Turns out that dream I had about Artemis wasn't just a flashback. As soon as she left to do the tracking I had a bad feeling, but I chalked it up to nerves. Usually Artemis sends some results from the tracking within a few hours, but this time was different. It was a full day and we had still heard nothing and I was starting to panic. The Captain told us to stay put but I knew I had to do something. It was easy to convince Utarra to track our sister but the baby Eva was another story. She has always played by the rules and it took us a full hour of threatening and convincing to get her to go to the planet with us.  It was easy enough to track Artemis with Utarra's gift, but the terrain was rough. Really rough. It was a struggle to climb through this weird living forest and with every turn there was some crazy creature. We mostly just ran from them since we weren't the hunters. Anyways we finally found Artemis wrapped in this crazy web thing. Utarra immediately had a breakdown and swore that she was dead. Eva was the real surprise. She was calm and walked to Artemis and placed a hand on her chest. Before we knew it Artemis was coughing and breathing again, but still in pretty bad shape. We brought her back here and got our own wounds looked at too. So that's all I guess. 

(The Ship, credit to Tombud at pixabay)

Author's Note

This writing is based of a story that originated in Congo titled How the Wives Restored their Husband to Life. In the original story there were three wives and each had a gift. The gifts were to dream, to guide, and the bring back to life. When the husband was killed hunting the dreamer dreamed of his death, the guide found a way to his body, and the life giver brought him back to life. In the end the husband chose most gifted wife, rather than appreciating them each.  When I read this story I really wanted to change the husband to a woman and to make them sisters in order to give them more solidarity. In the original story it seemed like a competition and the husband was the judge and I was hoping to make the story more about teamwork.

Bibliography

Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort, Richard Edward Dennett (1898). Link

Week 7 Story: The Stone-cutter and the Wise Woman

The Stone-Cutter and the Wise Woman

     Once upon a time there was a young boy living in a small village at the base of a large mountain.  The boy was quite imaginative and often requested to hear bedtime stories before he went to sleep; his favorite of which was The Man, The Moon. For years, every evening the boy's mother would retell the story of the blacksmith that had wished many times to be something else until a wise woman finally found the perfect version of him in the moon. Since the boy truly believed in the story he would often spend his days climbing to the stream by the mountain and hoping to find the wise woman that could grant wishes.

 As the years went by the boy became older and his imagination and belief soon diminished. His daily trips to the stream began to grow less and less as the young man was now old enough to become an apprentice to his father, the stone-cutter. The young man turned into a skillful stone-cutter and soon gained the respect of the people of the village for his fine crafting. His father was very proud of his progress and within a year gave the young man the entire shop to work in. Although the young man was well respected and skilled, he was never content with his days work.

One morning the young man was taking a fine piece of marble to a rich man's house and when he arrived he was in awe of the lifestyle that the rich man could afford. The young stone-cutter became bitter that he worked hard every day and still could not afford these luxuries. In his jealously the boy thought back to the story of the blacksmith that was able to simply wish to be something other than what he was and exclaimed, 

"I wish I was a rich man. I would not have to work hard every day and go home to the dainty house my parents call a home!"  

As soon as he exclaimed this a strange young woman approached him and said, "Be careful of your wishes, stone-cutter"  and walked away.

Confused about what the woman had said the young stone-cutter walked home. To his surprise he did not find an old home where his house used to be, but rather a lavish mansion full of the finest art and decorations. 

The stone-cutter was happy for his riches for a while, but soon became lonely. After all, his old friends in the village still spent there days working and did not enjoy spending their free time with the stone-cutter since he would constantly brag about his newfound riches.The loneliness deepened until one day a prince with an entire caravan of servants went through the town. The stone-cutter become jealous of the prince since he seemed to be surrounded by friends. 

Once again, in his jealousy he made a wish. "I wish I was a prince! I would never be alone." 

As soon as he yelled his wish he heard the voice of the young woman, "Be careful of your wishes stone-cutter."

In the blink of an eye the young stone-cutter was in a palace, surrounded by servants. Whenever he tried to speak to his servants they quickly responded and only answered with what they thought the prince wanted to hear. The prince soon realized that the servants were not true friends to him, as they were forced to do whatever he said. The prince became even more bitter, deciding that he was better off to be completely alone. The only problem was that he enjoyed the power of being a prince, and so he went to his gardens to contemplate how he could remain powerful but be alone. While sitting in the garden the sun shone onto his face and made the prince have an idea. "I wish to be the sun! I will be alone in the sky but have all the power of its light." 

The young man had barely noticed the servant girl tending to the garden, and was surprised when it was she that said "Be careful of your wishes. stone-cutter." 

Before the stone-cutter could respond he was transformed into the sun. Of course the stone-cutter was not happy as the sun, and he thought about how easy it was to transform to one thing to another. The stone-cutter  began to wish very recklessly and very  often. Each time the stone-cutter transformed he heard the same warning from the girl and each time he ignored her. Finally, after transforming over a dozen more times without finding happiness the stone-cutter had resigned to be a mountain. At least as the mountain he could see the village he grew up in and remember the good times he had with his family.

One cold day the young man saw a stone-cutter climbing up his rock and chiseling pieces off. The young man thought back to his previous life before the wishes and cried in defeat. It was now that he saw what he had to begin with, and without even thinking about being transformed the man quietly cried; wishing only to have his previous life back. Without a sound the young man was transformed back into a man with a chisel in his hand at the base of the mountain. The young stone-cutter cried in relief to have his original form back and did not notice the woman approaching him. 

The woman put a hand on the man's back  and said "As I said, you must be careful what you wish for. A wish for the wrong motivation will rarely turn out to be what you expect."

The young man apologized for all of the times he did not take her advice, and promised to appreciate his humble life from that day forward.

(The Wise Woman and the Stone-cutter, credit to Paul C at flickr)

Author's Note:

This story was based of the Japanese Fairy-tale of The Stone-cutter. In the original story a stone-cutter had heard of a mountain spirit that had the ability to grant wishes, but did not believe in the spirit until he was transformed. His first transformation to a rich man was not intentional, but after he realized the power they possessed he wished often hoping to find happiness in something else. Finally the stone-cutter had been turned into a mountain and was surprised that the stone-cutter was stronger than the rock that made him. He soon wished to be a stone-cutter once again and stayed a stone-cutter for the rest of his life. In my story I really wanted to relate it to the story that I had already rewritten, The Man, The Moon. I thought that it could be very interesting to tie the two stories together but make the motivations of changing very different. In this story I wanted the stone-cutter to make wished not out of respect for something else, but jealousy and bitterness. Because he was not making wishes for the right reasons, he was ultimately unhappy until he realized the worth of his life before the wishes came true. Ultimately, this story is about realizing what you have when you have it and appreciating yourself for who you are.

Bibliography:

The Crimson Fairy Book, Andrew Lang, illustrated by H.J. Ford (1903)

Week Five Story: Isis and the Secret Name

Update:

Hello, and thanks for reading my story! This story can now be found in my portfolio at https://sites.google.com/view/sarahsportfolio/isis-and-the-secret-name.

Isis and the Secret Name

Our story began long ago, when the earth was still young and humanity was but a child. For years I watched through the heavens as the world of men fought starvation and disease, and for years the Gods did nothing. One day though, something was different. As I looked onto the the Earth I saw a God among men. Osiris was helping the men work the soil for food and build sturdy houses for shelter. My heart began to flutter, as I had long admired Osiris and his physical beauty but I was surprised to see him be so compassionate. I knew I had to go confess my admiration to him.

As soon as I stepped foot in Egypt the God immediately turned around and began to defend his work, as many God's did not believe it was their duty to help men. "I do not care what you say! I will not come back. The men need my help and....." Osiris fell silent as he saw me, curious thing about a man (even a god), they only shut up when they see something beautiful. 

"Hello, Osiris." I said "I have watched your good work and I wish to work alongside you to help these men." Osiris accepted my offer and over the years we established the great kingdom of Egypt. In this time Osiris and I fell deeply in love, and we were also awarded the love of the people.

This happy time went on for years, and my love for Osiris only grew. I admired that he was a kind and gentle leader, and the people of Egypt praised his good works. One dark day, this all changed. Osiris had a brother named Set, who was known for his destruction and violence. When he approached our door  I warned Osiris to be cautious, but in his kindness Osiris offered a home to Set in our kingdom. I immediately saw the jealousy on Set's face when he observed the love that Osiris had acquired from his people, so I went to the heavens to warn Ra of Set's violent tendency. Ra quickly sent me away, claiming that a Set had no foul intentions. 

By the time I arrived back in Egypt it was too late, Set had poisoned my one true love and had taken the throne for himself. I was immediately overcome with anger, but before I could attack the God of Destruction, one of my hand maidens pulled me back. "Wait!" she exclaimed. "Set is the master of destruction, and would surely defeat you in battle. You must find a better way to defeat him."  Even in my anger I understood that the maiden was correct, and began to devise a plan to defeat Set and save my people.

For days I found refuge in the desert, attempting to devise a plan to defeat the powerful Set. One day I was beginning to get discouraged. How could I possibly save my people when Set is so much stronger than I am? At that moment I saw a small desert viper bite a much larger fox, and I watched as the viper's poison slowly killed the larger animal. This gave me an idea! I caught the viper and enchanted it to be invisible, and gave it a magical venom that could only be cured by Ra himself. If I could get the viper to bite Ra, he would be too weak to heal himself and would have to tell me his all-powerful secret name so that I could heal him. 

The next day I traveled to the heavens to unleash my plan. I had put the viper in a decorative box and offered it to Ra in exchange for entrance back into the heavens. As soon as he open the box, the invisible viper bit the God and the God began to scream in agony. "Save me, Isis! Save me from this miserable end!" he yelled. Calmly I replied that in order to save him I needed his secret name, as only his power was strong enough to save him from the magic venom. In his agony, Ra agreed and whispered the secret name to me. With Ra's power I saved Ra and immediately flew back to Egypt to confront Set.

When I arrived, Set was sitting on my husband's throne. "This is your warning, Set. You have killed my love and abused my people. Leave this land or be destroyed!" Set laughed in my face and stood to me, clearly much larger and stronger. "Oh, Isis, you poor little bird. Without Osiris you are nothing, and without your people you have no purpose. Leave me or be killed like your weak husband."

Without a word I summoned the power of Ra and sent Set flying through the air. When he hit the ground, I used the power of the sun to burn Set until all that remained of him was dust. Although sad over the death of Osiris, my people were overjoyed to be free of the evil God.

With Set dead and my people saved, I then began to plan a way to bring Osiris back to life. But that, my friend,  is another story entirely. 

(Isis, photo at Wikipedia Commons)

Author's Note:

When doing the reading for this week, I really enjoyed both The Secret Name of Ra and The Death of Osiris. In the Secret Name of Ra, Isis is determined to find out the secret and all-powerful name of Ra in order to posses the power that accompanies it. She creates an invisible snake to bite Ra and as he is dying she convinces him that she can save him, but only if he shares with her the secret name. In sharing the name, Isis did save Ra and was able to possess the power that accompanies the name. In the Death of Osiris, Osiris (Isis' husband) was killed by his jealous brother Set. When Set begins to rule Egypt, Isis is forced to flee and finds shelter with a poor woman.  When I read these two stories I immediately thought that the death of Osiris could be the perfect motivation behind why Isis wants the powerful name. In combining these two stories I was hoping to make Isis a stronger and more dynamic character, being motivated out of love and compassion for her people as well as anger over the death of her husband.

Bibliography:

Egyptian Myth and Legend, Donald Mackenzie, link.

Week 3 Story: Noah and the Giant

Noah and the Giant

Long ago, there was a man named Noah who was spoken to by God himself. God had told Noah that a great flood was coming to the earth and that he must build an ark in order to save a pair of each of the animals of the world. After years of preparation, the time of the flood was near and Noah had gathered pairs of all the animals of the earth except the unicorn. As the rain started to fall, a pair of giants the size of a mountains approached the Ark. Scared for the animals and the ark, Noah ran to meet the giants to see why they were approaching. "Why are you here, giants? " shouted Noah, "You are  both tall enough to withstand the flood and would not fit on my ark anyways!" The male giant boomed a response "It is not the water we fear, as we will be taller than the flood. We fear that we will not be able to find food when the water wipes out the animals and plants. We wish to make a trade." "What trade?" Noah asked. "We see that you have failed to acquire a unicorn for your ark. If you will give us food during the flood we will bring you a unicorn and promise not to harm you, your people or your ark." Noah thought for a moment before agreeing to the trade.

A night passed and the waters slowly started to rise, and Noah thought that the giants had failed to find a unicorn. As soon as Noah started to close the doors of the ark he heard the booming voice of the giant, "Wait!, we have found for you the last unicorn, and our deal is complete." Noah thanked them for keeping their part of the deal and every day of the flood he gave the giants some of the food stored on the ark. When the flood had finally ended, Noah and the animals left the ark to find an empty land. Noah immediately started to plant new crops for the future but the giants were disappointing at the barren land. In anger, the male giant wrecked the progress that Noah had made, breaking his promise not to harm Noah's people or anything on the ark. Noah approached the giants and said "You have broken your promise and must be exiled for your sins, if you ever come back I will use the strength of God to kill you both."  The giants ran far away, and struggled to find enough food to sustain them. Years went by and the giants shrunk from the size of mountains to the size of a very large human, and this is where Goliath the giant had his origins.

(Noah's Ark, credit to Edward Hicks)

Author's Notes

In the original story, The Giant and the Flood, a single giant named Og approaches Noah with a unicorn since Noah could not find one. The unicorn was so giant that Noah had to attach a rope to it's horn and as it passed by a mountain the giant jumped on the unicorn so it could steal the unicorn's food as Noah threw it out to it. Noah made a deal with the giant, since the giant was strong enough to destroy the ark, that if he fed the giant then the giant must be his servant when the flood stopped. The giant, out of hunger, agreed to the bargain. After years of serving the humans, Og got tired of the work and tried to kill the humans. Since he broke the promise, Moses killed Og. In my version of the story, I felt that it would make more sense for the giant to live and be an ancestor of Goliath from the famous story, David and Goliath. Because of this, there needed to be two giants so that they could be exiled together and continue the giant bloodline. I also cut out some of the story that I did not think was necessary, like the dialogue where Moses is speaking with a bird, or when Og sacrifices animals to a grape vine.

Bibliography

The Giant and the Flood, Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa.

Week Two Story: The Man, The Moon.

Portfolio Link:

https://sites.google.com/s/0B9KPoiJoit0jX2JyYndWZjhHWWc/p/0B9KPoiJoit0jNHR1ZnN5bW42TEE/edit

The Man, The Moon.

     Once Upon a Time, there was a humble blacksmith living in a small village at the base of a great mountain. Every day the blacksmith took a break from his tedious labor by the fires to get a drink from a stream that flowed from the mountain near his shop. On this break the blacksmith would admire the cool and rigid stones of the mountain."How strong and cold the mountain is," the blacksmith would sigh; "If only I were as strong as these stones my labor would never tire me, and if I were as cool, I would not need to rest so often."

     One hot summer day a young girl was walking by as the blacksmith took his rest, and  she overheard his sigh. After hearing of his admiration of the mountain she approached the blacksmith and said "It saddens me to see you tired and weary, I only wish that you could be the mountain: strong and cool." In that instance the blacksmith was transformed into the stone of the mountainside, and the girl was gone.
   
     Years went by and the blacksmith remained stone, unable to speak or move. One fall evening the girl returned, now a young woman. She walked to the stone by the stream and reached a hand out to feel the cold rock. "I see that you are still cool and strong, blacksmith, how does this mountain suit you?" The mountainside rumbled as the blacksmith found words, "I am strong and I am cold, but I miss my labor. Day by day I admire the stone-cutter and his purpose, as he chisels and carries large parts of me to home-builders and artist."
"I understand that you long for your labor," the woman replied, "I will turn you into the stone cutter so that you can work once again and find purpose." Once again the blacksmith was transformed, and once again the woman was gone.

     A few more years passed and the blacksmith continued to labor as a stone-cutter, until one winter day the woman returned again. "Hello, old friend." said the woman, "I see that you have found purpose in your labor, how does stone-cutting suit you?" The blacksmith thought for a second before he replied, " I have found purpose, but this labor is hard and I have aged into an old man. Every day I climb high on the mountain to cut stone and I look to the sun for warmth." The woman replied, "The sun is warm and good, so the sun you will be." and was once again gone.

     More years went by and the blacksmith thought he would never see the woman again, until one spring day she returned, now an old woman. "I see that you are still filled with the warmth of the sun, blacksmith, but how does being the sun suit you" the woman said tiredly. The blacksmith almost did not want to answer, since the woman had already done so much for him but he knew he had to be honest. "I do enjoy being the sun and encompassing it's warmth, but warmth alone cannot sustain me." The woman thought for a moment before replying, "I have grown old, and in my age I have grown wise. For years we have tried to find the perfect version of you and it has never been so clear. Now you will be the moon, you will be cool and strong, yet warm on the side the sun touches you, you will have purpose in pulling the waters of earth without the labor being too hard." For the final time the blacksmith was transformed, to where he is today, the moon.

(The Man, The Moon. Credit to rkarkowski at pixabay)

Authors notes:

This story was based off an origin story from southeast Asia about a fickle man who could not decide what he wanted to be, and after switching many times a wise man chose for the man to stay the moon. It seemed to me that the story could be improved by making the man grateful for being able to change, and wanting to change out of respect and admiration for something else. Essentially, this story is about trying to find the best version of yourself and adding positive characteristics as you travel through life. 

Bibliography:

"The Man in the Moon" from Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson, Web Source