Mythology and Folklore Blog

Nightingale: Source It had been raining for a week straight, and the nightingale's babies were in constant distress due to the pouring rain. Their nest was made of wooden sticks, and those sticks kept getting wet and uncomfortable to the baby birds. The nightingale wanted to do something to help her children, so she started to look for more materials to make a cozier nest. This is when the nightingale came across the Rustic's garden and the beautiful rose pedals. The nightingale carefully fled over the Rustic's rose garden and started to take pedals of the roses, one by one. She would do this every single night when she knew the Rustic was asleep and would not find her. On one night where she went again, it started to rain very hard. She could not fly and carry the pedals at the same time, and they fell! She decided that she would go back to get the rose pedals in the morning.  The Rustic saw the rose pedals scattered around the floor and was enraged. His plan was to captu...

The hare, fox, and wolf. Source  In this story, the hare is about to be eaten by the wolf! The hare thinks fast and tries to come up with a plan to prevent being eaten. She tries to get the wolf to be interested in eating the fox that constantly chases her. Her plan seems to be going along smoothly, but the fox is not fooled by her words. The fox has a trap in his home and traps both the wolf and the hare. The wolf ends up eating the hare and the fox runs away.  In this story, I feel bad for the hare because all she wanted to do was get rid of her enemy and prevent being eaten. At the same time, she should have came up with a better plan so the fox didn't suspect anything.  Bibliography: The Tortoise and the Geese and Other Fables of Bidpai by Maude Barrows Dutton, with illustrations by E. Boyd Smith, 1908.

A Rose Bush: Source  The Rustic takes pride in his garden and takes very good care of it. The nightingale comes to his garden daily and picks at the rose pedals off, ripping them to pieces. This really upsets the rustic because he loves his garden and he is eager to capture this bird. When he captures the nightingale, he plans to keep it captured for a long time. The bird asks him if the picking of the flower pedals are enough of a reason to punish it until it dies. The rustic rethinks his decision, and decides to let the bird go. The bird rewards him with a pot of gold for his good deed. I liked how the nightingale said that the Rustic would suffer more if he knew that he would be the reason behind its capture and death if he decided to go through with it. This story teaches how important forgiveness can be and how we shouldn't be angry for things that slightly inconvenience us because it will leave us more hurt in the long run.  Bibliography: The Tortoise and the Geese and O...

     For my storybook, I have found that wikipedia is a great source to find more information about the three Saints I want to write about! Wikipedia itself gives a lot of information, but I love how it also has the references at the end so I can see all the different websites the information came from.       The three stories I want to include are the stories of St. Lucy, St. Therese, and St. Joan of Arc. I mainly want to tell these stories in a diary format. In the beginning of the semester where we looked at past story books from the past, I read numerous ones that had a diary format which I really liked. For the Saints, I can tell their story on a more personal level and write about possible feelings and thoughts they had when they went through the things they did. St. Therese has her own diary called "Story of a Soul", but I would like to tell her story a little differently then she does in her own diary.       I originally wan...

  St Lucy  Saint Therese of Lisieux everyone! Here is the link to my story book: Link  

Venus ,  the goddess of love, sex, beauty, and fertility.  Venus has sent her son, Cupid, to make Psyche fall in love with the most wretched of men. Venus is so angered by Psyche because her beauty is causing the men of the Earth to worship Psyche and not her. Cupid goes out on his mission, but he accidentally scorches his shoulder on his arrow, which makes any living thing fall in love with him. He starts to fall in love with Psyche and is struck by her beauty. This fills Venus with so much rage, that she is willing to go great lengths to destroy her own son. Others tried to calm Venus down and change her mind. She felt that she was being ridiculed so she left.  Story Source:  Apuleius's Golden Ass , as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).

Psyche : The Goddess of the Soul In this story, Psyche is a princess with two sisters who are described to be very beautiful. Psyche's beauty is described to be so delightful that "no human speech in its poverty could celebrate them, or even rise to adequate description." People treated her like a god because of her gorgeous looks and would be in complete awe of her when they saw her. People were willing to travel long distances just to witness her miraculous beauty. The fame of her beauty grew across the world. I could image that many people were jealous of Psyche, especially her two sisters. Psyche either loved the attention or hated it, and I would think that it would probably have a great affect on her relationship with her sisters. Venus's shrines and temples were no longer visited because people only wanted to see Psyche. This angered Venus greatly and made her extremely jealous. Because of her jealously and anger, she sends her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in ...

Like I talked about in my other post, I am very interested in writing about 3 women Saints. The one's I am interested in right now are St. Therese of Lisieux, St. Lucy, and St. Joan of Arc. Writing a diary entry for each of them would help me learn more about these saints and also have a chance to tell their story from their perspective.  St. Therese of Lisieux is actually my confirmation saint. St. Therese lived as a Carmelite and sadly died very young due to tuberculosis. She is known as the "Little Flower" because she saw herself as the little flower of Jesus. She has actually written her own autobiography, The Story of a Soul , which I have a physical copy of. Even though she is my confirmation saint, I sadly do not know much about her. I want to take this opportunity to write about her and learn more about her life. Source I remember learning about St. Lucy  when I was very young, and being inspired by her story. She denied getting married to a Pagan because she want...

Adam and Eve in the Garden: Source Adam was in the Garden of Eden happily and in communion with God. He had everything he needed, food, the river, the fields, the animals, and so much more. The only rule Adam has was to not eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and he obeyed. He was the caretaker of the garden and knew every living creature, but yet one thing was missing.  God wanted to create a companion for Adam of his kind, so he would never be alone and that he would have someone to help him. Out of Adam's rib, God created a woman named Eve. Eve was informed of the one rule of the Garden of Eden. She lived happily with Adam and with God, both naked and not ashamed.  One day Eve passed by the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and the serpent caught Eve's attention. The serpent tempted Eve with a fruit from this tree. The serpent told Eve that she would not die if she ate from it and that she would acquire knowledge and be just like God. Eve took the fru...

Story Source: The Forgotten Books of Eden , edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. (1926): The First Book of Adam and Eve 1-2. Adam and Eve in the Garden: Source  This story talks about God's creations in the Garden of Eden, and his placement of Adam after the fall in the garden to prevent him from temptation of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.  It mentions the sea of wafer, which men can wash themselves in and be clean of their sins. This might symbolize reconciliation, a sacrament where Catholics are absolved from their sins by repenting to a priest. This story also talks about how after Adam and Eve eat the fruit, their eyes are opened to Earthly things and they do not recognize the Garden anymore, and it seems as though it is a strange land. 

Adam and Eve: Source  For this reading, I read the Creation from the book of Genesis. I have heard this story many times before, mostly when I was younger when I went to Catholic School in Elementary. There are so many different ways this story can be interpreted, and there is even a debate on whether this story was actually real or if it is just a story with a significant meaning. If I were to write about this story for my story book, I'm not sure if I would want to change how the story goes or if I were to just change the setting and the characters, but I would still include the meaning behind the creation for Adam and Eve. Story source: King James Bible (1611): Genesis 1-2.

The first article I read was "Seven Ways to Crush Self-Doubt."   I am currently in the process of applying for occupational therapy school and I have felt self-doubt almost every single day. The strategies of what not to do in the article included things I was already doing.  I am always comparing myself to to other people and I am always striving for perfectionism. I realize that these things are toxic and will not help me achieve my goals. I catch myself having a fixed mindset at times and after reading the first assignment about a growth mindset, it has inspired me to change the ways I view things.  The second article I read was "Why rejection hurts so much — and what to do about it."   It was very interesting and informative to learn the history of why our brains are wired the way they are when we feel rejected. I never knew that this mental process could be traced back to the times of hunter gatherers and wanting to feel like a part of the tribe. The author...

One of the possible topics I wanted to research before I started this assignment was Greek Mythology. The names of the greek gods and goddesses are very familiar to me, but I do not know any of the stories! I have never learned about greek mythology in school, so I think my story book would be a perfect opportunity to start. This topic is very overwhelming because there are so many stories to choose from. I am mostly interested in the stories of the greek goddesses, especially Aphrodite and her different lovers.  The second topic I am interested in is the Saints. I am Catholic and I have always loved learning about the different saints and their life stories. It would be so interesting to me to research a saint or saints and write a story about them. St Joan of Arc, St. Lucy, and St. Therese of Liseux are some of my favorite women saints. An idea for a story book would be putting their stories into a format of a diary.  Along with the theme of religion, I would be interested ...

There was once a small caterpillar who lived together with three worms in the meadow. Many other insects and small animals also lived among this meadow. The caterpillar lived her whole life feeling left out because it did not look like the other worms. Even though the caterpillar felt this way, she tried its best to have a positive mindset and tried to accept her unique differences. The caterpillar was always taught that because she was different, she would have to choose to "die" one day by forming something called a cocoon when she has served her purpose in life. This purpose was to be selfless and to help anyone that came across her way. This scared the caterpillar, but nevertheless she knew it was her duty in life.  One day the three worms and the caterpillar were visited by a beautiful monarch butterfly, a creature that kept the meadow and its creatures safe. "I have a task for each of you young creatures." the monarch said. "I need you to take a journey t...

The Hare that Was not Afraid to Die Story source : Eastern Stories and Legends by Marie L. Shedlock (1920). Conejo en la Luna (Rabbit in the moon)   Characters:  Right from the beginning the Hare is selfless, always teaching his friends to give to the poor. Learning about the different animals and their journey on how they got their food was interesting. The otter seemed to have stolen the fish from the fisherman, the jackal stole a lizard and pot of milk curd, and the monkey gathered mangoes.  Setting Details: The author wrote about the settings in detail and I could picture each animal on their journey of gathering food perfectly.  Self sacrifice: The hare eats only grass, and does not think this is substantial food to give to a beggar. He instead vows to give his own flesh to a beggar if they pass by.  Being put to the test: Sakka, the king of the Gods, came in disguise as a beggar to put these animals to the test. Each animal offered the beggar their food, ...