Mythology and Folklore Blog

The lamb and the fish: Source I have never heard of this story, so I was curious to see what it was about. I have noticed that a lot of household tales have a character who has a deceased parent and a stepmother who is evil. This has made me realize that because of this, a lot of stepparents are often seen as hateful in real life. I was worried that this story would end badly, but luckily it had a happy ending! A brother and a sister are happily playing one day outside, and the evil stepmother turns them into a lamb and a fish by using witchcraft. The stepmother tells this man to kill the lamb for them to eat, but then the lamb starts to talk to the fish, which is her brother. The man realizes that they have been bewitched and does not kill the lamb. They end up going back to their human forms.  Bibliography: The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L. Ashliman (1998-2013). 

The Miller's Daughter and Rumpelstiltskin:  Source I remember reading the story about Rumpelstiltskin in a small children's fairytale book when I was younger. I always thought it was a little creepy how he wanted the Queen's first born child as payment for spinning gold. After reading this story again, many questions arise in my brain. Why would the miller lie to the King and tell him his daughter can spin gold when she can't? Did the King ever find out that his wife lied and did not spin the gold? Why did Rumpelstiltskin want the Queen's firstborn? There are many mysteries of this story that I did not realize until now.  Bibliography: The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L. Ashliman (1998-2013)

Snow White: Source This is the story of snow white and how she left her home because of her stepmother, the queen. When Snow White was born, her mother died. Her father soon remarried to an evil Queen. The Queen had a mirror and everyday she would look at it and ask who the fairest of them all was. The mirror would always answer back that she was the fairest of them all, but one day it said Snow White was. The Queen became incredibly jealous and sent a huntsman to hunt Snow White down and kill her. The Huntsman saw Snow White in the woods and spared her life after seeing she was innocent. He brought back the heart of an animal to trick the Queen into thinking he killed Snow White. Snow White then found herself entering a home in the woods and fell asleep.  Bibliography: Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886).

The fisherman and the flounder prince.  Source In this story, the fisherman catches a flounder who claims to be a prince. The prince begs the fisherman to let him go, and so he does. The flounder swims away and a trail of blood follows him. The fisherman goes back home to his wife and tells her about the prince. She tells him that he must go back and ask the flounder to give them a new cottage. It is a mystery how the wife knows that the prince will grant her wish. The fisherman goes back to the flounder and asks for his wish, and he grants it! The wife shortly becomes unhappy with the cottage and wants a bigger house. The fisherman thinks that his wife is being greedy and does not want to ask the prince, but he goes anyway.  Bibliography: Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm, translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane (1886).

The Three Little Pigs: Source  I have heard the story of the three little pigs so many times throughout my life. In fact, we did a lesson not too long ago with the children at my job at an after school program about the three little pigs. I have always heard the phrase in the story "Not by the hair on my chiny chin chin" and was surprised to learn that this was said because the story was originally supposed to be about goats who turned into pigs! Even though I have heard the story so many times, I seem to have forgotten how the story ended. The wolf came and blew down the first two pigs houses since they were built out of straw and a bundle of furze, and then ate them up. The third pig had a house built of brick, and therefore the wolf was not able to blow the house down. The wolf tried to trick the pig into getting out of his house 3 times, and each time the pig went earlier than he should he would meet the wolf. The wolf was very angry about this and decided to go into the ...

The Tea Party: Source  This story really brings out Alice's personality. When Alice approaches the table, the mad hatter and the hare tell her that there is no room for her, even though there is. She ignores them and sits at the table. The Hatter is very rude to Alice, but she has witty remarks to his statements. The Hatter told Alice riddles and said other things that Alice said sounded like English, but still made no sense. This story shows how Alice is very curious and witty, something that the Hatter might not like so much.  Story source:  Alice's Adventures in Wonderland  by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Alice going down the Rabbit Hole: Source Alice in Wonderland was never a movie I would really watch when I was younger. For some reason, I remember being scared of it! In this story, Alice in the beginning is very bored and kind of lazy, debating on what to do with her time. All of the sudden she hears a rabbit talk to himself saying that he was going t be late. Alice could not believe her eyes when she saw him take a pocket watch out of his pocket. Alice chased the rabbit until he fell into a hole, and without thinking, she went down the hole herself. It seemed like she was falling forever and would never come to an end. She thought to herself how she would act and what she would say as soon as she landed.  Story source: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Cinderella and her stepmother. Source The True Bride reminds me of Cinderella, where the stepmother treats the step daughter very poorly. In this story, the stepmother asks the stepdaughter to bring berries, even though it is snowing outside and they are not in season. The stepdaughter comes across four men which are surprisingly her relatives. I am a little confused on whether they are her actual brothers or how they are related. These brothers give the step daughter nice clothes, the ability to spit gold, and berries from the rooftop. The stepmother becomes jealous and wonders how the stepdaughter was able to do this. She sends her own daughter to follow, and the daughter is very rude to these brothers. They give her the gift of spitting out bad smelling toe nails!  Story source:   Tales of the North American Indians  by Stith Thompson (1929)

The rabbit and the tortoise: Link   There are many different stories about a tortoise and a rabbit, probably because they differ so much in speed. In "The Dance for Water"  the rabbit is a stubborn animal who will not help the other animals in their methods for getting water. The animals decide that they bring the water from the ground by dancing. The rabbit thinks that this is not a good idea, and laughs at the animals. The other animals are able to dance the water out, and the rabbit decides to drink the water even though it didn't help. The animals plan to capture the rabbit, and it is quite ironic how the tortoise is the one who volunteers to catch the rabbit. A tortoise is much slower than a rabbit, but by disguising himself as a stone and putting pitch on his back, he is able to capture the rabbit.  Story source: South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910).

Sketch of an ant: Source This story talks about the many enemies of the ant. The ant is small but destructive, and they plan to find a way to get rid of their enemies once and for all. The ants divide in groups:the red, rice, black, wagtail, grey, shining, and many others. No matter where they tried to find shelter, the ant eater or the birds were able to come and eat them. I thought this story would end by describing how the ants were able to get rid of their enemies, but unfortunately they were not able to. I think that if I were to write a story about these ants I would write about an alternate ending where they are able to find adequate shelter and hid from their enemies. Story source: South African Folk-Tales by James Honey (1910).

Sun Wu Kung, Monkey King: Source In the beginning of this story, Sun Wu Kung is proving his power to Buddha as he wants to become the King of the Heavens. He thinks he is ready to become the king but the Buddha is telling him that it takes a lot of perfecting of virtues. The Buddha told him if he was able to leave his hand, he would tell the King of the Heavens to make him King. Sun Wu Kung got too confident and was not able to leave his hand. Buddha sent him to lie on the mountain for hundreds of years so he could help the Monk fetch holy writings. A ring was giving to the ape which he could not take off, which made him obedient to his new master.  Bibliography: Story source: " The Ape Sun Wu Kung " in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921)

The waterfall the ape went through. Source Handsome King of the Apes  In this story, there is a magical rock on the top of a mountain. Within this rock, it has all the seed power of heaven, earth, the moon, and the sun. One day, this magical rock burst and out came an egg! Out of this egg hatched an ape. One day the other apes said that whoever could go through the waterfall without injury would be the King of the Apes. The magical Ape had the power to go through the waterfall and informed the others of what was on the other side. They then made him the king.   Bibliography: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

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...

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 ...

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 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, ...