Reading Notes: Inferno: Satan

I decided to read Dante's Inferno this week and read the beginning of the story to see how the author starts and hooks the reader. In this post, I want to read the final part of the story. The final part of stories, in my opinion, should wrap up the story nicely and close all ideas that were introduced in the story. There can be cliffhangers too. As I read through there was a specific part of the of the story that was interesting in one of the paragraphs, Dante talks directly to the reader. That was a rare thing for me. I have not read many works where the main character directly talks to the reader. Dante specifically says the word reader. I was shocked and intrigued at the fact the main character in the situation that he was in would take the time to talk to the reader specifically. Dante tells the reader to use their imagination which is crazy. Many authors want a specific image to be seen by the reader, but this paragraph suggests that the reader needs to use their imagination to envision Dante in the situation that he is in at the current time. The conclusion section of the novel was very interesting to me. It had a lot of moving parts to me. There were multiple things to keep track of throughout the last few paragraphs. The very end of the story was interesting and a cool coincidence for Dante. Dante had found his way out of Hell, but it wasn't easy as there were countless people grabbing at his feet as he tried to get out. It was Easter Sunday when Dante emerged from Hell. This is a cool coincidence for the reader as Dante entered Hell on Good Friday. It is weird as it definitely seemed they were in Hell for a lot longer than three days. The conclusion of the story was spectacular and was everything that I wanted. It had a lot of action and movement and had a really cool ending. I will definitely be recommending Dante's Inferno to anyone that needs a good book to read.

A version of Dante's Inferno https://images.app.goo.gl/3zTFcsd928LqmgdL9

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/07/inferno-satan.html

Reading Notes: Inferno: Dante and Virgil

This week I decided to read the stories of Dante's Inferno as I had heard it was an awesome story, so I saw the opportunity and took it. As I read through all the stories, I was thoroughly entertained by the stories. As I read through all the parts of the stories and decided that I wanted to really look at the beginning of the story as the beginning is always the most important part of a story to me. The beginning hooks the reader so it must be amazing to get the reader all in on the story. It took me a few times to understand the story. It finally clicked after a couple of times reading it through. One of my favorite parts was when Dante meets Virgil. It was an interesting part of the story and it seemed very inconspicuous. Virgil seemed as if he was a monster and was scaring Dante the way he looked at him. I envisioned Virgil when I first read the story as a taller figure with a long face and the eyes that could stare a hole through anybody and anything. That image even scares me and I am just reading the story. As I continued to read I got more background on what Virgil actually was and it was interesting to see my version of him compared to what the story describes him as. As I continued to read and Virgil, who I thought was a monster, turned into the comforter of Dante which was very surprising. I would have thought that Virgil would try to take advantage of Dante and cause him to say with Virgil and not have a chance to escape. Virgil then becomes a guide through Hell for Dante. Virgil takes a role that I would have never thought he would. The way Virgil is described makes him seem like someone that would scare Dante and would make Dante want to stay away from Virgil. The beginning definitely did its job as it hooked me and sent me few different ways. All in all, this did the job and definitely made want to read the rest of the story.

A ghost version of Virgil https://images.app.goo.gl/b1ZeffdtvUsDJHTk6

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/07/inferno-dante-and-virgil.html

Reading Notes: Johnny-Cake

For the second reading of the week, I decided to read a new story that I was not familiar with at all. Johnny-Cake seemed as it was a good story to read and it didn't disappoint. When I began to read the story it seemed a little familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it. I read the story a couple more times and it finally made sense. It was the Gingerbread Man story. I didn't recognize it at first but it clicked in my head and the story really came to life. As I read through the story, the beginning was pretty funny because I related to it so much. I felt the boys reaction when he left the oven. It is boring just to watch something bake so I definitely would have left too. The Johnny-Cake outrunning the family was really funny. I would have never thought that a cake would be able to outrun a whole family. The cake must have been running extremely fast with how small his legs are. It was funny to see the Johnny-Cake continue to challenge people to running as he ran through the land. The Johnny-Cake got extremely cocky as he continued to rack up the people chasing him. Even animals began to give chase which was crazy. Johnny-Cake definitely was on a sugar rush. His run finally came to an end when he was eaten by a fox. The Johnny-Cake became too cocky and got too close to the fox who just sntached him up when the Johnny-Cake got close and yelled on the fox about how much faster he was than the fox and the rest of the people that were chasing him. The story was a great read and it was pretty funny to see what the Johnny-Cake was doing throughout as he ran away from all kinds of people.

Johnny-Cake leaving the house https://images.app.goo.gl/LuWMRThfdCyoSAUZA

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/03/english-fairy-tales-johnny-cake.html

Reading Notes: The Three Little Pigs

This week I excited to be able to read multiple stories that I had read as a kid. I was torn between the English Fairy Tales and the Alice in Wonderland sections. I ultimately decided on the Fairy Tales. I was not disappointed at all. I enjoyed all the stories and decided to choose The Three Little Pigs. I was a huge fan of the The Three Little Pigs when I was younger. As I read through the story I thought it was a great story. One part that I thought was interesting was the role that the wolf had. The wolf began to huff and puff and attempted to blow one of the pigs houses down. His attempts failed and I was confused as in stories that I had read before, the wolf had no problem with the first two houses of the pigs. Well this was different and it was interesting to read and see how it worked. The way the wolf handled it was funny with the offering of the turnips. The pigs second house stood tall and ended up getting turnips, but the pig went before the wolf the next morning which made me chuckle a bit. As I continued to read I loved the story. It was awesome to see a different take on a childhood story that had been twisted into another version from the original Fairy Tale. The craziest part of the story was the last paragraph. The pig devises a great plan to beat the wolf as he climbs down the chimney trying to get into the house. The pigs had boiling water as I am used to reading, but the pigs end up feasting on the wolf. The close the pot on the wolf and he dies in the pot and the pigs eat him. I was shocked to read that as the ending of such a sweet story.

Cover of a Childrens Reading Book https://images.app.goo.gl/YB4a8SyZYHduGCq1A

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/03/english-fairy-tales-three-little-pigs.html

Reading Notes: The Golden Arrow

The second Robin Hood story of the week is really exciting to me. I really enjoyed the ballad that I read in the first reading of the week. This story is another ballad that is awesome to read. The only bad thing is that there isn't a video included with this ballad so I wish there was an audio clip that went with this one to see how it goes in a song form. The story itself speaks to me so much. I am one to take chances all the time and sometimes I can not resist taking the chance to win something. Robin Hood in this ballad does the same thing as I would do. This makes it a great story for me to read as I can relate to the story so much. Robin Hood couldn't resist the urge to play a game to get something really cool or valuable in return. Robin Hood loves arrows and the thought of having a golden arrow made him extremely excited to have the chance to acquire it. The game that the sheriff devises to entice Robin Hood is interesting. I didn't really understand what it was at first so I needed to read it a few times to finally realize what the game was. The language of the story was, again, a barrier for me and I have a little trouble knowing exactly what is happening. I eventually figure it out and the story makes a lot more sense after knowing most of the actions that are going on. The king is the one that wants the plan to go into action which is not surprising at all as Robin Hood is a trickster and can cause a lot of problems for those in the kingdom.

Children version of the Golden Arrow story https://images.app.goo.gl/CjNEqQ1r9tPPnxpm9

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/robin-hood-golden-arrow.html

Reading Notes: Little John

This week is an exciting week as I am a huge fan of readings from the UK and Ireland. The opportunity I have this week to read these stories is exciting. I went through my usual steps to picking out a story by going through and checking out all that was available. I set my sights on the Robin Hood series for this week. I have always been a big fan of Robin Hood and I was excited to read through the Robin Hood stories. I ended up going with the story Little John. This ended up being a ballad and it was a really fun read. The youtube video was awesome to have. It really brought the ballad to life. I am a big music fan so listening to it made it that much better for me.  The beginning of the ballad is a fun time. I love the detail that Little John is actually a large muscular man. That gave me a little chuckle. As the ballad continued, I never lost interest in it and it continued to get better and better. I loved the parts of the ballad with dialogue as it gave the ballad some more personal feeling which is always fun to have in stories in songs. The only problem I had with the ballad was the language that was in use. The language was a older english and the phrasing and wording of the ballad confused me at times. It took me a few read throughs to completely understand what was going on in the ballad. The fight sequence that occurs is interesting and a pretty detailed one for a story like Robin Hood but it doesn't take away from the fact that Robin Hood is one of the best characters, in anything, ever. The ballad itself was fantastic with multiple scenes that were funny, dramatic and interesting. I definitely recommend Robin Hood stories if you have not had the chance to read through them before.

The Disney portrayal of Little John https://images.app.goo.gl/mxPVwUwDADTkzt55A

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/robin-hood-little-john.html

Reading Notes: The Jealous Father

After reading the Jealous Uncle I decided to keep the jealous family member stories going with the father getting in the act. The way the Jealous Uncle went yesterday had me in limbo for what I thought this story was going to be about. I had a feeling the same thing was going to happen, and in a way it did. The father grew jealous over his sons for some reason. The father had his suspicions of one of his sons confirmed when he had returned from a hunt and saw marks on one of the wives he had. The father knew something was up and proceeded to lead the son to a rocky island to find eggs. This story sort of took the same route as the story from yesterday, but it was a little less gruesome and it seemed as the father was not a serial boy killer like the uncle was. The father left the son on the island to die. The son could definitely live a lot longer than the boys from the uncle story as there is, more than likely, a way better chance of surviving for a while on that island. The fun part of the story came to life as a Walrus came out of the water to greet the boy and comfort the boy after the events that had just occurred. I loved that the walrus is a magical walrus. The walrus asks the boy if the sky is clear which was surprising since walrus can not fly. It was interesting that the walrus acted as if the boy was his son but it didn't bother me too much from the fact that the walrus was magical. The story took a crazy turn with the death of the walrus. This was surprising as I was not expecting the walrus to die so suddenly. The lightning attack came from the son's father which was crazy to think about and the boy survived. The father was truly angry at the son as an old lady told him that there was a lot of trouble for the boy down the road and that he must prepare for the worst of the trip. The story itself was slightly different from the uncle story but still had the same storyline as the boy survived both attacks but the difference in surviving was polar opposites.

Member of the Cree Tribe https://images.app.goo.gl/SEU4srHt6iweyQhg9

Bibliogrpahy: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/heroes-jealous-father.html

Reading Notes: The Jealous Uncle

This I decided to with the hero stories of the Native Americans. I really enjoyed the stories from last week and was excited to read more stories. I read through a lot of them and came upon The Jealous Uncle. I thought it the story title was hilarious and could be a great story to be able to read and it did not disappoint. The story was nothing like I thought it would be. The story began with death. i was in aww as the uncle of the story killed both of his nephews in the first paragraph of the story. The story continued and it got to the point of the uncle having the gender of the baby hidden from him so he did not have any competition. It is an interesting concept to think about but it makes a little sense. The fact that the gender of the boy was hidden from him for so long is impressive. The uncle eventually found out and was disappointed that it would be hidden from him, but once he found out the uncle had to kill the nephew. the boy was warned and he prepared for the worst. The story took a surprising turn that was awesome for the boy. The boy used a sour cranberry that he was given to aid him when he was taken into the woods. The boy was trapped under a log and the uncle had left to go back to the village and let the boy die in the woods alone. The boy rubbed the cranberry on the log and the log opened up and let the boy free from the hold that the log had. The best part of the story came from the boy going back to the village. The boy brought wood back to the village as kind of a punch at the uncle that had tried to killed him hours earlier. This motivated the uncle even more to kill the boy which was concerning for the boy and the rest of the village if there were more boys to come to the village. The story was nothing I expected when I read the title but it didn't disappoint and it was an extremely fun read.

Yupik mother and child https://images.app.goo.gl/vBTintHBaGVMoNje8

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/heroes-jealous-uncle.html

Reading Notes: Iktomi and the Turtle

For the second reading of the week, I decided to keep the turtle theme which is funny that the Sioux have multiple turtle stories in the collection. This one is a tad different from the first one I read in the sense that this story has a lot more first person throughout the story which is awesome. It gives a more personal feel that I like to have when I am reading these stories. The funniest part about the turtle theme is that one story actually has turtles in it. This story actually has a huntsman named turtle. It is a slight twist, but it is hilarious to think about. The story starts out sad and I feel bad for the turtle as he didn't kill anything to provide for his family which is always sad. The story continues as the turtle walks home with sadness but comes upon a deer that had been slain. This was a blessing as he could now feed his family. The turtle exclaimed that the spirits had blessed him with a deer. Turtle was approached, from behind, by Iktomi. Iktomi began to talk up the turtle as the turtle was very down on himself after not being able to kill anything for food. The story continued as Iktomi and the turtle talked about the deer and the failed hunt that had happened for the turtle. The challenges that came up were awesome as the challenge was for the deer. It was a jump that was the challenge which is interesting for what was on the line. The challenge came late as well which the turtle had no choice but to take it as he had already started his jump. The turtle lost the challenge which was a little sad to read as he had already gone through the emotional rollercoaster that was the hunt. The surprise of the story was the turtle sitting in the tree as Iktomi went into the creek with the food. The kids were stressed as their father had fallen in and died in the creek. The story ends very abruptly which stunk but overall it was a solid story that I enjoyed for the entire time.

The cooking of the venison in the creek https://images.app.goo.gl/7u6Txs5X8L5s9DMN8

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/sioux-iktomi-and-turtle.html

Reading Notes: The Boy and the Turtles

I am so excited for this week's readings as it is Native American week! I love Native American art and stories. They are always so creative and fun to read no matter how short or long the story is. It was a difficult decision on what story to read and how good those stories were going to be. After a long deliberation with myself I decided on the Sioux stories as I thought they were unique and really fun to read. The first story I decided on was the Boy and the Turtles. One thing I noticed immediately when reading was the fact that it was mostly from a third person perspective. I am usually not huge fan of reading third person as it isn't as personal as first person, but the the author does an amazing job with creating a story that effectively uses third person. The story started very normal and seemed it was just going to be a story about a young boy hunting and faced some adversity as he couldn't find any turtles until he went to a lake that his tribe was very familiar with. It seems normal until what comes out of the water. Little men began to come out of the water which is a tad disturbing and scared the boy as it should have. The story continued as the boy left and after a few conversations, warriors were sent down to the lake to see if the boy was lying. The warriors saw the same thing and were as scared as the boy. The boy was given a seat in the council and that seat was a seat of honor. The boy was also given the name "Wankan Wanyanka" which means he sees holy. The story itself was very interesting with the crazy turn it made. I wasn't expecting the drastic turn that occurred at the lake. I was expecting something to happen, but not to the effect of little men coming out of the water. I really enjoyed the weird twist the story had. It gave the story some more information to be able to analyze as not every story has a turn like that. I am definitely glad I chose this story section as it is going to be an awesome time to be able to read these stories.

Turtles sunbathing at a lake https://images.app.goo.gl/8pYCyPG1GQ2TiB4a9

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/sioux-boy-and-turtles.html

Reading Notes: Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear

The second story I decided to read another story from the Brer Rabbit collection and the Mr. Rabbit and Mr. Bear story really popped out as one that could truly be a great one. The story didn't disappoint at all! I love the stories that have been created in this section as the use of animals in stories is always a plus for any reader. The animals create a sense of comedy and feeling that people can simply not create in stories. The story was full of twists and turns which gave it a much different vibe than the first story I wrote about on this blog. This story had many of characters getting trapped by the same type of trap over and over. It was really funny to see the characters fall for the same trick as the others. The dialogue of the story, once again, had a southern accent to the dialogue as the characters seemed to have really heavy accents throughout and especially when they were talking to each other. The main plot of the story came from the goober gardens that the animals had been growing and tending to. Goobers is another way of saying peanuts and comes from and African origin. That part of the story is really cool to have in a story as it gives some flair to the story. It gives the story some life from the time and place that it was written. This gives the story some spunk that is nice to have when reading these stories from other cultures. The characters from this story were funny to watch interact with each other. The characters continued to combat each other throughout the story which gave a comedic feel to the story and made it a great read. The consistency of the characters in the stories from all the stories in the collection is nice. The characters give a balance to the stories and allows for more details throughout which is really nice to have in a series of stories.  

Brer rabbit, bear, and fox animated https://images.app.goo.gl/WThfLTGkrXDwqx4r9

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/brer-rabbit-mr-rabbit-and-mr-bear.html

Reading Notes: Why Mr. Possum Loves Peace

This week I decided to read from the African Tales in the Americas section with Why Mr. Possum Loves Peace. As I read through the stories for my third week of Asian and African stories, I decided to try out a different route and go with African stories instead of the Asian stories that I have been doing for the past couple weeks. The first thing I noticed when I read the story was that it seemed more laid back compared to the other stories that I had read throughout the past couple weeks. The story was fun for me to read as the inclusion of animals in any story makes the story a fun time to read. The storybook that I created is solely based on an animal which makes it really fun to read and write as well. The sad part about the story was towards the end of the story. The two main characters of the story grow apart as their friendship takes a hit due to the events that occurred in the story and because of Mr. Dog becoming a staple in the story and causing havoc on the characters. One part of the story that I thought was interesting was the dialogue. The possum and coon in the story talk with a very heavy Southern accent in my opinion. There were multiple phrases throughout the story that made me talk with a very heavy accent and it made the story a lot of fun to read as I read it out loud and laughed at myself while I read it. The story as a whole was a really fun read and it made me want to read more of the stories from this section. The touch of comedy that I created by the dialogue that the author implemented was truly a blast and made the story a really fun time to read and dissect.

Brer possum with racoon and Mr. Dog https://images.app.goo.gl/BpyrqTTcuw9aTabSA

Bibliography: http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/brer-rabbit-why-mr-possum-loves-peace.html

Reading Notes: The Great Saint

Today, I decided to read the story "The Great Saint". The Great was another shorter read than usual but it was, again, packed full of details and a plot that was dynamic and well written. I really have enjoyed the collection of stories that I chose this week and this unit has truly been a great read for the past couple days. This reading had the same main character from yesterday's reading. The first I noticed on my read through was the amount of dialogue that this story has compared to reading from yesterday. The dialogue is awesome to have as dialogue, for me, is easier to follow a conversation and know more about what is going on at that point compared to descriptive pieces with zero dialogue. The dialogue really makes the story pop and get moving. the continuation of the involvement of apes is nice as it keeps the same characters throughout so the author can focus on detail and creating a good story rather than creating background for new characters that are introduced constantly. The Ape King seems very intimidating. He is a king so he must be intimidating to be in power but when he became angry it was scary for me to see the King get angry and begin to raise his voice. Sun Wu Kang seemed nervous and I would be extremely nervous to face a king that is angry, but also has a lot power over his kingdom.

A Picture of the warrior, Sun Wu Kung https://images.app.goo.gl/t3TWPAg4dFfa26qv5

Bibliography:"The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921). http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/sun-wu-kung-great-saint.html

Reading Notes: The Dragon King

This week I decided to read "The Dragon King" after much deliberation on which stories to read for this week. The Dragon King seemed like it would be a good story to read and do some deep thinking on. The story was a little than the rest but I felt that it was well written and had a lot of detail and information as the previous stories do. The Dragon King the beginning of the story was a tad confusing to begin with, but I read it over and over and it finally clicked. The main character had obtained a sacred weapon and also had apes that were warriors. They would train with weapons and had the apes build a camp that would be prepared for any type of attack. To begin this part of the story, it seems interesting to have apes trained for battle and a camp as well. The story is part of a collection so it makes sense that it seems to rapidly start. One of my favorite parts of the story is the four baboons. They are the voices of reason towards Sun Wu Kang. Baboons are not seen as cute or voices of reason to most people across the world. The baboons give Sun Wu Kang advice on how to make his weapons to the next level which would extremely enhance his capability to combat an attack. One part of the story that was surprising was the power Kang had. Throughout the beginning it didn't seem that he had powers or was a special being compared to normal humans. When he took one of his hairs and created countless apes and then cleared out the armory was a shock to me. I was in belief that he was a normal character and didn't have much powers if any. He doubled down on his powers as well when he flew away on a cloud. That was the icing on the cake that Kang was no normal man, but he was as far from normal as he possibly could.

A piece of artwork of the Dragon King from Chinese myth. https://images.app.goo.gl/ByR83bve2URkKCao9

Bibliography: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/sun-wu-kung-dragon-king.html

Reading Notes: Sindbad: Fifth Voyage

Today, I have decided to continue the story of Sindbad and continue to read through his voyages. I decided to analysis the beginning of his fifth voyage today. The story I read on tuesday was so well written and fun to read I had to continue to read some of his other stories that were in the collection. This one stood out amongst the few other ones that were available. This story has a quality that the previous ones did and it has a first person point of you. I will reiterate what I said in the fact that i love to have characters talk to me or have myself feel like I am in the head of the character which I definitely am in this case. It seems throughout all of the stories I have read, Sindbad is always having a issue with something that is going in this voyage. This story is no different from the rest of them. Sindbad's voyages seem to always go awry and this story doesn't take long. One of the many favorite parts that I have from this story is in the second paragraph as the suspense of the story already began as the parent birds that would attack the ship and crew and the captain knew exactly the situation. The story gets into action immediately and I am always up for action as quick as possible in stories. As long as the background of a story is decent I am fine, but most of the time stories are a little slow for me. The story continues with the action and suspense and that is awesome for me as a reader. The final paragraphs are extremely dramatic. Sindbad seems to be, always, flirting with death and he is choked out by his enemy as the story comes to an end. He survives, somehow, again as the bird lets go of him as he is near death from not being able to breath. He is tortured all night by the monsters and was given a glimmer of hope but was brought right back in when there was some hope to survive.

Giant bird stalking its prey https://images.app.goo.gl/VkppyKQ61nRpJzZ68

Bibliography: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/sindbad-fifth-voyage.html

Reading Notes: Sinbad: Third Voyage

The reading I decided to for this week is the stories of Sinbad. The specific story I decided to do notes on for the day is his Third Voyage. What caught my eye with the stories is that the stories were being told in first person. Sinbad is talking to the reader throughout the story and it is cool to read and feel like the main character and star of the show is speaking directly at you instead of other characters in the story. That connection means a lot to me as a reader as I like to have a connection to the main character and not feel like I am on the outside of a group looking over them. The story itself is a great story. The savages that took Sinbad's ship were small beings, but strength comes in numbers as they swarmed the ship. I got a slight chuckle as two feet tall and red fur savages took over a ship and took it hostage with no problem whatsoever. The terror that the crew had was crazy to read as you would think a burly ship crew wouldn't be scared at all of a few small savages but they must have been truly terrifying. The giant comes into the picture and I truly got wide eyed reading that. When the giant took the captain and roasted him, I got a little scared myself. That is one of my fears is dying to a fire as it would be slow and painful. The thought of being roasted over a fire for someone else's food is creepy and gives me the chills. The end of the story was interesting though. The giant ate and scared the crew to death, but when he awoke in the morning nothing happened. My thought was that the giant would have "breakfast" but he left the castle with no attempt to do so which was odd, especially after the events of the night prior.

Saturn devouring his son https://images.app.goo.gl/Ee2QZ2HG5hu7MZNW9

Bibliography: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang, http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/06/sindbad-third-voyage.htm

Reading Notes: The Ghost who was Afraid of Being Bagged

I read through the story and thought it was put together extremely well. When I was choosing what to read for this week, the title of this story really caught my eye. I read it last to make sure the thoughts and details that I had from it were fresh in my mind and not drained out of my head after reading multiple other stories. The story is an amazing tale of just a simple barber that, in a surprising turn, gains a whole lot of money and scares away ghosts which is funny to think about. People are supposed to be afraid of ghosts and not want to scare them all by themselves. The barber used an interesting tactic to deal with the ghost and later the uncle of said ghost.
The intimidation that the barber used was the fact that he would put the ghost in a bag. This seems like a weak intimidation attempt a ghost, supposedly, can faze and move through objects but a bag would be able to stop the ghosts. The item in that bag that was truly menacing was the looking-glass. This glass gave the ghosts a look at themselves and the meer fact of seeing their reflection caused them to be scared and do what the barber wanted them to do. The barber did a great job in getting a lot of money and supplies for himself and for his wife who he had left because he did not have the means to support his wife and family.
The story is a really interesting tale that had many twists and turns that weren't expected from me when I read through the story. I never would have thought a barber would be able to take on ghosts and be so successful. The promise made by the husband was to come back only if he was rich which you would not think would be possible with a barber's pay but the fact he was able to return to his wife and be happy with the money and the support that he can now give his entire family.

A more childish version of the story https://images.app.goo.gl/5fLpKKgVbMtJCcvZ7

Bibliography: Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/07/bengal-ghost-who-was-afraid-of-being.html

Reading Notes: The Origin of Opium

I tried a new strategy this week when picking out the story I was going to read. I usually read the first paragraph or two of the stories then decide based on of that. This week I have decided to read the title of each story only and based off the title choose the story and stick with that story. The story I chose was The Origin of Opium. This choice was based on the fact of the impact that Opium has had across the world and especially in Asia and Middle East. I am a big history junkie and seeing this gave me a flashback to high school history and got me really excited to read and do some exploring in the story.
Now to the actual story, the story was sort of a surprise from the impression I got from the title. The story was more of an actual origin, in a folklore sense, of opium compared to what my mind created the idea that it would actually be about opium only. The story was a fantastic story that I really enjoyed with a lot of details and cool characters. One of the best parts of the story was the talking animals. I am a huge animal guy and the thought of animals talking made very content with what was going on throughout the story. The mouse was an interesting animal to choose to use as the animal that was going to speak with Rishi. The mouse then transforms into a cat and then a dog. This was surprising as that doesn't usually happen in stories as characters usually stay one type of animal in most stories that I have read, but this story was a nice adjustment and fresh story to read. The final transformation to the ape was surprising as I would have thought two transformations were plenty, but the third one took me by surprise. The scary part that left me on edge was the ending of the story that was left wide open and it seems that the ape may die or something may happen to the ape that isn't good.
Bibliography: Folk-Tales of Bengal by the Rev. Lal Behari Day http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/07/bengal-origin-of-opium.html

This is what I think the Ape looks likehttps://images.app.goo.gl/5htn89gXcQNRQzNm8

Reading Notes: The Darkness, Part B

The second story that I read from the Adam & Eve collection is the story "The Darkness". The story begins with God speaking to Adam and God explaining the situation to Adam. God tells Adam that he will send him back to Earth due to Adam transgressing as an angel and being sent to the "darkness' which is Earth. The darkness may seem like a punishment as it sounds horrible and almost certain death, but God puts his own twist on it stating that it was a learning moment for Adam not to transgress and sin. The story continues with multiple segments of dialogue between God and Adam, but most of the talking was coming from God himself. TO me, it felt like it was more of a lecture towards Adam than it was dialogue back-in-forth which is interesting. Adam & Eve, by the end, are extremely sorrowful for their actions that has caused them to be in the position that they are. The couple is sent on a journey that must be fulfilled before they are allowed to return to the garden which is interesting that God is so hard on the couple. Forgiveness is a big part of religion and seeing God punish people for mistakes they have made is a different feeling that I am used to getting from dialogue of God.

This is sort of image I thought of when I heard about the darkness. A foggy and not totally dark with a chance to return to a normalcy. https://images.app.goo.gl/sKRZv8uZRaaS5tTq7

Source: The Forgotten Books of Eden, edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. (1926): The First Book of Adam and Eve 13-14-15 http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/adam-and-eve-darkness.html

Reading Notes: The Punishment, Part A

I decided to choose the story "Punishment" from the Adam & Eve collection of stories. I knew, vaguely, the story of Adam & Eve and most of my knowledge was just basic plot lines.  The story is mostly dialogue which I am not a huge fan of, but the story does a fine job of setting the scene and describing the situation to a point of understanding for me. I enjoy the dialogue from the angels in the first couple paragraphs of the story. It gives the feel of a click in high school and to me that gives off the feel irony. Angels are supposed to be the caretakers of those on Earth, and be humble and helpful when it comes to situations that arise on Earth. The angels in this story are talking about Adam and wondering how he isn't dead yet. It makes some sense the angels are acting that way since God is the one that said Adam was going to perish if he stayed in the garden but it was interesting to see the angels act in that kind of way.
Another part of the story that was very entertaining was when the serpent was introduced. The fact that God gave Adam & Eve some time to figure out what they were going to do without punishment is weird. The serpent, who is now a villain, was given no second chance and was sentenced to be the villain the rest of its years. The serpent was determined to not be the only one that was singled out. the serpent's main target was Adam and the final two lines of the story are great lines and a great segway into the next chapter of the story of Adam & Eve

This artwork captures an angel speaking to Adam & Eve about some situation that is going on. https://images.app.goo.gl/dKrDz5wG49XEFgRJ9

Source: The Legends of the Jews by Louis Ginzberg (1909): Book 1, Chapter 2 Adam. http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/adam-and-eve-punishment.html