Mythology

 Stories derived from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston The Headless Princess The king has a daughter who was an "enchantress" Usually, I've never read of royalty having any powers at all. Does the King also have powers? If not, why only the princess? The story is odd in terms of the message that it was trying to convey. For the most part, I couldn't figure out if the enchantress was supposed to be the protagonist or the antagonist because it was the priest's son that was peeping. I like how for ritualistic reasons, there are various details .. such as the number of days and the things the characters had to do to prevent from being taken away How did the old woman already know that the Princess was a witch from the start? (The Headless Princess. Source: RTOO )

Stories derived from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston  Russia: The Dead Mother There is mentioned a certain village but did not specifically mention the name of the village  This can add to the anonymous atmosphere of the story, which creates a good introduction to the rest of the story Mentioned terminology that was specific to the region of the origin of the story In this case, it was the "moujik" which directly refers to a Russian serf -- basically an unfree peasant of Russia This could categorize as a horror story, something that could invoke terror in the readers Mentions the dead mother next to the cradle of the baby, which was something that the reader did not expect because the story started with the dead mother dying after childbirth! Maybe there's an all-encompassing theme to the rest of the story about the relationship between the baby and the mother, which in this case, can expand passed the limited time on Earth (Mother and Her Child. Source: Fairy Tal...

 For this challenge, I added the word count extension on my browser as well as learned more about my bookmarks section. Especially for the weekly assignments, this is incredibly useful as I would always have to go through the original homepage or look at the emails to find the link to the assignment websites. However, with the assignments, it's frustrating too as you have to change the weeks as the bookmark is only for that one specific week. However, I think for anything else, such as frequently visited websites, this is highly useful. In addition, the word-counter is also very useful for assignments as well as for papers! If only I used this before. (Word Counter. Source: Wordcounter.net ) 

 For this Growth Mindset assignment, I did the acronym challenge. For this one, I chose N.A.P., which stands for No: Ask Permission. I did this because I think that this theme was something that I have had trouble with for the longest time, and for a while, I've strayed away from doing something because I thought it "wasn't allowed." However, throughout the years, I've learned that it doesn't always matter what was wrong and what was allowed, and it was more about asking for forgiveness after than asking for permission in the first place! Of course, this doesn't apply to everything, but I think this is a roadblock for many chances to get a good experience! (Never ask for Permission. Source: BrainyQuote )

Little Tommy was not a good child. He lived in a wonderful house with his parents and little sister. His sister was the definition of a good child, always pleasing her parents. Tommy, on the other hand, always misbehaved. He would steal. He would bully the little neighborhood kids. He sometimes would run away in the middle of the chase after the squirrels and rabbits in his park. His parents would warn him that he had better watch out for Mr. Miacca, who would take bad kids in the middle of the night to feast on them. Little Tommy did not believe in this story. One night, he wanted to confront Mr. Miacca by rounding up as many squirrels and rabbits as he can and locked them up. His sister pleaded with him to stop but Tommy scared her home. Little Tommy was never seen the morning after. His sister was left with a toy rabbit on her windowsill. Author's Note: This story was derived from the many tales of Mr. Miacca, according to English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs . In the story, Tom...

 I'm a cat. For as long as I've remembered, I've always been a cat. I've lived in this house in this village ever since I was a small kitten. There is a wife and a husband, my caring owners. I also live with a dog. I've always had good relations with the dog, however, it does make me mad sometimes that it seems like the dog always gets my owner's attention. Nonetheless, there was no bad blood between me and the dog. We lived well for a long time until recently, we weren't. I noticed that the wife and husband, my owners, grew poorer and poorer by the day! I had wondered what had happened. The dog noticed too, but he had no idea. For several weeks, we've tried our best to be supportive of our owners. However, as the days and weeks passed, it seems clear that their conditions were getting worse and worse. One day, the dog came up to me and told me about how he had noticed that the owners do not have their gold ring anymore. I never thought anything of the r...

 Stories are derived from Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs  Connla and the Fairy Maiden Dialogue form stories between characters are very old-fashioned, parallel with the location/origin of the story For example: "Whence comest thou, maiden" Dialogue is also written in poetic form. This can be used for dramatic effect for the introduction of the character as well as the backstory Inclusion of magic in the story, but power is not directly shown but described Druids Member of high-ranking class in Celtic cultures, sometimes as religious leaders, or also legal authorities Priests, teachers, judges (The Fairy Maiden. Source: J. Batten )

The room was eerily silent, almost deafening. The moon offered the only source of light in an otherwise ink-dark hall. Outside, a vast fog swallowed the entire horizon, moving slowly from tree to tree. Peace. Quiet. The perfect illusion. Drip. Drip. Drip.  The sounds of the moisture of the leaves rustling crackled through the night. Something is in the fog. The sounds started off soft and low, but quickly grew louder and clearer.  It was getting closer. Then, a faint shadow appeared within the fog, growing larger and larger by the second. The fog parted, splitting evenly around the shadow. Who was this? WHAT was this? The sound of the Thing as it slowly dragged its feet in the damp grass resembled that of a wild animal, prowling for its prey, hoping to go unnoticed. It came closer and closer. The sounds of his footsteps grew louder and louder.  Then, silence. The most sinister of silences.  Rumble. Rumble. The door shook erratically. It was here. (Grendel's Arrival. ...

 Stories source: The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs Grendel Attacks For the most part, there was a heavy emphasis on the description of the setting, especially the darkness, the trees, the fog, and the wind  This really set up for the introduction of Grendel, which would be the antagonist that Beowulf would have to fight against "The fog parted evenly, and in the wide path is made through the night, a Shadow loomed gigantic in all that was left of moonlight" In terms of the Grendel, the author first characterized it as the "Shadow" Of course, the author already knew what the creature was, but I think the usage of this name was for the readers to see from Beowulf's point of view Also, it could be for a dramatic effect that would set up for the introduction of Grendel Everything that happened within this story was of little to no action, except for the end. However, the author did a great job of vividly describing the setting and expanding on the environment ...

Stories reference below were from  The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs King Hygelac of Geatsland  Started off the story with a common introductory sentence, "Once upon a time, ... " Is this too overused? Tacky? Why do so many fairy tales and accompanying myths start off with this introduction? At the beginning of the story, before the characters were introduced, the author illustrated the setting of the story -- the monsters that resided in the oceans, the beasts that were in the forests For many of them, the author included ghastly details -- something to intrigue the reader into continuing with the story There was also a lot of discussion about the cultures of the lands and their surrounding lands as well. About how they were warring constantly At first, I thought this story wasn't as fantastical as it was made out to be. When I came upon the fact that there were monsters was where the story got a lot more interesting for me and my mind was filled with the possibili...

 For this week's tech tip, I added the Creative Commons extension to my Google Chrome. I've been pretty frustrated for a long time going to Google, find the image that I was looking for, download it, find the downloaded file, and then inserting it to the blog post! It's not too much of an ordeal, but it's definitely a hassle to do these steps over and over again. However, with this, it's just a whole lot easier for me to insert these images! I can simply download it from the extension and drag the image from the downloaded files here. (Dragon. Source: T. Cohart )

 Coyote's Gifts -- Myths and Legends of British North America, by K. Judson Usage of ambiguous character names, such as the "Old One" adds on to the dramatic effects of the character described as well as to the character describing it. Usually, in instances like these, these names signify the importance of this character and foreshadow the appearance again sometime later in the storyline. Or maybe even a backstory? The narrator speaks in a third-person point of view of him/herself, using no "I", but strictly "Coyote" Maybe for clarification? Could this be just an aspect of the culture of storytelling and mythology in this certain region? All other characters in the story are described in such ways, no usage of "he" or "she" or any related terminology All locations were clearly named Adds on to the realness of the story and how it is applied to reality I think that using these names, especially to those who have been to these locatio...