Week 7: Famous Last Words

Wow what a week this has been. I'll start by saying that I have officially accepted a position at the University of Oklahoma College of Medicine for the coming fall! I am so glad to finally have an idea of what the next four years will be like for me. I have already started apartment hunting in Oklahoma City, and am having a small problem because I may or may not have really expensive taste and a college student budget, haha.

Personal photo of my friends and I hanging
out in the snow after class!

I've been thinking a lot about my storybook project this week and am so very excited about it. It's been a little hard to decide how I want to organize it, and has taken a lot of revision, but I am finally so so happy with my introduction, and am really really excited about what I have of my first story. (I'll be posting my first story tomorrow). I just really feel like I've chosen such great characters to write about, and I love writing in first person (which I'll be doing through the entire story book) so I'm really excited to get everything done and up on the website. I hope you guys will like the characters I've chosen and their stories. They are stories which I have read over the years or studied in different classes and really felt a connection to the women characters, so I hope that I can do them and their stories justice.

Other than that I've just really been enjoying the snow this weekend. I actually have never been a fan of cold weather or snow at all.. but I guess its because being from Dallas all we ever seem to get is that stupid icy, sleety, disgusting mix. Not a fan. But this weekend the snow has been so so beautiful! My boyfriend and I even had an impromptu snowball fight this morning while we tried to clean off my car. I lost miserably and was literally covered head to toe in snow by the time it was over, but it was so much fun, and got me so excited about the snow. I kind of wish it would just snow for the whole week... so if that's not a change of heart, I don't know what is.

Week 7 Storytelling: The Silkworm Goddess

Goddess of the Silkworms 

There once was a beautiful and spirited girl. She was the only daughter of very hardworking father. Her mother had died when she was young, and ever since it had just been the two of them. One day her father left to go on a journey. He would be traveling all over China for he had to purchase grains and seeds and new livestock for which to grow his farm with.

Several weeks past and the girl became very lonely without her father. It was very hard work to tend to the farm all day by herself, and having no one to talk to was beginning to wear on her. She had only the animals to keep her company through out most of the days, and as a result had begun to talk to them, as if they were friends who could speak back.

One day the girl was feeling particularly alone. She missed her dear father very much, and longed to see her only family. As she was walking through the pasture, she came upon their stallion. Stopping to see him, she began to stroke his neck.

 "Stallion," she said. "If you could but run to my father and bring him back, why I would be so delighted, I would marry you." She giggled at her own joke.

The horse however began to bow down. He knelt down on his front knees, bowing his head as if to say "Your wish is my command, my lady."

Then he raised up and tore across the pasture, quickly disappearing from sight. The girl chased after him, but catching him was impossible. The girl fretted and fretted over the horse, wondering what she would do when her father arrived home and realized she had lost him. Days past and there was no sign of him, until one day, from a far distance she spotted a man sitting atop a horse riding towards her family's farm.

As the horse and its rider neared, the girl realized it was the stallion and her beloved father. She was so excited that she picked up her skirts and ran to meet them. "Oh father! You are back, and you have brought the stallion! I was so worried when he ran off, and I have missed you so!"

Suddenly though the horse stepped towards the girl and tried to bite her. She jumped back as her father swatted the stallion, and then looked towards her questioningly. "What is the meaning of this? Why would he bite you?"

"Oh no," the girl paced. "Oh no! Oh no! This can't be. Father, I was so lonely here, and one day I was tending to the animals and I said to the stallion if he would go and bring you back, I would marry him! Oh papa, I was just joking! It cannot be that he believed me!"

Her father stepped towards her, heaving in a breath. "Speak of this to no one, daughter, else the neighbors will talk." With that he grabbed the stallion pulling it towards the house where his bow lay. He quickly shot the horse, wasting no time in skinning it, and then hung the skin to dry in the barn before burning the carcass.

One day however, while walking with a friend, the girl came upon the horse's hide. "Stupid horse," she said, kicking it. "Thinking you would ever be able to marry a human, serves you right." Just as she said it however, the hide reached out and grabbed the girl! Wrapping her up tightly as she screamed before running away quickly.

The girl's friend was horrified, and so she took off sprinting in the direction of the house. Running to the girl's father, she relayed what had just transpired. The girl's father gathered the neighbors, and they spent many days and nights looking for the girl. but she was no where to be found.

Many days later however, they came upon her hanging from a tree still wrapped up in the horse hide. There was no way to loosen her from the tree, so day after day they watched as she gradually turned into a silkworm and wove a cocoon. She spun many strong and thick threads, and gave them to her friend who wove them into silk to sell for profit.

One day she finally disappeared from the tree and her father and her friends began to long for her greatly after several weeks. One night after they had spent the day telling stories about times when the girl had been alive, she suddenly appeared.

"Father, friends, you must yearn for me no longer. I have been sent into heaven to watch over the silkworms.  I am important here, you must not sorrow for me anymore." And so the community stopped sorrowing for the girl, and instead built many temples to her, and offered her many sacrifices in the silkworm season, and from then on they always had large profits of silk to sell for profits.

Author's Note: This story is from the Chinese fairy tales unit. The original story really appealed to me because it was so odd, and I was so surprised by the events of it. I wanted to keep the general story much the same because I love the surprise of the girl suddenly getting wrapped up into a horse hide and then turned into a silkworm. (very random, right?) Instead because the original story was so short, I wanted to add a little more detail to it just to elaborate more on the events of the story and make it easier to picture in your head. You can find the link to the original story here though! Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading!

Google Timer Tech Tip

Okay, wow this is the coolest thing. I had no idea this even existed. How handy! I try to give myself breaks every once in a while when i'm studying and this will definitely be useful in helping to make sure that I actually get back to work after a reasonable amount of time.

Too often I will give myself a break, and an hour later realize, oops, I should have gotten back to work way earlier than right now. I try to set a time limit when i'm giving myself breaks. For instance if I stop to do something else, I'll say "at blah blah time I'll get back to work" but then I get engrossed in something else and miss that time mark. I've never even thought to use a timer really, but what a great idea!

I also think this timer will be helpful in managing my time better. I can sometimes get really nit-picky when I'm studying and if I am not quite sure about something, I can get obsessive over it and end up spending a ridiculous amount of time on it, when I should have just stepped away from it and moved on to another section. I think I will start using this timer when I'm working on problems like this. I'll decide, "Okay, I will work on this for 30 minutes, and if by then I don't understand, I'm going to move on to the next thing and come back to it later." Then I can set the timer for that time to make sure that I actually follow that guideline.

So glad that I found this handy little tip.

Reading Diary B: Chinese Fairy Tales

The unit that I am reading this week (Chinese Fairy Tales) is really interesting to me. The stories are all quiet different. I really like how the majority of the stories spend a lot of time on the setting of the story, and how the actions of the story are set up. There were several stories that I particularly liked while I was reading however.

I really like the story called The Lady of the Moon. It's about a woman who takes an immortality potion and floats up into the sky and lives in a palace on the moon. The story does not have a whole lot of action in it, which surprises me that I still really liked it. It focuses a lot on describing the setting of the moon, what is on it, how it looks, etc. I really loved the descriptions a lot. They seemed magical and whimsical. The descriptions were so vivid that I could easily picture the scene in my head. I found myself wanting to create a story in this very setting.

Women placing silkworms onto bamboo screens

I also really liked the story The Girl with the Horse's Head or the Silkworm Goddess. This story was quite interesting, and though it was a little confusing at some parts, I really liked its ending. I loved how this story seemed to have a lot of action. I even felt a little bit of suspense while I was reading it. The story was very different as well. It was so unlike any fairy tale that I have ever read. It still had the same magic and wonder weaved into it though. I would love to read a more extended version of this story, to have someone drag it out into a full length novel, maybe.

Extra Reading Diary: Filipino Tales

The stories in this unit (Filipino Tales) are really interesting to me. The first few that I read felt really lighthearted, where no one was really punished for doing wrong. However, then there were several stories which were much darker. All of them have been enjoyable to read though, and pretty short!

Chimpanzee

I really liked the story The Enchanted Prince. It was an interesting story to me because the woman who was scorned did not exact a revenge which had a horrible outcome. She instead decreed that the prince would be made into a monkey and his subjects and town into a forest filled with animals for many centuries. However after he would be turned back into a man by the love of a woman, and live happily ever after, ruling his kingdom. I thought it was so interesting that the scorned witch had made it so that he would eventually be able to marry and rule his kingdom instead of ruining his life forever. However, it did allow for a great story of a woman falling in love with a monkey who then turned out to be a prince!

I also really liked the story The Clever Husband and Wife. It was another story that I thought was pretty strange because the husband and wife were really deceitful and had lied their way into getting money from their masters several times, but when the masters found out were not upset at all. Instead they rewarded them by moving them into their house. It seemed weird to me that there was absolutely no punishment for the couple's deceitful methods, nor was anyone upset by their lies. But it was such a different outcome than the other stories I have read about lying and deceit in this class that I ended up really liking it.

Week 6 Storytelling: Two Bottles of Wine

Spilled bottle of wine

Princess Hase-Hime sat in the living room playing with her younger half-brother. As she played she thought about the last few years. Her mother had died when she was just five, and her father had remarried a year later. Where her mom had been loving and kindhearted, her step-mother was cruel and vindictive.

Hase-Hime had tried so hard to be good over the years. She had weathered her step-mothers cruelty without complaint and worked hard to make her father and her proud, however nothing seemed to be able to change her step-mother's feelings towards her. In fact, over the past couple of weeks, things had been worse than ever.

Hase-Hime had been invited by the Emperor to play the koto for him. Her step-mother had even been asked to accompany her on the flute. However, while Hase-Hime had practiced tirelessly, perfecting her songs, and memorizing notes, her step-mother had done neither. It had been a great embarrassment when her step-mother had played so poorly during the performance that another lady had had to step in for her. When the emperor had lavished gifts on her, her step mother had seethed in jealousy.

She'd been especially cruel to Hase-Hime since. Hase-Hime had even overheard her muttering to herself in the kitchen saying, "If only Hase-Hime were not here, my son would have all of the love of his father." Hase-Hime had been disturbed by this, but had quickly put it out of her mind.

Today she was playing in the living room with her half-brother. At four years old, he was playful and goofy, and he idolized her. She loved spending time with him, helping him to play make believe with his toys, telling him wonderful stories about all kinds of magical creatures. They were currently sitting on the floor surrounded by toy warriors, acting out a story with them as Hase-Hime told it aloud.

She glanced up as she saw her step-mother walking into the room with two bottles of sweet wine. Strange she would have two bottles, she thought.

"You two are both so good and so happy that I have brought you some sweet wine, and some cakes," her step-mother said, her voice sounding a little strange. Hase-Hime watched as her step-mother fumbled over the glasses, hands shaking as she poured two cups of wine, one from each bottle.

She seemed flustered and out of sorts as Hase-Hime and her half-brother grabbed their glasses and sipped at the wine. Over the next half hour, Hase-Hime noticed her mother staring at her keenly, but she'd quickly look away when Hase-Hime noticed.

Suddenly her half brother screamed in pain, doubling over and grasping at his stomach. He vomited violently, before collapsing onto the ground, seizing. Hase-Hime jumped toward him terrified and panicked. Her step-mother screamed, eyes wide in shock and horror.

"My baby, oh my baby!" She grabbed at him, fumbling her arms around trying desperately to make him stop shaking, but when he finally did, his body fell limp, his eyes open but unseeing.

Hase-Hime looked on horrified. Her baby brother, her precious baby brother was dead. Just like that. As she stood there, frozen in shock, her step-mother turned toward her, her gaze wild and angry. She opened her mouth to speak, but quickly closed it before turning back to her lifeless son.

Hase-Hime looked around the room, eyes settling on the two separate bottles of wine her mother had brought in from the kitchen, and shivered. Something was not right here.

Author's Note: So I wrote my story based off the second part of the story of Princess Hase from the Japanese Fairy Tales told by Ozkani. I tried to give a little bit of background into who Hase-Hime was before going into the part of the story that I was going to focus on, but basically Hase-Hime's mother died when she was little and on her death bed had told Hase-Hime that no matter what she was to honor her father and to be a good and obedient child. When her father married her step-mother, Hase-Hime continued to be a perfect child, even though her mother was so incredibly cruel. In the story it is pretty matter of fact about how her step-mother accidentally kills her son while trying to poison Hase-Hime. I wanted to make it a little bit less obvious, and just allude to the truth behind her half-brother's death in my version of the story. I know this story is pretty dark, but it just really intrigued me and gave me the chills when I was reading and I wanted to share. You should definitely check out the rest of the story however (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, Part Four), it has a happy ending! Thanks for reading!

Reading Diary B: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)

Princess Hase and her father illustrated by a Japanese artist
in Ozaki's Japanese Fairy Tales

Okay so after reading the second half of this unit (Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)), my very favorite story is the story about Princess Hase. I think it is such a cool story, and it is a little bit reminiscent of both Cinderella and Snow White. Princess Hase had to deal with the whole evil stepmother thing like Cinderella, although her stepmother was a little more evil than Disney would probably ever allow.

The stepmother even ordered her to be taken off into the wilderness to be killed. This was when I started thinking of Snow White... Remember when the evil queen decides she wants Snow White dead and orders a hunter to kill her in the woods and bring back her heart? The servant doesn't want to kill Princess Hase, so instead he gets his wife, builds a cottage in the mountains and raises her... pretty Snow White like, right?

I loved how this story was so full of Japanese culture and tradition, but read so much like European fairy tales. I really loved the beginning of the story about when Princess Hase was a child. The early death of her mother, and her determination to follow what her mother had instructed her to do made her seem so wise beyond her years.

One of the scenes from when she was young that really stuck out in my mind was when her stepmother poisoned a bottle of wine in an attempt to kill her, but instead accidentally fed it to her son killing him. I can picture the scene so vividly in my mind of how this must have played out, and it absolutely gives me chills.

Reading Diary A: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)

Oh this unit (Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)) is really cool so far! I love that the stories are 3-4 parts long. I really like the longer stories because I like to feel like I am able to learn about the character more, and spend more time inside of the story. 

So far my favorite story is The Man who did not Wish to Die. I really liked how within the story a good background was given into the "Elixir of Life" that the man was searching for. That one of the most powerful emperor's had searched for it and not been able to obtain it, was a great testament to how elusive and desirable this thing was.

Sentaro flying to the land of Perpetual Life from the book
of Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Ozaki, illustrated by
Japanese artists

One of my favorite parts of the story is the description of life in the land of Perpetual Life. Sentaro was so determined to live forever or for hundreds and hundreds of years at least that he had never considered that it might not be as grand as he thought. The land of Perpetual Life was beautiful, but the people in it were not happy. They had been alive for hundreds and hundreds of years, no one had died. A priest had told them about Paradise, which was only to be found after death, and the people longed so much to reach that place that they would eat and drink poison in an attempt to get sick and die. I loved the initial contrast made between the people of the land and Sentaro after he first arrived in the land of Perpetual Life. They had such different outlooks of things, and I loved how over the course of the story Sentaro begins to see how living forever is not necessarily a blessing.

I really thought Sentaro was an easy character to read about. He had the same desires as so many people have, to live comfortably and almost lavishly, and to live a long long life. However throughout the story his outlook changes completely, and he seems wiser and to have a better understanding of life and the world and gifts around him.

Comment Wall!

Leave me comments, suggetions, or anything really here!

Extra Reading Diary: Indian Fairy Tales

For my extra reading diary this week, I read the first half of the Indian Fairy Tales. I really like these fairy tales. They are very different than the Georgian and Turkish fairy tales I read this week and last week, but still so interesting and fun. Like the Turkish fairy tales they seem to each have a lesson or a message woven into them. Its so very cool to me to be able to see the values that people find to be most important and how they weave them into stories to be used as a teaching method.

One of my favorite stories was The Magic Fiddle. I liked it in particular because the story was so full of magic. I also thought that the ending to the story was really interesting and quite a good message. After all of the ordeal that the girl is put through (she drowns in a well because of her sisters-in-law, she is turned into bamboo, was cut down, carved into a fiddle and carted around the country) she finally turns back into a human and sees her brothers and does  not react in complete anger. It says the only revenge that she took was to tell them that what they had done was wrong. I thought that was such an interesting ending to a story. I expected at the end that the brothers and their wives would be punished for their actions, but instead the girl acted with grace and not with vengeance. That was really cool to me.

The Lion and the Crane

I also really liked the first story The Lion and the Crane. This was another story that I really liked the message of. The crane does a big favor for the lion by helping him get something out of his throat, and when the lion should be showing that he is grateful to the crane, instead he responds only that the crane is lucky that he has not eaten him. The moral of the story was to show gratefulness to those who help you, and to always be gracious and kind to others. I really like that message and therefore enjoyed this story greatly. This is definitely a story that I would read to my children (when I have them, a wwaaayyyyy long time from now).

Reading Diary A: Turkish Fairy Tales

Okay, so I am really loving the Turkish Fairy Tales. They are everything fairy tales should be. They have princes, talking animals, fairies, and witches. At the end of the story everything is wrapped up into a neat little bow. These are the types of stories I would have loved to have been told as a child.

So far I really like The Fish-Peri.I love how magical the story feels. The fish is so grateful to the man for not selling or eating her, that every day when he leaves to go fishing, she changes into her human form and cleans his house for him. I also really enjoyed the tasks he was given by the Padishah. They were so random and seemingly impossible, yet the fish-maiden never batted an eye. She always had the perfect solution. I really liked how in this story it was the woman who was helping the man. So often in fairy tales the women are presented as being helpless creatures who rely on a prince charming to come and rescue them, but in these fairy tales, the women are not helpless at all. I can imagine that these stories would have given girls confidence that they are capable of solving problems themselves, and that they too can come to people's rescue.

Illustration from The Crow-Peri by Willy
Pogany

The Crow-Peri is another story that was very similar to The Fish-Peri, and I liked it equally well. In this story, a young maiden had been turned into a crow. She was helping a man to complete a series of tasks given to him by a Padishah at the demand of his jealous and vindictive lala. I really liked the element of treachery in this story, how the lala was constantly trying to influence the Padishah and force him to come up with tasks that the man would fail at. It was an added element to the story, which the Fish-Peri did not have as much of. Again I was so very impressed by how the women in this story were not portrayed as being helpless and weak, but instead contributed equally to the solving of various problems.

I cannot wait to read the rest of this unit!

Extra Reading Diary: Georgian Folktales

I loved the Georgian Folktales. They were so interesting and all of them seemed to be fable like. I felt like in each one, I was learning about the values and beliefs of the people who told them. There seemed to be a lesson in each of the stories, which I really appreciate. I love that stories can be used to instill values in children and in others.

A Georgian Prince by Grigory
Gagarin (ca.1850)

Oedipus and Antigone by
Antoni Brodowsky (1828)

One of my favorite stories from this unit was Fate. It definitely had a classic fairy tale feel. I also really liked how it dealt with the concept of fate. The entire story revolves around the idea that your fate is inevitable, and that no matter what you do to try to avoid it, it will catch up with you. It reminded me of the Greek character Oedipus. Although Oedipus's fate is much darker than the prince in this story, the basics are the same. Both Oedipus and the prince learn of their fates, and in distaste for them, endeavor to do all that they can to prevent it. In this story the prince finds the poor weaver's invalid daughter whom he is fated to marry and stabs her. However, like Oedipus, he is ultimately unable to escape his fate. He finds a beautiful woman in a palace in the woods years later and marries her. It turns out that she is the same poor weaver's daughter, but has had a change in circumstances. I like that this story is so reminiscent of Oedipus's story, but does not end in such tragedy as his did.

I also really loved the story The Serpent and the Peasant. This story had such a great message of  understanding, forgiveness, and grace. I could definitely see the religious influences within the story which testifies to their commitment to Orthodox Christianity. The snake is so full of grace and faithfulness. The peasant comes to him for help continually, and then continually acts thanklessly afterwards. He gives the snake back nothing. Even still though the snake offers his help without complaint when the peasant comes to him. When finally the peasant shows remorse for his actions and offers the snake what he had promised him. The snake acts gracefully. He forgives the peasant for his greed, for his violence, and for his thankfulness, and even says he does not want what he is due. This story to me is so representative of the faithfulness of God, and how He is there for us, and cares for us even when we turn our backs on Him. Further when we finally come back to Him, He is not vengeful or angry, but forgiving and full of grace. I love that this story seems so influenced by Christian beliefs.

Week 4 Storytelling: Never Smile at a Crocodile

Photo of a crocodile, AFP/GETTY

I sat in my villa, surrounded by lush furniture. Servants brought food and drink to the chaise on which I lounged on my patio. It was summer, and it was rather hot. One servant fanned me with a giant palm leaf. The house was bustling today, the Pharaoh was coming to visit.

I was the chief scribe, a rather important person, but still these visits were unusual. My wife should be here. She should be readying herself, helping to prepare the house, but she was no where to be found. I looked toward the large lake that I'd had put at the edge of my property and scowled. I knew where she'd been going all of these days.

She thought she was so clever, so secretive. Little did she know that I had been watching this whole time. I knew about her love for that peasant. I knew every gift, every secret meeting. I snarled in disgust thinking about how I'd watched them disappear into the cottage on our property. Watched as food had been brought from the villa to them, shook in anger while I watched them bath in the lake in the evening.

I glanced toward the magic box sitting on the end table beside me. Reaching out and opening it, I gazed upon the wax crocodile I had obtained. I grabbed it, calling for my butler. I turned it around in my hands muttering the quick spell I had learned, before handed it to the butler.

"Throw this trinket into the lake behind the man when he comes to bathe himself next."

The next day the Pharaoh arrived. I was doing some of my dealings with him, when the butler came and whispered in my ear.

"It is finished, sir."

I smiled to myself and continued on with the Pharaoh. Several days passed, the Pharaoh was still here and we were nearing the end of our work and his visit. My wife had spent the last days sulking and crying, acting out like a child.

Finally I confided in the Pharaoh. I told him of my wife, her unfaithfulness, her obvious and indiscreet abandonment of her vows. I told him of the wax crocodile, and how the butler had thrown it into the lake. I told him of how the young man had not returned since. I told him of the spell and my suspicions that it had worked. We went together to the lake, where I repeated the spell and called to the crocodile figure.

Up out of the water rose a giant crocodile! It came towards the shore, and the young man my wife had been consorting with was held in his jaw.

"He does everything I command," I said in wonder. The spell had worked. It had really truly worked.

The Pharaoh looked toward me, amazed at the sight. He turned back toward the water, where the crocodile sat. The young man he had had in his jaws stood shivering at the shore. His Majesty commanded to the crocodile, "Seize the wrongdoer."

The crocodile leaped out of the water, grabbing the man and disappearing back into the water. His Majesty asked if I wanted my wife punished similarly. A part of me did. A part of me was so angry I wanted her burned at the stake like many other women who abandoned their vows were, but I couldn't do it. I would punish her my own way. She would pay for what she had done.

Author's Note: So I am reading the Ancient Egyptian stories. I chose to write the story of the Wax Crocodile. The story is kind of dark, and I wanted to keep it that way, but I did change the ending some. It's all about a cheating wife and her lover and them getting the punishment deserved to them. In the original story the woman was burned alive at a stake, and her remains were tossed into the Nile. It was pretty gruesome, and while I don't mind violence in stories, it seemed a little bit melodramatic and kind of out of left field, so I altered it. Hope you enjoy!

Week 4: Reading Diary A- Ancient Egypt Unit

Ah, this unit is so cool so far! I didn't know much about the gods of ancient Egypt prior to starting this unit, so I have learned a lot. The gods of Egypt, it seems, had nearly as much drama as the gods and goddesses of Greece and Rome.

One of my favorite stories so far is The Journey of Isis. After the death of Osiris, Isis is completely devastated. She travels all over looking for his body and the men who betrayed him. Her determination is so appreciable. I loved the detail in everything she did in order to put herself in a position to bargain with the Syrian king to take back the body of Osiris. She comes across in this story as being very loyal, very determined, and very clever. The part in the story where Set discovers that Isis has taken Osiris is pretty gruesome, but Isis's reaction was a testament to her character and the amount of love and loyalty she felt toward Osiris. She sought out all 14 pieces of his body, which had been strewn about by Set just to bury each piece in its own tomb.

Head of a Crocodile in blue glass, 4th century BCE, Egypt

I also thought the story The Wax Crocodile was really interesting. It too had a pretty violent story line, which from what I have gathered reading the stories in this unit, is pretty typical. I think the Wax Crocodile was so cool because it seemed that it might be revealing of ancient Egyptian culture. It deals with adultery and what the punishment for that sin is. That both the adulteress and her lover are killed for it suggests that the ancient Egyptians prized fidelity very highly.

Storybook Styles

Jason and Medea by Carle van Loo (1759).

For my storybook, I am going to combine a couple of my ideas to make a storybook concentrating on ancient couples. I plan on including a story about Hypermnestra and the drama surrounding her failure to kill her husband, a story about Hector and Andromache, and a story about Medea and Jason. I am unsure what couple I would like to focus my last story on, but I want to display a variety of relationships. I love that Hypermnestra gets a storybook ending, but I love the tragedy of Medea and Jason's story. I am considering doing a story on either Paris and Helen, or Orpheus and Eurydice. I think they both have pretty intriguing stories that I would love to be able to explore.

I want to tell my stories in first person. I like being able to get into the mind of a character and really explore individual perceptions of events. I am choosing characters and relationships that have really powerful stories to be told and I think one of the best ways to do justice to these stories and to really help people to see and be moved by them is to put them directly inside of the minds of the people who lived them.

One idea I have for the story is to organize it into a frame shift. I would have a woman who has uncovered a collection of ancient diaries, and each story would be written as a diary entry or several diary entries from one of the women (Hypermnestra, Andromache, etc). I like the idea of having someone reading diary entries from these women because I think it would cool to also get to write about how the stories affected the woman reading them, its allows for a secondary way to portray the relationships of the characters.

I also like the idea of putting the stories into letter format. I think it would be cool particularly for the story of Hypermnestra to display the correspondence between her and her husband, and reveal the story through each of their letters. For the story of Medea and Jason I would love to tell Medea's side of the story in a letter she leaves in her home prior to her escape on the chariot. She is a character about whom I have conflicted feelings. I sympathize with her on many accounts, but her killing her children and getting away with it leaves such an unsettling feeling at the end of her story. She is a character I would love to get inside of and to give her a chance to tell her side of the story.

I am also toying with the idea of organizing my storybook to be more of an anthology. I like the freedom of an anthology. Because each of these couples' relationships and stories are so different, I like the idea of being able to tell each one in a different way. I think Medea's story could be so easily and powerfully told through a series of diary entries, but Hypermnestra's story fits so well in a correspondence format. I picture her writing a letter to her husband confessing to the plot her father made against him, and begging for his support at her trial.

Finally the idea of using an anthology and simply writing each of the stories in first person real time as they happen could be really powerful. I like this method because it is simple. There aren't any excess details which can detract from the power and the lessons of each person's story. I have chosen these couples because I am so moved and intrigued by the stories they have to tell, by their minds, their feelings, and their actions. I like the idea of just telling the story, from their perspective, with their candid thoughts, feelings, and actions as they happen. I think telling stories this way can sometimes lend a feeling of credibility. honesty, and identification to the characters.

Bibliography: The Medea  by Euripidies, translated by David Grene and Richard Lattimore (1944). Print.

"Hypermnestra to Lynceus" by P. Ovidius Naso from The Epistles of Ovid translated by J. Nunn, R. Lea, and J. Rodwell (1813). Web Source: Perseus Digital Library

"Hector and Andromache" from Homer's Iliad, translated by Alfred J. Church (1907). Web Source: Un-Textbook

"Orpheus and Eurydice" from Age of Fable: Vol I & II: Stories of Gods and Heroes by Thomas Bulfinch (1913). Web Source: Bartleby