Kat's Myth-Folklore 2018 Blog

( The Fisherman ) Once upon a time, a fisherman lived with his wife in an old hovel.  He went out to fish so that they could have something to eat.  He caught a flounder but the fish spoke to him.  I'm an enchanted prince.  Please don't eat me as I wouldn't taste very good anyway.  Just because the fish could speak, the fisherman let him go.  When he went home his wife was upset because he didn't catch anything.  He told her he did, but it was an enchanted fish so he let it go.  The wife was angry, saying he should have asked for something.  He told his wife they didn't need anything.  His wife told him she was tired of a smelly old hovel, ask for a nice cottage.  So the man went back, called out to the fish & told him what his wife said.  The fish said, go home, she already has it.  So he went home to see that they not only had a cottage, but new nice furniture, a full larder, and a garden with lots of fruits vegetables & ducks & chickens.  The m

( Creation of Life ) When God was creating life on Earth, he had to decide how long each creature was going to live. "How long is to be my life?" asked the donkey.   "I will give you 30 years," replied God. "Oh no, 30 years is too long for all the burdens and loads I must bear and work I must do!" So God relented and gave him 18 years instead.  The donkey was happy with this. Next was the dog.  "Surely you want 30 years of life since you don't have to work so hard?" asked God. "Oh no!  30 years is too long!  I do all this running and my legs, teeth, and voice will wear out until all I can do is sit in a corner."  So God relented and gave the dog only 12 years and he was happy. Next was the monkey.  "Surely you want 30 years since all you do is play and make people laugh?" asked God. "Oh no!  30 years is too long!  Often sorrow is behind my jokes and I can't take that for 30 years

( The creation of man ) God was creating all the creatures of the earth and assigning them years of life. How long shall I live asked the donkey.  I will give you 30 years said God.  Oh no, that is too many years to be carrying loads and working so hard!  So God only gave him 18 instead. God next asked the dog, surely you want to live 30 years.  Oh no, that is too long said the dog.  After so many years of running all I could do is be in a corner, without my voice to growl and teeth to bite.  So God took away 12 years and gave him 18 as well. Next was the monkey.  Surely the monkey wanted to live 30 years because he only had fun & didn't have to work.  But the monkey disagreed because 30 years was too long to have to make people laugh.  So God gave him 10 years instead and the monkey was happy. Then man went to God and said I will give you 30 years.  Oh no, that is not enough time!  I get 30 years to start my life and then I will die?!  So God gave him th

( Rumplestiltskin from Once Upon A Time) Once upon a time, a poor miller had a daughter.  He got into a conversation with the king and told him that his daughter could spin straw into gold.  The king wanted to see this so he locked the girl into a room with a spinning wheel and full of straw and told her if she wanted to live it had to all be spun into gold by morning.  The girl cried and Rumplestiltskin appeared to her & asked what was wrong.  She told him and he said that he could spin the straw into gold for her, but what would she give him in return?  She told him she'd give him her necklace.  They agreed and he spun the straw for her. The king was so greedy when he saw the gold that he locked her into a bigger room with more straw with the same orders.  She cried again and again made the same deal with Rumplestiltskin but for her ring this time.  By morning the straw was spun into gold.  The king was still more greedy so he locked her into a room with even more

I really liked my readings this week.  I've seen the Alice in Wonderland movie, a couple different versions of it, but reading the actual stories was a new experience.  I really liked the readings.  It was an easy read. My other classes are going pretty well.  I have two classes, Conflict Resolution and Technical Writing, that are taking up a lot of my time and are stressful to try to get the work load done, but they are pretty good over all.  I have a Native American Studies course this semester as well and I truly despise this course.  It's not that the work is hard and the grading system is very fair but the course itself is not good.  The professor wants us to go into every assignment with an open mind on Native American thinking vs the rest of the world thinking, but yet every single piece of reading he gives us is critical of non-Native thinking and lifestyle.  It trashes everything that a Christian white person is but expects the Christian white person to just feel bad

" If You Get Stuck " by Hilary Mantel If you get stuck while writing, get up and walk away from it.  Do anything you like, but don't interact with other people, otherwise you'll have their words and not your own to come back with. I think this is curious advice.  Many writers work on books, but they don't just lock themselves away from the world.  They often stop their book or writing, walk away to handle other parts of their lives, and then come back to their writing again.  You often hear of writers locking themselves away while writing, but I don't think it means that they literally do that and never speak to anyone else until they're finished.  Maybe some do, but I know several writers and they have normal lives to lead while writing. The advice is pretty good though because often when I find myself stuck on homework or a project of some sort, whether it be computer coding, writing, accounting, etc. it really does often help to get up and walk aw