Caitlyn's Blog for Myth-Folklore Fall 2018

Extra Credit Reading: Crash Course - Tricksters (Coyote: Image by U.S. Department of Agriculture )  I have always liked trickster characters, so it was fun to watch these crash course videos that focused on them. I was saddened when it was mentioned in the first video, Tricksters: An Introduction , that trickster characters are always male, since I generally prefer female characters. I think making a trickster character female would be great. I was not familiar with the Anansi character before watching this video, but it was interesting to see how the story about that trickster is used to explain why ants are often carrying very heavy things. I liked the video about Hermes and Loki for the information it provided on the invention of the lyre and its importance in telling stories. Also simply because it involved Loki, as it is always fun to hear about him. I thought the Coyote and Raven, American Tricksters video was interesting as it highlight the differences between Nat...

Reading Notes: Grimm (Librivox) Part B Fairy Tails by the Brothers Grimm (Fox: Image by 12019/10266 images )  I enjoyed the rest of this unit very much. I liked The Queen Bee , as the other brothers greatly underestimated their dwarf brother and in fact, made fools of themselves compared to him for most of the story. The story really showed how bad arrogance is, as it clearly affected the brothers who thought so little of their dwarf brother. I also enjoyed The Fox and the Horse . It is nice to see a story where a fox is not just mischievous or evil, as this fox helped out the horse. I felt bad for the lion, however, as he was deceived by the fox. I thought that the farmer did not deserve to have the help of the horse again, since he treated him so poorly. The story The Willow-Wren and the Bear was also quite interesting. At first, I thought the idea of the King and Queen birds going to war against the bear was silly. However, the next few lines of the story made me reali...

Reading Notes: Grimm (LibriVox) Part A, Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm   (Rapunzel letting down her hair: Image by Anne Anderson )  My favorite story to read from this section of the unit was Rapunzel , as I had previously heard or seen other versions of this story. My favorite version of the story happens to be the movie Tangled, but I found the version in the movie/musical Into the Woods has the most accuracy when relating back to this version. I still enjoyed this version very much. I also liked the theme in The Mouse, The Bird, and The Sausage . Though I think all of the characters dying at the end was too much, the story showed that people do not realize how things are for others and what kind of effort they put in. It also showed that sometimes it is best for everyone to specialize in something they are good at. I was also pleasantly surprised by the story The Travelling Musicians , as it seems that some of the movie Rock-A-doodle may be based on this story, ...