Shea's Myth-Folk Blog

In the story, " The Voice of Death ," a man only wants to be wealthy; it is all he can think about. One day, his wish comes true. He does not want to lose his wealth and possessions by dying, so he sets out to find a place without death. He went from country to country, asking if people died there. When he heard that they did, he moved on to the next country. He reaches a place where the people say they do not even know the meaning of the word death. The man asks if there are several people there since nobody dies. The people say no, because every so often they can hear a voice calling and someone goes to find it only to never return. They say the person can both hear the voice and see who is calling. The man thinks whoever follows the voice is stupid. He returns home to get his possessions and family to bring them to the land where nobody dies. He tells his family to not follow the voice if they ever hear it once they have settled into their new home.  Several years go...

In the story " How the Dragon was Tricked ," a man has two sons who do not get along very well. The younger son is more handsome and the older brother is jealous. When they walk through the woods together, the older son ties his younger brother to a tree hoping he will starve to death. A humpbacked shepherd passes by and asks why he is tied up. The son replies that his back was crooked, but now is straight after being tied up. The shepherd says he wishes to be tied up so his back will be straight too. The shepherd unties the young men and the son ties the shepherd to a tree and leaves. The young man takes the sheep of the shepherd and convinces a horse boy and a driver of oxen to come with him and join his adventures.  The king hears of his tricks and has his guards kidnap the young man to see if he is as clever as he has heard. The king says he still spare the young man's life if he can bring him the flying horse that belongs to the dragon. The son goes ...

There once was a little boy who lived with his mother and father. The little boy was celebrating his birthday, and his mother asked him what type of cake he wanted. The little boy said he wanted a cake shaped like a leopard. The mother put the cake in to bake and told the little boy, "Your father and I are going to the market. Keep an eye on the oven while we are gone." The mother and father left, and the little boy sat in the kitchen staring at the oven. He got very bored, and decided to go outside to play. When the little boy got tired, he went inside and found the oven door wide open! He went to the front door, only to see the leopard cake running away! The little boy chased after the cake, but got very tired and had to sit down. The leopard cake kept running and kept running, until it came across two mice. The mice asked, "Where are you going, leopard cake?" The leopard cake responded, "I just outran a little boy. Since I am a leopard, I am faster than...

In the "Jingles" section of the Nursery Rhymes unit, there are several well-known tales. The first is "Hey Diddle Diddle."  HEY! diddle, diddle, The cat and the fiddle, The cow jumped over the moon; The little dog laugh'd To see the sport, While the dish ran after the spoon. The next is "Tweedledum and Tweedledee." TWEEDLE-DUM and Tweedle-dee Resolved to have a battle For Tweedle-dum said Tweedle-dee Had spoiled his nice new rattle. Just then flew by a monstrous crow As big as a tar-barrel, Which frightened both the heroes so They quite forgot their quarrel. Another is "Rub-a-dub-dub." RUB a dub dub, Three men in a tub: And who do you think they be? The butcher, the baker, The candlestick-maker; Turn 'em out, knaves all three! As I said in the other reading post about the Nursery Rhymes unit, I think it would be difficult to write my own jingles inspired by these. They are all fairly short and follow a similar rhyme scheme. Th...

In the "Riddles" section of the Nursery Rhymes, there are several short riddles. At the end of each, the answer to the riddle is revealed. Many are written in "AABB" or "AABBCC" rhyme scheme. One riddle I liked was THIRTY white horses upon a red hill, Now they tramp, now they champ, now they stand still. The answer to this riddle is "teeth and gums," in which the horses are the teeth and the hill is the gums. While I think it would be fun and interesting to write riddles like the ones found in this unit, I think it would be difficult to reach the word count required for the writing assignments for this course. To reach the required minimum word count, I would have to write several riddles, probably at least ten. These riddles tend to be shorter, usually between two and twelve lines. It would also be difficult to keep to the rhyme scheme. Teeth by Kjerstin Michaela Story source:  The Nursery Rhyme Book  edited by Andrew Lang and illustr...

I love the idea for this! I've had a "happy wall" in every room I've lived in during college that's filled with images that make me happy, so I really like the idea of having a visual reminder of the things that make me happy. My plan for this challenge is to write one thing that made me happy that day on a post-it note. I have a small wall between my windows right above my desk and I will stick them here so I have them in plain sight! post-it by Alexandra_Koch

One of the areas of my life where I can definitely apply growth mindset is learning Italian! Although I have taken Italian classes for the past couple years, I am not currently enrolled in a class focused on learning the language. I took Italian 1-4 over the past two years, but right now the only "Italian" class I am enrolled in is Italian Literature and Culture, which is taught in English and does not focus on the Italian language. I am studying abroad next semester and will be taking Italian Conversation and Italian Composition, so I am trying to keep with with learning Italian on my own so I will be prepared. I have bought some books to practice, but have found it difficult to keep a consistent study habit. The upside is that I actually enjoy practicing Italian, especially when it's on my own and not for a grade. Having a growth mindset helps me remember that even though I may not have the best study habits at the moment, this is no reason to just give up. I just have...