Reading Notes: The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi

-Susa-no-wo saw a chopstick floating down the river so he decided to see where it came from
-He came across an old man and woman weeping over a maiden
   -they descended from the Mountain-God
-Susa-no-wo finds out from the man that an 8 forked serpent has taken his 8 daughters and will now surely take his last
-the serpent has red eyes, blood-inflamed body, 8 heads, and 8 tails
   -its so big that trees grow on its back
-Susa-no-wo says he will slay the serpent for the mans daughter's hand in marriage
   -apparently he is the brother of the Sun Goddess
-the two elder deities agreed
-Susa-no-wo transformed the maiden into a comb which he put in his hair
-He made 8 large vats of very strong sake
-the serpent came and drank up the sake becoming very drowsy
-in the serpents drunken state, Susa-no-wo cut the serpent into 1000 pieces and found a divine sword within it
-he turned the comb back into the maiden
-Like high ramparts manifoldLo the clouds appear:
On all sides they firm enfold
Kushinada dear,
Prisoned mine for e’er to hold
In their ramparts manifold!

Susa-no-wo's Struggle. Source: Wikimedia Commons

"The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi" from Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

Topic Research: Silesian Folk Tales

I would like create my project from the folk tales of Silesia. I had never realized the Silesian region had its own, unique folk tales, and I doubt many other people outside of Silesia have known about them either, let alone heard them. It is this thought that gave me the idea for the style I would like to use for my project. Rather than telling these stories with a third-person perspective and using Rubezahl as a common character as my source does, I would like to write from the first-person viewpoint of someone traveling through Silesia, experiencing the stories found in Silesian Folk Tales firsthand. My introduction would be the background of the storyteller. Perhaps he could be a coal miner, as Silesia is known for its coal mining industry, from Silesia travelling to a bigger city such as Krakow or Prague. Or perhaps the storyteller could be a merchant from a distant realm just passing through Silesia. Either way, I think it would be best to set my project in the past, sometime in the 17th century: when Silesia, or at least the Kingdom of Bohemia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth which were the powers governing Silesia, were the most influential. The three stories could be really be any of the selected folk tales found in my online source. However, I would really like to retell the stories of The Three Students, The Horse Dealer, and The Master of Horse. Each tale, which would be told by our traveler, would be a tale about someone he meets along his journey. Obviously, there is a possibility that I might write in a certain way that would make one of the other tales a better fit. Fortunately, I think if I do have to be flexible, I could very easily use any one of the folk tales in the book. On top of writing from the perspective of a character I, myself, formulated, I also believe this project will mirror my own time in Silesia where I met many different people and listened to their stories. For this reason, I already feel that this project is especially personal for me and I will enjoy researching and writing it.

Ksiaz Castle in Lower Silesia. Source: #Poland

Like the beautiful hidden villages and castles that can be found in Silesia that are not widely known among outsiders, my goal for this project is to share the beautiful and distinct, yet scarcely known, folk tales that come from the region. Perhaps my project will spark an appreciation for these stories that would have otherwise never come to fruition.

Week 6 Lab: TEDEd Videos: Language

How did English evolve? - Kate Gardoqui
-"They gave us a hearty welcome"
   -connotes a simple, rustic, and blue-collar scene because of the words' Saxon origins
-"They gave us a cordial reception"
   -connotes a elegant, sophisticated, and high-brow scene because of the words French origins
-When the Roman Empire crumbled, the Germanic tribes took over the Britain from the Celts
   -the spoke their Anglo-Saxon language we call Old English
-When the Viking Danes invaded, Old Norse words were integrated into the language
-The Normans then invaded making French the language of English royalty for nearly 300 years
-This caused for the aristocracy to speak French and the simple peasants to speak Old English
-The Normans also brought over Roman Catholic clergymen who introduced some Latin into the language
-This division based on language is still embedded in English today, i.e, the first example

Model showing the history of the English language. Source

Does grammar matter? - Andreea S. Calude
-Prescriptivism vs. Descriptivism
-Prescriptivism
   -a language should follow specific rules
   -as languages came to be written, it was standardized to make it easier to understand over a vast population
   -this standard form was then seen as the only proper form
   -language purists established rules that were applied to spoken language as well
   -how language SHOULD be used
   -formal
-Descriptivism
   -Variation and adaptation is a natural and necessary part of language
   -speech is a separate phenomenon from writing
   -speech is more flexible
   -how language IS ACTUALLY used
   -informal
-Grammar is a set of linguistic habits that are constantly being renegotiated; a combination of descriptivism and prescriptivism

Reading Notes: Third Voyage, Part 1

-Sinbad sets sail on his third voyage
-The winds drive his ship to the harbor of a strange island
-the island was populated by short, hairy, and barbarous savages
   -they stood 2 feet tall and were covered in reddish fur. they spoke a strange language unknown to Sinbad
-the savages commandeered the ship and dropped the sailors off on another island close by
   -the sailors cant stop the savages because they don't speak they're language and they know that if they harm any of the savages, they will swarm the sailors and kill them all
-after wandering a ways and eating fruits along the way, they reach a large, well-built castle
-they go inside to find a pile of human bones and spits for roasting
-being terribly scared, a giant cyclops makes his way to them
-he picks out the fattest of the sailors, roasts him, then eats him
-the cyclops then takes a nap, wakes, and leaves

An Ewok from Star Wars. Source: Wikimedia Commons

"Third Voyage" from The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

Reading Notes: The Tale of King Rhampsinitus

-Rhampsinitus built the western portion of the temple of Ptah and two statues to Summer and Winter
-he ordered for a stone warehouse to be built for his treasure
-one of the builders made it where a stone could be removed from the outside in order to get inside
-the man became ill so he told his two sons about the stone
-the sons went to take some treasure at night
-the king was astonished that his treasure continued to disappear while the seals remained intact so he set traps
-on their next raid, one of the brothers got caught in a trap
-he decided that to save his brother, he must have his head cut off so no one would recognize him
-his brother did so
-the king hung the body from the palace to see who would come to mourn
-the mother of the brothers told her surviving son to retrieve the body
-using donkeys carrying wine, he tricked the guards and got them drunk
   -he shaved their right cheek before leaving with his brother's body
-the king told his daughter to find the criminal
-she said she would be the brothers bride if he told her the most artful and most wicked things he has done
-he told her about cutting off his brothers head and tricking the guards
-the princess tried to seize him but she grabbed the severed arm of the dead brother and he escaped
-the king was genuinely impressed with with the man's cunning so he promised to pardon him if he were to come forward
-he lived happily ever after, marrying the kings daughter and working in the kings court

The Pyramids at Giza. Source: Wikimedia Commons

"The Tale of King Rhampsinitus" from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Reading Notes: The Green Jewel

-Khafra tells a story about King Sneferu
-Sneferu was bored, finding no entertainment in the palace
-his scribe suggested he go boating, with the rowers being beautiful girls
-Sneferu, the scribe, and 20 girls sailed around a lake on a elaborately decorated boat and the girls sang all the while
-An oar handle hit the girl who was steering, knocking a green jewel from her hair and into the water
-She and the rest of the girls stop singing and rowing
-Sneferu asks why they stopped and the girls explain
-He offers to give her another green jewel but she only wants her own green jewel
-After explaining this to the scribe, the scribe utters magic words, parting the water of the lake, and retrieving the girls jewel
-He utters another spell and the water goes back to the way it had been
-The trip continued
-Later, at the palace, Sneferu gave the scribe gifts and marveled at what he had done

The Hooker Emerald Brooch. Source: Wikimedia Commons

"The Green Jewel" from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Reading Notes: Venus and Psyche

-Familiarity drags Psyche into Venus' presence by her hair
-Venus laughs and mocks Psyche for finally calling upon her mother-in-law
-Venus then calls for her servants Anxiety and Sorrow
-They punished and flogged Psyche
-Venus then mocks Psyche by saying that her child, Venus' grandson, "will be illegitimate, if indeed I allow the birth at all."
-Then, Venus herself beats up Psyche
-Venus then calls for wheat, millet and barley, poppy-seeds, chickpeas, lentils and beans to be mixed together in one heap. She tells Psyche she is to sort the pile into separate kinds by the end of the day
-Venus leaves for a wedding party
-Psyche is dumbfounded knowing the task is impossible
-An ant happens to pass by and pities Psyche
-It gathers a squadron of ants and together they make short work of sorting the pile
-Venus comes back and says that it wasn't Psyche's work, but the work of Cupid

An Ant. Source: Wikimedia Commons

"Venus and Psyche" from Apuleius's Golden Ass, as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).

Reading Notes: Psyche's Beauty/The Oracle of Apollo

-In a city, there was a king and queen. Their first two daughters were pretty but their third daughter, Psyche, was indescribably beautiful
-people from all around would come just to see her
-they prayed to her as she was Venus herself
-the news reached Venus so she decided to pay a visit to see for herself
-the rumors of Psyche's beauty reached almost all of Greece
-people began to make pilgrimages to see Psyche rather than to worship in Venus's temples
-Venus became rather angry saying that she now has to share her title as the "fairest of them all" with a mere mortal
-Venus asks her son Cupid to do her a favor by striking Psyche with love for the most wretched man
-Venus then shows off a little and makes a grand exit into the sea

"Psyche Honored by the People" by Luca Giordano (late 17th century)

Source: Wikimedia Commons

-Despite her beauty, Psyche remained un-betrothed while her sisters went off and married nobles
-Her father, fearing divine hostility, sought help from an oracle.
- It said, "High on a mountain crag, decked in her finery,
Lead your daughter, King, to her fatal marriage.
And hope for no child of hers born of a mortal,
But a cruel and savage, serpent-like winged evil,
Flying through the heavens and threatening all,
Menacing ever soul on earth with fire and sword,
Till Jove himself trembles, the gods are terrified,
And rivers quake and the Stygian shades beside."
-Psyche, her parents, and the whole city grieved at the cruel fate
-Psyche still sought to fulfill the command and became a "dead woman walking"
-Psyche tells her parents not to grieve her but grieve the hubris she fell into.
-Psyche was left on the mountain
-she was carried by Zephyr off the cliff and into the valley

"Psyche's Beauty" from Apuleius's Golden Ass, as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).