Week 13: Extra Credit Reading: King Arthur

 King Arthur: The Sword of Excaliber (Story Source)

• King Arthur is in a hard battle with a tall knight and would have died if Merlin did not save him
• King Arthur does not have a sword
• They stumble upon a lake with an arm that is holding a sword
• King Arthur asks the Lady of the Lake if he can have the sword
• She says yes if in return he will grant her a favor when she asks
• King Arthur and Merlin row out to the sword and take it from the arm
• Merlin tells King Arthur that as long as the scabbard is on him, he will shed no blood

King Arthur grabbing Excaliber (Picture Source)

Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales

 The Shepherd of Myddvai by Joseph Jacobs (Story Source)

• The shepherd is lying by a lake and three maidens rise out of the lake and he loves the one closest to him
• He gave them bread but then laughed and said it was bad and ran off
• The next day he gave them more bread and they said it was undercooked
• The third day he gave her bread and she liked it and said she'd be his wife if he could pick her out from her sisters the next day
• He could tell it was her by her sandal
• She said she would be a good wife unless he struck her without cause three times
• She tricks him into the first one after they had 3 kids
• She tricked him into the last 2 by him tapping her on the shoulder
• She went back to the lake and only came back for her sons to give them gifts of healing when they reached manhood
• They are now called the physicians of Myddvai

Shepherd of Myddvai (Picture Source)

Week 11: Reading - The Attack on the Giant Elk and the Great Eagle

 The Attack on the Giant Elk and the Great Eagle by Jicarilla Apache (Story Source)

• Great beasts used to prey on the people
• Jonayaíyin, the son of the woman who lives in the West, was sent to help the people
• He grew to manhood in 4 days
• He went out to the desert where the elk lived and reached it in 4 steps
• A lizard asked if he needed help and offered him his cloak to help disguise himself
• A gopher burrowed beneath the elk to help him
• The son shot the elk 4 times in heart but he was still alive and followed in pursuit underneath the earth
• The elk got trapped in by the webs of the great spiders and he died of exhaustion and his wounds
• He then made a coat from the hide of the elk and gave meat to the gopher and lizard
• He then set off for the eagle

Giant Elk (Image Source)

Reading: Week 9 - Brer Rabbit Part A

 Brer Rabbit: How Mr. Rabbit Was Too Sharp for Mr. Fox (Story Source)

• Brer Fox catches Brer Rabbit using the tar baby
• Brer Fox says he is going to leave Brer Rabbit there until he can build a fire to roast him
• Fox says its too much trouble to kindle a fire so he's gonna hang him
• Brer Rabbit tricks Fox into throwing him into the briar-patch
• Brer Rabbit gets away

Brer Rabbit with the Tar Baby (Image Source)

Week 7 Reading: The Monkey King - Part B

 The Monkey King: The Great Saint (Source)

• Sun Wu Kung asks his friends what his title of stablemaster means 
• They said it is not a rank at all and he gets mad because he is a king
• He storms out and gets back to his island Mountain
• His apes asked him what he had been doing and he told them he was in heaven for only 10 days until he was treated badly and came back
• Two horned devils came and and brought him a yellow imperial robe
• They then gave him the title The Great Saint

Sun Wu Kung (Picture Source)

Reading Week 7: The Monkey King Part A -

"The Ape Sun Wu King" in The Chinese Fair Book, by R.Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H Martens (Story Source)

• The apes are aware that they will eventually die off
• An old ape tells a story that whoever obtains a buddha, spirit, or god will live forever
• The king of the apes wants to go find them
• The old ape says they live in caves and holy mountains in the world of mortals
• The king of the apes sets out alone on his quest
• He lands on a shore and tears the clothes off of a fisherman and wandered around the famous spots
• He wandered around for 9 years and found nothing
• He then sets off on the sea again to find the buddhas
• He heard someone singing and went off in the woods to find this lovely voice
• He meets a wood-chopper that had been singing a song taught him by a saint
• The wood-chopper tells the king the way to the saints
• The ape king was led into the cave through the gate
• The saint named him Sun Wu Kung
• The ape king lived there for some six or seven years learning the ways of the saints
• But he had still not put away his wild nature

Sun Wu Kung (Picture Source)

Week 6 Reading: Sinbad - The Sixth Voyage

 Sinbad the Sailor: The Sixth Voyage (Story Source)

• Sinbad Travels overland to a distant Indian Port where he set sail with a captain looking to make a long voyage
• Got caught in a big storm as well as a large current that was sweeping them away
• Their ship got smashed against rocks but not before they got out
• They found a cave covered in rubies and diamonds
• Sinbad is the last one alive and decides to make a raft because he might as well die out there
• He gets on a raft and is swiftly carried away by a river and is on the raft for many days and nights
• Runs out of food
• He falls asleep and wakes up on an island surrounded by friendly-looking black men
• They are nice and one of them speaks Arabic
• They fed him and listened to his story. Astonished they brought him to their King
• He has a great time on Serendib (the island) but wants to leave so the King loads him up with gifts and sends him on his way

A movie cover for the 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Picture Source)

Week 6 Readng: Sinbad - First Voyage

 Sinbad the Sailor: First Voyage part 1(Source)

• The story opens up with Sinbad telling the man about how he squabbled his fortunes
• He sold all his stuff and joined a company of merchants 
• The set sail 
• They landed occasionally at small islands 
• They went on an island but it was actually a sleeping whale
• Sinbad did not make it into the boat so he was clinging to piece of wood
• He finally found an island and climbed up a cliff
• He met the people on the island and they liked him

A movie cover for the 7th Voyage of Sinbad (Picture Source)

Reading Notes: Twenty-Two Goblins, The Generals Wife

  Twenty-Two Goblins translated by Arthur Ryder (Source)

• The king picks up the goblin again
• Very brave king
• There is a great merchant with a beautiful daughter
• The merchant wants the king to marry her
• The King's brahmans saw her beauty and said she had bad qualities
• The king did not marry her but gave her to a general and they lived happily
• The king saw her again and was taken with her beauty
• The general wanted to give his wife to the king but the king would not have it
• The king withered away and died due to his yearning for love
• The general burned himself because his king was dead
• The goblin asked the king who was more deserving to die
• The king says the king in the story and the goblin escapes and goes back

A tree like one the goblin would have been in (Source)

Reading Notes: The Twenty-Two Goblins, The Three Lovers

 Twenty-Two Goblins translated by Arthur Ryder (Source)

• There is an old brahman that lives on a river and he has a beautiful daughter
• Three young boys come out the father and ask for her hand
• The young girl could not decide which one to choose
• The girl dies
• The three boys do something different to cope with their grief
• One boy becomes a monk and travels to other countries
• He eats dinner in a house where a baby cries and his mom throws him into the fire
• The master of the house raises the body back to life
• The monk goes back and raises the young girl back to life
• They all fought over who was to take her as his wife
• The King answered the riddle saying the one who slept by her ashes should be her husband
• The goblin went back to his tree

A tree like one the goblin would have been in (Source)

Reading Notes: Bible Women - Herodias

 King James Bible (1611): Mark 6 (Source)

• John the baptist gets arrested and thrown in prison
• Herodias wanted to kill John but Herod would not let her because he feared John for he was a holy man
• At a feast, Herod's daughter, Salome, danced for the party and Herod offered her whatever she wanted.
• Her mother, Herodias, says to ask for John's head on a platter.
• Herod did just that

Herodias and Salome (Source)

Reading Notes: Bible women - Sarah

 King James Bible (1611): Genesis 18 (Source)

• The Lord appeared to Abraham and Sarah with three other angels.
• Abraham makes food for them to all eat.
• The Lord said to Abraham and Sarah that they will have a child.
• Sarah laughs because she is so old. Then she lies to cover it up.
• The Lord returns to Sarah and she bares a son called Isaac.
• They had a great feast when Isaac was weaned.

God rewards Sarah and Abraham with a son ( Source)

Reading Notes: Homer's the Odyssey part A

Reading Notes Week 3: Homer’s The Odyssey Reading A (Source)

 

Land of the Cyclops:

·      Arrive at the land of the Cyclops

·      Describe Cyclops way of life. No boats. Never worked to farm or grow crops even though island is ripe for it.

·      Describe the Cyclops island

·      One ship decides to go meet the cyclops and see if they are nice to strangers and fear the gods

Prisoners of the Cyclops:

·      He chooses 12 men to go with him.

·      He tells the story of getting the sweet wine and what they did that night they got it

·      They went to the giant’s cave but he was gone grazing in the fields

·      The giant came back and they gave him an offering

·      He asks them what they are doing

·      The giant killed two of his men and ate them

The Cyclops defeated

·      They blinded him and tricked him so no one would help him

Escape from the Cyclops

·      They escaped by sneaking out under the sheep

·      Odysseus then yelled back and taunted the giant and told him his real name

Polyphemus’ Curse

·      The cyclops prays a prayer to Poseidon that Odysseus will never reach home

·      They got to Circe’s island and had a feast but are kind’ve lost

Circe’s Magic

·      They all see a goddess (Circe) singing

·       She turned them into pigs

·      One man didn’t go so he went back to get help

·      Odysseus goes to save them and Hermes stops him on the way to give him advice

The Moly Defeats Circe

·      Odysseus withstands her spell and go to bed together and free his men

On Circe’s Island

·      They stayed on her island for a year

·      She tells them they must sail to Hades

The death of Elpenor

·       

Odysseus (Source)

Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

 Tricksters: Tiger, Brahman, and Jackal

• A tiger is caught in a trap
• Along comes Brahman
• There is an exchange and the Brahman lets the tiger out
• Tiger then captures the brahman and threatens to eat him now
• The Brahman then goes to the first 3 things he sees along the road and asks them for help but they give no sympathy
• He then stumbles upon a Jackal that goes back to help him
• The Jackal tricks the tiger to get back in the cage and he shuts the door   

Sere Kahn https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/9/95/Shere_Khan_Disney_Jungle_Book.jpg