Week 12 Essay: Magic and the Supernatural in Thomas's "Welsh Fairy Book"

Magic and the Supernatural in Thomas's Welsh Fairy Book

The world of Thomas's Welsh Fairy Book is, as one might imagine, a world where there is a lot of fairies. More than this, the actions of fairies very much actively affect the lives of mortal folk as well. As with the stories in the British North American unit, there is not a large gap dividing the worlds of the natural and supernatural. Fairies often interfere in the lives of regular humans, and for their part humans often find themselves stumbling into the territory of the fairy folk.

“The Stray Cow” provides a good example about how the affairs of the supernatural folk often come to affect the lives of your average mortal. When one of a number of sacred cows belonging to some local elfin women—essentially fairies—comes to live among the herd of an old farmer, the fortunate man finds himself suddenly becoming quite rich. This elfin cow produced the best calves and milk one could ask for, yet the farmer, apparently not realizing the exact nature of his divine bovine, fears that the stray cow will eventually grow too old to profit him further and decides to slaughter her. The fairies interfere and take away before he can follow through with this desire, and take the stray and her offspring back to live with the elfin people in their lake. Thus the old man goes from rags to riches to rags all in the space of one short story. This same idea of a man winning a supernatural jackpot and securing the blessing of the Fair folk before blowing it all up is seen in several more stories as well. The relationship between men and fairies is shown to be one that is very dynamic, but more often than not it is the flaws of the mortal that spells the end for the blessings of the fairy people.

Another interesting thing about these stories is how they convey a sense that the realm of man and the realm of fairies are closely connected, such that humans often find themselves stumbling into the fairy realm unexpectedly. Fairies are beings bound up with nature, so places like forests and bodies of water serve as fluid boundary points between the two worlds. In “Owen Goes A-Wooing,” the protagonist sinks to the bottom of a lake and ends up unintentionally crossing the boundary into a supernatural realm in which he can breathe and see just well as if he was on land. Although he spends only a few hours in the mysterious realm, by the time he has come back to the human world, a month’s time has passed. This same idea that time passes very slowly in the fairy realm is shown in "Einion and the Fair Family."

One of the most unique stories that deals with the connection between the two realms is “Why Deunant has the Front Door in the Back.” In this story a fairy explains to the man Deunant the unusual reason why the farmer’s cattle has fallen under a curse and become sick with the black quarter. The fairy states that he was the one who placed the curse on the cattle because Deunant is unintentionally throwing his slops down the little man’s chimney. As it turns out, whenever Deunant throws his slops outside his front door, they end up mysteriously going under the earth to some manner of under realm, where they find themselves going down the fairy’s chimney.
 The great thing about these Welsh stories is that when you read them, you truly feel like you’re entering a world where logic is suspended and anything seems to be possible. The world of Thomas’s book is supremely rich and mysterious in its treatment of the supernatural. Fairies seem to be almost everywhere, and their realm exists directly alongside that of humans, such that it becomes very easy for humans to stumble into threshold of the uncanny without even knowing it. Living in such proximity to humans, fairies often involve themselves in the affairs of men, often to the mortals’ eventual detriment. 

And this is why you have to watch where you throw your slops! (Un-textbook)

Week 11 Essay: Role Modelling in the King Arthur Unit

Negative and Positive Role Modelling in the King Arthur Unit

Historically knights were likely far from the most ideal of people. Such men were, after all, warriors trained to excel in combat and a code like chivalry—at least as it is conceived in modern times—was more likely to be an ideal followed in literature than in reality. Nevertheless, fiction as it was preferred in medieval times was more didactic than focused on the accurate representation of reality. As a result, Arthurian romances give us mostly positive role models in the form of righteous knights like Galahad. At the same time there are also more negative figures who, while not necessarily being wholly immoral, struggle with the sins they have committed  in the past, as is the case with Lancelot.

Galahad is throughout the unit portrayed as being the absolutely ideal knight. He makes no moral mistakes throughout the grail quest arc, and is even able to prevail in combat over the likes of Percival and his own father Lancelot. This is no small victory, and it is indicative of Galahad’s character since I have found that in most cases in Arthurian mythology, the better person also inevitably ends up becoming the best warrior. In addition, Galahad is awarded special equipment during the grail quest. He is given a shield in “Sir Galahad and the White Knight” that is said to only be able to worn by the worthiest knight in the world. Later Galahad proves able to draw a magical sword from a scabbard where his fellow good knights Percival and Bors could not. Finally Galahad is granted the honor of having his soul taken directly to heaven by some angels.  In this particular story arc, Galahad is shown to be the greatest of all knights, someone who’s humble, courteous, and thoroughly devoted to God. He thus also serves as the greatest role model in this particular series of stories.

Although the father of Galahad, Lancelot does not share his son’s near perfection as a person. Lancelot is, of course, that famous knight known for his passionate affair with Guinevere. Although the two often seemed to be portrayed sympathetically in many versions of the tale, in the grail quest Lancelot’s adulterous relationship becomes an obstacle to Lancelot’s quest for the grail. Lancelot is a figure who desires to do good and indeed comports himself very well throughout his grail quest, but because of his past sin that he will inevitably return to later, he cannot overcome the guilt that haunts him on his adventure. “Sir Lancelot and the Five Hundred Knights” is a particularly compelling story that serves thoroughly expose to Lancelot his earthly, sinful condition. Although the sins of Lancelot’s past make him a good example of a negative figure whose example readers should not follow, he also was probably a very relatable figure whose repentant attitude throughout the grail quest would show people who are wrestling with past sins that they need to be suitably contrite for what they have done.

This unit features a lot of knights in the story, most of which are on the whole positive figures. However, because of the successes he has on his quest and the great death that he is granted in the end, Galahad stands above the rest as the best role model that medieval readers would have looked to in order to learn how to conduct themselves.  On the other end of the spectrum, the sinful and guilty Lancelot would serve as a negative role model in some ways, but also as an example of a person who has a soft conscious and desire for penance.  

Galahad by Edwin Austin Abbey (Un-textbook)

Week 10 Essay: Magic and the Supernatural in the British North American Unit

Magic and the Supernatural in the British North American Unit

There is a good amount of supernatural things going on in many of the stories in the British North American unit. While not necessarily dominant themes in the unit, it is common in the stories for there to be characters that have some kind of ability to do supernatural things. In these tales many people can shape shift at a whim, inanimate objects can talk, and even ordinary people are capable of supernatural things under the right circumstances.

“The Making of Lakes andMountains” is a good example of acts of magic that seem almost accidental. In the story a woman flees from some bears that have captured her, and along the way throws various things onto the ground. In this story hair oil becomes a lake, pieces of a whetstone becomes mountains, and even hair combings become a mass of trees. Although seemingly a normal woman, this protagonist is capable of achieving miraculous things with use of the most mundane of objects. It’s notable that at the beginning of the story, it says that “[the woman] wanted to escape, and she remembered to do as she was told.” The passage then goes on to describe how, after she combed her hair, she gathered her combings together, then got some hair oil, a whetstone, and some red ochre before setting out. Now I wasn’t exactly sure what to make of this “she did as she was told” statement at first, but it seems to me that the woman had been told by some other person at some point how to properly escape from a dangerous situation. Thus her use of objects like the hair oil came from faith in a person’s advice. Thus this story can be seen as a way of validating that, when we are danger, we should look to the wisdom that has handed down to us by others. Because the woman in this story did this, she was not only able to escape, but also perform great feats that literally transformed the landscape of the world. Even the small things we do can have big effects this story seems to be saying.

The most obvious supernatural element that stands out in “Wolverene and Rock” is the fact that a rock and a wolverine can both talk in this story. Anthropomorphism of even inanimate objects is common in Native American tales from what I’ve observed, and so this isn’t a particularly unique supernatural story element, but it’s still worth noting. The other supernatural element in this story is the arrival of Thunder and Lightning. Thunder and Lightning is not only portrayed as being an individual with his own agency, but also Wolverene’s brother. The world in these stories is one where every aspect of nature is sentient, and on some level related. This is a great illustration of the Native American world view, which holds to the idea that everything in nature is related and has some kind of effect—whether direct or indirect—on every other element in nature.

The characters in the story who possess magical abilities that they actively use in the story are normally tricksters like Coyote. In “Coyote and Fox,” we see two tricksters pitted against each other who use their magic to gain the upper hand against the other. For example, in retaliation for eating his food, Coyote uses magic to create fire to burn Fox, but Fox in turn counters by setting back the fire with his powers. Later, after Coyote has stolen Fox’s robe of silver-fox skins, Fox summons a wind to blow the garment off of Coyote and back to its original owner. In most Native American stories I’ve read Tricksters are ascribed supernatural abilities such as these, perhaps in order to give them less limitations in their ability to trick others. In any case the use of magic certainly makes the stories more compelling and surprising.

The world showed in the stories of this unit is one where the limitations we normally place on nature are surpassed. Magic and the supernatural is a matter of course in most of the narratives. Tricksters use it at their whim, and even “normal” individuals like the woman in the first story I discussed do magical things. Rocks, wolverines, and thunder and lightning are anthropomorphized and even made to be related, and in this way the view that all of nature is related is expressed. As w hole the stories in this unit are not only rich and entertaining, but very thematic and clever in the way the supernatural is portrayed.

Silver fox (Un-textbook)

Week 9 Essay: Moralizing Aspect of Eskimo Folk Tales

Moralizing Aspect of Eskimo Folk Tales

I only read the second half of stories from this unit, so I cannot speak to all of the Eskimo stories available on the Un-textbook, but from what I did read I saw that many of the narratives concern themselves with teaching a lesson of some sort. The first three stories of the second half are especially strong in this regard, while the others are a bit less overt. There is a definite feeling when reading these stories that they were or have descended from orally passed down narratives told in order to pass on wisdom and certain values. 

Some of the characters in these stories act in extreme ways and do things that I could not imagine any average person doing. Pâtussorssuaq in the story of the same name abruptly kills his own kin after the man hears that his uncle and his uncle's wife plan to go on a hunting journey. After slaying his uncle Pâtussorssuaq's aunt flees and the protagonist heads to his own tent to kill his wife, "for he was already weary of her." He's foiled by the fact that his wife has already fled, but by this time the story has clearly established Pâtussorssuaq as a negative character who is acting disproportionately greedy and murderous. Yet oddly Pâtussorssuaq ends up getting what he wants and living with his late uncle's wife. However, she dies quite quickly and thus "had little joy of the woman he had won by misdeed." Pâtussorssuaq's later death at the hands of his uncle's spirit indicates that, while those who murder and cheat to get their way may profit for a short time, their ultimately destined to meet an untimely end.

It is interesting to note that both in this story and in "Papik, Who Killed HisBrother's Wife," that it is not the actions of humans that ultimately brings in justice, but the actions of the supernatural, or perhaps more precisely the supernatural acting in the form of nature. Pâtussorssuaq first loses the object of his affection to the natural force of death, and then loses his own life to his uncle's ghost, which takes the form of a bear. Papik similarly is killed by a spirit that has assumed a bear's form. These stories portray nature to be somewhat of a judge, jury, and executioner capable of taking care of those who would act immorally. 

Human justice has its day in some of the other works though. "The Eagle and the Whale" features the pair of brothers of some women who have had the misfortune of being paired up with an eagle and whale respectively. These stories indicate that these pairing are unnatural, and there is a need for human interference in order to restore things to the normality. At the same time these narratives could be seen as cautionary tales to women of marriageable age who have resisted getting married.While this may seem weird to the sensibility of modern women, it probably made sense within a culture where women could not be expected to live easy lives if they did not marry since they would inevitably need husbands who could provide them with food and other necessities. Even in such a whimsical tale, there seems to be an underlying message that is indicative of the values in Eskimo culture. Even the short tale "Kánagssuaq" conveys important lessons about kindness and reciprocity. The way Kánagssuaq helps his fellow hunter Kilitêraq and is later repaid in kind with a walrus hide and a bearskin is a beautiful depiction of mutual reciprocity, a value I've noticed is quite central in many Native American cultures. 

The stories the Eskimo Folk Tales are not, in my mind, very strong in the way of characterization or story, with the exception of a few. They are, however, effective moralizing and value-conveying tales that would have been useful for teaching and aiding the enculturation process for Eskimo youths. Characters do not always act reasonably in the stories, but this is because they are not meant to be realistic so much they are meant to serve as mechanisms to teach proper and improper behavior and the consequences associated with each.

Inuit seal-skin home/tupiq (Un-textbook)

Week 7 Essay: Tricksters and Fools in Japanese Fairy Tales

As with the Georgian folktales that I discussed in a previous essay, the Japanese fairy tales are full of heroes who overcome trials and foes not by the strength of their arms, but by the sharpness of their wits. Trickster characters abound in these stories, ranging from the young boy in “Schippeitaro” to the crab in “The Crab and the Monkey” to the various tanuki that feature prominently in several of the tales. With tricksters come fools as well, and it is interesting to note that many tricksters in these stories in up being made into fools in the end. This reversal of roles is what of makes many of these stories so delightful to read.

Despite being entitled “Schippeitaro,” the hero of the story is in fact the nameless protagonist who harnesses the might of the canine Schippeitaro to solve a local feline problem. Although the hero of the story goes on a journey to do great deeds and is described as fighting duels with other men who have set out with a similar mindset, it is notable that protagonist ultimately achieves victory in this story through trickery rather than brute force. When the protagonist first hears of the problem a village has of having to sacrifice its maidens to a Local Mountain Spirit, he investigates with pointed questions that ultimately lead him toward a way to solve the problem. It is impressive how quickly the hero draws a connection between the spirit and the dancing cats he encountered the previous night in the chapel where the young girls are apparently ritually offered up. From there he is able to piece together in phrase he overheard—“Do not tell Schippeitaro”—with the information he has and determine that this Schippeitaro is the key to his overcoming the Mountain Spirit. He is then able to hatch a plan to use Schippeitaro the dog to ambush the spirit and kill it. Ultimately the hero in this story prevails because of his potent inductive reasoning skills and his cleverness in laying a trap. He is a trickster with a bit of a Holmesian twist one could say.

“The Crab and the Monkey” is interesting in how the trickster protagonist Crab succeeds in tricking the fool Monkey multiple times, but does not always win out in every exchange. At the beginning of the story Monkey offers to trade his half-eaten kaki fruit to Crab for her handful of rice, thinking he will get the better end of the deal. The Crab makes the trade knowing that it can use the fruit’s seed to plant a tree that she can make her own. She succeeds in doing this later, and thus outwits the Monkey at first. Unfortunately he returns later and, seeing Crab’s beautiful kaki, asks if he can climb up in it and grab a few fruits for himself. Crab assents, but Monkey clambers up in her tree and begins to eat everything in sight. Once again resorting to trickery, Crab challenges Monkey to do some acrobatics on her tree, which he does, knocking some fruits down that Crab proceeds to snatch for herself. Noticing that he has been tricked, Monkey swings down and beats up Crab before she can secure a second batch of kakis for her burrow. Brute force wins over trickery in this second exchange, but in the end trickery prevails when Crab gets together with wasp, egg, and rice mortar (forget anthropomorphized animals, talking cooking implements are where it’s at in Japanese fairy tales!) and hatches a plot to trick Monkey one final time. In the end, Monkey dies from a rice mortar to the head (ironic considering that Crab’s relationship began over Monkey’s desire for some cooked rice, eh?) and wit once again proves superior to muscle.

“The Slaying of the Tanuki” is a good example of a story that does not have a character with a set trickster or fool role. At first the peasant protagonist is the trickster when he lays a trap for a thieving tanuki and subsequently captures him. The tanuki then has in turn as he tricks the peasant’s wife into loosening his bonds and then frees itself, kills the wife, and feeds her to the peasant. The hare then comes into his own as a trickster as he tricks the tanuki, scorching him with flames and offering stinging salve for his wounds. Finally, the hare and peasant join forces and trick the tanuki to his death. What makes this story so interesting is how dynamically the roles of trickster and fool shift.

These Japanese fairy tales bring a lot of unique elements to the trickster narrative. “Schippeitaro” focuses on a hero who is able to piece together knowledge and use it form a plan to overcome a mountain spirit. “The Crab and the Monkey” features a multi-trick narrative in which cunning must pit itself repeatedly against brute force as the two creatures seek to get what they want from the other. “The Slaying of the Tanuki” also features many tricks throughout the story, but notably has different characters function in the role of fool and trickster. The variety of ways in which the trickster narrative is used in these tales makes them all very enjoyable to read.

Dat wasp tho! (Un-textbook)

Week 6 Essay: Women's Roles in Japanese Myth

Women's Roles in Japanese Myth

Even only having done the half –reading of the Japanese mythology unit, I was amazed at how many women feature prominently in the stories. More than this, the women in the stories are all portrayed as strong, capable individuals. Not only do they have tremendous agency, in some cases they end up outshining the hero of the story that they are in. Tacibana from the Yamato stories along with Tamatori from the Jewel of Heart's story are good examples of strong women characters who accomplish much in their respective narratives.

Princess Tacibana, who becomes the wife of Yamato, figures very importantly in "The Labors of Yamato." Tacibana suffers much throughout the story as she is forced to endure her husband's unfaithful heart. Although she loves Yamato dearly, Yamato himself fails to completely appreciate her as his thoughts constantly drift to Benten, a sea goddess who seduces the lord almost to the point of his own destruction. Not realizing that Benten means him harm, Yamato foolishly pursues the goddess, not realizing that the one truly worthy of his love is already beside him. Even though Tacibana is neglected, her devotion for her love remains steadfast. When Yamato and his men find themselves caught behind a wall of flames kindled by the enemy, Tacibana barrels through the flames, tearing off her burning clothes even while her skin is being severely scorched, and delivers a fire-drill to her lord. Using it in combination with his Sacred Sword, Yamato is able to spare his men and himself from being burned alive.

Despite proving her incredible faithfulness to Yamato, the lord still goes back to Benten, and it takes the siren finally revealing her treacherous hand by stealing his sword to make Yamato realize his mistake. Yamato takes back his sword and tries to go after Benten, but the nereid's sings a "sweet yet sorrowful slumber-song bodeful of love and death." Unable to release himself from the song's spell, Yamato begins to sink to his watery grave, but in one of the most beautiful descriptive passages in the story, Tacibana magically rescues him:

Downward, like the tendrils of some miraculous vine, grew the dusky tresses of Tacibana. They enveloped Yamato in a fragrant cloud and enlaced him in the meshes of a silken net. Like strong encircling arms they upbore him, through endless leagues of water, to the sea-swept isle of Enoshima.

It is at that point that Yamato finally grasps Tacibana's worth. Yet fate would not see the two live happily together until old age. When Yamato decides to go to war with the Ainu people, he takes a fleet of ships to their dwelling place in northern Japan, He pridefully declares that he need not fear the Sea-God Susa-no-wo even at sea, since he has already conquered him on land. In response, the god stirs up a storm that scatters his fleet and nearly kills Yamatao. It is only when Tacibana offers her life in exchange for Yamato's and yields herself to the ocean's depths that the waters are calmed. . Although the labors of Yamato are named after him, Tacibana's tireless devotion in the face of unfaithfulness and her willingness to repeatedly risk her life for Yamato mark her as the most heroic character in the stories.

Tamatori from "The Quest of the Jewel" stands out as another powerful female character who accomplishes amazing things in the narrative. Unlike the noble-blooded Tacibana, Tamatori is a mere fisher-maid, but she is in love with the Prime Minister Takeuchi.  It is this love that motivates Tamatori to boldly plunge into the ocean and make for the palace of Benten. There, she steals back the Jewel of Heart's Desire that was stolen from Takeuchi, and, when surrounded by the minions of a sea-dragon (I assume it's Susa-no-wo), slashes open her only belly and shelters the treasure within the wound. In this way she secures the jewel at the cost of her own life. Tamatori's virtues are a mirror to Tacibana's. She's devoted, courageous, and self-sacrificing. Although her love is one-sided, this fact does not stop her from giving all that she has for her beloved. For her sacrifice, she is honored by the Prime Minister and named Princess of Heart's Desire by the empress herself.

There are many other prominent female characters that feature in the stories in this unit, but in my opinion Tacibana and Tamatori stand out the most among them. To me, these women are admirable because they are not warriors with sacred swords and divine pedigree like Yamato, and yet neither woman lets their ordinariness prevent them from doing extraordinary things. Driven by love and bolstered by peerless courage, these women plunge into danger with no thought to their own lives. In my mind, they define heroism just as much as heroes like Yamato do, if not more so.

Tamatori vs the Sea-dragon and his minions (Wikipedia Commons)

Week 5 Essay: Origins Stories and Relationships in “The Khasi Folktales”

Origins Stories and Relationships in “The Khasi Folktales”

The primary common thread that I saw in the second half of stories in the Khasi folktales was the emphasis on origin stories. These origin stories range from tales about why the universe is a certain way to why certain animals have come to be domesticated creatures of man. As with many other folktales, these stories have a lot of talking animals in the stories. The relationships between men, the gods, and the animals are very well-developed and dynamic, and often serve as the driving force behind many of the tales’ origin stories.

“What Makes the Lightning” is a good example of a cosmological origin story. This tale ultimately serves to explain how lightning and thunder came into existence. As the narrative goes, a thunder giant named U Pyrthat summons together the animals to a big festival of music and dancing. The prideful lynx U Kui shows up with a beautiful sword and dazzles people with is dance, and then the giant asks the cat to borrow the sword for a bit. After being shamed for initially refusing, U Kui hands over his weapon and U Pyrthat proceeds to dance as he drums and flashes the sword around. He eventually jumps into the sky, and the flashes of the sword and beat of the drums become what we know as lightning and thunder. This tale is interesting in how it portrays the society of animals as very honor-based, as seen in how the animals consider U Kui’s reluctance to give the party’s host his sword as a shameful act. It seems to me that part of the author’s intention with this story was to portray proper behavior for an individual in a society. Although it’s possible that the giant aimed to steal U Kui’s sword the entire time, we can possibly lay part of the blame of the lynx’s being cheated on his own shoulders, for U Kui proved himself to be very prideful and selfish in the story. Thus the creation of thunder and lightning can be seen as a partial result of the lynx’s acting improperly within society.

This same idea of how acting indecently can lead to drastic changes in the universe is shared in “What Caused Shadows on the Moon.” This story concerns itself primarily with the deity U Bnai, who happens to be the moon itself. After spending some time cavorting in the nether regions with all manner of lower creatures, U Bnai returns to his fellow gods and goddesses and decides that the only woman in the universe worthy of being his bride is his own sister Ka Sngi, the sun. He asks for her hand, and when Ka Sngi hears of U Bnai’s proposal, she grows so angry that she throws hot ashes in his face. The scars left behind on U Bnai’s once beautiful face are the dark shadows we see on the moon. As with the lightning origin story, this narrative focuses on relationships and how unwise actions in a relationship can lead to extremely drastic cosmological changes.

Not all the stories focus just on how the universe came to look and operate the way it does now. Many of the Khasi folktales also explain how certain animals came to live alongside humans. It almost all the stories that concern themselves with this topic, the animals that end up living with man are driven there by desperation as a result of having made some mistake in a relationship they had with the other animals. In “How the Cat Came to Live withMan,” the cat Ka Miaw runs away to the realm of man after having offended his brother and king the tiger. The goat goes to man because he is in danger of being hunted to extinction by the tiger. The ox’s story differs a little in that he was forced to become the servant of man because of a fall out he had with the Khasi god.

The world portrayed in the Khasi folktales is a relationship-based world. Although differing slightly in scale, the animal stories and the cosmological origin stories both show how dynamic shifts in the world occur when an individual fails to fully honor his or her relationship duties. Erratic actions that defy societal expectations result in far-reaching consequences. Looked at in this way, the stories can be seen as cautionary tales showing the importance of relationships and how one should never underestimate the possible impact of failing to properly live in a harmonious way with others.

Khasi man in traditional dress (Wikipedia Commons)
Author: rajkumar1220 (2009)

Week 4 Essay: Tricksters and Fools in the Georgian Folktales

Tricksters and Fools in the Georgian Folktales

If there is one common heroic archetype that persists throughout the Georgian Folktales provided in the Un-textbook, it is the trickster. So too does the archetype of the fool play a prominent role in many of these tales. Tricksters come in all shapes and sizes in the folktales, from old men to dwarves. With fools there’s an even greater variety of people and monsters. Sometimes a character even combines elements of both types, as is the case of the fool in the story “The Fool’s Good Fortune.” The Georgian folktales are rich in narratives of ordinary people overcoming more powerful beings through the use of their wits.

One of my favorite trickster stories of this unit is “Master and Pupil.” This story features a trickster hero in the form of a peasant’s son. Although this young man starts out as an ordinary person, he ends up mastering shape shifting powers under the tutelage of a devil. The pupil combines these powers with a sharp mind to outwit both ordinary wealthy people and his devil master who seeks to permanently keep him in his clutches. After having deceived his master and gone away with his father, the young trickster transforms into a hound and catches prey that a noble’s hunting party had been chasing. After the boy catches the creature, the hunting party happens upon the father and his “hound” and offers to give the owner much money to buy the dog. The father agrees and sells his son, and later down the road his son escapes and transforms back into a man before meeting back with him as per a prior arrangment. The boy does this several times, until his father, after not heeding his son’s advice not to sell him to a man with “variegated eyes,” ends up peddling his son back to his former master.  This action highlights the devil not as a fool antagonist, but as a competent trickster in his own right. This is what makes the final showdown between these two tricksters so exciting, as man and devil compete in a contest of wits and shape shifting until finally the boy comes out on top.

“The Cunning Old Man and the Demi” was another one of my favorites, and the story that I re-told for this week’s unit. As with “Master and Pupil,” what makes this story appealing is the sheer difference in power between the trickster and his fool antagonist. The old man in the story is just an ordinary, fickle elderly person. The demi that he tricks into being his servant, on the other hand, is a powerful being that can turn a stone to dust and squeeze the very moisture from rocks. The old man uses a series of tricks to imitate these feats. In order to create the illusion that he can also turn a stone to dust, he breaks a jar of flour against the ground. In order to match the demi’s squeezing water out of a rock, the old man takes an egg out and breaks it, letting the liquid ooze out.  The demi, a fool in the most classic sense of the word, believes the old man to be powerful and eventually begins to treat him as his master. Even when he finally catches on to the old man’s ways thanks to a tip from some local canines, he ends up unable to match the old man’s quick-thinking mind and ends up devoured by a pack of wolves and jackals. The story is a classic tale of brains overpowering brawn.

The fool in “The Fool’s Good Fortune” is both a fool and a trickster at different times in the story. Although he starts out as a fool who is constantly being tricked into doing things that get him into trouble, like telling a newly wedded couple to essentially rest in peace, or advising some monks to be fruitful and multiply, things turn out better for the protagonist when he finally gets around to using his head. Even a foolish man can trick other foolish men if he tries, and the protagonist demonstrates this when he uses a bell and a grave voice to scare some robbers into thinking that he’s an angel sent to punish their wickedness. Once the robbers flee the scene in fear, the fool takes the stolen wealth they left behind and lives happily ever after.

What I like about trickster stories is that they are consummate underdog stories. This is especially the case with the tricksters of the Georgian folktales, because they tend to be very ordinary people who contend with beings more powerful than themselves. Although the fool in the last story I discussed doesn't trick a devil or demi, the very fact that such a foolish man can trick anyone makes the story another example of the triumph of the underdog.  So if one is on the lookout for good trickster stories, this unit is an excellent source of them.

Dadiani Palace, Georgia (Wikipedia Commons)

Week 3 Essay: My High School & College Writing Experience

My High School & College Writing Experience

My confession is that what writing skill I have cultivated over the years is not owed solely to the hours I spent working on papers in high school and college. Nevertheless, it would be wrong to say that I don’t owe my many past writing teachers a big thanks for helping me to improve as a writer. Writing is a talent, but it’s a talent that cannot ever be brought to fruition and maximized if it is not practiced often, and the great thing about school is that it gives you a lot of opportunity to practice, even if the genre it forces you to write in is not always to your liking. In my case, I’ve never been a fan of writing essays, although the exercise can be made less excruciating—even somewhat pleasant—if I’m writing about a topic that I actually like or care about.  

I would say that every writing class I have taken, from Comp I to Environmental Writing, has worked to improve my writing skill by small increments. Every essay is a new challenge, and each time I overcome the challenge my writing is a little better for it. That said, I’ve found that papers that present me with a particularly difficult topic tend to succeed the most in pushing me to improve my writing ability. To give an example, I took a class called “Literature and Landscape” that concerned itself primarily with gardens, literature, and occasionally their intersection as well. My second and final paper for the class had me researching a famous Japanese garden and then discussing its key features and what they do for the garden on both an aesthetic and symbolic level. Since I was not experienced in writing about such a topic, I had to adapt and learn how to effectively communicate in the language of a garden connoisseur. Although it was a bit difficult, and I ended up pulling an all-nighter putting the finishing touches to the paper, I came out of it a more versatile writer. The same can be said for when I had to write about the Porfirian period in Mexican history for another class, and when I wrote about the works of American Indian author Leslie Marmon Silko for a Native American Philosophy class. I’ve written more papers than I care to remember, but it was the ones that forced me to delve into more unfamiliar territory topic-wise that helped to improve my writing the most.

That said, writing essays for school constitutes only about forty to fifty percent of the reason behind my improvement as a writer over the years. I owe the other half of my improvement to two things: reading and writing for pleasure.  One should never underestimate the value of reading in helping a person to become a better writer. In my experience, reading improves grammar, punctuation, and allows one to gain a more firm understanding of a lot of the conventions of fiction. In my opinion if you want to write good fiction, then it is very important to read good fiction.

Writing for pleasure continues to be incredibly important in facilitating my growth as a writer. As I said before, I don’t typically enjoy writing essays, but I do really like writing fiction. As a result, I do it a lot, or at least I try to find the time to do it as often as I can. I recently finished a short novella that I plan to submit for publication in the future. I can say with confidence that the occasionally blood-sweating act of writing this story over the course of the month of July allowed me to make significant strides toward my ultimate goal of being a part-time short fiction writer. In addition, the ability to force myself to write even when I didn’t want to that I developed while working on the novella has helped me to become a more efficient and faster writer this semester.

Were I to teach a college class, I would like to assign papers that encourage creativity among my students. I personally really like the Wednesday Storytelling assignments for this class, and wouldn’t mind tasking students with similar assignments for a creative writing course, or possibly even a composition course. I would evaluate the students’ works based on the level of skill they demonstrate in such things as plotting, description, character development, and characterization. Overall, my goal would be to help my students to grow as writers without inhibiting their ability to use their imaginations and have fun while writing.

This is pretty much what I looked like in any given evening in July of 2014. The house is cold. (Personal photo)

Week 2 Essay: The Heroic Saint

The Heroic Saint

While I did not read all of the stories in the “Saints and Animals Unit,” I read a little over half of them and was able to get a pretty firm grasp of the heroic qualities that the saints in these stories tend to possess. The protagonists in these stories are not exactly of the Odysseus or Achilles variety in terms of having exceptional craftiness or supernatural strength. What they do possess are heroic, positive virtues, and what they lack in strength or cunning is made up for by their courage, kindness, and faith in God and nature.

Looking at the example Saint Kentigern , one can see that he possesses no qualities of the martial variety, and while he is exemplary in the use of his mind, it is not his wisdom that he utilizes to solve the problems he faces in the narrative. When Kentigern finds an unlit fireplace and is threatened with the possibility of being chided for his carelessness in letting the fire go out, it is because of his courage and faith that he overcomes the trial. He places a log in the fireplace and blows upon it, and while his reasons for this are not explained, it is clear that the boy had faith that God could bring him a miracle, and his faith is repaid. The same principle applies even more obviously to the second story of Kentigern, in which his master’s beloved robin is cruelly killed by the youth’s classmates so that they could shift the blame to him. It is not knowledge or strength that allows him to bring forth a miracle and revive the bird, but an earnest prayer, heart-felt tears of pity, and the faith-driven action of connecting the bird’s torn head back to his body.

Ailbe, the hero-saint from “The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe,” also demonstrates these same characteristics. While raised by wolves when he was young, Ailbe demonstrates none of the fierceness that one might associate with the animals that reared him. On the contrary, Ailbe’s time with his wolf-mother and wolf-brothers instilled in him a tenderness that drives him to risk his life for their sake. After many years of separation from his wolf-mother, Ailbe reunites with her and bravely protects her against the hunting dogs and hunters that give her chase. Ailbe cannot hope to fight the pursuers, nor would he want to, but his kindness and love for his mother compels him to courageously stand his ground against the chasing hounds. In the end the dogs cannot bring themselves to harm the bishop, and Ailbe is able to preserve the life of his mother.

“The Ballad of St. Giles and the Deer” uses a similar scenario to that of Saint Ailbe’s story, but takes it even further. In the story, Saint Giles is a lone hermit whose sole companion is a gentle deer. One day the deer is beset by hunters and, in his desperation to defend his friend, Giles throws out his arm to protect her, taking a hunter’s arrow in the process. Moved by Giles’s act of sacrifice, the pagan king who was leading the hunt takes the saint into the hermit’s own cave and from then on tirelessly sees to the wounded man’s healing. In the process, Giles is able to speak to the king and teach him about his faith, and eventually succeed in winning the king’s heart over to Christianity. Thus Giles’s victory in the story is two-fold. Through his courage and kindness he protects the life of his beloved deer, and through his faith he converts the man who rules over him to Christianity.

While I discussed three particular examples, all of the other stories I read in the unit place importance on the same heroic virtues. Heroes as defined by these stories are not necessarily men of might or cunning, but rather people of simple faith, undaunted courage, and genuine kindness.  Although in some ways very different from the heroes one finds in other myths, the heroes in these stories are no less exemplary in how they demonstrate virtues that all people would be well served in admiring and imitating. 

Saint Giles and his deer (Wikipedia Commons)