Possible Storybook Topics

Topic 1: Foxes in Aesop’s Fables.

When I was little my mom would always read to me from the Aesop’s Fables book, and it was one of my favorite books. The one story that really stuck with me, and that I remember well is the one of the Fox and the Crane. I think foxes are always depicted interestingly because they are usually cunning and sly, so that is why I am excited to read more of the fox fables. To research I looked through the list of animals that was put together for the Aesop’s series, and am hoping to go through many of those, and maybe even combine some of the stories. I am looking forward to maybe depicting foxes in a different light, and maybe getting their perspective in my storybook. 

The Fox and The Crane
By Laura Gibbs

Topic 2: Aesop’s Lion

Lions are known for being prideful, and being leaders. I love how powerful they are, and they have always intrigued me. I love to hear stories about lions and humans bonding, and I think that may be a fun thing to explore with my storybook. For this I also looked at the index of animals that are in Aesop’s fables, and plan to look through many of the stories. Of the stories I have looked at, I really liked the Lion and the Two Men, and think I may want to use this story. I think I may want to depict the lion as a kind animal, to those who deserve it. 

Unlikely Friendship
From youtube

Topic 3: European Fairy Tales

European fairytales include some of my favorites, from goldilocks to Cinderella. I think that there are also that a lot of people haven’t heard of, like The Swan Maidens and A Dozen at One Blow. For this idea I would like to maybe do a “forgotten” fairytales of Europe theme. I found two sources, which each had plenty of titles that were not familiar to me, and I’m sure are not all too familiar to many people. The one I looked at first was The Fairy Tales of joseph Jacobs, and then I also looked at Andrew Lang’s Fairytales. Each seemed to have many forgotten stories. I may want to pin the forgotten characters against the classic favorites that everyone has heard of.

Swan Maiden
From tumblr

Topic 4:Poseidan’s Tales of the Sea

My last topic of interest would be Poseidon. I have always had a love for the water, and everything that goes with it, so that is why he is the god I chose. I also really enjoy Greek mythology, so that is why I chose a god and not mermaids or sea creatures. I was thinking of having this storybook be about Poseidon’s wrath against others because there seem to be many of those stories. This week I read the Odyssey passages, and there was the one of Poseidon taking revenge over his son’s lost sight. I looked at Theoi to find some stories, and also at Wikipedia, but will probably look farther for some more stories. 

Poseidon
From Wikipedia

Secret Island: Storytelling Week 2

One lonely morning Ellie was walking around her cottage on her deserted island. She had been there since her ship crashed, and was the sole survivor. She had built a home for herself on this island that only had goats as inhabitants, and had lived for some years. Today she was feeling especially gloomy, even though it was a gorgeous day. She had no one to talk to, no one to share laughter or sadness or joy with. The goats only looked at her then walked away when she tried to talk to them, as if they were unamused by anything she presented to them. From her cottage she could see where her ship had landed, she had pulled most of the bits and pieces ashore. She never could bring herself to do anything actually useful with the wreckage, and that is how she got the idea. She decided to build a raft with the driftwood that was left. It was time for her to leave, and to find some human company.



A week later, Ellie was satisfied with the raft she had built for herself. She had gathered some essentials she thought she would need for her journey, and set off into the bright cheerful sea.



Five days and three nights she had been drifting. Ellie was starting to lose hope of every seeing land again, much less another human being. Her supplies were running low, and only so much rationing would help. In the horizon she saw what looked like a moving bump, she assumed to be another wave rolling in. As the raft drifted closer it became more and more clear that this was not a wave. This was a thing. An enormous thing. Ellie had never seen anything like it. It had tentacles for arms, and three almost human looking heads jutting out from its floating body. It was frightening! Ellie tried her hardest to not be seen, but she was too close, and upon instinct she played dead.



The half octopus, half human seemed to take an interested in her tiny raft, and encircled it between its tentacles. Ellie was trying to remain as still as she could, but she could feel her entire body trembling with fear. Eventually this monster seemed to take pity on her, pushing her raft behind its body, towards what seemed to be more ocean. Ellie was distraught; she would have rather been eaten by the monster than spend another five days at sea! As soon as that thought had left her mind, she felt her raft bump into something, and stop. She had found land! Where did it even come from? Ellie didn’t care. She was too overjoyed with being able to stand up, walk around, and run.



As she calmed herself, she started to wander around, and eventually came to a city. This wasn’t just any city though. Ellie had never seen such beauty! Everything was carved from the most wondrous marble she had ever seen. No one was around though. Working up all of her courage, Ellie entered what seemed to be the central building. It was the grandest of them all; at least twice the size of the other buildings. It has a courtyard with trees and fountains and flowers that Ellie thought she could stay in forever. Pushing open the doors she heard chattering coming from the room to her right, so she ventured there. When she walked into the room, there had to be at least a hundred people in there! They all stopped what they were doing to stare at her. My gods, these were the most beautiful people she had ever seen! Suddenly Ellie felt very self-conscious in her tattered stage. A man approached her and told her she could call him Percy. He seemed baffled that she had managed to find their island, so she gave him the low down on what had happened on her journey. Percy told her he knew of the beast in the ocean, and that the creature was actually their guard. He explained to her that their island was very special, and was supposed to be a hidden secret.



Ellie was overwhelmed, and needed to comprehend what she had just learned about this strange beautiful place she had landed, so Percy took her back out to the garden and sat with her.

Marble Bench
photo by David Dixon

He seemed nice enough to her, but since she hadn’t spoken to anyone in about three years anyone probably would have seemed nice. There was something about him that seemed different than she remembered people to be like though. When Ellie looked at Percy again he got a very serious look on his face. He told her to be calm, but he had to share something with her. Ellie swore to him that she could handle whatever he may throw her way. In one quick sentence Percy blurted out that he was Poseidon’s son, and that all the people she had just seen were also the offspring of gods and goddesses. Ellie was stunned; how had she landed here? Would they let her stay? Did she even want to stay? Putting her jumbled mind at ease, Percy told her that since she had managed to find this island she was welcome to stay as long as she wanted to.





Ellie decided to stay. She did not want to set sail again, and who knows if she would be as lucky to find another island again. The more she hung out with Percy and his friends, the more she felt like this was her home. She had finally found the company she was longing for.

Author's Note: 

This story was based on a passage from The Odyssey. "[E]ach of Scylla’s heads dragged a man writhing towards the rock, as a fisherman on a jutting crag casts his bait to lure small fish, lowers an ox-horn on a long pole into the sea, and catching a fish flings it ashore. There at the entrance to her cave she devoured them, as they shrieked and reached out their hands to me in their last dreadful throes. It was the most pitiable sight of all I saw exploring the pathways of the sea."

I also pulled from a story I read as a kid. I don't remember the name of the book, but it was about a boy who had been kidnapped. He was from a beautiful hidden island, where many strange things happened. I also incorporated the island that was full of goats from another protein of the Odyssey. 

bibliography:

The Odyssey by Homer and translated by Tony Kline. 

Week 2 Reading Diary Continued: The Odyssey

"[E]ach of Scylla’s heads dragged a man writhing towards the rock, as a fisherman on a jutting crag casts his bait to lure small fish, lowers an ox-horn on a long pole into the sea, and catching a fish flings it ashore. There at the entrance to her cave she devoured them, as they shrieked and reached out their hands to me in their last dreadful throes. It was the most pitiable sight of all I saw exploring the pathways of the sea."

Scylla, by Johm Flaxman

To transform this section of Homer’s Odyssey into my own story, I thought I would expand on Scylla, and how she came to be. It will be a story of how the gods decided they needed a protector of the sea, in this particular spot. I would like to detail that she is guarding something extremely special and sacred to the gods, so that no human may ever get to it. Scylla is there to defend it at all costs, like fluffy in Harry Potter. Except instead of guarding a trap door, Scylla will be guarding an island where the gods and goddesses leave their young to grow up. No one is to ever find this island because not only does it have a guard, but it is cloaked, so that humans cannot see it unless they were to be shipwrecked on it. Along with this backstory, I would like to tell a story of a young woman who finds her way to this island by accident, cunningly escaping Scylla. She then discovers the island, and ends up living there and marrying one of the young gods that the island is home to.

Week 2 Reading Diary: The Odyssey

For my first reading, I chose to read Homer’s Odyssey translated by Tony Kline. My favorite part of the passage was when Odysseus and his crew arrived at Circe’s house. For my storytelling post I may want to write about the part describing the animals that she had enchanted, and were tending to her. The specific quote I had in mind was, “[t]hey found Circe’s house of polished stone, in a clearing in the forest glades. Round it wolves and mountain lions prowled, bewitched by Circe with her magic drugs. Instead of rushing to attack my men, they rose on their hind legs and wagged their tails."

Circe, By Wright Barker

I think this would be a fun quote to center a story around. I could possibly give a backstory as to how all these animals ended up under her control, or about why Circe felt to the need to enchant them. I think I may want to paint Circe as a lonely goddess who needed some company, so she chose these fantastic beasts to tame. Her house is tucked up into the woods, on a lonely island, so I could use that to detail how the other gods and goddesses ignored her, and never visited. The Odyssey paints her in a negative light, saying that Circe just wanted to trap people in her home, so I think I may play on that. I may want to show that people only think of her that way, but she is kind and caring, and there is more to her than just potions and spells. I may also incorporate Odysseus, saying that Circe fell in love with him when he came to her island, but had to let him go on his way. She did not want to keep him there, when he did not really want to be there with her.