Reading Notes: Russian Folk Tales, Part B

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- The story, The Two Friends, is a Russian folktale with shades of Rip Van Winkle. Two friends, both male, grow up together and are very close. They make a promise to each other to invite the other to their weddings, even if one is dead. Well, not long after, one of them dies. The remaining man decides to marry one day, and is on his way with a group to his wedding. As they pass the graveyard, he stops to invite his old, dead friend to his wedding. The friend jumps out of the grave and invites his old friend in for a drink to toast his upcoming marriage. He agrees and the two enter the grave for a drink. When they have the first drink, 100 years passes. They have a second drink and another 100 years passes. The same thing happens with after a third drink. Finally, the bridegroom says he must leave to go get married. However, when he exits the grave he sees that the graveyard is an overgrown wasteland that hadn't been cared for. He heads back to the village, which is nothing like what he left, being 300 years older. Everyone that he knows has died, and everything is different. The man goes to a priest and tells his story. The priest does a bit of research and finds an old story, from 300 years prior, about a bridegroom who goes missing in a graveyard and is never seen again. The woman he was supposed to marry moves on and marries someone else.
- I would focus my story more on the differences in the world in the 300 years that have passed. A person from 1717 could not begin to comprehend the world of 2017. The differences are so vast and so all consuming that it would be impossible to understand them. I would start out describing the typical village of the 18th century in Russia, do a quick telling of the events in the graveyard, then focus the majority of the story on what this 18th century guys sees about the 21st century world.


Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales by W.R.S. Ralston. Web source.

Reading Notes: Russian Folk Tales, Part A

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- The story, The Leshy, follows a young hunter who finds a missing girl that had been kidnapped by a forest demon. The young girl, the daughter of the local priest, had gone missing in the woods several years prior. One day, while out hunting, the hunter came across a odd looking man sitting on a log and working on a shoe. The hunter asks the man who he is, pointing out that he looked young, but had very gray hair. The odd man introduces himself as the devil's grandfather. The hunter shoots the demon, who runs off into the woods. The hunter follows him and comes across a cleft in a cliff. Inside is a hut, and inside the hut is the body of the now dead demon and the missing girl. He takes the girl back to the village and she's returned to her family. He memory is gone, but begins to return over time. She is eventually married to the hunter that saved her.
- I want to tell the story from  the girl's point of view. What was her life like living with the Leshy? What did he want from her, and why and how are her memories missing? The young girl had gone into the woods without her parent's permission. What had drawn her there, and what were the circumstances of her capture by the Leshy?


Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales by W.R.S. Ralston. Web source.

Week 13 Story: Seeking Death

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The bartender sighed in frustration, while cleaning a glass. The three drunks were back, and they were making a nuisance of themselves, as they always did. They were young, they were stupid, and they did nothing to contribute to society. He hoped they choked on their own vomit.

The waitress resisted the urge to brain the three drunks with a beer mug. If they weren’t bumping into her and making her spill the drinks on her tray, they were groping her inappropriately. To add insult to injury, the jerks never tipped! She hoped someone would do the world a favor and kill the bastards.

“Did you hear Death got Old Maude?” The bartender asked the waitress as she served one of the tables near the bar.

“Did he now? That’s a sad state of affairs. I heard Death got Mr. Pennyroyal just yesterday.” The waitress replied. “Death sure has been busy lately. He got two whole families just last week.”

“Who is this Death guy? Where does he live?” One of the three drunks demanded.

“Where does Death live?” The bartender quizzically asked.

“Yeah, where does he live? Me and my friends will take care of him.” Another of the drunks chimed in.

Realizing that the drunks thought they were talking about an actual person, the waitress and the bartender shared a look of disdain. “Freaking idiots.” The waitress muttered under her breath.

“I think he lives the next town over.” The bartender decided to just go with it, happy for anything that would make the three morons leave.

The three drunks stumbled out of the bar and started heading up the road toward the next village. After a couple of minutes, they came upon an old man leaning against a fence.

“Look at the old man! Hey old man, what are you doing out here? Shouldn’t you be off somewhere else, being old? Being old must be terrible. Why would you do something so stupid?” Two of the drunks laughed at their buddies comment, thinking it the height of humor.

“Well, it beats the alternative.” The old man replied drily. “You would do well to show more respect to your elders. What are you ruffians out doing?”

“We’re looking for Death, old man. We’re going to kill him. I bet you know where to find him. In fact, I bet you’re a spy for him. How else would you get so old? Tell us where he is, or I’ll punch you in the face.” Once more, the drunks proved themselves deeply stupid.

Death smiled to himself in amusement. He hadn’t been sure what he’d wanted to do to the three drunks, but when they threatened the old man that he’d disguised himself as, he decided that he was going to play with them a bit. “Actually, I just saw him a few minutes ago. He headed up that path into the woods.”

Without even a word of thanks, the three drunks began walking up the path leading to the woods. They hadn’t gone far into the trees when they stumbled up a large pile of gold. Upon seeing the riches, they immediately forgot their quest to seek out Death, and began plotting how to smuggle the gold out of the woods.

“We have to wait until it’s dark so that no one sees us carrying it.” Drunk Number One said.

“Alright, then you head and get some food and drinks to get us through until dark.” Drunk Number Two replied.

Drunk Number One walked back to the village, and began plotting how to get all of the gold for himself. He decided that he’d poison a bottle of wine, then give it to the other two.

Drunk Number Two and Drunk Number Three were creating  plot of their own. “When he gets back, we need to kill him.” Drunk Number Three said. “That way, the gold will be split two ways instead of three. Drunk Number Two nodded in agreement.

When Drunk Number One returned, he was immediately pounced on by his buddies. They stabbed and they stabbed until their friend stopped twitching. To celebrate their successful murder, the two remaining drunks chugged the bottle of wine that their ex-friend had brought. The poison was very painful. It took them a long time to die.

The old man walked into the bar and nodded politely to the bartender and the waitress. “Well, none of us will be bothered by those annoying drunks anymore.”

“Why not?” The bartender asked.

“They went out looking for Death.” The old man smiled slyly. “It seems that they found him.”

Author's Note: The Pardoner's Tale is one story within the collection by Chaucer known as the Canterbury Tales. A pardoner was an individual in the Middle Ages who would go around the countryside and sell church pardons, signed by a bishop, that entitled the bearer to be forgiven of their sins.

The pardoner tells a story about a group of three revelers, which would be a general term to describe rebellious young men who are more interesting in drinking and partying than in being contributing members of society.

The revelers overhear a conversation about how Death keeps killing people. Death is being anthropomorphized, and is talked about as though he is an actual person, but it's difficult to tell if that is how everyone is speaking of Death, or if that's simply the way the revelers, in their ignorance, understand it. I think it's everyone, because I believe that the tavern keeper mentions that he must live in the village over. I decided that I preferred to have it be a misunderstanding on the part of the revelers.

The three young men decide to go and find Death and kill him. In their search, they come across an old man and make fun of him for being old. Then, they decide that he must be a spy for Death and threaten him. They demand to know where Death is. The old man tells them to follow a path into the woods and they will find him. In my story, I wanted to make it obvious that the old man actually is Death.

The revelers travel into the woods where they find a big pile of gold coins. One of the men is sent into town to get food so that they can wait and take the gold out of the forest at night, so they won't be seen. While separated, they all plot to kill each other in order to increase the amount of gold that they will have. In the end, all three die.


Bibliography: "The Pardoner's Tale: The Revelers," The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan. Web source.

Reading Notes: Canterbury Tales, Part B

Medieval Illumination of the Renart et Chantecler (wikimedia)

- The Nun's Priest's Tale in the Canterbury Tales is also the tale of the Cock, the Hen, and the Fox. A poor old widow lives alone with her two daughters. She doesn't have much, but she makes do. One thing she does have is a fantastic rooster. His name is Chanticleer. He is the greatest, most beautiful, smartest rooster ever. Chanticleer has seven hen-wives. His favorite, the most beautiful, is Demoiselle Partelote. So, one night Chanticleer has a dream about a small red animal with glowing eyes and black markings. The dream frightens Chanticleer. When he tells his favorite wife about the dream, she shames him and says that men are not supposed to be afraid of things, especially not dreams. Unbeknownst to them, there is an evil fox lurking nearby, and it desperately wants to get is jaws on Chanticleer. One day, the fox comes up and flatters and tricks Chanticleer (who should have been warned by his dream), then grabs the rooster by the neck and takes off with him. Chanticleer crows for help, and a bunch of humans chase after the fox. Chanticleer then tricks the fox and gets away.
- The story provides two morals, one from the perspective of the fox and one from the rooster. The rooster's moral is 'no one will ever thrive who shuts up his eyes when he ought to keep them open.' The fox's moral is 'bad luck to him who talks when he ought to hold his peace.'
- I want to retell the story from Demoiselle Parelote's perspective. She shames him for being afraid of his dream, when they should have heeded the warning in it. She needs her own moral 'only the foolish scoff at a warning that is given.'


Bibliography: The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan. Web source.

Reading Notes: Canterbury Tales, Part A

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- The Pardoner's Tale is one story within the collection by Chaucer known as the Canterbury Tales. A pardoner was an individual in the Middle Ages who would go around the countryside and sell church pardons, signed by a bishop, that entitled the bearer to be forgiven of their sins. I imagine that many of these were complete forgeries, although even a 'real' one is worthless.
- The pardoner tells a story about a group of three revelers, which would be a general term to describe rebellious young men who are more interesting in drinking and partying than in being contributing members of society. No matter what, people like that have always existed.
- The revelers overhear a conversation about how Death keeps killing people. Death is being anthropomorphized, and is talked about as though he is an actual person, but it's difficult to tell if that is how everyone is speaking of Death, or if that's simply the way the revelers, in their ignorance, understand it. I think it's everyone, because I believe that the tavern keeper mentions that he must live in the village over. I think I would prefer to have it be a misunderstanding on the part of the revelers.
- The three young men decide to go and find Death and kill him. In their search, they come across and old man and make fun of him for being old. Then, they decide that he must be a spy for Death and threaten him. They demand to know where Death is. The old man tells them to follow a path into the woods and they will find him. In my story, I will make the old man actually be Death.
- The revelers travel into the woods where they find a big pile of gold coins. One of the men is sent into town to get food so that they can wait and take the gold out of the forest at night, so they won't be seen. While separated, they all plot to kill each other in order to increase the amount of gold that they will have. In the end, all three die. So, they in fact they did find Death.
- I like the general framework of the story, particularly where they end up killing each other, and therefore inadvertently becoming successful in their search. I would focus more on the thoughts and perceptions of the old man, who in my story would actually be Death.



Bibliography: The Chaucer Story Book by Eva March Tappan. Web source.

Week 12 Story: Stumpy McWobbles

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“Did I ever tell you the story about Stumpy McWobbles?” Sean punctuated his question with a loud, liquid belch.

“Nope, don’t think you ever did. Quit bogarting all the beer, you lush. You didn’t even buy any of it!” Tommy slammed down the lid of the cooler before Sean’s thieving hand could sneak in to grab another bottle. “Who is Stumpy McWobbles and do I even want to hear a story about him?”

“He was a leprechaun. Supposedly, he’s where all my family’s money came from.” Sean settled himself back into his camp chair, making sad eyes at the currently off limits cooler. “It’s a good story. I’ll tell it in exchange for another beer.” He shot what he hoped was a pleading look in Tommy’s direction.

“Did you have a stroke? What’s wrong with your face?” Tommy rolled his eyes and grabbed a bottle out of the cooler. “Here, you get one more beer. Tell us all this fantastical tale, oh great drunken troubadour.” Tommy waved his own beer around wildly. “Dammit, you made me spill it.”

After chugging half of his beer, Sean began his story. “So, I guess my great grandfather was an orphan, living on the street somewhere in Ireland. One day, he found a drunk leprechaun in a hedge of bushes. The tiny little dude was fighting with his shoe. Great grandpappy knew all the stories about leprechauns, that if you caught them they had to give you their gold. But he thought that would be a crappy thing to do to some little dude that kept trying put a shoe on his head.”

“Your family got their money from a drunk leprechaun?” Tommy asked drily.

“This is my story, don’t interrupt!” Sean finished his beer and let out another belch. “Anyway, so pappy, his name was Liam, by the way, so Pappy Liam thought it would be nice to warn the leprechaun that he was putting himself in danger of being captured and having his gold stolen. The leprechaun was so thankful that Liam wasn’t trying to assault him, that he invited the poor orphan to share some of his flower wine. So, there the two were, a kid and leprechaun, getting shitfaced in a bush. Leprechaun told Pappy that his name was Stumpy McWobbles. Of course, it’s possible that little Liam was just so drunk that he heard the name wrong. The two got so drunk that the leprechaun gave Pappy half of his gold, just to be nice.”

“A fairy just gave half of his gold to a drunk orphan, huh?” Tommy asked, even more drily than before.

“I’m starting to get the feeling that you don’t believe my story.” Sean could be a little slow.

“You’re just now starting to get that feeling? How perceptive of you.” Tommy’s sarcastic tendencies always rose in direct proportion to the number of beers that he’d consumed.

“If I’m making it up, then where did this gold coin come from?” Sean triumphantly held out a large, ornate and obviously very old gold coin. “Granpappy kept one coin for good luck. It always gets passed down to the oldest son, along with the story. My dad gave it to me right before I left to come to college. He said this coin is a reminder and a lesson about how to get through life.”

“What exactly is the lesson that it teaches?” Tommy’s curiosity had roused.

“That everybody does dumb shit when they’re drunk. Hey man, can I have another beer?”

Author's Note: The story, The Field of Boliauns, is a leprechaun story. One day, Tom Fitzpatrick comes across a leprechaun as it is fixing it's shoe. He manages to catch him and orders him to take him to its gold. The leprechaun takes Tom to a field full of boliauns. 

It's difficult to find online exactly what a 'boliauns' is. According to some, it refers to leprechauns themselves, but it was obvious in the context of the story that it was a plant of some kind. I found a source that said it's ragweed. 

After leading Tom to the field, he takes him to a place under a tree and the leprechaun says that his gold treasure is buried underneath. Realizing that he doesn't have a spade, Tom ties a red garter around the nearby tree and makes the leprechaun promise not to touch it. Then, he lets the leprechaun go and goes home to get a spade. When Tom returns to the field, he sees that red garters are tied to every tree in it. He realizes that he'll never find the right spot and gives up.

Leprechaun stories are interesting, because they serve as a sort of fairy trickster. Everyone wants something from them, but they are clever and always find a loophole to get out of giving it to them. Fairies are supposedly unable to tell a lie, so they have developed a glibness that allows them to misdirect with language, while never outright lying. I wanted to write a story about a leprechaun that was nice and gave up some its gold willingly to someone that deserved it, or that would be helped by it. I decided to make the leprechaun drunk after I came up with his name, which made me decide that everyone in the story needed to be drunk.

Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales, Part B

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- The story, Beth Gellert, is familiar and very sad. It tells of a man and his prized wolfhound, named Gellert. One day, when the man is going hunting, Gellert does not come when called. When the man returns from the hunt, he finds Gellert with blood in his teeth and around his mouth. Following the blood, he ends up in his child's room and cannot find that child. Believing that his heretofore faithful wolfhound has murdered his child, he kills the dog. Afterward, he finds his child safe under the crib, and also finds the body of a starved wolf. Gellert had protected his child from a vicious wolf, not killed him, and the man had shown his gratitude my murdering his child's protector.
- The general moral of the story seems to be that one shouldn't jump to conclusions without all of the information, and to not distrust someone that you have always trusted on limited evidence. Also, probably don't just immediately stab the dog before you even bother to look under the crib...
- Lady and the tramp had a similar thing happen. The dog is believed to have threatened the baby, when really it was saving the baby from a very large rat. Dogs always seem to suffer the most in these stories. Perhaps it is because they are so loyal, but they have been known to attack, and that dichotomy is so strange and terrifying.
- I would retell this story in a way that maybe isn't quite so sad...




Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. Web Source.