Week 13 Reading: Welsh Fairy Book (Thomas), Part A

In Part A, I found two stories that interested me to varying extents.

The first, "Arthur in the Cave", was interesting to me in the sense of wonder it possesses. The concept of this massive army and these awe-inspiring knights and king simply being in a form of stasis for a thousand years sounds like a true sight to behold. I'm not sure what kind of story I would tell with it, but if I were to do so, I would likely focus in on for what purpose this army might have been called to act.

The second story that interested me was that of "Einion and the Fair Family". I'm a bit of a sucker for fantasy romances, so this one hit all the right buttons for me. If I were to adapt it for my own, I think I would maybe focus in on the three sisters a bit more, since they intrigued me. Perhaps the story could be expanded so as to find a spouse for each of the three sisters, or something of the like. A trio of brothers for the three Fae sisters could be interesting, especially if each of the sisters had a unique personality and desired a specific type of person as a spouse.

Sources:

"Arthur in the Cave" by W. Jenkyn Thomas

"Einion and the Fair Family" by W. Jenkyn Thomas

Image by StockSnap

Week 11 Reading: Sioux Legends, Part A

 

There were two stories that interested me in Part A.

The first is "The Story Of The Lost Wife". I liked the concept of this woman coming to meet the chief of the wolves and living among them. I also liked how she protected them and was able to reunite with her family.

However, I think I'd change the story to have her ultimately stay with the wolves and marry the wolf chief, since he seemed far better than the woman's former husband.

The second one that interested me was "The Wonderful Turtle". I loved how the turtle was portrayed and how he helped that tribe. I also loved how he was rewarded well for his service to the tribe by getting to marry the woman who many others had sought, despite being plain and not particularly attractive. I also liked how he gained the respect of the warriors.

However, I really didn't like the ending to the story. The poor turtle got chased off, then once he came back, he found he'd been cheated on. So I'd probably change the ending in some way to end better for him.

Sources:

"The Story Of The Lost Wife" by Marie McLaughlin

"The Wonderful Turtle" by Marie McLaughlin

Image of a wolf by Wildfaces

Week 9 Reading: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki), Part B

Of the readings in Part B, two of them somewhat interested me.

The first was "The Goblin of Adachigahara". The story is about a priest who unwittingly wandered into the abode of a cannibalistic goblin in the guise of an old woman. She actually treats him somewhat well at first, but when she heads off to go get firewood to rekindle the fire, she warns him not to peer into the back room while she is gone. He does well for a long while, but eventually falls prey to his curiosity and peers into the backroom to discover the room filled with blood and bones. He immediately flees the cottage at full speed and the goblin chases after him, revealing her true form. He eventually escapes her when she is erased by the light of the dawn.

The other was "The Ogre of Rashomon". The story is about an ogre who supposedly lingers near a particular gate and captures and eats any who pass by it. A hero hears of the tale and goes to investigate it for himself. At first he does not spot the ogre, but it eventually reveals itself and the two fight. The ogre is unable to beat the hero and flees, but the hero finds the ogre's arm on the ground and takes it with him. He's praised for fighting off the ogre, but in fear of the ogre's desire to reclaim its arm, he fashions the strongest box that he can and refuses to open the box for anyone. Eventually, the ogre comes in the guise of his old nursemaid and manages to convince him to open the box. The ogre then reveals its true form and reclaims its arm, and the two fight once again. The hero is nearly able to slay the ogre once again, and when the ogre escaped this time, it never bothered anyone again in fear of the hero's retribution.

Story Sources:

"The Goblin of Adachigahara" by Yei Theodora Ozaki [Part A] [Part B]

"The Ogre of Rashomon" by Yei Theodora Ozaki [Part A] [Part B] [Part C]

Image Source: Ogre Clipart by GDJ

Week 9 Reading: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki), Part A

Of the three stories in Part A, the story of "My Lord Bag of Rice" was the only one that particularly caught my interest.

In particular, it could be interesting to potentially explore the potential future of the relationships between the hero and the dragons he saved.

In the original story, the king of the dragons lies in wait, covering a bridge with his fearsome bulk. When the hero steps over the dragon, the dragon transforms into a human and asks the hero for help. Each night a dreadful giant centipede attacked the palace and carried off one of the dragon's children or grandchildren.

The hero goes to the dragons' palace and after feasting all day, confronts the centipede as it approaches. His first two arrows fail to strike true, but by coating the third arrow in his saliva, it strikes the centipede dead and the hero is praised and rewarded by the dragon king.

A potential story idea I had would be to do a gender swap of the dragon king to a dragon queen and make the hero a woman. Then, when the hero slayed the great centipede, instead of leaving with some rewards, I think it might be interesting for them to instead marry one of the dragons and become the next dragon queen by proxy.

Story Source: "My Lord Bag of Rice" by Yei Theodora Ozaki [Part A] [Part B] [Part C]

Image Source: Dragon Yin-Yang Clipart by CLkr-Free-Vector-Images

Week 7 Reading, Japanese Mythology, Part B

Of the readings in Part B, there were three stories that interested me.

The story of "The Sacred Sword" was interesting, in which it detailed how Yamato was tempted by a siren who sought to steal the sacred sword from him, and then he had to retrieve the blade from a demonic stag which had been tasked to bring the blade to Susa-no-wo. He received guidance and boons from a goddess in order to find and bring down the stag in order to reclaim the lost blade.

The story of "The Dragon" took place immediately after the story of "The Sacred Sword". In it, Yamato was determined to slay the siren who stole away the sacred sword, but he fell into her clutches once more. He would have been stuck in her clutches if it were not for his faithful princess Tacibana, who helped to free him from her clutches. Yamato collapsed against her, but when he awoke she was nowhere to be found and his people were in a panic. When he arrived at the palace, there had been a great slaughter, but among it all was Tacibana, who called upon the storm god to force the dragon Susa-no-wo down so that he could be slain. Yamato fought the dragon and managed to win, banishing him to the sea. Tacibana and Yamato lived together happily for several years, but when Yamato set out on a voyage, the god of the sea was angered by the hubris of Yamato, and Tacibana sacrificed herself to appease the god and save her husband. Thus ended the tragic tale of Yamato and his wife Tacibana.

The last story I found interesting was "The Jewel of Heart's Desire" and "The Quest of The Jewel" which were a pair of stories that went together. A warrior empress sets out on a journey to retrieve a glorious and powerful jewel, and while she succeeds in attaining it, it is stolen by a siren on the return journey. The prime minister is tasked with retrieving it, and when he can't he despairs and intends to toss himself from the cliffs in his disgrace. However, he is stopped by a fisherman's daughter who loved the prime minister in secret, and she spots the jewel sparkling in the sea. She dives to retrieve it, but is captured by a dragon. In order to keep the dragon from reclaiming the jewel, she stabs herself and puts the jewel in the wound, for dragons will not touch a corpse. The prime minister retrieves the jewel from her corpse, but is saddened by her death, and prepares a grand honoring parade for her. All of the citizens lay honor upon her, and the empress herself makes her a princess post mortem.

Story Sources:

"The Sacred Sword" [Part A] [Part B] by E. W. Champney and F. Champney

"The Dragon" [Part A] [Part B] by E. W. Champney and F. Champney

"The Jewel of Heart's Desire" by E. W. Champney and F. Champney

"The Quest of the Jewel" by E. W. Champney and F. Champney

Image Source: Japanese Dragon on Wikipedia

Week 7 Reading: Japanese Mythology, Part A

Two of the stories in Part A particularly interested me.

The first of which, "The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi" is about Susa-no-wo encountering an elderly couple in the forest, who grieve over their youngest daughter of eight, who is the last of their children, for the others had been consumed by a serpentine monster. Enticed by the daughter's beauty, Susa-no-wo agrees to slay the serpent in exchange for her hand in marriage. He drunkens the serpent and then cuts it into a thousand pieces. In the tail of the serpent he finds a powerful sword, which he hands off to the rulers of Heaven, and then he marries the daughter.

The other story that interested me was "The Heaven-Descended". In particular though, I found the part about Uzume and the giant interesting. You have this gorgeous goddess of mirth who fearlessly addresses a fearsome giant after being sent to greet him by Ninigi. And that amuses the giant, who gives a message for her to pass along to Ninigi, that the giant would be his guide. And once Ninigi descended to Earth, the giant did indeed serve as his guide, eventually building him a great palace. And for the giant's faithful servitude, Ninigi granted the giant Uzume as a bride, and the two lived together happily. I feel there might be room in there to add onto the story, or explore their life together a bit more, since I like the way the two are characterized.

Sources:

Story Source: "The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi" by E. W. Champney and F. Champney

Story Source: "The Heaven-Descended" (Part 1) (Part 2) by E. W. Champney and F. Champney

Image Source: Artwork of Uzume

Week 6 Reading: Twenty-Two Goblins, Part B

Of the stories that the goblin told in this section, two of them ended up being interesting to me.

The first was "The Girl and the Thief", which was about the beautiful daughter of a merchant who refused all men, turning down the greatest merchants and even kings who asked for her hand in marriage. A brilliant thief had been steadily robbing a great many of the citizens, and the king himself descended to find him and bring him down. The king pretended to be a thief himself, and was invited into the thief's abode. However, the serving-maid warned the king of the danger he was in, and he fled and returned with his army to surround the thief's house. The thief, when surrounded, came out and fought, slaying all of the king's men before finally being bested by the king himself. When the man was to be executed, the merchant's beautiful daughter fell madly in love with him, and intended to kill herself after he was executed, until a god returned the thief to life for her dedication to the man she wanted to be her husband.

The second was "The Four Brothers", where four brothers ended up repeatedly down on their luck, until they finally decided to all head in different directions and learn a science. The first learned how to put flesh on bones. The second learned how to put skin and hair on flesh. The third learned to create all of the organs. And the fourth learned to bring things to life. Once the fourth brother brought it to life, it killed them all and fled into the woods. The fault of the deaths was placed upon the head of the fourth brother, who had to know full-well that what he would bring to life was a lion.

Bibliography:

Image Source: Alexas_Fotos from Pixabay

Story Source: "The Girl and the Thief" by Arthur W. Ryder

Story Source: "The Four Brothers" by Arthur W. Ryder

Week 6 Reading: Twenty-Two Goblins, Part A

Of the riddle-tales of the goblin that I read, three of them struck my interest the most.

The first was "The Three Lovers", since I found the answer to the riddle rather interesting, in the way that it characterized the actions of each of the men. The great journey to bring about the method of the girl's resurrection was characterized as being the actions a father would take to bring back their daughter. The man who traveled to wash her bones in the holy river so that they might be purified was characterized as having taken the actions of a son who wished to honor their mother. And the final man, who had built a hut near her grave and slept with her ashes each night, subsisted on food obtained by begging, was the one characterized as having taken the actions of a husband who had lost their wife.

The second was "Brave, Wise, Clever", and I found it fitting in the way it was determined who deserved the woman's hand in marriage. The wise man told them what had taken the daughter and where to find the giant's home. The clever man built a flying chariot and weapons in order to allow them to travel to the giant's home, and to give the brave man an arsenal with which to fight the giant. The brave man fought and eventually slayed the giant. And the riddle's answer was that the brave man should have the woman's hand in marriage, for it was him that actually rescued her, while the other two men only helped him along his journey.

The third that interested me was "The Three Delicate Wives", in the quite ridiculous way that the story worked. The first wife was wounded by a lotus petal falling from her hair into her lap. The second wife was burned by beams of moonlight. And the third wife was bruised by the sound of a mortar and pestle being used. The third wife was determined to be the most delicate, for she was injured by something she didn't even come into contact with. 

Bibliography:

Story Source: "The Three Lovers" by Arthur W. Ryder

Story Source: "Brave, Wise, Clever" by Arthur W. Ryder

Story Source: "The Three Delicate Wives" by Arthur W. Ryder

Image Source: Vetal & Vikram by Harshad Dhavale

Reading Notes: Ancient Egyptian Myths & Stories, Part B

 

The main story in Part B that interested me was "The Tale of King Rhampsinitus". "The Two Brothers" was somewhat interesting, but it was also quite lengthy, and I fear I would struggle to do that story justice in a very short format. 

"The Tale of King Rhampsinitus" is a very solid story overall, I don't really have many gripes about it. The only thing in particular that comes to mind that might be worth changing would be to help out the slain brother a bit, either giving him a great burial or a resurrection in some form, since the living brother gained so much out of the entire ordeal, and because of how noble the dead brother's sacrifice was.

Image Source: Ruins of an Egyptian Temple, taken by DEZALB

Story Source: "The Tale of King Rhampsinitus" by Donald Mackenzie

Reading Notes: Ancient Egyptian Myths & Stories, Part A

Glass sculpture of a crocodile

Out of the stories in Part A, the ones that most interested me were "The Wax Crocodile" and "The Green Jewel", as I was already largely familiar with the aspects of Egyptian mythology/folklore that were told in the rest of the section.

"The Wax Crocodile" was probably the more interesting of the two. I think that story offers a lot to potentially work with. It might also be a fitting story for my portfolio, since it again has a bond between human and monster. 

It might be interesting to explore about the young man a bit more, since he somehow survived for seven days just fine, and then simply stood there before the pharaoh and scribe after having been released by the crocodile. That might be one of the things I would change if I end up retelling the story, since it didn't make a lot of sense.

"The Green Jewel" reminded me a bit of the story of Moses parting the Red Sea, only for something completely frivolous. The entire story just really highlighted how different the life of a pharaoh was, where asking something like this was not plausible, but perceived as normal. 

But if I rewrote that story, I'd likely make it a bit more interesting and climactic rather than just having it be a nonchalant feat of magic like in the original story. With the way it was written, it almost made the act seem somewhat mundane.

Story Sources:

"The Wax Crocodile" by Donald Mackenzie

"The Green Jewel" by Donald Mackenzie

Reading Notes: Saints & Animals Part B

 

Image of a wolf by skeeze, sourced from Pixabay

A few of the stories in Part B caught my eye.

The first of which was the story of The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe. I found the concept of a Saint originally raised by wolves and having been completely feral to be quite interesting. I enjoyed the little detail about him wishing to be back among the wolves instead of having to entertain court. Overall though, the story's ending was my favorite part about it, with him bringing the Wolf-Mother under his cloak and protecting her from the hunting party that chased her. 

The Ballad of Saint Athracta's Stags was quite interesting in format, but the story itself was also nice to read. The stags coming to her call was a very nice image, since stags are such regal and stunning creatures, and I did like that the king in the story even acknowledged this. Her using a few strands of hair to reattach the wagon was a fun little detail too.

The story of Saint Francis of Assisi was quite long, and contained a lot of smaller stories, many of which kind of blended together, but one story in particular stood out from the rest. Which was the story of the evil wolf that Saint Francis tamed. That sub-story was really interesting, and I quite liked it. It truly showed the power of Saint Francis, to turn such a evil wolf into a creature almost as docile as a sheep.

Out of all the stories in Part B, I think I would focus in on just the story of the wolf from the story of Saint Francis. I feel it has a lot of potential as a standalone story.

Story Sources:

The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe by Abbie Farwell Brown (Part 1) (Part 2)

The Ballad of Saint Athracta's Stags by Abbie Farwell Brown (Single Part)

Saint Francis of Assisi by Abbie Farwell Brown (Part 1) (Part 2) (Part 3)

Reading Notes: Saints & Animals, Part A

Photo of American Robin

Of all of the stories in Part A, I found the story of Saint Kentigern and the Robin to be the most interesting. I also believe it has some unique story potential for me, given two particular scenes within it.

The first of which is the revitalization of the cold and dead hearth by Kentigern, which I think would be a great opportunity to make use of strong imagery, and I could also potentially alter the method in which he does so to make it more mystical, rather than seeming to be of sheer luck that Kentigern was able to reignite the hearth.

The other is the cruel decapitation of the robin and Kentigern's subsequent resurrection of the poor bird. Scenes such as those open themselves well to vivid imagery, and the resurrection would be a good place to add another dose of mysticism to the story.

I could also potentially add some more mystical elements that would come into play in order to help foil the attempts of the other boys to bring down Kentigern, to help tie the entire thing together more thoroughly with the mystical twist on the story.

Additionally, I may lean further into the ending in which the robin gains a special attachment to Kentigern, and potentially bring in some sort of mystical element to it to bring it back in with the rest.

Story Source: Saint Kentigern and the Robin by Abbie Farwell Brown (Part 1) (Part 2)

Reading Notes: Women Saints of the Golden Legend, Part A

Orthodox Icon of Saint Juliana

Of all of the stories in Part A for the Women Saints of the Golden Legend unit, three of them stood out to me in some manner or another. I'm not yet sure which one I might adapt, so I took the time to somewhat summarize each in order to be able to look back over them later.

Saint Juliana

The legend of Saint Juliana was interesting in large part due to Saint Juliana's conversation with the devil. Characterizing the devil and why he does the sinful and wicked things that he does could be really interesting, particularly given how the text is written in a rather older style of English, so I'd have some room to take my own interpretation of it. 

I also found it interesting the trials that Saint Juliana was able to survive and recover from. She was healed by an angel after being broken upon the wheel, survived being dropped into molten lead by having the lead cool around her, before finally being decapitated. And then after her decapitation, the man who'd called for it and his attendants had their ship sank and their bodies eaten by the beasts of the sea.

Saint Margaret

The legend of Saint Margaret is a rather admirable tale, in that she was steadfast in her conviction even when her flesh was torn and scraped from her bones. After which, she was thrown in prison and visited twice by the devil, once in the form of a dragon, which she banished or defeated by using the sign of the cross, and once in the form of a human, and she threw the devil to the ground when he visited her in human form and pinned him beneath her heel. She then proceeded to question the devil before she banished him back to hell.

When she was brought out of the prison the next day, she was thrown into the fire and burned with brands for refusing to pray to the provost's gods. After this, she was bound and put into a vessel to drown. But instead of drowning, she rose up from the water free of harm, and was crowned by a dove from heaven, which caused five thousand men to be converted and then executed for their faith. She then received word from her Lord that heaven's gates were open for her, and after she prayed, she asked the executioner to behead her so that she might go. The executioner was reluctant, but ultimately beheaded Saint Margaret and then dropped dead himself. Once Saint Margaret was dead, the provost buried her body in the house of someone unconnected to her so that she would be unlikely to inspire others.

Saint Christine

The legend of Saint Christine sees her suffering a great many torments. When her father tries to convince her to worship his gods, she disowns him as her father and refuses. When he is gone, she breaks the silver and gold idols into pieces and gives the pieces out to the peasants. When her father returned and found them missing, he had twelve men beat on Saint Christine until they dropped, but she still yet lived and claimed that if his gods were so powerful, the men would have been able to keep going. 

After this, her father put her in prison, and her mother came to visit her and tried to convince her to accept her father's gods. Her mother fails, and when she tells her father, he has Saint Christine brought before him and tells her to pray to his gods or else he'd disown her and have her tortured. She then claims she is no daughter of his, and calls him a son of Satan. After this, her father commands that her flesh be torn and pulled with iron hooks and that her limbs be broken and torn apart.

Saint Christine then took a part of her flesh and threw it at her father. She was then put on a wheel and a fire was lit underneath, but instead of burning her, it spread and consumed five hundred men. The father believes it to be an act of necromancy, and has her cast into the sea with a weight around her neck. Christ descended to baptize her in the sea, after which she was carried back to land by the archangel Michael. Her father was in shock, and demanded she be thrown in prison and beheaded the next morning, but her father fell dead in the night.

Her father was succeeded by the judge Dion, who had Saint Christine thrown into a burning tub of oil, rosin and pitch, which was shaken to help her burn faster, but Saint Christine was instead rejuvenated by it. Dion then had her head shaved and marched her through the streets naked to the temple of Apollo, which she turned into dust, and Dion died right there. 

After Dion came Julianus, who has two asps, two adders and two servents put on her, but the snakes did not harm her and stayed calm. When Julianus tries to have a enchanter make the snakes attack her, the snakes instead killed the enchanter. Saint Christine then said they should go to a desert, where she resurrected the enchanter. Julianus then had Saint Christine's breasts cut off, from which flowed milk and blood. He then had Saint Christine's tongue cut out, but she retained the ability to talk and threw the cut out tongue at the judge, which took out one of his eyes. After this, she was struck with an arrow in the side and then in the heart, and with this she finally died. 

Bibilography:

Saint Juliana from The Golden Legend, edited by F. S. Ellis

Saint Margaret from The Golden Legend, edited by F. S. Ellis

Saint Christine from The Golden Legend, edited by F. S. Ellis

Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

 

Basilisk by Friedrich Johann Justin Bertuch 

Out of the stories in the anthology I read, a few caught my interest for a variety of reasons.

Pygmalion caught my interest in that it's a story about bringing what was formerly inert to life, and it's done in thanks to the great service of someone. A story like that, involving a metamorphosis of some kind, has a lot of room for very vivid imagery, which the story here did much of. 

Androcles and the Lion is a fun story in that it involves a unique friendship that eventually comes to save both of their lives. It could be interesting to potentially explore a similar kind of premise, and to see where that might take me.

The story of The Three Roses is similar to a great many fairy tales, such as including the common theme of a maiden being handed over to a monster, having a monster secretly be someone attractive that was cursed or something similar, and having a mundane act lead to a great cost.

I think that the story of The Three Roses might be the one I ultimately choose to work off of, since I believe it has the most room for me to work in. I might potentially alter the beginning of the story to be a bit shorter, since the actual story spent about half the story before the roses are even encountered. That would give me more room to work on the rest of the story, where the crux of the story lies.

I might also alter the ending of the story, as the ending felt a bit abrupt and poorly explained. Adding a line about a curse or something like that would at least help give a reason for why the prince was a basilisk.

The part about the serpent coming out of the neck of the basilisk also seemed interesting, and I feel I could work off of that to do more than what was done in the original story. The serpent appears and is decapitated in the very next line. So perhaps making the monster something of a Russian nesting doll could be a fun twist on the story, where she might have to cut off the monster's head every three days, until it eventually becomes a prince when she finally reaches the last layer.

Bibliography

Pygmalion by Ovid (Source)

Androcles And The Lion by Aesop (Source)

The Three Roses by Josef Baudis (Source)

Week 2 Reading Overview

Susanoo slaying the Yamata no Orochi, by Toyohara Chikanobu

I picked out an artwork containing a scene from Japanese mythology for the image of this blog since that was one of the units I picked, and I also love the style of old Japanese art.

My Reading Selections:

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3: Women Saints of the Golden Legend

Week 4: Saints and Animals

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories

Week 6: The Voyages of Sindbad

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]

Week 7: Japanese Mythology

Week 9: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10: Pacific Northwest 

Week 11: Sioux Legends

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12: King Arthur 

Week 13: Welsh Fairy Book (Thomas)

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Russian Folktales

Week 15: Dante's Inferno

The ones about saints I selected for weeks 3 and 4 caught my eye due to finding the concept of holy individuals fascinating, particularly since I have plans to write stories including individuals with blessings from gods. 

I picked up Ancient Egyptian myths for week 5 since I'm somewhat familiar with that mythology and find it quite interesting. And then Sindbad seemed kind of similar to one of my own characters, so I thought it might be fun to read up on his adventures to see how he stacks up to my character.

I picked up two of the Japanese ones for weeks 7 and 9 since I wanted to learn more about Japanese mythology, since I find Japan to be a really interesting place, and have used some pieces of Japanese mythology in my work before, so I may yet find more interesting pieces in those units.

For weeks 10 and 11, the Pacific Northwest one caught my eye due to it starring the Thunderbird, which is a creature I've brought into my own work, so I'm curious to see what new things I might learn about it. And then the Sioux's "Turtle on a warpath" seemed too intriguing to pass up. (Liking turtles definitely did not add some bias to that, none at all...)

I picked King Arthur and Welsh Fairy Book (Thomas) for week 12 because one of my close friends is big into Arthurian legend, and I think it would be cool to know more about it, since I could talk to him about anything I learn. And the concept of the Knights of the Round Table is one I find interesting and want to explore further.

I picked up Russian Folktales because of the strong undead focus, since I'm kind of a sucker for stuff to do with the undead. And Dante's Inferno seemed like a must-pick since I actually used the Nine Circles of Hell as an inspiration for the setting of one of my stories.

The Brothers Grimm stuff was a runner-up, but I've actually read a book containing many of the Brothers Grimm stories, so I decided I wanted to pick something new and different, since I knew many of the stories listed on the pages for the anthologies of Brothers Grimm, even some of the more obscure ones. 

Overall, I'm very much looking forward to a variety of these readings, and I honestly might do a few extra readings to pick up some of the ones I ultimately set aside. I was a bit sad to see that there wasn't anything about the Phoenix that I saw from a skim in the Native American units. I've always really liked the concept of the Phoenix, and have used it as inspiration several times for my stories.