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

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Artwork of a dragon by Alok Ranjan

Week 4 Story: The Wolf of Saint Francis

 

The Wolf of Saint Francis

Saint Francis was a devout follower of the Lord, and was greatly kind to all of those he came across, be they a mere insect or a powerful king. And in turn, all of those he came across were kind to him as well, regardless of their typical temperament.

One day, Saint Francis arrived in the town of Gubbio, and upon talking to some of the townsfolk, he came to learn of a massive and terrifying wolf that had escalated from not only dragging off livestock, but even men were dragged off in the dead of night and feasted upon by the horrible creature. Thus, the townsfolk all barricaded themselves inside at night, for fear of being caught by the beast in the darkness.

Saint Francis was not one to allow people to suffer, and so he told the townsfolk that he would deal with the wolf that had been plaguing their town. They pleaded and begged him not to go, for they cared much for him, and knew that if he were to seek out the beast, he would never return to them. Yet, Saint Francis set out anyway in search of the great wolf.

Saint Francis drew close to the woods beyond the town, yet before he could even enter the forest, the massive wolf came charging out from between the trees, his mouth wide open so as to swallow Saint Francis whole. 

Yet, Saint Francis was not afraid. He did not flee, instead standing where he was, and he he made the sign of the cross and called out to the wolf "Stop". 

And stop it did. The wolf halted its charge and stared down at him. 

"Brother Wolf," Saint Francis said. "I bid you to cease hostilities against myself or any other people of this town, and so too their livestock."

The wolf laid down upon the ground and cast its eyes to the ground.

"Ordinarily, you would be put to death for your vile acts of murder and thievery," Saint Francis said. "But, that is not to be your fate. Instead, you will come with me to the town, and you will work to repent for your sins for the rest of your life."

The wolf raised its head and began to wag its tail.

Saint Francis turned his back on the wolf and walked back toward the town, and the wolf dutifully followed behind him.

The townsfolk were struck with awe and fear when Saint Francis brought the wolf into the town.

However, Saint Francis quickly worked to assuage their fears. "Fear not this wolf," he said. "He will harm you no longer, and will instead spend the rest of his life among you in peace, in order to show his repentance for his sins."

The people took Saint Francis at his word, and allowed the great wolf to live among them. The wolf played with the children and assisted the townspeople with moving things when it could. And whenever unsavory bandits and brigands attempted to accost the people of the town the great wolf was there to scare them off.

When the wolf eventually passed on from the world, the people were sorrowful, since aside from their personal sorrow over the passing of the great wolf who had once plagued them, they knew that Saint Francis would be afflicted with greater sorrow over the loss of one he had made his friend.

Author's Note

So the story I adapted was the story of Saint Francis of Assisi. The original story chronicled many things that Saint Francis did, but I particularly enjoyed the story of him taming the fearsome wolf, and so I decided to adapt that particular story instead of adapting the entire thing.

I kept largely true to the original in terms of overall plot points, but I obviously made my own minor changes as well as telling the story in my own words.

Bibliography

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

Image Source: Image of a wolf by skeeze, sourced from Pixabay

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)

Project Topic Research: Black Dog Guardians

For my project, I'm thinking to narrow in on some mythological black dogs from English folklore that I find particularly interesting. 

The first of these is the generalized "Black Dog", which I found out has a story about a "Guardian Black Dog", and I found the concept of that really cool and interesting. Unfortunately, despite my best efforts to get access to that story, I can't find it anywhere available online. It appears the story can be found inside the book British Folk Tales and Legends - A Sampler, by Katharine M. Briggs, but I could find no other sources of it, and can't find a way to access the book electronically. 

However, I think it might be possible to find a similar story plot elsewhere, and then adapt it. I feel certain I've heard of other stories where the presence of a spirit, creature or individual warded off those who would have otherwise attacked the character of the story, which most often occurs without the character's knowing, and they tend to find out later.

I would also like to write a story about a "Church Grim", which is a black dog spirit that guards a church and/or graveyard. The typical idea behind it is that a black dog is buried first to serve as the "grave watch" to protect the graveyard from all kinds of creatures and individuals of ill intent.

I think the most fitting type of story to do with a Church Grim would be to have a story in which someone is pursued by a devil or other monster, and by fleeing into the graveyard, is protected by the Church Grim. 

The final story idea I have is about the "Barghest", which is a more monstrous black dog. I think a story similar to the one in which the man removes the thorn from the lion's paw could work, but re-imagined using a Barghest instead, to fit the overall motif of black dog guardians.

While I have a decent idea of what kind of stories I want to tell for the Church Grim and Black Dog, I still need to find a suitable story source to work off of. So if anyone has any stories they know that would fit what I'm thinking to do, I'd very much appreciate the help, since I've already spent over two hours searching, but I have a feeling I'm not searching the right things in the right places, since I feel quite confident there are stories that suit what I'm aiming to do, I just need to find them. They don't necessarily need to be about mythological black dogs, if anything, it might be a bit more interesting if they aren't, so that I can adapt them in a unique way.

Black Dog Story Link: Yet to find
Chruch Grim Story Link: Yet to find
Barghest Story Link: Androcles And The Lion

Image Link: "Hound of Baskervilles" by Sidney Paget

Additional Black Dog Mythology Source I Found: The Lore and Legend of the Black Dog

Feedback Strategies

The first article about feedback strategies that I read was "How to Provide Great Feedback When You’re Not In Charge". I found many of its concepts to be rather familiar. I did particularly like how it split feedback into three notable groups: Appreciation, Advice and Evaluation. Since the reality is that those three types of feedback are all used for different things, and each can serve their purpose well, so long as they are used appropriately. I liked that the article broke down recommendations on how best to use each of the three types of feedback, since showing examples of how they work and how they're best used can go a long way to improving people's feedback strategies. I also enjoyed that the author included the recommendation to encourage subordinates and peers to provide feedback too, which can help bring a team closer together, and offers more room for improvement for everyone involved.

All of these concepts were things I tended to work with already. Whenever I give feedback to people on my team, I make sure they know I'm just as open to receiving feedback as I am to giving it out. It helps them feel appreciated and valued, and helps me keeps tabs on any mistakes I might be making or places I can improve.

The second article about feedback that I read was "Be a Mirror: Give Readers Feedback That Fosters a Growth Mindset". This one I found a bit less useful, since it was rather focused on its particular subject matter rather than being more generally applied, but there are still some potential takeaways from it. Most specifically, I think the comments on being specific (ironically enough) were probably the most generally useful takeaway from the article. Feedback that isn't specific enough often loses a lot of its effectiveness, since they person receiving it might struggle to figure out exactly where to apply it. And going hand in hand with that, the note that feedback should still be wide enough to apply onto the next project is a good thing to keep in mind. If the feedback isn't going to be applicable to other things they'll do in the future, it's not all that helpful. So the key is to strike that proper balance between specific enough to help provide direction while still being oriented in such a way that it can be applied to future projects instead of just the one you're providing feedback on.

Image Source: Tumisu on Pixabay