Mythology and Folklore

As I was interested in reading some of the stories from the European unit, I decided to get ahead and see what stories were available. I was intrigued by the Italian section as it was meant to have a twist to some fairy tales. The story I read was Water and Salt, a story originally from Sicily. I was not sure what the original fairy tale was as I had never heard any story that resembled the plot from this story. The ending was unexpected as I was expecting the solution to be more clever than just have the king miss not having salt in his food. I thought there might be some lesson about how salt and water do not mix, but I guess the ending was meant to be simplistic as it is a fairy tale. I also wish that there was more elaboration on the magician in the story. Why did the daughter have to invite three kings? How did the magician know about the salt and water situation? Who is the prince the princess is marrying? Why did the king so easily agree to not serve salt and water to the king ...

This week on twitter I began to follow my high school district twitter account. I always to keep up with the daily news of my high school and city, and twitter is such a easy way to do so. Additionally, I also began to follow Trae Young. It was so exciting to watch him as a freshman lead our basketball team, and now he is doing so well in the NBA. I am excited to support my fellow sooner as his career goes on in professional basketball.

Prince Browchel, the son King Cyngen Glodrydd, was a boisterous boy who enjoyed the thrill of the hunt. One day, while hunting in the English Midlands, Browchel came across a beautiful deer. The deer's antlers were prominent, and the beauty of the deer could not be overstated. As such, Browchel pursued the deer along with his pack of dogs. Yet as he and his hounds were chasing after the deer, they found a beautiful woman on her kneed and praying. Standing beside her was the beautiful deer glaring at Browchel and the hounds. Browchel was not deterred by this strange sight. He order the dogs to chase after the deer, but the dogs resisted. They seemed to be in some trance and began to back away from the maiden. Now all to himself, Browchel approached the woman and deer by himself. Cautiously he approached her and asked her who she was. "I am the Princess Melangell, son of the King of Ireland. I have remained in the woods for the last 15 years so that I may pray in peace. My fath...

Similar to Part A of the Welsh Fairy Tales, Part B is a collection of short stories. A story that caught my attention from Part B of the unit was Melangell's Lambs. Reading the story made me somewhat surprised as there really were no lambs in the story. This is because the animals in the story are hares, or rabbits, and not lambs. However, because they were saved by Melangell, they were later referred to as her lambs. Perhaps there is just a cultural reference that I do not get, but this certainly surprised me when I was reading the story. Researching the Kingdom of Powys revealed to me that it was originally located in what is known today as the English West Midlands. Moreover the name Powys is of Latin origin and means dwellers of the country side. There really is not much significant of the kingdom other many battle and feuds that are part of their existence. Researching Melangell revealed to me that she is fact a saint who was venerated in 590. She even has a church dedicated t...

Like many of the other units that I have read in the weeks prior, the Welsh Fairy Tales is a collection of short stories. I was attracted to the unit as I have always been interested by King Arthur, and thus the first story in Part A of the Welsh Fairy Tales caught my attention. Arthur in the Cave was an intriguing read as it explored his story years after he lived. I like how the story was set up to where the reader was kind of traveling back in time to revisit King Arthur and his knights who have been sleeping for a 1000 years. I do wish the story elaborated more on the sorcerer as there is much more that could be detailed there. Perhaps the sorcerer is Merlin or a descendent of him? I feel like this could tie in other facets of the King Arthur world into the story. Moreover, I think there could be more details on the Welshman. He does not even have a name in the story, and there is not much known about him other that he sold cattle for a great profit and was meandering through Lond...