Myth-Folklore Fall 2017

        In "The Frog Prince," I do not like that the princess tried to betray the frog in this way. I would rewrite this in one of two ways. In the first, the frog would be a witch/wizard who would punish the princess when she refused to hold up her end of the bargain. The other option would be to make the princess kind and thoughtful. Without doubt or hesitation, she would've brought the frog back to her palace upon the return of her ball.         It would be fun to rewrite "Rapunzel" in a more modern setting. I'd have a young couple in love be forbidden by the girl's parents. Years later, they would be reunited and able to overcome her parents' ill wishes.         In my opinion, the story of "The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean" would have been better if the characters were people or animals. I would've written it as three animals escaping a hunter together, but the bickering of two of them ended up getting them killed. The last w

        The first story was very repetitive. These types of stories tend to annoy me a little bit. Most of the story is just repeated terms or names. I think it's supposed to sound nice and rhythmic, but it's not for me. I would rather have more plot.         The next story was better. I thought it was strange that the older sisters let Molly go on these dangerous missions for them. I would make it so that the older sister was the one taking care of her younger sisters. This would make more sense as to why the girl felt obligated to take care of her siblings. I did not like that she intended for the wife of the giant to be harmed. She had never expressed bad intentions toward the girls. And what kind of king sends a little girl to steal for him?? Surely, he is rich enough if he has a kingdom.         I really enjoyed the story of Mr. Fox. It had a flow and rhyme to it that was very satisfying. I liked that the protagonist found what her fate would be before it was too lat

        The second story reminded me a lot of my story, Goldenrod. Both of the girls have beautiful golden hair and wicked stepmothers. I wish the girl in this story could have lived to get her revenge. The idea of coming back as a bird to finish her unsettled business was interesting.         In another story, a woman kills her sister because her husband lusts after her. I would love to write this as a sort of ghost story. The sister haunts her sister for her actions for the rest of time.         The story of Tom Tit Tot was very similar to the one of Rumpelstiltskin. It would be fun to combine parts of each into something new. I'd love for a normal woman to offer to help the girl instead of an odd creature. This woman might be infertile and unable to have children, so she asks the girl for her first-born child in return for saving her life for 30 days. I always wondered what that little man wanted with an infant human.         I thought Cap o' Rushes' father was a

        Mr. Murphy Johnson had the biggest farm in the county. Every year, his crops outnumbered his neighbors, and they were better quality too. He made lots of money from this and used it to build a beautiful home on his land. His wife died when his son Thomas was born, so he raised the boy all on his own. Tom was as cute as could be, but there was always something a little off about him. He was dumb as dirt. When Tom grew into a young man, his father gave him seven cows to take care of. Tom did a nice job of caring for the cows and the land. He would surely make a good farmer. Mr. Murphy passed away shortly after this, but Tom continued on with caring for the farm.         The neighbors knew about Tom's impairment and thought it would be easy to take advantage of him. Surely it wouldn't really hurt anyone because Tom's father had left him so much money and land. One morning, Mr. Glen, the neighbor from the south side of the farm, was looking at the cows. He asked Tom fo

In the first story, a farmer needs someone to plough his fields. A mysterious man shows up and offers to do the job for a fair price. He has an odd way of going about his work and then tries to scam the farmer out of his crops. I like the mystery of the man and still don't entirely understand him. I also like that he tried to trick the farmer, but that he was not able to do so in the end. I might turn this story around where the farmer is the one in the wrong. The next story is of a nice humpbacked man. The fairies like him and remove his hump. Another humpbacked man hears of this, but he is not kind so the fairies give him another hump instead of removing one. I'd like to write this as a story of a kind person with a physical deformity who saves the life of a surgeon- like pushing him out of the way of a moving car. The surgeon would repay this person by fixing their deformity. The following story is about a boy who runs away from home and lives with beings similar to

The first story was very sad. A king's wife dies after giving him four children. He remarries her sister, but she is so jealous of his love for his children that she turns them into swans. They reverted back to their human forms right before they died. I did not think the second wife's jealousy was enough to make her want to harm the children. They were her niece and nephews. I could rewrite this as the children being wicked. I could also have the children play a prank on their stepmother, and in her anger the she changes them into swans. I would want the children to be able to return to their human form earlier in this scenario than the original story. The next story told of a man with unending hunger due to a beast residing inside of him. A scholar was able to lure it out with temptations of endless amazing food. I thought about writing of an overweight man with an insatiable hunger. His wife finally becomes tired of his constant whining for more food and cuts him open.