Week 5 Reading Diary B: Persian Tales

I read the second half of the Persian Tales unit, and really enjoyed getting to read more stories from Iran. I really liked the narrative techniques used in these stories, though sometimes they were hard to follow.

I think the first one that I really enjoyed was The Hemp Smoker’s Dream, one of the stories I’ve decided to use for my Storybook Project. I think this story is pretty funny, and kind of lends itself to the stoner image we associate with cannabis in contemporary culture. I guess some things never change, right?

(The Hemp-Smoker's Dream, illustrated by Hilda Roberts) 

Another story I really enjoyed was Tortoise Bowl-On-The-Back and the Fox, even though it outsmarts my favorite character, the fox. The plan that the tortoise comes up with is very clever, which I think helped soften the blow that my fox got outsmarted. Arrogance is not a becoming trait, but I can definitely appreciate the innovation of the tortoise.

All in all, I really liked the stories from this unit. They have good morals and advice, even if at first the story is a little difficult to follow!

Week 5 Reading Diary A: Persian Tales

This week, I read the Persian Tales unit, which was pretty different from most of the stories I’ve read so far. The anthropomorphising of animals was just about the only common theme I could think of between these stories and others I’ve read so far.

The cumulative narrative used in The Sad Tale of the Mouse’s Tail and Susku and Mushu was really interesting, as it reminded me of the 12 Days of Christmas. Repeating the story helps emphasize the storyline and makes it easier to remember, which is important for stories that begin in oral tradition. I think between the two, I liked the Sad Tale the best, as I found the mouse’s frustration to be a funny mental image, though I imagine having to run around just to get your tail sewn back on would be very frustrating, indeed.

I also really liked the story of Muhammad Tirandaz, the Archer, as I found it to be entertaining and kind of funny how lucky Muhammad is. The mental image of him carrying a tree into battle and scaring away the enemy definitely made me chuckle.

Extra Reading Diary: Turkish Fairy Tales

For the extra reading, I read the first half of the Turkish Fairy Tales unit. I really liked the stories, and thought that they were pretty easy to read and follow. The story structure was largely different from many of the others that I’ve read so far, and I really liked how these were told. It was repetitive enough to be told well orally, but also not difficult or cumbersome to read.

I really liked the story of The Crow-Peri, which tells the story of a bird-catcher who gets trapped doing ridiculous errands for the padishah because his advisor is trying to steal the fortune he made by selling the padishah a bird. The crow was a great character, and I loved when they revealed that she was a servant of the queen in her fairy homeland. I had no idea what to expect when reading this story, though I noted that it was similar in structure to the one before it, The Fish-Peri.

(A crow, as I imagined the one in The Crow-Peri to look. Image source: Wikimedia Commons)

I also really liked the story of Fear, which describes a boy who knows no fear, and thus goes on a quest to find fear. I thought it was funny and clever how he did not find fear in many of the places that most people would be afraid, but instead was frightened by a bird flying out of his soup. Arguably, this could have been surprise, not necessarily fear, but it was a very cute ending to the fairy tale.

Week 4 Storytelling: The One for Whom the Sun Shines

Queen Nefertari was the most beloved queen Egypt’s history. Her husband, Pharaoh Rameses II, was its most powerful king. The kingdom they ruled prospered, and they wanted for nothing. Their wealth had accumulated so much that Queen Nefertari decided she needed to build an extension to the palace to accommodate all of their luxurious silks and stunning gold jewelry.

Tomb wall depicting Nefertari

Seeking out someone to build this addition, she found a man by the name of Ineni, who was a well-respected architect. She told him to build her a closet worthy of Isis herself. So, he set out to add a grand dressing chamber to their palace.

When the architect returned home that evening, he told his family about the new project he had received from the Queen, one that would bring him fame and fortune. His family was obviously overjoyed, and his eldest daughter Rai asked to help him with this important project for Nefertari, as she could give a woman’s perspective to her father on what the expansion should look like. Ineni agreed, knowing his daughter to be intelligent and shrewd.

As they worked on the plans for the expansion, Ineni taught Rai the ins and outs of palatial architecture, explaining how the inside would be decorated and laid out. She put in some of her own advice, while marvelling at the riches this new room would hold. When her father asked her to deliver the blueprints to the builders, she seized her opportunity to get a glimpse the wealth with her own eyes. After he left her, she edited them to include a stone that could be moved from the outside with the right application of leverage.

She then delivered the blueprints, and construction began.

When the new expansion was completed, Rai snuck down to the palace at night to find the stone that would let her inside, avoiding the Pharaoh and his guards. Sure enough, she managed to get in without being detected. Lit only by a few oil lamps, the room glinted and glittered with all of the magnificent fabrics and jewelry it held. The room was truly something out of a dream.

The ceiling was painted to look like the night sky, with the stars on a background of lapis. The brightly colored paintings on the walls depicted the Pharaoh and his queen as Osiris and Isis ruling over Egypt. Rai became so entranced by her surroundings that she didn’t realize she tangled her foot in a drape. As she fell to the ground with a loud thud, she knew she would be caught and tried to think of an escape plan.

Before she could untangle herself and find her way back to the stone, a beautiful woman appeared in the curtained doorway to the Pharaoh’s chambers. Her features were striking, and Rai could only stare in stunned silence as she realized that she had been caught by Queen Nefertari herself.

Nefertari knew there was only one entrance into this room and was confused as to how the girl would have gotten through the bedroom without her noticing. When asked how she got in, Rai stuttered out that she had gotten in by moving a stone in the wall.

Amazed, Nefertari asked her to show her this stone, and when she saw its ingenuity, she asked the girl how she had known about it. Rai explained that her father was Ineni, the architect that Nefertari had hired to build the room, and that she had altered the plans before the building was made.

Impressed by the girl’s intelligence, Nefertari decided not to punish her. She decided to adopt her as her daughter, making her a princess of Rameses II. Rai was concerned what this would mean for her family, and asked the queen if she would be able to see them again. Nefertari smiled, understanding the girl’s concerns, and assured her that she would be able to see her family whenever she liked. She also told her that they would be well provided for, as her father would be the architect for any projects the Pharaoh came up with.

Author’s Note:

This story is based off of The Tale of King Rhampsinitus, which describes how two sons of the architect who built a stone vault would sneak into it and steal the king’s riches. They used a hidden entrance in the stone that their father told them about to get in and out. After traps were put into the vault to trap them, one brother had to kill the other to get away. After many tricks, the king’s daughter discovers the identity of the living brother, and the king offers him a pardon and his daughter’s hand in marriage because of his cunning. I wanted to make this story more about women than men, and being obsessed with fabulous and decadent closets, I decided to make that the central focus of the story instead of a vault where no one gets to see what’s in it. After all, Carrie from Sex and the City said it best when she said “I like my money right where I can see it: hanging in my closet.” I wanted the daughter of the architect to be resourceful and gain something more than marriage with her wit, and she improves the lives of her family and herself instead. I imagine that she goes on to have her curiosity and intelligence further encouraged by Nefertari as her mentor.

Bibliography:
The Tale of King Rhampsinitus, from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Week 4 Reading Diary B: Ancient Egypt

This part of the Ancient Egypt unit was really interesting, as the stories were longer and more complex, which I liked. I’ve also gotten more of a sense of how twisted the Egyptians could be, so that was fun.

(Temple in Luxor)

The Tale of King Rhampsinitus was really cool, as it highlighted how the Egyptians really valued cunning and resourcefulness. Also, I thought it was interesting how the brother who was trapped allowed his brother to kill him to save his life. A lot of Egyptian stories seem to have to do with stealing things from people and deception of some kind, which is rather intriguing. It makes me feel like ancient Egypt was more House of Cards than Prince of Egypt.

The Two Brothers was a long, but interesting story that definitely did not end the way I thought it would. I was trying really hard to keep up with what all was going on from page to page, but in the end, I was really surprised that Bata kept coming back to haunt the wife who betrayed him AND managed to somehow make himself her son and become king. It’s all very fantastical and kinda crazy, but it really made you feel like she lived in constant fear of her husband’s soul haunting her.

Week 4 Reading Diary A: Ancient Egyptian Myths & Stories

This week I’m reading the Ancient Egyptian unit, and I LOVE IT. I went to Egypt when I was 10, and I was fairly obsessed with the history of the civilization before and after that trip. I got a gold cartouche necklace with my name written in hieroglyphics when I was there, and I still wear it almost every day. It’s a great conversation starter, especially for people who recognize it as Egyptian! For a time I even wanted to be an egyptologist, but I digress.

My name transcribed in hieroglyphs, though the ancient Egyptians didn't write with vowels. Generated at: Discovering Ancient Egypt

Though I found the Elizabethan English to be a little cumbersome to read, I really enjoyed the stories that I read. One story that I liked in particular was Creation, which details the creation of everything and each of the gods and goddesses that inhabit the universe. I found myself constantly looking up the names of each of the gods and goddesses, though, because they were not usually well explained in the story. Most people probably just go with it, but since I’m really passionate about ancient Egypt, I felt the need to look up each of the deities that I was not familiar with.

I really enjoyed the story of The Journey of Isis, too. Isis and Osiris are the two Egyptian deities with whom I’m the most familiar, so I’m not surprised that I enjoyed the stories about them. I was surprised to learn that I wasn’t completely familiar with the story of Isis after Osiris’ death, as I didn’t know she had to go to Syria to retrieve his body. The more I read these stories, the better I understood the Egyptians to be less isolated than I originally thought. We tend to speak of civilizations such as the Egyptians as discrete from others who might have arisen around the same time period, so it was good to get that notion out of my head.

Drugs in Mythology and Folklore: Style Brainstorm

Topic: My Storybook project will be centered around drug use in mythology and folklore. I want to highlight use of entheogenic (aka hallucinogenic) drugs in many different cultures and how they play a role in their myths and legends. One story that I think I will include is The Hemp-Smoker’s Dream, a Persian myth, and a second is Why the Woodpecker Pecks, a myth from the Tejas culture.

I am also considering using hymns from the Rig Veda Book 9, which is dedicated completely to the divinity Soma, which is also the plant and the drink made from it. The story of the Lotus-eaters in Homer’s Odyssey Book 9, speaks of how some of Odysseus’ men “who ate the honey-sweet lotus fruit no longer wished to bring back word to us, or sail for home.” Though the story is not long, I think it could be a good one to investigate further.

I would really like to find more stories to choose from though, so I’m in the process of discovering those. I have a list of cultures and the entheogenic drugs that they used, and I’m looking through their stories to try to find more references to drug use.

(Odysseus on the island of the lotus-eaters)

Bibliography:

1. The Hemp-Smoker’s Dream, from Persian Tales, translated by D.L.R. Lorimer and E.O. Lorimer and illustrated by Hilda Roberts (1919).
2. Why the Woodpecker Pecks, from When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends, retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936).
3. Book 9, from The Rig Veda, translated by Ralph T.H. Griffith
4. The Lotus Eaters, from Homer’s Odyssey, translated by Tony Kline (2004).

Possible Styles:

Travel: One idea I have for this is to tell the story is to go through each of the location (hopefully across the globe) and have the narrator describe his/her experience here in the first person. I think I want to have the narrator experience the story happening to him/herself instead of seeing it happen to someone else. That could afford more creative license with what happens in these stories since they involve drug use, though internet research into the effects of each of the drugs might be necessary to clarify some of them.

Time Travel: In addition to traveling in general, I think I’m going to go with some kind of time travel to get my narrator from place to place since they generally don’t take place during the same time period. This will allow him/her to experience each of the locations in the time period the stories were written, which would prevent me from having to come up with reasons why all of these drugs were accessible at the same time.

1960s: I think I want my narrator to be from the 1960s. The quintessential hippie drug user many of us envision from that time period. I think I will have the story start with drugs to tie the theme together. Maybe he has a crazy LSD trip and travels through time. That sounds like it would be pretty fun to write. But how does he travel around in the first place…?

The Beatles: I’ve got it! He travels in the Yellow Submarine, of course. Anyone who has seen the movie of the same name knows that it’s pretty wild, so I think I’ll have my narrator travel around in the Yellow Submarine as his TARDIS of sorts. Awesome. Maybe I can incorporate the Beatles into the story somehow...