Week 11 Story: The Eagle's Dance

An eagle and his brother were soaring through the open, blue skies one day. They were hunting for food to feed their family that night. A few days had passed since they had gotten a sizable catch. When they were out flying, they saw some movement in the trees below them. A rapid movement struck down a deer a hundred feet below them. The eagle’s brother, controlled by his hunger, swooped down to feast on the deer. The eagle cried to his brother to be cautious, but he was too far away. The eagle looked down below at the scenes that followed in horror. He saw a hunter moving slowly in the brush and saw him draw back his bow. Before the eagle could even react, the eagle watched as his brother was pierced through the chest. The eagle squawked in fear and rushed back to his family to tell them the news.

He convinced one of his brothers to go with him to retrieve his slain brother’s body, but when they returned to the scene of the slaughter, both the deer and the eagle’s brother was gone. The eagle determined that the hunter must have taken his brother’s body back to his village. The eagle flew to the village alone and changed to his human form. From the village, he recognized sounds of singing and dancing he knew belonged to the people’s Eagle Dance. He slowly walked into their celebration, and the village people looked at him with curiosity as they did not know from where he had come.

The eagle in his human form began telling a story of how he had killed a man. The Eagle Dance was still proceeding in the background, but he had captured the attention of many in the audience. When the eagle finished telling his story, he gave out a yell that resembled his screech when in eagle form. At the exact moment he did so, the lead dancer fell dead. The eagle began another story of another man he killed, and the same proceedings as before happened three more times. Everyone in the village watched with trepidation with each story, and soon everyone was screaming in terror and fled from the eagle.

After four of the dancers had fallen dead, the eagle walked out of the village and disappeared into the shadows. He changed back to his eagle form and vanished into the night sky content with the revenge he had accomplished.

Author’s Note: In the original story of "The Eagle's Revenge," the story was told from the point of view from the hunter. The hunter found the eagle eating from the deer that he had killed. To keep his kill safe, the hunter shot the eagle. The hunter then took his deer home and told his village that he had also killed an eagle. The eagle was retrieved, and the village had an Eagle Dance. A mysterious stranger came from nowhere and started telling stories, and at the end of each story, someone in the dance died. The village people later found out that the stranger was the eagle's brother.

In my retelling of this story, I did not change too many details. I kept the majority of the story the same, but I told the tale from the perspective of the eagle's brother. In this way, we are able to see how the eagle's brother is able to find out that the hunter killed the eagle. In addition, we understand why he wants revenge.

Bibliography

The Eagle's Revenge, Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913)

Image Information: Eagle by Tony Hisgett, Wikipedia

Week 9 Story: What Keeps the Ocean Salty

Bill was walking through the main city near the coastal town where he lived. Today was a bright and sunny day, and Bill was in a great mood. He was running some errands in the city and while he walked toward a coffee shop, he glanced at his reflection in the window. Vaguely through the glass, a gorgeous woman distracted him from his own reflection. She was beautiful in a dark way with sleek black hair, skin the shade of bronze, and bright green eyes which he was able to see as she looked at him while sipping her coffee. While he was contemplating her striking eyes, he looked down and saw that he had managed to step through a construction zone with drying cement while he was distracted. He saw his footprints deeply in the wet cement, and he quickly did his best to wipe off the cement from his shoes. In embarrassment, he looked back towards the woman. He saw that she was looking down, but there was a smirk on her lips.

He was actually on the way to get coffee anyway, so he went into this coffee shop and ordered his normal of a small black coffee. Bill liked to think that drinking the strictly bitter blend built up his willpower. The barista called out his name, and he grabbed his coffee. On his way out, the woman he saw in the window spoke to him.

"Hey, I thought you looked familiar, and I couldn't help but hear them call out your name which verified you are probably who I am thinking of. My name is Lana. You're Bill Sanders, right? Aren't you a giant in the construction field? I think I've seen you in a few interviews in magazines."

Bill being a modest man, responded meekly, "Uh, yes, ma'am, my name is Bill Sanders. I have been in a magazine or two though I try not to bring that up too often."

"Oh, great! It's actually such a great opportunity that I ran into you! You see, I just purchased a property lot on the coast with an abysmal house. The house is so old and dark, even the wood is turning near black from age. I would love if you could build me something bright and white! The lot would look so much better with light brought in to liven up the place! Here's my card, please contact me when you are available to start working."

This began their building adventure together. Bill hired hundreds of men to put together a mansion of Lana's liking. The construction caused lots of noise, and the workers often tried to save time by dumping their waste from construction into the ocean. This was quite an unethical practice, but they were only getting paid to get the work done, not to do it cleanly.

This dumping of waste in the ocean got the attention of one of the woman's neighbors who called Clean Ocean. Clean Ocean was a nonprofit to help stop construction sites from abusing their platform and prevent pollution. One of their representatives shortly came out, and her name was Janie. Janie spoke to Bill about his violation against the ocean, and she explained that if this behavior was still happening in a week's time, their operation would be shut down. Bill made some empty promises and did his best to convince her that the pollution would stop. Janie left skeptical but hoped for the best.

Bill spoke to his workers about how important the conservation of the ocean was in Janie's words, but he did not do much to enforce the rules. A week passed and Janie was back on site. She saw the conditions had gotten a little bit better, but the construction site was still in violation of the rules. The next day, she sent in reinforcements to shut down the continued building of the mansion. Bill Sanders got a hefty fine, and Lana was furious and wanted a refund. This news definitely hit a few magazines in the construction world as well. Janie was content as after a few months of cleaning reparations to make up for the construction site's wrongdoings, the ocean was clear again and salty as always.

Author's Note: In the story "Why the Ocean is Salty", there was a giant world builder, Ang-ngalo, who made the world for God. While he was going about his business one day, he saw a beautiful goddess on the other side of the ocean. She beckoned him to her and asked of him a request. On his way through the ocean, Ang-ngalo made caverns in the ocean floor through result of his footprints. The goddess was the goddess of darkness, and she was quite tired of her dark accommodations in the world. She asked the giant to build her a purely white mansion to help liven up the place. He went about building this mansion for her, but the only material that white was salt. So this is what he built the house with for the goddess. Ang-ngalo employed millions of workers to carry the salt and help him build the house. The salt had be transported across the ocean which disturbed Ocean's peaceful sleep. To make all the noise stop, the Ocean sent waves to destroy the building of this house, and all the salt sank into the ocean. This explained why the ocean is salty today.

I made changes to put this story in a modern setting with Bill being a construction worker and the goddess of darkness someone who wanted a house to be built. Instead of Bill's footprints causing caverns in the ocean floor like Ang-ngalo, I had Bill step through wet cement in a similar way to show how distracted he was. In place of the Ocean goddess, I made Janie, the Clean Ocean representative, be someone that would disrupt the building progress. Instead of Janie just being annoyed by all the noise, I brought in pollution as a valid reason to shut down the building process. In this telling of the story, instead of explaining how the ocean came to be salty, I told why the ocean is still salty instead of defiled by a ton of pollution.

Bibliography

Why the Ocean is Salty, Filipino Popular Tales by Dean S. Fansler (1921)

Image Information: Ocean, Pexels

Week 7 Story: The Golden Mirror

Today was gloomy and dreary which perfectly ruined Jane's plan for the day. She was supposed to spend the day outside in the sun and refresh her mind, but the weather had other ideas. Still wanting to get out of the house, Jane decided to go to the local museum as history had always caught her attention. 

Once she arrived at the museum, she wandered slowly through each exhibit. This was a worldly museum which walked through the various history and tales of different cultures. The variation of the displays covered America, Russia, India, and even all the way to Japan. Each display had fascinating tidbits about each country, but Jane found herself drawn to a mirror that was twice her height and as wide as her arm span. The golden frame that surrounded the mirror exposed the age of the piece as there were wear marks and scratches in the brassy frame. The mirror itself looked to be made out of greatly polished gold. In result, the reflection you saw was highlighted by a gold tinge. This massive mirror had a small placard beside it which explained the mirror's origin.

The placard read the following: 

"The Miraculous Mirror

After the frightening appearance of Susa-no-wo,

the Dragon of Hell, 

scared Amaterasu into hiding,

this mirror convinced Amaterasu, 

the Sun Goddess,

to reappear and bring her light, once again, to the land.

Without Amaterasu, we would all be cloaked in darkness.

The mirror tells the truth."

Jane thought this to be an odd description. The information about the mirror spoke as if everything that was described was true. In curiosity, she decided to gaze into the mirror to see if she could understand what the last cryptic sentence of the description meant. She spent some time pondering her reflection, but this was the same as every other time she had looked at her reflection in a mirror. Just as she had decided to move on to the next display, she saw a flicker of light on the edge of the mirror. Surprised, she looked behind herself for the source, but saw nothing that would have emitted that light. She looked back upon the mirror, and the light was still there but now the light was slowly rising behind what seemed to be several peaks. The shape of mountains were forming before her with the light acting in place of a sunrise bringing light to the landscape below it.

Once the Sun had reached her peak placement in the sky, there was a violent tremble, and a vicious-looking dragon broke free from the Earth. Susa-no-wo flew into the sky with fluid actions of a snake. His roar was grating and no one could be free from the sound of his screeching claim to the land. His claws were razors and his teeth rivaled the height of a full grown elephant. Once gazing upon such a sight, the beholder could only do their best to look away. Jane's heart was pounding as she looked upon this scene with trepidation as she saw the Sun quickly disappear again behind the mountains, and there was nothing but darkness. She heard the cries of the people as the fire dragon wreaked havoc across the land and took what he desired. The people quickly had to find a solution to bring the light back to their world.

Jane soon found herself looking upon a beautiful goddess weeping in a cave lit by her own light. She knew this to be the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu, which provided the light to the land. From outside, she could hear laughter. Jane watched as the weeping being of light stood up to go investigate what was outside. She wiped away her tears of fright and peered outside to the source. Outside stood numerous townspeople and the Goddess of Laughter, Uzume, who called to Amaterasu. They told Amaterasu that they had found a new goddess and brought out the golden mirror that Jane had looked into in the museum. The mirror shone with a golden brilliance that brought Amaterasu to stare into the shining surface herself. Within the mirror, she saw her own reflection whom she assumed to be the rival goddess the people told her about.

With jealousy and a wish to not be replaced, she raced out of the cave to meet her opponent. As soon as she did this, Taji-Karao, the Strong, closed the entrance to the cave with a massive boulder. Amaterasu could no longer retreat to where she had been hiding from Susa-no-wo. The townspeople cheered and welcomed back their sun-giving goddess of light.

Jane backed away from the mirror. The scene she had just witnessed felt like she had been drawn into the story herself. She had been within the tale of the Sun Goddess. Nothing like this had ever happened to her before, and when she looked around the room, no one else appeared to have noticed everything she had just seen. In bewilderment, she shook off the rare event that had just occurred. Jane decided that the next time the weather ruined her plans, she would just stay home.

Author's Note: This story was based off the tale of the Miraculous Mirror. I altered the story to be about the Miraculous Mirror that had found itself in a museum many years after the events of the original tale. In this way, I was able to bring a magical element of my telling of the story, as the mirror showed Jane how everything happened in the tale of Amaterasu. In the original story, Amaterasu is providing light to everyone, but Susa-no-wo comes out and scares Amaterasu into hiding. She stays there long enough that the townspeople have to strike up a deal with the Goddess of Laughter to convince Amaterasu to come out of her cave. The plan was to take a golden mirror and tell Amaterasu that they had found another goddess to take her place. When Amaterasu saw her reflection in the mirror, the trick had worked, and she came charging out of her cave. With a strong god in place to close off the cave with a boulder, they successfully worked together, humans and gods alike, to get Amaterasu back to provide light to their world.

Bibliography

The Miraculous Mirror, Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917).

Image Information: Golden Mirror, Flickr

Week 5 Story: The Valley of Diamonds

"Once there was a sailor named Sinbad who wished for adventure and riches. He had tasted the thrills of trekking across the sea once before, and he set out to journey the sea again. On this voyage, he had joined a crew of sailors to go to different lands. Their ship made a stop at an island, and Sinbad was more tired than you are from his journey."

"I'm not tired!" insisted John. He was all tucked up in bed after being slowly convinced over the last half hour that it really was his bed time. The more he fought going to bed, the more tired he really was. "I'm only in bed because you told me you'd tell me a story about pirates!"

I softly chuckled, "Well, Sindbad was not exactly a pirate. He was a sailor, and as I was saying, he took a nap. When he woke up, he saw that everyone had left. He quickly looked around everywhere he could, but when he got to the shore, he saw the ship sailing off into the distance. So now Sindbad had to think! How would he get off this island? He explored more of the island and found a massive egg. An egg as tall as this house! Can you imagine that? Soon the egg's parent came back to land on the egg. Since Sindbad was right next to the egg, he was luckily undetected by the giant bird. This bird was called a Roc. The Roc was at least twice as big as the egg! Thinking quickly, Sindbad used his turban to tie himself to the bird. Once morning came, the bird flew off the island with Sindbad attached.

The bird eventually landed in a valley that was glittering all over. Sindbad quickly untied himself from the bird's leg as the Roc started fighting a snake so huge that it could swallow a truck. Who do you think wins this fight, John? The bird or the snake?"

John squinted his eyes in concentration for a moment, and then looked up at me with wide eyes. "I think the snake will win! Snakes have big teeth. I'm sure he has big teeth since he can eat a whole truck!"

I smiled, "That's a good guess, John, but what happens is the Roc gets the upper hand and carries the snake out of the valley to eat for dinner." I smirked, "Mmm, don't you think a snake dinner would be tasty?"

John scrunched up his face in response. "No snake for me! I like chicken nuggets!"

"Well, John, Sindbad was now trapped in a valley with massive snakes! He looked around him and saw that the entire valley floor was covered in diamonds. These diamonds would have made him so rich if only he could get back to safety! Night was soon approaching, so Sindbad had to hole himself up in a cramped cave to stay safe from the snakes that came out at night. The snakes slithered and hissed all night, so Sindbad barely got a wink of sleep. But morning finally came, and he was able to walk along the valley without fear. He was admiring some diamonds that were as large as his head when a huge chunk of meat dropped beside him.

Sindbad remembered that merchants tried to get the diamonds by dropping meat in the valley with hopes that some diamonds would stick to the meat. How they get the meat back out of the valley depends on the Rocs retrieving the meat and taking the meat back to their nest. So using the same idea as before, Sindbad took his turban and tied himself to the meat with a large collection of diamonds. Before long, a Roc came by and picked up the meat with Sindbad and the diamonds along with it.

Sindbad was then dropped in a nest of massive chicks that were hungry, but the merchants kept watch on the nest and scared away the birds. The merchants soon realized Sindbad was in the nest and were upset that he had cut their profit. Luckily, he did have diamonds to offer the merchants, but they declined after hearing his wild story. After surviving birds of prey, gigantic snakes, and angry merchants, Sindbad the Sailor finally made his way safely home."

"I liked that story," remarked John with his eyes nearly closed. "I want to hear more about Sindbad the Sailor next t-...," and with that, John was asleep.

Author's Note: This is a retelling of the Second Voyage from the Voyages of Sindbad. This retelling was done as if I was telling this story to a child as a bedtime story. There are many fantastical details that can be used for the drama of a bedtime story. The original tale follows Sindbad on his journey out with a crew on a ship to an island. Unfortunately, Sinbad takes a nap on the island and is left behind. Luckily, he finds an egg much larger than him that is the egg of a Roc, a giant bird, that he uses to get off the island by tying himself to the Roc's leg. Once off the island, he ends up in a valley of diamonds and snakes. Merchants try to get the diamonds by dropping meat in the valley, so Sindbad ties himself to the meat to escape by a bird picking him up once again.

Bibliography

Second Voyage, The Voyages of Sindbad, Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898)

Image Information: Diamonds by Ptukhina Natasha, Wikimedia Commons

Week 3 Story: Left in the Dark

Five thousand and five hundred years. This was the sentence of exile given to Adam and Eve from God. Adam and Eve had gone against God's command and had eaten the Forbidden Fruit. Eve had been enticed by the serpent while Adam had listened to her, and now they were both fit for punishment. This punishment came in the tall order of five thousand and five hundred years kicked out of Paradise. They now had to learn how to live on their own in a place that did not account for their every need. Outside of Paradise, they took up residence in the Cave of Treasures, and here is where Adam and Eve went blind.

"What is this darkness? Eve, where are you?" exclaimed Adam.

"I am over here," echoed Eve's voice throughout the cave, "but I cannot see you."

"Losing my sight is too great a burden to take, why must I be punished this way?" roared Adam. His voiced ricocheted violently off the hard rocks. "I have already been forced to leave Paradise, and now you take away my ability to see this wretched part of the world? Will you just strip me apart piece by piece?" he implored of God, whom he knew could hear him.

God took pity and responded to Adam, "Just as the angels who obey me are allowed to live in the brightness of Heaven and not deal with the dark of day, you are also held to the same standard. Once the angel has turned their back on me and betrayed me, they are cast out of the brilliance of Heaven to the world that has darkness. For your betrayal, you have been cast out of Paradise to experience the day and the night."

Adam exasperatedly said, "Please, oh Lord, take us back into your Paradise! Take pity on us as we confess our sins! We know what we did was wrong!"

"Five thousand and five hundred years have not passed yet, as you know that is the length of your punishment. I had to command that you not eat the Forbidden Fruit or else, I would have committed sin for not warning you first before doling out punishment. Once this time has passed, I will take you back into Paradise," admitted God.

"Take heart in the fact that this darkness was not intended to be part of your punishment. This is merely what is called night. This darkness will end. Night only lasts for 12 hours, and you will see the brightness of day again. The night time was intended to be a good time for rest and reprieve from the toils of day for yourself and your children. Take night as a gift and understand I did this to help you and not to hurt you," comforted God. God then let them be in the Cave of Treasures.

Adam and Even, disgruntled by this conversation, cried to themselves in the wake of God's words. Though God had tried to comfort them, they were discontented by the steadfast choice to keep them out of Paradise. Adam and Eve stayed like this until morning came, the only reprieve to their long night.

Author's Note

This story was inspired by the The Darkness from The Forgotten Books of Eden edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr. I was first intrigued by this story because of the title, The Darkness. I thought this was an ominous way to bring light to this part of Adam and Eve's story. This is a retelling of The Darkness where Adam and Eve have been kicked out of Paradise and have experienced night for the first time.

Bibliography

The Darkness from The Forgotten Books of Eden edited by Rutherford H. Platt, Jr.

Image Information: Sunrise, Pexels

Week 2 Story: Never Trust a Jackal

A tiger was searching for sustenance when he came upon a box-like structure. The tiger's curiosity got the best of him, and he investigated further. From behind, the tiger heard a clank, and he was trapped. The tiger did his best to free himself, but all this effort was to no avail. Three days passed before a Brahman came near the cage.

The tiger, now desperate to be free of this cage, called out to the Brahman, "Please, Brahman, set me free! I have been here for three days without food or even a drop of water!"

On edge, the Brahman replied, "If I were to set you free, what guarantee do I have that my life will not be endangered at the moment of your freedom?"

"Please, I beg you! I just need to be let go from this horrible place!" 

The Brahman and tiger exchanged this way for awhile until the tiger began to cry.

The Brahman had never before seen a tiger cry, and he felt pity arise in his heart for the tiger. Even though the Brahman knew this could be a life threatening choice, he decided to release the tiger from the cage. 

Once free from his holding cell, the tiger turned on the Brahman and said, "Oh my, the hunger in my body is so strong. Brahman, your scent is too enticing to turn down."

"I just let you free! Why would you turn on me so quickly? Let me leave with my life!" exclaimed the Brahman.

"Fine, fine. I will let you ask three things their opinion of this matter. Choose carefully."

The Brahman thought for a moment. The pressure of needing to save his life prevailed, and he hastily chose a nearby tree his opinion.

The tree dryly answered, "I have provided nothing but cool from the sun and places for wildlife to build their homes. Yet, those like you cut my kin down merely to feed your cows. As my life is meaningless to you, yours is meaningless to me. The tiger may do as he wishes."

Taken aback, the Brahman chose the road next as he thought there was nothing he had done directly to offend the road.

"You stand on me now with me below you, and you ask me to give you a pardon? All of you walk across me relentlessly everyday with nothing even close to a thanks. The less of you there are, the less I have to be walked on each day. Let the tiger eat," smirked the road.

Dejected, the Brahman made his way back to the tiger. On the way, he heard babbling coming from off the path. He saw there was a jackal muttering to himself among the trees. The Brahman was disoriented by the jackal talking nonsense, so he tried to discreetly slip past the jackal without being noticed. Unfortunately, the jackal perked up as the Brahman neared him.

"Why do you look so down on a day so sunny and bright?" inquired the jackal.

Unwillingly, the Brahman stopped and explained his situation with the tiger. The jackal seemed spaced out and kept looking around while the Brahman told his story. Once the Brahman finished his telling, the jackal asked him to tell him again as the first time made no sense. This time, the Brahman tried to take the story slowly and simply in a way that even this dull jackal could understand. This seemed to provide no help as the jackal still decided that the story was too confusing.

"I have an idea! Take me back to where this story occurred! I understand tales like these much better when I can see what happened, and right now all you are doing is throwing words at me!" barked the jackal.

The Brahman reluctantly took the jackal back to where the tiger was waiting.

"Ah, you have returned," smiled the tiger, "I have been waiting for dinner to be served!"

"This jackal is my last chance at getting an opinion. He is slightly slow at absorbing information," explained the Brahman.

The Brahman then proceeded to go through the story in excruciating detail to the jackal. The Brahman relished this time as he had decided he was doomed to be eaten by the tiger. Each word was a precious gift. Finally, he finished telling his story, and he asked the jackal if this time he understood.

"Hmm, not exactly, so you were in the cage? Or was the tiger?"

"I was in the cage," snarled the tiger.

"In a cage? I do not understand how or why you would end up there. How does one even get into a cage?" laughed the jackal.

"You simply walk inside, and then you are in the cage. This is not a hard concept," glared the tiger.

"Yes, but how did you get in the cage? All these words are just floating around, and I still do not get how you ended up there."

Losing his temper, the tiger decided to prove his point by going into the cage himself. "See? Like this, now I am magically in the cage, you dull jackal."

As the tiger was turning around, he heard that dreaded clank as the jackal locked the tiger, yet again, in the cage.

"Oh, I see now! You are in the cage! And now, it will stay this way," said the jackal triumphantly.

Author's Note

I wrote this story as a retelling of the tale of The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal. I chose this story as I did not expect the ending. I enjoyed the twist that occurred which set this story apart from the others. This version set me up in a way that I thought I knew what would happen at the end, but I was pleasantly surprised to be wrong.

Bibliography

The Tiger, The Brahman, and the Jackal, Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912)

Image Information: Jackal from Wikimedia Commons