The Myths/Folklore Blog

Hadrian was a farm boy from the city of Corinth – he had always been told by his mother to be wary of the areas outside their lonely home, since she couldn’t be sure of what was out there. He had asked her one day, while milking the cow, why she had such trepidation to go outside the city limits. She responded with a matter-of-fact reply, “Because it’s dangerous”. She had always been that way with him, never taking any “talkback” and always demanding absolute obedience. Her favorite phrase had been, “so help me child I will throw you into the depths with Cronos if you speak back to me like that.” It had been that attitude that drove him away. He wanted to see what was out there, to experience all that the world had to offer. The night he ran away had been the hardest, sleeping alone on the side of a barren road, looking out for fellow travelers that might need some company. Hadrian made his way from Corinth to Athens to Sparti, further drifting towards the sea. Since he had laid ...

Again, these Japanese mythology tales convey a supreme sense of mysticism along with a calming type of presence – this can be seen through phrases such as, “sweet ambrosial sake they poured into cups of frail-stemmed sea-lillies” these carefully chosen words convey so well what the images are within the stories, exactly how they need to be described. I also liked the hero’s (Yamato) quest to find new love (even at the expense of his previous love). The golden apple is also found within this collection of stories, another artifact/symbol that can be found throughout mythology in the world. You can even see an example of the golden apple in video games! The idea that some fruit can grant you eternal life/bliss is such a great concept to put into a story – having an everyday, normal object with such extreme powers causing men to search after it heedlessly is a great concept to explore. Again, there is a monster slayed within the story, with the Great Boar taking that spot. The challenge...

This week’s reading was very interesting, especially since I had never really heard about or read Japanese mythology. One of my favorite stories from this unit was the 8-forked serpent of Koshi. I read this earlier in the class, which is part of the reason that I liked it so much. Other reasons were I simply like fantasy stories where the main character is able to triumph over some huge monster through his wits alone.  Furthermore, he wound up with a beautiful wife at the end of it, for his troubles – when stories like these end well with a heroes ending, it makes me think of an earlier time in my life. The types of stories that have “good” endings are ones that are looked highly upon by children. I also liked the stories at the beginning, which described how life came to be through a flower that bloomed the Izanagi and Izanami, who then shaped the Earth with a spear, drawing up mountains and carving out valleys. The overall tone of the stories was mystical, etherea...