Changelings: Styles Brainstorms

(Der Wechselbalg by Henry Fuseli, 1780)

Topic: After much research, I've decided that the topic of my storybook will be changelings. I know there are many different changeling stories from numerous locations that I can focus on in my storybook. My goal is to find four changeling stories from four different geographic locations and focus on the similarities and differences between the stories. Two stories that really stood out to me were The Fair Folk and The Killcrop of Halberstadt. I worry that my biggest challenge will be finding stories that have major, noticeable differences. I believe if they are from different time periods along with locations, it will be easier to find differences between the stories.

Bibliography: 
1. The Fair Folk, Walter Gregor, Notes on the Folk-Lore of the North-East of Scotland, (London: Folk-Lore Society, 1881), pp. 60-62.
2. The Killcrop of Halberstadt, Martin Luther, Werke, kritische Gesamtausgabe: Tischreden (Weimar: Böhlau, 1912-1921), v. 4, pp. 357-358.

Possible styles:

Changeling perspective. I think it would be super interesting to take the stories and tell them from the more sinister side. As you may be able to tell based on my other stories, I am interested in exploring things from the perspective that most people usually do not consider. This perspective would allow for me to explore a side of the story that is often kept in the dark.

The victims perspective. Many changeling stories are told in third person and with this opportunity, it would be interesting to hear from the people who were personally victimized by a changeling. It would be fun to explore the journey they take to get back to their home and get rid of the changeling. Having the victim's perspective could allow me to leverage a strong emotional pull to the stories.

Changeling creation. I think a creation story for the changelings would be fun to explore. As far as I can tell, the creation stories all are with minimal explanation and vary drastically by location. If you look back, these beliefs had gone on for hundreds of years and it wasn't too long ago that many of these legends were told. Having a creation story that goes into detail will humanize the changelings and bring a new third person perspective.

Super legend. Legends frequently have an eery feel to them. Combining the different qualities of changelings from the different geographic locations would be very fun. I could create a "super" legend that knows no borders and could be applicable to every location. I would have the ability to focus on the commonalities but hint at the differences to add a level of creepiness to the stories. The best part is that I can expand and add my own features to the changelings (within reason).

Week 3: Review

The review posts are becoming my favorite extra credit opportunity! They are so much fun to share and it is interesting to see people's favorite announcements. With that being said, this week my favorite thing from the announcements was this You Say Potato post on September 12! The way potato is spelled at the end looks like someone just smashed letters on a keyboard and called it a day. That is probably why I laughed so much.

Growth Mindset: Week 3

(Growth mindset meme created by Laura Gibbs, photo by Robert Lowe)

This semester, my hardest class is my capstone. It's not that it is really hard work, it is just time consuming and tedious. We have to build a campaign all in 16 weeks. Luckily, my professor staggers due dates and that makes it much easier to handle. Despite this, my biggest challenge this semester is focusing on time management.

I am trying really hard to not fall really behind in classes. This semester is so busy that I do not think that I have time to procrastinate, which is good, but I need to learn to do assignments as much in advance as possible. I am trying really hard to not focus on the grade either. Learning new information is my focus this semester. I want to maintain my GPA, but I know that it is silly to get an A without actually knowing the information.

I am using my capstone schedule to build my homework schedule for all of my classes. I am trying to take it day by day and not freak out about assignments due months ahead. So, here is to maintaining a good work ethic for my classes and learning along the way!

Week 3 Storytelling: Sammy's Sly Move

(The Lion, the Bear and the Fox illustration by Milo Winter 1919)

He had been searching for dinner for hours. He swore that it felt like years. Last time he ate was early in the morning and it was practically nothing. Jim, the lion, and Geoffrey, the bear, had been hunting all of his prey. They had just moved into the area rather recently and it was quite hard on Sammy, the fox.

Sammy has always been used to living practically alone. There was always plenty of game for him to eat and he could roam wherever he pleased without question. He loved it. It was absolutely perfect, that is, until they moved in.

It wasn't so bad when it was just Jim. Jim was really nice and always made sure that Sammy had enough food to eat. Jim want the lion that everyone really liked being around. He was fun, friendly, and didn't change the way the forrest was. Things stayed the same when Jim moved in; however, that all changed when Geoffrey came.

Geoffrey was Jim's rival. They used to be friends when they were little. They were tighter than any knot. In all honesty, no one really knows why they became enemies, but they knew that is wasn't good for the forrest. Geoffrey made Jim paranoid, bitter, and insanely mean. They constantly fought. So how does Sammy play into this?

He lived between them.

That's right, Sammy was the unfortunate neighbor between the two rivals. And he hated it. All of his roaming was monitored by Jim and Geoffrey, as both were worried that the other had sent Sammy to spy on them. All of the prey that Sammy used to get was being captured and eaten by the rivals to spite one another. They bullied each other, and in the end Sammy was the one most affected by it.

So that leads us to today, where Sammy is searching for his dinner in hope that neither of them caught the stray kid he saw last night.

In the midst of his search, Sammy heard loud grunting and yelling. He kept trying to ignore it, but as he searched for his prey, the noises got louder and louder. So, of course, Sammy decided to check it out.

He went over to the bushes where the noises seem to be coming from and peeked through the branches to have a look. Not to his surprise, Geoffrey and Jim were at it again! They were fighting constantly and he was getting sick of it. He was about to turn around, give up on hunting, and go home, but he saw something out of the corner of his eye.

He poked his head out a bit further and saw that the animal he had been until was lying next to Jim and Geoffrey. He was so happy that he almost shouted with joy, but he didn't want to bring his presence to Jim and Geoffrey's attention.

This gave Sammy a brilliant idea. He would sneak over to the animal, grab it and then as quiet as possible, he would leave. He assumed that Jim and Geoffrey would never notice as long as he was quiet, because often they fought for hours or days.

So with the brilliant idea in mind, Sammy decided to do it. He did it before he could talk himself out of it. He snuck out of the branches, grabbed the stray kid and swiftly snuck back. He succeeded.

Author's note: My story is based on the Aesop's Story of The Lion, the Bear and the Fox. The story focuses on two animals that argue over prey, but both miss out in the end. In the original story, the Lion and the Bear notice that the Fox had taken away the stray kid and agree that they should have just shared it. The original story is quite short.

The reason I chose this story is because I really liked that the fox was able to sneak prey away from two animals that were much larger than him. Foxes are much smaller in comparison and because of this, I decided to focus my story on the fox. After picking what point of view I wanted in the story, I decided to make the fox more sly and assume that it was his prey that he was stealing back and would not get caught.

I used the illustration from the original story.  Without this illustration, I honestly would have been less likely to use this story. This image, in my mind, helps the reader picture how clever the fox is, and how he was able to get away with the prey so easily.

The Aesop for Children, with illustrations by Milo Winter (1919).

Reading Diary A: Aesop (Winter)

For this week, I decided to focus on the Aesop (Winter), I only took notes for a few of the stories. They are listed below:

(The Dog and the Hides illustration by Milo Winter 1919)

The Boy and the Filberts:

• Real life experience, very relatable to me. I often do too much at a time.
• Short but the theme is easy to pick out.
• I think this is applicable to almost everyone currently.

The Oxen and the Wheels:

• Inanimate object is making more noise than a living object.
• The oxen do not really make any noise.
• The oxen are carrying all the weight and the wheels are not carrying much. Ironically, the wheels are the ones who are complaining.

The Lion and the Ass:

• Lion walking by without bothering anyone and donkey makes a comment about him.
• His comment made the lion angry, and the lion almost attacked him.
• Lion is the better one because he ignored the donkey's comment and kept going on with his life.

The Dog and the Hides:

• Hungry dogs saw hides to eat at the bottom of a river.
• They came to the conclusion that they could drink the river until they could reach the bottom.
• I really liked this story because it was about not doing what is impossible. I think a lot of people try to do impossible things and get upset when they fail them.