The terrible old man: Extra reading

This is another story by HP Lovecraft that I found pretty interesting. It tells the story of an old terrible man that lives in a old sketchy house by himself and does some peculiar things. These 3 men are very curious about the terrible old man so they devise a plan to break into the house and see whats up. This goes south for the men and they end of dead. This whole story reminds me a lot of the movie Monster House. Theres a mean old man that never lets anyone near his house and is mean to everyone. But really hes protecting them from his house because its haunted with the ghost of his dead wife.

Source: The Terrible Old man

Monster House

Reading Notes B: Grimm

For this set of reading notes I will mainly be focusing on the story of Snow White and Rose Red. I had never heard of this version of Snow White, only the disney version but I liked this one a lot. I liked the plot twist at the end where the bear turned out to be a cursed prince. You could probably make a good back story on the princes version of the story and how he became cursed in the first place. Or a after story about how the other dwarves planned on getting revenge on the prince for the death of their fallen comrade.

Snow White

Source: Snow White and Red-Rose by Grimm

Reading Notes A: Grimm

For this set of reading notes I plan on focusing on the story of hansel and grethel. Something that could be pretty cool would be to switch the roles of hansel and grethel and the parents. Since the kids overheard the parents talking about leaving them in the forest, the kids take action and leave the parents in the forest for dead. Or maybe add some background on the witch that tries to eat them. Maybe she had some hardship in her life that made her want to eat children, who knows. Maybe she lost children of her own or cooked her own children, but it would be nice to add some background to why some of these villains in these stories do what they do.

Hansel and Grethel


Source: Hansel and Grethel by Grimm

Myth/Folklore Improvements

As a whole I have really enjoyed this class, it has been very fun and interesting. It has definitely helped me take time away from all my business classes and express my creative ideas. 

I really like the idea of having a planning week instead of a review. I think reviewing is definitely important, but I think planning would help the students have something to work towards rather than have them just look back at what they did. I also really like the idea of a story planning option, so definitely continue that. I only used it once but it was nice when I had a busy week in other classes that I could just plan out what I was going to write and then put it all together next week. I think audio recording would be pretty fun too. I definitely like listening better than reading so that might help some people, but this one is probably optional. 

The beast in the cave: Reading notes

For these reading I read the beast in the cave by HP Lovecraft. This reading tells the story of a man lost in a cave while on a hiking tour. He is left alone and is certain he will die of starvation. At a last desperate effort to get help from the tour guide he starts yelling for help. This attracts a beast that the man can only hear getting closer but cant see it. As it gets closer the man throws a big stone at it and seems to wound it, he then runs away and luckily finds the guide. They then back track and go try to find out what the creature was. Upon finding and observing the injured creature they make the shocking realization that this creature is or at one time was a man.

This story could spark for a interesting storytelling opportunity. The story could feature the creature and his background and how he got to the cave.

The Beast in the Cave

Story Planning: Modern day Dantes Inferno

So for my planning phase I want to focus on making the story of Dantes Inferno more current and relatable. I plan on changing up a lot of the character including changing the guide. I was thinking of changing the guide from Virgil to a more modern poet Dr. Seuss. Dr. Seuss saves Dante from the leopard (represents lack of self-control) , lion (represents violence), and she wolf (represents fraud) that hunt him through the woods. He tells Dante that he has been sent by his “Divine Love” Beatrice has sent him to guide him through hell so that she may guide him through purgatory. If Dante doesn’t come with Dr. Seuss the beasts will kill him, so he decides to take the journey through Hell. Dr. Seuss explains to Dante the 9 levels of Hell: Limbo, Lust, Gluttony, Greed, Anger, Heresy, Violence, Fraud, and Treachery. Dr. Seuss guides Dante through the gates of Hell and the ferryman, Charon, takes them across the Acheron river. Dante find himself in Limbo, where ill need to come back and add modern people to be in this level of hell. He next goes to the level of Lust where he finds the famous golfer Tiger Woods there. Next in Gluttony he finds Lindsay Lohan. In Greed he finds people such a C. Montgomery Burns from the Simpsons. In Anger he finds the Hulk, Mel Gibson, and Anger from Inside Out. Going to come back to the Heresy level. For the Violence level, some of the most famous serial killers of all time will be featured: Michael Myers, Jason Voorhees, Ted Bundy, OJ Simpson and many others. Fraud will be spotlighted by Charles Ponzi, Bernie Madoff, Rush Limbaugh and Jeffrey Skilling. The treachery level will have people such as Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, Guy Fawkes, Benedict Arnold, and Kevin Durant. So I plan on building around these ideas a lot more in the coming week and will have appropriate punishments.

Captain Jacks thoughts on Dante's Inferno

Bibliography: Dantes Inferno by Dante Alighieri and Modern Day Dantes Inferno

Reading Notes A&B: Inferno

For my reading this week I want to focus on Dantes Inferno. This is a story that I am very familiar with and find incredibly interesting. The main thing I want to do for it is change up the levels of hell and change up the examples that are given. Maybe have the levels be more focused on things: 7 levels of college hell, levels of social media hell, etc. I think I want to come of with a new guide for Dante, and maybe even change the main character to someone else as well. I plan on taking this week to do a planning post and then doing my story next week. I plan on being way more extensive with my plan than my notes.




Dantes Inferno

Storytelling: Fantastic Mr. Fox

There was a lady named Mary. She was both kind and beautiful, and adored by all. She lived with her two brothers, Mark and Luke. Lady Mary had more suitors than she knew what to do with, but every time she would agree to marry someone they would disappear. That is until Mr. Fox came along. Lady Mary had met Mr. Fox at her father’s country house, so no one really knew much about him. What they did know was that he was certainly brave, surely rich, and that he was deeply loved by Lady Mary. So at last it was decided that they should be married. Lady Mary asked Mr. Fox where he thought they should live once they were married, he described to her his beautiful castle and where it was located. But oddly enough, didn’t invite her or her brothers to come see it.

A few days away from the wedding Lady Mary decided she wanted to find the house that he described. So when her brothers were gone, and Mr. Fox was away on business, she went out to search for it. After quite a bit of searching she at last found it. And when she came up to the gateway she saw written on it:

Be bold, be bold.

But as the gate was open, she went through it, and found no one there. So she went up to the doorway, and over it she found written:

Be bold, be bold, but not too bold.

She went on, till she came into the hall, and went up the stairs till she came to a door in the gallery, over which was written:

Be bold, be bold, but not too bold,
Lest that your heart's blood should run cold.

Lady Mary took a deep breath and thrust open the door and what do you think she saw? Why, dead bodies and skeletons stained with blood. There were children, women, and men all carved up and tortured to death. Lady Mary walked around and examined the bodies. As she took a closer look she noticed something, she recognized a lot of the male bodies. They were her suitors that had agreed to marry her, but then “disappeared.” She realized that Mr. Fox must have kidnapped them and killed them so that he could be the one to marry her.

Lady Mary thought it was high time to get out of that horrid place, and she closed the door, went through the gallery, and was just going down the stairs, and out of the hall, when who should she see through the window but Mr. Fox dragging a beautiful young lady along from the gateway to the door.

Lady Mary rushed downstairs, and hid herself behind a cask, as Mr. Fox came in with the poor unconscious young lady, Just as he got near Lady Mary, Mr. Fox saw a diamond ring glittering on the finger of the young lady he was dragging, and he tried to pull it off. But it would not come off, so Mr. Fox drew his sword, raised it, and brought it down upon the hand of the poor lady. The sword cut off the hand, which jumped up into the air, and fell right into Lady Mary's lap. Mr. Fox tried to look around for it, but gave up quickly, and continued to drag the lady’s body to the gallery. As soon as the coast was clear Lady Mary bolted out of the castle and ran home as fast as she could.

The next day happened to be the day that the marriage contract was to be signed, so there was a celebratory breakfast before it. Mr. Fox walked in and greeted Lady Mary and said, “My dear, you look quite pale this morning. Is everything alright?”

“Just a had some bad dreams last night,” Lady Mary replied. “Tell me about your dream my dear,” said Mr. Fox.

“Well I dreamed that I found your castle in the woods. And on the gateway written was Be Bold, Be Bold,” said Lady Mary.

“But it is not so, nor it was not so,” said Mr. Fox.

“And when I came to the doorway, over it was written: Be bold, be bold, but not too bold.”

“It is not so, nor it was not so, “said Mr. Fox.

“And then I went upstairs, and came to a gallery, at the end of which was a door, on which was written:”

Be bold, be bold, but not too bold,
Lest that your heart's blood should run cold.

“It is not so, nor it was not so,” said Mr. Fox.

“And the I opened the door, and the room was filled with bodies and skeletons of all my past suitors, all stained with their blood.”

“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should be so,” said Mr. Fox.

“I then rushed down the gallery, and just as I was going down the stairs I saw you, Mr. Fox, coming up to the hall door, dragging a poor young lady.”

“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should be so,” said Mr. Fox.

“I rushed downstairs, just in time to hide myself behind a cask, when you came in. And, as you passed me, I saw you try and get off her diamond ring. When you could not, that you got out with your sword and hacked off the poor lady's hand to get the ring.”

“It is not so, nor it was not so. And God forbid it should be so,” said Mr. Fox, and was going to say something else as he rose from his seat, when Lady Mary cried out:

“But it is so, and it was so. Here's hand and ring I have to show,” and pulled out the lady's hand from her dress, and pointed it straight at Mr. Fox.

At once her brothers and her friends drew their swords and cut Mr. Fox into a thousand pieces.

Authors Note: For this story I kept a lot of it the same from the original. I really enjoyed the original story and didn’t really want to change much. But as I was reading through the one thing that I was curious about was why Mr. Fox was killing these people. So in my version I made the main reason he killed people to be so that he could be the one to marry Lady Mary.

Source: EnglishTales, Joseph Jacobs, Mr. Fox

Fantastic Mr. Fox

Reading Notes B: English Tales

Out of the second set of stories that I read, the only one that I might use for storytelling would be the Mr. Fox story. This story is basically about a girl finding out that her fiance is a murderer, and has to prove that he is so she doesnt have to marry him. Mr. Fox is very mysterious, kinda reminds me of Disturbia or the Stepfather.




Mr. Fox

Reading Notes A: English Tales

The main stories from the English Tales that I will be focusing on will be the master and his pupil, the 3 little bigs, and Binnorie. I plan on trying to incorporate some of these together if possible. Maybe the master and his pupil/ 3 little pigs could be put together. Maybe the pupil accidentally opens the magic spell book turning them into pigs and being hunted by the wolf. The only way to free the spell is to kill the wolf.


The sorcerers apprentice

Storytelling: Grendel the not so terrible

Some say he’s as big as a mountain. Some say he can devour a dozen men in just one bite. They call him the scourge of the night. His name is Grendel, and he will haunt your dreams and put your town into utter chaos. These are some of the stories they tell about the creature Grendel, although no one really knows the truth. No one has ever actually seen the creature Grendel and lived, but they have seen the carnage that he has caused. The story of Grendel started out as an old urban legend, much like the boogie man or killer clowns. But for the people of Heorot, they found out the hard way that Grendel is very real. For over 12 years Grendel had cursed the town of Heorot. He would cast a spell upon the town that would put them all asleep, he would then steal people right out of their beds and devour them. Like I said before no one had ever seen the creature Grendel and lived to tell the tale, but every night someone new from the town would disappear and the only logical explanation was that it was Grendel. Many people of Heorot tried to leave, but never could cross into the next town without being hunted down by Grendel. The town was surely doomed to be forever cursed by this creature, that is until the day Beowulf arrived.

Beowulf was a fierce warrior of Geatsland, who had decided to come to Heorot to rid them of the terrible monster Grendel. Beowulf was considered to be a great warrior by his people, but was untested in battle. To prove to his people that he truly was a great warrior, he planned to slay the monster Grendel that had cursed the town of Heorot. Beowulf arrived at Heorot with fourteen of his finest men, not truly aware of the deadly task that they had gotten themselves into. The people of Heorot had heard of Beowulf and his brave men and were sure that they would save them from Grendel. They threw the warriors a great feast to honor them, and then left them in the Great Hall of the village to wait for the dreaded Grendel.

Beowulf and his men set up their defenses and prepare for the long night they had ahead of them. As the night rolled on the men, one by one, slowly started drifting off into a deep sleep. Beowulf knew that this must be the magic of Grendel, and resisted the urge to fall asleep by burning himself with a candle. It was then that Beowulf turned and realized that the massive door of the Great Hall had started creaking open, and he knew that Grendel was upon him. Beowulf drew and sword and prepared for battle, but what happened next caught him completely off guard.

Standing at the door of the Great Hall was not a monster as big as a mountain, nor terrifying enough to make you leave Heorot. What stood there was a troll like creature the size of a chiwawa. “You’re the monster Grendel?” said Beowulf in utter disbelief. Grendel was shocked that the warrior had not been effected by his spell, but responded “Yes, I am Grendel. The scourge of the night. Prepare to die.” Beowulf sat there in silence for a minute and then started laughing. Once he finally gathered himself he sheathed his sword, walked over to the “terrifying” Grendel, and started choking the creature. Grendel tried to fight back, but Beowulf was too strong and he died. Beowulf sat there, filled with joy that he had finally rid this town of Grendel. But little did Beowulf know Grendel was not only thing that had been cursing the town, his mother was a part of it too. Grendel was more or less just a pawn that was sent in first to make everyone fall asleep. Then Grendel’s mother, who was actually giant and terrifying, would come in and devour the townspeople. So as Beowulf sat there basking in glory, a giant shadowing figured suddenly swooped him off his feet. But what happens next is a story for another time.

Authors note: I kept fairly to the original story while writing this. Grendel was a giant monster that cursed the town of Heorot for 12 year until Beowulf came and killed Grendel by ripping his arm clean off him. Grendel's mother, who was much more terrifying than Grendel, found this out and started killing Beowulf's men. So Beowulf set out to end the creature and rid Heorot of these monsters once and for all. For my story I focused on just the Grendel aspect because it would take too long to talk about both. But I decided to make Grendel to be this terrifying myth that had everyone feared, when in reality he was just a puny little thing that was able to put people to sleep so that his mom could eat them. 

Bibliography: The Story of Beowulf- by Stafford Riggs

Grendel