My Blog for Myth and Folklore

This week, I researched topics for my final story. I looked at a few Aesop's fables in order to determine my exact theme. Here are the stories I looked at, they are all pretty short but they share similar themes. Perhaps by looking at them, you can guess how my last story is going to go? Each of these stories were taken from Aesop's Fables by V.S. Vernon Jones. The Wolf and his Shadow In this story, a wolf sees his shadow and notices how large it is. He then thinks that he is huge and that he is greater than lions, however, at that moment, a lion comes by and pounces on him. The wolf realizes that he was foolish in thinking he was greater than lions just by the size of his shadow. The Cat and the Fox In this story, a fox brags about how many talents he has compared to a cat. However, a pack of dogs appears and, while the cat climbs a tree, the fox is killed by the dogs. The Stag and the Hunter   In this story, a stag sees his mighty horns in a reflection and realize...

The Story of Beowulf  by Strafford Riggs  In the second half of the unit, Grendel attacks the hall and puts everyone into a magical sleep. Except, Beowulf wasn't asleep so he is able to fight against the spell. Grendel breaks in and kills one man but while he is devouring him, Beowulf wakes up and the two fight together. The are fairly well matched, until Beowulf is able to get a hold on one of Grendel's arms and rips it off. With that, Grendel runs away and the others wake up. The next day, they celebrate but that night, one of Hrothgar's men is killed and they realize that they forgot about Grendel's monster mother who has taken revenge for her son and will continue to kill them. Beowulf vows to fight her too, so he, his men and king Hrothgar and his men track Grendel's mother with hounds until they reach a murky pond. Beowulf jumps in alone and descends to the bottom. For a while, it is pitch black and he has to strike out blindly against things that pass h...

For this week, I read Beowulf. I had read the story previously in high school but it has been a while and I am glad I get to revisit it and refresh my memory. The Story of Beowulf by Strafford Riggs  We are first introduced to the Geats of Geatland, a mountainous country with a large expanse of coastline. The Geats are ruled by their king, Hygelac. There are many formidable warriors there who fend off the monsters lurking in the forest and the sea. His nephew is Beowulf, who is known for his strength, however, people see him as a sluggard because he hasn't proven himself and seems to only have favor with his king because of their kinship. Most of them are either disdainful of him or jealous and, therefore, he has grown up to be a solemn loner type. Finally, a Wanderer comes and tells them of the plight of their neighbors, the Danes in Daneland, where King Hrothgar and his people are being attacked by the monster, Grendel. For twelve years he has killed their warrior unt...