Week 2: Brainstorming Topics for Mythology & Folklore
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| The Basilisk |
Original: A mother visits the local market to bring back gifts for her three daughters only to stumble across a palace rose garden on the way home. When she takes three roses for her younger daughter Mary, a basilisk appears and threatens the mother to send her daughter to the castle. After nursing the Basilisk for three days, she is told to cut off his head twice and turns into a handsome youth, who she marries.
Retelling: I’ve already written retelling of this story during week 2, where Mary and the Basilisk have a strongly developed relationship and the Basilisk has a more complex character. Still, I really enjoyed this story any would like to develop it further if it became a final project, making a definitive beginning, middle and end.
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| The Dragon |
Original: After escaping a trap by his older brother, a young trickster is brought to the king and is told that his life will be spared if he collects various treasures from a dragon. After acquiring the dragon’s flying horse, bed coverings, and the dragon himself, the trickster brings the dragon to the palace, who swallows the king whole. The trickster marries the king’s daughter becomes the new king.
Retelling: I would like to make a pact between the trickster and the dragon in a way that would double-cross the king and explain the dragon’s fate. I also want to develop the relationship between the trickster and the king’s daughter in a way that makes sense.
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| Ryūjin |
Original: Ryūjin (Japanese: dragon god) is a deity of the sea in Japanese mythology, capable of controlling the oceans and bringing bounty from the waters.. Legend says that Empress Jingū used Ryūjin’s tide jewels to win a battle against the Korean navy.
Retelling: From what I could find, most of Japan’s early rulers are either mythical or are heavily fictionalized (as most documentations were 2000 years ago), so the legend itself is easily malleable. I would probably like to write about how Jingū acquired the tide jewels from Ryūjin in the first place, and the aftermath of the battle.
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| The Afanc |
Original: Hu Gadarn (Hu the Mighty) was the ruler of Cymry (Welsh) people, who left Summer Country and settled on Honey Island (early Britain). There was a lake monster who dwelled there, the Afanc, who brought them much trouble. Gadarn plotted to bring one of the maidens to lure it to sleep, where the Cymry chained the Afanc and trapped it in the Lake of the Green Well.
Retelling: There is less of a storytelling aspect in this legend, so I would like to add a bit more narrative to the plot. I’d also like to make Hu Gadarn and the Afanc more complex, who have very simple roles in the story as the hero and antagonist, respectively. I’m all about character development!
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