Mythology and Folklore Blog

Catskin (Royal Ball from Wikipedia Commons ) Plot: There once was a rich man who wanted a son and instead had a daughter. Distraught he asked to never see her again. When she was old enough to be wed her dad said to marry her off to the first one to take her. This ended up being a gross old man so to postpone the marriage she asked for a cloak of silver, beaten gold, a feather of every bird in the sky, and catskin. When all of those had been provided she wrapped herself in the catskin and ran away. She got a job in the castle as a scullery maid where everyone called her Catskin. One day the prince had a ball to find a wife. Catskin wanted to go to the ball so she dressed in her silver cloak. The prince fell in love with her instantly. At the end of the night she had to go back to work as a maid. The prince, desperate to find her hosts two more balls and she attends them in her remaining cloaks. The final night the prince follows her and discovers that the woman he loves is the ma...

The Old Witch (Wicked Witch of the East from Wikipedia Commons ) Plot: In this story, a girl goes to find work as a servant. On her way to find a job, she hears a loaf of bread asking to be taken out of the oven. Kindly, she does this. Then she hears a cow asking to be milked. Kindly, she milks the cow. Then she hears an apple tree asking to be picked. Kindly, she picks the apples. Eventually, the girl reaches the home of a witch who agrees to take her on as a servant but warns her to never look up the chimney. One day the girl forgets the instructions and looks up on accident and finds bags of money. She runs away with this money and the witch chases after her. She comes upon the tree and asks it to hide her from the witch. Then she does the same with the cow and the oven. When she gets home she becomes rich and marries her sweetheart and lives happily ever after. Her sister then decides to try and accomplish the same thing but refuses to help the cow, oven, and apple tree. When...

For this story lab, I decided to explore the TV Tropes website. I found this website incredibly useful and interesting. To start I looked at tropes directly related to my storybook like Old, New, Borrowed, and Blue  and Suddenly Suitable Suitor . What I really like about these sites is that they give good historical/background information into each trope as well as providing tons of examples. Perusing the examples is definitely the most fun part some of the choices are so obscure or random it really made me laugh. One of the examples of the Suddenly Suitable Suitor is a Scooby Doo episode. In addition to the articles centered on my storybook, I looked at tropes from some of my favorite genres. I love mysteries and thrillers so I looked through several tropes. One of the ones that stuck out to me is the Anonymous Killer Narrator . This is a trope I've seen a lot in books I read so I was interested to read more about it and see more examples. Finally, I was shocked to see...

Beth Gellert (Blue Greyhound from Wikipedia Commons ) Plot: There once was a prince who had a greyhound he loved very much named Gellert. This greyhound was his best hunting dog and as gentle as a lamb. One day the prince was going for a hunt and called for Gellert but he did not come. He went without Gellert and did not get much game. When he came home he found Gellert and noticed there was blood on his lips and fangs. The prince had a one-year-old son Gellert sometimes played with and in a panic, the prince ran to his nursery. In the nursery there was blood everywhere. Distraught, the prince stabbed Gellert with a sword, killing him to avenge his son's death. Then the prince hears a baby's cry. The young son was laying outside his crib and next to it was the carcass of a giant wolf. Realizing his error, the prince wept but there was no way to bring his beloved Gellert back to life. Lesson: Don't doubt your most faithful companions. Ideas: This story is re...

The Field of Boliauns (Leprechaun with Pot of Gold from Pixabay ) Plot: A young man named Tom was on a walk when he heard a sound in the bushes. Behind the bushes was a little leprechaun with a pitcher. Tom knew you cannot take your eyes of a leprechaun or you may lose their treasure. Tom then engages the leprechaun in a discussion about beer. The leprechaun claims that he can make beer out of heath which Tom claims is impossible. The leprechaun then tries to trick Tom into looking behind him at some cows. Tom almost takes his eyes off the leprechaun but at the last moment, he grabs the leprechaun and demands he show him his money or he will kill him. So he takes Tom to a field of boliauns and points out a specific bunch saying that's where his treasure is. Tom had to go back to get a spade so he tied a red garter around the specific bunch. Before Tom let the leprechaun go, he made him swear not to move the red garter. When Tom got back to the field he saw that every si...