STORYTELLING WITH ANTO

Urashima The story of Urashima tells of his quest past the sea for seven long days without rest. He did not return to Suminoye nor to his home but after a fruitless quest, he pulled a great tortoise from the sea. Tortoises are a holy symbol of long life so he returned it to the water. Urashima slept and started dreaming when a vision of a fair maiden came, the daughter of the dragon. She whispered to him that for having speared the tortoise's life he could join her in her castle underneath the sea, and take princess Otohime as his wife, where they would be ever young and free, never to die. But after being in the palace with his wife, he began to long for his home and family, so he decided to go see his parents and then return. His wife then entrusted him with a talismanic casket to take with him but instructed him not to open it. Urashima sailed to his home, Suminoye, but when he reached it there were no huts and no people, thus realizing that he had stayed in the palace for hu

Izanagi and Izanami In the beginning, everything was chaos and from the void emerged a cloud from which sprouted a bud than then grew and blossomed towards the heavens. From the wonder-flower bloomed the Sun. At the same time, from heaven came downward a night-blooming flower that became the moon. Out of these blossoms sprang many gods, the last of who were Izanagi (all-powerful-God-of-the-Air) and Izanami (fair-Goddess-of-the-Clouds), and from them came all life.  Izanagi and Izanami stood in the Floating Bridge of Heaven when Izanagi said that there must be a kingdom beneath them and that they should visit it. He threw his spear into the ocean and when he drew it, from the drops of liquid the island of Onogora was born. He stirred once ore creating a mountain attached to the Floating Bridge. Izanagi and Izanami both descended and skirted the Pilla of Earth in opposite directions; when they met, Izanami spoke first which was a great offense due to her being a woman, so they sta

Foreign As I stare at the screen and wait for your call my heart fills with pain as it starts to recall the million goodbyes and thousands of tears that I have collected throughout many years. I remember the first and toughest of all when you hugged me so hard and refused to let go you sent me away to go all alone and sadly since then I have been on my own. And I know it is best, that change must be good, but I long to go back I wish that I could the land that I left is all lost and gone only you remain and I must move on. But oh how I miss you and oh how it hurts that I pray to the world for time to reverse to go back before this before I knew this pain to when we were together before I got on that plane. Drawing by Andrea Méndez Author's Note: I decided to write a short poem about how hard it is to leave my home country and live so far away from my family. As of now, it has been about four years si

The Crane and the Crab Illustration by E. Boyd Smith (1908) There once was a crane that lived next to a pond where she could eat as many fish as she wanted and lived in luxury. When she was old she realized that she should have gathered provisions for when she was too old to fish, so she started complaining and moaning. A crab swam to the surface and asked why she was so sad, and she explained that two fishermen said that they would go back to the pond in a few weeks to fish, so she would surely die of starvation. The crab told the fish who were all very anxious and scared, so they approached the crane to develop a plan together. The crane said that she knew of an enchanted pond where they would be safe, so she could carry three or four fish at a time every day. So that morning she took some of the fish and instead of taking them to a pond, she ate them, having once again food regardless of her old age. When it was time to carry the crab she wanted to get rid of him, so she had

The King, the Falcon, and the Drinking-Cup Falcon in Wikimedia Commons A king who was very fond of hunting had a falcon that he would always take with him and even feed by hand. During one hunt, the king saw a deer and started pursuing it, but his companions couldn't ride as fast as him so he quickly left them behind. The king became disoriented and lost and was very thirsty, so he took a cup out of his bag and began filling it with the water of a small stream. When he was about to drink it, the falcon flew down and knocked the cup out of his hands. This happened a few more times, angering the king so much to the point that he grabbed the falcon and threw it to the ground, killing him instantly. At this moment one of the king's servants found him and offered him water from his flask, but the king demanded to drink water from the stream, however, because it took too long he asked the servant to go to the origin of the stream and fill his cup. When the servant returned he

Dear Brother,  If you are finding this letter it is because something went wrong during our last visit to the king's treasure chamber. After the first time we snuck into the chamber unnoticed I started wondering what would happen when the king realized that someone was stealing from him. Guards, traps, undercover spies, a bounty for our heads, it all came flashing through my mind. Since then I have hidden this letter every time we left to steal from the chamber so that if I were ever captured you would have something of mine, to remember me by, and to ease your guilt from what I know you will have to do.  Brother, do not feel that you are responsible for my passing, even if it did happen by your hand. Please know that I do not hold you responsible or resent you for having to take my life, I gladly would give my life a thousand times if it meant that you could continue to live yours, dear brother. I know that this was a difficult decision for you to make, I know that it mus

The Tale of King Rhampsinitus Temple at Karnak Story source: Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907). There was a king of Egypt called Rhampsinitus who was very wealthy. He had a chamber made to store his riches, but one of the builders left a stone loose so that it could be removed from the outside. When the man was about to die he told the secret of the stone to his two sons who then proceeded to retrieve the treasures. The king was furious at the robberies, so he placed more guards and traps, until one night one of the brothers was caught. He knew that if he were caught in the morning they both would, so he instructed his brother to cut his head and leave. He did as instructed, which angered the king even more. He ordered the guards to place the body hanged in front of the palace to find anyone that would grieve the boy, but no one came. The boys' mother grieved and asked her son to retrieve the body, so he tricked the guards by getting them drunk and man

Gods of Egyptian Mythology in Wikimedia Commons Osiris + Isis + Set + Horus After Osiris' birth, it was proclaimed that he would be the lord of all things, then when Ra passed to heaven Osiris took his throne and ruled over Egypt. When Osiris took power men were savages, so he made laws and decrees to bring peace. Isis was Osiris' consort and also helped mankind with her wisdom. Osiris taught men to sow the seed and then harvest it. When he saw that all was good in Egypt, he proceeded to bring good and wisdom to other parts of the world, not by conquering them but by being reasonable and gentle. Isis ruled over Egypt while her husband was away which angered Set, Osiris' brother. He preferred warfare over peace and his heart was filled with evil. He attempted a rebellion, but Isis frustrated his plans. He then decided to directly overcome Osiris.  Set had a chest made to Osiris' exact measurements, and claimed he would gift it to whomever perfectly fit in it.

Storybook Theme The overall theme of my storybook is indigenous Venezuelan myths and folklore. My main objective with this project will be to explore the culture of different tribes and ethnic groups within Venezuela, including the Pemones, Timoto-Cuicas, Waraos, Yanomamis, and others. Most of the stories I have explored so far address the origins of several natural landmarks in Venezuela, such as the Angel Falls, the tepuis (table-top mountains), rivers, and the Andes mountain range.  Stories I am struggling to decide on the stories I want to write about because there are so many I am interested in! In my Topic Research post, I made a pretty detailed summary of the three stories I was mostly leaning towards, the legend of the  Makunaima , the legend of  Owner of the Sun  and the legend of  Caribay and the Five White Eagles . These stories show the origin of the Pemon indigenous people, the origin of the sun and moon according to the Waraos, and the origin of the Andes in Venez

Hello! This is my comment wall for my storybook project about Venezuelan indigenous myths. Hope you enjoy learning about my country!  Link to the Storybook website.  Image Source: Know Your Meme

Medusa Mirror of Memory by Incantata Hint Fiction (25 Words) Though others thought her to be cursed, Medusa's appearance was a blessing to protect herself against men, so as to never suffer being raped again. Drabble (100 Words) When Athena found poor Medusa lying naked on her temple, she knew she had been badly hurt. Medusa wept, begging for the goddess's help, but there was little to be done. Athena could not avenge her, as she could not challenge the sea god, Poseidon, but she could ensure that she would never be hurt in that way. She turned the maiden's hair into serpents and gave her eyes the power to turn any living thing to stone. Now, for as long as Medusa lived, no man would lay eyes upon her, nor touch her without her consent ever again.

Perseus and Medusa Story source: Ovid's Metamorphoses , translated by Tony Kline (2000). Medusa by Matt Rhodes Perseus manages to kill the sea creature by attacking from its back. Everyone claps from Perseus, Cassiopeia and Cepheus rejoice and welcome him as their son-in-law. Perseus sets the head of Medusa on some leaves, which harden at the touch; the ocean nymphs notice this and try it with other leaves and seeds and scatter through the waves, creating corals which also harden when taken out of the water. Perseus then erects three temples, each for Minerva, Mercury, and Jupiter, he then takes Andromeda as his wife. He then proceeds to tell the story of how he slew Medusa.  In a cave below Atlas lived the Graeae, the sisters that share only one eye. He took the eye to receive their help. He then went to where the Gorgons live, and he saw the men and animals turned to stone by Medusa. He only saw Medusa through the reflection on his polished bronze shield, and he sl

Callisto Story source: Ovid's Metamorphoses , translated by Tony Kline (2000). Diana and Callisto by Peter Paul Rubens Jupiter sees a girl from Nonacris that is one of Diana's most loyal companions, Callisto. Diana's handmaidens had to take an oath to swear off men and remain chaste. Jupiter pursues Callisto wearing the face and dress of Diana, and impregnates her. After the act had happened she was called by the other nymphs; she tried to hide her shame but they all could sense it. Nine moons passed when one day Diana told her maidens to all bathe together naked in a stream. Callisto tries to hide her swollen belly, but Diana realizes she is pregnant and commands her to leave. Callisto then gave birth to a boy, Arcas, which deeply angered Juno; she grabbed Callisto by her hair who slowly transformed into a bear. When Arcas turned fifteen he went hunting in the woods where he came across the bear that was his mother. Callisto recognized her son and tried to appro

For this feedback strategies assignment, I browsed through some of the previous feedback comments in the Diigo Library and read the article The Trouble with "Amazing."  What I realized was that some of the opinion I mentioned in my previous post about feedback thoughts, such as being very specific and constructive, are actually very popular and common. From what I read in the gallery, it seems that previous students agree that specific comments are the most productive, regardless of whether they are pointing things to improve or some that are already perfect. The fact that they are specific makes it easier for us to either replicate what works or change what doesn't, rather than having to decipher and overly vague comment. I also really enjoyed the article about the trouble with using the word amazing. The article did cover some of the same ideas, as it does mention that general praise is unspecific and therefore unproductive, but it also made some other really good poi

In my topic brainstorm post, I mentioned that I was interested in doing a project based on Venezuelan legends, and this was the topic that I decided to research more about. I originally mentioned El Silbón and La Sayona as possible stories, however, as I researched more about Venezuelan folklore I realized that I was more interested in learning about new stories that I had not previously heard of. I, therefore, decided to focus on indigenous mythologies and folklore. I chose three stories coming from three different Venezuelan indigenous tribes, the Warao, the Timoto-Cuicas, and the Pemón.  Pemón Legend: The Legend of the Makunaima Personal picture of me and my brother with a Pemon shaman The Pemón people of Venezuela believe they are the direct descendants of the Makunaima, the sons and daughters of the sun god, Wei. The myth says that Wei was the first Pemón, and one day he went to bathe himself in a stream where he found a woman, name Tuenkaróm. Wei grabbed her by her hair