Extra Reading Diary: Aesop's Fables (Jacobs)

My Favorite Stories from Aesop's Fables (Jacobs)

Lions, Part 1: My favorite story was Androcles and the Lion, which was about a runaway slave named Androcles and a Lion. Androcles sees a Lion and notices it is injured so he kindly went to help. There was a thorn in his paw, so he pulled it out and became friends with the Lion. Androcles was very courageous for walking up to a Lion, but it showed how good of a person he was. What really surprised me was what happened after the Lion and Androcles were captured. I thought the Lion would surely kill him when hungry because it is in his nature to hunt. To my surprise, the Lion licked his hand and refused to eat him. I enjoy happy stories and this showed that good things happen if you are kind.

Foxes, Part 2:  I really liked The Fox Without a Tail by Jacobs, where a fox loses its tail in a trap and tries to convince all the other foxes to get rid of theirs because it is useless. Although the fox makes some good points, pointing out "how inconvenient a tail was when they were pursued by their enemies, the dogs; how much it was in the way when they desired to sit down and hold a friendly conversation with one another." This all may be true, but it is obvious he wouldn't being suggesting this if he still had his tail. The other foxes are smart for not listening because he is only giving the advice that benefits him. 

(The Fox Without a Tail)

Wolves: The Dog and the Wolf was great, but I find that I can really argue both ways about the moral of the story. I interpreted it as the dog has a good paying job that he doesn't enjoy, where the wolf would rather do what he loves and sacrifice money. I'm not sure why I associated it with a career, as it can probably be interpreted many ways, but I hear a lot of my friends saying they would rather be poor and happy than wealthy and unhappy. In my opinion, you can choose to either live to work or work to live, and I choose too work to live while making money. You don't have to love your job to be happy, which can be seen by the dog.

Dogs and Cats: I enjoyed the story of The Fox and the Cat. Sometimes I can be indecisive, especially when there are a lot of options. It is better to know what you're going to do before you have to do it. The cat is right when it says, "Better one safe way than a hundred on which you cannot reckon." The fox seems to be the jack of all trades, but master of none. It is also well researched that the most successful people where the same thing everyday because they don't want to use any of their decision making or brainpower just to pick what to wear. Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg are good examples of this, and I can relate this story to picking what to wear.

Week 3 Storytelling: Ovid's Metamorphoses: Achelous

Ovid's Metamorphoses: Achelous

'Why must you continue to pester me about stories of the past?' said Achelous. 'Yes, child, I have changed my form many times, but those days are long behind me. I could transform into a snake or even a bull with powerful horns, at least when I still had two. Now that form is weak, as I lack both horns,' he said with anger.

Neptune's son and well known hero, Theseus, questioned why he was so angry and what happened to his horn. Achelous. the Calydonian river-god, looked much differently than he once did. Now with long, dreaded hair, he responded, 'How dare you ask something so tragic in my life? How dare you bring such painful memories back to my mind?' screamed Achelous. Theseus now felt terrible, and pleaded for his forgiveness.

Reluctantly, Achelous said, 'Fine, I will tell you the origin of my anger and the story of how I lost my horn:

My lost battle was a fluke and the hero deserves no credit. Deianira was her name. She was beautiful, and her hand desired by many men. Being one of those men, I went to her father, Oeneus, and exclaimed for him to accept me as his son-in-law and wed Deianira.

I had a contender, scion of Alceus, Hercules.

He walked in, confident and proud, bragging about his many labors. I didn't believe they were very impressive, but that's beside the point.

You see Theseus, I was a god and Hercules was not. Hercules responded to this shouting, "You may be a god, but I bet I can beat you in a fight. Let's fight for her." Without a doubt in my mind, I accepted.

The fight began and I quickly realized his power. He was overtaking me and I knew I couldn't hold off much longer, so I changed into a snake. Hercules then laughed saying, "I defeated snakes as a baby!" He was right and quickly grabbed a hold of me.

I quickly slipped out of his hands and turned into my most powerful form, the bull. "You may have been stronger than my weaker forms, but you stand no chance now" I proclaimed.

So we wrestled, slipping and sliding everywhere. There was no clear leader in the fight now and I was beginning to get tired. Back and forth it went for hours until I made a mistake. I lost focus for a second and lost my position. Hercules took advantage, grabbing me by the horns. I was doomed from my own mistake. Trying to get away, he ripped my horn right off of my head. I had lost.

He held my horn in the air as I fell to the ground. I was sick to my stomach at the loss of the fight and my horn. The Naiades took my broken horn from Hercules' hand, filled it with fruit and flowers, and made it sacred. Telling you this story, Theseus, caused me great pain. I hope you are happy, goodbye.'

(Achelous)

Author's Note: 

This story is about the battle between Achelous and Hercules. It begins with Achelous expressing to Theseus his sadness about the loss of one of his horns. Curious to know the story behind the loss of his horn, Theseus asks Achelous. Achelous tells him that it was from a fight with Hercules for a beautiful girl named Deianira's hand in marriage. Hercules is much stronger than Achelous, however Achelous thinks his intelligence and ability to transform his shape will give him the edge. He is wrong. Even in his strongest form, a bull, Hercules overpowers him, taking him by the horns, and ripping off one of his horns, thus defeating him. I chose this story because Hercules is my favorite hero and the original story made him look poorly. His character was the complete opposite of humble and disrespectful to Achelous' abilities. This often happens when a story is told from another point of view, Achelous in this case. Achelous was accepting of his failure to defeat Hercules, but I thought it would be more realistic for him to have sour grapes about it. So I portrayed him as the grumpy old man and Theseus is the annoyingly curious child. I just used the image from the original version because I thought it was a good picture of Achelous. Here is a link to the original, Ovid's Metamorhoses: Achelous.

Bibliography:

Book: Ovid's Metamorphoses (Books 8-10)
Chapter: Achelous

Author: Tony Kline

Year: 2000

Web Source: Mythology and Folklore UN-Textbook

Reading Diary B: Ovid's Metamorphoses III

Ovid's Metamorphoses III

Orpheus and Eurydice: Wow, what a sad story. Losing a significant other is tragic enough as it is, but for them to die on their wedding day is extremely sad. Luckily for Orpheus, he had the ability to beg the gods of Erebus to bring her back to life. His speech was so moving that he won over the gods and they agreed to bring her back to life. All he had to do was not turn his eyes to see her until they exited the Underworld, but of course he broke the only rule he had, thus losing his wife again. Sometimes I feel as if the author had to come up with a reason why she wasn't brought back to life, rather than admitting it was never possible. This story ended very weird and suggested that Orpheus turned into a homosexual and possible pedophile. The quote, "Indeed, he was the first of the Thracian people to transfer his love to young boys, and enjoy their brief springtime, and early flowering, this side of manhood." I may have misinterpreted this sentence, but it sounded like he gave up women.

Ganymede and Hyacinthus: Yet another story where someone dies at a young age. I think this is evidence of the time and how fragile life used to be. I did enjoy how there is honor given to the boy.

Pygmalion: I recognized the name Pygmalion from the well known phenomenon, the Pygmalion effect, where people either live up to or down to their expectations. Through the eyes of Pygmalion, this can be seen in both the women and the statue. First the women because he sees them as prostitutes and no longer has attraction to them, thus living down to his expectation. With the statue on the other hand, he sees the statue as perfect and beautiful, and becomes real by living up to his expectation.

(Pygmalion and the Statue, Regnault)

Myrrha and Cinyras, Myrrha and the Nurse, Myrrha's Punishment: These were disturbing. 

The Death of Adonis: It seems to be a common theme that the death of a young boy leads to them becoming flowers or being remembered as flowers.

I really enjoyed these stories. The imagery was fantastic as usual, and the stories were never dull.

Reading Diary A: Ovid's Metamorphoses (Books 8-10)

Ovid's Metamorphoses (Books 8-10)

The Minotaur, Theseus,  and Ariadne: I found this story pretty crazy. The fact that Queen Pasiphae fell in love with and had a baby with a bull is ridiculously weird. It was interesting that King Minos decided to imprison the Minotaur in a labyrinth, but I didn't understand why he had to feed it men. I thought it was sad that a hero such as Theseus would just abandon the person who helped him, especially on an island!

Daedalus and Icarus: This story was by far the saddest of all of the units. Why did Daedalus have his son test his invention? He should have done it himself or at least had a test flight, but instead he ended up killing Icarus.

Philemon and Baucis: I really enjoyed this story and it goes to show what kindness can do. Philemon and Baucis are probably the nicest people ever. They just invited complete strangers into their house, cooked for them, and pampered them.

(Philemon and Baucis, Rubens)

Transformation of Philemon and Baucis: Although the gods were merciful to Philemon and Baucis, I feel that they were unfairly cruel to the rest of their neighbors. The world isn't always a safe place and I don't blame the neighbors for having their doors bolted at night. Also, nobody knew that they were gods, so why should they let any strangers walk into their house? Philemon and Baucis were the perfect couple, and I loved how their last request was that they may die at the same time so that they don't have to live for a second without the other.

Ceres and Erysichthon: Unlike the previous story, I felt the gods were just and reasonable for their punishment to Erysichthon. Not only is he extremely and unreasonably sacrilegious, but he killed a guy. He cut a man's head off for simply trying to stop him from chopping down the Ceres's Oak Tree.

The Famine: Erysichthon's punishment was to have an insatiable hunger and to essentially starve to death. Personally, I sometimes wish I could eat whatever I wanted without it effecting my body. All jokes aside, I think he deserved to suffer for killing an innocent man.

Achelous: This was a very exciting story and I thought the author did a fantastic job of creating imagery throughout the fight between Achelous and Hercules. Towards the end, when Hercules has Achelous by the horns, I couldn't help but picture the painting of White Goodman from Dodgeball, "taking the bull by the horns." I also liked how Achelous was so humble and gave Hercules credit for defeating him, rather than having sour grapes about the defeat.

(White Goodman Taking the Bull by the Horns, Dodgeball)

The Shirt of Nessus: I don't understand why he trusted Nessus to take his wife and didn't just help her himself. After all, he was a demigod. Also, why did Hercules allow Deianira to take the shirt of Nessus, knowing it was covered in Hydra poison. Lastly, the lack of trust by Deianira shows how weak their marriage was.

The Death of Hercules: Before reading this, I never knew how Hercules supposedly died and I was extremely disappointed. A hero like Hercules should have died in battle, not at the hands of a poison covered shirt.

Birth of Hercules: Hercules is my favorite mythological hero, so it brought up memories from the animated Disney movie when he was recounting about everything he has conquered.

Storybook: Topics Brainstorm

Topic: The Foes of Hercules
Comments: Disney's Hercules was one of my favorite movies growing up and I still enjoy watching it today. The movie combines a lot of his other battles into one, but I would enjoy reading more in depth about a couple of them.
Possible Stories: I know Hercules has had a ton of battles and I thought it would be interesting to write about a few of his biggest battles through the eyes of his victims. I really enjoyed reading Mythology's Most Wanted, and thought it would be fun for them to tell you their story of the battle from the Underworld. I was thinking about using the Nemean Lion, Lernaean Hydra, and Antaeus.
Sample Story: The story I chose to read was the Nemean Lion from the Labours of Hercules. I was familiar with this story because of the recent Hercules movie with the Rock and wanted to read more about it. I liked this story because the monster was something that can be seen today, a lion, except way more cool.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: Nemean Lion
Author: Peisander
Website Name: Wikipedia

(Hercules and the Nemean Lion)

Topic: Heroes
Comments: I have always been fascinated by heroes and enjoy learning about the crazy events in their lives. There are countless heroes and I think it would be easy to find at least four that interest me.
Possible Stories: The most famous mythological heroes that first come to mind are Perseus, Hercules, Thor, Odysseus, and Achilles. They are really interesting because they aren't ordinary and have rich history.
Sample Story: I read Homer's Iliad in the Un-Textbook and I really enjoyed it. Achilles was an amazing fighter and was the primary reason for the fall of Troy. I liked how it made him sound invincible and how detailed everything was. By the end of the story, I felt like I knew Achilles pretty well.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: The Iliad
Author: A.J. Church
Year: 1905


Topic: Creatures
Comments: There are so many terrifying creatures in mythology and I would enjoy reading more about some of them.
Possible Stories: Pegasus was one of my favorite growing up, so I would like to include him. In addition to Pegasus, I think the Loch Ness Monster, Minotaur, Hydra, and Centaur would be interesting to write about.
Sample Story: I read the myth of Theseus and the Minotaur and I found it very interesting. I thought it was crazy that King Minos refused to kill the Minotaur and instead hid it in his labyrinth.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: Theseus and the Minotaur


Topic: Norse Gods
Comments: The movies made by Marvel that include Thor have made me very interested in other Norse mythology.
Possible Stories: I could include stories with Loki, Thor, Odin, and maybe major battles.
Sample Story: I found the story of Thor's Duel with Hrungnir and decided to read it because I had never heard of it. This story was interesting and even explained the origin of flint on earth.
Bibliography Information:
Sample Story: Thor's Duel with Hrungnir
Author: Dan McCoy
Year: 2012-2015

Reading Diary B: Homer's Iliad

Homer's Iliad Part 2

This section wasn't quite as exciting as the first, but was still entertaining. My favorite part of this story are the relationships that the gods have with the mortal characters. Some support the Trojans, others support the Greeks, and some even support both. At some points in the story it seems as if the gods are playing a game with each other to see which side wins, using the lives of the Greeks and Trojans as game pieces. Everything that happens, happens because the gods allow it and makes each person look helpless to the mercy of the gods.

Perhaps my favorite quote, came in the section The Slaying of Hector (end) when Achilles says to Hector, "Men and lions make no oath to each other, neither is there any agreement between wolves and sheep." This really shows how much hatred Achilles has for Hector and how little he thinks of him. At this point, Achilles is only fueled by vengeance and couldn't care less about what Hector has to say.

Another interesting part of the story was in The Rousing of Achilles when the horses of Achilles began crying at the death of Patroclus. Zeus noticed the horses crying and then felt bad saying, "It was not well that I gave you, immortal as you are, to a mortal man, for of all things that live and move upon the earth, surely man is the most miserable." I found this weird because Zeus was speaking about the horses like they were Patroclus', and I thought they were Achilles horses. Homer's Iliad was a great story and created a ton of imagery. Although I filled most of the reading with images from the movie "Troy," I felt like I would have been able to visualize each scene if I had not seen the movie.

(Achilles and Hector, by Rubens)

Reading Diary A: Homer's Iliad

Homer's Iliad

When reading the first half of Homer's Iliad, I could not help but think of the movie "Troy." The first section, called Of How the War with Troy Began, left me with a few thoughts. One of which was about Helen and the other about Agamemnon. My first impression of Helen was that although she was beautiful, she was incredibly disloyal. After selecting Agamemnon as her husband, she quickly left him to run away with Prince Paris, a man she just met. Not only did she leave the man she chose to wed for a man she just met, but she left knowing the war to come. Although I feel bad for Agamemnon, he is dumb for starting a war for a woman who clearly doesn't love him anymore. The fact that Agamemnon couldn't let go of Helen and had fought for nine years to get her back is sad and is terrible leadership.

As I continued to read, I found that almost every character was childish. Paris refused to fight for the woman he stole and even put his innocent brother Hector's life in danger. Hector seems to be the only character with any honor, and was willing to die fighting for his brothers lover. Even Achilles was a baby. He cried to his mom about a girl he won being taken away from him as if a child's sibling had taken away their toy. While crying to his mom, he also wanted her to make sure the Greeks realized how important he was. Achilles acted like a spoiled child.

Overall, I really enjoyed the stories. It went into sufficient depth into most of the characters to where I could understand them as a person. There was both action and drama, and I could visualize every scene.

(Thetis and Achilles, by Tiepolo)

UnTextbook

There were so many good options to choose from, but I am most interested in reading these five units.

1. Adam and Eve
   
   This is a very famous story in the Biblical book of Genesis, and I am interested to see how it has been expanded over time.
   
   

   

   (The Fall, by Michelangelo)

   I chose this picture because there were so many parts to it.
2. Alice and Wonderland
   
   The movie over this story was one of my childhood favorites, but I have never actually read the novel.
   
3. Dante's Inferno
   
   I have always wanted to read Dante's Inferno, and am very interested in reading about the different circle's of Hell.
   
4. Ballads of Robin Hood
   
   I have seen movies and read about Robin Hood since I was a child. He has been viewed as a hero in most discussions I have heard, but I would like to form my own opinion through reading the stories.
   
5. The Life of Buddha
   
   I think it would be interesting to read about the life of the founder of Buddhism, especially because it is a different religion than my own.

Week 1 Storybook Favorites

The first Storybook I read was Mythology's Most Wanted. I chose this one because I love stories with a good villain. The title definitely matched the Storybook and had an easy to read page design. I really enjoyed how each character's stories were told because the villain's perspective is often ignored. The introduction did a great job of setting up each character's background, so it didn't matter whether or not I wasn't familiar with one of the villains. Navigation throughout the Storybook was straightforward and having a dark background made it look good. I plan on using a dark background with light letters when I make mine because I think it looks best and is easy to read.

Next, I chose Peter Pan: The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up. I was instantly attracted to this one because Peter Pan was one of my favorite movies growing up. The first thing I noticed was the font, which I am definitely am not a fan of and made it a slower read than desired. Anyways, I thought the Introduction did an alright job of introducing each character that I would later hear from. I was familiar with the character's stories, so it brought back some good memories.

(Peter Pan)

Lastly, I chose The Adventures of Thor and Asgard. I am a huge fan of the Marvel Universe and all of its characters, especially Thor, so I figured I would enjoy it. The Introduction was really interesting because it was told from the perspective of a young Frost Giant, which are the enemies in the first Thor movie. The layout and design of the Storybook was nothing special, but easy to navigate and read. Overall, I thought the stories were fun to read and my previous knowledge of some of the stories made it interesting.

Week 1 Introduction: About Me - Michael Yacovoni

Hi everyone!

My name is Michael Yacovoni and I am a senior Industrial Engineering student. I am from Highland Village, Texas and went to Flower Mound Marcus High School. My father was in the Army for twenty-one years, so we had to move a lot throughout my childhood. I have lived in New Jersey, California, Kansas, Maryland, Texas, and now Oklahoma. Fortunately, most of the moving was done when I was young. I have two older sisters and both graduated from the University of Oklahoma. My father is from Scranton, PA, which is also known for being the location of The Office television show, and my mother is from Massachusetts.

I love playing, watching, and talking sports. I am a big fan of all Oklahoma Sooners sports teams, Dallas Mavericks, and the New York Yankees. Spending time with my family is very important to me, as well as hanging out with my friends. In my free time, I enjoy watching movies and TV shows. Netflix has definitely increased the number of shows and movies that I watch. Some of my favorite shows include The Office, Breaking Bad, House of Cards, Archer, Workaholics, Parks and Recreation, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Arrested Development. I am a huge dog lover and my parents have two dogs, CJ (girl) and Jesse (boy). We adopted them and decided to keep the names they had. We were only going to get one of them, but we found out that CJ is the mother of Jesse. CJ is a Red Heeler and Jesse is a Blue Heeler/Red Heeler mix. I also enjoy traveling and hope to do a lot of traveling throughout the rest of my life. Outside of the United States, I have been to Mexico, France, and Belgium.

(The Office)

I think I have covered all the big parts about myself, but please feel free to ask any questions you might have! I am excited for this class, to graduate this May, and to start my career.

Week 1 Storytelling: "The Fox and the Grapes"

There was once a curious young fox who loved to explore. He was fascinated with the world and enjoyed seeing new things.

After a long day of exploring a new part of the forest, the fox became hungry. Just when he was about to head home, he tripped and fell on his back. While lying on his back, he noticed something weird looking hanging from a tree in the distance. Curious, the fox walked toward the tree. He quickly realized what was hanging from the tree, but could not believe it. “Grapes!”, he shouted. A bunch of grapes were hanging from a vine along a tree branch. In awe, he exclaimed, “Those are the biggest grapes I have ever seen. They look so juicy and sweet, I must have them.” The grapes looked ripe as can be, just begging him to eat them.

Hanging high in the air, the fox would have to jump. Largely underestimating the height of the grapes, his first attempt was not even close. The fox remained confident and took a few steps back. “With my young age and incredible athletic ability, I am sure I can reach the grapes with a running start,” the fox said. Digging his feet in the ground, he sprinted and leaped, but to his dismay, was still short. The fox was distraught, but was determined to get the grapes and decided to give it another try. Salivating about the thought of eating the magnificent grapes, he jumped as high as he could, but again was too short.

Sick to his stomach, he sat down and angrily stared at the grapes with disbelief.

“I give up. Those grapes probably are not even good anyways. I bet they are old and sour, so there is no point in wasting any more of my time and energy trying to get them.”

And the fox headed home tired, hungry, and angry.

(The Fox and the Grapes)

Author's Notes:  This is based off of the fable The Fox and The Grapes.  The story is from the book Aesop's Fables written by Anonymous and illustrated by Milo Winter. The story begins with a fox discovering a bunch of ripe and juicy grapes hanging from a tree. After closer inspection, the fox becomes determined to get the grapes. Jump after jump, the fox failed to reach the grapes. He then convinced himself that they were probably sour anyways and that he should bother wasting his energy to get them. The fox walked away angry after making himself feel better about not getting the juicy, ripe grapes. I decided to adapt the story in the way I did in order to accurately capture the moral of the story. The story wasn't very long to begin with, so it gave me a lot of opportunity to add things. I also felt that it shouldn't be changed too much, just given more detail so that you can better understand the Fox's feelings. The reason I chose this particular story was because how often I witness people with sour grapes. Everyone has a tendency to make themselves feel better after failure, myself included, however the world would be a better place without it. The image I chose clearly illustrates the fox trying to reach grapes in a tree and looks nice too. 

Favorite Place: Falmouth, MA

My favorite place is Falmouth, MA. My Nana has a house in walking distance to the beach and I have gone there countless times. I have formed so many great memories there through family vacations, family reunions, and for other events. 

(Nantucket Sound. Web Source: New England Boating)

First Blog Post

This is my first blog post for my Mythology and Folklore course at the University of Oklahoma.