Storytelling for Week 13: What I learned in Hell

“Dad, can you tell me about that time you met Satan?”

(Thinking to himself) Ugh, why does he always ask me this? I oblige every time and hope that the message will get through to him, but I especially don’t feel like telling stories today. I’ve told him everything I know, given details about each circle of Hell and the consequential punishments. I hate thinking about it and especially hate the notion of it knowing my time is almost up. I might not be on this Earth much longer though, so I’ll take the opportunity.

Son, there’s a reason we go to church every Sunday, no matter what. There’s a reason we donate our money, and there’s a reason why we’re very protective of you. Many years ago, I was lost and living my life the wrong way. I did drugs, I didn’t go to church, I wasn’t faithful to your mother, and the list goes on. This went on until one day a blessed spirit in Heaven took it upon herself to get me back on track.

“Dad, why did she pick you?”

I don’t know son, but I’m glad she did. She guided me into the woods where I met an amazing man named Virgil. He taught me so much in so little time, and told me in order to go to Heaven someday I needed to take a trip with him. This trip was through the depths of Hell of course, but he provided a strange sense of security. While I was there I saw the most terrible things. Adulterers, thieves, addicts, heretics, anything you can think of. I witnessed their eternal pain first hand and even came face to face with the devil himself. The epitome of a sinner, he sits in the deepest circle of Hell, frozen, unable to speak. I learned that many of the people I saw there were no different than myself at the time, and I needed to change. Son, if I kept living how I was I would be headed towards the same fate right now.

“Dad, where are you headed now?”

I’m not sure, but I would like to think I’ve been living a godly lifestyle and that I’ve passed that down to you as well. I’ve seen what happens to the people who stray and I can’t imagine being there for eternity.

“Dad, I don’t want to go there either.”

Read more about how Satan is portrayed in Dante's Inferno here.

Author’s Note

This isn’t a retelling of any specific story, but Dante from Dante’s Inferno is on his deathbed and talking to his little son. We don’t know very many details about Dante’s life, so I made them up, but he did get shown through Hell because he was not living a religious lifestyle.

Bibliography

Dante’s Divine Comedy translated by Tony Kline (2002). Dante's Inferno Unit.

Image Info: Web Source: Wikipedia.

Storytelling for Week 12: Britomart Wins!

“Welcome to another beautiful day in the kingdom! I’m your host Sir Kirk and doing the broadcast with me today will be Sir Brent. We have a good one lined up for you today at the 127^th annual jousting tournament. Today knights from all across the land will enter the competition and they will all be fighting for the same prize. Up for grabs to the victor is the fairest lady in the entire land! Let’s take it down to the dirt where the action is about to begin.

First up we have the mighty Satyrane and a newcomer to the tournament, Dan. The horses are off running and slowly building speed. The gentlemen have extended their spears and Satyrane just completely detached Dan from his horse! He should be thankful he’s still all in one piece after taking that hit.

We’ll take a quick break here and next Sir Satyrane will be taking on the Savage Knight, who has just been completely dominating his opponents today.

Welcome back folks and we have quite the matchup coming your way right now! The Savage Knight entered this tournament unknown by most of us but boy has he sure made a name for himself today. Facing off with him will be Sir Satyrane, who we just saw defeat Dan with relative ease. The horses are off running once again and the men are drawing nearer. The spears have been lowered! WOW! The Savage Knight wins again and he has clearly looked the best all day today. That might just do it for today folks; I can’t foresee anyone dethroning the Savage Knight today.”

“Not so fast, Kirk. It looks like there’s one challenger left, although I can’t tell whom it is from up here. Ladies and gentlemen I’m not sure who this is mounting their horse right now but it appears as though we have a new competitor!”

“Good eye, Brent. It looks like we’re getting our money’s worth today! We don’t even have a name for the challenger but the Savage Knight has suited up one last time and it looks like this is going to be it for the day. Both men are ready and just waiting the signal. They’re off and the horses are gaining speed! The spears have been lowered. I can’t believe it! The Savage Knight has been thrown off his horse!”

“Kirk, I can’t believe what we just saw!”

“Neither can I Brent! Ladies and gentlemen we’ve just seen an upset for the ages! We’re still not even sure of the identity of the latest challenger but he has just defeated the Savage Knight and now a whole new line of challengers is forming to take on our new unknown competitor.”

“Well Kirk it looks like we’re going to be here all night at this rate!”

Author's Note:

This is a retelling of the story The Golden Girdle from the Britomart unit. In this story, The Savage Knight, who is actually a man named Sir Artegall, gets defeated by an unknown knight at the tournament. The story never actually says its a jousting tournament, so I just kind of assumed and went with it. The unknown challenger at the end is actually a woman name Britomart, who goes the entire unit dressed up as a male knight. The whole unit is based on Britomart trying to find Sir Artegall, because she was told by a magician that he is the one she will marry someday. This story is an example of encounters they have without knowing each other. 

Bibliography:

The Golden Girdle from Stories from the Fairie Queene by Mary Macleod (1916). 

Image Web Source: Wikipedia.

Storytelling for Week 11: Down the Rabbit Hole

One lonely summer a day a girl named Alice was sitting under a tree by the river, watching her younger sister Elaine play in the water. This is the same thing that Alice had done for the past month, ever since school let out for the summer. As Alice was sitting there, zoning out as usual, she saw the most peculiar thing. A rabbit that had been standing by a nearby tree all of a sudden got a terrified look on its face. The rabbit pulled a pocket watch out of seemingly nowhere and became even more frantic. Starting to pick up the pace, the rabbit went hopping by Alice extremely quickly and an even stranger thing happened! “I’m late! I’m very very late!” exclaimed the rabbit. Keeping up its frantic pace, the rabbit hopped down a rabbit hole.

Alice could not believe what she had just seen. Without much hesitation, she decided that she could use a little adventure in her life and got up to follow the rabbit. She ran over to the hole it had just hopped down, took a deep breath, and then jumped. Alice was a very strange individual who often talked to herself, but in this instance it may have been justified.

Alice had expected to jump in the hole and immediately land at the bottom and see the rabbit. However, Alice had jumped and was still falling a few seconds later. As she fell, she saw some very strange things. First she went falling past a giant mushroom and thought she had seen a caterpillar that was smoking on top of it. Then she fell past a small house and through the open door of the house she thought she saw a woman holding a baby piglet. A good thirty seconds had gone by since Alice had jumped and she was still falling. The strange sights continued as well, with her falling past a man and a rabbit sitting down together and a beautiful garden with a bunch of playing cards in it.

Alice finally saw the ground and the last thing she passed before she landed was a courtroom. She hit the ground much softer than one would expect after falling for a full minute and the first thing she was the rabbit she had followed. Excited to see that this was not a wasted trip so far, Alice follows the rabbit down a hallway and sees him go through a door. Figuring she was already committed, Alice walked towards the open door and found herself in a very familiar looking area.

The White Rabbit.

Author’s Note:

This was a retelling of the very first story of the Alice in Wonderland unit. I kept the premise of the story the same, except added a few more details in the beginning, such as Alice’s sister’s name and some scenery. In the original story, when Alice is falling down the hole, she passes some shelves and cupboards and other household items. Since I’m only telling a portion of the story here, I decided to have her pass all the different things that she sees later on in the story on her way down the hole.

Bibliography

Down the Rabbit-Hole from Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865). 

Image Info: Illustration by John Tenniel from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (1865). Web Source: Wikipedia.

Storytelling for Week 10: The Origin of Fire

The world used to be a completely flat and dark place. At first, there was nothing but water in the entire universe until the water beetle went and brought mud to the surface, which formed the island of Earth. Now that the animals could live on Earth and a sun had been put in the sky, they desired something that could produce light and keep them warm during the darkness. The Thunders in the heavens noticed this and sent lightning, which then lit a giant tree on fire.

All of the animals noticed the fire and decided together that they wanted to try to gather it and bring it back to their homes. At first they sent the raven, but as he got close to the fire he became scorched and his feathers turned black as the night. A screech owl was then sent to fetch the fire, but his eyes got burned as he got close to the fire and turned them red.

The hooting owl and the horned owl went next, but the hot fire burned them as well and made rings around their eyes. This was the end of the birds trying to fetch the fire and the animals had to find someone else who could bring the fire back. Looking around, they decide to send the one who they think is the biggest, toughest, and most resilient among them.

After much debate, they decide to send the rhinoceros to bring them back the fire. Although he was not fast, he steadily progressed towards the fire. When he got there, his skin began to char from the fire, but it was so thick that it did not bother him. He then ducked his head and scooped up some of the embers with it. Letting the embers sit on his head, he hurried home and dropped the embers in front of all the other animals, where they each took some and had fire for the rest of time.

However, they could hardly believe how the rhinoceros had been changed on his journey. When he returned, his skin was badly wrinkled from all of the heat and remains that way to this day. This was not even the biggest change though. Where he had carried the embers on his head, there was now a dip down to his snout and 2 massive horns had been formed from where his skin was melted by the fire.

Rhinoceros.

Author's Note:

This was a retelling of The First Fire from the Cherokee Myths unit. The beginning of my story is the same as the original, but I changed how the fire was actually brought back. In the original story, a spider is sent to fetch the fire and he does so by spinning a web basket to carry an ember. I wanted to think of a different animal that could bring back a fire and I chose the rhino because some of its distinctive characteristics.

Bibliography:

The First Fire from Myths of the Cherokee by James Mooney (1900).

Image Info: Web Source: Wikipedia.