Reading Notes: The Miser, The Last One.

I end on a story type that was my favorite throughout the year: Russian Folktales.

Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

A mean old man went walking and stumbled upon a beggar. He passed by without a word, and saw a poor man give him a copeck. The rich man was ashamed, so he asked the poor man for money to give to the beggar - he had money himself, but not anything small enough he wanted to give away. The poor man gave him one, asking when he should find him again for repayment. The rich man said the next day, but when they day came the rich man claimed to have no change. The poor man said he would try again tomorrow, and the previous events repeated. The rich man told him unless he could give him change for a hundred copeck, he could return in a fortnight. The poor man returned, and when the rich man saw him coming up the driveway he told his wife to pretend he was dead. The wife did as he said, and the poor man said he would wash the corpse for his money back. The wife let him, and the poor man washed the rich mans body with scalding hot water. The poor man instructed the wife to buy a coffin, and having to cover up the lie she did. During the funeral, robbers crept through the church and the poor man hid. He saw them sharing the stolen goods, but they all argued over who could take a golden sabre. The poor man jumped up and said "whoever will cut off the corpses head can have the sabre!" at which point the rich man jumped up, scaring off the robbers. The poor man offered to divide the money equally, and after the poor man asked for the still owed copeck. But alas, none of the money found was even close to the small currency of a single copeck - so the poor man became rich, but the rich man never paid him back.

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Famous Last Words:

This past week was one of the least productive weeks so far this semester. I planned out the week Sunday so that I would get all my homework and lab-work done by Wednesday night so that I could have a stress free Thanksgiving; however, this did not happen. I have still, a week later, only done one of many lab reports and Thanksgiving had it's own stress beyond worrying about school work. It wasn't all bad though, as dinner was amazing and we played the game Life until about 1:30 in the morning. For those interested, here is my grandma's mac & cheese recipe that I made:

Feel free to try it!

We ended up using chives instead of parsley, and we added panko on top. It was really great! But we did have to double all the portions as we made this dish for 7 people.

While I didn't finish my schoolwork goals, I got the most important assignment done - my antibiotic assignment. This was a time consuming task and I am glad I started working on it Wednesday as it took me till Sunday to complete. And like I said - the food was great this year at Thanksgiving.

Another thing I did this week was make a concept map! A few weeks ago it was a mandatory assignment and I absolutely hated every second of it. To give you an idea of how complicated it was and why it took about 10 hours to complete, here it is:

This is about the central dogma of microbiology: replication, transcription, and translation and the ways they are connected. 

The thing that made it so difficult was that I had to think hard about how everything was connected. The largest part in green was the most confusing, as many things interlinked over different periods of time so I had to find a way to connect them and make the connections make sense. While I hated this assignment, I got every question on the exam about it correct. From this experience I was motivated to actually make another one - but this time I enjoyed it! I think the lack of grading made it less stressful and I was able to calmly make it without fear of mistakes. It even turned out better than the one I turned in for a grade, only taking about 2-3 hours in all:

This concept map is about three biological pathways in which microorganisms break down glucose for energy, the different energy forms, and how they tie into the TCA cycle and how they all tie into the production of ATP. 

One thing I learned from this - while I did not initially understand the method to my professors madness, I am glad she gave us this crazy hard assignment because now I have a new study method I had never considered before. 

Wikipedia Trail: From Macbeth to King James

Macbeth, King of Scotland

I started with this page about the real Macbeth, because I had no idea he was a real person! I had no idea Shakespeare based it on real events, as the Real Macbeth was also killed by the Real Malcolm III. While based on real people, the article states it is not based on real events.

Holinshed's Chronicles

This lead me to here, Holinshed's Chronicles which are about British history and are the chronicles that Shakespeare used to inspire him for the play. Once again, I am met with surprise that Banquo is also a real person. Shakespeare also altered the witches from the chronicles nymphs and fairies and was thought to have done this to add a more sinister tone to his play.

Banquo

Here I learned about Banquo as I knew him in the play but that in life or at least the Chronicles he was actually an accomplice to the murder of the king. The change of character heart was done by Shakespeare to appease King James which leads me to my final article. While, as I said, the article seems to state he was a real person there is no reference to his roll in life other than an accomplice to murder leading me to believe the name was changed from whomever was the real murder accomplice.

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Above is an image seen in the Banqo wiki page and I really love it. In all my storybook research I did not see this painting and I think it is a very unique representation of the three witches but more or less as one evil entity. This is honestly a painting I would love to have hanging in my home.

James VI and I

This article is about King James, and though I have heard his name I have never really thought about him before. This king did not have a brave or quick death, as he suffered from kidney stones and gout, with severe teeth decay which probably was enhanced by his alcoholism. He was so ill, his pee was purple suggesting he suffered from porphyria,  but it was later dismissed because kidney stones can turn pee bloody also. He was said to be suffering a severe case of dysentery when he died.

Reading Notes: The Dog and the Corpse

Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

A moujik went hunting with his dog ans found nothing but his own pain. He passed a grave having no game, and saw where two roads met a corpse. He was very frightened and did not know which way to go, or to turn back entirely.

He walked forth with his dog, and the corpse, sensing him, came alive. The corpse rushed him, but his dog grabbed the thing by its calves. The moujik saw his dog and was so happy that he was protected. In his rejoice he ran home but forgot the dog. The dog overpowered the corpse, and ran after his master. When he found him, the dog started attacking the moujik. Everyone in the house was confused, except the moujik's mom who said that the dog was upset he abandoned the dog. The next morning, the dog growled when moujik approached it. The family fastened the dog to a chain, and kept it there all year. Even after one year, the dog still would try to attack it's master so they killed it.

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Reading Notes: Friday, Part A.

Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

A woman did not pay her respects to the god Mother Friday. She made cloth and fell asleep, but the door opened and thus behold Mother Friday herself. She wore a white dress and was angry, stuffing the dust from her machine in to the woman's eyes. When she only had dust instead of eyes, Mother Friday left. The woman awoke and started screaming because she could not see. The others told her Mother Friday punished her for working on her holiday. The woman begged for forgiveness and offered a tapestry, promising to never herself or let others dishonor her. Mother Friday was a forgiving god and gave the poor woman her eyesight back, and now it is a sin to comb and spin flax on the holiday.

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Reading Notes: The water snake, Part A

Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

A girl went to bathe in the forest with others, but once in the pool there was a snake. The girl got out but found the snake was on her clothes, and upon trying to poke it with a stick to get it to leave the snake said it would leave - if shed marry it.

The girl did not want to, but upon peer pressure of the others she did. She got her clothes back and went home, telling her mother what happened. The mom said it was ridiculous as no one could marry a snake. They all forgot the weird event.

The girl came home one day, crying as she had been chased by a horde of snakes. The mom barred the door shut. The snakes broke the windows and stole her, which her mom followed the girl as she was taken by the snakes.

They went into the pond where they turned into people. The mom cried but went home, accepting her daughters fate. Three years went buy and the girl remained under the pond, having children with the snake. She begged her snake husband to let her see her mother, and one day he did. Before she left, she asked what to say when she needed him. He told her a phrase and she left with her children. The mother was so happy to see all of them. The mom asked how she would get back home, and she told her the phrase. After she went to sleep, the mom took and axe and called out the phrase, to which immediately the snake showed up. The mom cut off his head, and the pond water turned red. The daughter awoke saying it was time to leave, but the mom asked her to stay another night. The next day she left and said the phrase, but her snake husband did not show. She saw his head floating in the pond and guessed what happened.

In grief, she turned herself and her children into birds.

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Reading Notes: The Two Corpses, Part B

Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

A soldier was going home to pray and pay respect to his parents. On his way home, when it was dark, he passed a graveyard and heard someone running and crying saying he couldn't escape. He saw a corpse running after him with lashing teeth. The soldier ran and found a church, hiding inside. In it, there was nothing but another corpse on a table. The soldier hid in the corner, waiting to see what would happen. The first corpse ran inside and the second asked the first why it was here. The first said he wanted to eat a soldier he found, but the second argued the soldier was in his home so he should get to eat the soldier. They argued and fought, and fought so hard they fought to death (super death I guess). The soldier went home, and praised god.

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Reading Notes: Fairy Ointment, Part B

English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Goody was a nurse who helped the ill and infants. One night she found an ugly old man at the bottom of the stairs who asked her to help his wife who was too sick to help their baby. She didn't trust the man but she needed the money. When she went down the stairs, she saw outside a black horse with fiery eyes and they sped away.

They rode a very long time and when they reached the house Goody took the baby boy. The mother gave Goody ointment and told her to stroke the baby's eyes as soon as they opened with the stuff. She was curious, so when the parents weren't looking she put some of the stuff in her own eye. Suddenly, the poor cottage was elegant. The mother was beautiful and the baby's clothes were made of fine silks. She noticed other children with pointy ears messing with the sick woman, and realized this goo gave her the ability to see pixies. Eventually, the woman became well and could take care of her baby and the lady left without saying a thing. The old man paid her more than she had ever received for her service.

The next day Goody went to buy some things she needed. But while shopping she saw the old man, stealing openly but no one seemed to notice. She didn't think she should interfere, but she wanted to be a good customer so she approached the old man hoping to stop him. She started to talk, and the old man interrupted her in shock that she could see him.

He asked her which eye she could see him with, and she said her right. That is when the old man realized she had used the ointment - enraged, he took her right eye and she was blind on that side until she died.

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Reading Notes: The Old Woman and Her Pig, Part A

English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs

An old woman was cleaning when she found some spare change, enough to buy a little pig. Once home the pig refused to go over the stile. The old lady asked a dog for help, but he too refused. She walked farther and found a stick, asking it to beat the dog as it would not bite the pig and the stick also refused. Eventually she met fire, and demanded it burn the stick - but the element would not. She found water, asking it to put out the fire. She asked an Ox to drink the water. She asked a butcher to kill the ox. She met a rope that she asked to hang the butcher. She asked a rat to gnaw on the rope. She asked a cat to kill the rat.

Up to this point, everything she asked was denied, but this time the cat agreed if she would bring the cat milk. So the old lady found a cow, who offered milk in return for hay. The cow ate the hay, and she gave the milk to the cat. The cat killed the rat, as it was dying the rat gnawed at the rope, which began to nag the butcher, who began to kill the ox, which started drinking water, which put out fire, which burned the stick, that beat the dog, who bit the pig - scaring it over the fence.

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Story Revision: A Shuffle in the Night

In the distance, he hears laughter. He ponders, who would be laughing out here? The sun is setting on the path, an unofficial path made from many trips to the same destination. The laughter is closer now, and he looks up, oh - it's just a crow. There are not normally crows on this path.

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It is a two day trip, and it's getting too dark to see anymore. The forest is less comforting tonight, he feels that he is being watched and builds a fire a little dimmer than usual in the small cove of the forest, just mere feet from the path.

***

Not much time had passed when he awoke to hear the shuffling of feet. Who even knows this path is here? Through his blanket and past the snuffed fire, he sees, thinking, an old woman?, dragging a large bag. He could lay still, hide beneath his covers - but she would see him in passing. Rather than wait to be found he decides to approach her - but not without finding out as much as he can beforehand.

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She is in rags, a mix of hides and fur, and upon further observation, carrying a knife still wet with blood. 

This discovery sends the hair on his neck straight up. But what else can he do? Beyond the path, the forest is too dense to travel through... and besides, she is getting closer.

Any attempt now to leave would be clearly heard by her. Thinking fast, he jumps on to the path to create an illusion of control. What are you doing here?After several moments, his question is responded to - but the woman still does not show her face. My child is in this bag, he has succumbed. 

He is stricken, frozen, unable to respond. Is she telling the truth? Does he even want to know? Eyes never leaving the knife, he says I... am sorry... Can I help you? More silence passes in a time that feel like an eternity. He realizes that since he stepped on the path that his adrenaline hasn't allowed him to notice the foul smell present, the bag? he wonders - but suddenly she attacks him.

She lunges with the knife and as he falls the hood comes off, this is no woman but the shredded remains of what once was. She has only one eye, the other an exposed socket and no nose, her lips are gone and only show bloodied teeth. Shreds of the skin left flail during the assault, he takes her arm holding the knife right as it is about to be plunged into his chest but her arm comes off. He wrenches the knife from her somehow still grasping hand and cuts off her head, or what was left of it.

The air is still. The only noise is his heavy breathing. He stares at the few stars he can see past the trees. After several moments, he stands. Legs wavering, he manages to walk to the bag and cut it open - finding something that makes bile rise in his throat. A child, a boy, but with flesh ripped from his body. Bites taken out of his limbs. He is not the one who was rotting, he was not the source of the smell. He has been too recently killed.

*** 

He ran the rest of the trip home without stopping. He couldn't rest, it didn't feel safe. Home, home was safe - so he ran.

He sees the the familiar opening to his village, they will know what to do he thinks. In the distance, he sees the backs of his mother and brother. Relief floods him as he finds comfort in their presence, until the wind brings a smell to his nose that runs his blood cold. Before they turn, he already knows what awaits him. His hands clench the knife.

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No! His mother turns, but only half of her face returns with her as the other half is exposed bone. He did not notice before, but his brother is missing an arm. Yet, the lack of a limb does not slow him down as he runs. Running toward me. They're going to kill me!

He turns to run from his family, only to come face to face with the boy from the bag; very undead, and very much blocking the only easy means of escape.

Reading Notes: Robin Hood's Death, Part B.

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child (1882-1898).

Little John was sitting at a tree with Robin Hood, when Robin said he wanted to shoot an arrow across the pond, but that his arrow was broken. Yet, he had cousins living down there, and.... "she bleed me"?

Robin ran, and before he got to where he was going, he became very sick. When he got to Kirkly hall, he rang the doorbell and no cousin answered. Robin let himself in, and found his cousin. She asked him if he wanted beer, and he said he would not eat or drink till he was "blooded by thee". 

She told Robin that she has a room he can never see, but if he walks into it she will blooded him. She lead him to the private room where she blooded Robin, and locked him in the room. He bleed all day, until the next day at noon. His horn, hanging to his knee, took and blew three weak blasts from it. Little John heard this and knew he was near death. 

Robin broke down the locks of the room, and fell to his knees. John cried. Robin swore he never hurt a woman or man in in woman's company in all his life.  He asked John for his bent bow, and set it loose to land wherever his grave would be. He asked for green sod under his head and feet, and is bent bow at his side. He asked for his grave stone etching, and then died. 

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Afterthoughts - 

I'm pretty confused by every bit of this, but that's probably because I read the last story. 

Reading Notes: The Horned Woman, Part A.

Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).

A rich lady was up late when a knock at the door demanded to be let in. The lady asked who it was, and the reply was that it was the witch of one horn. The lady assumed someone in the neighborhood was needing help, and opened the door to a woman with a horn on her forehead. The woman sat down and asked where the other women were. A second knock came and demanded to be let in. The lady once again opened the door, and this time a witch with two horns entered. This repeated until there were twelve women each with one horn more than the last. They wove wool and sank songs but would not speak to the lady of the house. She was worried, and felt afraid. She suddenly fell ill, and realized a spell had been cast upon her. She was now under the witches control, and the lady was forced to make a cake - but could not find a vessel to make the cake in. The witches told her to use a sieve, and so she did. The water poured and she cried. A voice suddenly spoke, saying to take yellow clay and moss and bind them to the sieve, because before this the sieve was leaking. She did as told and the sieve held water, she returned as commanded by this new voice - but was told when she returned to the north angle of the house to cry loudly three times a chant. 

She did as told by this new commander, and the witches flew away. The spirit that helped the lady protected her home with magic so the witches could not harm her again. To break the spell the witches put on the lady, she sprinkled water on her feet, and outside the door. She took the cake and made a meal mixed with blood from her sleeping family. She placed a portion in each of their mouths and they were restored. The cloth woven by the women was used by the lady to create a padlock, and she secuded the door shut so they could not enter. She now waited. 

Not long after, the witches were back. They cried against the water that blocked the lady's path, and the jam also kept her from opening the door. The cake was unable to be used by the witches too as it was eaten by her family. Defeated, the witches left. 

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Reading Notes: The Witch Girl. Part B.

Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

A Cossack asked for help and to spend the night at a house, the homeowner said to enter if he wasn't afraid to die. The Cossack thought why he would say such a thing, and went to feed his horse. In the stable, he saw men and women and children praying for help. The Cossack asked why they were all upset, and the homeowner said that in their village Death comes at night and whichever cottage she looks into, those people must be buried alive. Tonight is the night this house gets buried. The Cossack says he wont allow that to happen, and keeps an eye out.

At Midnight, the window opens to a white witch. She tried to enter the house and Cossack cut off her arm. He picked up her arm and hid it under his cloak, finally going to sleep. The next morning saw that everyone was alive and were happy. The Cossack said he would show them death and that they should all gather tonight so they can find her. The family went to gather the town, but everyone was gone. They reached the last house where they found a man who said his daughter was ill. Inside, they found a girl with a missing arm. Cossack was rewarded and the witch was drowned.

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After thoughts -

so it wasn't death but a witch who was killing town after town, possessing or posing as a normal person. This time, she got to all the families but one, and when her arm was taken off she could not take them. She returned home, and was found by the people as not the girl they thought they knew but a witch/demon.