Storytelling Week 3: The Psychotic Cyclops

The cyclopes lived a somewhat simple life. They all lived on an island with hardly any interruptions from the outside world. They had everything they could ever want on the island. There was plenty of rich land where food could be grown. There was an abundance of livestock that could be used for many different purposes. And there were enough caves for the cyclopes to each have their own home. While they were not very smart the cyclopes still managed to have a successful society. 

Their society was, just like the cyclopes themselves, a simple one. In the mornings each cyclops would tend to his or her personal flock herding them to different grazing areas to make sure they never made the land barren. Then they would tend to their fields and harvest the crop that the gods had blessed them with. As evening came around they would return to their caves with their flock, because the cyclops had a hard time seeing out of their one eye as the sun was setting. Once back at their caves they would eat supper and go sleep. They did this same thing every day of the week. The only exception was on Friday nights. 

On Friday night all the cyclopes would gather together in the middle of their island and they would have a celebration. At the celebration they would dance, sing, and share the good that they had harvested that week. While this was going on, the children were all left with the elder of the island. The elder would tell them stories of past cyclopes so they could learn about their history. Most of the little cyclopes did not care for story time but there was one story that all the cyclopes loved. It was called the story of the psychotic cyclops and it went like this. 

There was once a cyclops named Polyphemus. He was one of the greatest cyclopes to ever live. He had the largest flock out of all the cyclopes . Not only did he have the largest flock but he could command them with ease. He was the biggest of all the cyclopes and because of this he had the largest club made from one of the oldest trees on the island. He was known as the king of the cyclopes until one day the gods cursed him and drove him mad. It was right after supper time and right before bed time that the madness struck. All the island was quiet, as they were all about to rest, and then a loud scream burst from Polyphemu's cave. This was unsettling to the other cyclopes so they made their way to his cave. When they arrived they heard more screaming and yelling erupt from his cave. They asked Polyphemus "Is some one attacking you?"

" Nobody is attacking me," Polyphemus responded.

"If Nobody is attacking you then you must be going mad and only the gods can help that," shouted the cyclopes and they left Polyphemus. The shouting and yelling continued all night. 

In the morning Polyphemus rolled the large bolder from the entrance of his cave and staggered out. "See!" he yelled. "See what Nobody has done to me?" and then he fell dead on the ground. As the other cyclopes emerged from their caves they could see what Nobody had done to him. Polyphemus's body was lying dead on the ground with his large club stabbed through his eye. 

To this day no one know what truly happened in that cave. Some say that he went mad and killed himself, while others think there may have been somebody in the cave with him, but no one knows for sure. 

Painting of Polyphemus By: Guido Reni. Found on Wikimedia 

Author's Note: This story is based off of Odysseus's encounter with the the cyclops Polyphemus. In the original story Odysseus and his men end up as prisoners of Polyphemus. Odysseus tricks Polyphemus into thinking that his real name is Nobody so that when the other cyclopes ask if he is being attacked he will say that Nobody is attacking him and the other cyclopes will leave. I thought it would be fun to retell this story from an outsider's point of view so they they could only speculate about what really happened in the cave and I also wanted to give it a ghost story kind of a feel. I did this by making the story into a tale that was told by the cyclopes to each other. I also wanted to give a little background information on the Cyclopes so I wove the original story together with one that I made up about their background. I also thought it would be an interesting twist to have him die in the end so that way no one could ever know what happened in the cave. In my last story it was pointed out to me that my dialog should be formatted  differently so in this story I tried to work on that.     

The story can be found in the Un-Textbook

source: Homer's Odyssey

 translated into English by Tony Kline. (2004).     

Storytelling Week 2: To Be a Lumberjack

There once was this man. He was just your normal man. Well, not really, he was less than a normal man. He was short. He had almost no hair left on his head, despite the fact that he was only 27. And had no muscles. Now this would have been okay if he wanted to be a... I don't know... let's say an online stock trader where no one had to see him. But this was not the case for two main reasons. First of all this story is set in the 1200's so I don't think stocks were even invented yet. The second reason is because he wanted to be a lumberjack. 

To be a lumberjack was every boy's dream. You got to swing a big axe. You had big muscles and of course all the girls loved you. I mean what more could you want? But like I said earlier this man, let's call him Rick, was not fit to be a lumberjack. He had no axe, no muscles, and well... no girls. He did however have a small hatchet. 

Every day he would take his small hatchet down to the riverside where all the other real lumberjacks would be cutting down trees. They would all make fun of Rick because of how puny he was. They would all sing the chant "Ricky can't even chop a sticky." Over and over they would chant this. Rick normally just ignored them as he would swing he hatchet pretending to be a real lumberjack . Until one day. This day was a particularly hot day. One of the lumberjacks came over to Rick and told him that if he could cut down the old tree by the lake then the other lumberjacks would stop making fun of him. Rick was thrilled at this proposal even though he knew that it would be impossible. He went over to the old tree and started chopping away at it. 

At this point Rick had been chopping all day and had not even made a dent. With each swing his scrawny arms grew weaker and he could hardly hold onto his hatchet. Then it happened. His hatchet slipped out of his sweaty hands and flew into the lake. His one chance at becoming a real lumberjack was lost forever. 

Rick sat by the edge of the lake sobbing. The other lumberjacks gathered around Rick and told him that because he had failed he was never allowed to come back. Just as Rick was standing up to leave Mercury popped his head out of the water. All the men froze, as they had never see a god before. "You," he said looking at Rick, "does this belong to you?" Mercury asked as he pulled out the most glorious axe any of the men had ever seen. "If it does then I shall return it to you." "No," Rick replied sadly. " Mine was the hatchet that could not even make a dent in the old tree." Mercury was impressed with Rick's honesty and decided to reward him for it.

 Mercury gave Rick the glorious axe. As Rick grabbed hold of the axe he began to change. His hair started to grow. His arms became full of muscles. His body stretched and he was now seven feet tall. Rick had become a lumberjack but not just a lumberjack - he was the largest of them all, and of course he now had a super sweet beard.

Because he was now the strongest, had the biggest axe and the best beard, Rick was told by the head lumberjack the he could take his place as leader of the lumberjacks if he wanted. This was a dream come true for Rick and he accepted the position but he made all the lumberjacks promise to never make fun of smaller people again. He told them that instead they needed to help weaker people just like the god Mercury had helped him. And the lumberjacks have been nice to people ever since that day.  

Mercury and the Woodman:can be found in the Un-Textbook

Author's Note: This story is originally about a woodman who lost his axe in the lake after a long day of work. In the story Mercury comes to the man and asks him if three different axes are his. The woodman tells him the truth and Mercury rewards him for it . I left out the part where other woodmen tried to lose their axes in hope that they too would receive a golden axe but they did not because they lied. I thought it would be fun to change up the story a little bit add some other woodmen (or lumberjacks in this case) to the story. I also thought it would be funny if he got to be king of the lumberjacks and got a nice beard. I tried to give a very detailed description of Rick in this story so that the readers could understand how different he was from the other lumberjack. I also tried to show the idea that just because you are good at something or someone is different does not mean that you can make fun of them. I thought it was important to show that even though Rick was now a lumberjack he still cared about other people. I picked the picture because it shows both the god Mercury and the lumberjack from the original story

I hope you enjoyed the story. 

The original story can be found here in the Un-Textbook 

Author: Unknown Editor: Unknown Illustrator:Milo Winter  Year Published: 1919 Web Source:Un-Textbook    

Storytelling Week 1: The Love of Baking

There once was a man who was a wonderful baker. His name was Tod. Tod baked all kinds of delicious foods. He made everything from breakfast pastries to wedding cakes. Tod was the single best baker in all the land. People would come from miles to try all his tasty treats. When they came they would buy dozens and dozens of all his goods so that they could bring them back to their family. Tod was always nice to his customers, offering them samples and filling custom request. He never had to worry about much because he was the only bakery. others had tried not none could come close to the baking perfection that Tod had. not only were his good tasty they were also reasonably priced. 

All was well for Tod until one day he realized that his bakery was in fact the best in the entire world. He thought to him self and came to the realization that if he was indeed the best in the world then he should raise his prices. And he did just that. People kept coming and buying his tasty treats so he kept raising the prices. Along whit the change in prices came a change with Tod. 

All this new found money had changed Tod from the friendly baker that every one loved to a money hungry old man that no one wanted anything to do with. One day as Tod was opening his bakery he saw that there were no people waiting in line and all day long no one show up. This happened for weeks and Tod baked nothing. He thought that this would be fine and that it would give him some time to spend his money. Sure enough he did just that he spent his money. He went on trips and bought all kinds of cool thing but something was missing. he was no longer happy. He thought it was the money that was making him happy but really it was the baking. so that night when Tod went to bed he decided to change. he no longer cared about the money he just wanted to bake.

The next day Tod sold everything that he owned except his oven and some dough. He started baking. He baked and baked and baked for three days he did not stop. By the end of the third day he had baked so mush that he had no more room. So he went out in the street and and yelled that he was giving away and his rolls for only two cents each. At first on one believed him. So he kept yelling rolls only two cents each. But still noting. Then he yelled two rolls just two cents. This got peoples attention as it was a very good deal. When they saw that he was really selling his hot and tasty rolls for only a few cents the people knew that he had changed. By the next day Tod had sold all his rolls. Tod had regained his lost customers and he has kept their trust ever since.

Homemade Hot Cross Buns from wikimedia

Author's Note:

this story is based off the old nursery rhyme "Hot-Cross Buns"  

 HOT-CROSS Buns!
Hot-cross Buns!
One a penny, two a penny,
Hot-cross Buns!

Hot-cross Buns!
Hot-cross Buns!
If ye have no daughters,
Give them to your sons.

you can find the rhyme in this book this Book: The Project Gutenberg Ebook of The Nursery Rhyme Book

Author: Unknown Editor: Andrew Lang Year Published: 2008 Web Source: The Project Gutenberg

I chose to write this because i always wounder why some one would sell their hot cross buns for only a penny and i thought this would be a good reason.