Gnomes, Trolls, Pixies, and Goblins- Styles Brainstorm

Topic: My storybook will most likely be about mythical garden/forest creatures from a variety of cultures. I particularly want to focus on the tales involving gnomes, trolls, pixies, fairies, and goblins. I have found some initial sources that might be of use to me, "Rubezahl" about a gnome, "The Pixies Revenge" about pixies, "Troll Turned Cat" about a troll, and I plan to find one about a goblin. There are lots of relevant stories considering I am not limiting myself to a certain area's stories, but going through all of them to find the ones I want to retell will be a long process. I think these initial ones are a great start considering I found a story for every mythical creature I wanted to cover.

Bibliography:
"Rubezahl" from The Brown Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang, (1904)

"The Pixies Revenge" from A Peep at the Pixies, or Legends of the West, by Anna Eliza Bray (1854)

 "The Troll Turned Cat" 

Most of these came from the Celtic area of Sacred Texts, so I think I will do some more searching there.


Possible Styles:
Idea 1- I would incorporate my four dogs into telling the stories of the garden. In my head right now, the dogs would be the ones interacting/battling with the mythical creatures. I could see it as three or four rounds of battle- one against gnomes, one against, trolls, one against fairies, and one against goblins. The stories could be told from an older dog to maybe her puppies. This would put the stories as the older dogs past; maybe her and the three others had to take over the yard from the garden creatures.

Idea 2- The story could be written in a little girls diary. Maybe she watches out her window each day what happens in the yard between her dogs and the mythical things that only she can see in the garden. Or maybe she leaves her barbies in the yard and those are the characters interacting with the garden creatures. She could see them come to life in the yard and could write about it in her diary.

Idea 3-  A little girl could be the one to interact with each of these creatures. And she could tell the story in first person to either her parents or her friends. Maybe the parents would play along but wouldn't believe her because they cant see the creatures like she can.

Idea 4- Bedtime stories told by the creatures themselves. They could be friends with the little girl who lives in the house and each night they could make their way inside to sit in bed with her. They would take turns telling her stories about themselves. They are mean and mischievous to others, but love to tell stories to the girl.

Image taken from "The Fairies Revenge"

 

Storytelling Week 3: Tommy the Frog

"I'm Perd Haply, live on the streets. We are here today covering a reported sighting of a human sized frog living in this shed behind this suburban home" said Perd.

*Camera on the shed, there appears to be a huge creature inside bumping around. Neighbors are peering over the fence and a crowd has gathered out front of the home*

"It sure looks like somethings in there... Let's see if the homeowners are home to comment on these allegations" said Perd.

*Camera shows Perd walking up the front steps and knocking on the door*

*A boy answers, he's 11 years old*

"Hi son, are your parents home?" said Perd.

"No..... theyre at work" said Ben. And then he saw the cameras behind perd... "Is this about Tommy?" Ben asked.

*Perd turned back to the camera with a suspicious look and then back to Ben*

"Whose Tommy?" asked Perd.

"Tommy is my frog. He lives out back in the shed" said Ben, with a glow in his eyes.

"Interesting.... Can you introduce me to this frog of yours Ben?" Perd asked.

"Uhhh I don't know.... mommy and daddy think I got rid of him so I'm not sure if he should be on TV" said Ben.

"That's fine, son. Why don't you just tell me a little more about Tommy... maybe like what size is he?" said Perd.

"I can do that. Well, he's big... really big. He eats a lot." Said Ben.

"You don't say... like human size big?" asked Perd.

"Umm yeah I guess so, maybe more like elephant sized." said Ben.

*The camera turns to the nosey neighbors listening to the conversation in the street, they are shocked and whispering about the monstrous claims*

"Now Ben, I don't know if I believe that one... How does a frog get to be so big son? Where did you find this frog?" questioned Perd.

"My daddy and I like to go down to the river behind the square the do a little fishing, and one day I found a frog. I asked if I could keep it and daddy said yes but that I could never forget to feed it" said Ben.

"So you must have fed the frog a lot then?" questioned Perd.

"Well yeah. He was always hungry, at every meal I pretended to eat and then snuck the food to Tommy. But he was still hungry so I started grabbing mommys groceries out of the back of her car and taking them straight to Tommy. I would go out and see him a couple times a day, he was a fast grower" said Ben.

"Do youre parents know you took all the food son? asked Perd.

"Well for a while they did... mommy told me to get rid of him because he ate too much. But I couldn't because Tommy is my friend, he is a good listener and he's good at bedtime stories" said Ben.

"So you kept the frog... and the frog talks to you?" said Perd in a doubtful tone.

"Yes!" exclaimed Ben.

"Alright son that's enough. I cant believe another word of this unless we see proof" demanded Perd.

*The camera backed away and focused on the growing crowd of people and reporters.*

"No wait, don't go! I can show you" said Ben.

*Ben darts down the front steps and grabs Perd's hand. He leads him to the shed, the camera follows*

"Okay I'm gonna open the door, but everyone needs to be quit" said Ben.

*Ben slides the door open, and walks in, when he walks back he is holding Tommy's hand. Tommy is a giant green frog standing at 7 feet tall*

"Good gracious" exclaimed Perd as he started to back away from the shed.

*Screams started coming from the neighbors pearing over the fence*

"Hes a monster" "That aint right" "Eww its green" "Kill him, save the children" "What a terrible creation"

"Stop it, stop yelling at Tommy" yelled Ben.

"There you have it folks, the giant frog is real.... Now run for your lives!!" Yelled Perd.

*camera man drops the camera, people are seen running in every direction*

"Ben, we must go. It is time" said Tommy. *He carried Ben to the forest and sat him down on a pathway

"Since you have showed me good favor, and have done as your father said- never letting me be hungry- I shall repay you threefold" said Tommy.

*Tommy turned to speak to the forest* "All you who fly, crawl, walk, come forth with gifts for my boy" said Tommy.

*Animals of every kind appeared and left fruits, vegetables, herbs, roots, stones, and jewels at Bens feet*

"There my boy, I the fairy frog have fulfilled my task" said Tommy

*Ben gaped at the pile of things in front of him. When he looked up again he saw the frog walking away and shrinking with every step*

Later that evening, Ben appeared in his backyard with a wheelbarrow full of goods and his parents were there trying to calm down the many people that were still running around.



The day that Ben caught Tommy in the river. Source

Author's Note: In the original story, a King and queen die from illness but before passing the father says to his son "go to the market 7 days after our death and buy the first thing offered to you." The son did this and came home with a box with a frog in it. The frog ate everything in their home and grew huge, eventually the son's wife cried because they were starving. The frog led them to the forest and repaid them all the food they had given him, plus more, plus he granted them each a wish. Then he disappeared into the river. I took this ending and decided to make my story of a continuation. I wanted a little boy to pick up that same frog from a river in the present day. Then I saw news reporting as a storytelling style and thought it would be the perfect fit. I tweaked the storyline a bit but stuck to the same main points.

Bibliography: "The Fairy Frog" by Gertrude Landa, from Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends (1919). Web source

Week 3 Reading Diary, Continued: Jewish Fairy Tales

A continued reading diary post about "Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends" by Gertrude Landa (1919).

The Sleep of One Hundred Years
I didn't really understand the purpose of the story, but I do know it made me sad. Rabbi Onias, who was saddened that Jerusalem was desolate, fell asleep for 100 years and awoke to the reborn Jerusalem. I thought he would be happy to see the place resurrected, but instead he felt like an outsider to these new people and ways of life. It broke my heart that all he wanted was Jerusalem to be alive and then when it was he didn't fit in there anymore. I wish there could have been some other happier ending, maybe if I retell this story I will switch it up.

King for Three Days
This story focuses on the first crusade by Godfrey de Bouillon and the Rabbi Rashi's prediction. It was interesting to see Godfrey accomplish his goal of becoming king but still to remain sad an empty. I feel like this can relate to a lot of things in our lives, we set our sights on something but once we get there we realize it really wasn't what we wanted in the first place. The character of Godfrey is not one that I liked, he was an evil man and he had no respect for Rashi. He demanded Rashi give him a blessing and threatened to kill him if his prophecy was wrong.

The Higgledy-Piggledy Palace
What an interesting title. I did not like the beginning of this tale when the Pharaoh purchased Sarah from Abraham, but then when the spirit came to save her I really enjoyed it. At one point I even laughed because the spirit was tormenting the pharaoh; he had laid down on his bed and then the spirit lifted it and dumped him out of it. I love seeing the Lord always protecting his people. This tale could be retold as a tour guide taking people through a haunted house.

The Bogey Man
The Boogeyman is a very familiar name today, but the creature and legend is totally different than this tale. The Bogey man in this story is a scary robot like creature that Rabbi Lion built to obey him, and that the children called the Bogey Man. Today it is a monster that is said to live under the bed of children, and many movies/tv shows have featured depictions of him. It's interesting to know where the character originally came from and then to see how it changed over time. This could be a great bedtime story to retell.

The Bogey man trying to break into a synagogue to free himself of the Rabbi's control.

The Fairy Frog
This story made me think of the Shrek movie where the king is a frog and he dies, except this one is a little different in that the king and queen die and the frog is purchased by the son. It made me happy to see the son and his wife following the fathers last will so unwaveringly. I'm sure it was hard on them to give the frog all their food while they were starving. I didn't expect it to turn out this way but I'm glad the son was repaid many times over for caring for the frog. With the frog shrinking and hopping into the river at the end, I could continue the story and have some kid pick up the frog from the river in present day. I think that could be quite interesting to see the frog grow and the kid care for him in todays setting.

 

The fairy frog leading the son and wife to the forest to receive their gifts.

Week 3 Reading Diary: Jewish Fairy Tales

This weeks reading diary will cover stories from Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919).

The Giant of the Flood
In this tale of Noah's ark and the flood, a unicorn and a giant are added to the story. I thought it was interesting that this traditional bible story could be twisted in another culture and that would be the version they believe. I like that Noah helped the giant and in return the giant had to help Noah and his descendants. I did not see the story turning out with the giant going back on his word like he did and I liked that I couldn't predict the story.

The Beggar King
What a humbling story. A cruel and boastful king was turned into a beggar by a genie who took his place as king. I really liked the lesson this story taught, and I was shocked when the king turned beggar returned to the palace and wanted to continue guiding the blind instead of retaking his throne. This story shows the good in people just takes the right circumstances to bring out. I wonder how the kingdom will be different now that this more humble and gracious king is in charge.

The King falling prey to the genie boy who would take his place for a while as king.

The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog
This was a fun story to read. It explained the incidence that caused cats and dogs to never be friends. The biggest thing I enjoyed about this story was that the characteristics, the words, and the actions of the story animals are spot on with the behaviors and characteristics of dogs and cats that I see today. This would be an interesting story to see retold from the point of view of the dog, maybe in the diary format like I have talked about before. Or also to continue the story to see what things the cat attempts to get rid of the dog.

The Water-Babe
This is a tale about what Moses childhood might have been like, since the bible was lacking in these details. I love the story of Moses being retrieved from a basket in a river and brought to the royal palace. It was interesting to see the Jewish idea of what may have occurred in his childhood; I couldn't believe anyone would ever put a bowl of burning coals in front of a child to grab as a test, but then again it was biblical times. I couldn't recall ever learning how Moses got his staff, just that he used it to part the Red Sea, so it was cool to learn how that may have come to be as well.

From Shepard-Boy to King
Another example of an extra biblical legend from the Jewish. This tale focuses on Kind David as a shepard boy and his incidence of finding a unicorn, riding a deer, and escaping a lion. In the story David was able to hear animals speaking to each other and to him. I thought is was really inspiring in the end when the deer revealed that he had been commanded to save David from the lion for he was to be Kind one day. I got the idea that David was a pretty mischievous boy so this story made a lot of sense.

The Magic Palace
I am familiar with Ibrahim, but not with this tale. In the tale, a poor Ibrahim goes out to find work but instead finds a man who wants to be sold as Ibrahim's slave. The mysterious man turned out to be Elijah, and he earned Ibrahim enough money for all his days and built a palace overnight. The feat completed by Elijah to build the palace was truly magical and I now know why the story is titled as such. I found the story a little confusing to follow because of some of the dream aspects, but overall it was pretty interesting.