Extra Reading - Crash Course Mythology (Creation and Destruction)

In the first video for Crash Course Mythology: Creation and Destruction, the guy talks about the relationship between humans and animals with respect to Creation. Obviously, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, humans are placed above animals by God. This is really interesting because it affected and continues to affect the way that societies with majority-Christian populations relate to nature. For example, here in the U.S. we have a population that's mostly claims Christianity of some kind and we have more policies introduced by religious politicians that harm the environment for human gain. Is it because "God gave Man dominion over the earth?" And other traditions, such as Native American creation stories, animals are equals and help humans. In some stories they lead them from an inner world through various doorways until they got to this world; in others, a young woman falls from the sky and lands on the backs of duck, then a turtle takes over and carries her and his back becomes the Earth. These creation stories make animals and nature essential to human survival, and it's totally consistent with the long-standing philosophy of Natural Democracy within the Native American community.

In the second video, he talks about the apocalypse. I think it's so interesting that humans have a sort of hive-mind when it comes to the shame and failure of our species. How is that so many different traditions around the world think that humans are garbage and must be destroyed by some wrathful deity's hand? And what does it say about us that even in an apocalypse, there have to be winners and losers? Anyway, we all know the deal with the Judeo-Christian apocalypse: fire, brimstone, face-melting. Lots of civilizations in the Mediterranean have these similar stories, for example, the Persian apocalypse is similar to Judaism and Christianity. In the Islamic stories, there is more natural disasters and a loss of morality among the people. Also, keeping with the Abrahamic tradition, there is an anti-Messiah, intent on ruling before Jesus and a heavenly army free everyone, rule, and leaves--then everything is terrible and destroyed, and then everyone is resurrected and Mohammad will return to Earth and measure everyone's sins. What's interesting is that the Islamic tradition gives everyone much more time to fix their mistakes--which is really incongruent with the intensity with which this religion is associated. Maybe we just have a one-dimensional view of Islam. 

The third and final video talks about Ragnarok, which is the Norse apocalypse and is the one that I was most looking forward to learning about. First, there will be three long winters in a row, and all the people will be hungry and turn against each other. When civilization implodes, almost everyone is dead, adn the living are basically animals, two mythical wolves Hati and Skul (spelling is questionable) will eat the sun and the moon, and the world will plunge into darkness. Then, earthquakes will come and they will break the chains that hold Loki to the rock (spoiler alert, the chains are actually his dead son's intestines--punishment for tricking everyone into killing Baldr) and both he and his giant demonic-wolf son Fenrir will be free. Then three roosters will crow, and the giants, dead of Hel, and warriors of Valhalla will awaken. Loki's other son, a giant demonic-snake will slither through the seas. Loki will take all his monster babies and the minions of Hel and challenge the Asir( "good" gods) at Asgard, with the rainbow bridge collapsing behind them. Heimdal warns the Asir, and Odin leads them and 800 noble dead warriors from Valhalla into battle.

I like the Norse apocalypse because it isn't like it's anything that everyone deserves, but just the way the world will end, whether humans are intrinsically good or bad. It doesn't matter what you do--the world will end with all the gods killing each other, Fenrir's defeat by a magic indestructible shoe, and the giant-king killing the last of the Asir and plunging every realm into fire and the earth sinks into the sea. But since all the world is water, there is new hope--not all of the gods die, and from the water a new earth forms. And the gods who survive make sure that the stories and a few artifacts from the old Norse pantheon survive. It's like we can't know if the apocalypse has already happened, for all we know we could be on our third or fourth world. Creation, destruction, and rebirth. Honestly, who doesn't love an apocalypse with a happy ending?

"The Punishment of Loki" by Louis Huard

Week 9 Story - The Bamboo Bridge

There is a ton of junk in my house because of my grandmother. She insisted on bringing it with her when she moved in with me and my mom. She's getting old, she forgets things and people too, sometimes; my mom says she can't live on her own anymore. She has boxes and trunks full of old swords, books, brushes, and silks--things that have been passed down through the generations. Grandma's always saying that we're descended from powerful emperors, but ever since she's been diagnosed with Alzheimer's, who can tell if she knows what she's saying.

My mother sent me to pick up the last of her boxes, and to take Grandma to our house for good. So after school, I stopped by Grandmother's. She's too busy watching her soaps to pay attention to me, so I just sighed and headed to the garage to load the last of her boxes into my truck. 

She has a group of ancient looking bamboo sticks stacked in one corner--god only knows why. There are far heavier things to get onto the truck, so I gathered the bamboo, all the while shaking my head at my grandmother's pack-rat ways. I tossed the old stalks onto the grass in the yard. Before my eyes, the bamboo landed in the grass, anchored itself and stood at attention. They began to stretch and weave, growing taller and taller and casting a long vertical shadow against my grandmother's house in the light of the setting sun. I realized it was a bridge, leading straight up into the sky and out of view.

I tried to take the stalks down--after all, kids already referred my grandmother as "that weird old Chinese lady." The last thing she needed was all her neighbors coming out and gawking at her magic bamboo. But the stalks held fast, and something in me told me to climb it, to see where it led. 

Against my better instincts, I mounted the bridge and began my ascent. I thought it would take an age to reach the end of the bridge, and I found myself briefly wondering if I'd miss dinner. That was before I saw the sun from above the earth. It was a burning torch, and all the world was cast in light and shadow, spread out before me like an artists's rendering. From up here, I couldn't believe that I lived so far below. Nor could I believe that I had climbed so high in a matter of minutes, that I was breathing though with some difficulty, and felt almost no exhaustion. By the time the earth was a little blue rock far below me, the sun had set and was behind the world, casting a shadow on the Moon--which I was now sure was where this bridge would lead. 

Sure enough, I hopped off of the bridge and onto the surface of the moon. But instead of the barren wasteland that I was sure would be here, I found a splendid palace, silvery trees, and glass cages where animal shadows moved and swam like all the beasts of the earth and fish of the sea did. A pleasant smell wafted through the air, and I could tell it was the cassia flowers--my grandmother always wore that perfume. She swore it was a family tradition. I was starting to believe her. 

I turned to survey the rest of the moon, and found myself face to face with a beautiful woman. She had long flowing hair, a kind, round face, and a glowing rainbow gown with a white shawl. 

"I am glad you are here," she said, and her voice was clear and light as a bell. "The cassia tree has nearly overshadowed the radiance of my palace. Once your ancestors came upon this place, and knew that the cassia tree must be chopped down once every thousand years to maintain the glory of the moon. That time is almost upon us. Have you come to take up the task?" she asked.

I found  myself nodding, just going along with whatever this beautiful woman said. Some of what she said sounded familiar, and I remember before Grandma was sick, she told me stories of our ancestor and his sorcerers who visited the moon and brought back a musical gift. How was I to know it was true?

The Lady of the Moon handed me an ax, and before long the tree was felled. Instantly, the moon was brightened, and I could see her castle even more clearly in the distance. She thanked me again and again, and asked what gift I would like to bring back to earth as payment for my help. Only one thing came to mind.

"Please heal my grandmother's mind. She told me about you once, and I didn't believe her because she's sick. She still has so much to tell me."
The woman smiled, and for a moment, she looked my Grandma, when she was young and beautiful. "It is done. Go home to your grandmother."

The descent to earth took almost as little time as the climb to the moon did. And when my feet touched the ground, I looked up at the radiance of the moon--noticeably brighter. I turned to my grandmother's house, and saw her running toward me with tears in her eyes and arms outstretched.

Author's Note: So this story is based on the story of "The Lady of the Moon", in which an emperor and his sorcerers build a bamboo bridge to the moon. I thought it would cool to do a story about a descendant, because unlike some of the other myths that we've read, Chinese myths feature real people almost as often as they feature gods and deities. I know this story is really long but I'm just glad that I was able to put in everything that I wanted and still technically not go over 1000 words. Some of the original stories had unsatisfying endings, and I thought that since I put something so sad as Alzheimer's in the story, I should have a happy ending. 

"The Moon Goddess Chang E"
by unidentified artist via Wikimedia

Reading Notes - China Folktales (Reading A)

I haven't read many Chinese Folktales, but I really liked these stories. They were short and sweet, but still super entertaining. It had the same randomness of the African tales--with all the magical realism and the ability of mortals to interact with the divine. I noticed a few overarching themes in these stories, and even though they weren't exactly what I'm used to but I still found some new favorites.

The first two stories, "The Favorite Child of Fortune and the Child of Ill-Fate" and "The Cave of the Beasts," have semi-unsatisfying endings. In the first story, it seems like everything goes right for a while in the first story, wherein the unlucky wife and her lucky husband are separated for years and then reunited as emperor and empress--then the wife dies eighteen days later while the husband lives for years thereafter. In "The Cave of the Beasts," the father leaves his children to die in the woods, and when they use their cleverness and quick-action to live (and to luckily stumble upon a cave full of priceless jewels), the father feels remorse and goes back for them. Then profits off of the luck of the daughters that he wanted to kill. Did I mention that the reason that he wanted to kill them is because they ate some eggs that he found. Why didn't he get his comeuppance?

I like that different myths start out with there having been 10 suns in the sky and provide different reasons for there only being 1 now--from Yang Oerlang hunting them down in revenge for his mother to an emperor with many talents shooting them out of the sky until one remained. It's very cool to see the different origin stories, and it helps you remember that while "Chinese" refers to a large nation with a lot of people, there are different traditions existing within the country as a whole. There is also a prevailing sense of self-determinism, and you can kind of see this in the story "The God of War," where it's hinted at that Guan Yu was once a regular man, a regular warrior. But he was so brave and noble and faithful, even in death, that he became the Master of War. It's also hinted at that Confucius, who we know was a normal man--but an excellent scholar--became the Master of Wisdom. That means that if you excel at something and are pure in your intentions, you can reach a semi-deified status. 

I think that I would like to write a story based on the "King of Ants", which is about a scholar witnessing the hunt and politics of tiny people--before they taunt him and h destroys them in anger. Or maybe a story based on the "Lady of the Moon," wherein an emperor is able to find a way to get to the realm of the Moon, and is given gifts by the moon.

Guan Yu Seated (Chinese God of War)
by Hosukai via Wikimedia