Inspirations

[NotWise]

I hope that Laurel will forgive me, but I'm going to link to a story off-site.

The Man Who Married The Moon is probably the most complex and interesting story I've read in a long time. Sorry Lit authors.

I know that it isn't easy to read given the Victorian lead-in and the native story telling, but I love it.

I think that across cultures and across history we have themes that underlie what we write. This is one of those stories.

 

[le_kitty]

I am familiar with this storytelling style from having read a bunch of aboriginal stories as a kid. The theme that sticks out at me is karma. Always, in these stories, karma is returned tenfold and we get a story of why an animal has red pink legs or only lays two eggs or something. lol, no I get it.

I'm curious what you think of the story though, would you elaborate on the themes, and why you like it as much as you do?

 

[TxRad]

Thank you, I had lost that website many moons ago in a hard drive crash. A number of the southwestern Native American tribes have many stories and histories that follow this pattern of story telling. it comes, i do believe from it being an oral history to start with.

 

[NotWise]

I'm curious what you think of the story though, would you elaborate on the themes, and why you like it as much as you do?

Virtue transcends.
The beauty of true love.
The evil of jealousy.
Bad people don't go unpunished.

I also love the way the story is told. I read it through almost as if I were in a dream. I revisited this story looking for more adult themes and I suppose they could be inserted, but I probably like it better as a children's story.

 

[Handley_Page]

Virtue transcends.
The beauty of true love.
The evil of jealousy.
Bad people don't go unpunished.

I also love the way the story is told. I read it through almost as if I were in a dream. I revisited this story looking for more adult themes and I suppose they could be inserted, but I probably like it better as a children's story.

It reminded me of the books I read when I was a kid.
'Fairy Tales' was one description. Ever read the fables of Aesop or the stories by the Brothers Grimm ?

 

[NotWise]

It reminded me of the books I read when I was a kid.
'Fairy Tales' was one description. Ever read the fables of Aesop or the stories by the Brothers Grimm ?

I've borrowed from folk tales for stories in the past or used them to understand context.

The Grimm stories are, well... grim. I read (or had read to me) diluted versions of the Grimm tales when I was a child, then read them more undiluted as a teenager and have returned to them repeatedly as an adult. There are some interesting web sites that provide histories of the European folk tales and explanations for some of the tropes and symbols.

Swans represent women, so in "The Seven Swans" when the brothers are turned into swans, does that mean they've been feminized?

The Norwegian folk tales (East of the Sun, West of the Moon) are even less child-friendly than Grimm. I've read other compilations as well.

I think the native American stories are a little different -- more like Aesop. Most seem to explain the world as they knew it and to teach fundamental morals and social behavior. Some (like the stories of Kokopelli) are smutty.

The native American stories are also like Aesop in that animals are anthropomorphized. The animals also play key roles in the lives of men and in how the world came to be.

 

[le_kitty]

Speaking of Aesops tales, my father brought me a lot of classics when I was a kid, of which this was amongst them. I dug it out recently along with something on greek mythology, but I've since started working on a series inspired by celtic folklore instead.