Microfiction: Freya, Women Want to be Her, Men Want to be With Her

Freya and the Necklace (1890) 

by James Doyle Penrose

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The Hill Giant

    Once a hill giant offered to help build a fortress for the gods requesting the sun, moon, and Freya as wife. The gods agreed if he and his horse, Svadilfari, finish before the start of summer. The giant began working letting Svadilfari do most of the work. The deadline was arriving and the gods were fearful he would succeed. Loki disguised himself as a mare, seduced Svadilfari, rendering the hill giant unable to meet the deadline. The gods got a fortress ... and an 8 legged foal (Sleipnir) for free, Loki was impregnated by Svadilfari. Sleipnir later became Odin's steed.

Brísingamen

    Freya, a concubine of Odin, discovered 4 dwarves crafting a beautiful necklace. She wanted it, the dwarves said she could have it if she slept with ALL of them. She did what a jewelry loving goddess had to do. Loki saw this & disguised himself as a flee & stole the necklace from sleeping Freya giving it to Odin. Freya told Odin about the theft but he said he knew all about her affair & he would give it back if she started a never ending war between 2 kings. Every time a king died he would rise again. She agreed.

Author's Note

    I decided to write about Freya as she is an interesting Norse goddess of beauty, love, fertility, and war. She was often lusted after and sometime lusty herself pending on who told the story. The first story is told in Gylfaginning from the Prose Edda, and demonstrates how lusted after Freya really was. The second story is from the Sörla þáttr written by Christian priests. The point of this book was to make the non-Christian Norse look bad, hence why they made Freya out to be a greedy, materialistic floozy in the story of how she obtained her famed necklace Brísingamen.

Bibliography

• Freya, Thomas Apel https://mythopedia.com/norse-mythology/gods/freya/

Feed back thoughts

A Fixed Mindset Could be Holding You Back Source

    I really resonated with this article. I talked in previous posts about how I was raised with a fixed mindset and it damaged me and how I am just now trying to undo it after 20 years. I liked how this article included how this affects doctors in particular. I wanted to be a reconstructive plastic surgeon, I still love learning about that topic but I realized that I only chose that career path because it was something that I felt was expected from me. My ENTIRE family, including extended, have always said (sometimes still do) "you'd make a great doctor" or "you will be the best surgeon" sometimes before I even revealed I wanted to do that. As I got older I realized I didn't want that kind of lifestyle and would rather do something I loved even more, microbiology.

Rewire Your Self-Critical Brain Source

    I have always thought I didn't take feedback negatively, in actuality I obsess over it. I do not always think of it as hurtful, but I just cannot stop thinking about it. This article is the type of stuff I am doing and looking to do in rewiring myself to be in the growth mindset. I love the ant anecdote, when you draw a line or place a stick in the middle of a trail of ants, they scatter and panic but quickly regeoup. My mind is like the ants before they regroup. I like how ants can regroup and I like the described practice of REBS, REality Based Self-congratulations. The author also discusses using your feedback to actually learn as well as evaluating whether feedback will be relevant in other cases.

Organized Ants

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Project Topic Brainstorm

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Freya

Norse Mythology

Norse Mythology is one of my favorite segments of Mythology. I read about it in the Rick Riordan series, Magnus Chase. I may be 20 but the books are still entertaining. Those books prompted me to do more of my own research into Norse Mythology. That and Thor from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Freya in particular is interesting to me. She's goddess of love, beauty, fertility, and sex but also war, gold, and magic. She has a cat drawn carriage and is married to Óŏr who is gone most of the time and she tries searching for him whilst crying tears of red gold. We all Know that half of the dead go to Valhalla ruled by Odin, the other half go to the "heavenly field," Fólkvanger which Freya runs. Thor even portrays her once to get his hammer back. In this topic I would probably tell of some of Freya's adventures, possibly the ones in search of Óŏr.

Source1  Source 2 

Italian Folklore

    I am not familiar with much Italian Folklore despite being Spanish Italian. However, I am familiar with La Befana, the Christmas Witch who gets her name from the Catholic celebration of Epiphany or when the 3 wise men visited Christ. La Befana acts like an Italian Santa Claus. There are a variety of legends as to how she started this tradition. One is that the 3 Magi stopped asking for directions to the Messiah, she did not know but provided lodging, they invited her to come along and she said she was too busy cleaning but later decided to go, she never found him so she brings gifts to all the good children along the way and onions, coal, and garlic to the bad. Another story shares the search for Jesus but this reasoning is because her own child died and she believes Jesus to be him. Similar to the first, the Magi ask Befana to help look for the Messiah but she turns them away because she is busy cleaning, later feeling guilty she searches for Jesus with a bag of baked goods for him and a broom for the new mother. She never finds him but again leaves gifts for the children she comes across because "The Child of Christ is in all children." Children awake when she arrives receive a thump on the head with her broom. I would include this story among others.
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Mythological Dogs

    I almost named Archie, Argos after Odysseus' dog. However, that story is pretty depressing so I decided against it. I would include a collection of stories of different mythological dogs told from their perspective I would include Argos as well, as if Argos went with Odysseus. I would also touch on Cerberus of course. There also is Laelaps, a gift from Zeus to Europa later passed down to King Minos. Laelaps caught everything he sought after. One day Cephalus used Laelaps to chase the uncatchable Tuemessian Fox. A dog who catches all his prey and an uncatchable fox perplexed Zeus in this never ending paradox so he turned them to stone and then into the respective constellations Canis Major and Canis Minor. The Aztec god Quetzalcoatl has a dog headed twin brother Xolotl. He was god of Fire and Lightening and a guide for the newly dead souls.

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Ladies of Legend

    I was thinking of showcasing 3 or 4 female heroines or goddesses. My favorite Disney movie is Mulan, she may not be a princess but she is better. So I would showcase her in a more true to tale way. The Amazons, Hippolyta in particular would be an interesting lady to showcase but maybe over done. Enyo, daughter or sister of Ares, goddess of war who enjoys destruction, I may tell as a reckless party girl. Atalanta is one of the sole mortal heroines of ancient Greece. She was super athletic and skilled in archery and battle and didn't marry until Hippomenes beat her in a race, the two were later turned into lions by one of the gods. The Valkries are another possibility.

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Week 2 Story "Pig-Malion"

 "Pig-Malion"

    Once their was a young Dane named Archal, he was tall, snugly, and extremely mushy. He longed after the sausage based Hooman treat known as the "hog -ogg" but he saw too many Buzzfeed articles saying hog oggs were not good for his kind, so he stayed clear of them reluctantly. He grew anxious and decided to make his own hog ogg. He took the time to beg his person to take him to Petsmart where he picked out the most amazing Hog Ogg with the brightest red casing and most charismatic embroidered smile that was made with the finest of polyester blend stuffings. It may not have been a real hog ogg but to Archal, it was perfection

    Archal grew fond of the stuffy Hog Ogg. He snuggled it and protected it from the paws of greedy Hoomans. He chewed on it and licked it imagining the poly-cotton blend to be a blend of pork and beef instead. He took the time to make sure Hog Ogg was appropriately savored, he even began to show it off to everyone without letting them touch it. Arch and his Hog Ogg lived in peace and harmony.

    In early July on a day known by American hoomans as "Independence Day," Archal attended the Annual Festival of Oscar Meyer leaving Hog Ogg tucked in on the couch. While in attendance Arch watched a god like hooman eat an abhorrent amount of hog oggs, his name was Joey of Chestnuts. Archal wanted to be in his position, he wanted to consume that many hog oggs and not get sick. He went to the nearest hog ogg stand and begged "Joey of Chestnuts, if you really are the Champion of Hog Oggs please give me a hog ogg like my Hog Ogg, but maybe with a little chili and cheese, no relish though." Joey Chestnut was walking off his hog oggs at The Festival when he saw and heard this. In response he went to Amazon and ordered a case of dog safe hog oggs and chili and had them sent to Archal's hoomans' home where they prepared it for Arch.

    When Archal arrived at home he went to snuggle his Hog Ogg on the couch but noticed something was off. Hog Ogg was warm and on a paper plate. He sniffed Hog Ogg. Hog Ogg smelled like beef and not slobber. He performed one last test to confirm his suspicions, Archal licked Hog Ogg. "Oh it is true! Hog Ogg is real! And with chili and cheese!" he proclaimed. He ate Hog Ogg sparing not a single morsel of cheese. When finished, he turned over on his side to sad he no longer had Hog Ogg and noticed his polyester Hog Ogg was still there. He realized that this was HIS Hog Ogg and he still had him to snuggle and play with. Archal thanked Joey of Chestnut in his head before dozing off for a nap.

    Archal used the rest of the case of hog oggs sent by Joey to train to be the first pupper hog ogg champion. In 12 months time, Arch competed with Joey of Chestnut as the first ever Canine Competitor in the championship ( with canine friendly hog oggs of course). He did not win, he got tired and took a nap halfway through, but he sure did enjoy eating those tasty sausage snacks.

All Pictures are Personal

Baby Archie Protecting The Original Hog Ogg from Olive

Archie With a Strange Breed of Hot Dog (With Relish)

This is Collison the week after Halloween 2019 with a costume we got on sale for $3 at Walmart

Author's note:

    In my home, our dogs treat their toys as human kids do we also make up silly words for things that we think dogs would say. Archie had this one hot dog toy since he was a puppy that he adored, and what pup doesn't enjoy actual hot dogs. So I retold the story from the perspective of a dog with Archie longing for an actual hot dog rather than Pygmalion longing for his ivory woman and I didn't replace Hog Ogg, but merely added on.

Bibliography 

• Pygmalion, Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000 )Source.

Reading Notes: Anthology

Origins

The Man in the Moon

• man was unhappy in his life and
• kept requesting changes until eventually he was stuck as the moon

The Divine

• a man finds a couple weeping over their daughter
• they say this is their 8th daughter and an 8 headed/tailed monster has killed the other 7 
• the man says he will help and receive the girls hand in marriage in return
• he turns the girl into a comb and sticks her in his hair
• he has the wife make 8 fold strength sake and put it in 8 barrels
• the monster arrives and drinks the sake and becomes drunk and falls asleep
• then the man slays him and finds a sword in the final tail and gives it to the gods in the heavens.

The supernatural

The Indian Who Wrestled With a Ghost

• native american
• man wanders in woods and is awoken to screams of a woman, he then sees her above him and she picks up and drops his feet to see he if he is dead
• she then tries to stab him and he scares her off
• the next night a stranger came to him and asks for food and he says no but the stranger was a ghost and knew he did so he shared
• the ghost was just bones and did not need to exhale the smoke. 
• he then asked to wrestle the man and if the man won he would kill his enemy and steal some horses
• the man was losing but realized the ghost was weakened by the brightness of fire and kicked more brush into his fire and defeated the ghost
• he later defeated his enemy and stole some horses so this is why people believe the word of ghosts

Metamorphosis

Pygmalion

note: I found this story more unsettling than charming but enjoyed it none the less

• Pygmalion swears off women seeing as how he saw so many grow to be wicked at heart
• he crafts a statue of a woman so realistic he begins to fall in love with it
• he clothes it and adorns it with jewelry and brings it gifts that living girls would like
• he calls it his bedfellow
• at the festival of Venus he prays for a girl like his ivory one
• Venus is there and hears this and understanding he wants HIS ivory girl she brings her to life
• the are wed and nine months later the formerly ivory girl bears a son Paphos of which the island is named.

Pygmalion priant Vénus d'animer sa statue by Jean Baptiste Regnault Source.

Fables

Lion

• even love can tame the wildest beasts
• we can present things how we want them to be seen even if not true
• gratitude is a sign of good people
• even though we work hard we do not always get our fair share of the reward

Bibliography

• The Man in the Moon, Laos Folk-Lore by Katherine Neville Fleeson (1899) Source.
• Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (1917)Source.
• The Indian Who Wrestled with with a Ghost, Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine Berry Judson (1913) Source
• Pygmalion, Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000 )Source.
• Aesop Fables: The Lion, The Fables of Aesop by Joseph Jacobs (1894) Source.

Reading Overview

Source 

Cupid and Psyche

photo by M. Simoncini

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3: Cupid and Psyche

Week 4:Jewish Fairy Tales

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5: Ancient Egypt A and Arabian Knights B (Aladdin)

Week 6:The Voyages of Sindbad

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]

Week 7:Brer Rabbit Stories

Week 9:Japanese Mythology

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10: Native American Marriage Tales

Week 11: Eskimo Folk Tales

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12: King Arthur 

Week 13: Robin Hood

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Brothers Grimm: Librivox

Week 15: Italian Fairy Tales

Interests

    I am very interested in Italian Folklore. I am Spanish-Italian but my family is more Americanized so we don't really tell those stories, it is mostly stories of actual people in our family and real events that happened. I also love ancient Greek mythology so I am excited to learn more about it. Honestly it was very difficult to choose between stories.