Week 12 Storytelling: Supernatural

(Sam and Dean Winchestar)

On one Sunday night, Sam and Dean Winchester were driving down I-35 in search of their next hunt. They had just finished putting a vengeful spirit to rest by burning the remains of the deceased so they would not be able to harm anyone again. Hunting supernatural things is what they do, and they are pretty darn good at it.

"Sam, what do we have next?" said Dean, concentrating on driving down the dimly lit road. Sam was about to answer when all of a sudden he got a phone call from their Uncle Bobby, who is also a hunter of supernatural beings.

"What's up, Bobby?" said Sam, wondering why he was calling after they just left his house not long ago.

"Sam, do you remember that awful man Mr. Fox who had the vengeful spirit after him?" said Bobby in a hurry.

"Yes, what about it?" said Sam confused.

"Well, it looks like you boys did not burn the right body because Mr. Fox was found dead just a few hours ago," said Bobby.

Sam then looked at Dean and told him "Dean turn the car around now!" Sam said suddenly, forgetting he was on the phone with Bobby. "Alright, we are heading back. Thanks, Bobby," Sam said.

"Alright, you boys be safe," said Bobby, ending the call. He also knew that Sam and Dean could handle this on their own.

"So what happened?" said Dean.

"Mr. Fox was killed, so Bobby thinks we should go back and check things out," Sam said, contemplating how they could have burned the wrong body. Sam recounted the story behind why they had to burn the vengeful spirit.

The vengeful spirit that was after Mr. Fox was a woman by the name of Lady Mary. She was very rich when she met Mr. Fox. She thought that she and Mr. Fox were in love when he asked her to marry him. However, one thing she had noticed was that she had never been to his home. 

One day, when Mr. Fox was out of town, Lady Mary decided she would go to Mr. Fox's home just to look around. As Lady Mary walked to the door, she saw a sign that said "Beware of walking through this door." She did not know what to make of this, but still walked inside. Lady Mary walked around for a while and did not see anything out of the ordinary. Lady Mary saw Mr. Fox had nothing to hide until she came upon another door that told her to "KEEP OUT!" Lady Mary opened the door, and she was horrified by what she saw next. The room was filled with dead women that Mr. Fox had married and then killed. Lady Mary knew this because each woman had on a wedding dress. 

Lady Mary shut the door and started to take a run for it out of the house. She was going to go tell her brothers what Mr. Fox had done, but she heard a strange sound. Lady Mary went to hide and saw Mr. Fox had come through the door dragging another woman toward the dreadful room. However, greedy Mr. Fox saw that the woman had on a beautiful diamond ring, but he struggled to get it off. Mr. Fox had such a difficult time that finally he decided to just cut her hand off. When he did, the hand flew in Lady Mary's lap. Mr. Fox then continued to drag the poor woman into the room. He planned to find the hand later. 

Lady Mary used this as her chance to run out of the house. The next day, Lady Mary was surprised that Mr. Fox had decided to host a lunch at his home before they were to get married the next day. So she and her brothers went to his home where they had planned to confront and kill Mr. Fox. While they were at the table eating, Lady Mary told Mr. Fox about a dream she had where she recounted everything that happened at his house. Mr. Fox denied everything. Lady Mary then took a sip of her wine, and then held up the hand of the woman whom Mr. Fox killed. However, Lady Mary suddenly dropped the hand and became very dizzy. Lady Mary's brothers went to her side for help, but they were also dizzy until they all dropped dead. Mr. Fox had poisoned them all and took all of their money. 

As Dean and Sam were arriving back in town, Sam realized something. All this time, they had thought that maybe Lady Mary had acted alone in trying to kill Mr. Fox. Lady Mary's brothers could have also tried to help her since Mr. Fox had killed them as well.

"Dean, I think I know who killed Mr. Fox!" said Sam suddenly.

"Who?" said Dean.

"We never stopped to think that her brothers would help her kill him," said Sam.

"Oh, I thought about it, but honestly that man was sick and he deserved everything he got. If we were not wanted in several states, I would have turned him in to the police for killing all those women," said Dean. Sam nodded in agreement.

The boys then found the grave of Lady Mary's brothers and burned their bodies next to where they had burned Lady Mary. Sam then called Bobby to let him know what happened. "I can't believe you idgits didn't think to burn the boys' bodies," Bobby said feigning that he was upset. "Yeah, yeah, Bobby. Mr. Fox had it coming. What case do you have next for us, Bobby?"

Sam and Dean then went cruising once again for their next case.

Bibliography:
 English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).

Author's note: I had a lot of fun with writing this storytelling. The original story that I retold is based off a story in the English Fairy tales, titled Mr. Fox. I was also inspired by the show Supernatural and its characters Sam, Dean, and Bobby. When I was reading the story about Mr. Fox, I felt like it could have a supernatural feel to it, so I ran with it. In the original story, Lady Mary is a rich woman who falls for Mr. Fox. Lady Mary and Mr. Fox are going to get married. Lady Mary realizes she has never been to Mr. Fox's castle, so she sneaks inside and finds out that he has been killing women and storing them in a room so he can take their riches. Lady Mary is mortified by her discovery and tries to run out of the house. She realizes, though, that Mr. Fox in in his castle. He is dragging a woman, and he cuts off the woman's hand so that he can get the diamond ring off  of it. The hand lands in Lady Mary's lap, but Mr. Fox does not look hard enough to find  the hand. So Lady Mary leaves the castle to confront Mr. Fox the next day. Mr. Fox denies everything, until Lady Mary pulls out the hand, and then her brothers kill him. For my story, the general theme is still the same except Mr. Fox does not die at first. He poisons Lady Mary and her brothers. They then become vengeful spirits who try to kill him. Sam and Dean had originally thought that only Lady Mary was after Mr. Fox, but her brothers were as well. I changed the ending for my own retelling of the story because I thought it was a bit boring that Mr. Fox just died and that was the end. I also wanted to make the story more fun and add a supernatural feel to the story.

Reading Diary A: More English Fairy Tales

(Red fox.)

For this weeks reading I decided to finish reading the English Fairy tales. I really liked the firs set of stories, so I figured why not. Two of my favorite stories from the first half of the reading were Scrapefoot and The Old Witch. The first story is about the three little bears and a fox names Scrapefoot. There is a big bear, middle bear, and small bear. The three bears live in a castle where Scrapefoot  sneaks in. Just like the classic Three Little Bears, nothing is just right until Scrapefoot gets to whatever belongs to little bear. When the bears catch Scrapefoot sleeping in the little bears bed, they throw him out of the window. 

The second story is about two sisters who go to find their own fortune. When one of the girls is on her way to find money she encounters bread that has been baking, a cow that hasn't been milked, and a tree that has fruit that has not been picked all for seven years. She she helps each of them out. Finally, she meets a witch who allows her to be a servant for money, but tells her to never look up the chimney or something bad will happen. So there girl forgets and looks up the chimney and a bag of money falls down. So the girl leaves, but the witch is right behind looking for the girl. As she is running, the tree, cow, and the oven with which the bread was baked all helped to hide her whenever the witch got close. She eventually ran off with the money and got married and lived happily ever after. However, he sister got greedy and decided to do the same thing her sister did and steal from the witch. But her sister did not take the bread out of the oven, milk the cow, or pick fruit from the tree. So when it became time for her to hide, no one would help her. The witch found her and she was left to walk home empty handed. 

Famous Last Words

(Anatomical skull)

This week felt good because for the last few weeks I have been studying the human skull in order to do well on my skull quiz in anatomy. The skull quiz was this past Wednesday and I feel like if I did not ace it then I definitely still made an mid to low A hopefully. I felt good about this because I did not do as well as I would have liked to on the first bone quiz where we were required to know all other bones and their structures. Also, this week I was also was able to write a storytelling post that I really had fun writing (even though I did not get to post it this week). I am really bad at starting a storytelling post and never finishing them before the deadline. I guess I need to work on my time management a little more, but it is so hard when you have others classes that also require day to day assignments/studying, and then you throw in working part-time and it is just a mess. Honestly, I wish I could enjoy this class a bit more, but I have some much going on this semester. Anyway, I am looking forward to next week and what it holds for me. 

Essay: Trickster and the Fool in English Fairy Tales

In this weeks reading, a story that had a trickster and fool was the story about The Rose-Tree. In this story the evil stepmother is definitely the trickster and the beautiful step daughter is the fool. The stepmother hated the beautiful daughter of her husband because she had lost her candles. She was also jealous of the girls beauty. So pretending not to be angry, the stepmother tells her stepdaughter to lay her head on her lap so that she can comb her hair. Although, she says that she cannot part her hair without wood and an ax. So the foolish daughter gets the supplies for her stepmother, which ultimately leads to her demise. In the end, though it seems like the characters switch places and the girl becomes the trickster and the stepmother becomes the fool. At the end of the story, the girls brother buries her and cries over her grave everyday until she turns into a beautiful tree. The tree then sings a song, and the bird listens and sings the song to three millers, jeweler, and a shoemaker. So somehow this very strong bird is able to carry a gold watch and chain, red pair of shoes, and a millstone around its neck. When the bird gets to the girls home, it knocks the house with millstone and the boy and father come out and receive their gifts. However, the foolish stepmother thinks she is getting a gift and runs out the door only for the bird to drop the millstone on her, which also leads to her death.

The bird dropping the millstone on the stepmother

Reading Diary B: English Fairy Tales

My favorite story from the second half of the reading was "The Fox." This story is quite funny because it has an ending that is super hilarious. In this story, there is a women by the name of Lady Mary who finds a man by the name of Mr. Fox. They both agreed to get married, and that they would stay at his castle. Although, no one had seen Mr. Fox's castle, including Lady Mary's brothers. So one day Lady Mary found Mr. Fox's and she was troubled with what she found. In the house she found dead corpses of women he had previously wed. Disgusted an d frightened, Lady Mary goes to leave, but then she sees Mr. Fox and hides. She sees Mr. Fox dragging one of this victims to the room where he has killed his past wives. But before, Mr. Fox sees that the woman had large diamond ring on her finger. He impatiently cuts her hand off and it goes flying into Lady Mary's lap. When Mr. Fox cannot find the hand, he gives up and continues to drag the woman in the room. Lady Mary then rushes out of the house, and when she sees Mr. Fox on their day to wed, she looks very pale. She then tells him about a very bad dream about what happened in his castle. The whole time Mr. Fox denies he's ever done anything she dreamed, but then she pulls out the hand, and then Lady Mary's brothers kill Mr. Fox. This was a very scary story and I could totally see this being a show whenever I was reading it. One way I was thinking about possibly retelling this story was by changing the the characters and making Lady Mary the villain in the story and also her brothers are also in on it. 

Reading Diary A: English Fairy Tales

One story that stood out to me this week was "The Rose Tress." It seems like some of the stories I am interested in always have a trickster and fool. This story is about an evil stepmother who is jealous of her husbands first child from another woman. The reason why she is so jealous is because the daughter is very beautiful. One thing I liked about the description of the daughter is it was so descriptive that I could picture her in my head. I kind of pictured Snow White. The story is also very similar to that of Snow White, minus the fact the in this story the father is alive and well she has a brother. So one day the step mother pretends that she is a loving mother and wants to comb her beautiful daughters hair. However, she told her that she could not part her hair without some wood and and axe. The foolish daughter went and got the tools for her stepmother that ultimately led to her demise. The stepmother than cut out her liver and cooked it in soup that she gave to her husband (the girls father) and he ate it. The brother would not eat the soup though. Later her brother ran out of the house and buried his sister and cried over his sisters grave until his tears made it to the box. He continued to cry days later until his sister grew to be a beautiful rose tree. What I loved about the ending was the everyday the tree would sing about what happened to her, and there would be a bird listening. Then the bird sang the song to three millers and they created a milestone, a pair of shoes, and a gold watch and chain for the bird to carry back to the house where the girl died. In the end, the girl gets the last laugh when she tricks the evil stepmother, by giving her brother the red shoes, her father the gold chain and watch, and then when the stepmother thinks she is getting a gift, the bird drops the milestone on her. The irony of this story is just too great. I think there are many ways that I could retell this story. 

The Widows' Revenge

Once upon a time, there was a sneaky man by the name of Unktomi. He was a trickster who loved to prey on a person's weaknesses. On the first day of Spring, Unktomi devised a new plan to trick a couple of widows. On his way to the widows' home, he found a large tree that held large vibrantly red plums. Unktomi then took every plum off of the tree and continued on his trek to the widows' home.

After several hours of walking, Unktomi finally made it to the widows' home, and he was ready to execute his plan in full effect. Unktomi knocked on the door and patiently waited for the widows' greeting. The widows opened the door with their babies on each of their hips.

"Hello, Mister, how may we help you today?" said one of the widows.

"Good morning, ladies, my name is Unktomi and I believe I am your long lost brother," said Unktomi falsely. Unktomi always pretended to be a family member of each person he tricked. Just like many other victims of Unktomi, the widows did not question whether he was family or not.

"Come on in, brother. We would love to get to know you better!" said the widows eagerly. So Unktomi walked in their home and pulled out the delicious-looking red plums that he found. Since the widows had lost their husbands, there had not been much food to eat for them because they had to put their children first and eat whatever was left. So the widows wondered where exactly their brother got the red plums from.

"Brother, where did you get these really large plums?" said one of the widows. Unktomi was happy to answer because his plan was working just like he wanted.

"Sister, I found these plums not far from here. In fact, there are still plenty of plums left on the tree," Unktomi said, knowing that he had picked every single last plum off the tree. The plum tree was also located miles away from their home.

"We would love to go out and get some plums, although we do not have anyone to watch our children this afternoon," said the other widow, defeated. Unktomi smiled and said, "I can watch your babies while you two are out. I will feed them and have supper ready by the time you two return." The widows were delighted and left right away to find the plums before nightfall. 

With the widows gone, Unktomi continued with his plan. He walked in the babies' room and removed each of their heads one at a time. He then cooked the babies with other vegetables in a large pot and waited for the widows to return. Upon the widows' return, Unktomi greeted their sad faces as they walked in through the front door. 

"Sisters, why are you so sad? Did you not find any plums?" said Unktomi, faking his surprise. 

"No, brother, we did not find a single plum. Something sure does smell good in the kitchen though," said one of the widows.

"Why yes. I found some meat and cooked a stew for you to eat. Do not worry about the babies. They are sleeping and you can check on them after you have appeased your appetite," said Unktomi. The widows went on to eat the stew, and later checked on their babies. One of the widows picked up her baby and wailed when she realized what Unktomi had done. "Oh no! Our poor babies!" shrieked one of the widows. 

Unktomi heard their cries and raced out of the widows' home to hide, but the very angry widows chased after him until he jumped in a hole inside a tree. The widows (being very familiar with the tree) knew that there were several ways for Unktomi to escape. The widows then waited for him to come out. Unktomi found another hole to escape from and he dressed up as a random stranger. He walked up to the widows and asked them what was wrong. They told him what Unktomi did and the stranger went in the hole to see if anyone was still down there. While he was in the hole, the widows grabbed him up and tied him to the tree. Unktomi then realized that they knew all along that it was him, and this was the last time he would pull a trick on an innocent. The widows set the tree ablaze and they vowed to never trust anyone again. The end. 

(The two widows)

Bibliography:

 Myths and Legends of the Sioux by Marie McLaughlin (1916).

Author's note: This story originally came from The Myths and Legends of the Sioux. In the original story, Unktomi uses red plums to trick two widows. Both of the widows have a child and they leave their children with Unktomi so they can look for the plums that Unktomi found. While the widows are out, Unktomi cuts off the heads of their babies and uses them in a soup that he cooks for the widows. The widows eat the soup, and then check on their babies to find what Unktomi has done. When they find him, he is hiding in a hole, but he sneaks out of the back of the hole in the tree and pretends to be a stranger. He then told the widows it is safe to go in the tree and he traps the widows in the hole and sets it on fire. What I set out to do for my own story was to retell the story and keep the general theme, but to also change the ending. I like a story that has a good karma-filled ending, and I did not like how Unktomi came out the winner in the end after all that he did to the widows. So in my ending, the widows have the upper hand, and they are privy to Unktomi pretending to be the stranger and they get him in the end.