Mythology and Folklore KT

Once there was a very lazy girl named May.  Because she was lazy, she would trick people into doing things for her.  She became uncannily good at it.  She made a career out of it.  Now, the king of her country heard of how good May was at tricking people into her bidding.  He decided that she was too dangerous a person to have continue living in his country.  The king called May to his court. May arrived at his court, and walked into the King’s throne room.  The king propositioned her to prove her abilities.  There was a dragon who lived near the kingdom who had a large amount of treasure.  The king said that if May could get one of the dragon’s pets for him, then the king would let her marry his son.  Thinking that she would be killed in this endeavor, the king had no problem offering such a hefty prize.  May agreed, and started to the dragon’s cave.  It was night when she arrived to the dragon’s cave. She walked ...

The first thing I remember is waking up. When I woke up, I was in a dark room.  Slowly getting out of bed, I felt around for some source of light.  I found a candle and matches on the nightstand next to the bed. As light from the candle flooded the room, I took in my surroundings.  The room was circular, with fine furniture and tapestries hanging on the walls.  I was impressed until I noticed a large layer of dust on everything.  It looked like no one had been in the room in a long time.  Walking around, I noticed a large curtain.  Pulling it to the side, I found a beautiful stained-glass window.  I opened the window and looked out.  I was at the top of a very tall tower, which seemed to be part of a castle.  The land around the castle was barren and brown, and it looked like nothing had grown there in a long time.  Feeling the urge to flee, I frantically looked around the room for the door.  A door was nowhere to ...

"Storybooks are like portals to other worlds,"  said little Julie to her dolls.  "They create another reality.  Maybe they ARE another reality!  Maybe the characters live inside the story.  Oooooh, it is so much fun to read." Julie walked across her room to get another book from her bookshelf.  Her fingers ran over the various books until she stopped on one that read Nursery Rhymes.   "I will read this one again!"  Julie sat down in her favorite chair, arranged her dolls around her, and opened the book.   "There was a crooked man, and he went a crooked mile. He found a crooked sixpense against a crooked stile...."  Julie's head began to nod.  She jolted upright and continued, "He bought a crooked cat, which caught a crooked mouse....."   Julie's eyes fluttered shut and a when she opened them she was falling through the air!  Julie scrambled for something to hold onto, but found nothing.  ...

I will tell you a tale about the land of Faeries.  This is a time of magic.  In this land there lived a Duke and his daughter, Brita.  Brita was an only child.  Because of this, her father provided her the best schooling and training that he could, both in how to be a lady of the court and how to be a knight.  Brita spent many years training to be the best fighter in the land.  However, she never had any interest in going on quests.  One day, Brita was poking around the vast library in her home. She found an old, dusty book labeled “Prophecies.”  Intrigued, she opened the book up to the table of contents.  She scanned the chapters until she saw one that said “True Love.”  “This could be interesting,” she thought, and, ignoring the warning label next to the title of the book, she flipped to the “True Love” chapter.  She picked a prophecy at random and started reading outloud; “Your true love is close at hand, You m...

This story is also in my Portfolio:  Tales told by a Bookworm   There once was a woman named Kya who lived with her father, stepmother, and half-sister, May.  Her mother had passed away when she was young.  Kya’s stepmother did not like her; she feared that she would be competition for her own daughter.  So, one day she sent Kya to do a seemingly impossible task; gathering berries in the middle of winter.  Kya wondered around in the cold, knowing that she would not be permitted back into the house until she completed her stepmother’s task.  She stumbled onto a cottage, where five old women lived.  They invited her in.  They offered her a place by the fire to be warm, and asked what she was doing outside.  She explained the situation.  The women took pity on her.  They gave her a small shovel and told her to go clear a mound of snow that was on the side of their house.  As she dug away the snow, she found a bush full...

There was once a college student named Laurel.  Laurel had spent weeks looking for a roommate.  She noticed a that someone else had put a post on the school’s Facebook page, saying that they also needed a roommate.  Laurel messaged this person, Olivia, and set up a time for them to meet. Laurel asked Olivia some things about herself, and came to find that they had the same major, enjoyed the same TV shows, and liked similar food.  ‘This is perfect!’ thought Laurel, ‘We are equals, this will work.’ Laurel asked Olivia if she would like to move in to the same apartment together, and Olivia accepted.  Laurel and Olivia lived together for a while.  Soon they fell into a routine.  Olivia would give Laurel a ride to school, and would pick up Laurel from her job in the evening.  They would both make dinner, but Olivia would pay for the basic groceries, like butter and milk.    One day, Laurel was talking to her friends abou...

This story is also in my Portfolio:  Tales told by a Bookworm   The Monster and the Mittens One day I was taking a leisurely stroll through the woods.  I had never been to this part of the woods before.  I stopped to get a drink from the stream, when I saw two little kittens playing on the rocks nearby.  I said hello and waved.  The kittens looked up, and screamed very loudly.  They pointed to something behind me, and shouted something that I didn’t quite understand.  They looked very frightened.  I must have just missed what they were pointing at, because when I looked behind me I didn’t see anything.  When I turned back around the kittens were scampering away.  I noticed that one of the kittens had left their mittens on the rock.  I went and picked up the mittens, and called out, “Hey! You forgot your mittens!”  They must have not heard me, because they kept running.  I started to walk after them, because it wo...

Once upon a time there were two birds.  They were best friends and did everything together.  One morning they were really hungry, and decided to go get breakfast together.  They flew to a riverbed to look for worms in the mud by the water.  After a while they each saw a worm sticking out of the mud.  They grabbed the end of the worms and pulled.  They pulled the worms out of the mud, only to discover that they each had a side of the same worm.  They set down the worm and decided to talk it out.  The first bird suggested that they split the worm down the middle.  They split the worm, but one side was slightly bigger than the other.  The second bird said that he should have a slightly bigger side, because he suggested that they go get breakfast.  The first said that he should have the larger side, because he suggested that they go by the river.  They continued arguing like this until a fish poked her head out of the water. ...

This Story is Also in my Portfolio  Tales told by a Bookworm There were once three best friends, Emma, Maggie, and Joe.  They grew up together, and were inseparable.   However, as they grew older, Maggie and Joe fell in love.  One day, Emma came up to them and asked them to cover for her.  She told them that she was seeing a married guy, and she didn’t want his wife finding out.  She asked them to be a lookout when she went on dates with him, and if they saw his wife, they were to stall her until the both Emma and her boyfriend could get away.  Because they were old friends, Maggie and Joe agreed to this.  This arrangement went on for a while.  Eventually, the wife figured out what Maggie and Joe were doing for their friend.  In a fit of anger, she revealed herself to be Juno, the most powerful goddess on mount Olympus.  She told them that they were keeping her from her love, Zeus(the married man who is dating Emma), a...

Odysseus and his crew have spent years trying to find their way home.  Their most recent journey took them to the Realm of Hades, where Odysseus was told how to get home.  Unfortunately, the quickest way home takes them right by the Isle of the Sirens.  The Sirens are tricky beings, with the ability to know what you want to hear the most in the world and make you believe that they have it.  As Odysseus’s ship grew closer to the island, his crew became more and more uneasy. Odysseus decided that he wanted to hear the Sirens’ song.  He had his crew tie his hands and feet to a mast on the ship, then had them all plug their ears with wax so they would not be distracted by the Sirens.  Slowly, they started to row past the island.   The Sirens started to sing to Odysseus.  The song was sweet and sad; it spoke of home and his wishes to be with his wife and family.  Then it started to change.  The song became more lively, sounding lik...

This story is also in my Portfolio:  Tales told by a Bookworm Once upon a time, there was a famous artist.  He decided from a very early age that women were nothing but trouble.  He poured all of his energy into his artwork.  One night, he started to dream about a woman.  She was beautiful, and loving, and kind.  He woke up with a start, wondering what the dream meant.  He sat down at his sculpting station, trying to clear his head.  Absentmindedly, he worked with the clay.  After a while, a face started to take shape.  It was lovely and feminine.  Then a neck; then a torso.  When he finally stepped back from his creation, it was a woman.  A beautiful woman. She stared at him with kind eyes.  Surprised, he almost spoke to her.  Realizing that he was being foolish, he left his work station to let the figure dry.  The next day, he walked into his studio.  The statue stood there, smiling slightly at...