Week 7 Storytelling: Thunder and Lightening

A long time ago, there was an elephant mother named Thunder, and Lightening was her son.  Lightening was very destructive and like to destroy everything that he touched.  They used to live on Earth, and when cousin Rain would visit Lightening loved to play with her.  When they got too caught up in their play, they became very rowdy.  Whenever Lightening would get too close he would shock people and animals, and the trees of the forest would spontaneously combust. 

(Wikimedia)

One day the people of Earth complained to King Sun that they needed some kind of warning for when Lightening was approaching. They also requested that since Lightening was destructive, he should not be allowed to live on Earth.  After hearing the people's request, King Sun immediately called Thunder, from Earth, and requested that they come up with a solution.  Thunder stated that whenever Lightening was in the mood to play, he could not be tamed.  She proposed that whenever the duo decided to visit Earth, she would follow them.  As she ventured behind them, she would let out a loud call to the villages letting them know how far away they were.  The people were instructed to count the seconds in between her calls and this would tell them,  in minutes, how far away they were. She also suggested that she would move their home, on Earth, and place it in the sky.  King Sun agreed to these plans, and was delighted since they seemed to benefit all parties.  

After their meeting, King Sun sent a messenger to the people of the villages with the instructions that Thunder had come up with.  The next time Rain and Lightening made a trip to Earth, Thunder immediately followed and called out to the villagers.  When they heard her message, they quickly gathered their crops and hid the animals before Lightening could become destructive. After this day there was no more complaints made to King Sun for all requests had been accommodated.

Author's Note:
This week I decided to read the Nigerian unit of the Un-Textbook.  There was a story titled The Lightening and the Thunder that caught my eye.  I like how this story was short and straight to the point.  I also enjoyed it because it allows insight on how the Nigerian culture used to interpret how thunder and lightening came about.  As I was going through this unit I noticed many reoccurring themes, such as the use of animals and the elements of the sky as key characters.  I changed the main characters to elephants, instead of using sheep as in the original, mostly because they're one of my favorite animals.

Bibliography:

Book title: Folk Stories from Southern Nigeria

Author: Elphinstone Dayrell

Year Published: 1910

Web Source: Sacred Text Archive

Week 7 Reading Diary: Nigerian Unit

This week I decided to read the Un-Textbook Unit: Nigerian Folk Stories.  At first, I wanted to read one of the Japanese mythology units, but when I saw that this section had stories with elephants in them I was sold!  Below are my notes from this unit: 

Whythe Bat Flies by Nigh: 

I absolutely loved this story! I like how there was a definite beginning, climax, and end of this story.  I enjoyed that the audience was given all aspects of the story, and readers weren’t left wondering what happened to any particular character.  As I’ve stated before I always enjoy when a story explains why “so and so does such and such.”  This was a great interpretation to why the bat only comes out at night. 

TheDisobedient Daughter who Married a Skull:

All I can say is WOW!  I love the theme in this story where the daughter learns a lesson in which she must obey her parent’s wishes.  I think that the story is crazy, in a sense, regarding the extent that Afiong had to go before she learned that she was in trouble.  I enjoyed the end of the story where one has to be reminded that although someone can be a beautiful human being, what he or she holds inside may be very ugly. 

TheKing who Married the Cock’s Daughter:

I found this story very strange that a King would want to marry the daughter of an animal.  I also feel that it must have been very difficult for the King to love and keep up with all two hundred and fifty of his former wives.  I almost wonder if this is a story to teach children, or anyone, consequences regarding bestiality. 

TheFish and the Leopard’s Wife:

This was definitely one of my favorite stories.  I thought that the Leopard handled the situation between the fish and his wife very well.  I think that any other animal would have killed the fish, but the Leopard decided that it was the King’s job and asked for his help.  I think that this story had an interesting take on why fish inhabit the sea. 

 (Leopard)

TheElephant and the Tortoise:

This has to be my absolute favorite story, although it is very gruesome indeed.  The tortoise’s actions were very graphic, in that he decided to gouge out the eyes of the elephant.  I can say, though, that I am glad that the elephant’s eyes are not proportional to their large heads today. 

 

(Elephant)

Whythe Sun and the Moon Live in the Sky:

This story was very interesting on a take on why the sun and moon are in the sky. I think that the fact the sun and the moon are married was very interesting, and why they are in the sky together.  When the water was filling the sun’s home, I was beginning to get confused on how it began to “level with the top of man’s head” etc.  I was wondering where the men came from and why they were either not burnt by the sun or drowned by the water.  I think I am inferring to much on the facts of this story, but nonetheless I did enjoy the tale and the Nigerian culture’s take on why the sun and moon are in the sky. 

TheStory of the Lightning and the Thunder:

Once again, I love reading stories to how and why nature works the way it does.  I think that it is comical that the thunder is an old mother sheep, and the lightening is her son, a ram.  This story explains the destructive nature of lightening, and why we hear the noisiness of thunder (the old mother sheep getting onto the ram). 

 

(Thunder and Lightening)

WhyDead People are Buried:

I feel bad for the dog in this story.  I don’t think that Creator should have entrusted his important message to a dog and the sheep, or that he should have not sent the dog on his journey without out food substances prepared to refresh his mind.  I think for the sake of possible overpopulation, the sheep getting his message to the people was essential.  If we had the dead coming back to life all the time, reproduction would become a problem fairly quickly. 

Why the Moon Waxes and Wanes:

The initial reason to why the Moon waxes and wanes made sense, concerning the old woman eating, but when she decides to stay in the sky permanently I became confused.  On a side note I felt bad for the old woman, because if she was not left in the bush to starve she wouldn’t have taken the Moon’s meat.  Instead of attacking, and scaring the Moon, the people could have handled the situation differently and just helped her with food. 

Week 6 Essay: Motif and Reoccurring Themes

For this weeks Un-Textbook assignment, I decided to read the Unit: Filipino Popular Tales.  These stories were derived, by the author, from tales derived from many regions of the Philippines.  As I began to read the stories there were some reoccurring themes, and motifs, that I began to recognize a trend.  Many of the stories that contained animals normally had a jealous character, or a trickster among the characters. Normally, the one who is playing the tricks was either a monkey or a turtle.  Many of the stories where a trickster was involved, the poor victim were more times than not hurt very badly or killed.  One phrase that I had read many times was that the animals would ask their victim if they wanted to wear "the King's belt," which turned out to be an anaconda, and when they would accept they would either be killed or nearly strangled to death.  

(The King's belt, Wikipedia)

When the stories consisted of humans there was usually a man who was either interacting with his father, and family, or he was told by someone that he would marry a princess.  Two particular stories contained plots where two poor men were fortunate enough to marry a princess despite odds. One man was aided by a devil, which I found VERY strange that people were interacting with devils, and in the other story God helps a man who he think is a noble being. Although one story focuses on a good entity, and the other a bad one, they both show a spiritual side of Filipinos and how important this aspect was to their culture.  A last theme that I would like to mention is how many stories, towards the end of the unit, would either describe either a moral or why something in nature occurs the way it does.  My favorite of these two motifs was how animals have come to behave as we know them to.  For instance there were explanations to why chickens peck the ground, why squids carry black ink, why the Coling has a bald spot, etc.  Today, we all know that there is a scientific explanation for why all these things occur, but I enjoy hearing these "creation-like" stories and enjoy their imputes. 

(A Coling, Wikipedia)

Week 6 Storytelling: The Monkey Wife

There was once a very ancient civilization that were located in the dense jungles of the Philippines.  They did not know how to make structures out of stone, so they made their homes and buildings within the tall tree above the ground and its many predators.  One day a witch was traveling through the jungle and crossed paths with the city of these tree dwellers.  She asked for food and shelter, but was turned away to sleep in the leaves of a nearby banana tree. This instantly angered her and she cast a spell on the kingdom and its inhabitants.  She allowed the people to keep a form similar to a human, but she shrunk their physique, made them furry, and added a tail.  She told the king of the civilization that they were now this new species called "monkey," and they were to remain this way until a man would agree to marry his daughter, Chonguita, in her monkey form.  She continued that once she was married to the man she would have to show her worth to his father, and only then would she and her people become human again.  

(Macaque)

The King waited for a man to visit the jungle, but none would come for they were frightened of the large predators on the jungle floor.  One day, though, a magic man was passing by when he saw the kingdom.  He had never seen monkeys before, and when he investigated he learned they could talk.  The King explained the curse, and the magic man agreed to help.  He made camp near one of the entrances of the jungle.  One day a noble prince, Don Juan, came walking down the road and approached the magic man. He has asked if the rumors of the jungle are true, stating that in his kingdom he had heard of monsters in the trees.  The man of magic was very good at reading people, and could tell that Don Juan was a noble and brave prince.  He also knew that Don Juan was on a journey to find a bride, and he remembered Chonguita.  To ease the prince's anxiety he told him that if he traveled along the road, that he magic man had made among the trees, he would not cross any predators and he would find the riches that he was seeking.

Don Juan thought the magic man was strange, but began to travel along the road leading to the trees.  As he traveled deeper into the jungle, the road brought him higher off the ground.  He got so caught up in looking at the new beauty around him, that he was startled by a rustling ahead of him. He quickly pulled out his sword and continued on towards the noise.  Suddenly, he was among a community of strange beasts that were similar to humans, because they could stand on two legs, but they had hair covering their bodies along with tails.  Before the Don Juan could contemplate an attack a large creature approached him and began to speak.  He explained their situation, told him that he knew that he was seeking a bride, and that he was to be married to his daughter at once.  The Prince was startled that these creatures could talk, that he did not protest, and before he knew it he was on a journey home with a monkey for a wife.  When he exited the forest he noticed that the man of magic was gone, and he felt that he had been tricked.  Anxiety over came him and he began to worry what his father, the king, would think.  Nonetheless he decided to journey back home, and tell his father that he had found a wife.  As he was traveling home he began to think about the part of the journey that the magic man did not know.  Don Juan and his two brothers were to travel among the lands and find a bride.   When they all accomplished this task they were to return home, and the best wife would determine who would get the throne.

Upon arriving home, rumors began to quickly spread that Don Juan's new wife.  This caused the King much grief, and he immediately ordered the competitions to take place.  He wanted to get rid of Chonguita so he ordered that whichever wives lost the competition would be banned from the kingdom.  He instructed the women to make him a robe for him to wear at the coronation of the new king.  Chonguita, who had lived in a very beautiful jungle, easily won this challenge by embroidering the images of the beautiful flowers surrounding her home.  This surprised and angered the King, and he decided to give them one more challenge.  He was known to love his dessert, but was so busy that he could never sit down and enjoy it.  He ordered the woman to make him a dessert that he had never tasted, and he wanted to be able to carry it around.  This stumped the other women, but Chonguita knew exactly what to do.  Prior to Don Juan's arrival no one had ever seen or tasted the banana's of the jungle.  She sent her husband to go retrieve some from her home, and quickly went to cooking.  Her dish was very simple.  She cut up the bananas, covered them in brown sugar, wrapped them in rice paper, and fried them in oil until they were golden brown.  Upon tasting the King was instantly impressed, and at this point realized he could not ban Chonguita from his kingdom.  At the time of his approval the curse had been broken and Chongiuta transformed into a beautiful woman before everyones eyes.

(Turon: what Chonguita made for dessert)

 Don Juan was chosen to take over the throne, and he and Chonguita ruled nobly for many years.  When her own kingdom had changed back into humans her father traveled to see his daughter, and the two societies were joined together in peace.

Author's Note:

I really like the original version of this story, but it left out a lot or details such as who the man was in the beginning of the story and such. I decided to fill in the blanks and I saw fit.  I also decided to pick only two challenges, instead of three, to conserve space.  If you are curious about the original tale of Chonguita and Don Juan, you can read it here. 

Bibliography:

Book title: Filipino Popular Tales

Author: Dean S. Fansler 

Year Published: 1921

Web Source: Project Gutenberg

Week 6 Reading Diary: Filipino Tales

For this week I chose to read the Unit: Filipino Popular Tales.  I thought that I would maybe come across that I could have heard while growing up, but to my surprise I didn't recognize any of the tales!  Nonetheless, I enjoyed all of the stories and found them interesting.  Below are my  notes from my favorite stories.

The Three Friends: This was one of my favorite stories.  I'm not sure why the three animals didn't think to make the food when they are all three together, then bring it with them while they hunt, but I guess that would change the whole story.  I wish the story had a picture of the Buñgisñgis, but there probably aren't any out there (I'll google it after I'm done with this assignment).  Monkey's are known to be smart and cunning animals, and I like how this story made note of this fact.

The Clever Husband and Wife: In this story I thought how fortunate, for the man, that the physician was such a kind hearted soul.  I think I have heard something similar to this story in the past, but I am unsure what it was exactly.  I do not like how greedy and lazy the husband and wife are, I don't see why they had not just asked for payment in return for them keeping up the physician's home.

Chonguita:  At this point I began to notice the themes of using monkeys in many of theses stories.  I wonder if this is because the Philippines is dense with jungle life and there are so many of them.  Since the monkey's could speak and interact very easily with man, I wonder if they were humans before and just cursed?  Maybe Chonguita was their only hope in returning to humans again?  This would be a great start to a story re-telling...

Cochinango: I am also starting to notice a reoccurring theme where kings are reigning over the land. This makes me wonder if this was how the Filipino culture was back in ancient times?  Now the country is run as a democracy, and this is the only way I know of.  That is something good to do some research on.  Cochinango is very cunning, although he was known as a fool, and he was very blessed indeed by God.

The Poor Man and his Three Sons:  This story, and many before it, also have a reoccurring theme where a father, farmer, or son grows up poor. I can understand this because although the Philippines is full of opportunity, there is a big part of the country who do not have access to it.  I like how father had a plan to provide for his sons, and make sure they were able to survive, under the conditions that they use the tools given to them wisely.

The Monkeys and the Dragon-Flies:  I liked this story and how it made a point that although you are bigger than someone, or something, it does not necessarily mean you will defeat them in battle.  There are times that being clever, and coming up with a strategy, is better than being irrational and acting on raw and unprocessed emotions.

Why Mosquitoes Hum and Try to get into the Holes of our Ears: I felt that this story was silly, and was only made up because someone was thinking about mosquitoes, but overall I love to learn how each culture interprets certain things.  I think that it is funny how supposedly mosquitoes view our ears a little holes in the ground.  It makes me wonder on why they don't actually go into our ears?  Not that I would want one to, I couldn't imagine being bitten in the ear and trying to soothe the itch!

The Greedy Crow: For this story I enjoyed the moral at the end above everything else ("Do not be greedy. Be contented with what you have, and do not wish for what you do not own.").  This, again, plays into the theme that although one may be bigger, does not mean that they will automatically win the battle or whatever is going on.

Why the Sun Shines more Brightly than the Moon:  I did like that in the end of this story the mean sister was punished, but I felt that it was also very unfair that the good sister was served the same punishment.  It think that it's interesting that the narrator chose to use diamonds as the source of the sun and moon.

Why the Cow’s Skin is Loose:  I think this story was also silly, and I like how the author interpreted the skin of the animals as "clothes."  The ending of this story makes me wonder what had caused the cow and carabao to completely separate, never to see each other again, and make them unable to re-exchange their clothing.

The Lost Necklace:  This was about the only story that did not cause me to have questions in the end, and the plot gave reason to everything that had happened.  I think that it is interesting that the hen, and her descendants, are forced to search for the necklace from now on and how the poor chicks will be snatched up and eaten by the crow.

(The mythical creature Balthala, Wikipedia)

Cuttlefish and Squids: I like this story and it's "creation-like" feel to it.  I like how it gives explanation to why squids and cuttlefish carry around black ink.  I'm surprised that the cuttlefish and squid were bold enough to talk back to Balthala.  I am surprised that they kept defying him, and didn't consider being punished in the end.

Week 5 Essay: Genies, Magicians, and Enchantresses, Oh My!

For this week's Essay, I have decided to write over the reoccurring magic theme in my Un-Textbook Unit: Arabian Nights. It appeared in many forms such as genies, magicians, enchantresses (a female magician of sorts), and even in the story telling itself.  The story begins with Scheherazade fighting, in a sense, to save her own life but also to end the string of women's deaths at the order of the Sultan.  Each of her stories are so intriguing that the Sultan (and readers) get caught up in the plots and they do not realize that she has successfully ran one story into completely new one or even two.  The author himself did this very well, for I had completed this reading faster than any other weeks.  In this Unit the genies performed the most magic.  Majority of the time they were doing it at the will of those who beheld their lamps or rings, but in one instance a genie showed rebellion and was about to use his power to attack the fisherman who set him free.  Also in one of the stories, a genie was about to kill a man who had "killed his son."  This was surprising because the origin of the genie was not relieved, and there was no "master" present and controlling him.  This Unit opened up questions to whether there were different types of genies.  It made me wonder where they came from, and how some bound to an object and other's weren't.  Magic was most definitely a dominant element in this week's readings for it gave a surreal and extradorinary feel to the stories.  The last half of the Unit was about Aladdin and his genies, and if they were not present there isn't much of a plot left.  Yes, of course, genies are not real but Scheherazade's narration was magnificent enough to make them seem real in her stories.  

(One of the many genies present in the stories, Heritage History)

Week 5 Storytelling: The Sultan and the Fish King

There was once a fisherman who the Sultan favored for he was old and, despite this, he did all he could to support his little family. The Sultan always made a point to buy from the fisherman even if the fish seemed unappetizing.  One day he arrived to the fish market and could not find the fisherman.  The next day, though, he had returned to the market with a catch the Sultan had never seen before.  These fish were the size of a man and were brightly colored with intricate designs.  The Sultan was so impressed he bought them all and placed them in his personal garden pool.  One day while sitting in the garden he began to examine the fish closely, and recognized something on their tails. He examined closer and realized it was the emblem of a kingdom that, by myth, had suddenly disappeared out of thin air. He immediately returned to the market and told the fisherman that he would make him one of his royal viziers if he would lead him to the water source where he caught the fish.   

The fisherman agreed and led the Sultan and his traveling party to a discrete location in the desert.  The Sultan ordered his party to rest while he surveyed the land.  He made way to the water, and when peering in he saw hundreds of thousands of the fish similar to those in the garden pond, all with the mark of the emblem. Viewing the bottom of the lake was impossible for the fish population was so dense.

Suddenly the Sultan heard someone crying from a nearby distance.  He began to walk towards the noise when all of a sudden a grand palace appeared in front of him out of nowhere.  Amazed by what had just occurred, he continued into the palace following the weeping.  He took notice that there were no servants to be found, and when he turned a corner he was startled at what he saw. A young King was sitting in a small body of water and the bottom half of his body resembled the tails of the fish in the lake.  When the King saw the Sultan he was elated for he had not seen another person in many years. The Sultan asked what had happened to him, and questioned why he was half fish.  The King explained that he had married an enchantress that was greedy with her power.  She placed a love spell on him and they were shortly married. He was so influenced by the spell he gave her charge of half of the kingdom, making her his equal. While she was plotting her takeover of the entire kingdom, her favorite servants was found stealing from the royal treasury and he was severely punished by the King. She became so angry she decided to place a spell on the town essentially freezing time, and turned all the inhabitants to immortal simple fish.  She vowed all will remain this way until she found a spell to cure her beloved servant.  She made the King only half of a fish so she could torture him, and she visited everyday to scold him gingerly for harming her servant.

(This actually the Hindu avatar Matsya, but I though he looked cool and it gives the readers insight on what the King could have looked like. Wikipedia)

After hearing the story of the young King, the Sultan was determined to help him regain his kingdom.  He asked what he could do.  The King replied, "In one one of the rooms of this palace is a library holding books on the Queens magic.  I'm sure you can find a spell or a potion to help us."  The Sultan went in search of the library and quickly found it. He found a recipe for a mind control potion and worked tirelessly through the night to create it.  The next morning he covered himself in an invisibility potion and waited for the Queen's arrival. When she was done punishing the King, the Sultan followed her back to her home nearby.  He found the injured servant, lying on a bed, and went to work as soon as she left to once again search for a cure.  The Sultan approached the servant's body, helped him drink the mind control potion, then sat nearby waiting for the Queen to return.  Upon her return she asked if the servant would utter a few words to her (she did this every evening with no response).  Suddenly the servant sat up, under the control of the Sultan, and stated, "I am better master, but I have requests in order to fully regain my strength."  "Go on!" the Queen said, "Anything you ask I will do."  The servant began, " I need the service of the king's physicians, the ones you have turned into fish, and I request that you return the kingdom to normal."  He continued, "Once you have done this, I ask that you return the King to his normal form and have him command the physicians to find a cure for my wounds."  Lastly he relayed, "At last when you have completed theses tasks I wish for you create and entity out of your magic and bottle him up, making you a normal woman."  The Queen, ecstatic that her beloved servant had spoken to her, went out and immediately did as he had asked.  When she returned and bottled up her magic, she unintentionally created the first genie.  

When the kingdom had been returned to normal, the Sultan requested that the king order his royal physicians to cure the servant's wounds and he did.  The Queen was removed from her position, and was banished from the kingdom and she did not object  She  and her servant traveled to a distant town and were eventually married.  The Sultan and the young King remained great friends, and since the Sultan was very old, and without a heir, they united the kingdoms and the King ruled all.  Lastly, the old fisherman was rewarded graciously for finding the lake and freeing all of the citizens and restoring the kingdom.

Author's Note:  
For this week I decided to retell the combined stories of the Sultan and the Fish and King of the Black Isles.  In the notes for the Unit, it told how the fishes unique features, that impressed the Sultan, would be left out.  This sort of bothered me, and I decided to retell the story with my own interpretations placed in sporadic places.

Bibliography:

Book title: The Arabian Nights' Entertainment 

Author: Andrew Lang

Year Published: 1898

Web Source: Sacred Texts

Week 5 Reading Diary: Arabian Nights

This week I decided to write over Unit: Arabian Nights.  A long time ago, when VHS was still popular, I had a movie that was based off of this book.  It was very fascinating to learn the story of Scheherazade and how she ended the terror that the women of the kingdom were facing.  Below are my notes for this Unit's readings.

Scheherazade:
I admired the strength and courage that Scheherazade possessed, and how willing she was to sacrifice herself for the kingdom and the Sultan's sanity.  I felt bad for her father and could only imagine the grief he must have felt.  Scheherazade is very smart and cunning herself, and her plan in tricking the Sultan into having her tell her story was marvelous.

(Scheherazade telling her stories, Sacred Texts)

The Merchant and the Genius, The Story of the Fist Old Man and of the Hind, & The Story of the Second Old Man and the Two Black Dogs:This story was interesting where one incidentally turned into three, all by the cunning narrator, and all of them led into each other perfectly.  I like how magic is a definite theme throughout this Unit, and it excites the imagination (at least it did mine).  The fact that the Merchant used his free year as he promised, and didn't take advantage of the Geneius' mercy, was one of my favorite aspects of this story.  The story pertaining to the man and his black dogs was ultimately my favorite to read.  I likes how these stories, majority of the time, consisted of a moral then somewhat a happy ending.  No one had to necessarily die, and this definitely lightened the tone.

The Story of the Fisherman, The Story of the Greek King and the Physician Douban, The Story of the Parrot; The Story of the Ogress, & The Story of the Physician's Revenge:This series of stories was interesting as well.  If one did not know the background of what Scheherazade was doing, it was be very easy for her to just lump all of the stories into one.  I can tell jealousy or tragedy is another theme in this Unit, and it one of the main ideas that marks a transition into another tale.  My favorite of this series is the cunning revenge of the physician after.  I don't fully understand how a decapitated head can continue to talk, but I guess this just goes along with the magic theme.  

The Sultan and the Fish & The Story of the Young King of The Back Isles:My favorite part of this story was the second half.  I loved reading the description of the enchanted city, and how the young king met his fate. At this point all of the magic present in the story reminds me of my readings of the Ancient Egypt Unit from last week.  The description of the palace was amazing, but with the description of what made the fish unique being left out made it sort of confusing to what had intrigued the Sultan in the first place.

(The young King being turned into half marble, Sacred Texts)

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp (Parts 1-6):This story was amazing as well, it was hard to just pick one, and I cannot decide if I enjoy Disney's version more over the original. The biggest aspect that surprised me was that Aladdin was of Chinese decent.  More than anything this surprised me in that Disney didn't keep him Chinese in their version's, but I guess that is besides the point. I cannot believe that no one caught on that Aladdin was using magic until the magician had come back for revenge.  This story was grand, but when one starts to infer on the details it is evident that it is just not what the story was meant for because come things just do not make sense.  Overall I enjoyed this tale and was delighted to learn details of the story that were left out in the children's movie.  

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Week 4 Essay: Analysis of the God's and Goddess's of Ancient Egypt

  For this week's reading it was somewhat difficult to decipher the gods and goddesses expect for maybe a small handful. For reference the Unit: Ancient Egyptian Myths and Stories can be found here. The stories never really went into full detail other than mentioning their purpose and roll in handling, or governing, society.  Great emphasis went into Ra, and he was present at some point in almost every story.  Nu, Ra's father, always had a sense of divine wisdom to him and he never seems to lose his temper. He was never hot-headed and was always there when Ra needed his council.  Isis wasn't necessarily a bad goddess, but she did use treacherous ways to achieve the title of deity.  If it weren't for her drive and being an enchantress she would have remained just another human.  

  Throughout the tales Osiris seemed to be the most good-natured god, and he interacted with the humans the best.  He banded the different tribes together, unified them, and created the law and order of the land.  He brought peace and tranquility to the kingdom, and it was trouble-free at one point to where he felt he could temporarily leave his kingdom and spread peace elsewhere.  When he died sorrow came over his followers, and it sent Isis into a frenzy.  Ra was regarded as the first actual ruler of mankind, but when he grew in age and left them they did not possess a good foundation or unity.  Man lived as they pleased, and their little bands battled amongst each other.  Another character the author chose to emphasize on was Set, Orsis's brother, who acquired a different temperament than Orsis.  He was the modern day bad guy who had it out for his brother's crown.  He sabotaged Orsis's homecoming, killed his brother, and banished Isis as she traveled to find his remains.  

  One thing that I notices was when there were times when a certain individual or god was in need of help, the only time they would receive it was when the situation was direly desperate.  After completing two weeks of readings on Greek Mythology I can see a vast diversity in comparison.  In Greek Mythology the god's helped those in need far more than the Egyptian's did.  The reason why was not discussed in the Unit, but it did leave a lot up to speculation and inference.  I don't know if this Unit cuts out a lot of information for the sake of length and reading time, but I have concluded myself that it seems that Egyptian Mythology is rudimentary when compared to Roman or Greek Mythologies.  

(Souce)