Reading Notes: Saints and Animals Part B

My favorite story from this reading was "The Wolf-Mother of Saint Ailbe." This story to me was very entertaining as I liked the part of the boy being raised by the wolves. It is somewhat like Tarzan however Saint Ailbe was left by his parents where in Tarzan his parents were killed. The life long connection between Ailbe and his wolf-mother is a great part to this story as Ailbe is able to return the favor and save her life, just as she did his. The many families that Ailbe has in this story is interesting as it seems unfavorable to keep moving in this manner; however, with each one he keeps improving his quality of life.

Wolf Pack

Source: The Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown

Reading Notes: Saints and Animals Part A

I chose this unit because I love animals and was interested to see how they were woven into these stories with the saints. While I really enjoyed Saint Blaise and His Beasts due to the accumulation of several different animals, I believe the story that I liked the most was Saint Kentigern and the Robin. I like how in this story, no matter how much the others bully and try to bring down Kentigern, he stays working hard and righteously. Kentigern does not let the others discourage him. The appearance of his powers when the fire goes out is surprising and adds another wrinkle to the story. When Saint Servan's robin is killed, Kentigern keeps his faith and believes that God will give him the power to prove his innocence with shows his dedication and finally allows for the others to appreciate Kentigern.

Red-breasted Robin

Source: Book of Saints and Friendly Beasts by Abbie Farwell

Week 4 Story: The Cyclops Defeated

An updated version of this story is on my portfolio.

The Cyclops began the day by eating two more of my men for breakfast. After this he wandered out of the cave leaving us trapped inside once again. Knowing that we needed to defeat the beast in order to escape, I realized that we needed a weapon large enough to take the Cyclops down.  Looking around the cave I saw the Cyclops' club. It was the size of a small tree and appeared to be our best option. I ordered my men to smooth the tree down and I sharpened the end to give it a deadly point. Now we needed to figure out how to get this large steak into the eye of the Cyclops.

Later that day the Cyclops returned and again ate two more of my men. Once he finished his meal and sat down I approached him with the weed that we had taken from the land of the Ciconians. It had been blessed by Snoop the god of marijuana to be irresistible once one used it. "Great beast! I brought this as a gift to you before you began to attack us. How could anyone visit a being who acts as cruelly as you do?"

He loaded his giant pipe with my gifts and began to puff large clouds towards the entrance of the cave. "This is straight gas," the Cyclops proclaimed "refill my pipe and tell me your name so that I may pay you back with a gift of your own human. The fertile earth produces rich marijuana plants, and Zues' rain swells them: but this is sent straight from the heavens above.

"Nobody. My name is Nobody." I told the Cyclops who was too high to question me. Talking slower than he was before the giant mumbled "Then my gift to nobody is that I will devour him last of his crew."

As he said this, his droopy, bloodshot eye began to shut and the Cyclops slumped onto the floor. I quickly rallied my men and we lifted the giant steak that we had crafted. We jammed it into his eye and twisted it around to make sure that he was blinded.

The Cyclops screamed in terrible pain so loudly that I thought I would lose my hearing. We jumped back and hid so that the beast wouldn't harm us as he stumbled about. Rushing to the exit of the cave the other Cyclops came near. "Polyphemus, what is causing you to make such a ruckus? Are you being attacked by a mortal."

"Nobody is in my cave and stabbed my eye!" he roared.

Smelling the marijuana in the air the others determined that he was high and left him to suffer.

(Greek vase painting)

Author's Note: The source story that I used was The Cyclops Defeated from Homer's Odyssey, translated by Tony Kline. I took a similar approach to this story as the original; however, one major change that I made was to use marijuana instead of wine which was used in the original. I thought that this would give the story a different feel and seem to make it relevant to the changing times of today. I also thought that it would make the Cyclops look like more of a fool to the others when they went to check on him at the end of the story.