Topic: My storybook will be over the different stories of flight. Each culture has stories about flying whether it be with wings, or with objects that help get a person airborne. I know there are TONS of stories out there and I haven't even scratched the surface, but I've included a few that I thought would be good options to start with. Obviously the first story I thought of was one of the more notable ones, Icarus. A few others include Pegasus, Perseus's flying sandals, and Vimãna. These are just a few I've read that seemed interesting. I plan on doing more research and finding others that may fit a storyline better or I might mash a few of them together.
Bibliography: Icarus. Website: Wikipedia.
Pegasus. Website: Wikipedia.
Perseus's flying sandals. Website: Wikipedia.
Vimãna, flying chariot cities. Website: Wikipedia.
Possible Styles:
School for Flying. One idea I've come up with is to have three or four "students" all come to a school centered around flying. They could each tell their stories of how they've accomplished flight. I guess you could say it has a "Hogwarts" feel to it. They would all have their different stories and also they would all learn how to perfect and grow with their abilities. They could also hold matches to see who has perfected their ability to fly the most.
Bedtime Story. Another possibility would be for parents to share with their children multiple stories of early flight right before bed. Then the child's imagination could run wild as they drift off into sleep. The parents could tell the main points of each story and then the child could continue the story and dream new endings in their sleep.
Breaking News/Immortals. In this one I mashed together the breaking news and immortals among us styles. I thought the news could break with stories of each characters flight. Especially in a world where flying was not the norm, and even considered taboo to some. I also thought to maybe have the characters running from the law. Flying could be considered "witchcraft" or something along those lines.
Courtroom Drama: Last, but not least, I thought it would be interesting to have all of the characters in a legal battle. They all claim to have been the first to "fly". Why not have them battle it out in court? Everybody loves a good court trial, so why not have all of the characters on trial.
Jack: "Let me start off by letting you know that I have no desire to be here today. I'm only here because I promised my wife I would attend ,and hopefully this will help save our marriage."
Therapist: "Why don't we start from the beginning..... Tell me about some issues you are struggling with."
Jack: "Well it all started when I flooded our entire town. I work for the water department in Olympia and I'm in charge of the floodgates at the local dam. One slow evening I was sort of drinking on the job because of a fight I had with my wife earlier that day. We've been having marriage problems for awhile now. So I was having a few beers, when out of nowhere one of my coworkers snuck up and scared me. I jumped out of my seat and since my balance was off from the alcohol I accidentally knocked a lever for one of the floodgates. You would think that I could just turn the lever back off, but unfortunately that's not how these work. When you pull one of our floodgate levers the floodgate has to cycle all the way open before you can close it. I sounded the city alarm system as soon as I realized what had happened, but not everyone had enough time to clear the area. In a town of 14,000 people, almost 800 perished. I never admitted to anyone that I had been drinking, and my coworker luckily didn't see the bottles so it was deemed an accident. My wife had her suspicions though, and she would never let me forget."
Therapist: "That is tragic. What an awful event for everyone involved, including yourself. Why don't you tell me more about your relationship with your wife..."
Jack: "After that, things only got worse. I took what happened really hard, and I held myself fully responsible. My alcohol abuse only worsened and I started looking for love elsewhere because my wife was disgusted with the person I had become. I ended up having relations with three other women, all of which bore a child of mine. When I found out each of these women were pregnant I tried to cover my tracks as best I could. The first woman I sent away to a farm and threatened that if she ever tried to seek me out I would have her and her child killed. As this child grew older he made a friend, a friend who also did not have a father. One day his friend started snooping around his mother's belongings and found the identity of his biological father. This just so happened to be one of my best friends. My best friend was unfaithful one time and the girl ended up pregnant. The child kept trying to reach out to his father, my friend, but my friend wanted nothing to do with him. I knew there was only one way to keep his secret as well as mine safe, and that was to get rid of his son.
Therapist: "So you sent him away as well?"
Jack: "If that's what you want to call it."
Therapist: "Oh, I see. Continue....."
Jack: "The second woman I sent into the mountains. I never saw or heard from her or her child ever again. The third woman was the real tragedy. She ended up falling in love with me, and wouldn't take no for an answer. She began stalking me and threatened to reveal the truth and ruin my life. I couldn't have that, so I did what I thought was my only option at the time. I "sent her away"."
Therapist: "Is there anything else you would like to talk to me about?"
Jack: "I just wish that none of this had ever happened. I'm truly sorry and I'll do whatever it takes to make things right. I just hope that my wife, the love of my life, can find it in her heart to forgive me. As well as all of the other families and people I've hurt over the years."
Author's Note: This week I read Ovid's Metamorphoses I. I was really thinking hard of a way to retell this story that was completely different. If you've read the story you'll see in my retelling that I didn't stick to the storyline at all hardly. In my story, Jack (Jupiter) ends up flooding his town and then having affairs with three women and getting them all pregnant. Also, he murdered a couple of people as well. In the original, Jupiter floods the earth, rapes three women, gets them all pregnant, and murders a few people. I thought the idea of Jack (Jupiter) confessing to a therapist his mistakes would make for an interesting read. I also wanted to put the story into more modern day terms. I hope you enjoy.
Bibliography: This story is based on readings from Ovid's Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline.
- Jupiter has Neptune flood the earth
- After the flood only one woman and one man remain
- Jupiter is pleased so he has the water retreat
- The two left asked the goddess for help recreating the human race
- She told them to throw stones behind them as they walked away and humans were then created from the stones
- Jupiter rapes Io and then turns her into a cow
- Juno thinks this is a gift for her, she has Argus guard it
- Io's father finds her and grieves
- Jupiter sends Mercury to kill Argus
- Io is turned back into a human
- Io is honored as a goddess
- She has a son, said to be Jupiters
- Her son has a friend, Phaethon, son of the sun god
- Phaethon's mother confirms he is the son of the sun god and so he seeks his father out
- His father confirms
- Phaethon asks to fly his chariot
- His father warns him, but lets him fly it
- Phaeton can't handle it and lets go of the reins
- The earth starts to burn
- Jupiter threw a lighting bolt at the chariot
- Phaethon dies
- His sisters turn into poplar trees
- The sun god refuses to return to work, but then does
- Jupiter rapes Callisto
- The moon goddess learns that Callisto is pregnant and not a virgin and casts her away
- After she has the baby, Juno turns her into a bear
- Jupiter later turns her and her son into constellations
- Semele is pregnant with Jupiters child
- Juno is outraged
- Semele was killed by Jupiter's fire
- Her son was carried in Jupiter's thigh until birth
