Reading Notes: Zorro

Ch 1-2:
southern California
Sgt. Pedro Gonzales - liked to argue/tended to brawl with the others. Doesn't like Zorro. Calls him "Mr. Fox". (feels like Zenigata talking about Lupin III)
Zorro - wears a mask, flashes a pretty blade, carves a letter Z on the cheek of his foes. Called "the Curse of Capistrano". Gonzales calls him a thief. Reward for his capture. "He is like a fleeting sunbeam, I grant him that - and with about as much courage."

Zorro claims he is not really a thief, he is punishing those who mistreat the men of the missions.  Left a placard (poster - sort of like a calling card) saying that he is a "Friend of the oppressed."

Bows and his eyes twinkle through his mask when he shows up.

Gonzales says to let Zorro come, and the door opens, the storm blowing in. But it isn't Zorro, it's Don Diego Vega. Vega is young and polite, asks if he startled the others. Sgt says it was that he came in on the heels of the storm that startled them, implies there is nothing startling about Vega himself. Vega tells him they have an agreement, Sgt's boasts amuse him so he provides him with wine but if he ridicules him again, the agreement will end. (Vega is a noble). Sgt kisses his butt to make up.

Vega was rich, would inherit 3 times what he already had, but disliked action. He was polite to women, listened to mens stories in the sun, and smiled now and then. Opposite of the Sgt in all ways. He was healthy nad good looking and didn't look twice at any woman.

Sgt tells them they were talking about Zorro, and Vega yawns, asking what about him. Sgt mentions how Zorro never appears in his vicinity, and wants him to so he can claim the reward. Vega doesn't want to talk about him, because all he ever hears of is violence, and would rather talk about music or poetry. Sgt keeps talking about Zorro, and Vega tells him that he's heard he has only robbed officials that have stolen from the missions and the poor, and has never killed anyone. He tells Sgt to "let him have his little day in the public eye."Sgt says he'd rather have the reward, and Vega tells him to earn it by capturing him. He tells him to tell him about it afterward, but to spare him now. They drink a glass of wine together, then Vega grabs his things and asks the landlord for a jar of honey that his people were unwilling to brave the storm for. He leaves, Sgt keeps boasting (and drinking), and then the door blows open again.

Ch 3 -

This time it's Zorro who enters. Sgt asks if he's come to surrender and he says he's come on business. He says that Sgt brutally beat a native he disliked a few days ago, and because he is the friend of the oppressed, he has come to punish him. Sgt draws his sword to kill him, and Zorro pulls out a pistol, telling him to stop. He tells the others present to retreat to the corner. He asks Sgt to turn his back while he draws his blade.

Ch 4 -

When Sgt turns around, Zorro has drawn his sword but is still holding the pistol too, and chuckling. Sgt keeps attacking while Z stands his ground. He calms down and attacks again, and Z still pushes him away with no effort. Z says they've had enough time for playing, and begins to attack, forcing Sgt backwards. Someone battered at the door, which made Sgt panic. Z says he will have to visit another time since they are interrupted. Sgt yells loudly to whoever is outside the door that they have Zorro in there. Z is angry and attacks again, besting Sgt and slapping him across the face for hurting a native. The person outside tried to smash the door in. Z made his exit through the window. Sgt and his comrades ran outside to look for Z, but he was long gone. Sgt claims that someone must have told Z that he had recently broken the thumb of his sword hand, and that's why he chose now to visit. Sgt tells the tavern's newcomers what happened, adding that Z threatened to kill him. The others who had been present gasped, but held their tongues. When Sgt finishes telling the men what happened and his plans to go after Z, Vega comes in and asks what's going on. He asks Sgt where Z's dead body is, which makes Sgt choke. Vega says he promised to tell him the story once he took down Z. He accuses him of being modest and sparing him because he doesn't like violence. He asks if he peeked at the face "beneath the mask" and suggests that it could be someone they all know. Sgt tells him Z had a pistol, and Vega asks why he didn't take it away from him. Sgt then insists he has to go report the incident, and swears Z will be meat for his blade before long. Vega smiles as Sgt rushes out.

Ch 5-6-7 -
Vega visits Don Carlos. Tells him of the Zorro incident. Carlos has had his money taken away by the govt and knows Vega has the power to make them stop coming after him. Vega tells him that his father talked to him about how he is approaching age 25 and must accept his duties and responsibilities, including having offspring to inherit the family wealth when he is gone. He tells Carlos that he thinks getting married will be a bore, but that he has decided to get a wife and would like it to be Carlos' daughter Lolita. Carlos and his wife give him permission to pursue her. Vega says he has no intention to court her, and they tell him he is making a mistake. When he tells Lolita to just say the word and their fathers can arrange the wedding, and that he has no plans to woo her, she is insulted. She tells him that if he really sends someone else to play guitar beneath her window on his behalf, that she will throw boiling water on him. Carlos tries to placate him as he needs the alliance to regain power. Lolita's parents tell her all the reasons she should marry Vega. She agrees with the things they say, and tells them that's why it angers her. She thinks his lack of energy and laziness is ridiculous. She falls asleep and wakes to a touch on her arm. It was Zorro. He says he is weary and came because it was siesta hour. He woke her because he wanted to tell her that  "Your beauty would hinge a man's tongue in its middle so that both ends might be free to sing your praises". She tells him of Vega, and Z says he is an imbecile for not wooing her. She tells him he should go so he is not captured. He sits and takes her hand, kissing her palm. She tries to send him away. He says he will go if she lets him kiss her hand again, so she gives in. She wishes Vega had half as much courage.





The Mark of Zorro by Johnston McCulley. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Even More Carmen

Chapter 3 (cont): When trying to escape bullets, Don Jose tried to carry one of the injured, and both Carmen and Garcia (the husband) yelled at him to leave him and get the loot. Later at the campfire, Garcia was playing cards with one of the men while Don Jose lay on the ground thinking of the man he had to leave behind. Carmen sat beside him and kept kissing him "almost" against his will. "You are a devil", I said to her. "Yes," she replied.

Don Jose was sent to meet Carmen in Gibraltar because all the others were too recognizable. He was to ask where the chocolate-seller lives, while posing as a fruit-seller. He took a donkey loaded with oranges and melons. Many people there knew of the chocolate-seller, but said she was either dead or had disappeared. It was two days before he found her. She was shouting to him from a balcony, gold comb in her hair, with a rich Englishman who told him to come up because the lady wanted some oranges. She tells him in Basque to pretend it's the only language he speaks. They quarrel in Basque about the way she is conducting her "gipsy business", how he is silly for being jealous of it, and he threatens to make sure she does no business again if he catches her doing business this way again. She says "What are you, my husband?" and tells him that Garcia is pleased with her behavior. She asks "aren't you happy that you are the only man who can call himself my lover?"Carmen tells the Englishman that he said he was thirsty and would like a drink (lol). She started screaming with laughter at her translation, and when she laughed everyone laughed with her. She tells Don Jose to come back tomorrow with his oranges when the parade starts to find out if she is still his Carmencita. He planned to just leave, but when the parade started, he went to her. She tells him of her plan to get the Englishman to take her to another town where she has "a sister who is a nun" and tells Don Jose to take him down when they get to a particular spot. Then she tells him to let Garcia take the lead, and to fall a little behind so he won't be hurt. He tells her that he doesn't like Garcia, but he is a comrade, and while he might rid her of him someday, he will not do it this way. She accused him of not loving her and told him to go (be off with you), and he couldn't go.

Don Jose goes back to Garcia and the other man, El Dancaire, and suggests they play cards by the campfire. They do, and he accuses Garcia of cheating. They decide to fight it out with their knives. Don Jose kills Garcia. He tell El Dancaire that they couldn't live on together because he loves Carmen and wants to be the only one. They agree to be friends. They took out the Englishman and he won Carmen back. She tells him his day will come, and he says hers will too if she isn't a faithful wife to him. She says "so be it." She tells him she read in the coffee grounds more than once that their lives were to end together. They continue to be smugglers, and eventually she finds a rich man she plans to do the same as the Englishman with, and he carries her off and forces her to stop. She tells him if he's not careful, she'll find someone to do to him what he did to Garcia. Their group was caught by soldiers, most of them died, and he was shot. His only comrade left carried him to a cave and went to fetch Carmen. She came and nursed him and snuck him to Granada. He decided that it was time to change his life, and suggested to Carmen that they should move to America and live honest lives, which made her laugh. She talked him into another smuggling job. She kept talking about a local bullfighter named Lucas, and his comrade Juanito told him that she had been spending a lot of time with this Lucas. When he asks her about it, she tells him that he is useful, they either should take his money or ask him to join their gang. He forbid her to see him, and she told him to be careful because forbidding her to do something would cause her to do it quickly. But the bullfighter leaves town and they forget about him. At this point in time, he meets the gentleman. Carmen stole the gentleman's watch, wanted to take his money and his "magic" ring. Don Jose struck her and she cried, the first time he ever saw her do so. He begged her to forgive him, but she was very upset for a few more days, and then she was fine and they were like honeymoon lovers. She told him there was a festival in Cordova that she would go see, so she could point out to him the people coming away with money.

He realized by the festival plans and change in her temper that she must have already avenged herself. He found out that there would be bullfighting in Cordova, and he went to find Lucas, and Carmen was there. The bull attacked Lucas, and Carmen disappeared. At 2 am she returned, surprised to see Don Jose. They traveled together all night, and in the morning he told her he would forget everything like it didn't happen if she would go to America with him and live there quietly. She refuses, and he tells her it's because she wouldn't be near Lucas who might not recover anyway, and that he's tired of killing her lovers and will kill her this time. She tells him that she always knew he would kill her. He begs her to go with him, asks if she still loves him. He tells her to make up her mind. He asks a priest to say a mass for the soul of someone who will soon be dead. Then he returned to find Carmen scrying. He asks her to come with him, and they get on the horse. He asks if she is still ready to follow him, and she says she will follow him even to death, but won't live with him anymore. They arrive at a spring, and she suggests he brought her there to kill her. He tells her the past is forgotten, and she tells him it is over between them because she doesn't love him anymore. He asks if she loves Lucas, and she says she did, for even less time than she loved Don Jose. She tells him he has the right as her husband to kill his wife, but that "Carmen will always be free." She refuses all that he offers. He draws his knife and she still declines, throwing his ring in the bushes. It is Garcia's knife, and he killed her with it. He laid there with her for an hour, then dug her a grave and buried her in the woods with the ring beside her. Then he turned himself in. The mass the priest said was for her soul, not Jose's.

Chapter 4: Background on gipsies - highly invested in marriage, indifferent about religion. Most gipsy women tell fortunes, sell charms, and use incantations.


Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. Web Source.

Reading Notes: More Carmen

Chapter 3 - Don Jose tells the gentleman of his history. His family wanted him to go into the church. He studied but didn't like the work. he would rather just play tennis.He had to leave his town due to a quarrel with someone, so he became a soldier and moved up the ranks. He was told to guard the Seville Tobacco Factory. About 500 women work in the factory. Don Jose was afraid of the Andalusian women, so he didn't pursue them like the other men did. One night he heard a bystander shout "Here comes the gitanella (the gypsy)" and when he looked up he saw Carmen.  She was wearing a short skirt with an off the shoulder top and had an acacia blossom in the corner of her mouth. All of the men paid her bold compliments. He didn't like her looks at first and continued to work. "But she, like all women and cats, who won't come if you call them, and do come if you don't call them, stopped short in front of me, and spoke to me."
She asked him for his chain to put the key to her strong box on, and he told her it was for his priming-pin. She teased him that she must make lace if he wants pins. She threw the blossom at him and it hit him in between the eyes, and felt like a bullet had struck him. When she went inside the factory, he picked up the blossom and put it in his jacket. He was still thinking about her a few hours later when a porter rushed in  ab told the guards that a woman was stabbed in the cigar room. Don Jose took two men and they found 300 women stripped to their shifts, screaming and yelling. One was laying on her back streaming with blood, and X cut on her face by a knife. Opposite her, Carmen was being held by 5 or 6 others as the wounded woman yelled "a confessor, I am killed!" and Carmen said nothing. The injured girl had boasted that she had enough money in her pocket to buy a donkey at the market. Carmen asked why she couldn't do it with a broom, and the girl told her she knew nothing of brooms and that Carmen would meet her donkey when she took it out with 2 lackeys to keep the flies off. Carmen said "I'll make troughs for the flies to drink out of on your cheeks", and she slashed the girl's face with the knife. Don Jose told her to come with him, and she covered her head with her mantilla (lace veil). He told her he was taking her to prison, and she begged him to have pity on her, while complimenting his looks. She whispered that if he let her go, she would give him a loadstone that would make every woman fall in love with him. He told her to stop talking nonsense. Carmen could tell he was from the provinces and started speaking Basque. She was from a district four hours from him, and had been taken to Seville by the gipsies. Don Jose knew that she was lying and told the gentleman that she always lies. He was becoming drunk on her and when she suggested that she could knock him down and get away from the other two men, he told her to try for it. She punched him in the chest and he intentionally fell backwards and she ran for it. He blocked the other men with his lance, then ran after her with them following. She disappeared. The other men told their boss that she had spoken Basque to them and that it had been suspicious, so he lost is corporal's stripes and was put in prison for a month. He would have to work ten times as hard to get back into good graces. He still couldn't stop thinking of her. A loaf of bread was delivered to him from his "cousin". When he cut into it he found a file and 2 coins, a gift from Carmen. He chose not to escape.

When he was released, he was posted at the door of a young colonel who had many visitors. Carmen arrived in a carriage, dressed up and carrying a tambourine. She was with two other gipsy women and a man with a guitar. She recognized him, and he could see the whole performance on the patio from his post, and could hear the things the men were saying to her. He thought he began to love her that night as he kept almost driving his sword through the men. On her way out, she said he should go eat at a restaurant in Triana. He cleaned himself up and went. When he arrived she told her boss she wasn't going to work anymore for the day, and went for a walk with him. He tried to return the coins she had given him in the bread, and she decided they should go spend them. They bought food and wine and sweets, then went to a gipsy house. They spent the day together. He told her he had to get back for roll call, and she called him silly. She talked him into staying, then in the morning suggested that he leave. He asked when he would see her again, and she said he was too much of a simpleton, that she believed she loved him a little but wouldn't marry him because he wasn't a gipsy, and threatened to make him marry a window with wooden legs (the gallows) if he thought about her again.

He couldn't stop thinking of her, and her boss told him she had moved away. It was a lie, and one night she approached where he was guarding. He told her that no one could pass there. She told him not to be spiteful, and she asked him to let some people pass. He said he couldn't because it was his orders, and she mentioned that he didn't consider orders the night they spent together. He agreed to let the gipsies pass if she met him later. She was annoyed that he didn't just do what she wanted and tried to pay him off. He was angry and left, walking around town, going to church and crying hot tears in the corner. Carmen showed up and asked if he was still angry with her. She said she still wanted to come with him. They made up, and she promised to meet him, but didn't, and her boss again lied about her leaving the country. He looked for ever every day, and one day she walked into the restaurant with a young lieutenant in his regiment. She told him to go away in Basque, and the lieutenant told him to go away, and he felt paralyzed. They drew their swords and fought over her. He ended up running, and she ran with him. She found him peasant clothes and brought him to another gipsy house to have his wounds tended to. They told him that he would have to leave town as soon as he was well or he would be shot. Carmen tells him to go to the coast and become a smuggler to earn his keep. He was persuaded easily as it was the only job he could do. He also thought it would bring them closer together. He became a smuggler, and Carmen secretly was his mistress. He eventually found out that a gypsy man was her husband. She had been trying to get him out of prison for 2 years and finally succeeded.



Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Carmen

(Photo from Pinterest)

Chapter 1 - A gentleman and his guide, Antonio, encounter a stranger who they share a cigar and food with, and seek lodging for the night with. They figure out along the way that he is Jose Navarro, the most noted bandit in Andalusia. Antonio insists on spending the night in the stable with the horses. The gentleman wakes up feeling itchy and sneaks outside. He and Antonio talk. Navarro had threatened him to not tell the gentleman who he is. Antonio plans to go get others to help take Navarro down. This angered the gentleman, as he saw no reason to turn Navarro in, as he had done nothing to them. The gentleman goes back inside and wakes Navarro, telling him that half a dozen lancers will be coming. He tells him that someone he doesn't know told him, instead of throwing Antonio under the bus. He tells Navarro to go, and as payment for the tip, to never suspect anyone (Antonio). He gives him some cigars and sends him on his way. When Antonio returns with the soldiers, he tells them the robber left 2 hours ago. Antonio was sulky with him, and they parted ways.

Chapter 2 - The gentleman went to a convent in Cordova to read a manuscript about the ancient world. In town, just before the Angellus bell rings, women gather beside the river. The bell ringing brings darkness, and the women disrobe and bathe in the river. Men gather on the upper quay to watch, even though they can barely see a thing. One evening, a woman sits down near him on the parapet. She has jasmine in her hair. She was beautiful and young. The gentleman put out his cigar out of respect. She told him she liked the smell and sometimes liked to smoke papelitos. He had some and gave her one, and they smoked and talked so long that they were alone. She says she is a gipsy and offers to read his fortune. She asks if he has ever heard of Carmencita, and says that's who she is. The gentleman had studied occult science is college and was attracted to darkness. He doubted Carmen was a full gipsy. "There was something strange and wild about her beauty." Sensuality and fierceness in her eyes. He feels funny having his fortune read in a cafe, so he asks to go home with her, and she consents.

They are let into the house by a child, and Carmen speaks in gipsy language to her. They sit and she pulls out her cards, beginning to read his fortune. A man enters and begins yelling at her in gipsy. The gentleman is wondering when he will need to grab a stool and hit the man over the head with it when the man asks if it's him. It's Don Jose. The gentleman feels sorry he saved him from the gallows (he's a pretty funny guy, this gentleman). Don Jose pulls him outside and tells him to go straight and he will come to the bridge. Don Jose runs off, and the gentleman reluctantly goes back to his inn. He realized when he gets there that his watch is missing. He can't go back and get it the next day, and is done with the manuscript, goes to Seville and spends months there, then he leaves, wanting to head back to Madrid, stopping in Cordova on the way. One of the monks welcomes him back and tells him they thought he was dead and knew he had been robbed. The monk tells him that Jose Navarro is imprisoned and going to be hung, and that he will take him to him to get his watch back. The gentleman brings him cigars, which Don Jose thanks him for. The gentleman asks if there is anything he can do to soften his sentence (pay money), and Jose asks him to have a mass said for his soul. Then he asks him to go to Vittoria and take Jose's silver medal to an old lady there, and to tell her he is dead, but not how he died. The gentleman promises, and spends the following day with Jose, listening to incidents that had happened to him.



Carmen by Prosper Mérimée. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland Part B

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The March Hare and the Hatter were having a tea party, with a Dormouse sleeping between them. The table was huge, but they told Alice there was no room for her. She sat in the arm chair at the end of the table anyway and noticed that there was nothing but tea on the table. She tells them it isn't civil to not have wine, and they tell her it wasn't civil of her to sit down uninvited. They begin asking her riddles, and saying all kinds of nonsensical things. They ask if she knows the answer to the riddle yet, and that they don't know what it is either. They decide the Dormouse should tell them a story and pinch its sides to wake it up. It was awake the whole time. It tells them a story about two sisters that live at the bottom of a well. In the midst of the story, the others decide they want a clean teacup, so they all slide over one seat. Only the Hatter ends up with a clean cup. The Hare and the Hatter offend Alice, so she gets up to leave, and the Dormouse falls back to sleep. Alice finds a door back to the hall, and gets the key to the tiny door, using just enough mushroom to be the right height to get into the garden.


Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Alice in Wonderland Part A

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Alice sees a white rabbit running and muttering about how it's going to be late. She thinks maybe she's just hearing things until it takes a watch out of its pocket to check the time. She followed it down a rabbit hole, without thinking about how she would get back out. She fell for a very long time, passing strange things like jars of marmalade and thinking all kinds of random thoughts as she fell.

She ends up in a hall with many doors, but they're all locked. She finds a tiny key on the table that was too small for the doors. She explores more and finds a tiny door behind a curtain. The key fits and she can see a passage that leads to a garden, but she can't fit through. She finds a bottle on the table that says "drink me" and drinks the potion which shrinks her. She can fit through the door now, but left the key on the table, and was too small to reach it. She finds a glass box under the table with a little cake that says "eat me". She does and grows tall, and gets the key. Unfortunately she's now too big to fit through the door again.

This is the part of the story I plan to use for my story this week. It will be Akira in Wonderland, and the potion will turn him into a rat so he can crawl through the vents in a palace.

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Zorro, Milady, Carmen, Neronomicon, Johanna

If I decide to continue my storybook after class ends, I would write a story for each of the remaining Persona 5 characters: Mona (you got a Mona introduction, but no Mona story), Noir, Panther, Oracle and Queen. I decided to start doing some research and reading about their personas. I also located a few sources that might be useful for writing their stories. 

Mona: Zorro -  (Spanish for "fox" and "sly") is a fictional character created in 1919 by New York–based pulp writer Johnston McCulley. His true name is Don Diego de la Vega. Zorro is a Californio nobleman of Spanish and Native Californian descent, living in Los Angeles during the era of Mexican rule. He is a masked outlaw who defends commoners and the indigenous people of the land against tyrannical officials and other villains.

Noir: Milady - Milady de Winter, more commonly referred to as "Milady" is a fictional character created by Alexandre Dumas for his seminal novel The Three Musketeers. Her main relation with the novel's titular heroes is her personal vendettas first against the novel's hero d'Artagnan after he discovered she was branded as a criminal with a fleur-de-lis, then against his mentor Athos who was her former husband. Her conflict with them ends in her death by beheading for her crimes. In both the book and subsequent adaptations, Milady is depicted as a fiercely independent and manipulative villain: despite acting as an agent of Cardinal Richelieu in his machinations against Louis XIII and the Duke of Buckingham, she is also a force on her own account, bringing others to ruin for personal gain. Her moniker of "Milady" is a title inherited from one of her husbands, whom she married under a false name, leaving her true identity a mystery.

Panther: Carmen - a fictive female gypsy created by Prosper Mérimée. She first appeared in Mérimée's eponymous novella that was first written and published in 1845. The novella was adapted into a variety of different genres, most notably the opera Carmen by French composer Georges Bizet which diverges in significant points from Mérimée's original story. Whatever the version, Carmen is generally depicted as a classic femme fatale who would take advantage of her beauty and charm to make men fall for her but quickly break the relationship once she is bored of her wooer and then looks for the next victim. Carmen is also usually seen smoking tobacco because she had once been working in a tobacco factory. She is later slain by a spurned ex-lover driven to a jealous rage after she leaves him. Though she knew he would be fated to kill her, she declares that she would rather die than allow herself to be bound to the will of another and that "Carmen will always be free".

Oracle: Necronomicon - a fictional grimoire (tome of magic). It was first mentioned in the short story The Hound written by H. P. Lovecraft, but its exact origin is the subject of debate. The book subsequently also appeared in stories of Lovecraft's followers. The Necronomicon has since gained a cult following and various fake "replicas" of the book are circulating. In the context of Lovecraft's works, the Necronomicon is a tome detailing the truth behind the various ancient cosmic beings that have inhabited Earth and continue to influence humans for their own ends. Written in the 8th century by the "mad Arab" Abdul Alhazred, it both functions as a means of imparting the forbidden knowledge of the ancient ones, and a source of danger as those who read it risk going mad from its knowledge.

Queen: Johanna - based on Pope Joan, a legendary Medieval woman who reigned as pope for a short period, going against the Catholic Church's ingrained tradition of male popes. Though the story was widely believed for centuries, modern historians have found no evidence of her existence and believe the legend to be a work of fiction meant to discredit the church. Most versions of her story describe her as a talented and learned woman who disguised herself as a man, often at the behest of a lover. In the most common accounts, due to her abilities, she rose through the church hierarchy and was eventually elected pope. Her sex was revealed when she gave birth during a procession, and she died shortly after, either through murder or natural causes. The accounts state that later church processions avoided this spot, and that the Vatican removed the female pope from its official lists and crafted a ritual to ensure that future popes were male.

Possible Sources:

1. Zorro : The Curse of Capistrano
2. Milady de Winter : The Three Musketeers
3. Carmen : Carmen (free on kindle)
4. Necronomicon : The Hound
5. Pope Joan

(Photos from Megami Tensei Wiki)

Reading Notes: Robin Hood Part B

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Robin Hood and Maid Marian - Robin and Marian meet and fall for each other, sharing sweet kisses. Robin then has to go back to the forrest, and Marian was sad. She went into the forrest with a bow of her own to find him. When they encounter each other, she is dressed strangely and he is in disguise, so they draw their swords to fight, not recognizing each other. She cuts his face, and then he finally speaks. When she hears his voice recognizes that it's Robin, and she kisses him. Little John kills a deer and the merry men throw them a banquet. 

Robin Hood’s Death - When Robin is ill and decides he is near death, he asks Little John to take him to his cousin who will bleed him, so that he can die. So he takes him to the cousin who agrees to bleed him. She cuts his vein and locks him in a room. He bled until the next day, then, too weak to move, he blew on his bugle. Little John heard it and feared that Robin must be close to death. He went back for him and broke the locks to get to him. Robin tells him to take him outside and put his bow in his hand. He shoots an arrow and asks to be buried wherever it lands.


The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child.

Reading Notes: Robin Hood Part A

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Robin Hood and Little John - Robin Hood meets a stranger on a narrow bridge. Neither will move aside for the other. They each find a staff and decide that whoever falls off the bridge first loses. Robin ends up in the water, then asks the stranger to be his right-hand man. His name was John Little and he was 7 feet tall, so the merry men though it would be funny to rename him Little John. (Crow and Joker)

Allen a Dale - Robin Hood meets Allen a Dale and asks him to give money to the merry men. Allen says he doesn't have any to spare. Robin asks what he'll give him if he reunites Allen with his true love and makes a wedding happen for him. Robin pretends to be a harpist, and tells the bishop that he bride should choose her husband. He calls in 20 men, the first is Allen, her true love. Robin says they should be married. The bishop objects and says they have to be asked 3 times in church. Robin takes the bishop's coat and puts it on Little John who marries them, asking 7 times to be sure.

The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child.

Reading Notes: Japanese and other mythological and literary characters

Japanese:

Yatagarasu - 

- three-legged crow, inhabits and represents the sun. In Japan, a raven, Yatagarasu, "evidence of the will of Heaven or divine intervention in human affairs." 

- the crow is a mark of rebirth and rejuvenation

- as a crow-god is a symbol specifically of guidance

Nue - 

- face of a monkey, legs of a tiger, body of a tanuki (raccoon dog) and the front half of a snake for a tail. 

- OR back of a tiger, the legs of a tanuki, the tail of a fox, the head of a cat, and the torso of a chicken

- sometimes referred to as a Japanese chimera

- makes cries at night

Ame-no-Uzume - 

- goddess of dawn

- lured Amaterasu out of her hiding place in a cave when she refused to come out, by dancing

Not Japanese:

Oberon - 

- king of the fairies

- a character in William Shakespeare's play A Midsummer Night's Dream

- consort to Titania, queen of the fairies

- a trickster

Alice -

- based on Alice in Wonderland

- the strongest persona in the Death arcana

- very strong dark spell called "Die for me!" that instakills all enemies on screen

(Photo from Pinterest)

Reading Notes: British North America Part B

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Origin of the Pleiades - A young man hears voices singing by a lake., and they are coming from the sky. He went down to the beach and saw 7 maidens dancing in the starlight. When he slipped on a pebble, the maidens sprang into a basket and vanished in the sky. He went back to his lodge and heard distant voices, and snuck to the beach again. He saw the basket descend and the maidens again danced and sang together, one more beautiful than the others. The man made a noise and again they vanished. They came every night, and one night he rushed them and seized the most beautiful sister. The others vanished. The maiden told him they are seven sisters that live in the sky and they come down to dance in the starlight, and that she can't marry him until he comes to live with her in the sky. So he did, and in the sky you can clearly see the 6 sisters, with one fainter in the back with her husband.

I'm not sure how I would use this story, but I love astronomy and the Pleiades are beautiful.


Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Source.

Reading Notes: British North America Part A

Creation of Light - An old chief owned all the light, fire and water. Everywhere else was darkness. The other people were all animal people. and they decided to trick him into giving them some light. They put on their masks and dancing aprons and showed up at the chief's house for a dance uninvited.
"Fox kept singing, 'Khain, khain, khain' because he thought in that way he would gain light. Therefore the animals call him Khain, which means, 'He cries for daylight.'"

Each animal persona sang their own song, and sang "Light, light, light, light." 

Light began to creep into the sky like the dawn. The chief said "Let there not be" and the light went away. The animal people sang again and the light "began to steal into the sky."

The chief saw it, became excited and confused by all the noise, and said "Let there be light", and the light came into the sky to stay.

I can see Fox and the others in their masks singing, Joker wearing his apron from the cafe.

(Photo from Pinterest)

Why the Sun is Bright - An entire village moved away because they didn't like a boy. They left him and his grandma alone there and they expected them to starve. The grandma told the boy to go spear animals and fish. She made him a very large, bright robe from the skins of the birds he caught. The sun saw it and offered to trade his robe that was dull and had fringe at the ends. He showed the boy that each fringe would catch a fish if he laid it on the water. The boy traded, and the sun started wearing the bright robe which was so bright that no one could look at him.

Myths and Legends of British North America by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Captain Kidd

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Chapter IV - Kidd claimed his men were the pirates and that they locked him in his cabin to perform acts of piracy. He claimed to be afraid to go back to New York because of the false stories about him, so he instead headed to Boston. Along the way he stopped at Block Island, then stopped at Gardiner's Island leaving its proprietor, Mr. Gardiner, with most of his treasures for safe keeping. It is suspected that when Kidd traveled through Long Island Sound, he buried gold and jewels at Thimble Island and all along the coast before reaching Boson and his arrest.

Chapter I - A fortune teller told some men where to find Captain Kidd's treasure - Young woman with a sacred stone - Chihaya and the holy stones.

Kidd took notes that would enable him to find the treasure again later.

Fortune tellers continually told people where to find the treasure and to work in complete darkness and be completely silent, or else natural disasters would come and prevent them from taking the treasure (torrential rains and thunderstorms, lightning, shrieks of laughter heard, swarms of bats).



The buccaneer chiefs; or, Captain Kidd and the pirates of America by John Stevens C. Abbott. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends Part B

The Ghost Land - when the chief's son's wife died, he was too sad to sleep. One morning he got dressed and walked all day/night, he was walking the Death Trail. He called to people on the other side of the lake to come get him, but they couldn't hear him. A man was paddling in a canoe. The people finally heard shouting and said that someone was coming up from Dreamland and to bring him over. The chief's son saw his wife and he was happy. She told him he couldn't stay long, and took him back in the Ghost Canoe. They landed at Ghost's Rock, at the end of the Death Trail. They walked back home, and he went inside and told his father that he brought his wife home. He told him to bring her inside, but no one else could see her. She wrapped a cloak around her, and ate, but all they could see was the cloak and the spoon. After, the chief's son died, and they both went back to Ghost Land.

(Photo from Pinterest)

The Boy in the Moon - a lazy boy in a village fell in love with a girl. He sees her climbing a ladder to the sky with a plate of meat and berries. She grabbed hold of a line hanging down as she climbed. Her brothers scolded the boy, and he rushed to get dressed and ran outside, climbing the ladder to get to her. She was floating away, and he did too. The girl became the sun and the boy the moon. 

"When the sun sinks in the west, the moon rises in the east, but always too late. The moon has no food, and sometimes almost fades away. Then the sun reaches out the dish of meat and berries and the moon becomes fat again." (Explains the phases of the moon).



Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Alaskan Legends Part A

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The Bringing of the Light by Raven - The sun and moon were taken away; people only had the stars for light. An orphan boy that everyone hated said he could bring it back, put on a raven coat and became Raven. He asks his aunt where the sun and moon are and she doesn't know. He insists she wouldn't sew so well if she didn't know where it was, so she told him to go south on snowshoes and that he'll know it when he gets there. So he goes, and days later he sees a ray of light, but every time he gets closer to it, it disappears. He comes to a hill and one side is full of lights, the other black as night. There was a hut with a man shoveling snow out front. When he tossed snow in the air, you couldn't see the light until it fell. There was a ball of fire near the house and the boy plotted to steal it. He asks the man why he keeps throwing the snow, because it's hiding the light. The man tells him he's not hiding the light, he's shoveling snow. He asks the boy who is is, and he tells him his village is so dark that he came to live with the man. He invites the boy in, and the boy takes the ball of light, grabs the shovel and runs north. The man chased him, but the boy was Raven and could fly fast. As he flew, he broke off a piece of the light, which made day. Then he let it stay dark, then broke another piece, and kept doing so, creating days and nights. Sometimes nights were longer, because he traveled through the dark longer.


Myths and Legends of Alaska, edited by Katharine Berry Judson. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Goemon film

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Goemon (film) - Goemon's entire family is assassinated in front of him. He is saved by Nobunaga Oda, who has Goemon trained in ninjitsu. He is assigned to protect Princess Chacha, Oda's niece and falls in love with her, but due to having very different status, they don't end up together. Years later Goemon becomes a master thief. He steals a mysterious box, and is pursued by a samurai working for Lord Hideyoshi. He escapes with it, leaving behind a calling card. Goemon gives the gold inside the box to the poor, and throws the box away. A young thief named Koheita finds the box and takes it home. Goemon learns the box was valuable and goes to find it. He hears screams and saves Koheita from a samurai who has just murdered his mother. Goemon takes Koheita in as one of his band of thieves. Another ninja trained at the same time as Goemon, Saizo, confronts him about the box and tells him it is referred to as Pandora's Box. When Goemon is about to be defeated by Saizo, their teacher Hattori Hanzo appeared and saved him. Goemon finds a map in the box that leads him to a contract on Hideyoshi. Hanzo reappears and offers him gold to murder Hideyoshi. Goemon goes to his home and kills him, then hides in the ceiling of ChaCha's room. The real Hideyoshi walks in and Goemon is surprised to learn he killed his fake double. Goemon is shot by a guard trying to escape, and Saizo rescues him from the moat. Both Goemon and Saizo are asked by different people to assassinate Hideyoshi. Goemon deides not to. The guy who paid Saizo think it is done and shoots him. Saizo's child is taken and Hideyoshi decrees he should be boiled to death as a public execution. He tells him his name is Goemon. Hideyoshi kicked him innto the cauldron and threw the child in after him. Goemon confronts Hideyoshi about why he betrayed Nobunaga, and ends up killing Hideyoshi. Tokugawa and Mitsunari fight over who should rule Japan, Goemon charges in wearing Nonbunga and fights them during a solar eclipse. Mitsunari's army is superstitious about the eclipse so they leave. Goemon approaches Tokugawa and everyone assumes he intends to kill him, but he isn't holding a sword, just Chacha's fan. One of his emn stabs Goemon. Goemon admires the fireflies and stars and then dies.

Summary of the 2009 film Goemon. Web Source. 

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales - Lang Part B

(Photo from Mother Nature Network)

Schippeitaro - This is a different version of The Phantom Cats story that I read last week. It is similar, except instead of a samurai in the forrest, it is a Japanese boy who has reached adulthood, and they called the cat monster The Spirit of The Mountain.

The Magic Kettle - A man living in the mountains finds an old iron kettle that he hadn't seen in years, cleaned it and decided to replace his falling apart kettle with it. When he boils water, the kettle changes shape and becomes a tanuki (a Japanese raccoon dog). It ran around his house, climbing the walls and the ceiling, making the old man crazy, so he had his neighbor come over to help him catch it. They locked it in a trunk and try to sell it to a tradesman, Jimmu, but the trunk is empty, so the old man sells him the kettle instead. In the night, Jimmu hears noises and finds a tanuki running around. In the morning only the kettle is there. His neighbor tells him he should travel with it and show it off to get rich. None of it brought him any happiness, so he returned the kettle and gave some of the money to the old man. 

It might be fun if Akira had a magic coffee pot.

Uraschimataro - a young fisherman catches a small turtle. The turtle begs for its life and promises to repay him someday. Years later, Uraschimataro's boat gets destroyed and he is swimming for shore when he sees a huge turtle. It tells him it's the one he saved and offers to take him the rest of the way back to land. He saw on the turtle's back for 3 days and then they reached the palace of the sea god. The turtle tells him she's the first waiting maid of the sea princes Otohime. The princess fell in love with him instantly and begged him to stay. Eventually he misses his parents and wants to visit them. Otohime says if he goes he will never come back. She gives him a golden box and tells him never to open it, and if he doesn't the turtle will bring him back to her. While he was gone, his parents had died. He opens the box, and purple mist comes out and turns him into an old man. He tries to call the turtle, but it doesn't come, and he dies.



Japanese Fairy Tales from The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales - Lang Part A

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The Two Frogs - Japan - 1 frog lived in a ditch in Osaka, the other by a stream in Kioto. Both wanted to explore the world, set off in each other's direction. They had to climb a mountain and they met at the top. They hit it off and decide that if they stand on their hind legs and hold onto each other they can see each other's town from there. They pointed their noses towards each other's city, but forgot that their eyes are on the side of their heads, so they thought the cities looked exactly like each other. They decided to go home, and spent their lives thinking two completely different places looked just alike.

The Maiden With the Wooden Helmet - A beautiful girl's father becomes ill and dies, and it is only her and her mother left. When her mother gets older she begins to worry about how beautiful her daughter is and begs her to wear a wooden helmet when she goes out to hide her beauty. She promises, and her mother passes away. She gets a job working in the fields. Her master sees her and sees how hard she works and offers her a job as maid to his sick wife. When their son moves back home, he thinks it's curious and laughs when they tell him she won't take it off. He catches a glimpse of her beauty when she washes her face in the stream, and begins asking her daily to marry him. She always says no, until she has a dream of her mother telling her to marry him. On their wedding day, the helmet won't come off, so she gets married in it. After, they share wine and the helmet cracks, breaking into jewels, and everyone is captivated by her beauty.

Made me think of Futaba wearing her mask and everyone finding it startling and weird that she would hide behind it.

The Cat's Elopement - A beautiful cat named Gon lives with a music master, and a lady nearby owns a lovely female cat named Koma. One night the cats both went out for a stroll and met under a cherry tree and fell in love. Gon asks his master to buy Koma so he can marry her, but the lady won't sell her. They ran off together and ended up in a large park. A big dog showed up and scared Koma up a tree, and Gon stood up to it. Koma screamed for help and one of the princess who owned the park's servants came, scared the dog off and took Gon home with him. Koma was left alone and the princess became Gon's new owner. Everyone loved her because she was so nice, and a serpent fell in love with her and she was annoyed by him so the servants kept driving him away. It was sly and would sneak in to scare the princess. It snuck in and tried to kiss her and Gon grabbed it and killed it. She gave Gon love and pets and yummy food and a comfy bed. One morning he was sunbathing in front of the house, and saw a big cat messing with a little one and chased it away. The little cat turned out to be Koma. They were happy to be reunited and told the princess their story, and she said they should stay with her forever.



Japanese Fairy Tales from The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Myths & Legends of Japan and Japanese Folk Stories

CHAPTER II: HEROES AND WARRIORS
Yoshitsune and Benkei - can compare Yoshitsune to Henry V or the Black Prince, Benkei to a combination of Little John, Will Scarlet, and Friar Tuck. Yoshitsune was a remarkable hero, but was overshadowed by his faithful henchman Benkei, who was a greater man.

Yoshitsune and the Taira - His father, Yoshitomo was killed in a battle with the Taira clan. Their leader tried to destroy his children, but their mother took them into hiding. Yoshitsune was sent to a monastery at age 7, wanted to become a great warrior. Met a giant who turned out to be the King of the Tengu (King of the elves of the mountains), took a liking to Yoshitsune and taught him swordsmanship. Met brave priest Benkei at age 15. They fought and Yoshitsune won (because Bentei wasn't a warrior). "From this time we find the names of Yoshitsune and Benkei linked together, and in all the stories of warriors, whether in Japan or elsewhere, never was there a more valiant and harmonious union of strength and friendship. We hear of them winning numerous victories over the Taira, finally driving them to the sea, where they perished at Dan-no-ura."

Kushi-nada-hime ("Wondrous-Inada-Princess") - Susa-no-o meets her parents and they tell him they had 8 daughters and all were devoured by the eight-forked serpent, Orochi, and it is time for it to happen to this daughter as well. Susa-no-o agreed to slay the serpent for her hand in marriage, got the snake drunk on sake, and killed it. 

Myths & Legends of Japan, by F. Hadland (Frederick Hadland) Davis. Web Source.

(Photo from Wikimedia Commons)

The Choice of The Princess - the princess of Inaba was lovely and kind, but had not found a man she wanted to marry. Her court decided to have all men of the correct age and rank present themselves to her. In the meantime, there were 81 brothers, 80 of them mean and the youngest was kind. The 80 met a hare who had lost its fur, and advised it to bathe in salt water and stand in the wind, which ended up hurting it. It then meets the 81st brother, who figures out it must have been his mean brothers that the hare met. He tells it to bathe in the river;s fresh water, then rub pollen on his skin to heal it and his fur would grow back. The hare was grateful. His brother was owned by the princess, and he asked its help in making sure the 81st brother and the princess ended up together. When all 81 present themselves to the princess, she tells the 80 that their hearts are cruel and she will have none of them, and tells the 81st and she will have him alone as her husband.

The Phantom Cats - a samurai spends the night in a ruined temple in an empty forrest. In the night he hears strange sounds, wakes to see monsterous cats that looked like phantoms dancing wildly in front of the temple, making horrid sounds. When the noises stopped he fell asleep until morning. He leaves the forrest and asks for breakfast from a family in a small village. They tell him that a demon comes each year and demands the fairest maiden, and this year their daughter is the one. The samurai had heard whispers of a name, Shippeitaro, and the people tell him it's the name of the prince's dog. He asks the prince to borrow his dog and places it in the cage the girl was supposed to be delivered in. When the phantom cats arrive, the dog and the samurai defeat them together. The girl is saved because the dog Shippeitaro destroyed the phantom cats.

The Painter of Cats - a clever, polite, fine boy only has one fault, that he drew pictures of cats. Kihachi would not do anything else. He drew them in class, instead of playing with other kids, while his siblings slept. He drew them on his clothes. He drew small cats, big cats, mother cats and kittens. His mom finds a family of kittens drawn on her obi, the sash of her kimono, and she has had enough of the cats. They decide he might make a good priest since he is so kind, so they take him to a temple to see if they can get him to forget about the cats. He goes to live with the priest, and he does the things he should there and enjoys it all, but he still likes to draw cats. He drew them in the books and all over the temple, which made the priest angry. The priest tells him he will make a great artist and nothing else, and sends him away with a bag of rice. He is afraid to face his parents, so he heads to a different temple to ask them to take him in. When he gets there it is abandoned, and decides to wait in case the priests come back, and cleans, then begins to draw cats. When it gets dark he finds a small space to sleep in. He hears horrid screams and fighting in the night. In the morning, he hears the priests coming and goes out to see them. He finds a dead rat in a pool of blood by the cat drawings. He notices that the cats drawings are covered in blood, and tells the priests that his cats killed the rat goblin. They were shocked that he spent the night there, because they knew the temple was haunted by a rat goblin. One of them says he will be a great artist and tells him to go to the city where his brother will help him, and gives him 20 yen as thanks for saving the temple. Kihachi becomes a great artist, and tells his students that his first great picture was of cats and that he was paid 20 yen for it, and they nickname him the Painter of Cats.

Japanese folk stories and fairy tales, by Mary F. Nixon-Roulet. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology Part B

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The Faery Robe - A fisherman hears singing. A fairy comes down and touches the water, hanging her robe on a branch, and leaps into the water like a mermaid. The fisherman thinks her robe will bring him fortune. The fairy tells him to give her robe back so she can fly, and he tells her to dance for him first. She insist she can't dance without the robe, and he gives it to her, setting her free. She puts her rainbow wings on and sings as she flies back up (celestial dance). The fisherman falls in love with her beauty, and then everything is silent again when she is gone.

The Jewel of Heart's Desire: The Quest - Takeuchi has lost the crystal sword after the Empress asked him to watch over it. A fisher maid named Tamatori who wishes to marry him follows him to a cliff at night and he tells her the situation. They see shining in the water and decide it must be the crystal. Tamatori goes in the water to get it. Sharks, swordfish and other sea creatures come after her when she takes the crystal, and she fears death. the dragon comes, and she knows it won't let her live, so she plunges the sword into her chest, then thrusts the jewel into the wound. The dragon went away, and her body washed up at Takeuchi's feet. She was honored in death. The Empress named her the Princess of Heart’s Desire. Some say they were secretly wedded.

Japanese Mythology from Romance of Old Japan by E. W. Champney and F. Champney. Web Source.