Week 5 Storytelling: The Betrayal

The Betrayal 

Once upon a time there was a noble king and an unfaithful queen. The king loved his queen so much that he practically worshiped the ground she walked on. He showered her with gifts and attention. He provided her with anything she ever wanted. They lived happily together for many years, and all seemed well... but the queen had a dirty secret. You see, not long after she married the king, she met a man- a commoner who invoked in her the worst kind of lust. Each night when the king had fallen asleep, she'd sneak off to the chapel where she'd meet her secret lover. They'd run off together, spending the night in the throes of passion before the sun would begin to rise and the queen would have to sneak back into bed where the king snored peacefully.

Each morning the king would awaken to see his beautiful queen resting beside him. He'd smile and stretch before placing a kiss on her forehead and getting up to begin the day's duties. It was a happy life for the king and he counted himself incredibly lucky to have such a stunning and wonderful wife. However, things took a terrible turn one day when the king woke up and his wife was nowhere to be found. He cried out for her, but no answer. He rushed through the halls, calling her name but to no avail. His queen was nowhere to be found! The king checked everywhere before finally ending up at the chapel. It was here that he found his queen, wrapped in a blanket and snuggled up to another man. The king roared in anger, waking the queen and her lover from their slumber. She panicked and tried to explain, but the king was beside himself in rage. He called for the guards. "Take this man and his whore to the dungeon!" He yelled, and the queen and the man were hauled off.

For days the king could not be bothered with kingdom affairs. Stricken with grief and heartbreak, the king spent many days pacing in his room. He tried to figure out what he'd done wrong. How had he not pleased her? What could he have done better? Had he not given her the world, not shown her enough affection? These questions plagued the king, and his hatred and distrust began to grow. It started in his heart, which had been broken into many tiny pieces, swirling around the jagged edges of his once full of love heart and pulling it back together to form a seething mass of anger and deep sadness. This darkness spread out, winding around his veins and running alongside his arteries. It ignited a fire within him, a fire of complete and total hatred for women. After all, the woman he'd loved more than anything in the world had betrayed him and for what? Some peasant!

His heart and mind now fully consumed by the darkness, the king ordered his wife and her lover be executed. They cried and pleaded for mercy, but he showed them none. The fire in his soul burned bright in his eyes as the executioner's sword came swiftly down on their necks. No woman would hurt him like she did ever again. In fact, no woman would hurt any man in his kingdom if he could help it.

Image Information:
King Haakon VII and Queen Maud of Norway with their regalia.
Found on Wikipedia

Author's Note:
My story this week comes from The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898). This week I chose to base my story on the tale of Scheherazade from the un-textbook, but unlike the original story I did not focus on the woman who defeats the king. I chose to focus on WHY the king ended up hating women so much that he started marrying and killing them one after another. I wanted to show the heartbreak he felt and the happy man he was before he was betrayed and fell deep into darkness. I wanted to portray the woman as a villainous betrayer to the king because that is really what she was. I felt very little pity for her when I read the original. Sure, execution for adultery is harsh, but so is finding out your wife who you love and cherish is cheating on you with some random guy from the town outside your palace. Anyway, I enjoyed the story of Scheherazade and feel like she is definitely a hero, but wanted to focus on a character whose story is not fully told: the king.

Week 5 Reading Diary B: Arabian Nights

This week I chose to read the Arabian Nights reading unit from the un-textbook. The second half of this reading unit is 6 chapters that all tell the story of Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp. Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

Aladdin Fan Art

by Shelziru, found on Deviant Art

Part 1

• First off, Aladdin is an "idle" (I think this might mean disabled in some way) street rat who is playing with his degenerate friend and causes so much grief for his father that the man dies! He freakin' dies! AND Aladdin doesn't try to change his ways afterward. 
• Aladdin meets an African magician who claims to be his uncle. The man takes Aladdin, buys him fancy clothes and shows him many sights before coming to a narrow valley between two mountains. He made a fire, threw some powder in it, and spoke some incantations  before giving the boy a ring. Under the stone, said the man, there is a treasure of unspeakable power and it is all for Aladdin as long as he does what the man says. His instructions were as follows:

"Go down," said the magician; "at the foot of those steps you will find an open door leading into three large halls. Tuck up your gown and go through them without touching anything, or you will die instantly. These halls lead into a garden of fine fruit trees. Walk on till you come to a niche in a terrace where stands a lighted lamp. Pour out the oil it contains and bring it to me."

•  Just like in the movie, when Aladdin grabs the lamp, the cave starts falling in on itself and the magician tells him to hand over the lamp. Aladdin wouldn't do it until he got out of the cave and the magician disappeared. He hadn't been Aladdin's uncle, he just wanted to get the lamp and all the magical power it possessed before killing Aladdin. 
• Aladdin rubs the lamp and out pops a genie.. I am slave to the ring and you're wish is my command, said the genie.

Part 2

• Aladdin wishes for the genie to get him out of the cave. His wish is granted and he heads home to tell his mom everything that happened. 
• His next wish is for some food and is presented with a glorious feast on 12 silver plates for him and his mother. They sit down and eat while Aladdin tells his mom about the lamp and the genie. She tells him to sell it- that thing's got devil in it for sure. Aladdin obviously refuses and goes on to sell the twelve plates.
• One day, the sultan told everyone to stay inside and draw their blinds so that his daughter may go to and from her bath. Aladdin wanted to see her face so bad that he followed her and when he saw her face, he immediately fell in love. Aladdin went home a changed man and professed his love for the princess to his mom as well as his intention to ask her to marry him- to which his mother replied by bursting into laughter. Finally she agrees to take some magical fruit to the sultan as an offer for the princess's hand in marriage.
• It took 6 days before the sultan called on her, but when she presented her offer he was astounded. The grand-vizir wanted his son to marry the princess so he begged the sultan to give him 3 months so that his son may come up with a better gift in exchange for the princess. The sultan finally agreed to hold off the wedding for 3 months, then the two shall be married. 
• Aladdin waits patiently until he hears that the grand-vizir's son is to marry the princess just as the three months were about up. He asks the genie to bring him the bride and groom; the genie obeys. He told the genie to throw the man out in the cold and laid down next to the terrified princess where he slept soundly for the rest of the night. 
• As per Aladdin's command, at daybreak the genie fetched the groom and put him back in bed before transporting him and the princess back to the palace. 

Part 3

• The two tell their families of what happened but no one believes them, so every night the same thing happens until finally the groom wishes to leave the princess or suffer another night of torture. The two are divorced and when the three months were up, Aladdin's mom returned to the sultan to remind him of his promise. He remembered, but was surprised to learn of how poor Aladdin and his mom were. He didn't want to give his daughter to such poverty so he set so high of a bride price that surely no one would be able to afford it. He told the mother, 

"a Sultan must remember his promises, and I will remember mine, but your son must first send me forty basins of gold brimful of jewels, carried by forty black slaves, led by as many white ones, splendidly dressed. "

• She goes home, head hung because she knows they cannot afford this. Aladdin wasn't shocked and simply wished for all of the things the sultan wanted. They appeared, and were sent off to follow the mother back to the palace. The sultan was pleased and sent for Aladdin.
• Aladdin bathed and asked for all of the things to make him look like a prince. He then mounted his new horse and trotted into the town, having his slaves throw gold along the path he made. The king was impressed and urged him to marry the princess that day. Aladdin refused, saying he first wanted to build a palace fit for the princess. He did so and the two were happily married. This is when the grand-vizir smells something fishy about Aladdin. 

Part 4

• Far off in Africa, the magician from earlier in the story, remembers Aladdin and realizes after hearing his rags-to-riches story that he has been using the power of the genie. One day, while Aladdin is gone, the magician comes to the palace carrying 20 bronze lamps and trying to trade them for the old ones housed there. He gets the magic lamp and heads back to Africa.
• The next day, everything was gone, and finally thinking everything might have been magic, the Sultan sends for Aladdin to be brought to him in chains. He is dragged through the town with a mob of villagers behind him, armed and planning to attack should any harm come to Aladdin. He was brought before the sultan who ordered he be decapitated, but the order was not carried out because Aladdin begged to know what he'd done. The sultan showed the empty place where Aladdin's palace once stood, complete with princess inside. The sultan demanded to know where his daughter was. Aladdin asked for 40 days to find her and was granted it. 
• He was so distraught that he threw himself into the river and in doing so rubbed his magic ring. The ring genie came out and he asked him to save his life. The ring genie replied that he could not and instead took him to his palace which was now in Africa. 

Part 5

• Much like Jafar and Jasmine, the magician made the princess his slave. Aladdin asks her where his lamp went and she told him that the magician carried it with him at all times. Aladdin tells her of his plan. She must seduce the magician and convince him to join her for some wine. Aladdin gave her some powder and instructed her to put it in the magician's cup which she did. The powder was poison and when the magician drank it, he fell back.. dead. 

Part 6

• Aladdin and the princess are reunited, the palace is moved back to China where it's supposed to be, and the Sultan is ecstatic to see the return of his daughter. There was a huge feast held in Aladdin's honor and all seemed well, but it turned out that the evil magician had an even more evil  younger brother. 
• The brother kills a woman named Fatima, takes her clothes, and makes himself up to look like her. Then, he enters the palace under his disguise as a holy woman. He says a prayer of health and prosperity over the princess who asks him to stay forever by her side. He consents, but is careful to keep the veil over his face so as to keep up his charade. She shows him a great hall and he says the only thing missing is a Roc's egg. Aladdin's like, "no problem!" and he retires to his room where he asks the genie to procure a Roc's egg.
• The genie freaks out! "You want me to hang my master up in your hall like a decoration?!" he yells. Then, the genie realizes Aladdin had nothing to do with this request and tells Aladdin of the truth of Fatima.
• Aladdin cleverly tells his people to fetch him Fatima for he has a terrible headache and needs assistance. The magician comes, but as he approaches Aladdin, he is killed by a dagger to the heart. The princess screams and asks hysterically how Aladdin could kill the holy woman, but he reveals the true nature of the magician in disguise and the two lived happily ever after.  

Finding Your Inner Goddess: Introduction First Draft

This was for the week 4 project assignment. It did not require a blog post, but I decided to make one just to see if I could get some initial feedback.

Introduction: 

My name is Clara and I just got back from a journey around the world where I saw the sights, heard the stories, and met some of the most amazing and powerful goddesses and honorary goddeses (those who may not technically be ranked "goddess," but are one in their own right) in all of mythology and folklore. I traveled to Rome, Greece, Egypt, Japan, and England on a journey of self-discovery. I dedicated my time to learning about the culture, values, and mythology of each location I visited. I immersed myself and was humbled when the people shared their stories with me. I let loose, got out of my comfort zone, and  had one hell of an adventure. Most importantly, I learned about what it means to find your inner goddess. After hearing the stories of the region and recording them on my blog, I interviewed the goddesses themselves and learned some ways to empower myself and integrate the ways of the goddess into my life. 

Experience, as I did, Egypt and it's goddess, Isis, the mother of all. She is the goddess of nature and magic. Isis exudes power and divinity, and her story shows how she came to be the goddess she is today. She teaches us to be both mighty and embrace our gifts, even if they can't be as awesome as magic. Then travel with me to Japan where we meet Izanami, the goddess of love and mother of the gods. From her we learn the importance of being confident and embracing our womanhood. After all, only women can create life! Izanami knew this and gave birth to the world and all of it's deities according to the Japanese creation myth. Continue on to find out what she wanted to say to women today.

After I met Izanami and learned the stories of her land, I continued on to England where I heard stories of a female knight named Britomart who became known as the faerie queene. She is a pillar of female strength who went on many adventures during her quest to find her lover, a man she'd seen in Merlin's mirror. Her dedication, brawn, and strength make her an icon and her down-to-earth personality makes her a delight. Britomart teaches us how to embrace our strength an honor our bodies by being dedicated and healthy. 

This is the story of my experiences as I explored the world, interviewed it's strongest women, and invoked the goddess in my own life. Join me and be empowered as we learn how to find our inner goddesses. 

Week 5 Reading Diary A: Arabian Nights

This week I chose to read the Arabian Nights reading unit . I really enjoyed it and chose to comment extensively on my favorite stories from each section of the unit. This week's stories include:

1. Scheherazade
2. The Story of the Parrot; The Story of the Ogress
3. The Story of the Physician's Revenge 

Scheherazade

• Sheherazade is a storyteller who is telling these stories to her husband, the sultan Schahriar, and her sister, Dinarzade.
• The Sultan once had a wife who cheated on him and betrayed him and his faith so she was put to death. He was so shaken that he began to believe that women were evil at their core, all of them. So, he decided there should be less women on the Earth and began a cycle of marrying a new wife each night and having her strangled in front of the Grand-Vizir (who was tasked with finding the new wives), and chaos ensuing among the Sultan's people as his horrific obsession began leaving families without their daughters.
• the Grand-Vizir has 2 daughters: Scheherazade (the most gifted and beautiful) and Dinarzade (the plain one)
• Scheherazade comes to her father and says she wants to stop the Sultan's evil behavior. She suggests he give her to the Sultan as his next bride (to which he flips out, obviously), but refusing to explain her reasoning*. After much emotional toil for the father, he finally consents and tells the Sultan.

*Blogger feels it necessary that this was a little bit... trifling of Sheherazade to do (not tell her father her plan, poor guy was grief-stricken and fearful)

• The Sultan is shocked and asks how he is able to sacrifice his own daughter. The Grand-Vizir tells him that it is her wish and even though they all know he fate that awaits her, she insists. The Sultan reminds the man that he will still have to carry out her death sentence himself or face the punishment. The Grand-Vizir pledges his allegiance to the Sultan and the two part ways. 
• Scheherazade thanks her father before leaving to go get ready for the marriage. She sends for her sister and tells her of her plan: that night she would ask, as her last wish, that the Sultan allow her sister to sleep in the room with them, if he allows it she is to wake Scheherazade up before the sun comes up and ask for her to tell her a story, then she would ask the Sultan to allow her to oblige her sister (which he does), and.. That's where the story ends! Cliff-hanger! 

**Over-Arching Story-line: the daughter takes so long to tell the story that she manages to extend her life each day simply by telling such great tales. Each different story is a tale within a tale and is being told by a new storytelling character in that tale. Also, the character in each tale is in a similar situation to that of Scheherazade; for instance, their lives may also depend on the story they tell. If they tell a good-enough story, then maybe the bad guy in the story will spare their life (much like Scheherazade and the Sultan). Complicated, right?!**

The Story of the Parrot; The Story of the Ogress

This story is in two parts: the story of the parrot, told by Scheherazade, and the story of the ogress, told by the Grand-Vizir of the precious story. 

1. The Story of the Parrot

• There is a good man who loves his wife very much. He bought her a parrot because he didn't want her to have to be alone while he went on a business trip. When he got back from his trip he asked the bird what happened while he was gone and the bird told him some salacious stories about his wife that made him angry. He scorned his wife and she angrily goes on the hunt for who told her husband these things. When she finds out it's the parrot, she plots her revenge. 
• The next time the husband had to leave for the night, the wife and her slaves tricked the bird into thinking there were awful storms all night. So, when the man came home and asked the bird how it went, the bird told him that the thunder and rank were so bad during the night that he couldn't even tell of his suffering. 
• The husband, however, knew that it had not rained or thundered the night before and as convinced the bird was lying to him. He took the bird by the neck and threw it angrily onto the ground, killing it. 
• The king later found out that the bird had in fact not lied and was terribly sorry. 

2. The Story of the Ogress

• There's a king and his son who loved to hunt. One day, while the sun is out hunting, he ends up lost from from the Grand-Vizir and his group and stumbles upon a maiden crying on the side of the road. 
• She tells the prince that she's and Indian princess who is lost and without horse. He offers to take her back to her home and she accepts. She leads him to a set of ruins where it is revealed that she's actually an ogress who plans to feed him to her young! 

• The prince said, "nope" and hopped on his horse. When the ogress saw her prey had escaped she knew it was too late for her to catch him so she asked if she could help him. He was surprised when she told him how to get back to the road, but didn't stick around. He rode home and told the king of what happened. The king, in response to the Grand-Vizir's incompetence and the danger it put his son in, ordered him to be strangled. 

The Physician's Revenge

~The Vizir accuses the physician of being an assassin to the king. The king believes him and sends for the physician with the intent to behead him. The physician arrives and is shocked; he pleads for his life in exchange for the king's, but is bound and positioned for the ax. He begs the king to let him get his affairs in order, including ensuring that his books are given to those who deserve them, including the king. 

~In this book, the physician contends, there are instructions for how to force the severed head of the physician to talk and reveal all to the king after he has been executed. Naturally, the king is intrigued and orders that the physician's execution be postponed and that guards escort the physician to tend to his end-of-life plans. 

~The physician returns to the palace with a book. He tells the king to put the book in the basin after he cuts off his head, the blood will then cease flowing and the head will begin to speak. He is solemn as he tells the king these words, and begs the king one last time to spare his life for he is innocent. The king refuses and the physician's head is cut off. 

~The king opens the book and begins flipping through the sticky pages, licking his fingers between pages, before growing confused. The pages were blank. He kept flipping frantically, licking his fingers to switch the pages, until the poison they'd been dipped in took effect. The head came back to life to shove it in the king's face before both of then died.

Image Information:

1. Trifling, image author unknown, found on The Super B-Beat Show's Blog.
2. Female Man-Eater, Bamela Anderson, posted on the Lead Adventure Forums by user LeadAsbestos

Week 4 Famous Last Words

What a Crazy Week!

Me this week

Originally posted on I Can Haz Cheezburger, found on this blog

This week was probably my busiest week so far this semester. I had something going on every day of the week and felt like I hardly had an hour of free time total for the week. However, this week was not bad, just busy. I had a lot of good news come in, lots of good learning experiences, and reassurance of how amazing the people around me are. Plus, I still managed to get some fun in.

Monday

• As per usual, Monday was my only day of class. I had practicum seminar 12:30-1:20 and Research Methods II 1:30-4:20. Then my roommate and I carpooled up to Calm Waters in OKC so we could get there by 5:30 for grief groups. The groups went well and my classes were good, but it meant that I was busy all day.

Tuesday

• Tuesday I had my practicum at Calm Waters from 10am to 8pm. It was also the first day of divorce groups at Calm Waters. This session i'm working with the Children III group which consists of 8-11 year olds and I am excited about facilitating it because the kids are old enough to really do some deep processing, but young enough to be a lot of fun and willing to open up and bond in group. 

Wednesday

• Wednesday I woke up at 9am so I could shower, get dressed and go to CVS where I got my passport photo taken. Then, I went to the post office on Gray St. where I applied for my passport. Next, I drove up to the city to take a tour of the Oklahoma Foundation for the Disabled. I got to do an interview with a director before getting a tour of the facility. It was really neat to learn about the adult day care and all the extra activities and services it provides. After my tour I drove back to Norman where I grabbed a quick lunch and some coffee before heading to campus for a meeting with Shanna Vincent, the study abroad adviser for the Journey to Africa-Tanzania trip this summer. We talked about the activities that I will get to do such as working with social welfare agencies, taking 2 classes (that count as both of my required masters level electives), living with host families, learning some Swahili, taking a spice tour in Zanzibar, visiting the Ngorongoro Conservation Area which is home to a deep, volcanic crater-the largest un flooded and unbroken caldera in the world, according to the Ngorongoro Conservation Area Authority website, going on a safari, and holding a thank you celebration for the host families and the community before we leave. The interview went great and really got me pumped about the trip! Then, I went to the Study Abroad 101 infosession at 4:30pm as part of my required tasks necessary to submit my application for study abroad. After that, I went home and took a short nap before getting dressed again and heading with my practicum instructor Rita to Chickasha where we did extended care for a dying hospice patient from 10pm to 3am. Luckily, it was a pretty quiet night, but I WAS BUSHED when i got home at 4:00 that morning. I passed out so fast! 

Here's a link to the study abroad website where you can learn more about the Journey to Africa program!

Thursday

• My Thursday morning started off rough, with me sleeping through 2 alarms and 3 phone calls. This resulted in me being 2.5 hours late to my practicum! I was mortified and so anxious! The rest of the day was okay. Once I got to Calm Waters I worked and got ready for groups until 5:30 before driving home.

Friday

• Friday I was up early to be at Valir Hospice in OKC by 8am for an interdisciplinary team meeting where social workers, physicians, nurses, chaplains, aides, volunteers, and students can all share the opinions on and experiences with patients that week and work together to further develop the patients' plans of care. Then, I had my weekly supervisory conference meeting with Rita before going out to shadow Kirsten, another social worker at Valir, as she performed a social work assessment on a new patient at an Oak Hills nursing home. After that, I had lunch with the Valir ladies and talked about issues arising in my practicum. I left at about 1:30 then headed back home so I could go to O'Connell's on Campus Corner for dinner with a few friends. We went to the hookah bar afterward which was nice, but I didn't stay out late because I was just exhausted. 

Saturday

• Saturday my roommate and I woke up and took the dog out where we played for a long time. She has so much energy! Then, her parents picked us up and we all went to Chili's for lunch before going out to the shooting range. I had never shot a gun before because my father growing up was sexist and believed guns were only for men, so I was ecstatic to finally get the opportunity while also a little nervous. We shot my roommates PK380 and her dad's 9mm and it was awesome! My roommate is a natural, while i'm just impressed with how much power is in my hands. It was a lot of fun and afterward we hung out before going to a party at my boyfriend's apartment. It wasn't wild or crazy, but it did have hookah and cool lights which was awesome and I had a great time! 

Sunday

• Sunday the weather was beautiful so my boyfriend and I chose to sit on the patio at Chuy's where we had lunch. It was lovely and relaxing! Then, we went grocery shopping before coming home to hang out with my roommate and work on homework. 

Now, i'm just looking forward to another crazy week, but I look forward to it, and guess what...

I'M GOING TO AFRICA! 

Sorry, i'm just so excited!

Week 4 Essay: Ancient Egypt

This week I was excited to read the Ancient Egypt reading unit because I've always been interested in Egyptology. Ever since I was little I've been fascinated by their mythology, culture, landscape, language. Just about every weekend growing up we would get up early on Sunday and go out to breakfast at Steak and Eggs before hitting the local garage sales. We would spend all morning hunting for bargains, which for me meant books. I would scour the sales for books about anatomy, animals, Egypt, and weird facts. So, naturally, this reading unit was right up my alley.

I began the reading eagerly, but found it hard to continue reading after i'd been reading for a while during the first story. This story told the Egyptian creation myth which is a wonderful and interesting topic, however because it was written or adapted to be a condensed version of the story it came off as tedious and confusing. I often felt lost and had to reread a section to make sure I had the gods and goddesses straight. I took notes, marking the name and status of each god/goddess as well as how they were related to aforementioned gods/goddesses. This helped, but it did not make the story more easy to read and I ended up feeling relieved when I finished the story. I think some further explanation or notes might help, or maybe some diagrams or pictures that can map out some of the tangled situations present in the myth.

That being said, I enjoyed the rest of the stories immensely! I was particularly interested in the story titled, "The Secret Name of Ra" because in other religions and cultures words of power are often featured and names are seen as holding the key to someone's power. I also just enjoyed the story because it was entertaining and strange.

Speaking of Ra, I found a funny picture of him and thought i'd share it:

Ra is Smexy and He Knows it

Made by XanaGirl33 on DeviantArt

Reading Diary A- Ancient Egypt

This week I chose to read the Ancient Egypt unit from the un-textbook.

Creation
Read Egypt's creation myth HERE!

• At the beginning here was nothing but water and it was named Nu.Nu is the father of all.
• Ra is the sun god who grew to become the father of gods and all creation.
• Ra created: Shu the wind god and Tefnut the goddess of rain. When the two aren't on Earth, they live as constellations in the sky and are referred to as "The Twins." 
• Seb = the earth god, Nut = the goddess of the firmament/the sky; they are the parents of:
• Osiris = god of the dead, ruler of the underworld
• Isis = consort to Osiris, goddess of nature and magic, mother of life
• Set = god of desert, storms, disorder, violence, and foreigners
• Nepthys = consort to Set, goddess of death, service, lamentation, nighttime, and rivers
• With only words, Ra commanded the Earth to rise out of the water so Shu (god of light and air) rose up and held up the sky. Ra then created all of the rest of the Earth and all of humanity sprung forth from his eye. Ra became the first king on Earth. 

The Secret Name of Ra 

• Ra has many names, but one name is the source of his divine power. Isis sought to learn this name so that she could have equal power to Ra and leave the human world that she'd grown tired of to live with the gods. She knew he kept the secret name in his bosom and never spoke it so for a long time she watched Ra as he grew old and began to drool. She would follow behind him and gather the saliva before baking it in the earth and turning into a sacred snake. She let it go where she knew Ra would be walking (FYI the snake is invisible to both gods and men).
• Ra goes walking and gets bitten by the invisi-snake. The snakes venom tore through his body causing him to cry out in pain. The gods in heaven heard his cry and asked what happened. Ra shook and his teeth chattered, taking his answer from his lips. He told them he didn't know what had struck him, he was not powerful enough to find out. 
• Ra's followers gathered around him and mourned for the fallen king. Isis showed up too, but she did not cry. She walked up to Ra and used her power of healing as she spoke incantations over him to subdue his pain. She told him that in order to save him she needed to know his secret name. Ra eventually gives in and wills his secret name, and therefore power, to Isis. Ra vanished, but once Isis had her power, she brought him back good as new. 

Ra and Hathor
Find out what happens when you forget where you came from in this story about Ra and Hathor.

• Ra's followers began to plot against him because he was old and frail. 
• Ra summons the gods to his temple at Heliopolis where he asked them what he should do about his ungrateful, rebellious little creations (humanity). He suggested that Nu generate a great flood and wipe out humanity so that Ra may start over. 
• Nu suggests he send his eye to Earth as Hathor to seek out and punish those who spoke against him. Ra agrees that this is a good idea and sends the goddess Hathor who quickly slays those who'd gone against Ra, bathing in their blood. 
• After the slaughter, Ra repented and tried to save what remained of mankind. He took a bunch of plants of virtue, the blood of mankind, some water, and some barley which he used to create a beer which would save mankind from Hathor. He poured the brew into 7,000 jars and sent them to where Hathor slept where they were emptied, flooding her room. 
• When Hathor woke up, she smiled at her reflection and began chugging the beer. Soon she became drunk and Ra spoke to her, telling her to come back to to him. From then on, when the Nile rose with red flood waters, the people of Egypt made sacrifices of beer to Hathor.
• Ra was still mad at humanity though, so he decided to leave and no longer live among men. 

The Sun's Journey

• Ra goes back into the heavens where he created Aalu, an eden of sorts for the gods. 
• Ra then tells Seb, the earth god, to tell all of the reptiles to watch their backs and fear him. He proclaimed that his son, Osiris would favor magicians who protect men from evil reptiles. Then, he created the messengers of Thoth.
• Ankh = symbol of life
• Anubis = gatekeeper to the underworld
• Ûrnes = river Styx in Egyptian mythology
• Ra is travelling through the underworld. At the end of the first layer, he comes to a giant wall where incantations are spoken to open the gate for him. Waiting for him is Apep, the night serpent, who waits to eat Ra. Ra keeps going and eventually makes it through the 5th section where Sokar, the god of the underworld, lives. Past that, in the 7th section, lives Osiris, the "divine judge of the dead." If Osiris favors you, you enter the nether world, if not, your soul is devoured by serpents and demons. 
• Apep attacks Ra, but Isis and other allies kill the creature. 

Osiris

• Osiris took over as king after Ra ascended to the heavens. He saw the sorry state of man and was disgusted. He began changing things, making just and binding laws and decrees as well as judging men for their crimes with great wisdom. His changes led to peace for Egypt. 
• Isis = the queen consort of Osiris. Isis saw that men needed to learn how to live off the earth so she brought wheat and barley to Osiris who taught men how to grow and harvest the plants. He also taught them how to grind corn into meal and flour so they would not run out of food. 
• Osiris went on to teach the ways of the gods to the people, erecting temples and teaching his people how to live holy lives. 
• There was peace and prosperity in Egypt under this king and he became known as Osiris the Good. Because of his success in Egypt, Osiris set off to travel the world spreading his teachings. One of my favorite quotes from this reading was during this part of the reading where it says, "Peace followed in his footsteps, and men learned wisdom from his lips." Osiris was seen as a father to the people of Egypt and of Earth in general. 
• Isis reigned over Egypt while Osiris traveled, but faced much adversity from Set, Osiris's brother, who wished to overthrow the king and queen so he could take over power for himself. 

The Death of Osiris
Read here about the fall of the king! 

• When Osiris came home there was a great celebration attended by many including Set and his followers. Set brought a beautiful chest that had been made to the king's measurements exactly and said that whoever best fit in the chest would get the gorgeous chest. Many people got in, but when Osiris got in Set's followers jumped on him and shut the chest up tight. They nailed it shut and sealed it with lead which led to Osiris dying. The chest was then thrown into the Nile. 
• The party broke up and fighting erupted. After all was said and done, Isis was told of what happened and she grieved so deeply that she spent the rest of her days searching the Nile for her beloved. While she searched, Set took over. Tyranny, disorder, thievery, chaos, and persecution became the new normal for Egypt and Isis was made a fugitive so she hid in swamps and the jungle with her 7 scorpion protectors. 
• Ra saw her plight and sent Anubis to help guide her. One day, Isis asked for shelter from a woman but was met with a door shutting in her face because the lady feared Isis's scorpions. As a result, a scorpion got into the woman's home and bit her child, causing it to die. The mother cried and wept, and her sadness touched Isis who uttered incantations that brought the child back to life. Needless to say, the lady let Isis in and was incredibly grateful. 

The Journey of Isis
Read about the mother of all, Isis, in her story from the un-textbook.

• Isis gave birth to Horus. When Set found out, he captured them and held them prisoner in his palace. He planned to kill the baby Horus, but Isis found out thanks to Thoth and fled. She hid in Buto, where she entrusted the care of the infant to Uazit, the virgin goddess of the city, because she was a serpent and could protect the child from his evil uncle while Isis went to go look for Osiris's body. 
• While Isis was gone, Horus was bitten by a scorpion and died. Thankfully, Ra and the other gods wished for him to live, become strong, and avenge Osiris's death so he spoke magical words over the child restoring his life. 
• Osiris's coffin ended up in Syria where it washed up on the shore and a great tree grew up around it to house his body in its great trunk. The ruler of Syria saw the tree and loved it so he had it cut down and brought to his home. Isis got a wild hair up her butt and made her way to Syria where she was taken in by the queen who chose Isis to become foster-mother to the royal baby. Isis wouldn't suckle him, instead she just popped her finger in his mouth when he cried. 
• That night, Isis set the baby on fire and turned into a swallow, crying out and circling the tree that housed her husband's body. The queen came in and found her baby in flames. She saved him, but it meant that he'd no longer be immortal. Isis calmed down, turned back into herself, and confessed who she was and why she was there. She asked to cut the tree open and retrieve her husband's body and her wish was granted. 
• She left on her ship with Osiris in tow and was joined by the king's oldest son, Maneros. Sadly, Maneros was too curious for his own good and went snooping around Osiris's chest to which Isis looked upon him with anger in her eyes, blinding the man and causing him to die and fall off the side of the ship.
• When Isis returned to Egypt she hid her husband's body and set off to see her son. Set, who was out hunting, came upon the chest and opened it. He had Osiris's body cut into 14 sections then thrown into the Nile to be eaten by crocodiles. The crocodiles, however, feared and respected Isis so they wouldn't touch the pieces of the dead king and instead they ended up scattered along the river banks -except for the king's penis which was swallowed by a fish. 
• When Isis found out she freaked and set out to recover the parts of her husband, which she did (except for his penis of course). She buried the fragments of his body where she found them and made a tomb for each. After a while, temples were erected over these tombs and became sites of worship for Osiris's followers for centuries. 

King of the Dead

• Set continued to rule and persecute those who worshiped Osiris and Isis, but Horus (who has the right to the throne) grew up to be a strong man. He gathered support and prepared for battle after being visited by the ghost of his father in a dream. The two fought for days, both sides losing men and Horus losing an eye, before Set was badly wounded and forced from the kingdom. 
• Thoth came down from heaven and healed Horus and Set before Horus came before the divine council and took over the throne. 
• Isis cried so much about her husband that Anubis came and put all of the pieces together before wrapping them up to create the mummy of Osiris. Isis then spread her wings and hovered over Osiris, forcing air into his lungs and bringing him to life to take on his new role as the judge and king of the dead. 

Statuette of Osiris Sitting

Artist unknown, found on Wikimedia Commons

The Wax Crocodile

• Prince Khafra is telling King Khufu about the tale of the Wax Crocodile. 
• Once, there was a handsome young Pharaoh accompanied his follower and that man's wife. The wife fell for the Pharaoh and the two began an affair. The butler saw this and had the scribe make a wax crocodile and place a curse upon it. Then, he let the croc go in the lake as the young follower was bathing and it came to life and ate him! Seven days later the scribe asks the Pharaoh to accompany him to the lake where he summons the crocodile and informs the king that it obeys his every command. The Pharaoh tells him to send it back to the lake. The scribe then said an incantation and the crocodile turned once more into wax. The Pharaoh couldn't believe his eyes and the scribe told him all he'd done. To his surprise, the Pharaoh was horrified by his wrongdoing and ordered the crocodile to seize the scribe, which it did. Then, he ordered that the scribe's wife be burned at the stake and her remains thrown in the Nile. 

The Green Jewel

• King Sneferu was bored, so his scribe told him to take his 20 favorite harem girls on a rowing trip to the lake. Surely the splashing of beautiful virgins would entertain the king! They went out and were rowing when an oar dislodged a green jewel from the hair of the first rower. She stopped and caused quite the commotion. The king said he'd give her another, but she wasn't having it so the king asked the scribe to get the jewel for her which he did using his magic. All was well after that.