OU Mythology and Folklore Fall 2018 - Daegan Layman

Author's Note: I really enjoy creation stories and the somber tale of Izanagi and Izanami's love lost is a neat way to establish the beginnings of the Japanese mythos. I rewrote their story with them dying together in a less sad way. Source:  Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E.W. and F. Champney. Izanagi and Izanami. Picture source . Silence Becomes Before the beginning, there hid in the darkest gaps of nothingness a spatial eminence gurgling with activity. Over time, its energy became thunderous and as it shook, the gallant Sun and its companion, the Moon, emerged. As the chaotic blur of the void was illuminated, another powerful pair came to be. Izanagi and Izanami stood an arm's length apart from one another. Basking in the presence of the Moon, the ultramarine lace adorning Izanami's garb gleamed hypnotically. The mighty Sun paled in comparison to the fire that arose in Izanagi's heart at the sight of her. Her passion burned just as b...

Author's Note: Arthur Ryder's translation of Vetālapañcaviṃśati ,  or Twenty-Two Goblins. The story of the Twenty-Two Goblins, as translated by Arthur Ryder, details a king's quest to deliver a body to a monk. The body is possessed by a goblin, which asks the king riddles. If he can answer them correctly, the goblin jumps back to the sissoo tree and the king must go and retrieve him once more. For this story, I'll be adding another riddle to the collection. Sweat dripped heavily from the king's brows. Over one of his shoulders, he carried the body tirelessly back to the sissoo tree. The goblin sat on one of the branches, ephemerally phasing his fingers through the evergreen leaves of the tree. He sat up urgently at the sight of the king, quickly whirling in a mist towards the body. Through the mouth he entered, like a soul. He spoke in a multitude of tones, as if himself a congregation of spirits. "Good to see you again, my king. Where were we?" The king...

Source: Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend  by E.W. and F. Champney. Izanagi and Izanami : Before the beginning, there was nothing but chaos. Out of that chaos there became space, which like a flower bloomed, giving rise to the Sun and Moon. From this as well there spawned a plethora of gods. In a poem at the beginning of this reading, it tells that the lovemaking of The God Izanagi and his wife, the Goddess Izanami, gave rise to the other gods, men, mammals, the sea, the earth, and countless other things. In the actual reading it is this mercurial blooming of the space born from chaos that divines these things. Izanagi and Izanami lived on the isle of Onogoro and eventually became surrounded by the eight islands called Yamato, Tsukushi, Iyo, Tsushima, Ahaji, Shikoku, Oki, and Lado. They then gave birth to a son and daughter, Susa-no-wo-no-mikoto and the Amaterasu-omikami (who is really well represented by a white dog with a paint brush in a game called Okami that...

Author's Note: I am basing this story off of the Tale of Two Brothers  in Part B of the Ancient Egypt stories. Instead of following Anpu and Bata, this story begins with the creation of Bata's divine wife and gives context to her side of the story from then on forward (with some major alterations). Women are not named in the Tale of Two Brothers , and the only two significant women in the story are murdered by their husbands (along with the pretty woman that convinces Bata's wife to come live with Egypt's king). While the wives are portrayed as lustful and treacherous in the story, I am not approaching this story that way. Kamilah Khnum wiped the sweat from his brow and admired his work. From his potter's wheel there became a woman of intense beauty and sincerity. Her movement was ethereal and synchronous with the breeze of the winds. As she ebbed and flowed towards Bata who was wide-eyed and perched upon a strong acacia branch, Khnum uprooted a flax plant an...

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I’m not going to start with sorry. You know as well as I do that under pressure, even the most robust systems are bound to cave in. Like a paper house lit aflame, I became prone to slowly turn and crumble to ash    As the smoke overwhelmed even the most basic of senses. I am not afraid to talk about it now  I no longer writhe in the burning that coerced me to relieve your autonomy. I cannot fathom the end of you. And even now, when you beat with irregularities, Falter at the base lines and tremble with anxiety, The only concern I have is that of you. Do not falter for me, my beauteous sustainer. I only wish for you solace within my inner-most chambers. Flourish in the flow of connected, harmonious valves. 

She is wildfire, untamed A quiet spark, a whisper that reverberates through every bone in my body Lacing my thoughts and burning through every vein under skin touched She is the Arctic, countering the heat of the love ringing through these syllables With harmonious beauty, a moment of snow crystals gently caressing the air, Holding tight until they meet the ground in a gravitational kiss And melt away in the palm of the Earth's steady, beating heart Fire burning out of control in the Ice She is the moon and the night, A starry night whose sparkling smile shines in the dark that holds the world in tentative hands The galaxies yearn for the touch of her lips to their lonely cheeks She is the Sun and the light, Teasing the horizon with playful kisses of blinding passion Rippling through the atmosphere, a ferocity with teeth of its own A loud roar, a thunder, that passes through my arteries and leaves me trembling ...