Week 2 Story: The Griffin and his Beauty

Maeve sat staring out the window, the book that she had been reading resting on her lap, open to the page that she had lost interest on. Her two older sisters were bickering over one of the gentleman down the street; the topic of conversation was whether or not the young man, Henry, was genuinely fond of his new fiancee, or whether it was a match of convenience. 

Maeve was leaning more toward the latter, since Henry had tried to court her only months prior, but she certainly was not going to tell her sisters this. Not that they ever cared about her opinion anyway. They oftentimes overlooked her, or told her that her thoughts were not well developed, or just blatantly wrong.

Her eldest sister, Arabella, was just about to give her explanation as to why she believed that Henry is genuinely fond of his beloved when the familiar sound of Maeve’s mother’s horse came through the open window. The three of the sisters shot up – their mother should not have been home from the market for a few more days. She had only left two days prior, in fact.

The three young women raced outside, tripping over their skirts and falling over one another as they found their mother clinging to her horse’s reins. Their mother - who Maeve had always seen as put-together, a woman who never had a hair out of place – looked frantic, and Maeve helped her off the back of her horse.

Her mother clung to her with a tight grip, Maeve’s arms the only support that was seemingly keeping her upright. When she spoke, her voice was desperate, and one of her hands reached upward to point to the saddlebag hanging off her steed. “We do not have long, Maeve. You must leave!”

Three roses hung loosely out of the top of the bag, and Maeve frowned. She had asked her mother for three roses from the market, but despite the fact that her mother had crushed them in her bag, they looked to be in pristine condition.

Maeve turned her head to her mother once more. “What are you talking about, Mama?” She asked, her voice wary.

“The… The Griffin! I took his roses, and there was no way out. I had to get back to you and your sisters, but I had to give one of you up.” Her mother’s eyes traveled to Maeve’s, and she shook her head as if ashamed.

She couldn’t possible mean…

“You. I had to give you up, Maeve.”

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The Griffin mostly kept to himself. He only came out of the West Wing of his castle for meal times, and when Maeve begged him to take a walk around the castle grounds. She was only allowed to leave the confinements of the castle walls with an escort, and since she could rarely find a living soul besides the giant, winged creature prowling around, he was her companion.

There was no doubt that the creature had been lonely before he had forced Maeve to come and stay with him. There was nothing that he required of her except her company; on her first day in the castle, he had commanded her that she was to spend a few hours with him each day, simply talking. Nothing more than that.

It was not for months that she realized she might feel something for the Griffin other than resentment. Maeve started to miss him when he was not around, and at first, she blamed it on the fact that he had locked her up with no one for company but himself. After a while, however, she had to admit to herself that it was because of him that she was not going completely insane with loneliness. In fact, he was the reason she was… happy.

“Tell me something about griffins. Something that no one else would know,” Maeve said one day, as they walked casually through the garden. Maeve’s fingers brushed over the petals of a red rose, and a small smile graced her lips.

“We mate for life.” The Griffin replied, after a few long moments. His giant paws, however big, made soft thuds on the ground as they walked. Maeve found the sound soothing.

“Oh.” Maeve said, surprised, and she blinked down at him. He was staring up at her, bright blue eyes meeting her dark brown irises. “Did you have anyone? You know, before?” The young woman gestured to his large form.

He shook his head. “No.”

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Maeve’s eyes stared widely at the very human, yet very naked, form of the Griffin that now stood before her. Her hands clung tightly to the sword in her hand, her entire body shaking with leftover energy from their encounter.

“Maeve.” He said, his voice so familiar yet not.

She blinked rapidly and tried to meet his eyes, a blush coming to her cheeks at what she found in his face. He was handsome, incredibly so, and she couldn’t help but notice it.

The Griffin – no, his name was Griffin – smiled at her, and he stepped nearer, despite his lack of clothing. “You set me free.” He breathed out, his voice as disbelieving as Maeve was in that moment.

He had asked – more like commanded – that she kill him and set him free from his beastly prison. But the young woman couldn’t do it – she wasn’t going to kill the only being that she had ever loved in her life. And when she had refused, had confessed her love for him, he had changed.

Now he stood before her, beautiful and human, and she couldn’t think to do anything but stare.

“I guess this means that you’re my mate now.” He said, and Maeve let out a tearful laugh as she dropped the sword in her hand and flung her arms around the Griffin’s neck. His own arms wrapped around her, and he pressed his face into her neck.

“And you’re mine.” She whispered back.

Roses Flower Swoosh by GDJ on Pixabay

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Author's Note: So, I started out with the traditional story of the Three Roses, or the Beauty and the Basilisk . In this tale, similarly to mine, the mother of the protagonist  - Mary - comes and tells her daughter that a monster forced her to give up one of her daughters in replacement of her own punishment for stealing his roses. In the original story, the monster is a basilisk, and the creature forces the Mary to nurse him for three hours everyday. I decided to change this because I thought it was creepy and basilisks freak me out (ew, snakes), so I went with a griffin instead. Griffins, according to medieval lore, mate for life, so I used that aspect of the creature's mythology in the story because I thought it would make a good plot point. That, and at the end of the story, the basilisk turned prince basically forced Mary to marry him, so in this, it was Maeve's choice to choose Griffin. So for my retelling, I simply used the outline of the original piece and the idea of the story and wrote my own instead, since I liked the general idea of the Beauty and the Basilisk tale, just not the details that were in it. 

Bibliography: The Three Roses from the Czech fairy tale, The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1922).

Reading Notes: Beauty and the Basilisk

As I have stated before in previous blog posts, fantasy is one of my favorite genres. It was no surprise to me that I was lured to the retelling of the Beauty and the Beast story, with the new title being "The Three Roses,"  since it is not only fantasy, but one of my favorite fairy tales (I might have accidentally saw the new rendition of the Disney movie four times while it was in theaters).

I like the idea of the Beauty and the Beast story being about a monster that is more known throughout literature. The fact that the "beast" is a monstrous serpent gives the story, however, a more biblical feeling than I would have liked.  Making the creature more familiar is something I would be willing to keep, but I would rather it be a griffin, or something of the like. A fun aspect to play around with is, according to Medieval lore, griffins mate for life. So the griffin in the story choosing to love our protagonist forever would be a romantic aspect that adds a little more life to the characters and the story.

Griffin from Cosmographia. Found on Wikipedia Commons.

I also liked the idea that the main character had sisters. Since I am one of three girls, like in the retelling, it was more relatable to me than having the character be an only child - something that I am unfamiliar with. I think that I will keep this aspect of the story the same, while also making the sisters have a larger role in the story.

I want to add a conflict into the story. There seemed to be nothing to create tension throughout the tale other than the main character's own shortcomings (i.e: she did not want to chop off the basilisk's head). Adding a conflict to the story will make the tale more three-dimensional and not so plain. Making the conflict between the three sisters, maybe, or having the griffin and the main character argue over more than just killing one half of the pairing would suffice. I do not want to make the story cliche with the aspect of usual literary romances where one side of the couple has been in love with the other for a significant amount of time without letting anyone know. It is overdone, and if we're being honest, annoying.

Why Teenage Boys in YA novels are boring by bookbookchai on Tumblr

The language used in the story is quite simple, and the grammar/how sentences are laid out makes the text kind of confusing to read. I would try to extend my descriptions so that the readers are aware of their surroundings throughout the story, but try to keep it so they are not confused with the language that I choose. Using more modern language will not only make the story easier to read, but it will make an already fantastical tale just a little more relatable for the audience.

All in all, I'm looking forward to rewriting this story into something that I will enjoy, and hopefully others will enjoy reading as well.

Reading Options

While I was going through the UnTextbook's units, I noticed that I went toward units that I have been interested in in the past. Mythology and fairy tales are familiar to me, sure, but they also intrigue and excite me the most. While many of mythological stories are consistent - for example, the reason behind most conflict in Greek Mythology is because Zeus could not control himself for five seconds - the stories still keep me entertained.

What Causes Most Problems in Greek Mythology Graph by weknowmemes 

I did end up looking into something that I surprised myself by choosing, which was Bible Women. I did not grow up in a religious home, so I never got to read the Bible as closely or as much as some people that I know. My roommates, for instance, could tell you lines off the time of their heads word for word, and it amazes me constantly. I mean, there is a lot of words in the Bible. The stories that I looked into, mainly of Delilah and Herodias, intrigued me enough where I hope to look into the stories a little more in the future.

Another unit that I looked up was Celtic fairy tales, both I and II. My name is actually Gaelic, and after doing a 23AndMe test  on my DNA over this past summer, I found out that part of my DNA goes back to the Irish, British and Scottish people. My great-great grandmother and grandfather actually immigrated to the United States and Ireland in the early twentieth century. I would love to know more about the Celtic folklore, as it is my heritage as well as something that seems to be right up my alley. Tales of fairy maidens and horned women, both of which are a part of the first Celtic fairy tales unit, are something that I am looking forward to reading about, as they seem to be something that I will enjoy and may be some of my future inspiration for my own stories.

As I said before, mythology is one of my favorite genres when it comes to stories, and since I wanted to extend from my love of Greek myths, I also looked into the Egyptian Mythology unit on UnTextbook. I would love to see the similarities and differences between the gods and goddesses that I have read about and the ones that other cultures used to worship. My interest leaned me towards Ra and Osiris, two divinities that I have heard more about in terms of Egyptian Mythology, but two that I also do not know much about.

Last but certainly not least, as I browsed through the Women Saints unit, because I am always looking for more information about badass women in literature. I want to learn about every single saint that is talked about throughout the unit, so I didn't delve too far into the information provided, as I want to really be able to sit back and read about these holy women that have made such an impact on the Christian faith.

Time Strategies

One of my greatest downfalls is that I am a very big procrastinator. I always say that I will do things at a certain time, and then I keep moving that time frame back until I'm doing it last minute. I'm hoping to work on that this semester, especially in this class. The class schedule that I decided on allows me to do the work for class during days that I do have to worry about other assignment; I allotted my time for this class at the beginning of the week, so that I can get assignments done and work on other classes towards the end of the work week. If I get my work for my other classes done and I have some more free time, I even hope to work ahead and get started on the next weeks assignments so that I can get them done earlier.

Because of my issues with procrastination, I read the two articles about the subject: "How to Beat Procrastination" by Caroline Webb, and "Four Questions to Help You Overcome Procrastination" by Peter Banerjea. Webb and Banerjea had some really good advice on how to get past procrastination. In Webb's article, she tells her readers to publicly commit to doing things (such as assignments), which I did in the previous paragraph of this blog post. She also says to work with yourself by providing incentive for finished work. I do this sometimes. For example, when I am reading a long passage in a textbook, I will lay out some piece of candy (M&M's, Swedish Fish, etc). along the pages of the text I am reading. I get to eat the candy when I make it to that section of the page. Banerjea's article gave me the idea that to make the assignments easier to do, you need to find ways to actually make them less difficult. It seems simple, but I know that it's going to be a lot harder than he makes it out to be. I am going to work on not making excuses for actually doing the work when I'm supposed to.

do it by Vic on Flicker

Technology

"wow. such technology" doge meme. Credit.

It's a good thing that I have blogged before, because having to learn all the technology that I would have to know for class would have been a lot of work. However, I'm happy to say that I have worked with and used most of the tools and technological resources that Professor Gibbs had previewed for us in the assignment outline.

I cannot wait to have to bookmark my life away - which I already do, because I love to lose things after I tell myself I'm going to remember to go back to the website. I have a really bad memory, which does not help my writing at all. I do have to learn how to use the Class Wiki; it will be great for my future classrooms so that my future students will be able to have a place to go if they are at home and forget an assignment, need resources, etc.

The one thing that I dislike about online classrooms is that you do not get the face to face interaction and proper discussion that an in-person class would. I like being able to talk to people about what I am learning in class and give my comments face to face. However, one of my good friends (Shout out to Emily!) is in the class as well, and it will be great to talk to her about the class and the assignments when we are able to get together.

Thoughts on Assignments

I'm really excited for this semester in this course, especially all the different stories that I will be able to read. Fairy tales and folk tales are some of my favorite parts of literature; I have always been a hopeless romantic, and those stories oftentimes feed straight into that part of me. Looking at the old Story Books, I cannot wait to add my own writing to the archive, and hope that students in future classes use mine as examples and get excited about the class while reading my final project.

I just hope I can find the proper muse and inspiration when I need to!

An inspirational meme about writing. Credit.

The one thing that I'm worried about is the blog commenting - mainly because I'm afraid I'm going to forget about it. I have had to do assignments similar to blog commenting before, and it was always at the back of my mind as I worked on my other assignments and made them the best that they could be.

I am really happy to see that there is extra credit, because not many classes that I have taken accept or have it. I think I will be doing a lot of extra reading, not just for some extra points, but because I will want to delve more into the literature that we will be reading for class.

Growth Mindset

Photo by Kevin Hodgson on Flickr

Before this assignment, I had a vague idea on who Carol Dweck was. She was mentioned maybe once, or twice, during one of my education lectures, but it was so offhanded that I did not feel as though I needed to remember her. Her ideas about the growth mindset are intriguing and I really agree with her on most of her points made in her TED talk.

In my future classroom, I hope to give students the ability to come to me when they want a challenge. Not only that, but I hope to challenge them outright no matter whether or not they want to be pushed. Giving students the understanding that you believe that they can be more than what others have believed is an important and necessary part of my philosophy of teaching. Students that are encouraged and challenged oftentimes do better, and they are very much thankful in the long run.

With my own learning, I have noticed that I usually give up when things become to hard. I am a very proud person, and running to my teachers for help is not something I am used to; I did not do it in high school, and I definitely did not do it throughout my years in college. No matter how many times a teacher would tell my class "PLEASE COME SEE ME IF YOU NEED HELP!", I never did. I want to push my future students to come to me despite their pride; I want them to be better than I ever was when it came to confronting my shortcomings about what I can and can't learn without help.

I hope to learn more about this growth mindset, so I'm able to implement the strategy into my future endeavors in education and my classroom.

As for my classes, there are a few that I'm nervous about, just because they are classes that are important to the fact that I am supposed to be graduating next semester. It is not that they aren't hard - they are, but I like a challenge when I know that I can reach for my goals - it is that I hate the pressure that is put on me when something is extremely important to my future.