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Discussion
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I’m tutering one of my younger siblings virtually. Today was our first session, and it went really well. He (12) needs help in English/Literature. He mentioned how the only thing he likes about that class is sometimes they read short mythology stories. So, I came up with the idea of rewarding his hard work by telling him a story he’d never heard before. My favorite, the time Loki tied a rope to his tentacles and a goat to make Skadi laugh. He loved it and laughed so hard.
I’d like to be able to tell him a new story after each tutoring session since it made him super happy. He said his favorites are Aztec, Norse, and Greek. Could you guys tell me your favorite mythology stories? Or any you feel are funny, or have good lessons in them? I’ve already started trying to find stories via google, but I figured I should ask here too. I really appreciate it!
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Favorite Mythology stories?
updated 1 year, 2 months ago
2 Members
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17
Replies
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Loki turning himself into a mare and getting pregnant. He ends up giving birth to an eight legged horse named Sleipnir.
Loki stories are some of my favorites. When the pandemic hit, I ended up homeschooling my daughter. We went through all of Neil Gaiman’ Norse Mythology. She and I are both ND, and while discussing the stories she shared a totally different perspective on the stories. She believes Loki is autistic (like her) and that Loki is the actual hero of all the stories, which are just a long revenge epic for the death of Loki’s giantess wife and enslavement of his children. Ragnarok is simple the point where he and his children get their revenge.
I love her take on these stories.
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Wait, wait, wait!!! I’m currently listening to old episodes of a really great podcast called Myths and Legends by Jason Weiser. It’s amazing, the author tells the legends in a really relatable way with snarky commentary (“So, at this point in the legend, the hero’s best friend is kinda retconned in and we’re supposed to pretend he’s been there the whole time to make this an emotional scene…” “Really, if you’re a horrible sorcerer who’s a little lonely, maybe stop kidnapping princesses and just get a cat. Or a hobby. I hear podcasting is fun?”)
He doesn’t get too graphic with the violence or sex, although they are of course mentioned, I personally think this is appropriate for a mature 12 year or you could listen to it and retell some stories in a relatable way. I’m loving this podcast.
I just listened to an episode on Native American folklore about how the trickster coyote pissed off a rock, and then how a turtle beat coyote in a foot race and took all his coyote money.
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Thor dressing up as Freya to retrieve Mjölnir
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Ra gets angry at humans for not worshiping him enough so he makes a deity to kill a ton of people. People worship him more but they’re still getting killed so the humans pour all of the beer and liquor into the river, turning it red. The deity then drinks it all because it thinks its blood before promptly passing out. Search Egyptian flood myth for more details and such.
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You can also look up stories about other trickster type gods found in other cultures. Like Anansi the spider from west Africa. Or one of the many Native American tricksters. Raven and Coyote are fairly well-known across several tribes but there are many more.
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It’s sad but that’s interesting to me. Birth of Pegasus because I wanted a Pegasus.
Perseus would manage to approach Medusa, using his shield to protect him from the Gorgon’s gaze, and with his sword, Perseus cut off the head of Medusa. Medusa would fall down dead, but from the severed neck sprang forth the children of Medusa, Pegasus and Chrysaor.
From https://www.greeklegendsandmyths.com/pegasus.html
I have nothing but sympathy for Medusa. Excellent figure to talk about sexism in the author’s perspective.
Pegasus emerged as a fully grown winged horse, whilst Chrysaor, Pegasus brother, either emerged as a giant or a winged boar.
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If you think he might enjoy them, you could look up some of the Maori myths and legends from my country. We have Maui, who is a very Loki-esque, trickster god type figure, and lots of stories about how he helped people. Many stories explain things like why kiwi has such big strong feet, and long sharp beak, or why kahu has red feathers hidden inside his wings.
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I love anything Greek, it’s part of my practice. My favorite story is about Hermaphroditus. It feels validating to me.
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Some of the childhood stories of Krishna, as told in the Bhagavat Purana are fun little tales of him fighting various demons in creative ways. If you’re interested in South Asian stories check out Amar Chitra Kathas. They’re a collection of comic books that cover mythology, folk tales, historical stories specifically for kids. They’re short and have lovely illustrations.
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My favourite is probably the tale of the Midas touch, because it has a happy ending – Midas is able to undo the damage he did, and he becomes a better person for it.
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Thor crossdressing so he could get his hammer back from a jotun.
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One of my favorite stories from Greek Mythology is titled after the main character Tantalus, who is a son of Zeus, and decides to steal from the gods, and tell all of their secrets. Eventually he decides to test the gods’ knowledge and decides to cook and serve his son to the gods. All of the gods arrive, and everyone, except for Demeter declined the meal. Zeus orders Clotho to bring back Tantalus’s son. The gods decide that they have enough, and throw him down to Hades. The punishment was that Tantalus that he had to stand in the middle of a lake. When he would try to drink the water, the water levels would drop. Behind him, were trees bearing all sorts of fruits; olives, plums, figs, apples, etc. When he tried to grab the fruits, the trees’ branches would move out of his reach. He was also plagued with a fear of death, and looming over him, would be a giant stone threatening to crush him.
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I like the story of La Loba or the “wolf Woman” dr Estes share the story and many others in her book “Women who run with Wolves”
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Rosemary Surcliffe has excellent short versions of cu chullain, Iliad and odyssey, fin maccool, and Beowulf
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Astrology origin myths are awesome, Sagittarius who shoots the arrow to follow it, Pisces who is Eros and Aphrodite as two fish tied together who jumped into a river to escape the monster Typhon and changed into fish, or, alternatively, the two fish that carried them to safety.
