Wikipedia Trails: From Lugh to Draughts

Lugh: Lugh is an Irish god of many things, commonly equated to Mercury. He is the son of Cian and Ethniu, and a member of the Tuatha Dé Danann. He is best known for killing his grandfather, the tyrant Balor. He invented a number of things, including the board game fidchell.

Fidchell: Fidchell, also called gwyddbwyll, is an ancient Celtic board game. Played on a 7 by 7 grid, it was said to sometimes have supernatural powers over real events. Little evidence remains for how it was played, though it is theorized to have been a battle between two players, one of whom was trying to get their king piece to the outside of the board. The word fidchell morphed over time into ficheall, which is the Modern Irish word for chess.

Ludus latrunculorum: This is a game that is theorized to be similar to fidchell. Even less is known about how this game was played- five different, playable rule reconstructions exist, which range from being similar to checkers to being more chess-like. These reconstructions don't even agree on what the dimensions of the board or number of pieces should be.

Draughts/Checkers: Checkers, called Draughts in British English, is a game of strategy in which two players try to capture each other's pieces on an 8 by 8 or 10 by 10 board. I had previously thought that checkers was just a simple game, but from this article, I learned that there is in fact strategy involved, and there is a World Championship for the game. 

One theorized way to play Ludus latrunculorum. (Source)

Tech tip: Google Reverse Image Search

I used Reverse Image Search to find this image:

Rama and Sita from the Ramayana. (Source)

I found out that it's from the Indian Ramayana. I found this larger image from the Victoria and Albert Museum. 

Tech Tip: Word Counter for Chrome

I installed Word Counter for Chrome. I really like it! It's much faster than navigating to a word counter website, and then having to copy and paste my text multiple times to check my word count.
For me, it really depends on the topic I'm writing about whether I have trouble reaching the minimum word count or not. For my story writing assignments, I usually have no trouble writing enough, and I sometimes even go over the maximum length, but for comments, I almost always have to find some way to bulk up my word count. I can usually eyeball length within about a hundred words- so for stories, I don't usually check with a word counter, but for comments, I have to, because 40 words and 60 words can look so similar in length.

Week 5 Story: The Three Sheltered Ones

Long ago, I lived in a strange, clear box. There were other people in there with me, and we had many of the giant two-legged ones as servants. I lived in fear of King Mittens, our cruel leader. He lived at the top of the carpet tower, watching us always, as we went about our days and nights. He laid claim to all of our rattle mice, all of our fuzzy puff balls, and every toilet box, and he was always the first to greet our visitors, an ever-changing assortment of the two-legged ones who would come through and, on occasion, rescue one of our people from King Mittens’ tyranny.

One day, a new two-legged one came to the great box. It had gentle forepaws as it played with us. King Mittens tried to take its attention, but it also showed favor toward Silky, my countryman with the long fur, and to me. But the time came for it to leave, and it couldn’t decide which of us to take. It left alone, as it came.

Immediately, we began to squabble.

“Oh, great two legged one! Come back for me!” Our king wailed. He snatched something up from the floor and shook his paw in our faces. “See, for I have the two leg’s fur adornment! I am the chosen one!” He held a small circular object, which he took to the glorious water-giver and rinsed before bringing it back to his throne.

Silky grumbled in irritation. “Our king has become delusional. I will bring the two leg back to us.” She retreated to the corner of the great box, plotting.

I yowled in despair and settled down by the yawning portal, now closed, that the two legs came and went through. One day, I was sure, this two-leg would return, and I vowed not to move from my place until it did.

Many days passed. King Mittens cared for the fur adornment daily, rinsing it in the blessed waters at all hours. I hadn’t moved form my post, not even to eat- I relied on the two leg servants to bring food to me. And thus we stayed stagnant in our habits.

Silky, on the other hand, had been watching and plotting, and one day, she unleased her plan. She noticed that the loud ones on the other side of the portal would often be taken to another great box when they were injured, and, soon after they disappeared back through the portal, we would watch them walk out the great clear portal with a new two legged one. She used this information to do the same- she walked around favoring one of her paws until one of the servants took her to the other box. I watched, curious, as the two legs in that box fussed over her, flashing lights at her and looking at her foot. She returned to us with a bandaged paw the next day, triumphant.

“The two leg will return within a few days, I am sure.” She said as she passed my post. I doubted her, but despite this, I felt almost hopeful.

Indeed, the next day, the two leg came back. It had shorter head-fur now, and I almost didn’t recognize it- two legs look so similar, after all- but as soon as I did, I bounded up to it, rubbing its legs and crying out. “Take me, oh great one! Take me!”

It glanced toward Silky, who was climbing up the carpet tree- attempting a coup, perhaps?- and King Mittens, who slept, unaware, on his throne, before turning back to me. It bent down and said something in the gibberish language of the two legs.

“Are you taking me?” I asked.

“Tax benefits waffles.” It spoke our language as badly as most two legs as it lifted me up into its arms. I purred in happiness as it carried me through the yawning portal. I was rescued.

“Boring!” the goblin said as I finished my story. “You lie, our great two leg would never bring home a commoner.”

I glared at the goblin. “Oh, and you’re so special because our great two leg got you from another great two leg? Please.” I bopped him on the nose and clambered up the carpet tree. My carpet tree, greater than King Mittens could ever dream.

Our protagonist, waiting by the door (Source)

Author’s Note:

I based this story of “The Three Lovers” (Source), one of the stories from 22 Goblins. In the original story, the three suitors of a young woman mourn her death differently. Eventually, one brings her back to life with magic- which I recreated with Silky’s ploy to pretend to be injured (the implication being that a picture of her was posted on social media for the cat shelter while she was with the vet)- but the woman ends up marrying the man who slept in the cemetery by her ashes every night.

I made the three suitors into cats living in a shelter, and the young woman is represented by the human who eventually adopts our main cat. Mittens represents the man in the original story who washes the woman’s bones in the holy river (symbolized with him washing the human’s hair tie in the water dish), while Silky is the magician and the POV cat is the man who sleeps in the cemetery, as she sleeps in the last place that the human was seen.

I tried to talk about things the way a cat would- “portal” instead of “door”, “two legs” instead of “humans”, and “loud ones” instead of “dogs”, to name a few examples- while also using some words that make it somewhat obvious that the characters are cats- like “paw”, “fur”, “yowling” and “purring”, all words that are used mostly to refer to animals, and cats specifically.

The goblin at the end of the story is a callback to the source of the original story, although in this case, the goblin is the story-listener rather than the story-teller. In my mind, the goblin is a fancy hairless cat, purchased from a breeder- hence its elitist attitude to the so-called “commoner” cat from the shelter. The human’s speech of “tax benefits” is from a popular internet meme, about how cats probably hear humans’ meowing as jumbled cat words, the example given being “tax benefits”.

Reading notes: 22 goblins

All stories from Twenty-Two Goblins, translated by Arthur W. Ryder, with illustrations by Perham W. Nahl (1917).

The king carrying the goblin (source)

Introduction 

Every day, a monk brought the king a piece of fruit, which he in turn gives to his treasurer. After 12 years, the king gives one of his daily fruits to a monkey. The monkey splits the fruit open and a gemstone falls out. The king, amazed, asks the treasurer what he did with the other fruits. The treasurer goes and checks under the window that he had been throwing the fruits out of, and reports back that he saw a pile of priceless stones.

The next day, the king asks the monk why he keeps giving him expensive gemstones. The monk asks the king for help in a matter, and tells the king to meet him under a fig tree in the cemetery. The king meets him at the agreed upon place, and the monk tells him to go retrieve a dead body from a tree. He find the body, and cuts it loose from the rope it hangs from. The body laughs; the king recognizes that there is a goblin living in it, and, as he carries the body back toward the monk, the goblin tells him a story:

The Three Lovers 

A Brahman lived on the bank of a river with his daughter. Three young men ask to marry her. She doesn’t want to hurt the feelings of any of them, so she puts off making a choice. She waits so long that she dies, and the three young men take her to the cemetery and have a funeral. One builds a hut and sleeps on her ashes; the second takes her bones to the sacred river; and the third becomes a travelling monk.

The monk goes to a man’s house. As they are eating dinner, the man’s infant son makes a scene, and his mother throws him into the fire. The monk declares that he is in the house of the devil, but the man does a spell and the boy stands back up, alive and well. When the man and his family are sleeping, the monk steals his spellbook, with the goal of bringing the young woman back to life.

The monk goes back to the cemetery and gathers the other young men. The perform the spell, and the young woman comes back to life, even more beautiful than before. All three claim that she belings to him and him alone- the first because he kept her ashes safe, the second because he put her bones in the holy river, and the third because he did the spell.

The goblin asks the king who should get to marry the young woman. The king says that the third young man did what a father should, and the second did what a son should do, but the first, who slept with the ashes, did what a lover should do, and therefore he should marry her. The goblin, satisfied, disappears back to the tree. The king goes back, cuts him down again, and starts the walk again, and the goblin tells him another story:

The Brave Man, the Wise Man, and the Clever Man 

The daughter of a king’s adviser says she will marry a brave, wise, or clever man. Her father gets sent to a far away land, and a young man, having heard of his daughter’s declaration, approaches him about marrying her. He says he is a clever man, and proves it by building a magic chariot, and the father agrees to the marriage.

Another young man approaches the girl’s brother, claiming to be a brave man. He proves his skill with weapons, and the brother agrees to let him marry his sister.

A third young man approaches the girl’s mother, claiming to be a wise man. He tells her truths of the past and future, and she agrees to allow him to marry her daughter.

The father and brother arrive home, and they discover that the daughter has three marriages planned on the same day. When the grooms arrive, they discover that the girl has been kidnapped by a giant (according to the wise man). The clever man builds another chariot, and the three men bring the father with them to find the giant. The brave man kills the giant, and they rescue the daughter. The three young men start arguing about who deserves to marry her, each claiming that she would be lost without their skills.

The goblin again asks the king who the girl should marry. The king says she should marry the brave man, because he risked his life, and the other two were just his helpers. The goblin, once again satisfied, escapes back to the tree again. The king gets the goblin again, and the goblin tells a third story:

The Woman, her Husband, and her Brother 

A man meets a beautiful woman and falls in love. His father promises that they will be able to wed, and the woman’s father agreed. After they were wed, her brother comes to visit, and invites the couple to a party. They walk to the party, and find a temple on the way. The man decides to sacrifice himself to the goddess of the temple; his brother-in-law is driven mad with grief and cuts off his own head. The woman find them dead, and is about to kill herself when the goddess tells her not to die, but that she should place the heads back on the bodies and bring them back to life. She does so, but accidentally mixes up the heads, not realizing until after they come back to life.

The goblin asks the king which man is now the husband and which man is now the brother. The king replies that the man with the husband’s head and the brother’s body is the husband, because heads are how you recognize people. The goblin is again satisfied, and yet again disappears back to the tree. The king starts getting fed up, and goes back once again. The goblin starts another story:

Food, Women, Cotton

A man sends his three adult sons to find a sacrificial turtle. The eldest son refuses to carry the turtle, saying it is slimy and trying to shame his younger brothers into carrying it. The brothers start arguing about who is a more important specialist. The eldest says he is a specialist in food; the middle, a specialist in women. They try to get the youngest to carry the turtle, but he refutes it by saying he is a specialist in cotton.

They go to a king to settle the quarrel. The king gives them a lavish meal, which the eldest brother refuses to eat because he smells a corpse in it. The rice was grown near a crematory.

The king then sends a woman to the second brother’s room. He rejects her, saying she smells goaty. She was, in fact, raised on goat milk.

The king gives the third brother a lovely couch to sleep on. He wakes up in the middle of the night and says something is under the quilts. The attendants find a single hair under one of the many quilts.

The king gives each man 100,000 gold pieces, and they stay at the palace, forgetting about the turtle and the sacrifice.

The goblin asks the king which man was the most clever. The king says that the third brother is the most clever, as the other brothers could have asked around for their knowledge. And once again, the goblin goes back to the tree. The king retrieves him again, and he tells another story:

The Four Scientific Suitors 

A king prays that he and his wife might have children. He is told that he will have a brave son and a beautiful daughter. When the children have bene born and are adults, the kings sends for suitors for his daughter. Finding none satisfactory, he offers to call upon kings; the daughter instead requests that he find an attractive scientist for her to marry.

Four young men hear of the offer, and make their way to the palace. One is a suit maker, who makes five suits a day. One is a farmer, who knows the languages of all animals. One is a soldier, who is an expert swordsman. The final one is a necromancer. All are attractive, and the king and his daughter have difficulty choosing.

The goblin asks the king which man the girl should marry, and he chooses the soldier, because he is of the proper class and has manhood. The goblin disappears again, and the king goes back and gets him again. The goblin tells another story:

The Three Delicate Wives 

A king has three wives. The first passes out when he playfully tugs on her hair; the second gets a moonburn, and the third is bruised by noise.

The goblin asks which wife is the most delicate. The king says the one who is bruised by sound, as nothing touched her. The goblin returns to the tree.

Comment Wall

How to Steal Fire the Trickster Way

Story Lab: Tricksters and Those Two Guys

The first thing I looked up on TVTropes was Tricksters, as that's the topic of my project, and I wanted to read more about the character archetype. I really liked the description of Trickster characters used in the article; they're usually cunning or foolish (or both, as in the case of Wile E. Coyote), but they're rarely malicious, merely characters working in their own self-interest. Something that I noticed while reading this page (specifically the "Myths and Religion" tab) is that multiple tricksters often appear in the same mythology, often with one being far better liked than the others; examples include Loki and Odin in Norse Mythology, Hermes and his various descendants in Greek Myths, and the not one, not two, but three different races/species of tricksters in Japanese Mythology. Some characters that I didn't expect to be classified as tricksters were Bart Simpson and Figaro from the operas The Marriage of Figaro and The Barber of Seville.

From the Tricksters page, I followed some links and ended up at the Those Two Guys page. I feel like this trope could be worked into the frame story of my project. The basic idea is that two characters who exist almost as one characterized being act as comic relief and a sounding board for the more important characters. I could picture a pair of Those Two Guys sitting with the tricksters as they tell their stories and providing useless commentary- it would add to the already humorous idea of tricksters bragging to each other about tricks they've pulled.

At this point, I had already spent close to an hour reading TVTropes, and I couldn't let it suck up anymore of my time. But I think the ideas I read about will really help me with my project.

How much time I spent on TVTropes without even noticing. Source