Monthly Archives: May 2016

How Evil Came Into the World — A Witch’s Tale

 

I have a great story to tell you. One that contains a story within itself.

Once there was an elf who lived in a village occupied by other elves ,fairies, ogres, and orcs. He overheard some elders one day talking about a witch who lived in the woods who had the most fascinating of stories to tell about the world’s ancient history. The elf was very curious to hear this story, so off he went on his adventure, going off into the woods to find the witch with the fascinating story.

As he got further into the woods, he noticed a little cottage near the edge of a river. To his surprise, there was indeed a witch there. She stood by the brook with her hands in the water, perhaps collecting newts or frogs. He started to get nervous but remember what the elders had told him and his excitement took over his anxiety.
The elf approached the witch with a sense of curiosity. What could this story be? He briefly introduced himself to the witch and told her what the elders had said to him.

“I warn you, this is not a tale you wish to hear.” This only made the elf more intrigued. He begged the witch to indulge him with her words.

“You will not be the same after this tale. You will think differently. Act differently. It will change your perspective of the world and everything you believe of it. You will be a different person than who you were when you came to me.

The elf entertained this, and was interested to see what the witch meant. He had always thought the same about the world, he was curious to discover another perspective. He realized he wanted to find out what it was like to think differently.

“I would like to experience this,” he finally consented, and waited anxiously for the witch’s reply.

“Very well.” And this is the story she told.

“Long ago, in an ancient time, there existed many creatures, more than you would see today. Not just orcs and elves and fairies and orgres, but creatures like pixies, dwarves, trolls, goblins, dragons…”

The elf had only heard about these creatures in other stories.

“All these creatures lived in harmony, and in a beautiful place called Alivea. Alivea was a place where all beings could live as they wished, with waterfalls that ran freely and trees that grew endlessly. Everyone took care of each other. And while some creatures were stronger and more intelligent than others, this never affected the peace each being felt with one another.”

The witch paused for a moment there. The elf looked at her with excitement in his eyes. He had already become so invested in her story. The witch sighed. She knew his expression would soon change.
“But the Orcs did not like being equal to creatures such as fairies or gnomes or elves. They did not want to share what they had, and they wanted control over Alivea.”

“Soon the Orcs began fighting with those they considered as their equals, so no one would be as strong as them. They started with the goblins, then the trolls, wiping them out of Alivea. The dragons, arguably the strongest of them all, did not approve of this at all. They tried to restore order to Alivea. But alas, they were outnumbered, and they, too, were wiped from existence. They stopped after killing off the pixies, satisfied they had done enough but also aware they could not wipe out all the creatures. So they took over Alivea and enslaved the beings that remained: the fairies, the elves, and the ogres. They made them hate each other, had them fighting over resources. Not that they realized not everything had to be shared, not that they realized some were stronger than the others and could use it to their advantage, they began to harm and steal and do all these terrible things, all because these Orcs brought this evil upon their world.”

The witch saw how the elf’s face had fallen. She had warned him, but perhaps it was time he knew of this tale.
“But surely things are better now. Unless, of course, it’s in their nature…”

The elf became unsettled, particularly after that last line. He nodded and stood up uneasily. He thanked the witch as he turned away from her and continued back along the path.

As the elf made his way back to his village he began to feel sick. Some of his good friends were Orcs. Were they really this cruel? Did they really believe the same things the Orcs in the witch’s story had? Were they all related in some way?

When he got back to the village and saw his friends, he couldn’t help but think back to what the witch had said. Would his Orc friends do something so unjust like in the story? Would they cause him to turn against his other friends, like the fairies and the Orgres? The witch was right — he had gained a new perspective. But it wasn’t a very nice one. Maybe his thoughts were a form of the evil in themselves.

He wish he hadn’t heard the story. He wished he had heeded the witch’s warning. If only he wasn’t so curious…

But it was too late. The story had already been told. And he could never give it back.


Commentary

Telling this story orally was certainly a different experience from reading and writing it. In particular, I found it more uncomfortable to the read the story out loud to someone rather than have them just read it while I distract myself with something else. I think this changed how the story went — I was more nervous and giggly and unsure of myself, feeling strange and a little silly as I am not usually confident with putting my work out there, especially when someone can see me as an author but also put my voice to the words. But orally performing the story does give you more connections with your audience than if they were to just simply read it.

I found it’s also difficult to keep a consistent story. By this I mean, while all the elements are there, the story will always be told a little differently each time. Even if you have memorized the whole thing, you may have forgotten some words, or, more often, you feel like something should be changed in that particular moment. Something as subtle as just a word or a phrase, but you may change it depending on your audience or how you feel. It may never be exactly as how you have written it.  That is why story reading is different from story telling. Chesin puts it perfectly: “the teller is free, the reader is bound” When reading a story, you tell it exactly as it is written. One may argue that a reader can change the story as well, but that just makes it more like they are telling the story, not just reading it.

In conclusion, I found that telling my story was much different from what I am used to. If I am presenting orally, it is usually by improvisation, and I find reading the words of my story out loud is easier than just telling it. But telling the story defiantly makes me feel more connected to my audience, and, with that, the story I am telling as well, and I feel it is a much more powerful means to get a point across.


Works Cited

Chesin, Gerald A. Storytelling and Storyreading. Jstor. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2016.

Denning, Steve. Oral versus Written Stories. Steve Denning. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2016.

Witch Elf v White Lion. Digital image. Https://www.pinterest.com/pin/307230005801566034/. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 May 2016.

A New Age of Literature (#7)

The advancement of technology has given us new tools to work with in all forms of life and culture, and literature is no exception. Digital literature includes platforms such as eBooks, websites, and blogs, but even social media platforms like Facebook can be used to share stories with others, and without the need for a professional publisher.

Particularly with the advancement of social media, I would argue that there are multiple mediums in which to share stories. Social media platforms such as Snapchat and Instagram can communicate stories through the use of images, and with little to no words involved. People have been telling stories this way for years, just like the First Nations peoples did with their totems. You can also combine these platforms into creating powerful narratives, using a combination of words and images to make a story even more impactful.

There are digital platforms that allow you to share your story orally as well. Youtube is a great example of this. You can record yourself telling stories, self-publish them, and share them with a large amount of people. However, this way of storytelling is different still from traditional storytelling, where someone is able to change their telling of the study (MacNeil). In the case of Youtube videos, it is like publishing a literary work, in that once it is published it remains (virtually) unchanged, or cannot be changed as easily as traditional storytelling can.

Hypertext is also a ‘digitized’ form of another type of literature or piece of writing – that of interactive stories. Perhaps you remember the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books from your younger days. These books required you to read through a passage and then flip to a certain page depending on what you want your next actions to be. This allows the reader to have even more involvement with the story, and in a way they are able to shape the story themselves. They still do not know what their choices will bring (unless, of course, you opted to read the choice passages beforehand and chose the path you found most desirable), so a story is still being told to them, but they simply have more interaction now and a greater sense of control. ;Through the use of hypertext, this same form of storytelling can be brought in the form of digital literature. Sometimes hypertext may just be used in a posting like this one, where the reader can make a decision about whether they want to delve further into the literary work or not, or sometimes it can be used like in the interactive fiction books, where one is immersed within the pages of the web to follow through a story with many clicks and page changes.

I believe these two aspects of digital literature have positive impacts on literature and stories. They allow more people to communicate easily and through multiple mediums as well.  More readers and listeners can be reached, and this can allow a single story to spread very far – one that would probably not be able to otherwise. And that could be a very sensational story indeed.

 


Works Cited

Croom, Kukhautusha. Visual Literature. Digital image. Morementum. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

Jerz, Dennis G. “Interactive Fiction: What Is It?” Interactive Fiction: What Is It? N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

MacNeil, Courtney. “The Chicago School of Media Theory Theorizing Media since 2003.” The Chicago School of Media Theory RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

“How to Tell Powerful Narratives on Instagram.” Nieman Storyboard How to Tell Powerful Narratives on Instagram Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 May 2016.

An Introduction to My Journey

My name is Sylvia and I am currently a 4th year Cognitive Systems student specializing in Psychology. In general, my literature choices revolve around topics such as the human mind and artificial intelligence.  I have not taken an English literature course since my first year at university, and my most recent literature course was Philosophy of Literature, which was quite interesting as it allowed me to view literature from a deeper perspective.

I am excited to discover new literature and stories that I would not otherwise come across. I love taking literature courses because they introduce me to new worlds and points of view that would be difficult to discover otherwise.

I got my first taste of First Nations culture early on in elementary school when we stayed the night in a Traditional Coast Salish Bighouse, where we made bannock, rock soup, and slept together in the large room. We also learned about different family roles such as weaving or plant gathering – I was part of the wood carvers! Overall it was a very educational experience. I learned lots from the elders and it gave me an interesting and hands-on look into Indigenous culture.

This course appears to delve deeply into storytelling, and explores topics such as colonization and nation building in a historical context. I am eager to develop awareness of past and current issues related to Canada’s history and the relationships between its people. I decided to do some research on Aboriginal writers and came across this list that spoke of some great Aboriginal women that wrote amazing stories. Reading about these people made me more excited to discover the stories we would be reading within the course, and I cannot wait to discover them and to share my experiences of them with all of you.

Until the next blog,

Sylvia Halpert


Works Cited

Kirton, Jónína. “14 Aboriginal Women Writers to Read This Summer.” Room Magazine.
________N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.

“Experience a Traditional Coast Salish Bighouse.” North Vancouver School District.
________N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.

First Nations Bighouse Program. Digital image. North Vancouver School District.
________N.p., n.d. Web. 16 May 2016.