Thoughts About Comments Wk 5

I love reading everyone's comments. I haven't replied to any I have received, mostly because the only thing I could reply to them with is a keysmash and a smiley face. Encouraging and positive comments are always a pleasure to receive. I can't speak for everyone, but for me, they remind me that there is some worth to what I do and that people can enjoy what I make. It makes it easier to keep going.

The most helpful comments are those with suggestions. Just telling someone that something is wrong without suggesting ways to fix it is not the best way to go about it. I have received some really helpful suggestions in my storytelling comments and they help me focus on tightening up things that need extra attention.

When I write comments, I try to make it something I would like to receive about my own writing. I include suggestions if I have any, though I usually don't, and always make sure to point out something I really enjoyed about the post. Being able to pick something out and comment on it lets the author know you actually paid attention!

Reading Diary Extra Wk5 - Canterbury Tales

Prologue of The Canterbury Tales. Source.

I remember reading The Canterbury Tales in my last year of highschool. The teacher tried to play them up as if they'd be really engaging but most of the students in my class did not think much of it, myself included. What may have been bawdy in ye olde times resulted in glazed stares and 'okay but why should I care?' attitudes.

I chose to read Section B of The Canterbury Tales as they were different from the ones I remember reading in class. I wanted to see if they were as I remembered them. They're not. I think it's probably one of those books adults make kids read without telling them why.

From this section, the story I liked the most was The Priest Who Learned to be a Philosopher.
The beginning was kind of boring until the storyteller let the audience in on the secret that the canon was totally a con-man and was making the whole thing up to rob the priest. The amount of details added into the story makes me wonder how much thought the storyteller really put into the scam. Does he know from personal experience? Mystery!

Storytelling Wk 5 - The Book in the Box

Codex Gigas. Source.

There was nothing Niccolo enjoyed more than reading. He spent most of his time chasing this hobby and had become very well acquainted with the staff in all of the libraries on his university's campus.

That was why he didn't think anything of it when one night, during one of his reading sessions, Niccolo was interrupted by a man who seemed to be part of the library staff. With a curious glance and a careful finger marking his spot, he asked the man why he was laughing.

"Oh, I'm just wondering why you're wasting all your time reading these books, son."

"I'm not wasting my time!" Niccolo responded, offended by the very idea. "Knowledge is important!"

"So. You're after knowledge, eh? Well," The man leaned forward, glancing around conspiratorily. "There's a book in the basement. They've hidden it away because they don't want others to know. But I know. It contains all human knowledge; past, present and future. Wouldn't that be a nice book to read?"

"You're making fun of me." Niccolo protested and made to return to his reading.

The man shrugged, "Maybe so. Aren't you curious, though? No harm in looking. What if it's real? I can tell you where to find it and you can tell me if I'm pulling your leg or not."

Weighing his options, Niccolo decided the trek was worth it. Even if he didn't find some magical book (and honestly, he doubted he would), finding some new book was reward enough on it's own. He agreed to go looking and the man gave him the directions.

"It's in the basement under some floorboards in a box. They really didn't want anyone to find it, but you will, won't you? Best time to do it is now, when it's dark and not busy."

The man watched as Niccolo packed up his spot and headed for the elevators. On the way, Niccolo texted his roommate, Avery, that he was probably going to be late and to leave the outside light on for him. He also mentioned he was heading down to the basement to see a new book the library just got in. He was surprised by how fast Avery replied.

'Don't go in the basement, bro.' Came the first reply. It was enough to give Niccolo pause as he waited for the elevator to ding to signal it had arrived on his floor. ' Bad juju. Campus legend is the place is haunted. Bad stuff happens when people go down there.'

Niccolo replied that he would be fine and stepped into the elevator and pressed the basement button. His roommate was always such a worrier. When he finally reached his destination, he was surprised at how dark the basement was, only lit by low-wattage bulbs every few feet.

"Don't know why I expected it to be lit like the rest," He murmured to himself, turning on a flashlight app on his phone to peer into the darkness, "It's not like anybody's supposed to normally be down here."

As Niccolo moved cautiously through the old shelves of dilapidated storage boxes and stacks of newspapers, his phone buzzed with a new incoming text. It was from Avery again.

'Are you in the basement? Maybark is going crazy! You better be on your way home and deal with your dog >:('

Niccolo ignored the text and went back to searching for a place on the floor where floorboards could possibly be lifted away to hide a box. He found it not long after. He set his bag down on an old plastic chair and positioned his phone on it to light the area. Peeling back the musty carpet exposed some sad looking planks of wood, already attempting to curl upwards as if they were anxious to get away from the ground. Niccolo lifted them gently and swung them to the side, giving himself enough space to look below.

He grabbed his phone and looked into the hole. The sudden light caused the ground to skitter away. Niccolo almost dropped his phone in surprise as he jerked away. "Stupid bugs!" He cursed into the darkness. Once again, he peered into the hole and then he saw the box. He lifted it up and sat it on the floor next to him, returning his phone to it's place on his bag.

"I can't believe it." Niccolo touched the lid of the dark wooden box. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it wasn't a plain wooden box. "Now watch this whole thing was a prank and there's gonna be some cheap Halloween prop inside."

But why stop when he was so close? With a deep breath, he squeezed his eyes shut and opened the box. When nothing happened, he opened his eyes. Inside the box was another, smaller box. Lighter in colour, but still just as plain. Niccolo rolled his eyes and opened the second box. Yet another box was inside, but this was made of...leather?

He lifted this newest box out of the others and sat it down. He was about to open it when his phone went off again and he grabbed it in annoyance. Another text from Avery.

'I can't find Maybark and I thought I heard something in the kitchen. Are you here?' Niccolo felt his annoyance bubble and he wanted to tell his roommate exactly how he felt about these interruptions, but instead he sent a short message back saying that no, he wasn't home- he was still at the library and maybe the dog had finally barked himself to sleep.

Niccolo returned his attention to the leather box. It was probably the length of his forearm and was dusty tan in colour. It wasn't fancy, but it had more ornamentation than the two wooden boxes. It was not latched like the others. It was sewn shut by thick black cords around the lid. Taking out his pocket knife, Niccolo worked at cutting the cords on three of the edges and opening the box.

Inside the leather box was a book. Niccolo felt a wave of dizzying euphoria at finding it. The man hadn't lied to him and now he had a book in his hands that others had tried very hard to keep out of them. The cover was oddly smooth for it's supposed age, but it was very heavy. He sat back and opened it. The pages were odd feeling against his fingers. Were they....warm? Never mind that. He turned the pages carefully, ready to see what the book had in store. His elation died away as more pages were flipped and nothing was revealed. They were all empty. He turned them faster until he finally saw words.

He wished he hadn't.

Thank you, Niccolo.

Then the lights flickered off.

~~~~

Author's Notes:
1130 words.

I went a little over the 1000 word limit which is a first. I wanted to retell the story The Book of Thoth in a more modern setting, so instead of having the main character be a prince, he's just a student with a(n unfortunate) reading habit. Unlike the original story, no magic powers for Niccolo!
Since there are story differences, I wanted to keep callbacks in other ways. I chose to name the characters with the same letters as the original family.
Niccolo - Nefer-ka-ptah, Avery - Ahura, Maybark - Merab.

Have you ever heard of the Codex Gigas? I knew right away I wanted to use it as the picture for the story, even if the book in the story isn't as huge as that book. It was pretty hard to find a picture that didn't feature the famous devil image, though.

Inspiration for this story is from The Book of Thoth, from Egyptian Myth and Legend by Donald Mackenzie (1907).

Reading Diary B Wk 5 - Anc Egypt Cont

Thoth from Luxor

Continuing on with the Ancient Egyptian myths.

The story that captured my interest this time around was The Book of Thoth. In it, the prince is consumed with his love of reading. A priest tells him of the Book of Thoth and the prince must have it! He gets his father, the king, to finance his expedition even against the warnings of his wife. He, his wife and his son travel to find this book. After finding it, the prince reads it and gains insight and magic. He then also has his wife read it and they sail happily back to his father's kingdom.

Meanwhile, Thoth has discovered his book had been stolen and asks Ra for satisfaction against those who stole it. On the journey back, first the son, then the wife, and then the prince himself are compelled over the side of the boat to drown in the water. Before his death, the prince affixed the book to himself in a final act to make sure Thoth didn't get it back.

My question is, was it really worth it? The prince got to read the book, but both himself and his family is dead because of it. He had been warned against it by his wife, but he still did it. Perhaps if the story was told in modern times, the prince would have been the only death, or he wouldn't have died but his family still would. I'd go for the second, actually. More drama that way.

No harm ever came from reading a book, right?

Reading Diary A Wk 5 - Anc Egyptian Myths

Nut as Heavenly Cow

For the reading diaries this week, I decided to go with something more familiar and picked the Ancient Egyptian selection.

Rather than do my normal pick and choose, I wanted to give just an overview. I find it interesting that there are parallels to how Ra came into being with how the world was created in the Babylonian view. I am also pleased at how often the female gods show up in the tales. In many mythologies, they may be powerful and important, but don't usually have adventures of their own. Both Hathor with her slaying of men and Isis and her tricking of Ra and her adventure to revive Osiris is really interesting to see.

One thing I think its pretty unique to Anc Egyptian mythology is although Ra is still really important, he does give up his, I don't know...title? Of the main honcho of the gods, unlike in other mythologies, like Odin or Zeus. They earned their titles and kept them, but Ra, after ascending on the Heavenly Cow, left the Earth in the charge of others. Interesting.