Week 7 Storytelling: The First Clap of Thunder

They call me Xander, god of all gods. I rule over the heavens and the seas; the gods under me control things such as the weather, love, and nature. The god of weather goes by the name of Jupiter, the god of love goes by Eden, and the god of nature goes by the name of Eve.

I have admired the god of love, Eden for many many years now, though Jupiter seems to have begun showing affection towards her also. Eve has always admired me, but I do not wish to be with her. I only want to be with Eden; for she is the most beautiful god there is who rules over the strongest emotion, love. If I could be with Eden, her love would be enough for both of us to be everlasting together.

One day I witnessed Jupiter sneak a kiss from Eden, her eyes showed that she too cared for Jupiter. I thought many nights about what happened between Jupiter and Eden before taking any action. The first day of spring, I confronted Jupiter about what happened and he ignored me completely. Jupiter did not want to get in my way, although he already unknowingly has. My resulting anger from Jupiter ignoring me caused me to do something very harsh and bold...

I summoned all of the weather in which Jupiter controlled and summoned it upon him. I gathered every bolt of lightning I could grab and sent the electricity jolting through his body. Though Jupiter was a god, he could not handle all the weather and lightning I summoned upon him; this was due to the fact that I was the sole god above him. Only I could destroy other gods if I so pleased.

As the bolts of lightning passed through his body, he collapsed down from the top story of the heavens down to the bottom floor of the earth. With so much power behind his body, the first and greatest clap of thunder ever echoed throughout the entire earth as he stuck the ground. The skies went black and the rain began for months on end. The first thunder storm graced the earth this day due to solely my actions.

Upon approaching Eden, she too ignored me and never spoke to me again for my actions towards her one love, Jupiter, could not be undone. To this day, I still remain as the loneliest god over all gods. After that day I destroyed Jupiter, thunder always accompanied lightning during storms and serves as a reminder of my own harsh actions.

(Jupiter Striking Earth: Source)

Authors Note

As I child, I remember my mother telling me that thunder was the sound of god rearranging his living room; this always grabbed my curiosity and from then, I was always intrigued by thunder and lightning. I read about the origins of lightning last week in the Nigerian tales and this week I have read the origin story of lightning within the Asian tales. I felt it was now appropriate to make my own adaptation to this origin story. 

Bibliography 

This story was adapted from the original story entitled The Origin of Lightning, by W.A. Briggs in 1899. 

Week 7 Reading Diary: Grains of Rice

A very different and interesting origin story; probably my favorite one yet. This story tell the reason behind why grains of rice are so small. One day long ago one grain of rice was all a man could eat. The grains of rice rolled directly into the village for the people to eat. One day when building a bigger granary, a grain of rice rolled directly into the construction and angered a woman worker. When the worker struck the grain of rice, it broke into thousands of tiny smaller ones and waited back in the field never to bother the people again. This reason behind rice being so small was so interesting to me; I enjoyed reading this one the most. I definitely plan on using this tale for my Storytelling Post later this week.

(Grains of Rice: Source)

These were the thoughts from reading The Legend of the Rice, by W.A. Briggs in 1899.

Week 7 Reading Diary: Lightning Origins

Another origin story about lightning, but rather being an African tale about the origins of lightning, this one is an Asian one. I chose to do this reading over the same subject to compare and contrast how the two different cultures told their tales of origin (lightning). This story involves reincarnation which also caught my interest as well as the morals it is teaching. In the end of this story the most beautiful woman marries an old man and upsets everyone; thunder ends up being the sound of the gardener shooting at this old man. The cause of lightning was said to be the wreath of this beautiful woman who marries the old man. This Asian origin tale of lightning is more complex and meaningful when compared to the African lightning origin tale. Though the African version may be more simple than this one, they both share two very different perspectives which are equally interesting!

(Wreath of Lightning: Source)

These thoughts were recorded after the reading of The Origin of Lightning, by W.A.Briggs in 1899.