Week 9 Story: Treasure Cavern

Week 9 Story

Treasure Mountain

Author's notes: This story is based on The Golden Apple section of the Labor's of Yamato series in the Japanese Mythology section of the Un-Textbook. He is looking for a golden apple, which is a task assigned to him by a siren who is possessing his mind. When she gives him instructions on how to get to it, she does so in the form of a song. He is looking for this golden apple on the island of eternal life to please the woman he "loves" and gain her affection. I decided to make this story about treasures similar to the cavern of wonders from the Aladdin tale but focus on the song portion. I kept the rhyming scheme the same but made different verses for the song itself. My version involves a beggar who is desperate to gain riches and is granted a visit by an undefined character who will recite to him an ode that should help him locate the riches he seeks.

There was once a man who lived a bitter, dull life. Watching from the sidelines as his townsfolk walked the streets lavished in their earned riches. He was fated the dreads of poverty and envied those who fed on rich flavors the world had to offer; having only the vermin of life satisfied his hunger. He wanted more. Much more.

Among the streets always sat the rumors of Treasure Cavern. The myths and lore backed by the merchants and travelers who sold goods as well as stories upon their return. For the beggar had no glimmer nor silver-coated lining on life. He thought, “why not muster up the courage to see if the myths are fact?” So off he went. He searched high and low for more information about this Treasure Cavern, but fell short and lost motivation quickly. He had all but given up before he was greeted in the night by an unknown woman cloaked in crimson drabs encrusted in gold and ruby accents. Face hidden from all Earth-dwellers; carrying an ominous presence amongst her.

"Who are you," cried our wretched beggar.

"Is treasure not what you seek? Welcome my words to feed your hunger," stated the mysterious woman.

The beggar nodded. If one more word had escaped her veiled lips, tasteless foam would seep from his mouth like the ravenous dogs lurking the night.

"Listen," she hummed. A strong wind began to pick up, and her feet slowly lifted from the ground while her arms spread apart.

In the abandoned times of the gods and the mother,
Across the dusty deserts near the isle of Shikoku,
Heretofore dwelt a villainous mage, cruel of heart and stone of reason,
Whom was sought by the people, brewed devilish taboo.

The sage, greed consumed, collected gems upon detection,
Protesting leeches who thirst for generosity lest they scavenge themselves,
Curse upon curse he marked upon the rapacious making him grow tired and ill,
And twisted mind paid a visit to him as doth sinister elves:

“Hide thy treasure, neath the depths open to mortal steps
To a cavern molded of magic and magma of ethereal phenomenon,
House thine gold and silver and rubies and sapphires
So only magian conquest may enter and thus relieve thy vex.”


Reveled in the advice of foul impish creatures,
The mage embarked on crafting a chasm so deep even land would not convey its location,
For days and weeks and months he built through scorching sun and blazing winds,
Till the last bit of rubble had been placed amongst this magnificent formation.

This fortress then built on insanity and corrupted magic,
Left the mage stricken by deeper exertion than just physical ability,
He all but delivered his treasures to their crypt when he felt lifeless,
Only the motherland went to catch his fallen body coated by fragility.

Death was stronger than the envy that drove his mad actions,
And life's last response let the base of the cavern consume his force;
Emitting a brilliant glow along the walls that lined the mass,
Faintly visible to travelers who may walk above its source.

Below the hue of iridescence marked our Treasure Cavern,
Vastly haunted by the insanity and greed of its late creator;
To traverse one must be cunning, brave, the strength of mind flourished
Careful to chain sanity within, so that joy may peak from thy splendor.

As the last phrase was brought to life, the masked woman began to float backward and fade into the distance. Her disappearance led the wind to cease in violence. All was quiet and now undisturbed by the recent events to take place. After his breath regulated and the last drop of cold sweat slide down the base of his neck, the beggar stepped towards the door ready to locate the Treasure Cavern.

Image 1: Treasure gems (Pixabay)
Image 2: Golden treasures (Website)
Bibliography: Labors of Yamato: The Golden Apple by E. W. Champney and F. Champney (Un-Textbook)

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology Part B

Reading Notes

Japanese Mythology Part B

I completed the reading for the second half of this unit. It was a lot easier to go through this portion because I read these sections aloud, and it also followed the story of one person, so the flow was apparent. It was similar to the Sinbad stories we were given the opportunity to read back in the Middle Eastern units a few weeks again. I loved the imagery used in this section because it was using other natural beauties to describe natural life forms. The way “foaming flowers” were used to describe the waves of the ocean was such a captivating observation for me. This section is definitely going to help me mold my storybook project pages further for the rest of the semester. I also got the hang of understanding the poem meters. It’s almost like a sandwich effect, which I like! Something I love to do when reading stories aloud is to give different voice tones and patterns to different characters. It was fun to play around with the rhythm of the poetry from this unit when reading aloud. I was also weirdly connected to Yamato based on the writing style he was portrayed under. They gave him very brief dialogue and most of his development was through action, but he had such strong passions that justified why he did what he did. It was realistic to the situation he was under, despite the mannerisms he chose to treat his wife. The only real critique I had was that the quotations thrown throughout the story were a bit confusing to me. Some of them seemed unnecessary, or like they weren't used for a character speaking. Overall a fun second half to review!

Image: Evil Tenkeisei (Wikipedia)
Bibliography: Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. C (Un-Textbook)

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology Part A

Reading Notes

Japanese Mythology Part A

Last week, I wanted to get into reading some of the Japanese Fairytale stories that the Un-Textbook had to offer. This week, I tried to get into the root of the stories I wanted to tell in this class, and that's the Japanese Mythology story unit. The goal from the reading was to get a better idea of how the Japanese myth characters were born and utilized in storytelling, as well as getting more idea of the flow of these stories. Getting into the first half of the reading, it took me a few read-throughs to get the flow down to comprehend the story. There was a mix of different story elements, including poetry, dialogue, and third-person omniscient perspective.  The mixing of these methods led to me being confused, especially in the beginning because I didn't notice it until the sentence structure thoroughly changed up. I guess I just glazed over Professor Gibb's note, in the beginning, to read aloud due to the poetry. She is not kidding when she recommends to read it out loud. I also suggest you do so! It just sounds better to hear it when you read over just going through it in your head. I wished this section had an audiobook attached so that my first experience with the story was more natural to process. The dialogue took me by surprise because it was very similar to the Greek Mythology writings. I guess in my head they had different dialects and different ways to address the characters aside from "thy" and "thou" and such. They used terms in that fashion so heavily that it got harder to read if it wasn't being read out loud. It made the reading feel condensed and complicated. The third-person view of the story was my favorite part by far. Those parts of the story were the most exciting for me, which made me sad since I usually live for the dialogue. The pavement of the story was best done for me when looking at that method over the other two.

Image: Untold Stories of Japanese Mythology (Wikimedia Common)
Bibliography: Romance of Old Japan, Part I: Mythology and Legend by E. W. Champney and F. C (Un-Textbook)