Throughout the ages, myths have been a critical part of nearly every society on earth. They have been used to describe environmental phenomena, to teach lessons, and to assist in the understanding of our existence. For this assignment, students were asked to write a brief myth that involved a mythical creature of some sort. Below are submissions from students Warner Jones, Seth Horwitz, and Leo Hagedorn. Enjoy!
Winter’s First Fall (a variation on Norse mythology)
Way back in the early days of the cosmos, there lived an evil frost giant Ymir, who gave birth to most of his kind. However, Odin and his brothers killed Ymir and used his body to create Midgard. Odin married many women and gave birth to many mighty gods like Baldur, Tyr, and the mighty Thor. Odin and his brethren kept watch over the mortal world and protected it from many dangers like frost giants, trolls, ogres, and dark elves. One day in the halls of ASGARD, Odin was watching over Midgard when he noticed something bad.
In a village in Midgard, some monstrous trolls were attacking the townsfolk and eating their livestock. So Odin called on Thor to fix the problem. Thor went to the village and killed the trolls really easily. Then, two frost giants who were the second in commands of the attack, arrived and got ready to kill the god of thunder. The frost giants put up a slightly tougher fight than the trolls, but were defeated and killed by Thor. Then the leader came along- a vicious death walker known as Sauron.
Sauron was known by his people as the toughest and most dangerous death walker who had ever walked the nine realms. Thor and Sauron fought and Sauron proved to Thor that the rumors about him were true. Sauron punched Thor so hard, that he went flying into a mountain. Thor got back up and flew straight at Sauron, but Sauron used his ability to become transparent (which is an ability that few death walkers have) on Thor in which the god of thunder went straight through him and flew into a tree. Thor got angry and threw his hammer at Sauron, but the death walker became transparent and the hammer flew through Sauron and hit a rock.
Thor then tried to summon lighting and thunder to hit Sauron, but Sauron walked on air (another ability that very few of his kind have). Thor then lifted a rock and threw it at Sauron, but like before, the death walker became transparent. Thor flew at Sauron but the death walker disappeared, leaving Thor confused and frustrated. Thor then sat on a rock and thought about what his father would say if he saw him like this. So Thor came up with a plan to defeat Sauron.
Thor called for Sauron and the death walker appeared instantly. The two then fought again with Thor using both his strength and his brains to defeat Sauron. When Thor threw his hammer, Sauron became transparent, but after Sauron became visible again, Thor grabbed a large rock and threw it straight at the death walker. The rock hit Sauron straight in the jaw which left him shocked and surprised by the attack. Thor then called his hammer back to him and used it to whack the baffled death walker in the face.
Sauron got extremely angry and used his people’s ability to control ice to freeze Thor. Thor used thunder and wind to blow the ice back at Sauron. Sauron was frozen by his own attack and Thor flied over to deliver the killing blow. Thor whacked Sauron with his hammer up into the atmosphere which killed him instantly. Thor then sat back on a tree to rest and felt something on his face. Thor looked up and saw tiny white specks falling slowly from the sky. Thor then flew back to ASGARD and told his father what had happened. Odin decided to call the specks “snow” and that is why snow falls to the earth.
-Warner Jones (8th grade)
The Night Sky (a mythological history of the heavens)
For many years, philosophers, artists, and ordinary people have tried to explain the glowing dots in the night sky. The Goddess Moiu, the Goddess of the night and guardian of the afterlife, is responsible for these “specks.”
When the darkness falls, Moiu lets the souls of the dead out into the sky. They create certain patterns with each other, such as The Big Dipper, Taurus, and Gemini. The souls do this to talk to their loved ones, guide them, or warn them about any upcoming issues. These patterns are called constellations because the prefix “con” can mean message. Basically, the full word means message from the skies. These can change throughout seasons due to different conditions or circumstances.
The big white ball in the sky is called the moon, or the gateway to heaven. When the moon starts to glow gold, many Celts hold a festival for the dead called Harvest of Moiu. This celebration is used to honor the dead, but mostly Moiu. Many followers leave out their crops prior to the night for her. If they do this, Moiu may bring them to the gates when it is their time to pass on.
Many astronomers map the skies so that they can easily find their loved ones above them. They would also sell them to people for large sums and praise. Eventually, the early British colonies started adapting the belief of Moiu and started celebrating, harvesting for, and praising her. The gold moon was dubbed “Harvest Moon” by the citizens of Modern-Day Wales.
When the Vikings discovered the British Isles, they adopted the belief of the gates of the afterlife and Moui. This helped them explain the Aurora Borealis. They said these streaks of color were the souls of the dead passing on to the afterlife. The Norse who had just lost a loved one would chant for them, cry, and communicate with them.
As the Norse slowly conquered the arctic, they spread these beliefs to areas such as Iceland, Greenland, and Canada. When the entirety of Canada adopted Moui, it slowly spread to the Aztecs, Mayans, and Incas. This is where these empires got their interest in learning about the night sky. They used the charts the Brits had made to make what would become one of the earliest maps in the world.
-Seth Horwitz (7th grade)
Untitled Warrior Myth
A long time ago there was a man named Ares who was loved by many people. He would protect towns against evil creatures. He was once a normal person but then went to war with the gods. He won the war and the gods granted him immortality. He then became a god himself.
Ares would fight entire armies single-handed. Eventually he took a break from fighting and had two children with a mortal. His children’s names were James and Harold. He made raising his children his main priority for several years until he heard about a monster that was terrorizing towns. He went to help the towns and saw a creature people were calling “the Slither.” Ares tried to fight the Slither but the Slither’s powers were too strong.
Ares was determined to stop the damage the Slither was causing so he lured it into a forest. When it came to Ares, he tried to stab the creature with his sword, but the blade just bent. Then the Slither shot fireballs from its nose and kicked Ares to the ground. Ares then decided to leave the fight and go seek help but the Slither did the same. Ares recruited four more gods to help him kill the Slither but when he returned, the Slither had brought 10 giants.
The gods managed to kill the giants but the Slither was still alive. The Slither knocked out two of the gods and burned one of them. There were now two gods left who could fight. They battled for three days and nights and then the gods finally gave up. Ares then went back into the mortal world and told a wizard about his battles with the Slither. The wizard and Ares spent one month in the mortal world preparing for battle. When they met the Slither this next time, the wizard managed to freeze the Slither and injure it.
After that, they brought the Slither to a mountain and trapped it in a cave. They thought the Slither could not get out of the cave. Shortly after, they heard a loud boom and went back to the cave to investigate. The Slither had escaped and another battle began. The Slither knocked the wizard and Ares down the mountain. Ares thought this was the end for him. Both the wizard and Ares put up the strongest fight they could. As this was happening, Ares remembered a secret spell the wizard had taught him during their preparations for battle. The spell was designed to vaporize and teleport anything it was cast upon to a different realm. Ares used the spell on the Slither and it disappeared leaving a fiery cloud of smoke. Soon after this, the use of fire became a common practice amongst mortals. When the wood was burned, a slight hissing sound could be heard from the crackling embers and it was said that the hissing and flames was the Slither attempting to escape from its realm.
-Leo Hagedorn (7th grade)
wordcraft MSA 