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The Ice King and His Wonderful Grandchild (Dutch/Netherlands)
Many tales in Dutch mythology contain lessons or morals, but have you ever heard of one containing personification? The Ice King and His Wonderful Grandchild is a myth retold by William Elliot Griffis that dates back to the year 1918 (Dutch). This myth displays steam as a physical being with a similar name, Stoom, and the traits of steam. The Ice King and His Wonderful Grandchild also shows how important all the members of your family are, no matter how rambunctious they may be, and that it is important to be your own person no matter who your parents are.
The Ice King and His Wonderful Grandchild is a myth most famously told by William Elliot Griffis in his Dutch folklore
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book, Dutch Fairy Tales for Young Folks, which was published in 1918, a mere ten years before his death.
The myth was translated from Dutch to English, but the storyline remains constant through many sources. It is likely that Griffis translated the story directly into his book from the original Dutch wording. (Dutch)
The myth starts out by explaining who The Ice King is; an Ice Spirit of Ulrum, the village named after him. Uller, the spirit, was the patron of boys and girls because in the wintertime he would create sleighs and sleds for them to play with. Hunters looked to him for assistance in hunting wolves, bears, and aurochs; which he gave in return for care of the yew tree, which was sacred to him because of the powerful bows it’s wood could create.Uller was also sometimes considered to be the shield god because of the shield shaped snow shoes he wore while hunting (Netherlands). Uller’s wife was named Skadi, and she was considered extremely beautiful and very much alike to the winter season.
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Uller loved Skadi because they were very similar and liked the same things. It makes sense that their six daughters would take after their mother and father, all very strong and beautiful. Their daughters, Glacier, Cold, Snow, Drift, Snow Whirl, and Snow Dust, (often called the Six White Sisters) had many suitors when they grew older but only one stood out. Vuur, the giant fairy, would visit all the sisters in the summer months until the heat became too much and the daughters melted into water then rejoined into one being (SurLaLune). Uller, infuriated with Vuur’s indecision surrounding who he would marry, forced him to marry all the daughters, calling them as a whole Regen. Vuur and Regen only had one child, and they named it Stoom (steam). Stoom was a reckless child who would shout and scream and make pots and kettles explode when trapped inside them. It would cause troubles in volcanos, either escaping through the top or forcing lava out. The important thing that Uller remembered was that Stoom was still important no matter how much damage it caused. (Cultural) In the Greek Mythology Packet based on Edith Hamilton’s book, Mythology, a clear theme throughout the whole packet was family.
In Greek mythology, everyone obviously has a family, but they often do great deeds for their loved ones. In some cases, gods or goddesses sired children, and these children had more complicated family lives. In The Ice King and His Wonderful Grandchild is a story completely based on family. The myth also shows personification by portraying steam, which is a physical thing, as Stoom, the boisterous and unruly grandson of Uller. Through this prosopopoeia, the lessons of family value and the origin of steam are portrayed (SurLaLune). This myth in particular does not directly relate to my family, but Dutch mythology does. My grandmother on my father’s side has very deep Dutch roots, and her maiden name, Varnadore, is Dutch. As I have gone over many times in this essay, this is a very family-based myth. It comes from a book of children’s myths and fairy tales and is generally about family. Stoom’s parents and grandparents were strong winter loving people and Stoom was very different from them. Though they tried to bottle him up and contain him, Stoom still became what he wanted to be, even if he could be diruptive at times. While my parents are important to me, I am a different person than who they are. Who I grow up to be will not be fully or mainly affected by who they want me to
be. Stoom in this myth may have had bad characteristics, but it played an important part in Dutch mythology (Cultural). Dutch children and children everywhere are able to look to a crazy yet lovable character who comes from a strong background and see that it is a necessary part of civilization, no matter how many mistakes that it may make (SurLaLune). It is important for kids to grow up knowing that they always have a chance to do something great in life.
In the poem ¨My Father¨ by Scott Hightower, the author describes a rather unstable relationship with his now deceased father. Scott describes his father as a mix of both amazing and atrocious traits. The father is described as someone who constantly contradicts himself through his actions. He is never in between but either loving and heroic or cold and passive. The relationship between Scott and his father is shown to be always changing depending on the father’s mood towards him. He sees his father as the reason he now does certain things he finds bad. But at the end of it all, he owes a great deal to his father. Scott expresses that despite his flaws, his father helped shape the man he is today. Hightower uses certain diction, style, and imagery to
The Little Ice Age by Brian Fagan is a novel that discussed different climate periods that occurred. The setting of the novel occurred in Europe from 1300 to 1850. Throughout that time period the climate in Europe was changing quite drastically. The layout of this book was done chronologically and thematically. Fagan broke down the book into four different parts: Warmth and its Aftermath, Cooling Begins, The End of the “Full World”, and The Modern Warm Period. He also went further into breaking down each section from discussing the medieval warm period, to the climate seesaw, then to the specter of hunger, finally to a warmer greenhouse as well as other things in between. The way he wrote the book was not based on his personal experience. It
Firstly, one’s identity is largely influenced by the dynamics of one’s relationship with their father throughout their childhood. These dynamics are often established through the various experiences that one shares with a father while growing up. In The Glass Castle and The Kite Runner, Jeannette and Amir have very different relationships with their fathers as children. However the experiences they share with these men undou...
In the essay, “Global Warming is Eroding Glacial Ice,” Andrew C. Revkin argues that global warming is the primary cause for many of the world’s natural disasters; including flash floods, climate change, and the melting of the polar ice caps. He includes multiple accounts of expert testimony as well as a multitude amount of facts and statistics to support his theory that global warming is a threat to the world. However, in the essay “Cold Comfort for ‘Global Warming’,” Phillip Stott makes the complete opposite argument. He argues that global warming is nothing to be worried about and the melting of the polar icecaps is caused by the interglacial period we are currently in. After reading both of these essays and doing extensive research on both viewpoints, I completely agree with Revkin that global warming is an enormous threat to our world today. My research not only helped me to take a stand but it also showed me the invalidity in Stott’s essay.
“The Inheritance of My Father: A Story for Listening” comments on the issues of family ties, identity and belonging in relation to hybridization. Roemer’s purpose involves the highlighting of the relationship between finding one’s identity and finding one’s voice. He achieves this by allowing the readers to embark on a journey of self-discovery with the child narrator Bonkoro, who changes from a docile, almost voiceless “child” before the summer vacation to a renewed, confident and articulate “adult” at the end of her vacation. This short story is a unified and coherent production since several aspects of Roemer’s craft testify to the intimate interrelation of finding one’s identity and one’s voice. Roemer emphasizes the theme of self-discovery
Morris Bishop’s poem has elaborately depicted a classical greek legend with a unique approach. The legend itself briefly describes the perishment of Phaethon, who insisted to ride his father, Apollo’s chariot although Apollo have discouraged him to do so. Likewise, the poem introduces a father who used the legend of Phaethon to deter his teenaged son from driving “the car”. By clearly implementing a sarcastic humour and tone through the impressive imagery, and the upbeat rhyme, rhythm, the poem addresses some of the key aspects of a parent’s attitude towards the child. Bishop suggests that in order to keep their child in their “wonted courses”, it is essential for parents to carry out the obligation to address their child’s sense of limit.
While growing up in life children need their parents to teach them and lead them on the path to a successful future. In the Glass Castle Rex Walls, Jeannette’s father, neglects to take care of his duties as a father figure in Jeannette’s life. In the same way he teaches her to be strong and independent at a very young age. As we read through the story we see the special relationship that Jeannette shares with her father. Even though he, in many instances, failed to protect his children, refused to take responsibility for them, and even stole from them, Jeannette still loved him until his death for two reasons: one, for his ability to make her feel special, and two, because he is a never-ending source of inspiration.
Family bonds are very important which can determine the ability for a family to get along. They can be between a mother and son, a father and son, or even a whole entire family itself. To some people anything can happen between them and their family relationship and they will get over it, but to others they may hold resentment. Throughout the poems Those Winter Sundays, My Papa’s Waltz, and The Ballad of Birmingham family bonds are tested greatly. In Those Winter Sundays the relationship being shown is between the father and son, with the way the son treats his father. My Papa’s Waltz shows the relationship between a father and son as well, but the son is being beaten by his father. In The Ballad of Birmingham the relationship shown is between
This modern fairy tale contains diverse characters but none of them are as important as the grandmother. In fact, through her narration the reader gets the basic information concerning the familial context. The story revolves around a grandmother, a mother and a granddaughter, which thus sets the point of view of the story, the grandmother is the narrator therefore the reader gets her perception. Besides the domestic context, the lack of other contextual clues, such as the time or the location of the story, gives room to her story and her final purpose: teaching and, at the same time, protecting her grand-daughter from risks represented by men here symbolized by a wolf. The way this unnamed grandmother reveals her life exemplifies two properties of fairy tale as mentioned by Marina Warner in “The Old Wives' Tale”: “Fairy tales exchange knowledge [using morals] between an older [most of the time feminine] voice of experience and a younger audience” (314). As suggested in the text, fairy tales are a way to teach insights of life through simple stories directed to, most of the time, younger generations. Most of the time because fairy tales' moral work on dif...
This modern fairy tale contains diverse characters but none of them is as important as the grandmother. Through her narration, the reader gets all the information needed to understand the story. Indeed, by telling her own story she provides the reader the familial context in which the story is set with her granddaughter and her daughter but even more important, she provides details on her own life which should teach and therefore protect her grand-daughter from men, and then save her to endure or experience her past griefs. This unnamed grand-mother is telling her life under a fairy tale form which exemplify two major properties of fairy tale, as mentioned by Marina Warner in “The Old Wives' Tale”: “Fairy tales exchange knowledge [through the moral] between an older [most of the time feminine] voice of experience and a younger audience”. As suggested in the text, fairy tales are a way to teach insights of life through simple stories directed to, most of the time, younger generations. Most of the time because fairy tales work on different levels of moral which are directed to categories of people, for instance in “Little Red Riding Hood” the moral ...
A father can play many roles throughout a child’s life: a caregiver, friend, supporter, coach, protector, provider, companion, and so much more. In many situations, a father takes part in a very active position when it comes to being a positive role model who contributes to the overall well-being of the child. Such is the case for the father in the poem “Those Winter Sundays” by Robert Hayden. In this poem, readers are shown the discreet ways in which a father can love his child. On the other hand, there are also many unfortunate situations where the fathers of children are absent, or fail to treat the children with the love and respect that they undoubtedly deserve. In the contrasting poem “Like Riding a Bicycle” by George Bilgere, readers are shown how a son who was mistreated by his drunken father is affected by their past relationship many years later. Although both of these poems have fairly similar themes and literary techniques, they each focus on contradicting situations based on the various roles a father can play in a child’s life.
In the essay: “ ‘Cinderella’: A Story of Sibling Rivalry and Oedipal Conflicts”’, Bruno Bettelheim discusses how Cinderella is a story about the difficulties of sibling rivalry and the degraded heroine ending up on top of the siblings that oppressed her. Bettelheim argues that sibling rivalry is created when a child feels that they cannot win their parents love and esteem in comparison to his brothers or sisters. In addition he argues that every child feels that they deserve to be degraded at some point in their life. The concept of Oedipal guilt, his last point, has some intriguing details included in it, concepts of which could be disputed. However, the main focus of this essay is on how children justify the idea that they should be degraded, and because of the hardships they have faced, risen up and exalted like Cinderella was. He states that Cinderella relates very closely to the youth because they feel like they can relate to her situation more than the majority of people could.
Tatar, Maria. Off with Their Heads!: Fairy Tales and the Culture of Childhood. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 1992. Print.
It is inferred that the parents should take care of their children and have their best interest at heart. This however, is not the case in Greek and Roman mythology. The killing of ones own children, or filicide, was not viewed as negative upon in their era. The contemporary times contrast with the ancient Greek and Roman’s because it was justified to use any means necessary to obtain a higher status. The Greeks and Romans valued keeping a high social reputation and having respect for those of great power. The motherly union between their children conflict with the reality that the father strives to retain or gain control. These circumstances cause a tense bond between the members of the family. The strained parent to child relationship in Greco-Roman myths is prevalent in the fact that the parents are fearful of being overtaken by their children, and endeavor to limit their upbringing.
Beowulf came to Geatland to kill the monster they call Greandel. He will kill him not for gold but for glory. Hrogthgar begins the celebration to lure Grendel in. Beowulf kills Grendel and later goes to kill Grendels mother. He ends up laying with her and gives her a child. Then years later Grendels mother send her new child the dragon to kill its father Beowulf. Beowulf ripped the dragons heart out with one of his hands, killing the dragon and saving the kingdom but not himself.