Wikipedia Trail: From King Arthur to the Curse of Tippecanoe

King Arthur:
King Arthur, as I read about in his tales for this week, was a legendary king that led the Knights of the Round Table. His story is a story about the average boy who is destined by some greater power to become the ultimate ruler. His most famous aspect is the story of the sword in the stone, which only he was able to remove, therefore making him king.

(King Arthur, web source: Wikimedia)

Cath Palug:
This is a mythical cat monster that King Arthur supposedly fights in one adaptation of his legend. It appears in many different King Arthur stories originating from across the world. It is said to be this enormous monster that kills warriors; legend says it killed nine score.

Curse:
This was a more general page than the previous two. A curse is something that has been used in many different kinds of cultures throughout history and around the world. The general definition is a wish for a wrongdoing to happen to someone else. Someone can put a curse on someone else, with the hope that danger or misfortune will befall them. Some legends of King Arthur and his fight agains the Cath Palug say that this monster was under a curse, which made his monstrous form. His fighting with Arthur eventually released him from the curse.

The Curse of Tippecanoe:
This is a curse on American Presidents. This curse says that presidents that are elected on a year ending in a "0" will be assassinated. It originated from President Harrison and his shady tactics against Tecumseh and other Native Americans. It is said that Tecumseh's brother, a prophet, placed a curse on presidents to come and it lasted all the way until President Reagan survived an assassination attempt.

Tech Tip: Reverse Image Search

(Aphrodite Riding a Swan, web source: Wikimedia)

Story Planning: King Arthur

King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table, by Andrew Lang. Link to reading here.

Character sketches:

Tor: Tor has a bit of the "step-child" syndrome. He doesn't feel as though he fits in his family, and with 13 brothers, it can be hard to. Tor has always felt that he doesn't truly belong in his family, but his parents promise him he is indeed their child. He doesn't have the same characteristics as the rest of his brothers do. He doesn't even really look like them, while the rest of them are each others' spitting image and their father's. He also didn't have the same dreams and goals as his brothers. They were aspiring to work with their hands and perform hard labor their entire lives. Tor wants to have honor; he wants to achieve something important. It isn't until later that he finds out from Merlin, the magician, that he comes from a somewhat royal family. His father was King Pellinore. Tor thought that he couldn't have received better news.

King Pellinore: King Pellinore was a somewhat awful person. He was entitled, and he always had been. He had gotten what he wanted when he wanted for as long as he could remember. And why shouldn't he? He was royalty, after all. He also thought of himself as quite the ladies' man. He thought women were falling at his feet. He definitely thought this way when he forced himself on Tor's mother. He viewed life as a giant party; he took nothing seriously. He had made a bet that he could catch up to the elusive Questing Beast, which is what he was attempting to do when he met King Arthur. He couldn't really stand Arthur. He thought he was too nice and it rubbed him the wrong way.

Aries: He was Tor's adoptive father. He raised Tor the best he could, considering the enormous amount of children he had. He also tried his hardest to make Tor feel welcome in their family, yet always had the sense that he always felt a degree of separation. Aries and Tor's mother didn't want to tell him that he was not Aries' son. But, the older they got, the more distinctive the differences between Tor and the other sons became. They didn't know what to do to assuage this, until Tor asks to be taken to King Arthur's court to request to become a knight. With a heavy but contented heart, Aries complies.

(Coat of Tor, web source: Wikimedia)

Reading Notes: King Arthur, Part A

King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table, by Andrew Lang. Link to reading here.

I am somewhat tempted by the loose similarities between the beginning of King Arthur's story and Cinderella. Both of them were raised by someone other than their parents and later become royalty. Of course, Arthur's comes from his true right to the throne and Cinderella's comes from her marriage to a Prince, but the relationship is interesting and might be worth exploring all the same.

I like the story of Tor, the boy who desired to be a knight. He bids his father to bring him before King Arthur to ask to be knighted. I think telling Tor's back story could be an interesting way to go with this Storytelling post. I would describe all of this other family members, and their role within the family (his father says in the story that all of Tor's brothers work in the field, yet he can't make Tor do anything but practice fighting). Arthur is such a benevolent king that he makes Tor a knight almost immediately. My first thought is to change this ending, but I think that wouldn't do King Arthur any justice.

Arthur's immediate love for Guenevere is another interesting story to be told. In the story, it dedicates barely a sentence to the idea that Arthur sees Guenevere for the first time and is immediately taken by her. I think basing an entire Storytelling post on the time Arthur first met or saw Guenevere all the way up until their marriage would be nice to write.

Telling the story of Merlin's death by the hands of that dreadful maiden in a completely different setting. I am imagining a family vacation and, instead of a woman and a man (who is infatuated with the woman), it would be a brother and sister combination. They are on a trip together and one quickly gets annoyed with the other and does something that she will regret.

(King Arthur, web source: Wikimedia)