Year 7 – Transformation Myths

Year 7 have been creating transformation myths in English this half term, where a human is transformed into a creature, as the result of angering the Gods!  Here are a few examples of their creations.

Josh is currently also working on a stop motion animation version of this myth, which we can’t wait to see! Well done everyone!

 

Delphine – Josh

 

There once was a village in Greece known all throughout as Sophia. In this village grew a forest, a mighty forest that spread far and wide, easily the largest one in Greece. This forest was sacred to the gods and the wood nymphs that dwelled there. The villagers of Sophia all lived in this mighty forest, though years before they did not. The years prior to Delphine’s return the villagers lived away from the woods as it was the sacred hunting ground of Artimis, the goddess of the hunt. It had, however been many years since Artimis had slayed the beasts inside and they were growing restless, hungry. Every week one of the villagers would disappear into the woods. The villagers constantly lived in fear that the dark shadow approaching them at the dead of night would be a chimera or a basilisk as it so often was, but no, the looming outline was, unmistakably, human, and they weren’t walking normally, they were wounded. The villager rushed forwards to help the woman inside. And it was at that moment when everything changed. Her limbs stiffened, her head lolled back, she fell to her knees and started choking; after ten seconds, or maybe it was longer, the woman straightened clutching one, pearly white feather. And so, the man brought the woman inside so he could ask her questions and give her food. The woman, whose name was Delphine, had once lived in the village herself, until one day a hydra had dragged her into the woods. At this point Delphine started to shake too badly to talk about the woods and the only sensible sentence he got out of her was “The feather, I stole it from a giant, it is a talisman against the forest, the beasts will no longer steal the goods and people of this village.”

And so, all these years later the forest is the villager’s home. And Delphine was honoured beyond the rest and had risen to become queen of the village. This was not just because she had brought back the feather, but also as she was the wisest and most intellectual woman in Greece. And so, she sat there on her marble throne, her face was beautiful yet was proud. She had indented eyes and her nose looked sharp and pointy like a beak. She wore a cloak made of snowy white feathers but would always keep her magic one at the top of the great oak she lived in. Delphine had invented many items that had helped develop her village into a town. She had invented spectacles, fish traps and helped Archimedes calculate pi. She had invented clockworks and had created an alloy of metal called celestial silver that had attracted even Hephaestus’s attention. And though Delphine did worship the gods and made offerings to some of them, others were left out when they felt they shouldn’t have been. However, the gods did put up with Delphine’s ignoring of some of them as they knew that she had devolved society for Greece beyond any other mortal. There was one Goddess who found Delphine’s ignorance quite unacceptable, Athena.

The goddess had long since lost tolerance of Delphine not worshipping her for the wisdom that, she, Athena had given her. So, when she woke one morning to find that this mere mortal had invented celestial silver; it was one step too far to go and invent a material that even Hephaestus had struggled with for over a millennium. She would have to challenge her to a battle of craftsmanship as Athena had most admired that art of construction even if it wasn’t exactly here area of expertise. So, Delphine woke to knocking on the door and the call of a god. She knew it must be so as she had been in close contact with Hephaestus while she informed him about her silver, she went outside to greet him, and it came as a shock that he was wearing a perfectly clean white robe. She had only ever seen him wear a greasy burnt one before.

“Formal occasion?” she asked

“In a manner of speaking, yes.” he replied, “Athena has requested that you come to an arena that has been set up just outside your old village. You are to attend a contest with the goddess to try and create the best wings for mortal flight, as Daedalus once did.”

Completely nonplussed she followed without a second glance. When they arrived at the edge of the old, run down town, she let lose a gasp of amazement. The stadium in which she would compete was huge, it looked more like a coliseum. As she walked down the rows, she noticed that all her town were sitting down with expressions of utmost expectancy, in fact almost all the rows were full and it looked like everyone in Greece who could have come, had. One side of the arena was full of thrones, all splendidly decorated with different designs of different gods, and in the thrones sat the gods of Olympus themselves. She reached the bottom where two forges and anvils stood ready for work, and so, they began. They worked tirelessly for many hours, heating their metal and working it, then they would heat it again and work it. It was an intense process on both sides, until finally time was called, and both ceased to work. Athena had made a pair of wings out of a godly material delphine did not know, it glimmered most beautifully in the setting sun, it was flawless. Delphine’s however was made of celestial silver and shined so bright that none but Apollo could see it. It seemed clear Athena had won. But then the sun was replaced by the moon, and the brightness around the silver was extinguished to be replaced with dull silver around the metal, which perfectly reflected the stars above. Delphine had won and she knew it, for she strapped on the wings and flew into the sky. Her smugness was shown on her face and Athena outraged by her defeat, pointed her finger at Delphine and bellowed,

“If you like to fly so much why not make the change permanent.”

And the figure in the sky began to change; the wings became feathered and small, her legs began to shrink, her shoes ripped as talons burst through them her head began to compact to her body and her eyes became glistening coins in the twilight. She had become a graceful owl.

And from that moment forth the owl became Athena’s sacred animal.

 

Pardus – Grace

Once, long ago in the Himalayan mountains lived a girl, whose name was Binsa. As her name suggests, Binsa was a fearless Nepalese girl, abandoned at the age of three, when a painful skin disease caused her to have white spots all over her body; due to this awful affliction her parents were ashamed and left her on the streets in the hot monsoon rain.

“She looks like a witch…” they cried

“That white hair…”

“And those obnoxious spots…”

She fled to the mountains alone and feared, how could she find her purpose in this world. “I am beautiful” she cried “Inside and out…” as she crept up the mountain like an agile cat. Her twin brothers, Amir and Kiran, took four days to find her in the blizzards of day and the cool winter nights. Once they had found their beloved big sister, the three wild explorers roamed the snow-capped peaks, trying to find a cure; it took weeks and weeks.

“You there, young souls, wherever are your loved ones?”

“Us? We are orphans there is no such thing, as we have no loved ones to cure our sin…”

The ancient, Greek lady with a bonnet over her head invited them to her fire, as the cold was harsh to bear.

“Why do you have white hair like mine? You are only a young one I see; I assume not much older than my 14-year-old granddaughter. I am Natalia, what is your condition? I used to be a healer you see, and white spots are never a good sign.”

“I am not certain of my disease, but I look like a witch, that is why I have no parents to cure of my sin. I was left on the streets at the age of 3, oh I miss ma and papa. Can you help these itching, painful spots and my greasy, white hair that looks like a mop?”

Natalia paused as she scanned her brain for answers and after a minute or two of waiting Bing the light bulb shone, “Lemon balm and Manjistha is what you need. You must climb Mount Machapuchare, to find these herbs, they are rare and can only be reached by climbing an almost impossible peak.”

Gobs mapped she stood with a pit in her stomach, but Natalia looked her in they eye and said “If not, you will surely die…” She left her brothers with the Greek, female doctor and cried as she waved goodbye. “Wait! Just before you go, thank apollo the god of medicine and healing, he will guide you child up that deadly cliff and invented the herb that could help you to live. You owe him your life so thank him prayer, do as I say! Or you will end up with a punishment…” Binsa giggled before clearing her throat, she refused and then the famous quote…

“Why should I thank a mere non-existent man, you’re a Greek so you would never understand.” She stood stamped her foot and turned around, gazing up at the almost impossible peak that she was to attempt after weeks and weeks of trekking the peaks of the mountain range and finding an old, woman, she thought was rather strange.

She took a few steps when Apollo, god of medicine, emerged in the skies. He sneered down at the terrified young soul,

“You! Young child, Binsa is your name. Courage is its meaning. If only you had thanked me as the old doctor said, then you would have climbed to the summit of the mountain and cured your pain. You will be punished for your insolence against the gods…”

Binsa cried and pleaded for forgiveness but the handsome, supernatural being shook his head. Binsa’s ragged hair thickened and softened all over her body the fur tiptoed over her skin. Her eyes of the piercing blue expanded like a blown-up balloon. A tail pushed through her thick, dense fur to an extraordinary length, but the rest to poor Binsa was a blur. White fur had replaced her pus-filled soars and black specs were dispersed all over her body.

“Pardus! You are a leopard of the mountains. Do not look at me like that, it could have been worse, as I say this verse you are not at all cursed. You can roam the mountains, peer off cliffs, and have cubs all day long, but I am afraid they will make a bit of a whiff!”

With a hop skip and a jump he was gone, like he had never been there. Pardus the first of the snow leopards roamed the mountains once more, but what was she searching for without her soars?

Perhaps her mother, father or trust or the school bus she had missed with a bit of a fuss. Apollo was right about one thing though it all would have been easier without the snow!

Pup – Brooke

There once was a man called Pup who was a fishman, recently he had not had any luck or caught many fish when he went out to sea. He had not had a proper day of catching lots of fish in years. His family could no longer afford food because Pup was no longer catching fish and money was scarce, so they were starting to get skinny. They did not want to admit it, but they were getting very poor. Until one day, when he had almost given up all hope, he caught fifty fish in just one catch. At this rate he would break the record for how many fish you could catch in just one day. The next day he was out at sea, he did it again and again and again, he started to be the best fisherman in all of the land. He started to become rich and famous, but he had forgotten about something, he had forgotten to say thank you to someone who was the King of all the sea – Poseidon. Poseidon started to get more furious by the day, he was going to give Pup one more day until he would visit him. One day had passed and there were still no thanks from Pup. Poseidon was fuming, two months had now gone by and there were no thanks. ‘That’s it!’ thought Poseidon, he was going to visit him in disguise. Out rose Poseidon from the waves and went to the Salvadon island; there he was an old man with a ragged cloak and a staff. He roamed through the streets and down alleyways, towards Pup. There he was, Pup was standing there. As Poseidon walked towards him, he said, “You look like you have done very well in life, what do you do for a living?”

Pup replied, “I am a fisherman and the best fisherman on this island.”

“Well have you thanked Poseidon?” snapped the King of the sea. “He is the reason why you have done so well.”

“No! And I don’t intend to! The reason why I have done so well is because I work hard at my job and I am just an amazing fisherman.” At that very moment, Poseidon was furious, out he came, he rose from the old man. “How dare you say that I did nothing? How do you know that? I sent lots of fish over your way just so that you could get back on your feet. You have been on my sea for many years and I did not want to see you go, but now, well now I wish I’d just left you there to drown in your own sorrow.”

Laughing, Pup sneered at Poseidon. “So weird creature of the sea, I know that you are just here because you know that I am a better fisherman than you!” he boasted.

“Right then, if that’s what you think, then let’s have a challenge. The person who can catch the most fish in one day wins.” roared Poseidon. Nodding, Pup cheerfully agreed to Poseidon’s challenge. The two competitors agreed to meet the next day. They both were at the bay. Pup was on his fishing boat and Poseidon was just in the sea with a net by the side of him. “Right then remember the rules we come back here at two o’clock” said Pup. Poseidon was off at that moment as Pup closely followed they split off after about a mile. Pup had already caught a lot of fish because the sea told Poseidon. Then Poseidon waved his fork and all of a sudden, a load of fish came towards him and he told them to all go into the net this net was probably triple the number of fish that Pup was going to catch before two o’clock, Poseidon had done it in about two hours. Back Poseidon came into the bay he did not wish to kill the fish that he had caught so he just tied a piece of rope to the net so all the fish would stay in but could still breathe. As he was waiting, Pup was still out there he had caught about two hundred. One hour to go and he had nowhere near enough fish to beat Poseidon but he didn’t know that. Back at the bay, Poseidon saw Pup coming in and he just smiled to himself. Well, you came at last said Poseidon I thought you were too scared to come back and face me.

“You wish” replied Pup. They got a man to come and count the fish they did not know whose was whose. After about a day the man had finished counting. “Well who won” said Pup. Well, this catch won and as he pointed to the bag Pup realised that Poseidon had won. “Well I don’t care” said Pup “I am still the best fisherman on this island.”

“We will soon see about that and all of a sudden Poseidon banged his fork against the ground.” Pup’s back was stretching and it turned into a fin, his skin was turning blue his teeth were turning sharp and yellow like he had never washed his teeth in his life. Underneath his ribs were ripping into slits and then he realised they were gulls. His legs were being pulled together and forming as one. His feet were turning into a flipper. He dropped to the floor and he could not stand Poseidon put him into the sea. He was a baby shark called Pup.