Aboriginal Dreamtime myths are aetiological, which means that they explain how a plant, animal or aspect of the world came into being.
For example, the hole in a whale's back came about when Koala stuck him with a wooden spike; Echidna's spines are really thorns; and Emu has a long neck because she tried to help the other birds lift the sky away from the earth, but discovered she couldn't fly, so instead stretched her neck and legs as far as they would go.
If you want to research some, other examples of these kinds of myths are Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories, Alamat from the Philippines, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. Other words for aetiological myths are Pour Quoi stories, Just So stories and creation myths.
So, I'm looking for the most imaginative new aetiological myths. Pick an animal, plant or any aspect of this world to explain. You may use, but do not have to be limited by, my suggestions below.
Rules for grammar, spelling and formatting are as usual in these contests. Entries should be easy to read, and aetiological myth length - I wouldn't expect one to come in over 2,000 words.
Enjoy!
Here are my suggestions for beginning a story, but if you have your own idea, that's great. The idea is that your story will explain how these creatures came to look or behave in the way that they do now.
"Long ago, in the dreamtime, when everything was still deciding what it was going to be...
1) ... the squirrel had no tail
2) ... fish lived in the trees
3) ... sheep were completely silent
4) ... there was only one star in the sky
5) ... there was no such thing as a duck-billed platypus"
Good luck!
For example, the hole in a whale's back came about when Koala stuck him with a wooden spike; Echidna's spines are really thorns; and Emu has a long neck because she tried to help the other birds lift the sky away from the earth, but discovered she couldn't fly, so instead stretched her neck and legs as far as they would go.
If you want to research some, other examples of these kinds of myths are Rudyard Kipling's Just So stories, Alamat from the Philippines, and Ovid's Metamorphoses. Other words for aetiological myths are Pour Quoi stories, Just So stories and creation myths.
So, I'm looking for the most imaginative new aetiological myths. Pick an animal, plant or any aspect of this world to explain. You may use, but do not have to be limited by, my suggestions below.
Rules for grammar, spelling and formatting are as usual in these contests. Entries should be easy to read, and aetiological myth length - I wouldn't expect one to come in over 2,000 words.
Enjoy!
Here are my suggestions for beginning a story, but if you have your own idea, that's great. The idea is that your story will explain how these creatures came to look or behave in the way that they do now.
"Long ago, in the dreamtime, when everything was still deciding what it was going to be...
1) ... the squirrel had no tail
2) ... fish lived in the trees
3) ... sheep were completely silent
4) ... there was only one star in the sky
5) ... there was no such thing as a duck-billed platypus"
Good luck!
Contest is Over
- Contest was judged on February 22
- Rewards: Gold: 100, Silver: 75, Bronze: 50, Honorable mention: 2 people
- Final notes: It was a real struggle to judge this one. Partly I wish I had been able to extend it for more entries, since it got the same number of entries as there were designated prizes and honourable mentions!
The other reason it was such a struggle was that I felt the best piece of writing didn't quite fit the criteria, since it was a descriptive piece rather than an aetiological story. In the end I had to place that one lower than I felt the writing skill deserved. So it was a close competition - well done everyone.
Contest Winners
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This is a ancient, moari myth, I have written about how the separation of New Zealand into three islands came to be.• Commented on by judge. Prewrite [remove]
- Error: Unable to find finalist item 246832, it seems to have been deleted :( [remove]
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Coyote has always liked to be alone. Being the First, it only makes sense. In the beginning, when there was only All and All was Coyote ...by intoothandclaw 1800 words, 10 comments, on Feb 2 11:38 PM. In Coyote, Humor, Legend, Native american, Spiritual, Wolf
Honorable mention
• Commented on by judge. [remove]
Gold trophy winner
Silver trophy winner
Entries [5]
1 - 5 of 5
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Comments
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I have an idea for this, and I've started writing it, so I'll give it a shot.
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