A myth is a traditional story or legend, typically including gods and goddesses, that describes the occurrences of natural things and how they work. There are many types of myths which range from all around the world, such as Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and Chinese Mythology. All myths have themes, and they could range. Persephone, which is about a girl named Persephone who was kidnapped by the god of the underworld, Hades to be taken to be his wife, is a Greek myth, and the Twelve Labors of Hercules, which is about Hercules, a divine hero, who was sent to complete twelve challenging and dangerous tasks, is Roman. Also, All Stories Are Anansi’s, which is about a spider who tricks three animals, Mmoboro, Onini, and Osebo, in order to get stories, is a West African Myth.
Relationships between gods and goddesses can have great impacts on the myth. It is very important how one regards another to create relationships that last. Some of the relations are direct, others are more complex. In Persephone, Hades kidnapped Persephone to be his wife. Since Hades is already the god of the underworld, Persephone became a goddess because of him. In All Stories Are Anansi’s, Anansi, the spider, was actually a person, and he wasn’t just an ordinary person, he was god’s son! He was a god and human as well. Since he is god’s son, he is partially a god, but Anansi usually spends his time on earth. In Twelve Labors Of Hercules, Hercules is the son of Alceme and Zeus, the leader of all the Greek gods. That also made him partially a god. Also, because of his relationship with Zeus, Hercules was very much hated by Hera, the goddess of marriage, women, and birth, from the very beginning, which caused him to do the twelve tasks. The relationships between gods and goddesses is very complicated, and can greatly influence the path of the myth.
All myths have a theme, and they all differ from others. In Persephone, the theme is how strong the mother’s love is for her child. After Persephone was kidnapped, Demeter, her mother, who was also the Greek goddess for the harvest and agriculture, immediately stopped whatever she was doing and went to look for Persephone. In The Twelve Labors Of Hercules, the theme was that you have to take responsibility for your own actions. After Hercules killed many of his cousins because of anger, he had to deal with what he had done and complete the twelve tasks. The theme of All Stories Are Anansi’s is to not to be too quick to trust others and think of the consequences before you act. The three animals, Mmoboro, Onini, and Osebo all fell for Anansi’s traps because they trusted him just because he acted nice, and didn’t think of the aftermath. Also, don’t judge a book by its cover. That means to not underestimate someone because of their appearance. The three animals thought Anansi was only a small and weak spider, but instead he is very intelligent.
Chinese myths have some striking differences, and similarities to Western myths. Typically, Western myths contain another world, like Mount Olympis or the Underworld, while Chinese myths are usually set on earth or neighboring places. In Persephone, the story has some parts of it in the Underworld. In All Stories Are Anansi’s, it is partly set in the sky or wherever God lives. But, in the myth of how the twelve zodiacs came to place, it was only set on earth, where there are rivers and villages. In both Western and Chinese mythology, there are multiple types of mythical creatures, like dragons and centaurs. Also, they both have gods in the myths. In Persephone and Twelve Labors of Hercules, there is Zeus, Hera, Hades, and Hermes. In All Stories Are Anansi’s, there is Nyame, the sky god. Chinese gods in myths include the Eight Immortals, the Jade Emperor, and Change. Chinese and Western Myths have some similarities, but also differences.
There are strong relationships between gods and goddesses that create the plot of myths. In Persephone, Hades captures her to be his wife. In All Stories Are Anansi’s, Anansi was the son of god. In the Twelve Labors Of Hercules, Hera wanted to kill him because of his relationship with Zeus. A mother’s love for her child is never broken. When Persephone was kidnapped, her mother Demeter immediately went to save her. One has to take responsibility for their own actions. After Hercules killed his cousins, he had to complete the tasks to return his deed. Also, don’t be too quick to trust others, think of the consequences before you act, and to not judge a book by its cover. The three animals all fell for Anansi’s traps because they didn’t think before they acted and they underestimated Anansi’s ability. Compared to Chinese myths, Western myths are typically set in other worlds. Still, they both have mythical creatures and gods.
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