(The Three Fates Tapestry. Source: Wikimedia Commons)
According to lore, Fate has never allowed Famine (the goddess of Starvation) and Ceres (the goddess of Agriculture) to meet. To allow Famine and Ceres in the same location at once would be certain doom. However, Fate had a different plan for this day.
One afternoon, Fate was drinking a glass of wine, going through her list of To-Do’s for the next day, when she started feeling ill. She had never been sick before. Goddesses didn’t get sick! But, right now, she felt as if she was going to be sick all over the Earth. She called her sisters, but they weren’t answering her calls. They had been ignoring her since last week. She “accidentally” cut someone’s life cord short before it was their time...it was a simple mistake! They could be so serious sometimes. It was just a human, no big deal, right?! After not being able to reach her sisters, she decided that she would just lie down for a minute until the room stopped spinning. Why was the room spinning...? Why was she feeling this way...? She had heard the humans talk about being drunk and the room spinning. She couldn’t get drunk, right? She then remembered who she had gotten the bottle of wine from last weekend, Loki. This was not going to end well!
Fate woke up the next day with a pounding headache. Her phone was ringing off the hook. She picked it up and saw that it was her boss calling. THE boss. Oh, sh*t, this is really not good. She was soooo going to kick Loki’s a$s for this! She got up, grabbed some Excedrin and picked the phone up again. She took a deep breath and called her boss back.
Yeah, this was NOT good. Leave it up to Famine and Ceres to pick the ONE night she was not paying attention to end up at the same club. They have both been pining for Hercules for CENTURIES and did NOT get along, AT all. According to the report, people started feeling so hungry but full at the same time and were so confused that they started eating themselves. It started in the club, but by the time she had woken up from her hangover, it had spread to the borders of town. How was she going to fix this?!?!
Fate pulled up to the club where Famine and Ceres were still duking it out inside. The catfight of the millennium! She really wished she could just sit there and watch this play out, but the boss wanted it stopped, now, so she had no other choice. She walked in and went straight over to Famine and Ceres. As she was trying to break them up, Famine caught her with a left hook. Man, that hurts...she was so going to make her pay for that! After grabbing them both by the back of the hair, she dragged them both out of the club and slung them down in the parking lot. She ordered Famine to go to the southern hemisphere and Ceres to go to the northern one allowing them to switch hemispheres every other year so no one hemisphere had to deal with one goddess forever. That should fix things! She put up a border spell on the equator to keep them from ever possibly being in the same place at the same time again.
Now, where is Loki...
Author's Note: This story was inspired by one line in the story of The Famine in Ovid's Metamorphosis III. “Famine” is a myth about how Ceres decides to torment men with hunger for cutting down her oak tree. In the second paragraph of this story, it is said that "fate does not allow Famine and Ceres to meet." In the myth, Ceres contacts a mountain spirit to contact Famine for her since they are not allowed to be near each other. I thought it would be a great story to tell from Fate’s perspective of falling down on the job and allowing them to accidentally meet. My first task was to figure out how to have Fate fall down on the job. I have, unfortunately in my younger years, failed to make it to work on time because of a hangover. So, to make this work, I thought I would make Fate basically a college girl that somehow gets hungover. My other main task was to figure out WHY the two gods weren’t allowed to meet. The obvious was that they provide subsistence and hunger at the same time, but I thought I would throw in a love triangle just to complete the college girl theme.
Bibliography: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000)
(Loki with a fishing net from 18th Century Icelandic Manuscript. Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Author's Note: This story was inspired by one line in the story of The Famine in Ovid's Metamorphosis III. “Famine” is a myth about how Ceres decides to torment men with hunger for cutting down her oak tree. In the second paragraph of this story, it is said that "fate does not allow Famine and Ceres to meet." In the myth, Ceres contacts a mountain spirit to contact Famine for her since they are not allowed to be near each other. I thought it would be a great story to tell from Fate’s perspective of falling down on the job and allowing them to accidentally meet. My first task was to figure out how to have Fate fall down on the job. I have, unfortunately in my younger years, failed to make it to work on time because of a hangover. So, to make this work, I thought I would make Fate basically a college girl that somehow gets hungover. My other main task was to figure out WHY the two gods weren’t allowed to meet. The obvious was that they provide subsistence and hunger at the same time, but I thought I would throw in a love triangle just to complete the college girl theme.
Bibliography: Ovid’s Metamorphoses, translated by Tony Kline (2000)
Haha I loved this story. Classic hangover story. I loved how you made the big dilemma being that the people began to feel full and hungry at the exact same time that they began to eat themselves. Famine and Ceres seem to have overreacted a tad. I really liked how easy it was to read this story which was aided by the paragraph structure. Each one contained just the information needed and no filler or "fluff". The only thing I could think to make the story more interesting is possibly adding some dialogue between Famine and Ceres. Other than that, great story!
ReplyDeleteThanks! Yes, I stink at dialogue, so I avoid it like the plague, but I'm working on it :)
DeleteThis is one of my favorite storytelling posts that I have read so far! It’s completely unique from anything I’ve read for this class so far. It’s also absolutely hysterical! I can think to a few times when I’ve been in a hangover situation and received a call from a boss, a parent, or a coach… Maybe I need to party a little less. The clear contrast really furthers your plot. Awesome job!
ReplyDeletethanks :)
DeleteI liked how you made this into a hangover story. I think it gave it a unique perspective. It made the story quite interesting when you are able to relate to parts of it. I think most of us have been in similar situations. I think that there are a couple of things that might help to make the story a little easier to read. I think having some actual dialogue, especially in the fight part, would make the story come alive a little more. Also, I did notice there are no links to the original story. Since I am not quite sure of what story you used to make your storytelling post, it makes it a little hard for me to know how it was changed. Overall though, I really enjoyed it. I think you wrote it in a way that people would not think of when they think of Fate.
ReplyDeleteah, I did forget to put the author's notes. I was having a rough day that day :)
DeleteI just wanted to note that I love the title. It definitely reeled me in!
ReplyDeleteBahaha, I enjoyed the cuss words added! It made the story really relatable and I truly felt bad for Fate. I think we've all been in that position.
Fate really kicked some butt with a hangover! I don't know if I've ever been that badass even without a hangover!
I really enjoyed this story. It made me giggle, and I had flashbacks of my own hangovers, haha. That part wasn't so giggle-worthy, though. :P
I like that you spaced the paragraphs out. It made the story flow well.
Your author's note was very informative. I definitely got the college-girl vibe from the story (which is probably why I could relate so well) and I think you definitely hit the nail on the head.
I enjoyed this story a lot. Great job! I'm excited to check back in as the semester continues on to read more of your stories!
Nicole!
ReplyDeleteI think this is an extremely creative and fun story! I like that the Author's note was at the end because reading the story for myself first allowed me to form my own conclusions, and then your Author's note confirmed my thoughts! This is highly relatable to most all college girls, and of course you had to include the Hunk Hercules. I also give you kudos for being so creative! Making a long story based on one line of another can be challenging- I would've read over it like it was nothing! So cool!
As far as structure/grammar stuff there were just a few things that could be helpful to change for the portfolio. In the first paragraph, I couldn't tell if you were playing on words or not and the name "Fate" should or should not be capitalized. I know this is all abstract, so it is hard to know what you're actually going for! One last thing is that whenever she is realizing that she is drunk and she asks, "Why is the room spinning?" and there are other questions that follow. It might be nice to put some question marks instead of periods. I think it would complete the look of the paragraph and flow a little nicer. I do want to say, though, these are my silly opinions and don't want to come off as critical in any way. I enjoyed this read, and hope the rest of your storybook goes well!
Thanks for your suggestions! I'm a little late replying to the comment, but I did read it and implemented some of your suggestions. Thanks again!
DeleteHey Nicole!
ReplyDeleteI have to be honest I was drawn to your story “Fate’s Hangover” because of its title. By just reading the title I knew that it was going to be a humorous and interesting story and it was. I really enjoyed your story. I liked how you modernized it, such as Fate getting a hangover and the Goddesses going to clubs. It sounds a lot like college.
The style of your writing in this story was really interesting. It really fit into the theme of your story. For instance the informality of it made it more college-like and reckless.
Some things that I noticed was the indentions of your paragraph were not consistent. Some of the paragraphs had indentions whereas some did not. It would probably be a good that the indentions of the paragraph were consistent. Good job Nicole! I look forward to reading more of your writing.