Seven Story Archetypes & Shingles (A story in 3 Parts)

This week, while visiting friends at their lakeside, cottage retreat in Red Bay, Ontario we decided to go for a hike. We visited The Corran Ruins and Spirit Rock Trail just outside Wiarton. It's a great spot and the Legend of Spirit Rock is a story that I will certainly share with my students.

Historians detail many variations of this tragic tale, often called the Winona Legend. This version I like best involves a enemy warrior being captured by a tribe residing along the cliffs that surround a great bay. While the chief deliberates a potential ransom, his daughter falls in love with the handsome brave. Learning of this forbidden liaison, the chief, in a fit of rage, has him thrown from the highest cliff. That night, while her father laments his hasty decision, she escapes to the and hurls herself from the same rocky outcrop so that she can join her lover in the afterlife. The legend goes that, "on stormy nights, when lightning flashes in the sky, two silhouetted figures can be seen embracing on the ledge.

I'm always fascinated by story archetypes that flourish across time, space and through the lenses of multiple cultures. In his book, Why We Tell Stories author Christopher Booker identifies seven basic plots.

• Overcoming the Monster 
• Rags to Riches 
• The Quest 
• Voyage and Return
• Comedy
• Tragedy
• Rebirth

Within each, are a myriad variations and some... The Lord of the Rings for example contains elements of all of them. The version of the Spirit Rock story I shared is the star-crossed lovers variation which has been told countless times. 

• Romeo & Juliet
• West Side Story
• Casablanca
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer
• Titanic
• Brokeback Mountain

As we hiked the trails, which included an antique spiral staircase down the side of a cliff face, I began to notice that my back and side felt sore. It was as if I had a sunburn that was isolated to a swath of my upper torso. I quietly began to do a little self-diagnosis as we walked.

• I had worn a T-shirt most of the time, and sunblock when I didn't.
• I did not brush by any poison ivy ...also, T-shirt!
• I hadn't had a clumsy accident with my back as the victim

Then, I reflected back to a trip to Boston I took in 2010 and a frightening allergic reaction I experienced. 

That story, in Part Two.