A Hootiful Giveaway!

A HOORAY HOORAY GIVEAWAY!

Want to win this owl pendant?  The owl is carved of alabaster, with amazing details, and wire wrapped with sterling silver.  A perfect fall piece.

Here's how you can win.  Go to the CORNERSTOREGODDESS Facebook page and hit "Like." 

Then find this post on the page and SHARE it, thus sharing the contest on your own wall.

On the Cornerstoregoddess page, leave one comment on the post you shared.  

You'll be entered to win.

When my LIKE number hits 700, I'll pull a winner using the Random Number Generator.

I'll announce the winner, contact you via FB and ship you your pendant.  No purchase is necessary to win. 

Thanks for your help and support!
http://www.facebook.com/Cornerstoregoddess  

Monkey King and the Peaches of Immortality

The Legend of the Monkey King

adapted from Wu Cheng’en’s classic Chinese novel

“The Journey to the West” 

Long ago, a very smart monkey was born.  As he grew up, he was obsessed with a quest for strength and power and soon he became the Monkey King.  He could lift his 17,881 pound golden staff with ease.  He could travel 33,554 miles in a single somersault. And, with the exception of his tail, he could transform himself into any animal at all.

The Monkey King was also quite a mischievous monkey, and his antics soon became the topic of discussion among the gods.  They invited the Monkey King to join them in heaven, thinking that, there, at least, they could keep a watchful eye on him.  The Monkey King quickly accepted the invitation in the belief that he would be granted an honorable place as one of the gods. 

Instead, he was given the lowliest of jobs - stable boy.  And when the gods threw a lavish banquet at the empress’s jade palace, the Monkey King was not even invited.  The Monkey King rebelled and decided to make himself immortal.  

As it turned out, the jade palace was surrounded by peach trees. The peaches on them ripened every three thousand years.  A single bite of one of the peaches granted not only immortality, but also great strength.  

When the day of the great banquet arrived, the Monkey King sweet-talked the palace guardians into leaving him alone with the peach trees, so that he could take a quick nap.  As soon as their backs were turned, he climbed into the largest of the peach trees, gobbled up the peaches of immortality, and fled.  

When they discovered the theft, the gods dispatched their greatest warriors, who quickly captured the Monkey King and locked him in a fiery magic cauldron.  But 49 days later, when they opened it, out jumped the Monkey King, stronger than ever.  Desperate, the gods appealed to the Buddha for help.

The Buddha picked up the Monkey King and placed him in the palm of his hand.  Then the Buddha made a bet with him.  If the Monkey King could jump off the Buddha's hand, he would be set free.

Instantly, the Monkey King took a great leap.  He flew over rivers and valleys and mountains until there was nothing but five immense pillars.  He landed on the tallest pillar with ease and there he signed his name, confident that he had outwitted the Buddha.

That's when he realized that the pillars were, in fact, the Buddha's fingers.  The Buddha then turned his hand into a mountain, with the Monkey King sealed tightly inside, and there he remained for the next five centuries.

 

After the Monkey King was released from the mountain, he assigned the task of accompanying the great monk and scholar,  Xuanzang,  on a journey to recover the sacred books of Buddhist wisdom from India, which were associated with attaining enlightenment.  Over the course of the journey, the Monkey King finally made the decision to use his powers for good.  He became Xuanzang’s disciple, and protected the monk from demons and bandits during his epic journey.  They encountered 81 tribulations before finally accomplishing their mission and returning safely to China.  There, the Monkey King was granted Buddhahood for his service.  

For the Monkey King pendant, visit my etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/shop/cornerstoregoddess?section_id=8158616

Watch a human “Monkey King”:

Monkey Kung Fu Champion

For a more complete version of the Legend of the Monkey King, please visit http://www.aaronshep.com/stories/036.html

For a peach crumble recipe and more information about peaches (immortal and otherwise), visit http://funfoodfeed.com/

The Kitties That Groom in the Spring (Tra La)

The kitties that groom in the spring (tra la)
Spend way too much time on the face.

Perhaps it's a strange feline thing, tra la

Avoiding a less sav'ry place.

And that's why they purr and they rub on your leg,

Additional grooming from you-ming they beg,

Tra la la la la, tra la la la la

The kitties that groom in the spring.

The kitties that groom in the spring (tra la)

You think they'd shed less on your chair.

But no, gobs of fur they all bring, tra la
And most on your butt you will wear.

And that's why, no matter what color you wear

You'll find it entwined with some contrasting hair.

Tra la la la la, tra la la la la

The kitties that groom in the spring.

The kitties that groom in the spring (tra la)

Wear dreadlocks from cold winter nights.

It's no Rastafarian thing, tra la.

It's more of a long hair cat blight.

And so no Bob Marley and no red red wine

Will do much to make the removal feel fine.

Tra la la la la, tra la la la la
The kitties that groom in the spring.

The kitties that groom in the spring (tra la)
Barf hairballs on places once clean

One wonders how all that hair fits, tra la

As big as a ripe nectarine.

And that’s why when walking in footsies all bare
Escaping the barf, well, you don’t have a prayer.

Tra la la la la, tra la la la la
The kitties that groom in the spring.

 Kitty pendants on etsy (tra la)

The Kind Hawk - a Hopi Legend

Long ago, in a Hopi village, a little boy lived with his mother, who loved him very much.  She dressed him in a beautiful shirt and moccasins, covered with the most intricate embroidery.

  

 One day, the boy went out to play.  he started to wander far from the village, across the plains.  There, he was spotted by another tribe.  The raced in and carried him off.  The other tribe brought the boy to their camp.  Once there, the women took his shirt and moccasins, and gave them to the Chief's son.  While the other children played all day, the little Hopi boy worked and worked.  They gave him little to ea.  Soon the boy grew thin and ill.


Near the camp, there was a high bluff.  And atop the high bluff there lived a hawk.  Each day the hawk looked out at the world, spread beneath him.  And each day the hawk coasted on the thermals, and gliding over the camp where the boy worked and worked.  One day, when all the tribe members were gathered at the Chief's lodge, the hawk swooped down and hovered over the boy's head.

The boy was frightened.  The past weeks had been difficult and sad for him.  He could not imagine life becoming even worse.  "Please do not kill me!" he begged the hawk.


The hawk reassured him.  "I mean you no harm," he told the boy.  "I have watched you and seen your troubles.  Hop on my back.  Hold onto my wings and I will fly you away from this place."

The boy jumped on the hawk's back.  Anything, he reasoned, would be better than his life here.  He held on tight.  The hawk flew up in the air.  With the boy on his back, the hawk glided over the place where the tribe members were gathered.  When they saw the boy on the hawk's back they were amazed and angry.

The hawk flew to the highest bluff and set the boy down.  "Wait here," he told him.  


Then the hawk flew back to the village.  He swooped straight to the Chief's son and, using his fierce beak, pulled the shirt right off him.  This he carried to the boy.  Then the hawk returned to the camp.  He dived straight for the moccasins, pulling them right off the feet of the Chief's son.  With these, the hawk returned to the bluff and the boy.


There, the hawk dressed the boy.  Then he fed him meat of a jack rabbit, and other fine foods.  Finally, with the boy dressed and fed, the hawk flew him back to his mother.


And then, without waiting for thanks or praise, he flew back to his bluff and looked out at the world again.

Netsuke pendants on etsy