Reading Diary B: Grimm (LibriVox) (Continued)

Briar Rose

I

’ve always known that the Disney version of Sleeping Beauty was a lot more PG and family friendly than the original version but I did not know that there were 13 fairies. I always assumed that there were 3 fairies and of course Maleficent. It seems like all of this drama could have been avoided if the king and queen would have invited all of the fairies despite the fact that they didn’t have enough plates. Was it completely impossible to buy another plate or to maybe borrow on from someone in the kingdom or in the court?

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

I enjoyed this story. It was not at all how I expected it to be. I thought that the cutting off of heads was s little harsh just because they feel asleep on the job. A lot of people lost their lives because of those princesses. 

(Illustration by Walter Crane)

Reading Diary A: Myth-Folklore Unit: Grimm (LibriVox)

Myth-Folklore Unit: Grimm (LibriVox)

The Frog Prince

I used to watch this show on HBO called “Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child.” The show took different fairy tales and animated them and put a unique spin on them but still managed to stay true to the stories. One of the stories they did was The Frog Prince. The Princess and the Frog, the Disney remake of this story, is one of my favorite Disney princess movies but, it is quite different than the original story.

Rapunzel

Once again, the HBO show I used to watch did this story as well. This version of Rapunzel is the one I knew before I saw the Disney remake, “Tangled.” The original version makes Rapunzel’s parents seem like bad people because they agreed to give up their daughter for a vegetable. I guess Disney wanted the audience to feel more empathetic towards Rapunzel’s family by making them royalty and by having Rapunzel kidnapped by Mother Gothel. 

(Illustration by Walter Crane)

Extra Reading Diary: Celtic Fairy Tales

Celtic Fairy Tales

The Horned Women

I was excited when I saw that this story was in this unit! When I was researching stories to use in my storybook I came across this story but because of time and the fact that it didn’t really fit with the direction I wanted my storybook to go in. I’m glad that I got a second chance to go back and read this story. I noticed that this story had some similarities to one of the stories that used in my storybook – Baba Yaga. In this story, the woman tried to get water for the witches by carrying it in a sieve just like the little boy in the Baba Yaga story. Both characters tried many times to carry the water but the water kept running out. Both sets of witches told the characters to seal the sieve with clay. I thought it was kind of interesting that in both stories, a sieve was used to try to carry water. I wonder if there is some symbolic reasoning behind this or do witches just enjoy watching their “victims” carry water. 

(Sieve)

Reading Diary B: More English Fairy Tales(Continued)

The Children in the Wood

I really liked that this story was actually a poem! There was a poem in one of the stories in Through the Looking Glass but, it was a poem within a story instead of just a stand-alone poem. It is funny how as soon as you start reading a poem you read it with a certain rhythm or flow. The poem started out quite sad and depressing. Those poor kids lost both of their parents at the same time and were forced to live with an uncle who pretended to be nice while actually plotting their deaths. As soon as I read that the parents were rich and were leaving their children with a large sum of money, I knew that the uncle was going to get greedy and try to get rid of the children and take the money. I’m glad that he got what he deserved at the end.

Old Mother Wiggle-Waggle

This poem was so much fun! I knew I was going to enjoy it as soon as I read the title. My favorite part of the poem is that every stanza ended with a variation of “o”(hey-o, fox-o, den-o). I think this poem would be a cool thing to read to kids(if you leave out the end about picking bones out of their teeth) because they would be able to participate by saying the “o” parts. 

(Illustrated by John D. Batten)

Reading Diary A: More English Fairy Tales

More English Fairy Tales

The Pied Piper

The more and more I think about it, I do not think that I have ever actually read the story of The Pied Piper. I’ve heard of the story and I know the basics of the story but I have never read it. The most memorable reference of this tale for me is the version of the Piper in the Shrek movie. I always thought the Pied Piper was a bad guy who lured children to their doom. I had no idea that the only reason why he took the children of the town is because the mayor did not hold up hi end of the deal and refused to pay the Piper.  

Scrapefoot

When I read this title I had no idea that it was basically Goldie Locks and the Three Bears! I’ve never read or heard of another version of this story before but I found Scrapefoot to be adorable! Poor Scrapefoot. I didn’t think that the bears were actually going to throw him out of the window. Imagine if the bears in Goldie Lock’s version did that to her.

The Three Wishes

The only thing I have to say about this story is that the Woodman and his wife wasted a great opportunity. 

(Scrapefoot by John D. Batten)

Extra Reading Diary: Aesop's Fables(English)

Aesop’s Fables (English)

I really enjoyed all of the Aesop’s Fables that I read in the previous units so, I obviously had to read the fables of this unit as well. The Aesop’s Fables of the other units were quite similar and followed the same basic layout. The fables of this unit are kind of different. I felt that the fables of this unit flowed differently than the fables of the previous units. The previous fables had more dialogue in them and felt more like stories. The English fables seemed to be structured more like poems. Most of the stories got right to the point or moral of the story. I also noticed that the fables of this unit had dialect. At first I thought they were just typos but then I noticed that it was the dialect that the author was using. 

(Picture illustrated by Arthur Rackham)

Reading Diary B: The Looking Glass (continued)

My Own Invention

When Alice mentioned Punch and Judy I got so excited. I just learned about the Mr. Punch puppet show a week ago while watching a Buzzfeed video. The video discussed the origins of different sayings and I learned that the saying “pleased as punch” is in reference to the Mr. Punch puppet show. It was such a great coincidence that I watched that video because it allowed me to understand the reference Alice was making comparing the knights and the puppet. Other than my excitement over the Mr. Punch reference, this story was not my favorite. I tried and tried but I could not get into this story. The first half of the story was great but this half did not capture much of my attention. The knights just were not as interesting as Tweedledee and Tweedledum.

(illustration by John Tenniel)

Reading Diary A: Through the Looking-Glass

Through the Looking-Glass

I was so excited to start reading this story! I read Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland when I was in elementary school but I never got around to reading the second novel, Through the Looking-Glass. It seems like this school year has been full of Alice in Wonderland for me. I wrote my final capstone paper on the character of Alice and her self-concept and stages of her self-identity. I had to watch both the animated version and the live action remake with Johnny Depp. I also had to reread some of the first novel and do a lot of research on Carrol’s process when writing the character of Alice. I also remember seeing the remake for the first time. It was my first 3D IMAX movie and I saw it with one of my best friends.

Tweedledum and Tweedledee

Tweedledum and Tweedledee are two of my favorite characters besides the Mad Hatter and the Cheshire Cat. I remember reading Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and being slightly confused whenever the two boys would speak but also laughing once I finally figured out what they were talking about. I love the way they always contradict each other like many siblings do. The poem that they recited in the story was quite entertaining. I could actually picture the boys reciting this poem to Alice. Poor Alice, constantly being told that you are not real must be quite frustrating! 

(Illustration by John Tenniel)

Extra Reading Diary Week 10

Tejas Legends 


How the North Wind Lost His Hair

As a Texan, I was really excited to read these stories. When I was in elementary school, we took a field trip to a Native Museum and the guide told us some stories from some of the Native American tribes in Texas. I really enjoyed this story. I see Spanish moss all of the time back home and I ever really knew what it was called but I knew that it kind of creeped me out. Its grey color always gave it an eerie feel but this story has made me look at Spanish moss in a whole new light. I love the idea that the moss is actually North Wind’s hair! It actually makes sense. It hardly ever gets cold and Texas and now I know that it is because South Wind fought the North Wind and scared him away! Such a fun and cool story! 

The Cottonwood Remembers

When I think of cottonwood trees, I think of my Grandparents’ house. There are tons of cottonwood trees where my grandparents live. Whenever my cousins and I would go outside and play, there would always be cotton floating around in the air. We would sometimes make a game of it and see who could try and catch the most cotton. This story is quite sad and nostalgic at the same time. I liked that it explained multiple things as opposed to just why the cottonwood’s seeds fly off and travel through the air. The poor owl and loon were cursed and the poor pigeon’s wife dies all because of a misunderstanding.  Not only does this story serve as a good origin story but it also serves as a lesson in communication. 

(Cottonwood Tree in the Fall)

Reading Diary B: Cherokee Myths Continued

The Ball Game of the Birds and Animals

As I was reading this story all I could imagine is a huge stickball game being played between these two groups of animals. Stickball was not only a game played for fun but it was also used as a way to create peace between feuding tribes. The players usually were the tribe’s greatest warriors like the bear and the terrapin were for the animal team. In the case of the bird team, their greatest warriors might not have been strong but they were cunning and determined to prove themselves. I think that this story shows that you may be the underdog but that should never keep you from trying. If the two small animals (the bat and the flying squirrel) would have given up, they never would have had the opportunity to see who they really were and become who they were supposed to be. 

(Ball Players by George Catlin)

Reading Diary A: Cherokee Myths

Cherokee Myths

I was really excited about reading this unit. I am currently in Cherokee 3 and my professor has told us some Cherokee stories before. It was very fun reading all of the Cherokee words in the stories. It felt cool to be able to pronounce them correctly and some of the words I already knew. I also love that these stories have tons of animals. My favorite type of origin stories are animal origin stories. I love learning about the reasons why animals behave the way they do or why they look a certain way.

How The World Was Made

This unit is once again filled with origin stories. I haven’t read or heard this story before but I have heard that the Cherokees believe that the earth is an island. The part of this story that caught my eye was the part about the Great Buzzard. My Cherokee teacher’s maiden name is Buzzard so; she has talked about the Buzzard before. I also noticed that the number seven was used quite a bit throughout this story. In my Cherokee class, we learned that there are seven Cherokee clans; Long Hair, Blue, Wolf, Wild Potato, Deer, Bird, and Red Paint. I don’t know if these two things are connected but, I thought that it was an interesting coincidence. 

(Buzzard)

Extra Reading Diary: Creation and Longevity Achomawi (Pit River, California)

Creation and Longevity

Achomawi (Pit River, California)

Once again, it is awesome how this unit perfectly goes hand and hand with my music class. Right now we are talking about tribes from the Plains. We learned how important the Eagle is to the several different Plains tribes and this story highlights that. Like I have mentioned before, I really enjoy creation stories because they are all so unique and it is cool to see how each group of people believe they were created. This creation story was interesting to me because it told the story of two creators. Usually, the creation stories that I have read only had one main creator. This story has both Coyote and Eagle as creators. 

(Majestic Eagle)

Reading Diary B: Alaskan Legends(Continued)

The First Woman

Eskimo (Bering Straits)

As I was reading this story, all I could think about is the TV show The Smurfs. Like the woman that lived in the southland, Smurfette was the only woman living among the male Smurfs. I wonder how she and the woman that lived in the southland felt. Did the Smurfs fight over Smurfette the way the men fought over the woman?

I did enjoy the story of the first woman. It was very cool how they explained why the women of the south and the women of the north are talented in different areas. When I was reading about how the men were fighting over the woman all I could picture is them pulling her like a tug-of-war rope and I couldn’t help but laugh. I was glad that they just split the woman in two instead of accidentally killing her. If this story was a part of the Asia and Africa unit then the woman probably would have died because there was a lot of murder involved in the stories in that unit.

The Boy in the Moon

Eskimo (Lower Yukon)

I have read a few moon and sun origin stories and almost all of them involve lovers. The moon is the woman/girl and the sun is the man/boy and vice versa. The use of food (berries and meat) to explain why the moon fades in Alaska is something I have never read before.

(Smurfs and Smurfette)

Reading Diary A: Alaskan Legends

Myth-Folklore Unit: Alaskan Legends

(Myths and Legends of Alaska)

I chose this unit because we just finished learning about the Haida and Inuit people in my Native American Music class. I really enjoy origin and creation stories. These stories are always fun and interesting. It is cool to read about the different beliefs that people have. I noticed that the number 4 is used a lot in these stories (4 days, 4 years, Raven waves his wings 4 times). In class, we learned that the number 4 is sacred to a lot of tribes because it is connected to nature through the 4 seasons, connected to the 4 directions, and connected to the 4 elements.  I also really enjoyed the polar bear and mosquito origins within these stories. I thought it was funny how the mosquitoes were told to bite people instead of bite/eat animals. In hindsight, I don’t think that was the best thing to tell the mosquitoes. I thought the story of how the reindeer lost their sharp teeth was interesting as well. Who would have known that the sweet little animals that we associate with Christmas and Santa Clause used to be vicious little creatures that terrorized and ate people. 

(Reindeer)

Extra Reading Diary: The Twin Brothers

Congo: The Twin Brothers

 

I really liked that this story had twins! It made the story really interesting! I really liked this story until the end when the brothers started fighting and then murdered each other. I thought it was going to be happy and that they would save everyone but that seemed too good to be true and I was right. I did like the brother that won in the end! He seemed like he was doing the right thing! I probably would have done the same thing. It was pretty messed up that after he saved his brother, the other twin turned around and killed him over claim of the followers! I also think that in the grand scheme of things, they should have been the second brother’s followers because he was the one to go and save his brother. Whereas, the other brother was pretty stupid when his wife told him not to go to that town and he decided to go anyway. That wasn’t the smartest decision. Overall, I like this story, though.

(Fetish With Mirror)

 

Reading Diary B: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang)

How the Wicked Tanuki was Punished

This story is my favorite story in this unit. I thought that the Tanuki was going to secretly kill his son and that his wife, the fox, would find out and fins a clever way to punish him. The Tanuki reminded me of the trickster Anansi from the West African folklore/fairytales. Like the Tanuki, Anansi also selfishly betrayed his family members in order to gain something. In this case, both the Tanuki and Anansi betrayed their family for food. I also loved that the sons were the heroes in both of these stories. I was really happy when the Tanuki’s son realized that his father had betrayed and killed his mother and instead of confronting his father, he thought of a clever plan of how to use his father’s cockiness against him and avenge his mother’s death.

 

The Slaying of the Tanuki

There seems to be a lot of murder in the stories that involve the Tanuki. As I was reading the story, I knew that the Tanuki would play a cruel trick on the peasant man but, I never would have guessed that the “trick” would be the Tanuki murdering the peasant’s wife and then feeding her to him. That part of the story was a little extreme. It made for a good story but, it was still pretty extreme. When the hare set the Tanuki on fire and almost killed him, I thought that surely the Tanuki wouldn’t trust the hare anymore but, for some reason he did. The part of the story that said, “The Tanuki was still feeling angry with the hare about the trick he had played him, but he was weak and very hungry, so he gladly accepted the proposal” really shocked me. They made the hare’s attempt to kill the Tanuki seem as if it was not a big deal. I don’t know about whoever wrote this story but, attempting to set someone on fire is definitely not just a harmless “trick.”

 

(The Hare and the Tanuki illustrated by H. J. Ford 1897)

 

Reading Diary A: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang)

Myth-Folklore Unit: Japanese Fairy Tales (Lang)

The Envious Neighbour
I
 liked this story. In a way, it kind of reminded me of the story The Ungrateful Man that was a part of the West African Folktales unit. Both of the antagonists in these stories were jealous of the protagonists in the story. Even though the old couple in The Envious Neighbor and the hunter in The Ungrateful Man were nothing but nice to their opposites, the neighbor and the man still betrayed them. I was shocked when the neighbor killed the old couple’s dog. I thought that he would try to steal the dog but I never thought he would actually harm the dog. In the end, the neighbor got what he deserved and the old couple came out on top.

The Cat's Elopement 

 

It seems like the characters in Japanese folklore/fairytales love their animals. The man and woman in this story are really attached to their cat just like the old couple was attached to their dog. Pets or animals in general must be important to the Japanese culture.

I love that this story is a love story about two cats. It was cute that the cats had human qualities and that the story was told through their eyes (kind of like the Disney movie The Aristocats). The part about the serpent always trying to get to the princess confused me a little. Why didn’t the princess’s servants kill the serpent instead of just shooing him away? I was glad that Gon and Koma found each other in the end and got to live with the princess and her prince. It was a happy ending for both the humans and the cats. I wonder what happened to Gon and Koma’s original owners?

 

(illustrated by H. J. Ford 1897 )



 

 

Extra Reading Diary: Brer Rabbit

Brer Rabbit

I have never read Brer Rabbit before so I was not too sure what to expect. The unique dialect is what really makes these folklore stories stand out. When I read the description of the book, I expected the stories to be very similar to Aesop’s Fables. Once I started reading the stories, I started to realize that the only thing that Aesop’s Fables and Brer Rabbit have in common is the use of animals as the main characters (at least in my opinion). I’ve seen dialect in a few stories but I do not think I have ever read a story that uses nothing but dialect throughout the whole story. I also listened to some of the stories using Libriox. Listening to someone read the stories made them come to life more than when I started reading the stories myself. While I was listening, the voices that the people reading the stories used reminded me of the crows in the movie Dumbo. The voices that were used in these stories were also similar to the voices used in the To Kill a Mockingbird auto.

                One thing that I liked about this unit is the use of similes. These stories are filled with southern similes and I absolutely love it. My grandparents and my friends’ grandparents use similes similar to the ones used in this unit. I guess those type of sayings are very unique and important in southern culture.

                Overall, I am on the fence about whether or not I really liked this unit. Overall, some of the stories were entertaining but, the dialect was a little hard to listen to.

 

(Illustrated by A. B. Frost)

 

Reading Diary B: West African Folktales(continued)

The Moon and Stars

There was a dragon in this story! A dragon! I was surprised and confused that there would be a dragon in a West African folktale. I do not know why I was so surprised but for some reason I just don’t think of dragons when I think of West African folktales/fairytales. The story was very interesting. I knew from previous stories that Anansi and his son, Kweku Tsin, could shapeshift into different animals but I did not know that they were the moon and sun as well. It always seems that Kweku Tsin is always the hero in these stories and not Anansi. This makes me wonder why Anansi is the more well-known character than his son. Why isn’t Kweku Tsin the face/main character of these stories instead of his father?

 

(A Promise Under the Moon)

 Why Tigers NeverAttack Men Unless They Are Provoked

As I mentioned earlier, I was surprised to read about a dragon in West African folklore/fairytales but, I was not surprised that there was a tiger even though, there are no tigers in Africa. I think this is because West African stories are filled with animals that I didn’t even think twice about the absence of tigers. I liked this cute story about friendship. When the tiger decided to pretend to be dead in order to test the man’s friendship, I have to admit that I expected the worse. For some reason, despite the title, I doubted the man’s loyalty to the tiger but I am glad that I was proved wrong.

Reading Diary A: West African Folktales

 West African Folktales

 

I was so excited when I saw that our next unit was Asia/Pacific- Africa! I love the trickster Anansi! I have only heard a few Anansi stories so I am excited to read more stories about him. I am also excited to read the animal stories. African folklore/fairytales have very cool stories about why certain animals behave the way they do and how these animals came to be. The stories are fun and clever and I can’t wait to start reading more of them.

Thunder and Anansi

This is one Anansi story that I have not heard before. When Anansi received the magic pot from Thunder, I was really hoping that he would actually use it for not only for himself but for his family as well. Of course, that was wishful thinking. But, as always, Anansi got what he deserved when the stick that Thunder gave him started beating him for his foolishness.

Why Spiders Are Always Found in Corners of Ceilings

Just like before, Anansi has decided to me greedy and try to get over on his wife and son. As always, Anansi’s son foiled his father’s plan. You would think that as clever and tricky as Anansi is, he would be smart enough to know that the rubber man was not real, especially when his hand got stuck to the rubber man’s face when he tried to hit it. I also think that is cool how both Anansi and his son Kweku Tsin can change themselves into animals. It would be cool to have shapeshifting powers.

(Anansi the Storyteller)