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)

 

Storytelling Week 7: The Dog Couple and Their Human

The Dog Couple and Their Human

 

A long time ago, there lived an old dog and his wife who had very little money and no pups to give all of their love and affection to so, they gave all of their love to their pet human. The little human was not spoiled and ungrateful but instead loved the old dog couple unconditionally and followed the couple everywhere they went.

                One hot afternoon, the dog was hard at work digging in his garden with his little human by his side. Growing tired, the old dog wiped the sweat off of his forehead with his paw and rose to head into the house. As he was leaving the garden, he noticed that his little human was digging at a spot on the other side of the garden. There was nothing unusual about this as his little human loved to pick up his toy shovel and dig but this time, the little human ran to his master and started jumping up and down and yelling. The human kept on doing this until the old dog followed him to the spot he was digging. The little human was so excited that his yelling brought the little old dog’s wife out of the house. The little human continued to dig until he dug up a small box. When the old dog grabbed the box and opened it, he found that it was filled with gold coins. Soon, the wealth of the little old dog couple and their incredible little human spread around the town.

                The little old dog couple’s neighbor, the cat, grew so envious of them that he found himself unable to eat, sleep, or think about anything else besides how to steal the dog couple’s wealth. The cat begged the old man to let him borrow his dear little human so that he may become rich as well. With much hesitation, the little old dog finally agreed to lend the cat his human only if he promised to take good care of him. As soon as the cat took the human home, he turned him loose into his backyard. Once in the backyard, the little did nothing but run around and play. He waited all day and all night for the dog to show him the way to the undiscovered riches. Alas, nothing happened and the cat grew so angry at the little human that he loaded him in his car, drove out into the forest and pushed the little human out of his car, leaving him there to die.

                The next day, the cat realized what he had done and quickly ran to the old dog couple’s house. Instead of telling the truth, he lied to the old couple and said that their little human ran away. The little old dog couple was so devastated that they wept for days and days. Weeks passed and the little old couple began to lose all hope. One night, as the couple was sitting in their dining room having dinner, they heard a familiar sound. They jumped up from their table and ran outside. Running outside, they were reunited with their precious little human and vowed to never let him leave their sight again. The cat, plagued with guilt, fled the town and was never heard from again and everyone lived happily ever after.  

(Japanese Gold Coin)

Author's Note: This story is based on the Japanese tale, The Envious Neighbor. I decided to switch the roles of the dog and the humans to make the story a little more fun. In the story, the neighbor becomes so angry with the dog that he kills him. I decided to change this part because I felt that killing the dog was a little gruesome and I wanted to make my story a little more lighthearted.

Bibliography: This story is based on the story The Envious Neighbor that is part of the Japanese Fairy Tales(Lang)  written by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H.J. Ford(1901).

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 )