Week 13 Reading Diary: Italian Popular Tales

This week I decided to read the Italian Popular Tales unit and specifically focus on my favorite story, Catherine and Her Fate. I was immediately drawn to the story based off of the title because I enjoy stories and tales that have a message, especially when it comes to the idea of fate. I think fate is such a strong concept and I believe in fate and knowing that there is a higher power that has it all planned out for me.

I thought it was so clever to have the women be Catherine’s Fate. In many fairy tales I have read this semester there have been spirits or people who represent inanimate characteristics of the person’s life. When Catherine’s Fate asked the question: “when would you rather enjoy your life, in youth or in old age?" I thought to myself what would be the answer I would give. I think I would agree with Catherine and choose old age. If I choose youth, I would know that hard times would come in the future and it might be hard to enjoy myself in youth. But, in youth I could struggle and know that good is to come in old age. Although, Catherine suffered this torture from her Fate for seven years, which seems like a very long time!

It was amusing that the mistress tells Catherine to ask the mistress’s Fate to tell Catherine’s fate to stop the torture. It is such a strange concept to think that they are asking their Fate to be changed. I believe that we have some control over where we end up in life- going to school, getting a job, etc… but ultimately it a all part of a bigger plan we can not ask to be changed.

I LOVED the ending where the only thing that equaled the weight of the silk was the crown. Therefore Catherine must be made queen.

This was probably my favorite story I have read this semester! 

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After reading the introduction about The Three Goslingsbeing like the tale of the Three Little Pigs I was intrigued as to how the Italian story would compare to the version I grew up hearing. I made sure to keep an eye out for this story as I was reading the unit, and decided to focus my diary post on the comparisons and contrasts to the classical version I know.

The first thing I noticed was the absence of the word “Little” in the title. It made me wonder if this tale would not be as kid friendly as the tale I know.  

I had to look up what a Gosling was. (Google search tried to point me in the direction of Ryan Gosling- but I do not think that the fairy tale includes the actor). A gosling is actually a young goose, and makes sense as to why there would be three young geese who were afraid of the wolf. I thought it was interesting that the three main characters, the geese, were different than the characters I know, the pigs, but the wolf was still the enemy in both stories.

Another difference was the way in which the three main characters went about building their houses. The Goslings started off building the straw house for all three of them to live in, but the eldest kicked out the other two and sent them off crying. In the story I know of The Three Little Pigs, the pigs choose to each individually build their own houses.

There was also no house of wood or brick in this tale. The first and second goslings build their houses of straw and hay, and the third uses iron and rocks.

The ending was by far the biggest difference! The Three Little Pigs tale ends after the other two pigs flee to the last house and the wolf cannot blow over the brick house, so they all survive. This Italian version has the last gosling trick the wolf into sticking out his tongue, which the gosling burns with hot water and kills the wolf. The gosling then cuts open the stomach of the wolf where the other two goslings are still alive. I think this ending is especially interesting in comparing the tale to The Three Little Pigs because throughout the semester I have seen how stories from other places can be more violent and gruesome then the tales I know.

Week 12 Reading Diary: Nursery Rhymes

Nursery Rhymes- Tales: Many of the tales I had actually not heard of before. I did recognize the Jack a Nory tale. My favorite part of this reading was focusing on the different rhyming patterns of the different tales. Some had rhyming words at the end of every other line. Some rhymed each line except one. And some rhymed in each line for a given set. I think the rhyming pattern plays an important role in how the tales are interpreted. Choppy rhyming with a random line set in that does not rhythm crates a somewhat anxious flow. While a tale that rhymes every other line seemed to be more up and down and sing-song-ish (such as in Simple Simon).

Nursery Rhymes-Proverbs: The first proverb starts off with very formal and old language such as the inclusion of the words “thou” and “twill.” My favorite one started “a man of words…”  The reason I liked this proverb so much was for the way it was written with every other line following the same basic structure. There was a beginning line that said “And when the…” and the next line reads “It’s like a…” This continues throughout the proverb with each line building on the other.

Nursery Rhymes- Riddles: My ALL TIME favorite unit because I love riddles. I thought these riddles particularly hard because they were very short with little information to reach the conclusion. I am glad the answers to the riddles were included or I would have gone crazy trying to figure them out. After reading the answer, I often said “ohhhh I got it” but some I did not draw the connection to (like the walnut).

 Nursery Rhymes- Paradoxes: I was unsure what to think when first starting this section because I did not know how paradoxes would be presented in a nursery rhyme. Some I found silly like the one about apple-pie and ink and what we would drink. Others I really enjoyed. One I enjoyed the most was the one about the Guinea Pig. Even though it was simply stating the opposite of what he did, it was written in a way that made me enjoy the simplicity of it.

Nursery Rhymes- Charms and Lullabies: I enjoyed reading Peter Piper because as a kid I always loved reciting it to impress my friends. I also recognized the Bye, Baby Bunting rhyme but I can not pin-point why it sticks out to me. And, of course, Rock-a-bye Baby was included.

Nursery Rhymes- Games: I did not think to include some of the rhymes in the games section that were. I am familiar with the rhymes of The Three Pigs and Hickory Dickory Dock, but have never played them as a game. I enjoyed the instructions included as to what the children act out during the nursery rhyme.

Nursery Rhymes- Jingles:  The jingles section included Hey Diddle Diddle which is one of my favorite nursery rhymes and am glad there was an illustration to match. In reading it now as an adult and analyzing it as a part of this class, I do not see the real meaning in it. I enjoyed it as a kid, and still do, but the dish and the spoon at the end are very random. Many of the others I had not heard of or recognized. Many involved cats, which I thought was interesting.

Nursery Rhymes- Love and Matrimony: I was surprised to see Jack and Jill included in the love and matrimony section, but I guess that the interpretation would be that Jack and Jill loved eachother. I greatly enjoyed the rhyme that started with SYLVIA. It started with Simon’s proclamation of love for Sylvia and the next part included her response where she said she would rather “give a crown than be married to a clown.” When reading her response, it made me giggle at her directness. The other interesting rhyme was the one which included the man asking the woman to “walk with thee” which she would not until he offered her his key to his chest of silver and gold (his wealth). How typical?

Nursery Rhymes- Natural History: My favorite of this section was the Cuckoo rhyme which explaines, by each month, the migration patterns of the bird from April to August. Short, but also nice, was the rhyme “THE cock doth crow, To let you know, If you be wise, 'Tis time to rise.” This is the premise behind the expression “waking up at the rooster’s crow” I was intrigued by the version of Baa, Baa, Black Sheep because it was not exactly the version I grew up saying. The last lines are changed from what I know as “one for the little boy who lives down the lane.” I think I like my version better because it is happier instead of the boy getting none and crying.

Nursery Rhymes- Accumulative Stories: I have always loved the accumulative stories and these nursery rhymes did not disappoint. It is interesting to compare them to other tales, specifically the Japanese tales, where the accumulation stories were very dark and often included death and betrayal. The first story was very repetitive and not my favorite accumulation story, but the second nursery rhyme was great! I love when the dialogue becomes the accumulation as the narrator comes up to different people and adds on to the experience just before.

Week 11 Reading Diary: Looking Glass Unit

This week I decided to focus on the Looking Glass unit and specifically the story entitled the Looking-Glass House. It seemed the most interesting to me how Alice ponders this glass house and how it appears.

Illustration by John Tenniel

She is explaining to her cats how she wishes she could see what was behind the fireplace. She ponders “I want so much to know whether they've a fire in the winter: you never CAN tell, you know, unless our fire smokes, and then smoke comes up in that room too — but that may be only pretense, just to make it look as if they had a fire.” You can really imagine the young Alice debating these ideas. When we are young our imagination is vast and you can see that as Alice tries to find any explanation for the smoke. She also finds it amazing how when she holds up a book. They hold up one in the other room. She does not understand the concept of a mirror, as many children don’t, and believes some other people are on the other side doing exactly as she does.

I took the time to look up the definition of looking glass and there were multiple. 1. A mirror  2. Being or involving the opposite of what is normal or expected. The first was an obvious one. But I think the second is important to this story too. Nothing in the story of Alice in Wonderland or Alice and the Looking Glass is normal or expected.

Her imagination continues as she melts into the looking glass room and explores what is in there: talking pawns, and kings, and queens. The fire in the fireplace is not just a fire but a volcano! The king and queen cannot see or hear her which I found interesting. The words of the poem are backwards as I expected from the looking glass element of the room. 

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The Queens, Illustration by John Tenniel

One of my favorite quotes comes from the beginning of the story Queen Alice. It reads: “if you only spoke when you were spoken to, and the other person always waited for YOU to begin, you see nobody would ever say anything.” I love this quote for the message it presents. If you always ask for permission to speak, then nothing ever gets spoken. The Queen then later makes another point about speaking that is very important. Alice tries to change her answer to a question but the Red Queen replies: 'when you've once said a thing, that fixes it, and you must take the consequences.” It is true that, although, we can apologize for the things we say, we can never truly take them back. We must face the consequences of our words.

The story continues with these types of riddles where the Red and White Queens quiz Alice on her mathematics skills and trick her with their cleverness. When you subtract a bone from a dog, Alice said nothing is left but the queen says that, the dog will be mad and therefore his temper will remain. An unusual answer to a mathematics question. The riddles continue with a frog who is perplexed when Alice asks who is to answer the door. The frog asks “What’s the door been asking of?” and at first I did not understand this riddle. But, then I realized the frog was spinning the wording to mean that if someone is to answer the door then the door must ask something. I enjoyed this story for the play on words and riddle-like aspect of it. It made me realize we often look so one-sided at things and do not realize the many ways that different people can interpret the same thing.

Week 10 Reading Diary

Because the tales were shorter for the Cherokee Myths unit, I decided to take notes on a few of my favorite:

How the World Was Made: I greatly enjoyed the imagery that this story entails. The description of the Great Buzzard flapping his wings and creating the valleys and mountains was creative. I enjoy the description of how the world came to be in the perspective of the Cherokee and explains why the Cherokee country is full of mountains. The explanation of how the panther and owl can see through the night, The end states that the woman was to only have one child in a year and it has been so ever since. It makes me wonder if it is still part of Cherokee tradition for woman to only have one child within a year. (what about twins?)

Journey to the Sunrise: The analogy of the sun being a human form but so bright that you could not make out the shape was very interesting. I thought it so creative that the door opened and closed and that was the presence or absence of light. The Sun walked across an archway which is why the sun rises in the east and sets in the west.

Origin of the Pleiades and the Pine: I found it so amusing that the mother made the boys eat rocks instead of corn since they liked playing with the rocks so much. They flee from their mothers in anger and six of them become the Pleiades in the sky while the one under the earth became the Pine tree. The story explains that the pine is the same nature of the stars and holds itself in the same bright light. This represents the seven boys.

The Origin of Strawberries: I have actually heard this tale before and was delighted to see it again. She was only intrigued with the new fruit, the strawberries, and her desire for her husband grew with every bite. I think it is also saying that we sometimes need a reminder of what great things we truly have. The strawberries were the reminder to the woman of how much she really did desire her husband. She only realized it when she looked back to the west to see him behind her.

How the Rabbit Stole the Otter’s Coat: The first paragraph had me drawing connections from the animals to people. “ Some wore long fur and others short, some had brown, others black or yellow and they were always disputing about their good looks” I love how the story explains the otter jumped in the river to escape the fire and has lived in the water ever since. The rabbit tried to pretend he was the otter and in the end he was discovered and run out of town by the bear. It goes to show that you can not pretend to be something you are not. I also wondered if the bear pulled the rabbit’s tail off and that is why rabbits do not have tails anymore.

Why the Possum’s Tail is Bare: The bear did pull off the rabbit’s tail and now we see in this story that he, again, becomes jealous of the possum who has the most beautiful tail of all the animals. The trickster rabbit sends the cricket to cut off all the hair from the possum’s tail. It was funny to hear the explanation of when a possum is stunned it rolls to the grown and grins. I could visualize it in my mind.

The Deer and the Rabbit: I love how the beginning starts with the contest to see who gets the horns. I obviously know the deer ends up with horns, as a rabbit does not have any, but was interested to hear the story of how the deer wins them. The rabbit tries to cheat and in the end is served his punishment. Since he was so fond of cutting down bushes he could do it for a living, and so he does to this day. I love the Cherokee stories that have an explanation for why things are the way they are.

Why the Deer’s Teeth are Blunt: The trickster rabbit is back at it again trying to get revenge on the deer for winning the antlers. Much like in the Possum tale, the rabbit tricks the deer into letting him shave his teeth to make them sharper, but he actually dulls them out so he can not bite anything but grass and leaves. 

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The Ball Game of the Birds and Animals: I thought it interesting that the animals and birds were separated. I always considered birds as animals but it seems the Cherokee tales distinguish them apart; not as equals. It later explains that the birds are two footed vs the four footed animals. The first small animal became the bat and has his wings and four feet. The next became the flying squirrel. It explains why these two animals have wings but four feet.

The Race Between the Crane and Hummingbird: I felt bad for the poor Crane. He wins the race by taking his journey nice and slow, but in the end he still does not get to marry the woman because she would never marry a bird so ugly. I am not sure what message this Cherokee tale has. I was expecting the Crane to win and for the message to be that you can not judge a book by its cover and underestimate anyone. But in the end, the crane still does not get what he wants.

The Owl Gets Married/The Huhu Gets Married: these two tales were very similar in the idea that a woman needs to find a suitable husband who can hunt and is a hard worker. In both cases the men turn into an owl or a huhu and do not provide for their wives. Since they are lazy, they do not get the hand of the woman in marriage.

The Uktena and the Ulûñsû'tï: The imagery used to describe the Uketna in this tale was great. I really got a sense of the massive size and ugliness of the giant snake through the use of similes. The importance of the 7^th spot from the head becomes apparent because that is where his heart and life are and the only way to kill it. The crystal he guards is what the Cherokee people seek. Its greatest use is for prophecy, yet everybody is afraid of it. I think it tries to show that the gift of knowing the future and holding all this power is a scary one, and something not to be taken lightly.

The Red Man and the Uktena: The hunter saves the life of The Red Man of the Lightening as he is getting strangled by a Uktena. In return, the Red Man gives him medicine and the scale of the Uktena so that the hunter may have game to catch everyday from now on. If you help someone, they will in turn help you back

The Rattlesnake’s Vengeance: I loved this story as the wife kills the rattlesnake and in turn the wife must die as a sacrifice. One for one. And because the husband obliged, he and his people will always be spared of death by singing the song the rattlesnake teaches him. The song is still part of Cherokee culture.

Reading Diary Week 9: Native American Marriage Tales

For this week’s reading diary I decided to focus on one of my favorite stories from the Native American Marriage Tales unit: The Bear Woman.

Upon first reading this I immediately thought of Beauty and the Beast, of a woman who fell in love with a bear. I thought this would be a love story about a woman who fell in love with a bear and then by some magical powers was turned into a bear and lived happily ever after with her bear husband. This is a unit about marriage, so it seemed logical. However, I was very wrong. But, I was pleasantly surprised with how the actual story unfolded.

            One of the points that made me ponder, was when the big sister and little sister pretended to be bears in the woods. The big sister warned the little sister not to touch her kidneys. While they were playing, the little sister accidently forgot and touched her sister above the kidneys. She watched as her sister turned into a bear and ran away into the town and killed many of the people. My thought when reading this was: did the big sister want her little sister to touch her in the spot to make her turn into a bear?

            She warns the sister not to touch her there, but it could be in hopes that the little sister would be curious and touch her there anyways. So, my next thought was why would she want to be turned into a bear when she knew she would most likely kill innocent people? Then I had the idea that maybe she did not go off and kill innocent people, but the people that killed her bear lover. Maybe it was planned as revenge to make those people pay for killing her true love.

            I enjoyed the ending of the story with the arrows being able to kill but also being able to revive the four dead brothers. They decided the only safe place to live was in the stars and they became the constellations. I love astronomy and think the sky is a beautiful work of art. I enjoyed this tale for providing one tribe’s tale of explanation for the beauty in the sky.






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From the second half of the unit I focused on the story: The Youth who Joined the Deer

The story of the deer and the people really had me thinking about the relationship we have with animals. I think this is the purpose of the story after all. It speaks volumes about the beliefs and rituals of the Nlakapamuk people. When first reading the part of the story where it explains that the Deer people lived by hunting and killing each other and then reviving themselves through throwing the bones in the water, I thought this was very clever. I thought this was just a story about a group of people who had found a clever way to keep their people alive and thriving.

I also found it interesting that some of the young deer were always anxious to be killed for the benefit of the people. It seemed like it was almost a privilege to be killed and then provide food to nourish your people. It seems like a sacrifice. But then again, these people know they will be revived, so is it really a sacrifice? To sacrifice something usually entails that something must be lost in order to gain something else. But these people are not essentially losing their lives.

                The section about the rutting-season and the bucks with the deer-man’s wife was not my favorite part of the story. I felt bad that the deer-man was jealous and territorial of his wife. He did not want the younger bucks with his wife. It might have been put into the story to show the “animal instincts” of the deer to mate with multiple partners, and show a contrast between the deer and people. I was, after all, appalled at the mention of the “other younger bucks [who] came and beat him off and took his wife.” But, then I began to think that in the beginning of the story it mentioned that the man had multiple wives even before meeting his deer-wife. This can actually show a similarity between the humans and the deer.

                The ending explains that the hunting of deer is sacred and I think throughout the story it has showed the relationship between humans and deer. That the humans and deer have many similarities and the deer should be respected. When hunting, the deer’s bones must be returned to the water to be revitalized, or at least burned and really die. The bones are not to be thrown about as the deer will get offended. The ending shows the beliefs of the Nlakapamuk in the relationship between the humans and the deer.

Reading Diary Week 8: Review

For many of my Reading Diary posts I have taken small notes on each story so that I can remember each one. I think this strategy it has been beneficial when I am starting to think about the storytelling post because it provides me with a quick recap of the stories to choose from.  I have been writing the notes after I read each story to make sure I remember the details and what stood out to me for each plot, symbolism, or motif included. Most of the time the posts have been about the same length, obviously depending on how many stories were included in the reading unit. Recently, however, I have begun to just focus on specific stories in the unit. Usually this includes one for each half of the reading. So far I have done both halves of the reading for each unit so I have an A and B post for each unit. By just focusing on the one story per half reading unit, it has allowed me to really dive in deeper to the tales/stories of the unit. I will read all the stories included in the unit and then think about which one or two really stood out to me and focus on the details and depth of those. It is a different approach than when I started the reading diaries and I think it is beneficial. Both strategies are important and useful however. In the first unit I read, I read the tales of Ovid Greek mythology and it was useful to have a small summary of each story to see it all fit together. This last unit of Japanese fairy tales, included longer tales so it was more beneficial to focus on one story since it had so much more detail in its length. The dairy has helped me with my storybook posts because I read about Greek mythology in the first two units of the semester and am now having to write my storybook posts about goddesses. It is helpful to have the quick notes about the stories in order for me to use as a guide to find the specific tale I need to reference in my storybook post. I am glad that I choose to include quotes in my posts because many of them have significant meaning and is the reason they stood out to me. I enjoy the moral lessons included in many of the stories and the diary posts allow me to take a look back and be reminded of these important messages.

Week 7 Reading Diary: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki)

This week I decided for my Diaries to just focus on one story that I really enjoyed: for part A I focus on the story The Man Who DidNot Wish to Die from the Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit. 

The introduction where Sentaro reflects on the life of the Chinese King Shin-no-Shiko, who had everything but was still miserable, made me really ponder. The king had everything he could ever want: “the luxury and the splendor of his Court, the wisdom of his councilors and the glory of his reign” but yet he was so unhappy because he knew one day he must die. He would leave all of his treasures and glory behind. It was for this reason the thought of death plagued his thoughts every second of every day. It seems ironic to me that he did not want to part with the most wonderful things he had in life, yet he was not truly enjoying them because his misery surrounding the thought of death made him depressed in all matters.

            The story then transitions back to Sentaro, who is in the same dilemma as Shin-no-Shiko was in having wealth and wanting to live forever. He then sets out to Mt. Fuji to find the hermits for the Elixir of Life. I also thought it was interesting how hermits were the keepers of the elixir, when in most tales it is an old wise man or someone looked more highly upon than a hermit.

Upon switching to the next part of the story, I can see that my intuition was correct about the hermits. Jofuku criticizes Sentaro for being selfish and saying he would never be able to live the life of a hermit because he would “never be able to go barefoot or to wear only one thin dress in the winter time.” Jafuko questions him. “Do you think that you would ever have the patience or the endurance to live a hermit's life?” Sentaro has been spoiled his whole life, and the reason he seeks the Elixir is in order to live this grand life forever, not a life of being cold and hungry and barefoot. It shows his true selfishness

I loved the mention of the paper crane he flew on to the magic city- oragami- and reflects the Japanese culture.

One of my favorite parts of the story is when Heaven is mentioned as Paradise. “Priests had come over from India and China and told them of a beautiful country called Paradise, where happiness and bliss and contentment fill all men's hearts, but its gates could only be reached by dying.” It is a strong allusion to Heaven. The people of the land of Perpetual Life, who could live forever, only wanted to die to reach Paradise. Sentaro was the only happy one on the island, because he was the only one not wishing for death.

AH but it was all just a dream! I did not see this coming at all and thought it added so much to the story. The dream allowed him to see his life if he were to live forever, and then he even saw that then he did not wish for death. “Your desire for death was not real, for even at that moment you cried out loudly and shouted for help." I think we can all relate to the idea of fearing death, yet knowing death brings eternal life in Heaven and yearning for that. 

Part B Reading I decided to focus on the story The Goblin of Adachigahara.  

When starting the story, I did not expect the Goblin to be a poor old woman who, legend had it, devoured men at night and tossed their bones into an empty room. The title did not give hint to this. But from the beginning, instead of starting with "Once upon a time" it starts with "Long, long ago" and I think this introduction sets the stage for a kind of "ghost story." I got the sense from the opening that it would be more of a wicked kind of tale. This story was far more gruesome and disturbing than those of the first half of the unit. This story had no twists and turns as the story of The Man Who Did Not Wish to Die. It alluded to the Goblin who ate humans, and then the man who stayed with her ended up being her prey. He did escape and thanked his life to his prayers to Buddha. This ending does set it apart from other grim fairy tales, such as the Persian fairy tales, where most of the characters die an awful death. The man was warned by the Goblin not to look into the room and it seems that, like all the men before him, his punishment for giving into his curiosity was to be eaten by the Goblin.

Week 6 Reading Diary: Japanese Fairy Tales

The Two Frogs: The introduction reminded me of The Parent Trap, where the two twins do not know about each other before meeting at camp and then they both wanted to explore the life of the other to see what their other parent was like. When the frogs forget their eyes are in the back of their heads, and think where they came from is the unexplored town, I gave a little giggle. This story was funny and you almost feel bad for the poor little frogs that they will never know that the other town actually is completely different and they will never explore it.

The Stonecutter: I think this story provides a good message, that even when the stonecutter got what he wanted, he always ended up discontent. It was never enough for him. Many people find this problem when they turn to fulfillment through material things. The ending explains this perfectly: “he had learned to be satisfied with it and did not long to be something or somebody else. And as he never asked for things he had not got, or desired to be greater and mightier than other people, he was happy at last and heard the voice of the mountain spirit no longer.” It is so important that we be happy with who we are and what we have. That is when we will find we are our happiest selves.

The Maiden and the Wooden Helmet: This story included an idea that beauty should be hidden. In many Japanese stories and movies I have read or seen, it seems like this is a common idea. The story ends as a typical Fairy Tale I think of would, with a woman and man living happily ever after with children and were famous for their beauty and goodness.

**** After reading these first three stories, I wanted to note how vastly different these Fairy Tales are than the fairy tales of the unit I read last week: Persian Tales. It is black and white with the two focusing on happiness and important life lessons vs tales of death and horrible incidents. ***

The Sparrow and the Slit Tongue: This story was very interesting and I actually enjoyed it a lot. The woman got what she had coming for her, after she treated the sparrow so horribly for no reason. The husband was rewarded for his faithfulness and his lack of greed in taking the small box, which happened to be filled with jewels. The woman let her eyes deceive her and her greed take over, as she expected the big box be filled with even greater jewels. She got what she deserved though, when serpents attacked her. I enjoyed the connection of the serpents with “forky tongues” to the sparrow whose tongue was slit.

The Cat's Elopement: Cupid made an appearance in this story, which I was intrigued by as Cupid is a Greek mythology character. It shows how universal Greek mythology is that it shows up in a Japanese fairy tale. I also drew the connection to Romeo and Juliette of “unrequited love.” This is another story that ends with a “happily ever after.”

Schippeitaro: This story mentions the Spirit of the Mountain again. I think it might be interesting to research the significance of the Spirit of the Mountain in Japanese culture. This was more of a whimsical story with the cats being evil and the black cat being the Spirit of the Mountain. But the ending still ends happily with the maidens living safely and a feast each year in the brave boy’s honor.

The Crab and the Monkey: Most of the stories so far have included animals taking on seemingly human characteristics. All the lessons that could be explained with humans, instead use animals in the Japanese Fairy tales. The crab was “a very good housewife” which is not something we would normally attribute with a crab. I especially enjoyed the image attached with the story.

How the Wicked Tanuuki was Punished: This story started out so happy and I thought the fox and tanuki were such clever little animals, but I was not expecting the tanuki to betray his wife like that. I actually had to read that paragraph twice to make sure I had read right that he told the buyer she was not dead. The little boy was actually the clever one, and of course, he ended up living happily after he avenged his mothers death.

The Slaying of the Tanuki: I felt bad for the poor woman in this story that the Tanuki tricked into letting her go. It plays on the idea that women always find the best in people and believe they will help them. The offer to help her pound the rice “melted the good woman” and I think this is a character statement about women as well because a man would not be so easily to melt at the offer of help. From this story I am able to see that the Tanuki is an evil little trickster and the people and forest animals do not like his cunning ways. I felt so bad for the poor man who ended up eating his wife due to the evil deed of the Tanuki. This story also mentions how greed is not a good quality, because the Tanuki chooses the large boat thinking he will get more fish, only to come to his death.

Week 5 Reading Diary: Persian Fairy Tales

These are some of my favorites or most interesting tales from the Persian Tales Unit: 

The Wolf and the Goat: I found this story very interesting… The point I got from it was that you should not take the easy way out or cheat people as the wolf did to the tooth-puller. However, I was very confused by the ending which reads “
And now my story has come to an end, but the sparrow never got home.” I do not remember the mention of a sparrow and cannot find the meaning to the ending.  The opening “Once upon a time there was a time when there was no one but God.” Also struck me as somewhat strange. Another thought I had while reading was how much more gruesome this fairy tale is compared to the fairy tales I am used to hearing.

The City of Nothing-in-the-World: The title had me intrigued what the story would be about, and I can see now how it fits. The story had me very confused and I had no clue what was going on, but I also believe that was the point of it. I also realized that the intro and ending of the story was the same as the first and must be a standard part of Persian fairy tales.

Susku and Mushu: This tale took an unsuspected turn with all the drownings and deaths of the people and animals involved. Again, it is not what I think of when I think of a typical fairy tale. I did like how the story was an “accumulation story” and may play with using that in one of my storytelling posts.

The Boy Who Became a Bulbul: I enjoyed this story more than the others, although the beginning was very gruesome and I did not like the father. I enjoyed the song the bulbul sang and thought it very clever. I thought the son would try to get revenge on his father too because he did not hesitate in killing his own son. I am glad the sister got a treat for her loyalty and the step-mom got what she deserved as well.

The Wolf-Aunt: I found it so strange that this is a tale meant to teach children not to like their father’s sister (aunt/amma) because we are taught to love everyone in our family unconditionally. I thoroughly enjoyed the ending though: “if he had listened to his wife this would never have happened.” I found it light-hearted and humorous compared to the rest of the tale.

Muhammad Tirandaz, The Archer: I enjoyed this fairy tale because of the description and detail. I could imagine the scene as Muhammad rode with the tree branch flailing about, as he was strapped to the horse and screaming. It was also entertaining without the usual horror and deaths in the fairy tale.

The Praying Baker: This is my favorite story from this unit so far! I loved a particular part of this story where the King says “If he is praying only with his lips I shall put him to death, but if he is sincere I shall give him a robe of honour."Many times we speak without meaning or emotion, just to speak and I think it is important that whatever we say, pray, or do be done with meaning and sincerity. It also shows that the Baker gave all his troubles and trust to God and full-heartedly believe in his plan, which spared him his life. 

 

Fayiz and the Peri Wife: I knew from the beginning, that trouble was going to come to the man when they described him as a true and honest man. I have picked up on the idea that in these Persian tales nothing good happens to those who seem innocent. The women in the tale are constantly making threats, which seems to be found throughout many of the tales.

Hemp Smoker’s Dream: This reminded me of the story from the first unit, The City of Nothing-in-the-World. It was very abstract and dream-like. It gave me the sense of an Alice in Wonderland type feeling where the hemp made him intoxicated and created this whole new story and land.

The Story of the Wolf-Bride: Although, this was another gruesome tale between men and women, I enjoyed the message presented in the tale. I strongly believe in fate. In this tale, the man relies on the fate as told by the akhund and the horoscope based on astrology and tried to change fate’s plan. I strongly believe in fate from God’s plan and know that whatever God has in store for me is my fate and I cannot change that. The last line was a perfect ending for the tale: "Whatever is willed by fate, that verily comes to pass."

The Man Who Went to Wake His Luck: This story ended with a grim ending but I really enjoyed it! I thought it was interesting he went looking for his Luck and was asked by all these others for advise on why their life was not going as planned. It made me wonder if they could not find their own Luck. As soon as the poor brother’s Luck told him to tell the wolf that he will eat a foolish man, I knew that the poor brother would be the one the wolf killed. This tale did not have a significant deeper meaning as the last one did, but I enjoyed it for the simplicity of the storytelling and the rather ironic/funny ending.

Tortoise Bowl-On-The-Back and the Fox: I enjoyed this story so much and the trickiness of the tortoise. I have heard variations of this story before because it is a very common tale. I enjoyed this version and how the ending is blunt in explaining that “every one who is greedy is put to shame.”

The Merchant and the Saffron: I found this tale interesting for the idea that they seemed to be “testing the merchant’s Luck.” The host gave the merchant many sheep to see if they would survive the winter, and when they did not he gave him more sheep to see if his Luck would awaken. Finally the third time around, the sheep survived to produce ewe and they had seen his Luck had awakened and he could be sent on his way to become wealthy. In this way, I felt that they were seeing when his Luck would awaken and can be likened to the idea that we “test our luck.”

The Apparition of the Prophet Khizr: I enjoyed this tale the most from this second half of the unit. I enjoyed that the old man who ended up being Khizr explained why the Wazirs had chosen the specific punishment for the poor man. I was confused by what was meant by “every man speaks according to his own intelligence” but understood after Khizr explained how the tailor, baker, barber and loyal Wazir had picked their punishments based on their background. I think the phrase "Every man speaks according to his own intelligence" is a powerful one and explains how our experiences shape our perceptions.

 

Reading Diary Week 4: Arabian Nights

Scheherazade: This story serves somewhat as an intro to the unit and does a great job of setting the stage for stories to follow. I could tell from the beginning when Scheherazade asked her father to let her marry the King, knowing her fate to be killed, that she was a clever girl with tricks up her sleeve. I was interested in why she would make such a big deal about having her sister there to tell a story. Originally I thought the sister would help her to escape. The intro did a great job of leading into the telling of the story of the merchant and the Genius.

The Merchant and the Genius: I enjoyed the back and forth between the telling of the story of the merchant and the genie and the story of Scheherazade trying to stay alive. I began to see how Scheherazade drags on story with new characters to stay alive. It also ends with the old man beginning his tale: the first story within a story.

The First Old Man and of the Hind: This story told by the old man to save his life from the genie shows one of the ultimate portrayals of: you get what you give. His wife was an evil woman who turned his son and slave into a cow and calf. A fairy was able to tell the man that these were his son and slave and helped turn them back in exchange for his son’s hand in marriage and that the wife be punished. Her punishment was to be turned into a hind (deer) and therefore she “got what she gave.”

The Second Old Man and twoBlack Dogs: This story begins with the second man inside the story begins and tries to say his story is more magnificent than the first old man’s. One quote I do not agree with as the one brother reprimands his brothers for having no money states: “you traveled and what did you gain?” I think you gain so much when you travel and experience new things even if you may be poor and not gain money. This man’s story ended with  his fairy wife turning his evil brothers to dogs as punishment for betraying him; much like the first man’s story.

The Fisherman: This story begins with a new story entirely because Scheherazade  could not remember the third old man’s story. I liked the description of the story and how the genie emerges from black smoke out of lamp on the shore. It is what I envision in my mind when I think of a typical genie story. I was surprised by the twist in the story that the wish granted to the fisherman is his choice to choose how to die.

Greek King and the Physician Douban: This story within a story within a story is to teach the genie about trust. I knew from the beginning there would be trouble when the king promised the physician he would make rich if he could cure him. As the King begins to get better from the regiment of the Physician, his vizir becomes jealous and tries to convince the King the physician must be evil. It brings out a good point that jealousy causes us not to trust.

The Husband and the Parrot: I thought the use of the parrot was interesting because parrots only tell the truth. He used parrot as a way to check on his wife. The vizir becomes even more unlikeable in this story as he says “when comes to the life of a King it is better to sacrifice the innocent than save the guilty.”  This statement really made me think about how we do protect the high and mighty, but at what cost?

The Physician’s Revenge: The King is actually being persuaded by the vizir that the Physician is a bad person just trying to betray him. It made me think of the idea that we always assume the worst in people. The King is so easily swayed that the physician must be evil even though he has no reason to. The Physician then made a point by killing king with poison to “see how cruelty and injustice are punished.” At this point the genie starts sharing the story about Imma and Ateca to save his life (just as all the others have).

****At this point in the reading I really understood the importance of storytelling. Telling stories saved these people’s lives. The intrigue of wanting to know what the story entailed kept the storytellers alive. It shows just how important the gift of storytelling is and how captivating a great story can be.

The Sultan and the Fish: I was honesty surprised the fisherman did not cast his net for a second time after receiving such a good net of fish the first time. It seems unlike our selfish nature to always want more and never be pleased. The description of the palace the man who is half human and half black marble stone was magnificent. The imagery allowed me to see a clear picture of how majestic the palace was, even to the Sultan. And so another story begins….

The Young King of the Black Isles: The wife of the young king turned him to stone after he asked his wife to stop mourning the loss of another man, who she seemingly loved instead of the king. She turned him into the half man and half stone that he is now. It is another story where the wives are inherently evil. She does get what she has coming for her and is split it two. The young king becomes heir to the sultan and the fisherman gets much money. Everyone seems to get what they deserve in the end which has been a theme throughout the entire stories so far. 

Young King of Black Isles, Source: Blogpsot

Aladdin and the WonderfulLamp 1: Aladdin is exactly as how I remembered in the story of the Disney movie: a young, foolish boy. I do feel bad that he was tricked by the evil man who claimed to be his uncle in order to find the lamp. Although in the beginning I did not like Aladdin because he would not live up to his father’s potential even after he passed, I did end up having pity on him as he was trapped in the cave for being fooled by the magician.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 2: I understand Aladdin’s first wish to escape from being trapped underground, but his second wish for food somewhat surprised me. I believed that he would ask for more than just something to eat. When the mother said that she wanted Aladdin to sell the lamp because she wanted “nothing to do with devils,” I knew that this was foreshadowing to something awful happening in the future. You begin to see Aladdin’s selfishness as he demands the princess be his by sabotaging the marriage to the Vizir’s son even though the princess is frightened beyond belief. We see in this story how Aladdin begins to abuse the power of the genie, even though it is in the name of love.

Aladdin and the WonderfulLamp 3: I felt bad for the princess that no one would believe her of the terrible events happening in the night, and that her future-groom wanted nothing to do with her because of the horrible events. I love the detail of how the princess “set out on a carpet” because it reminded me of the magic carpet ride in the Disney movie Aladdin. One of the last lines really struck me: “Aladdin had won the hearts of the people by his genie bearing.” It shows that he had won the hearts of the people through deception, laziness, and material things.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 4: I was pleased to see at the beginning that the magician was making his way back into the story and there would be trouble for Aladdin in the future. The magician took away everything Aladdin had gotten from the genie: his wife, the palace, and his money. Now the people of the town pitied him, when just days before they had worshiped him and asked the Sultan to spare his life. “He saw plainly that all his misfortunes were owing to the loss of the lamp”- it is sad to see that everything he had in life came from the luck of the lamp and not his own doings or character.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 5: I was happy to see that the princess and Aladdin actually were lovers, even if he won her hand in deception. Aladdin and the princess begin devising a plan and I got hooked into the story. The poisoning of the magician by sipping his wine also reminded me of a typical Disney movie storyline.

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp 6: I am honestly happy there was more to the story than just the magician dying and everything being okay. The twist of having a younger brother equally evil added interest to the story- and for the sake of Scheherazade- extends the story even longer. I was appalled that the genie was so distraught by the request for the Roc’s egg and he finally puts an end to granting the wishes of Aladdin and tells him of the disguised magician. Aladdin kills the magician and they live “happily ever after” just like a fairy tale should end.