Week 13 Essay: Children's Stories

Because so many of these fairy tales were already familiar to me, they definitely reminded me of my childhood. The Cinder-Maid was a retelling of Cinderella. The Language of Animals seemed like a version of Snow White with a male main character. Johnnie and Grizzle was a clever version of Hansel and Gretel. Even the stories that I was reading for the first time seemed like good children's stories because they had a clear moral and dealt with silly concepts.

I think that children especially enjoy stories about characters that they can relate to. Often, these are stories about other children like Johnnie and Grizzle or Thumbkin. As a child, I definitely enjoyed fantastical stories where I got to use my imagination like The Cinder-Maid and Beauty and the Beast. I think just about any story can be good for children to read so long as the content is appropriate for their ages.

Cinderella was my favorite princess growing up. I loved how she had a relationship with the adorable mice. In The Cinder-Maid, she had a relationship with the little bird that granted her wishes. I also loved the idea of a prince seeking me out specifically to become his wife, and that is exactly what happens to Cinder-Maid.

Growing up, I loved the imagery in Hansel and Gretel. The idea of living in a gingerbread house highly appealed to me. The story of Johnnie and Grizzle definitely stayed true to that. "The door was made of butterscotch, the windows of sugar candy, the bricks were all chocolate creams, the pillars of lollypops, and the roof of gingerbread."

Another story aspect that I enjoyed as a child was the idea that anything is possible. This is portrayed in Beauty and the Beast when Beauty has the courage and faith to believe in the Beast, and she gets rewarded when the Beast transforms into a handsome young man.

 

(Image information: "Beauty and the Beast" by John Batten 1916.)

Week 12 Essay: Crime, Justice, and Revenge in England

This week I chose to read the English Fairy Tales unit. Within these stories, I found many story elements that had to do with crime and justice.This unit in particular seemed much more gruesome and much more obsessed with death than the previous units I have read. Revenge is also a common motif in these stories.

In The Rose Tree, the little girl tried three times to buy her step-mother a pound of candles and failed each time. This could seem like a crime, but to me, the step-mother cutting of the little girl's head off seems like a much more significant crime. Once the little girl turns into a bird, she drops a millstone on her step-mother's head. This is certainly an act of justice and also one of revenge.

In Binnorie, the themes of crime and justice continue. The story starts with two sisters who are in love with the same man. First he was with the older sister, but then he left her for the younger sister. The older sister was so jealous that she pushed the younger sister into the river. That was definitely the crime. Once she drowned, a creepy man made a harp from her bones and hair.

 

(Image information: "Binnorie" by John D. Batten, 1890.) 

He took the harp to her parent's castle, and the harp sang about how the older sister killed her. This act of justice was very similar to the one in Rose Tree because in both stories the criminal is called out at a banquet.

In The Story of the Three Little Pigs, the wolf eats up the first two little pigs. This is clearly a criminal thing to do. Then when the wolf tries to eat up the third little pig, the pig completely outsmarts him. For revenge, he boiled him up and ate him for supper.

Week 10 Essay: The Oral Storytelling Style of Inuit Folktales

Because the originally oral stories in the Eskimo Folk Tales unit were recorded by Rasmussen, the explorer, they had a very distincitive style of speech. Some of the stories, like "The Coming of Men, A Long, Long While Ago," have a very clear perspective. The oral style of storytelling was important to the folk tales because it made them sound more realistic and truthful. As part of this, the characters' names are quite different

The storyteller's perspective in "The Coming of Men, A Long, Long While Ago" makes it obvious that the storyteller is explaining the details he/she knows, and then he/she is upfront with the listener about not knowing some parts. "When did they find each other, and when had they grown up?" the storyteller asks. "I do not know," he/she finishes.

This oral storytelling style brings the readers into the lives of the Inuits and helps them to understand the culture. In the story of "Isigâligârssik," the storyteller explains one of the wizard's customs, saying, "When the wizard was about to call upon his spirits, it was his custom to call in through the window: 'Only the married men may come and hear.'" Also in this story, Rasmussen explains that the Inuits believed that the first dress worn by a small child would heal that child from physical harm when he/she grows up. The style is inclusive and it draws the readers in. In the story of "Nukúnguasik, who Escaped from the Tupilak,"Rasmussen teaches us that a Tupilak is a monster made from the bones of animals. The Tupilak is magical and is used to punish one's enemies. In a manner similar to a daughter telling her mother about her day, this style makes the stories easy to relate to.

 (Image information: "Tupilak" from Eskimo Folk-Tales by Knud Rasmussen, with illustrations by native Eskimo artists, 1921).

The unusual names in this unit are ones like Nukúnguasik, Qalagánguasê, and Isigâligârssik. Upholding the true names of the people that these stories are about, shows the integrity of the storyteller and further emphasizes the fact that the events in the folktales really happened.

Week 9 Essay: Believable Atmospheres

Because the stories in the American Indian Fairy Tales unit were about early Native Americans, all of them were set in the great outdoors. I loved the different atmospheres that Iagoo created through is storytelling. These natural environments were so believable that they made the story events seem more realistic even when they had to do with magic. The seasons were also a key factor in the stories. The storyteller used the undesirable elements of the current season to bolster his story about the season everyone was wishing for.

In the first story, an unknown narrator introduces Iagoo as the future narrator for the other stories. Iagoo's stories are often motivated by the weather. So when it is a cold and blustery winter, he tells stories about balmy summers. In Iagoo, the Storyteller, the author does a wonderful job of incorporating the body's senses into the mix. "The snow lay deep on the ground" brings in imagery for the audience, and "the North Wind came howling from its home in the Land of Ice," gives the environment sound. "Iagoo sat by the fire of blazing logs" helps the reader feel the heat of the fire.

 

(Image information: "The North Wind" from American Indian Fairy Tales by W.T. Larned, with illustrations by John Rae 1921.)

The scene that is set in the story of how Shin-ge-bis Fooled the North Wind is also very encompassing. "When he breathed upon the land, violets appeared in the woods, the wild rose bloomed on the yellow prairie, and the cooing dove called musically to his mate." This description gives enough details for the reader's imagination to take off without bogging down the plot with over-description.

I liked the atmosphere in The Fairy Bride the best. So much of this story depended on the reader coming to understand Neen-i-zu's fascination with the fairies. The description of the environment was important here, but I think the imagery of the fairies was even more key. "It was just the place for leap-frog and all-hands-'round; in the twilight of summer days they were said to gather here in little bands, playing all manner of pranks." This characterization of the fairies made me want to meet them as much as Neen-i-zu did.

Week 7 Essay: Crime and Punishment

In The Chinese Fairy Tales unit, I saw recurring themes of crime and justice. Typically, characters would commit wrongdoings and then receive punishment for them. For example, in the story about The Cave of Beasts, the daughters ate eggs that didn't belong to them, and they were lead into the deathly forest as a result. Another example of justice happens in The Maiden Who Was Stolen Away. The ogre traps the maiden in an attempt to make her marry him, and in the end, he is beaten for his wicked ways. A third example from this unit is in the story about The Panther. Because the panther ate the mother and her son, he endures a lot of pain and eventually death.

 

(Image information: "Black Panther"  by Bruce McAdam 2008.)

To go into detail about the daughters in The Cave of Beasts, I would say their crimes seem the most harmless of the three examples above, especially because their mother gave them the eggs to eat. But regardless, the father saw this as a crime and abandoned them in dangerous forest. However, this might be considered the real crime in the story because the father soon missed his daughters and went back to find them, and it seemed like he had seen the error of his ways. He definitely changed his mind about punishing his daughters when he found out about all of the gems they had discovered!

In the story about the maiden who was stolen away, the ogre could have taken a very different direction. When the maiden was blown on top of the pagoda, he could have helped her down and won her over that way instead of trapping her up there until she agreed to marry him. Once he had done that, I felt like his defeat at the hand of the maiden's brother at the end of the story was completely deserved.

Finally, in the story about the panther, it is clear to the reader that eating a mother and her son is a crime. And so the daughters worked up a whole series of punishments for the panther. He sat on a cushion of needles, was stung by a scorpion, had hot egg yolk sprayed in his eyes, and was bitten by a turtle, and finally, he was beaten to death by wooden clubs. If that isn't justice, I don't know what is.

Week 6 Essay: The Seductress vs. The Housewife

In the Labors of Yamato, women played two very different and contrasting roles. On the one hand, Benzen, the sea goddess, is mysterious, seductive, and not trustworthy. But on the other hand, Tacibana, Yamato's wife, is obedient, loves him unconditionally, and would sacrifice herself for him.
These roles paint two negative pictures for the roles that were available to women in Japan in the early nineteen hundreds. Women  could either be promiscuous temptresses or kowtowing, opinionless housewives. Speaking as a women and gender studies minor, I think it is infinitely sad that these are the ways that the authors chose to portray the women in this story.

One good point for the roles of women is that at least Benzen was independent and pursued what she wanted. I don't condone lying or stealing, but she did achieve her desires in the end. But what really irked me was that Tacibana knew her husband was off gallivanting around when he was looking for that golden apple, and she didn't seem upset by it. She never confronted or accused him of the poor treatment he was doling out.

Tacibana's strategy seemed to be that if she was meek and didn't whine, her husband would stop his infidelity and come back to her. So she minded her own business in the home, trying to be the perfect housewife.

 

(Image information: "Good House Keeping," an American magazine 1908) 

And then when she saved him from the fiery forest, she seemed sure that she had proved her devoted love to him. But he didn't leave Benzen until she stole his mighty sword. So it wasn't even his choice in the first place to leave his lover.

With that, this story might be about how little power men actually have in regards to some women like Benzen. So in order to feel powerful, they exploit the other women in their lives like Tacibana. I have so many possible theories about the situation that I'm not really sure.

To be fair, women haven't always been portrayed well in other stories we've read for this class. But for some reason, probably the cheating, the gender roles stuck out to me like a sore thumb in this story, and I have to say that I wasn't a fan of that.

Week 5 Essay: Rags to Riches

In the Turkish Fairy Tales reading unit, I thought that the two types of settings contrasted nicely against each other. Almost every story first showed the poor youth in a wilderness setting, and then the story was about the youth's progression into nobility and wealth.


I pictured these stories in a world like the Disney movie Aladdin because I've never been to Turkey.

(Image information: "Stock Aladdin Arabian Palace" uploaded by Greyfaerie4.)

At the beginning of the Fear story, the youth is sitting at home with his mother. I pictured a modest three-room home in an area with wildlife. By the end of the story, the youth has become the shah, the king,  and he has a forty-day long marriage feast. It's a strong contrast between a humble lifestyle and the wealth of a king that so many people dream of. It also reminds me of diversity apparent in Mark Twain's The Pauper and The Prince. 

In the story about the Fish-Peri, the youth begins as an orphan, who is poor and hungry. He becomes a fisherman to put food on his table, and he catches a very special fish, a fairy. The fairy puts his home in order, and he wins her hand in marriage by performing amazing tasks for the king. Once he marries her, there is once again a feast that lasts for forty days and nights. This story shows the disparity between those who have too much food and those who don't know where their next meal will come from.

Finally, in the Patience-Stone and Patience-Knife fairy tale, we open with a poor woman and her daughter. The mother takes in the community's washing and the daughter does embroidery to make a meager living. The girl makes her way to a beautiful palace and finds a prince in need of her help. Once she helps him and he hears the story of the struggles she has endured, he marries her and brings her mother to live with them in the palace.

The contrasting settings in these Turkish fairy tales really helped highlight the recurring theme of rags to riches. 

Week 4 Essay: Wisdom Through Riddles

Wisdom was a central theme in this week's reading unit, Twenty-Two Goblins. In the story, a king was trying to accomplish the task assigned to him by a monk. The king was supposed to bring a dead body to the cemetery. But there was a goblin living in the dead body that was hanging from a tree who tried to trick the king with riddles.

(Image information: "The Goblin in a Tree" by Perham W. Nahl 1917.)

Each story was part of a greater story, and the riddles at the end of each story underscored the overall theme of wisdom. Because while the king was on a quest to complete his assigned task, he was also on a quest to discover the true motives of the monk, and he did this by impressing the goblin with the correct answers to the riddles.

In the beginning, the riddles were fairly similar. They were questions like if three lovers all contributed to bringing a dead girl to life, which one deserves her as his wife? The king would then say something like that only the man who slept by her lifeless body each night deserved to marry her because that is the role of a husband. I definitely guessed that answer before I read it. But over the course of the story, the goblin's riddles became trickier.

A more difficult riddle was about a Brahman who died because a snake's poison dripped from his mouth into the Brahman's food that was given to him by a charitable man. But the snake was dying in the claws of a hawk when it happened. So who is to blame for the Brahman's death? I thought it would be the hawk because the snake couldn't help what he did while he was dying, and the charitable man was only trying to be friendly. But the hawk was already trying to kill someone. But the king said that the Brahman himself was responsible for his death because he accused the charitable man of poisoning him. That seemed a bit severe to me. Nonetheless, the riddles made me really contemplate the characters and the themes in order to  gain wisdom about the situation.

All throughout the story, the king had the knowledge necessary to vanquish evil, but he thought that the goblin was evil and was who needed to be defeated. So even though the king could answer almost every riddle, he still gained knowledge from his quest.

Week 3 Essay: Repeating Morals and Motifs in Aesop's Fables

There were many different things that recurred in the series of Aesop's (Winter) Fables that I read this week. There were repeating animal characters like donkeys, lions, wolves, and foxes. There were morals of the stories that overlapped and expanded on each other. The most popular morals were ones that warned against dishonesty and being prideful. And there were plot elements like trickery and betrayal that kept cropping up. I think these things were repeated because the author thought they were the most important and the most useful at conveying his message.

The wolf appeared in stories like The Wolf and the Kid, The Wolf and His Shadow, and The Wolf and The Lion. In the first one, the kid tricked the lion into not eating him, which highlights a recurring motif characters cheating each other. With that, the moral was "don't let anything turn you from your purpose" because if the wolf had stayed on task he would have won his prize. In the second story, the wolf sees his huge shadow on the ground and thinks he is much more fierce than in reality. The moral in the story was not to "let your fancies make you forget your realities." Here the repeating theme is animals getting a big head. In the last story, the wolf steals a lamb, but then the lion steals it from the wolf. The moral of the story was that what has been won through evil will be lost because of evil. I see this story's theme as being a combination of trickery and pigheadedness.

The fox played roles in stories The Dog, The Cock, and The Fox and The Fox and The Leopard. In the former, the dog and the cock were best friends, and when the fox tried to trick the cock into being eaten, the cock tricked the fox into being chased by the dog. The moral of the story was those who "try to deceive may expect to be paid their own coin," and the repeat motif was that both the fox and the cock tried to scam each other. In the later, the leopard thought himself to be both attractive and intelligent, but the fox clues him in to his foolishness. The moral was that "a fine coat is not always an indication of an attractive mind."

(Image information: "The Fox and The Leopard" by Milo Winter 1919.)

The donkey showed up in The Ass and His Driver, The Lion and The Ass, and The Ass and The Image. The morals of his stories tended to all related to motifs of stubbornness, foolishness, and deceit. In the story about the driver, the ass was taught a lesson about the downfalls of determination when his driver let him walk off the cliff edge. The moral was that those who are stubborn and don't listen are on the road to misfortune. In the story with the lion, the lion is given regal treatment, and because the ass is jealous, he scorns the lion.The moral was "do not resent the remarks of a fool" because they don't know what they are talking about. Similarly, in the story about the image, the ass is again jealous of the treatment paid to the image and tries to take the admiration for himself. The moral was not to take credit for someone else's actions.

The lion played in The Lion and The Ass and The Lion and the Gnat. In the story with the gnat, the gnat kept stinging and annoying the lion and making the lion scratch himself. The moral was not "to let pride throw you off guard." I think this is very similar to the moral in The Wolf and His Shadow.

The culmination of this comparison is The Ass, The Fox, and The Lion because so many of these repeat characters make appearances. The fox and the ass are best friends and the fox tries to sacrifice the ass to the lion to save himself, much like in the story about the dog, the cock, and the fox. While the moral of this story is that "traitors may expect treachery," I also see a theme of trickery here.

Week 2 Essay: Analysis of the Supernatural in the Saints and Animals Unit

Occurrences of magic and the supernatural were prevalent in the Saints and Animals reading unit. As a Christian, I really liked seeing God's presence in the stories of these saints. Whether people believe these stories really happened or not, the tales can act as a conversation starter about religion, beliefs, and values. These are all topics that our society is uncomfortable discussing, and I believe they need more light shone on them. Because I come from a religious background, the evidence of God that was apparent in these stories made them much more believable to me. I think that I was able to accept the miracles as an actuality from the beginning and focus more on other story elements. In this way, God's presence and miracles became a wonderfully underlying tone of the stories.

Typically, it was the saint characters who performed miracles by the grace of God. For example, Saint Kentigern healed the robin and brought it back to life with God's help. This event happened in order to prove Kentigern's innocence in the cruel ordeal. Saint Berach used his God-given authority to change the nature of the wolf who killed the young calf and bind the lives of the murdering wolf and the grieving mother cow together.God helped Saint Comgall to whisper to the mice and command them to eat horrible Croadh's grain. These events were usually critical to the story's plot and often were the solution to the biggest source of conflict in the story. I definitely noticed that all of the saints used their supernatural abilities for good. There weren't any evil saints. I appreciated this because it paints religion in a more positive light than it is typically seen in the media.

(Image information: "Four Male Saints" by Fra Diamante, c. 1470.)

As a happy and willing participant of the Harry Potter generation, magic and the supernatural will always hold a special place in my heart. The Harry Potter stories inspired me to believe that anything is possible, and I truly believe that's where my affinity for fantasy was born. I'm excited to see that magic and the supernatural are storytelling traditions in mythology in folklore, and I look forward to reading more in the future.