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 12 Storytelling: Iris and Duke Cleaver

Once upon a time, there was a young lady named Iris. She was newly eighteen years old and only then allowed to date. For years, Iris's father had scared off the advances of many boys because Iris was too young. But now, all of those young men came back out of the woodwork to pursue her.

On Monday night, Iris went for ice cream with Damon. He was tall and his long brown hair flopped in his eyes. He was going to school to become a scientist.

On Tuesday afternoon, Henry took Iris for a walk in the woods. Henry was short and stocky. He wore his blonde hair buzzed short. Henry planned to join the military.

On Wednesday night, Duke Cleaver picked Iris up for a steak dinner. Duke Cleaver had ice blue eyes and pale skin. He told Iris of his wonderful castle where he could provide for her anything she desired. Iris liked him the best.

Iris saw plenty of other suitors on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, but during those outings she was always thinking about Duke Cleaver.

Her father told her that this was a sign. If she couldn't stop thinking about one man while she was with another, then she should marry the former.

Iris and Duke Cleaver agreed that they would get married, and he continued to tell her about his extravagant castle. But Iris thought it strange that he never invited her to visit the grand facade.

But Iris was a smart young lady, and so one day when Duke Cleaver was away on business, she decided she would simply go visit his castle alone.

The great building was constructed of gray stone. It had a draw bridge that ran over a moat, and several turrets came to sharp points in the distance.

Iris crossed the draw bridge and as she was entering through the archway, she found a phrase carved into the stone. It read, Be bold, be bold.

Hmmm, that is a funny thing to carve into an archway, she thought.

She continued on into a grassy green courtyard.

Over the doorway into the castle, it read, Be bold, be bold, but not too bold.

Iris opened the great wooden doors and found herself in a long dining room. On a golden plaque above the fireplace at the back of the room, it said, Be bold, be bold, but not too bold. Lest that your heart's blood should run cold.

Next to the fireplace was yet another door. Iris opened it and inside she found a most gruesome scene. The dead bodies of beautiful ladies were strewn about the room. They were covered in their own blood, and missing limbs lay abandoned on the floor.

Just as Iris was turning to leave, she heard footsteps and whistling. She quickly hid behind a table in the corner.

Not a second too soon, Duke Cleaver entered the room, dragging the body of an unconscious woman. He spread her out on the table that Iris hid behind and chopped of the woman's find to retrieve a diamond ring.

Iris had to cover her mouth to keep from shrieking. The dismembered finger flew off the table and landed in Iris's lap. Duke Cleaver searched around for it for a few moments before giving up.

Once Duke Cleaver had finished his murder of the woman, he left the blood room. Iris quickly snatched up the finger and ran out of the castle.

The very next day was supposed to be her wedding day. So at a feast that evening to celebrate the upcoming nuptials, Iris confronted Duke Cleaver in front of all of their guests.

 

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

"My dear," Iris said. "Last night I had the most curious dream. I dreamed that I visited your castle and found the words 'Be bold, be bold, but not too bold. Lest that your heart's blood should run cold.' carved by a doorway near a fireplace."

"But that can't be true," Duke Cleaver said.

"Inside the room were the dead bodies of many women. I hid behind a table, and in you walked, carrying an unconscious woman. You hacked her up right in front of me because you didn't know I was there," Iris continued.

"Oh, no. That can't  be true," Duke Cleaver said.

"You even cut off the woman's finger to take her diamond ring. One that looked very much like this finger and this diamond ring," Iris said. She triumphantly held up the severed finger.

"Guards!" Iris's father called. "Take this wretched man away!"

And Iris continued her time of courting with the many other suitors until she found a truly good man to mary.

Author's Note: This story is inspired by "Mr. Fox", from the English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs, with illustrations by John D. Batten, 1890. I kept most of the story the same, but I changed Mary's name to Iris, and I added in some details about her other suitors. I also changed Mr. Fox's name to Duke Cleaver because I couldn't figure out whether Mr. Fox was an actual fox or not. I sped up Iris's retelling of Duke Cleaver's crimes toward the end.

Week 12 Reading Diary: English Fairy Tales Unit

This week I chose to read the English Fairy Tales unit.

In the story of Tom Tit Tot, it made me wonder what would be a normal amount of skeins to spin in one day. Because spinning five skeins, really doesn't sound like that big of a feat.

I thought it was interesting how the girl gets to guess the imps name three times each night for the whole month. In the version I'm used to, I'm pretty sure she only gets three guesses.

Also, why is the king so obsessed with these skeins? What does he even need them for? In the version I'm used to, the girl says she can spin gold. That seems like it would be way more of an asset than just yarn.

The Rose Tree is an awfully gruesome story! The poor little girl loses her head for making a silly mistake! And then the step-mother tries to feed the family the little girl's organs! I can't imagine telling this story to my children.

It also seems funny to run outside to see the thunder. Maybe the author meant that they wanted to see the lightning, but you can't see thunder. I'm glad that the little girl got her revenge on the horrible step-mother.

The story of The Old Woman and Her Pig reminds me of The Old Woman Who Swallowed a Spider. While I understand that the woman wants the water to punish the fire for not burning the stick, if her end goal is to have a hot stick to hit the dog with, then pouring water on it doesn't seem like a very good idea.

I'm glad the cow finally cooperated or who knows how long the story would have been!

In Binnorie, my favorite line is both morbid and amusing: "'Sink on,' cried the cruel princess, 'no hand or glove of mine you'll touch. Sweet William will be all mine when you are sunk beneath the bonny millstream of Binnorie.'"

People do the strangest things in these stories. If you found a woman beautiful and were grieved at her death, why on earth would you make a harp from her bones and hair?! That seems very demented. 

I did like how the harp called the murderous sister out on her crimes in front of everyone. That was a good ending.

In The Mouse and the Mouser, the way the characters repeated "good body, good body" and "dear lady, dear lady" reminded me of "There's a Hole in My Bucket, dear Liza, Dear Liza."

They certainly have a lot of dances back to back in the Cap o' Rushes story.

I actually liked this version of Cinderella better than the original. The master's son and Cap o' Rushes actually get to know each other over a couple of days. The ring in the porridge makes way more sense than carrying a shoe around the kingdom to have every girl try it on because not everyone has a unique shoe size. And Cap o' Rushes is reunited with her father in the end instead of having him die. I also liked the way the idea of meat and salt was brought up again at the end.

In the story of The Three Little Pigs, I don't understand why the third little pig had the sense not to let the wolf in, but then he risked his safety by leaving his house to pick turnips and apples. It's funny how the pig becomes the predator at the end of the story by making the wolf his prey. That's an interesting twist.

I remember the Disney movie version of The Master and His Pupil. Mickey was making the water go all over the place in great waves.

In the Henny-Penny story, it's funny how the story is moving right along with the hen, the rooster, the duck, the goose, and the turkey, but none of those birds find the fox's interest strange. 

In the Molly Whuppie story, it seems like the king is getting the better bargain. He gets swords and riches and his sons get wives. But Molly has to risk her life every single time she goes to the giant's house. I felt bad for the giant in this story. He looses his possessions and he accidentally kills his wife.

I was glad that Lady Mary was smart enough to save herself from a murderous husband. I was worried for a little while that Mr. Fox was going to kill her.

In The Ass, The Table, and The Stick, I was really rooting for Jack until he beat up all those women and stole their money. That seemed really uncalled for because he already had as much money as he could spend.