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 13 Storytelling: Harold and the Unthankful Snake

Once upon a time, a young man named Harold was walking through a forest. He had a messy shock of blonde hair and square shoulders. His momma had raised him to be kind and generous. So when he spotted something trapped and wiggling under a huge rock, he rushed over to be of assistance.

He grunted and groaned as he tried to pick up the boulder. After a few minutes of maneuvering, he succeeded and found that he had rescued a long, black snake.

"Why hello there, ssssson," the snake said. "Than you for resssssscuing me. But I'm afraid that now, I'll have to eat you for supper."

(Image Information: "The Snake" by John Batten, 1916.)

"And what kind of a thanks would that be?" Harold asked.

"The very yummy kind," the snake replied.

"No, I don't think that's fair at all. I saved you. You should show me true gratitude by letting me continue on my way though the forest," Harold said.

"No, what's mosssssssst important in life is sssssself-preservation. I can't let you go because I have no idea when my next meal will come along," the snake reasoned.

"Well, if I won't let you eat me, and you won't let me leave, then what are we to do?" Harold asked.

"Let'sssss ask the next passsssser-by of their opinion," the snake suggested.

That seemed agreeable to Harold. And so they waited, and waited.

While they were waiting, a troubling thought crossed Harold's mind. What if the next passer-by agreed with the snake?!

"Say, snake. What if we poll the next three passers-by? That way it will truly be a fair outcome," Harold suggested.

"Well, alright. If it will make you feel better about me eating you," the snake said.

Along came a old horse, and Harold and the snake both explained their sides.

"I don't see why the snake shouldn't eat you for supper," the horse said. "Just today, I found out that my master plans to sell me for my hoofs and my hide. Some gratitude that is."

"Why thank you very much for that opinion," the snake said.

Next, and old dog walked by, and Harold and the snake explained their situation.

"Go ahead and eat him. See if that teaches him that gratitude isn't worth anything. I was a hunting dog my whole life, and  I served my master well. But today he made me leave because I wasn't catching as many birds anymore. He kicked me out of his house with not a second thought! Humph. Gratitude," the dog said.

"That's two votessss!" the snake said. "Why sssssshould we bother hearing from another passsssssser-by? If he agreesssss with me, I'll eat you, and if he doessssn't, I'll ssssstill have more votesssss."

"No, no. The deal was that we would hear from three voters. Let's keep waiting," Harold said.

The whole time they waited, Harold worried.

Then along came a sly fox.

Once Harold and the snake made the fox aware of the situation, he fox quickly realized the version of events that would be best for him.

"What will you give me to eat if I help you get out of this?" the fox whispered to Harold.

"As many chickens as you want," Harold said.

The fox nodded.

"So let me see if I understand this predicament correctly. Harold was trapped under a rock, and the snake-"

The snake interrupted the fox.

"No, I was trapped under a rock. Not Harold," he said.

"Excuse me," the fox said. "The snake was trapped under a rock, and Harold wanted to eat him."

"No, no, no," the snake said. 'I want to eat Harold."

"Oh, yes. I see it quite clearly now," the snake said.

"The snake was trapped under the rock, he wanted to eat Harold, but Harold couldn't remove the rock," the fox said.

"Oh for heavenssss ssssake," the snake said. 'Let me ssssshow you."

The snake wiggled and wiggled until he was once again trapped under the rock.

"Now, I was ssssstuck like this, when along came Harold," the snake said.

"That's right. And that's just where you'll stay," the fox announced.

With the snake trapped once more, Harold let the fox back to his farm and gave him as many chickens as he could eat in gratitude.

Author's Note: This week, I retold "Inside Again" from Europa's Fairy Tale Book by Joseph Jacobs, 1916. I kept most of the story the same except that I changed the ending. In the original, the man takes the fox back to his house to get the chickens. But the man's wife doesn't want to give the fox any chickens. So she puts their old dog in a bag, and the fox takes the bag back to his den. When he opens it, the dog eats him up. This was supposed to be further proof that gratitude isn't good for much. But I think gratitude is very important, so I changed around the story to reflect that moral.

Week 13 Reading Diary: Europa's Fairy Tale Book

This week I chose to read Europa's Fairy Tale Book. I chose this unit because when  Joseph Jacobs compiled these stories, he mixed and matched elements to make them his own. That is what I am doing for my storybook project. So I wanted to see how someone else had done it.

In the story of The Cinder-Maid, I loved the incorporation of the bird and the little nuts with Cinder's dress and the carriage. It was clever of prince to put honey on the stairs to make Cinder's shoes stick.

I didn't see too many changes in Beauty and The Beast except that the story omitted the dying rose.

The beginning of the Language of Animals is clearly a version of Snow White with a male main character. I'm glad that Jack got to rub the future in his father's face without killing him. It was a just way to handle the situation.

The story of A Dozen at a Blow is pretty funny. This tailor kills twelve flies at once and convinces himself that this means he should go out and conquer the world. He does do pretty well for himself though. So maybe those flies were a good sign.

I liked the Earl of Cattenborough story very much. But I was confused as to how Miss Puss knew so much about pretending to be an earl.

In the story of The Swan Maiden, it is interesting to me that they lived happily together once they were married because the hunter essentially forced the swan maiden to marry him.

In A Visitor From Paradise, the husband starts off so smart and then loses all of that. "He who minds the door, minds the house. So we'll take the door with us, and then they can't get in." Close enough. At the end of the story, it said "It was and it was not." I'm not really sure what this means.

In the story, Inside Again, the part where the fox tries to confuse everyone about what truly happened reminded me of the humor in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The twist at the end was funny too.

I liked the ending of Johnnie and Grizzle where the witch tries to drink up the stream and bursts. That was creative.

I really wasn't familiar with the traditional story of Thumbkin, but this one was quite unusual. Thumbkin is doing so well and then he gets tricked so many times.