Reading Diary A: Brothers Grimm Librivox

This week I chose to read the Brothers Grimm Librivox unit. I wanted to read this one because it contained stories I grew up loving as a child. The second story within the unit is the story of Rapunzel. I really enjoyed this story and I honestly did not expect a happy ending for the two of them! My favorite was the story of Briar Rose. I grew up loving the Disney movie and I really enjoyed the Maleficent remake from just a couple of years ago.  It's really interesting to see the exact same story in three different ways. I have to say I was kind of disappointed that there was no dragon in the original story!!!

Sleeping Beauty

 

Reading Diary B: Hans Christian Andersen

The second half of the Hans Christian Andersen unit was entirely devoted to The Little Mermaid. I wanted to read this story because I grew up watching the Disney movie and because my Storybook project is focused on mermaids. I was always told that the original version was very different from the movie I grew to love. Disney has a way of always creating happy endings even when the original didn't! Although the original was different from the move, especially in the end, there were still many similarities. One thing that I was surprised while reading was the fact that the little mermaid was not rebellious like her Disney counterpart. She waited until she was allowed to venture to the surface of the water. In the movie Ariel frequently disobeyed her father to go up to the surface. The absence of King Triton was another factor that differed, The grandmother had more of a role in the original than the little mermaids father did. The ending was not what I expected it to be. I was under the impression that she was supposed to dissolve into sea foam. Instead she became a new being entirely and was given the chance to still obtain an immortal soul because of her good deeds. As much as you hate to see someone else end up with the Prince, you at least know that he was truly in love!

The Little Mermaid

Reading Diary A: Hans Christian Andersen

This week I chose to read the Hans Christian Andersen unit. I really wanted to read this one because the story of The Little Mermaid is in the second half of the unit. In the first half of the unit there were two familiar stories, The Princess and the Pea and The Emperor's New Clothes. I clearly remembered reading these stories when I was a child, but I did not realize how terrible they were. The moral in the first story is that Princess is defined by her spoiled nature. And in the second story a whole kingdom is fooled by two swindlers into claiming they see something when in actuality it doesn't exist. They just didn't want to admit they didn't see the clothes because it meant they were stupid... according to the swindlers. I really enjoyed the story of The Brave Tin Soldier. I found it very interesting that the whole story was written from the perspective of the toy. It was a very Toy Story-esque read. I wish the soldier and the little lady didn't have to burn at the end! I look forward to reading The Little Mermaid in the second half of the unit!

The Tin Soldier and His Love

Extra Reading: Looking Glass

I decided to do extra reading for this assignment instead of the essay. I chose to read the second half of the Through the Looking Glass unit since I read the first part of it last week. I love the Alice and Wonderland stories since I grew up watching the Disney movie. This second half of the unit is quite different from the movie I grew up with. In the beginning Alice watches a battle between a red and white knight one claims to be holding her as a prisoner while the other is trying to set her free.  The white knight ultimately went on to win the battle. Then Alice gets into a situation with the Red and White Queens and she herself finds a crown and becomes a queen. She begins to shake one of the queens until she grows smaller and smaller and eventually turns into a kitten. This is the point when Alice awakens from her crazy dream. She was actually shaking her own kitten. Such a weird story…  

The Red and White Queen

Reading Diary B: Beowulf

In the second half of the Beowulf unit, Beowulf finally met and battled Grendel. He became an instant hero in Heorot. However after Grendel was killed an even worse monster became angered, Grendel's mother. After Beowulf killed Grendel everyone was finally able to sleep peacefully without a guard. In the night his mother sought revenge for her son and killed all the men within the Great Hall. The queen knew it was the work of Grendel's mother so Beowulf set off to kill her. He accomplished his task and at last the Danish people were safe. Beowulf then returned home to Geatland with all the treasures the Danish people had given him. He eventually took the throne in Geatland after his uncle passed. The story skips forward a couple of years, during times of peace. Eventually a dragon comes along and a great battle takes place between the mighty beast and Beowulf. They both end up perishing from the battle but Beowulf did not kill the dragon, his companion Wiglaf did after Beowulf had been struck down.

Beowulf and The Dragon

Reading Diary A: Beowulf

For my reading this week I diverted from the reading plan I did a couple of weeks ago. I chose to read the Beowulf unit. I read it in high school and saw the animated movie with Angelina Jolie so this was a refresher. I enjoy rereading classic pieces of literature such as this. Plus, the story of Beowulf is such an intriguing one because of his battles against mythical beasts. In the first half of the unit Beowulf's background is detailed, he journeyed to Daneland, and he arrived at Heorot. Beowulf journeyed to this land so that he could defeat the mighty Grendel that was wreaking havoc on the Danish people (his fight with Grendel will be in the second half). Before this point many people doubted Beowulf on his stories, achievements, and his abilities. In going to Daneland and defeating Grendel he could prove himself once and for all.

Beowulf the Bada$$

Extra Reading Diary: Looking Glass

For today’s assignment I chose to do some extra reading rather than write an essay. Since I read the Alice and Wonderland unit earlier in the week I wanted to read the Looking Glass unit. I read the first half of it because it had the sections with Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, and the Walrus and The Carpenter. I remembered both of these sections from the Disney movie, but I never understood the desire of the Walrus to eat the little baby oysters. My child self couldn’t understand why someone could be so mean! One big difference between this unit and the movie I once loved was the addition of Humpty Dumpty. I guess he didn’t make the cut for the movie! Humpty grows angry with Alice because she knows the nursery rhyme of Humpty Dumpty so she knows what he is doing perched up on the wall. He doesn’t believe her when she insists that his story is within a book. I did love how they brought up the premise of unbirthays in this section! Overall it was pretty cool to see a part of the Alice story that I have not seen before. What made it even better was the fact that it was a popular nursery rhyme mixed in with this classic piece of writing.

Humpty and Alice

Reading Diary B: Alice and Wonderland

In the second half of the Alice in Wonderland Unit Alice has tea with the Hare and Mad Hatter, plays croquet with the Queen of Hearts, and takes part in a trial. At the very end of the unit, Alice wakes up and realizes her crazy adventure had merely been a dream. I don’t think I will ever quite understand this story. It’s very odd I don’t know how Lewis Carroll could have come up with such crazy ideas (without the help of drugs). My favorite part in this second section of the unit was the tea party, even though they didn’t sing a very merry unbirthday song. I think I enjoyed this section the most because of the banter between Alice, the Mad Hatter, the Hare, and the Doormouse. Alice is so rude! It was very comical to me to listen to her griping about them not having manners when she was being just as wicked. Now I am really in the mood to go watch the movie…  

A Very Merry Unbirthday to You

Reading Diary A: Alice and Wonderland

I chose to read the Alice and Wonderland unit this week. I chose to read it because when I was a kid I loved the Disney movie. I watched the movie awhile ago, wishing to reminisce about my childhood. Wow, did I not realize when I was young how weird that movie is. At the very start of it Alice "sees" a rabbit talking and reading a watch! This ridiculousness only grows from this point on. This movie was of course based on Lewis Carroll's book Through the Looking Glass. After reading the first half of the unit it seemed fairly similar to the movie I used to love. The book was definitely different for its time. A common question people pose when reading this is, "was Lewis Carroll on drugs when he wrote this?". I tried to find out myself, because this is definitely an interesting read. I came across some sites that said no he didn't, and some that said yes he did. Back during this time people took opium for headaches so it is likely that he might have. Either way, this guy wrote a pretty trippy story that has some how found its way into the hearts of children all over the world thanks to the magic of Disney.

Who Are You?

Extra Reading Diary: Tejas Legends

Rather than do an essay I decided to do the extra reading assignment so that I could read the other half of the Tejas Legends unit (since I only did one half earlier in the week). I really liked the story When the Storm God Rides because it hit close to home. This story detailed why there are islands around the coast of Texas. The Native Americans say they were created by the Storm God. This god had a giant bird that the Indians were scared of. One day the Storm God witnessed the Indians killing birds. He created these little islands for the birds so they could get away from man and be safe. I’m from San Antonio and it’s only two to three hours from the coast depending on where you want to go. During the summer my friends and I like to make day trips down to the beach. It is just really neat to see a story explaining how all of the little islands came about, especially since it is in an area I have been going to for years. In other stories it also discusses Spanish moss and the winds from the Gulf of Mexico. The Spanish moss gets really prevalent the closer you get to Louisiana. Once you’re in Louisiana that stuff is everywhere! I don’t think we really have it in San Antonio.  I’m glad I chose to read this unit. On my next beach trip I’ll have to tell my friends how all the islands came about;)

Map of the Texas Coastline and Native American Tribes

Reading Diary B: Tejas Legends

So I skipped Reading Diary A of this week because I haven’t being feeling well. I waited until this morning to do Reading Diary B in hopes I would feel better. Just my luck, I’m sicker today than I have been! I read the second half of the Tejas Legends unit because I am from Texas so I thought it would be pretty interesting. In this unit, like many others, the Native Americans told stories to explain natural phenomena around them. This half had some pretty interesting explanations such as How Sickness Entered the World, which is pretty relevant to me right now. Sorry for keeping it so short today. I barely felt good enough to get this much done!

Current Status

Reading Diary B: Marraige Tales

The second half of the Marriage Tales unit continued on with the same ideas that the first one held. The biggest factor in this unit is the relationship depicted between man and animal. These stories are still a little off putting to me since they have sexual relationships with each other. Another component that is similar in both the first and second half of the unit is the idea of reincarnation. Both the bison and the deer would keep the bones of the dead and bring the dead back to life. This was particularly interesting in the story The Youth Who Joined the Deer. A man married into a family of deer who could change form to become human. What was so interesting about this story was the fact that the deer would hunt and kill each other for food. After they would eat the meat they would throw the bones of the dead into water and the deer would come back to life.

Big Buck

Reading Diary A: Marraige Tales

I chose to read the Marriage Tales unit for this week. This provided some very interesting readings with the primary focus being humans marrying animals. This is certainly something you wouldn’t see in present day storytelling but this was the Native Americans way of explaining natural phenomena such as why the buffalo is scared of men. A wide variety of animals were utilized in these stories. There was a bear, and eagle, a whale, and several buffalo stories. Unless I find a more interesting piece in the second part of the unit I already have a pretty good idea of what I will do for my storytelling assignment later on in the week with the story of The Eagle and Whale Husbands.

 

Why the Buffalo is Scared of Man

Reading Diary B: Japanese Fairy Tale

I did not specify in my previous post that the JapaneseFairy Tale unit that I chose was the Lang one. Within this second half there were several stories that had a tanuki as one of its central characters. In all of the stories it never gave an explanation as to what exactly this being was. In the story The Slaying of the Tanuki, an illustration was given detailing the appearance of the beast. It was a very odd creature that possessed qualities of several different beings. Based on these stories I would assume that the tanukis were popular pieces of Japanese storytelling. In each piece they played the role of the trickster and/or villain. I didn’t enjoy this half of the unit as much as I did the first one though. With the first unit I was captivated by most of the stories. In this one I really didn’t feel that way about any of them. I guess I will be picking a story from the first half of the unit for my storytelling assignment!  

The Tanuki

Reading Diary A: Japanese Fairy Tales Unit

This week I chose to read the Japanese Fairy Tales Unit. There were only a few stories but they were all really intriguing. My favorite was probably The Envious Neighbor, although it was pretty hard to choose just one! Within this story there is an old couple who never had any children so they gave all of their love and affection to their dog. The dog never left their side and one day it discovered buried treasure. The jealous neighbor then borrowed the dog in hopes that he too would get some treasure as well. The dog instead only found bones so the man killed him. After his death the old man had reoccurring dreams in which his dog visited him and gave him commands. When the commands were followed the old man came into a great deal of wealth. The neighbor grew more and more envious each time this happened and did the same thing the old man had done. Instead of gold however he would get stinky berries, and imprisonment for hurting the Daimio. The old man and his wife went on to live a very rich life while the neighbor became hated by all those who knew him because of his wicked ways. Someone really needs to figure out what breed of dog this was because I want one!

Wise Words

Reading Diary B: Nigeria Unit

The second half of the Nigeria unit was very similar to the first in that the stories all attempt to explain the world around us. Within this unit it described why there are land and water turtles, why the birds live in the trees, and why the moon wanes and waxes. There were several stories that were told for the simple premise of storytelling in this half unlike the first. My favorite story within this unit was Of The Fat Woman Who Melted Away. It was a very odd story but quite interesting. The woman within this story is made of oil therefore she has to stay out of the sunlight and is unable to work. She marries a man who promises he will keep her shaded and comfortable her whole life because she was so beautiful and precious. His first wife was so jealous of her because she never had to pull her own weight around the home. She verbally abused the fat woman to the point she finally went to work in the field. Once there she worked from the shade until she was chastised so much she stepped into the sun. She melted on the spot with only her toe being left behind. When her husband discovered the brutal treatment his beloved wife endured at the hands of his first one he had her sent away and sold as a slave. After three months of keeping the toe within a pot the fat woman sprung forth as her former self. This was definitely an incredibly strange story and it didn’t quite have a moral. The whole point was to illustrate that if a wife displeased her husband she could be sold into slavery and the man would receive back the amount he paid for the dowry. This was an odd story but kept me intrigued until the very end!

Sunny Days

Week 6 Reading Diary A: Nigeria

I chose to do my reading this week over the Nigeria unit. Many of the stories offered explanations as to why certain things were the way they are.  I always enjoy stories like this because it shows the curiosity that the people of these older times had in wanting to learn about the world around them. In this unit the Nigerian people explained why the elephant has such small eyes, why the sun and moon take residence in the sky, and why cats eat mice; amongst other things. My favorite was probably The Disobedient Daughter Who Married a Skull. This is probably the most bizarre story I have read so far in this class. The story starts off with a very beautiful woman who felt she was too good for all of the suitors that approached her despite her parents’ wishes.  She felt she deserved the most handsome man in all the land and nothing less because of how beautiful she was. A Skull from a far off spiritland fell in love with the woman from afar and concocted a plan to win her over. He borrowed the best looking body parts from the different people in his land and went on a journey to meet the woman. With all the best looking body parts he was easily the most attractive man in all of the land and ended up marrying the woman. He took her back to the spiritland then had to give the body parts back to the others. The woman realized what a terrible mistake she had made but was stuck with him. She was tasked with taking care of the skulls frail old mother. The old woman grew very fond of her and told her that all of the people of the spiritland were cannibals and sent her back home to protect. The woman went on to find a new husband and live a long and happy life. Sound strange? It certainly did to me but it gave me a pretty good storytelling idea for later on in the week!

The Disobedient Daughter and Her Husband

Reading Diary B: Arabian Nights

The second half of the Arabian Nights unit was entirely devoted to the story of Aladdin. My only background before this story was the Disney movie. There were some similarities between this story and the movie I grew up with but for the most part it was very different! And there was definitely no Robin Williams in the original… I really enjoyed this story and seeing it in its “original” form. I do have two questions though. Why is it that when the princess sees Aladdin right before they are to be married she doesn’t recognize him as being the creepy guy that would have her bed brought to him at night? She consented to the marriage and fell in love on the spot but didn’t make that connection. I just found that really odd. You would think you would remember something like that and it would scar you. Secondly, Aladdin always left the room when he was going to ask the genie for something. Did the princess never know about him? I guess she just assumed the magician took her to Africa and his death reversed the spell and sent her and the palace back to China. There weren't any magic carpets, tiger and monkey companions, or musical breakaways that touched my heart but I really enjoyed the story. Overall it was very interesting and definitely left me wanting to know what was going to happen next. This just might have been my favorite read so far in the course! Now I really want to go and watch Aladdin…

Aladdin and His Princess

Reading Diary A: Arabian Nights

I chose to read the Arabian Nights unit this week. This was without a doubt the most interesting unit I have read thus far in the class because of the way in which the stories are told. The whole premise is that a woman is telling a story to save her life by never letting the story end. In doing this every story is actually within another story. At one point in the unit during The Husband and the Parrot, this represents a story within a story within a story within a story within a story within a story. Sound confusing? Because it definitely is! If you don’t keep straight who is telling the story from the previous story it is easy to get lost especially when it cuts back to a previous storyteller. All of the stories were really intriguing I just find myself getting a little lost story hopping as much as the unit does. Ultimately the way these stories are told is really unique. This unit could be related to the movie Inception with Leonardo DiCaprio, although this reading contains more levels than the movie did! This was a pretty cool unit with some really good stories. Now I’m looking forward to reading the next half of the unit that has the story of Aladdin!

Indian Skyline

Reading Diary B: Khasi Folktales

For the second half of the Khasi Folktales unit it primarily contained stories that attempted to describe natural phenomena. During older times people would create myths to describe what they see around them; why thunder occurs, why the waterfalls are so loud, or how the dog came to be at the service of man. These three were exemplified in the stories within this unit amongst several others. The second half of the unit had several stories that really grabbed my attention. In particular I really liked What Caused the Shadows on the Moon. The story detailed the lives of a mother and her four children; Water, Fire, Moon, and Sun. Moon and Sun were equally beautiful and bright but Moon disregarded the advice of his mother. He did what he wanted and when he wanted. At one point he left home and did not return for a great deal of time (this explains why there are lunar eclipses). When he finally returned home he had forgotten that the Sun was his sister. He was so blown away by her beauty that he asked their mother for permission to marry her. The mother was so disgusted she sent the Moon away, once the Sun heard about this she burned the face of Moon out of anger. This is why the moon is so pale and has dark crevices according to the Khasi. In today’s society stories like this don’t hold up due to the scientific advances we have made. However, I personally love reading stories like this because it shows the thirst for knowledge the people of past generations had.

(The Moon's Disfigured Face)