Reading Diary: Week 14- Russian Fairytales

Russian Fairytales Unit

Witch Girl

I think it is interesting that Death is perceived as a female. In most stories I have read from other cultures, Death is male. I have to say, I was a little confused at first as to why the Cossack kept the arm. However, as the events played out, I realized how smart of a move that was. He had his way of identifying "Death" (the witch) and a way to prove he was right by showing the arm to the people. 

The Fox Physician

That poor old man! At first this story reminded me of Jack and the Beanstalk. That cabbage sounds HUGE! I was expecting a giant or something to come into the story. However, we get the devious fox. I think it is really interesting that in most cultures the fox is a trickster. We even teach that to our children today. I mean we have Swiper the fox in the television show "Dora the Explorer." Swiper is always trying to trick Dora and Boots by swiping their things. It's really interesting that it has still carried on into new stories that we tell our children today. 

Two Corpses  

This was a very action packed little story. I could see it play out perfectly in my head. I felt so bad for the soldier though. I am sure he has seen many things in his service, he probably felt like he was back on the battlefield in this little scare. I wonder why the cocks always make the corpses go away? That is not something I am very familiar with, but it seems to happen a lot in these Russian stories. I also didn't think that living corpses could be in churches? I am obviously wrong on that though, it sounds like both of the corpses were in the church.

Storytelling Week 13: Little Devils

Peter and James were two rotten little boys.

When they were about ten years old, they liked to cause as much ruckus as possible. They liked to pick on girls, play pranks, and have sword fights. Basically, they were your typical preteen boy.

One day they were especially awful. They put a tack on their teacher's seat, pointy end up. As you can imagine, it wasn't the best moment for the kids or for the teacher. As punishment, the school gave them detention. However, at home, their fates had yet to be determined.

When they got home, they were sent straight to their room with no dinner. Before long they could hear their parent's voices as they decided what to do with them.

"What are we going to do with the little devils?" their mom said. "They are going to be spoiled if we do not do something about them soon."

"I know sweetheart." their father said. "I just do not see how it can be avoided at this point."

"What if we just ate them?" their mom said.

"I don't know if we really need the extra calories. Besides wouldn't they be kind of chewy?" their father said.

"Are you saying I am fat??" their mom said.

"Not at all sweetie. Please do not put words in my mouth." their father said. "It would just break the strict diet we are on."

"Okay." said the mom. "Let's eat them tomorrow when we can adjust the calories for the rest of the day."

"That sounds perfect! I cannot wait to eat them!" replied their father.

James and Peter looked at each other in horror.

"You don't really think they are going to eat us do you??" asked James.

"I don't know if I want to be around to find out." replied Peter. "I mean we have been "little devils" lately. I guess we must have pushed it too far when we pranked Mrs. Travister."

"I think I will just beg them in the morning for another chance." said James. "I mean we are their kids. They are supposed to love and care for us, not eat us!"

"Okay." Peter said. "While you try to make peace with our cannibalistic parents, I will go hide in the shed. If you are going to die, scream really loudly and I will try to come get you so we can run away together. Agreed?"

"Agreed." James replied.

The next morning, James and Peter's parents came into their room to wake them up for school. They found James crying and Peter no where to be seen.

"What in the world is going on?!" asked their father. "Where is Peter? Why are you crying?"

"Mother and Father," James said, "please forgive us and please do not eat us!"

"Honey! What are you talking about??" asked their mother in alarm.

"We heard you talking last night." replied James. "You said you were going to eat the "little devils" today. I know me and Peter have been really bad lately, but give us another chance! We will be good little boys! We are your kids please do not eat us!"

"O honey," replied their mother, "we were not talking about you! We were trying to decide what to do with all the deviled eggs your grandma made for us. We didn't want them to go to waste so we are eating all of them today! I am so sorry you thought we would eat you! You haven't been the nicest boys lately, but we know you will get better. You are both ten year old boys! You will hopefully get out of this stage."

Deviled Eggs by Marshall Astor via Wiki Commons

"If not," replied the father, "maybe we will eat you." The mother cast a stern look at the father so he replied, "Just kidding of course. We love you boys. Now go get Peter, it is time for you guys to go to school."

Author's Note: I based my story off of the Monks and the Butcher from the Heptameron unit. In this story, the butcher and his wife refer to their pigs as Cordeliers (which is what the monks are) and the monks overhear of how they are planning on killing the bigger one in the morning. In panic the monks try to flee and the bigger one doesn't end up being able to run away, so he hides in the pig sty. In the morning, the butcher finds the monk in the pig sty terrified of being eaten and they all realized the big misunderstanding. I tried to keep my storyline very close to the original. I just reinvented it to fit a modern day scenario.

Reading Diary Week 13: The Heptameron

The Heptameron of Margaret: Queen of Navarre Unit

Lady from Milan

I really liked this story. The french gentleman was kind of a stalker though. I definitely understand why the widow faked being sick to avoid his gaze, even if his gaze was full of passion. I have to say he was beyond obsessive. I can't believe he pursued her for three years without her really giving him any attention. Well I am glad to hear that the creepy relationship wasn't one sided. She was attracted to him the whole time. Way to lead a guy on for three years.

Virgin With Child

I had a feeling the whole time that it was the brother. That is disgusting. I cannot believe that he went through those extremes to try to hide it. I think it is awful that they burned the girl as well. She might have had no say in the matter. However, I am glad they waited until the child was born. It does make me wonder what happened to the poor kid. Did it get adopted? Get a nice home? Or was it in an orphanage its whole life? Treated differently because of how it was conceived.

The Monks and the Butcher

This is my favorite story so far this unit! It is just so funny!! It reminds me of the game "telephone" I used to play when I was younger. You would say something to the person next to you and by the time the last person heard it, it was a completely different comment! Eavesdropping can be very dangerous, as the monks learned, this is a really great story to teach that lesson. 

Woman on her Death Bed

How dare he try to mess with one of his servants right next to his dying wife!!! That is appalling. I am glad she was still alive and had enough strength in her to get onto them! I sure hope that if I die first my husband will mourn me a little longer than this guy did. 

Storytelling Week 12: Queen's Croquet Invitational

"Hello folks! This is Bill the Lizard."

"And I am the White Rabbit! Thanks for joining us today on Wonderland Sports! Today is quite a day in the history of Wonderland. It is the Queen's 10th Croquet Invitational. Can you believe it has been ten years already Bill?"

"No I can't Rabbit! It really must've flown by for you! You are always having to run around because you are always late!"

"Ha ha! Ain't that the truth Bill? You try having twenty kids at home and see if you are ever on time."

"I would need a Mrs. first! Anyway, we have quite a group of people playing in today's tournament. Who all is in the line up Rabbit?"

"We have got the King and Queen of course, most of the royal court has made it as well. Jack unfortunately will not be able to make it, he is off on some vacation with a dancing flower. I guess it is our loss but his gain! There is also a new contestant on the scene, her name is Alice. She was only invited to this an hour ago. It will be interesting to see what she can do. I bet she has never played a game of croquet quite like this!"

"I am sure your are right Rabbit! I mean honestly who else plays the game like this? As far as I know this is the only tournament that plays in the unique conditions. It just makes it more special. For those of you that have seen one of the Queen's tournaments, you know exactly what I mean. For those who are watching this for the first time, you are in for quite a treat! Instead of a mallet they use a flamingo. Yes you did hear correctly, flamingos. It is an extra challenge for the contestants. They have to find a way to straighten out the flamingo and have enough control over it to hit their hedgehog. Yet again, you are not crazy. They use a hedgehog as their ball. As you can imagine that makes the task even harder. I have seen competitors hit their hedge hogs perfectly, gain about five yards, then their hedgehog decides it wants to run in the opposite direction for ten yards."

Flamingo via Deviantart 

"The real question, Bill, is who is going to win this year? The Queen invented the game, so we can expect her to be a front runner in the competition. I wonder if she will score more points than the amount of people she will behead in the tournament."

"I am sure that will be a close call Rabbit! Queen, if you are watching this, we do not mean any of this to be disrespectful in anyway. Please let me keep my head, my neck has grown quite attached to it!"

"Ha ha good one Bill! In all seriousness, we do wish the Queen the best of luck in her tournament today."

Author's Note: I chose to write my story based off of the Queen's Croquet-Ground from the Alice in Wonderland unit. I thought it would be nice to write about the game itself from a sports commentator point of view.

Bibliography: Queen's Croquet-Ground from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (1865).

Reading Diary Week 12: Alice in Wonderland

Alice in Wonderland Unit

Mad Tea Party

Why is a raven like a writing desk? I would surely like to know! I really liked the story of the mad tea party. It was similar to what I was expecting, but more. There were more riddles and stories, but there was no unbirthday parties. I found that slightly unfortunate. I really liked how they talked about time and the crazy watch that only tells what year it is. I wish there was more description to how these characters looked because all I can really picture is the disney versions. 

Queen's Croquet Ground

Painting the roses red! I like how it said the queen couldn't tell who the gardeners were because they were all on their bellies and everyones backs look the same. I honestly had not thought of it. I wonder what the queen's deal is with beheading? That is her favorite punishment and she seems to do it a lot. I love how the queen is portrayed. You can feel the power she has over everyone. I loved the part where they are arguing over whether or not you can behead the Cheshire Cat. Considering it is only a floating head, I would have to agree with the executioner- you cannot chop of a head without a body to detach it from.

Who Stole the Tarts?

When I read -""Write that down," the King said to the jury, and the jury eagerly wrote down all three dates on their slates, and then they added them up and reduced the answer to shillings and pence." - all I could think about was how that sounded like a word problem in math. I really hated word problems. 

Essay for Week 11: A Knight's Tale

Armored Knight Mounted on Cloaked Horse by Paul Mercuri(1861) via Wiki Commons 

I absolutely loved the King Arthur Unit! The stories of King Arthur and his knights have always intrigued me. When I was younger, specifically in middle school, I remember grabbing any book in the library with a knight on it just so I could read more about this time where knights went on quests, beautiful princesses, and even magic. My brother and I were also really obsessed with the BBC TV series Merlin. I even took a course last fall that was called Arthurian Legends and Literature. As you can tell I absolutely love the stories of Arthur and his knights, so it is only natural that I chose this unit to read this week.

From what I have experienced, there is a lot of variation with the stories of Arthur. Sometimes Merlin is a character, sometimes he isn't. Sometimes there is a Morgan Le Fey, sometimes she is referred as Morgana. The knights of the round table also vary. Personally my favorite knight is Gawain, but that is just my opinion. I really liked that Merlin was in these stories. Merlin was not in the original stories of Arthur, he was added into the story much later. However, I like the magician and was pleased to see him. I felt so bad for him when he died in The Passing of Merlin. Merlin knew his own death, but was distracted by his girlfriend, Vivien, who led him to his death. That young girl just did not have the patience for the old man. One story I did not really like was The Questing Beast. I mean I liked it, I just did not like part of it. I would hate to know my own fate. I would be trying to avoid my death at all costs. I almost feel like it would take away a lot of the quality of like because you are so worried about dying. We are all going to die in our own time, whenever God has planned for us, so there is no need to worry about the inevitable. 

Storytelling Week 11: Cheating Death

Hello my name is sticker by Eviatar Bach via Wiki Commons

"Hi everyone, my name is Arthur."

"Hello Arthur."

I really hate these meetings. They are supposed to help me, tell my problems to other people who can relate. But no one can really understand me.

"The start of my insanity began when my mentor told me the future. You might think that sounds cool, but it is definitely not. You see my mentor, Merlin, told me how I am supposed to die. I want to change it at all costs."

One of the group members, Robin, raises his hand and asks, "How are you supposed to die?"

Our leader hastens to respond, "Arthur, you do not have to respond! Robin, Arthur will tell us when he is ready."

I shake my head, "Nah, it's okay. I am supposed to die in a battle."

"Well that's easy," Robin says, "just don't fight in battles."

"Easier said than done," I reply, "I am king of my country. I have to lead the battles and protect my people. However, I have been doing everything I can to keep the peace. I made treaties, sent gifts, the whole shebang. It just sucks that no matter what I do I cannot change it. I just wish Merlin would have kept his trap shut."

"Are you sure that Merlin is a reliable source?" the group leader asks. "I mean he might not be all there, if you know what I mean."

Chuckling I respond, "No he definitely is not crazy. I mean he was strange, but his predictions always came true. I mean sometimes he tried to predict the weather. That was always off. He said it was too unpredictable to always get it right. Other than that he was pretty spot on with his predictions of the future. Merlin once told me how he would die. He said he would be buried alive. This actually came true. His legitimately crazy girlfriend was the one who did it. Merlin had this romantic date all planned out and he went into a cave for a little bit to look for something. While he was in there, his girlfriend caused the cave to collapse. I always knew she was trouble. She was a quarter of his age. Obviously she had some sort of twisted reason to be with him. Maybe it was his fame or money? regardless it did not seem to be enough for her."

"Okay.. So Merlin is all knowing. Or was all knowing?" the group leader's face was all red as she continued, "I am sorry Arthur, I can only imagine how difficult all of this is on you."

"Ya," I reply, "At least I will die a heroic death. I guess the only way to move forward is to accept that it is going to happen."

Author's Note: I loosely based this off of The Questing Beast from the King Arthur unit. I decided to write my story based off of the prediction Merlin says near the end of the story about how Arthur is going to die. I know if I were him I would freak out with this news. Therefore, I decided that it would be cool to have him try to discuss his problems with a group of people. Really the only stuff I kept from the original story is how Arthur is supposed to die and how Merlin did die.

Bibliography: The Questing Beast from the King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang (1902)