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. 

Essay for Week 10: Once upon a time...

Apache Bride via Wiki Commons

This week I read the last half of the American Indian Fairytales unit. I really liked what I was able to read of this unit and wish I would have had the time to read the entire unit. I liked that it was very different from the Native American Marriage Tales. In the Marriage tales, it was a lot about relationships, but it also had a weird thing of having part human/part animal creatures. In almost ever tale someone fell in love with one of those creatures. Since there were so many of those in the week before, I assumed that there would be a lot in this unit as well. I was pleasantly surprised that there were no weird part human/part animal creatures in the stories I read for this week. One thing that I liked about last week, and was not in this week was in the notes. In the marriage unit, I was told what tribe each story was from. In this unit, I was not given that luxury. I know that there are a lot of different tribes, and I don't see them all telling the same stories. I would have appreciated the ability to know so that I can associate each story to that tribe. I could also get a better understanding of what is important to each tribe based off of the values they teach their children through their fairytales. I really liked that this unit was a lot different than the other Native American unit I read last week. It let me see a different style of stories that they would share. This definitely had a childlike appeal to it, which could be why I liked it so much. The length of the stories and the pace of them made it really easy to read. Overall, I really liked this unit.

Essay for Week 9: Gobble Gobble!!

This week I read the Native American Marriage Tales. I thought that it was okay. I know that a lot of the Native American stories involve animals and nature, however, I was not expecting all of the partially animal/partially human characters. Almost every story had one of them! I also don't really understand how someone can fall in love with an animal. Not my favorite part of the stories. However, I felt really bad for how they were treated. For instance, in The Dog-Husband, the parents and the rest of the town kill the dog the girl was in love with, and tried to kill her by leaving her in a house to be burned to a crisp. All because she loved the dog/man and was pregnant with his child. I guess it doesn't really fit the image of the ideal family. I also really liked the Girl and the Turkeys story. It definitely had a Cinderella vibe going on. I liked that the turkeys were almost like the fairy godmother character. It seemed very fitting that they would try to do something to help make her life a little better since she had taken care of them for so long. I think I liked that better than the fairy godmother that had never even met Cinderella. It made the act seem more loving and meaningful. This unit was not really my favorite, however I think it was a good choice. The stories, although I thought it was a little strange, really let me grasp a little bit of the Native American cultures. It was really nice that I got to read stories from multiple tribes. I got a chance to compare and contrast all of the different tribes. Overall, it was an okay unit to read, but I got a lot out of it.

Male North American Turkey via Wiki Commons

Week 7 Essay: Thunder

Lightening by C.Clark via Wikipedia Commons

This week I read the Nigerian Folk Stories unit. It honestly was not my favorite unit I have read so far. It didn't keep my attention as well as some of the other units did. I thought it was really interesting that a lot of the stories involved someone getting punished. Whenever there was a problem, no matter how small, they always went to the king to have him fix their problems. I think a lot of the stories would have ended up better if they would have solved their problems themselves. However, this idea might be a lot from their culture and different customs they have. I am not familiar with the Nigerian culture, so I cannot disagree with these stories' problem solving methods. One of my favorite stories in this unit was The Story of Lightening and the Thunder. I thought it was really interesting that they had Thunder and Lightening as a mother and son relationship. Every time Lightening would do something wrong, the Thunder (mom) would get onto him. I have heard many different reasons as to why there is thunder. One is that God is bowling in heaven and when he gets a strike there is thunder. Another is that God is moving around the furniture. The mother and son idea is so unique that I am sure I will think of that the next time there is a thunderstorm. I really liked all of the stories in this unit about the animals, however, I liked the variations that they had that were completely different. For instance, the story of Lightening and Thunder and the Sun and Moon. They were both completely different than any of the other stories and I really appreciated the change. Overall, I thought this unit was okay. It was different than most others I have read, but it definitely is not my favorite unit I have read so far.

Essay for Week 6: Polly Want a Cracker?

Ara Macao via Wikimedia Commons

The Laos Unit was a pretty good read this week. I love all the separate stories. They were really all so different from one another. One was explaining why there were huge rocks in a plain, another explained why there was a man in the moon, and yet another explained why parrots only repeat what people say and do not say what is on their minds. I think that the diversity of stories of this unit is why I liked it so much. Every story was just so different. My favorite story was most definitely The Fortunes of a Lazy Beggar. Starting off this story I was not sure if it would be one I would like. Then I was able to relate to the beggar with his laziness. His is of course more extreme than my own, however, I definitely have those days where I would be perfectly content to stay in bed and do nothing all day. I could not believe that the chow's daughter ended up marrying him, but I was really impressed when he started working. I could not believe how vain the daughter was. She did not like the man until he looked great. Then she was fine with everything. Looks are not everything. With time they fade. When that is gone, what kind of a marriage will you have? My least favorite story of this unit was by far The Fortunes of Ai Powlo. That kid was creepy. I can not believe that anyone could be that evil to your own parents. To make your parents believe that their other half is dead is just wrong. Ai did many terrible things to a lot of people. I also thought it was creepy weird that when he died his skull would laugh and mock. As you can tell, I am not an Ai Powlo fan.

Essay for Week 5: How About a Riddle?

Kobold by JNL via Wikimedia Commons

I absolutely loved the Twenty-Two Goblins unit! It was a really great read! I like to try to solve puzzles and this was a lot of different riddles I had never heard before. One of my favorite things throughout this unit was the similes and metaphors. In the Introduction there is great metaphor, "A brave man's heart is harder than a diamond, and nothing makes it tremble." I thought that was beautiful writing. It is saying that nothing can frighten a brave man. One of my favorite stories in this unit was The Snake's Venom. I really liked the king's answer to the goblins riddle. There really was no one to blame for the Brahman's murder than the Brahman himself. The women was just trying to feed him, the hawk was just doing it's job, and the snake was dying and had no control of his actions.  The Brahman was not paying attention to what he was eating so he truly could not blame anyone for his untimely death than himself. One thing I did not like about this unit is we never figure out what exactly happened to the Brahman's wife. She just disappears and you never hear about her again. My guess is that she did end up dying. My least favorite story from this unit would probably be The Old Hermit. I do not like that the hermit took the body of the dead boy that everyone loved. I thought that was really inconsiderate to the family that was in mourning because he basically said "hey I am alive, now I have got to go." I mean if that was one of my family members I would be in complete shock and at first not believe what I was seeing. Then I would probably start crying and hug him and never let him go. Him taking that body also sounds very invasive and selfish. He only took that body so he could be young again and continue learning magic. He should have just let nature take its course and when God was ready for him, He would take him away.

Essay for Week 4: A Rich Voyage

Sinbad by Rene Bull (1898) via Wiki Commons

This week I was only able to read half of the Sinbad Unit. I really liked what I was able to read though! I did something different this week and actually listened to the story from Librivox and read along in another tab. I thought it was a really nice change and it really helped me stay focused on the reading. However, there is a difference in the story from the untextbook and what they were reading. The Librivox recording had extra about a guy named Hinbad that was hearing these stories from Sinbad itself. I personally liked that little extra part of the story and think it would be cool to add that to the untextbook. My favorite story was the Fifth Voyage. I thought it was pretty funny when Sinbad was attacked by the old man that turned out to be the "old man in the sea." However, I felt kind of bad for the mommy and daddy roc and definitely understood why they destroyed the ship. I probably would have done the same in their situation. I also did not know what a roc was, that might be a helpful thing to put in the notes. Apparently it is an enormous bird of prey that is in different cultures myths. If I had to choose a least favorite story this unit it would be the Seventh and Last Voyage. I really did not like that he killed an elephant and just buried it afterward. Elephants are huge and if you are going to kill them I feel like you should be using every single part of them, otherwise it is a waste. This unit met my expectations by being about Sinbad and his crazy adventures he went through, but I did not realize that Sinbad became extremely wealthy from all of these life threatening voyages. That might explain why he kept going on voyages even though he had terrible luck with shipwrecks.

Essay for Week 3: Not Your Average Bible Story

Cat Meets Dog (1865) authored by Laura Valentine published by Scibner, Welford and Co. via Wikimedia Commons

I really liked the Jewish Fairy Tales Unit. One of my favorite stories this unit was The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog. I was surprised that this story existed because up to this point every fairy tale in the unit was loosely based on traditional bible stories or linked to a story in some way. I am very much a dog person. Actually, I hate cats. So I was not surprised when the cat was the one to ruin the relationship between the two best friends. Another of my favorite stories this unit was The Higgledy-Piggledy Palace. First things first, I love the title of this story. It is so goofy and you know that something crazy is going to happen. I could just imagine the confusion on the pharaoh's face as something that he cannot see is beating him for trying to touch Sarah. The poor pharaoh must have been thinking that he was losing his mind! One of my least favorite stories was the The Fairy Frog. I just could not really get into this story. I don't think that I could spend all my money on a box with a frog in it. Even if it was my parents dying wish. I also don't understand how they kept feeding it and spent all of their money on the frog when they were starving. Honestly, I probably would have cooked me up a giant frog's legs. Things only got weirder when the giant frog started talking and giving the people all of these weird gifts and abilities for taking care of it. One thing that surprised me in this unit was the unicorns. When I think of unicorns I think of something about the size of a horse with a horn on its head and is usually white as snow. In the Jewish Fairy Tales, the unicorns were huge. In one story they were as large as a mountain. Definitely not the typical unicorn you read about and see in movies.

Essay for Week 2: Love. It's complicated.

Cupid and Psyche by Joshua Reynolds, via Wikimedia Commons

I really enjoyed the readings in the Cupid and Psyche unit. I chose this unit because I love Greek/Roman mythology and because in the overview it was compared to the "Beauty and the Beast." I got the "Beauty and the Beast" vibe for the first half and then it lost that when Psyche discovered who her husband was. I would like to take a moment to compare the two sisters to the traditional "evil step-sisters" that are in stories. As in other stories, these evil sisters are trying to ruin the happiness of their sister. If these two cannot be happy with their lives, than neither can Psyche. My least favorite story this unit is Venus and Psyche. I really hate how Venus still tortures Psyche while she is pregnant with Venus's grandchild. It is not Psyche's fault that Cupid fell in love with her and it definitely is not the baby's fault. My favorite story this unit is Psyche's Husband Revealed. I hate that Psyche doesn't listen to Cupid and that gets her into trouble. However, I admire the courage it must have taken Psyche to look at what she believed was a monster. I also find it hilarious that she was so mesmerized by her husband that she let the candle wax drip and burn Cupid. The candle is a "poor servant to Love." This situation sounds like something that would happen to me. I love how the author introduced the characters in this unit. He takes a couple paragraphs just to describe how beautiful Psyche is and another paragraph to portray the despicable creature that Cupid is. I appreciate details because this really helps me picture exactly what I am reading. One thing about this unit that I thought was weird was when Psyche falls into "death sleep." It doesn't elaborate on how long she was like that. Was it five minutes or five years?  I really find it surprising that this unit has a happy ending. I thought that most Greek/Roman mythology stories ended badly for the main characters. I guess it ended up well for Cupid and Psyche though.