Reading Notes: Russian Fairy Tales, Part A

 Story source: Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

The Miser

A story about a coin...(google kopek amounts)

Money is owed but not paid - eventually the one who owes, despite having funds, fakes his death.

The man who wants his coin gets very creative with the supposedly dead body.

Eventually when he threatens to have the man's head cut off by robbers the death is shown as a ruse! At this point the rich man who owes money and the man owed split up funds left behind by the robbers.

However the rich man still doesn't pay his original owed coin.

 

 

"Pound Coins" by Images_of_Money is licensed under CC BY 2.0 

 

 

Extra Credit Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales - Binnorie

 Story source: English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).

 It's the 2 sisters! If you forget the tale, sing it.

One sister is courted by a knight - the other is the true love.

The true love drowns after her sister pushes her in. She gets turned into a harp because it's a fairy tale, why not!

The harp is magic, because of course. So the magic harp goes to the sisters wedding feast and tells all about what happened. 

"Pretty Lady with a Harp" by Stanley Zimny (Thank You for 52 Million views) is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

 

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Arabian Nights

 Story source: The Arabian Nights' Entertainments by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1898).

The Story of the Fisherman

Inception style storytelling! Are we still telling stories? Is the top still spinning? 

Layers of storytelling with our main narrator actually telling the story, but within that story another character narrating a story. 

A fisherman is having bad luck fishing that turns really bad when he fishes up an angry genie. He frees the genie from the lamp and the genie is so angry about having been stuck in the lamp that he is going to kill him. But since the genie is such a nice guy, he will let the fisherman chose how he dies - bonus!

The fisherman tricks the genie into getting back into his lamp and so he has better luck and does not die.

 

 "Genie's lamp." by AnaChristina_ is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales B - The Shee An Gannon and the Gruagach Gaire

 Story source: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).

Story page - Shee an Gannon and the Gruagach Gaire

There is a LOT that goes on here - so my simple notes version is going to be that one of the fae wants to marry a princess so he gets a task from the king. That task has killed 11 other people but those people probably were not one of the fae. 

So off goes our hero, disguises are had and more tasks are piled on top of the original to achieve the original task. There are magic cows and giants and vessels for the milk - also missing giant's tongues and heads. After helping out the non laughing goblin who should be laughing, he finds out that he now has a sheep's wool back and 12 dead sons. 

Another task! Go find the man who killed the sons! The sons come back to life, vengeance is had and the goblin laughs. But woe - a sneaky prince from another kingdom is trying to take credit and marry the princess. 

The sneaky prince gets smacked, the fae marries the princess and the next day the lying prince gets roasted. Happy wedding feast!

"Sitting on the Giant feet, Mariposa Grove" by davdenic is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

 

Reading Notes: Celtic Fairy Tales A - Gold-tree and Silver-Tree

 Story source: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).

Gold-tree and Silver-tree - A snow white type story. Instead of just the heart, the liver is requested as well. 

No magic mirror - the mother, Silver-tree, talks to the river to find out about beauty/who is fairest. 

Once Gold-tree escapes death the first time, the mother sails across the sea to commit murder - shades of sleeping beauty as well with poison thorn type item left in finger keeping victim in an enchanted death like sleep. 

Prince/husband remarries. Happy bluebeard ending in that he keeps only key for room where sleeping corpse of first wife is kept - new wife finds it, gets in, wakes her up. Husband is like hey cool, two wives!

Then they shove the bad mom in the ocean when she comes back AGAIN to kill the daughter and they all lived happily enough I guess. 

 What does the dad of Gold-tree/husband of Silver-tree think of all this? Maybe he got eaten too...

"Canada Silver Versus Gold Maple Leaf Bullion Coin Comparison" by Calgary Reviews is licensed under CC BY 2.0

 

Extra Credit Reading Notes: A Tribe That Left Its Shoes

 Combo legend - Atlantis in the gulf - tribe evacuates and breadcrumb trails like hansel & gretel.
Breadcrumbs are moccasins. But as they go further north, tribe ages/dies off so moccasins are turned to flowers/orchids. Toe of orchid always points south toward gulf so tribe can find way back to the gulf, where the island was. Legend is that island will eventually rise out of the gulf again and the tribe can go home. 

Island destroyed by fire/volcano so rising again would make sense if actually volcanic and rebuilt over many 1000s or 10000s years. Per notes flowers are lady slipper orchids. (Endangered I think? Native flower in area..)

Direct story source

Story source: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936).

"Lady Slipper Orchid, genus Paphiopedilum" by LadyDragonflyCC - >;< is licensed under CC BY 2.0

Reading Notes: Stories from Congo Part A

 Story source: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).

From Congo Unit -   Ngomba's Balloon

 

Story has overtones similar to 1001 nights which I am more familiar with - beginning starts out with meeting at lake and an agreement/bargain to not get murdered. The murderer husband turns out to be pretty okay for a murderer but the wife doesn't want to stick around forever, stuck waiting on the murderer husband to come back from his murderer business. 

 She gets the people around her in on it and the slowly build a balloon to load up and escape. The murderer husband gets suspicious for several days but she distracts him with food and dancing. On the last day when she is asleep she can't distract him so he decides to murder her with a hot wire up the nose.

 At this point her sister, who is now a cricket, comes in and chirps so the murder husband will dance and be distracted. So no one gets murdered! Once he leaves again in the morning, they load up in the balloon and go to her hometown. Her family is like whoa where you have been?! Then the murder husband shows up and her family is like uh oh. But they trick him, get him tossed in a hole and he gets murdered instead. Everyone doesn't live happily ever after, but most of the folks live so that's pretty happy! 

"Highland Village Balloon Festival" by TexasEagle is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0

 

Week 6 Extra Credit Reading Notes: Project Research - Volcanoes

 This week I'm doing some extra credit reading from these pages:

Norse Mythology - Volcanos, Vikings, Fire Gods & Screaming Zombie Dwarfs - by Hannah Osbourne

Sangkuriang

Legends of Iceland's Volcanoes

For the Norse mythology page the author made several interesting comparisons between the well known Norse myths of Loki and Surtur and the warning signs of a volcanic eruption. This could pretty easily tie back into the angry gods idea - earthquake swarms pre-eruption? Loki is getting dripped on again, everyone watch out. He may get loose this time and then we are in for Ragnarok.

(Image information: Ragnarök by Doepler - Source)

The Poetic Edda further describes Fimbulwinter, three winters with no summer, as occurring right before Ragnarok. This could also relate to volcanic eruption as a large eruption would disrupt the climate.

Sangkuriang is wild and I love the story. I am not sure I could do it justice if I used it in my Storybook but it is tempting. We have shape shifting, mistaken identity, patricide, an Oedipal story line, deception and in the end the formation of a volcano. It's more complicated than most daytime soap operas and I would need to plot very carefully. 

Iceland has some AMAZING myths. My two favorites are the sorceress's magical pants and also the spinning/weaving troll. The last one evoked Rumpelstiltskin for me, which was interesting!

I have also read through information about Enkelados and Typhoeus, who are said to be under Mt Etna in Sicily and therefore responsible for the eruptions.

Reading Notes: Turkish Fairy Tales Part A

The story Fear stuck with me the most from this reading. 

The main character in this story seems to be stuck in a horror movie. Progressively more strange, shocking and some just outright scary things keep occurring.  And this guy is walking around going "But where is fear?" I can only imagine his everyday life is so wild that these occurrences are actually not at all unusual. 

(Image information: "Fear of the Dark" by stuant63 is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)

 He is sent to cook in a cemetary and a hand rises from a grave. No big deal. 

He then goes to a house, is almost strangled but again - that's fine, happens all the time!

At that house, he gets a bracelet, is accused of thievery, but that's fine too. Then he gets on a boat and beats up a sea monster. That's just your normal Tuesday night, right? 

 After that he wants to have a bit of a rest. So he's going to try to nap in this garden but instead there are pigeons turning into women. And those women are the strangler, the sea monster and maybe the owner of the hand in the grave. And they want him to move in! This is not at all shocking and totally what he expected to happen at this point in his life. But alas - he still hasn't found fear so he can't move in. Sorry ladies. 

Logically he goes to town - birds land on him so now he is king. Except the king usually ends up dead in the morning. Obviously if you just burn the coffin you won't be dead. That problem solved, he finally gets a good nap. His new wife the queen is like dang, I did not expected to be married this morning, let's have soup. 

What finally scares this guy? A bird coming out of the soup was so surprising he was startled. But it's good, he moved his mom into the palace and lived happily ever after. And maybe smashed all the soup pot lids. 

Story source: Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1913).

Turkish fairytales unit

 

 

Reading Notes - Homer's Iliad Part A

 http://mythfolklore.blogspot.com/2014/05/myth-folklore-unit-homers-iliad-retold.html

Notes on The Quarrel.

 Agamemnon was head of Greek kings. Achilles had many warriors. 

Agamemnon didn't go out and fight like other people did - he waited for fighting to happen and then claimed victory and prizes because he was in charge. Money, land, people. One of his captives was the daughter of a priest of Apollo. He wanted his kid back, Agamemnon said no. Apollo cursed everyone it was a bad scene. 

The Greeks knew the kid needed to go back, Agamemnon was a stubborn fool. Achilles argued with him and said forget this, I'm out. You all can keep dying while he sits up in his tent with his head in the sand. Obviously that went over like a lead balloon. Everyone is mad, no one knows how to share or talk or compromise. (Presumably because all the ladies were left at home or held captive or only showing up as visions/goddesses to talk a bit of sense into people.)

Anyway. Everyone is mad, Achilles went back to his camp to be mad, Agamemnon stayed mad in his tent. Then Aga. sent messengers to take back Achilles captured woman. Achilles did not shoot the messengers and let her go, although the text notes she wasn't happy about it. Meanwhile the priest's daughter is being taken back home so Apollo let up on the cursing. 

But Achilles called up his mom, who was Thetis a water goddess/sea nymph. And so the cursing will resume in another fashion once she can convince Zeus to do her a favor. 

Achilles' surrender of Briseis to Agamemnon, from the House of the Tragic Poet in Pompeii, fresco, 1st century AD, now in the Naples National Archaeological Museum

Story source: The Iliad retold by Alfred J. Church (1907)

 

Extra Credit Reading Notes - Aesop (Winter) Part B

Aesop (Winter) Part B - continuation of short fables with illustrations. 

This fable collection seemed to have a cluster of stories about not taking appearances at face value, which I found interesting!

 The Fox and The Leopard - Don't judge by appearances and use your head. This also reminded me a bit of the movie Bambi when Thumper says "If you can't say something nice, don't say nothing at all."

 The Cat The Cock and the Young Mouse - Also about judging by appearances. In this story a mouse who has never seen a rooster or a cat before thinks the the wrong animal looks nice and friendly. Cats are fluffy and more similar to a mouse than a rooster. But the cat would be the one to eat the mouse.

The Peacock and the Crane - being useful is better than being pretty - so more about appearances. The peacock was very proud of his fancy feathers, while the crane is much less decorative. However, the peacock cannot fly.

 

 

"peacock" by Mathias Appel is marked with CC0 1.0 

 

Bibliography - The Aesop for Children, translator unknown. Illustrations by Milo Winter

Reading Notes - Aesop (Winter) Part A

Part A of Aesop with illustrations by Winters - multiple short fables per page with illustrations. Some stories were shorter than others.

One story that I really took note of is The Owl and the Grasshopper. This story caught my attention because yes the owl was cranky but neither party thought to try to compromise. Instead you end up with a crunchy grasshopper snack but at least the owl can enjoy the quiet again.

I also took note of The Ass and the Load of Salt. It reminded me a lot of when my kid was younger. Things can become a battle and become more difficult or take longer than if you'd just done the task!

The Tortoise and the Ducks also caught my eye while I was reading through these fables. I was reminded of Terry Pratchett's book Small Gods. The turtle in that book was much luckier than this one - he managed to land somewhere soft. 

Illustration from The Tortoise and the Ducks

From The Aesop for Children - Illustration by Milo Winter

 

Bibliography - The Aesop for Children, translator unknown, Illustrated by Milo Winter

 

Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

This story was about a family of 3 sisters and an elderly mother. Two of the sisters are unnamed, shown as greedy. The third sister is named Mary, she just asks for flowers when the mother goes to town.

Mother stays late in the market town because of the demanding daughters and gets lost in the woods. Forgot she had a 3rd nice daughter and so she makes a quick stop for flowers at a mystery castle that is apparently owned by a basilisk. The basilisk is very possessive of  the flowers and demands "nice" daughter in exchange for not eating anyone.

The nice daughter goes to the castle so no one gets eaten.Yay!

After 3 days at the castle, everyone is getting along and the basilisk says cut off my head. Boo!?

Daughter is not a fan of swords and doesn't really want to do this, but her choices are get eaten or chop off a head. She goes with the head chopping. Basilisk turns into a serpent, gets head chopped off again and turns into a human who owns the castle. Yay again!

Presumably everyone lives happily ever after but either way they had a big wedding.

Three roses
(Photo information: "the last roses" by SiroGraphy is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0)

Story source: The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1922). The Three Roses

Week 2 Reading Overview

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3:Jewish Fairy Tales

Week 4:Cupid and Psyche

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5:Ancient Egypt

Week 6:Persian Folktales and Fairy Tales

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9. [Week 8 is review week.]

Week 7: Filipino Popular Tales

Week 9:African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10: Hero Tales

Week 11:Marriage Tales

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12:Celtic Tales

Week 13:Aesop's Fables

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Jacobs

Week 15:Lang II

So I've clearly picked some fairy tale heavy units! I am not sure if I'll stick with this - I may get sick of it by week 6 or so, we will see. I do enjoy all types of fairy tales, fairy tale retellings and the like so it should be interesting.

I am glad we have two weeks of Native readings and I had a hard time deciding there. I am am Seminole/Creek and would read more from my own tribe and region but most of the available stories seemed to concentrate on other areas. Maybe that is something I can explore for extra credit. 

(Photo information: "Grimm's Fairy Tales" by Follow the White Bunny is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

I found my own image for fairy tales. I love old books, even though most of my reading is done digitally. The cover art on the book pictured is just great. I would gladly pick this up and read it.