Reading Notes: English Fairy tales Unit (1): Reading B- The Ass, the Table, and the Stick

Picture of a Donkey spitting gold by John D. Batten

My ideas: This story was very neat. I liked how there was magic in the story and how two unfortunate people were joined together and had wealth. I like the troubles that the boy goes through to gain his fortune. People keep taking advantage of him, and this is much like how people do now day. However, I did not like how when the son finally regained all his fortunes, his father had died, and he was not able to show him. I wonder, if the boy would share his fortune with his father? Was he riding back home to show off to his father or was he intending to rub it in? What if the father had been alive and the son was able to rub in his new found wealth. I also really liked how in the end of the story, the boy still chose the maiden to be his wife, despite all the others with more wealth. I would like to change this story to the boy's perspective. Doing this would allow the audience to be more connected. This would also allow us to see how the boy reacts when he finds his fortunes gone. Also, simply putting it in his perspective would add a lot of detail to the story. From this, we could find out what attracted him to the maiden. Were they childhood friends? Was she really pretty? Also, how did he feel every time he rode home and he realized what had happened? Was he angry? Why was he riding home to begin with? This story has a lot of different ways I could retell it.


Bibliography: Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales. English Fairy Tales Unit (1). The Ass, the Table, and the Stick.

Reading Notes: English Fairy tales Unit (1): Reading A- The Story of the Three Little Pigs

Illustration from J. Jacobs, English Fairy Tales 

My Ideas: Everyone knows the story of the three little pigs. This is one of the most memorable stories from my childhood, so I could not help but to choose this story. I am a big fan of putting the story in different perspectives, so I could change the story and put it in the mother's perspective. We hear about her shortly at the beginning and that is all. Also, I could make this story a sort of cat and mouse game, maybe adding more details and thought and put the story in the little pigs perspective. Also, what if the other pigs had survived and fled to their brothers house, where they would fight together against the wolf. What if the wolf's character was rich and when the pigs killed him, they gained his fortune and were reunited? What is we learned why the other piglets chose to build there homes out of bad material? Is this due to how they were raised? Also, how old were the piglets? Were they maybe too young when their mother had to let them go? I also think it would be a good idea if the wolf would have kidnapped the other piglets and kept them hidden. Maybe at one of the places the wolf told the piglet their was apple or turnips. The smart piglet could rescue his brothers, kill the wolf, and reunite their family. These additions would make the story very eventful. I feel like there are a lot of options with this story. Unlike other stories that I have read this semester, it actually has a good amount of detail. Although the detail is good, there are still things I could add. 
Bibliography: Jacobs, Joseph. English Fairy Tales. English Fairy Tales Unit (1). The Story of the Three Little Pigs.

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales Unit- Reading B: The True Bride

• Story: In this story, their is a man and a woman who have a daughter. The wife died and the man married another woman who also gave the man another daughter. (This story is very much like Cinderella) The stepmother, always accused her stepdaughter of being lazy and was always angry with her. One day, in the heart of winter, the stepmother asked her stepdaughter to go out and gather berries, this being an unreasonable request, the stepdaughter did not want to go, but she was tired of her stepmother constantly nagging, so she went. SHe told her stepmother that she wold wonder until she was dead. She put some food into a basket and went on her way. While she was wondering, she wondered upon a cottage, that was full of three men. They asked her why she was out in the middle of winter, and she told them about her mother always nagging and how she needed berries. The men then gave her a snow shovel and told her to go onto the roof and uncover the snow. When she did, it was revealed that the roof was earth and full of giant strawberries. She filled her basket and then climbed down. The men then asked her if she needed anything else. SHe told them she was poor and needed new clothes. The youngest brother told her to spit and when she did, it revealed that she spit gold nuggets. The next brother made shoes for her out of the finest material. The third brother made a dress, out of the finest material, as the younger brother had done. The eldest brother, made her a robe that would never wear out. As the brothers made their object for her, her new clothing appeared on her body and her old clothes disappeared. When she returned how with her new clothing, the basket of berries and her new found ability of spitting gold, her stepmother was surprised and became angry with the girl. She then told her younger daughter to follow the tracks the elder daughter has left in the snow, so she too could have the ability to spit gold and get new clothes. The girl did, and when she came upon the four brothers cabin, they offered her the same opportunities, however, she refused to spit and acted as though she was above it, this caused the brothers to get angry and they gave her the ability of spitting toe nails instead of spitting gold. When she returned home, the mother was angry and told her not to spit again.
• My ideas: Much like the story of Cinderella, I want to put this in the stepdaughters perspective. This would transform this tale into an actual story. This would make the story more detailed and allow the characters to have more feelings and opinions that are expressed. This would also allow for more dialogue and thoughts to be added to the story. 



Cottage in the Woods: Photo Source ArchitectureImage

• 
  Bibliography: Thompson, Sith. Tales of the North American Indian's. Native American Marriage Tales Unit. The True Bride. 1929

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales Unit- Reading A: The Rolling Head

Snake. Photo by Sugar Monster

• Story Summary: This story was very similar to stories I have previously read in other units. This story is about a family who keeps to themselves. There was a man, woman, and two children. Every time the man went out hunting, he would paint his wife's face and body before he went out hunting. The wife, went out to the same stream, every time. She would take off all of her clothes as if to bath, and then she would call for a snake. When the snake appeared, he would tell her to come to him since her husband was away. Everyday, her husband would return with meat for his family to eat, and he would wonder what happened to the paint. One day, he asked the wife where the paint had went, and she told him she had bathed in the lake. Curious as to why, the husband set out the next day, performing the same ritual as to go to a hunt, but instead, he followed his wife to the lake. When he saw the women, with the snake wrapped around her, he was angered and jumped on the snake and killed it. He then killed his wife and cut her up and took her back to her meat back for the children to eat. The children unknowingly ate their mother. The father than told the children to tell their mother when she returned that he went out to fetch meat he had tied up in a tree. The father then left. The younger daughter said that their mother was merely teasing them by not returning and the older daughter then told her not to speak ill of their mother. Then the mother's head came rolling to the daughters and said I am very sorry my daughters have eaten me up. The two daughters, terrified by this sight ran, but the head kept following. Eventually, the elder daughter drew a line in the dirt so the head would not cross. The daughters were then hungry and saw a deer, they merely looked at it and it struck the ground as it had been shot. They then ate the deer. Someone was very kind to the girls and they were well looked after. Two large panther and two large black bears guarded the girls. A starving village had heard of the two girls that had plenty of food and went the them in hope of them sharing. They children welcomed the people in. When all the people had left, only the girl's father remained. Because he had left them, the girls told one of the black bears to kill him, so it did. 
• My Idea: My idea is to change the story to either one of the girl's perspectives or even to the father's. Maybe I could even put the story in the mother's perspective, which would tell us a lot of things we do not know, such as why she called the snake and continued to visit him. Was her husband abusive? What did the paintings he did on her body mean? Was she not happy? Was she the force that protected the girls? Was her absence ever revealed to the girls? There are alot of detail I could fill in in this story.
• Bibliography: Thompson, Sith. Tales of the North American Indian's. Native American Marriage Tales Unit. The Rolling Head. 1929.

Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales Reading B: The Wife Who Lied

Picture from the story: The Wife Who Lied

Story: Navara, was a woman that came from a tribe of man-eater, but when she grew of age, she was taken by of the tribes that did not eat men to be married. One time, Navara was going to visit her own people. She decided that she would put her mittens of her feet to make her look as though she was not properly cared for by her husband's people. Navara's people felt greatly for her and they agreed to make war against her husband's tribe. They set out to Navara's husbands village and when they arrived, all the men were out hunting, with only the women home. They slaughtered all of the women except three, who escaped through hiding from them.  When all the men came home from hunting, they found all the women dead and stuck on pole with points in them, except for the three that survived. They knew immediately who had done it, since Navara had left previously. The immediately fell into war and went to the other tribe's land. The three woman who had survived worked so furiously to help prepare for war, that their finger bones were exposed. When they finally set out to the enemy tribe, they hid themselves among the rocks, knowing the other tribe would be expecting the. Eventually, because of an old woman's dream, the enemy tribe knew that that Navara's husbands tribe was near, and they all met in a single house to counsel with the spirits. The tribe them surrounded them and took Navara and killed her.
My Ideas: This story is very gory and gave a lot of details about the deaths. Why did Navara lie? Why did she decided to cause war between the two tribes? Did she not want to marry her husband? Was she unhappy? Did she just like her tribes ways better? I feel like there is very little detail about the background information of this story. To retell this, I would fill in the blanks, such as the questions I asked about. Also, I think instead of putting this in all knowing form, it would be good to hear for either one of the survivors of the attack or Navara herself. This would make the story more personal and give us some details about the characters.

Bibliography: Rasmussen, Knud. Eskimo Folk-Tales. Eskimo Folktale Unit. The Wife Who Lied. 1921.

Reading Notes: Eskimo Folk Tales Reading A: The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son

Story: This story is about an old woman who lives near a shore. She had always longed for a son and one day, she finally got her wish. Well, sort of. The old woman lived in a town, with others, but she lived closest to the shore. Being an old woman, others in the town would always bring her meat and blubber to eat. Occasionally, when the townspeople would hunt. they would kill a bear to eat. One day, they killed a bear that had a cub. Knowing the old woman was lonely, they took the bear cub to her. The old woman began to care for the little cub as if it was her own child. The bear began to grow and as it did, the woman would talk to it in human speech and overtime the bear grew the mind of a human being. The children of the town would sometimes come to the old woman's house and want the little bear to play with them, and of course he did. Before he left, the old woman would always remind him to sheath his claws, and so he did. As the bear grew, he outgrew the children he was playing with and soon he began to play with adults, but as soon as he grew more, it was no time before he was even too strong for the adults to play with. The adults, knowing how strong he was, decided to start taking him hunting, as he would be an asset. Eventually, northern people heard of this bear and one time when he was out hunting with the humans, he almost got killed, but they managed to save him. The townspeople told the old woman that she needed to make some type of marker for the bear. so that other people would know him. The old woman made his a collar of plaited sinews to wear as a marker. After that, the bear continued to hunt and be the best hunter there was, and people of other villages would always let him go when they saw his collar. A group of people for a town called Angmagssalik heard of that bear that was not caught and they said that if they saw it, they would kill it. The bear had always leaned from the old woman, not to harm a human and treat them as kin. One time during a storm, the bear was away hunting, he did not return until evening and when he did, he nudged at the foster mothers hand as usual to tell her he was hungry. When the foster mother went outside, she saw the body of a man whom she did not know.  She then began calling to the townspeople. After this, the foster mother realized that the bear better not stay with her, as it was not safe. She regretted this, as he was the son she never had. On the morning the bear was set to leave as she hugged him, she rubbed oil and soot on his side without him knowing. That was the end of the story, but it did said, that people to north saw a large bear with a black mark on it's side.

Polar Bear:  Wikipedia

My Ideas: I really liked this story, but it was really sad at the end. I understand why the bear had to leave, but why could the old lady not have just gone with him and let him protect her as she had? I would like to change the ending and let the bear stay with the old lady. Maybe the could move together and take care of one another. They could even go visit the people of the other villages and explain the situation. I also think it would be cool to make the bear talk and put this story in his perspective. It would definitely be a unique. The old lady was the mother to him, as he was the son to her, their bond to each other is so loving, but I want to what the bear thinks. How does he feel about the people since they killed his mother? What about his natural instinct? Was it not there since he grew up with humans? Why did he not run off? I am almost positive you will be hearing a story from the bear's perspective.
Bibliography: Rasmussen, Knud. Eskimo Folk-Tales. Eskimo Folktale Unit. The Woman Who Had a Bear as a Foster-Son. 1921.

Reading Notes: Part B-Congo Unit: The Fetish Sunga

• Story: this story is about a clever fisherman named Basa. Each day, Basa would go out and fish on the river, where he always caught a large amount of fish. Even though Basa always caught a great amount of fish, he always kept it secret and would never tell anyone he caught fish. He hide the fish in his house so that no one would find and prove that he caught any. Everyday when he returned from fishing, his family would ask him if he caught any fish, and each day he continued to lie. During this time, a fetish Sunga watched Basa, and everyday she saw him lie and was saddened by this dishonesty. The fetish Sunga decided one day that she would sent one of her servants to go to the place where Basa fished. The day that the Sunga sent her servant, was a really good day for Basa, he caught many fish. While hiding some of his fish in a fork of a tree, Basa heard a child calling for him to come to their mother, this just so happened to be a trap by the fetish Sunga. Basa followed the voice until he came upon a dried up river and he followed the voice to a watershed. At the watershed, he saw a beautiful town, with people that greeted him kindly, at first he was taken aback and a little alarmed so he was reluctant to celebrate with them. Sunga laid a table before him and at this point, he could not resist and he drank all the wine there was. For his dishonesty, the Sunga then deprived him of his speech.

• My ideas: I would change this story so that Basa would not lose his speech. I thought this was a harsh punishment for a sin that most people comment on a daily basis. Also I think the story could use some background information. For example, we really do not know why Basa lies to everyone about the fish he caught, so maybe I could make up a story and include that in the background information. Also, I think the story would be more interesting in the fetish Sunga's perspective. This would give us information on why she watching Basa, what made her choose Basa, and what made her choose his punishment.

• Bibliography: 
• Dennet, Richard E.  Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. Congo Unit: The Fetish Sunga. 1898.

Fishing: Sketch by Dennet

Reading Notes: Part A-Congo Unit: The Jealous Wife

Congo Unit: The Jealous Wife

• Summary: In this story, a husband has two wives and two children, one from each wife. The husband decides to go into the Bush to trade for six months. Before leaving, the husband had one request, that neither of his children were hurt and that they were cared for properly. The two wives and two children got along well, and when it was about time for the husband to return, the two wives decided to go fish for him so they could make him a proper meal when he returned. Remembering what he said, they knew they could not leave the children alone, so first, the elder wife went to fish while the younger wife stayed and watched the children. After the elder wife returned, it was the younger wife's turn to fish. While the elder wife was watching the children, she became very jealous, as the younger wife's child was better looking and more intelligent, so she decided to murder the child. SHe sharpened a razor blade and intended to kill it that night. That night she went to the place where the children slept and killed the younger wife's child, while her own went running to the neighbors home for refuge. The next morning, when the mother went to admire her handy work, she discovered that she had accidently killed her own child, so distraught, she ran into the bush with her child lifeless body. When the husband returned home, he missed his elder wife, and since the only proof of her wrong doing came from a child, he did not believe it. The husband and his friend went into the woods in search for his wife. When they found her, they saw the child's lifeless body and killed the wife, using casca, out of rage.
• My idea: This story was very gruesome and intense, unlike the typically stories I read. For this story, my idea to change it is to make the younger wife jealous of the attention everyone else gets. So my idea is to make the younger wife kill or send away the entire family. I know it is extremely gruesome, but I more than likely will use the send-away scenario or maybe even have her take them prisoner, so that way it is more humane than killing the entire family. From previous stories I have read this semester, I want to bring in a story within the story and maybe even fool the husband for a while. Maybe the younger wife can tell the husband an elaborate story about how something killed them all or maybe even how some bandits kidnapped the entire family. Anyway, I want to keep the ending to be sad(ish) so maybe the younger wife will end up dying and the family will end up rescued.

Photo where casca is being used to kill someone: Hathi Trust

• Bibliography: 
• Dennet, Richard E.  Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort. Congo Unit: The Jealous Wife. 1898.

Week 7: Chinese Fairy Tales Unit Reading B:

How the River God’s Wedding Was Broken Off

• Story: In this story, witches and sorcerers of a certain area told all of the residents that the river-god looked for a bride each year, and if he did not find one, the river-god would bring wind and rain in improper season, causing famine and failure of crops. Then, when a girl came of age in a wealthy family, the witches and sorcerers would tell the family the girl has been chosen, but the family would offer to pay large sums of money for their daughter to be spared and eventually they would find a family who could not pay and they would have to sacrifice their daughter. See the bride of the river-god was a sacrifice, but more importantly, it was just a scam that the witches and sorcerers told to make money. Si-men, the ruler in charge at the time, caught wind of this and he decided that he would check out the next wedding of the river god. Upon his arrival he insisted on arriving before the bride to let the river god know she was coming, the witches and sorcerers said no and he cast them one by one into the river, until they begged for mercy, that was the end of the marriage of the river god.

• My idea:  I would change this by putting it into the "bride's perspective". This would make the narrator not know everything, so when seeing what the leader does, how would the townspeople feel? Was this really a scam? Would the ruler help them if it was true? Would there maybe be a secret love connection between the king and the "bride"? Is that why he decided to check out the rumor? I think making a love connection would be an interesting twist to the story. Also, what if the curse was real and the ruler was the narrator but did not want people to make him out to be the bad guy if the curse was true? There are a lot of options for this story.  

• 

  River Landscape: Web Source

• Bibliography: Wilhem, R. Chinese Fairy Tales Unit: The Chinese Fairy Book: How the River God's Wedding Was Broken Off. 1921.

Week 7: Chinese Fairy Tales Unit Reading A: The Panther

The Panther:

• Characters: The mother, the son, two daughters, the panther, needle-vendor, scorpion-catcher, egg-seller, dealer in turtles, man who sold wooden clubs

  

  The Panther: WebSource

• Summary: This story was very much like little red riding hood. In this story, a mother and a son went to visit their grandmother, upon their journey in the woods they came across a panther. The panther would not leave them alone and eventually convinced the mother to let him "brush" her hair, this led to him pulling out chunks of skill and eventually eating her and her son. The panther then stole the mother's clothes. He decided to dress up like the mother and return to her home, hoping to find more food. When he returned he knocked on the door, but the daughters were questioning him about how he looked different. He had an explanation for everything and eventually the two daughters decided it had to be their mother. As soon as they opened the door, they knew it was not so. Later on, they saw the panther eating and asked if they could have some. You see, the panther had saved the little brothers bones for later and that is what he was eating. He gave the daughters a small finger and they immediately knew what had happened. They escaped the house and climbed a tree. They lured the panther into a basket and revealed his true identity and he ran away. The girls were terrified and knew he would be back to eat them. The next morning a needle-vendor was passing by when he saw the distraught girls. He asked them why and when they told him, he gave them needles to place in the cushions of the arms chair. Next a scorpion-vendor can by and after hearing what had happened he gave them a scorpion and told them to place it next to the torch. Next an egg-seller came along and after hearing their story gave them an egg and told them to put it in the ashes. Next came long a turtle-dealer and when hearing their story he gave them a turtle and told them to place it in a water bucket. Next came a man who sold wooden clubs, when hearing their story he gave them clubs and told them to hang them over the door to the street. When the wolf returned he first sat in the needles, which poked him, when he ran to grab a torch the scorpion stung his, when he looked down into the fire the egg exploded blinding him, he then ran to the trough where the turtle bit him, and when he ran out the door the clubs fell on his head and killed him. 
• My idea: For this story, I want to retell it in the panthers perspective. I want to know what made him choose the mother and her son. Were they the first humans he came across? Why did he decide to go to the house? Was he starving and in need of a lot of food or was he just pure evil. I also may change the story ending. Maybe make the panther learn his lesson and make him friends with the daughters. But could they ever trust him? Could the panther ever go against his instincts? Why could he not just eat animals? I am not sure which way I would go with, but we will see.
• Bibliography: Wilhem, R. Chinese Fairy Tales Unit: The Chinese Fairy Book: The Panther. 1921.

Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot Reading B

Tales of a Parrot: A King Falls in Love and the End of Khojisteh

The King's Wife in the Parrot's Story: Web Source

• Characters: A King, his wife, their son, murder, the parrot's owner, the parrot, Khojisteh
• In this story, the parrot is still telling khojisteh stories to try and save his life and prevent her from visiting her lover. The whole reason the parrot started telling the stories was to spare his own life, and it turned into keeping khojisteh home. You see in the very beginning of the story there were actually two birds, the parrot and a sharuk, whom khojisteh killed when she told her not to meet her lover and that it was wrong. The parrot watching the sharuk die, knew he must agree with the wife and began telling stories to try and make her do the right thing. This story the parrot tells is about a King who falls in love with a girl, and as it turns out this girl has a son from another marriage. When the girl marries the king and goes to live with him, her son, whom she is ashamed of does not go and she misses him greatly. She decides to go to the king and make her son out to be a jeweler, the King still does not know this is her son. When her son comes to the castle a servant sees her kissing his forehead and thinks she is having an affair, and the king orders him to be beheaded, however the executioner spares his life after the son tells the truth. The king notices the wife's sadness and she finally tells the truth and comes to find out he is not mad. The king orders the executioner to tell him the location of the body and he reveals he didn't kill him. This story has happy ending. The real story continues and Khojisteh's husband returns. When he find the Sharuk is gone, he orders the parrot to tell him what happened and the parrot tells him everything, the husband kills his wife. I think telling this story in Khojisteh's perspective would be cool. Maybe convey her thoughts as the Parrot tells the final story. Even though the story the parrot tells does not really relate to Khojisteh's story maybe it could teach her some kind of lesson.
• Bibliography: Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi.The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot:A King Falls in Love and the End of Khojisteh. 1801. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Tales of a Parrot Unit Reading A

Tales of a Parrot: The Parrot of Ferukh Beg

(The Parrot and Wife of Ferukh Beg: Web Source)

• Characters: Parrot, Khojisteh, the parrot of ferukh, Ferukh Beg, ferukh begs wife, moghul

• This story is a story within a story. This whole unit is about a parrot who keeps telling his master's wife stories about different subject, relating to how she's feeling to keep her from going to meet her lover and committing adultery. This story is about a wife who commits adultery while her husband is away. The parrot tells his master's wife this story to let her know he would keep her secret. In the story he tells, Ferukh Beg has two birds, has a parrot who he untrusted to watch over his home and his wife while he is gone. The parrot was a witness to the wife's affair, however when the master returned home, he said nothing, because he did not want to separate the man and wife. Unfortunately for the wife, the husband caught wind of the affair.The wife suspected the parrot of telling on her and plucked out his feather and threw him out the window, telling all her servant that a cat drug him out of the window. The parrot found refuge in a burying ground. when the merchant found that the parrot was missing, he became so enraged that he threw his wife out. Being embarrassed by this she too found refuge in the burying ground where she fasted for one day. In the meantime, the parrot whispered through a hole that if the woman shaved all of the hair off of her head and body and fast for forty days she would be reunited with her husband and her sins would be forgiven, so she did. One day the parrot came out of hiding and told the women it was he who commanded her to fast and shave. The parrot with regained strength, went to the husband and told him that some god commanded the woman to shave and fast for forty days and her sins would be forgiven and they would be reunited. Not wanting to disobey a god, the man retrieved his wife and they lived happily ever after. There are two ways I am thinking about changing this story, either changing it to be in the wife's perspective of creating a more harsh punishment for the wife, so in a sense changing the ending. Changing to the wife's  perspective would give the audience a more connected feeling to her and maybe even let the wife connect with Khojisteh, since she is wanting to commit the same sin. Changing the ending/punishment of the wife may scare khojisteh and make her not want to committing adultery anymore. I am not sure which I will choose, but I feel like either would bring a nice change to the story.

• Bibliography: Ziya'al-Din Nakhshabi.The Tooti Nameh or Tales of a Parrot:The Parrot of Ferukh Beg. 1801. Web Source.

Reading Notes: Folktales of Bengal Reading B

A Ghostly Wife:

• Characters: Ghost, Brahman, Brahman's Wife, Brahman's Mother, Ojha
• This story was very similar to the Ghost brahman story I chose in reading A. I really like ghost stories and thought this would be a nice mix up from the stories I have been previously doing. In this story, the brahman's wife is walking down to the river, when she passes the tree the ghost lives by, she accidentally touches her. The ghost then gets mad, injuries the brahman's wife and takes her clothes to takeover her life. Unlike the ghost brahman story, the brahman and the mother actually begin to realize on their own that the brahman's wife is acting unusual. Once they observe her performing unusual tasks they begin to suspect her true identity and they decide to bring in an Ojha, an exorcist, to see. He confirms and they end up finding the wife and they live happily ever after. Changing this story to the wife's perspective would be really cool. That way you can feel her pain and sorrow and when the happy ending occurs it will make the audience feel more joy, since we have witnessed first hand the wife's troubles. I want to change the story and make the wife gain up the strength to go regain her life. I think if the wife were to drop subtle hints, or make the husband and mother observe the ghost's unusual behaviors it would add a sneaky element to the story. I may eve change the end to be an unhappy ending, but I have not decided yet. 
• Bibliography: Folk-Tales of Bengal: A Ghostly Wife by Rev. Lal Behari Day. Web Source.

(Picture of the ghost standing by the tree and the wife about to accidentally brush against her: Websource)

Reading Notes: Week 5 The Ghost Brahman

The Ghost Brahman:

• Characters: The brahman, his mother, his wife, the ghost, a king, neat-herd king
• The story begin by a brahman scraping enough money together to get married. Once married, the brahman realizes that he does not have enough money to support his wife and mother, so he decides to journey seeking money, and so he does. While he is gone, a ghost appears, with the exact appearance of the brahman and takes over his life. For years, he fooled the people. One day when the brahman returned home from his travels, he find the ghost and is in shock and to his dismay, no one believes him. he brahman is then cast out. The brahman then visited the king everyday begging him to return his life, but everyday he was disappointed. Everyday the brahman passed by the same group of cowboys and one day the neat-herd king stopped him and asked him why he wept daily. When the brahman told the neat-herd king of his problem, he say through and believed him, he then instructed the brahman to get permission from the king for him to decide his case, and so he did. To prove who the ghost was, the neat-herd king brought a narrow necked phile and said whomever can enter this phile is the rightful owner, of course the human could not enter, so when the ghost enter, the neat-herd king trapped the ghost, returning the brahman his home, wife, and mother. My idea for changing this story is to either tell it from the perspective of the wife, mother or the neat-herd king. I think changing the perspective would give a cool twist to the story, especially if it is in the perspective of the wife or mother. I would make them oblivious, but maybe make them question the brahman more instead of believing the ghost right away.
  
• (The ghost returning as the brahman soon after he left: Web Source)
• Bibliography: Folk-Tales of Bengal: The Ghost Brahman by Rev. Lal Behari Day. Web Source.

Reading Notes: EC Reading A of Anderson Fairy Tale Unit: The Brave Tin Soldier

The Brave Tin Soldier:

• Characters: Brave Tin soldier, Goblin, Little Delicate Lady, Children, Nutcrackers, Toys
• This story is about a brave tin man, that sees a lady of his dreams. The brave tin man only had one leg, so he was sort of an outcast in the story. On his way to make the acquaintance of the lady, a goblin popped out of a box and told him not to wish for what was not his. The tin man pretended not to hear the goblin, as he was fixated on the beautiful dancer in front of him. The goblin then said wait until tomorrow. The next day the tin man was placed in the window sill and fell out of the house into the rain. This is where this story ended. It seems like Disney's Toy Story may have been based on this. If I were retelling this story, I would tell it in the perspective of the tiny dancer. Of course, I would make it a love at first sight story. I think the story could be really cool told from the dancer's perspective.
• Bibliography: Fairy Tales and Stories: The Brave Tin Soldier by Hans Christian Anderson.
  
• (The Brave Tin Soldier: Artstation)

Reading Notes: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche Reading B

Psyche's Prayer:

• Characters: Psyche, Juno (queen of Heaven and wife of Jupiter (Zeus)), and Ceres (goddess of the harvest)
• In this story, Psyche wanders upon the homes of Juno and Ceres, where she pleas for them to protect her, or at least let her rest there from Venus (Cupid's mother). Both denied her request as they are good friends with Venus and do not want to betray her. In the end of this story, Psyche decides there is no use in running from Venus and it is time for her to meet her fate. For this story, I would retell it by making the two goddesses help Psyche. In the previous readings, Psyche's sisters were envious of her and that cost them their lives. I think it would be interesting to turn the Gods/Goddesses against Venus due to her envy, as the Gods (well at least Cupid) did against Psyche's sisters. I would start out by having Psyche tell the whole story to both the Goddesses. The sotry would then compel them to side with Psyche and help her cause rather than side with Venus and her jealousy. Here would be a good time to recruit Zeus, so he could turn Psyche into a Goddess, since she is married to Cupid. Then, through them they would gain more Gods/Goddesses on their side. This would allow for the story to continue, but instead of letting Venus call the shots, it would give the power to Psyche. The ending of the story would not change, because I love happy endings, so no matter what Cupid and Psyche would end up together. Also, maybe like Venus made Psyche perform unreasonable tasks, make Venus perform impossible tasks, but she would not gain the help of others because of the wickedness her envy has caused her. Maybe I will even make Venus lose her beauty, since it was her who started the envy because of Psyche's beauty.
• Story Source: Apuleius's Golden Ass, as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).

(Psyche at the Shrines of Juno and Ceres: Photo by Burne-Jones)

Reading Notes: Apuleius's Cupid and Psyche Reading A

Psyche's Despair: 

• Characters: Psyche, Sister 1, Sister 2, Pan (God of the wild) and Echo (Mountain Goddess)

• In this story, Psyche has discovered her husband is cupid, and after taking her sister's advice, she is paying for her sin. Psyche tried committing suicide in the river, but the Pan, advises her to pray to cupid, not knowing cupid was her lover. She then wonders to where her brother-in-law is king, and meet with her sister, telling her of what has happened. When hearing this, upon Cupid's promise to make her sister's pay, her sister jumps off a cliff to her death, the same happens to the other sister. I think a good way to change this would be Psyche opening up to Pan and Echo and telling them of her troubles, and maybe they could find some way to help reunite Psyche and Cupid (maybe give her wings to chase after Cupid). Also, I think it would be good to include Zephyr (the wind god) more. It would be cool if he played a role in reuniting Cupid and Psyche (he could use his wind ability to take Psyche to Cupid of vice versus). Also, instead and just instantly killing her sisters, I think maybe adding some type of curse into the mix would really add something and keep her sisters in the story a little longer. Instead of dying instantly, maybe torture them a little, as they have tortured their parents and Psyche. As of right now, I want to read the second half before making any decisions to change anything. I feel like this story may have a happy ending all together, but right now at the halfway point, it is rather sad.

• Story Source: Apuleius's Golden Ass, as translated into English by Tony Kline (2013).

(Cupid and Psyche: Image Source Wikipedia; Photo by Francois Gerard)