I was excited to see that there were some Brothers Grimm stories to read for this week. I have only read a few of their stories and I have unfortunately watched the blunder that was the movie. I was eager to read Brothers Grimm (Ashliman) so I could get more acquainted with these famous tales.
Little Red Cap: I wanted to read Little Red Cap since it has been such a long time since I read it, and I know I enjoyed it when I was younger. I realized after reading this now that there were a lot of elements that I did not pick-up on when I read this as a kid. Little Red Cap perfectly represents the innocent character; one of my favorite examples was when she did not even fret when she saw the Wolf. She just wanted to make a new friend. Her eagerness to get her sick grandmother the prettiest bouquet possible was another great example. I do remember that the Wolf's snoring alarming the Hunter always made me laugh as a kid. I still think that was a great way to balance the dark tone of what happened, and it served as a great transition since the story resolves after that.
Rumpelstiltskin: I chose to read Rumplestiltskin since I have actually never read the story before. I have only been told about his ability to spin things into gold and nothing else. I never knew how twisted of a character he actually was. I was beginning to wonder what she would have to wager when she ran out of jewelry to give him, but I did not see a baby coming in the demand. I was glad to see that his braggadocios ways would be his downfall. I also did not expect him to rip himself in half in the end; I am still trying to wrap my head around that sequence.
I really enjoyed reading the Fairy Tales I (Lang) unit this week! It was great to see some stories about characters that I have seen in movies before. I love being to read the initial stories that create the characters we all know and love now. I would definitely recommend reading this unit to anyone that I know.
The Death of the Sun Hero: I was really surprised that I have never read about the Sun Hero before this week. He seems like such a might hero that he should be more well known than he is. I loved that he went on the classic arduous quest to actually earn his title as Sun Hero. I also really enjoyed seeing that there was a sage old hermit to push the hero down the right path for his quest for the golden apple. The ending to this was drastically different than anything I was expecting. I thought for sure that he would defeat the wolves and earn his title. I never saw the failure coming. I really liked how he had forgot about the consequences when he died years later from that fatal crab attack.
The Giants and Herd-Boy: This was another story that I could not predict. I started with the assumption that this would be a tale of evil giants steeling sheep from the herd-boy. This story was not even remotely close to that. One of the weirdest concepts, in my opinion, was how the giants were able to get skinny enough to disappear into the earth through the holes they made. I also did not see them being full of gold and other riches and being hospitable to the outsider. I might have a prejudice against giants the more that I think about it. Another unpredictable aspect of this story was when he was still able to ask for the girl's hand in marriage since they had already fired him. This story was just full of surprises.
I have to admit that I chose to read the Fairy Tales I (Lang) unit since Puss in Boots was mentioned as one of the stories in it. I had naively assumed that that character was just made for the Shrek movies for some reason. I was so happy to see that the stories of Puss in Boots have been spread around for some time now!
The Master Cat, or Puss in Boots: Puss in Boots definitely has one of the most interesting hunting methods that I have seen. I loved to read that he did actually wear his large, boisterous boots in the story. I did not expect him to just wait for critters to rummage through his bag when they thought he was dead. I was expecting him to prowl around like a proud panther waiting for the opportunity to strike. I still appreciate that he hunts in his own unique way thought. I also liked that Puss in Boots was running a scheme the entire story as well; he is such a unique character. I think I will write about him for my story this week.
How the Dragon was Tricked: I chose this story since I have always loved a good dragon story; they are always fascinating tales to read about. This story developed totally different that I had thought it would. I did not see the brother that was tied up to the tree in the beginning turning out to be the master trickster that had to confront the dragon. I thought it was really weird how it just progressed from him being tied to the tree. I would have definitely wanted some revenge for getting left to starve to death at the tree. My favorite quality about him is his confidence and assurance.
_-_Le_Chat_bott%C3%A9_-_1.png){kind=link}