Skip to main content

Cinderella, Pigs, and Sorcerer's || Reading Notes: English Fairy Tales Part A


  • The bad deeds in this first story are so casual and wildly spin out of control.
    • One could argue that the daughter is at least partially responsible for her own predicament.
    • The King seems especially casual about the whole "I'll cut off your head" bit.
  • So the girl successfully uses Tom Tit Tot to produce the skeins
    • But then she says his name to avoid becoming his.
    • But she never sees him again?
      • So how will she survive the next year?
      • This could make a fun sort of epilogue story.
  • This second story is undeniably dark. 
    • Though I like the idea of the daughter reincarnated in the bird.
    • Maybe a less dark rewrite?
  • The third story I did not think would actually work out in the end. I thought for sure it would just get more and more convoluted until the old woman just ended up giving up or something.
    • Though it was interesting seeing the relationship between all the objects and animals that the old woman talks to.
    • I think the moral here could be:
      • It's sometimes easier to do something yourself than to get others to do it for you.
  • Two stories now featuring a murdered family member and some kind of "reincarnation" for either revenge or to name their killer.
  • The song-like conversation between the cat and the mouse was very interesting. And that ending was sudden if not unexpected.
  • Cap o' Rushes was very Cinderella-esque. 
    • Almost like a Cinderella story inside another story
      • Like a more convoluted way of getting around to the point where the father realizes that his daughter loved him.
      • Though I don't think the statement "I love you as fresh meat loves salt." signifies more love than the other daughters. Even if it's true.
  • So the story of the three little pigs may have been about goats originally?
    • Also, the man (or men) who gives these pigs the materials for their houses is very generous. I wonder if one could incorporate a character from another story as this man.
  • That was a much longer and more detailed version of the three little pigs story than any I've ever read.
    • I like the continuing dynamic between the third (and smartest) pig and the wolf who seems not to learn.
  • I can definitely see how the last story inspired Disney's Fantasia and the Sorcerer's Apprentice
The Sorcerer's Apprentice from Disney's Fantasia


Bibliography:
By: Joseph Jacobs

Photo Credits:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Hobbies, Hopes, and... I'm Out of H Words || An Introduction

Everyone keeps telling me to change my major... Welcome to the blog! My name is Rhys and I am a senior Psychology major! When I'm not scrambling to complete my degree, I work as a 3D printing student specialist for OU Libraries and as a lab assistant for the OU Visual Neuroscience Laboratory.  I'm looking forward to graduating this summer after a study abroad trip to Scotland.  Move In Day! When I'm not at work or school, I spend my time entertaining a variety of hobbies including programming, circuit building, 3D art, animation, and design, 3D printing, video production, visual effects, and cooking! I spend quite a lot of time working on all of these things, which has led to a running joke among my family and friends that I declared the wrong major.  3D World Animation I'm always looking to learn new skills. I honestly love learning and school. In fact, I plan on pursuing a career in academia as a psychology researcher. Essentially, I plan on never ...

Week 9 Story: The Dreams of Sun Wu Kung

Asleep. I've been asleep for so long. Years? Decades? Centuries? I cannot tell. What else can I do trapped beneath a mountain? I sleep. And I dream. I dream of my life before this imprisonment. I dream of the day that I emerged from a stone, high atop the Mountain of Flowers and Fruits. I dream of the simple life that I had among my ape brethren. Of the days of joy before they made me their king. I remember the day that I became the King of the Monkeys. I remember the great waterfall and the secret cavern behind it. I wish I knew back then where my ambition would lead me. Most often I dream about immortality. I dream of the fateful day when I decided that I would not be constrained by the mortality of a living being. I remember it clearly. Too clearly. It always brings me pain. I remember how, on that day, I witnessed the deaths of my friends for the first time. I saw the pain and misery on their families' faces. That day I made a vow to become imm...

Week 2 Story: The Lawyer, the Plaintiff, and the Innocent?

The Lawyer, the Plaintiff, and the Innocent? "Mr. Brahms, please tell the jury how you came to meet the defendant." "Well...it was a Saturday a couple months ago. I was working late at the hospital...maybe 10:00 or 11:00? When I left work, I was walking down the sidewalk to our parking garage when I saw Mr. Tigris lying facedown on the concrete." "What happened then, Mr. Brahms?" "I....I walked up to him to check to see if he was okay. I approached and shook his shoulder to see if he was conscious. When I did, he started moaning and groaning like he was in pain. I tried to see if he was injured..." "Now, Mr. Brahms, you are a medical professional, correct?" "That's right. I'm a nurse." "So you would have been able to fairly easily identify any physical wounds on the defendant?" "Yes, I believe I would be." "But you did not find any on the defendant?" "No, I did not...