Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales, Part B

The Crab and the Monkey by Andrew Lang: This is a story about manipulation and revenge. The monkey continually has the upper hand in his exchanges with a crab. The crab is even beaten by the monkey at one point. His friends help him to heal and they all plan an attack of revenge on the monkey. The monkey comes to make a half-hearted apology and finds himself stealing an egg from the crab. This backfires on him when the egg explodes, he gets stung by a wasp, and falls into a hole and dies. At the end it describes the crab living happily ever after and peacefully dying of old age. This was a sad story for both the crab and the monkey. If I were to retell it I think I would try to make it a little more upbeat.

Crab

Schippeiraro by Andrew Lang: This story was a little confusing, but I thought it was also quite interesting. It tells of a Japanese custom where boys are sent off when they become young men in order to find themselves and gain independence. This one young boy wonders and finds himself in a chapel where he decides to sleep. He wonders into the nearby village and becomes involved in something there. From my understanding, he takes this dog back to the chapel where the cats and their king are going to kill him. Instead of letting this happen, the boy and the other youth there cut off the cats head. This causes them all to be heroes and celebrated every year. If I were to retell this story I would make the people animals. I think it would be cool to tell of the animals journey before he finds himself in the chapel. It discusses how sometimes the men would chat and discuss their journeys, but other times these men would be robbers. It would be interesting to maybe make up a story about a robber and the man (animal).