Showing posts with label Week 11. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Week 11. Show all posts
Tuesday, November 1, 2016
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.
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).
Monday, October 31, 2016
Wikipedia Trail: From All Saints' Day to Pope Pius X
Since today is Halloween, that means it is also All Saints' Day. I am Catholic so I thought it would be interesting to do a little research on what exactly today is celebrating. I started out on the All Saints' Day page and followed it to the page on All Souls' Day, which is the day after Halloween. From here I clicked on a page about the Holy Day of Obligation. Although today is not one, there are often days during the week in which Catholics are expected to go to mass to celebrate something specific. Lastly, I clicked on a link to Pope Pius X. I did not know anything about him so I thought it would be interesting to read a little about him.
Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales, Part A
Japanese Fairy Tale Unit
The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Two Frogs: This story was about two frogs who wish to travel to each others towns. They meet in the middle and become friends. They decide to stand on each others shoulders in order to see the town they are traveling to. They are foolish and do not realize that they are looking at their own towns and decide to not travel any further. I thought this was an interesting and peculiar story. It would be interesting to do a retelling of it where they end up traveling to each others towns instead of turning around and returning home. I do not know much about Japanese culture, but I think it would be interesting to do some research on these towns and then write about the two frogs experiences and how they would differ from their home towns.
The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang
The Two Frogs: This story was about two frogs who wish to travel to each others towns. They meet in the middle and become friends. They decide to stand on each others shoulders in order to see the town they are traveling to. They are foolish and do not realize that they are looking at their own towns and decide to not travel any further. I thought this was an interesting and peculiar story. It would be interesting to do a retelling of it where they end up traveling to each others towns instead of turning around and returning home. I do not know much about Japanese culture, but I think it would be interesting to do some research on these towns and then write about the two frogs experiences and how they would differ from their home towns.
Reading Notes: Aesop's Fables Part A
From Aesop's Fables by Christopher Smart
These notes are from the chapter on foxes.
The Fox and the Grapes: This is a pretty famous story that I heard many times as a child. Essentially the fox cannot reach the grapes on a vine. As a result he concludes that the grapes are not ripe and that he will move on to a better place to find food. I like this story because I think it is easy to relate to the fox, even if we do not want to admit it. I think it would be fun to retell this story with a different ending...maybe have the fox find a way to reach the grapes instead of just giving up and walking away.
The Fox and the Goat: This story was a little harder to understand due to the language. From my understanding the fox falls into a well and is trapped. A goat comes along and the fox coaxes him into the well. From here he uses the goat to climb on and escape the well. This is another story that exemplifies how foxes are cunning and use others in order to get their way. I think it would be interesting to tell this story from the goat's perspective.
The Fox and the Eagle: I liked this story because it is not a typical fox story. Instead of being the cunning trickster, the fox is the one who is preyed on. Her children are stolen by an eagle, intended to be fed to her young eaglets. The fox is desperate to get her children back. I think it would be interesting to tell this story as is, but then have this be the reason why foxes become so cunning. Maybe they have to be in order to keep themselves and their families safe.
These notes are from the chapter on foxes.
The Fox and the Grapes: This is a pretty famous story that I heard many times as a child. Essentially the fox cannot reach the grapes on a vine. As a result he concludes that the grapes are not ripe and that he will move on to a better place to find food. I like this story because I think it is easy to relate to the fox, even if we do not want to admit it. I think it would be fun to retell this story with a different ending...maybe have the fox find a way to reach the grapes instead of just giving up and walking away.
The Fox and the Goat: This story was a little harder to understand due to the language. From my understanding the fox falls into a well and is trapped. A goat comes along and the fox coaxes him into the well. From here he uses the goat to climb on and escape the well. This is another story that exemplifies how foxes are cunning and use others in order to get their way. I think it would be interesting to tell this story from the goat's perspective.
The Fox and the Eagle: I liked this story because it is not a typical fox story. Instead of being the cunning trickster, the fox is the one who is preyed on. Her children are stolen by an eagle, intended to be fed to her young eaglets. The fox is desperate to get her children back. I think it would be interesting to tell this story as is, but then have this be the reason why foxes become so cunning. Maybe they have to be in order to keep themselves and their families safe.
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