Reading Part B: Czech: A Clever Lass

Bibliography: Czech Folktales unit. Story source: The Key of Gold: A Clever Lass by Josef Baudis (1922).

(A Clever Lass)

This story was so cute! She was so smart! I think I'd want to keep it mostly the same, I can't imagine changing any of it really. I just really like how smart and clever she is. I would probably write it from the king's perspective? or maybe hers.. I don't know. I like the ending a lot. I would have done the exact same thing! Maybe I could play up the feelings of the king throughout the story and make him feel like she doesn't really love him because he basically forced her to marry him. (maybe he doesn't feel smart enough for her or something) Anyway, that would be even cuter when he wakes up from being drugged and sees that she chose him over everything else!

Reading Notes Part A: Czech: The Waternick

Bibliography: Czech Folktales unit.  The Key of Gold: The Waternick by Josef Baudis (1922).

(Waternick)

This is like Hansel and Gretel. I almost want to make it more realistic and have them get captured by some creepy farmer guy or something. Maybe they're going through the forest that borders his farmland and he finds the tree they tied their line to and moves it to an abandoned building on his property and by the time they notice, it's too late and he pushes them in. He's crazy but he doesn't do anything to seriously hurt them. He just makes them clean up the farm and feeds them random things he finds. Eventually the children create a distraction and they escape.

Week 14 Reading B: Russia: The Two Friends

Russian Folktales unit. Story source: Russian Fairy Tales: The Two Friends. by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

(Friends in a Grave: Image Source)

This story was weird! Why would the friend want to keep his friend from his wedding day?  I love the time travel though.. What if the friend that was about to get married didn't go to the guy's grave, he just went to his old house that was about to be sold and found his friend in the basement playing video games like he did in life? He could then ask his friend to sit and play a while and a couple hundred years could pass that way. That would give a more modern twist to this story. 

Week 14 Reading Part A: Russia: The Water Snake

Russian Fairy Tales: The Water Snake. W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

I could do a lot with this story.  I think I'd want to change the mother to an ex boyfriend that's crazy, or maybe a deranged best friend that has a tendency to be clingy. I still want the new husband to die and I want the main girl to feel all sad because he does. Instead of them calling his name, they'll call his phone on hers. Maybe she should be drugged or something so she can't get to him. I don't know if I'd keep the kids, that complicates things a little bit... Maybe I'll make them into dogs.

(Pond of the Water Snake: Image source)

Week 13 Reading B: English Fairy Tales: Mr. Miacca

(Mr. Miacca: Image Source)

Bibliography: English Fairy Tales: Mr. Miacca, by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).

This story could do so much more!! I could make this a lot creepier. I also want to expand on the parts that make the main character so bad - like give examples as to why his behavior is so bad. I also want to describe Mr. Miacca and his wife a little more so they're easier to see.

Week 13 Reading A: English Fairy Tales: Tom Tit Tot

(Tom Tit Tot: Image Source)

I like this story a lot. It reminds me or Rumpelstiltskin which makes me happy because I've always enjoyed that story.

This would be easy to re-write, I don't know which aspects I'd change but I don't think I'd keep it as long as it is currently. I like the fact that they got into the mess in the first place because the mother was singing about her daughter eating five pies, got caught and changed they lyrics of her made up song to seem less embarrassing.

Bibliography: English Fairy Tales: Tom Tit Tot, by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1890).

Reading Notes, Part B: Celtic Fairy Tales:

Bibliography: Celtic Fairy Tales: The Tale of Ivan, by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).

(Ivan: Image Source)

I liked how Ivan stayed true to the advise that his master gave him and everything worked out. I feel like there aren't many stories like that out there. The main character always seems to deviate from what he's been taught these days. I think I would like to keep the story line fairly similar, maybe focus on one part of the story and blow it up and flesh it out (particularly the part about the Inn). I think this story would be a lot of fun to re-write.

Reading Notes, Part A: Celtic Fairy Tales: The Horned Women

(Horned Women: Image Source)

This is a really interesting tale I feel I can turn into a funny story pretty easily. I would like to make the whole thing satire. Maybe have girls with a bunch of different pony tails that overwhelm this other girl and then she uses stupid tricks to get them to leave and stay away. Basically I want to change the tone from sinister to hilarious. I don't get much practice writing funny stories so this should be an interesting challenge.


Bibliography:  Celtic Fairy Tales: The Horned Women by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1892).

Reading Notes Part B: Alaska - The Lost Light

Alaskan Legends unit. Story source: Myths and Legends of Alaska: The Lost Light, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).

(Image source: National Geographic)

I like this story too. It could also be a scary story (maybe I'm just in a super Halloween-y mood).

They could be being chased by something in the Upside Down!! (I also watched the second part of Stranger Things recently). They finally chase down the thing they need and are able to fight off the darkness (monster). It could become a quest of some sort. 

Reading Notes Part A: Alaska - Raven and the Seals

Alaskan Legends unit. Story source: Myths and Legends of Alaska: Raven and the Seals, edited by Katharine Berry Judson (1911).

(Alaskan Seals)

This story is very morbid. I think I could change it to a pretty frightening tale if I wanted to. Maybe have a serial killer move to a town with a bunch of children. He's a cannibal so he gets hungry and eats all the kids at the orphanage. Then he eats the headmaster he'd originally befriended and then gets greedy and goes around trying to eat all the other children. But the townspeople hear of what he's doing and set the pile of meat he's compiled ablaze with gasoline and fire, thus ruining his meals forever. 

Week 10 Reading Tejas Legends Part B: The Maiden who Loved a Star

Tejas Legends unit. Story source: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends, The Maiden who Loved a Star, retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936).

This story is actually super sweet! I think I want to change just a few elements of the story but I want to keep the girl going out into the desert and the help from the shaman woman. I think I want the man in the stars to not fall to his death and instead send down special moonbeams or something that bring purple flowers. Or maybe he's trapped and he scrapes at the sides of his star cell every night so that the dust sprinkles down upon her as a bush. Maybe the shaman is her mother and doesn't want her to leave so she imprisons her as a bush! That would be tragic! I like that better!

(Star: Image Source)

Week 10 Reading Notes Tejas Legends Part A: Why the Woodpecker Pecks

Tejas Legends unit. Story source: When the Storm God Rides: Tejas and Other Indian Legends: Why the Woodpecker Pecks retold by Florence Stratton and illustrated by Berniece Burrough (1936).

I enjoyed this story a lot and thought it would be interesting to re-tell. 

I think I want to keep the story basically the same but switch it to first person. 

So we'll still have a small introduction to explain why and how all the Indians got into the mescal they weren't supposed to and then we'll wake up through the mother's eyes and follow her as she begs for her child back. This could be super heart wrenching! I'm excited!

(Woodpecker: Image Source)

Reading, Part B: Sun Wu Kung: Laotzse

This story is part of the The Monkey King unit. Story source: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung: Laotzse" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

I love how mischievous Sun is in this part of the story. He comes off as a real trickster and I would love to implement that elements into a re-telling. I also want to go a little more in depth about the pills of life, maybe describe them more and tell some of their effects. Fleshing out Laotzse wouldn't hurt either, I might want to do more research on him because he sounds like a different, Greek God that I'm more familiar with. I think this would be an excellent part of the story to retell. 

(Peach Worm: Pinterest)

Week 9 Reading A: Sun Wu Kung: Handsome King of the Apes

This story is part of the The Monkey King unit. Story source: "The Ape Sun Wu Kung" in The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

This story set was intriguing because it was continuous and the different parts acted like chapters rather than different stories. I think taking the beginning and showing it in a different way could be cool. Maybe change the animals up but mostly have everything be the same.

(Waterfall Entrance: Image Source)

Reading Notes Part B: Congo: The Fetish Of Chilunga

"Girls who are given in marriage by their parents to ugly men and who object to them on that account are taken to the holy ground. Then they hear a voice speaking to them, saying: "Are you then so beautiful that you can afford to despise these good men on account of their ugliness?" Then their hands are tied behind them, and there they remain prisoners until such time as they are willing to marry the men." 

(hands tied behind back: Image Source)

This part of the story intrigues me! I want to expand on this moment with a beautiful, stuck up girl that has to marry a very ugly boy. She refuses and is held prisoner in the forest for several days. The man loves her and visits her every night. At first, she does not appreciate him but then, eventually, she falls in love with him and agrees to love him. 

(Actually, maybe it's just that she's used to a certain type of guy and then realizes that that type was all wrong for her and this is the guy she needs.) 

Bibliography: Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort: Congo: The Fetish of Chilunga by Richard Edward Dennett (1898). 

Reading Notes, Part A: Congo: The Jealous Wife

(The Jealous Wife: Image Source)

Two jealous wives.
How sad do I want to get with this?
Maybe not too sad. Broken vases sound better. Or paintings! Idk, some type of artwork.
They're both interns trying to get their art submitted for a special showcase and they have to show it to their boss. They both make these elegant vases and then one gets jealous of the other and tries to break her vase but ends up breaking her own. No one dies at the end.

Bibliography: Congo: The Jealous Wife. Notes on the Folklore of the Fjort by Richard Edward Dennett (1898).

Reading Notes, Part B: The Grasshopper and the Ant

(Grasshopper: photo by dorth1)

I enjoy stories like this though I don't know if it'll be fun writing it. I think I want to change up the main characters though I like the idea of keeping them small like bugs. I hoped that the end would go exactly as it did! Even though that's sad that his friend died, it's realistic. I think realistic stories hold more weight. I might edit out a step or two because it gets quite boring reading the same thing over and over again.

I might also deviate totally from the story line and just have my main character ask help from a couple beings and then help him himself. I think I'll keep the death and the moral lesson at the end the same though.

Bibliography:  Georgian Folktales unit. Story source: Georgian Folk Tales, The Grasshopper and the Ant, by Marjory Wardrop (1894).

Reading Notes, Part A: The Priest's Youngest Son

(Gun: Image Source)

I want to keep it as a dad and three sons but this time with the oldest one being the favored son. Instead of horses, the dad leaves them guns but the younger boys are lazy and don't want to go pick up the guns. The oldest one acquires all three and uses them in a three day shooting contest to win a date with the homecoming queen or something. Somehow he wins a competition because of the guns that his dad left him. I don't really know how to incorporate the sick mom at the end. I'll have to think about it.

Bibliography:  Georgian Folktales unit. Story source: Georgian Folk Tales, The Priest's Youngest Son, by Marjory Wardrop (1894).

Reading Notes, Part B: Turkish Fairy tales: The Wizard and his Pupil

This story reminded me of the King Arthur Disney movie from forever ago! The one where Merlin takes Arthur under his wing and turns him into a squirrel and stuff! I think this would be a lot of fun to re-tell.

I like the idea of having to hold on to a piece of the changed person so they don't get lost. In the end though, I think I'll have the wizard capture his apprentice and keep him as a pet or something for eternity so he can warn other apprentices not to mess up or do wrong. I don't think the apprentice should have "won."

so first I'll have the wizard turned into a pawn shop item, then a piece of furniture, then an electronic device. Then I'll have the apprentice turned into a coffee shop and he'll give the keys to his girlfriend. The Wizard will trick her into giving him the keys by showing up as a super hot guy that's totally interested in her.

There will be a chase scene but, in the end, the wizard is able to trap the apprentice in one form (probs a crow or a cat) for eternity.

(Angry Cat: Image Source)

Bibliography:

This story is in the Turkish Fairy Tales unit. Story source: Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales: The Wizard and his Pupil by Ignacz Kunos, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1913).

Reading Notes, Part A: Turkish Fairy Tales: Fear

I don't like the storytelling format of most of these stories. It feels condescending to me. I am not a child, I have outgrown this type of bedtime story. That is why I usually do not write in this style.

(What is Love?: Image Source)

Instead of fear, I want the young man to be in search of love. Throughout the piece, I'll have him look for love and he'll find it in different places.

for example,
- Bringing soup to his sick mother
- getting hugs from children
- owning and training an animal
- finally meeting a woman he falls in love with

I will probably have to use both parts of this story in order to tell the whole thing.
I think I'll probably write in first person or third person omniscient, I haven't decided yet.



Bibliography:
 This story is part of the Turkish Fairy Tales unit. Story source: Forty-four Turkish Fairy Tales by Ignacz Kunos, with illustrations by Willy Pogany (1913).