Week 13 Essay: The Importance of Teamwork

Teamwork
Source: KodyB

This week I read the Grimm (LibriVox) unit. I really enjoyed reading this unit for a couple of reasons. First off, there were some stories that I was familiar with such as Rapunzel and Briar Rose, or Sleeping Beauty as she is more commonly known in the United States. While I was familiar with these stories, there were unique elements about them that made them interesting to read.

Although it was nice to read a couple of stories that I was familiar with, I really enjoyed reading the stories that I had never heard before. My favorite, which I used for my storytelling assignment this week, was The Mouse, The Bird, and The Sausage.

For starters, the characters of this story were very original, and quite unexpected in my opinion. I mean if I were to sit down and create my own story, I do not believe I would think to have a mouse, a bird, and a piece of sausage be friends, especially since sausage is an inanimate object! However, this combination worked out very well for the plot and overall lesson of the story. Another great thing about this set of characters was it really encourage the reader to use their imagination. While this is an easy task for a child who is having a story read to them, it is not always an easy feat for me when I am reading, so I definitely enjoyed the challenge!

Another thing I really enjoyed about this story was the overall moral of the story. Working together is something that we are all taught as young children, but that does not necessarily mean that it is easily done. Throughout middle school, high school, and college I have had to do many group projects. They have all been unique, and have therefore posed unique obstacles. However, by taking a simple story like this, it is easy to remember that in order to succeed, we sometimes have to be willing to work with others. 

Week 13 Storytelling: The Onion, The Rose, and The Squirrel

Red Squirrel
Source: Wikipedia

There once was an onion, a rose and a squirrel that all lived together. Now while this might seem like a very odd group of friends to be living together, they actually fit together quite nicely. Each one had a special job to do everyday.

 The onion was in charge of the cooking, for he could add wonderful flavor to the meat and vegetables that he prepared. The rose was in charge of the cleaning, for she could make everything look and smell beautiful by leaving some of her petals around the house. The squirrel was in charge of gathering sticks for the fire, for he could scamper up the trees with ease. He was also in charge of collecting acorns and pecans so that they would have plenty of food to last them through the winter. When they all worked together, things in their house ran very smoothly. However, one day this well-oiled machine of a system came crashing down.

The squirrel had been out since early in the morning gathering sticks and nuts to take back home, when he ran into a field mouse. The field mouse told the squirrel that he thought it was absolutely absurd that he lived with an onion and a rose. The squirrel explained to the field mouse that it was actually quite nice, and explained their system to him. Nevertheless, the field mouse came to the conclusion that it was not fair that the squirrel had to leave the house every morning to come gather sticks and nuts, especially when it was so cold outside, while the onion and the rose worked in the warmth and comfort of their home.

After thinking about this for a few moments, the squirrel decided that the field mouse was right, and he was going to go home and tell the onion and the rose that the arrangement they had was not fair. When the squirrel told this to the onion and the rose, they agreed to rotate tasks with him. From now on, the rose would go out to gather sticks and nuts, the onion would do the cleaning, and the squirrel would do the cooking.

So the next morning, the rose got up early to gather the sticks and the nuts. However, much to her dismay, just as she was almost to the top of an oak tree to gather some acorns, a bird swiped her up and flew off with her.

Meanwhile back at home, the onion began the cleaning. The squirrel came out of his room and asked the onion what that awful smell was. Turned out, the onion had been leaving pieces of his skin around the house. He figured since the rose left her petals around the house, that he should do the same.

The squirrel was very much disgusted by this and fled to the kitchen to try to escape the smell as well as get started on the cooking. He had a nice fire going, got the meat and vegetables in the pot, so things seemed to be going well. However, when he hopped up onto the rim of the pot to stir the meat and vegetables, he accidentally slipped in and burned to death.

The onion went into the kitchen to see what was going on. He was so frightened when he saw what happened to the squirrel that he ran out of the house. Just then, a farmer was walking by and saw him. The farmer scooped up the onion, took him home, and cooked him with his other vegetables for lunch.

Moral of the story: if things are working well, don’t change them.

Author’s Note

This story is based on The Mouse, The Bird, and The Sausage from the Grimm (LibriVox) unit. The plot of the story is basically the same in that each of the characters has a special role; the bird gathers wood, the mouse fetched the water, and the sausage did the cooking. In the original story the bird meets another bird that convinces him that he is doing too much work. So much like in my story, the characters switch roles and it leads to their demise.

I switched up the characters and their roles just a little bit to make it my own. Also, I wanted the moral of the story, as I interpreted it, to be more explicit. I hope you enjoyed!

Bibliography

Book: Grimms’ Fairy Tales

Author: Brothers Grimm

Year: 2008

Web Source: Un-Textbook 

Week 13 Reading Diary: Grimm (LibriVox)

Grimm (LibriVox)

The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean

First off, I love how the stories in this unit take me back to my childhood. Growing up it was easy to hear stories of personified inanimate objects, and have no problem believing the events in the story could really happen. Now that I am older, I obviously know that a piece of straw, a coal, and a bean could not speak to each other and be friends. However, it was still fun to read!

The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage

Much like the story mentioned above, I know the events in this story could never happen. But this story was also fun to read. I really liked how the mouse, the bird, and the sausage all worked together to accomplish all of their daily tasks. Since all the characters ended up dying when they tried to switch roles, this could serve as a story that teaches children the importance of working together.

The Traveling Musicians

I really found this story to be quite hilarious! As all the animals came into the story I could really picture them being frightened by their masters' threats to kill them since they were growing older and less useful. Also, when they stacked themselves upon each other to enter the robbers' house, I thought that was priceless imagery. This was definitely my favorite story so far!

The Fox and the Horse

It was interesting to see that the fox is basically known as the "universal trickster." Although I had my suspicions of the fox when he was introduced in the story, I did not expect him to fool a powerful lion over an old and weak horse. However, I am glad that all ended well for the horse!

The Twelve Dancing Princesses

This story was very interesting. I liked that the princesses were somewhat rebellious and snuck out of the castle at night to meet up with twelve princes and dance with them every night. They certainly were not your typical, well-behaved princesses! Also, I found it humorous that the eldest princess was forced to marry the older soldier because she did not heed to the uneasy feelings of her youngest sister.

The Willow-Wren and the Bear

There was such an epic battle in this story! It was almost like Noah's Arc gone wrong...ha! It was very entertaining to picture all the flying animals battling all the four-legged animals. Also, it was very interesting to see the fox, who is normally a trickster, get tricked and essentially sabotage his army!

Week 12 Essay: All's Well that Ends Well

Yellow Rose
Source: Wikipedia

This week I read the English Fairy Tales unit. It was a very interesting unit, to say the least. Going into this unit, I had a few things in mind, or predictions, as to what the stories in this unit would be like. I figured there would be stories about princes and princesses, enchanted forests, fairy godmothers, and the like. Although some of these elements could be found in the stories, more or less, there were also other elements that made these fairy tales very different from any I had ever read or been told before.

For example, in the story The Rose Tree, there was a man, his two children and their stepmother who all lived together. As one might imagine, the stepmother was very evil and jealous of the man’s daughter, as she was very beautiful and had lovely hair. In this story, the stepmother sends the daughter to the store to buy a bundle of candles. However, the daughter does not ever make it home with the candles. The stepmother was very angry with her, but deceived her and made her think she was going to console her by brushing her hair. The stepmother then tricks the daughter into fetching a billet of wood and an axe, and then decapitates her!!

I was very shocked when this happened in the story. Although in American fairy tales it is common to have a stepmother or some other type of character who is jealous of a princess or some other beautiful girl, it is not at all common for someone to get beheaded! I am all for breaking the cycle of typical fairy tale princess stories, but this one was a little dramatic.

Despite its blatant violence, I did still enjoy this story. The main reason I enjoyed this story was because in the end, word got around that the stepmother had killed the little girl, and then she was killed. All’s well that ends well. 

Week 12 Storytelling: Like Paula Deen Loves Butter

Paula Deen
Source: Wikipedia

There was a man who had three young daughters, and one day he decided to ask each of his daughters how much they loved him. He said to his first daughter, who was the youngest, “Lauren, how much do you love Daddy?”

Lauren replied, “I love you as much as I love Christmas.”

Knowing his youngest daughter really loved Christmas, the man was very satisfied with this answer. Then he said to his middle daughter, “Paige, how much do you love Daddy?”

Paige answered, “I love you as much as a fish loves water.”

Knowing water was obviously very important to fish, the man was also very satisfied with this answer. Then he said to his oldest daughter, “Sara, how much do you love Daddy?”

Sara replied, “I love you as much as Paula Deen loves butter.”

This answer perplexed the man. He did not watch much television, so he did not know who Paula Deen was, or how much she loved butter. Very upset with this answer, the man replied, “After all I have done for you, you only love me as much as some woman loves butter?! For that, I want you to go out for three weeks and try to make it on your own. At the end of the three weeks, we will see if you still only love me as much as Paula Deen loves butter!”

Before Sara could try to make her argument and explain whom Paula Deen was, she was out on the front porch with nothing but the clothes on her back. Realizing there was no way she was going to convince her father to let her back in the house, she set out to look for work.

After walking a few miles she came across a watermelon farm with a “Help Wanted” sign hanging on the fence. She walked up to the front door of the house and knocked. An old man answered the door and said, “Can I help you?”

“Yes,” Sara replied. “I have been kicked out of my house need a job. I noticed your sign on your fence and wondered if you could help me out?”

“Well, as it turns out,” said the old man, “there is some work that you could do. Come inside and we will discuss the details.”

Sara went inside, and the old man informed her of all the tasks she would be doing. He had just hired a young man to help him around the farm, so it would be Sara’s job to help his wife around the house. The two agreed that Sara would work for the old man’s wife in exchange for room and board, and she began work the next day.

Two weeks had passed, and back at home the man and his two daughters were really beginning to miss Sara. As a way to take his mind off of things, the man turned on the television. There was a cooking show airing, hosted by none other than Paula Deen. After watching for just a few minutes, he realized that he had made a mistake.

Early the next morning, the man set out to find his daughter. He was walking past the watermelon farm when he saw Sara and a young man out working in the yard. Excited that he had found his daughter, the man ran up to Sara and wrapped her in his arms.

He apologized for being so hard on her and admitted that he made a mistake, and begged her to come back home. As it turned out, Sara and the young man that had been working for the old farmer had grown quite fond of each other. Sara told her father that the only way she would come back was if Danny could come back with them.

Sara’s father agreed to this, and the three of them returned home. The next week Sara and Danny were married, and they all lived happily ever after.

Author’s Note

This story was based on the English Fairy Tale, Cap O' Rushes. In the original story, there is a king who has three daughters. He asks each of his daughters how much they love him. Two of the daughters give satisfying answers, but one does not. As a result, she is kicked out of the house. She disguises herself, begins to search for work, and ends up working as a servant in a house. However, in the original story, there is a “Cinderella element.” There were dances held for all of the servants. The girl would take off her disguise and go to the dances. After attending the dances three times, there was a wealthy young man who fell in love with her. However, she would never reveal her identity to him. Despite her mysterious ways, the young man gave her a ring. It was not until the girl made a meal, which she had slipped the ring into, that the young man figured out who she was. Shortly after, they were married. The girl’s father was at the wedding and realized the mistake he made, and then they all lived happily ever after.

Sorry for such a long summary, but there was a lot that happened in that story! In an effort to make my story shorter, I cut out the “Cinderella element,” and just cut right to the chase of my love story.

Bibliography

Book: English Fairy Tales

Author: Joseph Jacobs

Year: 1890

Web Source: Un-Textbook 

Week 12 Reading Diary: English Fairy Tales

English Fairy Tales 

The Rose Tree

This was such a dark and sad story for something that is supposed to be a "fairy tale." Even though it was very sad in the beginning when the stepmother killed the daughter (typical fairy tale stepmother move), I was glad that she got what she deserved at the end of the story!

Cap O' Rushes

I liked that this was similar to Cinderella. Cinderella was always one of my favorite Disney princess movies growing up, so it was nice to see a similar story line but with unique plot points. Also, I am glad it had a happy ending and that the father was reunited with his daughter even after he cast her out of his house.

The Master and His Pupil

When I first started reading this story, I definitely was not expecting a demon to come into play! I wasn't sure if I was creeped out by the demon's actions, or if I found them comical. After all, seeing anyone continue to dump barrels of water on a single flower until the room was flooded would be slightly entertaining to see!

Molly Whuppie

This was such an entertaining story! Molly was such a brave and clever little girl! It was interesting to see the giant, which is a familiar character in fairy tales, in a new light.

Johnny-Cake

I was really hopeful that the runaway cake was going to make it out alive! He probably would have lived had he not been arrogant and bragged to everyone that he had outrun so many people. This was an entertaining story that teaches children not to be cocky or to brag too much!

The Ass, the Table and the Stick

When I was reading through this story, I was beginning to worry that Jack would never realize that the inn keeper was stealing his magical property. However, I was relieved when he used the magical stick to punish the inn keeper and get his things back. But then, I was nervous that he really was going to marry the richest of all of the girls instead of the girl he loved. Thankfully, all ended well!