Reading Diary Week 7: Brother Grimm (Hunt)

For extra credit this week, I chose to read Brother Grimm (Hunt) stories.

Hansel and Grethel (source: thegloss)

Hansel and Grethel

• Wood-cutter, wife, and two children.
• Boy was Hansel, girl was Grethel.
• They didn't have much to eat. The wife suggested leaving the kids in the thickest part of the woods. Husband refused.
• Grethel heard and started to cry. Hansel told her not to worry. He went out to the pond and picked up all the little stones he could. 
• Hansel left a trail of stones. 
• The parents left them by the fire to "go cut some more wood". They never came back. The siblings fell asleep till nightfall.
• They just followed the stone trail home.

Hansel and Grethel (cont.)

• Once again, a scarcity hit and the step-mom wants to leave the kids in the woods.
• Hansel went again and picked up the pebbles, but the door was locked. 
• They were once again given a piece of bread. Hansel crumbled it and left a trail of them.
• The woman led them deeper in the forest this time. 
• They fell asleep again. This time when trying to follow the crumbs home, they weren't there, since the birds ate them all up.
• The walked all night and the next day, but couldn't get out of the forest. 

Hansel and Grethel (cont. again)

• It's been 3 days.
• They saw a beautiful bird and listened to it sing, following it when it flew away.
• They came upon a little house. It was built out of bread and cakes and sugar.
• They started eating different parts of the house. When a voice asked who was eating, they said the wind.
• An old woman emerged from the house and invited them in. She fed them and made beds for them.
• She was really a wicked witch. She ate children. Witches have red eyes but bad eye sight, with a really good nose.
• She locked Hansel in the stable. She forced Grethel to fetch water and cook for her brother... so that he would get fat and she can eat him. 
• The witch would go to Hansel, ask for his finger so he can see whether he's fat enough, but Hansel would give her a bone. 
• The witch lost patience after 4 weeks. 

Hansel and Grethel (end)

• The woman said they will bake first. She shoved Grethel towards the oven so she could see whether the flames are ready. She intended to shut Grethel in the oven and bake her.
• Grethel feigned ignorance and asked the witch to show her. 
• Grethel pushed the witch and shut the door, running away when the witch started howling in pain and finally died.
• She went to free Hansel. 
• They went to the witch's house and filled their pockets with the pearls and jewels.
• On the way back, they came upon a piece of water with no bridge to cross over. A duck was coming their way, and Hansel asked for a ride.
• When the children got home, their father was ecstatic they're back. The step mom's dead.

Thumbling

• A wife and a husband ponder why they don't have children. The wife will be quite happy with a little one, even as small as a thumb.
• She got pregnant for seven months and gave birth to a child no larger than a thumb. They didn't care that the child was small. They cared for it and called it Thumbling.
• The two men saw Thumbling ordering the horse to go forth and offered to buy him from the old man. 
• The old man refused, but Thumbling told him to give him away, that he will come back. 
• He slipped into a mouse-hole and the two men was forced to leave, mad.

Thumbling (cont.)

• He crept into a snail shell to stay safe.
• Two men walked by, wondering how to get hold of the rich pastor's silver and gold.
• Thumbling offered to help. 
• When they got to the pastor's house, Thumbling started yelling questions at them. This woke the cook. The two men ran away.
• He went to sleep on the hay. The next day, the maid fed that hay to the cows. Thumbling ended up in the cow's stomach. 
• The maid heard Thumbling but thought it was the cow speaking.

Thumbling (end)

• The pastor ordered the cow to be killed. A wolf came and ate the cow, swallowing Thumblig in the process.
• He told the wolf instructions to his father's house. When it ate everything, it was too fat to fit through the door. Thumbling started making noise.
• His parents finally appeared. Thumbling told them he's in the wolf's body. 
• The family is reunited.

Allerleirauh

• A king had a beautiful wife with golden hair.
• She felt like she was going to die, so she ordered the king: If though wishest to marry again after my death, take no one who is not quite as beautiful as I am and who has not just such golden hair as I have: this though must promise me.
• The king had a daughter who was beautiful like her mother and had the same hair.
• He decides to marry his daughter.
• The daughter demands three dresses: one as golden as the sun, one as silvery as the moon, and one as bright as the stars. She also wished for a mantle of thousand different kinds of fur and hair; one of every kind of animal in the kingdom. 
• The king managed to do it. She decided to run away. 

Allerleirauh (cont.)

• The king's hunting dogs found her tree the next day. 
• The men couldn't identify the princess because of all the different types of fur she covered herself with. 
• She went to work in the kitchen.

Allerleirauh (end)

• The king married Allerleirauh and they lived happily every after.

Week 7 Storytelling: The Human and the Princess

At the school for young underwater creatures, the old turtle, Gale, is getting ready to tell one of his famous stories. "Gather round kids, it's a new story today!" he says to the children running around the playground.

The little sea creatures all form a circle around grandpa Gale, quieted down, and paid attention.

"One day a long time ago, so long, in fact, that I was still a little turtle, I was captured by a human. The human seemed nice, a young man just helping out his parents, so I was able to talk him out of killing me. He let me go, and I didn't see him again for quite some time. Years and years later, when I was a bigger turtle with a big shell and strong flippers, I saw this human again! He was lost, out at sea, all by himself."

The little sea creatures were captivated by this story. They've heard of those creatures that live above the sea, these humans, but they've never actually seen one! "You actually saw and touched a human?" whispered one of the little fish, in awe.

"Well of course! But don't you go swimming up to the surface without supervision! We won't want you to become some unkind human's dinner now, would we?"

The little sea creatures gasped, some clinging to each other, afraid of the unknown world above them.

Turtle going to take a break (source: riotofinvention)

"Now, where was I? Oh right, I saw this same man again, and he was lost at sea. I had to remind him of who I was, then offered to bring him back to his home. I hadn't realized how far away from the mainland he was, and I was growing tired, so I veered off and brought him down here with me so I could grab a snack and rest for a little bit. While he was here, he caught a glimpse of the princess.

The princess (source: tumblr)

"The princess, a beautiful mermaid, as we all know, and the daughter of our sea king, has never met a human before. The princess became fascinated with the young man, and slowly fell in love with him. The young man, never having met a beautiful mermaid before, experienced what most would call love at first sight. Since it takes quite a while for a big turtle like me to "recharge", the two got talking at got to know each other. When it was finally time to leave again, the princess begged the young man to stay. The young man, having just fallen in love with a beautiful creature, agreed.

"Years passed and they were happy together. Until one day, when the young man missed his parents and wanted to go back to land. The princess was reluctant to let him go, but she did anyway, giving him an ornate box, with strict instructions to not open it. I was to go to him when he called, if he didn't open the box.

"The young man went to shore, and that was the last I've ever heard from him."

"What?!" exclaimed a lot of the kids, "You can't just end there! That's a bad story! Was the princess sad? What happened to the man? He didn't open the box did he? She told him not to! What happened?!" Questions were coming left and right from all the little kids gathered for story time.

"Alright, alright, settle down! I wasn't done with that sentence! I meant to say, that was the last I've heard from him since this morning!" shouted grandpa Gale. "Hahahaha! I got all of you! Of course he came back, the young man and the princess got married and had loads of kids! Who do you think are those mermaids and mermen you see everyday?"

"What?! Those are the princess's kids! I didn't know that! They're so nice and friendly!" chattered the kids, realizing who those beautiful creatures are.

"Well of course they're nice! Well, that's all for story time today! Go back to your classrooms and pay attention in class! Go on, scooot!"

Author's Note
I chose to do this over Uraschimataro and the Turtle from the Japanese Fairytales Unit. I like happy endings, so I changed the ending again. In the story, the young man catches a turtle, the turtle argues that it's too small to be of any use right now, and the man lets it go back to sea. They encounter each other again when he's lost at sea, and the turtle, wanting to repay him, brought him to the sea god. He met the princess, they were happy. Until one day when he wanted to go back to land. The princess, dreading it, gave him an ornate box with instructions to not open it. When he was ready to come back, he was to call for the turtle. When he got to shore, he realized that years and years have gone by. He finds his parents' tombstones, with their date of death the day that they discovered their son was lost at sea. Drowning in sadness, he opens the box, purple vapour comes out, and he's suddenly a mummy, time catching up with him. When he goes to the shore to call for the turtle, it never comes.

I thought I'd follow the majority of it since it's a good story, but change the ending to make it happy.

Bibliography: Uraschimataro and the Turtle from the Japanese Fairytales Unit.