Reading Diary for Week 14: Grimm Tales (Crane)

Grimm Tales (Crane)


The Fisherman and His Wife: I can relate to the fisherman a bit. While my wife is content and happy with our apartment unlike the wife in the story, I can tell that she has more of a desire to buy a home than I do. I would be fine living in the apartment for many years, but like many husbands, I want to fulfill my wife's desires and so we will probably buy a house sooner rather than later. However, while my wife would probably ask me to ask the fish for the cottage, that would be the end of it. She does not want anything extravagant like a castle or power over the moon and sun, just a nice home to call our own.




The Robber Bridegroom: What an evil little group of men. I like how she kept repeating, "Sweetheart, the dream is not ended," while she was telling her story. I was imagining the bridegroom nudging her to stop talking throughout the story.


King Thrushbeard: This unit definitely seems to have a focus on marital problems. This story really surprised me! I did not expect the beggar to be king Thrushbeard. This may be the one I rewrite. It would make for a nice ending to my storybook. Death could end with encouragement that you can learn from your mistakes and learn to humble yourself.


The Three Spinsters: This story was pretty funny. I loved the way the prince told her not to spin anymore in fear of her becoming like the three spinsters. I bet her mother is furious with the situation, though. That the daughter was constantly rewarded for her laziness.

Reading Diary for Week 13 Brothers Grimm (Ashliman)

Brothers Grimm (Ashliman)


Cat and Mouse in Partnership: Wow, what a tough lesson for the mouse. The reader would like to see justice done to the cat, but the writer instead instructs the reader that the world doesn't always work that way.


The Wolf and the Seven Young Kids: Agh! Again! The reader would like to see the Miller stand up to the wolf, but he was frightened and did not. The Brothers Grimm have a dark outlook on the people of this world. At least the kids ended up alright and the wolf met his doom


The Seven Ravens: This story was very odd and trippy. I'm glad the family was reunited, though

Rumpelstiltskin: It's always fun to read this story. But now I think of Once Upon a Time when I read his name.

The Fox and the Cat: Interesting story. The fox was pretty arrogant in his thinking. The story started with him metaphorically looking down on the cat, but the story ended with the cat literally looking down on him. This could be a fun one to rewrite, but it would need to be lengthened.

Death's Messengers: I read this story interested in how they would portray death. I wasn't a fan. He just seemed like a bully who picked on the little guy. However, he did say that he favors no one. Also, people don't understand death most of the time, so it makes sense that the man did not recognize death's messengers.

The Hare and the Hedgehog: "And if they have not died, then they are still alive." Haha, what a fantastic line. I really like this story. The Hedgehog should be kinder to his wife, but, overall, it is a fun tale.

Reading Diary Week 12: Robin Hood

From Robin Hood Unit in the Un-textbook

Progress to Nottingham: What we learned about Robin Hood is that he does not like to be insulted, he is really good with a bow, and he knows it. Don't mess with Robin Hood
Little John: This one was very long, but the video of the song was great! I liked how they started as enemies, but then gained each other's respect. I think I will rewrite this story.
The Shepherd: Wow. What a great pride story. Robin and Little John definitely underestimated their foe. This would be a great story for my Storybook

Reading Diary for Week 11: King Arthur

King Arthur Unit

The Sword Excalibur: It's never safe in a story to exchange an open ended promise for a gift. When the other party decides to redeem that promise, it is always more than the fool bargained for. It reminds me of Wimpy how would offer to pay Tuesday for a hamburger today.
The Passing of Merlin: I like it when things can't be changed. Whenever time traveling or fortune-telling is involved in a story, it always gets mess with how it can work out and still make sense. I like all the mess is cut out and it is simply stated that what happened happened and whatever will happen will happen.
King Arthur and Morgan le Fay: It is great that King Arthur has so many wise people surrounding him. I feel like he is not very wise and is prone to making foolish mistakes.

Reading Diary Week 10: Native American Hero Tales

Native American Hero Tales

The Jealous Uncle:
This story reminded me of the adventures of Sindbad in the way that the boy is repeatedly thrown into peril. I'm glad that the Uncle met justice in the end.

Bluejay and his Companions:
Talk about a prank going wrong! It was awesome that the Grouse got back at the other guys for the way they treated him, but I doubt that he meant for it to go that far.

Reading Diary Week 9: Myths an Legends of the Sioux

The Rabbit and the Bear: This story was really odd. The plot went all over the place and the ending was unsatisfying. I think I will rewrite this story for my storytelling assignment, but change the ending. I'll have the rabbit bite off more than he can chew.

The Simpleton's Wisdom: These stories are pretty weird. I'm not understanding the point to many of them.

The Boy and the Turtles: Why did the boy not begin with the lake where the tribe normally hunted turtles? Why did the men appear in the lake? Why was the boy honored when they confirmed his story? What does it all mean?!

Reading Diary Self-Assessment

                As the semester has gone on, I was starting to think I was doing the Reading Diary posts wrong. I had kept the posts on the stories rather short, so the entire post was not very substantial. I was just writing bits and pieces of things I thought while reading the stories and how I might use the story in the future. Upon reading the Guidelines for the Reading Diary, I was reassured that this was exactly what I should be doing.

It’s super helpful this way, too. While reading through my Reading Diary, I found a couple of stories that I had read that I would like to include in my Storybook. I had just written a couple of notes on these stories, but these notes triggered the part of my brain where the story was stored, and I was able to remember the plot I had read weeks ago. The summary of the story wouldn’t have been beneficial since the short notes reminded me what happened in the story. It was these notes, though, that made me see an association with the story and the theme of my Storybook.

I do notice, however, that I comment on almost every story I read in a given unit. This isn’t bad, but it does make the post a little cluttered with useless information. I will probably focus on the stories that I consider to be my favorites and write about them. This is hard to do, though, since I comment on a story I like right after I read it. When I like most of the stories in a unit or find most of them interesting, I end up writing about almost all of them. Perhaps I will raise the bar to REALLY liking them before commenting on them.

Overall, I think that the Reading Diary is a great assignment that is easy to complete and proves to be very helpful to other assignments. I refer to my Reading Diary often for my Storytelling assignments, and I have found inspiration for my Storybook within the comments in my Reading Diary.

Week 6 Reading Diary: Tibetan Folktales

These are stories from the Tibetan Folktales unit.

The Tiger and the Frog: This is a great trickster story. The tiger must have been very hungry to think he needed to go through the challenges, instead of just eating the frog.
The Donkey and the Rock: I'm not sure how the proverb fits into this story, but I love the story anyways! It reminds me of King Solomon's wisdom in court hearings.
How the Fox Fell a Victim to His Own Deceit: This story could fit into my storybook. I think I would want to rewrite it as a rich man who adopts two children after his wife dies. The first one becomes prideful and envious of the other. Could be an interesting adaptation.
The Ingratitude of Man: The irony in this story is fantastic. The traveler thought that only the man would be able to repay him, but instead the man brought the traveler much trouble and it was the animals who helped him.
The Wise Carpenter: This story reminds me of Spy vs. Spy. The carpenter really was smart to have the loud music played to cover the painter's screams.
The Story of the Two Devils: This story reminded me of a cartoon where the protagonist just happens to defeat the antagonist, with no real qualifications to speak of.
How the Rabbit Killed the Lion: This is an interesting pride story. He was blinded by it and could not see past the rabbit's lies.
How the Raven Saved the Hunter: Poor raven ):

Week 5 Reading Diary: Voyages of Sindbad

Sindbad: First Voyage: What a valuable lesson for Sindbad to learn! That if you are not careful with your money it will grow wings and fly away without a trace. I'm a Dave Ramsey kind of guy, so this stuck out to me.

Second Voyage: I love the way he kicks around the diamonds, since they are worthless to him in his situation.  Plus, the purpose of this voyage wasn't for riches, which he did get, but for adventure.

Third Voyage: I don't understand why they went back to the castle! If they were able to build rafts, they should have been able to build a shelter for the nights.
I like how Sindbad keeps finding his old crew and merchandise at the end of the stories.
Fifth Voyage: Surely this man is some sort of adrenaline junkie. With his constant restlessness, I would not be surprised to see him die in the seventh voyage. I didn't like when his shipmates killed and ate the roc
Sixth Voyage: I really wish that Sindbad would be able to share his fortune with his companions. In every voyage, all of his companions die and he is the sole survivor. It is madness.
Seventh Voyage: Nothing can be more true than when the merchant who took Sindbad as a slave said, "you must be under the special protection of Heaven." That's the only explanation for how Sindbad survived every voyage. Like the fifth voyage, I was upset about the killing of the elephants. At least the elephants provided Sindbad and the merchant with a way to collect ivory without hunting the elephants.

Week 4: Arabian Nights

Scheherazade: the sultan was off-his-rocker with bitterness over his ex-wife. the grand-vizir being asked to offer his daughter reminds me of the biblical story of Abraham and Isaac. I liked how this story was a set-up for the following story
The Merchant and the Genius: I see where this is going. A bunch of stories within stories to stall the death of the grand-vizir's daughter
The Two Black Dogs: So far I can see a general theme of people being spared their death in these stories. I would venture to guess that the daughter of the grand-vizir will be spared in the end.
The Parrot and the Ogress: We are getting into Inception-style story now. We have the grand-vizir's daughter telling a story about a fishman who is teaching a lesson to a genie with a story about a king, whose vizir is jealous of the king's relationship with a physician, telling a story to his vizir about another king and his vizir. Wow.

Week 3: Ovid's Metamorphoses (Books 8-10)

Philemon and Baucis: I want me and my wife to be like this couple! Living happily within their means, even if they don't have much to call their own. Their home may have been lacking with their small copper pot or their uneven table, but it surely wasn't lacking in spirit. I believe this is why the gods wanted to visit them. They didn't have the finest things, but they had the finest hearts and proved to be the best company.

Transformation of Philemon and Baucis: The story ends perfectly. All they wanted was to take care of what the gods had given them and to always do it together.

Achelous: Achelous talked real big about being a god while Hercules was only a mortal, but when push came to shove, Hercules showed true might. It could be a good "pride cometh before destruction" type of story, if I were to go that route with my Storybook. I like how it is told from a humbled perspective.

Week 2 Reading Diary:

I really enjoyed the stories about Phaethon in Ovid's Metamorphoses (Books 1-4):

Phaethon and the Sun: Phaethon really needed a sense of identity, not only to prove to his friends that he was Phoebus Apollo's son, but to also prove to himself that he was more than just a man. Phoebus shows us the danger that can come from making a blank promise when Phaethon asks for far more than Phoebus had expected. Phoebus's inability to break his promise once he has made it is something worth noting. He did not specifically exclude riding the chariot from his offering, so it was technically up for grabs. 

Phaethon's Ride: Despite the numerous warnings from his father, Phaethon still insists on taking the reins of his father's chariot. He is stubborn and foolish. He quickly learns what he wanted was wrong, and the earth suffers greatly for it. The earth pleads to the gods, asking what she has done to deserve the pain.

The Death of Phaethon: Jupiter responds to the pleading of the earth and smites Phaethon and the chariot. Phaethon's sisters mourn his death for four months, but then get turned into trees. His friend mourns his death and gets turned into a swan. Everyone is mad at Jupiter for killing Phaethon. I don't understand why. He had no choice; Phaethon made a foolish decision and was destroying the earth.

Reading Diary Part B

Echo: I have heard the Judgement of Tiresias before. I know that the staff and two snakes are what we see in the symbol for medicine. I enjoyed the dialogue between Echo and Narcissus; it was very creative. Sad thing that she ended up just being another Nymph whose love Narcissus refused. It wasn't even due to her speech impediment; he was just in his own world.

Narcissus: Wow! Fantastic story and a fantastic way to find out where the term "narcissist" comes from! Interesting how he did not know he was looking at his own reflection; he was so convinced that there was a person in the water. He was completely in love with himself and totally detached from reality. I, for one, am glad of his fate; I really can't stand people who are too engulfed in themselves.

Pyramus and Thisbe: I had no idea Romeo and Juliet was based on Greek mythology. I guess no stories are truly original, and all are based on some story before it. I think I liked the lion version better, though. Thisbe really couldn't help that a lion came, whereas I never felt that Juliet should have taken that fake poison without letting Romeo know. Although, I feel that Pyramus and Thisbe's tragedy could have been avoided with a simple phone call. Too bad the technology didn't exist back then.