Week 14, Reading Diary: Brothers Grimm (Librivox)

Story source: Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm

The Queen Bee - I enjoyed this story. I liked how the youngest brother kept telling his older brothers to leave the ants alone, leave the ducks alone, and leave the bees alone. Then when he was in need of assistance, the ants, bees and ducks all helped him.

The Twelve Huntsmen - This was an enjoyable tale as well. I felt bad for the girl that was left behind when the prince made a promise to his dying father without thinking about it. She did a great job of finding her way back into the prince's life and getting him to remember her so that they could be together.

Huntsmen

 

Week 14, Reading Diary: Brother's Grimm (Librivox)

Story source: Fairy Tales by the Brothers Grimm

Rapunzel - Being as how Tangled is one of my favorite Disney movies, it is no surprise that this story is one of my favorites this week. I do think it was weird that the wife just wanted to eat some of the enchantress' rampion so bad that she thought she would die. I thought that part was a bit strange. 

The Traveling Musicians - 

 Statue of the Traveling Musicians

This was an interesting story. Each of the animals in the story were getting too old to be useful to their owners and ran away before they could be killed. I liked how they together scared off the robbers in the cabin and took over. And when one of the robbers returned, they got frightened and scared the robber into thinking that an old witch and a demon took over the cabin.

Briar Rose - I was really surprised at how much this story is like Disney's version. Disney didn't change near as much about this story as they did with some of the other stories that have been adapted.

Week 13 Storytelling: The dwarf's curse

The Dwarf's Curse

Thank you all for coming to the double wedding of the king’s sons. My brother and I are happy you all are here to celebrate with us. Many of you do not know the story of how I met these two lovely brides. So I will tell you the tale.

As you know, I disappeared a few years back. I was gone for nearly a year. I had been cursed by a dwarf who had stolen some of the royal treasures. The dwarf turned me into a bear and I was forced to live in the forest to keep from scaring the entire town.

One day as the weather was turning colder, I happened upon a cottage. I wasn’t sure how I would be able to survive the winter out in the forest all alone. I wished to sit by the fireplace and warm myself. I took a chance and approached the door. I knocked as gently as I could with my giant paws. A beautiful girl opened the door. She screamed and jumped back at the sight of me. Her sister hid behind the furniture. 

Me as a black bear

“Please,” I begged, “do not be afraid. I will not harm you. I only wish to warm myself by your fire for a while.”

The mother of the girls agreed to let me lie down by the fire and assured the girls that I would not hurt them. The girls were no longer afraid and soon helped make me more comfortable by knocking the snow from my fur. I lay by the fire all night and the next day they let me out.

I returned the next evening and again the kind family let me into their home. I returned to the cottage each evening. Soon we all became friends. The girls seemed happy to see me and I loved seeing them every night.

When spring came I told the girls that I would not be returning for a long time. They seemed sad. I explained that there were dwarves who, once the earth warmed enough, would come out and try to steal my treasures and I had to go guard them. I bid the family farewell and thanked them for their kindness. I then set out to guard my belongings from the dwarves.

A short time later, I heard from a bird, that the girls had been in the forest and encountered the dwarf. I was told that the dwarf had his beard caught in a tree and the girls cut off the tip of it to free him. Those girls are so sweet and would never do harm to anyone. But apparently that ungrateful dwarf swore at the girls and ran off. Hearing this angered me so much. How dare he speak to my friends that way?

After some time I heard again of my sweet friends encountering the dwarf. They had gone down to the creek and found the fool dwarf with his beard caught up in some fishing line. Once again the girls took pity on the dwarf and tried to help him. They could not free him from the line and had to cut his beard again. Once he was free, the dwarf cursed them for cutting his beard again. Why must he be so cruel to those who only try to help? 

the Evil Dwarf

Then one evening the dwarf had some jewels that he lay out in a clearing. The girls happened to be in the forest again and surprised the dwarf. They had seen all of the jewels and stopped to admire them. The dwarf started yelling at them again. Only this time, I happened to be nearby and overheard it all. I wasn’t about to let him bully my friends any longer. I jumped out and frightened the dwarf. He begged for his life. Then he offered the girls up to me as they would make a better meal than he. But I recognized him as the dwarf who had cursed me to the bear form. I took one big swipe at him with my claw and he fell against a rock and moved no more.

The girls had run away, but I called to them. They must have recognized my voice because they stopped. It was at that point that I returned to my proper human form. They were confused and I explained that I was a prince and that dwarf had cursed me. The dwarf’s death freed me from the curse.

I took the girls and their mother to the palace with me and introduced them to my brother and parents. I insisted that they come to live with us in the palace, in return for the kindness they gave me over the winter.

And that is the end of the story. My brother and I fell in love with the girls. And now, years later, we are married and this town has the kindest, most generous princesses that you could ever ask for. 




Author's note: I took this story from Snow-white and Rose-red. In the story the two girls live with their poor mother in a cottage in the forest. They are the sweetest girls and they always do everything together. I didn't really change the story. I decided to tell it from the prince's point of view. In the story, the girls do come across the dwarf, but the bear-prince doesn't know about it. Since I told it from his point of view I added in that he heard about it from a bird who saw it happen. I wanted him to be upset and angry about the dwarf's treatment towards the girls since they were so kind to him. At the end of the story the two girls get married to the prince and his brother, so I thought I would tell it as him telling the story of how they met to his wedding guests.


Bibliography: Story source: Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

Week 13, Reading Diary: Brothers Grimm (Hunt) cont.

Story source: Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm,

Bearskin - this was an interesting story. I liked how the man made a deal with the devil in order to have money. He thought he had outsmarted the devil after he survived the seven years as bearskin. But in the end the devil got two souls of the sisters of his betrothed that killed themselves once they found out who he was.

Hans the Hedgehog - this was a strange story. I like that Hans the Hedgehog got his revenge on the first king and his daughter that had deceived him. I am happy to see that the second king and his daughter welcomed him, despite his strange appearance, and made good on their promise. I was surprised that he was able to shed his hedgehog coat to look human.

Snow-White and Rose-Red - I really enjoyed this story. That dwarf was an evil little thing. I loved how the mother and the girls trusted the bear and became friends. Their kindness towards the bear paid off in the end.

Rose-red and Snow-white

Week 13, Reading Dairy: Brothers Grimm (Hunt)

Story source:  Household Tales by Jacob Grimm and Wilhelm Grimm

Hansel and Grethel

Hansel and Grethel - This is the tale of Hansel and Gretel that I remember I hearing as a child. I have always enjoyed this tale.

Thumbling - This was an interesting story. I like how the little boy tricked the men who bought him from his father and escaped. He was very smart and went through a lot in order to get back home to his parents.

Allerleirauh - Wasn't sure what to think of this story. The girl went out of her way to avoid marrying her father. But after living as a kitchen maid for a while, she made a point of letting the king, her father, know who she was, and ended up marrying him anyway. Not sure what made her change her mind unless it was just that she didn't want to live in hiding as a kitchen maid any longer.

Week 12, Storytelling: Liam's protector

Liam's Protector

the Dog

My dear sweet pups, I want to tell you a story of survival and loyalty and forgiveness. You know we live with the wonderful prince Friedrich and his sweet little son, Liam. They treat us well and it is up to us to protect them. Our loyalty to the prince is extremely important. He trusts us and we trust him. It hasn’t always been that way.

When I was younger, Friedrich would take me and our other dog friends out with him hunting. I loved hunting with our prince. I was really good at it. I also used to sleep at his bedside. It was my place to be next to him. He loved me and I loved him, and still do.

One day, I heard a strange noise coming from little Liam’s room. I heard the call of the prince to start the hunt, but the strange noise in the Liam’s room concerned me. I was torn, do I run to Friedrich to join on the hunt that I love so well, or do I check on the noise in Liam’s room.

I chose to check out the noise. Boy, am I glad I did. Liam was asleep in his bed, but there in the corner of the room was a wolf. The wolf was crouched down, about to pounce on the little boy. I couldn’t let that happen to my friend. I would never be able to forgive myself if anything bad were to happen to little Liam and I did nothing. So I reacted in the best way I knew how. I attacked the wolf. It was a bit of a struggle. The wolf was bigger and more powerful than me. But I had one thing on my side, my love for little Liam. I was able to kill the wolf, but the room was destroyed. Broken furniture and blood was everywhere. Liam was knocked over in his bed. It landed on top of him. I checked to make sure the boy was unharmed and then headed outside to await prince Friedrich’s return. 

the wolf

I was so excited to see Friedrich when he got home. I did my best to lead him to Liam’s room. When we got to the room, Friedrich started calling Liam’s name. He looked scared because Liam didn’t answer. It was then that Friedrich started yelling at me. I was scared. Then Friedrich started kicking and hitting me. I was confused. I didn’t know what was wrong. I thought he would be happy I killed the wolf. But Friedrich was angry. He continued to hit and kick me until I thought he was going to kill me.

I cowered in the far side of the room where the dead wolf lay. Friedrich started towards me, but suddenly stopped. He picked up Liam’s bed and found the still sleeping boy under it. He turned back towards me and then walked slowly up to the dead wolf nearby. He cautiously kicked at the wolf and then started to cry. He called to me, saying he was sorry over and over again. I think that maybe he thought I did something bad to Liam, but once he finally saw the wolf realized that I was protecting him. I slowly went over to prince Friedrich, and he gently pet me. He kept saying he was sorry and that he would never doubt me again.

For a while I had a hard time trusting Friedrich. I was afraid he would hurt me again. But he didn’t. I chose to forgive him for beating me. I realized he did it out of fear. Friedrich made certain that I was comfortable as I healed. I can no longer go hunting because my injuries were bad enough that I never regained my full strength again. But I am okay with that. Friedrich trusts me completely now. So much that I now sleep at the feet of little Liam at night. I feel honored that he trusts me. I am little Liam’s protector. 

Author's note: I based my story off of The Martyred Hound. In the story a prince takes his dogs out hunting. One day his favorite dog didn't come when called. The prince left without him. Upon returning the prince felt the dog was acting funny and noticed the blood on it's face. The dog led him to his child's room where he see's the baby's cradle overturned. The prince, fearing the worst, decided to kill the dog. Afterwards the prince finds his son unharmed and sees the dead wolf. He realizes that his dog killed the wolf, protecting the child. It is too late. I chose to change the ending. Instead of killing the dog, he beat him, but he finds the dead wolf before he fatally wounds his beloved pet. I wanted the prince to beg forgiveness for his brutality and to have the dog forgive him. I put this in the point of view of the dog, having him tell his story to the younger pups. I also wanted to include the importance of forgiveness and how trust can be regained.

Bibliography: Story source: The Welsh Fairy Book by W. Jenkyn Thomas

Week 12, Reading Diary: Welsh (Thomas) Cont.

Story source: The Welsh Fairy Book by W. Jenkyn Thomas
  
The Bride from the Red Lake - This is a story of a man who fell in love with a nymph in a lake. He begged the nymph's father to let the nymph be his wife. Her father agreed as long as the man never struck her with clay. They lived happily until one day, as they planted a tree, he tossed some of the dirt on his shovel over his shoulder for luck and some of it accidentally hit her.

The Devil's Bridge - The woman was grieving because her only cow was trapped on the other side of  a flooded river. A man dressed like a monk heard her cries and agreed to build a bridge but at the cost of the first living thing to cross the bridge. Not wanting to lose her cow, or herself, to him she came up with a plan to get her dog to cross the bridge first. Thus tricking the man.

The Martyred Hound - This story a prince was set out to go hunting and called for his dogs. One of them did not come. When the prince returned from his hunt, his dog greeted him, but the prince saw that the dog's face was covered in blood. Going inside, he found his child's cradle had been overturned and the child did not answer when called. The prince immediately thought the worst and killed the dog. Then the prince heard his child from under the overturned cradle and saw the dead wolf. The dog had killed the wolf and saved the child, but it was too late, the dog was now dead. This reminded me greatly of Lady and the Tramp where Tramp kills a rat in the baby's room and is sent off to the pound because it is thought that he was attacking the baby.

Tramp and the Rat

Week 12, Reading Diary: Welsh (Thomas)

Story source: The Welsh Fairy Book by W. Jenkyn Thomas

March's Ears - In this story there is a Lord who is unhappy because he has a secret. The secret is known only to his barber. The barber was sworn to secrecy, to tell the secret would mean his death. Holding on to the secret was eating away at the barber to the point that he was becoming ill. He told the secret to the ground and afterwards started feeling better. Later in the spot where the secret is told reeds are growing. A musician cuts the reed for a pipe to play and instead of music, the secret is heard.

The Stray Cow - This is a story about a farmer who captured an elfin cow. From that day forth the farmer was wealthy. After a time he was worried that the cow was becoming old and would no longer bring in money so he decided to fatten her for market. Before the cow could be killed, the elves came and took the cow away. The farmer lost all his money and was poor for the rest of his life.

Dick the Fiddler's Money - this was a short, but cute story. I loved how the fiddler got the money to pay his rent and after he paid for it and got a receipt, the money turned to cockleshells. The man never told where he got the money.

fiddler

Week 11 Storytelling: How the Leprechaun Saved his Gold

How the Leprechaun Saved his Gold

leprechaun

Hi! My name is Patrick and I am a leprechaun. Humans seem to think that we owe them money or something. Every time one of those humans finds one of my kin, they expect us to lead them to gold or treasure or even to grant wishes. Well, yes we have gold, but it is ours and ours alone. We leprechauns earn our gold by making shoes for all the fairy folk. I don’t know why humans treat us the way that they do. Once we were able to live out in the open, amongst the humans, but something changed. Now leprechauns, along with all fairy folk, have to live our lives in hiding. We live in fear of being captured. I have been captured before. I will tell you a tale of how I tricked that human into letting me go without giving up my gold.

One day I was sitting in the forest, minding my own business. I was working, as I usually do, on a new pair of shoes. I had with me a pitcher of my homemade beer. I was going about my work when suddenly I heard a voice. "God bless your work, neighbor," the human said to me.

Since I had been spotted, I knew it was too late to run. "Thank you kindly," I responded.

"Might you be willing to tell me what you've have in that pitcher?" asked the man.

"Aye ‘tis good beer."

"Beer!" said the man. "Where did you get it?"

"Why, I made it.”

“You made it,” the man laughed. "Might you share a taste of your beer?" said the man.

"It would be better for you to be looking after your father's property than to be bothering decent quiet people with your foolish questions. While you're idling away your time here, the cows have gotten into the oats and are knocking the corn all about."

I thought I might have had my chance to get away then, because the young man started to turn away from me, but unfortunately he caught himself and suddenly grabbed me. The big clumsy oaf knocked over my last pitcher of beer in his haste to capture me. I couldn’t share it with him now if I wanted to, which I didn’t. I thought all was lost. He threatened my life if I didn’t give up the location of my gold. What was at first just an intimidating encounter was now absolutely terrifying.

I agreed to show him where the gold was hidden, but in my head I was hatching a plan. I told him that it was a couple of fields over. He carried me in his huge hands all the way to the field I indicated. It was a gigantic field of lovely wildflowers. There were flowers of red and pink and white and blue, but there was most of all a ton of bright yellow boliaun. I directed the man to one of the flowers towards the middle of the field. 

Field of wildflowers

“There buried deep under that flower is my chest full of gold,” I told him. I knew that the man had nothing to dig up the ground with. He realized this as well and tied a red ribbon that he pulled from his pocket to the flower.

“Swear to me that you will not remove that ribbon from that flower,” he said. I agreed not to touch it. The man released me and was then off to get his shovel.

Now, you might think that my gold was lost to this man, or that I broke my promise to him not to touch it. ‘Twas not the case. I did not touch his ribbon. Instead, with the help of my fairy friends, I took more red ribbons and tied them to every yellow flower in the entire field. I watched from the far edge of the field as the man returned with his shovel and found the field covered in red ribbons. I have never laughed so hard in my life. The man stood there, stunned. Then he just turned around and left. I suppose he decided it wasn’t worth digging up the entire field just for a small chest of gold.

So there it is. That’s my story, my narrow escape from the hands of a human who only wanted my gold. Humans need to know not to mess with the fairy folk. We will work together to protect ourselves and each other.


Arthur's note: I based my story off of The Field of Boliauns. I thought I would tell the story from the point of view of the leprechaun. I didn't change the basic story, although I did eliminate some of the conversation. I didn't feel it was needed for my story. The story is about a man who discovers a leprechaun and starts by having a conversation with him, but when the leprechaun tries to distract the man so he can get away, the man captures the leprechaun and demands to know where the gold is hidden. The leprechaun leads the man to a large field of boliaun. To the best I can tell, boliaun is a flower, ragweed or ragwort. The man ties a red handkerchief to the flower that the leprechaun tell him the gold is under and releases him to retrieve his shovel. The man returns to every flower in the field having a red handkerchief tied to it.
 
Bibliography: Story source:  Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892).

Week 11, Reading Dairy, Celtic Tales

Story source: Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs (1892)

The Field of Boliauns - I really enjoyed this leprechaun tale.  It is a story of how a man found a leprechaun and caught him. The man forced the leprechaun to tell him where the treasure is, but the leprechaun fooled him. I had to look up what a boliaun was and to the best I could find it appears to be the Gaelic name for Ragweed.

Boliaun

Gold-Tree and Silver-Tree - This is a story very similar to Snow White. The mother keeps trying to kill the daughter who is more beautiful. What I think is interesting is that in this story the daughter gets married. She is killed by poison from her mother and the husband locks her dead body away instead of burying it. He remarries and the new wife finds the dead one and revives her. The husband keeps both as his wives and the new wife helps kill the first wife's mother. Then they all three live happily ever after. It was really a different twist to the story.