Reading, The Coffin-Lid, Part B

For part B of this last week I stuck with the Russian unit stories. My favorite story from this second part was titled The Coffin-Lid from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

In this story, I wondered why the dead man decided to come out of his grave to kill some young boys. If I were telling this story, I would at least give an explanation as to why he wanted to kill them. I think he should rise from his coffin and kill the bad people of the world. No one ever knows who is doing the killing, but people are thankful for this "hero" for protecting their community.

Graveyard
Source: Public Domain Pictures

People try to stay out of trouble and do the right thing because they know this man will come kill them if they do anything harmful in the community.

One night, when the corpse is coming out of his grave, a man from out of town will decide to follow him and he witnesses him killing two boys. He asks the corpse why he does this and the corpse says that he is making society better by killing all of the bad people. The man goes to the police to report the problem and soon the whole town knows what's going on.

Out of fear, no one does anything about it. The community just decides for each and every person to live a good and honest life or they will pay the ultimate price of death.

Reading: The Dead Mother, Part A

For this last week of reading, I chose to read the Russian story titled The Dead Mother. This story comes from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887).

I enjoyed this story up until the end. The baby dies, but it doesn't give an explanation why and it seems to throw the whole story off. I think it's a cool concept that the baby is soothed at night because the dead mother comes back to nurture and take care of her baby, but still I find no reason to have the baby die at the end. The husband already lost his wife, it would be even worse to lose his child.

So, I think in my version of the story I would not have the baby die. I would have the dead mother come back to take care of her baby, and when the husband finds a new wife, she will stop coming around. The husband will bring many different woman home, but the dead wife will not stop coming back until he finds the perfect woman to care for their child. As soon as he finds the perfect woman, the dead wife will say her goodbyes to her family once and for all, and wish the new mother luck.

Mother and Child
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Another concept I could use would be to make this story would be to make the dead woman kidnap her baby because her husband is trying to have bad woman be the new mother of her child. After losing his child, the husband searches everywhere for a new fitting mother to care for his child and finally finds one. I want the ending to be happy, as I do with most of my stories.

Tech Tip: Touch Typing Games

I decided to try the Ninja Cat Touch Typing Game. It was fun and definitely kept me entertained for awhile. I'm better at typing long words and I realized I don't have an exact reaction to where a letter is on the keyboard when it's just one letter. I don't type formally, like they teach you when you're younger. I was taught in a computer class where to place my fingers specifically, but I thought it was easier my way. I still believe that, and I'm pretty fast the way that I do it.

I did better on the game when it was a longer word. I also found it hard to focus with the moving targets, because I don't place my fingers correctly on the keys. My computer would not load the other typing games for some reason, so I only played the Ninja Cat one. I did play different levels though, and I enjoyed the more difficult ones the most.

Reading: The Ingrates, Part A

For extra credit reading, I wanted to read the Italian stories. I selected the story titled The Ingrates from Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane (1885). I enjoyed this story because it had a simple lesson to it. It states that, "For who does good is ill rewarded, and who does evil is well rewarded."

If I were to change this story and create my own version I think I would want to make it a more modern version. I would change the characters to humans. A rich man who lived and worked in a rich community would become lost and find himself in a poor community. A sketchy, mean gang member  will mug him and tell him that he may just kill him. The rich man will plead or his life and reason with the gang member. He will ask him to ask other people around if he should be able to live.

They come across many individuals who reply with, "You're rich and don't face problems we do" or "You think you're better than us because you are rich". Finally the rich man pleads with a man to agree to let him live by bribing him with money. The man agrees and tells the gang member to let him live. When the man goes to get his promised money, he grabs it and is on his way home when he is robbed and killed in a drive by shooting.

City Streets
Source: Flickr

This story doesn't have a happy ending just like the original that I derived my ideas from. It's basically a simple story of not getting involved with the wrong people because you never know how it could turn out.

Week 14 Story Planning: Little Red Cap

Next week I want to create my own version of the story Little Red Cap from The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D.L. Ashliman (1998-2013). While taking notes over this story I had a few ideas to change it and make it my own story.

My first idea was to change the point-of-view from which the story is told. The Wolf would be telling the story, so the reader would see a more sympathetic side of the Wolf and maybe see his reasoning for his actions. He is a Wolf, so it's natural for him to behave the way he does in the story. He must do certain things to survive and to take care of his family. For all we know, he could have baby wolves back home.

My second idea was to flip the role of the villain and the victim. The Wolf would be going to visit his family, but on the way there he encounters some hunters who are trying to kill him. The hunters know how clever the Wolf is, and they try to outsmart him.

After researching this story, I found that the origin is in fact European. The specific country of origin of this story is Germany. I found the story along with other details at the website Lit2Go.

I found out an abundance of information about the original and early forms of the tale from Wikipedia. The earliest form of this story actually comes from French folklore. The story then was known as Le Petit Chaperon Rouge by Charles Perrault. This version, as well as some early versions, were more sinister than the newer versions. I find that very interesting, and I could possibly make my story more sinister to have more of a resemblance to the original tale.

Little Red Riding Hood
Source: Wikipedia

Reading Notes: The Headless Princess, Part B

For the reading this week for Part B, I read the Russian Unit. My favorite story was titled The Headless Princess from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston (1887). I liked this story because it was something unlike I'd ever heard before. It definitely wasn't what I had expected at first glance.

I don't particularly like the ending of the story, so for my version I would make it a more happy story. I think that even though the Princess is a witch, she still has some good in her. Rather than dying, I think the boy should seek out to help her. I also think the character of the little boy should be a bit older, close to the age of the Princess. He wants to help her because he falls in love with her. He only tells her secret to his teacher, and his teacher helps him get closer to the Princess and gives advice on how to win her over.

Instead of making the story about defeating a witch, I want to make it about a boy who is trying to win over a Princess. He knows she is a witch, but he sees past that flaw. In the end the Princess will fall for the boy, and she gives up her witch ways in order to be with him. Her secret will be revealed at the end to all the other characters, and they praise the boy for saving her.

Princess Witch
Source: Pixabay

Reading Notes: Little Red Cap, Part A

For this week of reading, we read stories from the European Unit. I decided to read the Ashliman stories, and my favorite story from Part A was Little Red Cap. This story came from The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D.L. Ashliman (1998-2013) It's the classic story of Little Red Riding Hood that I was already familiar with that I first heard when I was a child. It had some minor differences than what I had heard because it is the story told from a European view, but most everything stayed the same.

If I were to retell this story I have two ideas in which I'd like to change it. My first idea would to be to tell the story from the Wolf's point-of-view and show the more sympathetic side of his character. He's the villain in the original story, so I would tell the new version in a way that they see that he is an animal who relies on eating others for the survival of him as well as his family.

My other idea would be to flip the roles of the victim and villain. The wolf would be traveling to help his sick grandmother. Before he leaves, his mother tells him to beware of the hunters who are out hunting for wolves. It would be a similar story, but the roles will be reversed. I will change a few details of course, to make it better fit the new version.

Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf
Source: Wikimedia Commons