Essay Week 11: English Fairy Tales

For this weeks reading I chose to read a fairy tales unit! I have not really read any of the fairy tale units from the sections so far, so I was initially very excited to read this section! There were two sections I could have chosen from. I decided to go with the one that felt most familiar with me. I recognized some of the stories that were in this unit and that was something I was also very excited about! It was great to get to re-read some of the stories that I have not heard since I was a child. Although, I think the stories I heard were a little different, like the Three Pigs and Henny-Penny. The stories I heard were passed down orally. My great-grandmother passed them to my grandmother and her to my mother and then to me and my brothers. I really appreciate this aspect of learning about folklore in my own family and I had never really put much thought into it until now. I love that my family was able to contribute to my knowledge of the world as a child through oral storytelling. If you are interested in reading some of my favorite stories from this weeks reading you can find that here.

I really liked reading the English Fairy Tales Unit, but I do have to say that it has not been my absolute favorite Unit, but it is still pretty good and well worth my time as a student. I am more than happy to read these tales for a grade! Haha. It seems like some of my favorite units were in week 4-6. However, I must emphasize that I have loved every unit in one way or another so far and I feel as though I am learning a lot from these story analysis!

Family Image - Taken by Myself

Week 11 Storytelling: The Man and His Dog

One day an old man came across a large lump of gold and he had no idea what to do with it! "I have no use for gold! I shall sell it at the market and get myself a dog!” So the man set out and got his dog. Walking home the man came to a bridge, but the dog refused to cross the stone bridge. He was scared of drowning and was upset at the thought of possiblity falling into the water. 

The man left the dog and walked down the road. Soon he came across a woodpecker. “Woodpecker! Woodpecker! Would you please gently peck my dog so he will go across the bridge and so that I may go home?” But the woodpecker refused. 

Man with Dog

The man continued down the road and came across a cat. “Cat! Cat! Would you please chase the woodpecker out of the tree to go peck my dog so he will cross the river and so I can get home?” But the cat refused.

The man continued down the road and came across a hawk. “Hawk! Hawk! Please, will you threaten the cat with your talons so she will chase the woodpecker; cat won’t chase woodpecker; woodpecker won’t peck dog; dog won’t go over the bridge; and I won’t get home tonight." But hawk confused. 

So man continued down the road and came across fire. “Fire! Fire! Please go and burn hawk. Hawk will not threaten cat; Cat won’t chase woodpecker; woodpecker won’t peck dog; dog won’t cross the bridge and I won’t get home tonight.” But Fire refused. 

Finally, man came across water. Water agreed to help the man, but first man had to do something for water. “If you can fetch me a home to live in I will help you dowse fire.” So man set out to find a home for water. He came across a place where water could live. It was a nice and quite ravine near his home. He showed water the home he had found. Delighted, water dowsed fire and fire then burned hawk, who then threatened cat, who then chased woodpecker, who then pecked dog, who jumped frightened over the bridge and the man made it home in time for dinner.

Happily Ever After!

Author’s Note: The Old Woman and Her Pig - I have never read this story before, but I found it to be a great read with fun with a strange concoction of words to match. I rearranged this story to be of a man’s perspective, but I wanted to leave the story much the same. I think to change this story would have really made it feel less powerful. What are awesome little story! So it begins, as you would expect, with a problem. A woman needed to get her pig across a stile so she could get home, but she couldn’t get the pig to jump over the stile. The woman ask multiple animate and non-animate object to help her and if they said no she would ask the next thing to make the chain of beings do what she ask so she could get the pig over stile and go home. Finally, cow agreed to help her if she gathered him hay. I feel like she probably would have just been better off if she had just done it herself.

Reading Diary Week 11: English Fairy Tales

For this weeks reading I have chosen to change it up a bit and pick a reading that is not familiar to what I have been doing so far. I chose to read English Fairy Tales! The last 10 Weeks I have always chosen something other than fairy tales, but I think English fairy tales have a special place in my heart as the ones I grew up with! I think I will have fun reading this selection and be able to write a great storytelling post from these stories! Below is a selection of the reading 

Reading A: 

The Old Woman and Her Pig - I have never read this story before, but I found it to be a great read with fun with a strange concoction of words to match. What are awesome little story! So it begins, as you would expect, with a problem. A woman needed to get her pig across a stile so she could get home, but she couldn’t get the pig to jump over the stile. The woman ask multiple animate and non-animate object to help her and if they said no she would ask the next thing to make the chain of beings do what she ask so she could get the pig over stile and go home. Finally, cow agreed to help her if she gathered him hay. I feel like she probably would have just been better off if she had just done it herself. 

The Story of Three Little Pigs - Continuing with pig stories! Again this story starts off with a problem. A sow, or momma pig, sent her three little piglets to find a way to build a home. So the first met a man with straw and asked if he could have some. The pig built a house of straw, but a wolf came along and knocked the house down. The next pig built his house of furze, and the wolf again blew his house down. The third pig built his house of brick, and the wolf have a difficult time trying to blow the house down. The third pig got the better of him in a very fun and laughable way!

Reading B:

Henny-Penny - I chose this story because it reminds me of my childhood and specifically it reminds me of my grandmother!!! The classic sky is falling story. Henny-Penny was hit upon the head and believed the sky was falling. She at once went to tell the king. Along her way to tell the the King she ran into many other animals. They all listened to her story and followed her to the King. All followed except fox who told them they were going the wrong way. Henry-Penny never got to tell the king the sky was falling. :/


Johnny-Cake - This was quite an interesting story, that was a lot like the Gingerbread Man. So a women made a johnny-cake and told her son to watch the oven. While not watching the oven. The oven door popped open and out jumped Johnny-Cake and he ran and ran. The boy the mother and the father all ran after Johnny-Cake. Eventually, many more people ran after Johnny-Cake but he outran them all. But the trickster fox was able to trick Johnny-Cake and eat him up. 

Johnny-Cake Running from the boy, the old woman and the old man