Myth and Folklore

The Elves This has got to be one of my favorite cute little stories.  It is precious and feels like a good story about the kindness of humanity.  The Elves themselves are precious little creatures, helping the Cobbler by finishing his shoes so that he is able to make a profitable income.  I really enjoy how, to repay the Elves, the wife and husband make them clothes and shoes.  It is a simple gesture, but it gives the Elves such joy and ability to continue on instead of continuing as Cobblers. Here's a cute video of the Elves and their story with the Cobbler: The Elves and the Shoemaker . This one differs slightly, but it still contains the same idea.  This story was fun and cute to read.  I really enjoyed it, especially the goodness in the hearts of the characters.  It is different from the other Grimm Brothers' stories that I have read or heard about, so it is interesting to see this included in their unit.  The Elves are my favorite part, so I think it would be

The Singing Bone from the Grimm Brothers' Unit There is a boar tearing everything up and terrorizing people.  The King eventually gets so fed up that he declares whoever can kill the boar may marry his only daughter.  Two sons hear this news and decide to enter the contest.  The two brothers are very different: one enters for pride and the other is simply kind. The younger (the nice one) manages to get help from a dwarf and kills the boar.  When the older brother sees this, he is instantly jealous and plots.  He kills the younger and takes the booty, and ends up marrying the king's daughter.  However, this is not the last of the youngest. Many years later, a shepherd finds a snow-white bone and makes it as a mouthpiece for his horn.  To his surprise, the bone sings how his brother killed him for the boar.  The shepherd then shares this with the king, and the evil brother cannot deny his sins after the youngest's skeleton is found buried beneath the bridge.

Zed and the Monster The castle was lonely, empty of even the bravest of dormice, and Zed wondered when the Beast had last had any sort of guests.  Well, besides his father - whose desire to comply with the young boy's simple request had spurred this whole locked-in-a-castle mess.  It wasn't an ugly castle, not be any stretch of his imagination, but it severely lacked the beauty of a crowded home. Image from DeviantArt Image from Wanted In Rome To escape the haunting emptiness of the castle and its brooding beast, who had taken very little time to get to know Zed what so ever, he would wander the gardens.  It was when he was sitting among the luxurious roses that he ever felt comfortable.  Honestly, as patient as he was, Zed was a little annoyed that the woman hadn't made any attempt to even frighten him.  She was supposed to be a dark gruesome monster - not a quiet hiding mouse! It was on one of his morning walks, however, that he first caught a gli

The Story of Crivoliu Crivoliu is born from an incestuous relationship between a brother and a sister who lost their parents.  On his back, his father made a cross and wrote: "Crivoliu, who is baptized, son of a brother and sister." This story really reminds me of the Greek tale about Perseus whose mother and he were thrown into a box when Zeus impregnated her.   They were also sent to the sea and found by a fisherman.  Crivoliu is also found by a fisherman and is raised by their family.  The brothers' jealousy also reminded me of Joseph from the bible, AKA King of Dreams. In the story, Crivoliu becomes the Pope even though he is a child born of sin.  I thought this was interesting because of how much importance is placed on penance - it wasn't even a sin he committed, but because he repented and prayed, he as considered holy enough to become the Pope.  The Cardinals had been searching for a long time before they found him, so when the dove alighted on his head

Zelinda and the Monster This story is a lot like Beauty and the Beast that is so popular, except for the addition of "Belle" or Zelinda's sisters, Rosina and Marietta.  Her sisters of jealous of her beauty and kindness, and she is definitely her father's favorite. The beast has "the figure of a dragon" and of course is furious when the father "steals" a rose and "destroys" his precious rose bush.  This leads to the part where Zelinda ends up a prisoner in the castle.  The beast doesn't really learn any sort of lesson in this version.  The only stipulating is that a beautiful woman must agree to be his wife - she doesn't necessarily have to love him or does he have to learn to love. It's a lovely tale, but I think it would be fun to add in some different twists.  Perhaps if Zelinda was a boy, Zed, and he had two brothers that envy him through their (still) father adores the youngest boy.  And the beast is a princess

I think I would write my story during the breakfast the morning of the wedding contract.  This is the day after Lady Mary has witnessed Mr. Fox and his murderous secrets.  I would like to do Mr. Fox's point-of-view because as a nervous person I think it would be easier to write the sweaty-palmed anxious Mr. Fox than the cool demeanor Lady Mary as she recounts her "dream" and reveals she knows his secret. The story really plays on rhyme/rhythm in the dialogue, which would be interesting to use on my own.  The characters, when replying to each other, really play off what the other is saying; it has an essence of parallelism that really resonates when they're speaking.  This was really apart of the literature at that time, so I guess if I wanted to give it a more modern twist I could make it less apparent in its "parallel" voice. An interesting thing about the story is that we don't know why Mr. Fox has all those bodies.  Serial killing wasn't really