Reading Notes: Household Stories of the Brother's Grimm B

Source: The Three Spinsters from Household Stories of the Brother's Grimm translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane

I wanted to do a reading on Snow White, but I feel like it'd be longer than I wanted to do for just notes. I find that the Grimm Brothers are grim, but I like these types of fairy tales. They're fun to read. There's this feeling of dread looming as I do the readings because I feel like they're all going to turn out poorly, which is... interesting? I don't know.

The Three Spinsters starts out with a lazy girl who would not do her spinning. The mother beats her daughter and the girl loudly cries. She cries so loud that the people outside can hear her and one of those people who can hear her is the Queen. She asks why she is doing that and out of embarrassment, she lies that her daughter won't stop spinning and because she's poor, she can't afford to support her habit. The Queen takes her to her castle or whatever and tells the girl to spin the flax. If she can do that, she can marry the Queen's son. The girl doesn't do that and sits alone for three days.

The girl finds three women after the Queen had told her to get to work. She asks the women for help and they make a deal with her. They want to come to her wedding and be listed as cousins. The girl agrees to this and they spin the flax for her. The Queen is delighted to find that the girl has done the job.

At the wedding, the women sit with her. The Queen and his son had no reason to turn down her request. Her groom is appalled by their appearance though. He asks each of them how they got to be... that way and they answer in ways that lead him to believe spinning is the cause of their appearances. He decides that his bride shall never spin again and she is saved from a life of spinning. What an ideal ending for her! I thought that this one was sort of funny and entertaining to read. With that, I'm finished! :)

An illustration of the three spinsters (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Household Stories of the Brother's Grimm A

Source: The Robber Bridegroom from Household Stories of the Brother's Grimm translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane

I don't know how long it's been since I've done a reading! I'm glad to be able to finish one more before I'm done!

I'm doing notes for "The Robber Bridegroom." It begins with a beautiful girl who has been promised to marry a man she doesn't feel any affection for. She feels a chill about him. He asks her why she hasn't visited him and he says that he will line the path with ashes so she can find his house. She had told him previously that she didn't know where he lived. When she got to the house, she hated it and to make things worse, a voice told her to leave because he did awful things. An old woman that comes out of nowhere tells her that the people living there are robbers. They will eat her unless she hides and the old woman agrees to help her. Wow, that is a predicament.

The robbers come back and kill a girl they have brought home. They begin cutting her up and they see she has a gold ring on her finger. When they cut that off, the finger falls near the coffin where the girl is hiding. They go to look for it, but the old woman tells them to go. She follows a trail of lentils and peas that have sprouted and goes home.

Now, it's her wedding day. Her bridegroom comes and they sit around a table. She tells everyone of the experience she's had, but describes it as a dream. When she gets to the end, she holds up the finger, proving it had really happened. The groom tries to run, but the townspeople grab him and he's brought to justice. It was a lot to process and I was worried she would be harmed, but this was a good ending.

The Robber Bridegroom illustrated by Walter Crane (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Lang's Tales of the Round Table B

Source: The End of Arthur from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang

So, we're finally at the end of Arthur's journey! Everything that I read about King Arthur absolutely drives me crazy. I was going to do one of the sections on Galahad because as far as the knights go, he's one of the better ones (at least in my opinion.) I chose to do the ending simply because of its iconic nature. I've spent a lot of time through the years reading about Arthur's life. I've read other versions of it before, but this particular one is new to me.

Basically, it opens with Arthur receiving a fatal wound from Mordred and he knows that it's his time to go. Bedivere, who is a nice and good boy, is crying and weeping. Arthur tells him to knock it off and to take Excalibur and return it to the lake. Bedivere doesn't do this because he feels like it will do not good. The sword is expensive and nice. I wonder if he feels like more people will find it and use it for destruction. He hides it under a tree and returns to Arthur, who knows he didn't do his job. Bedivere does this another time before Arthur gets mad at his disobedience.

When he throws the sword, a hand catches it and it goes back. It was cool. He goes back to Arthur, who is now surrounded by weeping women. He goes to Avalon and, like, presumably that's where he dies. Guinevere hears news of his wounds and becomes a nun in another town and is sad all the time. Lancelot goes to see her, but she turns him away. Guinevere dies six years after and I believe she's buried next to Arthur. Lancelot lives like a hermit and doesn't eat anything until he also dies. Sir Bors goes to see him and so does Sir Ector de Maris. The latter only says nice things about Lancelot and his knightly abilities and his status as a lover, which interesting considering his adultery, but I get it. It was a good ending.

I liked the part with Sir Bedivere and Arthur a lot. I don't believe that Bedivere's disobedience was performed maliciously. I mean, it wasn't portrayed that way in the reading at all, but I would like to see more of the why behind his actions. It's nice to see why his knights care about him so much. I also like the idea of them being fallible. There was a huge culture of knight being goodly and pure, but they were just people. I think a lot of the charm from these stories is that behind the magical setting and crazy situations, they're relatable characters.

The Death of King Arthur by James Archer (Wikimedia Commons)

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Nursery Rhymes A

Source: Charms & Lullabies from The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang

Quarantine is super fun because I totally forget what day of the week it is and also that I am still in school! There's a lot of sarcasm there. The days blend together as I try to balance moving out and also having enough time to finish everything. I'm definitely behind on readings, but thankful fort he grave period being extended! I thought it would be fun to do an extra reading that was simple and didn't require much from me.

I've always enjoyed nursery rhymes. I had a huge book of them growing up, though not this exact one. We've all heard these classic riddles at some point in time. I'm not sure how to talk about these exactly, but I will say how interesting it was to see them in an original form. As language evolves, so do the stories. That's my main fascination with folktales and whatnot. It's fun to see how they originally were said as opposed to the version I grew up with. For a quick example, Rock-a-bye Baby. They aren't big changes, but different still!

I liked the one about hiccups. I thought that it was fun. There were a few I hadn't heard of before like "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John." I didn't completely understand the point of some of them, though maybe they're very clear and I'm just very tired. Who knows!

I like the simplicity of each rhyme. It's easy to see why children like these rhymes and even adults. They're fun! I like how they have a unique background as well. The one about cows was said to be a divination children would say. It's fun to think about! There's a lot of inspiration to pull from these. I feel like I've always seen adaptations of these that used the source as a rough outline and the actual story would go completely elsewhere. You really have the power to write whatever story with these as a source.

An illustration by Beatrix Potter from Apply Dapply's Nursery Rhymes (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Lang's Tales of the Round Table A

Source: The Sword Excalibur from King Arthur: Tales of the Round Table by Andrew Lang

The story opens describing Arthur and Merlin's fight with the tallest knight in the kingdom. Though he's a great fighter, he had received major wounds and probably would have died had Merlin not intervened and cast a spell that put the opposing knight to rest. They found a healer to fix Arthur's wounds thankfully.

The two are looking for a sword and Arthur is eager to get there because he has none currently. When they arrived, there was a lady standing over the water. The Lady of the Lake comes up to Arthur with the sword and tells Arthur that he can have it if he does something for her. She wants a gift. She tells him where to find the sword and that she will ask for the gift later. Excalibur is obviously a special sword.

Merlin and Arthur go to retrieve the sword in all of its glory. Merlin asks Arthur if he likes the sword or scabbard best. The sword is coolest... duh. Merlin thinks that isn't wise because the scabbard is worth more, but the sword is most definitely cooler. The scabbard will allow Arthur to lose no blood as long as its attached to him, which is also a pretty neat thing.

I like this story in its simplicity. The sword itself is famous for being, well, itself. Getting to read the legend in this form is nice. Not everything is crazy complicated or dramatic. I feel like most Arthurian legends I read, they are just... horrific or sad. I was glad this one wasn't. I mean I know the fate of everything for Arthur and everyone, but seeing this nice moment was good. I would want to do something equally as simple of a story for this. Maybe write some funny dialogue between Arthur and Merlin. I'm not sure, but I that that would be fun!

The Lady of the Lake gives Excalibur to King Arthur (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales B

Source: The Dog-Husband from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson

This girl has a dog and the dog turns into a human person at night. Eventually she gets pregnant and when her parents find out it was from the "dog" they are deeply embarrassed and kill her dog? and leave her for dead. It's not a great situation, though I can understand their disapproval. It's a secret that he was a man... ???? I think?

Crow felt bad for her and told her that she would be able to find fire if she would go to a certain place when she her crackling. She, Crow, put coals in between two clam shells for her to find. She soon gave birth to five pups and she had to support them herself. She would forage on the beach to find food. She noticed when they left home that she heard singing and soon realized that they were turning into their human form. She scolded them for this. I don't know why this is bad. She brought shame to her people in this way, so they must be doing the same.

As the kids grew up, they stayed in human form. They began to be skilled hunters and became great at whale hunting. When their mother came to visit, they gave her plenty to eat, but none to take with her. They wanted her to come back and stay. She wanted to stay with them. Crow noticed this as well and when she returned home, the girl told Crow to pretend like they had died. Crow did not do that and brought back whale meat for her kids. She told the villagers that they had whale meat. Crow's kid choked on the meat and coughed some up, so the villager's believed her and went to see the whales. They were supposedly impressed by this because the story ends with the kids becoming chief of that village and supplying them with whales, making sure they never ran out of food.

This story is from the Quinault people. This is a picture of a few baskets by Edward S. Curtis 

(Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Native American Marriage Tales A

Source: Bear-Woman and Deer-Woman from Tales of the North American Indians by Stith Thompson

So, this one was a lot... most of these were quite different in terms of theme and what the story contained. They were all quite jarring to me, but interesting. The storytelling here is definitely unique.

Grizzly Bear and Doe share the same husband and they are just doing little chores. They decide to go down to the river to "leach the meal." While they are waiting for this to happen, they decide to search each other's heads for lice, like good friends do, I guess. Grizzly has none, but when it's Doe's turn, Grizzly sprinkles sand on her neck and tells her that she does. She, uh, then she bites her head off. She then takes Doe's acorn meal... I don't get it. They share the same husband. Wouldn't they share resources too? It's not like she'd benefit from Doe having more?? Anyway, she puts her head in the fireplace and it's really just horrible.

The Doe's kids heard her mother say that they wouldn't be permitted to live long, or maybe she told Bear's kids? It wasn't super clear. The ending doesn't make sense. I did not understand... the whole, "you're eating your children's hands" thing? Anyway, the kids give her dead skunks and Grizzly is being taunted so the kids run away to the river and cross over Crane's neck. When Grizzly gets there, Crane lets her cross and then dumps her in the water and she floats away.

What I think happened was that, obviously people knew that she killed someone and now she had a reputation or something. It didn't seem like she was doing anything wrong there until she chased the kids, but I would want to rewrite this differently. I think it might be interesting to see what happened if Bear never killed Doe or why she did it in the first place.

A whitetail doe (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains B

Source: Why the Possum Plays Dead from Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine B. Judson

I honestly chose this section because I love possums. I think they're just the coolest little scavengers. They're both creepy and cute. What a good combination. Anyway, I like the stories centered around animals the most. I feel like they're easier to retell because there is more room to play with. I feel like with the creation myths and such I wouldn't want to mess with something already done so well! There's always room for more animal stories!

Rabbit and Possum are trying to get wives but alas, they are loveless. Rabbit then hatches up a scheme to get themselves hitched. They say that they must move to the next town and Rabbit will claim to be from the Council and that everyone has to marry someone once. They figure someone must choose them by that logic.

Rabbit got to the next town first because rabbits are faster than possums? I don't know if they're much faster, but that's okay. I don't know enough on this to say for sure. Anyway, Rabbit spreads the news and gets a wife before Possum can even get there. Poor fellow. Rabbit is a damn awful friend and traveled to the next town over and told them things that were bad. Specifically, that there had been so much peace, that now there must be war. Possum didn't know this.

Rabbit got away and Possum got there, confused. All the other animals started attacking this man trying to find a wife, so he just rolled over and played dead. It's a good strategy. Man, that Rabbit was a jerk. What was the motivation? Cause problems on purpose? Like, why? I would definitely want to change the ending. I don't feel like there was enough justification for why Rabbit acted the way that he did. I liked the story though. I think that it's fun to explain behaviors or things in nature with stories!

A possum, just chilling (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Myths and Legends of the Great Plains A

Source: The Legend of the Peace Pipes from Myths and Legends of the Great Plains by Katharine B. Judson

I wouldn't want to do an entire notes section on it, but I wanted to mention how much I enjoy creation myths. The one included here with Elk and how land was formed was so beautiful. The ties with nature and animals make it so easy to visualize. I do love that one a lot.

The Omaha Legend of the Peace Pipes begins with people coming across the water on logs. They land and clear the land of grass so that they can see each other. I like the detail of "so they can see each other's faces." It opens the scene up to one wide landscape with everyone sitting with nothing in the way. They hear an owl and a woodpecker individually and they call to them for aid and to join their meeting.

The chief sent a servant to get an ash sapling in the forest. The servant beings back the wrong sapling and they let the servant know. They tell the servant the specificities of the ash sapling so they can get it right. They do this time. An eagle came by and dropped a white feather in the middle. They don't want that feather. A bald eagle also come down, very fierce, and that wasn't want anyone wanted either and sent it on its way. A spotted eagle came by and it was wrong too. The imperial eagle was the right one!

The peace pipe is finally formed with the feathers from all of the birds and the other materials! It's used to bring friendly relationships with others. (It's also on the Oklahoma state flag!) Seven other pipes were made to keep peace amongst themselves. It was used for revenge cases. If a family wanted to act on revenge and had already received and refused the pipes four times, they were to take the punishment and would not get help from anyone else.

Eastern Imperial Eagle (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology B

Source: The Faery Robe from Romance of Old Japan by E.W. Champney and F. Champney

I chose this section because I really enjoyed its poetic structure. I thought that it was simple and very pretty. The imagery was lovely to see. I like things with fairies and mystical creatures! I thought that it was going to end differently. Honestly, I thought that it would've been a love story instead of this, but that's okay. I don't know the Japanese word for fairy. That might be something to check into!

A fisherman says somethings about nature that I didn't really understand, but it was nice imagery. He thought that he heard a roar off of the shores somewhere. He thinks that he must have mistaken the sounds of nature for something else and carries on with his day. Then a fairy comes out of thin air, covered in feathery, white robes and a dulcimer. She is playing a pretty song by the sea. It sounds enchanting.

She lays her robe down and jumps into the waters below. The fisherman sees her robe and wants to take it for himself, thinking it will be sold for a great deal of money. The fairy comes back and asks for her robe back or she will not be able to fly again. At least that's how I interpreted the line. He says that he will not and she can walk instead. They argue back and forth and he's being kind of mean, demanding she dance for him.

She yells at him again and he is overcome by shame and gives the robe back. Her wings are colored like rainbows. She danced in the moonlight and played her dulcimer again. The fisherman watched, lovingly this time. I think he should have done this the first time. The poem ends about how it began with the fisherman hearing something and her disappearing from where she came from.

Tennin (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Japanese Mythology A

Source: The Eight-Forked Serpent of Koshi from Romance of Old Japan by E.W. Champney and F. Champney

I really enjoy learning about Japan a lot in general, but its mythology is especially interesting. I took two years of it as a language and absolutely loved it, but I never had time to take the literature courses due to scheduling and work issues. It's nice to get to read a little bit of it here! We discussed Shinto some, but I don't know much about the religion. I'm enjoying the language here. I like the mix of prose and poetry, though I like the poetry a little bit more!

Susa-no-wo sees a chopstick floating down the river and decides that this must be a sign of people living nearby. He sets out to go look for them. He comes across two old people and a pretty woman, who is getting "caressed" and cried over. He asks why they are crying. The old woman says that they are crying for their eight daughters who were taken by the serpent. This is their last daughter. They don't want to see her taken away.

They then go on to describe the monster of Koshi. "Eyes as red as a ripe mountain cherry, a noisome blood-inflamed body, armed with eight fearsome heads and eight forked tails. Moreover its back is all overgrown with firs, cedars, and pines, and it trails its tortuous coils over eight valleys and as many mountains." Sounds pretty scary. I doubt ole' Susa-no-wo will have an issue with this. He agrees to slay the serpent. He boasts about his lineage first.

The girl turns into a comb and he puts it into his hair. I don't understand this, but that's okay. Her and her parents are deities, so I guess that makes sense they can do things like that. No, it says Susa-no-wo did this? Okay, I guess. He had the woman make sake of eightfold strength and a lot of it. He used logs to build doors at which he placed vats of the sake. The serpent drank the sake and got drunk, making the job easy for Susa-no-wo.

He sliced the monster into a thousand fragments and he was no more. The sword "kushanagi" was brought to heaven after he found it hidden in its tail. Kushinada transformed back into a person and the two got married!

Susa-no-o and the Serpent (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Wilhelm's Chinese Fairy Book B

Source: The Destiny of Sun Wu Kung from The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm, translated by Frederick H. Martens

"Said Sun Wu Kung: “I am the stone ape who has gained the hidden knowledge. I am master of seventy-two transformations, and will live as long as Heaven itself. What has the Lord of the Heavens accomplished that entitles him to remain eternally on his throne? Let him make way for me, and I will be satisfied!”" This line was SO GOOD?! He really said that to Buddha... His confidence is unparalleled. Truly an unbothered king. Buddha responds with a smile and poses Sun a question, or questions. He's just a monkey with powers, how can he expect to have the wisdom and grace to actually rule over the heavens? Can he do anything else besides be a trickster? Sun thinks that his ability to travel on clouds is enough. 

They make a bet. If Sun can leave Buddha's hand with one of his somersaults, he can become lord of the heavens. Sun didn't end up doing this, but totally thinks that he did the thing. He believes he has travelled to the edge of the world and writes his name down. When he gets back, he's pretty pleased with himself. Buddha tells him that he is foolish and has not left his hand and he has only written his name on his middle finger. Our hero doesn't outwardly admit it, but he's afraid. He has messed up pretty bad. He tries to escape, but can't and is shoved out of heaven and hidden in a mountain with a magic incantation. He stays there for many years. That is until Guan Yin releases him. He gives him a magic ring that tightens if he acts up, so he was never unruly again. We then are left with Journey to the West. 

I really enjoyed this ending for Sun Wu Kung. All of his stories were fun because he's mischievous, but his fight with god was just so much. I loved it. I think that there's a lot to say about his character in that he strikes me as good intentioned, kind of dumb. He's fun. This specific story was entertaining because it showcased his ego so well. I knew that he wasn't going to make it off of his hand. I already knew a bit about him prior to now, but still. I don't think that this surprised anyone. It would be fun to see him make it off of the hand and become God. I like to think that the God of the Heavens would have a sense of humor and would let that happen, at least in a rewrite, right? He needed to lose for growth and development, but it would be fun to see what he would have done with that power. 

Buddha by Richard Wilhelm (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Wilhelm's Chinese Fairy Book A

Source: Sun Wu Kung Gets His Name from The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm, translated by Frederick H. Martens

The Ape King meets a wood chopper, who he drops down and worships immediately. The wood chopper questions this action, saying he is only a workman. The Ape King mentions the song that the man was singing was one of the gods. The wood chopper mentions that he was taught it by a saint. He wants to meet this so-called saint. The wood chopper says he's on the Mountain of Heart.

'The Discerner' as the saint is called, lives in a cave with many other disciples. If one keeps following the path south, they'll find him easily. The Ape King did this, having no issue. This is when he starts to have issues. He gets to the gate and jumps over it, not wanting to knock. He lands in a tree and starts devouring pine cones, causing quite the stir amongst the disciples who take notice of his noisiness. The disciple says that their master is ready for him. His not wanting to knock wasn't such a bad thing after all.

The Ape King is very excited to meet the saint and flings himself to the ground once they arrive. He offers thanks and is full of joy. He asks his name and he obviously has none. He is given the name 'Sun Wu Kung.' He's very happy about this. They dance and have a great time. They have him do chores for a few years, but he's still pretty wild in nature, which is where the chapter ends.

I chose this one because I liked how happy he was to get his name. I can imagine that it would be pretty meaningful to get named by someone so important as his master was. There's a lot of joy and humor in his heart. I enjoy it a lot. I think that it gets him into trouble, as evidenced by the ending, but he does his best. I think it would be interesting to rewrite something with a bit more of a grand journey. This was kind of simple, but then again, it was nice to read.

Sun Wu Kung and Jade Rabbit (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Wardrop's Georgian Folktales B

Source: Teeth and No-Teeth from Georgian Folktales by Marjory Wardrop

I chose this section not because it was the most interesting, but because it felt incredibly peculiar. I didn't expect the ending at all. It was quite jarring and kind of strange, which I liked? I think that memorable is the best word to describe this story.

The shah wanted to see who the hungriest man in his kingdom was and set out to find him. He also wanted to see how much of the "daintiest" food he could eat for some reason. I guess I don't really understand that part. He lets his people know that he wants to do this and its a big deal.

On the decided day, a bunch of people gather. The king has laid out a lot of really nice food and asks for the hungriest men to come forward. Two men who have not eaten in a long time, one who is twenty seven, and one who is very old, come forward. The younger one says that he cant find work and is ashamed to beg. The old man says that his children have died and he's exhausted. Both haven't eaten in three days.

The shah begins to bring out food on one plate and in small portions. I still don't understand why, but okay. They look at each other and start crying. The shah is confused and asks them what's wrong. The old man is having a hard time eating and the young man is eating everything up. The young man says the old man is lying and that he while he is chewing his meat, the old man is swallowing everything whole. I do not understand at all.

In terms of story potential, I would want to make it very clear what the point was or maybe even do something a little bit different. I would want to tweak it in some way that maybe strayed a bit from the original source material in some capacity.

Small Plates (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Wardrop's Georgian Folktales A

Source: The Serpent and the Peasant from Georgian Folktales by Mary Wardrop

There once was a king from a nice kingdom with nice subjects. One night he had an odd dream in which a fox was suspended from the ceiling by his tail and no one knew what to make of this. Then he tried to find someone to figure out this strange dream's meaning and on the third day, common people showed up, including a poor peasant. While the peasant was trying to get there, they found a snake lying in their way. The snake and the peasant have a nice little chat and the peasant promises the snake some presents if it will help them out. The snake agrees. 

The snakes says that the fox is supposed to represent cunning, treachery, and hypocrisy in the kingdom. The peasant was given many gifts in exchange for this info and then the peasant left the palace or whatever a different way to avoid sharing with the snake... The king had another vision of a sword and asked the peasant to interpret. The peasant sought out the snake, who was mad and demanded payment. Oh, the snake said the sword meant war. The peasant chased the snake and cut off its tail, which is super rude, like it did this person a huge favor. 

The king has anoooother vision. The peasant finds the snake and begs forgiveness. The peasant brings it the treasures they owe the snake and the snake is cool. The peasant was sneaky in times of deceit. The peasant was ready to fight in times of war. Now, the peasant is peaceful in times of peace. It has a happy ending. 

I have to say that I kind of wanted the snake to get revenge a little bit. This person so took advantage of it, but I'm glad it ended things on its own terms. I think that this was fun and a nice change of pace. The Georgian folktales remind me a lot of the Jataka tales, which is nice! I really enjoy these kinds of stories. 

A very lovely Plains Hognose (Flickr)

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland B

Source: The Queen's Croquet Ground (End) from Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

I wasn't going to do the other half of this at all, but I had nothing to do today and thought it would be fun to finish this up! I feel like the notable part of this reading selection is the tea party, but for the purpose of my own sanity and thinking about potential stories that I could do with it, I'm opting to do notes on a different section. I've always really enjoyed the croquet game. It's just the right amount of whimsical silliness and I feel like it's fun while still being able to be kind of understood. I also like the hedgehogs. Poor guys.

Cheshire makes its grand return to have a little chat with Alice about her current situation. Alice makes note that she's not going to begin the conversation until its ears have appeared because it won't hear her anyway. The head of the cat appeared and Alice, feeling grateful to finally have someone to talk to, tells the cat all that's been going on with her.

Alice sort of just complains about the game and the queen, neither of which she likes that much. I mean, who can blame her? There's a lot happening to her at the current moment. She doesn't even feel like it's worth playing because it's so rigged in her favor.

Then the king asks who she's talking to. He says that it's allowed to kiss its hand and the cat is like no thanks. The king is sort of timid and nervous around the cat, again, who can blame him? He wants the cat beheaded, so he gets that done. Not really though? Alice goes back to the game and she's confused and has no idea if it's her turn or not and she does not want to ask. Her flamingo tries to fly away but she catches it.

She goes back to find that there's a problem with the execution. There's always problems. Because the cat didn't have a body, it couldn't be beheaded. This angered the king. The queen wanted the problem dealt with or everyone would be beheaded... no one liked that part. There's a lot of chaos at this moment and they go get the Duchess because of Alice and it ends with the cat fading away again.

Cheshire Cat makes an appearance (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Mackenzie's Egyptian Myth & Legend B

Source: Egyptian Myth & Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

My favorite section from this reading was the very first part from The Two Brothers. I didn't know what to expect from the story. It seemed to be going a different direction than the way that it went, so I really ended up liking it a lot. I think that the dramatic ending was so shocking, to me at least! I never would have seen it coming. Every time I see a story with two brothers, I assume it's going to do something similar to Cain and Abel and I guess I was kind of right? Anyway, very cool.

Anpu is the older brother and Bata is the younger. They coexisted in the same house happily. Anpu had a wife and Bata acted like his son and did some of the yard work for him. Bata brought herbs for Anpu and his wife sometimes. He would sleep with the cattle. It was a good system.

It's important to know that Bata could understand what the animals were saying kind of. They would tell him important things sometimes. Basically, most of the story is Bata running errands and doing farm work. One night, Bata came back from his errands to find Anpu's wife sitting, braiding her hair. He asks her to get him corn and she refuses because her hair would be ruined. They talk of barley after he goes to the storehouse. Then she kind of comes onto him. Bata is not pleased. He sees her as a mother and respects his brother. He tells her to not do this again and goes back to work.

Later, when Anpu gets home, we see her strung out and upset. She lies about what happens and says that he was the one who did this to her, which understandably makes Anpu angry. The boys begin fighting! Anpu sharpens a dagger and goes to find his brother... obviously with the intention to kill him. It's all very dramatic.

An Egyptian Harvest (Wikimedia Commons)

Reading Notes: Mackenzie's Egyptian Myth & Legend A

Source: Egyptian Myth & Legend by Donald A. Mackenzie

I particularly enjoyed reading about Isis and Osiris. Their life together was incredibly interesting, but what was even more compelling was what came after the death of Osiris. The death itself is incredibly pivotal to the journey that Isis has to go on. I found this section to be quite sad, but I enjoyed it because it made me want to know what became of Isis.

The setting is a royal celebration after Osiris has returned from his own journey. Set came to this lively celebration, bringing along a chest that fit the measurements of Osiris perfectly. He said that it would belong to the person whose body it fit. He's a sneaky fellow. Many tried to see if they were a match, but obviously none were. It was a trap. When Osiris finally got into it, the lid was slammed shut by Set's conspirators. Other things happened that weren't great. He was dead pretty fast.

The fun celebration turned sour pretty quickly as well. Set told his people to hide the body in secret. They did so by tossing it into the Nile. Isis, after hearing this awful news, cut off a piece of her hair, put on her best mourning clothes, and wandered the lands looking for her husband. She never did find it, but she did hear from a group of kids that the coffin was seen entering the sea by the delta mouth. While this was happening, the followers of Osiris were getting treated terribly by Set and his tyrannical ways. No one was having a good time.

Isis traveled around with seven scorpions that protected her. Ra saw her efforts and sent Anubis along to help her out. Isis then comes to the house of a woman and when she enters, the scorpion stings the woman's child and the child dies. The mother is understandably upset and upon seeing her grief, Isis is moved and is able to bring her child back to life once more. This leads to the journey of Isis.

Isis mourning (Wikimedia Commons)

Extra Credit Reading Notes: Alice's Adventures in Wonderland A

Source: Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

It's funny to read this now in its entirety as I think many kids have read some version of Alice in Wonderland growing up, or have at least had some exposure to it. I've read pieces of it and have been in a production of it before, so getting to read it feels oddly like home. I sort of know what's already happening and find myself saying the words to myself exactly as they're written. Funny how that works!

The most interesting part about Alice's adventures, at least to me, is the zany world in which she finds herself. There aren't really any rules. I like the second rabbit hole scene. I also like the last one, but this one feels nostalgic for me for some reason. The memory I have attached to it is my old theatre teacher yelling at me while I do lights for a very complicated lighting sequence while Alice falls down the rabbit hole and sees the key. It's not a great memory, but I like the scene anyway.

Major digression aside, Alice begins talking about her cat, Dinah, and how much she's going to be missing her. She does a few lines of rhyme about bats and cats before finally landing, unhurt. It's all dark, but she can see the White Rabbit still scuttling away, so she continues pursuing it. They get to a corner, but when Alice turns, she can no longer find the rabbit.

The room she is in is dimly lit my hanging lamps and there are doors lining the hall, all of them locked. She happens across a solid glass, three legged table with a key on it, after being sad about not being able to find a door. It doesn't fit any of them on the first try, but on the second she finds that it fits into a door that leads to a passage too small for her. She wants to "shut up like a telescope." This is when she finds the "drink me" bottle and does that.

Alice is a smart girl and considered that it could be poison, but there are no poison labels on it(??? okay,) and she drinks it anyway. It tastes like cherry-tart, custard, pineapple, roast turkey, toffee, and hot buttered toast. Sounds... good? I find it funny how childlike she is. Obviously, she is a child, but she's filled with this sense of wonder and curiosity that's wonderful to see.

Alice finding a tiny door behind curtain by Sir John Tenniel (Project Gutenberg)

Reading Notes: Homer's Iliad B

Source: The Iliad for Boys and Girls by Homer, retold by Alfred J. Church

So, Hector dies like Patroclus said that he would. It ends with his funeral. Homer doesn't really let us know about all of the outcomes of the war, but we do know that the Greeks do eventually win.

Hermes sends a deep sleep over a few people in the trenches and brings in the king. He finds Achilles' tent and he says that Zeus sent him to be his guide and vanishes. I like the imagery of him just... disappearing into thin air.

Priam goes to Achilles and begs for pity from him. He tries to gain sympathy by mentioning his father and comparing his age to his. It's a big deal that he is on his knees and kissing the hands of the man who killed his own sons. Achilles seems to think so as well and he cries thinking of his own lost loved ones. He thinks that Priam has a lot of audacity for coming to talk to him, but lets him stay anyway. Priam doesn't want to stay with his son left unburied and offers him gifts for ransom instead. Achilles says he will give Hector's body back and that Priam should go.

Achilles takes the gifts and has two women clean Hector's body away from his father in case he starts making a scene. Achilles puts his body in a wagon. He then tells Patroclus to not be angry with him for giving his body back to his father because he offered a handsome reward. They party, but then Priam asks to be left alone to sleep because he hasn't slept since his son had died. There is a truce for nine days so there can be a burial.

Hermes comes to Priam again and tells him to leave. He is sleeping amongst enemies. He goes back to Troy with no issue. On the ninth day, they give hector a fantastic funeral. And with that, The Iliad is finished!

Priam and Achilles by Ivanov (Wikimedia Commons)