Week 14 Reading Notes - Lang's Fairy Tales II B
Today we return to the European Fairy Tale unit, as told by Lang. These enchanting tales are somewhere between strange, horrific, and quaint, and like most takes, provide a unique look into the minds and ideals of the people who first thought them up as tales and told them, in the purposes they serve and morals they espouse.
The first story that caught my eye was the Cottager and the Cat, as a big cat person myself (and occasional midnight hermit). The story begins with an odd character, a terrible miser who manages to starve himself to death by not wanting to spend money on food. Personally, I'm the opposite - all of my money goes to food it seems. The man dies, and his son, the heir, receives an apparition in a dream telling him to abandon his father's ill gotten capitalistic gains, giving half back to the poor he stole it from and half to the sea, for whatever reason. He rescues six shillings from the sea, wanders to an old house, learns that cats exist, and buys a cat. Perfectly reasonable line of logic, if you ask me. He finds his way to another house, who are all very impressed by this strange creature called a cat, and they advise him to go to the palace to show off how cool his cat is. Turns out the King has a huge rat problem, and the cat does cat things and kills the rats with ease. The man, in his infinite cat luck, is offered his choice of being prime minister or the next king, and of course he chooses the latter.
This fun, delightful story about how cool cats are (oh and I guess the moral of listening to ghosts) reminded me of the core of fairy tales: something whimsical and perhaps sweet, with a unique look at a normalized part of our society. Perhaps this is something I can integrate with my own story this week.
Bibliography: The Cottager and the Cat, Untextbook
Image Information: It's my cat.
The first story that caught my eye was the Cottager and the Cat, as a big cat person myself (and occasional midnight hermit). The story begins with an odd character, a terrible miser who manages to starve himself to death by not wanting to spend money on food. Personally, I'm the opposite - all of my money goes to food it seems. The man dies, and his son, the heir, receives an apparition in a dream telling him to abandon his father's ill gotten capitalistic gains, giving half back to the poor he stole it from and half to the sea, for whatever reason. He rescues six shillings from the sea, wanders to an old house, learns that cats exist, and buys a cat. Perfectly reasonable line of logic, if you ask me. He finds his way to another house, who are all very impressed by this strange creature called a cat, and they advise him to go to the palace to show off how cool his cat is. Turns out the King has a huge rat problem, and the cat does cat things and kills the rats with ease. The man, in his infinite cat luck, is offered his choice of being prime minister or the next king, and of course he chooses the latter.
This fun, delightful story about how cool cats are (oh and I guess the moral of listening to ghosts) reminded me of the core of fairy tales: something whimsical and perhaps sweet, with a unique look at a normalized part of our society. Perhaps this is something I can integrate with my own story this week.
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| He's no rat slayer, but he does impress guests. |
Bibliography: The Cottager and the Cat, Untextbook
Image Information: It's my cat.
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