This weeks reading diary will cover stories from Jewish Fairy Tales and Legends by Gertrude Landa (1919).
The Giant of the Flood
In this tale of Noah's ark and the flood, a unicorn and a giant are added to the story. I thought it was interesting that this traditional bible story could be twisted in another culture and that would be the version they believe. I like that Noah helped the giant and in return the giant had to help Noah and his descendants. I did not see the story turning out with the giant going back on his word like he did and I liked that I couldn't predict the story.
The Beggar King
What a humbling story. A cruel and boastful king was turned into a beggar by a genie who took his place as king. I really liked the lesson this story taught, and I was shocked when the king turned beggar returned to the palace and wanted to continue guiding the blind instead of retaking his throne. This story shows the good in people just takes the right circumstances to bring out. I wonder how the kingdom will be different now that this more humble and gracious king is in charge.
 |
| The King falling prey to the genie boy who would take his place for a while as king. |
The Quarrel of the Cat and Dog
This was a fun story to read. It explained the incidence that caused cats and dogs to never be friends. The biggest thing I enjoyed about this story was that the characteristics, the words, and the actions of the story animals are spot on with the behaviors and characteristics of dogs and cats that I see today. This would be an interesting story to see retold from the point of view of the dog, maybe in the diary format like I have talked about before. Or also to continue the story to see what things the cat attempts to get rid of the dog.
The Water-Babe
This is a tale about what Moses childhood might have been like, since the bible was lacking in these details. I love the story of Moses being retrieved from a basket in a river and brought to the royal palace. It was interesting to see the Jewish idea of what may have occurred in his childhood; I couldn't believe anyone would ever put a bowl of burning coals in front of a child to grab as a test, but then again it was biblical times. I couldn't recall ever learning how Moses got his staff, just that he used it to part the Red Sea, so it was cool to learn how that may have come to be as well.
From Shepard-Boy to King
Another example of an extra biblical legend from the Jewish. This tale focuses on Kind David as a shepard boy and his incidence of finding a unicorn, riding a deer, and escaping a lion. In the story David was able to hear animals speaking to each other and to him. I thought is was really inspiring in the end when the deer revealed that he had been commanded to save David from the lion for he was to be Kind one day. I got the idea that David was a pretty mischievous boy so this story made a lot of sense.
The Magic Palace
I am familiar with Ibrahim, but not with this tale. In the tale, a poor Ibrahim goes out to find work but instead finds a man who wants to be sold as Ibrahim's slave. The mysterious man turned out to be Elijah, and he earned Ibrahim enough money for all his days and built a palace overnight. The feat completed by Elijah to build the palace was truly magical and I now know why the story is titled as such. I found the story a little confusing to follow because of some of the dream aspects, but overall it was pretty interesting.
No comments:
Post a Comment