Turkish Fairy Tales Unit
Patience-Stone and Patience-Knife: This was a pretty good story. It kind of reminds me of The Little Mermaid, when Ursula fools Eric into thinking that she is the young woman he loves. I don’t like how the maiden here is about to kill herself when she is saved by the Bey. I prefer the women characters (and all characters!) to have more mental stability and resilience than that! Although, after reading Cupid and Psyche, I see that suicide is a much more prevalent subject in stories than I thought.
Patience-Stone and Patience-Knife: This was a pretty good story. It kind of reminds me of The Little Mermaid, when Ursula fools Eric into thinking that she is the young woman he loves. I don’t like how the maiden here is about to kill herself when she is saved by the Bey. I prefer the women characters (and all characters!) to have more mental stability and resilience than that! Although, after reading Cupid and Psyche, I see that suicide is a much more prevalent subject in stories than I thought.
The Imp of the Well:
What a funny story! I do feel very bad for the poor man’s wife, though.
Although she wasn’t a nice person, she was abandoned in a well by her husband.
I like how the story tied together, kind of like a Seinfeld episode. I wondered
what the wife had to do with the whole plot, and she turned out to be important
to the very end in an unexpected way.
The Wizard and HisPupil had so many twists and turns. Despite what the narrator says at the
end, they did not all live happily
ever after! What about the wizard? And is it right that the boy ends up
benefiting by getting a great job and a wife after he used the wizard and
killed him? This might be a story I should rewrite…
The Soothsayer reminds
me of The Imp of the Well. Both men
in these stories trick kings into thinking that the men are somehow skilled.
They also are both almost revealed by being asked to perform their skill a
second time. In both instances, they end up maintaining their lies and
prospering.
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| (The Soothsayer illustration by Ignacz Kunos) |
Your commentary on the first story brought many things to mind: first, I love the little mermaid so now i'm intrigued about this story; second, I agree that women and characters in general should be stronger and when you compare modern literature to these ancient fairy tales it makes me thankful for how women are now portrayed (sometimes); and last, I read Cupid and Psyche too and while I thought the story was cool and interesting, it does follow the theme of suicidal people (particularly women) losing it.
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