Week 15 Reading EC: The Wicked Prince

• Wicked prince wanted to conquer every country in the world
• Used fired and sword to attack countries, soldiers damaged crops and destroyed homes
• Soldiers did terrible things to people
• Implied that they raped women fleeing with their children
• Prince believed that everything he did was right and that everything was going well
• Prince enslaved the kings of the countries he conquered
• Chained to his chariot when he drove through the city
• Forced to kneel at his feet when he ate at the table
• Prince wanted his statues built everywhere, including churches
• Priests opposed this, saying God was more powerful than the prince
• Prince: "Well, then I will conquer God too."
• Ordered an airship built; colorful and covered in "eyes" that were actually gun barrels
• Eagles propelled it in the air
• God sent a single angel against the ship
• Prince's bullets bounced off of the angel's wings
• Single drop of blood from angel's wings dropped onto the ship and weighed it down, sending it crashing down into a large tree
• Prince spent seven years building a fleet of airships
• God sent a swarm of gnats that swarmed the prince; prince swung at the gnats with his sword, but it hit nothing
• Prince tried to cover up, but a gnat got inside the coverings and stung the prince's ear
• Soldiers mocked the prince who wanted to make war with God

Bibiliography: The Wicked Prince from Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen. Web Source.

Image: Fire in a Village by Egbert van der Poel, from Wikimedia Commons. Web Source.

Week 15 Reading B: The Fiddler in Hell

• Moujik with three sons had enough money to fill two pots
• Buried one in his corn-kiln
• Buried other under his farmyard's gate
• Moujik died without telling anyone about the money
• Fiddler was headed to a festival in the village when he sank into the earth and into hell
• Fiddler met the moujik, who confesses that he is in hell because he had much money and gave none to the poor
• Moujik tells Fiddler that if he sits on the stove behind the chimney-pipe and eats nothing for 3 years, he will be safe from torture
• Fiends come and beat up the moujik
• After fiends leave, the moujik tells the fiddler to tell his children where the pots are and to distribute them among the poor
• More fiends arrive and notice a 'Russian smell'
• Moujik tries to mislead them, but they go and find the Fiddler
• Fiddler is forced to fiddle for 3 years
• Fiddler talks about his fiddle-strings usually snapping, and they snap when he says "May the Lord grant us his blessing"
• The Lord is granting his blessing by snapping the strings and allowing Fiddler a chance to escape
• Fiends try to replace strings, but Fiddler repeats the phrase and the strings snap again
• Fiddler asks to go get his strings from home, but fiends are wary of him trying to escape
• Fiddler allows them to send a fiend with them
• Fiddler and fiend return to the village, where the fiddler finds the moujik's children and tells them about the pots of gold
• The children distribute the money, but it increases as they give it away
• Emperor ordered a bridge to be built to make a much shorter path to a town, which finally empties the pots of gold
• A child was born who didn't eat or drink for 3 years and had an angel with him
• When the child came to the bridge, he said "God grant the kingdom of heaven to him at whose cost it was built!"
• The Lord heard the prayer and ordered his angels to release the moujik

Bibliography: The Fiddler in Hell from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston. Web Source.

Image: Pot of Gold from Pixabay by TeroVesalainen. Web Source.

Week 15 Reading A: The Treasure

• Old man whose wife dies, wants to bury her but has no money
• Pope refuses to help unless old man can pay
• Old man attempts to dig a grave himself for his wife, finds a pot full of gold coins
• He paid for everything necessary for his wife's grave and memorial
• Pope was suspicious and jealous of the old man's sudden prosperity, and questions the old man about how he found the money
• Pope skins a goat and has his wife sew it up around him
• Pope goes to old man's house and pretends to be the Devil, pretends that the pot was the Devil's money
• Old man throws money outside, pope takes it and returns home
• When wife tries to cut the goatskin off of him, it was a part of him
• Nothing worked to remove the goatskin, not even returning the money to the old man

Bibliography: The Treasure from Russian Fairy Tales by W. R. S. Ralston. Web Source.

Image: Devil Baphomet Statue from PxHere. Web Source.

Week 14 Reading B: A Clever Lass

• Shepherd finds a golden mortar and wants to give to the king
• Daughter says that the king will want a pestle, which shepherd doesn't have
• Shepherd gives mortar to king and he gives shepherd 3 days to give pestle
• Shepherd laments, telling king about his daughter's words
• King says he will marry the shepherd's daughter and not ask for the pestle if she comes to him:
• Neither walking nor riding
• Neither clothed nor unclothed
• Neither by day nor by night/at noon nor in the morning
• Daughter goes to king at the fall of dusk (not noon or morning), dressed in fishnets (neither clothed nor unclothed), partly rode on the goat and partly walked
• King married her but told her that she must part with him if she gives advice to anybody
• One day a farmer's mare had a foal at the market and the foal ran away to another farmer
• King decided that since every animal runs to its mother, that the gelding had the foal instead
• Queen told farmer in secret to take a fishing net and fish the road in front of the king
• When the king asked why the farmer was doing it, queen told the farmer to respond "It's as hopeful as expecting a gelding to foal"
• Farmer does so, but king realizes that someone else told him to do so
• Interrogated farmer until he gave up the queen's name
• King told the queen she must leave the next day, but could take the thing she like best with her
• Queen puts opium in king's wine, tells him to drink to her health, and then takes king back to her father's old hut
• When king wakes, queen tells him that she took him as the thing she liked best
• King relented and told her she could give advice to anybody

Bibliography: A Clever Lass from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis. Web Source.

Image:  Gold Mortar by valdist torms. Web Source.

Week 14 Reading A: The Waternick

•  Two children with a widowed mother
• Children sent off to get firewood, used wool thread to mark the trail home
• Wild creatures broke the thread and they were lost in the forest
• Found a pond and walked around it
• Waternick finds children, takes them to his home by force
• Waternick and his wife enslave the children as servants and put them to work for years
• When Waternick leaves to catch human souls one day, wife falls asleep and children realize that they can try to escape
• First attempt to run while she sleeps fails, she catches them
• Waternick then puts the children to work felling trees, but the tools he gives them break
• Waternick forgets to give them another task for the next day
• Children release all the souls that the Waternicks caught
• Next attempt to escape works, and children get out of the pond before the wife catches them
• Children fall asleep and forester finds them, returns them to their mother
• Happy ending, live together for the rest of their lives

Bibliography: The Waternick from The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis. Web Source.


Image: Underwater view in Dumbea river in the vicinity of Nakutakoin from IHA. Web Source.

Week 13 Story: The Contest of Trickery

When the Sheriff of Nottingham set up a contest of archery, all of the outlaws of Sherwood Forest knew that Robin Hood would take the bait. It was most obviously a trap, and David of Doncaster confirmed this for them.

But if they could not convince their fearless leader to not attend the archery competition - and they could not, for he would call any who did so a coward - then perhaps there was another plan they could convince him to follow.

The day of the archery contest came, and all of Robin Hood's men attended as participants. Each of them wore a hooded cloak, knowing that without proper cause, the Sheriff would not dare to force everyone to reveal themselves for fear of his citizens losing their trust in him.

Arrows flew, and one hooded figure in particular was astounding. Every shot was within the center rings, and even though the second place contestant came close, it was the hooded figure in red who took the competition.

The Sheriff of Nottingham came to greet the victor with a sickly sweet smile. He requested that the victor remove their hood, so that they could be properly awarded with the prize. But when the hood came down, the Sheriff was astounded to see that it was not Robin Hood at all! Instead of the outlaw, it was simply a skilled archer from out of town, who had heard of the contest and journeyed to take part.

Disappointed at his failure to lure out Robin Hood, the Sheriff went to give the victor his prize: an arrow with a golden head and a silver shaft.

However, instead of the arrow, the Sheriff found an archery target in its place. It was the target of the second place archer, and the arrows upon it formed a pattern: an "H" made up of arrows. The Sheriff raged at the sight, for it was clear to him what had happened.

Robin Hood had thrown the competition, purposefully avoiding a perfect score and allowing the other man to win. Instead, he chose to make his shots into a letter representing his name. It both identified him to the Sheriff after the fact, and proved that his accuracy was superior to the victor. And then the outlaw had claimed the prize that he would have received had he shot true, and left his target as a message.

While he did not officially win the archery competition that day, Robin Hood won in all the ways that mattered. He outplayed the Sheriff at trickery, escaping the trap set for him, and he made off with the prize with which the Sheriff had baited the trap. Yet another victory for Robin Hood over his nemesis, the Sheriff of Nottingham!

Author's Notes:

In the original story, the Sheriff's plan failed because Robin Hood and his men attended in hooded cloaks, and so the Sheriff and his men could not see them. Robin Hood then won the competition and took home the golden arrow, letting the Sheriff know of his failure by shooting a message via arrow into the town.

It seemed odd to me that the Sheriff would not be wary of people hiding themselves in a trap he set for Robin Hood, so I had both the Sheriff and Robin Hood do more with the plan. The Sheriff knew Robin Hood could win the archery competition, so he decided to unmask whoever won in order to catch Robin Hood, relying on the outlaw's pride. However, Robin Hood and his men managed to outsmart the Sheriff. By shooting a specific pattern into his target, Robin Hood proved that his accuracy was superior to the other archers without becoming the actual victor of the contest. Then, when the Sheriff was distracted with the winner, he stole the prize and left his target as a message. The end result is very similar to the original, with Robin Hood escaping with the golden arrow, but it attributes a bit more cunning to both sides.

Bibliography: Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child. Web Source.

Image: Archery Target on pixabay. Web Source.

Week 13 Extra Credit Reading: The Golden Arrow

• Sheriff of Nottingham disliked Robin Hood
• Reported to King Richard about his losses
• King replies that Sheriff of Nottingham is the sheriff, should come up with some "tricking game" to deal with the rebels
• There were bowmen in the outlaws, so prize would be an arrow with a golden head and silver shaft
• Robin Hood wishes to go, but David of Doncaster tells him that the match is a trick
• Robin Hood insists on going, calling David a coward
• Gang disguised themselves to attend
• Sheriff and others could not find Robin Hood among the competitors
• Sheriff insults Robin Hood, who was irritated but did not reveal himself
• Robin Hood won the contest, wanted to reveal to the Sheriff that he won it
• Happened back in Greenwood
• Little John suggested writing a letter, and Robin Hood sent it by attaching it to an arrow and shooting it into town

Bibliography: Robin Hood and the Golden Arrow from The English and Scottish Popular Ballads by Francis James Child. Web Source.

Image: Arrow Bow from pngimg. Web Source.