Europa (Jacobs) -- Extra Reading Diary

Europa (Jacobs) Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this unit. My favorite story from this unit was most definitely the story about Belle in the Beauty and the Beast. This version of Beauty and the Beast was a little different from the Disney version that we all grew knowing.

This version of the "Beauty and the Beast" began by introducing Bella and her family: her father and two other sisters. Her father who is a merchant sets on a journey for business. As he is leaving he asks Bella what she would like him to bring back for her. She replies that she would like a rose. Bella's father seeing a beautiful garden with roses decided to seize this opportunity to retrieve a rose for Bella. Little did he know that the garden belonged to the Beast. Unfortunately, the Beast caught the merchant stealing the rose and thus threatened him. He must bring Bella to him in return for him sparing the merchant's life. The merchant reluctantly obeyed the Beast. The merchant brought Bella to the Beast. The Beast treated Bella well. The Beast's kindness towards Bella was evident. Eventually, the Beast and Bella became close. One day, Bella was looking for the Beast. She found him on the ground dead. Saddened by this, Bella professed her love for the Beast. Just as she was confessing her love for him, the Beast became a handsome young prince. (An enchanted magician turned him into a Beast and only love could turn him back). The Prince and Bella then lived happy together ever afterwards.

(Bella professing her love to the Beast)

Russian Folktales-- Reading Diary A

Russian Folktales Table of Contents

The second half of this was just as entertaining and dark. One of my favorite stories was the story of the The Fox-Physician. The story begins with a husband and wife growing a cabbage stalk. The husband's cabbage stalk grew so tall he had to cut a hole into the barn's ceiling so that the stalk may grow through it. It grew even taller -- so tall that it reached to the heavens. One day the husband climbed the cabbage stalk and visited the heavens. While he was up there, he visited a mill and was astounded that people actually lived in the heavens. When he finally returned to Earth, he persuaded his wife to climb the cabbage stalk with him. He climbed the stalk with her in his arms but eventually his arms gave out and the wife fell to the ground and was smashed into pieces. A fox stumbled upon the husband grieving and offered his help. The fox demanded a bag of oatmeal and butter and to leave him alone with his dead wife. The husband waited and waited until he lost his patience and barged in on the fox eating the remains of his wife. And that is pretty much the ending of the story. It is pretty sad but I found it to be really entertaining because it was full of surprises. It kept me on edge.

(Fox)

Russian Folktales -- Reading Diary A

Russian Folktales Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this unit even though it was kind of dark. It was very entertaining. One of the stories that I really enjoyed was the story of the The Dead mother.

“The Dead Mother” is about a mother that dies giving birth. She leaves the child to her husband who does not have a clue about how to raise or nourish a child. He hires an old woman to help him raise the child but the child rejects the old woman. The baby continued to cry except during a great part the night. During the night the baby was quiet but as soon as morning approached the baby would cry. The mystery of the baby not crying at night spurred questioning. The husband, the old woman, and friends stayed up one night to find out the source of the baby’s quietness. They discover that the source of the baby’s quietness is his dead mother. During the night, the dead mother feeds the baby. When the dead mother finally finished feeding the baby and left, they found the baby dead.
Another story that I enjoyed was the story of The Bad Wife. This story is about a husband who is married to a bad wife. Whenever the husband asks for favor from his wife, she does the opposite. She also likes to call names such as “thief.” This angers the husband to the point he plots her disappearance. He tricks his wife to go into a bottomless pit. The wife is stuck in the pit forever and the husband is free to live a more peaceful life.

(Dead mother's tombstone)

Andersen-- Extra Reading Diary

Andersen Table of Contents

I really enjoyed the Andersen stories. They were very entertaining. One of my favorite stories was the story of The Wicked Prince.

The story began with introducing the prince to the reader. He is described as a conquer. His goal in life was to conquer as many countries as possible and to make others fear him. He was successful at this. He gained so much wealth power from his conquests; he began to become haughty. He thought that he could defeat anybody -- including God. The prince was still not satisfied when he conquered all of the lands. He wanted more. He wanted to conquer God. He built a ship that had hundreds of eagles attached to it. The purpose of this was permit the ship to rise up towards the sky. On the ship, the prince rose higher and higher into the sky until he finally came upon an angel that God had sent. The prince being the ruthless person he is began attacking the angel. As a result the blood of the Angel burnt into the ship, causing the ship to sink back to Earth. The prince did not give up. He tried to conquer God for a second time. God sent a swarm of gnats in response. A single gnat found itself underneath the prince's clothing and was able to conquer the prince. Now the prince is known for being a mad prince who wished to conquer God but failed to do so because he was overcome by a single gnat.

(Wicked Prince)

Grimm (LibriVox) -- Reading Diary B

Grimm (LibriVox) Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this second half of Grimm (LibriVox). It was interesting and entertaining. One of my favorite stories from this section was the story The Fox and the Horse. I enjoyed this story because I thought it was very heartwarming. It was about a complete stranger helping another without the expectation of receiving an award.

The story begins the Horse being sent away by his owner. He was only allowed to return if he was stronger than a lion. The Horse feeling hopeless happened to come upon a fox. The Horse told the Fox his predicament and the Fox, pitying the horse, decided to help him. The Fox had the Horse "play dead" while he went to fetch the Lion. The Fox told the Lion about the "dead" horse and Lion being hungry and everything listened to the Fox. As soon as the Fox gained the Lion's trust he tied the Lions legs together so that he could not move. The Fox then gave the Lion to the Horse so that he may give it to his master. The Horse brought the bounded lion to his master and the master was pleased and allowed the Horse to return home.

Another story that I enjoyed was the story of the The Queen Bee. I enjoyed because of the moral of the story, which was treat others as one would like others to treat oneself. The dwarf in the story treated the animals with respect and in the end the animal treated the dwarf with respect as well. They helped him win over the princess.

(the Dwarf)

Grimm (LibriVox) -- Reading Diary A

Grimm (LibriVox) Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this reading section. I have always liked reading fairy tales, especially if they were written by the Brothers Grimm. My favorite story from the first half of this section was the story of the The Frog Prince.

In "The Frog Prince," a young princess is introduced. One day she was playing near a spring of water with her favorite golden ball. She threw the golden ball a little to high and it rolled down into the spring. The spring was too deep for her to go into and retrieve the ball. A frog approached her and offered his help to her on one condition that she takes him back with her to her home. She accepts his offers and promises to take him back with her. The frog retrieves the golden ball for and gives it back to the princess. At first the princess denies her promise to the frog but eventually gives in and allows him to enter her home. For three days the frog ate her food and slept beside her on her bed. On the third day the frog turned into a prince. He was cursed by fairy and turned into a frog. The only way for her to turn back was by eating off the place off a princess and sleeping beside a princess for three days.

(Princess at the spring)

I also really enjoyed the story of Rapunzel. It was a little different form the Disney version. The difference between the two was that in the Brothers Grimm the prince was blinded and in the Disney version he was not. He fell from Rapunzel's tower into a bed of thorns and some of the thorns pierced him eyes, causing him to go blind. Fortunately in the end, Rapunzel was able to cure his blindness.

Celtic Tales -- Extra Reading Diary

Celtic Tales Table of Contents

   This unit was really humorous and interesting. Out of all of the stories, I enjoyed the Gold- Tree and Silver- Tree story the most.
    The "Gold-tree and Silver-tree" is about a mother who is envious of her young daughter. The story begins by introducing the family: the King, the wife, and the daughter. The wife's, who is the mother of the daughter, name is Gold- tree. The daughter's name is Gold-tree. Just by knowing the name of the mother and daughter, the reader can guess that the daughter is superior to the mother already.
    Many times the mother would visit a magical trout that would only speak the truth. The mother asked the trout who was the most beautiful and to the astonishment of the mother, the trout replied that Gold-tree is the most beautiful. Angered by this answer, the mother demanded the liver and heart of her own daughter. From here, I could not help but notice how similar this story was to Snow-white.
    The King, not only wanting to not disappoint his wife but also loved his daughter far too much, decided to deceive his wife. He gave her the heart and liver of an animal and let his daughter escape. The daughter ran off and married a handsome and kind prince.
    Silver-tree went back to the trout and asked the trout who was the most beautiful. The trout again replied that Gold-tree was the most beautiful. Hearing this new, the wife decided to take matters in her own hands. She was going to kill her daughter herself and she was successful. Fortunately, the prince was able to wake revive her with a kiss. You would have thought that the story would end with this but it didn't. The mother yet again tried to kill her daughter but with the help of a friend, the daughter survived.

(Silver-Tree looking at the trout in the well)

English Fairy Tales -- Reading Diary B

English Fairy Tales Table of Contents

    I enjoyed the second half of the English Fairy Tales unit. Some of the stories were very interesting. They were not what I expected. For instance, the story of the Mr. Fox was pretty interesting. The story of "Mr. Fox" started off like any other romantic story. It introduced a beautiful lady. Her name was Lady Mary. Lady Mary had many suitors interested in but she was only interested in Mr. Fox. The story describes Mr. Fox as handsome and wealthy -- pretty much everything a young lady would wish for. Mr. Fox and the young lady courted but the young lady still felt like he had no idea who this Mr. Fox was so she set out to his home when he was away on business. When she went there she came upon a room full of dead bodies of beautiful young ladies. From a distance she even saw Mr. Fox dragging a young lady's body. She ran away unseen as quickly as she could. Over dinner the young lady confronted Mr. Fox about this revelation but he denied it. Her brother and friends showed no mercy and cut him into a thousand pieces.
    Initially when I was reading this story, I thought that it was just another romantic fairy tale. A young beautiful lady falls in love with a handsome wealthy man. As I progressed through the story though I realized that it was not like any other romantic story. It was actually a lot darker than I thought it was going to be. It was kind of suspenseful and gory. 

(Fairy Lady and Mr. Fox)

English Fairy Tales -- Reading Diary A

 English Fairy Tales Tables of Contents

    I really enjoyed these stories. They were very humorous. They reminded of bedtime stories that a parent might tell their child before bed. One of my favorite stories was the story of The Rose Tree.
    The Rose Tree is about a beautiful young girl with long hair. Her father and brother loved her dearly but her stepmother despised her. One day her stepmother sent her to buy some candles. At every attempt of buying the candles something would happen, such as a dog would steal them from her. When she came home empty- handed, the stepmother was angry. She was so angry she chopped the girl's beautiful  long hair and took the heart and the liver of the little girl. She cooked the organs and fed them to her husband and tried to feed it to her son but he refused. Towards the end of the story she is punished. A thunder strikes her and she is killed for her evil deed. All the while, the brother and father live in wealth.
    I also enjoy The Story of the Three Little Pigs. This story was very much similar to the The Three Little Pigs except for some different aspects of the story. I felt like this version of the Three Little Pigs was the extended version.

(Pig)

    The story started out with three pigs that built a house out of three different materials. The first pig used straw. The second pig used furze. The third pig used bricks. The house of bricks was the only house that withstand the wolf's puff. Towards the end of the story, the wolf got so tired of the pig besting him he climbed into the pig's chimney to try to get in and kill the pig. The wolf did not know but the pig had a pot of boiling water at the end of the chimney. So, when the wolf crawled into the chimney he fell into the pot of boiling water and died.

Canterbury Tales-- Extra Reading Diary

Canterbury Tales Table of Contents

    I really enjoyed this unit. It was really humorous and entertaining. My favorite story in this unit was the story of the The Wife of Bath's Tale: The Unknown Bride.This story was about a knight who did not live up to his duties, which was to protect all women and treat them respectfully. The initial punishment for this crime was death but the Queen pitied and instead gave him a less severe punishment. His punishment was to find out what women most desired. If he failed at this task he was to be put to death. He frantically wandered around asking every woman he came upon what they most desired. Each woman gave him a different answer. No one agreed with another's answer. Eventually he came upon an elderly woman. The knight asked the elderly woman the same question he had been asking to the other women and the elderly woman replied that she had the answer but would only give it to him in return for something. The knight must promise to marry her. The knight wanting to avoid death agreed to this. The knight journeyed back to the Queen and told her what the elderly woman told him. The one thing that women most desire is to rule over their husbands. The Queen was satisfied with this answer and let him go. The knight kept his promise to the elderly woman and married her even though he was not attracted to her. Eventually though elderly woman transformed into her true self -- a beautiful young woman. The knight fell in love with her and they both lived happily with each other's company.

(The Knight)

Faerie Queene: Britomart -- Reading Diary B

Faerie Queene: Britomart Table of Contents

     Although the second half of this unit was not as entertaining as the first half there were still some chapters that I really enjoyed. One chapter was the story of The Enchanted Chamber. This story lived up to its title; it was pretty enchanting. The chapter began with Britomart hearing the sound of a trumpet. In the darkness appeared a figure; it was Ease. After Ease, also came Fancy, Desire, Doubt, Danger, Fear, Hope, and Suspicion and so much more. Each one of these figure lived up to his/her name. For instance, Fancy was dressed in all silk and was vain. Hope was dressed in light silk and she had beautiful fair hair. She was always smiling and show a great liking of everyone. She gave out favours to pretty much everyone.
    Another chapter that I enjoyed was the story of How the "Savage Knight" met the "Knight with the Ebony Spear." It is also just called the Two Knights. In story Sir Scudamour runs into a knight that calls himself the Savage Knight. They began to converse and they soon learn that they share something in common; they both despise Britomart. They form an alliance and decide to go after Britomart.The two knights fight against Britomart. It looked as though Artegall was going to win the fight but as soon as he rose his weapon to strike Britomart, Britomart revealed her face to him. Taken by her Artegall surrendered. Britomart eventually remembers who Artegall is. He is the face she saw int he mirror long ago; he is her true love.
In How Britomart Ended her Quest, Britomart and Artegall fall in love and are finally together.

(Britomart)

Faerie Queene: Britomart -- Reading Diary A

Faerie Queene: Britomart Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this unit. It was very entertaining. A favorite chapter of mine was the The Magic Mirror. I really enjoyed this chapter because it was kind of humorous. This section was about what had brought Britomart onto the journey with the Knights. A knight approaches Britomart and asks why Britomart is here. Britomart replies that she left her home to find someone -- Artegall. She lies to the Knight and tells him that she wishes to revenge herself against Artegall but really she wishes to find Artegall not because she has contempt towards him but because she is in love with him. She did not want the Knight to know her true feelings toward Artegall. As soon as Britomart said this, the Knight defended Artegall. He began telling Britomart the amazing accomplishments of Artegall. This pleased Britomart so she continued to verbally attack Artegall just so that she may hear more good things about Artegall. This was the part of the story that I thought was humorous.

I also enjoyed The Cave of the Magician Merlin. This chapter was about the aftermath of seeing her future husband, Artegall, in the magical mirror by Merlin. After looking into the mirror, Britomart becomes ill or "lovesick." She longs for Artegall. Her sick state concerns her nurse, Glauce. Glauce fearful for Britomart visits Merlin. Merlin informs Glauce that the man that Britomart saw in the mirror was Sir Artegall, the champion Knight of Justice, and he lives in the land of the Faerie Queene. Glauce returns to Britomart and tells her what Merline told her. This contents Britomart for now she knows where can find him.

(Britomart)

Tejas Stories -- Extra Reading Diary

Tejas Stories Table of Contents

I really enjoyed the second half of this unit. It was really entertaining. One of my favorite stories was the story of The Maiden Who Loved a Star. This story was about a young beautiful girl who falls in love with a man on a star -- I'm sure you got that from the title. The story begins with a girl in a desert. At night the girl notices a start shining brighter than all the other stars. This initiates her infatuation. She dreams that the star is the home to a handsome man. She eventually falls in love with this man who lives on the star and wishes to join him on the star. The young girl sought help from a witch woman. The witch woman turned the girl into a shrub. The man on the start fell with sparkling pieces of star onto the young girl who had become a bush. The starry bits turned the bush into purple blossoms. Finally, the young maiden and the young man are together.

I also enjoyed How Sickness Entered the World. This story began with introducing the character the old medicine man. He was the leader of the people. He was the one who talked directly to the Great spirit. The Great Spirit sent a messenger to the old medicine man but the old medicine man was to ill to meet the messenger. Instead the old medicine man sent two young men to meet with the messenger. Not knowing that the messenger was a snake, the two young men killed the snake when it appeared to them. The mate of the killed snake came to the camp to avenge the killed snake. She laid eggs and by morning every egg hatched out some kind of sickness. And this is how sickness and disease came to be.

(The maiden and her lover_

Tejas Stories-- Reading Diary B

Tejas Stories Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this unit. A particular unit that I found interesting was the story of The Plant That Grows in Trees. This story is about the mistletoe and why it is grown in trees. The story begins with describing how the mistletoe was originally grown on the ground. It was grown as a small bushy plant on the ground. A bird took pity on the mistletoe because it was dying from all of the animals feeding off of it. The bird decided to take the plant up to a tree and place it there so that it may not be disturbed by other animals. And this is why the mistletoe are grown in trees.

I also really enjoyed A Tribe That Left Its Shoes. This story was about an Indian tribe that painted their leather moccasins all kinds of colors such as blue, yellow, red, and blue. The tribe was forced to relocate because a volcano erupted near their home. The tribe was forced travel north and away from their home. As they wandered they left dropped their shoes so that they may not forget the way back to their home. The medicine man turned each shoe so that its toe pointed towards their home. In the shoes' place a little orchid grew. And the part of the flower that is the toes point toward the home. And this is the story of the origin of the orchid and the reason why the little flower points south.

(Mistletoe and Bird)

Cherokee Stories Extra Reading Diary

Cherokee Stories Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this unit. One of my favorite stories was the How the World was Made. This story was obviously about how the world or Earth came to be. I have always enjoyed stories about the beginning of time or Earth because everybody has different beliefs and perceptions of this concept. The different stories about the beginning kind of reflects the values and beliefs of the relevant cultures and that is why I find it interesting. In this particular telling of how the world came to be, it describes the world as  floating and being held by cords. And it describes men and women came after animals and plants.


I also thought the story of The First Fire was interesting. A lightning struck a sycamore tree and sparked the first fire. All of the animals admired this new creation. They all wanted to capture it. The Raven, the little Screech-owl, Hooting Owl, Horned Owl, and the blacksnake attempted to capture this fire but failed to. But then a water spider appeared asserting that she could bring the--  fire back. She spun a thread and wove the thread into a tusti bowl and attached it to her body and journeyed to the fire. Upon her arrival at the fire, she placed the fire into her bowl and came back. And that is how we go our first fire.

(Strawberry

And my third favorite story was the story of the Origin of Strawberries. This story begins with a man and woman who fall out of love. The woman leaves the man but the man follows her. The man still wants her. The Sun pitied him and tried to help him win his wife back. He does so by springing up a bush of strawberries in front of the woman. The woman picks up the strawberry and turns west and her memories of her husband resurfaced, causing her to miss him. She returned to her husband and they went home together.

Marriage Tales-- Reading Diary B

Marriage Tales Table of Contents

I really enjoyed the second half of this reading unit. A particular story that I thought was interesting was the story of the The Dog-Husband. This story was about young girl who befriends a dog but this was not just any ordinary dog. Eventually the girl and the dog's relationship became romantic and late at night the dog would transform into a human. The young girl then becomes pregnant, bringing shame to her family. She eventually gave birth to five dog pups: 4 male and 1 female. Even though they brought shame to the girl she still loved and cared for them. One day, though, the girl caught her children in human form. This was good news to the young girl. The young girl advised her children to remain in human form; they obeyed and now the village does shame them.

(Dog)

Another story that I enjoyed was the The True Bride. The story actually kind of started like a Cinderella story, which I found kind of humorous. For instance, the young girl had an evil stepmother who make her do tremendous amounts of work. While out running errands for her mother the young girl ran into her relatives. Her relatives pitied her and gave her the gift of gold. Whenever she spit a nugget of gold would come out. As soon as her stepmother found this out she sent her other daughter to the relatives to perhaps receive this same gift but her daughter disrespected them. So instead they gave her an unfortunate gift. Every time she spits a smelly toe nail comes out. Good things come to those that are humble and kind.

Folktales of Laos-- Reading Diary B

Folklore of Laos Table of Contents

Although I enjoyed the first half of the Folklore of Laos more, there were some stories in the second half that were pretty interesting. One of them was them was the story of One Woman.

In One Woman, a woman uses her beauty to manipulate her suitors. The story begins with, the woman, Chum Paw, requesting her suitors to build her a home. The suitors are not aware of each other. They do not know that Chum Paw has more than one suitor; each suitor thought himself to be the only one.

They bump into one another while trying to build a home to impress Chum Paw. While talking to each other they soon realize that Chum Paw is manipulating them. This angers them and pushes them to plot against her. They decide to kill her. But once again she manipulates them. And every time the suitors believe her. This happens throughout the story until the suitors finally get themselves killed. Leaving Chum Paw with a beautiful home and wealth.

This ending was a little disappointing for me. I kind of viewed Chum Paw as the bad guy and so I did not want her to win or triumph in the end. But I guess the point of this story was to inform readers to not easily trust people.

Another story that I enjoyed was the story of To Aid a Beast. In this story a hunter helps a blacksmith who has fallen into a pit. The hunter then helps a tiger who is caught in a trap. It doesn't stop there. The hunter then helps a snake who has fallen into a well. By helping all of these creatures the hunter is ensured that when is great need they will come to his rescue just as he had done for them. In the end, the creatures that the hunter had helped kept their word. For in the end with the help of the creatures, the head chow gave the hunter half of his province. I guess you can say that the moral of the story is to treat someone the way you would want to be treated. Help those that are in need and they will help you when are in need just a you did for them.

(Tiger)

Folktales of Laos -- Reading Diary A

Folklore of Laos Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this reading unit. One of my favorite chapters was the The Man in the Moon. This story was about a blacksmith who is not content with what he currently possesses. For instances, he wishes to be a stone on the mountain but as soon as he is a stone he wants to be something else. And then after that, he wants to be something else and so on. Until finally, he realizes that being a blacksmith is actually what he wants so he asks the wise man to change him back. The wise man refuses to change him back. The blacksmith, consequently, has to remain a moon forever. And that is the story of the origin of the Moon.

(Moon)

Another story I enjoyed was the The Faithful Husband. This chapter was about a man who falls in love with a nymph. They marry but rumors of the wife's beauty spread. Men were envious of the husband, especially the head chow. The head chow wanted the wife so much he sent the husband to war. This reminded me of the story of King David and Bathsheba. In this biblical story, King David desires Bathsheba, who is wife, so much he sends her husband to war -- just like head chow. But unlike the biblical, the husband survived the war and returned to his wife. The story of the Faithful Husband has a happier ending. The Husband portrays his love for his wife by defying the head chow. The head chow tests the Husband's love for his Wife and the Husband passes with flying colors.

Nigerian Folktales-- Reading Diary B

Nigerian Folktales Table of Contents

    Although the second half of the Nigerian Folktales was not as good as the first half, there were still some stories that I really enjoyed. For instance, I really enjoyed the story of The Affiar of the Hippopotamus and the Tortoise. This story was about a wealthy hippopotamus who holds ravish feast and banquets. One day while hosting a feast, the hippopotamus realized that no one of his guest knew his name. This saddened him. Stricken by sadness, the hippopotamus decreed that only ones that know his name may stay.
    A tortoise, who was one of the hippopotamus's guest, was determined to discover hippopotamus's name. Hidden within the ground, the tortoise overheard one of the hippopotamus's wife calling his name, "Isantim." This was the tortoise's ticket into the hippopotamus's parties.
    I enjoyed this story because it was kind of unexpected. You do not really expect a tortoise to be cunning and sneaky. The tortoise was kind of like the underdog who just won. So it was kind of humorous.

(Hippopotamus

    Another story that I enjoyed was Of the Fat Woman Who Melted Away. I thought that it was really interesting, especially since the woman was made of oil. Being made of oil prohibited her from ever going out into the sun. She was perceived as beautiful and was envied by other women.This kind of reminded me about some of the Disney princesses and how they were locked up because of their beauty or unique quality that threatened other women.

   

Nigerian Folktales-- Reading Diary A

Nigerian Folktales Table of Contents

I really enjoyed this unit even though I thought that it was silly at times. The story of Of the Pretty Stranger who Killed the King was very entertaining. It was about a witch who turns herself into a beautiful woman in order to seduce the greedy King. The King fell for her of course and married her immediately. While he was asleep she cut the King's head off. The moral of this story was pretty much about "stranger danger" or "do not trust strangers."

Another story about the dangers of strangers was The Disobedient Daughter who Married a Skull. This story was about a vain girl who had very high standards; she would only marry someone who was just as good looking as she was. The Skull heard this and so masked himself with beautiful body parts. The girl saw the him and instantly married him. It was not until they crossed into the spiritual world that she finally realized the Skull's true form. Underneath all those beautiful human parts he was hideous.

The story of Why the Bat Flies by Night was also humorous. To summarize this story was about why bats are nocturnal. In this story the bat tricks a rat into boiling himself by telling him that if he boils himself and using that boiled water, his food will be even sweeter. The naive rat believed him and boiled himself -- to death. That rat's wife was so devastated by her husband's death she told on the bat to the King. The king decreed that the bat be captured and imprisoned. So to avoid imprisonment, the bat only comes out at night.

(rat)