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)

Storytelling for Week 12: The Frog and the Princess

The Frog and Princess
There was once a princess who was very beautiful. She was not like any ordinary princess. She enjoyed the outdoors and observing the creatures that lived near the pond in her garden. At school, her favorite subject was biology and thus was always interested in observing the frogs, fish, and ducks that were at her pond.
It was like any other day; she was at her pond observing the creatures when her shoe accidently fell into the pond. The pond being deep and all, she could not go after it to retrieve it. So she cried for her father gave her those shoes.
A frog hearing her cries pitied her. The Frog approached her and said “Princess I will retrieve your shoe on one condition that you take me back to your home and marry me”
The Princess shocked that a frog was speaking to her did not know what to say. The Frog repeated himself. The princess had to think about it but eventually accepted his offer, thinking that she could just run off and leave him once she gave her her shoe. The Frog gave the Princess her shoe and immediately, the Princess ran off with her shoe, leaving behind the frog.
The Princess was home studying for an upcoming biology exam when she heard a knock. It was the Frog. The Princess did not know what to do and so ran to her father asking for advice. He advised that since she made a promise to the Frog, she needs to keep it. She obeyed her father and allowed the frog into her home.
The reminded her that she also promised to marry him. The princess replied to the frog that she did promise to marry the Frog but she did not specify when. So because there not a specific deadline to marry the Frog, the princess replied that she will marry him in a year. The Frog was not too happy about this but agreed to it.
During this time, the Frog and Princess spent a lot of time together. He showed the princess his home, the pond, and taught her everything about the creatures that lived there as well. The Princess enjoyed this. Eventually the Princess fell in love with the Frog. The Princess had never met anyone so kind, smart, and loyal.
One day while spending time together, the Princess kissed the Frog and instantly the Frog turned into a handsome Prince. The Princess fell in love him even more. They married and lived happily ever after.

(The Frog Prince)

Author's Note:
 This story was based on the story of The Frog Prince. I kept the main concepts of the story but made a few changes. For instance in "The Frog Prince," she drops a golden ball but in my story I had the Princess drop her shoe instead. I felt like it was more "fairytale-like" than a golden ball. In my story, the frog retrieves the shoe call on two conditions: the Princess takes the frog home with her and marries him. In "The Frog Prince," the retrieves the golden ball on the condition that the Princess takes him home with her, shares her food with him, and allows him to sleep beside her. I also added a reason why she was at the pond all the time, which was because she was interested in biology and thus enjoyed observing the creatures and their habitat. I also included more about their courtship. I wanted the reader to see that they grew into falling love with each other -- that is why I emphasized that they did not marry until a year. Another difference between my story and "The Frog Prince" was that in "The Frog Prince" the curse was broken not be a kiss but by allowing the frog to sleep over at the princess's home. I felt like a "true love's kiss" was a lot more romantic and magical.

"The Frog Prince" from the Grimm (LibriVox)  by the Brothers Grimm (1876). Web Source: Sacred Texts.

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.