Reading Notes: Italian Tales part B

I really like the first story of the sin being able to talk to animals. I think it would be great if I switched the gender and put it into modern terms.

A talking Frog

The Sexton nose is interesting as well because it goes on and on about getting on thing from another.

The last story had potential to make a new story out of but the original was boring.



 Italian Popular Tales unit. By Thomas Frederick Crane (1885).

Reading Notes: Italian Popular Tales, Part A

Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Crane

I like Zelinda and the Monster because it kind of has slight Cinderella feel to it but mostly beauty and the Beast. I really want to see how this really traditional story can do with a gender swap. 

From tumblr by theuselesstoe

I most likely will just make the three sisters men and the beast a girl. 

I like the thought of changing the last story as well. I think it is sad that the moral of the story is, those who do good are ill treated and those who do bad are rewarded. 

Story Planning: The Man and his dog

I want to write about Beth Gellert in the Celtic Story Unit , a hunter's favorite dog that he killed because he thought the dog killed his baby.  I definitely want to start my story in this way:

Jacob was a very well known hunter. People flocked to him to try to learn all his tricks of the trade. He always told them his most valued trick but they never believed him. They always thought it was something else that made him so good. He would always tell people that he is not the reason he is a good hunter but the fact that he has the best dog in the world for hunting.

I will go on and talk about how loyal the dog. Jacob thought that the dog became disloyal because he did not come when called one day. This is the point where the story will change from the original. I will have Jacob go and check to see why his loyal dog is not coming only to find out that it is fighting off a wolf that is trying to eat his child.

I am worried to do the story this way because I do not know how to end it. I definitely want a happy ending unlike how the original story is. (Still makes me tear up) I think if I have him come back right when he sees his dog kill the wolf would rather than he comes back in the middle of the fight. I have not decided. I also want to leave it on a not that you should always take your best friend with you when you can. I think I might incorporate Jacobs thoughts on how he might of mistakes the dog to have killed the kid instead of killing the wolf.

The Child and the Dead Wolf

Reading Notes Week 12: Celtic Tales, Part B

The story Beth Gellert makes me so sad.
A man wanted to go hunting with his favorite dog but would not come when called.
When he came back he found blood everywhere and thought it was his dog that ate his son. In turn it was a wolf that came and tried to kill the boy but the dog stopped him. I would want to change the story in so that he never left his dog and went to him and saw he was fighting off the wolf and so the man never ended up killing his loyal dog.

From the Original Story

Celtic Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Reading Notes week 12: Celtic Tales, Part A

comely- good looking

tawny- yellowish/brownish

My favorite story is definitely the Gold-tree and Silver-tree story. 

Since it has that snow white vibe I king of want to try a role reversal where Silver-tree and Gold-tree are actually the king and son. The king gets jealous of the son because he is toe he would be a better king but in the process of him trying to kill his son, he kills himself.

Picture from original story

Celtic Tales by Joseph Jacobs

Week 11 Story telling: Jack the Dare Devil

Jack was nibble

Jack was quick

Jack hit quite a few bricks

Jack was the coolest guy in school. He had all the girls fawning over him and he love every second of it. One of the many reasons he was so popular is he could do anything! He rode dirt bikes and was the head football player. His Achilles heel though, was that he never would back out of a challenge. Especially when the whole school knew about it. He went to a small public school that rivaled the private school in the private school the next town over. Most the rivalry was all talk but no action but jack was going to be the one that changed that.

One night at a party by the lake in between the two towns Jack had gotten in a fight with a boy from another school and decided to challenge him and his friends. The challenge ended up being about which school was better at dirt biking. He told the whole part that whoever does better at the course then whichever school they came from will be the ultimate winner. They set a time to meet up and how the scoring would go and everything was finalized. Little did they know there was a new girl who was known for her dirt biking skills back home.

The day of the race came and so both school crowded in the bleachers to see who would be victorious in the challenge. There were three boys from the other school and two including Jack from his school. All the kids went and did well but there was no definite winner. Even Jack didn’t blow everything out of the park. When everyone was bickering on who did better a biker came out of know where and came within feet of where they were standing and sprayed them with dirt from stopping so quickly. The biker put her foot down and took off the helmet and all the boys were shocked and scared at the same time. She told them if she could breeze through the course and make all of them look like they were beginners then the school rivalry had to end. They all agreed because they did not believe that she was that good. By the time she finished, everyone’s jaw was to the ground and amazed on how anyone could do so well. Jack was impressed but felt as though he was not the most popular so he challenged her to the house jump. A place a little ways off the course where only the pros go to jump. The jump is an old abandoned two story house with dirt mounds on the sides of it. She happily agreed and they were on their way there.

When they got there, jack said

“Ladies first” with a snide look on his face.

She said

“well if you insist.” With an eye brow raised and a smirk on her face.

She got to the lineup, blew a kiss to jack, and flew to the dirt mound and seemed to defy gravity when jumping over the house. She did a flip in the air and then landed perfectly in which she stopped he bike got off and took a cute curtsy. This infuriated Jack as he knew he couldn’t let a girl beat him.

He got to the starting point and took off immediately only to end up running into the brick wall of the house because he didn’t get enough speed. But no worries, the only thing injured that day was his pride.  

Jack The Daredevil

Author Note: I took the original Jack was nibble rhythm and made it into a story. i wanted to do it as though he was a daredevil at school but I wanted to have the story follow a rhythm like the original story. The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang part of the Nursery Rhyme Unit.

WEEK 11 Reading notes; Nursery Rhythms, Part A

I am very unfamiliar with most of these but I would love to put a spin on one of the oldies like Jack be nibble or Little Bo Peep.

With Jack be nibble:
JACK, be nimble,
And, Jack, be quick;
And, Jack, jump over
The candlestick

I think it would be nice if I put it in modern times were he is a dare devil at school and does stunts that other kids tell him to do.


I always thought that the five little pigs was sung differently.

THIS pig went to market;
This pig stayed at home;
This pig had a bit of meat,
And this pig had none;
This pig said, "Wee, wee, wee!
I can't find my way home."

five little Pigs

From  The Nursery Rhyme Book by Andrew Lang.