Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm (Crane), Part A

The Fisherman and His Wife

Well, that was quite the sudden end. I'm not sure that I liked it. I guess I expected the wife to be punished or something for being too greedy, but I they were only returned to their former state. Hm.

I really liked how the weather/ocean got more intense as the extravagance of the wish grew more and more. It was a good, although obvious form of symbolism. Additionally, it was cool for some reason to see the wife want to be the dominant, traditionally "male" role (king, emperor, pope) despite the fact that she was female.

I could see a story idea being modernized like... a kid asking parents for increasingly more expensive or more advanced form of technology, until he/she asks for something that is too demanding and loses it all!

Aschenputtel

Huh, so that's where the name "Cinderella" comes from. I like that the translation was kept close to the original name, even though the Disney version didn't include the parts about ashes.

Oh, I didn't fully comprehend the part about Aschenputtel being forced to pick lentils out of the ashes. That's actually horrible.

It's not like the step-mother is even giving her useful things to do! She's making it obvious that she doesn't like Aschenputtel and doesn't want her to go to the ball and enjoy herself. So cruel.

So the father is Aschenputtel's father? It seems weird that he would want to cut down the tree even if it wasn't his daughter in it! Crazy.

What the heck?? That's some desperation... You would think she would at least wait until the bleeding stopped.

Also I never thought about this before, but it's crazy to think testing every woman's foot in a shoe was a good plan. The chances that the shoe would only fit one woman would be so low. Also - could they really just not recognize her?

Okay birds... I don't really think that was necessary!

The Robber Bridegroom

Another talking bird who attempts to advise a human. A Grimm Brothers favorite, apparently.

This story moves very quickly. And creepily.

Hmm. That story was kind of lame, honestly. Nothing really exciting happened after the initial shock of the house of cannibals.

The bride of the Robber bridegroom

via the UnTextbook

Bibliography: Household Stories by the Brothers Grimm translated by Lucy Crane and illustrated by Walter Crane. Source.