Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales; Part A

The first story in Part A was very interesting. It was about a princess who had bad luck and had to choose someone to marry. She chose to marry a beggar who had good luck. Although her parents (mainly her father) did not approve, she was sent off with the beggar anyways and lived a rough life with him. Eventually, the beggar decided to go off and look for his fortune, while the wife stayed in their hut and in a horrible lifestyle. Eighteen years later, the beggar returned, but this time he did not look the same and was instead a king. The wife did not recognize him, but stayed loyal to her husband. The king finally told her who he was and they went off to live in the castle. The happiness didn't last long though. The wife suddenly got ill and died. I think that this story could be taken in a new direction. I could switch the roles and give the girl good luck and the guy bad luck. I also like the idea of a happy story and then suddenly turning something in the wrong direction. That would be cool to do to my readers. I might have to include something like this in my next story!

The next story about daughters, their father, and cave creatures. The story starts off in one direction, as the father finds seven eggs, but wants them all to himself and not for his daughters. The daughters end up eating all the eggs so the father is unhappy. The father takes some of his daughters to "grandmas" house, or so he tells them. They actually end up being left in the woods to fend for themselves and to not get eaten by a fox or a wolf. The daughters somehow outsmart the fox and the wolf in their own cage and end up killing them. They find their jewels and then the father finally comes back because he misses them. This part of the story I didn't necessarily like all to much. I think if I was to change it, I would definitely change the ending up so that the dad doesn't get any of the jewels. I think it would be hard to forgive my father if he left me to die in the woods for eating an egg. I would like to maybe make him have some karma.

The last story for part A that I enjoyed was about a dog and a cat. Their owners had owned a gold ring and whenever they had that, they had enough wealth to live. They did not know this, so they ended up selling the ring for a small amount of money and eventually went poor again. Their dog and cat suffered as well because they were not fed. Then, the dog and cat came up with a plan to get the ring back. They would use a mouse to go retrieve it. They did this, and used each other for help. When they finally got the ring and were bringing it back, however, the cat went off with it and brought it home because he was able to get home quicker. The cat was rewarded by the parents and they were mad at the dog because they thought the dog did not help at all. This is why they think dogs and cats are not friends.

(Dog and cat) 

Bibliography: Chinese Fairy Tales