Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales; Part B

For part B, the first story that caught my attention was the Fox-Fire. It had to do with a farmer stealing something from a fox. What the fox had was very powerful, and in time it gave the farmer great abilities. The farmer became very wealthy and had many powers. One evening, however, the fox came back for what was rightfully his and stole his power back from the farmer. I think there are a lot of things that could have been added to make this story more interesting. I did like the fact that the farmer had the power of invisibility. I think it would be cool to make a character invisible in one of my own stories. Supernatural powers are always fun to play around with and give to different characters.

(Fox)

The next story I enjoyed from this segment was called Retribution. It was about a boy watching the accidental death of a water boy. He saw it from his window and did not say a word when the body of the boy was found. Although the death had been accidental, there was a man that saw it and did not report it to anyone. The boy didn't report it either. Years went by and nothing was said, then the boy who was now grown, saw a figure that looked like the man that had died. He discovered it was more like a spirit that lived there. Things took a strange turn as the boy accidentally killed the man who witnessed the water boy's killing. I think it would be interesting to cycle a story for turn of events such as this one.

The last story from this section that I would like to touch upon was about the maiden who was stolen and trapped at the top of a building. The building was called a pagoda. The maid was stolen by a cyclone and brought to the top of the building. The man seemed normal and nice, but gave her an ultimatum. She refused to go with the man she did not go. He then held her there hostage, but brought her everything that she needed to be successful. She stayed up there for a while, as the man had trapped and made it impossible for her to get down. Every day that he came to visit, he asked if she would like to go with him, but she refused. One day, the man accidentally left the window open and she was able to look down below. The man transformed into some weird creature and she cried out for help. Since she was so high, no one could hear her. Instead, she threw down her clothes hoping that someone might find her. Her family did, and eventually came to her rescue and injured the man that stole her. I think it would be fun to add on to this story or change it up a bit. I thought about making it more drastic and saying that something happens to the man that stole her.


Bibliography: Chinese Fairy Tales