Week 2 Reading Overview

I was so excited to see how many different reading topics and options are available on the UnTextbook. I was also suprised that while browsing through each week, there were always a few that I was familiar with or had heard of. I'm most looking forward to week 14, as one of the stories is titled Hans the Hedgehog. One of the readings I did last week was loosely based on Beowulf, and it was so interested that I choose to read the whole thing for week 12. I have done a lot of previous reading about Hindu and Buddhist tales, so I choose to focus more on different topics for weeks 5 and 6. I noticed that while choosing my readings, I was always drawn to those that contained fantasy elements like dragons, magic, goblins, etc., perhaps because I find it so much more interesting when a human hero has to face powers outside his or her own capabilities.

Choose from CLASSICAL and/or BIBLICAL units for Weeks 3 and 4.

Week 3: Ovid's Metamorphoses

Week 4: Saints and Animals

Choose from MIDDLE EASTERN and/or INDIAN units for Weeks 5 and 6.

Week 5: Tales of a Parrot

Week 6: Twenty-Two Goblins

Choose from ASIAN and/or AFRICAN units for Weeks 7 and 9.

Week 7: Japanese Mythology

Week 9: Lang

Choose from NATIVE AMERICAN units for Weeks 10 and 11.

Week 10: Great Plains

Week 11: Inuit (Eskimo)

Choose from BRITISH and/or CELTIC units for Weeks 12 and 13.

Week 12: Beowulf

Week 13: Faerie Queene

Choose from EUROPEAN units for Weeks 14 and 15.

Week 14: Hunt

Week 15: Hans Christian Andersen or Czech

Image Details: Beowulf fighting a dragon; source: A.R. Skelton

I chose this image becuase it provides it contains a realistic Man vs. Evil conflict that is easy to understand, as opposed to more ambiguous or open-ended stories. I am looking forward to learning more about Beowulf, his character, skills, weaknesses, and quest.

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Week 13 Story : An Ode to Hating Love Stories

Once upon a time, in an unknown location at a vague period in time, there was a grand dance. This dance was like formal on steriods, and all the young ladies and gentlemen came to attend. They were eager to see who fate might put in their paths for the night. One young lady, forced to go against her will by her friends, decided that while she must go, no one was dictating how. Alexa was one of the fairest maidens in all the land, and her friends often made this home-body attend social event for the men she attracted. Alexa hated the male gaze, the wandering male hands, the smug entitleness that all men seemed to have. She tried her best to avoid their attention, and yet for some reason, all men seem to have an internal program that makes them think that pretty women who say no are just trying to play hard to get. Alexa would not be a victim of their harrassment this time. Rather than a fancy gown and jewelry, she donned a handsome suit, stuffed her long tresses into a short wig...

Week 10 Story : Moon Chasing Sun

A long time ago, in a village by a great river, there lived a family of twelve brothers and one beautiful sister. There was also a young boy who was good friends with these siblings. Now this was a time when the earth was still waking up and the stars were just beginning to bleed into the sky. Between the twelve brothers, there was a master in nearly every skill needed by the villagers. Some were phenomenal hunters who often went to the mountains to hunt deer. Some were skilled craftsmen who made houses and canoes. Some were blacksmiths, others were scientists and mathematicians. But the boy was very lazy. While the brothers worked, he often hung around their house with the sister. She was very hard working, just like her brothers. She spent her days gathering berries and preparing the meat her brothers would bring back. Before, the boy was quite frail and nothing but bones, but thanks to the sister's kindness, he got rounder and rounder. He filled himself on the dishes of ber...

Reading Notes : Hans Christian Andersen, Part B

ANOTHER FAVORITE. The Little Mermaid is such a classic, and the original slaps. I guess I am old and beaten down now, but this version is my new favorite. The Disney version will always have a special place in my heart and be a part of my childhood, but his original version is so poetic. It is definitely more my style; it leaves an impression when the heroine doesn't get to live happily ever after, which is okay too! The world Hans Christian Andersen weaves is glorious . I could feel the mermaid's pain, urgency, and suffocating need to love and be loved. This is a story that will never get old, part of it due to how beautifully it is written. One of my favorite parts is when he describes the five older sisters and the things they experienced going to the surface for the first time. The scenes he paints makes me feel like I am experiencing those beautiful landscapes for the first time, too. Often time mermaids are fantasized, and it was interesting seeing it from the other per...

Mythology and Folklore

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