Week 12 Storytelling: The Pig and the Fence

Dear Diary,

Today was probably the most terrifying day of my life. I was bought from the market this morning by a little old lady, and she was the sweetest thing! That is, until we started walking home. That was when things started to get scary.

The walk was pleasant to begin with: we talked about the changing of the seasons and how she was getting her home ready for the winter. She told me that as she was cleaning, she found a sixpence and decided to go to the market and rescue a pig - me. That was considerate of her. She seemed unassuming enough, if not a bit too talkative.

About this time, though, we got to a very large fenced off area. I struggled and struggled, but it was too high for me to jump over. After a while, the woman got really frustrated at me, climbed over, and continued walking. I thought she was just going to abandon me there.

I stood there in confusion for several minutes, and after that, I began to panic. So much for being rescued; now I was stuck in the middle of nowhere all by myself. My thoughts began to race and I suddenly became paranoid of my surroundings. I began to wander around the fence, but the area seemed to stretch on forever. Finally, I just gave up and went back to my original spot.

I don't know how much longer I stood there, but eventually I heard the old woman's voice. Overjoyed and relieved, I started squealing in delight. As she drew closer, I saw that she had come back with an entourage of animals. I was surprised to see so many new friends, but I was so glad to be saved that I didn't pay much attention to this fact. 

I watched from a distance as the old woman gave a cow some hay. After this, as they walked closer, I realized that this started a chain reaction in a flurry of activity. No, that was an understatement--it was mass chaos. The cow gave a cat some milk, and the cat drank the milk and pounced on a mouse, who was chewing on a rope, which started to hang a man who looked like a butcher. The butcher began to do his job and killed an ox, and as he was doing this, the ox drank some water, which began to put out a fire, but not before its flames engulfed a stick. This stick began to hit the leader of this pack, a dog, who then came charging at me and bit me!

So after that odd and terrifying series of events, before my mind could even comprehend what was happening, I finally launched myself over the fence in fear, and the woman and I walked home in silence. Now I'm in her home, living in terror of her after seeing what lengths she would go to just to get me to do a simple task.

The pig caught behind the fence. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

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Author's note: This week, I retold the story of The Old Woman and Her Pig from the English Fairy Tales (1) unit. This is a cumulative story, where a series of events happens, and with each new event, the story escalates. In this case, a woman brings a pig home from a market and they reach a stile over which the pig cannot jump. In order to get the pig over the fence, she walks further and encounters a dog, stick, fire, water, ox, butcher, rope, rat, and cat, telling each of them to do something, but they refuse unless something else affects them first. Finally, she meets a cow and gives it hay, and the cow gives the cat milk and sets off a chain reaction ending in the dog biting the pig and ultimately getting him over the stile. This reminded me of a very extreme Rube Goldberg machine, in which a lot of energy is expended to perform a simple task (and certainly, a lot of deaths had to occur in this situation just to get the pig over the fence).

Although this one was somewhat morbid, I usually like cumulative stories because of their ridiculousness. I chose to retell this story because it had the setup of a nursery rhyme, which gave me ample opportunity to elaborate on details and provide background. I wanted to show it from the pig's perspective, because I imagine the entire situation would have been quite terrifying for him. This gave me some trouble because the pig would not have been able to see all that happened when the woman ventured on because he was trapped behind the fence, but I decided to remedy this by bringing all of the creatures back to him so he could see the chain reaction.

Bibliography:

"The Old Woman and Her Pig."

English Fairy Tales.

Joseph Jacobs, 1890.

Week 12 Essay: Fairy Tale Transformations

This week, I read English Fairy Tales (1), which included excerpts from a compilation by Joseph Jacobs. As I read through the unit, I was struck by how many stories were based off of more well-known versions of fairy tales, and I was also surprised that even if they didn't contain the same story line, they still had similar themes and motifs.

The first story, Tom Tit Tot, was strikingly similar to the more famous Rumpelstiltskin. The background provided in the Un-Textbook was helpful; I had heard different variations of "Rumpelstiltskin" but I wasn't aware of other versions that incorporated different names. After skimming through Dan Ashliman's compilation of these stories, it was fascinating to see so many different styles and tones of storytelling in what is essentially the same tale. Tom Tit Tot and each of the other stories in this collection all had different introductions and ways in which the author set up why the daughter must spin straw into gold (or whatever the materials may be), but the trajectory of each story remained the same throughout the compilation.

Another story in this unit that struck me in a similar fashion was the one about Cap o' Rushes. This story was another version of Cinderella, except, like in Tom Tit Tot, the introduction was different. In this tale, the maiden is kicked out of her home because her father asks each of his three daughters how much they love him, and Cap o' Rushes gives an unorthodox answer: "I love you more than meat loves salt." Because of this, her father believes that she does not love him at all, and sends her away to find another place to live. She finds work with a family elsewhere, and is treated kindly. When the prince of the state holds a ball, she claims that she is tired and chooses not to go (as opposed to the original Cinderella story, where the maiden's stepmother and stepsisters do not allow her to go). Later in the evening, she decides to attend the ball anyway. The rest of the story is the same: she goes to the ball, the prince falls in love with her, and they live happily ever after--including Cap o' Rushes's father, who realizes that meat really does love salt at the wedding feast.

In the story of the Rose-Tree, similar themes to those found in the original Cinderella popped up as well. I had heard a version of this particular story before, but I was curious to see if it borrowed ideas from Cinderella. The fact that the brother's tears watered the ground where his sister was buried, enough so that a tree would grow from it, reminded me of the fact that Cinderella's tears watered the ground where her mother lay and a tree also sprung from the land. In the original story, this became a place of guardianship, and Cinderella's mother watched over her and provided her with necessities. In the Rose-Tree, the brother gets the same kind of protection, and even though the rest of the story and the revenge that the sister takes is morbid, it was sweet to see this familial relationship.

After reading this unit, I realized that it reflected the themes that have been emphasized in this class. Throughout the semester, we have learned different methods of storytelling, and these fairy tales embody the very essence of good storytelling. The fact that, for example, Tom Tit Tot is just one version of a multitude of the same story shows the power of small changes within the themes of a story. If nothing else, this was certainly an inspiring unit to read; it gave me new ideas for different forms of storytelling.

Week 12 Reading Diary: English Fairy Tales

This week, I read the English Fairy Tales unit. It was a fine collection of classics retold, and I enjoyed reading the different versions of well-known fairy tales.

Tom Tit Tot: This was an interesting retelling of the classic Grimm fairy tale, Rumplestiltskin. Whereas in the well-known version of the story, the childhood of the girl is not always told, this story gave more background as to why the woman was married to the king and had to spin so many skeins of yarn each day. Every time I read this story, I wonder why the creature--Rumplestiltskin, Tom Tit Tot, or any other being--would be so silly as to absentmindedly sing his name.

The Rose Tree: This was one of the few stories in this first part of the unit that I hadn't heard before. It reminded me vaguely of the story of Cinderella in which Cinderella's mother is buried in a plot of land, and when the girl cries, her tears water the land and a tree eventually grows from it. In this story, the girl's brother does this. Overall, this story was very morbid--it is somewhat alarming to see how wicked the stepmother is, and how the little bird gets her revenge.

The Old Woman and Her Pig: Cumulative stories like this make me laugh, but mostly only because of their ridiculousness. I always love reading the odd series of events that must happen for a simple act to occur, and this story was no exception to the rule. This story is a strong contender for a storytelling post this week; it is based off of a nursery rhyme, which can be easily elaborated, and the themes are silly, so I can have fun with them.

Cap o' Rushes: Yet another story that reminds me of Cinderella. This, again, has slight changes to the classic--the girl is thrown out of her own home and finds shelter with another family in return for cleaning their pots and pans. She is not mistreated; she has the opportunity to go to the dance but she claims she is too tired (yet she goes anyway). The ending was the best part--one doesn't normally think about fresh meat and salt being a combination that defines love, but Cap o' Rushes is a clever one. In the end, I'm glad everyone was happy.

Henny-Penny: What a throwback to my childhood when I first heard the story of Chicken Little! I loved the names in this story; they were silly but effective in describing what the animals are like. Again, this is a cumulative story, which I find entertaining in their length and repetition.

Molly Whuppie: Yet another story that is similar to a classic fairy tale. In this case, this tale reminds me of Jack and the Beanstalk in that the main antagonist is a giant with a rhyming couplet for a chant and a taste for young children. It was heartening to see Molly as a caretaker who helps the children.

Mr. Fox: Another morbid story. This reminds me of a horror story that my friends and I used to tell around a campfire on summer evenings. I certainly am glad that Lady Mary discovered who Mr. Fox was before they got married and that she got out of what might have become a horrid situation!

Johnny-cake: I'm not sure exactly what a Johnny-cake is, but this Gingerbread Man-like story made me chuckle. This tale really goes to show that hubris and being too vocally prideful can be one's worst downfall--as the Johnny-cake discovers when the wolf snatches him up and eats him in one bite.