My Grimm Monday #2

Okay. So I am still unsure if I will be staying committed with this weekly meme (see my previous post explaining my woes), but thought I would still put a post up while I continue to think about it.
I actually had a conversation with my mother about Grimm tales this week, expressing my thoughts about how the tales are overly negative and void of any lesson or message. Throughout  the conversation, I found myself saying, "I don't think I could ever enjoy reading them as long as I view them as stories they shared for enjoyment". Hmm...
It had me thinking, wondering if really they were not intended to be so from the start. I mean, we have wonderful books we read, or stories we share that are pure fun, and then we have our own legends or creepy tales that we seem to share for a completely different reason. I mean, if you reach your car, late at night and find that your car was unlocked, do you have the hairs on the back of your neck rise up until you thoroughly check through your car to be sure you are the only one in it? Doesn't just about everyone go to great lengths to be sure their identity doesn't get stolen? Don't all of us (good) parents make all efforts possible to keep our children safe from predators? Why? Because we have had similarly creepy things occur in our own world, tales from the news that we pass on as cautionary tales to others. Lock your car doors. Only purchase from a reputable, secure sites online. Tell your children about stranger danger. Maybe Grimm tales were not the stories they gathered around to hear, but the tales they told one another in passing. The tales one mother gossiped about to another as she was bringing over a freshly baked pie, or the tales that spread like fire in a work environment...all to force people to take caution, to be aware, to keep safe.
I also came across this thread on Goodreads discussing Grimm tales. The participants were diving into a lot of aspects of these tales, highlighting possible symbolism and all that good stuff, that were more of bringing awareness to ones station or role in life. I honestly think that my literary mind approaches fairy tales for the literary creative brilliance, like our society does today. I think the way we now approach fairy tales is much different from how people approached them way back then, and that they had completely different intentions.
To me, this 100% changes what this challenge is about, and pulls it into a much deeper and heavier realm than what I was expecting, and I'm possibly not in the right frame of mind to do so at the moment. But, for today....

 

The Giant and the Tailor

 

'"Thunder and lightning," cried the tailor, "what is that?" and as he was strongly goaded by curiosity, he went boldly towards it."

 

I chose this quote basically because I loved it. I love the phrase "thunder and lightning" being used in such a manner. After reading it, I found myself thinking it would be so incredibly awesome if people replaced "wow", or "OMG" with "thunder and lightning", on a daily basis. Aside from this quote, I felt this tale was very ambiguously written. I  don't even know if I fully understand what happened in this short little tale. Apparently the tailor wanted to branch out and explore life, and found himself in the land of a giant. He simply told the giant he was looking for a new way to earn bread, so the giant just as simply informed him he will do everything he says and will be paid with keeping his life. Then the tale goes on with the tailor saying strange things with every request from the giant, and the giant thinking to himself that the little man must be a sorcerer, and therefore, dangerous. At the same time, the tailor is also realizing he got the bad end of the deal, and both are no longer wanting this strange partnership. Eventually, the tailor is free (through an odd situation that I cannot tell if it was the tailor's doing or the giant's). And, like all of the Grimm tales...that is it! The end.

I guess if I were to look at it as a cautionary legend of sorts, I would say it is warning people to not be explorative out of fear of what dangerous beings you would encounter. Beyond where you live and what you know, all manners of crazies could be present!

my ukulele

I am not sure if I mentioned this or not, but my husband gave me a ukulele this past Christmas. I have been craving for an instrument to get all creative with music (I think a good majority of my body was created with music), and I haven't done too much in the sense of playing an instrument since I left high school. I played the viola from 4th grade through to my senior year, even made it into our local youth symphony in 6th grade! But playing the viola was just not the same by myself compared to playing in a full orchestra, and my interest in the instrument dwindled. My heart would absolutely love to have fun on a penny whistle (and I have, we own several), but they are so high pitched that the sound really tends to hurt my ears, and the deeper toned whistles are much longer, requiring quite a large hand span to play, which I don't have. So this past Christmastime, I was pondering and researching on instruments that I thought I would really enjoy. I didn't want a complex instrument, but I wanted that I could fully enjoy, without hurting me ears. I settled on a ukulele, and before I had even shared my desires with my husband, he was apparently already deciding to get me a ukulele for Christmas! I was lucky enough to find a tenor ukulele, the only one in the store. As we were paying for it, another lady came in, disappointed to find that I had purchased the tenor, as she came to purchase it herself. It was destiny I suppose, that I arrived just before her and got my hands on this ukulele!
Aside from all my reminiscing about Christmas, I came home and got right to learning it. The first night I was playing some simple Christmas songs. I eventually grew upset about the ukulele, feeling as though it was very limiting (and in some ways it is). I then put the ukulele away in my closet....until last night. It has been whispering softly in my ears for a week or so, haunting me to give it another go. I am now trying to approach it differently. I had meditated a lot on this instrument and came to understand that I need to approach it more as a lute or harp than a guitar, strumming it much differently. I gave that a try last night and had a lot of fun with it. I need to just experiment and figure out how to translate that to being able to play actual songs from books rather than just plucking my own magical tunes.  

I really only own 2 ukulele music books (and a fold out chart of all the chords that I haven't even used yet), one filled with Christmas music and the other filled with Irish songs. I so want to be able to play a lot of fun Irish songs on an instrument, that was my ultimate desire or reasoning to trying a go at a new instrument. That is, I guess my goal, to master an instrument in a way that allows me to enjoy playing Irish music. I am glad that I put it away after Christmas, it allowed me to shake that guitar connection with the ukulele so that I could learn it a bit differently, a way that might actually allow me to get to where I want to be with this instrument.

So I think that is what I will be doing this Mother's Day weekend. That and enjoying my new mint, basil, and lucky bamboo plant (my first mint and basil sadly died). Oh, and my lovely Mother's Day bouquet of blue flowers!

A Grimm Struggle....

Well, I am oddly finding myself at odds here, in terms of My Grimm Monday meme. The more I read of the original tales, the more I feel like I don't want to?
I suppose I'll explain...
What you've always heard is true, the originals are dark, but not dark in the way that I had assumed they were. I had read several when I was younger, the originals of the well known tales, such as Cinderella and Little Red, but I think when you just randomly pick a tale, especially the ones you are unfamiliar with and have no current comparison, their darkness is more apparent. (Check out this article that goes a bit in depth on the gruesome side of these tales.) They are not written more dark as in the sense that the stepsisters cut off their heels, but are dark in a way that is strange for me. It is as if these old tales take the worst characteristic possible in a person, amplify it to such point that it doesn't make sense, and then nothing more. The character does not see right, has no desire to make things right, and gets everything they want, leaving little room for any sort of a positive message. To find a message within, you really have to stretch the mind, and then find yourself doubting that was what the story was intending to relay. And I have to admit, I am a huge lover of Aesop's Fables and stories with morals, I have been since I was a young child. Grimm tales just seem a bit twisted to me and am finding myself wondering how people sat around back then listening and enjoying these tales in this form, which is disappointing to consider as I always imagined that experience to be so magical! I am so much more appreciative of the creative minds of those in our time and how they can weave these tales into such magically wonderful stories, and I didn't know it was possible for me to appreciate them more than I already did! However, that is leaving me in a place of deep thought about this project.
In all honesty, the tales are really negative, and I feel like I don't need to foster that in my own mind as I cannot read anything without thinking too profoundly upon it. I don't want to sit around and read about someone who was so ghastly manipulative that he tricked his entire town to kill themselves. I feel like I am trying to love people more in general, and I purposely created this meme to try and foster something more positive in my world and create something that I can be excited about approaching on a weekly basis, and these tales are not helpful in that aspect. It never occurred to me that I might not actually like the original tales. So, sadly, I will be pondering on this, maybe reading a few more tales from my Grimm book to be certain the themes run through, and then probably trying to slightly tweak my new meme into something that is more appropriate for what I wanted to get out of it.
Do you have any of these same feelings about the original Grimm tales? I have to say, I generally adore older literature and have always been so fascinated with the idea of oral storytelling; it surprises me that I am not finding myself loving these tales. But, I am guessing if I am dreading picking the book back up again to write out a My Grimm Monday, I should probably make some changes... 

Reading Log: April 26 - May 2

I have been thinking a lot about trying to become "a better reader", in the sense of reading more a variety of authors and books. This doesn't necessarily mean dipping into all genres, but mainly trying to force myself to look past classics and just simply try to finish more books overall than what I normally do. I tend to start and stop, start and stop, never finishing books. Now I am trying to explore and find more books that make me actually want to finish them, rather than placing them back in my tbr book stack. I have grown into a book hopper, and I much preferred it when I wasn't (many years ago!). I am aiming to get back to that time when I felt excited to be reading the book I was reading, and allowing it to hold my attention through to the last page.
I was so impressed upon how much a readathon had me anxious to read more, so I've decided to start trying to keep track of how many pages I read every day. Not sure if I will always share these logs on here, but it may be fun to every now and then! So, here is my first week's log:

Sunday- 37 pages
Monday- nothing
Tuesday- 138 pages
Wednesday- 147 pages
Thursday- 12 pages
Friday- 26 pages
Saturday- nothing

Week total: 360 pages
Books read from: 6
Books finished: 1, Found by Margaret Peterson Haddix

My Grimm Monday #1

The Frog-King Quote:

"Then she was terribly angry, and took him up and threw him with all her might against the wall. "Now, thou wilt be quiet, odious frog," she said.

But when he fell down he was no frog but a King's son with beautiful kind eyes. He by her father's will was now her dear companion and husband. Then he told her how he had been bewitched by a wicked witch, and how no one could have delivered him from the well but herself, and that to-morrow they would go together into his kingdom."
 

Click here to read the full story, though it may not be the exact same edition I took this quote from. You can find the exact edition I am using in the menu under My Grimm Monday.

 

I was a bit shocked to read about how the frog became a prince in this tale. I think we all have that vision of the lovely girl kissing the frog to transform him. Knowing that she is so completely disgusting by the slimy green frog and throws him against the wall, triggering his transformation into a prince... is quite startling! Not to mention it doesn't make sense. She was the only one that could transform him, but why? Was being thrown against the wall the requirement? I would love to have known the premise or foundation for this bewitchment, and what the message behind this story was meant to be.
I can already tell in this very first story, that these tales seem to take the dark side of human nature, making them shine into twisted tales of how unfairly the world works. This is much different than what we all see today, where the basis for all revolves around love, and good winning over evil. It is very evident that these tales were intended for adults, those who have grown to see the harshness of the world and can appreciate these tales that showcase it. I am anxious to read on!

My Grimm Monday: Introduction

So, I will be starting a new weekly meme on here (again), hopefully one that will stick! I have written a new section in the menu that explains the new meme, but I will share it in this introductory post as well:

I have been inspired lately to try a new meme on here, one that I think will continue to hold my interest and that I can have a lot of fun with. I absolutely love fairy tales, and anything fairy tale-ish, so this new meme will revolve around that never fading love of the Grimm fairy tales. I finally got my hands on a lovely hardcover copy of the original Grimm fairy tales, and I couldn't be more excited. I cannot wait to dive in and start devouring the foundation for so many fairy tales that we have floating around today! Every Monday I will be posting something Grimm or fairy tale related, just to simply have fun with these well known (and not so well known) tales.

For now, I believe I will start out with posting quotes from the tales I read in this new Grimm book of mine; quotes that I find intriguing or startling. To be honest, I am not yet sure what adventures will come of this new meme, but I am excited to start it anyways! For me, nothing will be off limits as I am allowing this meme to be pretty broad. You might see me sharing about films or shows that are fairy tale based, links to artwork I discover online that are fairy tale reminiscent, a fairy tale moment in my life, or even sharing some fairy tales I write myself. For me, right now, all is included in this meme, as long as it is something I want to share that is fairy tale related! These posts will be easily found under the tag My Grimm Monday, or in the archives labeled the same. I hope you enjoy a bit of Grimm on your Mondays, and feel free to leave comments with your thoughts, or links to your own blog for me to check out!

SO not Grimm!

My oldest daughter was feeling quite chipper after her Remicade today (well, feeling better than usual), so I offered to take to her to a nearby Barnes and Noble, to sneak in a little mother-daughter time that didn't require a  hospital bed. It was a nice surprise that she felt up to it! So we spent some time wandering around chatting, looking at different books. I picked up my youngest the missing book from Diary of a Wimpy Kid that we can't seem to find anywhere, and my oldest ended up deciding on a gluten-free cook book (as Crohn's is a tad confusing, and causes her body to not be able to handle wheat, basically also like Celiac).
I wasn't planning on getting anything new, but I did discover a hardcover book filled with ALL the Grimm fairy tales, AND it was lightweight! I have been searching for something like that for a few years, and could not believe I found a beautiful one, for only $8. I had a book in our family house when I was younger with all the original tales that I loved browsing through now and then. Since I've been married, I've been wanting to get my hands on a nice one. I know I will be enjoying this a lot! I think I will try to read through the entire book over time, and possibly come up with some kind of a blog project to go along with it. I am not really sure what I would do yet, I haven't thought too much about it...but I will announce it if I can come up with something! I am super excited to dig into all the original tales!