Reading Diary B: Celtic Fairy Tales

These are my favorites from the second half of the Celtic Fairy Tales unit:

Beth Gellert: I have not a read a sadder story in all the units I've completed so far. You know that scene in Lady and the Tramp where Aunt Sarah (that terrible woman) has Tramp sent to the pound because he "attacked the baby?" When really he had just saved him from a rat. This story is a lot like that. Gellert is the prince's favorite greyhound and he protected his son from a wolf, but all he saw was the blood on the dog and all around the child's room. So he STABS HIM but then hears his son, finding him unharmed under the crib next to the dead wolf. I'm glad he feels terrible because he MURDERED his most loyal dog. How could you!?

The Tale of Ivan: This is an odd little adventure tale. Instead of being paid wages for 3 years, Ivan accepts advice from his master which helps him a lot more than the 9 pounds would have. I was still skeptical of this decision, though. His wife had to live without money (at least none contribute by Ivan) for 3 years! In the end, the advice saved his life twice, got him a good job as a lord's servant, and the wages he was owed for all the work he did. So it was good advice but I still can't help feeling sorry for the wife who had to live without any money. It is just a fairy tale, though, so it's possible for people to live on little to no money for years somehow.

Andrew Coffey: If the first story was the saddest I've read so far, this one is nearly the weirdest I've read so far. A bunch of strange things happen and without very much logic, reason, or explanation. At one point, Andrew is roasting a dead guy, who was supposedly lost at sea, on a spit (the picture below is the illustration that goes along with the story). I kept waiting for the part where it would make sense or some explanation would come, but it never did. So after thinking about it, I've decided that Andrew Coffey was probably just being haunted the spirit of the dead man. It all seems like a bad dream which could be another explanation, but I think the haunting is more probable.

Andrew roasting the dead man (who still talks and move) on a spit (John D. Batten)

Brewery of Eggshells: I don't know how a story can be silly and creepy at the same time but this one manages to do just that. A couple realizes their children aren't growing and suspect they've been stolen and replaced. A wise man tells the mother to bake eggshells and try to give them to someone as food which causes one of the fake children to talk. She throws them in a lake and the thieves give her the real children back. I'm glad we don't live in a fairy tale world sometimes so that we don't have to worry about things like this happening or creepy witches like from the first half of the unit or the odd happenings of the previous story. Some things are better left imaginary.