Reading Notes: Saints and Animals, Part A

The first story I read and liked was Saint Kentigern and the Robin by Abbie Farwell Brown. I liked how the story could have relation to those reading it. Whether the person is the know it all or whether the person is the one who is jealous. This story was fun to read because of the mischief and little suspense. I am always on the protagonist’s side, so I was happy that Kentigern never got in trouble, even when he almost did, he found a way to prove himself as innocent. As I was reading this story, I could imagine it happening in my head. I could see the characters doing the actions, in which I really liked about this story. But it was gross when I could picture the boys ripping the head off the bird but kind of amusing at the same time. I liked that Kentigern was the hero of the story because he made the bird come back to life. There was magic and miracle that brought the story together.

The second story I read and liked was Saint Blaise and His Beasts by Abbie Farwell Brown. The story began with background information to help give the reader’s context about who Saint Blaise was and what he did. The character of this story was gentle and caring, but there were also other characters that were cruel. I thought it was cool how he could talk to the animals and the animals loved him. There were many parts of the story where he resembled Jesus, like when he could heal the sick and walk on water. Like the last story I read, this story was also filled with jealousy and murder, which is always interesting to me. The part of the story that struck me the most was when the soldiers were to kill him by drowning but they ended up accidentally drowning themselves, and then Saint Blaise ended up ready to die so then he was beheaded. I don’t know why this part shocked me, but it did. I think it was maybe because I figured since he just avoided death that he was going to live longer with the animals.

                                                                   Saint Blaise from the Story

In both of these stories there was jealousy, anger, mischief, tricks, and death. Stories like that always seem to fascinate me, so I’m starting to get ideas and thoughts about incorporating these into my own story.