Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales, Part A

    This week I chose to read the Chinese Fairy Tales unit. The stories I read are from The Chinese Fairy Book by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens. So far, this is not my favorite unit. I did not enjoy reading very many of the stories from Reading A because some of them were not fascinating and boring to read. However, there were some stories that I actually did enjoy reading.

    The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck was a story that I did enjoy reading. It was short and sweet but still interesting. I like that the princess got to choose out her prince, and I found it interesting that she saw the potential in the beggar, but her father did not. She could see that he had good fortune and even though they were not rewarded with it right away, she remained loyal to her husband and eventually they received good fortune. I liked that her mother helped her out secretly when she was poor, that was a good addition to the story. It was sad the princess ended up dying so suddenly after receiving the fortune, but at least she got to be happy.

    The Cave of the Beasts was another story that I enjoyed reading. This one was longer, but it was still interesting. I like how the two daughters who were left to die were able live and find treasure. It was nice that their father came back for them, but I did not like that he left them to die because their mother gave them the duck eggs he had found. Minus all of the drama that happened, the family ended up being happy and wealthy.

Image from the First Story