Week 13: Essay

Week 13: Essay

Sleeping Beauty/Briar Rose

I read the Grimm (Librivox) unit this week. I noticed a few things about the stories this week. Usually the prince is the one to save the girl in a lot of fairytales and stories about princesses as princes. In this unit there were some of those stories of course such as Briar Rose, but there were also a lot of stories in this unit where the princess saves the prince. Stories where the princess saves the prince were The Frog Prince and Rapunzel. In The Frog Prince, the princess must let the frog sleep in her house three nights in a row in order for him to break the spell of being a frog and become a prince. In Rapunzel, the prince falls into some thorns and blinds himself. Years later the princess finds him and her tears fall into his eyes and give him back his sight. In Briar Rose, the princess falls into a sleep for 100 years because of an evil fairy's spell. A prince comes along and kisses her, and she wakes up from her sleep and is alive and well.

I guess I found this interesting because I never noticed it before. In most stories like this, the prince in shining armor comes in on his horse and saves the damsel in distress. I think it is kind of cool that some of these stories were the other way around especially because today there is more equality in America. I think it is interesting and awesome that there is a few stories like this in this unit.

Week 13: Storytelling: The Frog Prince

Week 13: Storytelling

The Frog Prince

Once upon a time there was a beautiful princess named Alexandria Rose. One day Alexandria was walking along the pond day dreaming about finding the prince of her dreams when all of a sudden her  diamond tiara fell into the water.

Alexandria started sobbing because her father had just given her that tiara for her 22nd birthday and it was very, very expensive. When she finally contained herself, she opened her eyes and right in front of here was a green little frog sitting on a lily pad watching her cry.

Blushing from embarrassment, Alexandria asked the frog, "Who are you? Stop watching me cry. It is very rude you disgusting creature."

The Frog Prince

The frog replied, "Hello princess, I am Robert the frog. Why are you so sad? Is there anything I can do to help?"

Alexandria replied, "I am crying because I  dropped my tiara into the pond. It was very expensive and now it is gone forever. My father is going to kill me!"

"Oh princess," replied Robert the frog, "I can surely help you with that. But first, you must make me a promise."

"Oh could you?" asked Alexandria, "I will make you any promise! You name it, and it is yours."

Robert the frog asked the princess, "Could you take me into your home? I would like to sleep in a warm but for one night. That is all I ask of you, princess."

Alexandria scoffed, "You really expect me to let some slimy, green, wet, gross creature into my home, let alone my bed? You are seriously mistaken, frog. Maybe in your next lifetime, or better yet, when pigs fly."

The Frog Prince

With hurt feelings Robert replied, "Well I guess it was worth a try. I see you didn't want your tiara back that bad after all. Goodbye, Princess."

"Wait a minute!" Thinking that the frog could never ever leave the pond, Alexandria agreed to the promise. She told the frog, "Fine I will promise to let you sleep in a warm bed tonight, but please just give me back my tiara."

Robert went to the bottom of the pond and fetched her tiara, and Alexandria went home a happy girl. That evening as Alexandria was getting ready for bed, she heard a tap at her front door. She thought to herself,  "It couldn't be the frog, could it? No, no, no that's crazy. He could never make it all the way here from that disgusting pond."

When she opened the door, there was Robert the frog. He said, "Princess, you promised to let me sleep in a warm bed for tonight, so here I am! Let me tell you, I am so unbelievably excited!"

Alexandria rudely said, "Couldn't you tell I was lying? I am not about to let you into my home. Now go away! Don't you have some mosquitos to eat or something?"

Truly hurt, the frog started to tear up. He was hopping away when he saw an open window in Alexandria's house. The window being on the first floor, Robert easily made the large hop inside and found Stephanie Jewel, Alexandria's younger, more beautiful sister.

Stephanie exclaimed, "Oh my! Who are you, you cute little thing?"

Robert replied, "I am Robert the frog, and I am sorry to bother you, but may I please sleep in your bed tonight? I have been longing to sleep in a warm, cozy bed for sometime now."

Stephanie replied, "Well of course! How could I say no to such an adorable little frog! You can even cuddle up to me if you get too cold."

It finally came time to go to sleep and Stephanie said, "Goodnight little froggy. Sweet Dreams!" She even gave him a little kiss on the cheek.

A Kiss Goodnight 

When Stephanie woke up the next morning, she saw laying next to her the most handsome man she had ever seen. His hair was dark and wavy, he was tall,  his eyes were the most beautiful shade of chocolate brown, and wow those perfect lips. Even just laying there he had some sort of glow to him.

Stephanie was startled, but quietly questioned Robert. "Excuse me Robert," she said, "I am confused. Were you not a frog just yesterday? What is happening?"

Grabbing his face Robert shouted, "It worked? I am human again? This is wonderful! You see princess, five years ago an evil witch put a spell on me. She turned me into a frog and the only way to reverse the spell was to sleep in a bed inside a home for one night. Your sister promised to let me sleep in her room because I saved her beloved tiara, but she took back her word. What a mistake that was. Luckily for me I found you."

"A mistake?" asked Stephanie, "Why was it a mistake? I know she can be very hateful sometimes, but you found me! So in the end it is all okay right?"

Robert chuckled, "Actually, princess, the one funny part about the spell is that if someone makes me a promise, but then takes it back or lies, they get turned into a frog the second I turn back into a human."

"Oh my goodness," screamed Stephanie, "my sister is a frog. Well that's just great. My dad is going to kill her. He always tells us to never take back a promise. I guess she got what she deserved then. She should not have been so hateful."

The Frog Princess

When they went downstairs the found Alexandria sitting on the living room chair. She was green, slimy, and wet. Just like Robert only a few hours before. Robert and Stephanie told her everything. Alexandria was so upset and jealous of her sister, but she learned her lesson and never made a promise she could not keep again.

Stephanie Jewel and Robert went to live in Roberts palace as prince and princess and husband and wife. They lived happily ever after in a love greater than all other loves.

Author's Note: For this story, I kept most of the beginning the same and changed up the end. However, there was a difference or two in the beginning as well. I decided at the end of the original story that I hated the way it ended so I changed it. In the original, the frog turns into a prince and then him and the princess live happily ever after even though she was horrible to him and tricked him. I decided that I would not let someone who was so mean and hateful, win in the end. So I decided to add in a sweet little sister and let her have the happily ever after. Then I had the main character (who I named Alexandria) turn into a frog because she was so hateful to the frog throughout the story. I thought she deserved it. I also decided to have her tiara fall into the bond, not a ball. I thought a tiara would be more precious and meaningful to someone than a ball. That also made the trade for sleeping at her house more equal.

Bibliography:
Book: Brothers Grimm (Librivox)
Author: The Brothers Grimm
Year: N/A
Websource: Un-Textbook

Week 13: Reading Diary

Week 12: Reading Diary: Grimm (Librivox)

The Frog Prince:
I liked reading this story because I have never read this version. I like how the moral of the story is that you should always keep your word. The princess tried to trick the frog, but her father says she can never go against her word. It worked out good for her anyways. He turns into a handsome prince! The only thing I do not like about the story is that she was rude to him and lied to him, yet he still wanted to marry her in the end.

Rapunzel:
This is a sweet story because it is all about love. I hate how the enchantress steals away Rapunzel as a baby, but that is something that is crucial to the story to make it all work and make sense. I think it would be fun to have them defeat the enchantress rather than find each other later.

The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean:
This was a really strange story. I probably wont rewrite this one because there wasn't much story there in my opinion. It was, however, nice to read a story from Grimm that I was not familiar with.

The Mouse, The Bird, and The Sausage:
This story reminds me of the saying "If its not broke, don't fix it." This was kind of a sad story because they were all happy, but someone criticized the way they did things. When they tried to rearrange their duties, they all died doing someone else job.

Briar Rose:
I liked reading this because it was a lot different than the Sleeping Beauty story I remember watching as a child. I think this is a really pretty and detailed story. Of course it ends with a prince saving a princess because that is how many of these stories end.


The Queen Bee:
This is another good story with a moral about karma. I really liked it because the dwarf brother was always trying to be nice to everyone and wouldn't let his brothers hurt innocent animals and creatures. In the end, those creatures came to help him and he ended up with the best princess, and later became king.

The Fox and the Horse:
This story was really enjoyable. It was nice to read another "trickster" story because sometimes what happens is so obvious, but other times you have no idea what is going to happen. I am not sure if I have a story like this in my storytellings or portfolios, but this would be a good one.