Aesop's Fables is the collection of short yet didactic tales that reveal the non-obvious side of human logic: the battle of folly and wisdom, prudenceAesop's Fables is the collection of short yet didactic tales that reveal the non-obvious side of human logic: the battle of folly and wisdom, prudence and imprudence. Prudence is the virtue whereby the best judgment is made based on considering circumstances and not just ideal principles. However, most of the time, the moral lessons attached to the fables are not relatable. The meaning of the story is within the story itself. As Flannery O'Conner once said, "a good story is the one that resists paraphrase."
Fables are necessary to be read for children because they are ruthless yet frank depictions of reality that in them, things happen as they actually do, not in an ideal form. Fables are about the wisdom of the serpent more than the innocence of the dove. They show the world to the children the way it is: complicated and dangerous, but also full of wry and ironic events that reveal us and the nature of things to ourselves and correct our many failings, sometimes not so gently. So these didactic, compressed, and often wryly humorous fables perfectly capture the fascinating facet of the reality we often tend to ignore. ...more
Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Berens is a mine of information about the lineage of the gods, forms of worship, festivals and tMyths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome by E. M. Berens is a mine of information about the lineage of the gods, forms of worship, festivals and temples devoted to them.
Written in an easy and light style, the author attempts to bring the pantheon of gods into a comprehensible format. He organizes them into different dynasties and chronologies to make it easier for the reader to understand the labyrinthine relationships and connections between the various gods, heroes, minor divinities, mythical figures and legendary creatures. It is interestingly chronicled, right from the primordial legend of Uranus and Gaia to the Creation of the Earth, through the dynasties of the Gods, heroes and divinities of the Night and the Sea, right up to the Trojan War where the Gods played a most important role in the destiny of humans....more
"Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers." -Hans Christian Anderson
Hans Christian Anderson was a Danish writer that many of us have g"Every man's life is a fairy tale written by God's fingers." -Hans Christian Anderson
Hans Christian Anderson was a Danish writer that many of us have grown up with his fairy tales. Great stories like "The Emperor's New Clothes," "The Little Mermaid," "The Nightingale," "The Red Shoes," "The Snow Queen," and "The Ugly Duckling" are well-known widely in the world. I believe Anderson's works made him famous, but his fairytales made him immortal. Generations passed, and still, children enjoy the tales. In Anderson's magical world, not all stories have happy endings; but, they have a lesson worthy of learning. The stories are beautifully narrated, and their concepts are usually about love, faith, God, evil, sin, poverty, and redemption. Hans Christian Anderson, himself acquainted well with poverty and suffering since childhood, could depict the hardships of penniless lives that all they have is hope. Frankly, I enjoyed Anderson's fairytales more than Grimm's one, for I found his tales more ardent and amiable. It can be perceived from his stories that he had a great emphasis on issues like forgiveness and great love that God possesses, and also that "old sins cast long shadows." But the matter of "fear of God" will not overawe readers but invite them to embrace love and faith in Him. I think he and his unique stories will always remain imperishable in our hearts....more
Grimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (first published in 1812), consists of fairy tales and old German folklore. Famous stories like Snow WhGrimm's Fairy Tales by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm (first published in 1812), consists of fairy tales and old German folklore. Famous stories like Snow White, Cinderella (Aschenputtel), Hansel and Gretel, The Wolf and The Seven Young Kids, etc that all are well-known worldwide. The fairy tales, in fact, were part of a rich oral tradition − passed down from generation to generation, often by women seeking to pass the time during household chores. This great collection can depict the ideals, dreams, and values of the old German people. Grimm brothers, in fact, had curated the collection as an academic anthology for scholars of German culture, not as a collection of bedtime stories for young readers, to preserve these tales from fading and perishing. It is hard to rate a book with many stories that some are good, some are bad, but generally, I enjoyed it. But I think even after lots of changes implied to the book, still, most of the stories are grim and gore. These stories were originally very dark, some to the point they were seen more as for adults than children. Most fairy tales were not initially stories told to children, they were stories told between adults while they were working on menial tasks. There are many references to cannibalism and violent scenes - such as turning the wicked mother of Snow White and Hansel and Gretel into a stepmother, which were probably made with an eye to such suitability and also to “held motherhood sacred”. They removed sexual references—such as Rapunzel's innocently asking why her dress was getting tight around her belly, and thus naively revealing to the witch Dame Gothel her pregnancy and the prince's visits. In the story "The Juniper Tree", a young boy is murdered (decapitated) by his stepmother. She devised a plan to incriminate her daughter, and then, she cooked the poor boy and fed him to his father! In the original Cinderella, there is no magical fat godmother, but a magical tree with magical birds. When stepsisters do not fit into the golden shoes, one cut off her toes and the other the heel. And at the end of the story, the crows pecked out their eyeballs as a punishment. ...more
Parmida R. A.
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Books:
folklore
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