Week 6, Extra Reading Diary: Brothers Grimm (Crane) (First Half)

In the first half of the Brothers Grim (Crane), there were only three stories. They were all very interesting, especially Aschenputtel, which was the story of Cinderella, but a lot more "grimm". 

The Fisherman and His Wife
This story is about a fisherman and his wife, who lived in a hovel. One day he caught a flounder and as he pulled him up, the flounder told the fisherman that he was an enchanted prince and to let him go. The fisherman then let him go and when he got home he told his wife about it. She, being the greedy English woman in almost every mythology story I've read so far, wants him to go back to the flounder and ask to give them a cottage. The fisherman did, and they got their cottage. She wasn't happy with the cottage, so they got a castle. She wasn't happy with the castle, so she wanted to be king. She wasn't happy with being king, she wanted to be emperor. She wasn't happy with being emperor she wanted to be pope. She wasn't happy with being the pope, she wanted to be in control of the sun and moon. The fish apparently had had enough and put them back in their hovel.

Lady Jane's Cottage. Source: Wikimedia Commons.

The Robber Bridegroom
This story is about a girl whose father gives her hand in marriage to basically the first person who asks. The man wants her to come see him at his house and says that he will leave a trail of ashes for her to find him. Her being a smart girl, brought her own peas and lentils to leave a trail. When she got to the cottage, it was empty except for one old lady. The old lady told the girl that she was in trouble, that the men that lived there were cannibals and would chop her up and eat her. The old lady hid her and as she was hiding, they brought another girl in and ate her. They had chopped off her finger, which landed in the girls lap. When they had the chance, the old lady and girl escaped. Luckily the peas and lentils had started growing so they could find their way out of the woods. The girl told her dad the story. On the day that they were to be married, they were telling stories and the girl decided to tell her story, the one where the men chopped up a girl and cut her finger off. As she finished her story, she threw the finger on the table and the men were arrested. The end.