Week 12 Reading Diary: English Fairy Tales

English Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs 

Tom Tit Tot, photo by John D. Batten (1890)

"Darter, put you them there pies on the shelf and leave em there a little, and they'll come again" 

The first tale, Tom Tit Tot, is a very interesting tale told in an interesting language style. This was a good foreshadow for what the rest of the tales might be like

My wicked mother slew me
My dear father ate me,
My little brother whom I love
Sits below, and I sing above
Stick, stock, stone dead.

'Oh, the beautiful song! sing it again, sweet bird,' said the watchmaker. 'If you will give me first that gold watch and chain in your hand.' The jeweller gave the watch and chain. The bird took it in one foot, the shoes in the other, and, after having repeated the song, flew away to where three millers were picking a millstone. The bird perched on a tree and sang:

My wicked mother slew me,
My dear father ate me,
My little brother whom I love
Sits below, and I sing above
Stick!

"As soon as the cat had lapped up the milk, the cat began to kill the rat; the rat began to gnaw the rope; the rope began to hang the butcher; the butcher began to kill the ox; the ox began to drink the water; the water began to quench the fire; the fire began to burn the stick; the stick began to beat the dog; the dog began to bite the pig; the little pig in a fright jumped over the stile; and so the old woman got home that night."

This was a really cool ending to the tale, The Old Woman and her Pig, as everything such as the rat, cat, rope, ox, fire, etc. all lead to the ending of the tale and tied together. 

"Fair and beautiful she looked as she lay there. In her golden hair were pearls and precious stones; you could not see her waist for her golden girdle, and the golden fringe of her white dress came down over her lily feet. But she was drowned, drowned" 

This quote gave you a good image of what they were seeing

"Mouse and Mouser" is an interesting animal tale as it has the cat and the mouse going back and forth back and forth until the end when finally the cat kills the mouse.

"It rose to the boy's knees and still more water was poured. It mounted to his waist, and Beelzebub still kept on bringing barrels full. It rose to his armpits, and he scrambled to the table-top. And now the water in the room stood up to the window and washed against the glass and swirled around his feet on the table. It still rose; it reached his breast. In vain he cried..."

This was a really interesting part of the tale, as it created much suspense. You can only imagine and hope to never be in a situation where water is rising on you and you can't do anything about it. This tale reminded me of the Titanic.