Just a quick note before I head off to school to prep, grade, and teach, prep, grade, and teach, prep, grade, and teach, &etc.
Spring break is just two days away! Mine will officially start at the end of a 1:00 meeting on Friday. Woo hoo!
So, since I've gotten into writing my fairy tale poems (I will not call it a series, b/c as soon as I do, *poof*, the drive will evaporate), I've been meaning to read the Grimm tales in their original. I've been told since high school that the Disney versions mask a lot of violence and gore, and I've read a few of the most popular tales in their original. Then, Sarah posted one of the tales on her blog, The Rain in My Purse (that's the title of the blog, not the tale), and I asked her for the translator and edition she was reading. Three days later, thanks to a wonderful public library, POOF, I'm reading The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm translated by Jack Zipes, all-new third edition, Bantam, 2003.
Last night I read a few (and these are perfect for before bed reading b/c most are fairly short), including Tale #1 "The Frog King, or Iron Heinrich." Here we have the familiar story of the princess who drops her golden ball in the well and the frog gets it back for her on the promise that she will take the frog to the castle and let him live with her, side by side. Of course, she ditches him at the well, but he makes his way to the castle and her father makes her honor her promise. I expected all of this. What I did not expect is what happens in the bedroom. When the frog demands that he be allowed to sleep in her bed, the princess, "threw him against the wall with all her might." Uhm, wow! That's the opposite of kissing the frog, people. In fact, there's no kissing at all in the tale! Lo and behold, this hurtling of the frog breaks the spell and he turns into a handsome prince and they live happily ever after.
I simply cannot wait for bedtime tonight!
~~~~~
Finally, those who follow me on FB know that I had a tiny, tiny poem published by Cellpoems yesterday. I blogged about this acceptance (which followed a solicitation) here. This publication is so cool. They send out poems of 140 characters or fewer (and yes, the spaces count!) via text message. The subscription list is over 500 phone numbers. (Read the linked blog post for my thoughts on creating tiny poems.) Later, I believe, the poem will appear on the website (here) with my bio and the usual publication information.
If you missed the poem in yesterday's roll out, you can still subscribe and receive tiny poem #2 on Saturday. To subscribe:
6 comments:
Had exactly the same reaction to the real frog prince story when I first read it a couple of years ago. I tried and tried to write a poem about it, but never got anywhere. I hope you have better luck!
Sara, thanks for the note. I'm purposefully not taking notes or annotating this book in terms of future poems. I've decided to just read and read and let the tales wash over me. Then, we'll see what comes out in the wash. :)
Congrats on the tiny poem, and I almost repeated the Grimm/grim toad-on-the-face story from Sarah's blog in church on Sunday, as it pertained!!
Thanks, Kathleen. That toad-on-the-face story has certainly stuck with me ever since I read it. So brilliant!
congrats on the poem. and you've now got me thinking i should read some fairy tales.
Oh, yes, Nancy, they are soooo good, and in small packages. Thanks for the support!
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