Extra Reading Diary: Japanese Fairy Tales

I chose to do an extra reading this week instead of writing an essay post. I chose the Japanese Fairy Tales unit because it contained stories that were a little longer than the unit's stories that I have read lately. I kept note of which stories were my favorite after reading half of this unit.

The Stonecutter

I've read a story like this in another unit I think so I kind of knew how it would end up but it was one of my favorites nonetheless. I really liked how the stonecutter thought he wanted to be all these things that were increasingly more powerful than the other. The way the story ends with him seeing that his initial body of work was the most powerful of all makes you look around and stop wishing for all these things you want to be and be grateful for who you are and what you have.

A statue of a stonecutter (Flikr).

The Envious Neighbor

I think I liked this story so much because of what happened to the neighbor in the end. The old couple continuously gave the neighbor what he so desperately wanted even after he had showed that he could not stay true to his word and return what they had given him. This is without mentioning that everything he took and destroyed was near and dear to the old couple. The neighbor got what was coming to him at the end of the story.

The Sparrow with the Slit Tongue

I liked this story much for the same reason I enjoyed the one above. The evil character paid for its mistake at the end of the story. In this story it was once again greed that led to the demise of the evil character. This seems to be a common theme with the stories I've chosen to be my favorites with the endings either being a lesson learned or the demise of a character.