Reading the book VS watching the movie
Have you ever read Snow white? The Frog Prince? Cinderella? Rapunzel? Little Red Riding Hood?
Many people will know all those names. They will think of Prince Charming and true loves kiss. They will think of glass slippers. Or perhaps they will think of the quote "You have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince. Kind of funny actually because if you read Grimm's fairy tales you will quickly find out that none of that is in there.
Here's an example:
Image source: Dall-e
Don't know the story? Read the post and find out which story it came from 😜
I enjoy reading books
I love reading books. Before I had children of my own I read many many books with fantasy being my main genre for reading. The wheel of time series. The adventure of Drizzt Do Urden. The adventures of Skeeve the magician or Phule's company. The works of Tolkien or C.S. Lewis. Or even non fantasy like "Memoir of a Geisha".
When I had children my time to read was considerably reduced. I would read them fairy tales before bedtime when they were little and Harry Potter when they were a little older but still wanted bedtime stories. Now I have homestay students who are required to read every night. What are we reading?
Grimm's Fairy Tales
And considering it is a fairly conservative program having them read those fairy tales came with a little soul searching for me.
Now originally I was going to read "The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe" or "Phule's company" or "Another fine myth". I joked about reading "Pilgrims Progress" and if I was mean I was thinking maybe "Ivanhoe" but the Grimm's fairy tales was sitting there and they chose it because it has a lot of short stories so its something new every night.
But there are a couple problems. The stories they think they know aren't actually the stories in the book and the words in the book can be unusual even for someone who thinks he knows English (namely me).
When the story isn't what you think
Now I eventually agreed to let them read the Fairy tales. The kids have gotten some surprises though.
Last night we read Cinderella. Now my guess is when you think Cinderella you think "Fairy Godmother" and "Glass slipper" with the prince going to find the beautiful woman after her slipper falls off after running away at midnight. Plus ugly stepsisters whose feet don't fit the shoe
Nope
There is no fairy Godmother. Cinderella weeps are her mothers grave and plants a hazel tree to adorn her mothers grave. Birds that live in the tree eventually come to Cinderella's aid and give her a beautiful dress and beautiful shoes but certainly not glass slippers.
Cinderella running away at midnight? Nope. The ball was a three night event. One night she just went home. One night she went home and hid so the prince didn't see where she lived. One night the prince put pitch on the stairs so Cinderella's shoe stuck and he has pretense to go to her house.
Ugly stepsisters? Nope. They were beautiful but ugly on the inside. Shoe didn't fit? That part partly true. The shoes didn't fit so... One of the sisters cut off her toe to shove the foot inside. The prince starts to take her home but noticed blood leaking from the shoe. Returns and the second sister tries the shoe on...the toes fit but not the heel so she cuts off her heel. Again the prince takes her home but again notices blood.
Image Source: Dall-e
Eventually he finds Cinderella and the shoe fits.
As you can tell, the book doesn't match the cartoon or even the children's book which give the Disney version of the tale.
Other stories we read?
Snow white?
Yeah it wasn't an evil queen. It was Snow White's mother who sent the huntsman out to kill snow white and bring back her daughters lungs and liver so she could eat them and get her beauty. I guess cannibalism and a mother killing her daughter didn't fit Disney's view of a good cartoon.
As for the prince? Yeah he didn't wake up Snow White with a kiss. He found her dead in a glass coffin from a poison apple stuck in her throat. He couldn't bear not looking at her because she was so beautiful so he took the coffin home. Ugh. Guess necrophilia wasn't a good look for Disney either.
and Dall-e wouldn't even give me an image to post. Grimm was against guidelines I suppose
The Frog Prince?
Kissing a frog to find the prince? Nope. The prince made a deal with the beautiful daughter. He'd retrieve her favorite toy and in return the frog could eat with her, sleep with her and be her companion. She ran away and figured the frog couldn't find where she lived. But the frog found her house, knocked at her door, and informed her father of her promise. The father told the daughter "What you have promised you must perform" which she hated. Then when the frog went to sleep with her she was horrified and threw the frog against the wall. The jolt from being slammed against a wall allowed the frog to break the curse and become a prince.
I guess "kiss a lot of frogs to find a prince" had better optics than "Beat up guys who want to sleep with you and see if you find a prince afterwards". ...And now you know where the first image in this post came from.
Now of course I say that tongue in cheek because the Grimm's fairy tales were just that.
Grim
They just don't have messages or images that fit with modern sensibilities. They have to be sanitized before they are acceptable.
Then there is the language barrier
In addition to questionable images there is also the language issue. How good is your English? I think mine is pretty good even with older words. When reading with an ESL student? Well, sometimes I stop him and check for comprehension. However, sometimes I actually have to stop him while I look up a word I've never heard of before. Most of the old words I'm going to guess you will figure out. Thee, Thou, Thine? Those are just old time "You". Whilst? Old time "While". 'Ere is before. No big deal just explain and move on.
However, here are a couple that I had to stop him and say...What? At first I thought it was a mispronunciation or something but nope. They were just words I had never heard before and couldn't figure out. Let's see how you do... just for fun. Four words just for fun. I guess one of them correctly, lets see how many you get
😁
- Nosegay
- Drover
- Ween
- Yclept
... Unless you are cheating or really into unusual English words my guess is you didn't do very good with those words. How about a Grade 8 Korean ESL student. Hahaha... Yeah, there is a reason I didn't choose Grimm's Fairy Tales as my first choice for them.
In case you are curious (and don't feel like doing a Google search).
Nosegay : A small bouquet of flowers. I'm assuming fragrant because they are designed to make your Nose Happy (Gay used to mean happy).
Drover : Go back in time and "Cowboy" was a derogatory word. Someone who moved cattle from one place to another were "Drover". I guess similar to the current driver but not exactly the same.
Ween : Nope it isn't a misspelling of Wean (to move a baby away from drinking milk and onto real food). It actually means "I think".
Yclept : I was thinking to steal (Cleptomaniac) but nope. In old time -clept was name and "Y" was past tense. Yclept was "to be named".
I'm enjoying the stories and learning
Overall the last time I read? Last night.
Do I enjoy reading? Absolutely, although finding books I like reading at my age is getting harder.
Do I enjoy learning new words? Sure. Although I get annoyed having to learn new words like 'Rizz and such. I used to think my vocabulary wouldn't be tested when reading but I'm pleased to have learned some new words recently.
So for all those out there who don't read books and think that watching the TV show or movie is good enough? I've seen "Wheel of time" series. Pales compared to the book. I've seen "Memoirs of a Geisha" and the book is better. I've seen the Disney cartoons...and guess what...its barely even the same story.
Read something and you might learn something new.
Or not, it does waste a fair amount of time which may or may not be a good thing.
But if you read it this far? Thanks for reading...although you could have read a more interesting fairy tale faster 😉 Although here you can leave a comment, I always like comments.