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Storytelling "Hans the Hedgehog"

Hans riding his rooster (Source) This is the story of how Hans the Hedgehog became engaged to a princess.  Hans was a very special little creature.  His parents had tried for so long to have a child, but when Hans was born, they were horrified to see that their little baby had the head and torso of a hedgehog but the legs of a boy.  Although they did their best to love him, from an early age Hans could tell that they were horrified and ashamed of their child.  He grew very depressed and spent most of his time in the barn with the other animals, like the pigs, donkeys, and his best friend of all, the rooster. Since he was half hedgehog, Hans stopped growing very quickly and remained quite small.  Although this surely disappointed his father, it was perfect, for Hans was able to ride around on top of the rooster as if it were a colorful horse.  He rode the rooster everywhere, even flying up around the trees that lined his father’s fields.  From there, Hans could see all the way to
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EC Reading "Brothers Grimm (Hunt)" Part B

Did I mention that Hans the Hedgehog  also rides a rooster?  What a boss. (Source) I had so much enjoyed reading the other Brothers Grimm fairy tales (from Crane's translation) that I really wanted to do another of their stories for the extra reading. The first story is called "Bearskin."  In this story, a brave young soldier has been decommissioned from the army but has nowhere to go.  Disheartened, he sits against a tree, contemplating his future life and what little promise it held.  All of a sudden, the Devil appeared before him and offered him a little deal.  If he would wear the Devil's coat and a bearskin for seven years without shaving, brushing his hair, or washing his face or cutting his nails, then he would be rich for life and the Devil could never have a hold of his soul.  So this he did, in the process becoming betrothed to a beautiful young woman whose older sisters committed suicide after the truth was revealed.  It was an odd story. The second s
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Reading Part B "Brothers Grimm (Crane)"

The first story in this second unit is a tale of the six brothers who were transformed into swans by a wicked and jealous witch.  They had a younger sister who was spared the fate of her brothers, but in order to free them from their cruel state had to maintain silence for 6 years.  Nearly 6 years later, she has been betrothed to a neighboring king and has already wed him.  However, she has been accused by her jealous mother-in-law of killing her young children and is about to be put to death.  As the day of judgement nears, the allotted 6 years of silence came to a close and the young wife was able to exonerate herself and free her brothers from the curse of the swans.  This story was very similar to another one I had read in the Irish fairy tales unit. Next we have the story of good King Thrushbeard, who was rejected as a suitor by a beautiful princess who was too proud and haughty for her own good.  Her own father, disgusted and irritated by his daughter's antics promised to ma
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Reading Part A "Brothers Grimm (Crane)"

The first story in this unit is called The Fisherman and His Wife.  It is a classic tale of avarice and the dangers of greed.  It is interesting to know that these stories are mainly for children, due to the infamous nature of the book, but luckily, despite the "Not Safe for Children" tag, this story was really not too bad.  A fisherman finds a magical flounder which starts to grant his wishes, but as a lowly fisherman, he is content with the first small cottage that is given to him.  His wife, however, is not happy with what she has and asks for progressively bigger things, becoming a noble, then a king, then emperor, then the Pope.  Finally, she asks for the power over the sun and the moon, and her sorrowful husband goes to the fish and asks him one last time.  The fish, now very tired of this little game decides to undo all of the wishes that he had granted before.  Thus the couple ends up in a hovel again. The next story is about a little girl named Aschenputtel (( asche
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EC Reading Notes "Italian Popular Tales"

Angiola and the Prince (Source) The first story is called “Zelinda and the Monster” and is the retelling of “Beauty and the Beast.” It follows the exact same storyline, although set in Italy, apparently, there is no evil man that is also competing for the beautiful young woman’s attention. The next is titled “The Fair Angiola.”  We may be more familiar with it as the story of Rapunzel, for it follows the exact same storyline, essentially.  Angiola seems to be a very good girl though, while her mother and her sisters all bring about the problems on their own, simply because they wanted jujube fruit.  I researched them, and they do not sound good, so I don’t know what their problem was.  Luckily, everyone lived happily ever after. The next story was a delightful tale of the devil, who decides that it is high time he should marry a young woman.  He builds a wonderful house on top of a portal to Hell, and through his trickery, convinces two of three sisters to fall down into it. 
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Storytelling "The Sun and the Wind"

There once was a very happy traveler who had just gone to visit his parents in a far-off province.  He had spent about a week there, a happy time, and was cheerfully returning to his wife and children who were awaiting him at home.  To further bolster his spirits, the weather looked absolutely beautiful.  The sun was shining, but not too harsh, and with the slightly chilly air he felt completely comfortable with his jacket wrapped around his shoulders. While he walked, he marveled at the beautiful scenery around him and listened to the humming of the insects and the sweet singing of the birds.  Before he had departed, his dear mother had given him a heavy travelling coat that she said would be sure to protect him from the rain, cold, and anything else he encountered.  He thanked her at the time but now it looked like her gift would not be required.  He carried on walking, whistling as he went. The harder the wind blew, the tighter the man wrapped his cloak. (Source) The clouds
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Wikipedia Trail "New Holland"

New Holland on an old globe (Source) This Wikipedia adventure began as I encountered the phrase "New Holland" referencing a strange and unknown creature.  The only thing I could associate New Holland with was New Amsterdam (now known as New York) so I was quite confused as to what it could possibly refer to. New Holland  was actually the old name for Australia, called that way because the Dutch were actually the first discover and really map it out, not counting the Aborigines, unfortunately.  Referring to the island as New Holland was actually quite common for many years, with that denomination sticking until well into the 19th century. Australia actually got its real name from the latin phrase " Terra Australis Incognita" which simply means unknown southern land.  It was a proposed landmass in the southern hemisphere that would balance out the excess of land in the northern hemisphere.  A kind of unknown land was actually drawn onto many older world maps, a
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