Skip to main content

Reading Part B "Welsh Fairy Tales"

Well, with a fresh round of fairy tales (quite literally in this case, they all have to do with actual fairies) we learn once again that if you have a good thing going with fairies (i.e. they are hooking you up with free money all the time) you do not spoil that by giving away their secret.  First a man named Robert Roberts (really?) kept digging up gold that the fairies hid for him, but after bragging to his friends about it he never found any more gold.  I guess he deserved that?  The other story was about a pretty girl who walked by herself quite often, and the fairies, seeing that she was alone and pretty decided to have compassion on her and so they put coins along her path.  She figured out that it was the fairies doing this, but after her mom found her gold stash and wanted to know where it was coming from, the little girl told her mother that it was the fairies.  Just like that, no more coins.  That's just what happens.
Ok, the next story we have some serious Stockholm syndrome stuff going on.  A man is walking by himself when he happens upon a fairy dancing by herself.  He kidnaps her and drags her off to his home, where he keeps her and "treats her so kindly that she is content to be his maid-servant." They end up married and with kids, which seems wildly inappropriate, but in the end she and her children disappear when the man accidentally throws a piece of iron at her.  Just desserts?
Owl was not happy with the continual guessing games (Source)
Next up we get an eagle whose wife of many years dies tragically, and Eagle, not wanting to live the rest of his life as a widower, seeks to marry Owl.  Only problem is that Owl might still be young enough to have kids, and Eagle, being a considerate creature, does not even want to mess with the whole "whose kids are these anyways" bit, so he tries to find out how old Owl is (apparently asking her is out of the question?).  So he goes first to Stag, who says he has never seen Owl age a day in his life (which was apparently quite long).  I feel like at this point, Eagle should have been tipped off that his bride-to-be was pretty old, and should not have any kids, but this was clearly not enough for Eagle, so he kept asking older and older creatures until we get to Frog.  Frog is so old that the only thing he has ever eaten is dirt (yum!) and has literally pooped out so much dirt that he has single-handedly created rolling hills and a large bog.  Amazing.  Anyway, even Frog doesn't know how old Owl is so Eagle's mind is a last at peace and he marries her.  Very strange story that does not make sense.
I was in a weird mood when I wrote these notes, so please excuse the conversational writing style.
Story Source: Welsh Fairy-Tales and Other Stories by Peter H. Emerson

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction Post

Hi! My name is Blake Allred and I am majoring in International Relations with a minor in Spanish.  I chose this major because I love travelling and meeting new people and learning about their cultures and traditions.  One of my favorite things about the classes I take is the chance that I have to meet other people from a very diverse range of backgrounds.  If all goes well, I will be graduating this semester, so this part of my college journey is coming to an end.  I’m still not sure how I feel about this, it is kind of a mixture between excitement and dread, but overall, I am glad I could have such a wonderful experience here at OU and that I am now able to graduate. This summer we went on a family vacation to visit my grandparents who live in rural Colorado.  My grandpa is a retired pilot and owns his own plane and built his retirement home right next to a remote airstrip.  When we went there this summer, I was able to go out flying with him and even f...

Comment Wall

My Project website is here ! A picture I took while in Peru of a tiny pueblo  in the Andes

Week 4 Storytelling "The Jump"

  Photo Source Cold shivers ran the length of Psyche’s spine as she contemplated the crashing waves breaking against the sharp rocks hundreds of feet below her.  Tears streamed down her cheeks, aided by the frigid wind and brought on by the terrible sadness in her heart.  She glanced back at her family, at her loving parents, at her weeping sisters.  This was the last time she would ever see their faces. Her heart stopped as she leapt, every muscle in her body clenched and her vision went black as the rushing air slipped past her small frame.  She was acutely aware of her own beating heart, its dull drumbeat strangely isolated from her own screams and those of the wind.  Then, everything was black. She opened her eyes, not to the sight of the underworld, but to the rushing ocean.  The wind whistled around her and she realized that she was flying through the air, rapidly, propelled by some invisible hand.  She started, and nearly fainted a...