Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Reading Notes: Russian Folktales, Part B

Gah, some of these stories are just so morbid and gruesome! I just don’t enjoy reading stories like that. Give me rainbows and unicorns… Lol. That is a joke, of course, but a woman’s daughter ending up being the witch of Death and getting her arm cut off and having to be drowned? That is just too much for me. Could we somehow purify the little girl so she didn’t have to die? I thought it made for a very interesting story how the man discovered who the witch was, but the circumstances were very sad. Perhaps he could find out who the witch was a different way or perhaps get her to go away altogether somehow. Now, the story about the headless princess was a great one! It did have some scary details, but I love that the boy stuck to his faith and was able to overcome evil! That is what I’m walking about! That is another one of my favorite aspects of some of these stories- good overcoming evil! The religious themes in these stories are something I really enjoy, and I wasn’t really expecting them. I know that the reason the third daughter-in-law lived in the Warlock story was because she was cunning, but of course, she was cunning in that she would not remove her cross. These stories make me think of the devilish horror movies they make. They are pretty captivating, but I am a baby apparently, meaning I only enjoy them when good things happen in the end. Multiple stories used the phrase “Glory be to Thee, O Lord!” I would like to use this in my story as well because I want to incorporate the religious themes in my story while enforcing good character over evil actions. I can try to include some morbid details in my story since it is out my comfort zone, but I will continue to give happy endings to my stories.
Rosary, online source
Bibliography: Russian Fairy Tales: A Choice Collection of Muscovite Folk-lore by W. R. S. Ralston, link to online source

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