To finish up the Czech folktales unit, it started with a story called The Man who met Misery. I thought that this story was very interesting because the very first line of the story was "there lived a rich man, so rich that you might almost say he oozed gold," which in my opinion definitely made me want to keep reading and see where this story went. Overall, this story was really humbling and inspirational because they used this story as a way to show how to be appreciative of what you have. In the story, the boy of the rich man only met Misery when all of his money that his father had given him had started to run out. From there he learned a lot, as the reader did as well, which shows an important part of the Czech culture.
The next story, Nine at a Blow, was really cool. A tailer killed nine flies at one time with a stocking and then goes on his way into the world, gradually receiving things from others. Eventually he runs into a giant that he tricks into thinking he has killed nine humans and uses the things he received from others to falsely prove his strength. In the end, the tailor is a very deceiving character who gets wealth in the end and is ultimately rewarded for his conniving nature, which I thought was an interesting turn of events in how it relates to the other stories in this unit.
The final story I wanted to reflect on was Three Supernatural Stories. This small compilation of stories was very interesting. The first story told a tale of witches, which was cool because the narrator tells how one of the witches flung a burning broom at someone. It makes you wonder if this was the same time that the Salem trials were going on or before because its interesting that this would be so prevalent as a tale in the Czech culture. The second small story mentions the waternick, or water demon, and also witches again. I thought this story was overall very weird but maybe this story was told to teach a lesson of not to deceive people, which would balance out the one about nine at a blow. The final story was cool because it told of a haunted mill. I love horror stuff so this was probably something that someone came across and decided to make up a story about why it was as it appeared. This story was also cool because the waternick was defeated by a bear! Overall, this was a very interesting and different unit and I enjoyed reading it.
Bibliography: The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis, Czech Folktales Unit
The next story, Nine at a Blow, was really cool. A tailer killed nine flies at one time with a stocking and then goes on his way into the world, gradually receiving things from others. Eventually he runs into a giant that he tricks into thinking he has killed nine humans and uses the things he received from others to falsely prove his strength. In the end, the tailor is a very deceiving character who gets wealth in the end and is ultimately rewarded for his conniving nature, which I thought was an interesting turn of events in how it relates to the other stories in this unit.
The final story I wanted to reflect on was Three Supernatural Stories. This small compilation of stories was very interesting. The first story told a tale of witches, which was cool because the narrator tells how one of the witches flung a burning broom at someone. It makes you wonder if this was the same time that the Salem trials were going on or before because its interesting that this would be so prevalent as a tale in the Czech culture. The second small story mentions the waternick, or water demon, and also witches again. I thought this story was overall very weird but maybe this story was told to teach a lesson of not to deceive people, which would balance out the one about nine at a blow. The final story was cool because it told of a haunted mill. I love horror stuff so this was probably something that someone came across and decided to make up a story about why it was as it appeared. This story was also cool because the waternick was defeated by a bear! Overall, this was a very interesting and different unit and I enjoyed reading it.
Bibliography: The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis, Czech Folktales Unit
Image Info: Czech Republic and Poland
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