Reading Notes - Chinese Fairy Tales, Part A



For the reading this week, I chose to explore the ChineseFairy Tales unit. I chose to read this unit in particular because I am interested in potentially writing a story about these topics. For my reading notes, I am going to focus the story The King of the Ants by R. Wilhelm.

This was an interesting story. To summarize, there was a scholar who went to Emmet (Ant) village. He decided to stay in a home with a beautiful garden. The only thing was is that the house was suspected to be haunted. One night, hundreds of knights (ants) came bursting into the room. The knights, much like the traditional knight, were riding horses. At once the knights pulled out their bows and arrows and caught a large amount of birds. The ants then prepared a feast from their great hunt. The king ant arrives in a lavished processional. Later, the ants fish (out of the scholars ink saucer) and catch a tremendous amount of fish. The king ant then makes a snarky comment towards the scholar which angers him. Out of anger the scholar tried to swat the ants. As they run away, he follows them to their den. Once he finds their den, he built a large fire and smoked them out.

The use of personification in this story is awesome. The author does a great job at creating a true ant kingdom. The details are vivid enough the reader is able to imagine the story as they read. I think the author does a great job making this fictitious and personified story seem so real.



An Ant's Strength

Bibliography: The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens (1921).

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Introduction

Image
Hello, my name is Jarad Anderson. I am a senior chemical biosciences and pre-medicine major. I am currently in the process of applying to medical school. A very exciting yet stressful time! I absolutely love it here at the University of Oklahoma and have really immersed myself in University College. I actually work in two different University College departments: The Office of Freshman Programs and the Student Learning Center. My role in Freshman Programs is to serve as a senior advisor for Alpha Lambda Delta National Honor Society. My main job is to provide guidance and serve as a mentor for the current executive council. Additionally, in the Student Learning Center, I serve as a staff supervisor and study night coordinator. I plan large exam study nights for major uniform classes such as introductory chemistry, biology, and psychology. Last year over 2,500 student attended our study nights. Also, although it’s technically not a position within University College, I serve as a t...
Read more

Week 2 Story: The Woman and the Bear

Image
A women was walking home after a long with her two children, Adam and Lane.  The trek was long, treacherous, and tiresome.  Lane shouted, "Mom can we please take the shortcut!" As Natalie was already growing weary, she agreed. The shortcut was a slim, narrow passage through the deep forest. As they began down the small, narrow passage Adam began to worry. He said, “Mom, do you hear that?” Meanwhile, Lane was excited and began inching ahead of the others. At once, Lane stopped, frozen in his tracks and screamed, “BEAR!” Motherly instinct kicked in and Natalie ran to save her child. But Lane quickly realized something was not right. The bear—stricken with worry—asked for help. The bear said, “Please follow me, it’s my cub” Leaving the small, narrow passage way they followed the bear hesitantly After walking deep into the forest Natalie was concern that it was a trap. “Did the bear just want a nice, hearty meal?” “Did I make a mistake?” “Wha...
Read more