Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales, Part B

These fairytales are very different from what I was expecting. The stories were really good, if not a little strange, and a lot of them were about how things came to be. I wasn't super inspired by anything in Part A, so I'm hoping the stories in Part B will interest me more.

Retribution

This was probably my favorite story I read this week! I really liked how the it was told over many years and it took a while for the consequences of the person's actions to catch up with them. I wonder if the little boy knew about his past life and purposely threw the rock at the old man or if he did it unconsciously or if it was just fate/ some divine intervention. Also did Ma look out the window only like three or four times in his life and it's amazing that he happened to see all this happen every time he looked out? Or did he look out the window often? Because if you look out the window all the time you are bound to see something eventually. There is just so much that could be done with it! I'm thinking of either telling it from a different character's perspective or continuing on the story and have it become a tale of revenge.

(Gif from Tenor)

The Night on the Battlefield

I'm not usually a ghost story person but this one wasn't scary so I found it rather enjoyable. I liked the sense of eeriness it had because as soon as the narrator said something felt off to the merchant, you felt it too. I'm also a big fan of the ending when the innkeeper just says that it's a battlefield and all kinds of weird stuff happens there. It doesn't over explain to the reader and just kind of lets them figure it out on their own. If I was better at writing those kinds of endings I might consider writing a story based on this one. Maybe I'll try it so that I can get some practice in.

Bibliography. The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens, links to reading 

Reading Notes: Chinese Fairy Tales, Part A

I was drawn to the Chinese Fairy Tales because when I visited China we heard lots of stories about their history and even fun little fables, but I don't remember hearing any fairytales. I love fairytales and I think it's so interesting how different they are from region to region.

The Panther

What a whirlwind this story was! So much happened in so little time and it was all very strange. I didn't realize that the panther took on a sort of human form when pretending to be the mother until it mentioned him having to change back into a panther so I thought the girls were just really dumb. Also what was up with all those merchants? Who sells scorpions or turtles? Is that a normal thing to sell in China or was it just for the story? I just don't understand why people trust animals in fairy tales because it never works out for them.

Yang Oerlang

I thought this story was really sweet because of how much Yang cared for his mother. I also really like stories that explain how things came to be in the world. This one explains why there is only one sun in the sky and why the portulacca plant can survive in direct sunlight. I don't know how I could retell this story any better! It had a nice happy ending and it was a relatively normal story that was easy to follow. The story even took the time to describe what he looked like after he became a god!

(Yang Orelang, photo from Wikimedia Commons) 

Bibliography. The Chinese Fairy Book, ed. by R. Wilhelm and translated by Frederick H. Martens, links to reading