Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm (Ashliman), Part A

So, this is the final week for reading and taking notes for me. I decided to read the fairytales that I was somewhat familiar with as a child. I took notes over the one that I thought would be the best for retelling.

• The story of the wolf and the children reminds me of Red Riding Hood
• I knew that the warnings of the mother would be of waste
• The wolf continuously comes back to the house to try and fool the children
• The children were smart but they were again only children
• The ploys of the wolf to enter the home were constantly delayed
• The children made the mistake of telling the wolf why he was not their mother
• In typical fashion the wolf kept returning until he had masked all of his wolf like qualities
• I expected the mother to return to a house with no children
• Surprisingly, one child was still left
• I found it a bit odd that the goat was able to retrieve all of her children from the wolf's stomach
• You would think that the wolf would have woken up during the cutting of his stomach
• I thought it was clever that they filled the wolf's stomach with rocks
• I thought it would be to just fool the wolf into thinking that he was full from eating the children
• Instead, he ended up drowning in the water as he bent down for a drink
• I did not expect the story to end in such a manner
• I think there were hints of darkness in the story
• When the kids were recovered I expected them to just go home and not try to kill the wolf
• I guess in the end the wolf got what was coming to him

I think there are a few details that I would change if I retold this story. I was not exactly thrilled with the idea of the wolf eating the children and then the goat recovering them. I also thought it was a bit odd to kill the wolf in the end. I would probably make my story a bit more realistic in that sense.

(The two brothers Grimm. Source: Wikimedia Commons)

Bibliography: The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L. Ashliman. Source:UnTextbook