My mother chopped my head off, my father swallowed me. My sister buried all my bones, under the Juniper Tree. Ka-twee! Ka-twee! You'll never find, a prettier bird than me!

(If you're wondering, yes I wrote that title entirely from memory.)
I know these are the Grimm's fairy tales, and violence is to be expected, but even so this set of readings seemed somewhat darker than the previous. Maybe it's because the new readings are stories I'm not familiar with and therefore I haven't become accustomed to their dark nature like I have been with any of the ones that Disney has gotten hold of. If you're wondering what I mean, I'm taking about the traditional ruination of your childhood via internet: "Hey, you used to like Cinderella, did you? Did you know in one of the older versions she doesn't wake up, and the prince rapes her comatose body?" Once you get enough of that from online randos you kinda become numb to it, but NOW I get an all new set of stories to make me say "wow okay that just happened." I do think happy endings where everybody gets along are overrated though, so needless to say I was pretty okay with when the stepmother in The Juniper Tree got her head smashed in with a millstone and when the shoemaker in The Two Traveling Companions got his eyes pecked out, went mad and died lost and alone in the forest. People  back then knew how to write a satisfying ending.

However, if there's one story from the readings that I think is Disneyfiable, it has to be Iron Hans. Kid's born into a rich family, does a noble deed by helping a strange man escape enslavement, henceforth befriending the man and getting taken out of his sheltered life. Then he's exposed to the wild man's magic that turns his hair gold, henceforth marking him as a "special snowflake." He is thrown out into the real world, where he takes on the roll of the mysterious-and-secretly-superior underdog, and he and the princess playfully charm each other and fall in love.Then he uses the very Genie-like powers of the super special friend he made to become a hero, get the girl, and get dem monies yo. Reunites with his family and releases Iron Hans from the spell that was put on him then I guess Hans like, becomes his godfather or something? And everybody lives happily ever after. The only thing it was missing was an identifiable villain, which would obviously have to be the king of the opposing army in the war, who plots to kill the good king, destroy his kingdom, and take his daughter for his bride in the Disney version. There's simply no other way to do it.

Along with the assigned readings, I also read The Devil with the Three Golden Hairs and The Girl with no Hands. I'll give you one guess as to which one has heavy religious connotations, and I'll tell you that it's not the one with "Devil" in the title. Seriously though, I thought I was reading something straight from the bible with all the devil trickery and the praying and the angels. It's a totally feel-good god-loving thing that's saying everything will be alright as long as you belieeeeve, and nobody got killed, maimed, or otherwise beaten down in that one, so it really was not up my ally. Well, except for the main character spoiler: she loses her hands, but her hands grow back, so everyone's happy and not at all maimed la-dee-da. I know it's not a show I payed for but I still want my money back.

Sparknotes to the Rescue

            I read Act 1 Scene 1 and had no idea what was going on.  I was willing to at least try to read the Tempest without using Sparknotes but to no success.  This is not my first time reading Shakespeare but I remember having such a hard and frustrating time reading it I was dreading reading the Tempest for this class.

            I really enjoyed Act 1 scene 2.  It was interesting to see Prospero manipulate his daughter as an attempt to get back into power, and marry his daughter to the new King of Naples since the old king dies in the shipwreck.  Reading it from the book was a challenge though.  I didn’t understand what was really going on till I read it on Sparknotes.  The language used in the text from the book is very hard to understand and follow so most times I just glance over it or skip words.  The first Act seems to be setting the scene for later events and giving backstory to help you understand what is going on for later scenes and acts. 

            I would love to see this on stage, even if the original text is used on stage.  I feel that having the visual cues from the actors on stage and set on the stage would make it easier to follow because the viewer would have clues as to what is going on.  As for just reading the text and having to imagine everything, I tended to focus more what was going on in my head.  When I started reading I at first thought they were in a castle while the storm was going on, then I figured out they were on a boat.  Had a hard time following who was who and it was really hard to read because I like having a picture of what I am reading in my mind.  If I don’t understand what the text is saying it gets very frustrating, makes it hard to follow, and completely ruins a chance for a mental image of what is happening.