For Part A, my two favorite stories were the story of Johnny Gloke and the story of the Old Witch.
I liked the story of Johnny Gloke a lot. The beginning of the story made me think of Jack and the Beanstalk, and the ending made me think of a story from the Persian Tales Unit called Muhammad Tirandaz, The Archer. I loved how Johnny knew he couldn't beat the giants so he made them angry at each other to tire themselves out so he could defeat them and claim the prize the king had promised as reward for slaying the giants. I also thought the end was great when Johnny is sent to crush the rebellion, once again knowing he can't defeat it. But his ineptitude, causes the rebellion to end. I thought it was funny how the horse got caught and dragged out the gallows, which the rebels though was Johnny bringing the gallows with him to hang them all. It was an unusual end to a hero-type story. So far, this has been my favorite story of the unit.
The second story that I liked in the first half of this weeks unit was the story of the Old Witch. This story surprised me at many points. I do like the moral that if you help people in need, when you need help they will be there for you. That was clearly seen in the differences in the two sister's experiences, one who helped and got away unscathed and one who didn't and was beaten. I did not like that the first sister got away with stealing the witch's money. While the witch was the antagonist of the story, she didn't seem as evil as other fairy tale witches. She was paying the girl to work as they had agreed. Then after one sister got away with stealing the witch's money, the second decides to go do the same thing once again. Even when the witch caught the second sister, she didn't kill her, which is what I was expecting. I was glad the second girl didn't get away with the money she stole, but also glad the witch didn't kill her.
For Part B, my two favorite stories were King John and the Abbot of Canterbury, and Rushen Coatie.
I thought the story of King John and the Abbot of Canterbury was very clever. I don't think I've ever heard a story quite like this one. The shepherd, even being uneducated was very witty and thought ver well on his feet to trick King John into sparing his and the Abbot's life. I thought his answers were really creative. I definitely wouldn't have known how to answer King John's questions but the shepherd did great. I do have to say though I was surprised that the Abbot let the shepherd go in his place. For all the Abbot knew, he was sending the shepherd to his death which was supposed to be the Abbot's fate.
The last story I'm going to talk about, Rushen Coatie was a type of Cinderella story, but there were some interesting differences. I thought that it was interesting how instead of a fairy godmother, Rushen Coatie had a magical red calf that granted her wishes. That seemed really random to me, but it was very unique, especially after the calf was killed but it's bones kept helping Rushen Coatie. I also thought it was interesting that instead of the ball being where Rushen Coatie was forbidden to go, it was church. The three day church event was an interesting place for the Prince and Rushen Coatie to meet. Overall I liked this story a lot. I think I like the Rushen Coatie version of the Cinderella tale more than the Tattercloak version which was earlier in this unit.
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