Fairy Tales From Asia
My storybook will cover different fairy tales from Asia. Being born in India, I was raised on some of these traditional stories. The are two reasons why I selected this topic, the first one being that I could learn more about my culture as well as Asia. Secondly, by looking at the tales I can learn more about the history of Asia as well as their cultural beliefs. A main factor in this is religion. Reading the tales, you will find some of the tales familiar, but not the setting. For example, the tales from Japan mimic the teachings of Buddhism, a religion still common to Asia. I think that this is a great topic for people because reading one of these tales is like taking a peak into a different culture.
So far I have come across several great stories in my research. It is interesting to see how animals and nature are personified, and play such a large role in these stories. One such story that I will cover is called The Crab and The Monkey. It is a story from Japan that teaches about greed and karma. I have more exciting stories that I will cover in my storybook.
The source for this storybook will be Andrew Lang’s Fairy Books. This is a collection of 13 books that retell stories from around the world. Andrew Lang (1844-1912) lived during the Victorian period and worked as a professor of anthropology at Oxford. He hoped is publishing’s would spread awareness and interest in the literature and cultures found around the world. Lang also retold popular stories such as the Iliad, and the Odyssey. Here is a link to his bibliography.
I have chosen an orphanage as my frame tale. I think that it is an ideal setting because there are a lot of stories told here to the children. I think that this setting also captures the childhood aspect of a fairytale without losing the message. There will be a lady, Ms Clare, who looks after the girls and tells them these tales before they go to bed.
The story begins . . .
Ms Clare could hear the giggles of the little girls all the way down the hall. The girls were all dressed in their pajamas and playing around with each other. They were sharing jokes and messing with their hairstyles. When they heard Ms Clare walking towards them, the girls quickly ran to their beds and got comfy in them. Ms Clare entered and lit the candles in the room. She then turned off the lights, and sat on her rocking chair in the corner of the room. Ms. Clare opened up her book and began to read aloud to the girls the tale of the stone-cutter