Essay: Fables of La Fontaine

Myth-Folklore Unit: Fables of La Fontaine

I really enjoyed this week's readings. They were fun and entertaining and definitely kept my attention. There were only a few stories I did not like, and those were ones in the second half of the readings. 

An example of some of the stories I did not like can be found here: Frogs

Although I appreciate and usually enjoy reading stories that rhyme, these kind of threw me off. The rhyming pattern tended to be a little inconsistent from line to line and from paragraph to paragraph. This made it a little more difficult for me to follow, as I would get in the habit of reading a certain way and then have to change to compensate for the difference in verses. This took away from me getting truly engaged in the story. This taught me to focus on writing in a single style with stories that I write and maybe not switch back and forth unless it is my purpose to engage the reader and make a change in a metaphorical sense as well.

There were many stories I liked, especially in the first half of the readings. I liked Foolish People, especially the Hen With the Golden Egg. It reminded me of Willy Wonka and the part with the Golden Geese. However, I don't like how the hen died in the end. I'm excited to rewrite this story this week and have the hen escape death.

 

Hen. Source: The Untextbook

I also enjoyed reading Foxes and Wolves because of the wolves. Ever since I began writing about wolves in my storybook, it has become of great interest to me every time I see or read about a wolf in this class. It's so interesting and neat to see how the wolf character develops from story to story, even with different authors. The character of the wolf usually stays about the same between cultures and over time, which is an awesome thing to compare.