Extra Reading Diary: Turkish Fairy Tales

Turkish Fairy Tales

I chose this reading because I figured stories about wizards, princes, and fairies would be interesting. The promise of beautiful illustrations was also enticing. There were four stories in the first half of this unit, each with two parts, and they didn't disappoint. The stories were called Fear, The Wizard-Dervish, The Fish-Peri, and The Crow-Peri. I found that all of the stories were very similar and had happy endings, which I enjoyed.

Fear Part 1 & Fear Part 2

I really enjoyed this story, especially because it is so different from the others. The youth has never experienced fear and goes on a quest to find it. He is uncorrupted by the world and doesn't know what he should be scared of, so all of the attempts to scare him fail. I would have thought that a hand reaching from a grave would scare him, but he hasn't watched any movies that portray the living dead as brain eating zombies. For this reason, I am not surprised that the only thing to scare him was when the Sultana placed a sparrow under the lid of his soup.

(The Boy Who Found Fear)

The Wizard-Dervish Part 1 & 2, The Fish-Peri Part 1 & 2, The Crow-Peri Part 1 & 2

All of these stories are so similar that I decided to combine them. Although the characters and stories are different, the plots are essentially the same. The main character of each story ends up befriending an animal, the animal helps them, the animal is changed into a woman, and they are married. The Wizard-Dervish was different only in that the boy is created from the help of a dervish and then must pay the dervish back when he is twenty. Overall, I really enjoyed these stories because they had happy endings. However, I do wish they weren't so similar to each other.

Week 4 Storytelling: Arabian Nights - Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

Once upon a time, there was a poor tailor named Mustapha, who had a careless son who spent his days playing in the streets with his friends. His son's name was Aladdin and his lifestyle bothered him greatly, so much that it killed him. Despite his father's death, Aladdin refused to grow up. 

Years later, Aladdin was approached by a man while playing outside. The man inquired about his age, and if his father was Mustapha the tailor.

Aladdin responded, "who's asking?"

The stranger, who was a famous African magician, grasped the boy's shoulder and said, "I am your uncle, now follow me. I have something to show you."

So he followed him into the desert, unsure if he was truly his uncle. By the time they arrived at their destination, which was between two mountains, it was very late and Aladdin was tired. Having traveled too far to turn back, they started a fire.

After the fire was started, the magician threw some of his magical powder on the ground. The earth began to shake violently, and seconds later there was an entrance to a cave.

"Listen carefully," the magician said. "Retrieve for me a special lamp and you may have all the treasure in that cave."

Intrigued by the promise of treasure, Aladdin entered the cave. Surrounded by enough treasure to raise him from poverty, he resisted and continued to search for the lamp. Minutes later, he found the lamp and headed back to the entrance, grabbing everything he could hold.

As he got closer to the exit, the magician kept shouting impatiently, "Give me the lamp, give me the lamp, give me the lamp!" Aladdin refused until he was safe and out of the cave. The magician couldn't wait any longer and became very angry. In a rage, he threw more of his magic powder and before Aladdin could get out of the cave, he was trapped.

Days had passed and Aladdin had no hope. He thought he was going to die for sure, but then he noticed something covered in dust on the lamp. In an effort to read what it said, he began rubbing it. Before he could finish, a gigantic blue genie appeared and said, "Who is it that has summoned me?"

Frightened, Aladdin quietly says it was him and begs for the genie's mercy. The genie began to laugh and responded, "Silly boy, I mean you no harm. Thank you for releasing me from the lamp, I had been trapped for hundreds of years. Can you imagine how uncomfortable that was for someone my size fitting into something so small?"

The friendliness of the genie eased Aladdin's tension. "I am happy I could help, but you see we are trapped here in this cave with no way to get out."

"Don't you know my power?" said the genie. "I must grant your every wish, for I am now your servant."

Shocked, Aladdin told the genie nicely, "Release us from this cave," and poof, they were in the middle of the desert.

Little did he know, this genie would change his life forever.

(Aladdin and the Genie's First Encounter)

Author's Note: Loving the Disney movie as a kid, I knew I wanted to write a story about Aladdin, but I wasn't sure which one yet. The reason I chose this story was that I would rather develop Aladdin and the genie by telling the story of how they met each other, than start in the middle of the full Aladdin story. I decided to get rid of the mother's role because I felt being alone would strengthen Aladdin's character. There was a second genie in the original, the Slave of the Ring, but I didn't think it added anything useful to the story so I didn't include it. Instead, I chose to include just the genie from the lamp. The movie was one of my childhood favorites, so I wanted to keep it similar. In the original, the genies aren't very nice and are scary. I wasn't a big fan of that so I decided to make the genie happy and nice. The image was selected because it shows how big the genie truly is compared to Aladdin, and shows Aladdin releasing the genie for the first time. Here is the link to the original.

Bibliography:
Book: Arabian Nights - Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp
Author: Andrew Lang
Year Published: 1898
Web Source: Mythology and Folklore Un-Textbook

Reading Diary B: Arabian Nights - Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp

Disney's cartoon movie version of Aladdin was the only story of Aladdin that I had known before this. This version was certainly different from what I remember from the movie. Aladdin has a mother and doesn't have a pet monkey. There were also two genies and two villains. Compared to the movie, the story was much darker. 

Aladdin 1: I would think that Aladdin and his mother would realize that he isn't truly his uncle, but I guess it wasn't that obvious. The magician is from Africa and is unrelated to Aladdin's father, therefore he probably didn't look much like him. I also don't understand why the magician couldn't wait for Aladdin to get out of the cave. His plan was to kill him anyways, so I don't get why he did it. Why did the magician give Aladdin the magical ring in the first place? It served no other purpose than to let him escape the cave in which he had been trapped.

(The Slave of the Ring Appears to Aladdin in the Cave)

Aladdin 2: Scaring the princess probably wasn't what he intended on doing. I fear that he may have ruined any shot he might have had with her because she could remember his face or voice.

Aladdin 3: His plan had worked, scaring the vizir's son so much that he demanded separation from the princess. I am surprised that Aladdin and his mother didn't use the genie lamp to get out of poverty. The least they could have done was make their home look extravagant. Somehow the princess doesn't recognize his face or voice when he meets him, so I guess his plan worked perfectly. The Sultan is pretty dumb for not questioning the source of Aladdin's wealth. He lives in poverty, yet has eighty slaves and forty basins of jewels. Not to mention he built an incredible palace in two days.

Aladdin 4: The magician was very clever in his plan to get the lamp from Aladdin. Trading a new lamp for an old one makes no logical sense, but it is a no-brainer for the person trading an old for new. I am surprised that after several years of marriage, Prince Aladdin has never revealed the magic of the lamp to the princess. Finally, the Sultan believes the vizir when he claims it was enchantment all along. I am impressed by how much the people loved him, despite realizing his wealth came at the hands of magic. Clearly, his past spent in poverty has benefited him greatly as a leader, but I it is not said how. I think it could benefit the story to include a couple of things that Prince Aladdin did to become so beloved by his people.

Aladdin 5: The princess' love for Aladdin is shown in this chapter, and it is refreshing to know that her love for him is real, despite having an arranged marriage. Aladdin is smart for poisoning the magician because who knows what could have happened if he knew Aladdin was there.

Aladdin 6: Poor princess, she is always getting deceived. It seems her father, the Sultan, passed this trait down to her, as she always fails to notice the obvious. I would think it would be evident that the Fatima she met, was a man imposter. He may have been able to cover his face with a veil, but it is much more difficult to disguise your shoulder width, body frame, and voice. I enjoyed the happy ending because they are always better than tragic ones.

Reading Diary A: Arabian Nights

Arabian Nights

Scheherazade: This story is great and I can't wait to find out what happens to Scheherazade. I don't understand why she would volunteer herself to die just so she could tell stories to her sister. That being said, I am sure she has something up her sleeve before dawn comes because how else would she "deliver the people from the terror that reigns over them." The Sultan is definitely insane, marrying and killing a new woman every night because his first wife deceived him. The wording wasn't very specific, but I can imagine that his wife was cheating on him.

The Merchant and the Genius: Scheherazade is very clever, but I don't know how she knew he wouldn't kill her before she finished the story. I am very curious to find out what happens. The story of The Merchant and the Genius is similar to her own, except she hasn't killed the Sultan's child. She is a gifted storyteller and I can't wait to read more. I don't get why the merchant went back at years end when he could have easily never returned, but maybe he has something planned like Scheherazade.

The Story of the Fisherman: Once again, Scheherazade has convinced the Sultan to hear more of her stories. At this point, I feel like she is going to tell him stories of people who are spared death and forgiven, but I may be wrong. I can tell that I will enjoy this story more than the previous, just as she promised the Sultan. It is sad that the genie had been locked in a vase for so long, but it is terrible that he would kill whoever freed him after waiting so long. The Fisherman was smart, convincing the genie to show him how he fit in the vase so he could trap him again.

The Greek King and the Physician Douban: I am starting to understand what Scheherazade's plan is. All of her stories are lessons for the Sultan, and she hopes that he will change his mind in the end. The first was about forgiveness and this one is about trust. The storytelling also continues to get deeper and deeper, having the characters in the story tell stories.

The Physician's Revenge: I really liked this story. Scheherazade told this story to scare the Sultan, making him think that he will die if he kills her innocent self. The King would have lived had he not killed the innocent Physician, but his paranoia was his downfall. I was also happy to see that even the story had an effect on the genie, and ended up gaining his trust. In my opinion, this story is a lesson about Karma.

(The Physician's Revenge)

King of the Black Isles: Finally, a story that has a happy ending! The genie's plan was pretty complicated, but it worked, giving the Fisherman all the money he and his family would ever need.

I loved these stories and can't wait to hear how it all ends in the next section. Aladdin was another one of my favorite childhood movies, so I am excited to read the actual story.