Week 12: Indian Fairy Tales (Reading Diary B)

As I said in the first reading dairy, this week I read the Indian Fairy Tales unit from the Un-textbook.

The two stories I'm going to talk about in this reading are Pride Goeth Before the Fall and How Sun, Moon, and Wind Went Out to Dinner.

The Pride Goeth Before the Fall story was different than any other story I have read so far and I thought it was a fun one to read. When I began the story, I thought it was going to be about someone coming and helping the traders after they were robbed but I loved that it was different and featured the traders rallying together and taking back control from the thieves. This was particularly impressive because the traders had lost everything, including most of their clothes, and took out the robbers. I liked that ending of the story included that after this the traders always armed themselves and their friends loved hearing the retelling of their fight with thieves. 

I liked the story of How Sun, Moon, and Wind Went Out to Dinner. I've always liked reading myths or folklore that explain why the earth or life is the way it is, particularly when the elements are personified. I thought that this story did a great job showing how the sun and wind were cursed to be harsh while the moon's glow is soft and gentle. I liked the way the writer told the story of this family of elements and how it gave an origin for things in everyday life. 

Indian Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs with illustrations by John D. Batten (1912).