Week 10 Storytelling: How Grandma Married Grandpa.

Hey Grandma, Tell Me A Story from Saritharao Blogspot

"Hey Grandma Coral! I was wondering... How did you and grandpa meet? How did you marry him?"

"O! That is a great story sweetie! When I was younger, people said I was very beautiful. So one day three separate brothers came up to my father and asked for my hand in marriage."

"Wait grandma! You were going to marry a man before you met him?!?"

"Yes dear, that is how it worked back then." Grandma Coral said while nodding her head. "My father decided he would give me to one of the brothers, however, I did not want to marry one of them because I did not want to hurt their feelings."

"That is nice of you Grandma!"

Grandma Coral laughed to herself and then continued. "The brothers stayed all day and night and we had a great dinner and afterwards I danced with all three of the brothers. In all of the excitement I got a fever and died."

"YOU DIED????? But you are alive now! What happened???"

"I am about to tell you little one!" Grandma Coral said as she scooped up her grandchild and placed them in her lap.  "The brothers then burned my body. One of the brothers slept on a bed of my ashes, The second took my bones and dipped them in the sacred Ganges river. The third brother becaume a monk and wandered through many countries. In his travels, the third brother discovered a  magic spell that could bring me back to life! He came back to my ashes and the bones that were dipped in the river and brought me back to life."

"YAY!" the grandchild exclaimed.

Grandma Coral chuckled, "Yes! Yay! I came back to life! Then the brothers started to argue over who should marry me. The third brother thought he should marry me because it was his spell that brought me back to life. The second brother thought he should marry me because he dipped my bones in the sacred river which helped bring me to life. The first brother aruged that he should marry me because he kept my ashes safe. Which one do you think got to marry me?"

The grandchild scrunched up their face, deep in thought. "I think it was the brother who kept the ashes."

"You are right! Your grandpa kept my ashes! My father decided that your grandpa deserved to marry me because he did what a true lover would do. He kept my ashes safe by sleeping with them and truly mourned me when I was dead."

"I am glad he chose grandpa! I love him!"

Grandma Coral smiled. "I love him too."

Author's Note:

I based this story off of The 2nd Goblin's riddle. In the original story a goblin tells a riddle to a king that he must answer correctly or die. I rewrote the riddle in the perspective of the girl that died, Coral. I liked the idea of a grandchild wanting to know more about their grandparents that love each other so much. I stayed pretty on target with the original story line. I just condensed it and had the child guess the answer to the riddle the grandma was asking.

Bibliography: The 2nd Goblin from Twenty-Two Goblins by Arthur Ryder (1917).

Reading Diary Week 10: 22 Goblins Part F

Twenty-two Goblins

A lions yawns at Nairobi's National Park on March 11, 2013 by Marko Djurica—Reuters from Time

4 Brothers

I love how they say that these three things that are fickle and bring sorrow at the last: evil friendships, a flirt, and money. I have to agree. You cannot try to find happiness with these things. However, I don't understand why this statement made the brothers want to find their talents. Perhaps the knowledge would bring them power. The brothers's talents are quite interesting. I like how they coordinate together to finally bring life. It is unfortunate that the animal ended up being a lion. I think it may be interesting to write a story where they made a bunny or something and there was a happier ending. Or maybe keep the story with the lion but there were no teeth to let the lion eat the brothers. The lion could be tame and they ride the lion into the sunset. I also believe that it is the last brother's fault that they died because he could clearly see that it was a dead lion. What did he expect to happen???


Conclusion

First of all I completely respect the king for going back to get the goblin every time he ran off. That is real dedication. I am also kind of surprised that the monk was evil the whole time. I am glad that the goblin respected the king after all of those riddles and told him the monks plans. I also thought it was weird that what the king wanted was for the whole world to know the riddles the goblin shared with him.

Reading Diary Week 10: 22 Goblins Part A

Twenty-two Goblins

Goblin by Throne Rush from Wikia

Introduction

I wonder why there are gems inside of the fruit the monk gives the king? I liked that the monk's name is Patience. I definitely feel like there is some significant meaning with that name. I was really confused when the goblin was in the dead body. Originally I did not realize that there was a dead body. I just assumed that what the king thought was a dead body was actually a goblin. Nope. I was definitely wrong. The goblin was just inside of the dead body. 

The 3 Lovers

I definitely would have not guessed the correct answer for this riddle. First of all, I think what all the brothers did after Coral's death was weird. Making a hut on her ashes and begging for food is obsessive and scary. Dipping her bones in a river is also a bit strange. Honestly becoming a monk was not too bad, but seemed a little extreme. When the monk brought her to life, I was a little confused. I thought monks were like nuns and could not marry. So I didn't think that marrying Coral would be an option for him when she came back to life. I was kind of shocked to hear that the answer to the riddle was the brother that built a hut on her ashes. Like I said before, I think that is scary obsessive. However, I couldn't have come up with a better answer. I think a good story would be to have Coral talk about what happened after she died (like a ghost) and to be weirded out, yet also touched by what happened.