Extra Reading Diary Post: Europa's Fairy Book

The Swan Maidens

• A hunter saw 7 maidens swimming in a river
• Each maiden had  a robe of feathers
• The youngest appeased the hunter the most
• Made her marry him by seizing the robe.
• 2 children
• The hidden robe was found and the mother flew off with it
• She flew East O' the sun and West O' the Moon
• He consulted the king of the beast, birds and fishes, until the fishes knew it was on Crystal Mountain
• He tricked 2 men out of getting their invisibility had and their fast shoes
• He finds the land and speaks with the king.
• He took each maiden by the hand until he found his wife
• Then they went back home and lived happily ever after

Androcles and the Lion

• Androcles is a slave
• He has escaped his master and grown tired and weary with hunger
• A lion's roar caused him to get and try to run away in what he thought was the opposite direction of the lion.
• He tripped in a bush and saw the lion limping on 3 paws
• He pulled the large thorn out of the lion's paw
• The lion was grateful and would bring food to Androcles as a thank you
• They became friends
• Androcles was captured and taken back to his master
• To punish the slave he was going to be thrown into a lion's pit
• Rather than eating Androcles, the lion jumped on him and licked him
• The lion was the lion that was his friend
• The emperor excused them both back to be free after Androcles explained to him how they became friends

A Visitor from Paradise

• A woman has been married twice
• A man knocks on her door asking for a drink, who is from Paris
• The woman who is slightly deaf thought the man said Paradise
• Her first husband has died, and she is on her 2nd
• She asks if the man can take back some goods to her 1st husband John in paradise
• The husband didn't like the man took the donkey, so he took his horse to find him
• The man from paradise hid the stuff in the bushes
• The man never brought back the donkey the next day as promised
• The man and wife removed the front door from its hinges before setting off to find the man with the stolen donkey
• They used the door to sleep on in a tree
• Under them was a group of robbers
•  The couple dropped the door on top of thieves frightening them
• The couple took all of the goods the robbers had stolen and lived happily ever after

Inside Again

• A man lifted a rock in the woods and found a big black snake
• The snake wants to eat the man
• They argue about what is more important, self preservation or gratitude
• The first to walk by was a horse who sided with the snake
• The next was an old dog who agreed with the snake
• Finally a fox walks by, the man convinces the fox that if he helps him he will give him a pair of chickens
• The fox tricked the snake into getting back under the rock
• The man ran home to give the fox its chickens
• The man's wife didn't agree with the deal so she put their dog in a bag gave it to the fox
• The dog jumped out of the bad and ate the fox

A candy house. Source: Wikipedia

Johnnie and Grizzle

• 2 kids whose names are Johnnie and Grizzle
• Their father is a poor farmer who has no money for food
• The father wants to leave the children in the forest in hopes someone will find them
• The next day Johnnie went out and collected a lot of brightly colored stones
• The father took them into the forest claiming he forgot something and that he would comeback
• Along the walk Johnnie dropped the stone leaving a trail from the house
• The kids found their way back to the house
• The farmer took the kids into the woods the next day again
• The kids once again found their way home
• The next day the farmer took them out to the woods again but he had locked the doors so Johnnie was not able to pick up pebbles
• That morning Johnnie used bread crumbs from the bread he was supposed to have eaten for breakfast
• The birds ate all the bread leaving the kids without a trail.
• The kids found a house in the woods made of candy

Johnnie and Grizzle (cont.)

• The children began to eat the house
• A woman opened the door and scolded the children for not asking before eating her house
• She invites them inside to feed them
• When they get inside she takes Johnnie and locks him in a room
• The lady was a witch that like to fatten up children and eat them
• Grizzle would do all the housework while Johnnie got fed very well every meal
• The witch was nearly blind and would feel Johnnie's finger to determine how big he was
• In fear of being eaten, Johnnie found a stick about the size of his finger that he would use instead
• He did this day after day until one day the stick dropped. The witch became enraged and had Grizzle turn on the oven to eat Johnnie
• Grizzle tricked the witch and pushed her into the oven
• The kids fled the house to a river that was too deep for them to wade in only to see the witch had gotten out and was chasing them
• A duck was in the river and helped the kids swim across
• The witch sucked all the water out of the river until she burst
• The kids made it to the other side and ran all the way home
• The farmer had made a lot of money and had been looking for his kids.

Thumbkin

• A woman wished to have a little boy the size of her thumb
• When suddenly all the beans in her lap turned into baby boys
• She dumped them in a bowl of water. All sunk but 1
• He never grew any bigger than their thumbs, his name was Thumbkin
• Thumbkin  wants the responsibility of taking the donkey down to his father
• He led the horse and cart successfully to his father
• 2 men saw a horse and cart moving with no driver so they followed it and saw Thumbkin being taken out of the horse's ear
• The men bought Thumbkin for a fortune
• They put him on his hat and for dinner Thumbkin hid in the crevice of a tree
• They gave up on finding him and left
• Three robbers sat where they had dinner and Thumbkin over heard their plans to rob the squire
• Thumbkin agreed to help them rob the squire but the butler heard them and they ran off
• Thumbkin went to the stable and laid in the hay where he was eaten by a cow
• The cow was butchered and the farmer threw the stomach out
• A wolf ate the stomach and now Thumbkin was in the wolf
• Thumbkin led the wolf to his fathers farm where he could eat the chickens if he would let him out
• The wolf refused to let him, he over ate and couldn't fit back threw the hole he came
• His mother and father killed the wolf an took Thumbkin out and they lived happily ever after