...and they all lived happily ever after.

I don't know about you, but I find it slightly strange that people read children bedtime stories about murder, cannibalism, child abuse, and torture. What an appropriate image to leave in a child's mind as he either shivers terrified in the dark or has horrible nightmares. People sometimes find my reading choices depressing or disturbing, but think about what some of our first books were when we were children. Take "Hansel and Gretel." You have an evil stepmother and a wimpy father abandoning his children in the middle of the woods. When they find an adult, she puts the little boy in a cage so she can plump him up and eat him for dinner. The brother and sister escape by shoving the old woman into her oven. They find their way home and are overjoyed to find that their stepmother is dead. And they all lived happily ever after.

Assignment:

1. Read at least one fairytales from The Grimm Brothers and one from Charles Perrault (they can be the same story since they have slightly different versions). *No study guides need to be filled out for these stories. See below for links to the stories.
2. Comment on the stories on the discussion board at Turnitin.com by March 10/11. Homework grade.

3. Complete the following writing assignment. Submit it to Turnitin.com, and bring a printed copy to class (both required for full credit) on/by March 10/11. Project grade.

Writing Assignment:
Choose one of the Grimm Brothers' or Perrault’s stories and complete the following writing assignment. It should be five good paragraphs, about two double-spaced pages.

1. Introduction: (including what you remember about the story if you read it as a child). You can use “I” in this paragraph. Make me want to read further.

2. Summary: (a good paragraph that would catch someone's interest and make them want to read the story) Don’t use “I” in this paragraph. You can give away the ending because "catch someone's interest and make them want to read the story" roughly translates as "please don't bore me to death."

3. Origins or Variants of the Story: How the story originated (if others wrote about it, how back the story goes, if there are any roots in reality, etc.). You can get some info about this as Wikipedia (okay for this assignment). Also, the stories at http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/ give background information and illustrations if you click on the panel on the left side of the page. You don't have to cite it if you just mention the website where you got your information in the paragraph.

4. Opinion of Story: What did you think about the story? If you've read another version of the story, how does this one differs (and may be more disturbing)? If you haven't, what you find interesting/ disturbing about the story? What don’t you like? Etc. You can use "I" here.

5. Morals/Appropriateness: What were the morals or lessons to be learned from the story? Do you thing the story is appropriate for younger readers? Do you think the more sanitized versions that you may have read in the past are better? Do you think the "sanitized" versions should be further edited? Do you think the original stories (which were told to children in the past) are appropriate for modern children? Were there lessons taught in the stories that may have been more serious back then, or are the lesson as relevant today?

NOTE:

Use MLA heading, 1” margins
Title=title of the story that you read
Use proper grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc.
Use good word choice and varied sentences.
Proofread!

Fairytales by the Grimm Brothers and Charles Perrault

“Rapunzel”
Grimms Brothers: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rapunzel/index.html
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rapunzel

“Hansel and Gretel”
Grimm Brothers: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/hanselgretel/index.html
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hansel_and_Gretel

“Cinderella”
Grimm Brothers’ version titled "Aschenputtel" at http://stenzel.ucdavis.edu/180/anthology/aschenputtel.html
Charles Perrault’s version: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/cinderella/index.html
http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17208/17208-h/17208-h.htm#CINDERELLA_OR_THE_LITTLE_GLASS
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinderella

“Little Red Riding Hood” or “Little Red-Cap”
Grimms’ version, “Little Red-Cap” on page 113 http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/grimm10.pdf
Charles Perrault: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17208/17208-h/17208-h.htm#LITTLE_RED_RIDING-HOOD
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Red_Riding_Hood

“Snow White”
Grimm Brothers: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sevendwarfs/index.html
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_White

“Rumpelstiltskin”
Grimm Brothers: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/rumpelstiltskin/index.html
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rumpelstiltskin

“Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” or “Little Briar-Rose”
Charles Perrault’s “Sleeping Beauty in the Wood” http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17208/17208-h/17208-h.htm#THE_SLEEPING_BEAUTY_IN_THE_WOODS
Grimm brothers’ “Little Briar-Rose” on page 41 http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/grimm10.pdf
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleeping_Beauty

“The Girl Without Hands” (I doubt you’ve read this one before.)
Grimm http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/armlessmaiden/index.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Girl_Without_Hands
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Penta_of_the_Chopped-off_Hands

“The Juniper Tree” (I really doubt you’ve read this one.)
Grimm Brothers: page 187 of http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/grimm10.pdf
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Juniper_Tree_%28fairy_tale%29

“Blue Beard” (disturbing)
Charles Perrault: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/bluebeard/index.html
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluebeard

“Donkeyskin” or “Allerleirauh”
Grimm Brothers: http://www.familymanagement.com/literacy/grimms/grimms51.html
Charles Perrault: http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/donkeyskin/index.html
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Donkeyskin
Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allerleirauh


Other Stories by Perrault: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17208/17208-h/17208-h.htm
Other Stories by Grimm: http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/etext01/grimm10.pdf