Mythology & Folklore

Woman on Her Death-Bed Why does the red nose mean his loyalties lie elsewhere? Is she just ill? And how did she get so sick so quickly? Did no one see that she was headed toward a fatal illness? Wow that story took a very unexpected turn An obvious story would be to retell it from the wife's perspective, as she sees her husband try to move on while she isn't even dead yet. Or maybe she wasn't even dying, and was just kind of sick and her husband just made an assumption This is really a great story, in terms of twists, and the overarching theme that men are hypocritical and selfish Bibliography: Woman on Her Death-Bed from The Heptameron of Margaret, Queen of Navarre translated by Walter K. Kelly  link to online reading Image source:  Heptameron

The Emperors New Suit How did he get appointed/ keep his throne if he is such a careless ruler? What purpose do these people have for lying? Does he pay them or are they just looking to shake things up in the kingdom Does he not have any advisors that thought this was a bad idea, or tried to tell him that the people were lying? Story idea: A frustrated advisor to the king who is always trying to convince him not to believe things like this These swindlers are good! They even got the priest to believe he was stupid They really tricked an entire castle full of people into lying to each other Does the king now think that his whole kingdom is stupid? If he thought that from the beginning why would he have agreed to wear his clothes? Seems like he did it to test his own judgement, but he seems like the type that wouldn't want anyone to question his judgement The Swindlers Bibliography: The Emperors New Suit from Fairy Tales and Stories by Hans Christian Andersen

Dogs and Cats The Dog and the Shadow These dogs aren't super smart. First with the meat, then the hay All of these lessons are very important, but I'm used to longer stories to teach them, like tortoise and hare The story about the cat being changed into a woman is weird. Imagine seeing your new wife try to catch a mouse at your wedding I think theres a few goods story ideas in these fables, it would just mean expanding the stories and adding more fluff to it Bibliography: Dogs and Cats from The Fables of Aesop  by Joseph Jacobs  link to online reading

The Twelve Dancing Princesses What is the kings plan if none of his daughters marry? Would any of them become queen? Seems kind of harsh that if they fail he kills them. Why can't they just fail and go back to their lives? I have a feeling that the princes dad wouldn't be okay with another king killing his son. Sounds like a recipe for war Why does this old lady know the princess's tricks? And why does she have a cloak? Could be an interesting story to have her be a family member or old servant that knows how the princesses sneak away. Maybe she wants them to stop so she reveals all this to the soldier These princesses are kind of mean for deliberately causing all these men to lose their lives just so they could go dancing Maybe old woman from above could be one of the sisters in disguise, who doesn't want to send men to their deaths anymore They should probably be listening to the youngest sister, because she's right to be so concerned  Why can't the

Briar Rose The fish is an interesting way to tell her she's having a daughter Its kind of weird that they want a daughter but not a son to be the heir to the throne, unless it's a progressive society where they actually let women rule Yikes, how did they choose which fairy to leave out? Was she particularly bad, or just unlock in this instance? I'm sure that the old lady is the evil fairy. But if she could magically create a spindle, why did they even bother removing all of them from the palace? Why did they all fall asleep? Was that another gift from the fairies? So this prince just got really lucky and didn't have to prove himself by cutting though the thorns If the spell was that she was supposed to sleep for a hundred years, why didn't she just wake up when the hundred years were up? Why did she still  need true love's kiss? Did they all know they slept for that long or did it just feel like they blinked and a hundred years had passed? Briar R

Looking Glass-House Alice is such  carefree girl, and seems to have no issue with the people who now "can't get at [her]", but that is a very concerning statement  I like the chess pieces. It could be an interesting story to look at the perspective of the chess pieces, to the large girl watching them and trying not to scare them Oh so they are scared of her. That story would be interesting too, the pieces just minding their business until a giant hand picks them up and moves them in the air super quickly I've read this poem before, it's a very interesting one. The floating thing is another thing that would concern a normal person. but Alice seems fine with it and questions nothing Alice Bibliography: Looking Glass-House from  Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There  by Lewis Carroll