Stories
Tracing Fairy Tales
14/04/16 13:18 Filed in: Interests
We've had fairy tales in our lives for longer than we think. They have traced back tales like Little Red Riding Hood for centuries, some to even the Bronze Age. Even Beauty and the Beast. Some to Indo-European backgrounds. Here is more information based on research.
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Fairy Tales History
18/01/16 09:20 Filed in: Interests
How long have Fairy Tales been around…………..maybe since before Christianity……….back to the Bronze Age. Little Red Riding Hood is one example………..
"In 2013, Jamie Tehrani from Durham University did this for Little Red Riding Hood, charting the relationships between 58 different versions of the tale. In some, a huntsman rescues the girl; in others, she does it herself. But all these iterations could be traced back to a single origin, 2,000 years ago, somewhere between Europe and the Middle East. And East Asian versions (with several girls, and a tiger or leopard in lieu of wolf) probably derived from these European ancestors."
The story about the stories' history can be found in this article.
"In 2013, Jamie Tehrani from Durham University did this for Little Red Riding Hood, charting the relationships between 58 different versions of the tale. In some, a huntsman rescues the girl; in others, she does it herself. But all these iterations could be traced back to a single origin, 2,000 years ago, somewhere between Europe and the Middle East. And East Asian versions (with several girls, and a tiger or leopard in lieu of wolf) probably derived from these European ancestors."
The story about the stories' history can be found in this article.
The Night Before Christmas
18/12/14 19:37 Filed in: Interests
So who wrote The Night Before Christmas tale? There is some dispute about who was responsible. One fellow has been described as the most likely though a distant relative through his wife may be the author. At least his family claims so. It is certainly a story that is ingrained in our Christmas holiday culture. Many children have been raised looking for Santa to deliver the presents in a setting with the stockings hung with care and not a creature was stirring. Not even a mouse or if they did, our cats would get them. Read on about this lovely poem from 1823, so long ago it was just yesterday…….
What Kind of Ending?
20/07/13 20:13 Filed in: Interests
I saw an interesting discussion yesterday about whether a person might prefer stories, shows, or movies that have happy endings or crave reaching that ultimate “downer” of a bad ending. I probably tend to lean toward the happy ending side. What I really like is a good, well-written, clever story. Something that makes you think or surprises you. The article under discussion did go further and covered 4 different examples of how different predictable patterns occur to destroy dramatic tension. Certainly, we all go to a thriller or drama and wonder who will be killed off or which character(s) will be left at the end. I would often speculate with our friend, Stephen, on who will be left standing. We often came close to getting it right. It can be a fun guessing game and you try to determine the pattern or profile they will want to have at the end. What sort of story ending do you like? Can you tell how a story will end or who will “not be there” for the next season? 
