Extra Reading Diary: Chinese Fairy Tales

For the extra reading this week, I thought I would change it up a bit. I've been reading African folktales the last two weeks during these units, so I decided to go with Chinese Fairy Tales, and explore a little bit of what Asia has to offer.

One of the stories I really enjoyed reading was The Favorite of Fortune and the Child of Ill Luck. It's interesting that luck is the main factor that drives this entire story. The one thing that really stood out to me was the fact that the woman in the story saw that the beggar was of good fortune, even though he was in rags and appeared to be in pretty bad shape. I think it would be really cool if the story had elaborated on why the woman was able to see that the man was of good fortune. It also would be interesting to learn why the woman was born of ill luck. I liked that the idea of the man being of good fortune fully came to fruition when he was able to become emperor.

Another story I thought was interesting (and a tad bit weird) was The Girl with the Horse's Head (or the Silkworm Goddess). The idea that the woman is to marry a horse is what caught me a bit off guard, definitely not what I was expecting! Also, the idea of the horse's skin being removed from the horse and onto the girl was definitely a different kind of scene. Although there are often many far-fetched scenes that are created in fairy tales, I thought this one was very different. I do think, however, that is was creative that the horse's skin is what created a cocoon, and in turn, a silkworm. Knowing how valuable silk and silkworms are in China, it was really interesting to see that they have a goddess that portrays a silkworm.

(Women preparing silk in 12th century China)