Week 9- #GRIMMread2019

                              http://shonnaslayton.com/grimm-read-2019-challenge/

The Three Languages- It's a Diamond in the Rough story. A boy is sent off to learn from mentors three times. Each time he comes back having only learned the language of an animal: dogs, frogs, and doves. His father is angry over this, and considers him a complete waste of space, so he disowns him. The boy then travels, and along the way he saves a town from cursed dogs, and he he even becomes pope. This is all due to his talent with animal languages. The moral of this one is to not judge people as stupid or worthless just because they have unorthodox talents, or appear to have no talents. Also, the father should have had more faith in and love for his own son.

Clever Elsie- Just like Hans, Elsie is not Clever. This story is also very repetitious until the part where she gets married, and ends up falling asleep in a cornfield, when she is supposed to be harvesting corn. Her husband isn't impressed with her laziness, so he throws a net with bells over her. She wakes up, and she doesn't know if she is Elsie or not. She knocks on the door of her house, and asks if Elsie is inside. Her husband says yes, so she decides that she is not Elsie. She continues to roam to another house, still wearing the net, and the neighbors are spooked, so they don't answer the door. She moves on, and Clever Elsie hasn't been seen since. This seems to be a Medieval warning against women disobeying their husbands.

The Tailor in Heaven- This is one of the metaphorical religious stories. God goes on an outing and leaves St. Peter at the Gates if Heaven. He tells him not to let anyone in while He's gone. A Tailor comes by (with a shady past) and begs entrance. St. Peter has pity on him, and tells him to wait inside on a bench. The tailor then gets bored, and he snoops around. He finds God's throne, and sits on it. He looks down, and sees a woman commiting the same sort of petty theft that he was guilty if in his life, and becomes so indignant that he takes God's footstool, and throws it at her. God comes back, and is not happy with the Tailor because he was shown mercy, but didn't show mercy to others in return. He is then booted out of Heaven. So, the moral is don't be a hypocrite, don't play God, and do be merciful.

The Wishing-Table, the Gold-Ass, and the Cudgel in the Sack- (That's a mouthful! It sounds like a weird night of debauchery.) This is a long story. A tailor and his three sons have a goat, and her milk is what keeps them afloat, financially speaking. Because if this, she is treated very well. Each son takes a turn taking her to graze. They even ask her if she has had enough, she says yes (in a rhyme). Each time a son comes home, the father doesn't take his word that the goat has had her fill, so he asks the goat. She says no (in a rhyme). The father believes the goat over his sons, and chases each one out of his house with a yard stick. So then the father takes the goat out, and repeats the process. He discovers the goat was lying. He shaves her and beats her with a whip, and she runs off. Each son apprentices with a master in a different field for a time, and each son receives a magical parting gift at the end of his apprenticeship, which is pretty cool! The Wishing-Table spreads itself with food, the Gold-Ass (I'm just going to call him Bricklebrit), poops and vomits gold coins he hears the word bricklebrit (Poor Bricklebrit!), And the Cudgel in the Sack, beats enemies down. An ikeeper switches out the first two son's gifts, and when they return home to show their father and relatives, they find this out. In spite if this, their father trusts them this time, he doesn't mock them, or run them off. I think he's learned his lesson. The third son finds out the inkeeper, and opens up a "sack" of whoop-ass on him, until he gives in and returns the Wishing-Table and Bricklebrit. He returns home, with the real gifts and everything works out just great. At this point I would've ended the story, but apparently we really need to hear more about that goat. She hides her head in a fox hole because she is embarrassed. The fox is spooked by her, and so is his friend, the bear. Their friend, the bee, then stings the goat, and she runs off never to be heard from again. This story warns against maliciousness in lying about others, and also not to be so quick to distrust family.