Reading Notes: Ashliman, Part B

Bibliography: For this week I read the Ashliman version of Brothers Grimm unit. Story source: The Grimm Brothers' Children's and Household Tales translated by D. L. Ashliman (1998-2013).


One more round of notes this week, now for part B of the Grimm unit tales as translated by Ashliman.

I want to look at good starts to tales for these notes!

One beginning of a story that stuck out to me as effective was in the tale "The Little Lamb and the Little Fish." The story begins by saying: "Once upon a time were a little brother and a little sister who loved each other with all their hearts. Their own mother, however, was dead, and they had a stepmother who was not kind to them. She secretly did everything she could to hurt them." This start introdcues us to central characters and introduces the conflict that launches readers into the rest of the story. We are told about the mutual love between two sibilings, a source of pain in their mom dying, and the mean nature of their stepmother. This sets up the action of the plot very well.

Another example of a strong start to a story from this unit can be found in the story "Death's Messengers." This start has a very different feel from the last one that I analyzed: "In ancient times, a giant was wandering along the highway when suddenly a stranger jumped toward him and shouted, 'Stop! Not one step further!'" Although explanations and character introudctions can be helpful, another great way to begin a story is what we see here: jumping right into the action. We get introduced to the setting in a vague way ("In ancient times") that allows readers to create their own mental image of the scene. We then encounter an action word ("suddenly") and meet a "stranger." This start is fun and grabs attention in it's own way without a traditional set-up approach. The beginnings of these stories were unique and effective for differet reasons.

I enjoye the tales and stories in the Grimm unit! I hope to use some of these techniques for beginning stories, introducing characters, and jumping into the plot in my own story writing.

Painting of the Brothers Grimm from 1855 ("Deutsch: Doppelporträt der Brüder Jacob und Wilhelm 

Grimm/ Die Brüder Grimm") by Elisabeth Jerichau-Baumann. Source: Wikimedia