October 30, 2017 | Author: Anonymous | Category: N/A
The World of the Brothers Grimm focuses on three Grimms' fairy tales the stories of **Complete ......
THE WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM: A Course for Adult Education Programs Andrea D. E. Levin Keene High School June 15, 2014
Fairy tales have enduring meaning. Many students are introduced to them at a young age. For this reason, fairy tales are often considered the most inviting form of literature for students of all ages and backgrounds even students who consider themselves to be nonreaders. Because fairy tales possess an intriguing depth of psychological meaning, they have inspired the creation of seemingly countless films, paintings, short stories, novels, and poems. Fairy tales provide an intriguing and accessible gateway to deeper reading, writing, and thinking skills. The World of the Brothers Grimm focuses on three Grimms’ fairy tales the stories of Cinderella, Hansel and Gretel, and Rumpelstiltskin. For each unit, students will read a translation of the original fairy tale, an accessible young adult novel, and several poems. I start each unit by reading the original fairy tale aloud in class. Over my years teaching for Keene Community Education, I have discovered that getting student to complete homework can be a challenge. I have been the most successful when students perceive the work to be predictable and manageable. For that reason, homework for this course consists of reading young adult novels and answering ten questions per week. Students are expected to read approximately 100 pages per week on their own. I sometimes work with the class to practice breaking down this assignment into five pieces so that they can practice pacing themselves. Reading young adult literature based on fairy tales allows reluctant readers to read with more confidence. One of my students referred to the fairy tale basis of a novel as “something to hold onto.” We read more challenging texts in class. Each unit includes several contemporary poems inspired by the fairy tale. There is one analysis handout to use for all the poems. Applying the same analytical procedure to each poem will help students develop a critical reading routine. Students will have a 22 opportunities to practice their poetry close reading skills. Students will also have the opportunity to practice various types of writing. For each unit, students will produce two poems, one short story, and one analytical essay. Computer access is essential for this course. Time for writing has been built into thirteen out of the fifteen class sessions. I suggest that students use Google Docs to write submit their work. Google Docs saves drafts automatically and allows teachers to comment directly on students work in a clear, instantaneous way. It is also helpful because students can be directed to useful links. I have found that Google Docs makes the revision process less threatening. Students can get feedback more quickly and frequently. The increased familiarity with critiques lessens the associated anxiety. I treat the final writing portfolio as half of the final exam grade. On the first day of class, the instructor should help students set up gmail accounts and guide them through the process of using Google Docs. (Many schools and business already use Google Docs for project collaboration and document submission, so I will not include information on how to use Google Docs here. There are many helpful tutorials and instruction sheets for Google Docs available online.)
It is my hope that this curriculum will entice students read on their own, give them the skills to tackle challenging texts, immerse them in the writing process, and allow them to contribute their own short stories and poems to the the long tradition of literature inspired by fairy tales. Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions. Andrea D.E. Levin Keene High School Keene, NH
[email protected]
TABLE OF CONTENTS • Text Selections • The World of the Brothers Grimm Schedule • The Common Core State Standards & The World of the Brothers Grimm • Fiction Terms • Poetry Terms • Poetry Analysis Sheet (to use with all poems) • Disney’s Cinderella vs. Grimms’ “Cinderella” • Grimms’ “Cinderella” • Reading Questions for Grimms’ “Cinderella” • Perrault’s “Cinderella” • Cinderella Comparison Chart: Disney, Grimms, and Perrault • Creative Writing Assignment Sheet for the Cinderella Unit • Cinder Essay Assignment Sheet • Cinderella Unit Quiz • Cinder reading questions: Book 1 • Cinder reading questions: Book 2 • Cinder reading questions: Book 3 • Cinder reading questions: Book 4 • Cinder Literary Terms Questions • Cinderella Poetry Chart • “Cinderella” by Gwen Straus • “Cinderella’s Life at the Castle” by Russell Edson • “The Ugly Stepsister” by Denise Duhamel • “The Stepsister’s Story” by Emma Bull • “Twenty Years After” by Marlene Joyce Pearson • “Against Cinderella” by Julia Alvarez • “Masquerade” by Barbara Crooker • “The Glass Slipper” by Jane Shore • Grimms’ “Hansel and Gretel” • Questions on Grimms’ “Hansel and Gretel” • Creative Writing Assignment Sheet for the Hansel and Gretel Unit • Sweetly Essay Assignment Sheet • Hansel and Gretel Unit Quiz • Sweetly Reading Questions: Chapter 1 8 • Sweetly Reading Questions: Chapter 9 18 • Sweetly Reading Questions: Chapter 19 to the End • Sweetly Literary Terms Questions • Hansel and Gretel Poetry Chart • “Afraid to Look Afraid to Look Away” by Kathleen Jesme • “Asleep in the Forest” by Andrea Hollander Budy • “Babe in the Woods” by Moyra Donaldson
• “Gretel, Lost” by Jean Monahan • ”Juvenile Court” by Sara Henderson Hay • “Hansel Tells Gretel of the Witch” by Regie Cabico • “Gretel, from a sudden clearing” by Marie Howe • “The Social Worker Finds Hansel and Gretel Difficult to Place” by Enid Dame • “Witch Words” by Valery Nash • “Gretel” by Ronald Koertge • Grimms’ “Rumpelstiltskin” • Reading Questions: Grimms’ “Rumpelstiltskin” • Creative Writing Assignment Sheet for the Rumpelstiltskin Unit • A Curse as Dark as Gold Analytical Essay Assignment Sheet • A Curse as Dark as Gold Reading Questions: Chapters 1 7 • A Curse as Dark as Gold Reading Questions: Chapters 17 24 • A Curse as Dark as Gold Reading Questions: Chapters 25 to the End • A Curse as Dark as Gold Literary Terms Questions • Rumpelstiltskin Poetry Chart • “The Name” by Sara Henderson Hay • “Straw into Gold” by Bruce Bennett • “Rumplestiltskin Keeps Mum” by Claudia Carlson • ”Her Shadow” by Gwen Straus • Writing Portfolio Assignment Sheet • Final Exam
TEXTS FOR THE WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM Novels Cinder: Book One of the Lunar Chronicles Marissa Meyer Age Range: 12 17 years Grade Level: 7 and up Lexile Measure: 790L Series: Lunar Chronicles (Book 1) Paperback: 448 pages Publisher: Square Fish; 2nd edition (January 8, 2013) ISBN10: 1250007208 ISBN13: 9781250007209 Available Formats: hardcover, paperback, and ebook Cinder is a futuristic dystopian retelling of “Cinderella.” It is this first in a fourbook series. As of the spring of 2014, the first three books in the series have been published. The title character is a teenage cyborg who works as a mechanic in New Beijing. Sweetly (Fairy Tale Retelling) Jackson Pearce Series: Fairy Tale Retelling Hardcover: 320 pages Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers; 1 edition (August 23, 2011) ISBN10: 0316068659 Available Formats: hardcover, paperback, and ebook Sweetly is contemporary retelling of “Hansel and Gretel.” It is a companion book, not a sequel, in a series of fairy tale retellings. Hansel and Gretel and now legally adults (and called Ansel and Gretchen). They leave the tragic woods of Washington and settle in a small town in South Carolina. A Curse Dark As Gold Elizabeth Bunce Age Range: 12 and up Grade Level: 7 and up Mass Market Paperback: 400 pages Publisher: Scholastic Paperbacks; 1 edition (May 1, 2010) ISBN10: 0439895774 ISBN13: 9780439895774 Available Formats: hardcover, paperback, and ebook
A Curse Dark As Gold is a work of historical fiction that includes supernatural elements. It takes place in the early industrial age in a village that appears to be in England. (This is never stated explicitly.) It has a strong female narrator who has inherited a textile mill after her father’s death. I believe that this book is more challenging than its stated grade level. Poetry All of the poems used in The World of the Brother Grimms, with the exception of the two poems listed below, come from the following, now outofprint anthology: The Poets’ Grimm: 20th Century Poems from Grimm Fairy Tales. Ed. Jeanne Marie Beaumont and Claudia Carlson. Ashland: Story Line Press, 2003 “The Name” by Sara Henderson Hay and “Rumpelstiltskin” by Anne Sexton are from another outofprint anthology: Disenchanted: An Anthology of Modern Fairy Tale Poetry. Ed. Wolfgang Mieder. Hanover: University Press of New England, 1985. Fairy Tales All fairy tales are from the University of Pittsburgh’s Grimm Brothers’ Home Page. Film Walt Disney’s Cinderella (1950)
THE WORLD OF THE BROTHERS GRIMM SCHEDULE Session 1
Session 2
Session 3
class:
class:
class:
• in class reading of Grimms’ and Perrault’s Cinderella stories • Questions on Grimms’ and Perrault’s Cinderella stories • poem: “Cinderella” by Gwen Straus
• discuss Book 1 of Cinder • poem: “Cinderella’s Life at the Castle” by Russell Edson • poem: “The Ugly Stepsister” by Denise Duhamel • work on two poems and short story in the computer lab
• discuss Book 2 of Cinder • poem: “The Stepsister’s Story” by Emma Bull • poem: “Twenty Years After” by Marlene Joyce Pearson • work on two poems and short story in the computer lab
homework: • Cinder: Book 1 • reading questions
homework: • Cinder: Book 2 • reading questions
homework: • Cinder: Book 3 • reading questions
Session 4
Session 5
Session 6
class:
class:
class:
• discuss Book 3 of Cinder • poem: “Against Cinderella” by Julia Alvarez • work on two poems and short story in the computer lab homework: • Cinder: Book 4 • reading questions
• discuss Book 4 of Cinder • poem: “Masquerade” by Barbara Crooker • poem: “The Glass Slipper” by Jane Shore • Cinder Literary Terms Questions • work on Cinder analytical essay
• Quiz on the Cinderella Unit • revise Cinder analytical essay • Read “Hansel and Gretel” • questions on “Hansel and Gretel” • poem: “Afraid to Look Afraid to Look Away” by Kathleen Jesme • poem: “Asleep in the Forest” by Andrea Hollander Budy
homework:
homework:
• study for Cinderella unit quiz • through chapter 8 in Sweetly • reading questions
Session 7
Session 8
Session 9
class:
class:
class:
• discuss first eight chapters in Sweetly • poem: “Babe in the Woods” by Moyra Donaldson • poem: “Gretel, Lost” by Jean Monahan • ”Juvenile Court” by Sara Henderson Hay • work on two poems and short story in the computer lab
• discuss chapters 9 18 in Sweetly • poem: “Hansel Tells Gretel of the Witch” by Regie Cabico • poem: “Gretel, from a sudden clearing” by Marie Howe • poem: “The Social Worker Finds Hansel and Gretel Difficult to Place” by Enid Dame • work on two poems and short story in the computer lab
• Discuss the final chapters of Sweetly • work on Sweetly analytical essay • poem: “Witch Words” by Valery Nash • poem: “Gretel” by Ronald Koertge • Sweetly Literary Terms Questions
• chapters 9 18 in Sweetly • reading questions
homework:
• study for Hansel and Gretel unit quiz
Session 10
Session 11
Session 12
class:
class:
class:
• Hansel and Gretel unit quiz • Revise Sweetly analytical essay • read “Rumpelstiltskin” • ”Rumpelstiltskin” questions
• discuss chapters 1 7 in A Curse as Dark as Gold • poem: “Rumpelstiltskin” by Anne Sexton • work on two poems and short story in the computer lab
• discuss chapters 8 16 in A Curse as Dark as Gold • poem: “The Name” by Sara Henderson Hay • work on two poems and short story in the computer lab
homework:
homework: • chapters 1 7 in A Curse as Dark as Gold • reading questions
• finish Sweetly • reading questions
homework: • chapters 8 16 in A Curse as Dark as Gold • reading questions
homework:
homework: • chapters 17 24 in A Curse as Dark as Gold • reading questions
Session 13
Session 14
Session 15
class:
class:
class:
• discuss chapters 17 24 in A Curse as Dark as Gold • poem: “Straw into Gold” by Bruce Bennett • poem: Rumplestiltskin Keeps Mum” by Claudia Carlson • work on two poems and short story in the computer lab
• discuss the final chapters of A Curse as Dark as Gold • A Curse as Dark as Gold Literary Terms Questions • work on A Curse as Dark as Gold analytical essay • poem: “Her Shadow” by Gwen Straus • review for final exam
• final exam • final revisions on writing portfolio
homework: • chapter 25 to the end in A Curse as Dark as Gold • reading questions
homework: • study for the final exam • fill out course evaluation sheets
English Language Arts Common Core State Standards (Grades 11 12) & The World of the Brothers Grimm (WoBG) These are the standards that are covered in this course. Under each standard I have listed the course assignments/activities that include the standard.
READING: LITERATURE
Key Ideas and Details: CCSS.ELALITERACY.RL.1112.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text, including determining where the text leaves matters uncertain. WoBG: analysis of novels and poems, analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.RL.1112.2 Determine two or more themes or central ideas of a text and analyze their development over the course of the text, including how they interact and build on one another to produce a complex account; provide an objective summary of the text. WoBG: analysis of novels and poems, analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.RL.1112.3 Analyze the impact of the author's choices regarding how to develop and relate elements of a story or drama (e.g., where a story is set, how the action is ordered, how the characters are introduced and developed). WoBG: analysis of novels and poems, analytical essay writing Craft and Structure: CCSS.ELALITERACY.RL.1112.4 Determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in the text, including figurative and connotative meanings; analyze the impact of specific word choices on meaning and tone, including words with multiple meanings or language that is particularly fresh, engaging, or beautiful. (Include Shakespeare as well as other authors.) WoBG: analysis of novels and poems
CCSS.ELALITERACY.RL.1112.5 Analyze how an author's choices concerning how to structure specific parts of a text (e.g., the choice of where to begin or end a story, the choice to provide a comedic or tragic resolution) contribute to its overall structure and meaning as well as its aesthetic impact. WoBG: analysis of novels and poems CCSS.ELALITERACY.RL.1112.6 Analyze a case in which grasping a point of view requires distinguishing what is directly stated in a text from what is really meant (e.g., satire, sarcasm, irony, or understatement). WoBG: analysis of poems
WRITING
Text Types and Purposes: CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.1 Write arguments to support claims in an analysis of substantive topics or texts, using valid reasoning and relevant and sufficient evidence. WoBG: analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.1.A Introduce precise, knowledgeable claim(s), establish the significance of the claim(s), distinguish the claim(s) from alternate or opposing claims, and create an organization that logically sequences claim(s), counterclaims, reasons, and evidence. WoBG: analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.1.B Develop claim(s) and counterclaims fairly and thoroughly, supplying the most relevant evidence for each while pointing out the strengths and limitations of both in a manner that anticipates the audience's knowledge level, concerns, values, and possible biases. WoBG: analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.1.C Use words, phrases, and clauses as well as varied syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships between claim(s) and reasons, between reasons and evidence, and between claim(s) and counterclaims. WoBG: analytical essay writing
CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.1.D Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. WoBG: analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.1.E Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the argument presented. WoBG: analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine and convey complex ideas, concepts, and information clearly and accurately through the effective selection, organization, and analysis of content. WoBG: summarizing activities CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.2.B Develop the topic thoroughly by selecting the most significant and relevant facts, extended definitions, concrete details, quotations, or other information and examples appropriate to the audience's knowledge of the topic. WoBG: analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.2.C Use appropriate and varied transitions and syntax to link the major sections of the text, create cohesion, and clarify the relationships among complex ideas and concepts. WoBG: analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.2.D Use precise language, domainspecific vocabulary, and techniques such as metaphor, simile, and analogy to manage the complexity of the topic. WoBG: analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.2.E
Establish and maintain a formal style and objective tone while attending to the norms and conventions of the discipline in which they are writing. WoBG: analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.2.F Provide a concluding statement or section that follows from and supports the information or explanation presented (e.g., articulating implications or the significance of the topic). WoBG: analytical essay writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.3 Write narratives to develop real or imagined experiences or events using effective technique, wellchosen details, and wellstructured event sequences. WoBG: short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.3.A Engage and orient the reader by setting out a problem, situation, or observation and its significance, establishing one or multiple point(s) of view, and introducing a narrator and/or characters; create a smooth progression of experiences or events. WoBG: short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.3.B Use narrative techniques, such as dialogue, pacing, description, reflection, and multiple plot lines, to develop experiences, events, and/or characters. WoBG: short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.3.C Use a variety of techniques to sequence events so that they build on one another to create a coherent whole and build toward a particular tone and outcome (e.g., a sense of mystery, suspense, growth, or resolution). WoBG: short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.3.D Use precise words and phrases, telling details, and sensory language to convey a vivid picture of the experiences, events, setting, and/or characters. WoBG: short story and poem writing
CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.3.E Provide a conclusion that follows from and reflects on what is experienced, observed, or resolved over the course of the narrative. WoBG: short story writing
Production and Distribution of Writing: CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. (Gradespecific expectations for writing types are defined in standards 13 above.) WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.5 Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach, focusing on addressing what is most significant for a specific purpose and audience. (Editing for conventions should demonstrate command of Language standards 13 up to and including grades 1112 here.) WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.6 Use technology, including the Internet, to produce, publish, and update individual or shared writing products in response to ongoing feedback, including new arguments or information. WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing
Range of Writing: CCSS.ELALITERACY.W.1112.10 Write routinely over extended time frames (time for research, reflection, and revision) and shorter time frames (a single sitting or a day or two) for a range of tasks, purposes, and audiences. WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing
LANGUAGE Conventions of Standard English: CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.1
Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking. WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.1.A Apply the understanding that usage is a matter of convention, can change over time, and is sometimes contested. WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.1.B Resolve issues of complex or contested usage, consulting references (e.g., MerriamWebster's Dictionary of English Usage, Garner's Modern American Usage) as needed. WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.2 Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing. WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.2.A Observe hyphenation conventions. WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.2.B Spell correctly. WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing
Knowledge of Language: CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.3 Apply knowledge of language to understand how language functions in different contexts, to make effective choices for meaning or style, and to comprehend more fully when reading or listening. WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing; literary analysis CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.3.A
Vary syntax for effect, consulting references (e.g., Tufte's Artful Sentences) for guidance as needed; apply an understanding of syntax to the study of complex texts when reading. WoBG: analytical essay writing, short story and poem writing
Vocabulary Acquisition and Use: CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.4 Determine or clarify the meaning of unknown and multiplemeaning words and phrases based on grades 1112 reading and content, choosing flexibly from a range of strategies. WoBG: literary analysis CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.4.A Use context (e.g., the overall meaning of a sentence, paragraph, or text; a word's position or function in a sentence) as a clue to the meaning of a word or phrase. WoBG: literary analysis CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.4.C Consult general and specialized reference materials (e.g., dictionaries, glossaries, thesauruses), both print and digital, to find the pronunciation of a word or determine or clarify its precise meaning, its part of speech, its etymology, or its standard usage. WoBG: literary analysis CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.4.D Verify the preliminary determination of the meaning of a word or phrase (e.g., by checking the inferred meaning in context or in a dictionary). WoBG: literary analysis CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.5 Demonstrate understanding of figurative language, word relationships, and nuances in word meanings. WoBG: literary analysis CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.5.A Interpret figures of speech (e.g., hyperbole, paradox) in context and analyze their role in the text. WoBG: literary analysis
CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.5.B Analyze nuances in the meaning of words with similar denotations. WoBG: literary analysis CCSS.ELALITERACY.L.1112.6 Acquire and use accurately general academic and domainspecific words and phrases, sufficient for reading, writing, speaking, and listening at the college and career readiness level; demonstrate independence in gathering vocabulary knowledge when considering a word or phrase important to comprehension or expression. WoBG: literary analysis
FICTION TERMS I. Plot – a series of related events that make up a story A. Exposition – the part of the story, usually near the beginning, in which characters are introduced, the background is explained, and the setting is described B. Conflict – struggle between opposing forces 1. Man vs. man – external struggle between two or more individuals 2. Man vs. himself – internal struggle concerning emotion and decision 3. Man vs. nature – external struggle between man and an element of nature 4. Man vs. society – external struggle between man and the law, school, tradition. etc. C. Complication – miniconflicts that contribute to the rise in action D. Climax – turning point of the story; point where the resolution of the conflict becomes clear; emotional high point (for the character, not the reader) E. Falling action – the events that lead to resolution F. Resolution – outcome of the conflict II. Types of Characters A. Flat characters – have only one or two “sides,” represent one or two traits; they are often stereotypes. B. Round characters – are complex and have many “sides” or traits; they have fullydeveloped personalities. C. Static characters – remain the same throughout the story D. Dynamic characters – experience some important change in personality or a attitude E. Protagonist – the main character in the story, usually a good or heroic type F. Antagonist – the person or force working against the protagonist III. Four Types of Characterization – techniques the writer used to develop character A. Physical description B. Speech and actions of the character C. Direct comment from the narrator D. Speech and actions of other characters IV. Themes of Literature/Analyzing Characters A. Motivation – cause of actions B. Behavior – actions of the character C. Consequences results of actions D. Responsibility – moral, legal, or mental accountability V. Setting/ Description/Literary Devices
A. Setting – Time and place of the story B. Sensory details – words that appeal to the senses (sight/hearing/taste/touch/smell) C. Figurative language 1. Simile – a comparison using like or as 2. Metaphor – a comparison using is or a form of is a. Implied metaphor b. Extended metaphor 3. Personification – giving human characteristics to nonhuman things D. Symbol – person, place, or thing represents something beyond itself (usually something abstract E. Dialect – speech that reflects pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammar typicalof a geographical region F. Flashback – interruption of the chronological (time) order to present something that occurred before the beginning of the story G. Foreshadowing – important hints that an author drops to prepare the reader for what is to come and help the reader anticipate the outcome H. Mood – also known as atmosphere and ambience, the feeling/sense that pervades a literary work and sets up expectations as to whether the plot is going to take a happy or tragic turn. I. Irony – surprising, interesting, or amusing contradictions and contrasts 1. Verbal irony – words are used to suggest the opposite of their usual meaning 2. Irony of the situation – an event occurs which directly contradicts expectations 3. Dramatic irony – when the audience knows something that a character does not, usually used to create suspense or for humor J. Point of view – perspective from which the story is told 1. firstperson – narrator is a character in the story; uses “I” , “We, etc. 2. thirdperson – narrator is outside the story; uses “he,” “she”, “they” 3. thirdperson limited – narrator can see into one character’s thoughts 4. thirdperson omniscient – narrator can see into the minds of all characters
POETRY TERMS Alliteration – repetition of initial consonant sounds Assonance – repetition of vowel sounds Blank verse –unrhymed iambic pentameter Cadence –a rhythmic sequence or flow of sounds (in language) Caesura – a pause in a line of poetry Conceit –extended comparison of dissimilar things Connotation –a word’s meaning beyond its dictionary definition Consonance –repetition of final consonant sounds Controlling image – a visual representation used throughout a poem Couplet – two successive lines linked by rhyme Dissonance— harsh, discordant, unpleasant sounds Dramatic monologue –poem in which a silent listener is addressed (usually a lyric) Endstopped line – grammatical mark and end of line coincide Enjambment – poetic expression that expands more than one line Epic – narrative poem that recounts a hero’s story Euphony—pleasing, harmonious sounds Foot –the rhythmic unit of a line of metrical verse (also known as “measure”) Free verse – poetry that lacks regular meter Imagery – the language used to convey a physical picture (or a “picture” of the senses) Lyric – first person imaginative poem of private thoughts Meter –regularized rhythm Octave – any eight line stanza Ode— serious, meditative lyric poem about a noble subject Pentameter— a line of verse with five metrical feet Persona—the speaker in any first person poem Quatrain— a stanza containing four lines Refrain—line or lines that recur throughout a poem End rhyme—rhyme that occurs at the end of a line of poetry Internal rhyme— rhyme in which one or both words occur within a line Scansion—the analysis of poetic meter Sestet—any six line poem or six line stanza Elizabethan sonnet – a sonnet divided into three quatrains and a couplet Italian (or Petrarchan) sonnet— a sonnet divided into an octave and a sestet Stanza – grouped set of lines in a poem, set off from others
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm _______________________ Unit Poetry Analysis Guide
poem title: author: 1. Number the lines in the poem. 2. As you read, mark words that you don’t know. List them below. Look up the definitions. (You may use a dictionary or your phone for this.) 3. Who is the speaker of the poem, and how can you tell? 4. Which character is the main focus of the poem? 5. Summarize the action or plot of the poem.
6. List details from the poem that connect it to the fairy tale. line #
detail from poem
line # detail from poem
7. Mark the imagery that you find. (Imagery is vivid languages that appeals to the physical senses). 8. List three images below. What emotion is evoked by each image? example
line #s
image
emotion
#1
#2
#3
9. Mark any sound features that you notice. These may include alliteration, consonance, assonance, onomatopoeia, rhyming, meter, and rhythm. (Check your literary terms sheet for definitions.) 10. Note how the use of sound affects your experience of the poem. How does the poet’s use of sonic devices convey the tone of the poem and shape the mood of the poem?
11. What is the poem’s perspective on the original fairy tale? 12. What do you like about this poem? Support your answer. 13. What do you dislike about this poem? Support your answer.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Disney’s Cinderella vs. Grimms’ “Cinderella” We are not going to watch fulllength versions of all Disney’s fairy tale movies, but I thought it would be useful to start off watching one because these films are how many Americans are first exposed to fairy tales. After we watch the film, we will read a translation of the original Grimms’ fairy tale. Please answer each question thoroughly. Use complete sentences. **Complete these questions after watching the film. ** 1. Describe the experience of watching Disney’s Cinderella. How does one feel about the characters? What is one’s experience of the plot like? How does one feel at the end? Write one paragraph (five to seven sentences). 2. Why do you think people are so attached to this film? Write one paragraph (five to seven sentences).
** Complete these questions after reading the Grimms’ version of the fairy tale.** 3. How is Cinderella’s father portrayed differently in the Grimms’ fairy tale? 4. a. What people or creatures provide support for Cinderella in the Grimms’ fairy tale? b. How does this change the experience of the story? 5. How is the prince portrayed in the Grimms’ fairy tale? 6. What is the fate of the sisters in the Grimms’ version?
7. How does the experience of the Grimms’ fairy tale differ from the experience of the Disney version? Write one paragraph (five to seven sentences).
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
“Cinderella” Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm A rich man's wife became sick, and when she felt that her end was drawing near, she called her only daughter to her bedside and said, "Dear child, remain pious and good, and then our dear God will always protect you, and I will look down on you from heaven and be near you." With this she closed her eyes and died. The girl went out to her mother's grave every day and wept, and she remained pious and good. When winter came the snow spread a white cloth over the grave, and when the spring sun had removed it again, the man took himself another wife. This wife brought two daughters into the house with her. They were beautiful, with fair faces, but evil and dark hearts. Times soon grew very bad for the poor stepchild. "Why should that stupid goose sit in the parlor with us?" they said. "If she wants to eat bread, then she will have to earn it. Out with this kitchen maid!" They took her beautiful clothes away from her, dressed her in an old gray smock, and gave her wooden shoes. "Just look at the proud princess! How decked out she is!" they shouted and laughed as they led her into the kitchen. There she had to do hard work from morning until evening, get up before daybreak, carry water, make the fires, cook, and wash. Besides this, the sisters did everything imaginable to hurt her. They made fun of her, scattered peas and lentils into the ashes for her, so that she had to sit and pick them out again. In the evening when she had worked herself weary, there was no bed for her. Instead she had to sleep by the hearth in the ashes. And because she always looked dusty and dirty, they called her Cinderella. One day it happened that the father was going to the fair, and he asked his two stepdaughters what he should bring back for them. "Beautiful dresses," said the one. "Pearls and jewels," said the other. "And you, Cinderella," he said, "what do you want?" "Father, break off for me the first twig that brushes against your hat on your way home." So he bought beautiful dresses, pearls, and jewels for his two stepdaughters. On his way home, as he was riding through a green thicket, a hazel twig brushed against him and knocked off his
hat. Then he broke off the twig and took it with him. Arriving home, he gave his stepdaughters the things that they had asked for, and he gave Cinderella the twig from the hazel bush. Cinderella thanked him, went to her mother's grave, and planted the branch on it, and she wept so much that her tears fell upon it and watered it. It grew and became a beautiful tree. Cinderella went to this tree three times every day, and beneath it she wept and prayed. A white bird came to the tree every time, and whenever she expressed a wish, the bird would throw down to her what she had wished for. Now it happened that the king proclaimed a festival that was to last three days. All the beautiful young girls in the land were invited, so that his son could select a bride for himself. When the two stepsisters heard that they too had been invited, they were in high spirits. They called Cinderella, saying, "Comb our hair for us. Brush our shoes and fasten our buckles. We are going to the festival at the king's castle." Cinderella obeyed, but wept, because she too would have liked to go to the dance with them. She begged her stepmother to allow her to go. "You, Cinderella?" she said. "You, all covered with dust and dirt, and you want to go to the festival? You have neither clothes nor shoes, and yet you want to dance!" However, because Cinderella kept asking, the stepmother finally said, "I have scattered a bowl of lentils into the ashes for you. If you can pick them out again in two hours, then you may go with us." The girl went through the back door into the garden, and called out, "You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come and help me to gather: The good ones go into the pot, The bad ones go into your crop." Two white pigeons came in through the kitchen window, and then the turtledoves, and finally all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and swarming in, and lit around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick. And the others also began to pick, pick, pick, pick. They gathered all the good grains into the bowl. Hardly one hour had passed before they were finished, and they all flew out again. The girl took the bowl to her stepmother, and was happy, thinking that now she would be allowed to go to the festival with them. But the stepmother said, "No, Cinderella, you have no clothes, and you don't know how to dance. Everyone would only laugh at you."
Cinderella began to cry, and then the stepmother said, "You may go if you are able to pick two bowls of lentils out of the ashes for me in one hour," thinking to herself, "She will never be able to do that." The girl went through the back door into the garden, and called out, "You tame pigeons, you turtledoves, and all you birds beneath the sky, come and help me to gather: The good ones go into the pot, The bad ones go into your crop." Two white pigeons came in through the kitchen window, and then the turtledoves, and finally all the birds beneath the sky came whirring and swarming in, and lit around the ashes. The pigeons nodded their heads and began to pick, pick, pick, pick. And the others also began to pick, pick, pick, pick. They gathered all the good grains into the bowls. Before a half hour had passed they were finished, and they all flew out again. The girl took the bowls to her stepmother, and was happy, thinking that now she would be allowed to go to the festival with them. But the stepmother said, "It's no use. You are not coming with us, for you have no clothes, and you don't know how to dance. We would be ashamed of you." With this she turned her back on Cinderella, and hurried away with her two proud daughters. Now that no one else was at home, Cinderella went to her mother's grave beneath the hazel tree, and cried out: Shake and quiver, little tree, Throw gold and silver down to me. Then the bird threw a gold and silver dress down to her, and slippers embroidered with silk and silver. She quickly put on the dress and went to the festival. Her stepsisters and her stepmother did not recognize her. They thought she must be a foreign princess, for she looked so beautiful in the golden dress. They never once thought it was Cinderella, for they thought that she was sitting at home in the dirt, looking for lentils in the ashes. The prince approached her, took her by the hand, and danced with her. Furthermore, he would dance with no one else. He never let go of her hand, and whenever anyone else came and asked her to dance, he would say, "She is my dance partner." She danced until evening, and then she wanted to go home. But the prince said, "I will go along and escort you," for he wanted to see to whom the beautiful girl belonged. However, she eluded him and jumped into the pigeon coop. The prince waited until her father came, and then the prince told the father that the unknown girl had jumped into the pigeon coop.
The old man thought, "Could it be Cinderella?" He had them bring him an ax and a pick so that he could break the pigeon coop apart, but no one was inside. When they got home Cinderella was lying in the ashes, dressed in her dirty clothes. A dim little oillamp was burning in the fireplace. Cinderella had quickly jumped down from the back of the pigeon coop and had run to the hazel tree. There she had taken off her beautiful clothes and laid them on the grave, and the bird had taken them away again. Then, dressed in her gray smock, she had returned to the ashes in the kitchen. The next day when the festival began anew, and her parents and her stepsisters had gone again, Cinderella went to the hazel tree and said: Shake and quiver, little tree, Throw gold and silver down to me. Then the bird threw down an even more magnificent dress than on the preceding day. When Cinderella appeared at the festival in this dress, everyone was astonished at her beauty. The prince had waited until she came, then immediately took her by the hand, and danced only with her. When others came and asked her to dance with them, he said, "She is my dance partner." When evening came she wanted to leave, and the prince followed her, wanting to see into which house she went. But she ran away from him and into the garden behind the house. A beautiful tall tree stood there, on which hung the most magnificent pears. She climbed as nimbly as a squirrel into the branches, and the prince did not know where she had gone. He waited until her father came, then said to him, "The unknown girl has eluded me, and I believe she has climbed up the pear tree. The father thought, "Could it be Cinderella?" He had an ax brought to him and cut down the tree, but no one was in it. When they came to the kitchen, Cinderella was lying there in the ashes as usual, for she had jumped down from the other side of the tree, had taken the beautiful dress back to the bird in the hazel tree, and had put on her gray smock. On the third day, when her parents and sisters had gone away, Cinderella went again to her mother's grave and said to the tree: Shake and quiver, little tree, Throw gold and silver down to me. This time the bird threw down to her a dress that was more splendid and magnificent than any she had yet had, and the slippers were of pure gold. When she arrived at the festival in this dress, everyone was so astonished that they did not know what to say. The prince danced only with her, and whenever anyone else asked her to dance, he would say, "She is my dance partner."
When evening came Cinderella wanted to leave, and the prince tried to escort her, but she ran away from him so quickly that he could not follow her. The prince, however, had set a trap. He had had the entire stairway smeared with pitch. When she ran down the stairs, her left slipper stuck in the pitch. The prince picked it up. It was small and dainty, and of pure gold. The next morning, he went with it to the man, and said to him, "No one shall be my wife except for the one whose foot fits this golden shoe." The two sisters were happy to hear this, for they had pretty feet. With her mother standing by, the older one took the shoe into her bedroom to try it on. She could not get her big toe into it, for the shoe was too small for her. Then her mother gave her a knife and said, "Cut off your toe. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot." The girl cut off her toe, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. However, they had to ride past the grave, and there, on the hazel tree, sat the two pigeons, crying out: Rook di goo, rook di goo! There's blood in the shoe. The shoe is too tight, This bride is not right! Then he looked at her foot and saw how the blood was running from it. He turned his horse around and took the false bride home again, saying that she was not the right one, and that the other sister should try on the shoe. She went into her bedroom, and got her toes into the shoe all right, but her heel was too large. Then her mother gave her a knife, and said, "Cut a piece off your heel. When you are queen you will no longer have to go on foot." The girl cut a piece off her heel, forced her foot into the shoe, swallowed the pain, and went out to the prince. He took her on his horse as his bride and rode away with her. When they passed the hazel tree, the two pigeons were sitting in it, and they cried out: Rook di goo, rook di goo! There's blood in the shoe. The shoe is too tight, This bride is not right! He looked down at her foot and saw how the blood was running out of her shoe, and how it had stained her white stocking all red. Then he turned his horse around and took the false bride home again. "This is not the right one, either," he said. "Don't you have another daughter?"
"No," said the man. "There is only a deformed little Cinderella from my first wife, but she cannot possibly be the bride." The prince told him to send her to him, but the mother answered, "Oh, no, she is much too dirty. She cannot be seen." But the prince insisted on it, and they had to call Cinderella. She first washed her hands and face clean, and then went and bowed down before the prince, who gave her the golden shoe. She sat down on a stool, pulled her foot out of the heavy wooden shoe, and put it into the slipper, and it fitted her perfectly. When she stood up the prince looked into her face, and he recognized the beautiful girl who had danced with him. He cried out, "She is my true bride." The stepmother and the two sisters were horrified and turned pale with anger. The prince, however, took Cinderella onto his horse and rode away with her. As they passed by the hazel tree, the two white pigeons cried out: Rook di goo, rook di goo! No blood's in the shoe. The shoe's not too tight, This bride is right! After they had cried this out, they both flew down and lit on Cinderella's shoulders, one on the right, the other on the left, and remained sitting there. When the wedding with the prince was to be held, the two false sisters came, wanting to gain favor with Cinderella and to share her good fortune. When the bridal couple walked into the church, the older sister walked on their right side and the younger on their left side, and the pigeons pecked out one eye from each of them. Afterwards, as they came out of the church, the older one was on the left side, and the younger one on the right side, and then the pigeons pecked out the other eye from each of them. And thus, for their wickedness and falsehood, they were punished with blindness as long as they lived. ●
● ● ● ●
Source: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, "Aschenputtel," Kinder und Hausmärchen [Children's and Household Tales Grimms' Fairy Tales], 7th edition (Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, 1857), no. 21, pp. 11926. The Grimms' source: Dorothea Viehmann (17551815), and other sources. This tale, in a different version, was included in the first edition of Kinder und Hausmärchen (1812). It was substantially revised for the second edition (1819). Translated by D. L. Ashliman. © 20012006. AarneThompsonUther type 510A.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Reading Questions on Grimms’ “Cinderella” 1.What happened to the girl’s parents? 2. What does Cinderella ask her father to bring her as a gift? 3. What is the role of the white bird in Cinderella’s life? 4. How does her stepmother try to prevent Cinderella from attending the festival? 5. What role does the hazel tree play in Cinderella’s life? 6. How does Cinderella’s father react when the prince is looking for Cinderella after the dance? 7. What trap does the prince set for Cinderella after their third evening together?
8. What do the stepsisters do in an attempt to fit into the gold slipper? 9. When does the prince realize that each sister is not Cinderella? 10. When the prince asks Cinderella’s father if there another daughter in the house, what does her father say in reply? 11. At the end of the story, what punishment do the stepsisters receive?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinderella; or, The Little Glass Slipper Charles Perrault
Once there was a gentleman who married, for his second wife, the proudest and most haughty woman that was ever seen. She had, by a former husband, two daughters of her own, who were, indeed, exactly like her in all things. He had likewise, by another wife, a young daughter, but of unparalleled goodness and sweetness of temper, which she took from her mother, who was the best creature in the world. No sooner were the ceremonies of the wedding over but the stepmother began to show herself in her true colors. She could not bear the good qualities of this pretty girl, and the less because they made her own daughters appear the more odious. She employed her in the meanest work of the house. She scoured the dishes, tables, etc., and cleaned madam's chamber, and those of misses, her daughters. She slept in a sorry garret, on a wretched straw bed, while her sisters slept in fine rooms, with floors all inlaid, on beds of the very newest fashion, and where they had looking glasses so large that they could see themselves at their full length from head to foot. The poor girl bore it all patiently, and dared not tell her father, who would have scolded her; for his wife governed him entirely. When she had done her work, she used to go to the chimney corner, and sit down there in the cinders and ashes, which caused her to be called Cinderwench. Only the younger sister, who was not so rude and uncivil as the older one, called her Cinderella. However, Cinderella, notwithstanding her coarse apparel, was a hundred times more beautiful than her sisters, although they were always dressed very richly. It happened that the king's son gave a ball, and invited all persons of fashion to it. Our young misses were also invited, for they cut a very grand figure among those of quality. They were mightily delighted at this invitation, and wonderfully busy in selecting the gowns, petticoats, and hair dressing that would best become them. This was a new difficulty for Cinderella; for it was she who ironed her sister's linen and pleated their ruffles. They talked all day long of nothing but how they should be dressed. "For my part," said the eldest, "I will wear my red velvet suit with French trimming." "And I," said the youngest, "shall have my usual petticoat; but then, to make amends for that, I will put on my goldflowered cloak, and my diamond stomacher, which is far from being the most ordinary one in the world." They sent for the best hairdresser they could get to make up their headpieces and adjust their hairdos, and they had their red brushes and patches from Mademoiselle de la Poche.
They also consulted Cinderella in all these matters, for she had excellent ideas, and her advice was always good. Indeed, she even offered her services to fix their hair, which they very willingly accepted. As she was doing this, they said to her, "Cinderella, would you not like to go to the ball?" "Alas!" said she, "you only jeer me; it is not for such as I am to go to such a place." "You are quite right," they replied. "It would make the people laugh to see a Cinderwench at a ball." Anyone but Cinderella would have fixed their hair awry, but she was very good, and dressed them perfectly well. They were so excited that they hadn't eaten a thing for almost two days. Then they broke more than a dozen laces trying to have themselves laced up tightly enough to give them a fine slender shape. They were continually in front of their looking glass. At last the happy day came. They went to court, and Cinderella followed them with her eyes as long as she could. When she lost sight of them, she started to cry. Her godmother, who saw her all in tears, asked her what was the matter. "I wish I could. I wish I could." She was not able to speak the rest, being interrupted by her tears and sobbing. This godmother of hers, who was a fairy, said to her, "You wish that you could go to the ball; is it not so?" "Yes," cried Cinderella, with a great sigh. "Well," said her godmother, "be but a good girl, and I will contrive that you shall go." Then she took her into her chamber, and said to her, "Run into the garden, and bring me a pumpkin." Cinderella went immediately to gather the finest she could get, and brought it to her godmother, not being able to imagine how this pumpkin could help her go to the ball. Her godmother scooped out all the inside of it, leaving nothing but the rind. Having done this, she struck the pumpkin with her wand, and it was instantly turned into a fine coach, gilded all over with gold. She then went to look into her mousetrap, where she found six mice, all alive, and ordered Cinderella to lift up a little the trapdoor. She gave each mouse, as it went out, a little tap with her wand, and the mouse was that moment turned into a fine horse, which altogether made a very fine set of six horses of a beautiful mouse colored dapple gray. Being at a loss for a coachman, Cinderella said, "I will go and see if there is not a rat in the rat trap that we can turn into a coachman."
"You are right," replied her godmother, "Go and look." Cinderella brought the trap to her, and in it there were three huge rats. The fairy chose the one which had the largest beard, touched him with her wand, and turned him into a fat, jolly coachman, who had the smartest whiskers that eyes ever beheld. After that, she said to her, "Go again into the garden, and you will find six lizards behind the watering pot. Bring them to me." She had no sooner done so but her godmother turned them into six footmen, who skipped up immediately behind the coach, with their liveries all bedaubed with gold and silver, and clung as close behind each other as if they had done nothing else their whole lives. The fairy then said to Cinderella, "Well, you see here an equipage fit to go to the ball with; are you not pleased with it?" "Oh, yes," she cried; "but must I go in these nasty rags?" Her godmother then touched her with her wand, and, at the same instant, her clothes turned into cloth of gold and silver, all beset with jewels. This done, she gave her a pair of glass slippers, the prettiest in the whole world. Being thus decked out, she got up into her coach; but her godmother, above all things, commanded her not to stay past midnight, telling her, at the same time, that if she stayed one moment longer, the coach would be a pumpkin again, her horses mice, her coachman a rat, her footmen lizards, and that her clothes would become just as they were before. She promised her godmother to leave the ball before midnight; and then drove away, scarcely able to contain herself for joy. The king's son, who was told that a great princess, whom nobody knew, had arrived, ran out to receive her. He gave her his hand as she alighted from the coach, and led her into the hall, among all the company. There was immediately a profound silence. Everyone stopped dancing, and the violins ceased to play, so entranced was everyone with the singular beauties of the unknown newcomer. Nothing was then heard but a confused noise of, "How beautiful she is! How beautiful she is!" The king himself, old as he was, could not help watching her, and telling the queen softly that it was a long time since he had seen so beautiful and lovely a creature. All the ladies were busied in considering her clothes and headdress, hoping to have some made next day after the same pattern, provided they could find such fine materials and as able hands to make them. The king's son led her to the most honorable seat, and afterwards took her out to dance with him. She danced so very gracefully that they all more and more admired her. A fine meal was served up, but the young prince ate not a morsel, so intently was he busied in gazing on her.
She went and sat down by her sisters, showing them a thousand civilities, giving them part of the oranges and citrons which the prince had presented her with, which very much surprised them, for they did not know her. While Cinderella was thus amusing her sisters, she heard the clock strike eleven and threequarters, whereupon she immediately made a courtesy to the company and hurried away as fast as she could. Arriving home, she ran to seek out her godmother, and, after having thanked her, she said she could not but heartily wish she might go to the ball the next day as well, because the king's son had invited her. As she was eagerly telling her godmother everything that had happened at the ball, her two sisters knocked at the door, which Cinderella ran and opened. "You stayed such a long time!" she cried, gaping, rubbing her eyes and stretching herself as if she had been sleeping; she had not, however, had any manner of inclination to sleep while they were away from home. "If you had been at the ball," said one of her sisters, "you would not have been tired with it. The finest princess was there, the most beautiful that mortal eyes have ever seen. She showed us a thousand civilities, and gave us oranges and citrons." Cinderella seemed very indifferent in the matter. Indeed, she asked them the name of that princess; but they told her they did not know it, and that the king's son was very uneasy on her account and would give all the world to know who she was. At this Cinderella, smiling, replied, "She must, then, be very beautiful indeed; how happy you have been! Could not I see her? Ah, dear Charlotte, do lend me your yellow dress which you wear every day." "Yes, to be sure!" cried Charlotte; "lend my clothes to such a dirty Cinderwench as you are! I should be such a fool." Cinderella, indeed, well expected such an answer, and was very glad of the refusal; for she would have been sadly put to it, if her sister had lent her what she asked for jestingly. The next day the two sisters were at the ball, and so was Cinderella, but dressed even more magnificently than before. The king's son was always by her, and never ceased his compliments and kind speeches to her. All this was so far from being tiresome to her, and, indeed, she quite forgot what her godmother had told her. She thought that it was no later than eleven when she counted the clock striking twelve. She jumped up and fled, as nimble as a deer. The prince followed, but could not overtake her. She left behind one of her glass slippers, which the prince picked up most carefully. She reached home, but quite out of breath, and in her nasty old clothes, having nothing left of all her finery but one of the little slippers, the mate to the one that she had dropped.
The guards at the palace gate were asked if they had not seen a princess go out. They replied that they had seen nobody leave but a young girl, very shabbily dressed, and who had more the air of a poor country wench than a gentlewoman. When the two sisters returned from the ball Cinderella asked them if they had been well entertained, and if the fine lady had been there. They told her, yes, but that she hurried away immediately when it struck twelve, and with so much haste that she dropped one of her little glass slippers, the prettiest in the world, which the king's son had picked up; that he had done nothing but look at her all the time at the ball, and that most certainly he was very much in love with the beautiful person who owned the glass slipper. What they said was very true; for a few days later, the king's son had it proclaimed, by sound of trumpet, that he would marry her whose foot this slipper would just fit. They began to try it on the princesses, then the duchesses and all the court, but in vain; it was brought to the two sisters, who did all they possibly could to force their foot into the slipper, but they did not succeed. Cinderella, who saw all this, and knew that it was her slipper, said to them, laughing, "Let me see if it will not fit me." Her sisters burst out laughing, and began to banter with her. The gentleman who was sent to try the slipper looked earnestly at Cinderella, and, finding her very handsome, said that it was only just that she should try as well, and that he had orders to let everyone try. He had Cinderella sit down, and, putting the slipper to her foot, he found that it went on very easily, fitting her as if it had been made of wax. Her two sisters were greatly astonished, but then even more so, when Cinderella pulled out of her pocket the other slipper, and put it on her other foot. Then in came her godmother and touched her wand to Cinderella's clothes, making them richer and more magnificent than any of those she had worn before. And now her two sisters found her to be that fine, beautiful lady whom they had seen at the ball. They threw themselves at her feet to beg pardon for all the ill treatment they had made her undergo. Cinderella took them up, and, as she embraced them, said that she forgave them with all her heart, and wanted them always to love her. She was taken to the young prince, dressed as she was. He thought she was more charming than before, and, a few days after, married her. Cinderella, who was no less good than beautiful, gave her two sisters lodgings in the palace, and that very same day matched them with two great lords of the court. Moral: Beauty in a woman is a rare treasure that will always be admired. Graciousness, however, is priceless and of even greater value. This is what Cinderella's godmother gave to her when she taught her to behave like a queen. Young women, in the winning of a heart,
graciousness is more important than a beautiful hairdo. It is a true gift of the fairies. Without it nothing is possible; with it, one can do anything. Another moral: Without doubt it is a great advantage to have intelligence, courage, good breeding, and common sense. These, and similar talents come only from heaven, and it is good to have them. However, even these may fail to bring you success, without the blessing of a godfather or a godmother. ● ●
Source: Andrew Lang, The Blue Fairy Book (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., ca. 1889), pp. 6471. Lang's source: Charles Perrault, "Cendrillon, ou la petite pantoufle de verre," Histoires ou contes du temps passé, avec des moralités: Contes de ma mère l'Oye (Paris, 1697).
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit Comparing Versions of Cinderella by Perrault, the Bros. Grimm, and Disney
ELEMENT
PERRAULT
GRIMM
DISNEY
Begins ‘once upon a time’
Father remarries? Why? Stepsisters?
Death of father
Stepmother and stepsisters treat Cinderella poorly and make her a slave.
Nickname? Reason?
Purpose for royal
celebration? Length of celebrations? Allowed to go to the ball?
Friends (protective figures) that help Cinderella
Perrault
Grimm
Disney
Appearance of magical figure
Transformations made by magical figure
Conditions imposed?
Prince is besotted with Cinderella; they dance all night.
Reason for departure from ball
Loses slipper while leaving ball Type of slipper?
Prince will marry the lady who fits the slipper.
Perrault
Grimm
Disney
Sisters try on the glass slipper How do they try to make it fit?
Cinderella tries on the glass slipper. Does it fit?
marries prince
fate of sisters
concludes with “they lived happily ever after”
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinderella Creative Writing Assignments Poetry Write two poems that are based on “Cinderella.” Represent two different perspectives on the Cinderella story. Make sure that the voice of your speaker is consistent. Include vivid imagery. Pay attention to how line lengths and line breaks affect the pacing of your poems. Get rid of unnecessary words. Remember that poetry’s power is a condensed power. Poems are often so brief that the title must do a lot of work. Fiction Write your own version fictional version of “Cinderella.” Your story should be a minimum of two pages long (doublespaced, 12 point font). Put your own unique spin on the fairy tale, but make sure that you have clear connections to the original. I am looking for a minimum of FIVE points of connection to the fairy tale. In addition to connections to the original fairy tale, include the following: • vivid description (SHOW, DON’T TELL.) • welldeveloped characters • dialogue • an original title that grabs the reader’s attention • a beginning, middle, and end You may do these assignments in any order that you wish. You will have time in class to work on these assignments, but if it is getting close to the deadline and you are not close to being done, then you should work on them on your own time. Write each assignment on Google Docs and share it with me. Put your name and something indicating the assignment type in the file title. Put the following heading in the upper lefthand corner: Your full name The World of the Brothers Grimm teacher’s name the complete date
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinder Essay Write an analytical essay that is in response to one of the three prompts below. ❏ What are the gifts and curses of the two unusual aspects of Cinder’s identity her cyborg identity and her newlydiscovered Lunar identity? ❏ In what ways does Dr. Erland play the role of a fairy godmother? ❏ What elements of Cinder make it a feminist retelling of “Cinderella”? Other Requirements: • Your thesis statement is a statement that asserts something about the text. It is not a question. • You must use specific examples from both the novel and the film. • Your essay should be a minimum of five paragraphs and include an introduction, at least three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. • Include an introduction that grabs the reader’s attention, provides necessary background information, including the titles and author/director of works. Your introductory paragraph should end in your thesis statement. • Do not use first person and second person. • Make sure that each paragraph has a strong topic sentence that connects the content of your paragraph to the thesis statement. • Use quoted passages from the text to support your assertion. Follow the passage with close analysis. • Use transition words and linking ideas as transitions between paragraphs. • Include a conclusion that summarizes the argument that you’ve made and leaves the reader with an idea of the importance of what you have discussed in the paper. • Give your essay an original title. This title should be in 12 point font and centered after the heading. DON’T underline your essay’s title or put it in bold face. • Italicize the title of the novel.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinderella Unit Quiz Part I: Cinder Matching _____1. Linh Pearl _____2. Prince Kai
_____3. Iko _____4. Linh Cinder _____5. Linh Peony _____6. Linh Adri
_____7. Dr. Erland _____8. Konn Torin _____9. Linh Garan _____10. Emperor Rikan
_____11. Queen Levana
A. Kai's adviser, he advocates making a peace alliance with the Lunar queen. B. Cinder's stepsister and friend; daughter of Garan and Adri. Early in the book she contracts the same plague that killed her father and dies despite Cinder's efforts to administer the cure. C. Cinder's cruel stepmother, with the belief that cyborgs are semihumans and mutants incapable of love she regularly mistreats Cinder and blames her for all the hardships in her life. D. Daughter of Adri and Garan and sister of Peony. She regularly degrades and picks on Cinder, her stepsister. E. Cinder's adopted father, he found her and took custody of her in Europe, implanting prototype chips of his own invention in her framework. He died of the plague years before the book starts. F. A young female cyborg mechanic and main protagonist. Later revealed to be the Lunar Princess Selene, missing heir to the throne and niece of Queen Levana G. the cruel queen of Luna, the moon colony. She uses a powerful glamour to force people to do her bidding. H. Kai's father and emperor of New Beijing, who dies of letumosis. I. A Lunar fugitive, who works in the palace as a letumosis researcher.
J. Cinder's android partner and one of her only friends. She sometimes forgets that she's not human due to her malfunctioning personality chip. K. Crown Prince of New Beijing, he meets Cinder when taking his personal android to be repaired and develops feelings for her, however he must deal with the possibility of being forced to marry Queen Levana or face war against the Lunars.
Quick Short Answer Questions 1. List three differences between Perrault’s version of the Cinderella story and that of the Brothers Grimm. • • • 2. What does Linh Adri have in common with the stepmother in Grimms’ version of the tales? 3. How does Linh Peony differ from the stepsisters of the Grimms’ version? 4. Select one of the poems that we read and explain the point of view from which the Cinderella story is told.
5. Select another poem that we read and explain the point of view from which the Cinderella story is told. Longer Short Response Questions Choose any two and write a paragraphlong response for each question on a piece of lined paper. Be clear about which questions you are choosing to answer. 1. What parallels can you draw between Cinder and the Cinderella fairy tale? What is the symbolism behind the glass slipper, the pumpkin carriage, the ball? Is there a fairy godmother in Cinder, and if so, who is it? 2. What is the importance of beauty (real or deceptive) in Cinder’s world? Compare the perceived beauty and/or ugliness of Queen Levana and Cinder and how this has affected how they’re treated by those around them. How is this similar or different from the way beauty is treated today? 3. What does ”Cinderella” suggest about romantic relationships? Parentchild relationships? Sibling relationships? 4. What does it mean to be a woman in the world of this fairy tale? How have contemporary authors responded to this portrayal of womanhood? 5. What are the most interesting aspects of the character of Cinderella? Defend your answer. How have contemporary authors explored these aspects of the character?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinder Reading Questions: Book 1 1. What do we know about Linh Cinder by the end of Book 1? 2. Describe Cinder’s relationship with Linh Pearl. 3. Describe Cinder’s relationship with Linh Peony 4. Describe Cinder’s relationship with her stepmother Adri.
5. Who is Prince Kai, and how do the women of Eastern Commonwealth feel about him? 6. With whom does Cinder have the closest relationships? What do these relationships reveal about Cinder? 7. In what ways is Cinder an outsider? How does her outsider status extend beyond her home? 8. How does the plague affect New Beijing?
9. For what purpose does Adri hand Cinder over to the government? 10. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinder Reading Questions: Book 2 1. Describe the future world (setting of the story) as it is presented through Book 2. 2. Summarize what happens when Cinder returns to Adri's apartment. 3. What do we learn about Peony from her interaction with Cinder in the letumosis ward
4. Describe the development Prince Kai and Cinder’s connection. 5. What do we know about Prince Kai? 6. What do we know about Dr. Erland? 7. To what event does Prince Kai invite Cinder, and why is this surprising to her?
8. Who is Queen Levana, and how is she dangerous? 9. What do we learn about Cinder’s identity? 10. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinder Reading Questions: Book 3 1. How does the prospect of the Cinder attending the ball lead to interactions with Iko that further develop that character? 2. How does Queen Levana control people? 3. What are Lunar fugitives, and why does Queen Levana consider them to be a problem? 4. What are the interactions between Queen Levana and Price Kai like?
5. Who is Princess Selene, and why is she important? 6. What did Linh Garan, Cinder’s guardian, do for a living and how did his work affect Cinder’s life? 7. What does Cinder learn about Dr. Erland’s identity? 8. What are two important things that Cinder does after Peony dies?
9. Describe the interaction between Cinder and Adri after Peony’s death. 10. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinder Reading Questions: Book 4 1. Why is Cinder ignoring Kai’s comms? 2. Why is Kai agreeing to marriage with Queen Levana? 3. Describe the interaction between Pearl and Cinder. 4. Why does Cinder go to the ball?
5. What happens when Cinder, Adri, Pearl, and Kai meet at the ball? 6. What is Cinder able to perceive about Queen Levana? 7. Describe the scene in which Cinder’s cyborg and lunar identities are revealed. 8. When Cinder is imprisoned, what does Dr. Erland tell her?
9. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale. 10. Consider the book as a whole. What ties it to the original fairy tale?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinder Literary Terms Questions 1. Who is the protagonist of Cinder? 2. Who is the antagonist of Cinder? 3. What do we learn in the exposition? 4. What types of conflict are present in Cinder, and what form does each of these conflicts take? 5. What is the climax of the novel? Justify your answer. 6. In what ways is Cinder a round character?
7. Name a flat character. 8. How is Cinder a dynamic character? 9. Name a static character. 10. What is the resolution of Cinder?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinderella Poetry Chart title and author
speaker
character of focus
What is the poem’s perspective on Grimms’ “Cinderella”?
“Cinderella” Gwen Straus
“Cinderella’s Life at the Castle” Russell Edson
“The Ugly Stepsister” Denise Duhamel
“The Stepsister’s Story” Emma Bull
“Twenty Years After” Marlene Joyce Pearson
“Against Cinderella” Julia Alvarez
“Masquerade” Barbara Crooker
TURN PAGE OVER
TURN PAGE OVER
title and author
speaker
character of focus
What is the poem’s perspective on Grimms’ “Cinderella”?
“The Glass Slipper” Jane Shore
Name: Date:
Cinderella Gwen Straus My stepsisters are willing to cut off their toes for him. What would I do for those days when I played alone in the hazel tree over my mother’s grave? I would go backwards if I could and stay in that moment when the doves fluttered down with the golden gown. But everything changed. I trace his form in the ashes, and then sweep it away before they see. He’s been on parade with the shoe. All Prince, with heralds and entourage, they come trumpeting through the village. If he found me, would he recognize me, my face, after mistaking their feet for mine? I want to crawl away into my pigeon house, my pear tree, The world is too large, bright like a ballroom and then suddenly dark. Mother, no one prepared me for this for the soft heat of a man’s neck when he dances or the thickness of his arms.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Cinderella’s Life at the Castle Russell Edson After Cinderella married the prince she turned her attention to minutiae, using her glass slipper as a magnifying lens. When at court she would wear orange peels and fish tins, and other decorous rubbish as found in the back of the castle. You are making me very nervous, said the prince. But Cinderella continued to look at something through her glass slipper. Did you hear me? said the prince. Cinderella’s mouth hung open as she continued to look as something through her glass slipper. Did you hear me, did you hear me, did you hear me? screamed the prince
Name: Date:
The Ugly Stepsister Denise Duhamel You don’t know what it was like. My mother marries this bum who takes off on us, after only a few months, leaving his little Cinderella behind. Oh yes, Cindy will try to tell you that her father died. She’s like that, she’s a martyr. But between you and me, he took up with a dame close to Cindy’s age. My mother never got a cent out of him for child support. So that explains why sometimes the old lady was gruff. My sisters and I didn’t mind Cindy at first, but her relentless cheeriness soon took its toll. She dragged the dirty clothes to one of Chelsea’s many laundromats. She was fond of talking to mice and rats on the way. She loved doing dishes and scrubbing walls, taking phone messages, and cleaning toilet bowls. You know, the kind of woman who makes the rest of us look bad. My sisters and I weren’t paranoid, but we couldn’t help but see this manic love for housework as part of Cindy’s sinister plan. Our dates would come to pick us up and Cindy’d pop out of the kitchen offering warm chocolate chip cookies. Critics often point to the fact that my sisters and I were dark and she was blonde, implying jealousy on our part. But let me set the record straight. We had have the empty bottles of Clairol’s Nice’n Easy to prove Cindy was a fake. She was what her shrink called a master manipulator. She loved people to feel bad for her her favorite phrase was a faint, “I don’t mind. That’s OK.” We should have known she’d marry Jeff Charming, the guy from our high school who went on to trade bonds. Cindy finagled her way into a private Christmas party on Wall Street, charging a little black dress at Barney’s,
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
which she would have returned the next day if Jeff hadn’t fallen head over heels. She claimed he took her on a horseandbuggy ride through Central Park, that it was the most romantic evening of her life, even though she was home before midnight a bit early, if you ask me, for Manhattan. It turned out that Jeff was seeing someone else and had to cover his tracks. But Cindy didn’t let little things like another woman’s happiness get in her way. She filled her glass slipper with champagne she had lifted from the Wall Street extravaganza. She toasted to Mr. Charming’s coming around, which he did soon enough. At the wedding, some of Cindy’s friends looked at my sisters and me with pity. The bride insisted that our bridesmaids’ dresses should be pumpkin, which is a hard enough color for anyone to carry off. But let me assure you, we’re all very happy now that Cindy’s moved uptown. We’ve started a mail order business cosmetics and perfumes. Just between you and me, there’s quite few bucks to be made on women’s selfdoubts. And though we don’t like to gloat, we hear Cindy Charming isn’t doing her aerobics anymore. It’s rumored that she yells at the maid, then locks herself in her room, pressing hot match tips into her palm.
Name: Date:
The Stepsister’s Story Emma Bull I knew you, dancing. She said, “Who is that?” The others said it, too. But I knew. I thought the word she would not let me say. Sister. You danced by so close I could have touched the tiny buttons down your back. I kept her secret, as true sisters do. You were not more beautiful Spinning in a cloud of silk, Laughing in a spanglelight, Than on that cold hearth. Not more beautiful Than when my eyes crept secretly toward you To the line of you bent white neck And I thought, Sister. Not more beautiful Than your fair closed ashmarked face. Ashbruised fingers took the poker, made the fire dance And I thought, I love you. Who closed the tiny buttons down your back? I would have done that sister’s work. You would have made the boys who loved you Dance with me first. Oh, tomorrow, don’t let her see That fallen sequin, that unguarded smile. She’ll be wild to think that you were happy. Never be happy out loud And I’ll keep the secret. The shoe came.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
She locked you in the pantry. She brought it to me, still full of spanglelight And the chime of your laugh. I did it to share you laugh and the cloud of silk For don’t true sisters share? I did it to dance away from fear, from her, To dance you away in my arms and call you sister. True sisters ride to rescue, and I would If only the shoe fit. We’ll make it fit, she said. The kitchen knife was not full of spanglelight And this is not how I meant to share with you. Lightheaded, I rode away, My arms around the prince’s waist, Blood welling from your shoe To stain the white horse flank. And as the spangles danced before my eyes I thought I might be you, riding safely away, That I was the one she’d shut in darkness, That we’d both slipped from her grasp at last. I can’t dance now. But I would sit on your hearth And stir the fire to dancing with a crutch. Let me sit near your happiness. Let me warm myself at your laughter. Let me say at last, where she can’t hear, Sister, sister, sister.
Name: Date:
Twenty Years After Marlene Joyce Pearson Twenty years after the book where she won the prince’s heart, her feet still small as a china doll, things were no longer a children’s tale with a pumpkin coach and miraculous mice transformed into white mares. Twenty years after, she walked the shadowed halls sipping white wine while the prince that eternal romantic, that spoiled son ran back to daddy’s palace carrying his catalogue, begging daddy to order him another glass slipper. Surely it would bring him a new lovely young lady, one without saggy breasts, as Cindy had once been. But Cinderella had grown up in ashes and knew love’s burn, how dreams shatter liked dropped crystal. Even a fairy godmother had died years ago. And though she could sweep and clean and sing like a swallow, old prince charming would not be wise as myth. He was not content with her pure heart and mortal love. He was no wizard. He could not wipe the crow’s feet from his own eyes and his feet ached after a day at the courtyard. Yet he clutched his dreams like the drinks she poured him when he came home, gulping it down. He would have three or four more before he could face sleep. She knew he had no more power than a mouse. He was only a middleaged man.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Name: Date:
Against Cinderella Julia Alvarez Whoever made it up is pulling my foot so it’ll fit that shoe. I’ll go along with martyrdom she swept and wept, mended, stoked the fire, slaved while her three stepsisters, who just happened to oblige their meanness by being ugly, dressed themselves. I’ll swallow that there was a Singer godmother who magically could sew a pattern up and hem it in an hour, that Cinderella got to be a debutante and lost her head and later lost her shoe. But there I stop. I can’t believe only one woman in that town had that size foot, could fit into that shoe. I’ve felt enough of lost and found to know that if you lose your heart to anyone you’ve crowned into a prince, you might not get it back. That old kerchief trick, whether you drop a shoe, your clothes, your life, doesn’t do much but litter up the world. That when the knock at last comes to your door, you might not be home or willing. That some of us have learned to go barefoot knowing the mate to one foot is the other.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Name: Date:
Masquerade Barbara Crooker Ladies’ slippers bloom: pouchy satin on waxy roots, but no one now wears dancing shoes. The ball is over, Cinderella, the stars are blown out. The prince wears velvet sneakers, a media man, his glossy image tacked on every tree. Glass cuts deep in your veins when your life is spent dancing to the ragged beat of the band. The matched pearls grow cold on your windpipe; the cummerbund reticulates and swallows to the rhythm of the dance. It’s past midnight now, tired lady. The pink slippers glow in the dark, spent weapons of the betrayers. The black velvet night is all you need on your bare damask skin.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
Name: Date:
The Glass Slipper Jane Shore The little hand was on the eight. It scoured Cinderella’s face, radiant since her apotheosis; blue dress, blonde pageboy curled like icing on a cake. The wristwatch came packed in a glass slipper really plastic, but it looked like glass like one of my mother’s shoes, but smaller. High transparent heel, clear shank and sole, it looked just big enough to fit me. I stuffed my left foot halfway in, as far as it would go. But when I limped across the bedroom rug, the slipper cut its outline into my swelling heel. No matter which foot I tried, I couldn’t fit the ideal that marks the wearer’s virtue, so I went about my business of being good. If I was good enough, in time the shoe might fit. I cleaned my room, then polished the forepaws of the Georgian chair; while in the kitchen, squirming in her high chair, a bald and wizened empress on her throne, my baby sister howled one red vowel over and over. Beside the white mulch of the bedspread, my parents’ Baby Ben windup alarm was three minutes off. Each night, its moonface, a luminous and mortuary green, guided me between my parents’ sleeping forms where I slept until the mechanism of my sister’s hunger, accurate as quartz
The World of the Brothers Grimm Cinderella Unit
woke my mother and me moments before the alarm clock sprang my father to the sink and out the door. Seven fortyfive. His orange Mercury cut a wake of gravel in the driveway. Like a Chinese bride I hobbled after him, nursing my sore foot in a cotton sock. Cinderella’s oldest sister lopped off her own big toe with a kitchen knife to make the slipper fit, and her middle sister sliced her heel down to size. Even the dumbstruck Prince failed to notice while ferrying to the palace each of his false fiancées, the blood filling her glass slipper. The shoehorn’s silver tongue consoled each one in turn, “When you are Queen, you won’t need to walk.”
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Hansel and Gretel Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Next to a great forest there lived a poor woodcutter with his wife and his two children. The boy's name was Hansel and the girl's name was Gretel. He had but little to eat, and once, when a great famine came to the land, he could no longer provide even their daily bread. One evening as he was lying in bed worrying about his problems, he sighed and said to his wife, "What is to become of us? How can we feed our children when we have nothing for ourselves?" "Man, do you know what?" answered the woman. "Early tomorrow morning we will take the two children out into the thickest part of the woods, make a fire for them, and give each of them a little piece of bread, then leave them by themselves and go off to our work. They will not find their way back home, and we will be rid of them." "No, woman," said the man. "I will not do that. How could I bring myself to abandon my own children alone in the woods? Wild animals would soon come and tear them to pieces." "Oh, you fool," she said, "then all four of us will starve. All you can do is to plane the boards for our coffins." And she gave him no peace until he agreed. "But I do feel sorry for the poor children," said the man. The two children had not been able to fall asleep because of their hunger, and they heard what the stepmother had said to the father. Gretel cried bitter tears and said to Hansel, "It is over with us!" "Be quiet, Gretel," said Hansel, "and don't worry. I know what to do." And as soon as the adults had fallen asleep, he got up, pulled on his jacket, opened the lower door, and crept outside. The moon was shining brightly, and the white pebbles in front of the house were glistening like silver coins. Hansel bent over and filled his jacket pockets with them, as many as would fit. Then he went back into the house and said, "Don't worry, Gretel. Sleep well. God will not forsake us." Then he went back to bed.
At daybreak, even before sunrise, the woman came and woke the two children. "Get up, you lazybones. We are going into the woods to fetch wood." Then she gave each one a little piece of bread, saying, "Here is something for midday. Don't eat it any sooner, for you'll not get any more." Gretel put the bread under her apron, because Hansel's pockets were full of stones. Then all together they set forth into the woods. After they had walked a little way, Hansel began stopping again and again and looking back toward the house. The father said, "Hansel, why are you stopping and looking back? Pay attention now, and don't forget your legs." "Oh, father," said Hansel, "I am looking at my white cat that is sitting on the roof and wants to say goodbye to me." The woman said, "You fool, that isn't your cat. That's the morning sun shining on the chimney." However, Hansel had not been looking at his cat but instead had been dropping the shiny pebbles from his pocket onto the path. When they arrived in the middle of the woods, the father said, "You children gather some wood, and I will make a fire so you won't freeze." Hansel and Gretel gathered together some twigs, a pile as high as a small mountain The twigs were set afire, and when the flames were burning well, the woman said, "Lie down by the fire and rest. We will go into the woods to cut wood. When we are finished, we will come back and get you." Hansel and Gretel sat by the fire. When midday came each one ate his little piece of bread. Because they could hear the blows of an ax, they thought that the father was nearby. However, it was not an ax. It was a branch that he had tied to a dead tree and that the wind was beating back and forth. After they had sat there a long time, their eyes grew weary and closed, and they fell sound asleep. When they finally awoke, it was dark at night. Gretel began to cry and said, "How will we get out of these woods?" Hansel comforted her, "Wait a little until the moon comes up, and then we'll find the way." After the full moon had come up, Hansel took his little sister by the hand. They followed the pebbles that glistened there like newly minted coins, showing them the way. They walked throughout the entire night, and as morning was breaking, they arrived at the father's house. They knocked on the door, and when the woman opened it and saw that it was Hansel and Gretel, she said, "You wicked children, why did you sleep so long in the woods? We thought that you did not want to come back."
But the father was overjoyed when he saw his children once more, for he had not wanted to leave them alone. Not long afterward there was once again great need everywhere, and one evening the children heard the mother say to the father, "We have again eaten up everything. We have only a half loaf of bread, and then the song will be over. We must get rid of the children. We will take them deeper into the woods, so they will not find their way out. Otherwise there will be no help for us." The man was very disheartened, and he thought, "It would be better to share the last bit with the children." But the woman would not listen to him, scolded him, and criticized him. He who says A must also say B, and because he had given in the first time, he had to do so the second time as well. The children were still awake and had overheard the conversation. When the adults were asleep, Hansel got up again and wanted to gather pebbles as he had done before, but the woman had locked the door, and Hansel could not get out. But he comforted his little sister and said, "Don't cry, Gretel. Sleep well. God will help us." Early the next morning the woman came and got the children from their beds. They received their little pieces of bread, even less than the last time. On the way to the woods, Hansel crumbled his piece in his pocket, then often stood still, and threw crumbs onto the ground. "Hansel, why are you always stopping and looking around?" said his father. "Keep walking straight ahead." "I can see my pigeon sitting on the roof. It wants to say goodbye to me." "Fool," said the woman, "that isn't your pigeon. That's the morning sun shining on the chimney." But little by little Hansel dropped all the crumbs onto the path. The woman took them deeper into the woods than they had ever been in their whole lifetime. Once again a large fire was made, and the mother said, "Sit here, children. If you get tired you can sleep a little. We are going into the woods to cut wood. We will come and get you in the evening when we are finished." When it was midday Gretel shared her bread with Hansel, who had scattered his piece along the path. Then they fell asleep, and evening passed, but no one came to get the poor children. It was dark at night when they awoke, and Hansel comforted Gretel and said, "Wait, when the moon comes up I will be able to see the crumbs of bread that I scattered, and they will show us the way back home."
When the moon appeared they got up, but they could not find any crumbs, for the many thousands of birds that fly about in the woods and in the fields had pecked them up. Hansel said to Gretel, "We will find our way," but they did not find it. They walked through the entire night and the next day from morning until evening, but they did not find their way out of the woods. They were terribly hungry, for they had eaten only a few small berries that were growing on the ground. And because they were so tired that their legs would no longer carry them, they lay down under a tree and fell asleep. It was already the third morning since they had left the father's house. They started walking again, but managed only to go deeper and deeper into the woods. If help did not come soon, they would perish. At midday they saw a little snowwhite bird sitting on a branch. It sang so beautifully that they stopped to listen. When it was finished it stretched its wings and flew in front of them. They followed it until they came to a little house. The bird sat on the roof, and when they came closer, they saw that the little house was built entirely from bread with a roof made of cake, and the windows were made of clear sugar. "Let's help ourselves to a good meal," said Hansel. "I'll eat a piece of the roof, and Gretel, you eat from the window. That will be sweet." Hansel reached up and broke off a little of the roof to see how it tasted, while Gretel stood next to the windowpanes and was nibbling at them. Then a gentle voice called out from inside: Nibble, nibble, little mouse, Who is nibbling at my house? The children answered: The wind, the wind, The heavenly child. They continued to eat, without being distracted. Hansel, who very much liked the taste of the roof, tore down another large piece, and Gretel poked out an entire round windowpane. Suddenly the door opened, and a woman, as old as the hills and leaning on a crutch, came creeping out. Hansel and Gretel were so frightened that they dropped what they were holding in their hands. But the old woman shook her head and said, "Oh, you dear children, who brought you here? Just come in and stay with me. No harm will come to you." She took them by the hand and led them into her house. Then she served them a good meal: milk and pancakes with sugar, apples, and nuts. Afterward she made two nice beds for them, decked in white. Hansel and Gretel went to bed, thinking they were in heaven. But the old woman had only pretended to be friendly. She was a wicked witch who was lying in wait there for children. She had built her house of bread only in order to lure them to her, and if she
captured one, she would kill him, cook him, and eat him; and for her that was a day to celebrate. Witches have red eyes and cannot see very far, but they have a sense of smell like animals, and know when humans are approaching. When Hansel and Gretel came near to her, she laughed wickedly and spoke scornfully, "Now I have them. They will not get away from me again." Early the next morning, before they awoke, she got up, went to their beds, and looked at the two of them lying there so peacefully, with their full red cheeks. "They will be a good mouthful," she mumbled to herself. Then she grabbed Hansel with her withered hand and carried him to a little stall, where she locked him behind a cage door. Cry as he might, there was no help for him. Then she shook Gretel and cried, "Get up, lazybones! Fetch water and cook something good for your brother. He is locked outside in the stall and is to be fattened up. When he is fat I am going to eat him." Gretel began to cry, but it was all for nothing. She had to do what the witch demanded. Now Hansel was given the best things to eat every day, but Gretel received nothing but crayfish shells. Every morning the old woman crept out to the stall and shouted, "Hansel, stick out your finger, so I can feel if you are fat yet." But Hansel stuck out a little bone, and the old woman, who had bad eyes and could not see the bone, thought it was Hansel's finger, and she wondered why he didn't get fat. When four weeks had passed and Hansel was still thin, impatience overcame her, and she would wait no longer. "Hey, Gretel!" she shouted to the girl, "Hurry up and fetch some water. Whether Hansel is fat or thin, tomorrow I am going to slaughter him and boil him." Oh, how the poor little sister sobbed as she was forced to carry the water, and how the tears streamed down her cheeks! "Dear God, please help us," she cried. "If only the wild animals had devoured us in the woods, then we would have died together." "Save your slobbering," said the old woman. "It doesn't help you at all." The next morning Gretel had to get up early, hang up the kettle with water, and make a fire. "First we are going to bake," said the old woman. "I have already made a fire in the oven and kneaded the dough."
She pushed poor Gretel outside to the oven, from which fiery flames were leaping. "Climb in," said the witch, "and see if it is hot enough to put the bread in yet." And when Gretel was inside, she intended to close the oven, and bake her, and eat her as well. But Gretel saw what she had in mind, so she said, "I don't know how to do that. How can I get inside?" "Stupid goose," said the old woman. The opening is big enough. See, I myself could get in." She crawled up and stuck her head into the oven. Then Gretel gave her a shove, causing her to fall in. Then she closed the iron door and secured it with a bar. The old woman began to howl frightfully. But Gretel ran away, and the godless witch burned up miserably. Gretel ran straight to Hansel, unlocked his stall, and cried, "Hansel, we are saved. The old witch is dead." Then Hansel jumped out, like a bird from its cage when someone opens its door. How happy they were! They threw their arms around each other's necks, jumped with joy, and kissed one another. Because they now had nothing to fear, they went into the witch's house. In every corner were chests of pearls and precious stones. "These are better than pebbles," said Hansel, filling his pockets. Gretel said, "I will take some home with me as well," and she filled her apron full. "But now we must leave," said Hansel, "and get out of these witchwoods." After walking a few hours they arrived at a large body of water. "We cannot get across," said Hansel. "I cannot see a walkway or a bridge." "There are no boats here," answered Gretel, "but there is a white duck swimming. If I ask it, it will help us across." Then she called out: Duckling, duckling, Here stand Gretel and Hansel. Neither a walkway nor a bridge Take us onto your white back. The duckling came up to them, and Hansel climbed onto it, then asked his little sister to sit down next to him. "No," answered Gretel. "That would be too heavy for the duckling. It should take us across one at a time."
That is what the good animal did, and when they were safely on the other side, and had walked on a little while, the woods grew more and more familiar to them, and finally they saw the father's house in the distance. They began to run, rushed inside, and threw their arms around the father's neck. The man had not had even one happy hour since he had left the children in the woods. However, the woman had died. Gretel shook out her apron, scattering pearls and precious stones around the room, and Hansel added to them by throwing one handful after the other from his pockets. Now all their cares were at an end, and they lived happily together. My tale is done, A mouse has run. And whoever catches it can make for himself from it a large, large fur cap. ●
● ●
● ●
Source: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, "Hänsel und Grethel," Kinder und Hausmärchen [Children's and Household Tales Grimms' Fairy Tales], vol. 1, 7th ed. (Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, 1857), no. 15, pp. 7987. Translated by D. L. Ashliman. © 20002002. The Grimms' specific source is unclear. Although they state that it derives "from various stories from Hessen," a handwritten marginal note in the Grimms' personal copy of the first edition reveals that in 1813 Henriette Dorothea (Dortchen) Wild contributed the children's verse answer to the witch, "The wind, the wind,/ The heavenly child," which rhymes in German: "Der Wind, der Wind,/ Das himmlische Kind." It is likely that the Grimms heard the entire story in the Wild household. Wilhelm Grimm married Dortchen Wild in 1825. "Hansel and Gretel" is the classic version of an AarneThompsonUther type 327A tale. The episode of burning the witch in her own oven is classified as type 1121. Another type 327A tale known to the Grimms is Ninnillo and Nennella from The Pentamerone (day 5, tale 8) of Giambattista Basile (15751632). Also closely related is the type 327B tale Little Thumb by Charles Perrault (16281703).
Translator's note In the first edition the Grimms spell their heroes' names "Hänsel" and "Gretel." In the second edition, "Hänsel" and "Grethel." All modern German editions use the spellings "Hänsel" and "Gretel." There is no reason to include the Umlaut (whether spelled "Hänsel" or "Haensel") in an English translation of the name "Hansel," nor is there any justification for an English translator to revert to the obsolete spelling "Grethel." The phrase "die Frau" occurs frequently in "Hansel and Gretel," especially in the final edition. This phrase can be translated as "his wife," "the wife," "his woman," or "the woman." In my judgment, the generic "the woman" best fits the story's child'seye perspective and tone. The traditional translation of the witch's verse query "Nibble, nibble, little mouse,/ Who is nibbling at my house?" is too good to abandon, although the original German "Knuper, knuper, kneischen,/ Wer knupert an meinem Häuschen?" does not specifically mention a mouse. The Grimm brothers (especially Wilhelm) made substantial changes to this tale throughout its publication history. The most significant changes came with the second edition (1819), although Wilhelm continued to revise the stories until their final edition (no. 7, 1857).
The most substantive alteration in the text of "Hansel and Gretel" is transformation of the children's mother into a stepmother. In both the manuscript version (1810) and the first printed edition (1812) of this wellknown tale, the woodcutter's wife is identified unambiguously and repeatedly as "the mother." The second edition is equally clear in identifying the woodcutter's wife as Hansel's and Gretel's mother. However, with the fourth edition (1840) the Grimms introduced the word "stepmother," although they retained the word "mother" in some passages. The Grimms' final version of the famous tale (seventh edition, 1857) refers to the woodcutter's wife once as "the stepmother," twice as "the mother," and about a dozen times generically as "the woman." Whereas the children's mother/stepmother grows harsher in succeeding editions, their father grows more introspective and milder, perhaps too mild, for he is unwilling or unable to stand up to his domineering wife. "It would be better to share the last bit with the children." he thinks, in a passage added already in the 1819 edition, but his wife will not listen to him. In keeping with revisions made to other tales, Wilhelm added numerous small embellishments to "Hansel and Gretel," making the tale more dramatic, more literary, and more sentimental in succeeding editions. The most prominent example in this regard is the addition of the episode describing the children's escape from the sinister woods across a large body of water, one at a time, on the back of a duck.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Reading Questions: Grimms’ “Hansel and Gretel” 1. What is the wife’s plan for dealing with the food shortage? 2. How does Hansel use the white pebbles? 3. How does the father trick the children into thinking that he is nearby and chopping wood? 4. How does each parent react when the children return home after being left in the woods?
5. What does Hansel try to use to mark a trail the second time his his parents bring him and his sister into the wood, and why does this plan fail? 6. What does the little snowwhite bird do? 7. Describe the little house. 8. What do Hansel and Gretel do when they find the little house? 9. What does the witch plan on doing with the children? 10. After Hansel is imprisoned, what happens to Gretel? 11. Where does the witch put Hansel, and what is her reason for doing this?
12. How does Hansel fool the witch? 13. How does Gretel fool the witch? 14. What do Hansel and Gretel find in the witch’s house? 15. How does the ducking help Hansel and Gretel? 16. What allows Hansel and Gretel to live happily after their ordeal?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Hansel and Gretel Creative Writing Assignments Poetry Write two poems that are based on “Hansel and Gretel.” Represent two different perspectives on the story. Make sure that the voice of your speaker is consistent. Include vivid imagery. Pay attention to how line lengths and line breaks affect the pacing of your poems. Get rid of unnecessary words. Remember that poetry’s power is a condensed power. Poems are often so brief that the title must do a lot of work. Fiction Write your own version fictional version of “Hansel and Gretel.” Your story should be a minimum of two pages long (doublespaced, 12 point font). Put your own unique spin on the fairy tale, but make sure that you have clear connections to the original. I am looking for a minimum of FIVE points of connection to the fairy tale. In addition to connections to the original fairy tale, include the following: • vivid description (SHOW, DON’T TELL.) • welldeveloped characters • dialogue • an original title that grabs the reader’s attention • a beginning, middle, and end You may do these assignments in any order that you wish. You will have time in class to work on these assignments, but if it is getting close to the deadline and you are not close to being done, then you should work on them on your own time. Write each assignment on Google Docs and share it with me. Put your name and something indicating the assignment type in the file title. Put the following heading in the upper lefthand corner: Your full name The World of the Brothers Grimm teacher’s name the complete date
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Sweetly Essay Assignment Write an essay centered on one of the thesis statements below: ❏ In Sweetly, Jackson Pearce complicates the fairy tale of “Hansel and Gretel” by making the witch a sympathetic character. ❏ The main characters in Jackson Pearce’s Sweetly are shaped by sibling bonds that have been intensified by trauma and loss. • Write your assignment in Google Docs and share it with me. • Put your name and something indicating the assignment type in the file title. Put the following heading in the upper lefthand corner: Your full name The World of the Brothers Grimm your teacher the complete date • Your essay must be a minimum of five paragraphs, doublespaced, and in 12 point font. It must have an original title, an introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. • Include an introduction that grabs the reader’s attention, provides necessary background information, including the titles and author/director of works. Your introductory paragraph should end in your thesis statement. • Do not use first person and second person. • Make sure that each paragraph has a strong topic sentence that connects the content of your paragraph to the thesis statement. • Use quoted passages from the text to support your assertion. Follow the passage with close analysis. • Use transition words and linking ideas as transitions between paragraphs. • Include a conclusion that summarizes the argument that you’ve made and leaves the reader with an idea of the importance of what you have discussed in the paper. • Give your essay an original title. This title should be in 12 point font and centered after the heading. DON’T underline your essay’s title or put it in bold face. • Italicize the title of the novel.
Name: Grimm Date:
The World of the Brothers of Hansel and Gretel Unit
Hansel and Gretel Unit Quiz Summarize Grimms’ “Hansel and Gretel” in one paragraph. List five possible perspectives that a writer can use in retelling this fairy tale. Think about the characters in the story. How might each recall the events of the story from differents points in his/her life? • • • • •
Of the poetic retellings of “Hansel and Gretel” that we read, which one is the best and why? Include both the title and author. Be specific in justifying your choice. Sweetly Questions Answer each question using complete sentences. Use specific examples. 1. Describe the trauma that Ansel and Gretchen experienced in their childhood. 2. Why do people in Live Oak hate Sophia?
3. What loss motivates Sophia’s behavior? 4. What conflict brings great suffering to Ansel at the end of the novel? 5. Who is the witch in this retelling? Is there just one witch?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Sweetly Reading Questions: Prologue through Chapter 8 1. What happened to Gretchen and Ansel’s sister? 2. What is Gretchen and Ansel’s relationship with their stepmother like, and why is it like this? 3. What do we know about Gretchen? 4. What do we know about Ansel? 5. What do we know about Sophia Kelly?
6. How do people of Live Oak feel about Sophia, and why do they feel this way? 7. Describe the relationship that each sibling has with Sophia. 8. What happens to Gretchen when she is out in the woods alone? 9. How does Gretchen react to what occurs in the woods? 10. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Sweetly Reading Questions: Chapters 9 18 1. What is the connection between the witch of Gretchen’s youth and the Fenris (werewolf)? 2. What secret of Sophia’s does Gretchen uncover? 3. What do Gretchen and Samuel learn from Ms. Judy? 4. At this point in the book, what do we know about the chocolate festival?
5. Describe the development of Gretchen’s connection to Samuel. 6. What does Gretchen learn from her tarot card reading with Miss Nikki? 7. What is Gretchen and Ansel’s sister’s name, and why is it significant when she says it aloud? 8. What is the significance of the scene in which Gretchen tries on the red dress? 9. How does Gretchen’s attitude toward the Fenris change once she learns how to shoot? 10. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Sweetly Reading Questions: Chapter 19 through the End 1. Describe the interaction among the women in the the hair salon and Gretchen’s realization about Sophia. 2. Why is Sophia worried that Ansel will leave her after the chocolate festival? 3. What is the significance of the seashells? Why do they motivate Sophia? 4. How does Ansel react when he discovers Sophia’s reason for hosting the chocolate festival?
5. What is Sophia’s fate? 6. In what emotional state is Ansel at the end of the novel, and what is the reason for this? 7. Who is the witch in this version of the story? Is there more than one character or group that acts as the witch? 8. What does Sweetly say about the nature of sibling relationships? 9. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale.
10. Consider the book as a whole. What ties it to the original fairy tale?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Sweetly Literary Terms Questions 1. Who is the protagonist of Sweetly? 2. Who is the antagonist of Sweetly? 3. What do we learn in the exposition? 4. What types of conflict are present in Sweetly, and what form does each of these conflicts take? 5. What is the climax of the novel? Justify your answer. 6. In what ways is Gretchen a round character?
7. Name a flat character. 8. How is Gretchen a dynamic character? 9. Name a static character. 10. What is the resolution of Sweetly?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Hansel and Gretel Poetry Chart title and author
speaker
character of focus
What is the poem’s perspective on Grimms’ “Hansel and Gretel”?
“Afraid to Look Afraid to Look Away” Kathleen Jesme
“Asleep in the Forest” Andrea Hollander Budy
“Babe in the Woods” Moyra Davidson
“Gretel, Lost” Jean Monahan
“Juvenile Court” Sara Henderson Hay
“Hansel Tells Gretel of the Witch” Regie Cabico
“Gretel, from a sudden clearing” Marie Howe
title and author
speaker
character of focus
What is the poem’s perspective on Grimms’ “Hansel and Gretel”?
“The Social Worker Finds Hansel and Gretel Hard to Place” Enid Dame
“Witch Words” Valery Nash
“Gretel” Ronald Koertge
Name: Date:
Afraid to Look Afraid to Look Away Kathleen Jesme Moonlight breaks on the fir trees in the deep forest she waits for you. The garden of stones casts shadows hover on the ground. The breadcrumbs are the old trail of pebbles is the white in the moonlight has no beginning. Leave this false trail and all trails: walk toward what you don’t know the moon will take you there. The house is gingerbread and sugar will fill you up first. You will think you have found childhood. But she is inside what you eat devours you. Stay with her, let her feed you as she will stoke her oven.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Keep your brother safe from her dim eyes cannot see you. Wait for her to go to the fire will move you. You must stay and watch her burn if you forget and look away and you will forget. Now the fire burns on in the garden you wake the stones.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Asleep in the Forest Andrea Hollander Budy after Hansel & Gretel, a painting by Monique Felix
They might have been lovers, but lovers do not sleep as close as this: stretched out in the forest’s sanctuary as if God were about instead of a witch. Or else they sleep closer, hoping closeness will be a kind of latch, a madcap brace against the loneliness they sense in happy endings. They bend the story now and then, remember the fox, the frog, the beauty always hiding somewhere deeper than they’ve been. Their sleep is innocent and blue and they keep counting on togetherness to take them in and bring them safely out. They’d follow stars, but stars don’t penetrate this forest. They follow lightning bugs instead, as if the light itself were all that mattered. It’s this mistake
that took them to the witch’s house, the first of many. But not tonight. Tonight they take their sleep as we might step into a creek together, and linger in it, let what is bad rise to the surface, unnoticed for a moment, clouding the water, then rinse itself away, as we look only into one another’s eyes at what is good, and know that that is all there is and it will stay.
Name: Date:
Babe in the Woods Moyra Donaldson Each time you abandoned me, daddy, I followed the trail back home until I was left with nothing but crumbs. Half of me is missing, phantom. I did not want to be lost in the dark forest, tangled in the hair of the skinny old witch who eats children, feeds them sweet things, then picks at their innocence with fingers of bone. By the time you came looking for me I was all gone, daddy. Licked up, swallowed down.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Name: Date:
Gretel, Lost Jean Monahan What can we be to each other now? Before we found the house, how brief your smile was, but how true, how rough the collar of the great coat we buttoned ourselves into night after night, like twin worms in a cocoon. The unfamiliar trail, when you held my hand, was full of charms. I see you at the stream, mouth like a pail: brimming; me impatient for berries you insist on tasting first, to see if they’re poisonous. What if there had been no house, no scary hoots from the woods, no carrying ourselves over that threshold with the promise of food, a real bed? Hansel, it was good, I could see myself growing fat with you, chopping wood, waking up good in the gingerbread house. She who tried to kill, she of the glazed glass and tart apples candied to the windowsill, never meant you harm. Her taste for life, for raw heart on her daily plate, was just not the way you wanted to live. By now I’ll bet you see your white cat gleaming on the roof, a wee shaving of smoke curling out of the chimney, are found again, home. Since you have found me out, have seen my temper blaze, my treachery, my fire for things not of your world, you should know that I am lost again, in other words, myself again, the boss of my own impossible house, how loved you even as I built the pyre.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Name: Date:
Juvenile Court Sara Henderson Hay Deep in the oven, where the two had shoved her, They found the Witch, burned to a crisp, of course. And when the police had decently removed her, They questioned the children, who showed no remorse. “She threatened us,” said Hansel, “with a kettle Of boiling water, just because I threw The cat into the well.” Cried little Gretel, “She fussed because I broke her broom in two, And said she’d lock up Hansel in a cage For drawing funny pictures on her fence. . . “ Wherefore the court, considering their age, And ruling that there seemed some evidence The pair had acted under provocation, Released them to their parents, on probation.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Name: Date:
Hansel Tells Gretel of the Witch Regie Cabico How easy she is to please with the stories I told through the slats of her cage. When we stuffed our pockets with berries and walked like ducks to fatten father’s cheeks. Or the time I thought the birds despised us when they nibbled our bread and left stones in our footprints. Then nightfall and no creek to follow all stars extinguished in the too tall branches and whispers of stalking owls. Stumbling when the bats fluttered sideways round our ears till we saw the flicker from her halfopaque windows. Do you recall feasting off her flower pots of chocolate and freshly baked pretzel stems, falling asleep deep in a spell of rice pudding? What I remember is waking up to sweat and licorice scent. Of course I knew we’d die. The twisted hair barrette and tattered sock, soiled beneath my head, were just reminders of what would come. As she struck the match, I asked that she not kill me or you. And in her eyes, I saw those unfortunate ghosts. Children like us, playing freeze tag in darkness, charred and vanished.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
From her final breath, I heard those muffled screams, a sudden gustlike tug, parentless and bewildered . . . their pitch deafened by the kiln’s hot hand.
Name: Date:
Gretel, from a sudden clearing Marie Howe No way back then, you remember, we decided, but forward, deep into a wood so darkly green, so deafening with birdsong I stopped my ears. And that high chime at night, was it really the stars, or some music running inside our heads like a dream? I think we must have been very tired. I think it must have been a bad brokenoff piece at the start that lueft us so hungry we turned back to a path that was gone, and lost each other, looking. I called your name over and over again, and still you did not come. At night, I was afraid of the black dogs and often I dreamed you next to me, but even then, you were always turning down thick corridor of trees. In daylight, every tree became you. And pretending, I kissed my way through the forest until I stopped pretending and stumbled, finally, here. Here too, there are stepparents, and bread rising, and so many people
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
You may not find me at first. They speak your name, when I speak it. But I remember you before you became a story. Sometimes, I feel a thorn in my foot when there is no thorn. They tell me, not unkindly, that I should imagine nothing here. But I believe you are still alive. I want to tell you about the size of the witch and how beautiful she is. I want to tell you the kitchen knives only look friendly, they have a life of their own, and that you shouldn’t be sorry, not for the bread we ate and thought we wasted, not for turning back alone, and that I remember how our shadows walked always before us, and how that was a clue, and how there are other clues that seem like a dream but are not, and that every day, I am less and less afraid.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
The Social Worker Finds Hansel and Gretel Difficult to Place Enid Dame Why can’t I find a home for these schöne kinder?* This good boy spent most of his life in a cage isolated from evil. This clever girl reduced their captor to rubbish. These children instinctively knew how to seize the moment, to strike hard and thrust the blow home. Mothers of Germany, why won’t you carry these darlings back to your wellstocked kitchens? Why do you only stare into their cool blue eyes, then turn away? *beautiful children
Name: Date:
Witch Words Valery Nash I, like the children, am in the forest and not safe though in my gingerbread house. I, too, am hungry. My sugary roof and windows no longer satisfy. Only child flesh will fatten. And I shiver. Gretel, fetch axe, fetch wood. Gretel, why are you so slow? Over and over, it is winter: the woodcutter, his bare larder the wise birds choosing the crumbs and the hunger that brings her here. Over and over, it happens: Gretel’s daze, her dreaming step her arms hanging down as flat as fish. Once again she finds me stumbling around the rooms, half blind. Gretel’s cheeks are bright as apples. She approaches weeping, grieving for her caged brother, her love. Gretel, you must light the oven. Gretel, let me show you how. Once again she doesn’t know I planned it: Gretel’s sharp hands, her strong thrust and afterwards, her smile.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Oh, how frightfully I howl. The black forest rises, howls with me roars with the fire I teach her.
Name: Date:
Gretel Ronald Koertge said she didn’t know anything about ovens so the witch crawled in to show her and Bam! went the big door. Then she strolled out to the shed where her brother was fattening, knocked down a wall and lifted him high in the air. Not long after the adventure in the forest Gretel married so she could live happily. Her husband was soft as Hansel. Her husband liked to eat. He liked to see her in the oven with the pies and cakes. Ever after was the size of a kitchen. Gretel remembered when times were better. She laughed out loud when the witch popped like a weenie. “Gretel! Stop fooling around and fix my dinner.” There’s something wrong with this oven,” she says, her eyes bright as a treasure. “Can you come here a minute?”
The World of the Brothers Grimm Hansel and Gretel Unit
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit Rumpelstiltskin Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm
Once upon a time there was a miller who was poor, but who had a beautiful daughter. Now it happened that he got into a conversation with the king, and to make an impression on him he said, "I have a daughter who can spin straw into gold." The king said to the miller, "That is an art that I really like. If your daughter is as skillful as you say, then bring her to my castle tomorrow, and I will put her to the test." When the girl was brought to him he led her into a room that was entirely filled with straw. Giving her a spinning wheel and a reel, he said, "Get to work now. Spin all night, and if by morning you have not spun this straw into gold, then you will have to die." Then he himself locked the room, and she was there all alone. The poor miller's daughter sat there, and for her life she did not know what to do. She had no idea how to spin straw into gold. She became more and more afraid, and finally began to cry. Then suddenly the door opened. A little man stepped inside and said, "Good evening, Mistress Miller, why are you crying so?" "Oh," answered the girl, "I am supposed to spin straw into gold, and I do not know how to do it." The little man said, "What will you give me if I spin it for you?" "My necklace," said the girl. The little man took the necklace, sat down before the spinning wheel, and whir, whir, whir, three times pulled, and the spool was full. Then he put another one on, and whir, whir, whir, three times pulled, and the second one was full as well. So it went until morning, and then all the straw was spun, and all the spools were filled with gold. At sunrise the king came, and when he saw the gold he was surprised and happy, but his heart became even more greedy for gold. He had the miller's daughter taken to another room filled with straw. It was even larger, and he ordered her to spin it in one night, if she valued her life. The girl did not know what to do, and she cried. Once again the door opened, and the little man appeared. He said, "What will you give me if I spin the straw into gold for you?" "The ring from my finger," answered the girl.
The little man took the ring, and began once again to whir with the spinning wheel. By morning he had spun all the straw into glistening gold. The king was happy beyond measure when he saw it, but he still did not have his fill of gold. He had the miller's daughter taken to a still larger room filled with straw, and said, "Tonight you must spin this too. If you succeed you shall become my wife." He thought, "Even if she is only a miller's daughter, I will not find a richer wife in all the world." When the girl was alone the little man returned for a third time. He said, "What will you give me if I spin the straw this time?" "I have nothing more that I could give you," answered the girl. "Then promise me, after you are queen, your first child." "Who knows what will happen," thought the miller's daughter, and not knowing what else to do, she promised the little man what he demanded. In return the little man once again spun the straw into gold. When in the morning the king came and found everything just as he desired, he married her, and the beautiful miller's daughter became queen. A year later she brought a beautiful child to the world. She thought no more about the little man, but suddenly he appeared in her room and said, "Now give me that which you promised." The queen took fright and offered the little man all the wealth of the kingdom if he would let her keep the child, but the little man said, "No. Something living is dearer to me than all the treasures of the world." Then the queen began lamenting and crying so much that the little man took pity on her and said, "I will give you three days' time. If by then you know my name, then you shall keep your child." The queen spent the entire night thinking of all the names she had ever heard. Then she sent a messenger into the country to inquire far and wide what other names there were. When the little man returned the next day she began with Kaspar, Melchior, Balzer, and said in order all the names she knew. After each one the little man said, "That is not my name." The second day she sent inquiries into the neighborhood as to what names people had. She recited the most unusual and most curious names to the little man: "Is your name perhaps Beastrib? Or Muttoncalf? Or Legstring?" But he always answered, "That is not my name." On the third day the messenger returned and said, "I have not been able to find a single new name, but when I was approaching a high mountain in the corner of the woods, there where the fox and the hare say goodnight, I saw a little house. A fire was burning in front of the house,
and an altogether comical little man was jumping around the fire, hopping on one leg and calling out: Today I'll bake; tomorrow I'll brew, Then I'll fetch the queen's new child, It is good that no one knows, Rumpelstiltskin is my name. You can imagine how happy the queen was when she heard that name. Soon afterward the little man came in and asked, "Now, Madame Queen, what is my name?" She first asked, "Is your name Kunz?" "No." "Is your name Heinz?" "No." "Is your name perhaps Rumpelstiltskin?" "The devil told you that! The devil told you that!" shouted the little man, and with anger he stomped his right foot so hard into the ground that he fell in up to his waist. Then with both hands he took hold of his left foot and ripped himself up the middle in two. ●
● ● ● ●
Source: Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, "Rumpelstilzchen," Kinder und Hausmärchen, vol. 1 (Göttingen: Verlag der Dieterichschen Buchhandlung, 1857) [Children's and Household Tales Grimms' Fairy Tales], no. 55, pp. 28184. The Grimms' source: Henriette Dorothea (Dortchen) Wild (17951867), and other sources. Translated by D. L. Ashliman. © 2002. AarneThompsonUther type 500, Guessing the Helper's Name. The Grimms included this tale, in a simpler version, in the first edition of their Kinder und Hausmärchen (1812). The story underwent a substantial stylistic revision for the second edition (1819). Additional stylistic changes were made in succeeding editions.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
Grimms’ Rumpelstiltskin Reading Questions 1. How does the miller try to impress the king? 2. What will happen to the miller’s daughter if she can’t spin the straw into gold? 3. What is the first deal that the little man makes with the girl? 4. What is the king’s reaction to the room full of gold? 5. How will the king reward the girl if she spins a room full of straw into gold for a third time? 6. What is the third thing that the girl promises to the little man?
7. One year later, how does the queen react when the little man demands that she uphold her end of the deal, and what is the little man’s response to this reaction? 8. How does the messenger discover the little man’s name? 9. What does Rumpelstiltskin do to himself in his state of anger?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
Rumpelstiltskin Creative Writing Assignments Poetry Write two poems that are based on “Rumpelstiltskin.” Represent two different perspectives on the story. Make sure that the voice of your speaker is consistent. Include vivid imagery. Pay attention to how line lengths and line breaks affect the pacing of your poems. Get rid of unnecessary words. Remember that poetry’s power is a condensed power. Poems are often so brief that the title must do a lot of work. Fiction Write your own version fictional version of “Hansel and Gretel.” Your story should be a minimum of two pages long (doublespaced, 12 point font). Put your own unique spin on the fairy tale, but make sure that you have clear connections to the original. I am looking for a minimum of FIVE points of connection to the fairy tale. In addition to connections to the original fairy tale, include the following: • vivid description (SHOW, DON’T TELL.) • welldeveloped characters • dialogue • an original title that grabs the reader’s attention • a beginning, middle, and end You may do these assignments in any order that you wish. You will have time in class to work on these assignments, but if it is getting close to the deadline and you are not close to being done, then you should work on them on your own time. Write each assignment on Google Docs and share it with me. Put your name and something indicating the assignment type in the file title. Put the following heading in the upper lefthand corner: Your full name The World of the Brothers Grimm teacher’s name the complete date
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
A Curse as Dark as Gold Essay Assignment Use one of the topics listed below as the basis for a thesis statement that you will construct yourself: ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏ ❏
the inescapable past the importance of community magic and love magic and justice strong women making unlikeable characters likeable weakness and temptation the destructive power of secrecy
• Write your assignment in Google Docs and share it with me. • Put your name and something indicating the assignment type in the file title. Put the following heading in the upper lefthand corner: Your full name The World of the Brothers Grimm your teacher the complete date • Your essay should be a minimum of five paragraphs and include an introduction, at least three body paragraphs, and a conclusion. • Include an introduction that grabs the reader’s attention, provides necessary background information, including the titles and author/director of works. Your introductory paragraph should end in your thesis statement. • Do not use first person and second person. • Make sure that each paragraph has a strong topic sentence that connects the content of your paragraph to the thesis statement. • Use quoted passages from the text to support your assertion. Follow the passage with close analysis. • Use transition words and linking ideas as transitions between paragraphs. • Include a conclusion that summarizes the argument that you’ve made and leaves the reader with an idea of the importance of what you have discussed in the paper. • Give your essay an original title. This title should be in 12 point font and centered after the
heading. DON’T underline your essay’s title or put it in bold face. • Italicize the title of the novel.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
A Curse as Dark as Gold Reading Questions: Chapters 1 7 1. In addition to the death of their father, what other hardship are Charlotte and Rosie experiencing? 2. Describe Stirwaters. 3. Who Ellison Wheeler, and what is he like? 4. What evidence is there that Stirwaters is cursed?
5. What does Ellison Wheeler want Charlotte and Rosie to do with their lives? 6. Who is Mr. Mordant and what supernatural beliefs does he hold? 7. What news does Mr. Woodstone deliver to Charlotte? 8. What does the letter from Worm Hill Cloth Exchange say, and why is this bad news for Stirwaters? 9. Describe Charlotte and Rosie’s encounter with Jack Spinner.
10. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
A Curse as Dark as Gold Reading Questions: Chapters 8 16 1. How does Charlotte get money for the gold thread? 2. Describe Charlotte’s experience at Pinchfields. 3. What happens at Annie Penny’s funeral? 4. What does the dish that Randall gives Charlotte have printed on it? How does this speak to her current life?
5. What does the letter that Charlotte finds reveal about her Uncle Wheeler? 6. How are Charlotte and Randall going to blend their lives? 7. What happened to the great old wheel? 8. What do we know about about Uncle Wheeler by this point in the book?
9. Summarize the development of Charlotte and Randall’s relationship. 10. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
A Curse as Dark as Gold Reading Questions: Chapters 17 24 1. Why does Charlotte have to take advantage of Jack Spinner’s services again, and what does she have to give him in return? 2. Why is the millwheel a point of conflict between Charlotte and Rosie? 3. What is discovered on the nameplate for Stirwaters’s first millwheel, and why is this shocking to Charlotte and Rosie? 4. What are some things that Charlotte does to try to understand the mysterious history of Stirwaters?
5. Who is Bill Penny, and what role does he play in this part of the novel? 6. How does Charlotte’s relationship with her uncle change? 7. What happens that requires Charlotte to enlist Jack Spinner’s help again? 8. What does Charlotte find behind the hex on the wall, and what does it tell her? 9. How does Charlotte’s association with Jack Spinner affect her relationship with Randall?
10. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
A Curse as Dark as Gold Reading Questions: Chapters 25 to the End 1. What does Jack Spinner want from Charlotte, and how does she react to his demands? 2. What guidance does Mrs. Tom give the sisters? 3. Who is John Simple, and what is his story?
4. What does Charlotte learn about her uncle’s identity? How does this explain how he presents himself? 5. What does Uncle Wheeler take with him to his meeting at the mill with Jack Spinner? 6. What is revealed about Randall’s belief in the supernatural and activities associated with it? 7. What happened to Jack Spinner’s Robin, and how does Charlotte use this information to free the mill from him?
8. What is found among Charlotte’s father’s papers, and how is it valuable? 9. List the connections that this part of the novel has to the original fairy tale. 10. Consider the book as a whole. What ties it to the original fairy tale?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
A Curse as Dark as Gold Literary Terms Questions 1. Who is the protagonist of A Curse as Dark as Gold? 2. Who is the antagonist of A Curse as Dark as Gold? 3. What do we learn in the exposition? 4. What types of conflict are present in A Curse as Dark as Gold, and what form does each of these conflicts take? 5. What is the climax of the novel? Justify your answer. 6. In what ways is Charlotte a round character?
7. Name a flat character. 8. How is Charlotte a dynamic character? 9. Name a static character. 10. What is the resolution of A Curse as Dark as Gold?
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
Rumpelstiltskin Poetry Chart
author and title
speaker
character of focus
What is the poem’s perspective on Grimms’s “Rumpelstiltskin”?
“The Name” Sara Henderson Hay
“Straw into Gold” Bruce Bennett
“Rumpelstiltskin Keeps Mum” Claudia Carlson
“Her Shadow” Gwen Straus
Name: Date:
Rumpelstiltskin Anne Sexton Inside many of us is a small old man who wants to get out. No bigger than a twoyearold whom you'd call lamb chop yet this one is old and malformed. His head is okay but the rest of him wasn't Sanforized? He is a monster of despair. He is all decay. He speaks up as tiny as an earphone with Truman's asexual voice: I am your dwarf. I am the enemy within. I am the boss of your dreams. No. I am not the law in your mind, the grandfather of watchfulness. I am the law of your members, the kindred of blackness and impulse. See. Your hand shakes. It is not palsy or booze. It is your Doppelganger trying to get out. Beware . . . Beware . . . There once was a miller with a daughter as lovely as a grape. He told the king that she could spin gold out of common straw. The king summoned the girl and locked her in a room full of straw and told her to spin it into gold or she would die like a criminal. Poor grape with no one to pick. Luscious and round and sleek. Poor thing. To die and never see Brooklyn.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
She wept, of course, huge aquamarine tears. The door opened and in popped a dwarf. He was as ugly as a wart. Little thing, what are you? she cried. With his tiny nosex voice he replied: I am a dwarf. I have been exhibited on Bond Street and no child will ever call me Papa. I have no private life. If I'm in my cups the whole town knows by breakfast and no child will ever call me Papa I am eighteen inches high. I am no bigger than a partridge. I am your evil eye and no child will ever call me Papa. Stop this Papa foolishness, she cried. Can you perhaps spin straw into gold? Yes indeed, he said, that I can do. He spun the straw into gold and she gave him her necklace as a small reward. When the king saw what she had done he put her in a bigger room of straw and threatened death once more. Again she cried. Again the dwarf came. Again he spun the straw into gold. She gave him her ring as a small reward. The king put her in an even bigger room but this time he promised to marry her if she succeeded. Again she cried. Again the dwarf came. But she had nothing to give him. Without a reward the dwarf would not spin. He was on the scent of something bigger. He was a regular bird dog. Give me your firstborn and I will spin. She thought: Piffle! He is a silly little man.
And so she agreed. So he did the trick. Gold as good as Fort Knox. The king married her and within a year a son was born. He was like most new babies, as ugly as an artichoke but the queen thought him in pearl. She gave him her dumb lactation, delicate, trembling, hidden, warm, etc. And then the dwarf appeared to claim his prize. Indeed! I have become a papa! cried the little man. She offered him all the kingdom but he wanted only this a living thing to call his own. And being mortal who can blame him? The queen cried two pails of sea water. She was as persistent as a Jehovah's Witness. And the dwarf took pity. He said: I will give you three days to guess my name and if you cannot do it I will collect your child. The queen sent messengers throughout the land to find names of the most unusual sort. When he appeared the next day she asked: Melchior? Balthazar? But each time the dwarf replied: No! No! That's not my name. The next day she asked: Spindleshanks? Spiderlegs? But it was still nono. On the third day the messenger came back with a strange story. He told her:
As I came around the corner of the wood where the fox says good night to the hare I saw a little house with a fire burning in front of it. Around that fire a ridiculous little man was leaping on one leg and singing: Today I bake. Tomorrow I brew my beer. The next day the queen's only child will be mine. Not even the census taker knows that Rumpelstiltskin is my name . . . The queen was delighted. She had the name! Her breath blew bubbles. When the dwarf returned she called out: Is your name by any chance Rumpelstiltskin? He cried: The devil told you that! He stamped his right foot into the ground and sank in up to his waist. Then he tore himself in two. Somewhat like a split broiler. He laid his two sides down on the floor, one part soft as a woman, one part a barbed hook, one part papa, one part Doppelganger.
Name: Date:
The Name Sara Henderson Hay One of my names, and I have many others, Is Rumpelstiltskin. Desperate people call On me for aid, by one’s or by another’s Particular approach. I hear them all. Facing a hopeless task, they cry to me. I help them if they wish, or as I choose. I’m sometimes swayed by whim, or flattery, Or repetition of a phrase that they use. What touches me is that they so believe A name invoked could have some magic power To turn the clumsy spindle that they hold Into a tool to avert the impending hour, And give me credit, when their eyes perceive What daily chaff and straw they’ve spun to gold!
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
Straw into Gold Bruce Bennett The Miller’s Daughter It was father who claimed I could spin straw into gold, I who can barely thread a needle. Since then it’s one damaged room after another, with the attentions of a midge. If I’m lucky, they say, I’ll marry the King, a bore who’d just as soon kill me. Why didn’t he brag I’m beautiful and a virgin? At least I’d have one night on the town. Rumplestiltskin If I play this right, I’ll get her and baby both. She’ll have to tell how she turned all that straw into gold, and he’ll boot them out. That’s the sort of pig he is. Call me runt, will he? And she’s another. Two of a kind, they are. Games? She doesn’t know what games are. Just wait till and the kid are in my house in the woods. Then they’ll see games. The King Gold, gold, glorious gold! Heaps and heaps turned into gold! I’ll build them as high as mountains. I’ll impound the harvest. I’ll have some straw imported! Death to anyone who touches a piece of straw! The Miller That little slut! Imagine, keeping a secret like that! From her father! I’d’a whipped her good. And I’da kept my mouth shut; you can bet on that! She’d’a spun night and day. In a couple of months, I’d’a been King.
Name: Date:
Rumplestiltskin Keeps Mum Claudia Carlson He was able to make hay into ore. He was able to make peasant into queen. He was not able to make rise the rumpled skin between his parenthetic legs. As if he ever needed her insignificant dowry. Amber beads? Her little ring? No, he needed someone to teach him the lexicon he knew; a student, a scribe, an heir, this infant son codified in royal flesh. He’s keeping mum. Let her ask, his name is buried. The power in names is well documented. Rosetta stone junkies and the code breakers, all those efforts at making a key turn when he, he was ready to stop turning. Too weary, too lame, his past misquoted and plagiarized, he was now Mr. Anonymous. He had read the scrolls and hieroglyphs. He knew the cliff where the phoenix rose. He picked the herbs a hedgewitch picks. The libraries of Alexandria still burned in his eyes. Let other men tear bindings, pillage language, spread words like fleas. Let women grunt their syllables of forcing new souls to repeat the words of the world. He’d never tell. He’s keeping mum.
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
Name: Date:
Her Shadow Gwen Straus Straw burning into gold smells of rotten eggs with a hint of lemons and almonds. Those trinkets my mother’s wedding ring, her necklace, they were gifts from my father. I gave them to him as easily as my father had given me, one day on the way to market, boasting. I would have done anything for his company in the heaps of straw, for his pimpled face, his songs. I liked his size, and even his ugliness. We played puns and riddles while he spun. When he asked for my child, what did I care for the King’s child? I didn’t know how then a baby can have nothing to do with the father when it falls asleep in your arms smelling of sweetsour milk. When he came again, I had not forgotten our time in the dim room of wheels, how he woke me with the tender tickling of straw behind my ears. The King has never touched me that way. But I was ashamed and it was easier to despise him. On the third day he arrived smelling faintly of beer and baking bread, jovial, less lonely. He gave back the ring. Then I said his name and pulled one leg until he split apart, in front of us. Since then, I have felt old. He tore himself in two, for me,
The World of the Brothers Grimm Rumpelstiltskin Unit
like a shadow, asking for my goldenhaired child, the seed of another man.
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm GRADE:
FINAL WRITING PORTFOLIO GRADING SHEET POETRY complete
assignment
revision process grade
final draft grade
“Cinderella” poem #1
“Cinderella” poem #2
“Hansel and Gretel” poem #1
“Hansel and Gretel” poem #2
“Rumpelstiltskin” poem #1
“Rumpelstiltskin” poem #2
Average grade for total revision process grades + final draft grades: SHORT STORIES complete
assignment
revision process grade
final draft grade
“Cinderella”
“Hansel and Gretel”
“Rumpelstiltskin”
Average grade for total revision process grades + final draft grades: ESSAYS complete
assignment
revision process grade
final draft grade
“Cinderella”
“Hansel and Gretel”
“Rumpelstiltskin”
Average grade for total revision process grades + final draft grades:
Name: Date:
The World of the Brothers Grimm FINAL EXAM
The World of the Brothers Grimm Final Exam: Part II **Part I (50% of your final exam grade): your final writing portfolio** Part II Answer these questions using complete sentences. 1. Summarize Grimms’ “Cinderella” in one paragraph. 2. Summarize Grimms’ “Hansel and Gretel” in one paragraph.
3. Summarize Grimms’ “Rumpelstiltskin” in one paragraph. 4. & 5. Select two of the novels that we read and explain how each author made the antagonist seem less evil. Novel #1: ________________________________
Novel #2: ________________________________ 6. & 7. Select two of the novels that we read and explain how each author made the lead female character a stronger, more independent version of the fairy tale character. Novel #1: ________________________________
Novel #2: ________________________________ 8. List three approaches that a contemporary poet might take in creating a poem from a fairy tale. • • • 9. Consider all three of the fairy tales that we studied; what do these stories say about the relationship between parents and children?
10. Write a paragraph explaining why so many people continue to read fairy tales and produce new versions of them.