Reading Note's: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki) unit, Part A

These Japanese Fairy Tales were retold by Yei Theodora Ozaki.

The first story was My Lord Bag of Rice. This story was about a brave warrior who met the Dragon King on the bridge. The Dragon King needed his help killing the giant centipede and, when he did, the Dragon King gave him five presents, a large bronze bell, bag of rice, roll of silk, cooking pot, and a bell. I was confused because the ending talks about all but one of the presents, the bell (not the 'large bronze bell'). Although I was a little confused at the end, I feel like the story progressed well, it was interesting to listen and read along to (audio books are the bomb-dot-com!).

The next story was The Adventures of Kintaro, The Golden Boy. Kintaro was a strong boy, abnormally strong. When his father died he was taken to live in the mountains by his mother. This story was unique because Kintaro had extreme strength and later he developed the ability to communicate with and befriend animals. I think it would be fun to reverse the roles and have his friends be human and Kintaro is the animal. One thing that I did not quite understand was how or why Kintaro had the special ability of advanced strength, it kind of comes out of nowhere. I wonder if it is from his father, was it a mutation maybe, who knows? I am sure I could do some searching and get the answers, maybe create a story from that.

The last story was The Story of the Man Who Did Not Wish to Die. In short, this story was about a man who did not want to die, so he gets in contact with a hermit because he wishes to become one and is denied, but the hermit sends him to an island of immortality. Although he got his wish, the people on this new island wished the opposite and they end up leaving to go to the land where people can die. After a while he wishes to get off the island and in the midst of flying on the origami crane the hermit gave him, it crashes and he faces death, but he is scared and does not truly wish to die. The best part was the plot twist at the end where Sentaro wakes up and realizes it was all a dream. This reminds me of some psychological thriller movies, however, it also reminds me of Click with Adam Sandler.

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