Today is World Chocolate Day! Or at least one of the Chocolate Days on the calendar. It's a bit confusing, but any excuse to eat chocolate works for me. I don't know if I've shared this story before or not. It's about how chocolate came to the world.
Long ago, there lived a people called the Toltecas. They were related to the Aztecs. They were poor and hungry. Though they worked hard to find food, they didn’t know how to properly grow and cook it. As the gods looked down upon them, they wondered what to do. The god Quetzalcoatl decided to descend to the earth and teach the Toltecas about food. At first, the Toltecas were fearful. But, they began to see that this was no ordinary human. He seemed to have special powers. He had abilities that others could only dream about. They began to worship this superhuman.
Immediately, the Toltecas set to work building a palace in the middle of their...
So, the 4th of July is coming up and I don't really know any folktales that go with the occasion. If you know of any, let me know and I can use it next year.
I did find an interesting story about President Zachary Taylor's death at History.com that has a July 4th connection. President Taylor began his Fourth of July in 1850 by attending an event at the Washington Monument. The day was oppressively hot, and Taylor cooled off by drinking copious amounts of ice water. After the event, Taylor reportedly returned to the White House, where he downed glasses of cold milk and ate vast quantities of green apples and cherries. The next day, complaining of severe intestinal cramps and diarrhea, Taylor was diagnosed with cholera morbus, or what today would be called gastroenteritis. It is also possible he may have contracted cholera, which occurred frequently during the summer months in hot, humid Washington during the 1800s, when sewage systems were primitive...
The summer solstice was earlier this week, which sent me on a search for a sun story for today. "The North Wind and the Sun" is one of Aesop's fables. It's not really a summer story, though.
The Wind and the Sun were disputing which was the stronger. Suddenly they saw a traveler coming down the road, and the Sun said: "I see a way to decide our dispute. Whichever of us can cause that traveler to take off his cloak shall be regarded as the stronger. You begin." So the Sun retired behind a cloud, and the Wind began to blow as hard as it could upon the traveler. But the harder he blew the more closely did the traveler wrap his cloak round him, till at last the Wind had to give up in despair. Then the Sun came out and shone in all his glory upon the traveler, who soon found it too hot to walk with his...
The King Garnet Stories by Marianne Parry are not traditional fairy tales, but they have that same feel - kings and queens, a touch of magic, a lesson to learn.
The King Garnet Stories are fun. The first is my favorite. The King's legs grow way to long and everyone is worried. He is under a spell, but who is casting the spell made it a funny little story.
In the second story, King Garnet comes up with a plan to stop his wife from being so bossy. He decides not to talk anymore. He lets his daughters, the doctors, and the witches in on the secret. In the end, the Queen goes back to the nice woman she used to be. It's a cute story even if the portrayal of the Queen is a little sexist.
The last story ends with a light-hearted, almost Renaissance fair type battle. Everyone enjoys the day and the decide to make it an annual event. The illustration at the...
We saw Alice Through the Looking Glass last weekend. I admit, I'm not a big fan of Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and I don't think I've read Through the Looking Glass, but I really like Burton's Alice and this sequel. From what I can tell, this movie doesn't have much to do with the book anyway.
First, the visuals are amazing. It's just a gorgeous movie. Just sit back and enjoy it.
Alice goes back in time to try to save the Hatter's family. Time warns her that you can't change the past, but you can learn from it. Alice tries, anyway, but soon understands he's right. I'm not a big fan of time travel, but I don't mind it so much when you can't actually change anything, when it self-corrects, so to speak.
Of course, we get a happy ending. Family is important, both for the Hatter and Alice, and we need to let each other know how important they are to us...
If you saw my Saturday Snapshot post, you know we have cicadas at the moment. They "sing" all day long, a drone that you can even hear inside. So, I went looking for a cicada folktale. "The Ant and the Cicada" is a fable by Jean de la Fontaine.
Having sung the summer through,
Cicada found herself quite destitute.
And when the North Wind blew,
Provisions being less than scant,
She crawled on down to neighbor ant
With cries of famine,
Hoping to borrow just a bit of seed
To tide her over till the coming Spring.
“I’ll pay of course,” she tried to plead,
“Before the month of August,
Both interest and principal.
Come, trust a fellow animal!”
The ant however is no lender;
Lending is the least of all her flaws.
“Could you tell me what you did
On all those hot dry days?”
She asked the borrower.
“Night and day, my pardon to you ants,
I sang, for one and all.”
“You sang? I am enthralled!
Now all you have to do is dance.”
The understanding then it that the...