Essay Week 14: A Place for Grace

What is incredible to me is the place that grace holds among these stories. Most stories have some element of grace in them, whether that is abundant grace or grace that is lacking. The Italian Popular Tales unit is full of all kinds of examples.

When the stories with varying levels of grace are juxtaposed like they are in the storybook, it truly highlights the role that grace plays. I will go into detail on two stories that are in the storybook and elaborate on the role grace plays for each.

The Ingrates 

In this story, there is a man, a snake, and a fox. The man helps the snake from under a rock, but then the serpent wants to eat the man. They both inquire with others what is right, and the fox basically tricks the snake back under the rock and all is how it started. Now, instead of thanking or repaying the fox for saving his life, the man ends up killing the fox. The moral of that story being that evil is repaid to those who do good. Basically, this story lacks grace. You know how when you are eating something while on the beach, at some point you accidentally get a few grains of sand in your mouth and you are left with it grinding in the teeth? That is how I felt at the end of this story. Where is the redemption?

The Story of Crivoliu

In this story, a brother and a sister end up having a son together and he ends up being raised in a different place. At some point he finds out how he was conceived and pays his penance for his parents sin. Long story short, he ends up becoming pope. Later, his parents come and confess their sins to the pope. Instead if being bitter, he forgives them and they all lived happily ever after. In other words, full of grace. You know how you feel on a hot summer day when your mom pulls out a sleeve of frozen iced pops and that sweet, frozen nectar hits your hot tongue? That's refreshing, just like this story.

Both of these stories, grace plays a role. I think to me I realized that we all in some form or fashion long for redemption, and that comes through grace. I find both stories equally entertaining, but I truly enjoy when grace is present. It also reminds me to show grace as often as possible!

Image Credit: NBC News

Storytelling Week 14: The Three Brothers

There once were three brothers. They all three were adventurous, studious, brilliant young men who were trying to fight their way into the world of business.

The three of them decided that it was wise to go all in together because there is strength in numbers.. as well as less business risk. They looked into a variety of options for their business and decided on an industrial equipment sales company that would distribute as well as repair manufacturer equipment to smaller "mom and pop" companies. The three of them drew up a business plan and got to work.

Half a year down the road, the business was up and running. The three of them had poured all their effort into the structure of the company as well as into building up a broad clientele base. The oldest brother saw a ton of potential in the company and had been in charge of the legal side of the business. When it came time to divvy up the profit, the oldest brother greedily thought it the right time to tell the other brothers they had been "written out," meaning that they were not owners of the company and therefore would receive nothing for their work.

Enraged, the other brothers fought him in court, but to no avail due to the eldest brother's infallible contract work. The two of them counted their losses and set to work again, their entrepreneurial spirit as alive as ever. The middle brother proposed a new business, one that managed, bought, and sold real estate properties. Seeing the potential, the younger brother agreed. They both made a promise that they wouldn't let the same thing happen that had the last time. They hired out a contract lawyer to do the work.

So they set to work, and the business was again up and running within the first year. After they had acquired enough properties, the middle brother turned over a new, yet ugly leaf. It turns out that the contract lawyer that was hired to do the work had been paid off by the middle brother to write the youngest out of the contract. The same thing happened again. When it came time to reap the reward of their hard work, the middle brother kicked the younger one out.

Dejected and hurt after being kicked out of two businesses he had rightfully started, he set down and rethought his approach to business-building. He analyzed the markets like never before, and tried to combine that with all of his passions. He started out, this time with no other business partners, to build his very own outdoor adventure store. It would offer access to all extreme sports, renting out equipment, as well as selling high-end retail.

Again, the business thrived within the first year. The youngest brother was happier than ever, and found himself almost glad that he had been thwarted by his oldest two brothers.

Five years later, the youngest brother had grown his company into an empire, with store locations all around the nation. The market turned unfavorable and the middle and eldest brothers had been "wolfed" by the downturn. By the end, the youngest brother was the only one still standing, taller and happier than ever.

Image Credit: Real Adventure

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Author's Note: This story is based on the Three Goslings from the Italian Fairy Tales book written by Thomas Crane in 1885. This story is also very well known in the states as "The Three Little Pigs." Here, I gave it a modern twist by changing the pigs into three brothers, and the wolf into the volatile market. I thought instead of dying physically, as the goslings did in the story, I would have the brothers' careers die instead. In this day and age, some people would argue that that death is just as bad (although it isn't). I like that the third brother combined his passion for business and passion for adventure and opened an outdoors store; this is something I hope to do one day, too!

Reading Diary B: Italian Round 2

The second half of the Italian Popular Tales unit proved to be just as fun as the first! There were a few of the stories that I had heard before, but with a twist. For instance, The Three Goslings is the equivalent of The Three Little Pigs. A lot of the stories, however, were very new to me and in my opinion had a variety of lessons.

I found An Incident in Rome to be entertaining yet serious. It is a story where a group of men stumble upon this hole in the ground. A man descends into it to find a door and a man sitting in the room behind it. After a series of events, we find out that this man is Pontius Pilate, who is neither saved nor condemned. He is to stay and read over and over the sentence he gave to Jesus Christ. It is no light subject matter, that is for sure!

My favorite of the unit was The Feast Day. This is a story about how a cat, a dog, a maiden, and her husband all get stuck on the top of the house. They are later saved by a friend who came to visit and managed to pull them all down. The reason it was my favorite is really just because it is a story that in context means something completely different present day. They use the following expressions:

"... Where the deuce are you fastened?"
"Where the deuce have they hidden?"

I find this entertaining because a lot of college kids use similar expressions. I don't know if this is the style of story from which that slang term originated, but it added such value to the entertainment of the story. Not to mention the way that it ends:

So he gave a great pull: the cat's tail was loosened, the cat fell into the dog's mouth, the dog into his mistress' mouth, the mistress into her husband's, her husband into his friend's, and his friend into the mouth of the blockheads who are listening to me.

I just like that the author used the term "blockheads" to finish of a great story!

Image Cred: StripGenerator

Reading Diary A: Italia What, These Are Some Good Stories!

Read Italian Fairy Tales, the first half, today. It was right up there with some of my other favorite units in the class. I think I have come to the conclusion that I really enjoy the middle ages where there are kings and enchantments and the works.

The beginning of this unit had the story of Rapunzel, but not Rapunzel. It was an Italian Rapunzel whose name is The Fair Angiola. What I liked about this story is that it reminds me of the movie Tangled (happened to watch it this past weekend). But it truly does help paint the picture whenever we have something to which we can compare the imagery used in writing. I picture the old witch very similar to the old lady in Tangled!

Image Credit: YouTube

I also thought that The Ingrates had a very interesting ending to its story. In it, there is a serpent trapped under a rock, and a man helps him escape. The snake then wants to eat the man. They seek advice of those around them to see what is fair. Eventually, they ask the fox, and the fox tricks the snake back to being trapped from under the rock and frees the man. Then, the man gives the fox a gift that actually contains dog inside. The fox opens the gift and is killed by the dogs. It definitely is an ending that is bittersweet. I like it because it is different- not that prefect happy ending. But I also think it is so sad that so much injustice was done. Although it was entertaining, to say the least.