Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales (Ozaki), Part B

        In the first story, a priest stumbles upon the home of a goblin/old woman, although he does not know this. He asks for shelter and is instructed by the goblin to not peer into the back room. Curiosity gets the best of him and he find the bodies of the goblin's victims in the room. He escapes in the nick of time. I was confused as to why the goblin/woman tried to convince him not to stay with her. Surely, if she had wanted to eat him, she would have done everything in her power to keep him there. Also, why did she sit and speak with him civilly and mysteriously instruct him to stay away from the room when she knew this would pique his curiosity. It would be interesting to write this from the goblin's/old woman's perspective to uncover her motivations.

        The second story tells of a knight who fights an ogre and severs its arm. He worries it will come for its arm, so he hides it away in a strong box, vowing to never show anyone. The ogre disguises itself as the knight's old nurse and asks to see the arm. The knight gives in and the ogre steals back its arm. I wondered if the nurse was only a costume or if she was the ogre in reality and the knight was nursed by an ogre. That would be quite an ironic story. An ogre hunter who was unknowingly nursed by an ogre. I could write this from the perspective of the ogre who is also his nurse.

        The third story is of a girl whose step mother was jealous and malicious. The woman accidentally murders her own son in an effort to kill the girl. She sends a servant to kill the girl later, but the servant takes her away to keep her safe. Her father stumbles upon her and brings her home and the step mother flees. This reminded me of the story of Snow White. Many of the Brothers Grimm stories feature a cruel step mother. If I rewrote this, I think I'd have the emperor find her and marry her. The girl's father must have known about the step mother's hatred for her and he stood by to let it happen. He doesn't deserve to be the hero.


Image Information: Old Woman, Source: Pixabay

Bibliography: Japanese Fairy Tales by Yei Theodora Ozaki, link to the reading online.