Week 14 Reading B: Italian Stories: The Cat and the Mouse

Image result for cat and mouse
(Cat and Mouse from PublicDomanPictures)


 For this set of reading notes in the Italian section, I decided to look at the story of The Cat and the Mouse. The reason I chose this story is that it is very... odd, to say the least. I think I don't fully understand it. For me, most ambiguous stories seem to have an end that has some metaphor or something like that, and perhaps there is one that I am missing. But with this story, it sort of just felt like things dragged on and on for too long, and then just sort of stopped. Maybe the underlying theme is something to do with gossip? How things get around? I'm really not sure to be honest. I think that as far as my notes go with this story, I think it's going to be more of a "what not to do" for me. I think I should refrain from dragging out my stories or having short, abrupt endings that don't really make much sense for the readers without some explanation. 

Bibliography:

  • The Cat and the Mouse, from Italian Popular Tales by Thomas Frederick Crane, found at UnTextbook

Comments

  1. Laura GibbsNovember 28, 2018 at 8:01 PM

    Hi Jacob! I just happened to notice your post and it made me laugh because I am personally obsessed with these kinds of chain tales, but they are definitely very weird because it's ALL about the form of the story, not the message. If you are curious, there are lots of parallels to this weird story all over the world: Little Ant Marries. In a sense these stories are more like a dance or something, a pretty pattern more than a message. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Laura GibbsDecember 1, 2018 at 10:36 AM

    Hi again, Jacob! I did it :-)
    I'm trying to finish up the class this weekend, and your notes helped me decide what to use for my last story, and it was fun.
    The Cat and Her Husband
    Happy Weekend!

    ReplyDelete

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