Reading Notes: Japanese Fairy Tales, Part A

For week six I chose to begin the reading, Japanese Fairy Tales. All of these short stories had cute details and characters which kept my interest peaked. A lot of the characters were made up of a collective amount of various animals (which I appreciated). I was thinking of combining the two stories, The Two Frogs and The Cat’s Elopement. The other stories were creative and cute but I felt that the combination of these two stories would compliment each other. In the story, The Two Frogs, there were two identical frogs that were traveling in between each of their hometowns. Both frogs were curious about the other frog’s hometown where later on they find out they are identical like themselves. In the story, The Cat’s Elopement, it was basically about two cats who lived with different owners where they then attempted to run away together to elope. However, soon after they run away from home they only find themselves being split up facing their own obstacles along the way.
For my story I plan to create an outline that would most likely correlate more with the elopement story rather than the story about the frogs. The characters would be two cats who love each other and plan to start a new life together by eloping and finding a new home elsewhere. Maybe I could write about a journey that the cats face together when transitioning from their small town lifestyle into a big city lifestyle. I could create an obstacle the newly wedded cats face while moving and end with them knowing that it doesn't matter where they end up as long as they are together. The purpose from the story about the frogs would hopefully mesh well when I incorporate the meaning in the end. Furthermore, I would aim to have the story end with some kind of relatable anecdote people face when realizing that happiness is only found from within.

Two cats cuddling
 Link to picture

Bibliography: This story is part of The Japanese Fairy Tale unit. Story source: The Violet Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H.J. Ford (1901).