I've always loved the story of our fall from Grace.
I know that makes me weird but I can't apologize for it. It's so ROMANTIC
The creation story moves me. God created this earth and all it's beauty and power and to show his goodness he created man to be caretaker of this garden.
Who know how long Adam lived and worked with his only companions being animals and God. God was his friend, his boss, his maker and his teacher. I can't imagine how close of a relationship they had but even so Adam was lonely for human companionship. So God created the woman Eve and gave them to each other and I have no doubt that they were deeply in love.
Then one day something bad happens and Eve is decieved by evil. Adam finds out and it breaks his heart. He knows the penalty for what she did. He knows they're going to be seperated and that he will go on living forever walking and talking with his creator but that she will die. He knows that she'll suffer from loneliness the way he did before God joined them. He knows that he himself will suffer when she's evicted. He knows what he has to do to stay with her.
He willingly eats of the fruit. He knows she was tricked into eating it but he wasn't tricked. He knowingly joined her in her rebellion and betrayal of his best friend.
When God comes to talk to him he tries to hide her and protect her from whatever horrible thing is going to happen to her. God knows what they did and he asks Adam why? Why did you betray me.
------------this is the part that chokes me up-------------
Adam stands up to God and says 'you gave me this woman and you're NOT taking my wife away from me!' 'Yes, I ate you're damn fruit and it was worth it. I give up everything I have to be with her because I love her.'
So Adam and Eve left the Garden of Eden .......... together.
You and me against the world baby. My favorite story.
I like any of the Grimm fairy tales. But, for favourite story, I think Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier. Classic love story of two lovers meeting, then something happens and each think the other won't/doesn't like them for reasons (meaningful to them but not to the other), but in the end, all is well. (Plus, major mystery/suspense story!) Plus, I love the opening line:
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..."
Wow! Just found it and read it. Never heard of this one before. I like fairy tales and short stories. I always wonder 'what's the back story and why did they do it that way'
In this story, I'm left wondering why she was in the tree spinning when the King found her. I mean among other things of course but that just seems so random.
-- Edited by dqm either on Saturday 30th of June 2012 11:51:23 PM
It's Mythology, not "fairy tale", but my favorite story (even as a non-believer) is, in it's entirety, the Bible. It's got action, it's got sex, it's got supernatural, it's got history, it's got magic, it's got longevity (meaning it's lasted a long time)... and if you look at it like it's JUST a story... it's a really good read.
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"Yabba Dabba Doo" - Frederick J. Flintstone... So what?
(Judd Nelson as Atty. Robin 'Stormy' Weathers in "From the Hip")
I don't think I actually have a favorite fairy tale, although interestingly, the book that turned me onto one of my favorite authors has the theme of favorite fairy tales.
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"I never understood why blessings wore disguises. If I were a blessing, I'd run around naked." - Sophia Petrillo
My favorite Grimm's Fairy Tale is The Twelve Brothers.
It's the tale of a king and queen who had twelve sons. When the queen was pregnant with a thirteenth child, her husband decreed that if that child was a girl the twelve boys must die. It was a girl and the princes ran away to live in the woods.
The Princess grew up and set out to find her brothers. She did, but accidentally turned them into ravens. The only way to save them was for her to remain completely silent for seven years.
A handsome king saw her spinning wool in a tree and was so taken by her beauty that he married her. After a few years, the king's mother persuaded him that his wife must be evil if she couldn't speak, so he condemed her to death.
The young queen was in the pyre with flames licking at her clothing when the seven years ended and the twelve ravens flew in to save the day. She told her husband why she could never speak or laugh and as punishment for her treachery the old queen mother was put in a barrel with boiling oil and poisenous snakes.
No, it's not just you. Most stories have different versions based on who's telling it.
Disney tells his stories much differenttly than the brothers Grimm.
So, this version is told by....? I've only read the Bible version.
There are plenty of different Bible versions but every one that I've ever read says that the serpent (devil) decieved Eve. Adam was never decieved. He could have let her get evicted from the garden by herself but he didn't want that. He wanted to be with her more than he wanted to be with God.
He had dominion over everything and he willingly gave it up to live and die with her.
Eating that fruit has got to be the most romantic gesture ever. Can you freaking imagine?!
I mean I'm sure God could have made him a new wife if loneliness was the only issue. I don't think it was. That's why it's my all time favorite story.
While I get where it never says that Adam was deceived, Genesis 3 is pretty clear that it wasn't for worry of being alone after Eve got evicted. Adam did it because Eve convinced him to do so.
Eve gave him the fruit, so he ate.
Genesis 3:
KJV -
Spoiler
3 Now the serpent was more subtil than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden:
3 But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And the Lord God called unto Adam, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And the Lord God said unto the woman, What is this that thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14 And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
ASV -
Spoiler
Now the serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which Jehovah God had made. And he said unto the woman, Yea, hath God said, Ye shall not eat of any tree of the garden?
2 And the woman said unto the serpent, Of the fruit of the trees of the garden we may eat:
3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.
4 And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die:
5 for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as God, knowing good and evil.
6 And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat; and she gave also unto her husband with her, and he did eat.
7 And the eyes of them both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig-leaves together, and made themselves aprons.
8 And they heard the voice of Jehovah God walking in the garden in the cool of the day: and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of Jehovah God amongst the trees of the garden.
9 And Jehovah God called unto the man, and said unto him, Where art thou?
10 And he said, I heard thy voice in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.
11 And he said, Who told thee that thou wast naked? Hast thou eaten of the tree, whereof I commanded thee that thou shouldest not eat?
12 And the man said, The woman whom thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat.
13 And Jehovah God said unto the woman, What is this thou hast done? And the woman said, The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat.
14 And Jehovah God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, cursed art thou above all cattle, and above every beast of the field; upon thy belly shalt thou go, and dust shalt thou eat all the days of thy life:
15 and I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed: he shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise his heel.
16 Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy conception; in pain thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.
17 And unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree, of which I commanded thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it: cursed is the ground for thy sake; in toil shalt thou eat of it all the days of thy life;
NIV -
Spoiler
Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’? ”
2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden,
3 but God did say, ‘You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.’”
4 “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman.
5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it.
7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they realized they were naked; so they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves.
8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
11 And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from? ”
12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me —she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
13 Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”
14 So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, Cursed are you above all livestock and all wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.
15 And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring[a] and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.”
16 To the woman he said, “I will make your pains in childbearing very severe; with painful labor you will give birth to children. Your desire will be for your husband, and he will rule over you. ”
17 To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it', Cursed is the ground because of you; through painful toil you will eat food from it all the days of your life.
__________________
"Yabba Dabba Doo" - Frederick J. Flintstone... So what?
(Judd Nelson as Atty. Robin 'Stormy' Weathers in "From the Hip")
Verse 8 you can tell he's scared but by verse 12 he totally mans up.
I'm paraphrasing of course but Adam tells God 'This is MY woman. You gave her to me. Yes, she disobeyed your rule, she may not have fully understood what that meant but I knew. I had a choice. I could have denied her but I didn't. She means everything to me and I chose her fate.'
Dude's her hero. I mean yeah it sucks to be them with hard work and toiling for him and periods and labor pains for her. Life gets all harsh blah blah but she was worth EVERYTHING to him. C'mon, it doesn't get much more romantic than that.
I like any of the Grimm fairy tales. But, for favourite story, I think Rebecca by Daphne de Maurier. Classic love story of two lovers meeting, then something happens and each think the other won't/doesn't like them for reasons (meaningful to them but not to the other), but in the end, all is well. (Plus, major mystery/suspense story!) Plus, I love the opening line:
"Last night I dreamt I went to Manderley again..."
Is this a novel? It sounds good but I was looking more for short stories or fairy tales. I've been watching Twilight Zone episodes and some of them remind me of facination with short stories. I'm looking for some new ones. But I'm being lazy and don't want to put in the work of searching through a bunch I won't like. So, any other favorites?
Verse 8 you can tell he's scared but by verse 12 he totally mans up.
I'm paraphrasing of course but Adam tells God 'This is MY woman. You gave her to me. Yes, she disobeyed your rule, she may not have fully understood what that meant but I knew. I had a choice. I could have denied her but I didn't. She means everything to me and I chose her fate.'
Dude's her hero. I mean yeah it sucks to be them with hard work and toiling for him and periods and labor pains for her. Life gets all harsh blah blah but she was worth EVERYTHING to him. C'mon, it doesn't get much more romantic than that.
Yeah... ummm... I'm not getting any of that from what I read (either in Sunday School... or a quick refresher now).
__________________
"Yabba Dabba Doo" - Frederick J. Flintstone... So what?
(Judd Nelson as Atty. Robin 'Stormy' Weathers in "From the Hip")
Verse 8 you can tell he's scared but by verse 12 he totally mans up.
I'm paraphrasing of course but Adam tells God 'This is MY woman. You gave her to me. Yes, she disobeyed your rule, she may not have fully understood what that meant but I knew. I had a choice. I could have denied her but I didn't. She means everything to me and I chose her fate.'
Dude's her hero. I mean yeah it sucks to be them with hard work and toiling for him and periods and labor pains for her. Life gets all harsh blah blah but she was worth EVERYTHING to him. C'mon, it doesn't get much more romantic than that.
Yeah... ummm... I'm not getting any of that from what I read (either in Sunday School... or a quick refresher now).
Me either. That's a lot of reading between the lines.
I think it was 7th grade where I read mostly biographies and fairy tales, don't know why.
There was a fairy tale called The Three Sillies that I liked a lot, but I don't remember who wrote it. It wasn't about princesses. It was about what seemed like regular people, but it made me laugh. If you go looking for it try to find it in as old a book as possible. I read it back in the late 60s and in newer books it mostly seems to have been rewritten.
There was also a story about a soldier who won? maybe in a battle? a dog (or dog-like) animal with eyes as big as saucers. The animal had some magical qualities, which helped the soldier in his tasks. Or quests. I have a bad memory, but something about that story has stayed with me! If only my memory included more of the story or who wrote it. The only things I'm sure about is the soldier and the animal, though there might have been more than one of those.
Could it be The Tinderbox by Hans Christian Anderson? The Soldier steals a tinderbox for an old witch then kills her and keeps it. When he rubs it the dog with eyes as big as saucers help him get treasure and a princess. This version says the dog's eyes are as big as teacups.
http://hca.gilead.org.il/tinderbx.html
-- Edited by Evil Stepmother on Sunday 1st of July 2012 09:02:39 PM
Of course it is. What's between the lines is often the best part.
A good story will tell you -what- happend but a great story is -why- it happened.
I mean c'mon. Adam had a reason for what he did. He wasn't stupid and nobody tricked him into it.. He was in direct and conscious rebellion. We don't have to read too much between the lines because when asked he readily admits that he did it for his wife.
If not for love of the woman God gave him, why do you think he did it? It's my favorite story so I'm interested in hearing other interpretations.
Also can you tell us what your favorite short story or fairy tale is. I mean mine is good and all but ...
I think it was 7th grade where I read mostly biographies and fairy tales, don't know why.
There was a fairy tale called The Three Sillies that I liked a lot, but I don't remember who wrote it. It wasn't about princesses. It was about what seemed like regular people, but it made me laugh. If you go looking for it try to find it in as old a book as possible. I read it back in the late 60s and in newer books it mostly seems to have been rewritten.
There was also a story about a soldier who won? maybe in a battle? a dog (or dog-like) animal with eyes as big as saucers. The animal had some magical qualities, which helped the soldier in his tasks. Or quests. I have a bad memory, but something about that story has stayed with me! If only my memory included more of the story or who wrote it. The only things I'm sure about is the soldier and the animal, though there might have been more than one of those.
7th grade was when I got hooked on mythology. I love love loved every time my kids got old enough to show an interest. By the time the Percy Jackson stories came out, my kids knew all the stories better than I did.
If you search Amazon.com for free ebooks, they have a LOT of free fairy tale collections. You don't need a Kindle, either - you can download their free PC app.
__________________
"I never understood why blessings wore disguises. If I were a blessing, I'd run around naked." - Sophia Petrillo
I think it was 7th grade where I read mostly biographies and fairy tales, don't know why.
There was a fairy tale called The Three Sillies that I liked a lot, but I don't remember who wrote it. It wasn't about princesses. It was about what seemed like regular people, but it made me laugh. If you go looking for it try to find it in as old a book as possible. I read it back in the late 60s and in newer books it mostly seems to have been rewritten.
There was also a story about a soldier who won? maybe in a battle? a dog (or dog-like) animal with eyes as big as saucers. The animal had some magical qualities, which helped the soldier in his tasks. Or quests. I have a bad memory, but something about that story has stayed with me! If only my memory included more of the story or who wrote it. The only things I'm sure about is the soldier and the animal, though there might have been more than one of those.
Could it be The Tinderbox by Hans Christian Anderson? The Soldier steals a tinderbox for an old witch then kills her and keeps it. When he rubs it the dog with eyes as big as saucers help him get treasure and a princess. This version says the dog's eyes are as big as teacups.
http://hca.gilead.org.il/tinderbx.html
-- Edited by Evil Stepmother on Sunday 1st of July 2012 09:02:39 PM
The Tinderbox, that's the one! Thanks so much, Evil Stepmother!! I'll have to check that out. I have some old collections of fairy tales but they're boxed up in the attic. :)
Dgm, maybe that's it. Mythology AND fairy tales! I went to school to be a librarian and my children's lit classes were really interesting when we talked about fairy tales and how some of them were actually political satires. Nothing I knew about in 7th grade, that's for sure!!
If you search Amazon.com for free ebooks, they have a LOT of free fairy tale collections. You don't need a Kindle, either - you can download their free PC app.
Yeah, I searched the Three Sillies and it brought me to a nice collection of English Fairy Tales.
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I'm certain that I could find plenty on my own but my goal is to learn more about people here and what types of stories they like. And WHY they like the stories they do. Not whole novels. Just short stories.—————————————————————————————— From mine, I think it's easy to see that 1. I'm romantic 2. Obviously, I don't read things the same way others do.
Not really a fairy tale but an epic poem: Beowolf.
The old version is good but I like the story better when they made Grendel's mother a succubi. The story was jucier when you knew the reason the king couldn't kill Grendel. Plus FINALLY there was a powerful engaging story where than man suffers for his infidelty. It makes me wonder though... why was Beowolf able to kill the dragon? It could be a story flaw or I could be over thinking it.
I also found it interesting that Hrothgar(?)'s son was Grendel, this hideous creature but Beowolf's son was a dragon. They were both terrible and evil (begat of fornicating with a demon) but Beowolf's son was so much more powerful and beautiful. I wonder what Bulvy(sp?)'s son was going to be.
*yes, yes, yes I know that's not how everyone else read the story. I'm telling why -I- like it.