The Fair Angiola: I find it interesting that in many fairy tales, the antagonist always asks for a fist born child in exchange for something they will give (i.e., a pardon or a magical gift). I was very surprised to discover that Angiola is the same character that I have grown up knowing as Rapunzel. I was impressed that this story had a far happier ending in which the witch is forgiving and allows Angiola to marry the prince.
Italian Tales
Sire Fiorante, Magician: I found this story to be incredibly strange. I guess love won out in the end, but it had to go through a very strange route to get there. I was not expecting drugging someone with opium to have ever been a part of a fairy tale!
The Man, the Serpent, and the Fox: This story reminded me of the song from wicked that goes as, "no good deed goes unpunished." It is sad to think that some people truly believe that there is no point to doing good things for others. I love the ended in that the fox used his trickery to save the man by placing the greedy snake into his original bonds.
The Language of Animals: I think that it is interesting that the teach chose to teach to boy the language of animals versus normal courses that are thought of when you think of school. It could be fun to write a back story on how the teacher herself came to know the language of animals.
The Cock That Wished to Become Pope: Well this was a sad and morbid ending to the unit. I could not find much of a moral lesson or interesting plot line to this tale, which made it almost even more interesting to read. This is the sort of story in which you can let your imagination run wild with why a cock wanted to be a pope, what the witch had to do with anything, and why the sexton would eat something that he had a conversation with!
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