This week I'm righting a wrong and bringing you three original stories from Jean De La Fontaine, who I've so often paired with Aesop. Our first story is about two mules and their related burdens.
To finish off our week in France we're doing one of my absolute favorite things, looking at the contrast between the Aesop and the La Fontaine version of 'The Miser and His Gold'.
In the final chapter of "The Little Grey Mouse" we discover if Rosalie will ever triumph over her curiosity and the Fairy Detestable to be reunited with her father and betrothed.
In Part 4 of "The Little Grey Mouse", 'The Tree in the Rotunda', our curious heroine meets the second temptation provided by the Fairy Detestable in the castle of Prince Gracious.
In Part 2 of "The Little Grey Mouse" we meet our antagonist, the appropriately named Fairy Detestable, and learn all about our heroine's family and the curse put upon them.
Some of my favorite stories are Sophie Ségur's longer tales from "Old French Fairy Tales". This week we're beginning with Pt. 1 of 'The Little Grey Mouse', a story of love and magic, revenge and loyalty.
Our final American folktale of this week before Independence Day in the US is 'Howe's Masquerade' another bit of history from the siege on Boston at the very beginning of the Revolution.
Many of the tales from Skinner's "Myths and Legends of Our Own Land" are more history than lore. the story of how the town of 'Horseheads' in western New York was named is one of those.