I love Saturdays-even if I have to work, it is such a luxurious day to be able to take my time to do the things I have to do. I have done more sticking of photos today and then some fun work-making a small world version of the Princess and the Pea for story telling next week. It has a pink glittery bed, twelve little mattresses and a lolly stick ladder. I have made little people from some Amazon packaging. I have a few versions of the story. In one the qualities of a 'real' princess are explained-kindness and politeness. In another the pea has to give the princess subliminal messages while she sleeps so that she can overcome her politeness and complain about her bad night. This version is told from the point of view of the pea. My favourite is the Lauren Child version as she has created dolls house type scenes, with paper characters. It is lovely. In all the versions the bed has twelve mattresses on it, and the real princess turns up in the middle of a storm. I am not sure that I like the message in this story-it seems quite elitist to me-and wondered how to address this with the children who may find concepts of elitism a bit beyond them. I thought we could talk about the things that are important to make us good people. I am going to ask them what they think a real princess is.
I do like the way the story lends itself to illustration though. I have done a little drawing, made the small version and done the doodle above. I love the idea of a bed with twelve mattresses on and a ladder to climb to get into it. I love the way the Princess turns up in a storm too, like she is some kind of magical being.
My other doodle is not related to anything-but does have twelve faces by chance.
My other doodle is not related to anything-but does have twelve faces by chance. Here are the versions of the story:-
7 comments:
Your computer doodles are great!
It's interesting to see how different authors re-tell their own version of a classic story. Fun that you'll get to go over the stories with your students. They should have good ideas about princesses there.
Have you ever seen the play, "Once Upon a Mattress"? I've seen it put on by two different groups and even with the same script the story was still different--even different on different nights by the same cast--live performances can be so fun.
Love your doodles, the Princess and the Pea is the best.
I always loved this story but possibly more because of all those delicious looking eiderdowns and mattresses.
I thought about the elitism of the story but perhaps the pea could be a metaphor for a worry or a problem and that is why the princess can't sleep? Then when the truth is revealed she can rest? It doesn't matter how much we try to smother something, it still prickles us?
Maybe the spiritual angle rather than the royal angle is something to aim for?
Lou
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Your blog always has such lovely bits to go over, Sarah - I have really enjoyed reading way back up to where I last left off.(Reading things backward is a bit weird though, like I can see into the future, hehehe. I should actually scroll back first and then read upwards!) Love the digital doodles!
PS I have just finished my first legwarmer - thanks for the pattern! You must be of petite build - I had to knit way past 50 rows to get it to knee height (I am almost 6 feet tall), and it is quite a tight fit around the leg. I think it is probably in part because I used 5 mm needles instead of 6 mm ones. I cast on 4 extra stitches (40 rather than 36) to compensate, but I don't think it helped much! NOw I am trying to decide, should I knit the next one with let's say 44 stitches, and do the first one over, or should I make the next one the same size as the first one and hope they will stretch with wear? I so hate wasted effort, which is why most of my projects are disasters. I hate to do things over to get them right!
WOW....these are VERY fun, Sarah! Love the colorful princess & the pea... I wouldn't mind having so many duvets in the winter. ;o) Ah, weekend... the highlight of the week, even if busy. Happy Days ((HUGS))
I have not seen that Leenie-but would now like to!
Thanks Angela!
I like that interpretation Lou.
I am five feet and seven inches Anairam-perhaps that five inches is all off of my calves! The only problem with the finished legwarmer is the cast off makes that part quite tight-not sure what to do about that but I am going to try something I thought of-casting off in a knit purl way-if that is possible! They do stretch though so I think you should do the second one the same!
Thanks Tracy-yes-thank goodness for the weekend!
I always worried about the Princess and the Pea - it seemed so terribly rude to complain about the bed when someone had been kind enough to put you up. I'm afraid that's the aspect I dwelt on - particularly with children who had so many privileges and found it difficult sometimes to appreciate them.
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