1) summarizes the story and 2) describes how it is different from our cultural, Disney understanding of the story. Then, 3) post your Level 1, 2, and 3 questions for discussion.
“The Pig King” by Giovanni Francesco Straparola is a twisted fairy tale, revealing the life of a prince, hidden by the skin of a pig The story starts with three fairies, casting spells on a young lady. One wished that her future groom “shall be born in the skin of a pig, with a pig’s ways and manners,” and stay in this form until he has taken three women to wife (43). The pig wants to seek a wife, and to make her son joyful, the queen asks one of three daughters to not think of the pig, but think of the fortune they could receive. The first one agrees, but once meeting the pig, had the intensions of killing him in his sleep. As a form of defense, the pig murders his wife first. The same act happened with the second daughter as well. Once the third daughter came around, she did not mind the pigs manners because she was genuinely kind and had a love for all. The prince was able to shed his skin in front of her, revealing his true identity. The maiden told his parents, who reacted to the situation by tearing the skin to shreds. This story ends as a regular fairytale would, with the couple living happily ever after.
This story is majorly different from the Disney version of Beauty and the Beast. “The Pig King” does indeed have the aspect of looking past a personal image and looking deeper on the inside, however, this is not the moral of this particular story. This story starts like Sleeping Beauty would, with three fairies casting spells on a child. Then, the story switches gears when the pig and his family come into play. In the readers opinion, “The Pig King” does not have a significant story line, due to the pig receiving everything he wants by threatening and giving commands. Unlike the beast in Beauty and the Beast, the pig commits murder, and is forced to act like a pig. The beast, however, just looks like a beast, but is able to have the same mentality as he did before in human form.
Level One, Two, and Three questions:
1. Why does the pig feel the need to kill his former two brides?
2. Why could the prince tell his third bride about the skin, but not his parents?
3. What is the moral of this story and how would one be able to reflect on the character's actions?
1. The pig felt the need to kill his former two brides because he felt threatened by them, and he also had no morals for due to his piggish ways.
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3. The moral of the story is that if you are genuine enough, you will become respected. I can apply this to life because those who do not show their true selves make it very difficult to trust them being in your life. You don't know how they may be acting when they aren't around you.
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DeleteFantastic summary of "The Pig King" and sophisticated use of quotes to support your ideas! You've mastered using quotes as part of a larger sentence, and I was especially impressed by your use of the quote on page 43 in your third sentence. Great work!
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