Medieval+Stories

= By Sam, Anna, Kiki, Petra, and Lia =

= = In Medieval times storytelling was very popular because it was a form of entertainment and it told people how they should live their lives. Some common stories people used to tell were Beowulf, Robin Hood and Lady of the Lake. Robin Hood and Beowulf were not written during the Middle Ages but they all took place in the Middle Ages. I hope you will enjoy these stories.

= There are a lot of Medieval stories and a few of them are: Beowulf, The poem of Cid, The golden legend, Little flowers of Saint Francis, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Medieval stories are usually written in poem form and are told from person to person and on and on and the stories are still alive. Although sometimes they get changed a bit and so there are sometimes different versions being told. They started telling stories by making them up and then as years went on they started to write them down. =

= = = One of the many famous medieval stories is The song of Roland. The song of Roland was written about the time of 1100 B.C. It is about a warrior named Roland who was very brave and fearless. It is a poem but kind of written like a story or a song. Back then when they wrote poems they did not focus on rhymes that much they, focused on what the poem was telling. = The Song of Roland By [|cdrummbks] from [|creative commons] =__Hansel and gretel story__ = = Once upon a time. . . A poor woodcutter and his wife lived in a small cottage in the forest with his two kids, Hansel and Gretel. = = His second wife who a lot of the time was mean to the kids and was always complaining to the woodcutter. "There is not enough food in the house for all of us. There are too many people to feed! We have to get rid of those two brats," she yelled. = = The wife kept on trying to make her husband to abandon his children in the forest. "Take them miles and miles away from our home, so far that they can never find their way back here! Maybe someone will find them and give them another home." = = The worried and mad woodcutter didn't know what to do. Hansel who, one evening, had overheard his parent's conversation, comforted Gretel. "Don't worry! If they do leave us in the forest, we will find our way back home," he said. And slipping out of the house he filled his pockets with little white pebbles, and then went back to bed. = = All night long, the woodcutter's wife kept going on and on with her husband until, at dawn, he brought Hansel and Gretel away into the forest. But as they went into the depths of the trees, Hansel dropped a little white pebble here and there on the mossy green ground. At a certain point, the two children found out that they were really alone: their dad had got enough courage to desert them, and had mumbled an excuse and was gone. = = Night came but the woodcutter didn’t come back. Gretel began to cry a lot. Hansel too felt scared but he tried to hide his feelings and comfort his sister. "Don't cry, trust me! I swear I'll take you home even if dad doesn't come back for us!" = = Luckily the moon was full that night and Hansel waited until its cold light came through the trees. "Now give me your hand!" he said. "We'll get home safely, you'll see!" The tiny white pebbles were glowing in the moonlight, and the kids found their way back home. They crept through a half-open window, without waking up their parents. They were cold and tired but thankful to be home again, they slipped into bed. = = The next day, when their stepmom discovered that Hansel and Gretel had come back, she went into a rage. Holding back her anger in front of the kids, she locked her bedroom door, and going to her husband to tell him how he failed to do her orders. = = The tired woodcutter protested, he was torn as he was between the shame and fear of disobeying his cruel wife. The mean stepmother kept Hansel and Gretel under her watch all day with nothing for dinner except for a sip of water and some hard bread. = = All night, the husband and wife fought, and when dawn came, the woodcutter led the children out into the forest again. Hansel, however, had not eaten his bread, and as he walked through the trees, he left a trail of crumbs behind him to mark the way he went. =

= But the Hansel had forgotten about the hungry birds that lived in the forest. When they saw him, they flew along behind and in no time, had eaten all of their crumbs. Again, with a bad excuse, the woodcutter left his two kids alone in the forests. = = "I left a trail, like last time!" Hansel whispered to Gretel, while comforting her. But when night came, they were so scared when they saw that all the crumbs were gone. "I'm scared!" cried Gretel. "I'm cold and hungry and I want to go home!" "Don't be scared. I'm here to look after you!" = = Hansel tried to help his sister, but he was also scared when he saw the creepy shadows and evil eyes around them in the darkness. All night the two kids stayed together to be warm at the foot of a large tree. = = When dawn came, they started to walk around the forest, trying to find a path, but what they hoped would happen, didn’t happen. They were really lost. They walked and walked, until suddenly they came to a strange cottage in the middle of the forest. = = "This is all chocolate!" yelled Hansel as he broke off a lump of plaster from the wall. "And this is icing!" Gretel said happily, putting another piece of the wall in her mouth. Starving but excited, the kids began to eat pieces of candy that they broke off the cottage. = = "Isn't this good?" asked Gretel, with her mouth full. She had never tasted anything so nice. = = "We'll stay here," Hansel said while munching a bit of nougat. = = They were just about to try another piece of the biscuit door when it quietly swung open. "Well, well!" said an old lady, coming out with a strange look. "You kids have a sweet tooth?" = = "Come in! Come in, you don’t have to be afraid of me" the old lady said. = = Unluckily for Hansel and Gretel, the sugar candy cottage belonged to an old witch who was the old lady, her trap for catching people who aren’t expecting it. The two children had come to a really bad place... = = "You are nothing but skin and bones!" said the witch, locking Hansel into a cage. I am going to fatten you up and then eat you!" = = "You can do the housework," she told Gretel, "then I'll make a meal of you too!" = = Luckily, the witch had very bad eyesight, and when Gretel smeared butter on her glasses, she could see even less things. = = "Let me feel your finger!" said the witch to Hansel every day to check if he was getting any fatter. Now, Gretel brought Hansel a chicken bone, and when the witch went to touch his finger, Hansel held out the bone. = = "You are still too thin!" she complained. When will you become fatter?" = = One day the witch was tired of waiting. = = "Heat the oven," she told Gretel. "We're going to have a tasty roasted boy today!" = = A little later, she was hungry and impatient, she went on: "Run and see if the oven is hot enough." = = Gretel came back, saying: "I can't tell if it’s hot enough or not." = = Madly, the witch screamed at the little girl: "Useless child! All right, I'll see for myself." = = But when the witch bent down to look inside of the oven and check the heat, Gretel gave her a huge push and slammed the oven door shut. The witch was really mad and she was stuck in the oven. = = Gretel ran to set her brother free and they made sure that the oven door was tightly shut behind the witch. Just to be on the safe side, they fastened it with a large padlock. = = Then they stayed for many days to eat some more of the candy house, until they discovered all of the witch's belongings. They found a huge chocolate egg. Inside of the egg was a basket of gold coins. = = "The witch is now gone because we burned her in the oven," said Hansel, "so we'll take this treasure with us." They filled a large basket with food and went back into the forest to search for the way back to their home. = = Today luck was with them, and on the that day, they saw their dad come out of their house coming towards them, crying. "Your stepmom is dead. Come home with me now kids!" = = The two children hugged their dad. "Promise you'll never ever leave us again," said Gretel, throwing her arms round her father's neck. Hansel opened the casket. "Look, dad! We're rich now . . . You won’t have to chop wood again!” And they all lived happily together. =

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= Hansel and Gretel book cover = = By [|ganesh.isis] = = From [|creative commons] =

Robin Hood Picture form

Who is Robin Hood you might ask? Robin Hood was a noble man and lived a great life but Sir John took that away from him. somebody who stole from the rich and gave to the poor There are many ways to tell this story and one version of the story is this one. Robin hood takes place in the city of Nottingham and it is about an outlaw becoming a hero. The story begins when king Richard leaves for the Crusades and makes his brother Sir John in charge. Later that month in the forest Robin Hood proposes to his love Maid Marian. After he proposes and she says, "Yes" the sheriff comes and says the wedding can’t happen. They have an argument and the sheriff wins. Meanwhile Sir John who lives in the castle is still taking money from the poor and keeping it for himself. Robin Hood decides to do something heroic to help the poor so a battle takes place between sir John and Robin Hood. At the end of the battle Robin Hood claims his victory and  wins!!! After his victory he gave all that Sir John took and gave it back. Then a little later after that battle King Richard came home. He punished Sir John and they rejoiced. Then Robin Hood and Marian had their wedding and they lived happily ever after.`



Picture by: bev.plowman From: flickrcc Lady Of The Lake

The Lady of the Lake is a story  about an enchantress. She was named various things in different versions of the story some of her different names were Morgan Le Fay, Vivien, Vivienne, Niniane and Nimue. She was trained by Merlin the great wizard and she protected a magical lake. She swore to protect [|King Arthur] no matter what. The Lady of the Lake fostered a warrior and trained him to protect Camelot. The Lady of the Lake gave King Arthur the sword, Excalibur, although one day she went crazy and turned evil. She cast a spell on her mentor Merlin which deprived Camelot of its best defender. She was crazy but she was also sane. In some stories she was the good one and on some she was the evil one. She was kind of like all <span style="color: #cc0000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">of <span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;"> us are. Sometimes we make good choices and sometimes we make bad ones.

Beowulf:



<span style="color: #e00000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">Picture By: [|popartdks]

<span style="color: #e00000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 160%;">From [|flickrcc]
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;">The <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; line-height: 24.545454025268555px;">original <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 140%;"> story of beowulf is in a poem form, but I'll tell it to you as a story. Hrothgar, the king of the Danes builds a palace to create a wealthy kingdom, and give his Noblemen homes and gifts. A monster named Grendel is jealous of the king, because he doesn’t like joy and happiness. He wants the exact opposite for the king. He’s so jealous, he doesn’t even want to hear laughter. For 12 years Grendel carries off the noblemen one by one and eats them. Beowulf, the nephew of the king of the Geats whose name is Higelac wants to end Hrothgar’s misery and kill the monster, so he takes an army of 14 and makes Hrothgar understand that he wants to slay the beast. Hrothgar allows Beowulf to take over his kingdom, until the monster is dead and Beowulf is ready. Grendel approaches and Beowulf walks up to him, drops his weapons, and they combat hand to hand. Beowulf defeats Grendel by ripping his arm off. Everybody celebrated the next morning. The story isn’t over yet. Grendel’s mother comes for vengeance and kills another one of Hrothgar’s soldiers. Beowulf goes out to kill her at the bottom of the sea and succeeds. He returns home with Grendel’s head. Beowulf is decidedly going to be the next top subject. He becomes a hero and the King of the Geats. After 50 years of ruling, Beowulf is tormented by a fire breathing dragon. Beowulf goes out to slay the dragon and both Beowulf and the dragon are killed. Beowulf continued to be worshiped for his pure heart, bravery, and leadership.

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=Works Cited:=

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Lang, Andrew, Walter Crane, Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, and H. J. Ford. Tales from King Arthur. Ware, Hertfordshire: Wordsworth Classics, 2003. Print. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Philip, Neil, and Nick Harris. Robin Hood. New York: DK Pub., 1997. Print. <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Sutcliff, Rosemary. Beowulf. New York: Dutton, 1962. Print.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">got, praise-worthy actions must honor be. "Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Poem." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">Project Gutenberg - free ebooks //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #4d4d4d; font-family: Verdana,Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 11px;">. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2012. <http://www.gutenberg.org/files/16328/16328-h/16328-h.htm>. **

** And our amazing teacher Shirley **