Reading Diary Week 12, continued: Robin Hood

Today, while reading, I couldn't help but notice how much detail is put into each story in the Robin Hood unit. For example, in Little John a Begging, the details about the number of beggars, whether the were blind or not, the specific forrest, where people were from, etc. I thought it was really interesting that the author decided to include so much information. I wonder how much of it was accurate to the times and how the author decided which places to include, etc? There had to be some research or trends that dictated what was included.

Including more detail is something that I am trying to do in my own storytelling. When writing my next story, I would like to reference some of the stories in the Robin Hood unit for examples on how to include all of the facts without making the story feel choppy and interrupted.

I really enjoyed Robin Hood and Maid Marian. I am a sucker for love stories, so I really liked the story of Robin Hood finding love with Marian. From the story, it sounded like they lived happily together for the rest of their lives, and that really made me happy. Some of these stories can be so dramatic, I was half expecting something terrible to happen to her. I guess the Robin Hood unit hasn't had many plot twists like that though. I have not yet written a love story for this class yet. That is something I would like to do before the semester is though. 

Robin Hood and Marian
(Douglas Fairbanks as Robin Hood)

Robin Hood's Death made me really sad! From my understanding, Robin's cousin basically stabbed the vein in his arm until he bled out. I was shocked to read that this was Robin's end. It's one of those things where when you read it in the story, the language is different so it doesn't sound that terrible. But, if you stop to think about it in real life, its truly horrific! My guess is that Walt Disney did not include this in the ending of his story, but I could be wrong. If I'm remembering right, I have not yet killed anyone off in my stories. Maybe it would be a cool exercise if I ended one of my stories with the death of a character.

All in all, I think the Robin Hood unit was not my favorite. Actually, the British/Celtic weeks did not really appeal to me in general. This is interesting since I would have thought I liked the British ones since I had assumed they would be similar to America's since the values and traditions might overlap more? I was proven wrong!