The Nightingale and the Rose.
The Devoted Friend.
Anyway, they were great. Loved them. Loved them, loved them!! I think I will read them all again tomorrow too.
I especially liked the The Nightingale and the Rose. It was almost too painful to read as the beautiful singing bird slowly impales her heart into the thorn of the white rose to give it the blood red colour. (To me verging a bit on the gory and the sexual...but maybe I was bit over sensitive just because I was reading too early on a bus with an empty stomach!) To top it all off, once the guy gets the rose it is rejected by the woman he loves, so he just throws it away. charming!
As for the last one...umm. Again the moral of the story is a bit twisted and rather difficult to get, but by the end I was totally distressed and angry Thinking 'what the hell?' Poor Hans being taken for such a devoted fool. The hold of his twisted, rich landlord over him was tragic. To me the moral of this story was don't abuse your position of power and don't just blindly follow the rules and ways of others.
As for the first two. They were just great as well. The wonderful swallow and all-seeing prince on his podium. And the grumpy old giant who has a second chance.
What a great journey to work. Reading them has now made me want to pull out my volume of Hans Christian Anderson. Bring on the Fairy Tales!
PS They were the original versions:
http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/authors/wilde.html#TALES
