Reading Notes: Week 2 Anthology

 Fairy Tale- The Key of Gold by Josef Baudis (1922): The Three Roses peaked my interest because Beauty and The Beast has always been one of my favorite fairy tales. Here are a couple specific parts of the story that I thought were interesting:

• Firstly, something that stuck out to me and kind of bothered me was that this story was about a Basilisk, rather than a beast. As a fan of Harry Potter, I know what a basilisk is from that. I felt there was a bit of a plot hole in that the story explained the characters interacted with the basilisk, but failed to mention that they weren't to look in its eyes. How did they avoid this? Would the mother not have been killed if she had been startled by the basilisk and looked at it? I understand this story is about 100 years old and basilisk were possibly a more prevalent beast in that time, but reading this in 2021, I felt there should be more details about it.
• This story differed from the Disney movie in that there were three daughters, and also that it was a mother going on the quest rather than the father. Possibly they Josef Baudis was ahead of his time highlighting the responsibilities of women, but I thought I should note this difference.
• I also noticed that this felt like a spin of Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella as there were three daughters, two of which seem entitled, and one of which that didn't need more than a rose.
• Something I would change about this is that the daughter had to nurse the basilisk. It made me uncomfortable. Might just be me, but the basilisk in Harry Potter is very scary... I don't know just didn't like this at all.
• Something else I would change: the small note towards the end of the story about the basilisk holding the keys to the palace in his mouth. This seemed random and had no explanation. It seemed like a random end note.

Overall, it is very interesting to me that this is where Beauty and the Beast stemmed from. It is such a short story which such few details. I still love the idea and the premise of the story, but was left feeling like I wanted more. I am hoping in the next assignment I can change and add details so that the ending doesn't seem as swift and vague.

I imagine the keys in the basilisk's mouth look something like this, but what did they do? Why are they relevant? Weren't they already in the castle? If so, why would they need his teeth keys? I do admit, if I ran into something which these keys for teeth, I would be frightened. Maybe I'll answer my questions to the key mystery in my own story.