Still snowing here...

[ningerbil]

But it's tapered off quite a bit. It was snowing hard this morning. Supposed to be another round of snow Sunday into Monday, but mostly in the Columbus area.

Posting this mostly to make a quick update to my 2025 reading list. All of these are Brothers Grimm stories.

1. The Crumbs of the Table. Reminds me a bit of the story of a child who rescues a rattlesnake during a storm. Here, a man encourages some puppies to eat the scraps around a table while the abusive mistress is away. The puppies at first refuse, fearing retribution, but they finally relent. The mistress comes in, catches them, and the puppies are punished. The ending is a somewhat happy one, depending on how you want to read it.
2. The Bittern and the Hoepoo. Both an interesting origin story regarding the call of two types of birds, plus a good moral about moderation. Here, two shepherds treat their flocks very differently: one brings his cows to rick pastures, one to poor. Neither end well.
3. The Beam. This was an interesting short story with a bit of a twist at the end. The moral of this story is a bit questionable but I will say the ending is honest. A magician is performing but a girl exposes his tricks. He plans revenge on her.

4. The Adventures of Aladdin. A well-known tale, with many of the familiar elements. A widow lives with her son, who one day encounters a wizard. Aladdin winds up in possession of both a magic ring as well as the magic lamp (yes, most stories I've read have a genie of the ring, too). Aladdin is able to get it all- riches, a palace, and the sultan's beautiful daughter. All this is jeopardized when the wizard returns.

5. Sweetheart Roland. This story combines several elements of other stories. Fair warning to parents- this is decidedly on the "grimm" side. A young woman flees with her sweetheart Roland after her stepmother tries to kill her. However, when Roland goes to his hometown to arrange their marriage, he falls under an enchantment and is getting ready to marry someone else. The woman is distraught but all ends well.