3. English fairy tales

Reflexión
Hemos visto que los Fairy Tales no tienen una autoría clara, debido a que se transmitían oralmente en su orígen. En Francia y Alemania se conservaron gracias a las compilaciones y traducciones de Perrault y los hermanos Grimm. Pero, ¿crees que hay algún autor o autora que hiciera lo mismo en la cultura anglo-sajona?
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Imagen de Fotomek en Pixabay. CC0 |

Actividad de lectura
Lee esta breve biografía de Joseph Jacobs para conocer un poco mejor su importancia como escritor de Fairy Tales. Después, responde a las preguntas que se plantean.
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Imagen de New York : Grosset & Dunlap |
Joseph Jacobs was an Australian folklorist, literary critic, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English Folklore. His work went on to popularize some of the world's best known versions of English fairy tales including "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Goldilocks and the three bears", "The Three Little Pigs", "Jack the Giant Killer" and "The History of Tom Thumb". He published his English fairy tale collections: English Fairy Tales in 1890 and More English Fairytales in 1894 but also went on after and in between both books to publish fairy tales collected from continental Europe as well as Jewish, Celtic and Indian Fairy tales which made him one of the most popular writers of fairy tales for the English language. Jacobs was also an editor for journals and books on the subject of folklore which included editing the Fables of Bidpai and the Fables of Aesop, as well as articles on the migration of Jewish folklore. He also edited editions of "The Thousand and One Nights". He went on to join The Folklore Society in England and became an editor of the society journal Folklore. Joseph Jacobs also contributed to the Jewish Encyclopedia.
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1. When did Jacobs publish English Fairy Tales?
2. How many English fairytale books did he write?
3. Can you give the Spanish titles for the following tales?
Jack and the Beanstalk, Goldilocks and the three bears, The Three Little Pigs, The History of Tom Thumb.
4. Did he write only English tales?
¿Conocías alguno de esos cuentos antes de leer este tema? Es muy posible que sí. A quién no le han contado un cuento de hadas alguna vez...
Ahora, vas a completar este tema leyendo un par de cuentos publicados pos Joseph Jacobs. No son los originales, sino resúmenes. Si deseas leerlos completos y en versión original, al final de daremos algunos sitios de Internet donde puedes acceder a estas obras.

Actividad de lectura
Lee con ayuda de un diccionario este resumen de Jack and the Beanstalk y contesta a las preguntas:
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Jack and the Beanstalk
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Jack and his mother were hungry. The cow in the barn gave them milk, but they needed food.
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Jack's mother said, "We must sell the cow to get some food." Jack volunteered to take the cow to town. Along the way, Jack met a farmer who talked him into giving up the cow in exchange for a handful of good luck beans.
When Jack returned home, his mother was very cross because they lost their cow for a few beans. She threw the beans out the window and went to bed. The beans began to grow straight up into the sky, so Jack climbed the beanstalk hoping to find good luck at the top.
Instead, he found himself in a giant's castle. The giant was counting his money and singing "fee fie foe fum, I like children in my tum." The giant's wife helped Jack hide so the giant wouldn't eat him. Then Jack realized something and said, "Hey, this giant stole my father's money!" The giant's wife said, "This magic hen and golden harp used to belong to your father too. Play the harp, and then run!"
Jack played the harp, and the giant fell asleep. Jack grabbed the money and the hen and started running. But on the way outside, he knocked over the harp and woke the giant up. The giant chased Jack all the way down the beanstalk chanting "fee fie foe fum" etc. When Jack reached the bottom, he chopped down the beanstalk with an ax. The giant was no more. Then the magic hen clucked and laid a golden egg. Jack's mother, awakened by all the noise, took the golden egg, put it with the money, and said, "Now we'll have something nice to eat."
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Resumen de Jack Hourigan en http://www.comedyimprov.com/music/schmoll/tales.html
Hemos subrayado en el texto algunos verbos en pasado. ¿Notas algo extraño en ellos?

Importante
VERBOS IRREGULARES
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Son verbos que no siguen las reglas normales de Pasado simple (usar la terminación -ED). Son un grupo reducido de verbos en inglés pero de uso muy frecuente.
Como no siguen ninguna regla, la única forma de aprenderlos es de memoria. Existen listas que recogen este tipo de verbos y que aportan tres formas distintas. Por ejemplo:
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INFINITIVO : be
PASADO SIMPLE: was/were
PARTICIPIO DE PASADO: been
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Aquí tienes una lista con los verbos irregulares en inglés. No tienes que aprenderlos todos, pero tenla siempre a mano cuando estés usando el pasado. Te vendrá bien.

Actividad desplegable
Con ayuda de un diccionario, lee este cuento de Joseph Jacobs y completa los huecos con los verbos irregulares en pasado que faltan:
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Para saber más
Visita la siguiente web si quieres leer más fairy tales en inglés. Es una recopilación digital de la obra de Joseph Jacobs:
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Y aquí te dejamos una colección de los hermanos Grimm y Hans Christian Andersen:
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Has llegado al final de este tema y, con esto, termina el curso de la materia de inglés del Nivel I de Educación Secundaria para Personas Adultas.
Esperamos que este primer acercamiento a la lengua inglesa te haya ayudado a comunicarte en una lengua extranjera y que te lo hayas pasado bien.
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Nos vemos el curso que viene en el Nivel II. ¡Disfruta de unas merecidísimas vacaciones!
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