Week 6 Reading Diary, Continued: African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books

This week's reading is from African Stories from Lang's Fairy Books.
From The Grey Fairy Book by Andrew Lang and illustrated by H. J. Ford (1900)

Snake from pixabay

Hassebu

•  There are parts of this story that don't add anything for me.  Like when the boy finds his fathers books and reads them.  This seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the story.
• Hassebu does not seem like like to do any work, so why then does he help the woodcutters?  This seems like another type of work. the story doesn't explain why he prefers this work more than the other jobs his mother tried to get him to learn. 
• I like that all of the animals in this tale talk.  I wonder why the scorpion didn't talk. 
• The second Hassebu gave his promise I assumed he would break it, because that's how stories always go. 
• I still don't understand why the King of the snakes would help Hassebu who had just betrayed him.

The Heart of a Monkey

• I like that the shark and monkey become friends and help each other.  I expected the shark to try to trick the Monkey into letting him eat the Monkey. 
• There seems to be a theme of needing parts of animals to cure sick Sultans. 

The Heart of a Monkey: The Washerman's Donkey

•  Never underestimate another creature. The lion underestimated the strength of the donkey's hooves. 
• The donkey is a fool for trusting the lion for a second time. To me this is not a believable part of the story.

Makoma

• I like the idea of getting the strength of the people you defeat.  It makes for an interesting story idea.
• I predict that Makoma is acquire a lot of strength before the end of his story. 
• I wonder why Makoma killed Chin-debou Mau-giri but kept the rest of the giants as servants.