Week 5 Reading Diary: Santal Folklore Cont.

I read part B of the Santal Folklore Unit by C.H. Bompas. 

The Jackal and the Chickens: A jackal and a hen were very good friends, but one night the jackal ate the chicken and intended to eat her children too. The chickens outsmarted the jackal, and he was planned to eventually be killed by the townspeople.

(Jackal)

The Jackal Punished: The Jackal ate his friend, the hen, and vowed to eat her children after. The chickens, however, made a plan to trick him and ended up causing mortar to fall and crush him. The chickens then took an axe and chopped him up to avenge the death of their mother. 

The Tigers and the Cat: A cat and tiger were good friends, but the cat took too long to get something to cook a deer with, so the tigers had to eat raw meat. The tiger was very upset, and decided he would kill the cat, but every time they got near the town the dogs would start barking. The tiger grew tired of the dogs barking, so all of the tigers decided they would just eat dogs from now on. 

The Elephant and the Ants: An elephant thought he was smarter and stronger than ants, but the ants were actually smarter than him. Every time the elephant would take a step, ants would be there, and he tried to run away from them but ended up dying of exhaustion.

A Fox and his Wife: A fox and his wife were approached by a tiger, but tricked him in waiting to eat them. The wife used her wit to make the tiger think that he was helping them out, but she was just trying to get away from him and keep her family safe. The tiger couldn't get to them because the hole to their den was so small, so the entire family survived.

The Jackal and the Crocodiles: A crocodile requested that a jackal teach his children how to read and write, but the jackal grew impatient and ate all of them but one. The crocodile realized that the jackal had killed his children, so he ended up killing the jackal.

The Hyaena Outwitted: A tiger was ill and all of the animals went to pay their respects, except the jackals who were running late. The hyaena scolded them, and was killed because he wasn't supposed to scold them and get them in trouble. 

The Crow and the Egret: A crow and egret nested in the same tree, but the crow realized the egret's children were prettier than hers. One day while the egret was out, the crow traded their children and tried to convince the egret that her children had just magically changed. The egret, however, didn't believe her and settled the matter on her own. 

The Jackal and the Hare: A jackal and hare were very good friends, but the jackal decided he was going to eat a huge meal without the hare. The hare was very upset and smashed the jackal's drum. 

The Brave Jackal: A goat escaped and hid in a leopard's den and scared the leopard away. The leopard told the jackal what happened and the two went in the cave, got scared, and the leopard accidentally ripped the jackal's skin off.

The Jackal and the Leopards: A jackal tricked leopard cubs into thinking they owed him for a paddy they got, so they began giving him all their food. The leopard was very upset that he was taking food from his children, so tried to kill him but ended up dying himself. The jackal started taking care of the cubs and leopardess, but got into trouble with a crocodile, who tried to kill him. The jackal was too smart though, and the crocodile died in the end and the jackal was fine. 

Week 5 Reading Diary: Santal Folklore

This week I read Santal Folklore by C.H. Bompas.

Ledha and the Leopard: Ledha helped the leopard get the lizard off his tail, but promised that he wouldn't tell anyone what happened, or the leopard would eat him. Ledha told, and the leopard carried him off to the jungle at night to eat him. Ledha escaped and found a home among the buffalo, but then he left and once he realized the buffalo were sick without him, returned with his wife.

The Oilman's Bullock:  An oilman got two bullocks, and the bullock was overheard saying that it could beat Raja's elephant in order to be freed. They collected 500 Rupees for the fight, and Raja thought he would easily win, but the bullock beat the elephant and the oilman vowed to let the bullock live a good life. It only lived for a month after the fight though.

The Monkey and the Girl: A girl promised to marry a monkey, but her father was angered by this and planned to kill the monkey. The town decided to bury the monkey like a man, and burn the body, so the girl ended up jumping in the flames to be with him.

Ramai and the Animals: Ramai had a soft spot for animals, and when he found people trying to kill them he bought them. He got a snake, and the snake told him to take him back to his parents, and they would give him a magical gold ring that would grant him every wish he could ever desire. He asked for the ring, and it gave him everything he wanted.

The Ghormuhas: The Ghormuhas took a boy and decided they were going to eat him. He outsmarted them though, and convinced them to just let him live among them for the rest of his life.

The Raibar and the Leopard: A raibar told a leopard that he could make him into two leopards as long as he promised not to eat him. The raibar put him in a sack and sent him down the river, thinking he would have drowned. The leopard found a leopardess, and thought he had been made into two. The raibar was traveling one day through the jungle and saw the leopard, who offered him any animal he wished.

The Tiger's Bride: A woman offered her daughter up for marriage to anyone who helped her carry a large bundle of grass home. A tiger helped, and he and the daughter were married, but the daughter escaped. 

(The Tiger)

The Killing of the Tiger: Raja wanted to kill a tiger who had been preying on many travelers. He sent a man to kill him, and the man was able to complete his task.

The Raja's Dream: Raja had a dream that he would have good fortune if he found three animals, so he sent his three sons to find the three animals. They visited Gosain's to find how to locate the animals, and each gave them information about what they had to do. 

The Raja's Dream (cont.): The Raja's son was ordered to go kill snakes, but couldn't decide how to do it. The Raja, however, realized he made a mistake and left his younger wife and went back to his first wife.

The Jackal and the Crow: A jackal and crow were good friends, but the crow tricked the Jackal by making it hard for him to eat a dinner that the crow had invited him to. The Jackal vowed to repay the Crow and the Jackal ended up eating him. One his walk home, however, he was bragging and ended up dying. 

The Tiger Cub and the Calf: A tiger cub and calf used to play very well together, but the tigress killed the calf's mother. The two ran away together and the tigress was very upset, but luckily never found them because she would have killed them. 

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Week 4 Storytelling: The Merchant's Revenge

The merchant was furious. He knew that taking his friend's son was wrong, but what was he supposed to do? How was he supposed to trust anyone again? He left his iron with his good friend, the only thing that he was counting on for his livelihood after he returned from his failed journey, and his friend had the nerve to sell it. He then decided to lie about it, which made everything even worse. Was he really supposed to believe that rats ate two hundred pounds of iron? Maybe if his friend had explained why he sold it and given a good reason, they could have worked out a deal, but since he lied, things will never be the same again. What was the merchant supposed to do now for work? He spent his life savings during his travels. He had nothing, not even friends who he could trust. It was simple, his friend would get his son back when the iron reappeared. It was simple to get the boy. He just grabbed him while he was playing outside and took him to his shack outside of the town.

The merchant wasn't quite sure how the whole deal would work out. Iron is kind of expensive, let alone two hundred pounds. His friend had pleaded and begged for his son, but the merchant knew that he had to stand firm. He would take care of the boy, and feed him and make sure he stayed well, but he wanted his iron back. He gave his friend a week to get the iron, but he wasn't sure what he'd do if the friend didn't come through. The boy was only a little over five years old, he couldn't exactly just take him somewhere and let him go, and he surely wasn't going to kill him. He had time to decide though. He knew he had to be patient, but all he wanted was to get on with his life, and to teach his friend a lesson about lying.

The merchant was getting nervous. Why did he take his friend's son? What kind of person even does that? He knew that he should have left the boy out of it. He should be at home with his mother and father, and they should have settled this in a different way. He couldn't just give his son back though. He wouldn't get his iron and his friend wouldn't respect him.

(Merchant)

He went and saw his friend the next day just to see how he was doing with the merchant's request. His friend was clearly distressed. He looked like he hadn't slept in months and he was nervous and clearly flustered. The merchant felt even worse, and knew that he couldn't keep the son and father apart anymore. It didn't sit well on his conscious and he knew that it wasn't fair to take a child for iron. He went and collected the boy and returned him to his father. He made the friend promise that he would never steal from anyone again. The friend surprised him, however, and had collected enough money to almost replace the iron. The two made up, and remain close friends to this day.

Bibliography: This story is based on "The Merchant and His Iron" in Bidpai's Fables. 

Author's Note: 

The merchant leaves on his journey, but first left his iron with his friend and trusted that he would let nothing happen to it. The friend, however, thought that the merchant would never return, so he sold all 200 pounds of iron. After a terrible journey, the merchant returns home, and goes to his friend's house to get his iron back, but since the friend had sold it, he lied and said that rats had eaten all 200 pounds of it. The merchant knew that his friend was lying and, in retaliation, stole the friend's son until the friend found a way to replace all of his iron. I thought this story was really interesting, and really enjoyed it and wanted to finish it, since the it ends on a cliffhanger with the merchant just announcing that he had stolen his friend's son. We never find out what happened, or if the merchant ever got his iron back and returned the son, so I thought it would be interesting to know how the story ends and what comes of the merchant, friend and son. I like to think that the merchant would realize that he did the wrong thing for taking the son, so he'd want to return the him, even if it meant he didn't get his iron back.

Week 4 Reading Diary: Bidpai's Fables

This is part 2 of Bidpai's Fables.

The Hare, The Fox and The Wolf: The three tried to outsmart each other, but the fox ended up outsmarting them all. The wolf thought that the hare had tricked him, so ate him, when it had been the fox all along. The fox ended up getting to escape.

Three Stories About Snakes: A snake ate a Sparrow's children, and thought that he would do nothing about it since the snake was so big. The sparrow, however, was smart enough to take an oil lamp from a nearby house and set the nest on fire while the snake was sleeping in it. A serpent ate a frog's eggs, and she was very distressed about it. She went to a crab who introduced her to a weasel who agreed to help her get back at the snake, and the weasel ate him, but then remembered the frog and her other tadpoles, and ate them too. A blind man didn't get rid of a snake, even though his friend wanted him too, and was bit and killed by the snake.

The Camel Driver and the Adder: A camel driver let a snake live, but the adder decided he would sting him anyway. The camel driver asked for advice from other animals to see whether or not the adder should bite him or the camel first, and finally a fox came by and tricked the snake into a drawstring bag to kill him.

Two Tortoise Stories: A tortoise lived with two geese, and he wanted to go with them when they moved to a new home. They agreed to carry him by stick, but made him promise that he wouldn't talk. The tortoise talked, was dropped by the geese and died. A tortoise and a scorpion became good friends, but when they crossed a river together and the tortoise agreed to let the scorpion ride on his back, the scorpion tried to sting him and then the tortoise drowned him.

The Crane and the Crab: A crane realized that her pond was almost dry, so she went and talked to a crab. She was going to outsmart the crab, but he realized her plan and broke her neck.

The Lean Cat and the Fat Cat: A lean and fat cat set out to steal food from the palace feast. The lean cat wasn't smart about it, and he was grabbed and put to death.

Three stories About Birds: A crow tried to imitate a Partridge because he didn't like who he was. A crane was taken and killed by a Bleacher because he was trying to imitate a hawk. A falcon was upset with a hen wanting to leave its keepers, but the hen explained that the keepers tried to kill it, and the falcon would do the same in the same situation.

The Partridge and the Hawk: A hawk wanted to be friends with a partridge, and finally convinced her, but the partridge betrayed him so he killed her.

(The Partridge and the Hawk)

The Crow, The Jackal, The Wolf and The Camel: The four friends knew that their king was dying, so they tried to offer themselves up to give him strength, but finally the camel, who had been sleeping a lot, gave himself up. 

The Three Fish: Three fish tried to outwit a fisherman, but one thought he was smarter than the rest and was killed and served at the palace. 

The Lion and the Hare: A hare decided that he didn't want to die, because the lion king got to choose animals to kill and eat, and tricked the lion into following him to a well to see another lion and hare. The lion was tricked and leapt into the well and died. 

Reading Week 4: Bidpai

This week I read the India Unit about Bidpai's fables by Bidpai.

Introduction: Bidpai's wrote fables, and is considered as one of the bravest philosophers from his time. King Dabshelim kept him around, but forgot him until the he remembered him one day, then, as a reward, gave him the entire kingdom to rule. Bidpai then gave Dabshelim all his moral wisdom, which made the king very happy, so he granted him any wish he wanted.

The Rustic and the Nightingale: The Rustic had a beautiful garden that he took very good care of. One day, he saw a Nightingale in his garden and was angered by it. The Nightingale returned, and the Rustic decided to capture it and take it home. The Nightingale was very sad, so he offered to sing a song for the Rustic. The Rustic enjoyed the song and decided to let the Nightingale go.

The King, the Falcon and the Drinking Cup: The king had a falcon who helped him hunt. One day they spotted a deer, and the king pursued it along with the falcon. The king was taking a drink, the falcon hit it out of his hand, and the king killed it by hitting it simply because he was angry. He was very upset once he realized he killed the falcon.

The Two Travelers: Ganem and Salem were two friends who were traveling together. They rested and they came upon a white stone with writing that guided them to their ideal destination. Ganem wanted to go that way, but Salem was skeptical and wanted to go a different way, so they separated. Ganem found people at city gates who were mourning their king, and by city rules, since Ganem followed the inscription, he was crowned the new king.

Poor Man, Rich Man, Young Man: The Poor Man received oil from a wealthy merchant, and he started planning what he could do with it. He made a plan, but spilled the oil everywhere and couldn't use it. The Rich man had a bundle of wood, but he refused to give it to a priest for a poor man. The same pile of wood ended up burning his house down. The Young Man saw a raven getting fed by a hawk, and decided that if he were lazy that someone would come take care of him. He ended up withering away, and realized he should have been more like the hawk.

The Merchant and his Iron: The merchant allowed one of his friends to watch his iron while he went on a journey, but the friend sold the iron and lied. The merchant then stole his son as revenge for selling the iron.

Gardener, Farmer, Tyrant: The Gardener befriended a bear and the bear was annoyed by a fly who was bothering the sleeping gardener. The Bear ended up killing the Gardener and the fly. Robbers tricked a stupid farmer and stole his sheep, even though he thought it was a dog. A tyrant decided to change his ways because he had seen how quickly karma caught up with people who had done something wrong.

The King, the Hermit and the Two Princes: A king found out that he was about to die, and he didn't want either of his sons to have it, so he gave it to a Hermit who hid it. One of the sons became king and kept some of the riches. The other prince found the hidden treasure and took it. The city soon elected a fair and just king.

(Kanishka Coin)

Three Stories About Apes: One ape decided he wanted to try splitting wood like a carpenter, but ended up hurting himself, which was payback for meddling in the carpenter's business. A group of apes decided that they wanted to attack a popinjay, who taunted them. They then killed her. An ape and a boar became friends, but then he upset the boar and the boar tried to kill him, but fell and died while climbing the tree. 

The Ass, The Lion and The Fox: A lion became very ill, and a fox decided to help him by suggesting he attack the ass. The lion attacked and killed him, and wanted the heart and ears, but needed to bathe first. The fox decided he was going to eat the heart and lungs and had to escape from the lion. 

Three Stories About Foxes: The fox was hungry and heard a drum, which he thought was a sign that there was large food nearby. The hen, hearing the drum as well, took flight and the fox went to sleep hungry because he was greedy. The fox and the piece of meat is about a hungry fox that was outsmarted by a jackal. A hunter wanted a fox's skin very badly. The hunter tried to outsmart the fox, but the fox had escaped and a leopard was waiting for the hunter in the brush and killed him. 

Storybook Styles Brainstorm

My Topic: I really think that I want to my storybook over gods and goddesses. I think I want to do it over Olympian gods specifically, just because there are a lot more options for characters with these gods. I really love Zeus, Athena, Apollo, Aphrodite and Iris. It's really hard to choose which one to do the book over right now. I think that Aphrodite would be fun to do a storybook over, since she is the goddess of love. Zeus, on the other hand, is a very well known god, who did a lot throughout Mythology, so he could also be really interesting to do the storybook over. It would also be cool to do it over a lesser known god or goddess, just because I think it'd be fun to learn more about him or her.

Bibliography:

The Story of Zeus on Theoi

The Story of Athena on Theoi

The Story of Apollo on Theoi

The Story of Aphrodite on Theoi

The Story of Iris on Theoi


Possible Styles: 

Love as a storyteller: This topic could be a lot of fun, just because it would be fun and easy to make a story about a god/goddess falling in love and doing crazy things in order to make the person return their feelings. Aphrodite would be a great main character for this story, since she was the goddess of love, among other things, and had affairs with a few different gods. One hard thing about this though would be figuring out who the narrator was, since I'm using the Greek goddess of love as the main character already. I could most definitely find other goddesses in different mythology to use though. I could also easily do this over Zeus, since he was also known for loving multiple women. It would be fun to do a story over him and his many lovers.

Tabloid Gossip and Scandal: This one would also be a ton of fun, since the Olympian gods always seemed to have scandals going on. There could be love affairs, secret alliances or just deals being made that make headlines. One idea that jumped out at me was having Zeus and Thetis meeting up to discuss Achilles, and Hera just assuming that he's trying to find another wife. Aphrodite would also be a great one for this, since she seemed to have multiple lovers. This style would also kind of relate to modern times, since tabloids are so prevalent in our society today and people seem to always read/believe them.

Neighborhood Gossip: I think it'd be super interesting to just have neighborhood gossip going on with the Olympian gods. This would be a great way to be able to use multiple characters, but still keep the drama that you kind of associate with some mythology. I could use all five, and maybe more, of the gods and goddesses that I find interesting and make a ton of neighborhood drama. Maybe people are upset with how aggressive Zeus can be, or how annoying happy and nosy Iris is, or the jealousy that people have for Aphrodite. There are a ton of possibilities with this idea.

(Iris)

Divine Observer: This would be fun to do because you don't really think about what it would be like if the gods/goddesses were watching everything that is happening on earth today. I think it would maybe be cool to do it from multiple perspectives and do differing opinions based on which god/goddess is observing. I think that this allows for a lot of creative freedom, and could be a great way to describe the views of the different Olympian gods and show their personality.