Reading Notes: Jataka Tales, Part A

These are from the Jakata Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt

How the Turtle Save His Own Life: I liked this story because the turtle is portrayed as a clever animal. I have not read many stories about turtles, but I liked that in this story he was portrayed positively. In this story, there is a father who wishes for his children to murder this turtle. The turtle begs the boys not to throw him into the river. In reality, the turtle knows that the water is a safe place for him so he is tricking the boys. Once in the river again, he is safe!

The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking: I have read different versions of this type of story in the past. Basically, the turtle wants some birds to take him on their journey. They carry a stick while he holds onto it with his mouth. He is warned not to talk, but does so anyways. This causes him fall from the air to his death. The moral is for those who cannot stop talking to keep their mouths shut, or they will be punished. I think it is an interesting message and one I do not think is always applicable. I decided to do notes on it because it showed a different message and portrayed turtles in a different light than the previous story I talked about.

Turtle

Wikipedia Trail: From Zanzibar to Peroz III

This week while reading the announcements, I came across a proverb from Zanzibar so I thought I would start here and learn a little bit about this place. From here I clicked on a link leading me to a page on Fire Temples. From here I was led to a page on the Battle of Nahāvand. I had never head of this battle so it intrigued me. Lastly, I clicked on a link leading to a page on Peroz III.

Map of Zanzibar

Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm (LibriVox), Part B

This story is from the Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm

The Fox and the Horse: This story is about a horse who has become old. His owner turns away from him and says he (the horse) shall not return until he is stronger than a horse. Out in the wild, the horse meets a fox and he shares his story. The fox tells him that he can help him with becoming as strong as a lion. He tells the horse to stretch out on the ground and lie very quietly. In the meantime the fox goes and gets a lion and tells him he knows where he can come and find a horse. The fox ends up tricking the lion and ties all of his legs together. The lion freaks out and makes a ton of noise and the horse's owner can hear him roaring. He decides that the horse has done what he was supposed to and tells him he can stay in his stables forever. I really like this story and I am planning on using it for my story this week. I want to tell the story from the point of view from the fox. I plan to have him watching the horse and when he sees the rejection of the owner, he decides to try to help the horse. There are a lot of possibilities for the retelling of this story.

The Fox and the Horse

Reading Notes: Brothers Grimm (LibriVox), Part A

These are stories from the Fairy Tales by Brothers Grimm

The Straw, the Coal, and the Bean: This was a story involving three inanimate objects: a piece of straw, a piece of coal, and a bean. They have all escaped the wrath of a woman who was cooking and are looking to get away. On their escape mission, the piece of straw gets burned and the coal joins. The bean, who was much more cautious, laughs so hard at the others misfortune that he bursts into pieces. His luck allowed him to be sewn back together by a tailor who was passing by. As a result, all beans in the future would have a black seam. I thought I would do notes on this story because it seemed different from the other stories this week. It was not a normal fairy tale that I am familiar with so I thought it would be interesting to come back to on Wednesday when I write my story.

The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage: This story was about three things that come together and live in one single household. They each have certain jobs and do their work nicely. One day the bird realizes that he does much more work than the others so they decide to all change jobs. The sausage ends up getting eaten by a dog, the mouse gets burned by a log, and the bird ends up drowning. I would like to retell this story from the point of view of each animal after the jobs have been switched and leading up to their deaths.

The Mouse, the Bird, and the Sausage