Reading Notes: Lotuses and Goblins

Two of the stories in the Jataka Anthology that I liked best or thought I could re-tell in certain ways are: The Monkey Who Gathered Lotuses and Goblin City. These two had some pretty neat themes and plots that were interesting to me.

The Monkey Who Gathered Lotuses

I really liked this story because it served Devadatta right. I love stories in which someone is seen as weak or dumb or incompetent, and they end up outshining the rest because it gives hope to those that need it. To the people who are seen as weak by their classmates or teachers, even. So seeing how a son outsmarted his father was neat and I think I will use this for my story re-telling this week by changing the setting to a classroom on the OU campus. I won't disclose my entire story here, but it's something that has been on my mind recently and I feel like it would make a good story.

Goblin City

This story was really interesting due to the fact that the females were in charge. I think that is something awesome and something new, because oftentimes people picture men as the ones in charge and so demanding of resources. I like how the women were in charge, although they were not the best creatures. :-) I was thinking of recreating this story into a sort of "Boy Who Cried Wolf" kind of story, or one where the goblins aren't necessary evil. This could go in so many directions and I'm not sure which one I will choose for the storytelling this week!

Source: I thought this picture was really neat because it seems like Buddha is everywhere, always seeing, and always knowing. 

Reading Options

I am really excited to read all the stories this semester! I love folktales and myths so I am interested in those stories and to see how much of them I have heard of already. I looked through the folktales and picked a few that I would be interested to read. One of the ones I picked was How the Jackal Ate the Elephant from the Panchantantra because I have a book at home with Panchantantra tales and I think I may have read or heard of this one before, but I have forgotten those tales now so it would be neat to read them again with a different perspective. I also picked The Brahmin and the Goat for the same reason. Lastly, I picked a tale from Deva/Devi called Garuda: Vishnu's Divine Mount because in the temple during certain celebrations, we pick up a huge statue of Vishnu on Garuda and parade outside. I never learned much about Garuda or how he came to be so it would be interesting to learn that.

I am also really excited to read the Ramayana and Mahabharata books, because I have grown up reading the children's versions of those books, which are probably a lot happier than the real ones. 

Source: A picture of Lord Vishnu on Garuda.