Extra Reading Diary: Khasi Folktales

For the extra reading diary this week, I chose the KhasiFolktales unit.  Overall, I didn’t enjoy this unit as much as some of the others but there was one story that I really liked because I thought it had a good message and was fun to read.  The Goddesses Ka Ngot and Ka la lam was a fun story to read about two daughters who climbed to the top of a mountain and decided to race each other to see who could reach the plains first.  In most sisterly competitions, one tends to be a little more competitive than the other, just like in this story where Ka lam was fearless and adventurous and Ka Ngot a little more timid.  As they transformed themselves into two rivers, Ka lam took the shortest cut she could find and found that the path she chose was more difficult than she thought.  Once she made her way down and jumped through all the hoops the path had to offer, she saw her sister in the plains and knew she was beat. 

I can relate to this type of story because I think everyone has experienced at least once before thinking that if you take a shorter path or try to take a shortcut, sometimes that shortcut isn't what you think it is and it actually slows you down or prevents you from going that direction.  It’s a lesson that if you take your time and go the right way and try not to cheat or get ahead by taking a quicker way, that you can finish on top and stand proud knowing that you went about it the moral way.  

Folktales of the Khasi, River

Storytelling Week 5: Ghostly Promise

Once upon a time, there lived a poor Brahman who had a wife and three children.  As a poor man, he was a begger and would walk around the town asking for any food they could have.  He went door to door for weeks and knew he couldn’t keep it up much longer for it was not enough for his family anymore. 

A new man in the village had just come into town so Brahman thought he would ask a favor of him, to move onto his land to provide a safe haven for his family.  Little did Braham know, but the new laird was looking for someone to do a task for him and in return, be granted a great reward.  When Braham asked the laird what task he needed accomplished, laird replied with, “I am in need of someone to go fetch me a branch from a banyan-tree far away in the village.  Though I know this tree is haunted by a number of ghosts and that no man has ever had the courage to go to that tree at night, I need someone to get me a branch and in return, they will be granted a hundred bighas of rent-free land.”

Braham knew that the men, who dared go before him, had never made it out alive but he also knew this was his only chance at saving his family from the poor, begging life he was living.  None of the other servants accepted the challenge to make their way out to the tree and get a branch, except for Braham.  And so, that night, Braham walked out into the depths of the village to find that tree and cut off a branch for the laird.  Once he finally saw the tree, a spirit overcame him which was that of Brahmadaitya.  Braham told the spirit of his mission to go to the tree and get a branch to which the spirit replied, “I will help you, Brahman.”  They both set off to the tree and once Braham made his first cut on the branch, they were quickly surrounded by the many ghosts.  The spirit commanded the ghosts to let them be as they only needed a small branch to present to the laird.  The ghosts agreed to let the Braham take the branch and Braham thanked the spirit ever so generously for his help in conquering the tree.

When Braham returned to the laird the next day with the branch, he presented it to him in hopes of earning the promise that the laird made, nearly three acres of rent-free land.  And so, when Braham handed the laird the branch, he was surely mistaken about what he received.  Instead of being given the land, the laird promptly said, “Thank you, Braham, but that is all.  I was too much of a coward to go and get the branch myself so I made a false promise to you that if you fetched it for me, you could have some land.  Truthfully, I only wanted the branch because I thought it would make an excellent centerpiece on my kitchen table.  Now, go on and continue to be a poor, begging man and get out of my sight.” 

And so after all his hard work and bravery, Braham went back to his old habits of knocking on doors to get a small piece of bread and maybe a little bit of rice.  

Folk Tales of Bengal by Warwick Goble

Author’s note: This story was based off of the original story, The Story of a Brahmadaitya.  I decided to have the Braham not get the land he was promised even though he did was he was asked because sometimes in life, promises are made and they are not always kept and that's something you have to learn.  This is a story of life not always being fair.  Although most of my stories have a happier ending, I felt obliged to make this one not as happy.  I think that often, people are promised things that they will never end up getting just so someone can get something out of them for free.  It has happened to me before so I decided to write about it in this story.  Though it wasn’t my personal experience of course, it was very relatable to me.  I also really liked the images I found when I searched for this story and it made the original story more intriguing to me so I added my favorite picture.  If I were to rewrite the story again, I would consider changing Braham to his wife and seeing how the story would playout from there.  Folk-Tales of Bengal by Rev. Lal Behari Day with illustrations by Warwick Goble (1912).  

Reading Diary B: Bengali Folktales

For the second half of my reading in the Bengali Folktales unit, one of the stories that I particularly liked was the story of A GhostlyWife.  The story is about how a ghost nearly kills a woman and becomes her and goes on to live the woman’s life and for a while, no one notices any differences.  Eventually, the family picks up on subtle hints that this woman is not their daughter-in-law or wife and knew that instead, she was a she-ghost.  Although this story has a happy ending, if I were retelling it for my storytelling post, I might change it up a bit.  I like that the woman was returned to her own self but think it might be interesting if she never was and the husband was forced to live with this she-ghost forever instead. 

One story I liked as well was The Story of a Brahmadaitya.  After reading about how all the men who went to the tree before had died from the ghosts, I was sure that Brahadaitya would die as well.  But I did like that he was able to come out with a branch from the tree like he was asked and instead of the ghosts killing him, they actually helped him.  If I were retelling the story, I would consider changing the way the story ends just to make it more interesting.  What if the ghosts wouldn't have been so generous to him?  Or what if when he got the branch, he wasn't granted the land like he was promised?   

Another part of that story that I liked was the image on The Story of a Brahmadaitya cont. was the image associated with it.  I love the darker colors showing the ghost surrounding the Brahman.  Without reading the story, it looks eerie and like the ghosts aren't helping, but if you do read the story, you find out it’s a much different case.  

The Story of a Brahmadaitya, by Warwick Goble

Reading Diary A: Bengal Folktales

For the reading unit this week, I chose the BengaliFolktales unit.  I chose this unit because it seemed interesting to me as I am an animal lover.  One of the stories that stuck out to me was The Origin of Opium.  Though the title wasn't very intriguing to me, the story definitely was.  In the first part of the story, I thought that the mouse would continue to change into different animals until it found one that it liked the most but of course, like everything in life, nothing is only the positives, so the mouse found something wrong with everything it was turned into. 

As the story went on, I didn't think that the elephant, at that point, would turn into a beautiful girl.  That was a plot twist for me as I thought it would continue to change into animals.  I was also surprised when Poppy fell into the water and died because I figured at the end, she would want to return to being a mouse because the world as a beautiful woman had its ups and downs too.  At the end, I finally figured out why the name of the story was The Origin of Opium and I thought that was an interesting end to this story. 

I also particularly liked the image attached to the end of the Origin of Opium series.  It had vibrant colors and helped put an image to the text I was reading.  Overall, I liked this first half of the unit and I’m interested in reading the second half to find out more about the stories from the Bengal Folktales.  

The Origin of Opium  by Warwick Goble