Week 15 Story: Children of a Feather

"Timmy!!!"

The Daycare attendant had yelled this name far too often for her liking.

"Timmy, come over here!"

The menace that was little Timmy strolled over to the long suffering Ms. Susan with an air of innocence that only the most guilty could have.

"Timmy, what did I tell you about tackling the other kids?"

A silence followed.

"I told you that it wasn't nice. Just because you are stronger doesn't mean you have to show it off. Now off to the corner for you, to think about what you've done."

Timmy didn't like this one bit.

"You have to catch me first!" The little devil replied before charging in between Ms. Susan's legs knocking her (and anything else in his path) flat down.

Oh what am I ever going to do? Pondered Ms. Susan, wondering if 27 was early enough to retire.

Suddenly a crash, quickly followed by a loud whining of pain.

As Ms. Susan rounded the corner of the room to see what the fuss was all about she frustratedly said, "Now what have you done this time, Timmy?"

But it was not Timmy. It was a new kid, one of the other attendants must have checked him in.

"Haha!" The young boy exclaimed over his still crying victim. He too ran off with all the grace of a tornado.

Ms. Susan was done for surely. She knew she'd have to quit now. She was far too young for all that white hair.

As she rounded the corner again, fully expecting to see a new disaster brewing with the two children, she was caught by surprise.

There was no fighting, no bickering. Timmy and the new kid were locked in what appeared to be a staring contest.

Ms. Susan stood there motionless until finally the boys seemed to come to an agreement and shook hands in a sign of peace.

"Huh, birds of a feather I guess..."



Author's notes:
Today's story is based of the Jataka tale, "Birds of a Feather" that I read a while back. The original story is about two wild horses and there is a bit of a intrigue plot with a wicked king and some peasants, but I personally enjoyed the horses part of the story best. While reading it, it really reminded me of children on a playground and so I hoped to capture some of that feeling in my retelling.

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Reading Notes: Francis and Thomas. Jataka Tales Part B

Back fro one final week of Jataka tales. Kinda emotional, mainly because of lack of sleep from other projects in other classes, but still...
Last time I tried to be very positive in my assessment and subsequent comments and T think that was a change for the better. Now however, I think I may have gone too far in that direction. For this week I will try to mix a more negative and positive approach to get a nice balanced set of thoughts on a story.

The Pigeon and the Crow:
This story is dark, especially for a children's tale. I get that it is warning of greed and lying and whatnot, but as a cautionary tale it is implying that if you steal even a bit of meat you will be skinned alive and killed! Maybe that was true, but a story for children is usually expected to have a bit of a softer edge to it. Maybe that is just my culture speaking though, a lot of Jataka tales end with the foolish animal's death....
That all being said, I did quite enjoy the imagery, and the choice of making them birds flying about being sorta friends was a fun visual in my mind while I read it. Overall although I was a bit concerned about the tone, I quite liked it.

The value of a Brother:
This story is... confusing to say the least. I comment on it because it is so simple, yet the meaning and explanations seem to allude me. The one thing I know for sure is that it is a story teaching young girls of the time that they must be married. Besides for that there is the part about a brother being more important than your husband of son, but I'm not entirely sure that's what it meant...
The story itself has an interesting premise, thios woman cleverly getting these three men out of a scrape they are in. Where it goes wrong is with the logic, which I hesitate to complain about in a children's book except that the logic is part way important to the meaning and I just can't seem to sniff that out.

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Reading notes: Francis and Thomas. Jataka Tales Part A

You thought I was done with Jataka Tales? Of course not! I am having a blast reading these for one reason or another and you can bet I'll continue for most all of the remaining readings! One thing will be different for these notes though. I will still take more thorough notes on two or three of the tales that I have something to say, but I am going to try to be much more positive than I have been in the past. I have been rather critical of these stories thus far and no more!

The Little Gildmaster:
What a great story to start talking positively about! This little tale is wonderfully reminiscent of a kind of Tom Sawyer type of childhood bliss where you can make it through the world on wit alone. It was very entertaining to read as I grew up reading Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn and I can only image it was a favorite of children everywhere.
One thing I really liked about the way the story was told is that it made an effort to be clever. I could easily see some tellings of this children's story passing up on the cleverness because of the intended audience. It did a very good job of making the audience feel as if they were in on the clever ruse at the right times and on the outside for the wrong times.

The Guilty Dogs:
This story is wonderful. I think the set up may be one of a my favorites so far. The "bad guy" is so clearly established, because who wouldn't hate a dog killer. Especially as a child, those being told this story knew who to hate. That being said the "villain" is redeemed by the end of the story. It teaches children forgiveness and to not blindly pass judgement. This is a great tale.
I've noticed with the stories in this book, unlike the previous Jataka tale book I read, there is less of a reverent tone towards the King or the rich. Both the stories I am writing about do this where the poor man is lifted upon them. This makes me think these stories were written by and for a poorer class than the other ones. I have no proof of this, but it seems like a reasonable assumption.

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Reading: The Giant crab and Other Tales Part 2

Note time! I was actually kind of happy to have an excuse to come back to this book. I quite enjoyed the first part. It really felt like reading bedtime stories albeit a bit stranger than the ones I was told. But maybe my own would look weird if I heard them outside my memory again. Once again I'll write about my thoughts on a few of the stories I read.

Birds of a Feather:
I have never heard the term skinflint before today, but I think I love it. Overall this story is pretty straight foreword. That is one of the reasons I decided to choose this one to write about. Generally, the stories I read in the previous chapters all had some bizarre and twisted message that was somewhat lost in the mix of strange metaphors and somewhat backwards sensibilities. This story however seems to translate quite well over to modern society. It appears a wonderful explanation of the birds of a feather expression and furthermore it tries to have a little bit of a message. That being said the moral of the story is a tiny bit clouded by the fact that the horse owner is expected to just kinda live with the kings evil doings, but that is definitely to be expected from the times and might even be seen more subtly in modern stories.

Spend a pound to win a penny:
Normally I would spread the writing about readings a bit more evenly, but the story directly after the previous one caught my attention so much I couldn't help but write about it. I will assume whoever reads this (if anyone besides for me really) they will have read the story.
This story has such a clear and simple moral message that I am shocked at how specific the story was. It could have been about just about anything, but they decided to choose a monkey stealing some peas. Now I bring this up because not only does it feel like a bizarre choice for the story, but it also feels a bit cheap. The story feels a bit forced in that the monkey spills all his peas to get the one? I understand that's the point of it, but my question is why is this somewhat stretch of an event the one the writer chose. I guess maybe telling this to toddler age children might help, I could see one of them doing something like that, and I get that a monkey is a cuter tale than someone with a gambling addiction, but I feel like there could be better alternatives. Maybe I'm just a jerk, I don't know.
A somewhat similar decision of a strange nature can be seen later on in the story Lacknose. The lie the boys tell about his nose growing doesn't make any sense, not only is it a lie, but even if it was the truth it doesn't feel much like flattery. Any lie could have done, but this one feels weird to me. I will admit this one could very well be a cultural difference though.


I criticize some of these stories for their logic, but honestly, part of their appeal to me is that they don't always make the most sense. I quite enjoy reading them partially because of how nonsesical they are and I wonder if that is part of the reason they are so beloved by kids. The stories are often fun and whimsical to the end.

A link to the reading!
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Week 12 Story: His Eyes

Drip... Drip... Drip...

The faucet hadn't stopped dripping since Gahndar turned the water off. The old rusty sink refused to obey her commands no matter how hard she turned the knob.

But there wasn't time to think about this. She had no idea how much time she had before they came for her and her soon to be husband. He awaited her just outside the bathroom, patiently. He was always patient. He was the sunshine in a dark world.

Drip... Drip... Drip...

He loved her and she loved him. Why couldn't it be that simple.

The government agents would be here before long, if she hadn't finished by then they would take her lover away. They would take her sweet Dedrash away from her.

They had nothing in common. That was the real problem.

Drip...

He had gorgeous dark hair. She was a messy red head.

Drip...

He had a talent for mathematics. She leaned towards painting.

Drip...

He was blind. She was not.

...

The dripping had finally stopped. They wouldn't care how much Gahndar cared about him, or how much she was interested in his talents and passions. They had nothing in common and the government deemed them incompatible. That was about to change.

When she left the bathroom his eyes would light up like they always do despite his condition. They were one way mirrors into his soul and how she loved to stare deeply into them. They held no hate, no prejudice, no fear. His eyes were pure.

The knife in her hand trembled under her uncertain gaze. There was no time to falter now. They would be here soon with their rules and their laws an their guns. What was love compared to those?

Drip...

It was back. The metronome of the water echoed in her head as she made her decision.

Drip...

He was blind. She was not.

That was about to change.

Drip... Drip... Drip...


Source: "The Blind Bride"
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Author's note: So I did a planning post on this story, so most of the information on where the ideas for this story came from can be found there. The way I told my story is very similar to how the movie The Lobster ends. I did however, take advantage of the medium of print to focus the story more internally in the main character's struggle in her decision. I respected both of the source materials for the strong character's they had, but the Indian epic character was far more decisive in the storytelling. I decided to keep the movie's indecision instead.

Reading notes: The Giant Crab and Other tales from Old India Part A

Well starting out with the Titular giant crab story...

I'm not entirely sure what the moral of this story is besides for "Don't eat people." I suppose there is probably a cautionary tale of greed somewhere within the story, but it is honestly lost among the rest of the strange story. It does teach teamwork for sure, teamwork in murder... Oh well, I'm sure I won't understand all of these stories.

Up next, the Hypocritical Cat. I actually used this story for my storybook this last weekend, so I am very familiar with this one. I still am not entirely sure if there is supposed to be a moral. I'm starting to think maybe these stories are just about people overcoming adversity. Then again this story does warn against lying about how pious you are and that murder murder is great if you're a mouse but bad if you're a cat.

The next one I read and really have any comments on is the Goblin and the Sneeze. This story legitimately made me laugh because of (unlike the previous two I commented on) the lesson being taught is so blatant and obvious. Basically the story is just, "Always say bless you, unless you want to get eaten by a goblin." It calls back to similar stories that parents tell you to keep you in your bed late at night and what not.

There is so much to say about "The jackal went a wooing" that I don't even know where to begin. The first off is seriously, what are they trying to teach their children with this story. Two of the brothers die and the lioness still gets to live happily ever after (albeit with a slight twinge of loneliness). The jackal just dies, he didn't do anything bad. That is of course unless you consider hitting out of your monetary class a sin...

The stories and picture source

Reading notes: Epified Krishna Part a

Epified Krishna

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Do the gods ever expect people to not try and kill their prophesied killers. This seems to usually just result in revenge plots that bring about the prophecy that they tried to prevent. I guess in this way, the gods could just choose who they wanted to kill by giving them a prophesy...

i wonder if the story of the teleporting baby was just some ladies excuse for being pregnant outside of wedlock? It's interesting to think how the story tellers came up with these stories.

The gods definitely cheated with the whole, letting her eighth child be a god thing. They really wanted the king dead.

The story of how he escapes with his god son reminds me a lot of the christian story of how Paul escaped from his prison later in the new testament.

He keeps his poor cousin in prison even after she had given birth? that sucks.

I like how baby Krishna just steals all of the demon ladies powers by breast milk. It is kinda absurd but also kinda makes sense?

It is hilarious how they decided to make Krishna  rowdy child. like he knows the world's rules didn't apply to him.

She just saw everything in his mouth? This is bizarre, but also kinda great...

So Krishna scared a snake demon away with his music?!? This story keeps getting better.

And He choked a tornado? I joke, but seriously these stories have elements that seem insane and how in the world did someone make them up, but it all kinda works together.