Epic Things

Focus Story : The Quarrelsome Quails The Quarrelsome Quails (Source:  Archive ) Premise : Quails live in the forest. Every now and then, a man would come to hunt the quails to sell them. He uses a net to capture multiple at once.  1. King Quail grows tired of the men who keep trying to steal them. He devises a plan. He tells the quails to fly up all together at once when they are captured by the net. 2. The King's plan works out. The men grew tired of this but they know that sooner or later the quails will fight. 3. One special day, two quail got into a fight. The king sees this and warns the others. A man notices this opportunity and captures them along with several others. The king and the other live happily ever after. Bibliography . "The Quarrelsome Quails" from Twenty Jakata Tales by Noor Inayat.  Websource . Author's note : All the stories I have chosen for my reading notes have been stories I enjoyed. To spice things up, I wanted to choose something different t...

Focus Story : The Master's Test The Master's Test (Source: Archive ) Premise : A master teaches his pupils who are concern as he is getting older. 1. He tells his pupils to "seize a rich man's purse where no one is watching." 2. All his pupils, but one, obeys. 3. The one pupil says it is impossible to do the task as "there is no place wherein no one is watching." 4. The master is proud, as he is the only one who understood him. 5. The other pupils become embarrassed. They will always remember "My self is watching." Bibliography . "The Master's Test" from Twenty Jakata Tales by Noor Inayat. Websource . Author's note : I really enjoy the message from this story. At first, I was taken back from what the master asked his pupil to do but the ending was really sweet. It made me feel like I was the other pupils: embarrassed that I didn't catch the message.

The Cunning Crane and The Fishes (Source:  Archive ) Focus Story from Part B: The Cunning Crane and the Crab Bibliography . "The Cunning Crane and the Crab" From The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse.  Websource . Premise : The fishes live in a little pool that began to become really hot while a crane lives by another lake that has always been cool.  1. The crane offers to move the fishes one by one to the other pool but the fishes are suspicious as they suspect the crane would just eat them. 2. An old fish with one eye offers to go first to check if the cool lake is real. The crane brings the old fish to the cool lake and brings him back to tell the other fishes. 3. The old fish tells the other fish that the lake is real, convincing them to trust the crane. 5. Little did the fishes know, the crane is tricking them. One by one, the crane carries them toward the other lake. However, the crane eats them each time. 6. The crane eats all of them. In...

The Talkative Tortoise (Source: Archive ) Focus Story from Part A: The Talkative Tortoise Bibliography . "The Talkative Tortoise" From The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse. Websource . Premise : The Tortoise was extremely talkative to the point he would talk every second of every day. He lived in a pond and had two best friends, two geese. Those who live in the pond with the Tortoise have grown extremely annoyed with him. 1. The two geese ask the Tortoise to move in with them in the mountains but the Tortoise is concern as he can't fly. The geese offer to carry him. 2. The geese command the Tortoise to bite on a stout stick, that way the two geese can carry both ends. They warn the Tortoise not to talk as he has to hold on tightly on the stick. 3. As they start flying to the mountains, a lot of boys look up and see the tortoise being carried by the geese. This annoys the Tortoise but he is ignorant of the danger that he opened his mouth and sta...

Bibliography.  "The Elephant and the Dog" from More Jakata Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt (1922).  Web Source. Focus Story: The Elephant and the Dog Notes:  - Elephant and the dog became best friends after continuous visits by the dog to eat the elephant's leftovers.  - They became close and would do everything together. - One day, comes a farmer who catches a glimpse of the dog. He wants the dog and offers to buy it from the elephant-keeper who agrees. - Over time, the elephant became more and more depressed as he misses his best friend to the point he would not eat or bathe. - The king found out about this and announces a large reward for the return of the dog. - The dog returns and they lived happily ever after.   Elephant and Dog (Source: ENews ) Thoughts : This was such a cute and endearing story. I love how loyal the elephant was to the point he would not eat without his best friend. The plot of this story is about pure friendship and I am all for it. It makes...

Bibliography. "The Three Fishes" from More Jakata Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt (1922). Web Source. After reading all the stories from Part A of More Jakata Tales, I decided to focus on The Tree Fishes as this story stood out to me.  Focus Story: The Three Fishes Notes:  - Three characters: Very-Thoughtful, Thoughtful, Thoughtless - Beginning: The three fishes leave their safe home out into the open river. - Very-thoughtful expresses a concern as it's dangerous since there are fishermen in the open river but the rest were not. - Thoughtful and Thoughtless accidentally and foolishly ran into a fisherman's net. - Very-thoughtful cleverly saved them. Because of this, they agree to go back home with Very-thoughtful. Fisherman (Source: Web ) Thoughts and Ideas for Storytelling : I really enjoy this story and chose it mainly because there are endless possibilities for storytelling. The names of the fishes were unique and describe the character. The story was simple and an easy...

Bibliography . The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata- The Princes of Elephant City by C. A. Kincaid (1921).  Web source. Synopsis : Duryodhana continues to destroy the Pandavas. The Pandavas go into war against the Kauravas including Drona.  Drona is killed by manipulation. He was tricked into thinking his son is dead. Duryodhana goes into a one-on-one fight with Bhima. Bhima wins. The Pandavas win the war. Yudhishthira becomes King of Hastinapura. In the end, the Pandavas and Duryodhana make peace in heaven. Yudhisthira and the dog (Source: Websource ) Thoughts : Part B is definitely much shorter than part A. What I really like about this part of the retelling is the simplicity of the ending. It's very straightforward and easy to understand. As someone whose English isn't that great, I enjoyed this retelling.

Bibliography . The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata- The Princes of Elephant City by C. A. Kincaid (1921).  Web source. Synopsis: King Vichitravirya has two sons, Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Pandu becomes king and has five sons (Pandavas: Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula, and Sahadeva). When Pandu dies, Dhritarashtra becomes king. He has 100 sons with Duryodhana as the eldest ones and they are collectively called Kauravas.  Drona is the trainer of the Pandavas and Kauravas. The Pandavas are his favorite which makes Duryodhana jealous. Drona uses his pupils to attack his enemy, King Drupada of Panchala.  The gods gift King Drupuda with the beautiful girl Draupadi to avenge his kingdom. A monster, Hidimbi, falls in love with Bhima after the Pandavas goes into exile. During this exile, Baka torments the Pandavas. Arjuna is able to win a contest to be a suitor for Draupadi. Due to a misunderstanding with his mother, all four brother marries Draupadi. Yudhisthira loses everything in...

Focus Story:  Drona's Death The one-story I read in the Mahabharata that stands out and I can never forget is Drona's death. It was such a tragedy that he died thinking that his son was dead. When in reality, it's all a gambit to trick him. Bhima killed the Elephant (Source:  Wikimedia ) Notes from Part D : As Drona is still undefeated, Bhima devised a plan to trick him. Drona's one weakness is his love for his son. So, Bhima used this in his plan. What is sad is that Bhima used to be one of Drona's pupils. Drona trained Bhima into the great warrior he had become. Bhima killed an elephant with the same name as Drona's son (Ashwatthaman). Then, he screamed saying "Ashwatthaman is dead" over and over again so that Drona would hear it Drona did not believe Bhima so he asked Bhima's brother Yudhishthira who is incapable of lying.  Cleverly, Yudhishthira was able to state "Ashwatthaman is dead" while whispering "the elephant" under h...

Focus Character: Draupadi Draupadi (Source: Wikimedia ) Notes from Part C : Draupadi is the daughter of King Drupuda of Panchala. She has a twin brother Dhrishtadyumna,  Draupadi lived with the Pandavas in the forest for 12 years. King Jayadratha, king of Sindhu kidnapped her but was found by the Pandavas. In Virata, Draupadi had to disguise herself as a handmaid to the queen. The queen initially feared Draupadi's beauty. During her time in Virata, the queen's brother, Prince Kichaka tries to violate Draupadi, but she was saved by Bhima. Thoughts and Ideas :  I think Draupadi is such an interesting character. She holds many resemblances to Sita from the Ramayana. Although she is married to multiple men of the Pandava brothers while Ramayana's Sita is more devoted to one person, Rama. It's really sad there were multiple attempts to violate her. She had to endure so much during her lifetime. As a storytelling idea, I am hoping to twist the ending of Kichaka's murder ...

Focus story :  Drona Synopsis : Drupada vows to end Drona after what he has done to his kingdom after Drona fulfills his plan of revenge on Drupuda. He performed a ritual that resulted in the birth of his son, Dhrishtadyumna, and his daughter, Draupadi. His son was destined to end Drona. Not much is focused on Drona's story in part B other than the development of Dhrishtadyumna and Draupadi as well as the Pandavas gaining more and more power. In a way, the success of Arjuna and Bhima can be regarded as the result of training with Drona. Storytelling Ideas :  Sticking to my original idea from part A, I think it will be very interesting to have Drona as a football coach in a high school setting. While reading the Mahabharata, as a reader I felt like Drona's character is the foundation of all the important warriors such as Arjuna. He made them into the brilliant warriors they have become. It's really sad that in the end, they were against each other, especially since Arjuna wa...

Focus story : The Training of the Pandavas and Kauravas Synopsis : Drona and Kripi had a son named Ashwatthaman. Drona cared for his son and wanted nothing but the best for him. He taught him wisdom, determination, and warfare throughout Aswatthaman's childhood. Drona moved into the royal palace with his family to train the Pandavas and Kauravas. Aswatthaman joins along during the training and grew up along with the princes. Out of all his students, Drona's favorite pupil is Arjuna of the Pandavas. In fact, the Pandavas were actually Drona's favorite including Yudhishthira, Bhima, Nakula, and Sahadeva. This made Duryodhana of the Kauravas jealous of the Pandavas. Storytelling Ideas :  What really stood out to be was the teacher-student relationship between Drona and his pupils. I'd like to place Drona as a renowned football coach. I think having the story of the training of the Pandavas and Kauravas in a high school setting would be interesting. Especially, placing Dro...

Focus Character:  Nina Dave breaks up with Nina  (Source: Image taken from  Sita Sings the Blues ) Synopsis:   Nina receives a breakup email from Dave which is atrocious. She completely falls apart. She cannot stop thinking of the past and becomes more and more lonely. One day, she had enough and decided to call Dave. Nina begs Dave to take her back. Similar to how Sita was so blinded by her love for Rama (also the part where the narrators were talking about Sita's love for Rama was hilarious). In the end, Nina devoted herself to reading the Ramayana and gets a new cat. Bibliography:  "Sita Sings the Blues" by Nina Paley. 2008. Source:  Web Source Storytelling Ideas: I have an idea on writing a story from the perspective of a text conversation between Nina and her best friend. I would like to elaborate on how Nina picked up the Ramayana book in the first place. This will be such a fun thing for me to type up. I'm excited!

Focus Character: Nina Overall thoughts :  Initially, I dreaded watching a 1-hour video but I have to say I am surprised at how much I enjoyed it. The movie goes back and forth on different parallels. One of them telling the Ramayana story from the perspective of Sita while another is a modern story of a relationship between Nina and Dave. As I have written and did storytelling assignments focused on Sita in the past, I would like to dive in with a focus on Nina in this story. In a way, Nina and Sita have similarities in which they both had to wait so long for their other half. But sadly, in the end, neither worked out. Nina and Dave (Source: Image taken from Sita Sings the Blues ) Synopsis:   Nina and Dave were living happily in an apartment in San Francisco with their cat, Lexi. One day, Dave received news of a new job in India. Dave accepts and has to say goodbye to Nina. Nina is devastated but Dave promised to be back in a couple of months. Nina waits and waits for her hal...

Bibliography.  "Ramayana Part D" from Tales 151-200 of Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs.  Web Source. Focus Character : Sita's point of view on the events in Part D. Synopsis of Part D : - The war is filled with illusion and trickery from both sides. As the war ends , Vibishana was sent to fetch Sita. - Rama became conflicted about his love for Sita as she has been with Rana all this time. He was afraid of what the public would speculate. He wishes Sita well and frees her to go wherever she'd like. This deeply hurt Sita as she has been nothing but faithful to him. She proved herself with the help of Agni, the fire god and Rama accepts.  - Rama and Sita returned home and were crowned king and queen. Shortly after, Sita becomes pregnant. However, some of the public were still complaining about Rama's decision to allow Sita by his side. Because of this, Rama abandoned Sita by asking Lakshmana to leave Sita near Valmiki's ashram. Valmiki teaching Kush...

Bibliography.  "Ramayana Part C" from Tales 101-150 of Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs.  Web Source. Focus Story: Sita's time as a captive of Ravana. Synopsis from Part C:  - Sugriva helps Rama save Sugriva . As Sugriva is crowned King of Kiskkindha, he employs monkeys to search Sita. They looked for her everywhere. In the end, they spot Sita on the horizon of the golden city, Lanka. Lanka was over 100 yojanas of ocean away. They learned of Ravana's doing. However, none of them was able to reach Lanka, except for Hanuman.  - Sita has to deal with Ravana who continuously tries to seduce her. Ravana offers her everything from money to power, but Sita rejects him. He gave her an ultimatum, either to accept his advances to become his wife or be eaten. Little did he know, Hanuman heard this whole ordeal. - Sita has to deal with Rakshasis but she remained strong. She believes Rama will come for her, dead or alive. However, in the end, she could not take it an...

Bibliography.  "Ramayana Part B" from Tales 51-100 of Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs.  Web Source.  Ravana disguised as an ascetic approaching Sita (Source:  Wikimedia ) Focus Character:  Sita, who in Part B, grows closer to her husband Rama. As she is devoted to Rama, she follows him into exile with Lakshmana. The journey was long and she was kidnapped by Ravana at the end of part B.  Synopsis from Part B: As her husband was sent into Exile by King Dasharatha after Kaikeyi (whose mind was poisoned by maid Manthara) forces him, Sita follows him along with Lakshmana. Their journey during exile was long. After the king passed away, Ayodhya was in desperate need of a new ruler. Bharata and Shatrughna returned to find Rama gone, and threatened Manthara for what she has done. Three of them went to beg Rama to return, but he refuses as he is devoted to upholding his father's wishes. Rama, Sita, and Lakshmana visit a few places during the exile. They ...

Bibliography.  "Ramayana Part A" from Tales 31-50 of Tiny Tales from the Ramayana by Laura Gibbs.  Web Source. Sita by Raja Ravi Varma (Source: Wikimedia ) Focus Character: Sita is the adopted daughter of King Janaka. Janaka claimed she was gifted to him by Budhevi, the earth goddess. Her love story with Rama is what drew me to her. She is unlike the other female characters as she is powerful as well. Other stories from the Ramayana :  - Sita is a reincarnation of the goddess Lakshmi, given birth by Ravana's wife Mandodari. She buried the baby away from Lanka. This was found by Janaka. - Padma, an incarnation of Lakshmi, had a father King Padmaksha who was killed by Ravana. She entered into the king's pyre and transformed into a jewel. Ravana kept this jewel in a box but when his wife opened it, she found a baby. The baby threatened to destroy Ravana. The box was then buried away from Lanka and was later found by Janaka. Synopsis from Part A : The story begins with a...

Goblin City Story source: The Giant Crab, and the Other Tales from Old India by W. H. D. Rouse. Mythic Rakshasa: Modern Interpretation by Denman Rooke Setting: The island of Ceylon Characters:  - She-goblins : inhabitants of the island of Ceylon who force travelers to marry them and eat them when they grow tired of them. - The Captain : cast ashore to Ceylon due to the shipwrecked. The first sailor to realized he married a goblin. - 500 sailors : some believed in the captain and were able to escape while others did not believe the captain and were eaten. - Fairy : a kind fairy who hated the goblins who sent her flying horse to save the sailors. - Flying horse : sent by the fairy to save the sailors. The Flying Horse by W. Robinson (Source: archive )    Synopsis Breakdown:  Background:    On the island of Ceylon, the inhabitants are no one other than the she-goblins who would force travelers to marry them but would eat them afterward when they grow tired of...

I have chosen the Tiny Tales from the Ramayana  version. This is mostly because its written by Laura Gibbs! I am excited as it seems that this version has more backstory. The fact that it is short is also a plus. As a student, the fact that it is free and online is a big yes! The two comic books that really stood out to me were  Rama: Retold from the Ramayana   and Guide: Saraswati . I chose these two because they are both different. I was interested in the Ramayana comic book as this specific one is able to tell the whole story in a single comic book. It was condensed but still very detailed. I felt like the Saraswati one really called me out because there is something about Saraswati that sounds so familiar. I believe it was a Hindu goddess that I have seen arts of in Bali... I am really interested in seeing how Indian epics prevail in other Asian countries. The two videos that I was interested in were Harry Potter Meets Hindu Mythology and Mahabharata meets Game of Th...