Reading Notes: Brer Rabbit, Part A

I was excited to see Brer Rabbit as an option for the reading this week because I grew up with this tale! My parents used to read it to me all the time and I remember enjoying it very much as a child.  I was surprised however to see it under the "African Tales" origin.  I did not know that this story comes from African history. 

Part A consisted of 8 parts including Brer Rabbit and the Calamus Root, The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story, Why Mr. Possum Loves Peace, How Mr. Rabbit was too Sharp for Mr. Fox, Mr. Fox is "Outdone" by Mr. Buzzard, Mr. Wolf Makes a Failure, Mr. Fox Tackles Old Man Tarrypin, and finally The Awful Fate of Mr. Wolf.

The tale that I could see myself retelling this week would be The Wonderful Tar-Baby Story.  I like this story because it one of the specific stories that I really remember as a child.  It turns out that is is also the most famous of the Brer Rabbit stories so that makes sense as to why its the one I remember the most. 

In the story, Mr. Fox creates a tar baby from "turkentime" a sticky substance resembling tar.  Mr. Fox then hides and waits for Brer Rabbit to come along.  Eventually, Brer rabbit comes along and tries to talk to the tar baby, and of course the tar baby doesn't respond because it is made of tar.  Brer Rabbit becomes frustrated and ends up punching the tar baby and getting stuck in the tar.  Mr. Fox comes out from the bushes and laughs and the story ends with the narrator saying some say that the Judge came and freed Brer Rabbit and others say he didn't.

I am excited about potentially retelling this story, as it brought up sweet memories from my childhood!

Brer Rabbit and the Tar-Baby. Web Source. 

Bibliography: The Wonderful Tar Baby from Uncle Remus: His Songs and Sayings by Joel Chandler Harris.

Week 6 Story: The Ungrateful Mother

Once there was a Brahman who lived with his wife and mother.  It is traditional in the Indian culture that the son continues to take care of his mother into old age.  However, the Brahman's mother was a real witch and made life unpleasant for The Brahman and his wife. 

One day as the mother was out on a walk cursing to herself about daily inconveniences, Sarita a friendly nature dwelling ghost came to her.  Sarita asked why the mother was so unhappy and the mother just continued to complain.  Sarita saw that the mother was ungrateful for her son and daughter-in-law and took the mother in law and locked her up in her woodland house.  Sarita then dressed like the mother and made her way to the Brahman's house.

At the Brahman's house Sarita was a completely new version of the mother.  She helped around the house, thanked the Brahman and the daughter-in-law, and was pleasant to be around.  Both the Brahman and his wife were relived with the mothers new change of character.  However, after some time the wife started to notice strange things about the mother.  She was able to do things more quickly than a woman her age should be able to do, and she would stay up all hours of the night.

One day the Brahman saw his mother swimming and singing in the nearby pond and he knew he had to confront her, because all of her life she has never been able to swim.  The Brahman asked his mother who she was and Sarita confessed saying that she came across his real mother in the woods and was burdened with her negativity and wanted to make life better for both him and his wife.  The Brahman, thanked Sarita but said that as nice as its been to have her pleasant spirit around, that he must have his real mother back.  Sarita agreed to let his mother go if as long as she promised to change her attitude towards life and be thankful for her son and daughter-in-law. 

Back in the woods Sarita took The Brahman to his mother who was quite afraid.  The Brahman told his mother that Sarita has agreed to let her go as long as she changes her outlook on life.  The mother, willing to do anything to be free once again agreed and was let go by Sarita.

Back at their house the mother became much happier, helped with chores and made life pleasant for the Brahman and his wife just like Sarita had done.  They all lived happily together for quite some time. 

My character Sarita, the friendly woodland ghost. Web Source. 

Author's note: In the original tale entitled The Ghostly Wife, the wife of the Brahman is replaced by am evil ghost.  At first neither the Brahman or his mother know what has happened but eventually the mother notices the wife doing strange things such as sticking her limbs through walls and into fires.  The mother and Brahman call upon and exorcist who burns turmeric and expels the ghost from the wife's form.  The ghost takes them to where she has thrown the wife into a hole and they rescue her short from death.  After recovery, the Brahmam, his wife, and his mother live happily ever after.  I changed the story to have the mother be the one replaced and I also reversed the roles of the evil ghost and nice wife- to having the ghost actually be a friendly ghost and the mother being evil.  I used a name generator to come up with the name of Sarita. 

Bibliography: The Ghostly Wife from Folktales of Bengal written by Rev. Lal Behari Day.

Reading Notes: Bengal, Part B

Reading B of Bengal was just as enjoyable to read as Part A.  The folk tales in Part B consisted of The Ghostly Wife, The Story of Brahmadaitya, The Origin of Rubies, The Ghost who was Afraid of being Bagged, and The Bald Wife. 

My favorite of these tales was The Ghostly Wife.  This tale was very much like The Brahmin-Ghost that I wrote about from Part A.  However The Ghostly Wife had some significant differences that I found enjoyable. 

In the The Ghostly Wife, the wife of the Brahman is thrown into a pit by a woman ghost and the woman ghost takes her place. 

At first the Brahman and his mother don't notice any differences but eventually the mother starts to notice the wife doing strange things such as doing chores too quickly and sticking her limbs through walls to deliver objects to her. 

After the mother caught the wife with her foot in a fire she knew she had to be a ghost so called upon and exorcist.  The exorcist burned turmeric and immediately the ghost came forward and confessed telling them where they could find the real wife.  The real wife was rescued and they loved happily ever after. 

I thought this story was interesting because in The Brahman- Ghost story no one knew that he had been replaced by a ghost and even when he tried to tell people they did not believe him.  In this story I liked that they mother began to pick up on that the wife had been replaced by a ghost. 

The Ghostly Wife. Web Source. 

Bibliography: The Folktales of Bengal by Rev. Lal Behari Day.

Reading Notes: Bengal, Part A

The stories in Part A of Bengal were really fun to read.  My favorite story out of the few was The Ghost-Brahman.  In this story there is a poor Brahman who was having trouble getting married.  He begged for money and that he may find a wife.  He eventually succeeded in scraping together enough money to pay for the wedding and was married.

After bringing his wife home he realized that he had no money to support her, or his mother so he went to distant countries to collect money.

That night, after he left a ghost that appeared to be Brahman appeared to his wife and his wife wondered how he had returned so soon.  The ghost told the wife that he had already gotten money and continued to live with them, controlling the household.  After some years, the real Brahman returned and was confused to find another like him in the house. The ghost treated the real Brahman as a stranger and asked what his business was.  The real Brahman, angered, said the same thing to the ghost.  The real Brahman was cast away and did not know what to do.

He went to king after king and no one thought he was the real Brahman. The Brahman who weeped every day as a result was noticed by the cowboys.  The coyboy king wished to see him and the Brahman told him his sad story.  The coyboy king agreed to help him and brought both the real Brahman and ghost Brahman together.

He told them whichever could get themselves into a tiny phial would be declared the owner of the household.  The ghost quickly made himself into a small creature and put himself inside the phial.  The king put the lid on the phial to where the ghost could not get out and told the real Brahman to throw the phial to the bottom of the sea and to go back to his mother and wife.  The Brahman lived happily ever after and had many sons and daughters.

I really enjoyed this story and the trickery at the end was very clever.  I could see myself retelling this story later in the week!

The Brahman with his mother and wife. Web Source. 

Bibliography: The Brahman-Ghost from The Folktales of Bengal by Rev. Lal Behari Day.  

Week 5 Story: Sinbad's Second Voyage

My second voyage started out good, but I should've known it wouldn't last.  After sailing for 3 days we came to an island to rest.  Bountiful with lush greens and flowers, there seemed to be no human life.  Overtook by it's beauty I began to explore the island.  Unfortunately, seeming as though I was overtaken by the beautiful scenery, I wandered too far and lost my way.  After many hours I finally made to the top of a hill where I could overlook the island and see where I was.  What I saw was very disheartening.

Sailing away in the ocean was my ship, along with my crew. How could they forget about me? I tried to cry out to them but it was no use, they were gone.  Unsure of what to do next I sat down with my head in my hands.  Next thing I know I am being picked up off the ground and hoisted into the air by what seems to be ginormous claw.  I looked up, and sure enough I was being carried away by a giant eagle to my death.  I thought about throwing myself into the sky to plummet to my fate, but before I could do so, the eagle dropped me into its big next and flew away. 

In the nest was a giant egg that could easily crush me.  Great, I am going to be baby food when this egg hatches I thought.  However, relieved that the mother eagle was gone momentarily I sat down leaning against the egg trying to formulate a plan.

Not soon after I pressed my back up against the egg, the egg pushed back! Oh no, it's already happening I thought to myself.  The egg began to shake some more and begin to crack open revealing a baby chick inside.  New with life, the baby chick stretched out of its broken shell and rubbed its fuzzy head against me.  To my surprise this was the cutest, sweetest chick I'd ever seen!

Usually baby chicks can't fly until they are at least a few months old, but this chick magically stretched out its wings and flew out into the sky and circled right back to the nest landing next to me.  If only I could get it to carry me down from this nest and into that nearby valley before I have to deal with the wrath of the mother eagle.  The starts must have been in line for me that day because no later that that thought popped into my head that the baby bird scooped me up by my turban, flew me down out of the nest and to the nearby valley and set me softly on the ground and then flew away. 

To my relief, I was greeted by a group of travelers who were also on the island trying to collect great riches.  I explained to them my misfortunes and they agreed to let me travel with them back to Bagdad. 

Me being whisked away by mother eagle. 

Author's note: Inspired by the original second voyage from The Voyages of Sinbad by Andrew Lang, I put my own personal twist on what took place.  In Lang's version, Sinbad falls asleep on the island and wakes up to see that his ship and crew are gone.  While he is walking the island trying to figure out what he will do next, he finds a giant fuzzy white object that turns out to be an egg from a giant roc.  At nightfall the roc settles upon the egg and Sinbad attaches his turban to the roc's foot in hopes that it will carry him away to somewhere with humans in the morning.  His plan succeeds and in the morning he is carried away by the eagle.  

Reading Notes: The Voyages of Sinbad, Part B

The second half of The Voyages of Sinbad was almost the exact same as the first.  Sinbad continued to go on voyages where he encountered near death experiences, made it home safely, and then got bored and decided to go on another voyage.  I thought the second half was very repetitive and a little boring.  After his sixth voyage he made it a point to go on no more because of his age but alas, he went on a seventh when the commander asked him to deliver a letter to the King of Serendib in return for his friendship.  Sinbad carried out the task, again merely escaping death and finally returned home to never travel again and live with all of his riches.

Sinbad on his 5th voyage.  Web Source. 

Reading Notes: The Voyages of Sinbad, Part A

I chose to read The Voyages of Sinbad for my reading this week because in the description it said that it was much like The Odyssey, which I read last week and quite enjoyed.  It also read that many inspirations for The Voyages of Sinbad came from the The Odyssey and that was not an exaggeration! I was shocked at how similar many of the stories were between the two readings.  Much like The Odyssey, in The Voyages of Sinbad, Sinbad the main character is a merchant that loves to travel the world and collect great treasures.  Throughout this reading, Sinbad goes on 4 voyages, all of which have almost deathly encounters.  The voyage that resembled The Odyssey the most was Voyage 3, which involved a giant that held Sinbad and his companions hostage and ate them slowly.  They merely escaped by stabbing him in the eye with boiling rods in his slumber and fled the island on makeshift rafts that they had made from driftwood.  This is almost identical to a situation that Odysseus occurred during his journey home.  Part A of this reading was very exciting and I am looking forward to reading Part B!

Sinbad fleeing on a makeshift raft. Web source.