Reading Notes: The Giant Crab and Other Tales from Old India, Part B

Birds of a Feather

• Horse named Chestnut was kind of restless and always hurt other people and horses. 
• The King wanted to buy some horses but was cheap so he had Chestnut let out so he would hurt the other horses and lower the price. 
• The next time the dealer went to sale the King horses he made sure to bring another wild one to occupy Chestnut, turns out they like each other
• Long story short, the King felt bad and gave the dealer double the money. 

Spend a Pound to Win a Penny

• A strange story about a monkey and some peas
• Basically don't be greedy.

The Cunning Crane and the Crab

• Crane wanted to eat the fish in a drying up pond so he thought he would trick them
• Fish did not fall for his trick at first bc they knew he wanted to eat them
• The crane convinced them that he would take them to a beautiful cool lake

             - They fell for it, and the crane ate all the fish

• The crane tried to trick a crab after he ate all the fish but the crab knew better
• he had him carry him but only if he let him secure himself with his claw around his neck
• The crane took him to the lake with the intent to eat him but the crane clipped his head off
• Revenge

Union is Strength

• There was a quail hunter and he would catch many quails in a net every day
• One smart quail said when he catches us we will all fly together and lift the net
• This worked for a while until the quail started to quarrel then they fought so much the quail hunter caught them all one day when they were too busy arguing with each other

Silence is Golden

• This story is kind of sad bc it is about a lion who sounded like a jackal so all the other lions made fun of him. Reminds me of Rudolf the Red nose reindeer. 

The Quail and the Falcon

• There was a quail and he lived on the land of a farmer with a plough 
• One day he decided to venture out but while he was out a Falcon saw him and swooped down do grab him
• The quail convinced him to take him back to his own farm so the falcon could see it but when they landed the falcon stumbled and died

The Bold Beggar

• Story about a King who ate his fine meal in front of everyone
• One day a beggar came running and pretended to faint so the king let him eat some of his food
• When he was done and asked what the news was he said I was hungry and now I am not
• The king laughed

The Jackal Would A- Wooing Go

• A jackal fell in love with a lioness with 3 brothers
• he waited to propose to her until her brothers went off hunting
• The lioness was surprised and wanted nothing to do with the jackal, in fact she was disgusted. 
• He left all sad with his tail bw his legs
• When the brothers came home she told them this outrageous story and they one went to kill the jackal but he was behind a crystal wall and the two eldest cracked their skulls
• The youngest roared so loud it gave the jackal a heart attack and he died
• The sister wasn't even sad her two eldest brothers died. 
• Geez, kind of reminds me of Varuka from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

The Lion and the Boar

(Lion)

• Boar and Lion at water hole drinking
• Boar challenges lion to a fight
• Lion agrees to fight in a week bc he was full
• Boar goes back home and tells everyone what is going to happen, they freak out

“Dirty Boar, I want no more,

You’re saved from being eaten;

If you would fight, I yield me quite,

And own that I am beaten!”

• The boar rolled in mud so the lion would refuse to fight him.. it worked.

The Goblin City

• story about female goblins
• Maybe my story could be about this for Halloween
• Ship wreck

“Man’s meat, man’s meat,

That’s what Goblins like to eat!”

• The women goblin tricked the ship wrecked men into marrying them like they had others
• The captain found out they married goblins though 
• A magic horse saved them 

Lacknose

• Basically a story about a go with no nose but these kids who want a flower from his garden do not have a filter and offend him with their poems so he does not give them a flower
• The last little boy tells the gardner how it is and he gets a posy.
• Maybe I could make a rhyme about a posy

The King's Lesson

• A wise, good king named Godfrey.. this is ironic bc it reminds me of King Geoffrey from Game of Thrones... & he is not nice.
• This is a strange story about two kings who basically fight bc they are both too nice

Bibliography: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India. W.H.D. Rouse. Illustrated by W. Robinson. 1897. 

Story: The Beautiful Maiden

There once was a beautiful maiden who lived deep in a forest. 

She was often very lonely and would long for company.

One night while dusting her cabin, the young beautiful maiden could not help but sneeze.

"Ah..Ah..AHH Choo..!"

A goblin, who lived near by, heard the sneeze and went

 to go investigate the loud noise in the quiet forest. 

"Is anyone there?!" yelled the goblin. "Helloooo! I have not met or seen anyone for many moons in this forest."

The maiden became very afraid when she heard the harsh voice of what she knew must be a goblin. She had remembered the tales her father used to tell her as a child about goblins eating people up when sneezing and not saying, "God bless you."

The young, beautiful maiden did not want to be gobbled up by a goblin, so with no one around to bless her she said, "God bless me!"

The goblin heard this proclamation from the east of him so he headed that direction until he ran into a cabin he had never noticed before because it was so well hidden in the brush. 

"Hellooo!" said the goblin again, hoping he had found the source of the noise. 

The maiden, inside the cabin, was frozen still. She had not intended for the goblin to come closer to her after saying, "God bless me" but for him to go away!

Unsure of what to do, the maiden said, "Okay, Mr. Goblin, you have found me because of my sneeze but please do not eat me. I have said, "God bless me!"

"Silly girl. I'm not here to eat you! I am just a lonely goblin cast here to the forest because people in the town were too afraid of my appearance. I have not had a friend or even a traveler pass by in many moons and I am very lonely, ma'am. Please keep me company for a while."

Breaking her trance, the maiden finally moved toward a window to look out at the goblin. 

He was indeed not very nice-looking but the maiden, longing for someone to talk to too, took a chance and invited the goblin in her cabin for tea. 

"Okay, goblin. I will make some tea for us while we have a nice chat, but if you eat me up the Gods will not be very pleased with you because I have said God bless me as I am supposed to when one sneezes."

"I wish no harm on you ,fair maiden. Thank you for your kindness."

The goblin walked in the cabin and sat at the maiden's table while she prepared a pot of tea. 

"Fair maiden, please if I may ask, what is a young, beautiful and kind maiden like yourself doing in such a dreary and lonely forest?"

"Well, sir, I was living with my stepmother and half-sister in town while my father was away at war. Every day when my stepmother, half-sister, and I would walk through the market the townspeople would sing their praises of my beauty and kind heart. My stepmother grew very jealous because she wanted her own daughter to be the most beautiful girl in town, so one day in a jealous fit she bade me off to the forest in hopes the townspeople would forget of me and my beauty."

For years after that day, the goblin would visit the beautiful, young maiden at her cabin and they would have wonderful conversations over tea. 

One day, out of the blue, the maiden suggested to the goblin, "Let's get married!"

The goblin taken aback by what she said sputtered over his tea, "Wh.. wha.. What did you just say?! Ma'am, you do not want to marry an ugly ol' goblin like me. What would the townspeople think?"

"Oh, goblin. Who cares what the townspeople think? They have cast us aside and have forgotten about us by now for no one comes to visit.  You are the kindest heart I know and I wish to marry you." 

The goblin finally agreed to wed the beautiful maiden and on their wedding day, upon the first kiss, the goblin turned into a handsome young man.

They were both surprised at this revelation but continued to live happily in the cabin in the woods for a few years until one day they decided they had been cast aside from the townspeople for long enough. They packed up their most prized possessions and walked into town after a day and half journey. 

Upon their entrance into town, the townspeople were stunned by their beauty and instantly remembered her as the beautiful young girl who stunned them when she was small. 

The townspeople rejoiced she was back and the couple lived happily ever after in the town. 

Author's Note: In my story this week I decided to combine multiple tales from old India into one story line along with a little hint of the American version of Cinderella. In the Indian tale, "The Goblin and the Sneeze" a goblin haunted a house just outside of the city and would gobble up anyone that would sneeze outside of the city unless someone else said, "God bless you" and the other person must answer back, "the same to you." The ending of this particular story probably had the happiest ending, in that the boy persuaded the goblin to turn vegetarian so he no longer ate people who sneezed.  Most of the other Indian tales did not have such happy endings and someone typically ended up dying or being fooled. With the Walking Dead (spoiler alert! Do NOT click on the link unless you watched the latest episode or simply just do not care) being on this week and a lot of the other stories I have been reading I felt like it would be a nice break to have a happy ending for once. Since I wanted a happy ending, what better to turn to for inspiration than a Disney-fied princess story. That is where I got the inspiration for the beautiful maiden and her evil stepmother.

P.S. If you would like to listen to some music while reading I've embedded Hans Zimmer "Time" from the Inception sound track into my post for your listening pleasure. If you have never heard of him I suggest you look him up! I enjoy studying while listening to the Hans Zimmer radio station. No words to distract me but often soothing. 

Bibliography: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India. W. H. D. Rouse. Illustrated by W. Robinson. 1897. 

Picture: Cabin in the Woods. Sheila Sund. flickr.

Reading Notes: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India, Part A

The Giant Crab

• I could write a story on the base of the giant crab but make it humans instead of animals. 
• Maybe a story about greed, we'll see.

The Hypocritical Cat

• Well this was a surprisingly scary story. Maybe with Halloween coming up I can make a story about a cat and mouse

The Crocodile and the Monkey

• This story ends up having a happy ending but mine could end badly. Maybe the monkey is the one that gets fooled by the croc wife

The Wise Parrot and the Foolish Parrot

• I didn't like this story bc she plucked the birds feathers! I had a pet bird, so this made me sad.
• I could write a story about to parrots though, that could be fun. 
• Maybe some kind of rhyme. 

The Dishonest Friend

• I like this story. I could go a few different directions with this story. 
• There is a lot of trickery in these stories, I need to think of something clever.
• Maybe modern day, borrowed a mower or something like that.
• Honesty is the Best Policy.. or maybe not
• maybe I could tell a story how one lie just rolls into a bigger one and a bigger one

The Mouse and the Farmer

• This is kind of another mouse and cat game story
• It reminded me of the latest Walking Dead Episode
• I could make it where the mouse makes an entire village of mice bring him food in exchange for their lives.

The Talkative Tortoise

• Wow. 
• I could write a story about how sometimes talking can get you into trouble, kind of the same with lying. 

The Monkeys and the Gardener

• This story kind of reminded me of the monkey on the Night at the Museum for some reason.
• my creative juices are not flowing.

The Goblin and the Sneeze

• I could write a story about a goblin for Halloween. 
• It could be a nice goblin but no one knows he's nice bc everyone is afraid of him.

The Goblin in the Pool

• Another story about a Goblin but this one lived in the water
• Maybe I can combine the Goblin stories

(Goblin in the Pool)

The Foolish Farmer and the King

• This reminded me of Game of Thrones
• Except this King was nice... I could make him not nice.

The Pious Wolf

• The fairy taught the wolf a lesson

Bibliography: The Giant Crab, and Other Tales from Old India. W. H. D. Rouse. Illustrated by W. Robinson. 1897.

Reading Notes: Tales of the Indian Epics, Part B (stories I missed)

I somehow messed my reading up last week and read a story that was not in the reading guide, part B for Tales of the Indian Epics by Kincaid. I really wanted to read those stories too but by the time I realized what I had done I had already read a rather lengthy story from the same book. Anyway so here are the notes from the stories I missed in Tales of the Indian Epics by Kincaid, Part B. 

The Front King's Daughter

• King Parikshit ruled Ayodhya
• While hunting one day met a beautiful maiden, fell in love, wanted to marry

              -She said yes under one condition; he can never let her look in water on the ground

• Of course he agreed and they got married
• The Kings minister found out about the condition under which the maiden married the King

            - he made a beautiful garden and put a pond in the far corner
            - The minister made it look like a gift and sent the king and his new wife there,
            - He tricked the king by telling him there was no water to be found there

• While in the garden the King and Queen stumbled unto the pond and the King forgetting his promise on the hot day went swimming and invited the queen in

               - She jumped in but never came up for air
               - the king had the pond drained to look for her
               - all that was there was a big frog and he swore the frog ate her
               - he orders all the frogs to be killed

• The frog king, Ayusha disguised himself as a brahman to demand the stop of frog killing

          - Turns out the maiden the King married was the frog kings daughter, Ayusha
          - She deceived him into believing she was a maiden

• It would be fun to write a story about a deceptive woman, maybe so she could get money from a rich guy (thinking modern times) or maybe like a Maid in Manhattan kind of a theme!
• Turns out the King did not care and took her back
• But the frog King was mad so he cursed his daughters children saying they would hate all Brahman. 
• They had 3 kids; Sala, Dala, and Vala
• Sala became King after his fathers death but made a rich angry so he died
• Daly gave the rishi his Vami horses back so the rishi lifted the curse that was put on the brothers by the frog queens dad.

The Descent of the Ganges

• I did not like this story as much as I thought I would have. The Ganges River  is a very interesting topic to me.
• This story is about before the Ganges River flowed on earth.
• Sagar the King of Ayodhya had an elderly wife, Keshini and a new wife, Sumati
• They went to the Himalayas to get a boon from the holy sage

            - they both asked for sons b/c neither of them had born one yet.

            - Keshini got one son who became king

            - Sumati got 60,000 sons but none of them ruled

             --> eldest of her 60,000 sons named Prince Asamanja but tormented his brothers and was

                        banished, hi son, Aswanedha stayed though and was given a quest to travel the world

                         with a horse

• The god Vishnu disguised himself as an old lady and stole the horse
• King Sagar sent his 60,000 sons after it
• They all died when Vishnu killed them with fire from his eyes
• The king sent his grandson, Aswanedha after his uncles
• Aswanedha found the horse but Vishnu was nowhere to be seen
• On his way back he runs into god Garuda and said if they pray long enough that maybe Vishnu would bring down the Ganges so that they can honor his 60,000 sons properly. 
• it took 3 kings but they finally prayed enough
• The river flowed but it was going to wash over a rishi's house so he stopped it, so Lord Brahmadeva told the rishi that the Ganges could be his daughter so he let if flow

Tales of the Pole Star

• King Uttanpad had two wives:

                  - Suniti, had a beautiful nature --> boy named Dhruv

                  - Suruchi, had a beautiful face --> boy named Uttam

• The king of course spent most of his time with Suruchi with a beautiful face
• The king was careful not to show Dhruv much attention though because Suruchi was jealous and one day Dhruv was sitting on his dads lap and Suruchi pushed him off
• Dhruv went to the forest to pray to Krishna and never returned 

              - Krishna came to Dhruv one day to grant him wish and Dhruv wanted to go with Krishna

                   but he said he had to go back to his father to rule

• Everyone was happy about his return except Suruchi and Uttam of course bc they are jealous
• Prince utter wanted to go with an army and attack a forest tribe, the King let him bc he was making the king angry anyway. He of course made a bad decision and was killed during the first battle
• Dhurv went with a new army to seek revenge and did
• Suruchi was driven crazy with sadness and ran into the woods and never came back
• Uttanpad gave the throne to Dhurv
• After years of ruling he wanted to return back to the forest so he gave the throne to his son and did just that, but this time he climbed up a mountain and went past the sun and moon god and past the 7 rishis and sat at the end of the trail.
• Krishna turned Dhurv and the 7 rishis into stars

                - Sauce pan like constellation that Indians call the "seven rishis silently point is Dhruv"

(The Seven Rishis Silently Point is Dhruv)

Bibliography: Tales of the Indian Epic by C.A. Kincaid. 1918. 

Story: The Prom Barter

"You knew I was going to wear those shoes tonight, Vinata!" shouted Kadru, her sister, from the other room.

Kadru, the eldest by only a few minutes, flung her sister's door open and stormed in the room. "Give them here," she shouted, motioning with her hand to hand them over. "I told you, they look better with my dress; besides you'll be taller than Kash if you wear them."

Kadru knew her sister was right about her being taller than Kash, her prom date, if she wore them but the last thing she wanted to do was admit that she was right.

"Fine, wear them for all I care.... I'll...just wear..." Kadru slowly inched towards Vinata's closet where she kept her shoes, "your Jimmy Choo's!" She grabbed the shoes quickly and rounded the corner of her door before Vinata even registered what happened.

"Hey! I was going to we.." Vinata stopped mid- sentence because she knew she could not wear two pairs of shoes and she had already taken her sister's. She had intended to wear her favorite Jimmy Choo high heels to prom but when she saw Kadru's she became jealous and wanted hers instead. Now Kadru not only had the prom date Vinata wanted but she had her favorite high heels too.

Vinata had always been jealous of her older sister. Even when they were children and people would tell Kadru how pretty and proper she was. Then all through grade school and into high school Kadru had always gotten better grades than Vinata and was praised by the teachers. Their senior year of high school, Vinata thought, "This is going to be my year." She had had a crush on Kash since freshman year and she had a plan to get him to ask her to prom. Then, just weeks before prom when Vinata was getting nervous about whether Kash was going to ask her or not, Kadru went running up to her and shouted with excitement, "Kash asked me me prom!!Ahhh!!"
Vinata couldn't help but show the disappointment on her face. Turns out Kash had taken advantage of his friendship with her to only get closer to the beautiful Kadru.
Of course Kash's friend Bobby asked her to prom the next day and when nominations for prom king and queen were announced the couples were to face off.

"The boys are here, Kadru!" Vinata shouted. As Kadru walked down the stairs she said to her sister, "How about we make a wager? Whoever loses prom queen tonight has to do the other's chores for the rest of the year."
Knowing the one thing she had more than Kadru was friends, Vinata said, "You have yourself a deal."

Once they reached the prom destination with their dates, Vinata started to dance and encourage her friends to vote for her for prom queen.

Kadru knew Vinata had more friends than her but being the more cunning sister she visited the voting station where a lower classman transfixed by Kadru sat. Without hesitation, the young boy let Kadru cast multiple votes for herself and she had him destroy the rest of the votes cast.

When the results were read at the end of the night and they announced Kadru and Kash as prom queen and king, Vinata could not believe her ears.

Now she must do double the chores for the rest of the year but Vinata knew one day things would fall in her favor.

(Banquet Hall)

Author's Note: In the original tale of King Janamejaya's Snake Sacrifice, King Kashyapa married two sisters by the names of Queen Kadru and Queen Vinata. They both took such good care of him, he granted both of them a wish. Kandru, the eldest, wished to be the mother of a thousand snakes and the younger sister, Vinata, wished to be the mother of two sons who were equal in strength to the thousand snakes. They both laid eggs and waited for them to hatch. When Kandru's eggs hatched, Vinata grew jealous and impatient because her eggs had not hatched yet. In haste she broke one of her eggs open and the boy inside was not ready to be born so he cursed his mother Vinata for being impatient.
Kadru then made a bet with Vinata that the horse's tail that rose from the sea foam when the gods were granted immortality was black. Vinata knew the tail was white for a fact so she agreed to the bet. When they went to see for themselves though, the tail was black and Vinata was enslaved to her older sister for the next five hundred years. Turns out Kadru had her snakes sneak to the horse before the sisters and had them cover the white tail to make it look black.
I wanted to follow the same story line somewhat but set in the modern times. I chose to have two quarreling sisters over prom in my story instead of quarreling about the strength of their children.
I think prom is a little more relatable since most people take part in that high school tradition. Also, even if one does not have a sister (like myself) I could imagine how annoying it would be to have my mind set on an outfit and for it to not be there when I went to look.

Bibliography: Tales from the Indian Epics. C.A. Kincaid. 1918.

Reading Notes: Kincaid. Tales from the Indian epic, Part B

Notes: 

Ruru and Pramadvara

• Ruru is the grandson of Vrigu
• Dancing girl, Menaka, from god Indra's court fell in love with Visvavasu and they had a baby girl but hid her from the god Indra so she put her baby girl by a river.
• Sthulokesha, a rishi, took the the girl and raised her

            - He named her Pramadvara

• Ruru saw her and instantly wanted to marry her

           - before their wedding Pramadvara got bitten by a poisonous snake and died
           - Ruru agreed to give half the span of his life to Pramadvara to bring her back

• Story of the rock snake pg 51

Nala and Damayanti

• Bhima's daughter is named Damayanti after the rich who promised him 3 sons and a daughter. 
• King Nala of the Nishadas heard of Damayanti's beauty and longed for her. 

          - they're using a golden swan to talk back and forth

          - maybe I could make a story between 2 young kids who like each other but are talking by 

             dropping notes in each others lockers or something.  pg 56

• Bhima is hosting a Swayamvara of Damayanti so she can choose her husband
• All the princes and kings forgot to worship Indra
• I could write a story about how Narada, a sage, visited Indra and how he, Agni, Varuna, and Yama became infatuated with Damayanti like King Nala had. pg 57
• The gods even went as far to disguise themselves as King Nala to confuse Damayanti

               - I could have fun with his story.

• Nala and Damayanti lived happily for 12 yrs. and had a son named Indrasena and a daughter named Indrasena
• god Kali wanted Damayanti so badly he waited 12 yrs for Nala to slip up

           - I could also write a story about this 

          - Kali controlled Nala

            - I'm thinking Harry Potter imperious curse!!

(Nala leaving Damayanti)

• There's this whole story line about how Kali controlled Nala to lose everything he had besides Damayanti b/c of course kali wanted her. 

           - Kali got Nala to leave Damayanti and now she is wondering around and getting attacked by  

    snakes and men grabbing her for themselves. 

• I could make a story about Damayanti dreaming the whole thing.  pg 70

                - the tiger

                - the oasis

                - the old men

• Damayanti met some merchants and is traveling with them. 
• She ended up at a royal palace. 

• Meanwhile Nala is just wandering around until he runs into the snake king

         - Nala saves the snake King and the snake bites him to torture Kali out of him and tells him to 

             go to Ayodhya where the King Rituparna will befriend him. 

• There's this big ol' long story about how Nala and Damayanti find each other; not that interesting to me. 
• Now Nala is going to win back his kingdom b/c he knows the art of dice now. 
• He won! Now he rules Nashada again,

Bibliography: Tales from the Indian Epic. C.A. Kincaid. 1918. 

Reading Notes: Kincaid. Tales from the Indian epics, Part A

Notes:  

The Churning of the Ocean

• Could write a story about Mount Meru

             - Lesser gods met up there
             - They want to obtain the ambrosia which will make them immortal like the three supreme
                   gods, Vishnu, Brahmadeva, and Shiva.
            - but the ambrosia layed at the bottom of the ocean.

• Could write a story about Vishnu and how he told the lesser gods to churn the ocean with the demons aide. 
• Could write a story about Mount Mandara

           - They use this mountain to actually church the ocean.

• Could write a story about how Brahmadeva begged lord Vishnu to give the gods and demons greater strength to churn the ocean. 
• What if the immortal gods wanted to lesser gods to fail and not obtain the ambrosia. 
• I could write a story about everything that came out of the water. 
• I could tell a story about Vishnu

           - and how he drank the poisonous fluid which overlaid the ambrosia
          -the demons tried to steal the ambrosia but Vishnu took it back and only gave it to the gods
           and gave none to the demons who are still mortal to this day.
          - One demon disguised himself as a god and tricked Vishnu into giving him some
          - Vishnu cuts his head off before it passes his thoat
          - The Sun god is the one who warned Vishnu about this.

(The Churning of the Ocean)

Veda's Pupil

• A sage in India named Veda took on a Brahman boy named Uttanka as his pupil
• When the boy grew up he wanted to give Veda something kind in return

            - Veda's wife wanted King Paushyas wife's earrings.

• I could write a story about how Uttanka encounters a giant and eats a meal in haste.

            - At first he is afraid to eat the food but does anyway when he finds out Veda has eaten it
              before too.
            - My story he could turn into something or he passes out and winds up at the palace

• He has a strange altercation at the palace with the King. 

           - I could write a whole story on the dinner and how they cursed each other.
           - Maybe turn the characters into children at lunch in elementary school

• Of course Uttanka gets the earrings stolen by Takshaka, the snake prince, like the queen warned. 
• Indra saw him weeping by the snake burrow and sent a thunderbolt to the stick he was digging with.

           - turns out all his help was aided by gods.
           - the giant was Indra and the was his mighty elephant
           - the horse that gave him a ride home was Agni, the god of fire
          - god who burned the snake city down was Parjanya, the god of rain

King Janamejaya's Snake Sacrifice

• King Prajapati had 2 daughters
• Gave them to King Kashyapa to marry; the queens name's were Kadru & Vinata
• He granted them 2 wishes;

         - Kadru, the eldest, wished to be the mother of a thousand snakes
        - Vinata wished to be the mother of 2 sons who were = in strength to the thousand snakes
      * What if I made a story and they wished for different things like to be the mother of something
           else, maybe wolves or lizards or something like that.

• Instead of Vinata being jealous of Kadru maybe I can have Kadru being jealous of Vinata. Maybe over a boy instead of their children and the horse that rose from the ocean. 

            - Maybe Kadru took Vinata's clothes from her closet without asking; the typical sister fight.

• Vinata lost the bet to Kadru and now Vinata has to be her slave. 

        - But the only reason she won is b/c Kadru had her snake son's lie for her; she cursed them about
          being burned in a  fire.... like in Veda's Pupil!!!
          * I could make some kind of story out of this! More modern day though with 2 sisters fighting.
             Maybe the sisters always made bets to one another until one day it got our of hand.

• Garuda, Vinata's son was finally born but into slavery.

            - Kadru's snake sons told him that if he brought the ambrosia from Indra to give to them then
               they would set him & his mom free

• I could write a spin off story about the brothers Vivavasu and Supratika

          - Supratkia was being greedy and wanted to divide their wealth but Vivavasu wanted to share it
          - Supratika turned into an elephant; Vivavasu turned into a tortoise

• I could write a story about how the god Indra protected the ambrosia jar

          - Vayu, the wind god blew dust into the eyes of any oncoming foeman
          - ring of fire
          - 2 poisonous snakes

• god Vishnu stopped Garuda

            - granted him a boon; Garuda chose to drink some of the ambrosia

• Indra stopped Garuda after that and encouraged him to not give the snakes the ambrosia

           - Garuda gave them the ambrosia but Indra took it before they could drink it

• I don't want to write a story about all the snake drama and the Bharatas. 

        - Janamejaya ruled after Takshaka killed Parikshit the Bharata

• Could write a story bout how Aruna became the charioteer of the Sun pg. 44

Vrigu and Agni

• Vrigu was a mighty rishi
• Puloma was a lovely maiden and her father offered her in marriage to Vrigu
• Demon King Paulama was originally promised the beautiful Puloma but the promise was broke when she married Vrigu

            - Agni told Paulama that Puloma is not his since he never married her
           - Paulama did not care and took Puloma anyway

• This is a story about why Agni can tell if someone is pure or not and why people walk through his flames to prove their purity

             - Like when Sita walked through the fire to prove her purity to Rama.

• I could write a story about the time period of the absence of Agni

             Bibliography: Tales from the Indian Epics. C.A. Kincaid. 1918.

Week 8 Growth Mindset

As I sit here and contemplate about the last 8 weeks I can't help but think what an odd semester it has been for me. At this point in the semester I usually have my groove my down, my schedule is on lock and I'm comfortable (stressed but comfortable I would like to add).

I told myself when I was readmitted into OU I would push myself more than I ever had. I don't want to say I have reached my goal because there is oh so much I have not even done yet; but I knew I was on the right track when today I had to pull out my agenda and double check what time my class started. You see as I mentioned before, I ALWAYS have had my schedule memorized from week 2 of school. I pushed myself out of my comfort zone and have so much going on I am in week 8 and still do not know when my classes start. For some this is no big deal but for me it's an indicator that I am taking risks and stepping out of my comfort zones.

I really enjoy learning about growth mindsets and growing my own mind with these exercises. Unfortunately I overloaded myself so much I barely have time to finish by required assignments. The thing I enjoy most about this course is having the freedom of when you get to turn in the course work (to an extent). You set us up for success by being very upfront and laying it all out for us to see.

Prioritizing seems to be my next growth to tackle. I always thought I was good at this one until recently. I realized I was not. Not just prioritizing which class assignment should I do first but what should I put first. School, work, friends, family, sleep, undergrad research opportunity, healthy lifestyle??? So much prioritizing in that last sentence it almost stressed me out to type it. Hopefully I can prioritize some more time to do some growth mindset exercises in these last 8 weeks!

(Inspirational Focus Quote)

Week 8 Reflexions

As I look back on the Ramayana and Mahabharata reading assignments and think about which one I enjoyed the most I can't help and think about the first weeks assignment. We had to choose a random story and wright about it, now I can see it was to prepare us for the semester. It took me a while to finally choose a story and read but when I did I landed on The Mountains in Labor.
For some this is still my favorite story; though short it was fun for me to read. So I am looking forward to the last 8 weeks of our course as we are given a bit more freedom!

So far out of the Ramayana readings and Mahabharata readings I have enjoyed Narayan's Ramayana the most. I enjoyed the story of Sita and Rama and of their adventures. I also enjoyed Ravana and how he was portrayed, he might actually have been my favorite character out of them all.
I also found myself enjoying the thought process of writing a story post for the Ramayana more enjoyable. As I was reading and even taking notes I would be drawn to one specific part and had it in my mind that, that is what I wanted to write a story over even before I finished the reading assignment.
I also ready Narayan's version of the Mahabharata, wanting to compare the two stories with a similar writing style. It was very difficult for me to follow which character was what and did what. It was also very soap opera-ish to me. I can see how in India they can make an entire television series over it.

My reading notes for the Mahabharata came in very handy, as did the detailed reading guides. My schedule turned out to be a little different so I found myself writing a story long after I did the readings so it was very useful in that situation for a refresher. I also ended up putting page numbers or  highlighting in my notes so I knew what to look at if I decided I wanted to write about something specific. This seemed to help my story telling the most.

I am also enjoying the portfolio. It is really giving me the opportunity to fine tune my writing and literature skills, something I am not good at. So I actually really enjoy when my peers leave critical (but in a nice way) comments and point something out I need to change or should think about more. I hope my comments I leave on the stories I have read help my peers out as well! I have gotten good ideas from reading other stories as well, as far as type of stories to write (i.e. journal entires).

Here is a cool picture of a Trilobite Fossil

They went extinct in the Permian (252 Million yrs. ago)

Thank you

Candace Johnston

Reading Notes: The Indian Heroes, Part B

Notes: 

• This version of the Mahabharata does not focus on the Pandava's 12 years of exile but say's, "Many adventures came to the Pandava Princes in the forest." 

         - An entire series of stories could be written about their adventures!

• The 13th year is the one in concealment in one of the cities

         - they decide to live in Biratnagar, the capital town of Virata
            --> the King of the Matsyas
            Yudhishthira = Kanka (gambler)
             Bhima = Ballaba (cook)
             Arjuna = Vrihannala (dancer & Singer)
            Nakula = Granthika (groomer for horses)
             Sahadev = Tantripala (cowherd)
             Princess Draupadi = Sairandhri (waitingmaid)

• They hid their weapons in a thorn tree on the outskirts of town. 
• They all entered the town at different times speaking to King Virata (he had no clue who they were) 

              - they did their jobs for 12 months

• Then Queen Sudeshna's brother had to show up, Prince Kichaka. 

             - he forced himself on Princess Draupadai (Sairandhir) and almost ruined their disguise when Bhima killed him with his bare hands.

• The King ordered Draupadai to be burned on Kickaka's pyre. 

          - Bhima heard of this and went and killed all the soldiers trying to kill Draupadai

• Now everyone is afraid of Draupadai and wants her to leave but she convinces them to let her stay
• Now that Kickaka is dead all the neighboring cities want to overtake Virata, including evil Prince Duryodhan.

            - karna and Arjuna got into it because Karna recognized Arjuna in the carrot.

• Yudhishthira admits to King Virata they are the Pandava brothers. 
• I could write a story about how King Dhritarashtra is his sons, Prince Duryodhan, puppet.  pg 113
• The Pandava's decide on war!

          - I could write a story about their decision

• Most of the support was on Duryodhan's side because they were afraid of him. 
• They feared 3 main people:

              --> Prince Bhishma, uncle of King Dhritarashtra
             --> Drona, taught Duryodhan archery
             --> Karna, sun gods son and a great bowman

• The trick arjuna pulled to kill Bhishma is very interesting, it would be fun to write about! pg. 116
• I could write a story about the death of Bhishma, Drona, and Karna
• I could write a story about the wizards palace at the bottom of the lake pg. 121
• Bhima and Duryodhan have a final battle

             - Duryodhan dies

(Final Battle Between Bhima & Duryodhana) 

• King Dhritarashtra almost killed Bhima with his grip but tore down a statue instead. 

           - but King Dhritarshra still ruled till the day he died
           - Yudhishthira was crowned king of Hastnapura

• Krishna was killed by a hunter

         - I could write a story about how his city was not allowed to drink wine. pg 132
           -Arjuna was losing his strength
         - Yudhishthira knew death was coming so he stepped down from the throne and him and his brothers accepted death

• They walked into the forest where the fire- god commanded them to throw their weapons into the sea (Bay of Bengal) 

          - They then walked to the Himalaya's where one by one they died off
          - The house of Bharata were all reunited in heaven, even Duryodhan.

Bibliography: The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata- The princess of Elephant City by C.A. Kincaid.

Story: The Football King

"There is NO WAY we are winning the game this week!"

"Bhima! Calm down. Saying it isn't going to help anything."

"Well, you know it's true, Arjuna! Yudhishthira is our only quarterback on the team and now he's hurt. Who's going to quarterback in Friday's game?? You?!?"

"You know I'm a receiver, Bhima. Just calm down; I have a plan."

"Please enlighten me then because if we don't win this game it's over for us."

"Bhima, for crying out loud. I understand the situation we're in! That is why I'm going to do something I never thought I would have to do..."

Bhima gave Arjuna an incredulous look and Arjuna began to explain his plan.

"You see, I'm kinda adopted. I never met my biological father and my mom got remarried when I was really young so I always just called him dad."

"Arjuna... I'm sorry about your biological father not being in your life and everything but how is this story going to help us win.... The game is in two days!!!"

"Hear me out! Gosh, you're so impatient, Bhima. Every time I ask my mom about him she just says he was some kind of "Football King" and that he lives at the top of Mount Scott now."

"You're father was the Football King and you are just now mentioning this?!?!"

"Well... yeah. I didn't think it was that important or true actually."

"Arjuna! Everyone knows about the stories of the Football King and how he would save teams even if no one had them favored to win. No one has heard from him for about eighteen years, which makes sense because he must have disappeared about the time you were born! He owes you, Arjuna- for walking out on you."

"Okay, I'll go check it out. Pray I'm back in time for the game Friday night or we really will have a big problem."

"Good luck, Arjuna! Be safe."

(Football Field by Daniel X. O'Neil)

Arjuna set out towards Mount Scott hoping to make it by sunset. By the time he reached the bottom of the mountain he was already tired from the day's activities but knew he needed to trudge on because his team was depending on him.

In the first thirty minutes of the climb Arjuna ran into multiple people hiking and camping. As the mountain became more and more steep he began to see less and less people until he had not seen anyone for at least an hour.
Arjuna noticed a few yards ahead the steep incline began to level off and he knew he must be nearing the crest. As he climbed over the final giant boulder in order to get to a clearing at the crest, he spotted a man in a fishing hat, sitting in a chair leaning back next to a pond like he hadn't moved for hours. It was a peculiar scene, seeing a pond so large a top of such a steep mountain but Arjuna did not question what he saw.

(Pond)

"Oy!" Arjuna shouted. "I do not wish to disturb you, but I am in search of the Football King. Do you know where I can find him?"

"I'll tell you this, boy," The fisherman started, "if you can catch the fifty- pound bass from this here pond I will tell you all you want to know about the Football King."

"You have yourself a deal." Arjuna was an experienced fisherman since his step-dad had been taking him fishing since his earliest memory and knew he would be able to complete the task given the right tools.... just hopefully the fish were biting today.

No more than twenty minutes later, Arjuna had his first bite and pulled in the fifty-pound bass on his first attempt.

The fisherman was amazed by what he just witnessed and asked, "What do you wish to know about the Football King?"

"Where can I find this so called Football King?" Arjuna asked. "I am his son who he left before even having a chance to meet and now he owes me."

"It is me, son. I am the Football King and your father," the fisherman proclaimed. "I wanted so badly to be a part of your life but I was cursed and if I had stayed you would never have been able to play football. Not until the day you would come looking for me is the day the curse would be lifted. Now everyone will know you achieved your skill yourself and not because your father is the Football King."

"Father, I have made the trip to find you because my team is in trouble. Our quarterback, Yudhishthira, got hurt in practice and he is our only chance of winning so we can go to Nationals."

"I see. Tell Yudhishthira to wear these pads on Friday night and he will be stronger, have more agility and most of all be healed of his wounds."

The Football King produced shining, golden shoulder pads from thin air that were light as a feather but stronger than the weight of a thousand- pound man.

"Thank you, father." And with that Arjuna rushed back to his home field just minutes before the Friday night game began.

"Yudhishthira! Come here! I have something for you from the Football King."

Yudhishthira slowly lifted the shoulder pads over his head and his throwing arm was miraculously without pain. He could feel his strength and agility racing through his veins as he stood up and shouted, "This is our stadium, boys! Let's send them packing!" and with that the team rushed the field.

Authors Note: 
In the original version of the Indian Epic, Yudhishthira is worried about defeating Prince Duryodhan without the help of any of the gods. This is when a sage by the name Vyasa tells Yudhishthira to tell his brother Arjuna to visit his father, the god Indra. Arjuna gladly takes on this quest to find Indra to get celestial armor from him. In light of football season I thought it would be fun to make the Pandava brothers in the original story into a different kind of brothers and put them as star players on a high school football team (think of small town, football is life kind of brotherhood). In the original tale, Arjuna is also gone for a very, very long time (long enough for his brothers to think he died on his journey). I shortened his journey substantially to only about two days and instead of Arjuna physically fighting to talk to his father I liked the idea of a fishing challenge.
Of course I kept to the football theme and instead of golden armor like in the original epic, Arjuna was presented with golden shoulder pads.
One more thing to point out is that in the original story Arjuna kept the armor for himself but in my version Arjuna gave the shoulder pads to Yuhdhishthira.

Bibliography: The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata- The Princes of Elephant City by C.A. Kincaid.

Reading Notes: The Indian Heroes- Mahabharata, Part A

Notes: 

• Could write a story about the moon god (would need to do some research)

            - or about Sun god (but that's from the Ramayana) 
           - maybe do a story about both Sun and Moon god

(The sun god)

• Hastinapura = Elephant City
• People whispered that Prince Yudhishthira's father was Dharma, the god of justice. He was also the wisest and eldest bring

                                               Prince Bhima's father was Wayu, god of the winds. most cunning with
                                                     mace
                                              Prince Arjuna's father was Indra, who rules over the broad sky. the best
                                                        Archer.

• King Drupada hates the Pandavas because they helped their teacher Drona defeat him.

               - King Drupada wished the Bharata line be destroyed
              - a young girl, Krishna, rose from the flames and King Drupada raised her as his own.
                I could write a story about how King Drupada raised Krishna. People called her Draupadi.

• I could write a story about the house Prince Duryodhan had built for the Pandavas and their mother, Queen Kunti, burnt down.
• I could write a story about the Pandava brothers and Queen Kunti about when they made it to the shores of the Ganges, queen of rivers.
• I could write a story about how Prince Bhima went looking for water
• I could write a story about Prince Bhima and his conversation with Hidimvi (the monsters sister)

                        - or about the fight with Prince Bhima and the monster Hidimva.

• I could write a story about how Prince Bhima and Hidimvi wandered in the forest together

                 - eventually Bhima wanted to see his mom and brother again so they sadly parted ways

• Bhima's family had been living as beggars in the town Ekachakra ruled by the evil Vaka

                - Bhima shows up just in time and kills Vaka

• I could write a story about how King Drupada's archery contest to win his daughter Draupadi. 

                      -gigantic crowds
                      - at first Karna went to shoot the bow but Princess Draupadi said no
                     --> I could write a story about how that angered him and where he is really from pg 60

• Prince Arjuna wins Princess Draupadi. 
• King Dhritarashtra learned that the Pandava's were not dead 

           - Prince Bhishma (his uncle) was on his council
            - his mom, the mighty ganges river
          -Bhishma thought the pandavas should be invited back to the Elephant city

• I could write a story about Arjuna and how he was banished 

              - The Ganges river and Ulupi the water- nymph pg. 66
             - The alligators and nymphs
            - the fire- god Agni asks for Arjuna's help in burning down the Khandava forest pg. 69
               - he married the maiden of Panchala, King Krishna's sister

• Bhima and jarasandha have a wrestling match 

              - Bhima kills Jarasandha

• I could write a story about how Prince Duryodhan fell into a tank of water because he could not tell where the floor ended and the water began.
• King Shakuni challenges Yudhishthira to a dice game

            - Yudhishthira lost everything including himself, brothers and Princess Draupadi.
            - The curse from King Drupada called down on the Bharatas came true
            - Draupadi, as an Aryan Princess had wishes and she wished her husbands be freed and they
                gain their wealth back

• Second dice game

            - Prince Yudhishthira lost again this time they are exiled for 12 years
            - most of the town followed them into exile but there was to enough food to eat
            - I could write a story about how Prince Yudhishthira prayed to the sun- god and was given
              a warrior clad in golden armour, a copper pot (endless food supply)

• Vyasa told Yudhishthria to send Arjuna to the god, Indra (his father) and he would give him celestial armor. 

            - He walked to the highest summit of the Himalayas
            - met a Brahman who turns out to be god Shiva who he needs to meet face to face into order
                to see Indra.
            - I could write a story about how Arjuna got into a fight with a young man on the mountain
               over a bour. Turns out it was an immortal.  pg. 92

• Brim doesn't come back from a hunting trip so Yudhishthira goes and looks for him. He finds him in a cave with a snake wrapped around him

             - Yudhishthira must answer questions to free Bhima or both of them will get devoured
              This is like the pond form Narayan's version
            - The snake is really King Nahusha who had been cursed by an ancient sage to become a
               snake

Bibliography: The Indian Heroes: Mahabharata- The Princes of Elephant City by C.A. Kincaid.