Week 6 Reading Diary: Tibetan Folk Tales

For this weeks reading I choose to read from the Asia Unit: Tibetan Folk Tales. List below are some of my favorite sections from this reading and a brief description about the readings.

Reading Part A:

The Ingratitude of Man:
A man traveling along saved a mouse, a snake, a crow and a man. All of the animals he saved were grateful except for the man. The crow to repay the man who saved him found so fine jewelry and gave it to the savior. The other man, who had been rescued, reported the theft to the king and the savior was sent to prison. Starving to death the mouse gave the man food to repay his debt to the man and the snake found a way to set him free. The man who was saved was ungrateful, but the other animals were obviously much more grateful to their savior.

Tibetan Proverb - Whatever you have promised make it not as

 changeable as a loop in a string, but as firm as a line on a rock.

The Two Devils:
Really great, but somewhat long story. In a kingdom seven sons of the king met a woman and a yak, who were actually two devils in disguise. The seven sons asked the woman to marry them and she agreed. Each year one of the brothers would die starting with the oldest. When it came to the last son the town decided to ask a fortune-teller what to do. The fortune-teller found out the woman and the yak were the devils and said this is your problem. The town killed the woman by stone and set both of them on fire.

Reading Part B:

The Three Hunters:

The Man and The Monkey

In a village lived three brothers and a sister. All of the brothers were married to a wife. The wives of the two oldest brother became angry at the sister for an "unknown" reason. They decided to plan to kill the brothers' sister. The men went on a hunt and the Two oldest brothers wives decided now was the time to kill her. The men on their way home stopped to rest. A songbird sang the same tune over and over and one of the brothers said that sounds like our sister. He said to the bird if you are my sister hop onto my hand and it did. the men cried for they knew that their sister was dead. When they returned home the youngest wife told the men what had happened and they killed the two big wives and partnered the youngest.

The Man and the Monkeys:
This story was very interesting! It starts out with a man entering into the Garden of Eden. A beautiful place he eats some food and decides to take a nap in a tree. While sleeping he turns over and falls into the lake below. A monkey nearby sees the man struggling and tries to rescue him. Unable to do so he say if only I were taller and stronger I could help you. For many days the Money lifted stones to become strong until he was strong enough to help the man. He helps the man, but it was soon after until the man decides the monkey are too loud and decides they should all die so he can live in a peaceful place. So he shakes the trees they are sleeping in and they all fall to their death. Lovely.