Indian Epics

Part A of More Jataka Tales revealed many interesting stories, but this week in particular I read The Woodpecker, Turtle, and Deer. I was initially interested in this story because of the title. Normally woodpeckers, turtles, and deers are not animals that I associated with South Asia, so I wanted to see how they were portrayed in the story. However, after reading the story, there really was special South Asian twist and this story could fit in with any culture really. I did enjoy reading the short story as it was heart-warming and had a happy ending. I appreciated the teamwork of the animals as well as the self-less desire to help one another even if it put themselves in danger. The hunter antagonist is interesting and I feel that this often the villain in short stories I have read. Perhaps this alludes to the significance animals have within South Asia. For a potential retelling of the story, I would, as I probably would for most of these short stories, add more detail to the plot li...

After reading the Jataka tales for week 10, I knew more Jataka tales was the easy choice for my reading for week 11. I enjoy reading short stories and folktales that have funny or clever endings, and this is so very true for the Jataka tales. For this week, I chose to focus on The Brave Little Bowman. This was the classic underdog story that is often presented in these folklore type stories like in the Rabbit and the Tortoise. For this story, there were some verbiage that I did not understand such as the word "page". After trying to find various definitions of the word, I found that the word also refers to a boy who is training for knighthood and is below a squire in service to a knight. Regarding the storyline of the plot, it seemed the take-home message of the story is that your size or strength does not better but rather your skill. Like with most short stories, it is a simple plot that could be enhanced with more details such as giving characters name. I also thought it w...