Skip to main content

Week 11 Reading Notes: Jataka Tales Part B


  • "The Elephant Girly-Face"
    • another fable-like tale that teaches a lesson
    • once a king had an elephant that was so gentle and good and looked so kind that he named him girly-face
    • girly-face, the elephant, sat in his stall one night as some robbers knelt nearby discussing their plans
      • the robbers said that they would break in and kill anyone who wakes up because a robber shouldn't be afraid to kill and should never be good, not even for a moment 
      • girly-face heard the men talking and thought that this was how he was supposed to act
    • the next morning the keeper of the elephants went to feet girly-face and the elephant picked him up with his trunk and threw him to the ground killing him
      • then girly-face killed another keep who had come to see what was happening
    • girly-face was said to have acted so ugly for days and days that food was left for him but no one would come near him
    • the king sent one of his wise men to see what was wrong with girly-face
      • the wise man had known the elephant a long time
      • he examined girly-face and could not find anything wrong with him
      • he concluded that girly-face had heard the talk of bad men and was imitating them
      • he asked if any bad men had been in the area since girly-face had started acting ugly and he was told that some robbers had been caught nearby
      • the wise man sent word to the king that good men were needed to sit near girly-face's stall and speak good words
      • the king sent some of his best men who sat and talked near girly-face's stall about how everyone should be good and kind
      • girly-face determined that he should also be good and kind because these men's words were teaching him a lesson
      • from then on girly-face was "as tame and good as ever an elephant could be"
  • Storytelling notes: I picked this story because I want to change that poor elephant's name. Honestly, "girly-face," come on. Like the other tales in this version of the Jataka Tales, it was simplified for children. I am thinking about updating the story and giving it some twists and turns since the source material is so short. 
  • Bibliography: Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt, illustrated by Ellsworth Young (1912).
(from Jataka Tales on YouTube by channel Geethanjali - Cartoons for Kids)

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Comment Wall

23 comments
Read more

Week 14 Review

This video caught my eye because I had heard the story of Esther many times in church but I liked the way they told the story in this video. The song was clever and the video was humorous. Also, I didn't know what the festival of Purim was or that it celebrated the story of Esther, pretty cool stuff.  ( Image Source ) I loved this image because it is an important thing to remember when writing. As a writer, I am always hypercritical of my own work. That's, why it took me so long to conclude that I should: a) be an English Writing major and b) actually let people read my writing. There have been several posts this week about remembering that a fear of being wrong or striving to be perfect will only hold you back.
Post a Comment
Read more

Week 14 Reading: Seven Secrets of the Goddess Part B

Rural cultures v. urban cultures rural valued fertility - associated with women urban valued obedience - associated with men, making women subservient  indicated control and discipline urbanization led to more rules and the idea of evil - one who does not submit to the rules Chinese myth Yin & Yang work in harmony to create life Yin - male dragon in the sky yang- the earth like a phoenix that recreates itself from ashes  Confucian traditions favor culture over nature favoring hierarchy, making the man more important  patriarchal societies link women with nature and men with culture culture domesticates nature --> men are asked to domesticate women Mesopotamian myth Marduk (male god-king) defeats Tiamat the primal female monster and brings order to the world stories like this abound across cultures Adam & Eve Eve tempts Adam to eat the forbidden fruit before Eve, God created Lilith who refused to be subservient to Adam a...
Post a Comment
Read more