Reading Notes Week 11: Shedlock's Eastern Stories and Legends Part D

The Crow that Thought it Knew: This story illustrates the importance of finding an expert/someone who has what you want, and asking them for help/learning from their methodology. Moral: do not think you know better than your creator. There was also a reappearance of telling things in prose- perhaps in my next story I'll include a few stanzas of updates between characters, as they're cute, rhymey, and feel old-timey.

The Judas Tree: "All have seen the Judas tree---/ What is your perplexity? No one asked the charioteer/ What its form the livelong year!" This was such a curious moral! It encourages total comprehension, underscoring the importance of fully understanding your subject of interest and all of its many forms. And, of course, to be specific in what you ask for.

River-Fish and the Monkey: Multiple straight-forward morals: good deeds may help you in the future. Don't be a trickster. The recurring theme of the benevolence of the gods is also present. I wonder what it must have been like to pull that fish out of the water- it must have been pretty heavy! Also, did the brother think the trickery was unbelievable? His money was mixed in! Or did he split it with his sibling even knowing his wickedness out of the goodness of his heart?

The Dreamer in the Wood: "A man is not black by reason of his outer skin; only can sin make him black." "It was as he had made the moon to rise in the sky" What a setting change! I love the idea of ordinary characters with the power to influence their natural surroundings by the goodness of their deeds. "Hatred grows...Malice brings evil..etc" "Hate turns to anger, etc."- Yoda. Again, selfless, harmonious decisions will get you places with the gods.

The Rice Measure: Be competent at your job! There are more characters in this story, which are juggled differently and effectively by shorter sentences and more use of names, with the occasional designation by occupation. These are good tools for future stories which require additional clarification.

The Poisonous Trees:  I love the description of the What-fruit tree-the story covers all of the bases: sight, taste, smell, and the outside knowledge that ingestion means death. It's a heck of a way to set up an antagonist (though not sentient), and made me curious about what was to come. This tale emphasizes common sense: if it's accessible and not beaten up by nearby tree-climbers, it poses quite a danger. It was a roundabout way to convey that moral and I'd love to concoct a similar tale.

The Well-Trained Elephant: "Exalted station breeds a fool great woe; He proves his own and others' mortal foe." See also: absolute power corrupts absolutely. Writing exercise: (note to self) choose a modern colloquialism and reinterpret it as if it were an old timey rhyming stanza. Re-write, and write a story around it such as this one. I love the image of the elephant standing on one leg on the precipice, stately and majestic.

The Wise Physician: In order to make her cope with and acknowledge her grief, the Buddha opened her eyes to the past griefs of others. It came off as absolute wisdom, and I admire the way the woman was able to see things in a worldly way rather than a self-centric way, even though that little boy was her world. It's really tragic, but when rephrased in the grand tragedy of and inevitability of all things, less so.

Bibliography:

    Shedlock, Marie L. Eastern Stories and Legends. Link.

Image Info: An EBook cover for Marie Shedlock's Eastern Stories and Legends.
Source: Feedbooks. Link.