Reading Notes: More Jataka Tales, Part A

For this weeks reading I decided to continue with the Babbitt readings because I really enjoyed the first stories I read for last week. I read from The Jataka Tales last week so I chose More Jataka Tales for this week. From this selection I particularly enjoyed the story The Stupid Monkeys. the title immediately caught my eye on the list and I thought the story was pretty funny. I also liked the story The Otters and The Wolf. The wolf pretty much just played the otters and took their catch for himself which I found funny. I really enjoy how these stories are all told through animals.

Bibliography: More Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt (Link)

Wolf (Source)

Week 10 Story: The Jealous Weiner

There once was a bratwurst named Big Mac. He lived in the deli meat section of a refrigerator. With him lived a hot dog named Lil Mac as well as a few dozen hamburgers. 

The owner of the refrigerator was Brett. Brett was going to have a cookout with all of his friends that night. He told his son Jack to get the hamburgers out of the refrigerator and get them ready for the cookout. 

Lil Mac was so excited when Jack opened the refrigerator and opened the deli meat drawer, but lost that excitement when Jack only grabbed the burgers and shut the drawer. 

"Why did he only take the hamburgers, Big Mac?" asked Lil Mac, "I want to go on the adventure!"  

Big Mac explained: "My friend Lil Mac, do not envy those hamburgers. Yes, they get to go on an adventure outside of the deli meat drawer, but it is an adventure you do not want to go on. You will soon see why this is so."

Lil Mac watched throughout the afternoon trying to understand what Big Mac meant. All he saw was the burgers getting pampered, making him more and more jealous. They got seasoned with wonderful herbs and spices, cooked to perfection, and dressed up in crisp lettuce, fresh tomatoes, pickles, onions, and sauces.

Lil Mac said “I don’t understand, Big Mac. Those burgers are so lucky to get all that special treatment! Why shouldn’t I be jealous?!”

Big Mac responded, “Just watch my friend.”

Not long after, Lil Mac watched as those burgers that he so envied were eaten one by one! He watched in horror as they were ripped apart, cut in half, and chomped down on until the last one disappeared.

Big Mac asked, “Do you now understand why it is foolish to envy those taken out of our drawer?”

“Now I understand.” Lil Mac said squeamishly, “I will no long envy anyone taken out of this refrigerator, I am lucky to live out my life in this deli meat drawer.”

Bibliography: The Jataka Tales of India By Ellen C. Babbitt (Link)

Cheeseburger (Source)

Author’s Note: For this story, my inspiration came from the Week 10 reading of The Jataka Tales by Ellen C. Babbitt. Specifically, I used the story “The Ox Who Envied the Pig” as the model for this story. That story tells the tale of an ox who is jealous of a pig who is given better food, but he doesn’t know that the pig is only getting the better food because he is being fattened up for slaughter. I used hot dogs and hamburgers instead of farm animals. These characters came to me because I am dressing up as a hot dog for Halloween and the story just flowed from there.

Reading Notes: The Jataka Tales of India

From the Part B reading of the Jataka Tales i really enjoyed the story of The Wise and Foolish Merchant. I found it very interesting and it tells a good story about wisdom and trust. The foolish merchant wishes to make the journey first because he thinks it will best for him; he would get the first pick of food, water, and prices for his goods. The wise merchant allows him to go first because he knows that the foolish merchant will smooth his path and take all of the old food and water leaving only fresh food and water for him. I also enjoyed the story Why the Owl is not King of the Birds. i found it interesting that this story was so short and non-violent which is different than the other stories we have read involving kings. 

Bibliography: The Jataka Tales of India by Ellen C. Babbitt (Link)

Desert (Source)

Reading Note: Babbitt: Jataka Tales

This week I read the Babbitt Jataka Tales. I specifically like The Turtle Who Couldn't Stop Talking. The title stood out to me at first glance so I chose to read it and I was fairly entertained. It as very different than I thought it would be but I enjoyed it. I liked the style this story is written in and I may try it out for my next story. Short and to the point and a lighter plot even though the turtle ends up dying. Most of my stories has been more serious so I may try to switch it up.

Bibliography: The Jataka Tales of India by Ellen C. Babbitt (Link)

Turtle (Source)

Week 9 Reading, Part B

In this part of the story the Pandavas and Draupadi go under cover into the kingdom after 12 years of living in the forest. They are in the kingdom for a year disguised as cooks, teachers, maids, and cowherds. Kichaka tries to rape Draupadi and Bhima kills him. Draupadi tells the queen that she is married to a celestial husband called a ganharva and the queen beleives her. The Pandavas reveal themselves and they go to battle. I found it interesting when Arjuna used a shikhandi which is a man dressed like a woman. That part of the story kind of caught me off guard but I thought it was very interesting. Bhima fulfills his vow to break Duryodhana's thigh. Yudhishthira is tested to get into heaven with a dog and his family but passes.

Bibliography: The Princes of Elephant City (Link)

Arjuna (Source)

Week 9 Reading: Part A

This story tells the Marabharata with the focus on the five Pandava brothers. It begins by giving some background information on the leadership history of the kingdom of Hastinapura. It began with King Bharata and long after that there was a king named Vichitravirya who died and left two sons name Dhritarashtra and Pandu. Dhritarashtra was blind so the throne went to Pandu. Pandu had 5 sons, the Panadavas, who were said to be sons on gods. Pandu dies and Dhritarashtra becomes kings. Duryadhana becomes jealous and tries to kill the Pnadavas but they escape through a secret tunnel. They go on an spree of battles with demons and end up fighting for the hand of Draupadi and Arjuna wins the contest for her hand.

Bibliography: The Princes of Elephant City (Link)

Draupadi and Pandavas (Source)

Week 8 Progress

So far in this class my progress has been okay. I missed a couple too many assignments at the beginning but over the past few weeks I have really gotten into a groove on my course work. Looking forward I am going to need to do some extra credit assignments to get my grade to where I'd like it but that won't be too hard. I have really improved my schedule for this class recently and I think I am going to be able to stick to it and finish the second half of the semester strong.

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Week 8 Comments and Feedback

The feedback that I have been receiving over the semester has been great. I wasn't very comfortable with sharing my writing with the whole class because I am not great at creative writing but everything that I have received has been helpful and encouraging. It is all very constructive criticism and has really given me some ideas on how to improve my writing. I have tried to do the same thing in the feedback I give. I don't have any great expertise in writing as i mentioned but I did my best to help with revisions and content. I think my feedback was helpful. The blog comments has been one of my favorite assignments we have done. I really enjoyed reading peoples introductions and there are some very interesting people that I have read about! I also enjoyed writing my own introduction an giving people a bit of an insight into my life. Looking forward I would like to use what I have learned from the comments other people have left me to write better comments for others.

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I chose this image because this is how I look at feedback. I want all of my assignments to be perfect so the feedback that recommends I change something is what I really listen to and it makes me try harder on the next assignment.

Week 8 Reading and Writing

I have enjoyed the reading and writing in this class more than I thought would. The readings have been very entertaining for the most part and I'm glad that I have read them and added a little more culture to my life. I have never been a fan of creative writing, so I though I was going to hate that part of this class. In reality, this class has made me hate it a little less. Halfway through the class has really flown by, I'm excited to see what else that class does for me.

Dice Game (Source)

I chose this picture because the dice game was my favorite parts of either epic that we have read. I really enjoyed reading about it and then I included a similar dice game in one of my stories and enjoyed writing about it as well.

Comment Wall

Let me know what you think of my Portfolio!

Link to Portfolio

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Week 7 Story: A Game of Chance

(Link to Portfolio)

Four men sit around a table gambling on a dice game and drinking their fill. These men have been inseparable for years, best friends since high school. Three of the men are brothers by the names of Yudi, Bhima, and Sahad Pandava. These three brothers are very skilled mountain climbers and are planning a trip to climb Mt. Everest in the Himalayas. The fourth man, Draup, has never been as interested in mountaineering, to the disappointment of his three best friends. On this particular night, already drunk and gambling, Bhima proposes a wager to Draup: they both roll the dice, if Bhima rolls a higher score, Draup must accompany them on their Everest adventure. With his judgement clouded by the booze, Draup agrees to the bet.

[6 months later]

Draup straps on his pack at the Everest basecamp, all the while kicking himself for accepting that stupid bet 6 months ago. He exits his tent wondering if he can still back out, but remembers how many times the Pandava brothers reiterated that "a bet is a bet" over the last few months as they trained. The four men set off on the adventure of a lifetime.

After days of trekking up the mountain, they can almost see the peak. On the final day, the all four men awaken ready to summit Everest. Just a few hours from the top, they come across a horse standing in there path. Immediately they all know that this is no normal animal. Nothing can survive the conditions at the highest peak on Earth. Their shock intensifies when the horse begins to speak. He tells them that he is the gatekeeper to the peak of Everest and they must earn his permission to continue moving forward. Wondering what they could do to be allowed to pass, Draup reaches into his pocket and pulls out a set of dice. The same dice that got him to this point. He proposes they gamble for the horse's permission and he agrees.

Yudi goes first, he rolls a 9. Confident in his roll he smirks and hands the dice to the horse. The horse flips the dice and rolls a 12. Yudi hands the dice to Bhima and disappointedly begins his journey down. Bhima rolls an 11 and thinks to himself there is no way he loses. Another 12. Bhima begins his way down. Sahad nervously picks up the dice and rolls a 2, snake eyes. He begins his journey down before the horse even rolls. Finally, Draup picks up the dice and rolls; 3. The horse rolls for the last time; 2. The horse tells Draup that the dice decided he was the only one worthy of passing through to the peak. He presses on and reaches the summit.

Bibliography: Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan (Link)

Mt. Everest (Source)

Authors Notes: For this story I combined elements from many parts of the Mahabharata that we have read over the past two weeks. I started with the setting in the Himalayas like in the Part C reading. i found this setting interesting when Draupadi and the four Pandava brothers journey into the mountains. On thing made a point to change were the names. The original names were too long and confused me so I shortened them to make it and easier read. I also included the horse from Part D. I really liked the story of the horse disappearing and wanted to incorporate it a little bit. The main part of the story came from the dice game we read about in Part B. I really liked that story and found it to be a good starting point for my plot.

Reading Notes: Mahabharata, Part D

The part of this story about the sacrifice of the horse really stuck out to me. It was very intense when Bhima chopped off the horses head and and it immediately disappeared in front of everyone. I think this may be something I can incorporate into my story. Maybe as the characters are journeying through the Himalayas they come across a horse and have to do something or maybe the horse is a disguise that their enemies are using (like a trojan horse) and then a battle ensues. I have a couple of ideas for this and will need to brainstorm more to come up with my story.

Bibliography: Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan (Link)

Trojan Horse (Source)

Reading Notes: Mahabharata, Part C

This story was very interesting in the beginning and seems to be getting even more interesting. I enjoyed the part of the story where Draupadi and the four Pandava brothers venture into the Himalayas. I think this is a great setting for a story and I am excited to finish reading and see what happens. I think I may use a mountain range setting for my story this week. I can think of dozens of ways to take a story like that and there are a ton of possibilities for things that could happen. Anything from a realistic issue like an avalanche or injury to a more far fetched situation. Since the Mahabharata has been more realistic than the Ramayana was, I think I'll probably stay in a more realistic plot line for my story.

Bibliography: Mahabharata by R.K. Narayan (Link)

Himalayas (Source)